Sorry for the wait, was a little down lately because I was deciding if I should delete and rewrite a story on another profile of mine.

Despite that I hope you enjoy!


Ghosts of the Past

Chapter 5: Bone


Orochimaru was a man of high curiosity, but of low morality. He wanted all the secrets of the world. No, not because he was totally greedy, but because he was scared of the world, scared of the unknown. I believe this stemmed from his childhood, when he lost his parents, not knowing what to do next. Not wanting the same fate, not knowing when death will take him, he seeked out immortality in fear of the unknown.


Sakura —

"It is a tough decision." Danzo said, leaning back into his chair and watching her with a hard, brittle, coal eye. "You won't become an actual Anbu member for several years, but you will be trained extensively for the job." He paused, letting her think. "This is an honor, but, I don't know how to respond." Danzo nodded, then his shoulders lifted in a way that looked like a shrug, but wasn't. "I understand, but that doesn't matter. You don't have a choice." Sakura made a confused face, then her heart dropped. He stood from his desk and started to walk around it.

Suddenly, something strange happened. Dozens of seals glowed on the walls, each spaced out a foot apart. They glowed blue with horizontal pillars of light shooting from their design. Then, the designs ran up and down the walls, sliding across the ceiling and floor like cracks, connecting with the design of the seals on the other side of the room in the middle of the ceiling and floor.

The outside world became silent. A sullen wind that had made a low howl; the shaking of the trees and their leaves rubbing together; a stray shutter opening and closing from the wind with a creaky hinge. All of them strangely silent...

"What's going on?" Danzo stood in front of her now, only two feet away. His expression remained calm, yet the proximity and her fear made her step back. She was stopped by a chest of muscle. Hands grabbed her arms and forcefully made her stand still. She molded her chakra and her muscles tensed. She gritted her teeth at the same time, her eyes narrow. She was prepared to beat the shit out of the demon masked Anbu, but from the Anbu's hands sprouted more black seals. The seals ran up and down and around her arms like ink snakes.

She couldn't move anymore, the seals had paralyzed her.

"Lucky you, Haruno. You get to test out a new seal that I made." Danzo pulled out a brush and inkwell. "Do you think you can get away with this?" She growled, fist slowly clenching, her will fighting the seals suppression. "Of course I can." He pulled the cork out and dipped the brush into the ink. "You won't get to talk." He looked thoughtful for a second.

"I wonder where I should put it?" He said, holding the brush over the inkwell, droplets falling back into the pool of ink. His eyes ran over her body, inspecting it. You couldn't use an analogy to describe how he looked at her. That was how little he thought of her, "How 'bout here?" The demon masked Anbu put a fingertip to her chest, right between her breast. It was way too close for comfort.

Her eyes widened in panic and fear. "No…" She said quietly, shocked and appalled at what was happening. "No, no, no." The Anbu grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled, "NO!" The fabric ripped down to her navel and fell off her shoulders to her elbows. "Stop it! NO! NO! NO!" She tried to fight the confines of the seal, yet it did not budge, just a heavy weight against her skin. Tears fell down her cheeks and if she wasn't frozen, then she would've fell to her knees to curl up and cover herself.

Yet she stood, wide eyed and crying.

Danzo put the brush against her skin, droplets falling onto the floor at the motion. She closed her eyes, sobbing. The ink was cold, but infused with chakra, making her skin tingle from the effects. The brush slid across the middle of her chest right before cleavage. The seal was small, but two brushes to the sides made the seal look like it had wings that wrapped slightly over the top of her breasts."I should explain to you what's happening right now." The Anbu whispered into her ear, too close. "This little seal will control you. You will be under Danzo's control and not even know it. You won't even remember anything."

