Yoshino pouted as her son continued to command the kitchen and everything within it like he'd been cooking all his life. She knew that her son's cooking was better than hers, but that didn't mean she didn't want to help!
Still, seeing the passion and eagerness to win in her son's eyes made her heart melt. She lived for the moments like this. A motivated Nara was a truly terrifying thing to behold, but it had been what had led to her truly leaving the Yamanaka Clan for good and permanently tying herself to the Nara Clan instead.
She sighed as she thought back to those glory days, back during the Third Shinobi War.
She had been equally annoyed by Shikaku's laziness like Ino had been with Shikamaru's, but where Ino only ever saw the laziness, Yoshino always knew there was more under the surface. She just needed the right situations to bring it out, to fully motivate her team mate into fully acting past his initial impulses of laziness. Even before she had known the truth of the Nara Clan, she knew that there had to be a reason why the Nara Clan acted as the ruler of the Great Three as they called themselves in private.
The Third Shinobi War had been going badly for Konoha. The loss of Uzushiogakure in the Second Shinobi War had led to a lack of a barrier between Konoha and the other nations, and the fact that Suna, Iwa, and Kiri were all conspiring together to bring down Konoha had been a terrifying thing to face. Three of the Great Five Villages wanted to wipe Konoha off the map, and Kumo waited with baited breath on how the wind blew, taking advantage of Kiri's focus on the Land of Rain, Spring, and Fire to launch it's own offensive to carve out a bigger piece of it's own out of some of the smaller islands that once were a part of Kiri's borders.
Food, supplies, and equipment were stretched far too thin, and Shikaku had ordered that her and Choza withdraw from the outpost, so he could work out a 'plan' to defeat the mixture of Iwa and Kiri ninja that were heading their way. Initially both her and Choza argued to stay, but Shikaku's patience, something equally as vast as his laziness, snapped as he roared at them to leave, the shadows of the outpost rippling and twisting in the air as Shikaku looked furious at them.
Choza relented immediately, as he knew that when his friend got like this, there was no reasoning with him. Choza's plan had been to wait until after Iwa and Kiri were defeated from Shikaku's plan before sweeping back in to patch up Shikaku from overextending himself. Any Nara worth his salt can regenerate his chakra out of shadows, but the cost was often a slowly dwindling sense of self, and Yoshino just knew that Shikaku was planning his final stand here to protect his friends and family. After all, as far as Shikaku knew, he was the 'spare' of the Clan's Heirs.
They didn't know until three weeks later back in Konoha that Shikaku's brother had died facing off against the Eight Tails Jinchuriki.
Choza left, heading Shikaku's directions, Yoshina, pretended to leave, doubling back around from a separate direction entirely to avoid Shikaku spotting her.
The Kiri and Iwa ninja arrived, numbered a dozen each, but it was the arrival of Suna ninja that made Yoshino's blood turn cold. While only five to the other dozens, Suna had proven absolutely lethal and sadistic with their poisons, something Yoshino knew would mean Shikaku's final stand would be for nothing as the Suna would just deploy gas poisons at range, far enough out of the way that Shikaku would be forced to flee the outpost, leaving him facing off against all three factions at once out in the open.
I must save him! Yoshino's thoughts roared through her head, even as she knew this could be it for her. The Yamanaka Clan had withheld most of their techniques from her, being as the less the other countries could interrogate out of her, the less they could defend their spies or fake Konoha ninja from being spotted by the Yamanaka Clan back home. She knew the Mind Transfer Jutsu, the Mind-Puppet Transfer, and... that was it. She knew little else, relying on her own kenjutsu, and her knack of combining the swords with her Medical Scalpel Jutsu to cleave the organs of her enemies while they believed to escape unscathed.
However, she knew she needed to do something. Anything. She immediately prioritized the Suna ninja, aiming to cut them down first. Even if she died to their poisons, it would leave the Iwa and Kiri ninja far less options to work with, as the outpost had some seals dating back to Konoha's founding that resisted water and earth based jutsu.
Yoshino readied herself, silently holding her swords together as she prepared to launch a final offensive. She didn't use her chakra to sharpen her swords edge as she knew that any sensors in the area would immediately pick up on the chakra signature.
Thankfully she was a decent enough sensor herself to bury her chakra inside her, carefully keeping it muted enough that any nearby sensor would mistake it for an animal, not a Chunin.
Then she saw her chance. The Kiri ninja were arguing with the Iwa ninja, especially as one of them with two red dots on their forehead practically breathed blood lust and a hunger for battle.
