Author's Note: Welcome back everyone! After a message from book lover reader (thanks again for your feedback!) I now realize that I need to clear up a misconception regarding how powerful Kyuuten was in chapter 27. Book lover reader thought that she was weak. This cannot be further from the truth. At full power, Kyuuten was stronger than Sesshomaru with Tokijin, but weaker than Sesshomaru with Bakusaiga.
This was not stated in chapter 27 because I assumed it would be obvious that a Daiyoukai would need to be incredibly powerful to simultaneously defeat a Jonin and two demigods while restricted to 2-5% of her full power and strength. Toutousai saying that she's "absurdly powerful" in chapter 26 was meant to convey this as well, as he's seen how powerful Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were at various points throughout the series and was directly comparing Kyuuten to them. The anti-Youkai field didn't just suppress her power, it nerfed her physical attributes too. I should have made it clearer that the field suppressed Kyuuten's physical attributes as well, chapter 27 has now been updated to state that.
Dialogue Legend:
"Unforgivable" – Normal dialogue
'Unforgivable' – character's thoughts/speaking to Inner Demon/Inner Spirit through a seal
"Unforgivable" – Jutsu name; Inner Demon/Inner Spirit/Supernatural Being speaking to someone directly.
'Unforgivable' – Inner Demon/Inner Spirit/Supernatural Being speaking to someone through a seal
Chapter 29 – Two Echoes, Four Sounds
"What kind of person is Naruto-kun?" Tsunade asked Jiraiya. Three days had passed since Orochimaru's ambush. Two had been spent healing Jiraiya's injuries. Aside from his left knee, the Toad Sage was fully recovered. The damage to his knee was too extensive for Tsunade to fully heal in the field; he was healed enough to travel, but she would need specialized medical tools to ensure that Jiraiya wouldn't walk with a limp for the rest of his life.
"I'm still figuring that out myself, actually." Jiraiya answered. "Despite being his godfather, I only came into his life a few months ago, no thanks to Danzo."
"That war hawk is still alive? Damn it, I thought we'd be rid of him by now!" Tsunade swore.
"We are, thanks in no small part to Naruto, but we're still sorting through the mess he left behind." Jiraiya gave Tsunade a summary of how Root was discovered and purged. He also told her about Naruto's contributions to Konoha's reconstruction efforts, and Neji's brutal execution.
While Tsunade was horrified by the nature of Neji's death, she was also impressed by Naruto's medical knowledge; keeping someone alive for three hours while brutally torturing them was no easy feat.
"Long story short, Naruto was put through absolute hell by Konoha and the fact that he's still sane is a miracle of miracles. Hinata-hime certainly helped, but Koteru-san – the Academy head librarian – was of tremendous aid as well, though I'm not quite sure how." Naruto had given his approval for Ceto to tell Jiraiya of his past, but the Toad Sage didn't have the chance to do so before leaving to find Tsunade. Before Orochimaru's invasion, Jiraiya was busy plugging every hole left by Danzo in Konoha's security network that he could find.
"From what you've told me, Naruto-kun's a saint to his allies but a devil to his enemies." Tsunade sighed, hoping that Naruto wouldn't think less of her for abandoning Konoha. She was one-quarter Uzumaki, making Naruto her last living blood relative. Family shouldn't be at each other's throats.
"Naruto knows you're related to him. Before the Chuunin Exams, he spent a lot of time studying the Uzumaki Clan history and Kushina-chan left him a family tree in the Namikaze vaults, along with several other secrets of the clan." Jiraiya sighed bitterly. "When he asked me why his only living relative was nowhere to be seen, I had to tell him. He did not take the news well. He doesn't hate you – he respects why you had to leave – but I'm afraid he now partially blames the hell he went through as a child on you. You weren't there; in his head, he can rationalize why, but, in his heart, you weren't there when he needed you most."
Tsunade fought back tears. "I never should have left!"
"And then what? You'd drown in despair fighting a war for people you couldn't bring yourself to give a damn about at the time?" Sasuke gazed sharply at Tsunade; not quite a glare, but close. "You did what you had to do for your mental and emotional health at the time. Sure, going on a years-long gambling spree wasn't good for you either, but leaving Konoha when you did was the right call."
"Nice speech, kid, glad you got it out of your system now, because your new Anbu bodyguards aren't ones to be swayed by a few words." Jiraiya's smile didn't reach his eyes.
Sasuke's face turned pale. "I'm sorry, did you say bodyguards?"
"I did." The Konoha spymaster's voice was harder than diamond. "Orochimaru ordered Kabuto to capture you, not kill you. The treacherous snake was first kicked out of Konoha for human experimentation. When Hiruzen-sensei caught him, he said he was searching for the secret to immortality. Most of Danzo's records were destroyed in the Root purge, but enough research documents survived for us to confirm that he and Orochimaru collaborated on several projects related to soul transference. From what we've pieced together, the snake invented a Jutsu that allows him to take over someone else's body. He completely devours the victim's mind, gaining all their memories in the process, and he eventually remolds the new body in his image. Any unique traits of the bodies he possesses are retained and transferred to the next host."
"The Sharingan!" Sasuke realized.
"Another life-long goal of Orochimaru is to unlock the mysteries of nature and master every Jutsu." Jiraiya paused to reflect on happier times, when Orochimaru's ambition could be viewed in a far more benign light. "The Sharingan is essential to that goal. Years ago, my spies witnessed a fight between Orochimaru and Itachi. Since Itachi is still himself, I'm sure you can guess how that blunder ended."
"He couldn't handle my brother, so now he's after me? Great, just great!" Sasuke shouted. "Does this Immortality Jutsu have any drawbacks?"
"Maybe," Jiraiya sighed, "according to Danzo's notes, Orochimaru must wait at least three years after possessing a body before he can transfer to another one. Danzo speculated that overusing the Jutsu weakens Orochimaru's soul, or even cripples it permanently, and that three years in one body ensures that his soul will be 'rested' enough to retain its full strength during the transfer. But even then, Orochimaru will still be weakened if he transfers to a body that can't handle his full power. It's a defense mechanism built into the Jutsu to prevent him from burning out a body before he can switch again."
Sasuke kicked a pebble down the road. "Does Orochimaru have to transfer to a new body once his three years are up?"
"The notes we managed to recover don't say. If I had to guess, I'd say no." Jiraiya speculated. "There aren't many people around with bodies that can withstand Orochimaru's full power, so it stands to reason he'd want to spend as much time in an ideal host as possible before moving on. Even if I'm wrong, these research notes are years old. In the time since, Orochimaru might have found ways to reduce or eliminate his Immortality Jutsu's flaws."
The rest of the trip back to Konoha occurred in silence.
At Jiraiya's request, Tsunade used a Henge to disguise herself before the trio reached Konoha's gates. His knee had been healed enough to travel, but he needed immediate hospitalization to avoid permanent damage. The last thing Jiraiya needed was to be delayed by the massive reception Tsunade's return would instantly spawn. Through his spies, the Toad Sage sent a message to Asuma requesting that Konoha General Hospital's staff be discreetly notified of Tsunade's arrival. The Medical Ninja running the hospital had no problems agreeing to Jiraiya's desire for discretion. He was a hero of Konoha, as was Tsunade.
Once Jiraiya was on the operating table, Tsunade wasted no time in refining her earlier work on his knee. The surgery took only an hour, but, due to the high volume of blood involved, Tsunade looked like she'd been through a war.
"Tsunade-sama, please get some rest!" The chief surgeon on duty had seen just how badly his idol struggled with her hemophobia during the operation.
"Not yet." Tsunade growled through gritted teeth. "There is another patient whose treatment can no longer be delayed!" After cleansing and sanitizing herself, Tsunade opened the door to Naruto's room.
The Namikaze Lord was sleeping peacefully, due in no small part to the Gorgon blood administered earlier. While the sanguine miracle fluid could not restore his mind, it could preserve it. Furthermore, Itachi had shattered Naruto's mind in a manner prone to self-recovery. The rogue Uchiha had no way of knowing that Tsunade would return, so he trusted in Naruto's sheer willpower and Uzumaki heritage to reverse the damage he inflicted.
With Gorgon blood, Naruto's will and genetics, and Itachi's mercy all working in her favor, Tsunade needed less than twenty minutes to reverse the damage inflicted by Tsukuyomi. Naruto stirred, yawned loud enough to wake the dead, and fell back to his serene slumber.
"NOW, I'm done for the day." Tsunade decreed before hauling herself to Hiruzen's office. As much as she wanted to run straight to what was left of the Senju Clan compound and crash face-first into the biggest bed she could find, she needed to meet her Sensei and hash out the details of the succession.
The Next Morning – 7:00 AM
Naruto's eyes opened, and he quickly blinked several times to rid them of the crust that had accumulated during his coma. As his vision cleared, he noticed a single visitor in his room, though his superhuman hearing alerted him to three other voices just outside his door.
"Had a good nap, sleepy-head?" Anko smiled, her light-brown eyes glittering with joy.
