Unlucky

Chapter 10

They had found her.

The Fourth Hokage, Uzumaki Kushina.

She had been Fu's hero for as long as she could remember. Of course she was. A Jinchuriki just like her, but so much more than that. She had earned the respect of her village and had become their leader. An entity so famous that even in her small village, Fu knew about her.

In a way, she represented everything it was that Fu wanted to someday have. So even before she had saved her life that fateful night, Fu had been obsessed with her. Seeing her now, walking out from the Hidden Waterfall Village, left Fu starstruck. No words came to mind and she stood frozen in place. Just because she was frozen though, didn't mean the other person who sought her so feverishly would be.

"Mom!" Naruto rocketed towards her, catching his mother in a tight hug. The display of affection was completely unbefitting a Shinobi, yet Fu couldn't help but find it endearing. To see a mother and son, both housing half a Biju, be capable of love made her feel like maybe even she had a chance someday.

At least it would have if the moment had lasted.

"What the hell are you doing here, you idiot son!?" Kushina hollered, bonking Naruto right overtop his blond head. He let out a yelp of pain, but quickly stifled anything further when he saw his mother's red hair flailing wildly behind her. "Do you have any idea what is at stake here? What do you think would happen if you got captured?" She continued.

"Me!?" He pointed at himself as if in disbelief before gesturing towards her. "What about you? We were worried about you, y'know!"

"We?" Kushina asked, not missing his slip of the tongue. Her eyes narrowed and she glanced away from him, her gaze coming to land on Fu now. There was a brief moment where it was obvious she had no idea who Fu was. Recognition dawned a moment later. "You've gotta be kidding me… my son dragged you into this too?"

"N-no." Fu finally found her voice, although it came out as more of a squawk than anything. She cleared her throat before trying again. "I just wanted to repay the favor. You saved my life." This was like a dream. She was talking to the Uzumaki Kushina right now. This would have been so cool, if she wasn't glaring at her.

"Honestly," Kushina huffed, apparently giving up for the time being. "What am I going to do with you kids?" She started to walk forward, taking notice of the two Zetsu that were next to Fu. "Are those two more of the Jinchuriki?" She asked. On top of the four that Kakashi and Gai had just brought out with them, this brought it to a total of six captured Biju for their side. It was very likely they had just changed the tide of war in one fell swoop.

"Sure are!" Naruto gloated, giving an enthusiastic peace sign. "Fu and I took care of them, easy-peasy!" She didn't remember it being quite that easy, but she didn't correct him either.

"Not bad," Kushina acknowledged, stopping next to Fu now. "How you holding up? I know this all must be a bit much for you." She could say that again. In under the span of a week, Fu had lost her home, and had been thrust into a war to defend the rest of the world. Now she could do it alongside her hero.

"I'm ready for anything." Fu pumped her fists, grinning up at Kushina. In the face of her childhood idol, there was no way she could be feeling down. Not even after everything that had happened.

"Thatta girl." Kushina chuckled, reaching up and placing a soft hand on her head, ruffling her mint-green hair. At that moment, Fu could have died and she would have no regrets.

"There's some major difference in treatment here." Naruto started to grumble, immediately zipping his mouth shut when his mother turned to glare at him. The fact they were allowed such a moment of tranquility was a miracle. All too soon, such things had to come to an end and they had to get down to business.

"Hokage-sama." Neji said, he and Shino standing side-by-side. He held the scroll forward that they had risked their lives to get this far. "From Lord Third, for your eyes only." She took it from his hands with a grunt of thanks, quickly unfurling it to read on the spot. There was no further talk about Naruto and Fu having come out here, as it couldn't be helped now anyways.

"…Is this serious?" Kushina asked after reading the note that Sarutobi Hiruzen had written for them. "That Uchiha Madara is the one behind this war?" It was certainly a hard pill to swallow. Madara was practically a legend the whole world over. If he was still alive, he would be well over a hundred years old.

"Yang seems to think so," Naruto said with a shrug. "You're welcome to ask Yin about it if you think he's wrong, y'know." As if to do just that, Kushina closed her eyes and began silently conversing with the dark side of Kurama sealed inside of her. After only a few moments of silence, she got the information she needed.

"Seems like this information is verifiable." She admitted. "If that's the case, this war might be further from over than I feared." She was looking over the unconscious forms of the six captured Zetsu Jinchuriki as she spoke. While it was true, this put a major wrinkle in the enemy's plans, if Madara was as strong as the legends suggested, then it might be just as easy for him to take them back.

"So what's our next move then?" Hatake Kakashi asked. He and Gai hadn't left Kushina's side for even a moment. Despite having fought four Jinchuriki at once, alongside their Hokage, they didn't look the least bit worse for wear.

"Isn't it obvious?" Kushina shot back, sending him a sideways smirk. "We find Madara and we kick his ass." It was simple. Maybe a little too simple, but it reminded Fu so much of the way Naruto handled everything up until now. They truly were mother and son.

