A/N 1: С днём великой победы! 79 years have passed since the defeat of one of if not the worst manifestations of evil on our world. And today, we stand in world more divided than ever. With all the conflicts around the world, a third iteration of the world war doesn't feel as unlikely today as it did maybe 2-3 years ago.
I believe that you are all probably already aware of where I stand regarding the various conflicts around the world. However, this is not the place to discuss those issues. Here, on the occasion of Victory Day, I wish that a day doesn't come when millions will have to die to defeat evil. I hope we can all overcome these uncertain times together and breath easy, the incessant hatred everywhere gives away to a world of empathy, understanding and above all kindness and humanity.
However, for every evil out there, may the Victory Day be a reminder that you'll never win. And with that, once again. С днём великой победы! Ураа!
CHAPTER 41: A SMALL GENJUTSU TEST AND CONFRONTING YAKUMO
*Hokage Tower, Konoha*
"Hmm, so you two want to volunteer for this mission that I have assigned Kurenai about one Yakumo Kurama?" Jiraiya asked, smiling at his godson and goddaughter-in-law…to be anyways, he was convinced it was a matter of time.
"Yeah, Ero-Sennin. Hinata-chan's eyes allow her to dispel any genjutsu and, well, you know that due to the Kyuubi I can use massive chakra bursts to dispel them as well." Naruto said while trying not to trip over hearing his Biju partner's name and use that instead of the Kyuubi alias.
"Hmmm…two corrections, the Byakugan might not be able to escape a genjutsu woven and placed by a Mangekyou Sharingan, pure hypothetical…not even sure why I mentioned that…but we aren't even sure if Demonic Reality plays by a similar rule set when it comes to Dojutsu due to lack of opportunity to conduct study. As for you, yes you can escape a genjutsu easily by using a chakra burst, but the problem is that you might even fail to detect that you are under a genjutsu." Jiraiya said in a serious tone.
'How do I tell him that Kurama can detect it for me?' Naruto thought to himself. 'Urgh, this sucks…alright…time to start lying to keep a secret.' "That's why Hinata-chan's here with me. She can detect the genjutsu." Naruto argued back. It wasn't really a lie.
"You do have a point, and I doubt a Mangekyou Sharingan will come into play here…barring something going terribly wrong. Very well, I will tell Kurenai about your request to join her. I don't have a problem but I won't be forcing her to take you two along if she is unwilling to. Understood?" Jiraiya asked.
"YUP!"
"Excellent, now…"
"By the way, Ero-Sennin?"
"…Yeah…"
"Kakashi-sensei told me a bit about how Uzumaki were the masters of fuinjutsu."
'Dammit Kakashi! Why do you tell Naruto everything I wanted to tell him myself!?' Jiraiya thought to himself in frustration and irritation. His inner monologue self was crying rivers of tears. Somehow Kurama, Kushina, and Minato all knew and were reacting with silent deadpan and sweat drops.
Naruto continued. "Knowing that, I wanna learn it too. And you are a great seal master, so can you teach me? Pretty please?" Naruto asked with a smile of an innocent kid pleading.
"Hmm, well I will be willing to…for a price…" Jiraiya said with a little perverted grin.
Hinata blinked as her gut feeling began telling her that this perverted sage was about to ask something absolutely annoying.
"What?" Naruto asked with an expression that just screamed that he knew life was about to fuck with him and he was already asking god(/s) a despairing 'WWWHHHHYYYYY!'*
"Give me a show of your 'sexy jutsu.' Kami knows how long I have been without any research." Jiraiya said with a straight face.
Naruto stared blankly.
Hinata sweatdropped.
"THIS PERVERT IS SO DEAD DATTEBANE!" Kushina screamed from the mindscape with popped up veins on her forehead and clenched fists.
Minato looked annoyed but didn't say anything since he already knew all of Jiraiya's antics. He just sighed.
Naruto finally answered: "Bullshit. I put up with a lot of crap from everyone…I'm not even humouring this. I'm calling you out. This has to be a joke."
"Jiraiya-sama…I believe such demands are detrimental to your title." Hinata stated in a serious but humble tone.
"Yeah yeah, I was just joking. Jeez, you take a joke and ruin all the fun of it." Jiraiya stated in a placating tone that shifted towards grumbling towards the end. "I will teach ya. Let's do it this weekend alright?"
"You got it Ero-Sennin!" Naruto said grinning.
The couple left satisfied.
*Orthopaedics' ward, Konoha General Hospital*
The whole of Team Gai was there.
Lee of course had been admitted there ever since his match with Gaara during the preliminary rounds of the Chunin exam. To combat Gaara, the bowl haired ninja had to open at least four of the inner gates and even that wasn't enough to take Suna's jinchuuriki down. Gaara was…passable… in taijutsu (a pretty big step up from the unaltered timeline) and his sand acted quite fast, especially whatever controlled his automatic defences. Though to Lee's credit, he had even forced the red haired jinchuuriki to utilize ninjutsu to save himself from the onslaught of the Hard Fist.
However, in the end, Lee's body was unable to take the toll and within one minute of slowing down did Gaara manage to get Lee's right arm and leg encased in sand. There was one offer to surrender, but in his stubbornness, Lee kept struggling. The sand tightened its hold and crushed all his bones, muscles, and everything else down to pieces.
Though the boy had regained consciousness days after the fight, he had been in constant agony and the doctors had to constantly keep him on pain relieving medications.
The damage was so bad that all of Konoha's doctors had already given up on him. However, with the arrival of the greatest medic of the world of that time, Senju Tsunade, hope was rekindled in Lee and his sensei, Maito Gai.
