Hinata of the White Lotus

Three Meetings

"'Bout time you came around again." Kali greeted before Hinata even opened her eyes.

"I'm sorry." Hinata responded out of reflex. She was relieved to see that the interstate was the usual one she had gotten used to. This wasn't some kind of Genjutsu world created by Kotoamatsukami or a merger between two worlds like when they convened with Asura.

The only two here were Hinata and Kali. This was their world.

"Well, can't be help. I guess." Kali was floating above the center of the eight trigrams design, the same as she usually was. If Hinata didn't know any better, she would say Kali had gotten lonely. Had the opportunity to speak with more people recently been the cause of this?

It was as Kali said, however. The past few days for Hinata had been extremely busy. It was her job to look after Tayuya, escorting her to the Interrogation squad so they could search her memories for information on Orochimaru. In addition, they had questions for Hinata as well in regards to her mission. After that, she usually found herself hanging out with Naruto, who made every opportunity he had to come see Tayuya.

That wasn't to talk about the time she had to set aside for her team. Kurenai had been released from the hospital yesterday. Along with Kiba, Shino, and Sarutobi Asuma, they threw her a recovery party. Asuma took them all out to eat yakiniku, on the condition they kept it a secret from his student, Choji.

Finally, Neji had been coming around the main clan compound more often since their chat. Her father had begun training him personally along with Hanabi. While Hinata didn't partake in this training directly, she was allowed to observe it. Something about it felt like they were going back to simpler days, before all the crazy things that had been happening to her recently.

Hinata wondered if she hadn't perhaps been subconsciously avoiding Kali, along with her duties as a inheritor of the Nichiren Byakugan. When she thought about it this way, she actually felt guilty. In order to make up for that, she would listen to everything Kali told her.

"I'm here now, Kali." Hinata said. She knew that with just that, Kali would somehow be able to understand her resolve. If anything, up until now she had been patient with Hinata by allowing her to finish the Chunin Exams and save her teacher.

"Yes, I suppose you are." Kali smiled for only a moment, before it was then time to get down to business. "You still have the Yata Mirror in your possession, right? If you can, I would like you to materialize it now."

"Materialize it?" Hinata asked. She did have the mirror, but she had no idea how to do what Kali was asking. When she entered into this dimension, it wasn't by conscious choice that she brought her clothes with her, but they materialized all the same. As if by her will. Was it also possible to do that with other objects then?

"Yes." Kali answered. "The Yata Mirror is a spiritual tool and the ownership has been rightfully passed over to you when Itachi willingly made the trade for the elixir. If you call for it, the mirror should answer." The way she said it, Hinata imagined the mirror had a will of its own. Which wouldn't have been the strangest thing to happen recently.

"I'll try." Hinata closed her eyes and focused. She mentally pictured the mirror that Itachi had given to her. A moment later and she felt a small weight in her hand. Opening her eyes back up, she saw the mirror had appeared, the exact same one she had seen in reality.

"Bring it to me." Kali ordered the moment the mirror had appeared. Hinata did as asked, walking forward and handing the mirror to Kali. In truth, she still didn't really understand the value of something so small and seemingly fragile. However, Itachi had also seemed reluctant to part with it.

"Was it really alright? To take this from Itachi-san?" Hinata wondered aloud.

"He doesn't exactly have much use for it anymore." Kali answered with a shrug, holding the mirror and turning it to reflect Hinata's image back at her. "By itself, the mirror doesn't actually seem all that impressive. You surely must have had this thought?"

"Yes." Hinata admitted, shifting her gaze to her feet. Something about looking at her reflection always made her feel uncomfortable, but she couldn't put into words exactly why that was.

"Most think that when they gaze upon the physical appearance of the mirror." Kali turned the mirror to herself. "There's a reason this sacred tool has been considered lost for centuries now. It never went anywhere, it was just that no one was able to realize the value of it. Which makes it all the more concerning that Fledgling could sense it."

"But how did he do that?" Hinata couldn't even see its worth with her Nichiren Byakugan, but Itachi's Mangekyo was somehow capable of it?

"Not just any Mangekyo ability would have allowed him to see it." Kali's brow furrowed and Hinata found herself wondering what she saw in her own reflection. "It was because he was chosen by Amaterasu that he was able to feel the connection to this mirror." There it was again, this talk about gods and goddesses. Hinata still didn't truly understand what she meant by all this.

"You're saying this Amaterasu wanted him to find the mirror?" Hinata asked. Just how much control and influence did these gods have over their world? Certainly, Hinata knew of the goddess Amaterasu as a sun deity, but it was an old religion now that very few believed was actually real.