All the optimism in the world couldn't prepare them for the unexpected reply that followed such a proclamation.

"I see, so that's what you all seem to think happened." A disembodied voice said, immediately setting them all on edge. Neji activated his Byakugan, scanning for the enemy. Shino sent out his kikaichu to search for him. Kakashi lifted his headband, revealing a single Sharingan eye.

Naruto and Kushina both activated their Kurama cloak, their hair turning yellow like the sun. The difference between their forms was minuscule, Kushina's perhaps a shade darker. Her hair in a ponytail waved wildly behind her, the ends having split to look like nine swishing tails. Even with their enhanced ability to sense evil intent, they couldn't locate the source of the voice.

"Here I am!" For all the good it did them, the voice revealing itself a moment later anyways. It was something like a Zetsu, but this one was pitch black. It was like he had been part of the very ground, rising up from the earth at the edge of the forest.

"You're…!" Kushina didn't finish her exclamation, but Fu knew what it was she wanted to say. This pitch black Zetsu had the same feeling as the six white Zetsu they had gathered around them. This was the final Jinchuriki, containing the Eight-Tails inside of him. If they captured him, they would have rescued all the Biju.

However, there was something more pressing at hand than this Black Zetsu's identity.

"What do you mean by 'think happened'?" Fu wasn't able to let that wording go. All the information they had so far pointed to Madara being the culprit behind this war. Was Zetsu trying to say that wasn't the case? But if not Madara, then who? Who could be so powerful as to pull this off if not someone like the legendary Uchiha warrior.

"It wasn't a bad theory." Black Zetsu snickered at them. "Madara had been involved in the early process of the plan, after all. That changed when he failed to capture the Nine Tails from Kushina a decade and half ago." In other words, the night Kushina lost her husband and Naruto, his father. The night that made him a Jinchuriki, fracturing their family forever.

"You were involved with that?!" The golden aura around Kushina flared dangerously, the power of her wrath strong enough to stagger even her allies. Yet in the face of such terrible killing intent, Zetsu could only continue to gloat gleefully.

"Not directly, but it was such a failure that led me to search out one that wouldn't fail again." He said, beedy yellow eyes glancing at Fu, like he was sharing some kind of inside joke with her. "Why do you think it is the war started in Takigakure?" He asked.

"…What?" Fu was ashamed to admit it, but she hadn't thought about that until now. She just assumed that it was because they were after her as a Jinchuriki. But wasn't that weird? Why had the other seven Biju been captured so effortlessly, but not her?

Even the Eight-Tails was from one of the five great nations, but not her. She should have been one of the easiest to catch. The only answer then was that she had been left for last by some deliberate act. But why would someone want to get her last? She didn't know anyone.

No- that logic was wrong. It wasn't her that the enemy had been saving for last. It was the village. Someone had wanted revenge on Takigakure. That was why instead of taking her like the others, they had unleashed a Zetsu army right on top of them.

This had been personal.

"Who are you working for?" She asked, throat dry and voice barely working.

"Finally, you're asking the right questions." Black Zetsu applauded. The ground at his feet was dyed in the same pitch darkness that made up his flesh. He was opening a portal. To where, no one could say. However, to who was an answer they would receive a moment later.

Two individuals stepped forward from the black portal that Black Zetsu had opened. The two people responsible for the destruction of Takigakure and the war that had already claimed the lives of so many Konoha Shinobi.

The first was a very tall, tan-skinned man with long dark-brown hair. His eyes had an unusual coloring: green irises, no pupils and red sclerae. Noticeably, despite his advanced age, he still appeared as a man well within his prime, retaining a very muscular build. He had a band with the mark of Takigakure covering his forehead, and a black-coloured mask covering his lower face, only revealing his eyes.

The second man had medium-length gray hair that was slicked back, his eyes closed for the time being. He wore no shirt, but had bandages wrapped around his stomach, and wore maroon pants with long, black shinobi sandals. Most notable was the triple bladed scythe he had slung over his shoulder.

Fu took in all this information in a single moment, but her eyes kept darting back to one thing; The headband on the first man's forehead.

"You're… a Takigakure Ninja." She whispered, barely trusting her voice to work anymore. He wasn't just any ninja from Takigakure, however.

He was a man whose name was as infamous as Madara himself. For this was an existence equally as old. A man that had stolen their village's strongest jutsu. That wasn't all. Just that would only make him a name known only to her. However, everyone here knew who this was.

Kakuzu the Zombie.

The man responsible for the death of the First Hokage.

Chapter 10: End

Author's Notes: A bit of a faster update. I know this fic doesn't get updated often, as it's just kinda something I work on in my spare time, but I'm thankful to everyone still checking it out.

Finally got to the big enemy reveal. Since Fu is the primary protagonist for this one, it felt right to make the primary antagonist another Ninja from Takigakure. More on that next time!