Gai had requested Tsunade to check up on Lee when he had left with Naruto, Hinata, Kiba, and Shino to the Land of Snow to aid Utakata in rescuing Hotaru.
Tsunade had kept her end of the deal and had thoroughly examined the boy. But the analysis only confirmed the severity of the damage that had been done.
Tsunade knew that she could operate and get this one treated. But she also knew that the operation was extremely dangerous. The fight had caused damage to the nervous system at the spine where those limbs connected and received their input and sent out output.
The probability of succeeding was just 50%, and it all depended on the willpower of the patient.
And since Lee didn't have any parents, Tsunade had to wait for Gai, who as Lee's jonin sensei was also technically his legal guardian. And since the surgery was risky and Lee was still not a chunin who could sign off such an operation on himself, Gai had to be the one to sign the required documents.
And so here they were.
Tsunade didn't want to keep anything away from anyone including Lee. She decided that it was only fair that all of them knew exactly what risks were involved.
"Tsunade-sama?" Gai asked humbly and brought Tsunade out of her musings.
"Yes Gai. Listen. First of all, I want to start off with the fact that it is indeed possible to repair these injuries and have Lee walk." The blonde medic nin stated.
"Really, Tsunade-sama!? Is that true!?" Lee almost screamed. "I will be forever grateful to you! As long as the flames of my youth burn, I will do any errand you ask of me!" Lee yelled.
Tsunade raised her hand and her expression became serious.
"While it is indeed true that you can walk, Lee. But there are certain things I need you all to understand before we go with this surgery."
"Is it risky, Tsunade-sama?" Gai questioned.
The slug princess nodded with closed eyes before continuing.
"Here is the problem, the surgery is very complicated, that is if I am being generous with my wordings. The biggest risk is that the highest probability I can give for survival is 50%." Tsunade explained.
Everyone's eyes widened like saucers. Lee got nervous and afraid, realizing how much serious his condition was.
"Tsunade-sama?" Gai said in shock.
"I am sorry, this is the highest probability I can give. Shizune and myself have discussed this extensively as well as all the doctors that have attended Lee. This is the conclusion we arrived at. Nothing more, nothing less. There are other risks involved as well. For example, the nervous system could fail and it could lead to paralysis of his entire right side."
Nobody could say anything. The weight of things had silenced them.
"Had you been a civilian, I might not have told this to you directly." Tsunade stated turning to Lee. "But you are a shinobi. And a shinobi knows always knows the risks he is getting into. A shinobi knows that he might not return from a mission alive. I need Gai to sign off on this surgery due to legalities, but as a shinobi, you should be the one who should decide whether you want to take this risk or not." The buxom blonde medic explained. "I know you all need to discuss this before coming to a decision. So, I will wait outside. Take your time."
Saying that, Tsunade left the room.
Lee turned to his sensei and teammates. It was obvious, he wanted to walk, he wanted to run and he wanted to continue going on missions with them, he wanted to continue his rivalry with Neji and surpass him someday. He wanted it, and for that he now needed to make a decision.
"I want to walk Gai-sensei…" Lee stated in an emotional tone.
"Lee…" Neji said in a low tone.
"My boy, I also want you to walk. You are my pride and joy Lee, all three of you. And nothing would make me happier to see you walk and be happy."
"Gai-sensei…but…the complications…I…I don't want to die so early…without achieving anything. I am sorry for sounding so cowardly…"
"What are you saying my boy. It is human nature to be afraid of death. Why should you be ashamed of admitting it? But you are unlike any other. Your flames of youth always burn brightly. You overcame your inability of using chakra to become a shinobi in a world where chakra is everything. You went toe to toe with someone inside whom a Biju was sealed. No normal shinobi can take on a jinchuuriki and live to tell the tale. You are a truly extraordinary human Lee. You should always be proud of yourself. As for this surgery…as a doctor, Tsunade-sama may say that the chances of survival are 50%, but as your sensei, I have seen you grow to achieve things nobody could have expected you to achieve. You overcame your weakness of being unable to mould chakra. You stood and fought against strong ninja and earned their respect. Your ever so brightly burning flames of youth will ensure that you will come out of that surgery, walking on your own two legs. Believe in yourself Lee, nothing will ever go wrong. Anyone else might have a 50% chance of survival. But you, my boy, I have no doubt in my heart that you have a 150% chance of survival. Prove to Tsunade-sama what a fighter you are, Lee. Show them how brightly your flames of youth burn!" Gai said with his youthful grin and flashed a thumbs up.
"Gai-sensei" Lee almost began weeping. And the taijutsu expert, hugged his student.
Neji began speaking. "That fight against Naruto changed my perception that fate…but I should have woken up to that fact long ago. You defied fate. You became a ninja who I would consider my rival, you who couldn't even conjure up chakra to cast the simplest of jutsu. You have already proved that you can defy fate, my friend. I should have understood that without needing Naruto's Rasengan. As far as you are concerned, as someone who has defied fate already, doing it once more should not be something too complicated. I will be looking forward all our spars after this…" The Hyuuga prodigy said with a little smile.
"Neji…" Lee was shocked. He didn't know that the ever-stuck-up Neji could say such encouraging words.
"Neji and Gai-sensei are right, Lee, you can do it!" Tenten encouraged with a smile.
"Everyone…" Lee began crying. "Thank you…"
Gai immediately hugged Lee.
Neji sighed. "Well, just this once…perhaps…" And joined the hug.
"I guess it won't be too bad." Said Tenten and joined the hug as well.
Outside the room, Tsunade smiled. "These kids are something else…" She looked up. "Grandfather, Granduncle, Dan, Nawaki… Are you watching them? You really created a village worth protecting and dying for. Your wills of fire have been passed on so strongly…you should all be proud." Tsunade said looking upwards. "I guess they have a decision, and I am not really surprised about it."