The brush left her skin, and the place where the ink now sat was burning. "My Kotoamatsukami will not be ready for a year, so we will have to do things this way." Danzo put the ink brush into the inkwell and turned around and put the two items on his desk. "It's a shame I couldn't do the jutsu on Naruto or Sasuke. I had to waste it on the foolish Daimyo." He shook his head as he turned around. "Ah, well. You will be perfect for what I intend. Now, don't worry, it's only temporary. You should feel honored to be the first one this is used on. It really is a pity that Sasuke or Naruto had to be killed before I made this seal."

Those word felt like a stab in the gut. Her legs shook, her lip trembled. "You're lying!" She screamed, anger and fury filling her. "Am I?" Danzo formed the ram seal, face still blank. She was unable to fully understand if Naruto and Sasuke were dead because Sakura's eyes widened when foreign chakra serged through her coils, all the way up to her head. The chakra forced itself through hers and caused a blinding pain. She screamed. The pain surged from her chest, up her neck, and to her head. The pain became numbing. And, finally, everything went black.


Naruto —

Two years later —

He reached out to touch the fragment of his chakra. It was quite easy if you had sensory abilities, but it was hard to complete the rest of the process. See, your chakra is a part of you, no matter where it is. It's unique to you —it's a soul, if you want to get spiritual. So, all you had to do was reach out and find it. You didn't have to attach the fragment to the main pool by a string of chakra, all you had to do was activate that little piece of your chakra and Voila!

Well, it wasn't that simple when you had to work with space-time. Space-time is a complicated thing, and the complexity of the seal you had to use to work it was even more complicated. You had to appreciate the genius of the Nidaime and even more so to the Yondaime for improving and perfecting the workings of the Hiraishin no Jutsu.

So, Naruto sat on his bed, staring intently at the kunai imbedded in the wall over his door. A tag with the seal on it was hanging from some ninja wire from the ring on the kunai's pommel. The tag spun slowly, seemingly unaffected by his proddings.

He was so close, just on the edge of pushing through. Basically, this was what the Hiraishin did: Create an arificial dimension that was separate from the actual world that only lasted a split second. What you then did was create a gateway between you and your fragmented chakra and jump through. The property of the seal created a split second timeframe within the dimension that speed you up when you jumped through it. You were spit out the other side, and you pretty much teleported!

Fascinating, really.

It was a very conscious thought to be manipulating his chakra through the seal right now, but eventually he hoped to be able to just do it instantly. It seems easy when explained, but it really isn't. The seal provided the framework, but the amount of chakra you used and the control you held over it was another important factor. Too much chakra and too little control, nope. Too little chakra and too much control, nope. Too little of both? Too much of both? Nope and nope. You had to find the right amount, have the control and timing down, else it didn't work.

It was a pain in the ass.

He had been training in secret for the past few months. Since he wasn't able to use his clone training trick, he had to do it himself. Which was boring and hard, but he couldn't really complain.

A knock on the door broke his concentration. He sighed and dipped his head. Why does it have to be so hard? Another knock. Yeah, yeah. He put his bare feet against the cold stone floor. He padded his way over to the door, then put his hand onto the doorknob and made a annoyed face. He turned the knob and started talking. "What do— " When the door was only slightly open, white spikes split the wood of the door and tried to impel him. He yelled and jumped away from the door as the white spikes became even bigger. They chased him in his backward retreat. "Oh, shit! Oh, shit! Oh— Ow!" He tripped over the side of his bed and fell onto it. Since the bed was against the wall, he hit the back of his head against the rocky wall. Luckily, the white spikes stabbed the wall.

Getting to look at the white spikes closely, he recognized them as bone. He gritted his teeth, chest heaving in breaths of air through his nose. There was only one person capable of doing this. "What the fuck!" He yelled as he slid over the edge of the bed and onto his knees, looking at his bone filled door. An audible crack sounded out from behind the door. A bone breaking. Starting at the door, cracks formed on the bone, shooting toward the ends stabbed into the wall. Tiny bone fragments fell from the spikes, hitting the ground like snow. Then, in a single breath, all of the spikes collapsed into little white bone fragments.

