Alright here's the next chapter, I hope you all enjoyed the last, and this one too.
Broken Angel: Rising Demon
Chapter 13: To walk in a what-if
-Konohagakure no Sato-
"What in the seven hells did that fucking thing do?" Kurama asked in dumbfounded amazement.
Riley tore her eyes away from the village and stared down at the blade in her hand.
"This… is this another time? Am I in an illusion? Or is this the past? No… it can't be the past, this has to another timeline. It sent me across time and space to another time where Konoha still stands… but why?" Riley thought to herself, as she continued to stare into the eyes of her reflection in the blade.
"Go on… see what this world has to show you." The angel spoke in Riley's mind.
Riley allowed a small sigh to escape her lips as she sheathed the blade. At the very least it looked like communicating with the sword would be as simple as talking with Kurama or the Darkness. Now though she had to figure out what it wanted from her. It had brought her here for a reason, so… best to figure out what it was.
Riley was quick to activate her Byakugan and scan the village. Her eyes were drawn in an incredible power coming from the Hokage tower, a power Riley was familiar with. Before advancing Riley hid her demonic features and transfigured her clothes into a hooded cloak so as not to draw too much attention.
Right before she advanced Kurama spoke up.
"Remember, if you're right and this is another time, then these people did nothing to either of us. We both hate Konoha with a fiery passion, but for now, we should treat them as simple nobodies." Kurama advised, earning a nod of agreement from Riley as she jumped forward. She felt herself pass through the barrier around Konoha, and the response she felt was immediate and surprising.
The power she was observing within the Hokage tower immediately appeared on the roof, as she descended down towards it. Her eyes were quick to lock onto Minato Namikaze as he conversed with a handful on Anbu sensors. The Hokage was probably alerted the instant she passed through the barrier, but he didn't know where she was.
One of the Anbu sensors quickly spotted her, and pointed up at her, causing the Hokage to turn his gaze up to her as well.
Riley used magic to slow her descent coming to a gentle landing on the railing of the Hokage Tower rooftop.
"Narumi? No… somethings wrong..." Minato stated as he slowly approached her.
Riley eyed him curiously, doing what she could to keep her rage towards the man, in check. Kurama had been right, this Minato hadn't done anything to her. He wasn't her Minato.
"What happened to your Rinnegan?" Minato asked, noticing the tomoe and floral pattern in her eyes due to the Rinne-Sharingan, and the presence of the Tenseigan, that showed with her use of the Byakugan.
"You know me? And you know that I have the Rinnegan?" Riley inquired.
"Of course I know you… I'm not sure what your… wait… you're not my Narumi are you?" Minato asked, his eyes focused as he scanned her appearance.
"You're right, I'm not. But how could you know that?" Riley inquired kneeling down on the bars as she did.
"I've encountered something like this a long time ago. Before you were born actually. You're from another time aren't you?" Minato inquired.
"I am. I think. If you know me, then where am I?" Riley inquired, curious to hear his answer.
"On a mission. You should be back soon..." Minato responded, sounding a bit uncertain. Slowly he turned his gaze to one of his men and ordered him to call off the alert, before turning back to her. "We should talk."
"Talk? Alright." Riley responded with a shrug, deactivating her Byakugan.
Minato obviously saw the effects as the veins around her eyes receded, and the floral pattern within her eyes vanished and her white pupils returned to black.
Three of the five Anbu quickly vanished from sight, but Riley could still easily detect them nearby watching from the shadows. The remaining two fell into step behind her as she followed after Minato whom led her into the Hokage tower.
While on the outside, Riley channeled her own natural aloof attitude quite perfectly, on the inside she was like a curious child in a candy store. Everything about this Konoha and Minato felt different from hers. The village itself, while still containing it's dark spots, felt brighter then she'd ever felt it. Minato himself felt lighter, less burdened in his step. There was a softness to his gaze, and a general lack of arrogance. He seemed lighter, happier even. Even now when faced with an incredible unknown and surprise occurrence such as this, he was relatively at peace. Calm even.
Even his guards while eyeing her with suspicion beneath their masks, were not sending any overly negative vibes her way. They seemed more concerned with the safety of the Hokage, then the threat of an unknown like Riley.
"This is weird." Kurama noted, earning a hum of agreement from Riley as they made it to the Hokage's office.
The two Anbu remained outside of the door as Minato led her in. Instead of circling his desk and taking a seat, he instead stopped in the center of the room, turned to face her, and crossed his arms. His face contained a myriad of emotions, but he didn't appear as if hostility had any place in his mind. There was definite concern but it was obvious that he didn't see her as a threat, which was of great curiosity to Riley.
"Alright, so… whats wrong?" Minato asked.
"Wrong?" Riley parroted back, confused.
"Yes. Time displacement such as this, doesn't occur unless something is wrong. The last time I dealt with this, a mad shinobi from the future came back in time to try and conquer a distant kingdom. I met someone else from the future who was there to try and stop him. I don't remember him very well, but I think he was a possibility of mine. When all was said and done, I warred with the idea of sealing my memories away so as to reduce the risk of change to the future. Eventually I decided against, settling on the idea that the future had already been changed, so there really wasn't any point to it. So what I'm asking is why are you here? What caused you to be here?" Minato explained, finishing with a reiteration of his prior question.
"Huh. I never knew that about him. I can't say for certain if that was something that is different from my time. If this is another timeline then there has to be a diverging point somewhere, but considering he still has a daughter named Narumi, and yet he met a young man he thought might have been his son, maybe that wasn't a change." Riley thought to herself.
"Well… you can rest easy. Nothing is wrong as far as I know. I'm actually here on a personal quest of understanding. In short I have a magical sword that brought me here so I can learn something. So… you don't have to worry about anything going wrong. As far as I know there is no danger, or anything like that." Riley replied, offering the man a shrug.
"I see. You say your sword brought you here to learn something. Do you have any idea what that could be?" Minato inquired with genuine curiosity.
"Not a damn clue." Riley responded, causing Minato deadpan.
"You know something, he's not so bad when he's not acting like a holier-than-thou prick." Riley thought to herself as Minato let out a chuckle and scratched his head.
"So… tell me what's different. You still have two daughters?" Riley asked, curious about herself, Naruko, as well as Kushina and Lily.
"Oh um, yes. You and Naruko." Minato responded, as he took a few steps over to his desk and leaned against it, relaxing a bit.
"And… what about my mother?" Riley inquired after a quiet moment.
"I'm guessing with the way you emphasized 'mother' that this might be something our two times don't share." Minato noted.
"Shit, could that mean that I'm not Kushina's daughter in this timeline? Or maybe I never learned that. Or maybe I'm Kushina's daughter but not Lily's. Multiverse is a bitch." Riley thought to herself.
"Well in my timeline you got into a drunken threesome with Lily Evans and Kushina Uzumaki, so you tell me if that's different." Riley put him on the spot, covering up the darker ramifications from the event, and withholding judgment, despite her desire to lash out at the man, she had to remind herself that this Minato wasn't her Minato and she had no clue what his crimes were, or what he had done to atone for them.
Minato's eyes went wide at that and he blushed, turning away and scratching his head as he let out a nervous laugh.
"You uh… knew about that?" Minato inquired.
"So it happened here?" Riley inquired, her eyes narrowing. He wasn't ashamed of it, like he obviously had been in her timeline, this Minato was more the regular old embarrassed, probably because it was coming from his eldest daughter.
"Yes. It happened. Look, if you would please don't tell my Narumi. After she was born, Lily magically adopted her, and we just told everyone that they were twins." Minato offered as an explanation.