The legendary medic walked off to begin preparations for the surgery, she didn't wish to waste any more time on this.
Concurrently, Jiraiya through his summons informed Kurenai about the intentions of Naruto and Hinata to volunteer to help her deal with Yakumo's problem.
The genjutsu mistress was already interested to know how Naruto's ability to dispel genjutsu worked and whether or not he could detect being under a genjutsu. She knew how Hinata's Byakugan was able to detect and dispel genjutsu but she was intrigued about Naruto's capabilities in that regard.
She went to look for the blonde, and found him in a training ground doing some wind chakra control exercises with a few clones.
'Time to attack.'
The red eyed woman went through quick hand-seals.
And Naruto was intrigued when he saw a vine rising from the ground.
"Huh?" But before he could ponder further, the vines shot out and wrapped around his legs and quickly had him bound tightly and raised above the ground.
"Genjutsu…" And Kurama snapped his claws.
The vines vanished.
Naruto saw Kurenai standing before him.
"Kurenai-sensei? What was that for?" The blonde couldn't help but ask.
"I heard about you volunteering to help me with the issue of Kurama Yakumo. However, I am unfortunately unaware of how capable you are in genjutsu detection and dispelling. So, I decided to test it out." The genjutsu mistress stated.
"Oh, so you wanna spar?" Naruto asked smirking.
"You may consider it that way."
"Alright!" Naruto grinned bumped his fist with his open palm. "Bring it on, Dattebayo!"
"Prepare yourself!" Kurenai said smirking as well.
And then she dissolved in petals of cherry blossom. And then Sakura petals began dropping from the sky, Naruto began feeling dizzy.
Kurama yawned and again snapped his claw again. "Basic. Utterly amateurish." And no more pink petals were falling from the sky.
But then Naruto found himself bound to the trunk of a tree and saw Kurenai emerge from its trunk and bring a kunai towards his neck.
"At least this one is a slight challenge."
Naruto was free, once again.
"Impressive." Kurenai commented. "Few can dispel the tree binding genjutsu outside those who wield the Mangekyou Sharingan, but you did it effortlessly. But what intrigues me most is that, not so long ago, you were vulnerable to even the most basic of genjutsu. How did it change so drastically?" Kurenai questioned.
"Umm…well…I guess it's because I was able to connect to my…tenant and was able to use his power more…effectively." Naruto said somewhat nervously.
Kurenai's eyes widened in concern when she heard that Naruto had begun using the power of the biju inside him. Like many, she was a victim of a lack of proper information. Some of which was never shared because of Biju getting pissed at humans, while other bits were lost because of humanity's short and often self-serving memory scrubbing details that might be inconvenient to a narrative.
"And…you don't get…overtaken…"
"Tsk…" Kurama scowled in irritation and shook his head.
"Well, Ero-Sennin has verified that my seal is holding perfectly…" Naruto said rubbing the back of his head.
"Hmm…alright, if Jiraiya-sama is confident about it, then I can leave it at that."
'Phew' Naruto released an inward sigh of relief. 'Kurenai-sensei is sharp. Had she pried further, I don't know if I could have managed to keep everything from her.'
"You held well, Naru-chan. But this girl is smart, Dattebane." Kushina commented.
'That's right, mom. I have to be careful if I want to keep our current situation a secret from her…but I have to rely on Kurama to deal with genjutsu…honestly it kinda feels bad that I have kind of a cheat code against genjutsu being a perfect jinchuuriki…'
"What's there to feel bad about?" Kurama said with a little growl. "You're a ninja. A ninja uses every tool, every power, every skill available to him to his best advantage; the chunin exam's first phase should have taught you that. Its purpose was to test and teach the basics of espionage, gathering information you didn't know without getting caught and breaking rules to do so. And why do you think it's just you? Every other perfect jinchuuriki out there has this trump card. And there are many ninjas who have other advantages. Those kami damned Uchihas have that annoying Sharingan. Your vixen and her clan have the Byakugan, then there are a lot of other Bloodline Limits, there is a powerful dojutsu called the ketsuryugan which grants mastery of mind control genjutsu and the ability to control iron rich fluid, and there is the Tenseigan which is the evolved version of the Byakugan which grants powers some would think to be impossible. There is the Rinnegan, the eyes that my father, the Sage of the Six Paths, had and I have heard of an even more powerful dojutsu called the Jougan, the pure eye, the true eyes of gods. And that's just talking about eyes. There are those with chakra-based bloodlines, like that Ice-release boy, there is a whole clan out there which Kakashi and your father talked about earlier who can inherently gather and use nature chakra, without ever training to be a sage! And there are so many bloodlines around that it is difficult to keep a count! So, what are you babbling about gaki? You have an advantage, use it to the fullest. This is a ninja world and this is how this world works." Kurama explained aloud.
'You know what, you are right, Kurama.'
"I am always right…" Kurama stated evenly as though it were a fact.
'Arrogant fuzzball…' Naruto said in a deadpan tone.
"I hate that nickname!" Kurama growled in pretend-irritation.
Naruto flashed his tongue at the Kyuubi before exiting the mindscape.
Kurenai meanwhile was thinking to herself about the test she had put Naruto through.
"I want to continue this a bit more…" She commented.
"Well, I am always up for training, Kurenai-sensei." Naruto said with a foxy grin.
"That you are, certainly." The genjutsu mistress smiled a bit, before charging ahead at Naruto, who drew his kunai and defended himself.
The two sparred, using genjutsu as well as for real. Real ninja fights were never going to be all about one style, it was going to be a combination of ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu and any other tricks the conflicting parties had.