"I suppose I did." Naruto answered. Anko demeanor put him at ease; she would not be so relaxed if Itachi and Kisame hadn't been repulsed. "As much as I'd like to ask how long I've been out and how Sasuke is doing, there's something else that the two of us have been putting off for quite long enough."
"Damn right," Anko chuckled, "you have no idea what I had to promise Hinata to get her to agree that I'd be the first one in here. Tsunade-sama ordered that you only get one visitor at a time, and each of us can only stay for fifteen minutes tops.
'So Jiraiya brought Tsunade back without me, huh? I'll have to hear how he managed that since he admitted that he'd never be able to do it alone.' Naruto mused for one second before turning his gaze to the very hungry purple-haired sadist in the room. He barely managed to sit up in his bed before Anko pounced on him like a cobra and claimed his lips for her own. Naruto was forced back to his original position by the impact, but he didn't care for an instant as he returned the fiery kiss with a passion of his own.
His arms wrapped around Anko's back, preventing her from moving as his tongue entered her mouth. The shunned Snake Youkai and the forsaken Jinchuriki spent the entirety of the remaining time allotted to Anko expressing the depths of their feelings to each other. All too soon, the stopwatch given to all of Naruto's visitors by the hospital staff began beeping, and Anko slid out of her lover's grasp.
"Don't be a stranger, Naruto." She said before leaving. Moments later, Hinata entered the room.
"Anko passed the test, I take it?" Naruto asked rhetorically.
"Such as it was, though given how beneficial you are to her emotional health it would have been the height of cruelty to refuse her." Hinata sighed contentedly. "With Anko-nee-san, three of your six wives are now spoken for. Haku-nee-san is already a member of the Namikaze, and I will follow upon our marriage. Can the same be said for Anko-nee-san?"
This was one of the agreements Naruto and Hinata had made regarding his harem; while Hinata had final say on which wives would become a part of it – and how many would be able to join – Naruto reserved the right to decide which of his two clans his future wives would join. Haku was already a Namikaze by blood, and Hinata had insisted upon joining the Namikaze Clan so she could be as close to Naruto as possible, but the other four wives' positions were his to determine.
"No, Anko will be joining the Uzumaki Clan. She's told me that she has a strong secondary affinity for Yin Release. Since that's the parent Nature Transformation of Fuinjutsu, it will be essential for resurrecting the Uzumaki. I'll have to see if the Namikaze blood-transfer ritual can be refined to target specific Nature Transformations. At present, my Uzumaki genes are suppressed by my Namikaze ones. If I can assimilate Anko's Yin Release affinity, it should jumpstart my dormant Uzumaki DNA."
"I was wondering why you were struggling so hard with your Fuinjutsu training despite having the perfect bloodline for it." Naruto did not tell his fiancé everything about his life without being prompted, and Hinata viewed this as healthy for their relationship. "Was it easier to use seals before your Daiyoukai powers awakened?"
"Much easier, it used to be less than child's play for me to cast privacy seals, both the basic and advanced versions." After hearing Naruto say this, Hinata's lavender eyes widened. The basic privacy seal, which prevented eavesdropping, was a Chuunin-level technique. The advanced version masked the user's presence entirely unless they left the affected area, and was considered a Jonin-level technique. Even for Jonin, flawlessly casting an advanced privacy seal was very difficult unless they trained extensively for it or possessed an affinity for Fuinjutsu.
"For the immediate future, I am rejecting Kiba-chan's candidacy for your harem. While you were comatose, she said something not lightly forgiven." Hinata repeated the short, very heated argument Kiba and Anko had on the day Naruto lost consciousness.
"Damn it, Kiba-chan!" Naruto cringed, fully agreeing with Hinata's decision. If he'd been conscious to hear that exchange, the Namikaze Lord may well have rejected Kiba himself. "Rough estimate, how long is Kiba-chan in the doghouse?" Naruto couldn't resist the joke.
"A few months, at the very least." Hinata laughed lightly in response. "She must demonstrate that she is of noble character before I will reverse my decision. I will grant her every opportunity to do so, until the day we are wed."
"So be it." Naruto acknowledged just before Hinata's stopwatch started to ring. The Hyuuga princess gave her fiancé a quick kiss before leaving the room.
Haku was Naruto's third visitor for the day, but the love she held for her future husband was nowhere to be seen on her face. "You almost died." She said coldly.
"Yes," Naruto confessed, his voice equally bleak.
"You need more training." Haku continued.
"With both Kurama's power, and my Suiton Jutsu." Naruto agreed. Fuuton he could master on his own, but Haku was his best candidate to learn Suiton from now that Zabuza was a team leader.
"We begin when you are discharged." Haku curtly ordered. Not even a full minute had passed before she left Naruto's room. Before Tenten – Naruto's final guest for the day – could enter, Haku removed her still-active stopwatch and placed it on Tenten's wrist, nearly doubling her allotted time. The head nurse on duty saw the act, but a frigid glare from the last Yuki banished any thought of admonishing the girls from her mind. Tsunade's word was law to all Konoha medical staff, but – in that instant – Haku's eyes blazed with the immutable will of the Shinigami himself. Tenten had nearly killed herself for Naruto's sake; the time limit could go fuck itself as far as Haku was concerned.
"The nurses said Tsunade-sama would be by to assess you once our time was up. How are you feeling, Naruto-kun?" Tenten asked.
"Between the Gorgon blood and my body's natural healing properties, I feel great physically. Mentally, I feel refreshed as well." Naruto answered. "In my fight with Kisame-san, Tokijin was badly damaged. Is there any chance you can repair it?"
Tenten chuckled. "Funny, Asuma-dono had the same thought!" She pulled a storage scroll from her pocket and withdrew the newly-repaired Tokijin from it. Naruto's joyous scream was silenced before it could begin by the painful look on Tenten's face.
"Please, Tenten-chan, tell me everything." Naruto requested after connecting the dots. Even with Hephaestus' help, Tenten wouldn't have been able to repair Tokijin without the proper materials. The Namikaze vault had more than a few Youkai body parts preserved for such emergencies, but Tenten didn't know that and wouldn't have survived the journey into the vault if she did.
"Good thing Haku-san gave me extra time." Tenten praised her teammate before giving Naruto the information he sought.
"Wait, WHAT?!" Naruto blurted out after Tenten said she used Kongou Fusa. "How do you know that Jutsu?!"
Tenten's answer caused Naruto's brow to furrow. "Tenten-chan, did that book explain what Kongou Fusa means to the Uzumaki Clan?"
"N-no," Tenten stuttered, caught off guard by the intensity of Naruto's gaze. "It was a soldier's war journal written during the First Shinobi World War by a Konoha Shinobi. The author only noted how powerful the Jutsu was and drew the hand seals needed to cast it. Not just Kongou Fusa, but a few other Uzumaki techniques as well."
Naruto's gaze softened slightly, but it was still harsh enough to unnerve Tenten. "Kongou Fusa is a rite of passage for all Uzumaki Clan members. Just like the Gokakyu no Jutsu is for the Uchiha Clan; an Uzumaki has to be able to use Kongou Fusa to be considered an adult."
"I'M SO SORRY!" Tenten yelled. Trampling over Naruto's clan traditions was the last thing she'd ever want to do.
"Don't worry about it now. You didn't know, and, strictly speaking, it's not forbidden for outsiders to learn Kongou Fusa." Naruto reassured the flustered weapon master. "That said, you do need the approval of the clan head, which is me at the moment. Traditionally, someone not of the Uzumaki Clan would need to fulfill two conditions to get that approval."
"What are they?" Tenten asked with steel in her voice.
"First, you have to demonstrate that you have enough Chakra to safely use Kongou Fusa for a sustained period of time, at least five minutes. I'm not worried about that. You're a demigod, and you're only thirteen years old. If you don't have the necessary Chakra reserves now, I know you'll develop them with time and training."
Naruto paused for nearly half a minute before continuing. "The second condition is much more sensitive. The clan head can demand any price in exchange for teaching Kongou Fusa. Whoever wants to learn Kongou Fusa must agree to the price demanded, no negotiations allowed. The price is enforced by a blood seal applied before the Jutsu is taught. If the outsider refuses to pay the price, or tries to weasel out of it in any way, they die instantly."
Tenten's eyes gradually widened as Naruto explained the second condition for learning Kongou Fusa; by the end of his explanation, they were all but leaping out of her head.
"Having said that, I – as the current Lord of the Uzumaki – reserve the right to alter or eliminate clan traditions as I see fit, especially since I'm the last known survivor of the Uzumaki Clan. We can do without the blood seal this time; I'm going to demand my price here and now, and it won't require anything from you that you are incapable of."
"What's the price?" Tenten asked warily.
"For the next twenty seconds, close your eyes." Naruto ordered.
Tenten obliged, and, for nineteen seconds, nothing happened. At the end of the twentieth second, the granddaughter of Hephaestus felt Naruto's arms wrap around her in a fierce embrace.
"I don't need to hear how the rest of your fight with Kyuuten-san went. Not here, not now. You're here, you're healthy, and, right now, that's all I care about." Naruto cried softly.