"And what about Kushina?" Riley inquired, noting that Minato did say 'after' Narumi was born, she was adopted, not before. And she didn't detect any deception from him either.
"Well Kushina was around. Of course given the political ramifications if anyone knew, we kept the truth a secret but Kushina was always there, we wrote it off as her being the midwife, and designated babysitter, and we'd always been good friends, so it was easy to just pretend like nothing happened. Kushina treated both of my girls like her daughters and did what she could to raise them. In all honesty, Lily and I couldn't have asked for a better friend. It was a stupid thing that we did when we were young and it could have caused a major headache, but we made it through. My girls are happy with their mom and auntie Kushina, and I couldn't be happier about it." Minato explained, enrapturing Riley with what could have been.
"So, I ask again if you could please keep this to yourself. My Narumi doesn't know yet. We planned on telling her when she turned Eighteen. I know it's gonna start a firestorm, but she deserves to know, just… not yet." Minato pleaded once more, earning a slow, thoughtful nod from Riley.
"It's alright. So long as she has her mother in her life, a happy lie is alright. Just be sure to tell her the truth one day. She deserves to know." Riley replied, earning a sad smile from Minato.
"She does. I'm assuming I never told you the truth?" Minato guessed, analyzing her reaction.
"No. Danzo told me before I killed him." Riley responded, causing Minato's gaze to harden. For a moment, Riley expected him to react with aggression, instead he slowly nodded and ran a hand over his face.
"I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to learn that from someone like Danzo, and it shouldn't have fallen on you to kill him. He's a troublesome man, and he walks a dangerous path. I'm just sorry it had to be you to clean up that mess. He's a relic of a bygone era. Something the older generation should be responsible for dealing with. It shouldn't have fallen on you to handle him." Minato stated to her, again taking Riley by surprise by how calmly and kindly he accepted her answer.
"Well… don't worry about it. Danzo was responsible for the death of someone I cared very deeply for. Killing him was quite cathartic, though it you're looking for a reason to get rid of him, just tell me two things, did the Uchiha clan get wiped out, and does he still have his eye and arm wrapped up?" Riley replied, earning a hard look from Minato.
"Yes. To both." Minato replied.
"Well then, how about grave-robbing and murder as a reason to deal with him? When I fought him, he had a genetically replicated arm, he gained from Orochimaru, made from the First Hokage's cells. In that arm he had ten eyes of the Uchiha clan, each with a Sharingan, embedded within. Bandaged in his own eye is actually the eye of Shisui Uchiha. Word from the wise, have a sensor who knew Shisui's chakra, check out Danzo's head, they may see something familiar. If I'm right, and you go after him, a word of warning, he can utilize the ten Sharingan eyes on his arm to activate the Uchiha forbidden Technique, Izanagi. It allows him to turn reality into an illusion for a few short moments, allowing him to rewrite his own death upwards to ten times." Riley explained to him, earning a slow nod from Minato.
"I hate to ask, but would you be able to recognize Shisui's chakra?" Minato inquired.
"I would. And before you go about worrying yourself, I'll happily kill him another eleven times, if you'll let me. I found it quite relaxing the last time. Therapeutic even." Riley answered, earning a slightly unnerved look from the Fourth Hokage. He probably wasn't used to his eldest daughter acting so bloodthirsty and vicious.
Before the conversation could continue, a knock was heard at the door.
"Come in." Minato called out.
A moment later his secretary entered the room. "My lord, your daughter and her squad have returned from their mission. The elders have called a meeting to hear her report."
"Eh… How troublesome." Minato sighed.
"I'm guessing her mission was quite important?" Riley stated with a smirk.
"Well yes, but also given her status as a hero, and the rumors that I've been grooming her to take my position as Hokage one day, well the council sees it as their responsibility to over analyze everything she does, to make sure she's displaying the proper foresight and ability when it comes to important matters for the village. They're just being paranoid. I remember when the Third Hokage began training me to take on this job, I was stuck standing before the council for even things like A-Rank missions. It can get a bit annoying at times." Minato responded with a sigh.
"Will Danzo be there?" Riley inquired.
"Yes." Minato responded.
"Than I'll come along, hide in plain sight and see for myself if he's still the same murdering bastard I know him to be." Riley replied, as small branches grew from her palm, growing together and shaping into a white mask, similar in shape to an ANBU mask. The only difference was that it had no animal designs or paint. It was simply a pure white mask, with two eye holes to see through.
Riley offered the fourth a smirk as she placed the mask over her face. With her hood up, she could easily pass as a member of ANBU black ops.
After a moment of thought, Minato offered a nod. Security risks aside, this was an opportunity to get information on Danzo. If the gods were granting him this favor by sending another version of his daughter to aid in dealing with the eternal thorn in his side, then he wasn't going to waste the chance.
"Oh this is exciting. The opportunity to slaughter that urchin once again. Hey maybe we should get into the habit of timeline hopping and just go on a murder spree, killing Danzos wherever we can find them. Come on, it'd be fun. Think about it, not only do we get to keep killing him, but each one will use the Izanagi to revive himself so we get to kill him eleven times in a row! That's a good time right there." Kurama offered with excitement, earning an internal chuckle from Riley.
"That, I might just look into. Fucking bastard." Riley thought back as the Fourth led her to the council chambers.
They arrived and Riley immediately settled into a back corner out of sight, moving so quickly that the fourth Hokage actually paused to stare at where she'd been, obviously stunned by her speed, and the silence of her movement. A quick scan of the room, revealed her position to him, but he didn't allow his gaze to linger for very long, so as not to draw too much attention as the various councilors and clan leaders filtered into the room.
"Hmm… so this is what it would have been like had I stayed. The old man and I working together to take on creeps like Danzo. Man if only my Minato wasn't such a prick..." Riley thought to herself as everyone settled in.
Her eyes quickly locked onto Danzo when he stalked into the room. With her eyes she could see clear as day Shisui's chakra radiating from Danzo's bandaged eye. She could also see Hashirama's chakra dancing through the suppressing mechanism on his arm. It was highly contained, only someone who could see chakra like she could, and recognized the First Hokage's power, would have noticed it.
A few moments after everyone settled into their seats, Narumi Namikaze was escorted into the room.
Riley's eyes quickly fell onto her counterpart. The first thing Riley noticed was that Narumi was not a demon. She had powerful demonic Youki flowing within her, but she wasn't a full demon, meaning that the seal had still been damaged long ago, and she'd still absorbed parts of Kurama's soul. A quicker analysis revealed the absence of Kurama's soul or the seal that contained it. Meaning the soul have been removed, probably by Minato, and either resealed into someone else, or maybe placed within Naruko, reuniting both halves.
Narumi herself was young, sixteen or seventeen. She was above average height for a woman of her age, though not nearly as tall as Riley presented herself as when she was that old. Due to being only a half demon, Narumi grew naturally and had no control over how her body looked. So in truth, this is actually closer to what Riley should look like, rather then how she decided to look. As a full demon, Riley had adjusted her physical appearance so as to further impress her mates. Her beauty was more for them then Riley herself. Narumi was far less eye catching then Riley was, but that was by no means a detraction from Narumi's own beauty. While Riley held an otherworldly beauty due to her demonic nature, Narumi was more of a natural beauty. She was pretty. Decently chesty, with round hips and a firm rear. Her reddish-black hair went down to the middle of her back, and was tied off in a pony-tail. She allowed long bangs to frame her face, and a bit of hair covered her left eye, similar to how Riley styled her own bangs, albeit a bit shorter.
