Happy Holidays! Okay here's the next chapter, sorry it took so long. Also there will be a surprise this chapter and I'll be crediting someone for helping me with it. I made a choice at the beginning of the story to remove a certain character from the AU, but someone gave me a great idea to add them, so I hope you enjoy.
Broken Angel
Chapter 41: Mother
Riley stood over the bodies of three young boys in the Root base. She could still hear the sounds of combat echoing throughout the halls. Each boy had white hair and white eyes, but these eyes bore the design of the Sharingan within them. They were skilled, that was for sure, but they were no real threat to her. She had absorbed their chakra and souls and something interesting was happening. She could feel her chakra churning and mixing, adapting to the new energy she had absorbed. Suddenly, she felt a pain echo through her body, she cringed as she felt a throbbing pain in her head. The pain continued for several moments, it was unbelievably painful, she could feel bone bending and twisting, felt skin split open, and then almost as suddenly as it had started, it stopped.
'The Fuck was that about?' Riley wondered. She quickly conjured a mirror, to look at herself.
She saw a bit of blood on her face, around her forehead. And upon closer inspection found a slit in the center of her forehead.
"What the hell?" Riley said aloud as she withdrew into her mindscape.
"Riley… what's up?" Kurama greeted her.
Madara gave her a look as well as he noticed her inspecting a mark on her forehead.
"What's that?" Madara inquired as he walked over to her.
"I don't know. I just absorbed the chakra and souls of these three young Root members. They had white eyes with the Sharingan pattern in them, and the veins around their eyes were bulging out. When I was finished, I felt something change within me, and then this happened." Riley finished with a gesture to the slit in the center of her forehead. She then lightly touched in and felt, to her surprise, that it was soft, and squishy, not hard like there was bone beneath it.
"Focus chakra into it and let's see what happens." Madara told her as he noticed her reaction.
Riley did just that and was surprised when she felt the veins around her eyes bulge out, and suddenly her field of vision exploded outward. She also saw Madara and Kurama recoil, and though she didn't know why, her Rinne Sharingan felt stronger all of a sudden.
"What happened?" Riley asked.
"You have a third eye in the center of your forehead." Kurama stated as a cold chill traveled up his spine.
"Just like Kaguya. This proves it. The two have to be the same." Madara stated as he shot a look at the Fox.
"Yes… I see it now. Those boys you were talking about, must have had Hyuuga blood." Kurama guessed.
"Hyuuga? What do they have to do with anything?" Riley asked as she looked around. She found her vision zooming all over the place, she could see in almost every direction, and her vision kept zooming in and out. She quickly cut off chakra to her eyes, and the vision field decreased but it was still different then before. It took a triangular shape, rather then a rectangular one. She could see higher then before, it then registered what Kurama had said, she had a new eye.
Riley quickly began to experiment by opening and closing her eyes, it took a few moments of making intense faces at nothing before she got the third eye to twitch a little. She kept practicing but turned her attention to her grandfather and Kurama whom seemed to be sharing a quick conversation with themselves. They then turned to her and Kurama began to answer her question.
"You know how the Rabbit Goddess had two kids, Hagoromo, and Hamura? Well, the Hyuuga, along with the Kaguya and the Otsutsuki were descendants of Hamura. You absorbed Hyuuga blood, and thus must have moved closer to the Rabbit Goddess. I think you have the powers of the Byakugan now." Kurama explained.
"You said something about the two being the same, what did you mean by that?" Riley inquired as she thought about what Kurama had just said.
"Kurama and I came to a realization a little while back, we just didn't know how accurate it was, which is why we never told you. We think my wife, Kaguya Uzumaki, is actually the reincarnation of Kaguya Otsutsuki, the Rabbit Goddess." Madara explained as he created two illusions of the two, so Riley could see the startling similarities.
Riley then looked back in the mirror and spotted the third eye in the center of her forehead. It bore the Rinne Sharingan and sat at a 90 degree angle to her other eyes so that it was vertical instead of horizontal.
"I have a new eye now. And, absorbing the Hyuuga blood must have given me the Byakugan." Riley mused as she re-channeled chakra into her eyes. The veins around them and the eye on her forehead bulged out and the pupil of each eye turned white. She stared at it for a few moments, admiring the differences before deactivating the Byakugan. She then began to scan the third eye for any differences. While it looked the same, there were still a few differences. For one, this one seemed to be permanently red, unlike the purple color, her's were normally when she wasn't angry. Also the blood vessels within the eye were much more visible and prominent around the edges of the eye, giving a less regal and mystical appearance, and more of a blood crazed and demonic look.
"You are a descendant of the Rabbit Goddess. We know this now, without a doubt." Madara stated, looking thoughtful.
