Hey there
GIGANTIC shout out to everyone!
I'm feeling shit tired, so…
Enjoy…
CHAPTER 16
Kushina Uzumaki was by no stretch of the imagination an assassin.
No matter how long or how hard she observed and attempted to copy (or replicate) the Dark country Assassination Techniques her teammates used, she was never able to use it even close to their proficiency, not unless she was born in Dark country and taught by the same teachers that trained her teammates in the academy.
Dark country's Assassination Techniques were scarily similar to any clan's Hiden art; they were closely guarded, could not be learnt and could not be copied by anyone not personally taught by master assassins.
They were also skills and techniques that could only be used by people born in Dark country. It wasn't hereditary, which was why Naruto pronounced that any person born in his country who had parents, or a parent, from an unallied country, that wanted to be a ninja must be a Dark ninja and not a ninja of even his allies country. This was to preserve the unique trait and keep it special. The ninja could then decide to have a child outside of the country but that child would not have the affinity for Assassination Techniques.
The subtle, unheard of art patented and utilized by Ninjas of the Dark was at first deemed pointless to learn by those not allied to Darkness, then their opinions changed immediately when they bore witness to the proficiency and skill of the ninjas.
Naruto's training did not once bend towards his country's secret techniques.
Rather, he performed his own scrutiny of his youngest student to discover her strengths and weakness of his students so that he could evenly counterbalance the two and fashion a training regimen to surpass anything Kushina could vaguely guess she could do.
The redhead was a powerhouse.
Plain and simple.
Yes, she could be as silent and methodical as any other ninja, but her strength ventured past normal logic and branched into monstrous.
Naruto too was initially a powerhouse, seeing as he was from the Kemuri clan-a clan of Smoke users that were widely known for their stamina, their muscular resilience and their skeletal toughness-, but Orochimaru had covered all his bases, all the basics and raised his other skills up to his strength, leaving the blonde to choose which way he wanted to take his shinobi career. The man ended up honing his speed, dexterity, intuition and creativity alongside his natural born strength, and the rest was history.
The girl was awfully creative when it came to defending herself and she could conjure up risky though effective counterattacks on the fly.
Her swordplay was jagged and raw but, like all Uzumaki, she could fine tune that with time.
Her fuinjutsu bore potential but the Leader couldn't actively train her on it, seeing as he was at level five and Kushina could very well reach the coveted and much fabled level ten, so he gave her books and helpful pointers until she reached level five, where she would take her fuinjutsu training into her own hands.
Most importantly of all, Kushina Uzumaki was stubborn.
Oh, the girl was stubborn as hell.
Their initial spar had lasted a measly ten minute but the girl had refused to take defeat lying down, even going as far as coming at him on all fours when the man's killer intent had broken her into the ground. She had no fighting skill whatsoever and her movements were sloppy but she made up with fervour and passion.
Naruto took Kushina's strong point and crafted a training regimen for her, beginning from only a day after she swore to become the next Leader of Dark country to the present, moulding and forming her skills till it had a lethal edge.
It wasn't easy…for Kushina.
Not in the slightest.
Naruto was a hard teacher to please.
She would have to do something truly exceptional to wiggle a complement out of his lips.
When she reached seventeen, she got better and the compliments and praises came out easier. She grew into her massive chakra reserves, possibly among the largest in the whole country, and as such she was able to throw around monumental, chakra draining jutsu without feeling so much as a twang on her chakra reserves. Whenever she felt tempted to be cocky about her reserves, she reminded herself on something her uncle told her after a particularly heartless sparring session only a few years ago.
It doesn't matter how large your reserves are, what matters is how well you use it.
"Is everyone ready?" Kushina said in a quiet voice, hiding her hast and urgency under a gentle smile and lightly ushering the family out of their back door. There were in total five members of the family; two teenage children-a boy and a girl-, their parents and the paternal grandmother.
The swordswoman took the lead, holding the two teenagers hands, who were just about twelve, so they didn't like their hands being held all that much, but they held their shoved their dislike away because the person holding their hands and looking after them was a redhead so beautiful that it looked like there was a halo around her face. Kushina looked down to them and grinned, feeling the roiling uncertainty and shyness welling up in their gut.
Oh, she knew that feeling very well.
Every time she was with her Uncle Ruto.
The parents plodded between them, their hands more or less free of luggage for the Uzumaki had sealed all of their possessions away for the time being. They looked about with frantic eyes, trembling and holding each other.
The grandmother was behind them, shuffling as quickly as her body allowed her.
The swordsman came up their rear, his eyes swivelling about the house and the subsequent garden at the back. His hands clenched and unclenched, ready to defend at a moment's notice, and the pool of chakra inside Samehada, both his own and the chakra of his victims, bubbled in anticipation.
Thoooooooom!
Kushina turned to the parents and addressed them all. "It's alright, it's alright, that wasn't near here." They nodded quickly and steadily trekked out of the garden. The boy opened the back gate and they ambled out of the small compound.
