Recommended story: 'A Heat of Dangerous Proportions' by MercenaryGrax
Chapter Thirty-Seven
"NARUTO-KUN!"
That shout certainly got the attention of Tsunade, Shizune, Tayuya, Ursha, and especially Kushina. They looked around but they couldn't see Hinata, making them worry even more. Tsunade and Shizune went to her side, pulling her back since they feared the girl was about to jump over the edge.
"Let me go!" Hinata protested, struggling to break free. "Naruto-kun and the others fell off a branch!"
They gasped in horror and looked down, seeing several other branches but not Naruto or the others.
"NARUTO!" Kushina called out.
"It's okay Kushina, they couldn't have gone that far." Shizune attempted to reassure.
"Actually, that may not be the case." Ursha spoke up, getting them to look at her. "I don't know for sure if this is true or not, but I was told that if you fall in this place and don't manage to catch a branch, you'll end up in the world of the dead."
Hinata gasped and fainted, caught by Tsunade. Kushina looked at her niece and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Where did you hear that? I don't remember anything about that."
"I could be wrong. That's just what I remember." Ursha replied. "Maybe they're in Midgard, or the demon realm."
"I don't know. I mean, this whole place is essentially one big tree right?" Tsunade asked. "If you fall out of a tree, you land at the bottom. Wherever Naruto is now, he's probably at the world at the bottom."
Ursha nodded. "That's the world of the dead. Niflheim."
"My son... is dead?" Kushina asked, horrified and letting the younger succubus go.
"No, he's not." Ursha countered, surprising Kushina. "Getting to Niflheim this way is no different than getting to Alfheim or Midgard this way. I'm pretty sure they're still alive."
"Pretty sure? You can't even guarantee that my son is in that world in the first place!" Kushina argued.
Ursha frowned. "It's the best chance you have to hope for Aunt Kushina. Now are we going to find my cousin or not?"
Kushina took a deep breath and looked to the others. "I'm going after my son. If you want to return home, tell me now."
"I'm willing, but we can't risk Sakura further. So let her at least get back to our world. I'll keep an eye on her until you get back." Tsunade offered.
Kushina nodded. "That's fair."
"I'll have to help. Two medics are better than one." Shizune chipped in.
"Fine. Let's hurry."
"Where am I?"
Rubbing his head, Naruto slowly opened his eyes and looked around. His vision was blurry but he could already tell that he was on solid ground rather than a tree branch. He also felt a little cold but not freezing, just a chill more than anything.
"What happened?" Isaribi asked, trying to push herself off the ground.
"What is this place?" Ino asked, looking around while sitting up.
"Boss?" Moegi called to Naruto, sounding nervous.
Looking around, the four saw nothing but an open plain covered in snow. There were some snow dunes and mountains off at the horizon, but other than that nothing but a sheet of white everywhere. There were no trees, no animals, there weren't even footprints around. The sky was a sort of darker blue than normal, not a night sky but not a day sky either, more of a cobalt shade with no sun, clouds, or stars yet there was light.
"This doesn't look like home to me." Naruto said, rubbing his arms a little. Moegi came close to him for some warmth.
"Why am I not freezing? I mean, it's cold but not as cold as it should be." Ino noted, getting up on her feet wrapping her arms around herself.
"It's not that bad, but I'm used to diving." Isaribi claimed, looking around more including the ground. "We fell, yet there's no impact in the snow. It's like we just came out of thin air here."
"But where are we?" Ino asked.
"Hold on, I'll see if I can find anything to go off of." Naruto said, extending his wings then taking off into the air. He flew in an ascending spiral to give him a better view of the landscape, and even at an altitude of fifty meters he couldn't see anything. But about a hundred, something caught his eye. Satisfied, he returned to the ground.
"There's some kind of glow in that direction." He pointed towards his left, having no idea what compass direction that was here. "I don't know what it is or how far it is, but it's the only thing I did see."
"It's the only lead we have." Ino said, seeing no reason to protest. "I just wish we had an easier way to move through here."