"The mirror is something she snuck into our world." Kali confirmed. "One of Indra's previous reincarnations brought it here by using Amaterasu's powers in the past. The abilities of a Mangekyo Sharingan when used near an impurity… it causes a rift. You can think of it as a doorway between worlds. The one Indra's host created at the time was small, and Amaterasu could only fit this mirror through it. If the impurity is large enough, however, like say that thing you fought last time… she could potentially come through herself."

Hinata recalled the effect Kimimaro had begun to have on the natural energy all around him. It felt like he was on the verge of causing something in their reality to break. It lined up with what Kali was saying now. If she hadn't dealt with things then and there, a new god or goddess might have very well made it to their world.

"Which of these gods and goddesses do we have to worry about?" Hinata doubted she had the ability to keep them all contained, not if they were all actively trying to get through.

"Amaterasu is the one that worries me the most." Kali answered. "Her brothers, Tsukuyomi and Susanoo, don't currently have any pathway here. As for her parents, Izanami and Izanagi, they've already transcended to a higher plane and as such, don't really have interest in a planet as insignificant as this one." To hear something like their whole planet called insignificant, it really put into perspective just what kind of opponents they were dealing with.

"If all this is true, then was it really okay to give Itachi-san the elixir?" Hinata knew she was the last person who should be asking such a question. She had enough of her own reasons to want the elixir to work. Namely that it would mean she could potentially fix the issue of the branch clan.

"Even if I refused, I'm not naïve enough to believe he would just give up." Kali sighed, before then handing the mirror back to Hinata. She took it, but simply held it down at her side. "So I instead decided to make sure we at least got something out of it. If we can at least anticipate his movements a little, we have a better chance at preventing some kind of major disaster."

"Can the Yata Mirror help with that?" Hinata asked, once more glancing down at the mirror.

"Separating it from the eye that can use Amaterasu's power is just a precaution. I don't know what purpose she had for sending it to this side, but I doubt it's anything good." Kali's gaze had never once left the mirror. "That's why I'm going to have you use it. Better we take the enemy's power for ourselves than let them have it."

"Me?" Hinata repeated, voice cracking in surprise. "How am I supposed to use it?" She vaguely remembered how it had looked in the world of Tsukuyomi. Itachi had covered himself in a spectral armor he referred to as Susanoo. It had been this manifestation of a god that had wielded the mirror, using it more like a giant shield.

"We'll use the same concept that Fledgling did." Kali said as if it was that easy. "Incorporating the mirror into your left eye should allow you to manifest a similar shield to the one he did. You haven't mastered the Hakke Rotation yet, right? With this mirror, you probably won't even need to."

"A shield similar to father's technique?" Hinata whispered to herself. She had spent so much time mastering the techniques of the Nichiren Byakugan, she hadn't the time to focus on the more traditional techniques of her clan.

"It would be underselling the Yata Mirror to simply stop at comparing it to the rotation." Kali seemed to have a high opinion about the mirror, despite how dangerous she thought it was. "The mirror is capable of reflecting any kind of elemental Jutsu thrown at you. It will be the perfect tool to begin the next step of your training."

"My training?" Hinata felt like she still had far too much to learn as it was, that was without adding something else on top of all that.

"Well, we can talk about that in a bit." Kali seemed to notice the hesitation and pulled back. "For the time being, the next thing I would like you to do is go visit another one of the sacred shrines."

"I have to leave the village again?" Hinata had only just gotten back. She knew her duties were important, but the thought of leaving most everyone behind again while she went in search of those remaining eighty-seven shrines… it all seemed too fast.

"Who said anything about leaving the village?" Kali asked, a knowing-smile on her face. "There's a shrine here in Konoha too. That's the one I want you to take a look at. Besides, it's too early to ask you to leave the village to look at the others. We still have to help my cousin out with his task, remember?"

That was right. Hinata often felt the weight of the task she was expected to carry out, but it wasn't like everything sat on her shoulders alone. Naruto would also be helping her out, and in return she would help him.

She just hoped he was actually talking to Asura.

The sound of a water drop echoing throughout a metallic hallway pulled at Naruto's consciousness.

With a groggy groan he sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Then he looked around. Blinking, he once again rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing things right.

The scenery didn't change. He was in some kind of dark corridor, more like a sewer with long metal pipes running along the walls and ceiling. As he stood up, he realized he had been lying on top of ankle deep water.