The Suna shinobi were themselves distracted by the infighting, as they stood several feet away, looking on in amusement of the two squabbling factions.
She acted immediately, using the Mind Transfer on the kiri ninja that screamed blood lust. Her target was so feral that it felt more akin to transferring into a rabid animal than a human, and she let his instincts run rampant, releasing his extremely pitiful control in favor of his urge to kill and devour.
Bone exploded out of his arms, long whips covered in dense bone with sharp edges designed to shred rather than cut, and she ignored his team telling him to hold it together.
They're holding you back. They're jealous of your might. They want you to die so they can take your glory.
The Mind Transfer Jutsu suppresses the mind of the target completely, but Yoshino had learned that it came at the heavy cost of not allowing any knowledge or instincts of the target to breath, often making it impossible to act as the target without days or even weeks of study from afar.
So she lessened the hold on the target's instincts and capabilities, at the cost of the target being more subconsciously aware. So her whispers needed to feel genuine, like they were his actual thoughts.
It worked beautifully. The man spun in place, his whips suddenly breaking apart into a lot of bone fragments, which easily shredded his own team and injured several Iwa ninja who screamed in agony.
The blood frenzy took hold, and she had no more control of his body than he did. Earth based jutsu was shrugged off by the bone armor under his skin, and Kaguya Kisame showed his true form as the Bone Devil of the Mist, his blood lust mounting as he cackled madly, horns growing out of his forehead as he shrugged off the weak wind blades of one of the Suna ninja.
A quick step, and he smiled gleefully as his fingers tore into a kiri ninjas eyes whose scream cut off as his finger bones launched themselves out of his skull, the head exploding apart in gore and brain matter.
He sidestepped the blade of a Kiri ninja, shrugging off the water blade that had followed in it's shadow, as he opened his mouth as his teeth sharpened. The kiri ninja couldn't even scream as the man bit through his neck, savoring the spray of blood, bone, and the spinal cord cracking as he swallowed it all with relish.
He spat out the dead body, growing two drills out of his arms as he noted the Suna ninja preparing to use their poison, like the weaklings they were rather than fighting with their lives on the line.
He drilled through three of them before the cloud of poison took him on and he inadvertently took in a lung full of it, as he could feel the burning slow acting poison eating at his throat and lungs.
"I... will... not... die a pitiful death!" He roared, his bones exploding as the other two Suna ninja died, aiming his bones to launch at their hidden positions, even as he grunted from the two puppets shoving blades in his exposed ribs.
The remaining Iwa and Kiri ninja looked at each other and turned to face him, making him smile ferally. "Yes. Earn the right to kill me. Earn it, and die trying!" He goaded them as he leapt into the air, the horns on his head cracking slightly as he poured chakra into it.
The Kiri ninja tried to launch multiple water bullets, as the Iwa ninja created a hole where he was going to land, spikes of hardened earth in the pit created last minute.
It didn't matter. His horn finally broke off as he roared, the lightning chakra exploding violently through the area as the kiri ninja were launched away, the water bullets no match for lightning enhanced bone fragments.
His body exploded apart as he released most of his bone armor, shredding the Iwa ninja as well as the pit with hardened spikes beneath him.
Yoshino returned to herself a second before, watching cautiously as the Kaguya bled to death in the pit, bone fragments and dead bodies everywhere. To ensure he died, she coated one of her blades in the medical scalpel jutsu, and sliced off his head in one motion.
"A... glorious... death." Kisame Kaguya whispered his final words as his eyes dimmed and glazed over one final time.
Yoshino could respect that. She left to check on Shikaku, noticing that the Kaguya must've been seriously strong if he was capable of killing an entire contingent of Iwa and Kiri along with the Suna ninja nearby.
The outpost was covered in darkness, not a single speck of light visible. Shikaku's chakra signature was barely there, and was slowly vanishing. Yoshino felt terror grip her chest as she got to the top of the outpost.
Shikaku's body was wrapped in shadows, but she could see his body was slowly melting into the floor. In a few minutes, there would be nothing left as the shadows claimed Shikaku as their own.
"Shikaku, they're dead! Release the technique!" Yoshino yelled.
There was no answer. The shadows became a little darker, and colder. Like something was watching Yoshino.
A whisper echoed in her mind.
'Shikaku is too far gone, and he will fade. He knew the price. Who are you to deny him his death rights?'
"I'll do anything, to save him. As long as it doesn't involve Konoha. What do I do?" She whispered. Shikaku had hinted that the earlier Nara Clan members had initially made a contract with something to use their jutsu. He never elaborated but she suspected this was the same entity.