The Rinnegan, was present within Narumi's eyes, shining with incredible power. Despite not being a full demon, the presence of the Rinnegan, and Narumi's half demon blood, made her incredibly powerful. Much stronger then anyone else in the room. Definitely above Kage level, in terms of her raw power, just like how Riley appeared before she had started to become a full demon.
The pale skinned Narumi held a prideful smirk to her, and just from the way she held herself, Riley could tell that the spirit of Madara was strong within her. She almost reminded Riley of how Naruko was when she was younger, overly prideful, arrogant perhaps, but with more of Madara's tendencies than anyone elses.
It didn't take long for the smirk to falter as Narumi's Rinnegan eyes found their way to Riley.
She could obviously detect the unknown individual, and when their eyes met, Riley couldn't hide the smirk on her face, when her incredibly powerful alternate self tensed with a bit of fear and uncertainty.
Narumi eyed her counterpart for several long seconds, her eyes glued onto the malevolent and twisted blackness that radiated out from Riley's body. She quickly sent a worried glance to her father, hoping that he recognized this presence as well. When she locked eyes with the fourth he held up a hand and offered her a relaxing smile.
Narumi allowed herself to settle at that. If her father already knew about this person and wasn't worried at the moment, then she could calm down as well.
"Lady Narumi. Welcome back. We understand your mission was a complete success." Elder Utatane stated, beginning the meeting.
"It was, lady Utatane. I've received the alliance agreement with Kumogakure, as well as word from the Raikage himself expressing hope for a beneficial and long term allegiance between our villages. He also expressed his desire to meet with Lord Hokage in person for the next meeting." Narumi responded, producing a small set of scrolls which were handed off to one of the Hokage's assistants and brought to him.
"So by your understanding, the meeting went well?" Minato inquired as he took the scrolls and set them off to the side.
"I would say so yes. With the defeat of the Akatsuki and the return of the Two-Tails to Kumogakure, I think they're ready and willing to put the past behind them, and join with us in building a better world." Narumi replied with a hopeful smile.
While the discussion continued on, Riley eyed the various observers in the room. Watching how they all reacted to her counterpart. Many smiles were had from both the civilian and shinobi sides. Master Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade both offered the girl proud smirks. Lily sat in the Namikaze seat, and beamed at her adoptive daughter, while Kushina mirrored her reaction from the Uzumaki seat.
Itachi held a pleasant smile from his place in the Uchiha seat. Though Riley did notice the absence of the brotherly affection her Itachi would show. Which led Riley to guess that in this timeline she never left home, and thus never met and received training from Itachi and Shisui. Meaning that neither man was like a brother to her in this timeline.
All in all, this place seamed to have it's ups and downs. A lot more ups, than downs, but still. It did kind of sadden Riley to know that her alternate self didn't have those bonds.
As Riley continued to scan the crowd her eyes fell onto Danzo. Slowly she took in the presence of Shisui's chakra from his stolen eye, and she felt her anger begin to swell, the longer she focused on it.
Shisui's eye. The eyes of so many Uchiha. The First Hokage's cells. Danzo was a grave-robbing little bastard, and the longer Riley stared at him, the more her killing intent grew.
Certain individuals within the crowd started to notice the growing anger that radiated off of the masked figure in the corner. Minato's eyes quickly snapped to her, as did the Third Hokage, the Sannin, Itachi, and Narumi.
All of them stared at her, though only Minato understood the significance behind her anger. His eyes quickly narrowed as they shot to Danzo whom had also picked up on the Killing Intent aimed directly at him.
"Do I know you?" Danzo asked aloud, directing his question at Riley.
In a burst of speed no one could follow, Riley appeared in the center of the room, standing before the entire council.
"Danzo Shimura. You murdered Shisui Uchiha. That's his chakra I see in that skull of yours." Riley growled out.
Silence permeated the room, as everyone stared at her. After several seconds her words settled in. The reaction from Itachi was almost instant, his Sharingan, activating as he leveled a glare at the Elder.
"Danzo, is this true!" Hiruzen Sarutobi demanded, leveling his own dark look at his old friend and teammate.
"Of course not! How dare this nobody make such an accusation." Danzo replied.
"Then you wont mind if I tear off those bandages and show everyone what you're hiding." Riley replied.
"How dare you threaten me. I am a village elder. Who are you to make such threats?" Danzo responded, rising to his feet.
The instant he reached full stance, Riley was on him. In a burst of speed, not even Itachi could follow, Riley rocketed off the ground, seized Danzo by the throat, carried him over the heads of those who sat behind him, and slammed him into the back wall with so much force, the wall itself buckled and cracked.
Blood erupted from Danzo's mouth as his throat was crushed.
"Only one way out of this you bastard. Show everyone what you've got!" Riley growled internally, as she heard the limiter mechanism on Danzo's arm, unlock.
Riley quickly turned and tossed the Elder back down to the center of the room. His body slammed into the ground, leaving a crater not far from where Narumi stood, her eyes wide in disbelief.
Riley quickly followed, landing in the center of the room, she was immediately surrounding by Leaf ANBU, with weapons drawn, and Narumi quickly raced between her and Danzo, leveling a glare at the demoness, and falling into a fighting stance that was reminiscent of Minato's.
"Itachi… tell me if this is familiar." Riley called out.
Silence filled the room, as Danzo's body disappeared from sight.
Genjutsu, was the first thought on everyone's mind, as Danzo reappeared behind Riley and placed a blade to her throat.
"Do not think me some child who can be brought down so easily by something so barbarically simple." Danzo hissed.
"ANBU, arrest that traitor!" Elder Homura demanded, rising to his feet.
"No! Stand down!" Narumi shouted, leveling a glare at Danzo.
"So I was right, you were trained by him too." Riley noted with a smirk as killing intent rolled off of Narumi Namikaze, directed right at Danzo.
"That move. It wasn't any ordinary genjutsu. That was an Uchiha forbidden technique!" Narumi hissed.
"Yes. It was. A sacrificial Uchiha technique. One that requires a working Sharingan in order to cast. How did you acquire such a thing, Danzo?" Itachi demanded, rising from his seat, his Sharingan morphing into the Mangekyou, as he did.
Danzo was silent for several moments as understanding settled in. He didn't need to see Riley's face to know she was smirking. That had been her goal from the start, force him to reveal the Izanagi to those in the room. But that meant that she not only knew about Shisui's eye, but all of the eyes embedded in his arm.
Such a thing was surely impossible, and yet, here it was. Who was she? How had she known these things?
"Lord Hokage… if you would please, allow me to kill him. It was so much fun the first time, I wouldn't mind another round." Riley asked, her eyes still locked with her counterparts.
Minato was silent for several moments, as he slowly rose to his feet. "You have two choices laid out before you Danzo. You either remove those bandages and show us the truth, or I accept what the Uchiha clan leader and my daughter have said, and declare you guilty of murdering Shisui Uchiha. What'll it be?"
Danzo was silent for a few seconds as he thought of a way out of this. Riley's smirk grew as she felt the fear within him grow.
Suddenly she felt the blade at her throat press hard against her flesh, and Danzo sharply drew it across her neck. Gasps were heard as Danzo tried to shove her forward into Narumi, expecting her limp body to distract the Namikaze heir long enough for Danzo to try and escape.
That did not happen. Hardening the flesh beneath his blade, Danzo's pitiful attempt didn't even draw blood. When he tried to shove her forward all he managed to do was push himself back a foot or two as she remained anchored to the ground.