Tenten wordlessly returned the hug, and the pair remained embraced until the second of the two stopwatches started ringing. She left the room, and nearly collapsed in pain seconds after closing the door.
Tenten's reckless absorption of Kyuuten's Youki had consequences. The nearly unbearable pain she suffered while assimilating it into her own Chakra still wracked her body. Medusa's blood had substantially lowered the pain's intensity, but she still felt like red-hot knives were piercing every inch of her body. When Team 9 had returned to Konoha, the Medical Ninja at Konoha General Hospital had determined that Tenten's Chakra pathways had been stretched nearly to the point of bursting open by Kyuuten's Youki. Medusa's blood ensured that there would be no permanent damage, but that would only be the case if Tenten didn't use Chakra at all until her Chakra Network had completely healed.
The Medical Ninja on staff before Tsunade's return lacked the skill to accelerate Tenten's recovery. Tsunade had been briefed on Tenten's case, but it was a low priority for her until she healed enough patients to rid herself of her hemophobia. For now, she booked Tenten for a follow-up appointment in three weeks.
Now alone in his room, Naruto sent a pulse of Chakra into Kurama's seal. The gate opened, and a sliver of the Tailed Beast's Chakra emerged from it. Naruto savored the Chakra's power as he circulated it through his body. 'I can you use your power safely again now, Kurama-sensei. How long was I out?'
'Three weeks; I had hoped to use the time you were unconscious to teach you more of what can be done with my power, and your Youki, but your mind was too badly damaged.' Kurama sighed.
'We'll make up for the lost time soon enough.' Naruto declared. 'Before the end of the month, my goal is to be able to use the Zero-Tail state for at least ten minutes every other day.'
'The Zero-Tail state can be any amount of my power below what is needed to form a Tailed Cloak. I assume you are referring to the highest amount of Chakra possible before a Tailed Cloak would be created?'
Naruto sent an impression of approval into the seal to answer Kurama's question.
'If we were training without interruption, I would say that your goal is feasible, but with Haku-chan's Suiton training regimen to consider as well you will need two months.' Kurama was frustrated at the slow progression of Naruto's training, but she had to accept that she was not Naruto's only teacher and his other mentors had skills and abilities he needed to master as well.
'Haku-chan will have to make do with a Kage Bushin; one created with half of my Chakra should be more than sturdy enough to handle everything she throws at it over the course of a day.'
'All that construction work has made your Kage Bushin rather durable,' Kurama allowed, 'but using one for training will likely offend her. I do not wish to see the relationships with your mates suffer because of your training.'
'Yeah, there will be hell to pay for this,' Naruto groaned, 'but Haku-chan needs to get used to it anyway. When the time comes, one body won't be enough to satisfy all of my mates' needs.'
'You dog!' Kurama cackled. Naruto's reply was halted by the sound of his door opening. A thousand emotions warred within his heart as Tsunade entered the room.
"Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki." Tsunade said solemnly.
"Tsunade Senju-san." Naruto replied neutrally. The response tore at Tsunade's heart. She prostrated herself on the floor. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! If I had known you were born, what you were going through, I would have returned in an instant!" The Slug Sannin cried.
"But didn't you know, so you didn't come, and I suffered." Naruto answered without scorn, merely stating the facts. "From what Jiraiya told me, you had your own demons to fight. Living with you before you conquered them would likely have been its own brand of Hell. I don't hate you, Tsunade-san. Maybe things would have been better if you were here, maybe they would have been as bad, or worse, in a different way. I don't deal in what-ifs. You're here now, and, as far as I'm concerned, there's no bad blood between us."
Tsunade rose off the floor. "There's not? Jiraiya seemed to think there was."
"I was pissed when he told me why you left, but then I had time to think about it." Naruto clarified. "You had a very good reason to leave when you did, and I wasn't even born yet. I wouldn't be right to blame you for what happened to me when you didn't even know I existed because you were dealing with your own grief."
"Running away from it, you mean." Tsunade scoffed. "To think it took an Uchiha, the Senju's sworn enemy, to show me how lost I had become."
"So Jiraiya brought Sasuke with him to persuade you to come back here? It was going to be me before Itachi knocked me out. Tell me everything!" Naruto pleaded.
After hearing the story, Naruto laughed in amazement. "Glad to see Sasuke put Kabuto-teme in his place, and with my father's Jutsu, no less! If anyone besides my mates and their children was going to learn the Rasengan, it would've been him!" Naruto collected himself before looking at Tsunade with a thousand-yard stare. "Before we can bridge the gap between us, you need to speak with Koteru-sensei. Take Jiraiya along with you and tell her I've given permission for both of you to hear all about me."
"Koteru isn't her true name, I take it?" Tsunade noticed the emphasis Naruto placed on the head librarian's name.
"Nope, but that's not my secret to tell." Naruto smirked. "Without her, Konoha would not have survived the invasion, keeping her privacy is the least I can do for her."
"I see, thank you Naruto-kun!" After saying that, Tsunade left the room.
Inuzuka Clan Compound – 8:00 AM
"Okaa-san, Akamaru and I mastered the – " Kiba's declaration died on her lips seconds after she entered her clan's main sparring hall. Tsume had told Kiba to meet her here after she completed her morning training. The vast hall, typically filled with dozens of Inuzuka members honing their skills, was empty except for the Inuzuka clan head, her daughter and Akamaru.
"Akamaru-kun, return to Kiba's room." Tsume ordered. The ninja hound leaped out of his partner's jacket and left the hall.
Tsume was seated on the floor. An oiled rag with numerous rust stains and a whetting stone lay to her left. To her right were two wooden practice swords. In her hands, Tsume held a katana. With the rust wiped off, the sword's silver blade was beautiful to Kiba, as were its golden cross guard and pommel. Light brown fabric was tightly wrapped around the sword's hilt, making it impossible to see what color the hilt itself was, but Kiba knew from her Inuzuka history lessons that the hilt was deep brown in color.
"Okaa-san, it that our clan's ultimate treasure?" Kiba spoke with tremendous awe.
"Yes, Kiba-chan. This is the Youkai blade Tessaiga-dono. Our clan's founder, Inuyasha-sama, inherited him from his father. When he married and sired the first seeds of the Inuzuka Clan, he gave his firstborn Tessaiga-dono when he came of age. Each head of the Inuzuka Clan has tried to wield Tessaiga-dono ever since, some with much more success than others."
"Tessaiga chooses his owner." Kiba recalled. "I've never seen you use him before, does that mean you weren't chosen?"
"It does," Tsume grunted, "Tessaiga-dono is very picky about who he acknowledges. I wielded him in his dormant state for the entirety of the Third Shinobi World War, and he never shifted into his true form. If I had to guess, it has less to do with the worthiness of our clan and more that Tessaiga-dono is still mourning the death of Inuyasha-sama and prefers to be left alone."
"Right," Kiba growled, "Inuyasha-sama was done in by that thunder tiger-bitch Kyuuten, I get that we never went after her because it was Inuyasha-sama's last request, but if I ever see her I'll tear her apart!"
"HA-HA-HA!" Tsume howled. "You'll tear apart someone who killed our clan's founder? Even counting that Inuyasha-sama didn't have Tessaiga-dono at the time and was on his deathbed, he still put up one hell of a fight before Kyuuten killed him. She was covered in wounds by the end of the duel!"
Kiba's eyes became saucers. "What do you mean Inuyasha-sama didn't have his sword?!"
"Kyuuten and Inuyasha-sama fought fifty-two times over one-thousand years. It was only during the fifty-third duel that Kyuuten finally managed to kill Inuyasha-sama. By then, Tessaiga-dono had long since been handed down. The clan head at the time tried to give Tessaiga back to Inuyasha-sama for that final battle, but he refused." Tsume replied while inspecting Tessaiga's blade for any flaws.
"At the last, a dog can only fight with his own claws and fangs." Kiba quoted an Inuzuka Clan axiom. "Tessaiga was no longer his to wield."
"That's right, but it's my hope that you will be the next one to wield Tessaiga-dono." Tsume finished her inspection, and placed Tessaiga back into its sheath.
Kiba's jaw hit the floor. "W-WHAT?!"
"There're dark days ahead," Tsume said grimly, "first the recent invasion spear-headed by Orochimaru, and now there's a war with Iwa on the horizon." Several Inuzuka Jonin had been dispatched toward Iwa as scouts. "Very soon, we will need Tessaiga-dono's power. You are next in line to inherit him. Might as well take him now since he won't acknowledge me."
"B-b-b-but I'm not worthy! I'm not ready!" Kiba stuttered.
Tsume smiled. "Neither was Inuyasha-sama, at first. I have faith that you will earn Tessaiga-dono's favor, just as Inuyasha-sama did. To that end, today you get your first lesson in Inuzuka Kenjutsu!" carefully laid Tessaiga on the floor and then flung one of the practice swords at Kiba.
The Inuzuka heiress barely caught the sword before Tsume was upon her!
"OOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!" Kiba screamed after a vicious whack from her mother's sword.