It was a great loss that the parents and grandmother would have to abandon their businesses in Wave. They only had time to scrap up their profit, their invoice and a few items in their inventory before Kushina's team came in and insisted they hurry out. Kisame and the Uzumaki had remained behind to personally watch and reassure their safety while the other six jounin went out to keep the combatants deep in the country away from their location. They would get some compensation from the National Bank but said compensation wouldn't be as much as those that had heeded the Leader's advice to vacate any unallied territory; for those that listened and acted without fail, they would get everything they lost back but for those that didn't, they would get only half. At that moment, the older members of the family were lamenting why they didn't follow their Leader's advice and returned home; it wasn't out of defiance or disobedience but rather they wanted to milk out as much money as possible and then send their dues back to Darkness, part of the money would go to the family's account and the rest would serve as their obligated payment to their home country.
The small group ventured onto a thin footpath through a thin group of trees. The footpath would lead out of the forest and onto a row of fenced off backyards. They were to skirt around the island and reach a hidden junction on the port facing Fire country, board a boat that was waiting for them, proceed into Fire country and stay close to the edges, as far away from conflict as possible, and then they would enter Dark lands, which were safe grounds.
Kisame laid out the beginning part of the plan to the scared family, keeping the rest hidden until they reached specific checkpoints. This was because there could be hidden listeners about.
Their Ghostly Leader had informed them of the plant man.
The 'creature' could be listening in on them, watching them at that very moment, and not even a sensor of Kushina's skill could pick him up unless the plant man physically surfaced out of where he was hiding, whether it was a small bulge forming his head or his whole body. None could sense him unless they were in tune with nature chakra-another way of saying, only sages could sense the plant man.
"Tzzzzzzt…come in Jounin Uzumaki, this is Jounin Sakana." The redhead took out her own receiver from her pocket and promptly responded. "Are you…tzzz…there Kushina?"
"I'm here, what is it?"
"Zzzz…zzzzzz…Port One-Fifty has been compromised. I repeat, Port One-Fifty has been compromised." The sounds of battle permeated through the receiver and the person on the other side remained cool, speaking in a low voice. "We're being…zzzzt…zzzzt…surrounded. Konoha ninjas…tzzzt-tzzzzzzt… engaging."
The red haired woman stopped and turned, Kisame nodded that he heard as well.
"These bastards…zzzzzaaaaa… too stubborn. No major casualties here. We've got authorization…tzzzzzz...use Port Tee-One-Twelve."
"Got it, sit tight, Sakana."
"We can…zzaaaaaa…zzzt…handle ourselves…keep 'em…tzzzz…safe!"
The family over heard this and began to panic, so the two began speaking so as to distract them.
"Kisame and I have been on dozens of rescue missions and we haven't failed any one. Our teams have not lost a single life and no bodily harm has come to our charges." The family shrivelled up into themselves and nodded again, quietly paying attention to the serious Uzumaki leading the way.
A part of the older members minds felt guilt that it was because they didn't follow helpful advice that their home was causing focusing this much protection on them.
Sure, Darkness had many active ninjas and a few reserve shinobi to fill in somewhere they were needed, but they wouldn't even be splitting their attention between keeping invaders out of the country and rescuing civilians in unallied nations if they had simply come back home. Naruto held nothing back to get them back home safe; two jounin teams and a secret, fully protected-though temporary-port and boat to take them off the island country.
Their gratitude for their Leader increased tenfold; that he would still see them as this important and value their lives to such an extent humbled them.
Rescue missions were different from escort missions, given the current war. Dark ninjas were deployed to save citizens of the country from the war torn country they were residing in at that time. Such missions were usually done by Naruto's ninjas alone, for his allies also had citizens trapped in war ravaged countries that need to be rescued, though when the situation demanded it, they would team up or make use of the Defence Corp throughout the mission. Presently, the DC was only in the last part of the mission, when they got into Dark territory.
Kushina continued, striding with quick steps. "On a mission like this, your lives are our priority. We don't care about any injury that comes to us but nothing must happen to you. Do you get me so far?" they murmured, yes. Kushina stopped at the other end of the forest, releasing the hands of the two children. She looked about and walked out, motioning them to remain where they were, while Kisame finished for her.
"You five have to do everything we say you should do."
They watched as two golden chain with a lethally sharp tip spiralled out from both of her shoulders, slinking out from under her short sleeved red shirt, and began writing on the ground with her chakra, crafting seals with each step. She patted down her jounin flak jacket twice.
Living Body Switch seals.
The seals were tiny and barely seen, though they glowed with red tinted blue chakra. The woman unsealed five small wooden logs from her jacket and placed them over each switch seal, drawing five seals and thus placing twenty five logs on the ground, neatly arranged and hiding the level eight seal. The second and third seals differed ever so slightly from the rest and were just a hair breadth bigger but that infinitesimally small difference was quickly blocked by the five small logs of wood.
The seal master got to the end of the row of backyards, which led to a path that bent and curved around some low hills until they got to the secret port.
BOOOOOOOOM!
Kisame shook his head and Kushina sent him a thumb up.