Slowly, Riley turned to him, raising her head up just a bit so that he could see her exposed neck, and the absence of any cut, blood, or mark.
"Alright, no permission needed now. This makes it self-defense." Riley growled as her eyes bled red, shining through from beneath the darkness of her mask.
Danzo was obviously able to see her eyes as they began to glow beneath her mask. The Rinne Sharingan, was enough to cause his stomach to drop, his eyes flickering between it and Narumi's Rinnegan.
"Let's take this outside, shall we." Riley stated with excitement as she shot forward, seizing Danzo by his shirt and lifting him up into the air.
Using her Intangibility and speed Riley was able to near instantly fly the two of them to one of the nearby training yards. Once there, she dropped the man, allowing him a moment to gain his bearings. She was definitely going to enjoy watching him struggle once again.
"Who are you?" Danzo demanded.
"A friend of Shisui." Riley answered, before vanishing from sight.
It took only about a minute for the Fourth Hokage, the Sannin, Narumi, several teams of ANBU, the Third Hokage, and Itachi to arrive at the training field. By the time they got there, they found that it was already visibly damaged, Danzo's hidden arm was revealed, unveiling the Ten Sharingan, embedded into it, and four of the ten eyes were closed.
"Minato, what the hell is that?" Jiraiya asked, when he spotted the arm.
"An abomination." Minato answered as he motioned for the ANBU to spread out and keep Danzo from escaping while also keeping their eyes out for ROOT.
A few moments later, another team of ANBU arrived, along with Kushina, Hiashi Hyuuga, and Shikaku Nara.
Right as they arrived, Riley reappeared in front of Danzo, sword in hand, she delivered a downward slash, that Danzo avoided by jumping back. Right as the sword lowered to the ground, Danzo leaped forward, intent on jumping over Riley and landing behind her.
Riley countered his move by allowing the momentum of her downward slash, to carry her forward into a front flip. As she flipped forward, a blackened bone erupted from the bottom of her foot, extending out just far enough to reach Danzo.
Both of their movements allowed the bone to pierce his body and cut him from the top of his sternum to his groin.
Riley landed from the tumble, retracting the bone into her flesh while Danzo collapsed into a heap. Blood and organs spilled out of his body, while Riley simply let out a chuckle.
By the time she turned around, his body had faded from sight, and he reappeared a few feet away.
"God I love this." Riley stated with a smirk as she turned her gaze to him.
Danzo quickly jumped away from her, retreating into the nearby forest. Those observing quickly moved to follow him, as Riley vanished as well. Before they could begin to move, an ear splitting crack was heard and the vague outline of Danzo's body erupted from the foliage, careening violently through the air at supersonic speeds. When it hit the ground, it exploded, shredding apart into a violent blast of gore that tore through the air.
The display was more gruesome a death than most of them had ever seen. The visceral carnage of it, made even seasoned warriors cringe.
Before the pieces of gore could settle onto the ground, they vanished from sight, Danzo reappearing where he'd been a moment ago, his uncovered eye, wide and quivering in disbelief.
"How? How are you fast?" Danzo demanded turning around just in time to for Riley to slam her palm into his mouth. Right as flesh met flesh, a bone erupted from her palm, spearing the old shinobi through his mouth and out the back of his head.
With a sickening jerk of her arm, Riley tore the top half of his head away from his lower jaw, sending blood and teeth raining through the air.
Riley smirked as his body vanished from sight. She turned around just as he reappeared and jumped away from her. Now the old man was frightened, and he was starting to get desperate.
Now seven of the ten eyes were closed. Danzo was starting to run out of options.
The old ninja quickly began to speed through handsigns.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Sphere!" Danzo shouted out, taking a deep breath and releasing a hail of wind blasts right at her.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique." Riley countered, sending a blast of fire at Danzo, which quickly burst into a dozen smaller fireballs, that raced at the old ninja from different directions.
Riley was quick enough to get the technique out right as Danzo finished with his. The oncoming fireballs obstructed his view of Riley, allowing her to vanish in a burst of speed, while he was forced to dodge her incoming attacks.
Danzo jumped high and landed several meters away from the rush of fire, avoiding them, but just as his feet hit the ground, the ominous sound of chirping birds filled the air.
Danzo recognized the noise and turned just in time for Riley's lightning covered hand to pierce his chest.
"Chidori: Blast!" Riley snarled as her attack pierced Danzo's body. The end result was the lightning on Riley's hand erupting outward, exploding through Danzo's body, blowing his body in half.
Riley grinned from ear to ear, as his body faded for the eighth time.
Again she began to move through handsigns, spinning on her heel to avoid a handful of kunai sent her way, she quickly inhaled, shaping magic within her, "Lightning Style: Offensive Bolt!" Echoed in her mind, and she moved her mask free of her mouth and spit forth a single bolt of lightning.
A loud crack split the air, as the bolt shot forward piercing through Danzo's stomach, and exploding out the back of him.
Danzo dropped to a knee, cursing as he activated Izanagi for the ninth time.
When he reappeared he immediately used the Shadow Clone Jutsu to create three clones. He utilized the burst of smoke to slip out of sight, hoping to trick her for a moment long enough for him to slip away.
The three clones rushed at her, earning a devilish grin from Riley.
She answered his attack by sending four kunai towards the trio of clones. Three of the kunai were aimed at said clones, and were easily deflected by them, while the fourth sailed past them, into the forest. It landed just past where Danzo was hiding, waiting for his opportunity to try and slip away.
He glanced at the kunai, and his eyes widened in horror when he noticed that it was a tri-pronged kunai with crimson wrapping around the handle, similar in design to the Fourth Hokage's signature weapons.
In a blackish-red flash of light, Riley appeared at the kunai, her gaze instantly on Danzo.
No words could describe the look in her eyes. The joy she was experiencing at torturing him like this. Never in the old ninja's life had he encountered such malice, it was simply not human.
He tried to retreat away from her, but she instantly closed the gap between the two of them, taking him by the throat and breaking it an instant later.
When Danzo reappeared in the field for the final time, he was near broken. She had defeated him ten times in row, and never once had she shown any signs of worry or even a great deal of focus. This was all a game to her. He wasn't a threat. He was little more then a plaything for this woman. His pride was shattered, she had bested him so easily, and now she stood over him, a dark gleam in her eyes.
"I wont let you win so easily!" Danzo declared, as he ripped his robes open and began activating the seal on his chest.
A burning pain shot through his body, as Riley slammed a palm into his chest. Seal characters danced off of her hand and across his chest.
With a chuckle and a handsign, the flesh on his chest, and stomach, from shoulder to shoulder, and sternum to stomach, ripped free and burned away in red flames.
Danzo screamed out in agony, his pectoral, and abdominal muscles were visible to the naked eye.
"Nifty little technique isn't it. A special sacrificial sealing jutsu I designed. It allows the user to remove a seal from a person's body, the only requirement is that it takes all of the flesh the seal is tied to. It's a pretty twisted technique, I couldn't get it to work using normal magic so I had to find a workaround. In the end I was able to get it working with cursed magic. Of course this means that any wounds the seal makes, can't be healed with normal healing magics, meaning this seal is purely offensive, I can't use it on an ally or anything." Riley explained as she slowly circled the man. The pain he was experiencing must have beyond imagining as his exposed nerves reacted to the open air.
Slowly, Danzo's gaze fell to his exposed muscles, hanging freely from his musculature, were what looked like small blood vessels, and even his own nerves.
"As you can see, the technique is rarely fatal as it only takes the skin, it leaves things behind like blood vessels and nerves. I call it, 'Cursed Sealing Technique: Cursed Demons' Sacrament of Flesh'." Riley offered to the man.
