Chapter Two: Origin
"Shinra Tensei!" [Heavenly Subjugation of the Omnipresent God]
It all happened so fast that none of the villagers had a chance to even comprehend their imminent doom. Not even Kyūbi had been expecting the destructive power that had suddenly burst forth from the small blond child and had torn everything around him asunder. The villager who had been holding the butcher's knife and had tried to cleave Naruto in half was blown back by a power so great, that, for a moment, he felt as if God himself was crushing him like a bug in his fist.
The life bled out of his eyes as he suffered more pain than he had ever thought possible, even more than what he'd been hoping to inflict on his victim. The feeling of having one's organs getting crushed from within combined with the massive shockwave that rippled throughout his body proved to be too much for his brain to handle.
Everyone within twenty meters of the boy suffered similar fates, whereas others who were further away from the area didn't get hit hard enough to liquefy their internal organs, thus surviving the initial blow.
Unfortunately, just because they survived the initial blow didn't mean that they would survive the one that followed. The 'survivors', along with various stones, both sharp and blunt, were harshly flung away by the force of gravity itself. None could hope to survive when the planetary force itself is against them.
The people in the mob felt their bones being crushed, backs being snapped, internal organs hemorrhaged and pierced by their own weapons until their bodies and mind could take no further. Their deaths were far more horrible and painful than those who had died before them.
Agonized screams filled the air as they struggled to move, breathe, speak or just stay alive. Slowly, their painful whimpering and moans came to a stop as they succumbed to eternal darkness.
Even as the last one of them died, he managed to gasp his dying words out in hopes of causing the blond boy some emotional pain.
"Y-you monster! You really are a demon!"
The dying man conveniently ignored the fact that he was about to brutally torture a small child, and died thinking of himself as one of the purest beings to grace the planet.
Unfortunately for the now dead man, Naruto wasn't paying any attention to anyone around him, dead or dying. He had more important matters to attend to.
That was too close of a brush with death than what was expected. He had only been that close to dying once before and had absolutely no intention to face it again.
The blond still had the vivid memory of the park incident that he had with his twin sister when they were just three years old. If it wasn't for his Kaa-chan, he would have been dead, and who knows what would have happened to his sister...
Naruto shook his head in an effort to vanquish the unnecessary thoughts from his mind. The six year old let his eyes skim around and did a quick body count to see if he had missed any culprits whom he would have to deal with personally, but before the boy could finish that thought he was interrupted by Kyūbi's soft voice in his head.
Even though she was surprised by his technique previously, she had seen too much and been around too long to lose track of her objectives because of such surprises. She had already finished her preparations for the Sharingan implant and didn't want to take any chances by waiting any longer than necessary. 'Just give me a moment Naruto... I need to implant the Sharingan in your eyes to make it fully compatible with your Rinnegan while it's still forming.'
That was the last thing the blond heard before the world went black.
Seven Hours Later
Kasumi felt as if her legs were on fire as she dashed past the trees that seemed to envelope her surroundings at speeds her small body shouldn't be able to carry her at.
As she ran through the forests, her eyes darted in all directions - worriedly searching for her brother. Today was their birthday, and, like every single day the past year, he had disappeared once again.
It had become so usual that normally she would just worry herself at home and not go looking for him. But her heart told her that her brother was in danger, and that scared her to no end. She just knew what she was feeling was true, and if Naruto was in danger, she had to get there as fast as she could.
"Kaa-chan is going to return from her mission soon... Please be okay, Onii-chan!"
Breathing heavily, she sprinted once again in the direction where she could feel her brother was at. Even as her six year old body screamed in pain of overuse she continued to run in the direction of her brother. She didn't know how, but she felt like he was in danger, in pain. The only thing she could think of was to get to her brother as soon as possible.
Tears trickled down her face as she stopped dead in a clearing. The scene she had stumbled across could only be described as a massacre, with hundreds of mangled corpses laying in giant a crater... The corpses that were closer to the center seemed as if an Akimichi had sat upon them, squished... putting their internal organs on display. The redhead was almost about to pass out from the display of blood and gore. But she held herself together in hopes of finding her brother and saving him.
Her breathing grew ragged as her eyes fell upon her brother's body in the dead center of the crater, but she managed to stay conscious thanks to her desire to help him.
Kasumi knew that the possibility of her brother surviving what none of the others had without taking any damage was next to impossible. So at the very least he must be injured, all the more reason for her to hurry.
In a daze, she made her way through the corpses towards the only one that mattered to her. As she got close she let out a relieved breath.
His clothes were torn and a layer of blood coated his skin and tatters of clothes. It was clear to her that he was attacked and cut up quite badly. But he was breathing, much to her relief.
