Chapter 39: A History Lesson
"Kaguya Otsutsuki?" Gaara mumbled, trying to recollect if he ever heard that name before, only to come up empty.
"I recognize that look on your face Gaara, so to save you the trouble . . . No, you've never heard the name before, and for good reason," Shukaku admitted as he pointed at the redhead. "'Otsutsuki' is an ancient name, one that has its origins . . . off-planet rather than within these kingdoms you humans call home."
"Off-planet?" Naruto asked, his eyes widening at the implication. "Aliens. . . You're saying that you're descended from aliens!?"
"Kinda shocking that a concept that's usually found in books and fairy tales is not so far fetched after all hmm?" Ryuna asked, almost teasing as she looked down at the three.
"You can say that again," Shizuka mumbled, scratching the back of her neck. "So, descended from aliens huh?"
"And technically, we're not the only ones either," Kurama added. "The Rikudou Sennin had actual children besides us after all, two sons of his own flesh and blood whose descendants would become the Uchiha, Senju, and the Uzumaki Clans, though the latter is more distantly related."
"And then there's Father's less-known fraternal twin brother, Uncle Hamura," Ryuna added, sounding almost cheeky. "History pretty much sees him as the man that assisted him to stop the Ten Tails, but his line is where the Hyuga Clan descends from, so there's that."
"So some of the Fire Kingdom's most well known clans descend from people whose line originally came from outer space," Gaara concluded as Naruto continued to look shocked and Shizuka simply brought a hand to her chin. "Those. . . are definitely some interesting beginnings."
"At the very least, it gives credence to the idea that there is life out there somewhere," Shizuka mumbled as she looked up, as if she was looking for the sky.
"For your sake, you better hope that whoever is out there does not come to this planet anytime soon," Kurama advised, shaking his head. "That story is for another day, but for now, let's focus on the actual topic at hand, shall we?"
"Pa and his brother never knew why their mother came to this planet all those years ago," Shukaku explained. "Apparently, her memories from before her time on Earth were apparently . . . spotty at best."
"Her arrival on this planet did not go unnoticed for long though," Kurama added. "A nearby hunting party found her landing spot and brought her to their emperor, who controlled the territory she landed in at the time."
"And she went with them willingly?" Gaara asked, a little suspicious by the fact.
"Well, I'm sure coming straight from outer space will knock a few screws loose," Shukaku mumbled. ". . . It likely wasn't a soft landing."
"If only that was the case," Kurama grumbled as he gave his brother some side eye. ". . . Father never really knew much about his mother's life on this planet before he and his brother were born, but one thing he was sure of was that she ended up as one of the emperor's concubines."
"And thus, the Rikudou Sennin and his twin brother were born," Shizuka concluded.
"Indeed, but life wasn't all sunshine and rainbows after their birth," Ryuna admitted. "Time back then was an unending cycle of war and tense truces that would never last long. . . The emperor did his part in maintaining the peace for his kingdom for as long as he could, but Grandmother went afoul of one of his policies instituted to maintain such peace, and it would prove costly."
"You humans and your politics," Shukaku groused, shaking his head. "All that talk you do can become so convoluted and bothersome that it makes you question if all that effort is even worth it."
"And you think talking with fists and power is the superior way to go?" Ryuna asked as she turned to the tanuki.
"It's definitely the easier action!"
"Of course, you would think that . . ."
"You got something to say, Kurama?!"
"If you two go off-tangent to bicker one more time, I will not hesitate to knock some fucking sense into your fucking heads!"
Gaara could only watch on in sheer astonishment as both the Nine and One Tails visibly flinched away from their sister, who was not hiding her irritation in the slightest as she directed her killing intent their way. A few of her tails were moving quickly behind her, as if she was preparing to strike, and he wouldn't put it past her to do it.
Her brothers had been bickering on and off since they first arrived, and while it was a little amusing at first, now it was just becoming unheedingly tedious.
"So, this is the Ten Tails anger on full display huh?" Gaara asked as Shukaku tried to plead his case while Kurama was eyeing his sister's tails warily.
"Oh no," Shizuka was quick to say, shaking her head. "This is Ryuna being highly irritated. It takes a lot more for her to get truly angry, but petty squabbles between her siblings does get a rise out of her sometimes."
"She does have a tendency to put Kurama in his place every once in a while," Naruto admitted, smirking slightly. "You should've heard some of her comebacks. They were absolute gold."
"I'll take your word for it," The redhead conceded as he glanced up at the three beasts. "Are you guys finished with your latest, um, disagreement?"
"Our side discussion is over for now, right boys?" Ryuna asked, glaring at the two until they silently nodded their heads. "Okay then. . . Where were we?"
"Your grandmother went afoul of one of the emperor's decrees, and it proved costly."