"Ok, so, one at a time," he pointed at the first switch seal on the same spot Kushina had released the children's hands. "You will touch only one log and it will take you all the way there." Staying at the back, he pointed at the girl. "Touch only one log, close your eyes and count to three."
The girl did as she was instructed and Kushina, on the other end, did her own part.
The sensor had previously gotten attuned to the chakra signature of each member of the family, even if they were not trained in any way to use their chakra, they still had chakra cores. She focused on the chakra signature of the girl and, in her mind, gave a mighty yank towards herself.
Poof, poof, poof, poof, poof-
Kushina bent down and caught the girl as she hurtled to her. "Gotcha."
The girl was clearly nauseous from the lightning quick succession of switches. Kushina eased the girl onto the ground and caught the boy as he switched over to her.
It would have been much easier to use their clones and pelted all the way back to Darkness but, as a rule Naruto set up, utilizing clones for such a thing was forbidden during a rescue mission. This because the clones only had a fraction of the strength of the user and not even that many people had the chakra reserves to create strong, corporal clones. The clones could not be strong enough to fend off an attack, thus putting the civilians in danger. The Leader only permitted the use of clones-real, physical clones-during extreme emergencies.
In combat, they were free to use whatever clones they wanted to use.
This method of writing a switch seal was a bit flashy but it was efficient and it got the job done. It was a skill that people only knew Kushina could do; she could write seals using her chakra chains and her chakra on any surface. Her known limit was that she could write ten different seals at the very same time.
Naruto applauded her for it and the boyish woman carried herself with a smug lift of her chin for months' un-end.
Kushina caught the rest of the family as they switched to her, gave them five minutes to shake off the dizziness, before they continued on their way.
The Dark ninjas meant to pick them up at the secret port that were combating the ambushing Konoha ninjas were outnumbered five to one, and the ones they had left behind in the middle part of Wave country, in the thick of the conflict, were also outnumbered six to one, but they were trained to know how to properly deal with those situations. There was a particular skill the outnumbered teams used to even out the playing field.
Misdirection.
This was a skill any decent ninja was meant to have but in the case of Dark shinobi, it was…different.
Kisame ran over to them, drawing Samehada and scraping the bandage wrapped sentient sword on each seal to absorb the chakra and shatter the seal. He strapped the sword onto his back again and continued on the procession through the path to the port.
Something that got him curious was that he had been on a few missions with Kushina and this situation of being ambushed by so many Konoha ninjas and in such a coordinated fashion was new to him. Kisame and Kushina, first off, weren't on the same time, so they didn't often go on missions together, though the ones they did go on were mostly to far away locations like Frost country, Iron country, Hidden Salt Water village and places like them, which were countries and villages that were in no way close to Fire country.
Next was that their positions and escape routes had been compromised.
Their mission had been tight and members of the rescue teams rarely spoke out loud the plans, only doing so within the safety and privacy of their home country.
Kisame had purposely done so when the niggling feeling in the back of his head didn't leave him.
It might have put their teammates in danger but the pair had confirmed one important thing.
They were being watched.
They were being followed.
Their radio signal was being jammed too; the channel they used was an exclusive one assigned to the rescue teams for this particular mission and would be abandoned when all was done. Communicating in the channel was easy and clear, no matter how many of the twelve members of the rescue teams-meaning three teams'-spoke at the same time. The channel was private and encrypted, so they were positive no one was listening in on them speak, though they were sure some sort of counter-signal was blocking them from freely communicating. A radio channel used a signal and there was only one counter-signal to that channel, no matter how private. The channel could be difficult to pick up in the air but once it was done, then engineers of the other village who could come up with a counter-signal could begin jamming their radio.
They were definitely being targeted.
Kisame gnashed his serrated teeth, ensuring that his bubbling anger didn't show on his face.
Konoha, Kushina said with her glowing purple eyes as she sent a look over her shoulder to her silently festering friend.
She knew this because no other ninja from any other shinobi settlement, not even Fire country ninjas or samurai, were actively attacking them.
The Kiri born Dark shinobi hated how the plant man's singular influence was making their job harder. He glanced over to Kushina, who was holding the teenagers hands, and the woman, without peering back, shrugged invisibly.
She might be their objective, or better yet the Kyuubi sealed in her.
Another target could be the unseen Entrance/Citizen seals on the backs of the civilians hands, seeing as the two ninjas could very well cut off their hands and set them on fire before they could allow Konoha anywhere near them. The civilian family didn't even know basic self-defence, making them easier to pick off. The Leaf would think that once they got their hands on one of those seals, they would break it down and perfectly replicate it so that their own ninjas could infiltrate the elusive nation.
Both were logical targets.
Kisame wasn't cocky enough to think that Konoha wanted Samehada. They should know that no one but him or anyone he permitted could use his sword.
The blue skinned man grinned toothily, scaring the parents and the grandmother, and he said, to break the tension. "Who's up for a game?"
The father teetered and then shrugged. "Sure, why not?"
Kisame looked around, scanning the low hills and the twisting, bending path ahead of them. "I spy…with my little eye…something that begins with…B."
