Chapter 43
And months and months had passed since Izuna had vanished into the Summoning realm, as he traversed the three trials of the White Snake Sage to force her hand into teaching him senjutsu, and as the days passed people grew anxious over his absence as the scroll left to him by Jiraiya of the Sanin lay there untouched until one sudden day.
SPOOF. SPOOF.
A figure emerged out of a cloud of smoke, appearing at the very place from which he had vanished months ago, and as he slid out of the thick white smoke, the changes in his body were not so visible.
At least not at first, yet as Izuna Uchiha walked out, he took a deep breath, and felt the world anew with his heightened senses, his body now teeming with natural energy. Though he was not yet a sage, he had passed the trials and had won himself a taste of the ultimate powers that a man could wield.
And now after one single taste, his body hungered for it, yet unlike Ryuichi cave, this air had little of it, and as he opened his eyes, the changes could be seen both in and around them
His body remained mostly the same except for his face, or more specifically, his eyes and ears. For now, as a mark of his contract with the Great Snakes of Ryuichi cave, his eye had purple markings around it, similar to the one possessed by the Snake Sage.
And his eyes, were different as well, the irises in them having shifted from normal regular round pupils to a slit, just like the eyes of a snake.
"Well, it seems I have been away for quite some time," he whispered as he stepped forward and saw the scroll sealed into the tree.
"Let us hope that I am not too late," and he walked up to the tree, and undid the seal quickly, and began to skim over the contents, his frown deepening with each sentence he read.
"Tch," he clicked his tongue as he turned towards the sky and looked at the moon.
"It seems that took more time than I had anticipated," he whispered with some frustration, but then he bit his thumb and wrote something in the scroll, and made a hand sign which made it vanish in a puff of smoke as he turned in the direction of the village.
"Now, let us pray that I make it back in time...."
0000
MIKOTO UCHIHA
Months had passed since she had last heard from her son, and she grew more and more anxious with every passing day, yet she remained helpless to do anything as there seemed no news about him at all.
It had been a week since she had learnt about the true nature of his mission, and that had offered some solace about why he may not have been able to contact her, and it was not entirely unreasonable for such a thing to take as much time as it was, but she worried nonetheless.
And she was not the only one.
Fugaku worried for him as well, though he tried not to show it often, but she knew that he had been very anxious about his absence and had reached out to the Hokage out of his own volition to learn about the details about his mission.
Itachi, worried as well, asking about Izuna everyday and so did Kushina who had hoped that Izuna would be there to see to the birth of her child, yet it seemed as if the fates did not wish it so.
"He should have been back by now," her red-haired friend lamented as they sat on her porch, and in his absence, her belly had swollen up, and now the day of the birth fast approached. She visited her often to relieve her anxiety as she tried to come to terms with the fact that, in some time, she was going to be a mother.
"Yes," she agreed as she sat beside her, gently rocking her own babe who had fallen asleep after much struggle. And Sasuke, much unlike his two brothers, was not a quiet child and was prone to bouts of crying and tantrums that did get somewhat tiring.
"He had his birthday last month, and we could not even celebrate it again," she lamented and that was true, and it had been quite some time since they had held a celebration for him, for he had never asked for them, nor did he seem much fond of them.
"He has turned ten now and already has an S-ranked bounty," Kushina chuckled.
"What did we have when we were ten?" she asked, looking towards as Mikoto raked her mind, as she answered.
"Not an S-ranked bounty that I can be sure of," as they both laughed and sat on her porch.
"So, are you sure that you have no need of me?" she asked again as Kushina nodded.
"Yes, I am. Lady Biwako will be there along with Minato and a whole unit of iryo-nin, I will be fine," and she had offered to join her for this, to accompany her, but she had a child of her own, and with Fugaku much busy it was upto to her to care for both Sasuke and Itachi.
"Can you tell me where you will be?" she asked, and Kushina's lips thinned.
"I am afraid I cannot say. Minato says that there is a chance that such information could leak, so he devised a plan to leak a bunch of fake locations to our enemies to muddy the water," and that was a sound ploy.