'Bring the bone wielder into the outpost. Consume his heart and sacrifice the rest of him to establish our Pact. Do this, and relinquish your mind walker abilities to me, and I shall make you my Mortal Champion, as well as save Shikaku Nara from the shadow's embrace.'
As a Yamanaka, this would have been unfathomable, inconceivable. To give up your birthright in the hopes of maybe saving a comrade who could die anyway in the war regardless of one's actions today.
As Yoshino, the choice had never been easier. She'd have given her life for his in a heart beat as it was.
She rushed to grab the decapitated body of the Kaguya, bringing him into the outpost. She took out a kunai and carved open his chest with the aide of her Medical Scalpel Jutsu. The lack of ribs helped, as she tore out the heart.
She didn't even hesitate as she ate into it, suppressing the urge to vomit as she chewed through the muscle-yet-not-muscle texture as she swallowed and ate it as fast as possible.
As she swallowed the last bit of the heart, she murmured.
"I, Yoshino Yamanaka, give the body of the Kaguya along with my birthright as a Yamanaka, to save Shikaku Nara, and to ensure that Team 10 survives unscathed from this current war."
"I accept your claim. Rise and be born anew, One of Shadows and Bone, Yoshino Nara, for you are now one of my chosen, my Mortal Champion. Rise and sacrifice even more to ensure our Pact eternal."
The shadowy figure revealed itself as the Wendigo, gleefully tearing into the body of the Kaguya as it nonchalantly released the shadows hold on Shikaku, the man collapsing unconscious but very much alive.
Yoshino Nara had left Konoha a Yamanaka and had returned a Nara. Shikaku had been horrified at the price Yoshino had paid, but Yoshino had not minded.
Indeed, she gave Shikaku the credit of defending the outpost, as she used her cover as a Yamanaka to evade suspicion as she sacrificed entire platoons of Iwa and Kiri to the Wendigo. She even learned genjutsu with Mikoto Uchiha in order to learn the advanced Bringer of Darkness to merge seamlessly with her own far greater affinity with shadows.
She suppressed a cackle at remembering the fear on one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist as the Samehada recoiled in disgust and terror, her jutsu unable to be consumed when tinged by the unnatural cold presence of the ever hungry Wendigo.
To be one with shadows is to be both a part of and separate from the world, and so she leaned heavily on her bonds with Shikaku as her moral compass, for she truly had no compassion for those she deemed a threat or of little consequence.
Still, she slipped sometimes. Righteous anger and the urge to protect her family had equal part in her desire to cleanse Konoha of those who harmed someone she saw as a daughter in all but blood, but a small part enjoyed the hunt. Enjoyed the blood covering her frame. The fear and whimpers from her prey as she enjoyed every moment of their suffering.
She took a fierce joy in her son. A part of her pushed him because she saw his heightened laziness as a result of her Pact, and she feared he'd waste away as another lingering shadow, a Nara whose potential became squandered by his nature.
She needn't have worried. His drive, his passion, his hunger, all greatly exceeded even her wildest expectations. All he needed was the right circumstances to bring it out. So much so that she knew her Patron was eyeing her son with great interest. As a mother, she should be worried about her son attracting the lustful interest of the Wendigo, but she wasn't.
After all, Shikamaru Nara was a Twice-Born. Something she had become immediately aware of thanks to her ability to See the Unseen. She became even more proud as multiple images overlapped one another, as it meant her son had truly begun to explore himself and seek enlightenment.
Now, he shone like a being on par of her Patron. His connections so great even she struggled to see them all, and his many facets working in unison to the greater benefit of the whole. It was truly exciting to see her son ascend, and slightly bittersweet as she knew her son was all grown up now, surpassing even herself and perhaps even her Patron.
She silently smiled as she saw Naruko and Menma moan quietly as they took a bite of her son's food. She loved her son, and she loved her family. Her chosen family especially seemed to struggle with their newfound feelings of love and lust.
It was to be expected, she mused. After all, her son was just the best. The best ever. No bias here. Not at all.
She giggled as Menma hung her head and admitted her son's food was better than udon.
Her son had long since surpassed her, and she knew that eventually, sooner than she'd like, he'd depart on his adventures. He was not one to be shackled. That was okay. Better he be free and happy, than chained and depressed.
She just couldn't wait for him to give her some grandchildren to take care of while he went on his adventures. No doubt he'd leave a connection or two to keep an eye on them, he loved them all too much, but she couldn't help but imagine a Nara with blonde locks and a cute face looking up at her as they asked her for cookies.
She withheld a squeal. They'd be so cute!