'Whoever made you suffer, Onii-chan, I will... I will... Never forgive... Never forgive...'
She shook his shoulder in an effort to wake him up, but he didn't respond.
After ten minutes of constantly trying to wake him up, Kasumi was still on top of her brother, shaking him repeatedly. She wasn't strong enough to carry him all the way back to the compound, and was afraid that if she made a mistake his injuries might end up even worse.
Finally her efforts yielded results, in the form of a small groan from Naruto.
"Onii-chan, wake up!" His sister's voice somehow managed to reach him even with the huge headache he was experiencing.
Naruto lay there on his back, with Kasumi sitting on top of him, shaking his upper body in an effort to wake him up.
She was worried and furious at the same time. That is, she was worried for her brother's well being and furious at herself for not being there for him.
Honestly, Naruto had been so secretive lately, and now this...
It had been an entire year since he had just randomly started to disappear from around her, and returned with bruises and other small injuries. It wasn't anything life threatening, but it was enough to concern her every time she saw him like that.
She didn't know what was happening to him. Kaa-chan never noticed as she wasn't really around most of the time, and for some reason Naruto seemed to heal much faster than what should be possible; hence by the time their mother got home, Naruto was already back to perfect health.
Kasumi often cried to herself when she was alone, she could only imagine what had caused all those bruises on Naruto's body...
Unfortunately she didn't know that he had been secretly training with the Kyūbi, who was his instructor. So the redhead assumed the worst, thinking that her brother was being physically abused by the villagers.
Right now, she was sobbing her heart out as she tried to wake up her brother.
Her suspicions were proven. Naruto was constantly being abused by the villagers while she herself never once got touched. He was enduring it all alone while his selfish sister enjoyed a life of comfort. She was safe at the cost of her brother's safety.
'What kind of sister am I? I should have been there for him!'
She only blamed herself for not being strong enough to share his pain, or to make it go away. The redhead had tried to make sure not to leave his side, but no matter how hard she tried he would just slip away without her noticing.
It was only thanks to Naruto's training with the Kyūbi that he was ever able to avoid his sister's watchful eyes, but she didn't know that. To her, it seemed as though she was careless and ignorant for leaving her brother alone like that, and by the time she found him again, he looked like he had been through a paper shredder multiple times.
The fact that he refused to tell her what happened only solidified the girl's belief that he was being abused.
"Kasumi?" Naruto groaned out as he felt some kind of liquid hit his cheeks.
A flash of familiar crimson hair caught the blonde's attention even through his blurred vision. What the hell was his sister doing here? Wasn't she supposed to be in the compound doing...
Wait, she didn't really do anything much without him, and this was their birthday.
'Shit! Is she crying? What in the world happened Kyūbi?' Naruto questioned mentally, still feeling somewhat disoriented.
'You passed out due to the pain of fusing the Rinnegan and Sharingan together, as well as having chakra exhaustion from your technique. It's been seven hours. I think your sister got worried and decided to search for you. She must've been looking for you, how she found you though is beyond me. But that's beside the point. The thing is - my theory was a success!'
As the female demon gleefully informed her container of her success, her voice was filled with so much pride that she sounded like a mad scientist who had just discovered how to re-animate corpses.
Naruto meanwhile caught on to something that she had let slip from her tongue without intending to. 'You mean you weren't sure if the fusion would even work?'
Kyūbi chuckled nervously. She wasn't really what you would call a 'social being', so she wasn't used to holding conversations often, even after spending an entire year instructing the human. Since she had spent most of her life alone, she wasn't used to keeping a leash on her tongue, and that often tended to backfire whenever she was talking with her container.
She chuckled sheepishly as she admitted her fault. 'Um… hehehe well you see… there was this little itty bitty, well not so bitty, possibility of you losing the Rinnegan that I forgot to mention…'
'You forgot? Forgot?!' he mentally yelled at her in disbelief. There was no way she had forgotten something like that! She obviously didn't tell him on purpose.
Fortunately or unfortunately, he didn't recall what the Kyūbi had told him about demons and how they are 'bound to their word and thus can't lie' in their earlier conversation. If he had, he would have been able to conclude that the demonic inability to lie was just a big lie in itself, or that the Kyūbi was actually telling him the truth.
Either way would have shown him that she wasn't the most reliable person around.
'Hey! Geez calm down, it all went well, alright? Now you have what I told you are going to get. So let's just forget that there was a worse possibility.' She tried to reassure her container.
'Fine but…'
While having the internal conversation with Kyūbi, Naruto had completely forgotten about his crying twin whom he had sitting on top of him, which in turn just caused her to worry more. Her thoughts were running wild as she remained completely oblivious to the conversation being held between her brother and his prisoner.
