Chapter 4

She woke in tremendous pain. It radiated throughout her body and permeated her very core. Her chakra was still out of whack and she couldn't mold any of it properly. Not that she had much left anyways.

She was dying.

She had to get to Naruto before she died. She had to tell him.

She opened her eyes, "Na-" she tried to get out before her haggard voice caught. She looked around and saw that they were in a wooden room. She was lying on a white bed, with the faint beeping of an EKG machine. So she was in a hospital, good. Any amount of time that prolonged her life was more information departed on Naruto. Speaking of which, she saw no sign of her son anywhere. She had briefly hoped that he would be passed out next to her so she could have a chat before her time was up.

She fished around her for the call button used to summon the nurse. Once depressed, she waited for the inevitable entrance of someone who she could ask where her son was. While waiting, she decided to get a better feel for what kind of injuries she had sustained. Using structural grasp on herself was always a weird affair. She never figured out how to categorize seeing and feeling her own insides as if they were out on display. Kind of made her feel like a lab frog that was splayed open in a medical laboratory. She closed her eyes and immediately pictured the wire-frame of her body's skin. She delved deeper into her body, checking her Musculatory system; something was wrong. There were heavy metals that shouldn't be in there. It was starting to destroy her muscle cells. For now it was centralized in her left arm and shoulder, it was making its way into her chest cavity already, but it wouldn't be long before it hit her spine and sent her into crippling pain. Already her left arm was numb and immobile. She wouldn't last, she'd be dead by sundown tomorrow.

The door to her room opened and an elderly man with frizzy, white hair and coat walked in. His face was set with a few wrinkles here and there, but he seemed to be in his late forties. "Hello, Mrs. Shima, my name is Doctor Noguchi, how are you feeling?" A fake name? She could roll with that.

"Like I was just poisoned by an asshole in a cape."

"Well, yes; actually you were. We found quite the sufficient quantity of unknown elements in your bloodstream; sufficient enough to where we are trying to work on an antidote." at this he paused and shifted, "I've never really seen a poison this complex, and while we have every assurance that our Poisons Staff is working as hard as they can with it, it is something they've never seen before."

"Oh? And just who is your Poisons Staff?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well that would be me and my colleague...and his assistant. But rest assured, we're working round the clock to find a cure and make you an antidote. I hope you don't mind, but we took a sample of your blood to help in the matter. Since you were unconscious the whole time, your son told us it was okay to do so."

"Ah, okay. Where is my son?"

"I sent him away to go get something to eat. You haven't been in here long, only about 6 hours or so, but he said he hadn't eaten all day."

"That's good."

"Quite."

"Now there are things to be done." she said gathering his full attention once more, "Firstly, I need a pen and some paper, (good thing she was right handed) secondly, I would like some food as well, no use going out on an empty stomach, and thirdly I would like for you to send your assistant out to find my son. I need him here as soon as possible. I won't be lucid for much longer, and I would like to speak to him before I am crippled with pain."

"Now look Mrs. Shima, We may not be as fancy as the Konoha Hospital, but we are still very good. I'm sure you have nothing to worry about."

"I am sure that by now, you've figured out that I am a ninja. I've been poisoned by the famous Sasori of the Red Sands, the very man who destroyed the Land of This. His poisons are said to kill in three days. In my already weakened condition, I won't last even half that. I need to talk to my son before I'm gone." her icy eyes bore into his and sent him back a step. She didn't really mean to send a small amount of Killing Intent into her speech, but she was under a bit of pressure, so she would forgive herself for doing that.

The doctor sighed, "Fine I'll have my assistant fetch him for you."

"Thank you. The pen and paper were just redundant, so if you can find my son quickly then I won't really have the need for them. I expect I only have about two to three hours left, so..."

"That won't be a problem, my assistant sent to a cafe just down the street, so we should have him here in just a few moments."

"Thank you. Once my son gets here I would like some privacy, please. I'll send my son out when I am ready for you."

"Very well."

She sighed and looked out of the window at the foggy village. She hoped he got here soon. Time was of the essence.

Naruto sat on a bench in the backyard of the doctor's house; the same one that served as his clinic. His food was most likely cold, with it being abandoned in the room where his mother had recently died. He wasn't really hungry anymore anyways. His mind was awhirl of the things he and his mother had discussed. So many things clicking into place.

So he decided to spend the evening in nature. He looked into the garden, listening to the hypnotic thrum of the cicadas and the steady beat of the Shishi Odoshi. In a way it seemed indicative of how the cycle of life was. Inevitably, one must return to the Earth. For Uzumaki it was different. One did not bury swords into the ground when they were of no more use. Swords were melted down in fire, re-purposed to something else. So it was with his family for generations, so shall it be with his mother; so shall it be with him.

He needed a few minutes to compose himself and think of his next move.

Firstly, he needed to destroy this place and all of its data. Secondly, taking care of the staff was an option too. He didn't want to go down that road, but the risk of potential damage that could be wrought with information about how his mother's body worked was too high for him to just ignore. Thirdly, disposing of his mother's body. Beyond that, he hadn't really figured out, he was at a crossroads.