This one was obvious and the girl pointed it out in a muted, fearful voice, afraid that she was going to be heard or that raising her voice any louder would jeopardize the rescue mission. "Burrow. Rabbit burrows."
They were spotted over some of the hills and some were covered by a few tufts of grass on level ground. "Correct. Your turn."
The girl looked around the plain world around them, unsure. "Uhm…I spy with my little eye…something that begins with…B."
Her brother looked around Kushina and raised his eyes incredulously. "Again?"
"This one's different!" she exclaimed in outrage, just about ready to toss a wild kick around Kushina to nail her brother in his gut. Her eyes widened and she looked up to the lady holding her hand, who giggled quietly. She breathed out and waited for her answer.
Given time, the partially silent-
B-B-BOOOOOOM!
-Countryside would be overtaken by the war at its centre. They could already see smoke stacks rising far to their left. Kushina felt sad that such great scenery was going to be destroyed over a stupid argument that people were gradually forgetting and were now simply fighting for fighting sake. There was a thick black smoke coming from the fighting area, floating in the sky like death itself, blocking out the sun and chocking those unfortunate enough to be under it. She guessed that the smoke would cover Wave in about a week.
"I don't know…" the brother murmured, looking around. He then looked up and pointed. "Bird!"
Kisame grinned savagely.
The girl grunted sourly, not noticing the evil etched on the two ninjas faces. "Whatever."
"Kushina?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm ready."
The single bird circling them, a falcon with a seal dangling around its neck, squawked loudly and shot down to them.
The redhead swordswoman summoned dozens of golden chakra chains and wrapped them around the parents, slinging the two children onto her shoulders as she bolted to the right, away from the diving bird, while Kisame scooped the old grandmother into his arms and dashed to the left as the frail old lady wailed and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Aiyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
The bird screamed as it smashed into the ground, Kushina and Kisame skimmed the edges of the rising smoke bomb in the centre, their charges safely in their possession and shrieking at the commotion.
Four yellow flashes burst from the thick smoke bomb.
Minato swept his arms aside, blowing away the smoke, and stood with his comrades, looking out to the two high class ninjas that skidded to a stop back together, some distance away from them.
Kushina made an active effort not to blush as she saw the stark facial similarities between the Konoha ninja and the Leader of Darkness.
The other three ninjas never let their eyes waver from either opposing ninjas, very well knowing their reputation.
Kushina and Kisame knew their reputation too.
Fugaku Uchiha, Mikoto Uchiha, Hyuuga Hiashi and the leader of their group, Minato Namikaze. The two Uchiha and the Hyuuga had all their doujutsu activated
Minato smiled brightly, his blonde hair shimmering and his crystal blue eyes glittering. "Sup, Kushina. Those four look heavy."
"I can barely feel them." the woman answered with a wide smirk. "They might be heavy for a prissy like you but I'm good."
The man laughed good-naturedly. "I see, I see. I'm just saying, someone as cute as you shouldn't burden yourself in such a way."
The Uzumaki's eyebrows slowly slithered up her forehead, surprised. "That's…awfully forward of you."
"I mean it, and I also think a lady of your class shouldn't waste away in a place like Dark country."
"Oh?"
"We," he said, motioning to his teammates. "Are here to take you back to your real home."
"Sorry to disappoint you, man, but I've got a pretty good thing going on back in Dark country."
"That's because you haven't fully experienced all the Leaf can give you." Minato exclaimed with a genial smile. "How about it? Won't you come back home with us?"
Peacefully, the redhead said in her mind, finishing what the blonde man didn't voice out.
Suddenly, Hiashi sighed and mumbled. "Minato…" his pride couldn't allow him to finish what he wanted to say. He only shook his head and palmed his face, the thick veins on the sides of his eyes pulsing.
Mikoto bashfully coughed into her fist and Fugaku, the ever frowning man, grumbled in frustration. "You've been talking to an illusion this whole time, idiot."
It was Minato's turn to sigh, his own heavy and his shoulder sagged tiredly. Kisame and Kushina looked at each other and grinned playfully. "I know…I know…" he looked to his comrades and quickly said. "But wasn't it nice to think that they didn't trick us?"
The general area around the two ninjas rippled, like a drop of water falling onto a still lake, and the colour scheme changed, warbling and meshing together, recombining to show that the two Dark ninjas still in place but the five member family shifted and morphed into two plain black clothed ninjas wearing blank white masks.
The plain masked Kunoichi standing beside Kisame adjusted her mask with fidgety hands, and Hiashi noticed that there were thick glasses over the eyeholes that deflected any attempt from him to peer under to see her face. The ROOT ninjas stood between the two chakra powerhouses and the one by Kushina, noticeably male, flexed his hands.
To the absolute shock of the watching Konoha ninjas, all of the illusionary chakra entered into his ringed palms instead of being dispersed into the air.
For some reason, the doujutsu holders also couldn't look under his mask.
While Zetsu had been feeding information to Konoha, via one of Jiraiya's most reliable spies, a series of events had been happening behind the scenes that no one but those involved knew about.