Two hours later, a very battered and bruised Kiba limped into her room accompanied by two Inuzuka Jonin with Medical Ninjutsu training. She groaned in agony as the Jonin healed her. It took them forty-five minutes to complete their work. Shortly after they left, Tsume walked in holding Tessaiga. "I hear you're having boy troubles, need some advice?"
"Shut up, ya damn hag!" Kiba shouted. She didn't want to be reminded that Hinata had rejected her candidacy for Naruto's harem. She knew she crossed a line by insulting Anko, and she had apologized to both Anko and Hinata for it. When he woke up, she would apologize to Naruto as well.
Tsume sat on the foot of Kiba's bed. "Suit yourself, but Naruto-dono's declaration during the Finals puts you in a rather, unique position."
Kiba's brow furrowed. "What do you mean? All Naruto said was that he was the lord of his clan and that Neji-teme insulted Namikaze Clan honor."
Tsume sighed. "I knew should have been more firm with you when you slacked off during your clan history lessons. You've got a firm grasp of the common knowledge, but the lesser-known portions of Inuzuka history – which, as my daughter, you're expected to know – clearly went in one ear and out the other. The founder of the Namikaze Clan is Sesshomaru-dono, Inuyasha-sama's half-brother."
Kiba's face paled, and she felt her heart start to break. Due to their use of dogs for battle and companionship, the Inuzuka Clan was keenly aware of the dire consequences suffered by the offspring of incestuous couples. While other clans may resort to incest out of necessity due to near extinction or out of a desire to keep their bloodlines as pure as possible, incest was punishable by death for the Inuzuka.
"Normally, continuing your pursuit of Naruto-dono would put you in very deep shit," Tsume continued in a reassuring tone, "but I've gone through the entire genealogy of the Inuzuka Clan from Inuyasha-sama's children to now. It's been over a hundred thousand years since Inuyasha-sama and Sesshomaru-dono sired their respective clans. In all that time, their bloodlines have never crossed. From a genetic standpoint, you and Naruto-dono are near-total strangers. At worst, the two of you are at opposite ends of a gigantic family tree, and even that's really pushing it at this point."
Kiba nearly fainted from relief. "Kami-damn it, Okaa-san! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
Tsume laid Tessaiga on Kiba's bed and stood up. "Better you hear it from me than anyone else. We don't know how much Naruto-dono knows of Inuzuka traditions; he might refuse your affections because of your blood connection. Now, you have a way to claw right through that excuse. You're welcome."
Kiba's brutal Kenjutsu training resumed later that day, but no amount of pain could remove the smile on her face.
Konoha General Hospital – 9:00 AM, Kakashi's Room
Kakashi opened his good eye and moaned in agony. Tsunade had repaired his mind, but even she could not fully restore his body in one sitting. Unlike with Naruto, Itachi was too desperate to hold back when using Tsukuyomi on Kakashi. The Copy-Ninja's brain was ravaged so severely that his body suffered from phantom pain even after the source of his agony was removed.
"How long?" Kakashi asked Jiraiya once he noticed that he was not alone in his room.
"Three weeks," the Toad Sage replied, "Naruto was treated last night and will be discharged later today. Tsunade will be back with you in, at the very latest, two days to see what can be done about your lingering pain. She's prioritizing patients who will soon die or be crippled for life right now. She said to tell you that, pain or no pain, you're too weak to do anything more than patrol around the village for at least a month after being discharged. Ideally, you shouldn't even be doing that."
"Perfect," Kakashi grumbled, "and just when we're about to go to war with Iwa too!"
"All the more reason for you to follow the doctor's orders and get back in shape as soon as possible." Jiraiya stated. "When you're up to par again, start putting Sasuke through hell. I'd be doing the same with Naruto tomorrow if Haku hadn't beaten me to it."
"What about Hinata-chan?" Kakashi did not want to leave his third student in the dust.
"No need to worry about her, Hiashi-dono tells me that she's been training non-stop since Naruto was attacked. Same goes for all the Genin who took the Chuunin Exams and lived. Even Tenten-chan, who had to leave on a mission, got her own brand of training in."
"Good, very good." Kakashi grunted before falling back asleep.
Naruto's Room
Naruto was meditating while waiting for Tsunade to sign his discharge papers when Sasuke entered his room, trailed by five Anbu who positioned themselves all over the room. Another five Anbu stood guard outside the room.
"Oh, this is rich!" Naruto cackled. "The Uchiha prince has a royal entourage!"
"Shut it, dobe!" Sasuke yelled back. "Thanks to these idiots I can't have any quality time with Sakura-chan and Ino-chan."
"At least you'll have plenty of time to train; Kami knows you'll need it after how our fight with Itachi and Kisame ended." Naruto's eyes narrowed before he brought up the next topic of conversation. "Sasuke, Itachi used what has to be the grandmother of all Genjutsu to knock me out. It trapped me in some kind of separate dimension where Itachi tortured me half to death. He asked what I'd done to you, and when I told him he seemed both shocked and relieved at the same time. That got me thinking that maybe he wasn't the one really behind your clan's destruction. I called him out on that, too, and he all but confirmed it."
Sasuke's left eye twitched. "So what, he gets a free pass for what he did just because it was on someone else's orders?! FUCK THAT!"
Naruto put his hands up in a placating gesture. "I agree, he needs to answer for what he's done, but we don't have the whole story! You owe it to yourself, and your dead clan, to hear him out before you kill him!"
Sasuke wanted to throttle Naruto for saying that, but he knew his best friend was right. "What did you mean by a separate dimension?"
"A plane of existence different than ours;" Naruto explained. "I know it sounds crazy, but Lord Sesshomaru's half-brother, Inuyasha-dono, and his friends once fought a Daiyoukai in a mirror dimension inaccessible to most mortals."
"Fucking perfect, just one more thing to worry about!" Sasuke swore. "If one Jutsu can bring people to or from other dimensions, there could be others!"
"Tell me about it, we'll have to stay on our toes." Naruto concurred.
"Sasuke-sama, it is ill-advised to remain in an unsecured place for too long." The Anbu member's tone brooked no disagreement.
"Then let's go to the Uchiha Compound." Sasuke sighed. "The inner sanctum is heavily defensible, only one way in or out, and only someone with a Sharingan can open or close the doors." To this day, the last Uchiha wondered why his clansmen didn't retreat to the inner sanctum to protect themselves from Itachi. He assumed his brother did something to the doors to prevent them from closing the doors, but whatever Jutsu he used to pull that off must have been temporary because they worked perfectly when he used the inner sanctum's training hall to master the Chidori.
'Maybe Itachi really did have support while wiping out the clan. I never got a chance to learn how powerful the Uchiha as a whole was, so even my brother might have needed some help.' Sasuke's musings were interrupted by the Anbu's call to his comrades to move out.
3 Weeks Later – Hiruzen's Office, 7:00 AM
"So, you're ready to take the reigns as Konoha's next Hokage?" Hiruzen asked gravely.
"I am," Tsunade answered with steel in her voice, "I haven't stopped healing Konoha's sick and wounded since returning three weeks ago, but it's been a full week since I last froze at the sight of blood or had a nightmare related to blood. Safe to say my hemophobia is gone!"
"Very well, then may your time as Konoha's ruler be far more prosperous than mine, Godaime Hokage!" Hiruzen smiled. "There are several orders of business that demand your immediate attention."
Before Tsunade could ask what her Sensei meant, Hiruzen left the room. As he exited, Ay entered the office, followed closely by Team Umino.
"Finally! I was beginning to think you'd never run out of patients!" The Yondaime Raikage smirked.
"You should be grateful she prioritized you before some of her other patients, Raikage-sama." Yama rebuked. "The backlash of your Jutsu was not as severe as the injuries suffered by some others in Tsunade-sama's care."
Ay grunted in acquiescence, and both he and Yama turned to address Tsunade. "Now that you've become Hokage, the treaty between Kumo and Konoha can finally be discussed in earnest!"
"As can the alliance between Konoha and Kiri." Yama added.
"Kami, I miss the hospital already!" Tsunade swore.
It took over four hours to hash out the economic, military, and political agreements between the three nations, but by the end of it Ay, Team Umino, and Tsunade were all satisfied that the deals agreed upon would be mutually beneficial. Two of Konoha's best Fuinjutsu masters were dispatched to Kumo and Kiri respectively to create warp seals that would allow Kage and other important individuals to instantly travel between the three nations. Ay himself would escort one to Kumo, and Yama, Arashi, and Yuusen would escort the other to Kiri. Tetsuisshi insisted on staying behind to "improve diplomatic relations between Kiri and Konoha". Yama smelled bullshit but did not call his youngest daughter out on it; Tsunade could learn about Tetsuisshi's inevitable marriage to Choji on her own time.
Once that discussion was over, Tsunade began reading the reports Jiraiya told her about involving Danzo's activities and the responses to them. Before she was halfway through, her fury was palpable. By the time she was done, the entire Hokage tower was drowning in killing intent.
"Shizune, find Homura and Koharu and inform them that I've requested their presence in my office immediately."