"Indeed, it seems I am. We'll have to discuss more of this, but later, for now I have only one question then I need to get back." Riley informed them.
"And what is that?" Kurama inquired.
"If I absorb the blood of the other two clans, the Otsutsuki and the Kaguya, will I further my connection to 'her'?" Riley inquired.
"I think so. By absorbing Hyuuga blood you gained a third eye and the Byagukan, perhaps by absorbing the Chakra and blood of the other two clans you'll gain the rest of Kaguya's special abilities as well." Kurama answered.
"Interesting. Well… I've got to go. Danzo is back, and I need to pay the fucker back for killing Shisui." Riley stated before leaving her mindscape.
"What do you think this means now?" Kurama inquired.
"I think we're going to need to return to Uzushio and search for answers. Perhaps if we learn more about my Kaguya, then maybe we'll learn more about the Rabbit Goddess." Madara replied looking thoughtful.
Kurama simply nodded in agreement as he to pondered these changes.
Meanwhile, on the outside Riley was wandering the halls. She could feel Danzo's approach, the old man was almost back from his trek to Britain, very soon Riley would have her revenge.
It was odd having a third eye, her field of vision was vastly larger then it was before, but it was difficult getting used to it. She was busy trying to get the muscles in her head to respond and close the eye but it was difficult learning to control muscles and weren't there to begin with.
After a few moments she was finally able to get it closed. Unlike her normal eyes, it seemed like this third eye only have two settings, fully open or fully closed. This actually made it easier for Riley to control it since she didn't have to learn how to blink with the damn thing, as it didn't dry out like regular eyes would.
Riley tossed on her invisibility cloak as she floated into the entrance chamber. She stood there for several moments, just waiting for Danzo's approach. She knew of the modifications to his body, having already raided his entire base, and devoured the souls of all of his root members. She knew of Danzo's obsession with Izanagi and thus was fully prepared to counter the technique the second he entered the room. While Riley desperately wanted to toy with Danzo before killing him, she knew it would be unwise to give him a chance to escape.
Thus, as he entered into the room, walking stoically, Riley floated towards him silently. Due to her invisibility, and the fact that she was floating, she made no noise what so ever.
Danzo was busy thinking about all that had happened lately, he needed to get Riley under his control somehow. She was too powerful to be allowed to roam free. With her under his control, he would be the strongest force the world had ever seen. He stopped as he suddenly came to a realization, he didn't feel the presence of any of his Root members in the room.
He looked up just as a cloak shot into the air and a hand thrust forward to wrap around his throat. He let out a pained gasp as he suddenly felt the space around himself bend and twist. He locked eyes with the Blood Red Rinne Sharingan as he was pulled into Kamui.
Danzo quickly jumped back as he felt the hand release him. He glanced around and took a quick note of his surroundings. He was on an open plain, surrounded by trees that were nearly a thousand feet high, and in the distance on all four sides were four mountains that were taller then anything he had ever seen in the world. These mountains must have been ten miles high if not more.
Danzo heard a whooshing sound and glanced over just in time to see the Angel of Carnage emerge from a space-time ninjutsu.
Danzo was surprised. When he had seen the eyes he had instantly thought that this was Riley. However now he was faced with Ralael, Danzo didn't know which was worse at the moment.
"Hello Danzo." Riley greeted as she pulled back her hood, revealing her demonic features to the man.
"You… so you're the Angel of Carnage… I should have known." Danzo growled as he realized that Riley and the Angel were one and the same.
Riley simply smirked, she had pulled Danzo into Kamui, there was no way he could escape now.
"I don't know what you have done to me, but I wont go down without a fight. I've served the Leaf for nearly sixty years, no little brat is going to take me down so easily." Danzo warned as he removed his arm from the sling it was in and unlocked a golden mechanism that was covering it. The mechanism hid his chakra, so Riley guessed that's where he stored his pilfered Uchiha eyes.
She was greeted to a more disturbing sight then she had first anticipated. The skin on the arm was white, indicating that it was very much like the arm she had created to replace Fleur's missing one. Imbedded within it, were ten Sharingan eyes, each one glowing red with three tomoes within it.
"That is fucking gross." Riley muttered as she tossed off her cloak, revealing her battle-robes and armor beneath it. She also let her tails unfurl from her body and expand to a reasonable length.
Danzo eyed her with interest, trying to figure out what he was seeing. Riley knew he couldn't escape. The only way in or out of Kamui, was with one of the two eyes, it resided within, so even if Danzo had his own Kamui, it's not like he could get out of here with it. Even it he did have it, he could escape to his own Kamui, and he could only exit back into her Kamui, since Kamui was a dimension hidden within the Sharingan.
Riley doubted that he possessed Kamui, but it was always good to be prepared.