Flashback: Ten minutes ago
ROOT base
Sixteen miles from Wave country
Fire country
"With all due respect, Auntie Umara, I'd like it if you stayed back and watched the base." Onion said as he marched down the almost dark halls of the ROOT base. His head was buried in a scroll he had received, where detailed information on the physical attributes of the family of five Dark ninjas were rescuing was written down, previously by a Kurama clan mate a few minutes ago. The message had come through a headset when an order from the top changed the rescue mission first plan to the second. At that moment, Carrot was trotting behind her younger brother, buzzing into the same headset and memorizing the clothes the family was wearing, not really paying attention to the two Kurama talking ahead of her. "Danzo is still unconscious and there are not enough guards at the moment."
Umara cast a baleful look at her busily ready 'nephew'. "I can be of great help, y'know."
"I'm sure you will, but Master said he only needs Carrot and I." the woman shrank up into herself and huffed, pouting petulantly. "If I see Master, then I will ask him if there's anything for you to do."
The woman smiled and slapped his back. "Thanks."
They reached a dead end but Onion continued in his stride, passing the camouflage illusion and walking up a short flight of stairs to a forest. He pushed open an old, heavy looking door and exited into the semi-silent forest. He looked up from the scroll and checked around him; no fighting, no near explosions and the forest was dense enough to cover any chakra smoke. The place they had even exited out of was the trunk of a large, artificial tree. They were very close to Wave, though not close enough to warrant attention.
"Here should be close enough to Wave."
Carrot came forward and began drawing a seal on the tree ten feet or so before the fake tree-ROOT entrance. It was the same seal Kushina was drawing at that very same moment in Wave country, except it had the same slight difference the second and third seals had.
Long Range Living Body Switch seals.
As she drew the seal from memory, she began reciting the specific clothing articles the members of the family had on, right down to the colour of shoe lace the boy wore and the tint of yellow the girls head tie was. She was speaking, crafting the complex seal, and her younger brother, the reincarnation of the first Kurama clan head, nodded solemnly as he moved his hands about, expelling illusionary Kurama chakra about him and moulding it along with the words of his sister. It was like looking at a rainbow coloured painting in the process of being made, completely alive and partly sentient as it followed the specific movements of the man's ringed palms. It distorted and pushed very hard against the realms of reality.
The parents and grandmother were simple Paint Bunshin, illusionary clones that were reinforced with the chakra of the Kurama young man. The jutsu could be used by anyone in the Kurama clan; it was more detailed than normal bunshin but not much stronger or durable. The general area around the paint illusions was also distorted to make the animations more realistic. When he was done with the older members, he began shaping how his sister was perceived by the rest of the world, not physically touching her but warping her body and clothes to suit that of the teenage girl currently in Wave. The chakra paint from his hands utterly shifted how she looked. He finished and changed his form to that of the boy.
Umara smirked; impressed that even she was fooled.
"Auntie, turns out we'll need your help." Carrot said, wiping her brow as she finished the seal. Fuinjutsu didn't come to her as easily as her Uzumaki friend. She brought out a small scroll and tapped it onto the seal; Kushina's chakra escaped and merged with the seal, linking itself with the one in Wave country.
The woman clapped her hands and rubbed them, eager. "What do you want me to do, kiddo?"
"Long range body switches carry a lot of…energy," the twenty three year old orange haired ROOT Kunoichi began, finding her mask in her backpack and sliding it onto the top of her head. The range for a standard long switch seal like the one she and Kushina had drawn was exactly sixteen and a half miles, she explained quickly, to form some sort of base knowledge for her aunt, who wasn't as knowledgeable of sealing like her. "The longer the switch, that is, within the sixteen and a half mile range, then the more energy used for whatever it is coming from the other side will be shot out."
"Ah, I see what you're talking about…"
"Precisely, long switch seals are mostly used for traps and ambushing but seeing as this seal is made to specifically carry living beings, the people coming from the other side will come out really, really fast. Like, like…" she snapped her fingers, trying to think of a good way to describe the sheer speed and power of the human beings that were going to be blasted out from the seal. The seal might have normally been used for traps but it wasn't commonly used because both the short and long range switch seals were easily level eight fuinjutsu. Carrot, disguised as the girl teenager, turned to Onion, who was putting on the finishing touches on his boy teenager illusion.
"Think of this seal as a cannon and the people as cannon balls."
The girl snapped and pointed at her brother. "Yes, that. At point blank range nonetheless. They'll be coming out stupid fast."
"Don't worry, I'll catch them." Umara promised as the headset buzzed, the sound of Kisame telling the family to come over one at a time wafted over. "They'll be safe."
"Alright." Onion said and gave his aunt a thumb up, underneath the illusion he was sliding on his plain white mask, as did his sister. The paint illusion didn't follow their motion, as the genjutsu also extended from their bodies at about three feet. He placed his hand on the trunk of the tree the seal was drawn on and slowly allowed his chakra to seep into the seal, coming out on the other side and mingling with Kushina's own. The Uzumaki chakra gave Onion's chakra passage and the man turned to Umara. "One-"
Boom!