With at least somewhat of a basic plan in mind he stood up and prepared himself for what he had to do. He turned around and made his way into the small building and sought out his mother's room. He opened the door and scanned the room. The first thing he noticed was the doctor with a syringe in his mother's arm. His eyes stayed locked onto the syringe and he knew what he had to do, as much as he hated it.

When the doctor noticed his appearance, his expression softened. "Look, son. I know that you've had a rough time today, but there are things we need to discuss." he moved around the bed to Naruto's side and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Yes. There are." Naruto monotonously responded. Naruto moved his eyes from his mother to the doctor's eyes and locked on.

The man recoiled away from him as if struck. He took an involuntary step backwards and crossed his arm across his body as if to ward off an attack. "Wh-What?" Realization dawned on him as he had an idea on what Naruto was about to do. "No! It was the poison. There was nothing we could do in this short amount of time! Please don't kill me!"

"Relax." Naruto said, "I'm not going to kill you."

"R-really?" the man didn't look convinced.

"Yes, but I'm taking my mother out of here. I am also going to need to see what progress you've made on creating an antidote for this poison. There's a chance that the man might come back for me and I would like to be prepared."

The doctor seemed to be put at ease by this. "Well, we didn't get very far. That why I was taking a blood sample; to try to figure out how the dead cells were killed to try to look at it from another angle. That's what I wanted to talk to you about." Naruto raised an eyebrow "I'd like your permission to perform an autopsy. It would give us the best insight on how it affected her cells. If we can figure that out we could very well be on the verge of a cure."

"No."

"What?" the doctor looked at Naruto. "You stupid little child, do you have any idea what we could learn from your mother's corpse? I'm trying to make a name of myself and rid the world of any kind of poison. I will not let you stand in my way." the man's face turned downright murderous as he made to swing at Naruto. His fist met air as Naruto leaned out of the way and skipped backwards into the hallway with the doctor following.

"Poisons, eh?" Naruto's steely gaze pierced the doctor and froze him in place. "Very well then. I'll give you a poison to study."

"There are seven steps to the proper tracing of an object:

Judging the concept of creation

Hypothesizing the basic structure

Duplicating the composition material

Imitating the skill of its making

Sympathizing with the experience of its growth

Reproducing the accumulated years

Excelling every manufacturing process

This is how I was taught Projection, and this is how you will learn to do it. Now, this not only allows you to project a copy of what we will upon the world, but it allows us to project a complete copy of what we will upon the world. The World does not like others' will being imposed upon it, so whatever we create, will eventually be reverted back." Naruto and his mother were sitting on the back porch of their house. Naruto absentmindedly fiddled in the dirt as he processed that information. "Remember what I told you about Structural Grasp?"

"Umm, how it allows me to see what something is made out of?"

"Yes. It allows you to see what anything is comprised of as if you were seeing a blueprint." His mother took a sip of the steaming tea she had sitting next to her and gestured with the cup, "Now, this has many uses; for one I know exactly what this cup is made out of. When I apply the seven steps..." she held up her left hand, and with a quick muttering of the incantation, there was a cup in her left hand.

"Wow!" Naruto's eyes grew wide. "It's just like the original!" he yelled as he jumped up and shot forward for a closer look.

"Not just like the original. For all intents and purposes it's exactly the same thing. I recreate the creation process, the composition materials, and even its exact history. When applied to the projecting of weapons, it becomes an invaluable skill. When I teach you to open the gate, you will understand.

His eyes focused back on the task at hand as he mentally shook off the memory. His hand moved to grasp the hilt of an unseen sword, "Trace On." In his hand was now a Black-handled Jian with a gleaming blade with a green tint and three symmetrical notches down the blade. The sword in total was over two and a half feet long. Its name was Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, the Grasscutter Sword, wielded by the god, Susano'o to slay the Yamata-no-Orochi, and in slaying the creature the sword gained its poisonous quality.

Without any further fuss, he stabbed the doctor in the stomach and pinned him to the wall. "You've forced my hand, Doctor Noguchi." he looked to his right down the hall, where the rest of the clinic lay. "I had hoped to resolve this without any bloodshed. But I cannot allow anyone access to the blood or bodies of my family. Therefore I must destroy this clinic and all its occupants." he looked back at the doctor. "For the greater good of mankind."

"N-no." the doctor gasped as the poison coursed through his system, rendering him incapable of movement or speech.

One down, three left. Naruto walked down the hall and opened the first doorway to his right. He looked inside and saw nothing but another empty exam room. Continuing on he opened another three doors until he came to a room with two people inside, one older man and lady dressed in lab coats. They were facing away from him, hunched over microscopes muttering softly back and forth. Two more innocents, sacrificed to save countless more.