Raining explosive tags on each other, Kurenai and Naruto sparred viciously. The red eyed woman found to her amusement and pain that Naruto was probably more skilled than her in taijutsu as soon as the training weights were gone. But she was able to push in genjutsu and ninjutsu to cause confusion.
But Naruto was able to detect and dispel each and every genjutsu placed on him.
Tower of heaven. Check.
Tree binding. Check.
Binding with vines. Check.
(Kurama neglected to mention that Kurenai would be in for a rude surprise if she attempted any direct control or mental linking illusions. The Fox was laughing evilly at the thought of the day Madara slipped into the mindscape trying to take control of Kurama's mind once more only to be pushed into a mental duel that he would be sorely underprepared for)
Kurenai used a lot of tricks and saw Naruto dispelling each genjutsu thrown at him.
He was definitely ready to take on Yakumo's genjutsu.
"Alright, let's stop here. You really can take on any genjutsu. Impressive." Kurenai commented, a bit winded down.
"Thanks, sensei." Naruto responded, winded down a bit himself.
"Alright, you and Hinata are to show up at this place tomorrow. The Kurama clan mansion is a little bit outside the village but not that far. So, let's get this done tomorrow."
"You got that sensei!" Naruto flashed a thumbs up.
*Next day, same training ground*
Naruto and Hinata had met up with Kurenai to go on their mission relating to Yakumo Kurama.
"Are you ready?" Kurenai asked as the team prepared to set off.
The couple nodded with determination.
"Alright, once we enter that mansion, never let your guard down. You might begin seeing things from your worst nightmares, don't get frightened or let it get the best of you. And Hinata, once we reach that mansion, always keep your Byakugan active."
"Hai sensei!"
With that the three were prepped up and they set off immediately.
Just as Kurenai had said, the Kurama clan head's mansion was located at the outskirts of Konoha.
It was a large two-story mansion.
"It looks spooky." Naruto commented.
Kurenai looked at the place.
"Get on guard kids." She commanded. And the two complied. Hinata activated her dojutsu and Naruto just reminded Kurama to be on the lookout for genjutsu.
As they got to the entrance to the place, the ANBU guards greeted them and Kurenai handed them a letter from the Hokage. The ANBU quickly let them in, but not before giving them a word of caution.
"Yakumo's genjutsu is strong and if she becomes hostile to you and you are not good at genjutsu dispelling, escape immediately." Said one of the two guards at the gate.
Nodding the three entered.
"Now, where to find her?" Naruto asked.
"Her room is on the first floor, if I remember correctly." Kurenai responded.
They continued. And saw some paintings on the wall.
One of them had a painting of Kurenai, impaled through her heart, while being tied on a pole.
A pole began materializing behind her with the bindings as depicted in the image.
Naruto and Hinata's eyes widened while Kurenai just sighed. 'Kai' She whispered silently.
The painting and its materializing contents vanished.
Naruto and Hinata didn't waste a second in breaking the remnants of the illusion on themselves and they moved forward. If Demonic Reality could inflict its effect based on paintings, then leaving an illusion of a painting in effect sounded like a bad idea.
They didn't know how far along the seal decay was. If it was fully decayed…
Too many unknowns to Demonic Reality to leave anything to chance.
There were some other paintings of various things, including that painting of the academy being struck by a thunderbolt and burning down.
But neither the jonin nor the young couple were hindered.
And they continued to the first floor and to Yakumo's room.
The door was locked obviously. But instead of knocking, Kurenai took a key out and unlocked the door nonchalantly. Before entering she took a deep breath.
"After me…" She ordered and entered the room.
Inside, the scene wasn't out of the ordinary but it was disturbing in its own way.
The girl sitting on her bed stared blankly at her unannounced visitors. Her eyes were dull like she was brain dead or just dead.
Her eyes gained something resembling light to them as she realized people had walked in.
Her glance became tense and hateful when she saw Kurenai.
"Kurenai…" Yakumo almost hissed.
"Yakumo-chan." Kurenai said back, but in a tone of sympathy and regret.
"Why did you come back?" Yakumo asked, vitriol evident in her tone.
"To fulfil the promise, I made to you."
"Shut up! You are a liar! That promise was a ruse to get close to me, get through my guard and kill me!" Yakumo yelled.
And for the visitors, the atmosphere began changing.
Hinata's Byakugan was active.
But she suddenly saw Kurenai taking out a kunai stabbing it into Naruto's throat. Blood gushed out of her boyfriend's throat and he fell on the ground lifeless.
"Now that takes care of this village's burden…" She heard the jonin say with a little smirk.
Her eyes widened. She couldn't believe it.
"NOOOO! NARUTO!" She screamed and dived towards the lifeless body of her beloved.
"WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING!? NARUTO-KUN! A BURDEN! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT BURDEN HE HAS BEEN BEARING!? I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" She yelled in pain, disbelief, betrayal, and heartbreak…and plunged at Kurenai.
Who only said. "Snap out of it!"
Hinata didn't know when someone strongly grabbed her hand put another hand on her head. Then came a huge rush of warm chakra, of a reddish hue.
"KAI!"
No more dead and bloodied Naruto lying on the floor.
Hinata was crying. But the warm hands holding her from behind were unmistakably her Naruto-kun's.
She turned back and saw him staring at her in concern.
"Hime, everything is alright." He said in a reassuring tone. Hinata hugged him tightly, but slowly realized what had happened as her hands gripped Naruto's shoulders.
Shocked Hinata stared at Yakumo, who was only staring at her with an amused look on her face. 'I allowed myself to be fooled.'
"So, her genjutsu can fool the Byakugan." Kurenai commented.