All of a sudden Ino began to grow in size with fur covering her body. Everyone gasped and jumped back in surprise while Ino looked at herself in horror until her body became that of a wooly mammoth. Her clothes ripped apart in the process.
"Ino?" Naruto asked.
The mammoth bellowed in terror and practically fainted, then she transformed back into the platinum blonde girl. She looked at her hands, glad to see they were hands again.
"What the hell just happened to me?" She asked, shivering due to her nudity making the chill worse here.
Naruto took off his jacket and handed it to her. She accepted and covered herself.
"You know, you being that animal would have made walking through here a lot easier." Isaribi noted.
"Why did I turn into an animal anyway? That's not something I'm supposed to be able to do! And even if I could I wouldn't want to be one that literally weighs a ton!" She ranted.
"Can you become anything else?" Moegi asked curiously.
"I don't even know how I became that one!"
"What if it's this place? What if being here means we all can transform?" Isaribi theorized. She closed her eyes and tried to transform, but ended up becoming her kaima form. "Dang, I was trying to become a bird. Or maybe my body's different."
"How about we just getting going to the glowing place and hope no one becomes some kind of bug along the way?" Naruto suggested. The girls nodded and started walking.
"I could really use some more clothes." Ino commented, her bare feet starting to get numb. To her surprise she could feel her skin shifting and something separating from her. Looking down she saw shoes, pants, underwear, a bra and a shirt somehow form themselves right out of her pores and just cover her. They were really simplistic but they made her a lot warmer.
"What the...? Now clothes just came out of my body?" She asked, still looking herself over along while the others did too.
Moegi looked at her hands. "C'mon, I want some gloves." She focused and concentrated, flexing her fingers, but nothing happened. "That's so unfair."
"Why is this only happening to me? I mean, this part is better, but why am I the only one making things happen?" Ino asked, handing Naruto's orange jacket back to him.
"Can you get us out of here?" Naruto asked.
"I don't know, but let's try." She said, closing her eyes. Right away she began to grow fur and get bigger again, but this time she stopped and returned to normal, willing her new clothes to repair. "I don't think it's working like that. Whatever this is, I don't think it'll do anything other than change me in some way."
"Wait a minute, I think I know why." Naruto said, getting their attention. "You were bitten by a vampire and treated for it Ino. What if this is the result?"
Ino raised an eyebrow. "So I'm some kind of shapeshifter now? Why?"
"Remember what Sakura said? Something about not being a vampire but whatever you wanted to be? Remember she now has super literal powers? What if she applied that to you and now you literally can be whatever you want to be?"
Ino silently gasped and looked at her hands. "I... that... that actually makes sense. Does it work? Can I really become anything I want?"
"Try it out." Moegi told her.
Curious Ino looked at Naruto and had an idea. She closed her eyes and felt something change but waited until it was over to see. When that came she reached behind herself and felt a wing. "It worked. I thought about having wings like Naruto and now I have them."
"Uhh Ino? That's not all." Naruto pointed out.
"You look completely like Boss." Moegi added.
"What?" Ino asked, looking over herself. The first sign was her new clothes had changed to match Naruto's jumpsuit and outside of that her body felt different, with proportions and muscles she wasn't used to anymore. Running her hand through her hair and finding it short and spiky confirmed it. "Okay, looks like I have to be more specific about my changes otherwise my body may have its own interpretations of what I want."
Ino returned to her normal form, altering her clothes to look more like her traditional outfit, and because she just couldn't resist she experimented with controlling her breast size. Ranging from her natural size to mimicking Sakura and anything in between before settling on normal.
"Okay, I can live with this new ability. This could be really fun."
"Great, but for now let's get looking for somewhere warm. Unless you want to be a human torch or something." Isaribi recommended, having returned to her human form.
"Yes, let's get going."
The four began walking off, with Ino seeing if she could make her hand ignite without hurting herself. So far it wasn't cooperating.