"Yes, Tsunade-sama!" As Shizune fled the office to carry out her master's order, Tsunade did her best to get her anger under control. She must have succeeded, because the two surviving members of Konoha's Civilian Faction were confused upon entering her office, not terrified.
'That will soon change.' Tsunade promised herself.
"You requested our presence, Tsunade-dono?" Koharu asked.
"Yes, I brought you here to discuss some concerns I have regarding Danzo's activities throughout the last twelve years. Tsunade threw the reports she read earlier at the traitors' feet. "There's no damning evidence in any of those documents pointing at your involvement with Danzo's illegal continuance of Root, but your names do show up more than a few times. At the very least, you knew what he was up to and did nothing to stop it. That's good enough for me."
Tsunade stood up and fully unleashed her killing intent once more. Homura and Koharu were once formidable Shinobi who served directly under Tobirama, but that was decades ago. Any semblance of power or skill they once possessed had long since rotted away; now, they helpless sheep before a wolf.
"Out of some misguided sense of comradery, Hiruzen-sensei may have been willing to spare you until you were caught doing something so stupid that there was no defending it, but I'm not!" Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "You leaked Naruto's Jinchuriki status to the civilians, the reports are quite clear on that. For violating the Sandaime Hokage's law, I sentence both of you to death!" Tsunade flashed from behind the Hokage's desk in a blur of movement and punched Homura's head clean off his body. In the next instant, she delivered a devastating axe kick to Koharu, crushing her body into paste!
"Anbu, clean this mess up!" Tsunade ordered. The agents assigned to guard her office quickly removed the corpses from the office. One of the Anbu used a Suiton Jutsu to remove the gore from the floor, walls, and ceiling without leaving a single stain behind.
While Tsunade was accepting her position as Hokage, Iruka woke up in a cold sweat. "That dream again!" He gasped. Ever since the invasion, he'd had the same dream almost every night. He'd be on a beach and, hundreds of yards away, a gigantic pillar of fire would emerge from the earth and plunge into the sea like a missile. In response, a pillar of water equal in size to the fire pillar would erupt from the ocean and intercept the fire pillar.
The two elemental masses would clash over and over again, shaking the earth and heavens alike with their battle. They were evenly matched, and their conflict progressed with neither side gaining any advantage. Some nights, the dream would start with the water pillar attacking first; on other nights, the fire pillar made the first move. The first dozen times he'd had this dream, Iruka had been unable to move or speak and could only watch as the elemental constructs waged war.
More recently, he'd been able to move gradually closer to the battlefield. Last night, he'd made it close enough to speak to the primal constructs. Before he could get a single word out, the warring pillars ceased their endless combat and turned to face Iruka. The Chuunin felt no danger from the pillars, but just before he could ask anything, the dream ended.
"What does it all mean?!" Iruka shouted to his empty apartment. "That's it, time to get some answers!" He had not forgotten Euryale's words from the day of the invasion, and he was no fool. Whatever this dream was, it was related to the two lineages Ceto had spoken of. Before now, he'd been far too swamped with Academy work to ask Ceto about it. With Tsunade's return, many of the critically wounded teachers who had survived the invasion were now able to resume their duties. With his workload now lightened considerably, today was Iruka's first day off in weeks. And he knew just how to spend it.
He went to the Academy library, hoping Ceto would be taking the day off as well. His prayer was granted as Ceto began descending the stairs leading from the library's second floor just as Iruka was about to start climbing them.
"You have come to ask of your heritage." The goddess of monsters said with a smile.
"Yes, what did you mean when you said I honored two lineages?" Iruka asked.
"To answer that, I must speak first of Kiri's most notable clan, the Umino Clan." Ceto's cerulean eyes glowed with power and all doors leading into the library closed and locked themselves.
"Umino? That's my surname!" Iruka's eyes widened.
"And such a noble name it is." Ceto smiled again. "The Umino Clan is descended from my dear nephew, Poseidon – Grecian God of the Oceans. Like any clan descended from a supernatural being, the Umino are blessed with great power. However, their traditions made it nearly impossible for the clan to grow and prosper. For one to marry into the clan, they must prove themselves near-equal in prowess to whomever they wish to marry.
Poseidon ranks highly among Grecian gods, and the powers his children have inherited throughout the ages have made them near-invincible in combat. The line is much diluted with mortal blood now, but even so, Poseidon's legacy ensures that many who seek entry into the Umino clan are doomed to failure."
"So, one of my ancestors was part of the Umino Clan? That branch must have died out." Iruka guessed.
"Indeed," Ceto confirmed, "a sect of the clan dwindled to the point that only one woman remained. She had two options: join another branch of the Umino Clan, or leave the Umino behind and seek companionship elsewhere. Your great-great-great-grandmother chose the latter option. Her clansmen did not attempt to stop her, for she was one of many who left the clan because they desired love. Such a 'betrayal' was often answered by Poseidon himself, who typically revoked his blessing from the defector in question. For reasons not known to me, my nephew did not exact retribution when your ancestor left the clan. Perhaps he foresaw a grander purpose that required him to stay his hand, or perhaps he chose to cease being the Umino's enforcer and allowed them to live as they wished."
"What was my great-great-great grandmother's name, and where did she go?" Umino asked solemnly.
"Her name was Anya, and she migrated to Kumo." Ceto replied. "She made quite a name for herself, and eventually fell in love. The clan she married into descended from one of the Norse gods, as is common for many clans that dwell within Kumo."
Iruka recalled the contents of his dream. "Let me guess, the Norse God of Fire?"
"Correct." Ceto beamed. "Logi – Wildfire Incarnate; a giant whose capacity for consumption is so great that few gods are capable of matching him, let alone besting him."
"Would I also be correct in assuming that my mother or grandmother fled to Konoha in the chaos of one of the Shinobi World Wars?" Iruka's parents had been killed during Kurama's assault on Konoha; if they had meant to tell him when he was older, they never got the chance.
"You would be." Ceto said. "It was your grandmother, whose name is not known to me, who came to Konoha disguised as a refugee. Logi's clan was disgusted by Kumo's actions prior to and during the First Shinobi World War, and took advantage of the Second Shinobi World War to defect. Kumo's other clans hunted them down, nearly to extinction, but your grandmother escaped. When she first arrived here, I sensed Anya's blood within her, but I also sensed that she meant Konoha no harm. Thus, I respected her privacy. She never introduced herself to me; all I know is that she kept the Umino surname."
Iruka sighed. "If I'm a demigod twice over, then how did Mizuki nearly kill me?"
Ceto's eyes narrowed slightly. "Is it not obvious? The power of the Ocean and the fury of the Wildfire both dwell within your blood in equal quantity. For nearly your entire life, they have neutralized each other. During the invasion, you subconsciously drew on both gifts to protect the students; that is why your Chakra replenished itself several times before my intervention. Now, you must choose: Fire or Water; Poseidon or Logi. The stalemate between them will persist without end if they are left to their own devices, and their conflict will destroy you if a resolution is not soon achieved. No matter your choice, my opinion of you will not diminish."
"Opinion?" Iruka echoed, not quite believing his ears.
"A question for another time; for now, you have enough to concern yourself with." Ceto's eyes flashed again, and the library doors opened themselves.
Recognizing the dismissal for what it was, Iruka left the library As he exited, Ceto sensed Jiraiya and Tsunade's arrival. With a quick pulse of Divine Will, the goddess reinforced every inch of the library. She had no desire to repair her library a second time due to the fury Tsunade would inevitably unleash after being told the same sad tale Kakashi and Iruka heard a month ago.
Iruka went to his old classroom. Enough teachers had recovered that they no longer needed to hold mass classes in the auditorium. Iruka hadn't been to his classroom since the day of the invasion, so he used the rest of his day off to repair the damage the room suffered (which wasn't much) and to alter his lesson plans to account for a much lower amount of students. When he was done, he went home, made a quick dinner, and went to bed both fearing and craving the dream to come.
When Iruka's dream-self manifested upon the beach, the two elemental pillars were stationary. The fire pillar stood at the very end of the beach, and the water pillar rested two hundred feet away. As Iruka approached the pillars they condensed into balls and exploded in a flash of white light!
Iruka shielded his eyes from the sudden burst of light. When he opened them again, he was barely able to resist the presence of the mighty entities before him.
To his left, a giant of a man with hair of crimson fire stood. His beard stretched far below his pectoral muscles. The giant wore nothing above his waist, so his immense muscles were visible to all. A gray-black loincloth woven from smoke preserved his modesty, and his leg muscles were just as potent as those on his upper body. Aside from his beard, the giant had a mane of flames sprouting from his skull. His fiery eyes shone like rubies.
To Iruka's right, a being with the upper half of man and the bottom half of a great fish floated above the sea. A crown sat upon his head, and his silver mane and beard cascaded down, stopping just beneath his pectoral muscles. Bronze bracers covered in barnacles adorned his forearms, and he held a trident in his right hand. His eyes and mighty tail were the deep blue of the ocean.
"Logi-sama, Poseidon-sama." Iruka bowed.
"NO, AND YES." The two deities responded after Iruka completed his bow.
