Forgotten
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Naruto (Shippuden). This is a story inspired by the original made up for entertainment purposes only. - Krystal
Chapter 78: The Real Yuki
Naruto's lids turned orange indicating he was in his Sage Mode. As soon as he began to form his Rasengan, Yuki placed her hand on his shoulder and the two of them teleported to Obito's back. It was a direct hit to his back. Naruto moved away as Yuki was going to deliver a second blow from her position. The heavy ice not only caused a burn on his back, but made the crash onto the ground even stronger. Yuki and Naruto landed lightly next to the others. Obito had a hard time removing the ice from his back that held him down.
"We have time for one more round?" Naruto asked Yuki.
She nodded. However, they were wrong once again. A tree grew from where Obito had landed. Four flowers bloomed and began forming chakra bombs. Obito then created a barrier locking every single shinobi from the Alliance inside.
"Even if each of us took one, it would only half the damage." Minato said to Tobirama.
"I can take another one with me." Yuki said.
"What did we say about teleporting the bombs? We will recover from the explosion as reincarnations, but you are made of flesh and blood." Tobirama told her.
"There has to be another way." Naruto said. "Can't we teleport everyone outside?"
"I can only teleport things or people if I'm physically touching them." Yuki told him.
"I can only teleport things if my chakra touches them." Minato said. "I would have to mark everyone… and we don't have that time right now."
Naruto's face lit up and told his dad to bump fist with him. He then looked at Yuki and she understood what he was planning. She walked over to Sasuke and held onto his wrist. Naruto now went into his Tailed Beast Mode.
"The world is about to end. Your efforts will be futile."
Naruto smiled as his eyes were gleaming with hope.
"Tomorrow is my birthday." He said. "This is the first time I'll get to celebrate it with my dad. I can't let the world end just yet."
Within seconds, the bombs exploded and they all witnessed it from the outside of the barrier. Naruto remembered that his chakra was given to everyone earlier. If he connected himself to his dad's chakra, then everyone was also connected to Minato. Everyone was once again saved by the son-father combo.
Pumped from the current situation, Naruto transformed into full Tailed Beast and asked Yuki to teleport him inside the barrier to fight Obito. Yuki looked at him for a second and asked him:
"Do you still have your Sage Mode on?"
"No, why?"
"Naruto… Did you already forget that only Senjutsu works against Obito?"
"AAAhhh… I did." He confessed.
He began scratching his head as to think about what to do. Kurama then spoke to him, explaining that he could now use his Sage Mode in conjunction with his Tailed Beast Mode as they were now in sync with each other. He relayed the message to Yuki to reassure her. She nodded and took Naruto inside the barrier. Minato followed them. Joining forces, Naruto and Minato entered full Tailed Beast Mode and formed their own chakra bomb infused with nature energy to take down Obito.
"I'll take both of you out once the attack lands." Yuki told them. "It won't be safe in here when this thing explodes."
Naruto gave her a thumbs up and a bright smile. Outside, everyone looked at them in awe. It was only a couple of years ago that Naruto was perceived as a good-for-nothing. He was the monster of the village. Now, he was the hero of Konohagakure and of the world. He was the pride of the Hidden Leaf Village. Until recently, Yuki was an unknown shinobi. She kept a low profile throughout her life and hid her face behind a mask. Now, there was nothing more recognizable on the battlefield than her long white hair.
As promised, the moment they made contact with Obito, Yuki took them both out of the barrier. The barrier was distorted from the impact of the chakra bomb against Obito. Smoke began rising to the sky. They stood outside to witness it all.
"Do you think we did it this time?" Naruto asked Yuki.
"I don't know… The barrier is still up." Yuki said. "It came from his chakra rods, right? It would have vanished if we took him down."
"Are you good for another round?"
Yuki nodded, but, in reality, she wasn't sure if she was still able to keep up. Moving them really drained her chakra. Tobirama walked over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"I'll help do it for the next round. You need to get some rest too, perhaps even enter into your Sage Mode again."
"I can still…" She started.
"You really are a stubborn one. What's the point of exhausting yourself non-stop like this? What if we need to fight for longer? What are you going to do then?" The Second Hokage started scolding her. "I think Hiruzen allowed you to do whatever you wanted for too long. He pampered you too much. He's always been too soft."
Yuki bit her lower lip. She knew he wasn't wrong about her stubbornness, but she couldn't accept his criticism of her grandfather. Besides, he didn't understand. She had to keep on fighting in such extreme manners to stop thinking about Neji. If she was occupied with fighting, she wouldn't have time to think about him. He had done it. He invaded her thoughts again. Her heart felt pain again. "It shouldn't." She told herself. "It's not the time to feel pain. If everyone died here, he would have died for no reason." Trying to compose herself once again, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes to begin gathering nature's energy. She just couldn't. She felt too unstable to be able to focus on simply gathering nature's energy. Then, she sensed a huge outburst of chakra. She opened her eyes despite not having entered the Sage Mode. Inside the barrier, Obito had undergone another transformation. Then, a scene of horror began in front of her eyes. An enormous tree started growing with a single rose appearing at its top. Meanwhile, on the ground, its roots began rampaging throughout the battlefield and taking hold of the Alliance's shinobis. As it grabbed hold of them, its chakra increased tremendously.