"You… what are you? Those modifications… you don't look human." Danzo noted as he removed the bandages over his eyes, revealing Shisui's Sharingan.
"I am an Angel, Danzo… haven't you heard?" Riley inquired with a dark chuckle, as she dashed forward at speeds not even Danzo's Sharingan could follow. Danzo cried out in pain as he felt a hand wrap around his throat and crush his trachea.
Riley grinned cruelly, a grin that stretched inhumanly across her face, her mouth a twisted maw of jagged teeth.
And then… Riley's hands were empty and Danzo was gone. Riley spun around, her smile still present. Danzo stood behind her, perfectly fine. It was at this moment that Danzo became unnerved as he noticed her lack of confusion at his survival.
"No… she couldn't possibly know of Izanagi, could she? Wait! She possesses Lord Madara's knowledge… that means..." Danzo thought to himself but he was cut off from continuing when one of Riley's tails pierced his gut and then threaded up his throat. The tail burst from his mouth and then with a flexing of the tail, Danzo's chest plate, throat and lower jaw were torn off.
Riley started to cackled in insane joy as she watched Danzo struggle in vein to scoop up his internal organs as they, along with blood and vomit spilled all over the grass. And then… he was gone.
Riley's smile never left her face. Didn't he know that he was only adding to her fun? He was a dead man, he just didn't realize it yet. She glanced over and found Danzo jumping through the air. He made a few handsigns and took a deep breath before shouting, "Wind Style: Drilling Air Bullets!"
With that, he shot about a dozen bullets of compressed wind at her. They all struck true, piercing Riley in multiple areas, all she did in response was laugh, as her body easily healed the wounds.
"What are you?" Danzo asked as he watched her heal. His eyes kept scanning her wings, and tails, as well as all the other demonic features. Her long sharp nails, her jagged razor sharp maw of teeth, the inhuman grin stretched across her face, the slit in the center of her forehead, and the glowing fire within her tails, wings, and flesh.
"What did I tell you?" Danzo heard whispered in his ear. He spun around just as a wing sliced forward. Danzo let out a pained scream as he was bisected at the stomach, Riley's wing was razor sharp and burning hot. It easily sliced through him, and then cauterized the wound shut.
Riley watched his body fade away and jumped right, to avoid a hail of shuriken wrapped in wind chakra.
"You are no angel… you are more akin to a demon, then anything else." Danzo stated, his face was stone cold, and focused, however on the inside he was worried. He had just had to use up three of his ten Izanagi attempts, and Riley didn't even seem bothered. That sealed it for him, she knew of Izanagi, and was unworried about his use of it.
"Oh… That's amazing! You've figured it out! Tell him what he's won boys!" Riley stated in mock amazement. The Fidelus charm may shield you from hearing or seeing the truth, but the act of her removing her cloak and showing her demonic features was the same as revealing the truth to him, and thus Danzo was capable of making that assumption. She then sliced both of her hands with her razor sharp nails and flashed through hand signs. A large seal diagram appeared in the air behind her, it had two large circles and one small one. As she finished her handsigns the seals glowed and a large poof of smoke filled the air.
Danzo felt his hopes of winning slip away, as he found himself standing before the Nine tailed Fox, The Demonic Dragon Deimos, and a living legend, Madara Uchiha.
"So this is the warhawk whom makes a mockery of our eyes? Honestly I expected someone who didn't reek so much of broken dreams and bitterness." Madara mused with a chuckle.
"This is the little shit, that murdered Shisui… hmm… I expected him to have a bigger pair of balls then this guy, it's not like Shisui was an easy opponent or anything." Kurama mused.
"Gentlemen, Danzo here seems to have figured out what I really am." Riley informed them.
"Oh! What was it that gave it away old man? Was it the claws?" Madara asked in a condescending fashion.
"Perhaps it was the tails?" Kurama suggested.
"Maybe the teeth is what gave her away?" Madara theorized, both of them were taking a sick pleasure in insulting Danzo's intelligence, since in all reality with the cloak off, everything about Riley's demonic appearance spoke of her true nature. Even an idiot could read the signs so blatantly written.
"So you know about Shisui. Such a shame that one. He was a powerful ninja, and he would have made an excellent tool. Sadly, I couldn't allow him to waste his amazing skills on the traitorous Uchiha. I don't care if I have to die doing it, I will stop you!" Danzo stated boldly. It was about at this moment that Danzo came to a startling realization, He could feel the Fox's demonic chakra, he knew now, that Riley had been the one whom had stolen it from Naruko.
Riley meanwhile, felt her face twitch as the source of her rage towards this man came into focus. Her first true friend, someone she loved very dearly. This was the man that murdered Shisui. For all her powers, for all her abilities, there was nothing she could do to undo the loss of her beloved first friend. All she was left with was vengeance and a burning desire to see the man responsible to a brutal end.