"Even with your bloodline limit sealed off, your genjutsu is still strong as ever."
"I don't need compliments from the likes of you…and your seal began failing days ago! I'm just trying to get used to my reclaimed power! To fully reclaim what you tried to take away from me!" Yakumo yelled and went through some hand seals.
Now Hinata saw Naruto plunging at Kurenai with a kunai in hand.
No more being fooled. "Kai!"
And being alert and not taken by surprise, she was also able to detect the subtle change in chakra flow around her and sense it as well.
And everything went back to normal.
Yakumo's eyes hardened.
And then they were all hit by a powerful explosion and were blown back. And everything went dark.
Nope. That can't be allowed. "Kai!"
And again, they were standing in that room only in a staring contest with each other.
"I am not here to harm you Yakumo-chan. I am here to fulfil my promise."
"SHUT UP!" Yakumo yelled again.
But before she could cast a genjutsu, Kurenai had moved and was already by her side. And she wasted no time in going through hand-seals.
"Curse unsealing jutsu!" She called out after quickly going through the required handsigns and slammed three fingers onto the seal she had placed to restrain Yakumo's Bloodline Limit.
As soon as she had done it,
Yakumo screamed.
Something pulsed out of Yakumo. The illusory world felt more real than ever. Demonic Reality had truly began taking effect.
But before they could do anything.
Kurenai saw vines wrapping around her body and lifting her into the air as a vine began strangling her.
The binding was so strong that she could not gather chakra to release the genjutsu.
Her senses began fading.
'No if I faint here, I will faint in the real world. And this doesn't feel like Yakumo's doing, but it can only be from someone in the Kurama clan.' The genjutsu mistress thought to herself as she struggled to release the genjutsu, with her own body fighting against her.
Naruto and Hinata were also subjected to the same and so was Yakumo.
But Naruto didn't play the game. Kurama released the genjutsu immediately and being close to Hinata, he dispelled the genjutsu she was in immediately, the same way he had done earlier when she had fallen to Yakumo's genjutsu.
Kurenai saw a bald man emerge from a huge flower bud. And she smirked.
"You think you got me?" And then her body was fully covered in the vines which proceeded to trap the man that had initially attacked Kurenai. "You are the one that's been trapped." Kurenai taunted as she emerged from a violet flower bud herself.
But then another group of vines attacked her and tried to restrain her as a flower bud rose up from the ground to reveal an old man with light brownish hair.
"Unkai!" Kurenai scowled as she proceeded with the hand seals to defend herself and cast a genjutsu of her own. But Naruto and Hinata were acting even faster and were already engaging him in taijutsu, forcing him to defend himself and making him unable to cast a genjutsu, which he excelled at.
"What do you want!?" Naruto asked in a serious tone as he and Hinata kept attacking but they were careful to only keep the man engaged to allow themselves to get him to talk before taking him out.
"You naïve kids don't understand that this girl needs to be eliminated immediately. And what were you thinking removing her seal like that. Do you have any idea what she can do and has done?"
"The Hokage ordered that she be brought back into the fold Her skills are incredible. And she deserves to have a chance at being a ninja and achieve her dreams!" Naruto yelled back.
"Idiot! She is so unstable that she can have everyone in this village killed by plunging the village itself into a genjutsu."
"Huh?"
"Every Kurama clan member, when their bloodline matures, has to confront their inner demon, the 'Ido'. The more powerful they are, the more powerful the 'Ido'. And if anyone fails to conquer the Ido, the Ido takes over and makes that person lose all their sanity and self and become nothing more than an evil spirit who has to be slain. And this girl, her Bloodline Limit is the strongest in generations! The first of us to truly hold the full power of Demonic Reality since Second Great Ninja War! She is not clearly not capable of defeating her Ido. And if her Ido takes over, she can kill everyone in this village at worst." The old man yelled.
"And what makes you believe that she can't conquer her Ido!? Have you ever given her a chance to do it? Who are you to decide whether she gets to live or die? Or are you just jealous that she has that power and you don't!" Naruto demanded.
Unkai sneered harshly as if something said had deeply angered him. He shook his head momentarily, his eyes temporarily becoming a four bladed shuriken before returning to their normal colour.
"She is my niece. Her father was my elder brother and the clan head. You want to know why I think she can't conquer it? Listen brat! Her Ido almost took over once already and the result was that she killed her parents and all the attendants of the house that night and she was only 7! She can't control it! I have been pleading to the Hokage to have her eliminated. To the Sandaime and to the Godaime! But they both insisted on letting her live and expressed confidence in that woman! Who was adamant that she can become a ninja instead! Such nonsense can't be allowed to go on! To HELL with Jiraiya and the authority of the Hokage! I'm doing this to protect the village, to preserve its very foundation!"
Yakumo had also been captured by the genjutsu created vines. But she heard her uncle's words.
"I…killed…my…parents?" She mumbled in horror. "I…am…the…monster?"
Unkai's eyes widened. "She has to be killed now!" And he rushed towards the girl with a kunai in hand.
"Not when we are here! Shadow clone jutsu!"
Two shadow clones popped by Hinata's side and she didn't need to be told what to do, she jumped onto their palms.
"Wind style: Gale Palm!" The clones gathered wind chakra on their palms and launched Hinata towards Unkai.
"You are within my range of divination." The lavender eyed girl called out clinically. "2 palms! 4 palms! 8 palms! 16 palms! 32 palms!"
And Unkai was lying on the floor reeling as Hinata landed on the floor.
But the chaos was not yet over.
The vines restraining Yakumo vanished as Naruto and Hinata knocked Unkai down swiftly.