The girl teen tore out of the seal in a blur and burst of chakra smoke, and Umara spread out her arms, digging her feet into the ground and steeling over her eyes. She caught the girl safely, her thin, hidden muscles flexing, her heels skidding back a single feet in the ground and her teeth ground strongly. Her combat kimono billowed as the speedy wind finally caught up to the girl in her arms. She placed the girl down when Onion reminded her of the three second interval, sparing two seconds to check the girl teen for injuries before she turned back to the seal. Carrot entered the seal as soon as the girl flew out, coming out on the other side and allowing Kushina to catch her, only fractionally slowed down by the fourth and fifth short range switch seals. The redhead visibly put effort into now showing how much strength was needed to catch her. She also didn't comment on how the little girl teen's weight didn't match how she looked.
Onion said. "Two-"
Boom!
Onion fed the image of the teen he was impersonating into the seal and the teen shot out. This time Kushina had to mimic carrying a person, while in reality she held nothing. Umara kept her feet anchored to the ground with chakra and caught the boy.
"Three-" Boom! "Four-" Boom!
The same illusionary clones of the parents went to Wave through the seal while the real ones arrived, in a quick blur of speed from the seal, to the entrance of the ROOT base. Kurama clan mates rushed out, not wearing their ROOT masks, and smiled gently to the frazzled family, leading them into the tunnel where they would rest, eat and prepare to move to Darkness the next day.
"Five-"
Boom!
Onion slipped through the seal, the image of the grandmother over his image of the teen boy. The image of the old lady moved away from him and the image of the male teen remained, staying over him like a second skin, and Kushina grabbed his hand and Carrot's, proceeding on the walk.
Back on the other side of the seal, the Kurama clan members soothed the nervous woman's nerves by showing them the Sign of Dark country.
Kurono.
It was also intuition and recognizing the Kurama clans orange hair that calmed her down.
A majority of the Kurama clan were now living in the ROOT base all the way back in Konoha's Forest of Death, and they had been able to arrive in this smaller ROOT base because there was a tunnel connecting the main base to the branch base. To not arouse suspicion in Konoha, some of the clan of painters remained back and set up a painting illusion to make the village believe that they were all still there. Umara was still refusing to become Konoha ninjas and Hiruzen still refused to give them money to live on; the lady and her clan were being sustained from the weekly funds sent to them from Darkness as well as small painting jobs Fire Lady Wakono requested of them.
Umara's daughter, the holder of Mania, was also in the ROOT base in Konoha.
The Kurama clan was now the main people dominating ROOT while the original members were dying out ever so slowly.
Flashback end
Wave country
"That illusion was very complicated." Mikoto said, displeased that she had been drawn into the trap as well. The informant had told them that nothing was amiss, even after they used the switch seal. Her red eyes looked up over their masks for their hair, searching for any signs of orange but only seeing the black hoods over their heads and connected to their masks. "Only a Kurama can do that."
"Or Kureanai." The female answered, her voice was distorted as she spoke to her Uchiha friend.
"She might be able to do it…but Kureanai is no traitor." Minato said firmly, the Yuuhi was already an infamous genjutsu mistress; he didn't question how they knew of her prowess.
"Believe whatever you want." Kushina said, cracking her fists. "I just want to fight."
Onion shook his head and spread out his arms, his palms facing the four alarmed ninjas. "Allow me to put you all to sleep." He paused and tilted his head to the side as a voice buzzed in his ear. "Ah…yes, sir…I understand…Master wants to see how we fare against some of Konoha's best." He looked over the group and pointed. "I'll take the Hyuuga, I guess." Onion said, deliberately and intentionally choosing the person worst suited for him to battle. It wouldn't be the first time he had fought a Hyuuga; ROOT used to have dozens of them. Displaying his skill against his natural enemy would certainly raise his Master's opinion of him. It seemed an excited Carrot also thought so too.
Carrot whirred to him, forgetting about the four dangerous ninjas before her. "You mean he's here?" she waited for not reply and barked. "Dibs on Mikoto." Carrot called and meshed her hands together, shooting her wind affinity chakra onto her leg muscles for the quickest of moments and bounding across the plain to the wide eyed Uchiha lady. The wind enhancement could only last three seconds and three seconds was what it took to get to Mikoto.
The Uchiha raised her forearms and hid her face from the straight punch, still unable to see under the white mask because of the glasses on her opponent's eyeholes.
The blow tossed her back and Carrot diligently followed.
The other three Konoha ninjas suppressed their shock at the speed and bent away from her. Hiashi slid aside from a hail of shuriken and hissed under his breath when the illusion on the ninja stars warped away before his byakugan, showing the explosive tags dangerously fizzling.
'That was too close.' the man yelled in his head as he fled the explosions, separated from his team. He almost didn't see the bombs and that thought sent tendrils of fear down his spine. His byakugan could certainly see past the genjutsu of the ring palmed man but only on the last second. 'This person…a Kurama doesn't have this kind of power!'