Naruto shook some from his hair, glaring at the door and whose face he could see through one of the holes. Suddenly, the door flew off it's hinges, flying across the door in a rather acrobatic way. Naruto's eyes widened as the door headed right for him. "Crap!" He jumped to the right just in time. The door hit his bed, breaking both and sending shards of wood all over the place. Naruto stood slowly, letting the dust clear.

Standing in his doorway was Kimimaro. But, something was wrong. He was too pale and blood covered his chest, shirt, chin, and the very edges of his sleeve. His shoulders slumped, his mouth was opened in a pant, a thick sheen of sweat covered his whole body. "See, Uzumaki. Even sick I could kill you." Kimimaro said, taking a step, but then putting one hand on the doorframe and the other over his mouth.

Kimimaro fell into a coughing fit, the sound coming from his chest was weezy and full of blockage. Blood flowed through his fingers and into a deep crimson pool on the floor. He slumped like he was going to collapse, but then his back straightened like a post. "I won't allow you to kill Orochimaru!" He yelled, holding out his bloodied hand, the sleeve of his shirt moving like snakes in a bag. From the sleeve came more tendrils of bones, each firing right at Naruto. Naruto jumped out of the way and across the other side of the room. He grabbed his chokuto and jumped again, away from some branching bone.

Naruto charged Kimimaro, unsheathing his sword by swinging it and sending the scabbard flying from the naked blade. Kimimaro held up his other hand and more bones shot from that sleeve. The columns of bones came from front and behind, but he merely charged. Both separate columns sprouted more and more tendrils of bone, each diverging onto their target. Well ain't this some shit!

Now, Naruto is one of those people with that so called 'grace under pressure'. He usually does the impossible when no one thinks he can even do the possible. Don't get it wrong, what he did to get out of this situation was not some feat of impossibility, but one of extreme luck. How he achieved it was with something that confused even him. He had had this feeling before in those high stress situations. The perfect clarity, the understanding and perfect knowing as to how something should be done. In theses moments, it was like everything shifted into their snug and perfect places.

He took control of his fragmented chakra, and before he knew it, a second dimension of a split-second sucked him into itself and spit him out of the other end. It felt like going through a snake's mouth and coming out its ass. Which he had come close to doing during the chunin exams. Going through the dimension did not feel suffocating or crushing, but...snug. Not to be cliche, but like a glove — or a perfect pair of shoes or maybe even some tight underwear if you wanted to get creative.

Either way, he appeared on the wall, immediately latching himself to the wall diagonally with his chakra. Just in time too. The bones crashed together in a sickening grating sound when they intertwined like a nest of snakes. Naruto sighed in his crouched position, wiping his forehead of sweat. His other hand held his sword, and it looked like he was placing the blade flat on the wall by the position he was in.

"That was new, Uzumaki." Kimimaro said, looking up at him from underneath the door frame. "Well, I probably wouldn't be here if I wasn't a little spontaneous." Naruto smiled at the withering look Kimimaro gave him. Kimimaro dropped his head, and broke the bones that sprouted from his arms, the tendrils breaking into shards. "Do you want to know how I know about you wanting to kill Orochimaru?" He stepped into the room a few steps, back turned.

"I know— " Suddenly he fell into another coughing fit, bending over and openly vomiting a large pool of blood. Kimimaro panted and gasped for breath and Naruto felt a little bad. He had had to act mean to all the people here, because he wanted them to fear him so they wouldn't question his motives. Obviously, this hadn't worked with Kimimaro.

"I know...because you…." Kimimaro panted, his blood filled lungs making it hard for him to speak. He wheezed, a blood droplet falling from his lip and joining the rest of the crimson blood on the floor. He stood and turned around. Lips, chin, and teeth red and wet. "You came here thinking you're sneaky, trying to seem like you're on Orochimaru-sama's side. But I see deceit in your eyes, even if Orochimaru-sama doesn't!" Another droplet fell from his chin as he glared.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. No, he shouldn't feel bad for him. "Really?" Naruto said darkly, feinting anger at the accusation. However, inside he was filled with anxiety. Had he told anyone else about his thoughts? Naruto shook his head, That doesn't matter now. He's trying to kill me before he dies.