Despite not recognizing this place at all, something about it was strangely familiar to him. Was that why he didn't feel any kind of panic, despite the fact that he should? Not that freaking out would get him any answers.

No, the only way to figure out what was going on was to find his way out of here. He looked ahead of him, then behind. Both ways led into the darkness, indistinguishable from each other. So he picked the way ahead, walking forward without a care in the world. Sneaking around wouldn't have benefited him in any way. It wasn't like he was being hunted. How he knew that, he wasn't sure, but somehow he did.

It took him several minutes of walking to realize why he had instinctively chosen to go forward; There was a wind blowing against his face. No- this wasn't wind. Rather… it was breathing. Something large was in here, much too big to fit in the cramped hallway Naruto currently walked through.

Once he realized this, Naruto knew exactly where he was. Following the wind-like breathing, he navigated the labyrinth of hallways until he came out into a massive room. At the other end of the room was a gate. And behind the gate… was the Nine-tailed fox. Or as Naruto now knew him-

"Yo, Kurama!" Naruto held up a hand in greeting, casually calling out the once forgotten name of the Biju. It was Asura that had taught him the name. And something about knowing the fox responsible for his isolation had a name just like he did… Naruto couldn't explain it, but it made him feel more human.

"Don't just refer to me by that name so casually, you brat." Kurama's red eye leered out from behind the cage, the slit pupil conveying his anger at the situation he was in. Sealed inside a human and now ridiculed for having his name revealed to him.

"Eh, why not?" Naruto asked, genuinely confused as to why someone would object to being referred to by their name. "I think it's pretty cool, y'know! Besides, it's much easier to say Kurama, instead of calling you a monster fox all the time, like everyone else." Not to mention, Naruto hated that term, because most of the village usually lumped him together with it.

"…" Kurama seemed to realize this, an awkward silence filling the air as he weighed Naruto's words against his own feelings. "…Do what you want." He finally decided, spitting out those words as if to just give up on the whole situation.

"I would even if you told me not to." Naruto huffed, instead turning to look around at the rest of the room he stood in. Aside from the cage, however, there wasn't much else. And no sign of the lush green forest he had been in when he met with his previous life. "So where's that Asura guy? I assume he's the one that called me here." Not that he wanted to meet him, exactly.

"The connection between you and Asura is still unstable." Kurama answered, sounding oddly cooperative now. "He decided it would be easier to do things this way. I'll act as an intermediary between you two, as I'm able to communicate freely with him and you."

"Ehhh…" Naruto didn't really understand the details, but basically it meant he would be talking with the fox instead of the ghost guy. Which was actually preferable to him. He had a lot he wanted to say to Kurama, after all, but not much he needed to say to Asura. "I didn't take you for the type that would roll over and play messenger." He goaded, trying to gauge the fox's reaction.

"Hmph, don't get smart with me, brat." Kurama seemed to know what he was trying, not taking the bait. "Asura and I have known each other for over a millennium now. He's the one Jiji entrusted his creed to. And while it galls me to think some twerp like you is his reincarnation, I will respect the vows I made. You, of all people, should understand that."

"You…" Naruto gaped in shock. It seemed Kurama was aware of his Ninja creed, his vow to never go back on his word. "You might not be so bad, y'know!?" His shocked face warped into a beaming smile. "I've changed my opinion of you, a little."

"Hmph," Kurama huffed, the force of his breath alone nearly strong enough to knock Naruto over. "Don't misunderstand. I'm not here to change what you think about me. It was still because of me that your parents died. Don't forget that."

"…You knew my parents?" Naruto's selective hearing allowed him to hear only that. "What were they like, can you tell me anything about them?" Instead of yelling at the fox in anger, he instead ran closer to the cage, his excitement at learning even something about his family overriding everything else.

"…You're a strange kid." Kurama shifted his gaze, not able to look directly into Naruto's beaming blue eyes. He felt bad now about trying to goad him. Which was why, "I can't tell you much about your father, as I didn't personally know him. However, I can talk in great detail about your mother."

"My mom…" Naruto whispered in awe. Never did he think when he came down here that he would get a chance for something like this. "Please tell me everything you know. I don't care how long it takes." Any trace of the sarcasm he spoke in upon entering the room was gone now. He was like a little kid again, even more than he already was.

"Uzumaki Kushina." Kurama didn't know what to feel when he said that name. He hated her, yet at the same time he knew everything about her. From when she was a little girl bullied by others for the color of her hair, to when she became a mature beauty that any man would have been happy to have, he had watched over her for nearly her entire life. "You remind me of her when she was young." He started there, giving details of his mother's life. Not huge events, but small everyday trivialities.