He hesitated for a moment. Did he really need to kill these people? Perhaps he could reason with them. Granted, it isn't likely that they'll listen to him seeing as how he's only ten years old, but there's always a chance, right? No, there's no way he could take that chance.

He formed a kunai in each hand, and whispering a quick "forgive me" he stabbed each of them at the base of the neck, killing them both instantly. Three down, one left.

He left the room, searching for the last worker of the clinic, doctor Noguchi's assistant. He remembered her going back to the front desk when she brought him back from eating lunch. As he rounded the corner to the front door he saw her sitting there, reading a magazine. She hadn't even noticed his approach; probably for the best. He wanted to make it as painless as possible. He opened a small gate, the golden tear appearing on his right shoulder with the point of a blade sticking out. "Trace. Bullet, Fire." the kunai launched, hitting the girl in her left temple, instantly killing her. Four down, none left.

Naruto made his way back to his mother's room, stepping over the dead body of the doctor that had fallen on the floor when he had dismissed the Kusanagi. He opened the door and made his way inside and sat down in the chair next to the bed.

Never had he felt so alone. He suddenly felt so small and everything else seemed so big, suddenly the room seemed darker and his world a little more gray. His mother had always been the map to guide him. Without her, he felt so insignificant against the world.

He stood on a small clearing, about fifty meters from the shoreline. It was a few miles from the town. He left the small clinic a smoldering ruin, and burned anything and everything of importance; the bodies of the workers, the the research, and all of the blood and data he could find. Nobody would be doing anything to his family on his watch.

So here he was, standing next to the funeral pyre that he built and set his mother upon. He couldn't help but reminisce about his life with his mother. Suddenly all he could think about was the tea she made for him. Her black tea was actually quite amazing...once you put enough sugar in it, that is. He couldn't help but chuckle and glance to the torch in his right hand that he lit. after a minute later he sighed and touched the torch to the wooden construct, start the flames licking at it.

He had to take a step back to avoid being burnt from the searing heat he felt on his face from standing a bit too close to the fire. By now his mother's body was completely engulfed in flames and he could no longer see any part of her. He mulled over her final words as he barely held back his tears.

"You must go to Wave country. Find the ruins of Uzushiogakure. Search for our clan grounds, and find the Workshop. There you will learn the secrets to our bloodline. You and only you must enter. Guard the workshop with your life. And if you decide to take the materials and create your own workshop somewhere, you must destroy any who would seek to soil its grounds. You're all that is left of our clan that is free." her face screwed up in pain as she barely held consciousness. "Save her. Save your sister."

He looked up to the rising column of smoke and turned around looking to the rising column of smoke from the town a few miles away. "Of course, mother. Of course." and with that he disappeared into the trees heading South-by-West towards Konoha.

She sat, perched upon the air conditioner condensing unit atop the roof of the building that served as the barracks for her unit. She was dressed in the standard outfit for an ANBU Black Ops Operator. She wore the black jumpsuit with the dark-gray flak jacket over it. She had a porcelain mask clipped onto her belt in the snarling visage of a bear. Her red hair spilled over hear shoulders reaching her shoulderblades, and piercing blue eyes scanned for any threats. She had black elbow-length gloves with metal arm guards on top of them, and black sandals with spikes for traveling in mountainous regions. She idly wondered what the mountainous regions looked like. She had heard of them, but to her dissatisfaction, she was not authorized to leave the village due to her nature.

She looked out over the town she was sworn to protect. She wondered what it must be like to lead a normal civilian life. Never having to worry about dieing on a mission or having any of her comrade die, she envied them slightly. Only slightly, because she had taken upon herself the mantle that she would never thrust upon any else. Her life was forfeit as soon as she had been drafted into the Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai. She had been in it ever since she could remember. She just turned seven a few months ago and was already two years into her training.

This was probably the reason she wasn't allowed outside the village. She was special. She was different than all the others. She lifted her hand, palm up and stared at it, cocking the trigger in her soul and releasing it. A small, golden chain appeared from her hand and raised about a foot into the air.

She dismissed it and continued flowing her chakra throughout her body, strengthening it and increasing the rate of flow in which she could manage. She continued until the pain became too unbearable. She gasped for air as the pain subsided and took another look out into the village as the moon reached ever higher into the night.

Until she was called upon to serve and die for her village, she would train. Whatever it took to save her country, she would do; it was her duty. But for now, she would continue with her exercises, doing what she could with what little information she had on her bloodline.

She would be ready.

okay, so a bit short i realize, but it starts to explain a bit of what's going on and a bit of how i'm adopting the magic to the naruto universe. I'm not going to just blatantly put everything out there in the open. I'm going to make it hidden and of course drop hints every now and then to get the blood flowing to your brain to make you think and work to understand whats going on.

Thank you to everyone who is reviewing. Every time i see one of those it just makes me open it up and write a little more. Keep reviewing please. I love to hear what you guys think of my story, and your thought on what you think is going on and ho i could make it better. Also if you see any glaring deficiences, please let me know via pm or review. and i'll make the edits.

Until next time!