Maybe they'll think he's trying to validate his worth by proving he is strong and capable, even sick.

Naruto plucked the Hiraishin kunai from the wall and put the hilt between his teeth. He put his chokuto into a two handed grip, grinning around the kunai. "Com' 'nd get ith. " He said around the kunai, pumping chakra to his feet and launching himself from the wall. Kimimaro was quick to act, a bone sprouting from his shoulder. He grabbed the bone and pulled it out, blocking Naruto's sword in a forceful parry.

Both blades slid downward and Naruto crouched low, using his momentum to fall quicker. Kimimaro pulled his bone sword over his head, the bone having grinded against Naruto's sword as he pulled back up. Still gripping both hands on the hilt, the blade close to his body, Naruto swung his sword up and back at Kimimaro's returning slash. Both blades hit, Naruto's sword notching itself into the bone.

Naruto let go of his sword and put both hands on the ground, spinning and sweeping Kimimaro off his feet. Kimimaro fell and lost his sword and the one latched to it. As Kimimaro was falling, Naruto shot up from his position on the ground. He grabbed his sword hilt and pried the bone sword off the edge. He spun the hilt of his chokuto in the palm of his hand, putting it in a reverse grip. He stabbed downward at the fallen Kimimaro's chest, but Kimimaro beat him to an attack.

Naruto was put face first into the ground by a kick to the ankle. He dropped both swords and the Hiraishin kunai fell out next to him. Kimimaro grabbed his sword and rolled away, turning back around to face Naruto. Naruto pushed off the ground — grabbing the Hiraishin kunai and pocketing it — with one hand. He rubbed his forehead. "Do you think i'm that easy?" Kimimaro glared. "Well, I might've thought this was a dream with all the emotions you've been showing, but…" He removed his hand away from his forehead and showed his bloody palm. "I would like to think I would have woken up at this point."

Kimimaro narrowed his eyes, then spit blood onto the floor. The seal on his chest then swirled, spread, and started to cover his body. After the black ink came a color that changed the pale color of his skin to a heavy brown. He became demonic looking. For god's sake he even had a tail! The bone blade he had sharpened and hardened, becoming like an actual sword. Bones sprouted out all over his body along with the changes of the Cursed Seal.

"Well, I can't say you've looked better." Naruto remarked as he swept down and picked up his chokuto. He held it loosely, so that the tip tilted downward toward the ground. His expression turned grim. He sighed and closed his eyes. He pumped his chakra into the air, attaching it to the air all around. It was a new technique, one that had been inspired by Gaara. But, instead of sand, he used wind.

Kimimaro jumped toward him in one solid leap. Naruto opened his eyes as he got closer. He smirked. Kimimaro was pushed to the ground onto his knees, only covering half the distance. The air shifted noticeably, turning heavy with chakra and movement. Yet the wind moved sharp and quick despite its seeming weight, cutting up Kimimaro all over. Kimimaro screamed as multiple lacerations were cut all over his body by the invisible blades of wind.

Blood splattered all over the walls and floor with a horrid splat. Kimimaro continued to kneel on the ground, panting and groaning, wounds visibly closing, bones regrowing. "I don't have enough control to cut very deep yet." Naruto said calmly. "You should feel lucky, I haven't used this technique on anyone." He moved the wind, sending a large amount of wind blades at the downed Kimimaro.

More cuts filled his body. More blood was splattered onto the wall and ground by the force of the wind. Kimimaro screamed as the barrage continued. Then, Naruto stopped the wind, letting him fall to the floor in his own pool of blood. He laid there, doing nothing. He coughed, more blood flooding from his mouth and down into the large blood pool below.