But she had heard Unkai's words and some mud over a black substance over a nearby painting receded to reveal a burning Kurama mansion.
"I…did…this…I don't deserve to live…"
Yakumo took a kunai in her hand and was pointed it towards herself.
"What the hell are you doing!" Naruto yelled as he and Hinata rushed towards her before she could harm herself.
But they felt restraints.
"Even if the Hokages don't want it, I don't deserve to live…sorry…and goodbye." Yakumo said and plunged the kunai towards her heart. But before it could hit her, a hand emerged from a self-portrait of her and grabbed her hand.
Naruto and Hinata were shocked.
And then the Yakumo in the painting emerged out of it.
"My name is Yakumo… but not the one you know…" It stated in a twistedly soft and conversational tone as its face changed from Yakumo to that of a scary demon mask. It took the snapped the kunai out of Yakumo's hands and attacked the young couple.
"Her Ido…you stupid brats…" Unkai said still reeling in pain from Hinata's attack.
They jumped back and defended its blows as the demonic construct attacked them viciously, attempting to rip them apart with its claws.
Naruto undid his weights and opened two inner gates.
And the young lovers launched a taijutsu assault on it having already dispelled the genjutsu they had been placed under.
"Go back to the hole where you came from ugly bitch!" Naruto yelled as he delivered a barrage of kicks and punches on it.
The demon sneered: "What are you? A walking persimmon with a creepy ass smile stealing things from the hero he follows to drop them in a hole to make sure the brave hero doesn't fill up his pockets? You have the right colours…" *
Hinata followed up with a barrage of jyuuken strikes while the inner demon was distracted by its own mocking joke and then jumped back to prepare her enhanced 'shock touch'.
"Argh…it's a waste of time…only Yakumo can defeat it if she overcomes her fears and her dark feelings…Otherwise, you will be fighting it forever…" Unkai spoke out.
By that time, Hinata had attacked it with her enhanced shock touch and pushed the monster back.
Naruto took benefit of the opening and slammed a Rasengan on it.
But of course, to the couple's frustration, the Ido was not taking any real damage. Yes, it was being pushed back but it was only attacking again and they soon realized that its attacks actually hurt.
And they knew they were also limited by stamina while this thing they were fighting was only an illusory construct.
"We have to wake her up!"
"Right"
"Don't be an idiot! Yakumo! You are not the one that killed your parents. This monster did! Don't fear it! Don't let it control you! You are better than this! Your dreams are still waiting for you!" Naruto yelled.
"Yakumo-san! Kurenai-sensei didn't betray you. Neither she nor the Hokage didn't want you dead. They have always wanted you to live and achieve what you wanted." Hinata yelled as well.
"Yakumo…I am sorry…I failed to keep believing in you…But know this…we came here prepared to die to make sure that you gain control over it…" Kurenai caught on and tried to reach out.
The crying Yakumo heard those words of reassurance.
And she saw that the Ido was really putting those who had come for her sake through the ringer…using HER powers to do so.
After all it was impossible for them to physically damage it. But her whole life she had been told that she couldn't fight physically since her body was just too weak. But at this moment, that was the only solution.
"Kurenai-sensei, do you believe in me?" She asked as she got up and wiped her tears.
"Of course, I do." The genjutsu mistress replied.
Nodding to that, Yakumo gathered chakra on her legs and rushed towards the Ido, she used a window of opportunity when Hinata knocked it backwards with a Rasengan of her own.
In that moment, Yakumo felt like the chains she had been wrapped up in on the inside of her head had been broken.
Like gaining the slightest amount of resolve to fight against the darkness within had stolen back her power, and allowed her to start winning the battle for control.
Through Power she gained Victory, and through Victory were her chains Broken.
As the Ido was bending over backwards due to the impact of the Rasengan, she jumped over it, grabbed the kunai and twisted the Ido's to free it and then immediately stabbed the kunai into its forehead.
The two fell on the ground.
The Ido screamed in pain and fell to its knees as its mask blackened. "At…least…I…was…useful…"
"No, you only brought pain and suffering." Yakumo said with closed eyes.
The Ido vanished.
All the mental and physical strain that Yakumo had gone through so quickly made her collapse on her knees.
Kurenai walked over and embraced the girl from behind who began crying.
And the black covering of another painting receded to reveal a painting of Kurenai embracing Yakumo.
Naruto and Hinata watched the scene unfold in silence.
"I think we should leave them alone for a while." Hinata whispered.
"You're right, Hime."
And they quietly left. Their mission had been accomplished.
Once outside the mansion. Hinata once again tightly embraced her boyfriend.
"What happened Hime, you look seem shaken?"
"I know it was a genjutsu…but she made me see Kurenai-sensei stabbing you to death. I lost control and I was going to kill her since she called you a burden to the village. I am sorry…I fell for it…I really got weak…"
"Well, I am sure if she had made me see something similar, then I would have fallen for it. When it comes to you, Hime, rationality or anything else doesn't work, my feelings and my heart take over…" Naruto admitted.
"It's the same for me, maybe even worse…" Hinata admitted.
"I am sorry, I became a weakness for you. But I guess, every ninja has a weakness. You are my weakness Hime. So, I will be needing you to cover for me there." The blonde admitted and asked softly.
"I need to get even stronger to make sure of that. But I promise, I won't let an enemy use me to defeat you. I promise. But you promise me the same thing in return too." Hinata demanded.
Naruto rubbed his Hime's back. He understood, how shaken she had been even though it was a very quick occurrence and all of it was an illusion.