Naruto hung off of every word, not interrupting and barely even blinking. It was the most attentive Kurama had ever seen him. How long had it been since a human had been so enthralled by something he had to say? Kurama couldn't even remember. People looked at him and either saw a monster to be feared or a weapon to be used. Yet not Naruto, not from the moment he learned of his name.

It was almost enough for him to want to just keep telling him everything he wanted until he was satisfied. However, Kurama also had a job to do. Asura was expecting things from Naruto, and Kurama had just found the perfect way to ensure his cooperation.

"Well, that should be enough for now." Kurama finished his last story of Kushina's exploits.

"Aww-" Naruto started to cry out in protest almost immediately.

"Shut it, we're not meeting right now to discuss your mother. Or did you forget?" The moment he asked that question, realization dawned in Naruto's eyes and he snapped his fingers. "You really did forget. Unbelievable…" Kurama had overestimated him, it would seem. "You have a duty to Asura. Taking care of Indra… in other words, Sasuke, should be your main focus right now." He really was going to make sure Naruto did his job.

Kurama knew better than anyone what would happen if Indra's reincarnation was allowed to run wild. If they weren't careful, they were going to end up with another Madara.

"Here we are," Sai said, pulling the blindfold off Sasuke's head.

The Uchiha heir blinked several times, eyes adjusting to the low light of the dungeon they were in. Just before arriving, he felt a most peculiar sensation. As if his whole body had been twisted and bent away.

Sai hadn't guided him down any stairs, instead taking him into an old, abandoned building where he then placed the blindfold on. After that, a third person had entered the room, his footsteps the only indication of his presence. When that person stood next to Sasuke, the weird sensation began. Only for the blindfold to be removed a moment later.

"And where is here?" Sasuke glanced around the room, trying to get his bearings. It was completely different from the building they had entered. Stone and brick surrounded them on all sides, the only light coming from small torches hung off the walls.

There was no indication of their location, but Sasuke could tell by the stale air and slick moss beneath his fight that this was deep underground. Whatever that strange bending sensation had been was either a Genjutsu or some kind of space-time Ninjutsu. Sasuke believed it to be the latter.

He turned to the third person, a tall man in an orange mask. He was wearing a black robe with red cloud imprints. Sasuke attempted to peer into the single eye-hole of the mask, but he couldn't see beyond the darkness. Not in the dim light.

"This is a safe place." It wasn't Sai, or the man in the orange mask that answered. Instead it was some old man that was walking out from within the darkness. With every step the old man took, he struck the ground with a cane. "My name is Shimura Danzo and this is my Root headquarters. We can talk here in secret, without having to worry about the wandering gaze of your older brother."

"Itachi." Sasuke spat the name out like it was a curse. "And what proof do you have he's alive?" Deep down, Sasuke knew he was actually hoping for this man to have some kind of actual proof. Because if Itachi was alive, then Sasuke's ambitions didn't have to end. He could still do something about all this hatred he had been festering for all these years.

"Proof?" Danzo asked as if to scoff at the meaning of the word. "In our world, what is proof? If I produced Uchiha Itachi right now to stand before you, would you believe it was him?" This was a fair point. However, when Danzo didn't continue, Sasuke began to realize the question hadn't been rhetorical. He was expecting an answer.

"No." Sasuke grudgingly admitted. "I would assume it was a Genjutsu." There was no way Itachi would just come walking forward and reveal himself, after all.

"Then why is it that his death could not also have been a Genjutsu?" Danzo proposed. "Do you believe your brother is someone that could be brought down by a single man, with the littlest help from a Hyuga girl with no talent? Or isn't the truth more likely that he staged his death?" When it was put like that, there was only one way Sasuke could possibly answer. However, that didn't actually answer anything. It just shifted the goalpost slightly.

"Why would Itachi do that?" Sasuke asked. "He has nothing to hide from." His brother had lived out in the open until now, having joined a known terrorist organization. There was nothing that could make him fear for his life. Not to the point he would want to fake his own death to hide from it. This was the very man that killed his own clan all by himself.

"It isn't a physical opponent your brother is hiding from." Danzo answered. "However, what he desires is also something he cannot do by being out in the open. Faking his death was an act of convenience, not fear."

"…And what is it my brother wants?" Sasuke realized that he had never known the answer to that. Not when they had been younger, not when he killed their clan, and most definitely not now. As close as the two brothers had once been, Itachi had always been an enigma to Sasuke, his desires and motivations shrouded.