Naruto sighed, running his free hand through his hair. Naruto turned toward the door, preparing to explain what had happened. He could feel chakra signals coming toward this location. "Don't...think you can…*cough*...win with just that." Naruto turned back around as Kimimaro pushed himself up with one shaky arm. His head shot up and a menacing look was in his eyes. His other arm was planted into the ground. Kimimaro smirked.

"Sawarabi no Mai!"

Naruto took a step back as the world shook. He looked around as the room cracked and broke apart into chunks. He looked down and lifted his foot when a large, tree sized bone started to shoot from the ground. He slid away, dodging more as he slid his body across the ground. Kimimaro laughed hysterically, blood falling out of his mouth as his laugh wheezed from his lungs.

I have to escape!

He shot off the ground with a burst of chakra, simultaneously forming a Rasengan in his hand. He outstretched his hand toward the ceiling and closed his eyes.

"Rasengan!"

Thousands of white spikes shot out of the ground.


Sakura —

She stood looking at the Konoha memorial stone. New etchings having been done just hours before. She did not know them, but she grieved all the same. She did not cry. She had long ago forced herself not to. She made herself strong. And in doing so, it felt like a piece of her was dead. "You're back here again." The familiar voice of Kakashi Hatake said as he walked up next to her, hands in his pockets. "Be careful, you might become me." Kakashi joked, but you could tell it was humorless.

Sakura smiled, "So, i'm guessing you being back is a bad thing." He was supposed to be out in the field for another month. Kakashi sighed and ran a hand through that gravity defiant hair of his. "Yes, Suna surrendered. Well, some of it did. The Kazekage has gone into hiding and the Wind Daimyo has been killed. I have no doubt Gaara will still fight."

A silence passed and they said nothing, merely staring at the memorial stone. "Do you think they will come back?" She asked into the silence, so quietly that it was likely the wind might take it away. "I don't know." Kakashi replied, equally quiet. "I thought I understood them well enough, but what they did proved me wrong." Kakashi chuckled bitterly. "Hell, I thought I had simple, goofy Naruto all written out in a neat two page pamphlet. Sasuke was much more complicated than Naruto, but underneath he was actually quite easy to figure out."

Sakura smiled as memories of her teammates came to mind. The ache in her chest had become bearable, but it was still heavy and violent. You don't get over loss, you just learn to live with it. "Do you think they've changed?" She asked, a bitter-sweet smile turning the corners of her lips. "Hmmm, that's a good question." Kakashi turned and gave her an eye smile. "Next time you meet them, make sure to get a good long impression of them. Hell, who knows, you just might begin to understand them more than I ever did."

Sakura laughed lightly and Kakashi chuckled.

After a few second of silence, Kakashi laid a hand on her shoulder. "How are the blackouts?" He asked, grey eye colored with concern. She shook her head, "they've become more frequent and the amount of time forgotten is becoming longer." Before, it was a few hours, then a few days. Now, weeks. Once even a month. She was in a mess of panic, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Have you asked other people about what you did during those times." She nodded quickly, eyes wide with frustration. "Multiple times. They all say the same thing: 'I didn't see you then' or 'You simply disappeared' or something on those lines." She was shaking with frustration and he just watched. "Have you talked to Tsunade?" Sakura shook her head, obviously not liking the idea. "She would dot on me like a worried sick mother. Besides, I don't want her to be even more stressed out than she already is."

Kakashi nodded, disapproving her reasoning, but accepting it anyway. "Well, maybe I should watch over you for a while?" He suggested, squeezing her shoulder comfortingly. She thought about it for a few seconds, but then she shook her head. "No, sensei, I can't do that to you." Sometimes, she would go to sleep and then wake up again a few days later, seemingly disappearing, according to her parents. They had been worried the first time asked about it, but —realizing her mistake— she told them she was called out on important missions quite spontaneously. Being civilians, they accepted the explanation.

Other people weren't that easy. Tsunade kept a very close watch on her and would always note her skipping lessons —knowing that Sakura wasn't one to skip out on important things. Sakura came up with a lot of excuses, and they were accepted, but not believed. So, these random blackouts had a serious effect on her life.