"That way, they will not know which piece of intel is real and which one is false," and Kushina nodded.
"Yes, truth is even I do not know which location I will be taken to, but Minato has assured me that he has taken as many precautions as he could," and that was necessary, specifically because this would be the most opportune time for their enemies to strike.
"Is the threat level so serious?" she asked, as Kushina's lips thinned and her friend nodded.
"It is. The intel came from Izuna-kun, actually, while they were tracking the movements of Kiri's Swordsman unit, he found a lead and had Jiraiya-sensei inform the village," and that was a surprise.
"The intel came from Izuna-kun," she gasped in some surprise as Kushina nodded.
"Yes, and he was the one who even helped Minato devise some of the safety measures, and the false intelligence leak was also his idea," and that was prudent of her son, but she should have expected nothing less from him.
"Well, let us hope that he was wrong," and Kushina nodded.
"Yes, giving birth is tense enough, but doing so as a jinchuriki is a challenge and privilege," and her voice softened as she slowly caressed her swollen belly.
"I had never thought that I would have a family of my own one day," and it was rare for jinchuriki to be allowed such privilege, but if anyone deserved it, it was Kushina.
"I had just hoped that Izuna-kun had been here," and she had hoped for that as well.
"Well, how many days?" she asked.
"Not much. If the Iryo-nin is correct, then I must move to the secret location in two days," and that was not much time.
"Let us hope that he is back by then," and she shrugged.
"Will Jiraiya-sama be back by then?" she asked, and Kushina's face dulled.
"It seems like that might not be the case. Some troubling news is coming out of Ame and he is investigating that, and Minato has sent Orochimaru-sama along the Kumo border to deter any activity by them," and that was a good pre-emptive strike.
"And what of Iwa?" she asked.
"Lady Tsunade has taken that upon herself and has made herself be sighted along the Iwa border. Minato thinks that this will be enough of a deterrent for Iwa," and she hoped so.
"Well, then, I think I must get going now. It has gotten quite late," and indeed night had fallen, and Kushina made to stand as she helped her up.
"Well, I have said this before, but still, if you need anything, don't hesitate to call me. I will be there," she assured her as Kushina smiled.
"I know," and with that, she left the compound, alone at first glance, though Mikoto did not miss the ANBU shadowing her covertly, and with that, she turned to look at the moon as her fists balled up.
"Where are you Izuna-kun...."
.
.
.
And days later, as she stood in her kitchen working, the sense of unease that had been embroiling inside her heightened as much as it had been, she stilled as suddenly a massive explosion rocked the village as her gut twisted.
"NO!" she gasped in worry as she ran towards the porch as thick, ancient, malicious chakra spread over the area.
"ITACHI! ITACHI!" she screamed for her son, who was sitting on the porch. Suddenly, a massive roar rocked the entire village, and sirens began to ring. She ran to the porch, looked at the skies, and turned pale.
"That is...."
0000
NOHARA RIN
The silence and loneliness began to eat away at her as she found herself locked in the damned tower, with no one to talk to. She missed Izuna-kun more than ever in these times, for it had been his soothing and calming presence that had helped her make sense of her life, and yet he was no longer here.
He had left the village for a mission and had yet to return.
Her sensei and Kushina-san made tried to visit her, but even those grew less and less frequent as sensei found himself swamped with work, and Kushina-san prepared herself for the birth of her child.
She was happy for them both, but this new development also unsettled her, as she realized that the world around her was moving forward while she remained stuck in the past.
All her friends and comrades from the academy had gone forward into specialised careers, others had begun to settle down to build families of their own, yet she remained stuck in this tower, imprisoned for she now housed a damned bijuu inside her.
She now stood on the roof of the tower looking over the village and as she raised her hand she tried to mold some chakra of her own, a skill that was once second nature to her and yet as she did so, she saw the skin on her hand turn into coral and she stopped instantly.
CRACK!