She had no intentions of making this fair, or allowing Danzo any dignity in death. For taking away her friend, he'd suffer the worst, most insulting end she could come up with. In the end though, no matter what she did, it would never truly be enough. Killing him multiple times was almost therapeutic, but it would never be enough. She could kill him a thousand times and it still wouldn't be enough for what he took from her.
"Boys! Let's show this little bitch just how boned he really is." Riley stated, and with that all four of them flared their chakra. Danzo felt the cold fingers of death grip his heart, the weakest amongst them in terms of chakra levels was Madara and his level of power still eclipsed Danzo's about ten times over. Danzo was so screwed.
The Four of them enjoyed the next hour or so. Madara landed the next kill as he broke Danzo's spine with a bone shattering kick.
Then Came Kurama's first kill, when Danzo was crushed beneath the giant fox's tail.
Afterwords Diemos roasted him alive in black fire. Then Riley speared him through the face with one of her tails. Next was Madara again when he pierced his body with wood style and tore it apart. Then Kurama again when he crushed Danzo under his paw, the tenth went to Deimos again when the dragon hid beneath the earth only to jump out and bite Danzo in half when he tried to make a run for it.
Danzo stood huffing in pain. He had used all of his attempts at Izanagi. All of the eyes on his arm were shut. The four monsters took pleasure in murdering him again and again. Danzo had to think of something to escape, Riley was walking towards him, eager to finish him off herself. He needed to find something to bargain with, something he could use to convince her to let him escape.
Riley was only about ten feet away when Danzo finally recalled something. A secret he had learned many years ago, one that may save his life now.
"Wait!" Danzo shouted as he held up his hand for her to stop.
"Going to beg now?" Riley inquired with a monstrous chuckle that showed off her many razor sharp, twisted teeth.
"No… I offer a trade?" Danzo stated as he took a step back from Riley.
"A trade? What could you possibly have to offer me, you fool?" Riley asked with a shake of her head as she took another step toward him.
"The location of your mother." Danzo told her.
That stopped Riley dead in her tracks as well as earned surprised and confused looks from Madara, Kurama and Deimos.
"I know where my mother is." Riley stated, giving the man a confused look. She was wondering if dying ten times in a row had rendered him senile or not.
"No… not Lily Namikaze, your real mother, the one whom conceived you." Danzo explained.
"What? What the fuck are you talking about?" Riley asked, confused as all hell.
"You were born from the same womb as Naruko Namikaze, you were born from Lily's womb, but you weren't conceived there." Danzo told her.
"What? I don't… you're lying!" Riley snapped as she took a step forward.
"No! I'm not! I'm telling the truth. There's a magical spell… it's kind of like a form of magical adoption. It allows a person to transfer an unborn fetus from one womb to the next, magic recognizes this as a form of adoption, which is why you bore some of Lily's traits as well as being her heir. However you didn't always share a womb with Naruko." Danzo explained.
Riley stood shell shocked for several moments. She began to dive into Voldemort's memories of magic, searching for any trace of a possibility that what Danzo was saying could be truth.
"Fox… have you ever heard of something like this?" Madara asked. He himself was a little shocked to hear this. To think that his holier then thou, prick of a son, might have cheated with another woman, was almost too impossible to believe.
"I have heard of certain forms of magical adoption that erase traits of the parent that the adopted parent, or parents is taking the place of, but I've never heard of transferring a baby from one womb to the next. However with magic, all it takes is intent and the right amount of understanding of magic. I can't say there isn't a spell that could do it. I spent most of my life in the Elemental Nations so my knowledge of what can be accomplished with spellcraft, isn't as extensive as my knowledge of Ninjutsu and it's limitations." Kurama answered, watching Riley intently.
After a few moment Riley let out a huff and clenched her fists in anger.
"So you found it?" Madara inquired, he knew she was searching Voldemort's memories for the truth.
"Yes… it's an ancient spell, used by noblemen to pass on any bastard they might have sired into their wives, so that the children would be born as actual heirs instead of bastards. You're trying to tell me, that Minato Namikaze fucked some random woman and got her pregnant, while Lily was pregnant, and then had that random woman's unborn baby transferred into Lily's womb?" Riley asked, her anger was beginning to show as the sky turned black, and burning ash began to rain from the heavens.
"Yes. I will tell you more… but you must swear on your life and magic that you will let me go." Danzo told her. He knew he had her interest now. He just needed her to swear the oath, and he was safe.
Riley stared at the ground for a moment, as if contemplating her decision. Kurama looked ready to stop her, but Madara held up a hand. He knew what she was up to. Danzo was a dead man.
Riley's eyes shot back to Danzo. They flashed red, and she saw him cringe with fear. She then quickly approached him and gabbed his arm roughly, Danzo felt a tugging and suddenly they were back in his root base.