Despite their concern for the missing kids, Kushina's group was relieved to finally be back on their own planet. They were back at the place where they left it, the Uzumeboku at the border of Land of Fire and Land of Valleys.
"Okay, now we're somewhere safe. Shizune and I will take care of Sakura and stabilize her. Who's going to stay and who's going to go with Kushina?" Tsunade started.
"I'm going to find Naruto-kun. Just try and stop me." Hinata declared, a firmness in her eyes and stance befitting a Hyuuga.
"Same here. I don't know how dangerous this dead place is, but you're going to need a fighter." Ayame told Kushina.
"Then I better go too." Tayuya nodded.
Ursha hesitated. "I better stay here. It's not that I don't want to help, but I don't want to take the chance of my Gift making things worse."
Kushina put a hand on her shoulder. "I understand Ursha. Just try to help them out if they ask for it."
With some 'good lucks' going around, Kushina reopened the door to the Yggdrasil realm and took her party with her.
"What exactly is your Gift?" Shizune asked as she and Tsunade got Sakura comfortable. Right now the pinkette looked more like she was sleeping than in critical care which was a good sign. But they wouldn't relax until she woke up.
"It's called Random Influence. In a nutshell, I can alter reality by pointing at something and saying the trigger word. All changes are completely unpredictable but still feasibly possible to happen on their own. If I used it on you for example, literally anything could happen from your hair changing color to you bursting into flames. I have no control over the outcome. Using it on myself puts me at a different location, anywhere that I can physically get to but that could be anywhere from my bedroom to inside a volcano."
"That sounds potentially dangerous." Tsunade remarked.
"It can be, especially if I overuse it. So far three times is my limit without it getting excessive. After that the changes get more drastic and more dangerous. And tiring for me. I'd like to use it to help this girl, but I'm just as likely to make her vomit out her organs as cure her."
"Then whatever you do, don't do anything with that power." Tsunade ordered. "Sheesh, I thought these Gift things were supposed to be useful, not dangerous."
"Medicines can kill just as well as heal Shishou, it's all in how it's used." Shizune reminded her mentor, using a soothing jutsu on Sakura to ensure her vitals were stable.
Tsunade frowned, looking at her hands, then turned to Ursha. "I gave up all the skills I have to have one of these Gifts. How do I figure out what it is?"
"Usually trial and error, just flaring your mana and experimenting with the trigger. And some ways to at least narrow it down to a certain category of Gifts. But if you're struggling, fortunately for you I'm a princess. Like all royal families, mine has secrets and one is a way to narrow down what your Gift is much more specifically." Ursha said before pointing to Tsunade's ponytails. "Take some of your own hair and hold it."
Confused, the slug sannin grabbed her hair and yanked a few strands out, wincing in the process. "Okay, now what?"
"Cover it with some of your own blood."
Tsunade raised an eyebrow but with a kunai she made a small cut on her left leg and smeared some blood on her hair.
"That should do. Now, repeat these words, zep zu nafu tubueq oyd hogy."
"Can't you say it?"
Ursha shook her head. "No, it has to be you otherwise it won't work."
Tsunade managed to say it after having Ursha repeat the incantation one word at a time. Once finished, the blood on the hair began to glow, making it look pink instead of red.
"Now eat it, and you'll get your answer."
"This is weird, but..." Tsunade said with some hesitation. Nonetheless she took a breath and put her blood soaked hair into her mouth. Whatever spell Ursha told her did nothing for the taste or texture, making her want to gag but she forced herself to choke it down. Once she was done she coughed and tried to spit out the taste. "Now what?"
"Wait for it."
All of a sudden Tsunade felt lightheaded and saw the world before her fade away and swirl into neon colors. It reminded her of that time she experimented with drugs as a chuunin, only for medical science research of course, but then the colors seemed to start taking on a pattern. There was a lot of greens and reds, forming shapes that resembled body parts that glowed one color then another. When the shapes were red she felt pain and when they were green she felt normal, repeatedly. Not being comfortable, Tsunade tried to keep the focus on green and surprisingly it worked. The process stopped and everything stayed green, and the phantom pains ceased. She briefly thought about things being red again, and the color returned with the shapes looking broken now and she felt a strong phantom pain in her limbs with that, prompting her to imagine them green again.