"We are echoes of the original Poseidon and Logi, traces of their divinity given form and substance." Poseidon clarified.
"We have the originals' memories, and a substantial portion of their power, but we are not them; I doubt they are even aware of our existence." Logi explained.
"How is this possible?" Iruka inferred from Logi's tone that these manifestations were a very rare occurrence, perhaps even the first of their kind.
"Water and Fire share much in common." Poseidon began, "In overabundance; both ravage, both consume, and both destroy."
"But in moderation, they soothe, they nurture, and they create." Logi continued. "Death and Life, Creation and Destruction. Fire and Water embody these concepts in ways no other element can match."
"When two bloodlines endowed with such primal forces cross, unfathomable possibilities are bred. We are one such possibility made reality." Poseidon concluded.
"We've spent your whole life trying to purge each other." Logi smiled as he recalled the many battles waged against Poseidon. "Our originals are both more than a little prideful, a sentiment shared by us. The true Logi never met a body of water he could not disperse."
"Nor did the true Poseidon ever encounter a fire he failed to quench, though his nephew Hephaestus' flames came somewhat close at times." Poseidon affirmed.
"Ceto was right about us; this can't go on." Logi warned. "The dreams are just the start. In its current form, your body can't withstand our power for much longer. Very soon, you'll be bedridden by incurable pain. After that, only death awaits."
"Neither of us desires erasure, but we agree on this: you have done nothing to earn oblivion by our hands, unwilling though it may be. Whomever you do not choose shall cease to exist." Poseidon vowed.
Iruka looked at both deities, then between them, and finally at both again. He reflected on their words, on Ceto's words, and then he did what Shinobi do best.
He looked beneath the underneath.
"There's a way for me to keep both of you and not die, isn't there?" Iruka shouted. Silence was his answer, and it spoke volumes. "That's my choice, I want it all! I need it all! I was helpless during the invasion! Without your power to draw on, I would never have made it to Ceto, and things are only going to get worse! With all of your powers, I can make a real difference! I can protect my precious people!"
For a minute that seemed like hours, the two pseudo-gods were silent.
"HA-HA-HA-HAAAHHHH! Spoken like a true son of mine!" Logi bellowed. "You're gluttonous when faced with a choice, just as a wildfire should be!"
"Your choice honors me as well; the sea loathes restraints of any kind." Poseidon smiled before Iruka could object to Logi's words. "It is not impossible for you to contain both of us." "However," Poseidon's smile faded, "know that you have chosen to walk a path of thorns. To wield both our powers, your Chakra Network must be disintegrated and rebuilt from the ground up."
Iruka's eyes briefly widened, but he quickly mastered himself and stared at the two deities with a gaze harder than granite.
"Good eyes! We won't insult you by asking if you wish to reconsider. Assuming that you survive the overhaul of your Chakra Network, you'll be comatose for at least six months. Maybe up to a year." Logi decreed.
"Let us begin!" Poseidon raised his trident, and the entire ocean rose and condensed into a basketball-sized sphere on its central point. Logi raised his left hand to the sky, and the heavens ignited. The blazing sky was similarly condensed into a baseball-sized orb in his raised hand.
"Best of luck, Iruka Umino!" Logi launched his fireball at Iruka in the same instant that a torrential blast erupted from Poseidon's water sphere. The dreamscape was shattered by Iruka's unfathomable pain.
"Noble Iruka, you brave fool." Ceto lamented from her bedroom in the library's second floor as she sensed the gargantuan surge of divine power emanating from Iruka's home. She had long since cast a ward on his house that would mute his screams. No Medical Ninjutsu could relieve this pain. "Please, survive."
The Next Morning – Training Field 9, 8:30 AM
Zabuza was struggling to fully control his new Jutsu, Ouja no Suiryuu. The gigantic water dragon created by it was powerful, but sluggish. It also required him to remain stationary while firing it, which nearly proved fatal against Kyuuten.
"Twelve seconds, that's a new record!" Zabuza panted after his third giant water dragon created that day exploded into a downpour that flooded the training ground. He raised his right arm, and the water was drawn into it. The divine limb could partially absorb Suiton Chakra from any Jutsu. At present, the limit was ten percent, but that would increase the more he used the arm's absorption power. The arm swelled to nearly three times its normal size after absorbing all the water.
Zabuza sat down to meditate, accelerating the recovery of his Chakra. Half an hour later, his Chakra was fully restored, and he was about to use Ouja no Suiryuu a fourth time when Medusa arrived.
"Training to master your new water Jutsu?" The Gorgon smiled. "You don't seem to be making much progress. Perhaps you should emulate Lord Naruto's preferred form of training."
"Kage Bushin, you mean?" Zabuza raised an eyebrow. During the Namikaze blood transfer ritual, he had obtained a powerful Yang affinity from Naruto that nearly rivaled his own Suiton affinity in strength. "Gotta admit, that Jutsu scares me. Over the years, tons of Konoha Shinobi have killed themselves overusing that technique."
"Your fear is no longer justified." Medusa admonished. "The Namikaze blood rite has rewritten several aspects of your genetic code. I know not how powerful you were before the ritual, but the traces of its magic that I can sense tell me all I need to know. Your Chakra reserves have expanded by, at least, an order of magnitude.
"Yes, and that's part of the reason I'm having so much trouble!" Zabuza grumbled. "With all this extra Chakra, my control is shot. I've been making great strides toward regaining my previous level of control, but there's still a long way to go."
"All the more reason you should train while using Kage Bushin. Do not create dozens, as Lord Naruto does. Limit yourself to three. With your Chakra divided into fourths, the clones will have more than enough power to aid your training, and the reduced amount of Chakra will it easier for you, and your Kage Bushin, to maintain control."
"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Zabuza followed Medusa's advice and created three Kage Bushin. "You know what to do." The clones nodded and left the immediate area to continue the training. After they left, Zabuza turned to Medusa. "You didn't come here just to give me advice; what's going on?"
Medusa produced a scroll and handed it to Zabuza. "Orders from Lady Tsunade; with the exception of Tenten, who is still recovering, Team 9 is to depart for Iwa and rendezvous with our scouts at the border of Konoha and Kusaga. Over a hundred Iwa spies have already been captured. Many killed themselves before they could be fully restrained, and the scouts are having less than satisfactory results interrogating the remaining spies. Ibiki and Anko are preoccupied in a different theater of war, and Lady Tsunade is unwilling to deploy Skikaku or Inoichi, lest she risk leaving Konoha ill-defended. She hopes the Devil of the Hidden Mist will live up to his reputation."
Zabuza read the scroll, which was a mission report from the scouts detailing which interrogation methods had already been attempted and how successful they were (not at all). He then wrapped the scroll in ten explosive tags, threw it two hundred feet into the air, and used a hand seal to detonate the tags. The ashen remains of the mission report rained down on him and Medusa. Her snake hair hissed in frustration.
"A bit more caution next time, if you please." Medusa used a water spell to cleanse her hair.
"Sure," Zabuza grunted, "but, while you're here, there's something else I'd like to talk about."
Medusa quickly checked her hair to ensure no ash remained, then turned her full attention to Zabuza.
"I was conscious, barely, at the end of our fight with Kyuuten. I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, but could hear, and feel." Zabuza's eyes narrowed.
Medusa's voice quivered slightly. "It was a necessary violation. I will not apologize for saving your life, but know that I would never invade your person without dire cause."
"I'm not mad at you; like you said, it had to be done or I would die, but those kisses brought up some very painful memories." Zabuza sighed bitterly.
Medusa waited with bated breath. Five minutes passed with the two just staring at each other.
"More years ago than I care to remember now, I started a rebellion in Kiri." Zabuza broke the silence. "Yagura, the Yondaime Mizukage, was once a shining beacon loved by the people of Kiri, but at some point he snapped. He began a horrific civil war between those with powerful bloodlines and those without them. The Kiri Academy's main graduation requirement was also altered during this time. Having to demonstrate mastery of Suiton Chakra was still needed to pass, but, more than anything, you were expected to kill at least one of your classmates."
Medusa suppressed a gasp. She had murdered thousands in her day, but most were complete or near-total strangers. She could barely contemplate having to kill someone meant to be a comrade.
"I was particularly unlucky in my graduating year." Zabuza continued. "I was the best in my class, by a huge margin. Not because of any bloodline, but by sheer determination. My classmates all hated me for it, and even the teachers feared that my future superiors wouldn't be able to control me."
"So they changed the rules." Medusa surmised.
"They sure did, but I showed them!" Zabuza punched the nearest tree, leaving a huge dent in its trunk. "All of my classmates were guaranteed to pass if they killed me. It was a class with over a hundred students. I slaughtered them all."
"And that's how you earned your title. A most impressive feat of battle." Medusa purred. Though she was horrified at the prospect of having to kill your friends, killing of any kind excited her.