"I, Riley Uchiwa, do so swear on my life and magic, that I will allow Danzo to go free, should he reveal the information about my real mother, so mote it be!" Riley intoned and with a flash of light the deal was made.
Danzo smiled and stood up straight. All he had to do now was talk. Riley would let him go and he could quickly spread word that she was the Angel of Carnage.
"Who was she? What happened? Tell me everything?" Riley ordered with a snarl.
"Your mother's name was Kushina Uzumaki." Danzo began.
"Uzumaki?" Riley stated with a bit of surprise.
"Kushina? Holy hell!" Madara stated with surprise of his own, from back within her mindscape.
"You knew her?" Kurama inquired.
"Yes, she was just a little girl the last time I saw her. A year or two older then Minato. I can't believe she survived. Kaguya always liked the girl, she was one of Kaguya's relatives, maybe a niece or cousin, I can't really remember. Hm… So Minato screwed one of his cousins… you know, that kind of stuff is normal for clans, but he didn't know he was in one at the time..." Madara explained, finding a slight amount of amusement in knowing that the woman held a blood relation to Minato, which while normal in clans, would be taboo otherwise, and given Minato's attitude, Madara doubted he would be okay with that, if he knew of their relation.
Riley had overhead their conversation and memorized all of it.
"What happened? Why did Minato cheat on Lily? Why did he take me from her?" Riley demanded to know. Right now her emotions were in an uproar. Danzo could tell that whatever was happening was because of Riley's twisted emotions. It felt hot, terribly hot. He had to finish this conversation quickly and warn the Leaf.
"Nothing overly as extravagant as a secret lover or something I'm afraid. Minato was always faithful. Kushina was a friend of Lily's and Minato's. She taught Minato sealing alongside Jiraiya. She's one of the reasons he is so good. Anyway, one night the three of them got drunk and had a threesome. It resulted in both women getting pregnant. Kushina kept her pregnancy a secret for several months, unwilling to ruin Minato's reputation by revealing that he had conceived a child with her. However, it's not like something like that could have been hidden forever. Eventually she came forward with the information. Minato and Lily were both confused and worried, this would create such a scandal when the rest of the village, and the world, learned of it, and at the moment Minato had just come into office and was in a precarious position." Danzo explained.
"So…. This is why they… this is why they never truly loved me? I was a bastard child." Riley stated in almost a whisper. She suddenly realized just why Minato, Lily, hell even Tsunade hated her, it's because she wasn't the child they wanted. She was the result of them fucking up.
"Anyway… the council of elders advised Minato to have the child aborted but Lily dissuaded him from it. After some convincing by Lady Mito, Lily revealed her knowledge of a spell that could have been used to transfer the baby to her womb. She was already pregnant and just as far along as Kushina. The baby would only have a few of Kushina's traits, the spell would guarantee that you would gain many traits from Lily, and then they could just say she was having twins. Of course it didn't take much to convince Kushina to hand over the baby… she was after all, a loyal Leaf shinobi!" Danzo informed her.
Riley stood in silence for several long moments. Lily wasn't her real mother. This Kushina Uzumaki was, and she'd given her up. She'd just handed her over to the Namikazes, like a bag of potatoes. How could she have done that? Was she just another dogmatic Leaf village prick, who did whatever the higher-ups said? Was Kushina Uzumaki just like everyone else, willing to do horrible things to her own family, so long as the village, and it's leaders were doing fine?
Did she not want Riley? Was that why she was so willing to get rid of her? Riley thought to herself, as tears built in her eyes.
Thousands of emotions were washing through her as she thought about the implications of this. It all made so much sense, why Minato, Lilly, even Tsunade, treated her like she was nobody. She was the bastard child, a mistake. Something they just had to deal with. A nuisance not even her biological mother wanted, apparently.
The idea burned a hole straight through Riley's soul. Even her own biological mother wanted nothing to do with her. Riley felt anger and sadness build within her. She needed to find this woman, needed to get some answers from her. Needed to ask why she gave her up, how she could just hand over her own unborn child without so much as a argument.
"Where is she, Kushina Uzumaki? What happened to her?" Riley demanded, her gaze boring into Danzo's very soul.
"Dead." Danzo replied, stoically.
"Dead?" Riley parroted back, her gaze growing more intense.
"Killed during the Nine-Tails attack." Danzo elaborated.
Riley stared at him for several long moment, taking in his facial expressions, as well as every emotion he was feeling at that moment. After several seconds, she let out a sigh and her gaze dropped to the ground.