"What are you?" Danzo demanded as he raised his gaze to her.
A scream erupted from Danzo's mouth as a pain tore through right eye. He felt the bandages fall free, and blood began to pour down his cheek. His hand shot up to the eye, only for his fingers to brush against bleeding bones, and flesh. Through great pain, he was able to lift his gaze to Riley. One of her hands had blood dripping between the fingers. She held up said hand, and with her other pulled something up from it, gently, almost delicately.
Danzo could see Shisui's eye in her grasp. He tried to reach out for it, but an unknown force slammed him into the ground.
A few seconds later, he heard the remnants of his eyes socket, dropped to the ground. There, cradled in Riley's hand was Shisui's eye. She stared down at it for several long moments before removing a scroll from her robes, and sealing Shisui's eye within it.
She then turned her gaze down to Danzo.
A growl tore free from his lips as her red eyes bore down at him.
With a devilish smirk, a black chakra receiver emerged from her palm. She brought it down violently onto Danzo's midsection, piercing him through the back, and through one of his lungs, suppressing his chakra and pinning him to the ground.
"Good bye Danzo. It was fun." Riley taunted she unveiled her wand, and cast Incendio, on his body.
Danzo's screams tore out through the air, as he burned. Riley stared down at him, mercilessly taking in his demise. She offered the man no respite, and no way out. The last time she'd killed him, it had to be done quickly to stop him from using the seal he had on his body. This time around she was going to cherish his screams.
Riley stood over his body for several minutes, minutes that were far too short for her liking. She basked in the sense of his death, and waited until the moment she felt his withered old soul leave his body. As soon as she felt it, she quickly drew it in.
"Kurama… do me favor, when we get back home, remind me to take his soul and give it to Skorge. I want to hear a song, born of his eternal suffering." Riley thought to herself, happy to have Danzo's soul once more. Unfortunately, she had lost her Danzo to the Shinigami, but this Danzo she intended to keep, and torture until the end of time.
"Will do kit." Kurama replied with a vicious smirk, both of them also hearing a dark chuckle of approval from the Darkness as well.
"Is he dead?" Minato asked, stepping up to her.
"Yeah. He's dead." Riley replied, turning to face him.
"I'm sensing you had quite the history with Danzo." Hiruzen Sarutobi noted, stepping up to the two of them, along with the rest of the observers.
"He murdered my first real friend. A man who like a brother to me." Riley replied.
"You knew Shisui well?" Came the question from Itachi, his gaze filled with curiosity.
"I did. Just not your Shisui." Riley answered tossing him the scroll that contained Shisui's eye.
Itachi caught the scroll and glanced at it, knowing what it contained.
"Thank you. I'll see that his remains are properly laid to rest." Itachi informed her.
"Good to hear." Riley replied.
"Well I think we owe them an explanation." Minato expressed as he noticed the confused and concerned looks everyone was giving her.
"Fine by me. I have no problems with it." Riley answered, removing her mask, earning gasps from all those around her.
"Narumi…?" Kushina gasped, dumbfounded, her eyes dancing between Narumi and Riley.
"I'm not your Narumi, I'm from an alternate time." Riley replied holding up her hands.
"From another time? You're me from another time?" Narumi asked stepping up to her. It was quite funny to note the height difference between the two. Narumi was about five foot, eight inches. Tall for a woman, but not nearly as tall as Riley who stood at six foot even. Riley was also noticeably more buxom than Narumi was, though again, that was by choice rather than it being natural. Narumi was actually a closer approximation to what Riley should look like, if she had grown naturally instead of controlling how she looked.
Many of Riley's demonic features were hidden, so the only real difference in their faces were their eyes, Rinnegan eyes staring into the Rinne-Sharingan. For the first time since obtaining the eyes of god, Narumi actually felt small staring into the eyes of her alternate self.
"Why don't we go to my house, we can have her explain everything there. Itachi, I'll leave the dealing of Shisui's remains to you. Shikaku, I'll leave Danzo's remains to you. Please see to it they are properly erased. And more importantly, I want you to begin planning for how we'll deal with ROOT. Now that Danzo is dead, I'm not going to risk them operating independently any longer." Minato ordered, earning nods from both men.
Not long after, the group made their way to Minato's clan compound, which was really just a walled off house, though interestingly, two additional buildings were being constructed within it. If Riley had to guess, Minato was having a separate house built for both of his daughters, allowing them to 'move out' when they turned eighteen but they'd still be living basically at home.
Naruko, and Lily were collected on the way, and informed about their visitor. Now Riley stood before Minato, Lily, Kushina, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Hiruzen, Naruko, and Narumi.
"So you're my sister from another timeline?" Naruko asked, her eyes also sporting the Rinnegan, and her hair also darkened revealing that the seal on her genetics had lifted or been removed. Oddly enough the one on Minato was also removed, but he still had his blonde hair, and blue eyes. Riley suspected some sort of ruse, perhaps contacts, and hair dye to keep him from looking like an Uchiha. It was obvious he hadn't awakened the Rinnegan yet but that didn't mean he hadn't managed to activate his Sharingan. Having his seal removed would explain why this Minato felt stronger than hers.
Riley took a moment to think on the question, before finally giving her alternate self's younger sister a superior smirk. "Yep."
Naruko stared back, eyes filled with fascination. She eyed Riley up and down, taking in how much taller Riley was than her. Little had changed about Naruko, she still acted much the same, and she looked like a mirror image of Riley's version.
"How did you get here?" Jiraiya inquired.
"My magic sword." Riley answered, gesturing to the sheathed blade, held up by her 'belt' which was actually all ten of her tails coiled around each other and wrapped around her waist.
"You have a magic sword that let's you go through time?" Narumi asked, dumbfounded by that.
"I guess. Technically it's a Zanpakutō. A living sword. The spirit within the blade sent me here so I could learn something. If I had to guess, this is a journey of self discovery or something like that. I'm not really sure, I came here kinda suddenly." Riley answered, finishing with an honest shrug.
"Wow." Was Tsunade's response to that.
"So… does that mean you're older than me?" Narumi inquired.
"Yeah. I'm a lot older than you." Riley responded, deadpanning.
"Wow… so you're gonna grow up into a babe." Naruko teased, elbowing her sister with a smirk, earning a blush from Narumi.
"And a giant." Tsunade added, teasingly, causing Narumi to drop her head to hide her face behind her bangs.
"Damn, how long has it been since I was shy like that?" Riley thought to herself.
"The last time you were ever like that was when you first started dating Fleur. Of course having a pretty little bird like that, fawning all over you, really did wonders for your self confidence." Kurama noted, earning a hum of agreement from Riley.
"So what's up with your eyes? Is that like a new form of the Rinnegan?" Naruko inquired while Narumi was busy being embarrassed.
"No, actually it's the stage above the Rinnegan. It has a few different titles, the tailed beasts call it by different names. Juubigan, Sharinnegan, but I just call it the Rinne-Sharingan. It has all of the powers of the Rinnegan plus all of the powers of the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan." Riley answered, earning dumbstruck looks from those surrounding her. Even Minato had his jaw hanging open at the implication of eyes with both sets of powers.
"Wow! How did you activate them?" Narumi and Naruko asked, simultaneously.
"Wow they really act like twins in this timeline." Riley thought to herself.
"I wouldn't worry about activating them. I only achieved the awakening of these eyes with an immense amount of magic, and by fusing two sets of compatible Rinnegans together. So unless one of you wants to take the others eyes, I doubt you'd ever push your eyes to this level." Riley answered. While her response did dampen their spirits a bit, that did leave them wondering who's eyes she had used to awaken these ones.