"Ah yes. Thank you, Naruto," The dragon said, nodding slightly. "Her actions almost led to an outright war between the emperor's kingdom and a neighboring land, and in order to rectify the issue, the emperor ordered for her to be hunted down and brought back to him for execution. . . For her, it was the last straw."
"Being hunted down for the intent to be killed once caught tends to be a backbreaker for most people," Naruto admitted. "But how exactly did she retaliate?"
"Do you remember ever hearing the legend of the God Tree?"
"No, I haven't," Gaara admitted as the twins nodded yes. "There's a legend about a God Tree?"
"It's not a prevalent tale in the Wind Kingdom," Shukaku explained to his siblings, though judging from his tone, it sounded like he was actually quite aware of the legend himself. "Why would it when the kingdom primarily covers a region known for barely having any trees?!"
"The story is more prevalent in the more forested regions, but it still rings true," Ryuna admitted as she looked down at the three teens. "To put it simply, the God Tree was a large natural structure that existed in the emperor's lands, bigger than any other tree that existed . . . What made it so different from every other tree, besides the obnoxiously large size, was the fact that it grew chakra fruit."
"Chakra fruit?" Gaara asked, mulling it over. "Let me guess: If you eat the fruit, you'll get a large increase in your chakra supply?"
"If eaten in the context of today, yes," Kurama agreed, shaking his head. "But back then, no one on this planet had chakra. When Grandmother ate the fruit, she became the first person endowed with chakra in the Earth's history."
"The legend says that the God Tree was a blessing to the world; paving the way for chakra to spread across the land," Ryuna admitted, her tone almost mocking. "In truth, the God Tree was actually a parasite, slowly sucking the natural energy out from the surrounding area and population alike. That energy would concentrate and form into the chakra fruit, and if a human ever ate it, they would immediately die due to their body not being able to handle the chakra influx."
"At the time, it was pretty much a poison to anyone that would try to take a bite out of it," Shizuka concluded. "Since no one even knew about the concept of chakra, they wouldn't be prepared to handle that much power."
"No one, except Grandmother of course," Shukaku clarified. "She came from a clan that made their name harvesting chakra fruit from the God Trees of various planets, so she knew what she was doing when she decided to eat the fruit here on Earth."
"Wait, wait, wait. . . There are more planets out there that have chakra fruit producing God Trees?" Naruto asked as he pointed upward. "And the Otsutsukis harvested them for personal gain, pretty much?"
"That's what Father managed to infer whenever his mother mentioned them, which was rare, highly rare," Kurama declared. "She would never confirm anything though, so at best, what we know of her life in space is purely speculation on his part."
"What you need to know for now is that Grandmother knew how to use the power of the chakra fruit once she ate it, and she used it to devastating effect," Ryuna explained. "By eating the fruit, she awakened the power of the Rinne Sharingan, a dojutsu kekkei mora that also serves as the predecessor of the Rinnegan and Sharingan."
"A kekkei mora?" Gaara asked, sounding almost amazed.
"I'm guessing that kekkei mora pretty much means more powerful than any kekkei genkai or kekkei tota known to man?" Naruto mumbled as he crossed his arms.
"Something like that runt," Kurama mumbled, smirking slightly. "Father classified all her techniques as kekkei moras. . . She was pretty much in a league of her own."
"And she used her powers to pretty much shape humankind for a number of years. . . She stopped all the wars and fighting and took over nations and kingdoms alike, and no one could stop her," Ryuna calmly explained as her eyes narrowed slightly. "But over time, she started changing, growing more isolated and paranoid that her relatives would one day arrive and take away all that she built. . . Her power, her chakra, everything."
"So, she decided to take preventative measures, and initiated the Infinite Tsukuyomi, a genjutsu that enslaved most of the humans by trapping them in a dream-like state," Shukaku added. "It made them prime fuel and cannon fodder for the army that she was making just in case a . . . family reunion happened, but Pa and Uncle weren't aware of it at the time."
"Their mother kept them in the dark," Shizuka concluded, shaking her head. "Probably did it out of some distorted belief that she was protecting them from the evils of the world."
"Pretty much. . ." Shukaku agreed. "Too bad she grew to become the evil of the world that she so feared."
"Over the years, the humans that weren't trapped in her genjutsu started to fear her and call her a demon. . . Not to her face of course," Kurama admitted. "They weren't wrong. She grew to love the power her chakra gave her, but that love became an obsession."
"She grew to hate the fact that her twin sons were born with chakra of their own, and decided to . . . rectify the situation in her own demented way," Ryuna added.
"And how exactly did she do that?" Gaara asked, already knowing that he wasn't going to like the answer, no matter what.
"She became one with the God Tree, to put it in simple terms," Shukaku answered, smirking slightly. "And thus, the original Ten Tails was born."
"She became one with the God Tree?" Naruto repeated, looking shocked. "As in, she fused with it to get more power?"
"Ah, I see your brain is still working in that thick skull of yours," Kurama mumbled, consciously ignoring the glare his jinchuriki was now sending his way. ". . . Good to know."