Kakashi watched her for a single moment, but then nodded his head, dropping his hand. "Okay, just let me know if you need anything." Said Kakashi in his nonchalant and almost dismissive tone. But she knew he was worried. Sakura smiled, knowing her sensei better than he thought she did. Your pamphlet may not be two paged, but I understand you, sensei.


Naruto —

Naruto sat on the branch of a tree, chest heaving greedily. A field of bones had sprouted all around him, cutting and wrapping around trees. Naruto gulped as he looked around the forest of tree and bone. Turning his head, he saw something that caught his eye. My bag! He pushed up onto his feet and ran up the side of the tree and jumped onto the tip of a bone spike, bounding off the tips until he was at his bag. He attached himself to the side of the bone and gingerly pulled his bag up the bone.

The spike had gone through the bag, but after some frantic searching, Naruto was relieved when he found what he was looking for was intact. Sasuke's eyes and his parents scroll. The rest of his stuff had fallen out, but he was only interested in the safety of these two items.

After safely tucking them away, he looked around, trying to find a suitable place to jump down to. The whole place was covered, not a single spot of dirt or grass could be seen. Sensing chakra signatures gathering around the bone field, he decided to make his own space. Forming a Rasengan in one hand and putting his other hand flat on the bone, he pushed off the bone into the air with his charka.

He went several yards above the bone, getting a glimpse of the hundred yards of bone that went in all directions. He moved his body so he was upside down, falling straight toward the sharp tip of the bone spike he had boosted off of. The bone crumbed easily against the power of his attack, being worn away to the very base. Naruto now stood on the flat base of the bone, surrounded by bones. This probably wasn't a good idea.

He formed another Rasengan, ready to make his little area larger. But behind him he sensed chakra. Spinning on his foot, he shoved the Rasengan into Kimimaro's gut. The sphere tore away flesh and bone. Naruto met the bone user's eyes. Kimimaro screamed and spit up blood as the Rasengan twisted through him and blew out his back and the spike that he had grown out of.

Naruto stepped back and placed his back to the spike behind him, looking at Kimimaro and what remained of his spike. The entire top part of Kimimaro's spike had been blown away, creating fragments that floated down onto them like snow. The only part of the spike that remained was the part that Kimimaro had grown out of.

Kimimaro vomited blood, coughing and wheezing. Naruto panted, just watching. Kimimaro slumped like a useless marionette, silent. Silence was all that was left of their battle. Naruto watched for a few seconds, but then decided that he really was dead. He slid down the bone and sat, sighing.

But, suddenly, Kimimaro started to chuckle. "Heheheh!" He shot up, arms wide and smile crazy, "I've got you now, Uzumaki!" Naruto was about to move, but then suddenly sharp bones shot from the spike behind him and through his shoulders, curling and re-entering through his chest. He screamed, blood soaking his shirt. "Ahhhhhhhhh!"

From Kimimaro's palm formed a long bone, sharp and menacing. Kimimaro stepped from the spike —his body reforming to normal— stumbling, but shooting up straight after coughing. The wicked smile on Kimimaro's face was quite disturbing along with his laughter. "Ahahahahaha!" Slowly, Kimimaro took painful shuffling steps toward him. The pain in his shoulders and chest was making him faint. He forced himself to stay awake. So, he gritted his teeth and released his chakra, spreading it into the air.

Kimimaro lifted his blade over his head, "You...lose!" The blade came down in a slash, the wind shifted, and Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs. "Ahhhhh!"

Then all was silence and blackness.


I changed the time Danzo's Kotoamatsukami recharges because I figured it would be dumb (and a plot hole) if he could've just used it on Naruto and Sasuke instead of killing them. Also, I wouldn't have the start to the plot.

Kimimaro didn't really figure out that Naruto wanted to kill Orochimaru. Why he wanted to will be explained in the next chapter.

That's about it for now.

I hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to review!