It was Jiraiya who asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "So who's eyes did you use?"
"Mine and my grandfathers." Riley responded honestly.
Her reply caused silence to permeate the room. It was Narumi who quietly inquired, "So you can here him too?"
"I could. When I was younger he helped raise. Taught me a lot about being a warrior. Taught me about our eyes and our clan. He was one of the best things I had growing up. When I lost Shisui to Danzo's machination, I awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan. It was grandfather Madara who taught me how to get into contact and summon Zetsu. He helped me retrieve Madara's original eyes from when he was young. I used them and was compatible with them, awakening the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. Fast forward a few years and I reawakened the Rinnegan. I kept my original eyes sealed on my person at all times, and one day, after a certain event, I fused both sets of eyes together, creating these. My permanent eyes. The Rinne-Sharingan." Riley explained to them, earning a small smile from Narumi, whom obviously shared her affection for the omnipresent voice in her head.
"What did you mean by, you 'could' hear him?" Minato asked.
"Oh, don't worry. He's not gone. I just found a way to give him back his body, so he could live free of me. He was resurrected by the Akatsuki, using the Second Hokage's Reanimation Jutsu. After I freed him from their control, I was able to place the part of his soul in me, back into the reanimation and then I used Rinne Rebirth to bring him back to life. Since his soul was present due to the reanimation, it was really quite simple to revive him at that point." Riley offered as an explanation.
"Wow! So it seems like there's more than a few differences between our lives." Narumi noted.
"Yeah… I'd say more than a few." Riley noted, her eyes flickering between the people that held Narumi so close to heart.
"So I saw that you have a wand, just like Lily, Narumi, and Naruko." Minato noted.
"Yeah, I actually went to Hogwarts when I was younger. Uncle Remus took me to England with him, I lived in Britain and learned magic at Hogwarts." Riley replied, earning a curious look from those around, especially Kushina and Lily.
"So you spent most of the year at Hogwarts? I'm honestly surprised. Thats a lot of time to spend away from home, and still be a shinobi." Lily noted, curiously. While a few of them did offer Riley curious looks at that, some, like Minato, Jiraiya, and Hiruzen, simply allowed their eyes to drift away. All three of them, having noted how Riley stood seperate from the people Narumi held closest to heart, as well as how dark and twisted her chakra was. They all knew about Narumi's condition as a half-demon, which naturally made her a bit quick tempered and more aggressive, but Riley was far darker, and far more imposing.
"I think I should clarify, I wasn't just there for school. I live there. When I was little I left the Leaf village. After Shisui died, I wanted nothing more to do with this place, so I went with Uncle Remus to travel the world. When I turned Eleven I got my Hogwarts letter, so we settled down there and that's where I live now. London is my home, not Konoha." Riley stated, causing silence to permeate the room. Lily looked stunned by that, so did Kushina. Tsunade's mouth was hanging open, while Jiraiya's eyes remained locked on Riley. Hiruzen quietly took a drag from his pipe, while Minato simply closed his eyes and took a calming breath. Naruko and Narumi had much louder reactions.
"What do you mean Konoha isn't your home!" Naruko demanded, while Narumi pierced her alternate self with a powerful, questioning gaze. Riley could hear her clicking her teeth as she tried to say something, but it seemed like Naruko had that covered. "Why would leave us like that? Me, and mom, and dad! Auntie Kushina! Granny Tsunade! Pervy Sage! What about all the people that loved you!?"
"All of those people love you, Naruko. They love Narumi too. They didn't all love me." Riley replied honestly, stopping Naruko's rant in it's tracks.
"What do you mean?" Narumi asked, her gaze hard and heavy, showing a maturity beyond her years.
"At some point in our lives, our paths separated. My parents adored Naruko, but were distant with me, and spent all their time focused on her. My godmother hated me. I had nothing to do with master Jiraiya. Naruko was an annoying little bully. The only people I had were uncle Remus, and Kakashi. One day we got into a fight. My Lily said some things to me, and my Minato agreed with her. So… I ran away from home. I lived on the streets for a while, and eventually I met Itachi and Shisui, and they helped me. They trained me, treated me like a little sister. Then Shisui died, and I was done with that place. I didn't belong in Konoha, and if everyone was gonna treat me like dirt, then I was just gonna leave. So I went and traveled Europe, then I ended up in Britain, and I've lived there up until now." Riley offered up, not really caring if they knew or not.
"Narumi… I'm so sorry that happened to you. I can't believe anyone would treat you like that." Kushina stated, holding back tears. Riley offered her a genuine smile.
"It's alright mother. I didn't have you for most of my life. By when I learned about you… I found you, and we reunited." Riley whispered into her mind, causing Kushina to go rigid for several second, before tears started to fall from her eyes, and a happy smile spread across her face.
"None of you should feel the need to apologize for them. You aren't them. The fact that I'm sitting here speaking with you, should show you that despite sharing a face, you've already showed me you're nothing like them. And also, my name is Riley. I got it changed when I left. Riley Narumi Gyffindor Slytherin Uzumaki Senju Uchiwa Black." Riley stated offering the group a pleasant smile.
"Wow, that's quite a lot of titles you have there..." Tsunade noted.
"Well I have a very detailed understanding of my lineage. Including what went down on the day of my birth." Riley replied.
"You-Know-Who attacked you as well? Did Naruko also kill him in your timeline?" Lily asked.
"What the fuck…?" Riley muttered, dumbfounded.
"What?" Minato inquired.
"You still think Naruko is the girl-who-lived and yet you still treat me like a human being? What in the fresh hell was wrong with my parents?" Riley responded with a shake of her head.
"What do you mean by that? Naruko killed the dark lord when his attack rebounded off of the Nine Tails' power." Jiraiya noted.
"Really? And who told you that?" Riley asked.
As she did she noticed Narumi's eyes go wide and she stiffened. Riley knew instantly that Narumi also knew that she was the real girl-who-lived. It occurred to Riley in that moment, that if Narumi was treated better in this timeline she may have never felt the need to reveal the truth and simply kept it a secret. After all, if she was treated well, she wouldn't need something like that to try and gain attention.
Regardless the genie had been let out of the bottle, and unless Riley wanted to wrangle them all up and mind-wipe them, best just forge on.
"Dumbledore. He cast a special detecting spell that showed the presence of previously cast magic. It showed the fox's chakra around Naruko." Minato explained.
"When he cast the spell, did you look into my eyes?" Riley asked.
Silence filled the room, as Narumi let out a sigh and scratched the back of her head.
"No I don't recall checking. Why? What are you trying to say?" Minato asked.
"You wanna tell them, hero?" Riley inquired to Narumi causing her to cringe and everyone's eyes to turn towards her.
"Narumi?" Lily inquired.
"The Rinnegan allows me to have perfect recall. I remember everything I've ever said or done with it active. It activated when Voldemort came to kill us when we were born. And it was me he tried to kill first. His spell hit the seal which is what caused the damage that led to the Fox's soul leaking out. When the spell hit me the seal stopped it, and then, to defend myself, I activated Shinra Tensei. It rebounded his Killing Curse. And that's what really killed him." Narumi explained, scratching the back of her head nervously as she did.
"Narumi, why didn't you ever tell anyone?" Kushina was the first to ask.