'Maybe he's sick of me letting him get beat up like this all alone and doesn't want to talk to me anymore?
Oh god, what if he hates me now?'
She didn't know what she would do if it ever came to that, how she would even survive without her brother being there for her? He's been the only one she had enjoyed being with in all her life, aside from her mother.
More tears threatened to fall from her big blue eyes as she didn't know how injured he was right now. It was somewhat dark, but the moon was full, allowing her to see various sorts of weapons on the dead bodies of the villagers lying around her brother.
She didn't know what was going on, and hovering over her brother's body while in plain view of hundreds of dead bodies didn't really raise her spirits either.
She once again tried to coax him back with her soft voice. "Onii-chan?"
'I don't care if he hates me now, first I have make sure he's safe and then bring him back home. After that I'll do anything I can to win him back... And even if that isn't enough, at least he will be there.'
Finally Naruto looked up at her as he broke away from his internal conversation with his tenant. He noticed that her lower lip was trembling as tears flowed freely from her ocean blue eyes.
The blond didn't really know how he should respond to the situation now. In his haste to acquire a great tool to protect his family from the villagers and other enemies, he had forgotten that Kasumi wouldn't just sit around in the compound if she couldn't find him. It was a wonder she wasn't targeted by some of the more drunken villagers, ones who may not feel scared of what she holds. He shuddered to think what they would have done with her if she had gotten into trouble.
When it was obvious that he was not going to say anything before her, Kasumi finally voiced her thoughts.
"What happened here Onii-chan? A-are you okay?" Her voice trembled with concern and worry for her brother's well-being, and fear that he didn't love her anymore.
Naruto sighed as he finally realized what he had to do. He was going to tell her anyway, but not just yet! Now he had to. If there was one thing Naruto could never bear to see, it was the crying form of his sister.
"Let's get away from here first, okay? I'll explain everything, I promise, Kasumi-chan. Please stop crying, it doesn't suit you... You're a strong girl, right?"
He pushed her cute nose with his index finger playfully, in order to reassure her that everything was okay, while using his other hand to wipe her tears away.
He didn't really feel comfortable around all the death after his own near-death experience, and the explanation could take a while... Besides, he didn't know how Kasumi was dealing with all this in her mind. He'd never planned for her to see any death at all, not this early anyway. She was much more emotional than him, and death probably had a greater impact on her as well.
Kasumi nodded vigorously as she felt her brother wipe her tears away with his fingers. If her brother needed her to be strong, she would do her best.
Naruto's eyes hardened imperceptibly for a six year old as his mind caught up completely with his situation.
He had killed all these men and women. Some of them resembled pancakes... and soup and many other things. The equipment the villagers had been carrying for torture had been rather creative. Unfortunately for them, they got impaled and were subjected torture by their own tools when everything had been flung back by Naruto's technique. Luckily for many of them though, their deaths were somewhat quick.
Naruto was a bit surprised when he didn't feel much guilt. He thought the first kill was supposed to be tough to deal with? Maybe it was because he had about a hundred first kills so the guilt got divided into a hundred parts so he didn't feel it?
Nah that sounded too ridiculous. Maybe it was a logical choice? Kill or be killed, he always favored logic. Yeah that sounds much better. Or maybe they were just the kind of people who would harm an innocent child and he probably did the world a favor?
Either way, it didn't matter to Naruto. He'd do this ten times over if it gave him even the tiniest chance to provide safety and happiness to his mother and sister. Besides, weren't these the same people who were going to torture him? So what if they died? And he highly doubted they would have hesitated doing the same to his sister if she had the Kyūbi's soul sealed inside of her instead of him.
His fists tightened at the thought. Like hell he would allow anyone to ever harm his sister while he was still alive!
He wrapped his arms around his sister's waist and picked her up, standing up himself at the same time. Thanks to his training with Kyūbi, he was now much more physically fit than what should have been possible for a six year old. He had no difficulty in lifting Kasumi and carrying her with him.
Kasumi snuggled to her brother's chest, seeking comfort from his embrace as she was carried a few meters away from the clearing. The thick foliage blocked the view and they both felt much better without all the corpses and the foul stench of death around them.
Naruto had a slight inkling as to what his sister was thinking about. It wasn't that hard to guess since he was being held so tightly against her, and she was also trying to bury her head into his chest almost as if she was afraid that he would disappear at any moment. He felt slightly guilty for causing her to worry so much, but if he had told her, it would have only served to worry her more. He didn't need any sort of help with something like this. Activating his bloodline was his responsibility, and his alone.
Naruto sat down on a nearby rock, letting Kasumi settle down on his lap while she tried her best not to start crying again with all of her doubts and worries still meddling in her mind.