Pulling out her katana again, she began going across the battlefield cutting down the roots that attacked the Alliance. From afar, she could see that the First Hokage was trying to rejoin the Alliance, but was constantly stopped by Madara. With his Wood Style, they would have a chance of stopping the tree, but letting Madara enter the scene again was also not an option. They would have to do without Hashirama. On the other side, Naruto had been trapped by the tree. He was too close to the center when it all happened. She teleported herself to him and managed to cut down the root before it drained all his chakra. Minato grabbed hold of his son and teleported them away.
"Damn it…" Naruto said barely able to pronounce each word.
Yuki continued to help out as much as she could. She couldn't protect everyone at the same time. As she cut down one root, ten more would come at them. She felt so helpless. She kept tried keeping track of all her friends' chakra. She couldn't lose somebody else again. She would lose her mind if she did. The Second Hokage's words kept resonating in her head. "What am I going to do now? I'm also running out of chakra from running around like this…" Then her heart sank. She turned around so quickly that her neck could have snapped. She teleported herself quickly to Shikamaru. He was completely emaciated. As she arrived a root was about to attack Ino who was holding on to her teammate.
Yuki turned towards the root that were coming their way. She could sense them. She could sense every single tree roots. She closed her eyes. Her body started acting on its own. She put her hands together and opened her eyes. Things had changed around her. The roots that were attacking them came to a stop just in front of Yuki's eyes. From her feet grew a magnolia tree. Its branches began spreading throughout the battlefield blocking the roots from the God Tree from reaching the Alliance.
Everyone stopped to look at the spectacle. It was both beautiful and frightening. One person shouldn't be able to wield so much power. If they did, they became inhumane. Yuki no longer looked like the person they had known. She felt like a stranger. If it was scary for others to see her this way, it was even scarier to Yuki. She no longer knew who she was. She wasn't even sure if she was seeing the world through her own eyes. How was she able to use the Wood Style and to this extent? Even more so than that, what was that in her eyes? Her eyes were no longer grey or red. They were purple with distinctive rings within her iris. Her knees then hit the ground. The weakness represented through the act of kneeling made her feel like a human once again, but the strength of the magnolias blooming throughout the field made her unreal.
Madara had a smile across his face. He couldn't believe there was someone who had pure Rinnegans in this world. He began making his way towards her. Hashirama noticed that smile on his face and stopped him from approaching Yuki. If he wasn't mistaken, Madara had the intention of making Yuki use her eye prowess to revive him. He had mentioned how the plan was meant to be carried out by him and not Obito, but, for it to happen, he needed to be alive.
Although still confused about what had happened to herself, Yuki was now fighting against the God Tree by herself. She managed to stop it from moving forward towards the Alliance. She did not know how much longer she would be able to last, but she had to hold out. She was the only thing keeping it from harming the Alliance.
"You can try to stop it, but it is now too late. You are only delaying the God Tree's flower from blooming. It has enough chakra to cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi. When it happens, you will be able to meet all your friends and loved ones again." Obito told her. "If you don't fight it, you'll be kept alive and you will be able to see him again."
The tree began moving again. The roots grew wherever it could. Yuki's magnolias' branches stopped it every time. Her whole body was shaking trying to control the situation from getting worse. She could see all the bodies of those she did not save earlier. She hated the sight of decaying bodies. They had become nothing more than fertilizer for the evil tree. She couldn't allow for more to meet such fate.
Sakura arrived on the scene to try and save Shikamaru. She too couldn't let another one of her friends die. Her chakra was also depleted from trying to heal everyone through Katsuyu. She told the Katsuyu that was one her shoulder to care for Yuki. Yuki shook her head and said:
"You need the chakra to save Shikamaru. I can still manage. I will be alright."
She was breathing heavily as she said those words. "What a lie." She thought to herself. When did she become such a liar? It started when she decided to put on the ANBU mask and to hide herself from this world. Even now, out in the open, she kept up the habit of lying. She was always alright when she wasn't. She was always fighting when she wanted to give up. She always appeared strongest when she felt the weakest. She never cried when she wanted to most. Who was she? Was she ever even real?
End of Chapter 78
Thank you for reading another chapter.
I wanted to thank everyone again for the support. It is truly encouraging to know that you are still invested in the story.
I hope this was another enjoyable chapter.
xox
Krystal