"I promise Hime."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
The two then walked a bit more and sat down on the grass, relaxing a bit and still holding hands. They reflected internally what they had gone through during this little mission and what they needed to work on. For starters, Hinata needed to better her genjutsu sensing. Her dispelling capability was perfect. She had recognized the subtle changes in the chakra flow in the surroundings when a Kurama clan member casted a genjutsu. She needed to train more on it. And since Yakumo was no longer an issue.
"I wish to train with Yakumo-san to better my genjutsu sensing."
"Yeah, I don't have this problem due to Kurama, who can detect genjutsu for me, but still, I need to train just in case Kurama is unable to dispel a genjutsu. He told me that he can be exhausted and be needing to sleep if we went all out fighting for over 3 days constantly…that sounds to specific to not have happened before… so, in case that ever happens, I need to have the capabilities to dispel genjutsu myself. So, lets train with her together." Naruto said in support of the decision.
-Konoha Prison, a few hours later-
Jiraiya and a raven masked ANBU woman stared at Unkai.
The Kurama clan head had been placed under arrest as soon as the situation was resolved.
Unkai was known to be hot headed and defy orders in the stricter sense, but he was also known to be loyal when the cards came down and usually kept the spirit of an order he defied.
Testimonies had been gathered…and it contradicted official record.
Unkai claimed that he had been pushing for Yakumo to be killed for years now…that didn't add up against official record which showed that he pushed for alternative means of containing Yakumo and potentially move past the setback, but he did point out that killing Yakumo should never be off the table due to the Ido and the damage she could do.
Though the records did state that subtly, ever since a certain clan massacre, had Unkai began to push for killing Yakumo.
Something didn't make sense…until someone said that Unkai had a brief breakdown and a rather odd detail about Unkai's eyes and something he said.
Jiraiya ordered Unkai's equipment examined…and all of his kunai came back as laced with a drug concoction designed to induce false death or comatose states.
Unkai spoke: "I have nothing to say to a foolish oaf wearing the robes of the Hokage. You will get no respect from me."
Jiraiya laughed: "Wouldn't blame you. Honestly, it's hard enough trying to respect myself." Jiraiya lost the jovial tone and focused intently on Unkai. "Why did you change so suddenly regarding Yakumo?"
"You already know. I told you. You wouldn't listen. Yakumo was a threat to the entire village. I moved to protect the foundations of our village."
The ANBU spoke softly: "Hokage-sama…it would seem that the subject is resistant to further interrogation."
Jiraiya sighed: "Only been in the job a few weeks and you already know that much…but you are right. I was hoping he would slip and spill some things Danzo might be convinced we already know."
Raven's hand squeezed tight at the mention of Danzo...After all, she was one of thousands of those that had been permanently scarred due to the bandaged warhawks unending schemes.
Jiraiya ordered: "Raven, check Unkai."
Raven nodded.
The Yakumo clansman sneered as she knelt down, her brown eyes boring into his black eyes.
Unkai went pale as brown eyes began swirling into other dark colours. A faint blood red glow exited her mask's eyeholes.
Unkai slumped as his black eyes became red and black, with the Hokage and Raven seeing what they both knew to be the Mangekyou symbol for Kotoamatsukami from Hiruzen's records regarding Shisui: a four bladed Shuriken.
Raven held the power to expose outside influences controlling a person's actions…should they be Jutsu based.
They honestly didn't know how far this ability went. Raven had only been cleared for active duty recently, and they didn't have a manual for how this evolution to her abilities worked.
The only thing they could intuit was that the ability was born from Itachi's confession regarding Danzo putting him up to killing the clan. An outside influence forcing someone to do something they would have never considered otherwise.
Jiraiya scowled: "That makes sense…and also complicates this whole situation. Fucking Hell…Danzo needs to be put down as soon as possible and yet we can't prove enough to justify burning our entire deep black ops division."
Jiraiya thought for a moment before speaking again: "Good work, Raven, but that will be all. Report to your captain, and if sends you out, make sure no one sees your eyes."
Raven nodded and left.
Jiraiya stared up at the ceiling with undisguised contempt for Danzo plastered onto his face.
-Oto, that night-
Orochimaru was feeling…satisfied? No that wasn't the right word.
Sasame had returned from her latest mission with barely any recordable improvements.
The Fuuma clan had become one of Orochimaru's favourite playthings for his modification experiments.
Several Fuuma clan members subjected themselves zealously to Orochimaru's experiments, and through the course of 50 procedures each, gained power and abilities before devolving into monsters.
The monsters had been put into storage. Better to keep them in stasis until the opportunity to use them at their fullest was presented.
Arashi Fuuma, Sasame's big brother, had been subjected to over 100 various enhancement procedures before his mind collapsed beneath his power and 10 more before his body warped as even the outer most vestiges of humanity collapsed.
Sasame had been subjected to barely even ten and yet had little to no gain from it.
Perhaps minor tangential gains like improved muscle fibers or something, but no major boost in power, nor did she manifested a bloodline like the research stolen from Danzo suggested she might.
Orochimaru suppressed a spark of rage. The mission to extract Sasuke from Konoha had led to Kimimaro attacking the retrieval team.
Danzo now had both Project Chimera and a theoretically unlimited supply of Kimimaro's DNA for use to attempt to impart Dead Bone Pulse to his agents.
All it took was harvesting the various bones Kimimaro expended throughout the battle, cultivate them in a way that allowed the bones to restart the blood cell production process, and then Danzo would have an infinite supply of full DNA to harvest from white blood cells.
Orochimaru had been driven to tears by the amount of wannabe mad scientists who believed a mere blood sample was enough for cloning or any DNA copying procedure. The numerous red blood cells didn't contain full copies of the DNA, the far fewer white blood cells did.
Orochimaru would be holding Kimimaro back should Danzo necessitate further action whilst also making plans to take Project Chimera for himself.