"Still, his inquiry is correct," Ryuna murmured as she sent her brother a quick look. "Grandmother infused herself with what was left of the God Tree to become the first Ten Tails, an eldritch abomination that you would never want to face, even on your best day. . . When they realized that their mother was truly lost, Father and Uncle resigned themselves to stop her."
"Her rampage lasted days, and scarred the landscape forever, but they were able to stop her in the end," Kurama cut in. "However, they were unable to kill the creature she became, so they settled with sealing its chakra within Father and turning the remaining husk into the Moon."
"Say what now?" Shizuka asked as all three teens had matching shocked looks on their faces.
Yes, even Gaara was visibly shocked.
"Damn Kurama, I think you finally broke them!" Shukaku cackled, which turned into a pained moan once Ryuna struck him in the back of his head with one of her tails.
"You're serious. . ." Gaara mumbled, shaking his head. "The moon is actually the decrepit husk of what remains of the creature that used to be your grandmother?"
"Well, it's not entirely the moon. It technically serves as the foundation of what became the moon," Ryuna clarified. "Uncle Hamura took what remained of the family's followers to the moon to guard Grandmother's final resting place, while Father remained here on Earth to spread his teachings of ninshu, the precursor to your modern day ninjutsu."
"And eventually, you three and your siblings came into the world," Naruto mused as he looked up at the three beasts. "How exactly did that happen?"
"With a little inspiration, believe it or not," Shukaku admitted, sounding almost sarcastic. "Despite all that he's been through with his mother and brother, his rising status as the Rikudo Sennin, and spreading his teachings around the world, he still managed to find the time to have a family."
"His sons, Indra and Asura, came before us, and they couldn't have been any more different from each other," Ryuna mused, her tone almost wistful. "Indra was the firstborn and natural prodigy. He's the one that the Uchiha clan are directly descended from."
"And Asura was the younger sibling that relied more on hard work rather than natural talent," Kurama added. "He's the one that the Senju and Uzumaki clans can trace their ancestry from."
"Yep, quite the lineage," Gaara mused as he glanced at the twins.
"For you humans, yes, yes, it is, but Indra and Asura are a separate story all their own. Maybe you'll hear about it some other time. . ." Shukaku cut in, and judging from the similar looks all the tailed beasts had on their faces, especially Kurama's, the story wasn't a happy one either.
"What you should know is that Asura was the one that gave Father the inspiration to create the ten of us," Ryuna admitted. "The process severely weakened him, but he never regretted it."
"However, I'm sure he'll be quite disappointed with how much his teachings . . . changed over the centuries," Kurama was quick to say. "He created ninshu as a way to bring you humans together, but then your kind ended up weaponizing it for personal gain, forgetting what it was actually meant for in the process."
"They didn't just weaponize ninshu, they weaponized us!" Shukaku added, sounding understandably bitter. "They turned us into symbols of power, not bothering to consider the idea that we were capable of conscious thought."
"Well, most of us actually. . ." Kurama mumbled, smirking at the glare his brother was sending him. One swift slap to the head, courtesy of one of Ryuna's tails, wiped the smirk straight off his face. ". . . That hurt."
"You deserved it. . ." Ryuna mused as Shukaku resisted the urge to chuckle. "But you and Shukaku are not wrong."
"I already understood that you guys and your siblings would have a negative outlook on humanity due to being sealed away in us jinchuriki over the years," Naruto started to say as he took a step forward. "But finding out that we have also been misusing your father's teachings too really adds a different layer to the whole situation."
"And you know what's the worst part? Your kind would never believe us if we tried to tell them the truth," Shukaku admitted. "They only see us as power sources . . . They'll think that we were trying to trick you people more than anything else."
"Unfortunately, our kind does have a tendency to be close minded," Shizuka admitted. "Much to our continuous detriment."
"You won't find any disagreements here. . ." Shukaku mumbled as Kurama nodded in agreement, a rare moment where the brothers actually agreed on something.
"Regardless of that, the main issue remains . . . Grandmother's influence has somehow reemerged, and is currently connected with the Akatsuki," Ryuna listed off on her claws. "And knowing her history, if she's ever fully brought back, well, it won't be safe for anything that possesses chakra now, will it?"
"Do you think these Akatsuki members know about this though?" Gaara asked. "If your grandmother is as chakra hungry as you described, I highly doubt they would follow along with any plan that leads them to lose their power."
"I wouldn't put it past her to trick those S-ranked fools into doing her bidding," Kurama grumbled. "But regardless of how she's doing it, Grandmother's influence is out there, and we need to be prepared for it."
"And how exactly do we do that?" Gaara asked as the trio looked up at the three beasts.
"Isn't it obvious?" Ryuna asked as an almost mischievous look crossed Kurama's face, while an almost smug expression appeared on Shukaku's. "We train."
A/N: Please review!