"Because it wasn't important to me. I don't care if everyone thinks Naruko is the girl-who-lived. When I did that, it nearly got her killed. If it wasn't for the fox's power, Naruko would have died. I'd say the least I could do is let her have that honor. It didn't matter to me, and I didn't want people to look at me differently for something I did as a baby. It was an accident that nearly cost me my twin. Not really something to be proud of, ya know?" Narumi muttered, eyes dancing between everyone but settling on her twin.
Naruko stared back wide eyed. She blinked several times and took in a deep breath. After she released it she stepped up to her bigger twin sister, and gently clocked her atop the head with her knuckles.
"Naruko…?" Narumi muttered, gently rubbing the place she'd been bopped.
"Look at you, being all selfless. You're so worried about accidentally hurting me, that you'd let me take credit for something I didn't do. It's you who should take credit for this. I mean after all, you actually did it. Even if it was me, it would actually have the been fox who killed him not me. So regardless, its you who should be seen as responsible for the Dark Lord's demise." Naruko explained, her hands on hips, eyeing her older sister with a piercing yet ultimately happy gaze.
"Naruko..." Narumi again muttered, blushing lightly at her sister's words.
"Stop being so damn selfless! You already blush whenever people thank you for beating the Akatsuki and saving the whole world. You should take some time to bask in your achievements. You killed a dark lord when you were a day old! That's something to merit." Naruko responded, again earning a bashful response from Narumi.
While the adults in the room offered the twins compassionate looks, Riley herself couldn't help but feel happy for her alternate self. This was the kind of life she had wanted for herself when she was younger. A family that loved her. A sister she could spend time with and explore the world with.
A part of Riley always longed for this with her own parents and sister, despite everything that had happened between them. She has happy for her alternate self. Happy to see that she had a good life, and was happy in it.
"Eh enough focusing on the past. Voldemort's dead and gone. We should focus on more present stuff, like how another me is here, from another timeline." Narumi tried to deflect the focus away from her and onto… well… her.
Riley just offered a chuckle at that. From there the conversations continued. Well into the night, they talked about their lives. Riley got an amazing kick out of seeing herself blush when she went into detail about her mates.
It was only then that Riley realized that not only was Narumi a virgin, but she'd never even dated anyone. Also Riley's revelation may have been Narumi's unofficial coming out of the closet moment. With Tsunade smirking and saying something along the lines of that explaining why Narumi preferred to go on teams with girls and why she liked spending so much time at the bathhouse.
This got some good laughs from everyone, which ended with Riley inquiring about anyone Narumi may be attracted to.
"No one right now. I've been so busy after dealing with the Akatsuki, that I haven't really had time to look into it." Narumi admitted.
"Well… let me ask you this… you got a thing for blondes?" Riley inquired.
"Maybe." Narumi responded with a smirk and a blush.
"If you're ever feeling up for it, maybe take a trip to France. The head of the DMLE is married to a veela. They have two daughters. One of which I met when I was young…" Riley began with a smile… only for her to pause as a realization struck her. When she had first met Fleur, she had stopped Fleur and Gabby from getting raped. If she had never left the Elemental Nations… had that still happened?
"Riley?" Naruko inquired, as Riley stared off into space.
"Sorry… like I was saying… if you go there… find the Delacour family. The elder daughter, Fleur, she's a few years older than us, but she's a major knockout, and I'm sure she'd like you. Just… if you're interested." Riley finished.
"Only gonna suggest Fleur? Not any of the others?" Kurama inquired.
"She was already blown away by the fact that I have six mates already. She's more than likely never thought of any sort of polyamorous relationship. I mentioned Fleur because I know how hard it can be for her as a Veela. Though a part of me does wonder if maybe I should have mentioned Luna, or even Kaede, or Gaia... If I never left Konoha then Artoria isn't here, and from what Narumi said earlier it doesn't sound like Yugito survived the fight against the Akatsuki since only the Two-Tails was returned to Kumo and not it's Jinchruiki. I know Katie and Daph will make it without me. But Fleur, Luna, Gaia, and Kaede... I don't know. It was only a suggestion for her, in the end maybe it's simply because I want it to be easy for the both of them. If she went and found Fleur, I know there would be no hardships between them. Narumi would be her mate, just like I am. Fleur would have the person of her dreams, and Narumi would have someone to love her unconditionally. It's selfish, I know, but with the life Narumi is going to lead, being Hokage an all, she needs someone who will cherish ever single moment they can share, no matter how sparingly, and someone who will never give up on it. I can make all my women happy, because I give them all the love and attention they need. They are my primary focus. Narumi can't really do that if she becomes Hokage. Fleur is someone who will always stand with her, no matter how much the job takes from them. That's the reason I chose her. All of my mates need someone to love them unconditionally and with all of their hearts, being a ruler, takes a lot away from personal relationships. And as Hokage, Narumi would have to put the village first. I wouldn't ask any of my mates to be second best to anything..." Riley explained her reasoning.
"Except for Fleur, since if Narumi is her mate, she'll have found the one person who can make her the happiest. The job wont matter, Fleur will be happy, because she has her mate. Any of the others, may not gain the same level of happiness because of Narumi's other responsibilities. I understand." Kurama finished for her, sounding thoughtful as he did.
"Maybe I'll look into it." Narumi responded with a thoughtful smile.
Conversations continued from there, but Riley was no longer as focused on them. For most of the trip, she'd been so wrapped up in admiring this life, that she'd forgotten all the things that would no longer happen.
By the time bedtime rolled around, Riley found herself on the roof of the Namikaze compound staring up at the moon, wondering about what would have happened if she hadn't left the Hidden Leaf.
"Well… We're headed off to bed." Came the voice of Minato. By his side was Narumi, both of them having snuck up on her while she was deep in thought.
"Alright." Riley responded, offering them a grateful smile.
"Do you need a room, or are you gonna stay out here all night?" Minato asked.
"I'll probably be here." Riley answered honestly.
"Will you be here in the morning?" He asked.
"Maybe. Go to bed thinking this is the last time you'll see me. If you wake up and I'm still here, you can be pleasantly surprised." Riley offered earning a gentle smile from the man.
"I know you said not to worry about it. That we don't compare to them, but I want you to know something. I don't know what was wrong with them, or why they didn't love you. All I do know is that they were damn fools. You're a good woman Riley, and you deserved far better." Minato offered, earning a nod of agreement from Narumi.
"Thank you. Thank you for saying that. You're a good man Minato. I don't know what all changed between our two times, but stay the course. Never change from who you are. This is the man I've always dreamed of you being. The father I've always wanted. Never change who you are. And never forget those you love and who love you." Riley responded, earning a nod and smile from the man, tears building in his eyes, which he quickly turned away from from them to hide.
"Try to get some sleep alright. You never know what tomorrow will bring." Minato offered over his shoulder as he disappeared from sight.
"Well. Maybe we'll talk again tomorrow." Narumi offered.
"Maybe. If not… I was happy to have this chance." Riley replied.
"Me too." Narumi stated.
"Well… I'll leave you to your thoughts." Narumi offered after a few quiet moments. She turned and began to head off, only stopping when Riley rose to her feet and said her name.
When she turned around, her jaw nearly slammed into the roof top. There, standing before her, Riley revealed her true appearance. Her wings were outstretched, her skin was a pale gray, her ears pointed, horns extended, nine of her ten tails swayed at her feet, while the last one help onto her sword.
"Never be afraid of your own greatness. No matter what happens, you have an amazing life ahead of you. Find someone who will love you for you. And never give up on them. I'm working on my seventh and eighth mates, because I'm simply addicted to love and affection. Never be afraid of it. It's honestly the best thing in the world." Riley told her, earning a slow, almost mesmerized nod. With a genuine smile, Riley shot into the air, leaving behind her stunned alternate self.