"Kushina Uzumaki was a hero of the Hidden Leaf. She was good, and just, and did everything she could to protect the village. She never hesitated to make the necessary sacrifices, and she died protecting our village. You spit on her sacrifice with your continued acts of rebellion. You must look past you own selfish desires and see the bigger picture, the village..." Danzo explained but before he could finish he felt a pain in his chest. He glanced down and spotted a tail speared through his heart.
"Danzo... You're... a liar!" Riley snarled, as she glared up at him, her eyes blazing red.
"But…. The oath?" Danzo got out as blood spurted from his mouth.
Riley's glare remained locked on him for a few seconds before it dropped. She was staring at the ground, her hands clenched in rage as she visibly shook.
Slowly, she looked up at him, her eyes glowing red, tears streaming from her eyes. Finally she answered, but right before she opened her mouth she saw him make a motion to move his fingers. In a flash two of her tails whipped out and separated his arms form his body.
"You… swore you would let me go! Your magic? Your life?" Danzo sputtered out as he felt life begin to leave his old body.
"What's the number one rule for fighting an Uchiha? Never look in their eyes." With that her Rinne Sharingan returned to it's normal purple color and the area around them faded. Where once there was dark cold stone walls, and the familiar setting of the Root base, now he was back in Kamui. Danzo realized in his last moment alive, that he had been in a genjutsu, and that Riley had never taken the oath to begin with. He had been fooled and now he would die.
Using her tail, Riley ripped Danzo's soul from his body, absorbing all of his life energy and knowledge. She felt a few tears sting her cheeks as she realized that he was telling the truth… well most of it. All except for the part where her real mother had given her up willingly. She saw through Danzo's memories, how Kushina Uzumaki, refused to give up her child. How she promised to never bring it to their attention again, that she would gladly fade into obscurity if it meant that she could keep her baby and live in peace. But the Leaf, and more importantly Minato, refused to allow that to happen. They didn't trust her to keep her word. Worst of all it was Mito, this ancient old woman, draped in black robes that tore into her the hardest. Riley saw through Danzo's eyes, how betrayed Kushina looked when Mito claimed that she was a scarlet woman and would use the child to hurt the Leaf, and Minato's reputation. Kushina was five months pregnant and in no position to fight thus, she was easily captured by Anbu and had her baby forcefully removed. Afterwords, Kushina Uzumaki slipped into a coma, where she remained to this day.
"She's alive!" Riley realized suddenly, emotions churning within her. Her body continued to shake as countless emotions warred within her.
"Riley…?" Madara called out to her.
"Yes… grandfather?" Riley asked in reply, her voice dead and hollow.
"Riley… let it out." Madara ordered. Hearing that, Riley felt herself phase back into the real world. She stood stock still in the center of the Root base for a few seconds. Her eyes then suddenly turned blood red as she felt her emotions well up inside of her. With a scream of pure rage, she released the pent up feelings within her. The energy left her body in the form of Shinra Tensei.
The shockwave erupted from her body and shot in every direction. Outside of the root base about a mile away, stood several guards atop of the walls of Konohagakure. They all felt the earth shake as a huge explosion shot hundreds of tons of earth and rock into the sky. The explosion was just outside the village, but that didn't mean the village was safe.
People screamed out in horror as rock and earth rained from the sky. Huge chunks of rock rained down on them. Most pieces were as small as pebbles but some were as large as buildings. The explosion came so swiftly that no one was prepared to counter it. Rock crushed buildings and people. Carts in the streets, homes, businesses, civilians and ninja alike were all slammed by the falling debris. By the end of the day, the number of dead would be a couple of hundred, the number of injured however would be several thousand.
Riley continued to scream in rage for several more moments. She felt awful. Her whole life she had been living a lie. Lily wasn't her real mother. She had been taken from her real mother, a woman who actually wanted her. A woman whom was willing to fade away into the background of the world just to live a simple life with her baby. If Riley had been left with Kushina, she knew… she knew, she would have been loved.
It took several more moments for her to finally calm down. When she did, she found herself standing in a crater nearly a thousand feet across. She didn't care about that though, her mind was to busy putting the pieces together.
It all made sense now. Why Lily and Minato didn't like her, why Naruko didn't feel any connection to her, why Tsunade despised her. She was a mistake, a cast away. They only took her in to keep her a secret. The only good thing about Minato, and Lily was that neither was cruel enough to kill an infant. However, instead of living with their foolish mistake… they stole Riley from her real mother. A mother whom was an Uzumaki and would have loved her with every breath.
And then there was Mito… how that traitorous bitch was still alive was worrisome. However there was something odd about the way she was dressed in Danzo's memories that drew Riley into a memory of her own past. She remembered how Peter Pettigrew had claimed that someone draped in black robes, had blackmailed him into betraying Minato's squad to Iwa, could Mito have been that woman? And if so, what was her plan? Why fuck with Kushina? Minato, she understood, Mito knew he was Madara's son and she hated Madara, she probably wanted to make his life difficult, but why turn on Kushina, her own clansmen, her own… granddaughter?