Then the colors faded and once again she could see Shizune, Sakura, and Ursha again.
"What did you see?" Ursha asked.
"Something that made me feel like I just drugged myself."
"Shishou, look at your hands." Shizune pointed out.
Tsunade looked at the back of her hands then turned them around. To her surprise her palms were bright peridot green, much like what she had been hallucinating. Curious, she thought about the reds and then her palms became garnet. She tried to imagine the rest of her hands changing color but they didn't, just her palms, until she returned them to normal. "Okay, a minor skin change color, not much of a... wait, I want to try something."
Tsunade carefully went to Sakura and pictured her palms green again before putting them on the pinkette. After a few seconds Sakura's eyes shot wide up and she gasped, sitting up. "Whoa, what was that?"
"Shishou, what did you just do?" Shizune asked.
Tsunade looked at her hands and smiled. "I think I just got the absolutely best possible Gift for someone like me. I think that with just a touch I can heal anything, or make things worse."
Sakura looked around. "Wait, where is everyone?"
Tsunade's smile dropped. "Sakura, we've got some bad news."
"Is it just me or is it getting colder?"
Naruto shivered, rubbing his hands across his upper arms and teeth starting to chatter. He wasn't the only one, the girls were shivering and walking slower too.
"My feet are going numb." Moegi said. Naruto helped her get on his back to carry her. "What about you Boss?"
"I'll be fine." He assured her, though she could feel him shivering against her.
Ino tried changing her clothes into something thicker and warmer, making her feel warmer at least. "Sorry, I've been trying to make some extra clothes but it's not working. I don't think I can make any clothes unless I'm the one wearing it."
"Then take off what you have and make another." Isaribi told her.
Ino blinked with a 'why didn't I think of that' expression, then nodded. She took off her new coat and pants and shoes, leaving her in just her underwear and making her feel like she was freezing. She tried to hand the clothes to Moegi but Naruto had his back to the platinum blonde. "Take it Moegi, I don't think I can make something in your size if I have to wear it first."
Moegi let go of the whiskered blonde's back while Ino got started on another set of insulating clothes, feeling relief at once more feeling warm. This time she added a hood to the coat. Once finished she reluctantly stripped and gave it to Isaribi, or she tried but the swimming enthusiastic was looking around.
"Do you guys hear that?" She asked.
"I've got bigger issues than sound right now." Ino remarked, pushing for her to take the outfit. Isaribi did, still looking around, and Ino once more created her own wardrobe again. This time she made the effort to make it orange since this one would be given to Naruto. "And here's yours Naruto."
"Thanks." He said, reaching out but still making an effort to avoid looking at her.
Ino huffed. "Geez Naruto, you've slept with two girls and I've seen the memory myself. I even gave you a kiss, so why be shy?"
"It's not shyness, it's respect. Any girl that doesn't love me I don't look at, simple as that."
Ino was surprised to hear that, but she didn't press the issue. Instead she just put the clothes in Naruto's hands and went to create one last outfit, this time for herself.
Off in the distance they heard something like a howl.
"Tell me you all heard that this time." Isaribi requested.
"I sure did." Moegi replied, looking around but seeing nothing else in the snow.
There was another howl, making the four huddle closer with their backs to each other. Naruto and Ino took out some kunai, handing one each to Isaribi and Moegi too.
"Shouldn't we run?" Isaribi asked.
"We don't even know where this thing is. For all we know we could be running right towards it." Ino told her.
"If we stay here it will be easier for it to find us." Isaribi countered.
"I gotta agree. Let's keep going to our destination." Naruto stated.
With that, the four resumed going to the glowing place at the horizon, this time faster and more afraid. They could hear the howl again, and maybe it was because of their fear, this time they swore it sounded closer.