"The Academy Headmaster certainly thought so." Zabuza smiled. "He field-promoted me to Chuunin, skipping over Genin entirely, and immediately recommended me to be the next owner of Kubokiribocho. Its previous owner, Mangetsu Houzuki, had died during the Second Shinobi World War. The tricky thing with Kiri's Seven Swords is that you can't wield them unless they acknowledge you. Any idiot who tries can count themselves lucky if all they lose is their hands. Someone who wants to wield one of the Seven Swords is supposed to drip some of their blood onto it. If the sword drinks it in, you're good to go; otherwise, good luck in another life."
"And the Headmaster neglected to inform you of that precaution, I take it?" Medusa scowled.
"Bingo. Too bad for him that Kurokiribocho liked me. A couple years later, when another of the Seven Swords was up for grabs, Yagura demanded that all current Seven Swords wielders attend the succession ceremony, if you can call it that. When it was over, I went back to the Academy to repay the headmaster's generosity. Too bad there was nothing resembling a pike nearby, or I'd have gladly stuck his head on it." Zabuza grinned at the memory.
"So you prospered, and eventually revolted against a corrupt leader." Medusa stated.
"Yes and yes. Yagura's civil war made no sense. It would only weaken Kiri if all the powerful bloodlines were destroyed. I was hardly the only one who felt that way, but most of the others feared my reputation. They thought I killed for the sake of killing, and didn't trust me when I said I was fighting for good of Kiri. My efforts to raise a proper fighting force were in vain, until Mei volunteered to join me."
"You speak of Mei Terumi, the current Mizukage?" Medusa's hair hissed at the name.
Zabuza nodded. "She was a blessing to my efforts. Evidently, she was planning a coup of her own and had already made many connections vital to the cause. A lot of her allies nearly abandoned her when she said I would be the leader, but she won them over again by convincing them that my reputation was invaluable to the cause, and by promising them that she would be able to control me. That last part was no lie; her Youton Jutsu are a natural counter to most Suiton Jutsu."
"I am not surprised. The Terumi Clan descends from Lady Minerva: Roman Goddess of Wisdom and War." Medusa growled. She had no quarrel with Athena's Roman form, but her hatred of the Grecian goddess ran deep.
"Huh, well, the more you know." Zabuza marveled. "At any rate, the rebellion progressed smoothly enough with both of us leading the charge. What we didn't know was that Yagura was a Perfect Jinchuriki."
Medusa's jaw dropped. "A Shinobi with complete mastery over the Tailed Beast sealed within them. My Queen-Mother warned me of such warriors; they are comparable to the mightiest demigods Greece has ever known."
"Then I don't need to explain just how fucked Mei and I were in that fight. We knew Yagura was a Jinchuriki, but not that he was a perfect one." Zabuza shuddered. "With the Sanbi's full power at his disposal, Yagura crushed us. We barely made it out of there alive. To this day, I don't know why he didn't chase after us himself or send a legion of Anbu to finish us off while we were still licking our wounds. Mei speculated that someone was manipulating him from the shadows, but I find the idea that anyone could control someone as powerful as Yagura flawlessly, for years, more than a little preposterous."
Medusa gulped, guessing that the painful memories Zabuza mentioned earlier would soon be revealed. "What happened next?"
"Mei and I gathered what was left of our forces and decided to go dark until things cooled off. She made plan after plan on how to deal with Yagura. They were good plans, but he was too powerful, and still had too many people loyal to him, for any of them to have more than a fool's chance of working. I shut them all down. Then, in what I can only assume was an act of pure escapism, Mei tried to have sex with me."
"THAT WENCH!" Medusa's hiss was a roar of rage.
"To be fair, something had been growing between us from the first day we met." Zabuza placated. "But I was in no mood for romance on the night of my biggest failure. I tried fending her off; first with words, then with a Suiton shockwave. The second option got her attention, and we spent the next hour or so saying the most hurtful things we could think of to each other." Zabuza was crying now.
"In the end, I told her she could lead the rebellion from now on if she hated the sight of me so much and left. On my way out of Kiri, I found Haku right after she killed her father. Her Hyouton guaranteed that she wouldn't last ten days before someone with far more skill than a drunken civilian came after her, so took her with me. The rest of my days before meeting Naruto-sama were spent raising money to hire enough powerful Missing-Nin to take Yagura down. You know how that ended, and the rest is history."
Medusa looked into Zabuza's eyes. "You have shared your past, it is only proper that I do the same. For thousands of years, I served as the co-general of my Queen-Mother's armies. Euryale was the other general, and Stheno was right below us in rank. Through no fault of hers, Stheno is more brute than strategist. In truth, she should have been placed somewhat lower in our ranks, but our Queen-Mother is not above some degree of nepotism. As Stheno is among the deadliest of my Queen-Mother's children, none of her other subjects protested. It's ironic; Stheno was feared for her bloodlust, but I was the one who was eventually banished from Mother's queendom beneath waves for the act of wanton slaughter. Stheno could always control her urges when need arose, but it took death for me to learn to do the same."
Zabuza blanched. "Who did you kill?"
Medusa laughed derisively. "Who didn't I kill? My Queen-Mother's realm is far from the only undersea nation in Greece. Many sea gods dominate the oceans, and I viewed all of them as inferior. I ordered hundreds of invasions into these realms. As co-general, none but my Queen-Mother could command me to stop, and she did no such thing. Euryale hindered my efforts by reducing the forces at my disposal by half, but I was still a terror the likes of which the oceans had never known before, or since!"
"There's no way the other sea gods took that lying down." Zabuza declared.
"Indeed," Medusa sighed, "they banded together and petitioned my Queen-Mother to bring an end to my madness. As powerful as she is, my Queen-Mother could not stand alone against all the other ocean gods. Thus, I was banished to the surface."
"And that was enough to satisfy them?" Zabuza was shocked that the sea gods didn't demand Medusa's head.
"The majority of the Grecian sea gods care nothing for the fates of those above the waves. Lord Poseidon is the most notable exception, by far." Medusa explained. "No lesson was learned that day. To my eyes, one feast had been exchanged for another. I no longer had my army, but I never needed them. All that would change was the death rate." Medusa clenched her fists. "I was a fool! On dry land, my Queen-Mother could do nothing to prevent the other gods from sending their most powerful heroes after me. Many fell before me, and it became apparent that no mortal could best me without considerable aid from the gods themselves!"
"And so a hero meant specifically to end you was cultivated." Zabuza realized.
"Perseus, son of Lord Zeus." Medusa confirmed. "All Grecian demigods are endowed with superhuman agility and reflexes, and many possess at least some degree of superhuman strength. Perseus was blessed with an unprecedented quantity of these gifts. Only his great-grandson, Herakles, was superior to him in raw might.
"He sounds like a monster, but I've seen you in action and you've told me that what you're capable of now is way less than what you could once do. Divine physicality wouldn't have been enough to take you out." Zabuza analyzed.
"Not by half, but Lady Athena was more than prepared to compensate for the difference." Medusa spat the Grecian Wisdom goddess' name. "She supplied Perseus with a polished shield capable of reflecting my stone gaze. Far worse, she informed him that I was in a precarious state. At this time, I was pregnant with Poseidon's seed. I required long bouts of rest as twin brothers grew within me, and my control over my powers was tenuous at best."
"Wonderful!" Zabuza spat.
"If only that were all!" Medusa groaned. "Perseus also received aid from Lord Hermes, God of Travel and Messenger of the Gods. He granted Perseus an adamantine sickle; a curved sword capable of severing my head in an instant. He also advised Perseus to seek an audience with the Graeae – The Gray Sisters – another set of my Queen Mother's children capable of discerning that which is concealed to all else. The Graeae told Perseus the location of the Stygian Nymphs, who guarded three powerful tools of Lord Hades: a helmet of invisibility, a pair of winged sandals twin to those worn by Lord Hermes, and a sack capable of suppressing the power of anything stored within it.
Thus armed, Perseus approached the island I called home. At the time, my sisters were visiting me, but not even they could see through the invisibility granted by Lord Hades' helm. I was in the middle of one of my many rests when Perseus entered my bedchamber. I awoke in the depths of Tartarus, the Great Abyss, where all enemies of the gods were doomed to eternal torment. I was cursed to feel all that I had wrought, all the suffering that had I inflicted upon the world. The despair of those related to my victims was now my own. The agony of my victims' wounds was now my own."
Tears now flowed down Medusa's face. "I know not how long I was subjected to my torment. At times, my sisters would come to inform me of notable historical events. From them, I also learned of the circumstances behind my death. At the time, I could not bring myself to care; pain was all my mind could comprehend in those days. One day, the pain stopped, the torture stopped. I was brought from Tartarus to the Asphodel Meadows, a realm meant for those neither wicked enough to deserve Tartarus nor benevolent enough to earn Elysium – a realm of endless paradise."
"I'm guessing that's when Ceto-sama showed up and told you that you'd be needed on the mortal plain again and that she'd successfully negotiated your resurrection?" Zabuza asked.
"Indeed; at that time, Mana became the source of my powers instead of Divine Will." Medusa sighed regretfully. "My legendary prowess as a warrior was put to good use once more; it took little time for me to adapt to my new limitations. By the time of my revival, I was quite comfortable with them."
"So here we are; the failed rebel and the regretful murderer." Zabuza gave Medusa a thousand-yard stare.