Riley stood shell shocked for several moments. Danzo knew something about Kushina that few others did. She was Mito's granddaughter. Child of Hashirama's and Mito's youngest kid. Tsunade was the child of their eldest. That made Kushina and Tsunade, cousins. That also made Kushina and Minato second cousins, eh maybe that was why she was so fucked up?
"Actually in reality, while taboo you can be as close as half siblings and a child wont suffer from any detrimental affects of inbreeding, but if you keep doing it, then you can create some fucked up kids. Besides, the rules work different in clans, bloodlines actually grow stronger because of inbreeding. The reason why it doesn't work in Britain is because they don't have bloodlines so the normal rules for continued inbreeding apply, but in clans like the Uzumaki, the Uchiha, even the Hyuuga, inbreeding is quite normal, and even expected most of the time." Kurama explained to her from within her mind, earning a nod of agreement from Madara. In clans with bloodlines, as long as you weren't siblings from the same parents, inbreeding was fine, just be sure to add new blood in, using the same blood will weaken the family, not strengthen it.
"Ah… now I remember. She was born after Hashirama died, otherwise I'm sure I would have known her better. She was Kaguya's grandniece." Madara stated as he thought more about Kushina.
"I can't believe I'm adopted." Riley stated with an angry scowl.
"It all makes sense now though. The reason why Minato, Tsunade, and Naruko don't like you." Madara stated as he stepped up next to her.
"What do you mean?" Riley asked, feeling cheated and bitter about this whole affair.
"Think about it, Minato's Uchiwa and Uzumaki genetics were sealed away. Yours were not. When you were born, you were an Uchiwa, while everything except for the bit of Senju DNA I had from Hashirama was sealed away in Minato. He had the Senju's hatred for the Uchiha without Hashirama's life experiences to temper it. So did Naruko and Tsunade." Madara explained to her.
"Yeah… you're probably right. Add onto that, that I'm a bastard, and no wonder they barely tolerated me." Riley agreed, angry and bitter at the world.
"You are no bastard, Riley. I chose you as my heir. You may not be Namikaze, but you are Uchiwa. If anyone is the bastard here, it's Minato. His Uchiwa bloodline was sealed away. He had no connection to you, no love, only his Senju hate to direct at you. Had his genetics been unsealed, I know he would have loved you more then anything else. Accident or not." Madara assured her.
"Thanks grandfather." Riley stated with a halfhearted smile.
"Now… what are we going to do about Kushina, and Mito?" Kurama inquired.
"I don't know what we should do about Mito. These memories were from over sixteen years ago. Chances are she's dead by now… then again, she is an Uzumaki, she could still be alive, even today. Gods! That woman has ruined my life and the lives of my family for too long! If I ever see her again, I will tear her heart out!" Madara answered looking thoughtful, before finishing with a snarl of rage.
"I agree! And what about Kushina?" Kurama asked.
"I know where she is." Riley answered suddenly.
"You do?" Madara replied.
"Yes… she's locked away in one of the hospitals. They're keeping her alive, but she's been in a coma since they took her from me. I'm going to get her!" Riley stated with bold determination. She knew from Danzo's memories exactly where Kushina Uzumaki was being held. Riley quickly threw her black cloak back on, reassuming her Ralael appearance.
She then quickly took flight, right at the same time, some shinobi burst onto the scene. She heard them scream out if fear and surprise when they saw her. She payed them no heed however, and quickly flew towards the Leaf.
-Meanwhile-
"Shikaku! What do we know?" Minato ordered his Jonin commander as he raced through the streets to help the injured.
"I have no clue my lord. This could be Iwa's doing." Shikaku replied as he knelt next to a bleeding man whom was holding his shoulder in pain.
"MY LORD! IT'S THE ANGEL!" Minato heard someone shout. He spun around to spot a shinobi pointing at the sky. His eyes shot up and he spotted the flying creature. It flew through the air swiftly, obviously it had a destination in mind. Before Minato could contemplate it's heading the Angel made a swift dive bomb towards the hospital.
-With Riley-
Riley let gravity carry her down through the building. She kept Kamui active and kept descending until she was in the room she was looking for.
Riley descended from the ceiling into a dark room. She could just barely hear the beep of a heart monitor. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness and focused on the sleeping figure in the center of the room. There lay her mother, her real mother, Kushina Uzumaki.
Riley quickly appeared at her side, her eyes locked on the woman's sleeping figure. She was hooked up to all manner of machines. Each one keeping her alive.