Acquired samples from Pain and Itachi practically guaranteed his success…should he have access to the last remnant of Hiruko's beautifully twisted mind.
Honestly, at this point, the Snake Sannin just wanted Sasame to manifest Kidomaru's bloodline so he had a source for samples should he gain access to Project Chimera.
Alas, hedging his bets with further experimentation was no longer an option. Sasame had entered into a contract with a creature that had been terrorizing the last civilians in the Land of Sound. (Had to give the appearance that Oto was a proper village after all. Especially if further operations in the mold of the Konoha Crush were to succeed now that Konoha and Suna and Kumo were on to him)
Any attempts to try and force Sasame into giving the contract to others led to the creature Reverse Summoning itself and revealing that the contract that was signed gave it the ability to hear and see through Sasame and that it was not going to become a pawn for Orochimaru, now allow him to reduce Sasame into merely the girl holding its leash.
Observation revealed that the creature was nameless before Sasame found and named it as part of their contract, dubbing the creature 'Kunorei.'
Orochimaru immediately figured out why. Tearing apart syllables to a proper referral to the creature as a 'Ghost Spider(Kumo no Yurei)' to reach the name.
The creature appeared to be a massive ten-legged spider with crab like claws for forelegs, wreathed in ever burning flames, and large enough to eat men whole. He supposed the name worked even if on the nose.
No record from the past mentioned this creature. Which led Orochimaru to two possibilities: 1). The creature was from outside of the Elemental Nations or 2). It was from even further beyond the nations, from outside this world.
Either way, this was an unknown that Orochimaru desired to be corrected.
If only Mugen were still contactable, then he could provide the answer.
The creature was an odd combination of passive and bloodthirsty, preferring to stay hidden but more than willing to answer Sasame's call in order to spill blood
Best to keep Sasame close, discontinuing her mandatory subjection to enhancement procedures in order to keep her healthy while also enabling Orochimaru to use the creature to further his own goals, and keeping it in arm's reach to squash should it become a liability.
Kabuto entered and interrupted Orochimaru's musings. "Pardon the intrusion, Orochimaru-sama…but a package has arrived from Summon Island."
Orochimaru chuckled. Summon Island was one of his better investments, Shin had temporarily re-emerged a few years back and alerted him to the existence of the island full of biological scientists and geneticists working on creating order made summon creatures comparable to the various clans scattered throughout the nations, and he gladly contributed corpses from Manda's brood that had failed. Manda had no desire for the failures' bodies to be returned to his Cave.
This earned Oto discounts for investing in their research.
Orochimaru smirked as he signed his name and summoned his new pets.
Massive lizard like creatures with horns that stood in bipedal stances, with claws sharp enough to cleave through swords with the muscles they were attached to.
The contract listed them as Death Chameleons but that felt cheap.
Orochimaru smirked: "I think I'll call them…Deathclaws."
A/N: Honestly speaking, this chapter was ready to be published about 10 days ago but I held back, since I didn't want to miss Victory Day. Every year, I want to make sure that I have a release at least on Victory Day, Naruto's birthday, NaruHina Day and Hinata's birthday. I have indeed missed Naruto's birthday twice and I have no idea what the future holds regarding whether I would miss these very important days or not, but what else to do apart from keeping going? Anyways, my apologies for not publishing sooner and holding it back a bit to make sure of a Victory Day release. I sincerely hope for your kind understanding. With that out of the way, I sincerely express my gratitude for your continued love and support. We are going strong and with the spirit of victory with us, let's keep going!
See ya all in the next chapter.
Cheers and peace. RaNK001 out.
EN: first *-whenever I write a moment like this, the scene from the old YouTube series 'Super Dank Bros vs Dankey Kong' comes to mind. Look up 'I have a question for God' on youtube and click the first result, should be a thumbnail of a guy wearing a Super Mario costume.
Second*-this is a reference to a kinda obscure adventure game on the Nintendo Entertainment System known as Princess Tomato and the Salad Kingdom, I cannot make that up. Ido Yakumo was comparing Naruto to the hero's sidekick Percy, a humanoid persimmon with a big old smile all the time who follows you around and raids your inventory to ensure you never lack space in case of a critical item get scene…what the fuck was that noise…(Turns around) oh no-"HEY BOSS! I NOTICED YOU WERE WRITING AND EDITING A FIC CHAPTER AND HAD A LOT OF CLUTTER, SO I GATHERED IT ALL UP AND DROPPED IT DOWN A HOLE!" GOD DAMN YOU STRAIGHT TO HELL PERCY! ARRRRRGHHHHHHHH!
The End scene: Yes, we are setting up a lot here. Won't expand on Sasame herself because we're saving that for her showing up in an upcoming arc…about 12 chapters out, I think? (RaNK or my future self: answer this.) not long after I started edit work on this chapter, I watched the entirety of the Fallout series on Amazon Prime. Really revived my love of the franchise while also making me nostalgic. That's now Fallout and The Last of Us that have been competently adapted into tv shows that entertaining for both fans and newcomers alike. Anyways, nostalgia drove me to pick up Fallout 4 on Steam (especially after all the references to Fallout 4 in the show on top of the New California Republic flag inside Vault 4 being background by the Fallout 4 theme) and I was reintroduced to Deathclaws, and remembered its origin as a bioweapon made my mad scientists and that's how we ended up with this.
Also, 'Through Power she gained Victory, and through Victory were her chains Broken.' Yes, we partially quoted the Sith Code. (editor finished writing and editing at 6:14 PM on 5/1/24 while listening to the Republic Commando Suite, which was a mix of a few songs from the game, most notably the main theme Vode An- translation: Brothers All.)