Riley took to the skies and simply started flying. She had no destination, only searching out a quiet separation from the world so she could resume thinking.
It was as she flew, that she felt a burst of power expand outward from her sword.
"What the hel..." Riley began to say, when she suddenly felt the ground appear beneath her feet, and she found herself standing before the visage of the Angel of Carnage.
"And what have you learned?" It asked with a slight tilt of the head.
"I don't know. I learned quite a bit actually but I don't know what it was you wanted to show me." Riley responded.
"There is no point in hiding it from me. I wouldn't have brought you back if you hadn't learned. What did you learn?" It asked again.
"I got a glimpse of a what-if. Something I've always wondered about. What if my family loved me? What if Minato and Lily, raised me like parents are supposed to? She had a good life. Great even..." Riley replied.
"But…?" The dark angel pressed.
"But it wasn't complete. I had my family, but what about my friends? What about grandfather Hashirama, and Sirius, and Remus? What about Itachi and Shisui? What about my mates and my kids? I can't imagine life without them, yet she seemed… content." Riley replied.
"You have pondered that scenario, all your life. You have wondered about that possibility since you were old enough to understand how they felt about you. Now you've seen it, and it has left you, unfulfilled. Do you know why that was?" The Angel asked.
"Because she wasn't me." Riley answered, honestly.
"That is correct. What you are today, is a direct result of all that you have endured, the good and the bad. You would not be you, had your parents raised you with love and compassion. Her life may have been good, but it was not your life. This is your life. This is who you are. Your pain. Your suffering. Your love. Your happiness. All of those things bound up within you, are a result of your life. You now see what the love of your parents would have gotten you." The Angel responded, earning a slow nod from Riley.
"Was that really an alternate time, or was that an illusion?" Riley inquired after a moment of thought.
"Does it matter?" The Angel responded.
"I guess not..." Riley muttered, thoughtfully.
"I think it was real, Danzo's soul is still in here Riley." Kurama noted, through their connection.
"Right. Now what? I've passed your little test, so what happens now?" Riley inquired.
"You have not passed. You have merely taken your first step towards true understanding. You still don't know my true name, or my power. But you were successful. So I will grant you the right to a portion of my strength." The Angel responded, as in it's hand a weapon manifested.
Riley's eyes fell to the odd sword that shaped in it's hand, it was an interesting design. The blade itself was straight, sharp on both sides, similar to a western sword. The blade was made of blackened metal. Along the center of the blade on both sides was an intricate design of various patterns though two did stick out, one that looked like an eye toward the center of the blade, and one that looked like the Rinnegan, towards the end of the sword.
On one side of the blade, it curved outward, widening towards the guard, while on the opposite side of the blade, it remained straight, though attacked to that side of the blade was what Riley could only describe as what looked like a bayonet of sorts. The bayonet was made of an even darker metal that was nearly as black as the darkness itself. The bayonet began at the base of the sword and extended a little over half way along the blade, almost adding a second short sword attached to the main blade.
Several inches of some sort of metallic structure separated the blade from the grip, though Riley didn't know it's function. At the location of the cross guard, the blade held two different designs on either side. On the side with the bayonet was a sharp crossguard that looked like a miniature dragon wing. With the wing facing towards the grip, allowing the bottom of the wing to form a small sharp edge that extended out about as far as the bayonet. On the opposite side, the crossguard was shaped almost like a small shield, extending out from above the hilt at a ninety degree angle, it extended out just past the end of the pommel, making it a very effective protection for ones fingers. This shield was ornate with a golden pattern on it, and silver edgings, though otherwise it was also constructed of the same blackened metal as the blade.
The hilt itself, upon closer inspection, actually looked like two handles folded together. Both curved slightly, revealing that despite the blade being straight it was meant to be held a certain way, the clear bladed part being used to strike with while the bayoneted part well… Riley didn't know what that part was for at the moment.
Her answer came as the angel brought the blade up, and before Riley's eyes, it began to change shape. Pieces of the blade began to move out of place, hilt angled away from the shield, the main blade slid back along with part of the metal piece separating the blade and the hilt, other parts of the metal pierces slid forward, extending a bit and allowing the contraption to take shape before Riley's eyes. It was just now she realized just what it was turning into.
With the shield in the position of a sight, the angled grip, and with the bayonet now extended further then the end of the device, it actually looked like some sort of gun. (*1)
"Cool. You've got a sword that can turn into a gun." Riley muttered, very impressed with it's design.
"So do you." The Angel responded, causing Riley's eyes to fall to the sword strapped to her side. Slowly she drew the blade and her eyes turned towards the angel.
"As I said. I will grant you a portion of my power, but now I must show you how to use it. Call on me to bare witness and unleash chaos upon this wicked world, and when you do… think of her." The angel commanded.
Riley was silent for a moment before suddenly a smirk spread across her face.
"Bare Witness to this wicked world. Unleash Chaos, Ralael!" Riley snarled, imagining the face of Narumi in her mind. Just as the angel had said the blade's shape changed, now matching the one held in the angels hand.
"In order to learn my name, you must first understand my power. I have nine lessons to teach. With each one you pass, I will allow you another fragment of my power. Once all nine lessons are learned, I will have no more to teach you. You will either know my name and power, or you will be lost. This form we hold now, it the perfect conduit for power. It's design, it's presence, it's entire existence is the expression of energy. Allow me to show you how it works, and from the pain I bestow upon you, will you learn to make it sing!" The angel finished with a snarl, raised the gunblade and firing a pure bolt of raw magic right at Riley.
The energy bolt raced towards her far faster that any bullet and Riley was had to quickly block in order to stop it. The end result was not what she extended. The force behind the magical bolt, sent her sliding back across the ground several meters.
Her eyes were wide in surprise as she pondered on the Angel's strength.
After a moment, she remembered something. This entity was born from her, an expression of her. It's power could quite possibly equal her own, or perhaps mirror it, was a better explanation. Regardless of the way it was described, a devilish grin spread across Riley's face.
These next few years would be oh so exciting now that she had someone on her level to train with.
"You wanna dance… alright, let's dance." Riley snarled, and then rushed forward, the angel transforming it's weapon back to it's blade form and rushing to meet her.
The mountaintop shattered from the force of their collision.
Down below, Kurama lifted his head from the ground, his eyes locked on the distant battle.
"Good luck kit. Something tells me this first lesson was the easiest. It only gets harder from here." Kurama thought to himself, settling quietly and allowing the two to do their battle with each other.
Today, Riley had seen a glimpse into a possibility, one that opened her mind to others, and the things that could have been. Whatever lesson Ralael intended to teach, Riley intended to learn it with Gusto.
-To be Continued-
*1: The sword is modeled after Lightnings Overture from FF13-2. The only major differences are that it's palate swapped, being darker in appearance.
Alright that's it for this chapter, hope you enjoyed the what if, and seeing Riley interacting pleasantly with Minato for a change. it was a nice little chapter to write and I hope you had some fun reading it. I will be taking guesses to what Ralael's true or full name is, and I will be taking guess's to the swords actual power. it does only have one power, like all other Zanpakuto, it's just a unique one that grants it the ability to do what it does in this story. not a lot of hints as to what it is in this chapter so I don't expect many guesses, but it'll slowly reveal itself over time.
Anyway, thanks to everyone who offered me some aid in the Zanpakuto department, you're all amazing. and if anyone has a question feel free to leave a review or comment. Ja Ne!