Riley scanned her real mother's features. She had pale skin, and a fair complexion. She was, however, bone thin, her muscles had obviously atrophied from fifteen years of disuse. Riley felt tears sting her face… this was the woman whom would have raised her. The woman whom would have loved her, had it not been for Mito, Minato, and Lily.
"Mother… I've found you." Riley whispered as she reached out and touched the woman's cheek.
Suddenly the door burst open, revealing several shinobi. "WE FOUND IT!" One screamed at the top of his lungs.
Riley shot a glance at the men, and released Shinra Tensei, right at them. There were four men in total and all four, along with the door and wall, went flying further into the hospital.
Riley then scooped Kushina into her arms, and fed medical chakra into her body. She quickly used her tails to sever all of the tubes and wires connected to the woman and she began to draw her into Kamui.
Not more then three seconds later, Minato and a squad of Anbu rounded the corner.
"It's gone." One of the Anbu noted at seeing the empty room.
Minato stood in stunned silence for several long moments as he stared at the empty room. A nervous sweat began to build around his brow as he realized just what the Angel had taken.
"My Lord… what was in this room?" One of the Anbu asked.
"A ghost." Minato replied as he turned to check on the injured shinobi whom were partially buried under rubble.
-Elsewhere-
Riley hovered over her mother's body, pumping it full of life giving medical chakra. She was trying to locate the source of what was wrong with her.
"Please, mother… please wake up." Riley begged with a few tears in her eyes. This was the woman who would have raised her. This was her mother, she wasn't going to lose her now that she knew the truth. Riley never had a mother… this was her one chance to get one. She needed this to work.
"Fifteen years of not moving does a helluva thing to a person." Madara noted.
"I agree. She'll need extensive therapy to regain mobility, and even more if she ever wants to be a ninja again." Kurama added.
"You're going to be fine mother. Just please wake up… there's so much I wanna talk to you about. Please… please wake up!" Riley begged as she added more chakra into her healing abilities. She suddenly felt a surge of something, almost like something had moved from her mother's body into her own, she then felt movement beneath her palms. Her eyes snapped to Kushina's face, and the woman's eyes fluttered open.
"Mother!" Riley nearly shouted with glee as she leaned closer to her mother's face. The two were almost eye to eye.
Kushina's eyes were glassy and foggy, both were unfocused, they stared blankly for several moments before they locked onto the hypnotic pattern of the Rinne Sharingan.
"Pretty." Kushina whispered out in a dry raspy tone of voice. Her voice was faint and cracked terribly from fifteen years of disuse.
Riley blushed at the complement and was about to reply when Kushina's eyes closed, once again and she returned to sleep.
"Mother!" Riley asked with a hint of worry as she channeled more healing chakra into her mother's body. She let out a sigh of relief a few moments later, when she felt that she was just sleeping and not comatose again.
"Well… she's not in a coma anymore. But I think she's going to have a lot of questions when she wakes up." Madara noted with a smile. Happy to see that his granddaughter may have a chance to gain some of the family she never had.
"Um… Riley… there's something in your head." Kurama noted as he felt a presence enter into Riley's earliest memories.
Riley quickly snapped to attention and jumped into her mindscape.
"HEY! Whoever you are, show yourself!" Riley demanded as she closed off her mind and forced the presence closer to her. She didn't know what it was, but she wasn't going to let this little incursion, go unanswered.
"Sorry about that. I didn't mean to intrude. I just found myself drawn into your head and I wanted to get a look around. I only saw the first day of your life, nothing more. Sorry about that." Came the reply of a voice. Riley glanced around, looking for some sort of sprite or incorporeal avatar, to show that someone had entered her head, however she found none. It was then that she quickly realized that whatever this presence was, it didn't have a form.
"That's impossible." Came Madara's voice as he entered into Riley's mindscape.
"What is?" Riley asked as she shot her grandfather a look. She recoiled in surprise when she saw the pure shock on her grandfather's face.
"I don't believe it…" Madara said in a whisper.
"It's been a long time… hello my friend." The voice replied.
"Hashirama..." Madara said in a whisper, and with that Riley's jaw dropped. So much had happened today, she destroyed Root. She found out she was a grandchild of the Rabbit Goddess. Her mother wasn't her real mother. She killed Danzo. She claimed her real mother, and now Hashirama Senju was in her head. What more could possibly go on?
-To be Continued-
The hits just keep coming. How do you like that. Kushina is Riley's real mother. She was the one involved in Riley's conception, but had Riley taken from her, when Mito convinced Minato and Lily, that it was a good idea. How will Riley's real mother, react to the truth about what's happened for fourteen years, how will Hashirama react when he learns about how far his village and wife have fallen, and what is he doing in Riley's head? Find out next time, JA NE! Also, big thanks to kuriboh1233 for helping me come up with idea for Kushina, he really inspired me, and helped me with the idea.
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