"It is my current belief that he desires the possession of Hokage." The moment those words left Danzo's mouth and Sasuke couldn't help but let out a bark of laughter. Itachi? Hokage? It was ridiculous and the leap in logic to get to that point was far too long. How did Itachi go from wanting to kill his clan to being leader of the village? Didn't those two things contradict each other? "I know it seems strange," Danzo admitted. "However, I ask that you allow me to tell you how I came to this conclusion."

It wasn't like Sasuke had anything else to do. He came here to get information on Itachi, after all. So he nodded, at least willing to hear his theory out. Whether he believed it or not could come after.

"I shall start at the end and work my way backwards." Danzo turned as if to look up above them and at the village they were below. "Itachi has infiltrated the village after faking his death, and is currently standing beside Sarutobi Hiruzen. It would seem the Lord Third is already under Itachi's Genjutsu and is being manipulated by him. In other words, Itachi's ambition is already nearly complete."

"Are you joking?" Sasuke hadn't meant to interrupt so early into the explanation, but what Danzo was saying was just so incredulous there was no way he could take this seriously. "What kind of Genjutsu could capture the Hokage?" Despite being an old man, Sasuke had nothing but respect for the Hokage and his strength. "Even if the Hokage didn't notice, someone else would." Not to mention, this meant Itachi was closer than Sasuke had assumed.

"What do you know about Uchiha Shisui?" Danzo suddenly asked. Sasuke blinked, the shift in conversation having thrown him off.

"You mean Itachi's best friend?" He asked. Aside from that, he didn't know much. Only that Shisui had been someone on par with Itachi in strength and that he killed him to awaken the Mangekyo.

"Shisui also possessed the Mangekyo." Danzo dropped this information so casually, Sasuke almost didn't catch it. "His ability was known as Kotoamatsukami, a Genjutsu so powerful that he could control people without them ever knowing. It was no mistake that Itachi went for Shisui first, as this power was necessary for his plans. However, after stealing Shisui's eye, it took him many years to be able to activate it. This is why he waited until now to make his move."

"What nonsense!" Sasuke grit his teeth in anger. "Even if this was true, how do you expect anyone to believe you? Where would you have even learned all this?" He was done here, he didn't desire to hear anything more.

"Shisui knew about Itachi's ambitions." Danzo continued anyway. "And he knew his death was inevitable, along with your whole clan. Which is why he came to me. He trusted me with this information… along with one of his eyes." Danzo slowly began to unwrap the bandages covering the right side of his face. When the bandages fell away, they revealed a Sharingan eye. Much in the same way Sasuke's teacher, Kakashi, also had one. "I'm the only one that can see through Itachi's genjutsu, because I'm the only one with the same eye as him. This is Shisui's will: To stop your brother."

Sasuke opened his mouth, but no words came out. Everything before now had been such an impossible tale, but if Danzo really did have Shisui's eye, then there was some credibility to everything that was being said. Danzo had rejected the need for proof earlier, but this was more convincing than any of his words could have been.

However, that wasn't enough.

"You want me to trust in you, when you're the only one able to see what we're up against?" Sasuke scoffed. "Isn't that too convenient?"

"It's as you say." Danzo admitted. His Sharingan seemed to be glowing in the darkness of the room, the red light appearing like a tiny moon. "If words alone will not be able to convince you, I ask that you accompany my companion. He brought along some of his own compatriots that can give you the power you need." He gestured to the man in the orange mask standing next to Sasuke.

"And who is this?" Sasuke asked, turning to the man and once again trying to peer beneath his mask. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't see what was beyond the darkness. It was unnatural.

"I'm Tobi!" The man squeaked in a high-pitched voice. "I'm in the same organization as Itachi-senpai! Well, at least until he betrayed us. He killed a close friend of mine, which is why I'm helping Danzo out with this case." Despite the darkness of Tobi's words, you would think he was telling you good news based just on his tone alone.

"What kind of power is this?" Sasuke asked, seriously doubting that whatever it was they were offering could be of any use to him.

"The power that will allow you to join Root and fight against your brother." It was Danzo that answered. "Or will you also choose to be deceived by Itachi's Genjutsu and give up on your revenge?" He then posed, his words a simple distraction. For Sasuke hadn't realized it, but the moment he had removed the bandages, his decision making process was already being altered.

Perhaps an unnecessary precaution.

For even if Danzo hadn't sought to manipulate him, one thing would never change.

If Itachi was alive, Sasuke would never stop hunting him for revenge.