She hit the wall, and the coral broke, freeing her hand once more as she cursed.
"WHY!" she cursed.
"Why did this happen to me!" she cursed, as she felt herself break down, as she felt herself become alone.
She had no one. No one at all to lean on. Kakashi was gone. Obito was gone, and now Sensei and Kushina-san would have a son of their own, and though she doubted that they did not care for her, she felt weak and vulnerable seeking their attention when they had a child of their own.
And Izuna-kun, she had deluded herself into thinking that there was a future for her there, but she was wrong. He was the Uchiha clan heir, and she had seen how comfortable he was with that friend of hers, Saiko was her name, and in that trip of theirs before his mission, she had felt like a third wheel.
"Why! Why did this all happen to me?" she lamented into the open skies as suddenly a voice from behind answered.
"That is a valid question?" she stilled as she turned around and saw a masked shinobi standing there, and her heart skipped a beat.
"Who are you?" she asked, finding him somewhat familiar as she stared at the spiral mask and those dark eyes.
"What do you want?" she asked as she tried to alert the ANBU guarding her.
"There is no use in trying to contact the ANBU," he suddenly cut in, making her gasp, as suddenly she felt the world infront of him spin as the bodies of the two ANBU stationed as her guards fell down.
"I took care of them already," the stranger answered, and she found that voice familiar as well.
"Where is Kushina Uzumaki?" the stranger asked her, and her eyes widened at that question.
"I do not know, and even if I did, I would never tell you," she raged. Her heart hammered in her chest, and she began to mold chakra of her own despite the burning that it caused.
"Who are you, and what do you want!" she raged as she slapped her fist on the ground, and the floor and her surroundings turned to coral as she let the bijuu chakra inside her rampage, hoping to buy some time.
BOOOM!
And she hoped that attack would have taken care of him, but suddenly she stilled as she felt a sharp pain in her stomach as she keeled over, before suddenly she felt a hand on her hair, as she found herself looking straight into the eyes of this intruder.
"That Sharingan..." she gasped as she saw those eyes, yet they were not regular Sharingan.
No, they were different, just like Izuna-kun's as the stranger whispered.
"My name does not matter, but as for what I want...." and suddenly she screamed as boiling, thick malicious chakra began to rampage, as she felt her seal weaken and the bijuu inside her rage and the last she heard amidst her agony were the ominous words.
"AGHHHHHHH!"
"...I want to bring forth an era of true peace to this world!"
BOOOOM!
0000
Months ago, Izuna Uchiha sat in his office, staring at an old autopsy report conducted on one Kakashi Hatake, as he scoured through the filings and samples.
And the death of Hatake was a great tragedy, and he was much apprehensive about the turn of events it had set into motion. He had little to no doubt about the identity of the masked man who had attacked them afterward, yet with Rin Nohara still alive, he did find himself wondering about the intentions and motives of Obito.
The only probable conclusion was genjutsu, yet not of the normal kind. No, this was something more sinister and deep-rooted, and he wondered if there was a way for him to confirm and stop such a thing.
But for him to do that, he had to first defeat him, or at least contain him. A task made very difficult given the prowess of Obito's Mangekyo Sharingan. As he scoured through the reports, he found his options getting more limited and his task getting more difficult as he realised that in their fight, he had taken back his eye from Kakashi.
And so, now he possessed both his eyes. Eyes that granted him the full powers of Kamui.
Izuna sighed as he put down the file and leaned back in the chair, shaking his head at the enormity of the task infront of him.
"That damn idiot," he cursed the boy who had either turned their backs on them, or had been idiotic enough to let himself get hoodwinked by an old relic of a man.
His mind raced to find solutions, for he needed to be ready. He had no intention of letting Kushina Uzumaki die.
"It seems like I have no choice but to use it against him then...."
0000
Read ahead and support me on Patre 0n. Help me write this and other such stories by becoming a Patr 0n. It would be pretty awesome of you and would mean a lot to me.
www.Patre 0n.com/Drkest
Have a nice day!