Kisame chuckled; a rumbling sound that sounded that reverberated through the earth. Fugaku, turning back to face where the Dark ninjas and suspected Kurama were, rolled aside as the large shark man reached over his shoulder and brought down his bandaged sword. The smash shattered the ground and the Uchiha, his sharingan working on overtime predicting the next sequence of attacks, back flipped over a side swipe, bending and contorting his back away from the white covered sword.
Then Kisame shot down a mental command to his sentient sword and the purple scales of the previously silent sword rose up, wiggling and squealing.
Fugaku saw this coming and, still in the air, could not possibly dodge, so he performed a basic Body switch jutsu and exchanged himself with a clump of earth that had formerly been jutting out of the ground after the explosion from the ROOT masked Onion.
The Uchiha crouched down on the ground and warily kept his spinning red eyes on the Dark ninja as he miraculously hefted the massive purple sword, even as the shredding scales flailed and wriggled wildly. Kisame perched Samehada on his shoulder, his hand holding the grey handle of the sword, and the purple scales did nothing to tear his shinobi uniform. The man smirked toothily, showing his serrated teeth and an evil glint shot through his eyes.
"Damn amateur." Fugaku cursed his age mate, his Copy Wheels whirring in his orbs. "Almost nicked my arm. I'll take your sword for that."
"How about…I shave off your arms and legs." The blue skinned ninja licked his lips, blood thirsty and itching for gore after two agonizing weeks of nothing. "It's been a long time since Samehada last had a full meal. Don't be afraid to scream."
To punctuate his point, the terrifying sword hissed and a long, pointed, dark purple tongue slipped out and licked what the Uchiha could only assume was his lips.
Kisame bent down and bolted to Fugaku, the man leaped to his adversary, pulling out a pair of kunai from his pouch and spinning them in his palms. The owner of the sentient sword, in a feat of impossible flexibility, dropped the purple 'sword' from his shoulder and swung it upwards with one arm, carving a path through the ground as his weapon tore through it like butter. Fugaku predicted the manoeuvre coming thirteen whole seconds ago, soared through the air, over the swing, and his ninja blades poised to dig into Kisame's face.
Fugaku saw Samehada bending backwards and its saw toothed maw wide open, aiming for his back, almost too late.
OOOOOOOOOOOOO
An Undisclosed Location in the Forest of Death
Konoha
Fire country
"My, Lady Umara, I didn't think of you as someone so…nefarious." Orochimaru hissed gleefully, collecting a scroll of dead bodies handed to him. The bodies were fresh and were from the few remaining original ROOT operatives. "To be an accomplice to this old man's dirty deals, I could have never guessed."
The clan head raised a slender eyebrow. "I do what we must for my clan to survive."
"Your clans money problems will all blow away once you agree to spare a few able-bodies ninjas for the war cause." the snake man answered, sounding diplomatic. "A Kurama or two will push the war more in our favour."
"I'd prefer not to aid the village that stole us out of our home." Umara answered, glancing down to the comatose old man on the bed. Danzo, clothed in clean white clothing, an oxygen mask strapped to his face and an array of tubes and wires connected to his body, remained still and silent in his deep slumber. "But you, Orochimaru, gave me scum bag vibes from the very first day." She eyed him up and down, a terse frown twitching on her lips. "You still do."
The man touched his chest, faux offended. "My lady…you hurt me with your words."
"At least your…disgusting habits are putting something in my pocket."
"I'd hardly think that my medical services and monetary compensation is enough payment for covering up my activities and providing me healthy test subjects." He stashed the scroll into his lab coat and crossed his arms. "Still…if you were to throw in a few of your clan mates-"
Umara looked up at him, her eyes silently narrowed.
Orochimaru held up his hands in surrender, tittering nervously. "I understand. I'm pushing my welcome. My apologies."
"You should leave."
The man smirked and bowed politely. "Of course. Call me if you need anything else."
The man slinked out of the underground hospital room.
"Hate that guy." Umara spat, three of her clan mates, dressed as nurses, entered the room.
They started touching Danzo's forehead with a wet sponge and checking his vitals. They daintily touched the growing Wood release arm the snake man had planted to replace the one that was fatally injured by Naruto during the second war. The tendons of his right arm became useless and he had to amputate it to prevent any medical problems from coming up. This amputation took place long before Danzo sent the ROOT ninja to bomb Darkness during the Sand alliance.
The man had gotten into this mess after more and more of his ROOT ninjas were being slaughtered by the prodigious blonde. He had lost fifty or so of the ninjas to the boy's hand, and this was before Minato was seventeen, and the man had gone by himself to deal with the matter once and for all.
That time, Jiraiya could safely leave Minato by himself and Sakumo had killed himself out of shame, cancelling that past option.
The Smoke Demon clone didn't have the original Naruto's strength; it used the chakra and body of the person it possessed.
Danzo barely fled with his life.
He had fallen into a coma once he was in the safety of the ROOT base and Orochimaru had been tending to his unconscious form ever since. The agreement Danzo had with the snake Sannin was that in exchange for Orochimaru's unrestrained scientific knowledge and assistance, Danzo would provide living and dead test subjects and help in covering up the snake summoner's kidnappings, which was now getting the attention of the Daimyo.