"Truly, a cursed pair." Medusa returned the stare. For over ten minutes, their eyes remained locked in place until Zabuza flinched.
"Uuuugghhh! The Kage Bushin just finished their training, and Naruto-sama never told me the recoil that comes with the memories is such a bitch!"
"With your new Yang affinity, you can adapt to the recoil in time." Medusa promised. "I have lingered too long. Sir Iruka is currently indisposed for reasons my Queen-Mother does not wish to reveal, so now I must teach his class in his stead." Medusa flew toward the Academy.
One Week Later – Uchiha Compound, 10:30 PM
Sasuke left his clan's inner sanctum to get some air. There were too many ghosts in that building for him to be locked up in there all the time. Whoever had done the cleanup after the Uchiha Massacre did a mediocre job, at best. The faded bloodstains scattered all over the inner sanctum were legion. Thanks to Ino and Sakura's efforts, he didn't suffer PTSD from seeing the blood of his clan, but the sight of bloodstains made him furious and foiled his attempt to concentrate on his training.
'I need to talk with Tsunade about getting a cleaning crew who knows what the fuck they're doing in there to scour the place clean! Then, I can get some real training done!' Sasuke had tried to get an audience with Tsunade to request that very thing many times in the last month, but she was busy with war preparations and Kami knows what else.
'If only I could convince my Anbu guards to let me train in Training Field 7, I'd be golden. But no¸ too open they say, too insecure they say. Fuck them all! I never should have told them about this place!'
Sasuke was so preoccupied with his internal rant that he failed to notice when a flute started playing near him. He shivered once he did notice; the melody was haunting and promised inevitable doom. The five Anbu guarding the entrance to the inner sanctum froze in place. Sasuke activated his Sharingan and saw numerous distortions in the Anbu's Chakra network indicative of Genjutsu. Just as he realized what was going on, his own movements became sluggish.
The only reason he had not succumbed to the flute player's Jutsu instantly was because his Chakra-Youki inherently resisted external interference. Before Sasuke could forcibly disrupt his Chakra-Youki's flow to completely purge the Genjutsu, a man-sized spider web struck his body and wrapped all around him. With only his head and neck left uncovered by the web, Sasuke could do nothing as he was hoisted off the ground by a giant of a man with orange hair wearing clothes similar to Orochimaru's. In the next second, a neck chop forced the last Uchiha into unconsciousness.
"It's a shame we had to take Uchiha-dono out like this. If the durability of his skin is any indication, he would have been a most interesting opponent." Sakon lamented as he massaged the hand he used to knock Sasuke out.
"Quit complaining, we got what we came for. Now, we need to get the fuck out of here! It won't be long before these Anbu shitheads are missed." Tayuya shot back while applying Chakra-suppressing seals to nearly every inch of Sasuke's head and neck. Only his nose was uncovered to allow him to breathe.
"Some games are long and fun, others are short and boring; oh, well." Kidomaru agreed while wrapping ten more webs around Sasuke.
"It took too long for us to learn the Anbu's patterns and determine the best time to strike. Let us deliver Sasuke-dono to Orochimaru-sama as soon as possible." Jirobo said calmly before Shunshining out of the Uchiha Compound, followed closely by the other members of the Sound Four.
The Next Morning – Tsunade's Office, 5:00 AM
"Hokage-sama, what could be so troublesome that you dragged Naruto-kun and I out of bed so early in the morning?" Shikamaru yawned, still half-asleep from when the Anbu woke him up to tell him that Tsunade ordered him to report to her office immediately.
"Sasuke Uchiha has been kidnapped." Tsunade replied curtly. "Two hours ago, the morning shift of Sasuke's bodyguards found the late-night shift dead and Sasuke was nowhere to be found. I have all the Anbu and Jonin I can spare at the moment trying to track the kidnappers down, but I'll have to recall them soon; I need all of them for the war with Iwa."
"Orochimaru, it's gotta be!" Naruto slammed his left fist into his right palm. After he was discharged, Jiraiya had told him about Orochimaru's Immortality Jutsu and the requirements needed to use it. "He's after Sasuke's body!"
"I concur, and since I can't spare any Jonin or Anbu for more than a couple days, at best, the two of you will have to gather a team to track Sasuke's abductors down and save him!" Tsunade ordered. "Be extremely careful, we have no idea how many agents Orochimaru sent, but he wouldn't trust anyone other than his most elite forces for this mission. You have two hours to decide on your team and get them ready to move out!"
Naruto and Shikamaru each spent the next minute thinking about who they should bring for this mission. Just as Shikamaru was about to give his recommendations, Naruto beat him to it.
"Hinata's a must on this mission. Near omnidirectional vision for over a hundred meters makes her the perfect scout, plus she's devastating at close range with her Juuken and has a few Raiton Jutsu for long range. We'll bring Kiba-chan too. Sasuke's spent a lot of time at my place, so I've got some spare clothes of his there with his scent on it. Akamaru-kun will lead us right to him!"
"With you as co-leader, maybe this won't be as troublesome as I thought; you took the words right out of my mouth!" Shikamaru gave a small smile. "I want Choji on the team. With the possible exception of you, he's the best heavy hitter out of anyone I trust on this."
"If we're talking pure Taijutsu, no Chakra or any other bullshit, then yeah, Choji's hits harder than me." Naruto allowed. "Stack Chakra on top of it and I'd outlast him with my huge reserves, but in the short term it would be an even fight. I have no problem bringing him on board. One thing though: if Choji-kun's coming, then we should take Tetsuisshi-san along as well."
Shikamaru's brow furrowed. "I get that Kiri and Konoha are allies now, but I don't feel comfortable bringing a non-Konoha Shinobi on this mission. Plus, she's a Chuunin too. Her authority would equal ours. Three Chuunin and three Genin on the same team? That's too many captains, not enough common soldiers."
"Normally, I'd agree with you, but Tetsuisshi-san and Choji-kun are practically glued at the hip these days. If I've seen them walking around the village I know you have." Naruto pointed out. Shikamaru shrugged, conceding the point. "We'll tell her that if she wants to join the team then she has to agree to follow orders. She can make suggestions, but we'll have the final say. While a lot of us have mid-range or long-range Jutsu, none of us specialize in long-range combat like she does. Without knowing who we're up against, having a long-range specialist on our side could mean the difference between life and death!" Naruto's eyes flashed with determination as he finished his argument.
"I still don't like it, but you're right." Shikamaru surrendered. "If Tetsuisshi-san is willing to follow our orders, she's in."
Chapter End
Annnnnd we're off to the Sasuke Retrieval arc! The Inuzuka Clan being descended from Inuyasha is one of the few things lifted directly from Kitsune Inu Youkai, the fanfic that inspired this one. I've changed or introduced so many things that the two stories have almost nothing in common at this point, but IMO Inuyasha siring the Inuzuka Clan fits far too well in a setting where the events of Inuyasha occurred eons before the events of Naruto to not have it happen again here. Inuzuka Taijutsu emphasizes brute force over technique, just like Inuyasha's fighting style with both his claws and Tessaiga. Kouga and his wolf tribe sometimes commanded normal wolves in battle, so there's no reason a human clan descended from a dog Hanyou couldn't learn to do something similar. The bond the Inuzuka have with their dogs is one of friendship, not servitude, but the core concept is the same.
It never made sense to me that Tessaiga always took the form of a worn, rusted katana when not in use. I get why it would take that form starting from when Toga died up to when it acknowledged Inuyasha as its next master; Toga didn't want it to be used by Inuyasha against humans because he wanted Inuyasha to embrace his human half. Fine. But once Tessaiga accepted Inuyasha as its new master anything Toga put in place upon it except for the barrier that prevents Youkai from touching it should have gone out the window. Toga had no problem using Tessaiga against humans in the third movie, so he had to have done something to it that would prevent Inuyasha from doing the same and that should have been dispelled when Tessaiga was broken, or at the very latest when it acknowledged Inuyasha.
Giving Iruka such a powerful lineage was inspired by the scene where he tried to stop Naruto after Naruto learned about the Fourth Shinobi World War. At that point, Iruka was less than a joke to Naruto in terms of combat, and – from a narrative standpoint – trying to persuade the guy who has a strong tendency to redeem most of the villains he fights away from his desired course of action sounds like it would be doomed from the start, and it was. So I thought "what if Iruka was powerful enough to force Naruto to stay out of the war?" And now he's going to be way more powerful than he ever could have hoped to be in canon once he gets out of that coma.
Since I'm going with Medusa's OG mythos for this fanfic, in which she's a monster straight from birth instead of being cursed into becoming one by Athena for either seducing or getting raped by Poseidon (depending on the version of the myth) in one of Athena's temples, I felt an explanation was in order for why Medusa was chilling on an island at all instead of being by Ceto's side doing whatever Ceto needed of her, so I expanded on the myth a bit. Athena telling Perseus about Medusa's pregnancy is part of that expansion, as he had no idea that she was pregnant in the myth and was shocked when her two children sprang out of her neck after he cut her head off.
Thank you for reading!