This meant that any study Orochimaru conducted, or wanted to conduct, then Danzo could request for the findings and the man couldn't reply negatively. The Sannin's best bet was to hide the research, though this was unlikely, not with how ROOT ninjas went back and forth between them.
There were plans to deepen the agreement; the old man wanted to get his fingers deep into Orochimaru's matter, so much so that the other man couldn't hide anything from him. It would give ROOT leverage on Orochimaru and vice versa, keeping both on a balance beam of trust that would destroy both of their lives of the other was to slide off.
It was becoming more and more of a…necessity…to have someone within active shinobi ranks in his hands.
Danzo was badly injured since the Second War, lost his arm and most functionality of his body, and the Sannin were seen to be in the thick of affairs in Konoha, within their respective fields. Personally going after Minato while he was in such a state was an oversight on his part.
This shaky alliance, for both sides even, was like dining with the devil; they needed to use long spoons and never once look away from the person on the other side of the table.
Until Danzo fell into the coma.
The chaos from the fight had drawn in most of Konoha's ninjas.
They had questioned Minato on the identity of the person and the blonde couldn't answer, for Danzo was in a disguise.
Hiruzen, knowing the culprit, visited the empty Shimura clan compound and left a note for Danzo, warning him to not cause such a commotion in his village again.
The Sandaime might have hated Minato but he was always so soft when it came to his bitter rival.
Umara Kurama became the head of the illegal Konoha organization just as Danzo slipped into the coma.
Five years ago, the war broke out and the Kurama clan moved to the ROOT base, using a grand illusion to hide the fact that their allocated clan compound was now nearly empty. The Hokage was the only one allowed in, so they couldn't be found out any time soon. The Leaf village was becoming increasingly unsafe for them and the Leader hadn't ordered for them to return back to Darkness, so Umara ordered for ROOT to become their second clan base.
The clan met up with Onion and Carrot, who were being trained by veteran ROOT shinobi, and gradually began to dominate the shadow organization.
Later in the future, historians, history books and novels would say that from the beginning of the Third Great Ninja War onwards, ROOT changed from being a Konoha-centric organization to being a Konoha-based, Kurama dominated branch of the covert Dark country organization known as BLAK.
ROOT stopped being the Roots of the Great Tree and became the Spies of the Great Tree. When they got wind of any plan against Darkness, they would relay it to their home country and go about dismantling whatever machinations set up to destroy or destabilize their home, all while respecting the order of their precious Leader to not actually tear down the Leaf village.
The organization continued its reprehensible operations, though this time the profit wasn't funnelled into Konoha but rather was split between going back to their home country and also to maintaining their clan. Naruto, the real one, insisted that they keep all the money.
He also whittled down the dark missions they went on, limiting them to information gathering across the globe, subterfuge in the Leaf village and dismantling any problem posed on them or their country. Naruto didn't want their hands anywhere near the terrible things Danzo initially had for the rest of the world, like the shadow invasion he was planning to overrun Snow country. They already had their hands full reporting to him one the grand schemes Konoha was concocting for his country.
Naruto also told them to leave Minato be.
If he found the chance, he would look into his blonde lookalike.
OOOOOOOOOOOOO
Wave country
"Seems I have to settle for you." Kushina said tiredly, cracking his fists again and flexing her hands, hopping on her heels like a kick boxer. Her purple eyes distractedly searched the empty field of small hills for any sign of her teacher, whether it was a blip of his chakra or his physical being. She wasn't even sure how he could hide his presence from her at all, not when she had her sensory abilities amplified by the Kyuubi sealed in her gut. She murmured under her breath. "Where…are you, Uncle…?"
"You sound like that's a bad thing." Minato laughed with a small smile, his expression was easy despite the battles being waged around him. "I'm curious…is it true that your coward Leader is scared the war would break his country? That's why he's hiding and not helping in the war effort?"
"Nah, he's just not into picking sides, so he made his own side." Kushina answered, forcing her gaze back on the blonde across from her. "I'm sorry; you said something about him being a coward? I wasn't paying attention."
"The…Ghost…" Minato spat, his lips shaking and struggling not to frown too deeply. "Isn't as strong as he was back in the Second War, admit it."
Kushina scoffed and lowered her face, peering up at the Leaf ninja through her bangs. Her purple eyes rippled and shone from the darkness and her smirk widened to show her sharp canines. "If you're trying to piss me off…it's not working."
The man hummed pleasantly. "I beg to differ."
"Oh this?" she motioned to her dark, malicious face. "This is my sleepy face. I want to get this fight over with and go and for a nap. So…" She motioned for the man to come. "Can we get this over with?"
"Whatever the lady wants."
Minato lowered himself into his fighting style of choice, Hummingbird fist, and Kushina stayed in the simple kickboxing stance.
Someplace nearby, close enough to clearly see the fighting and yet remained undetected, Naruto tapped his chin in thought.
Authors note
I wanted to add a side story at the end of this chapter but I decided not to.
I'll end this it like this.
Leave a review, would you so kindly. Please stay safe, all of you. I'll see you when I see you.
Foy.