"Onii-chan... just know that no matter what it is, you don't need to hide it from me. I'll do anything, I promise! Please don't leave me!" she pleaded with as much determination in her voice as she could muster, but it still wavered a little due to her nervousness.
She knew that her brother only had herself and Kaa-chan to help him, so she had to try her best to comfort her Onii-chan in whatever way he needs. Her brother alone had to endure the hate of the entire village. All alone for so long, she couldn't let that continue and live with herself.
Sure she was shunned, as was her mother, but it was just social isolation and not downright hate and abuse like she thought he experienced. She wanted to wail, cry and sob till her eyes bled for her brother's pain.
'It just isn't fair! Why did he have to endure all this pain by himself? Why can't I help him?'
Naruto tried to assure her with a cheerful smile and a kiss on her cheek.
"I know Kasumi-chan. You don't have to worry about things like that. I love you too much for something like that to happen."
He tucked one of his sister's crimson locks behind her ear as he continued what would be a long tale. "It all started about a year ago, when the Kyūbi first talked to me…"
Later
"And that's it."
He took a deep breath and waited for her response. He had told her everything, even of the possibility that he had the elemental star bloodline.
It was never a matter of trust, as he trusted both his twin sister and mother more than anyone including himself. It was just that he didn't want them to worry about him unnecessarily.
Kasumi had stopped sobbing somewhere in the middle of his explanation. She was taking more happiness in the fact that her brother wasn't being constantly beaten or abused than she ever had. It was like most of her worries had been taken away in instants, giving her more confidence and joy than she had ever hoped for.
"O-Onii-chan! I'm so happy you were okay all this time!" Kasumi cheered as she hugged her brother tightly, giggling in unrestrained joy all the while.
'He'd been okay!'
Of course, she was still worried because he had been training relentlessly for a year without any kind of help from her mother or even letting her know, but that was way better than him being beaten or abused!
Naruto let a small smile grace his face as he rubbed his sister's back comfortingly. He knew something like this was going to happen when he finally revealed the truth. He just hadn't wanted her to find out by herself. A lot of her worries would never have been born if he had gotten the chance to explain himself before her finding out, but what was done was done. At least nothing too bad happened.
Noticing her looking rather uneasily at the dead bodies just beyond the foliage, Naruto couldn't help but cringe a little.
While training with the Kyūbi, he had been introduced to the wonderful concept of mind-scape training. It put a significant stress on his mind to train within the mind-scape and slow the time down by making his consciousness faster, but it was well worth it.
He easily gained a few extra hours of training every day, and his mind matured far faster than any normal kid's mind would. Not that he was normal in any sense of the word to begin with. Basically he was no longer of the same mental age as his sister, even though the difference wasn't that great right now.
Still, he thought he could at least explain to Kasumi what had happened here. "Kasumi-chan, the reason I didn't tell either of you about any of this before was because I needed to be in a life threatening situation to be able to activate my Rinnegan. I know you would never have allowed that to happen willingly."
He smiled at the glare he got from the redhead. Her look didn't intimidate him in the slightest - but it was clear she wanted to scream at him for saying that. "You're saying that as if it's a bad thing Onii-chan!"
"I don't mean it like that... you know what I mean anyway and I hope you understand."
Her gaze softened as she nodded. 'I still haven't forgiven you for putting yourself in danger like that Onii-chan, but I still love you.'
"So, I went out for a little walk in the park. Those dead bodies you saw earlier were of the civilians who thought that I was defenseless and tried to kill me, and since you weren't there they were not scared either. And no, it's not your fault. You weren't there because I didn't want you to be there, so don't blame yourself," He stated firmly as he saw her eyes glistening.
She was normally brave and daring, but her brother hadn't been himself for an entire year with her, so her persona had become much more fragile than it should have been. Now that she knew what had really happened, she should go back to being her old self, but it might still take a while.
"They chased me out here so that, first of all, no one would come to my rescue and, secondly, maybe if I had somehow managed to stay alive, I would've died due to the lack of medical attention."
Kasumi shrank back at that, the very thought of her brother dying scared her.
"Just when I was about to get skewered by kitchen utensils and what not, my Rinnegan activated and somehow I knew how to use this move called the Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push), which basically throws everything around you away with great force.
Since I'd never used it before, I poured almost all my chakra into it, which caused me to pass out from fatigue. It was a good thing though; it saved me from the majority of the pain from the Sharingan implant."
He had to give Kasumi credit, she had taken it quite well, much better than he expected.
She nodded thoughtfully, "Are you going to tell Kaa-chan about this?"
Naruto frowned. That probably won't be a pleasant conversation. "I don't know… should I? I mean I trust her and all but… I am not sure how she will take to me talking with the Kyūbi, let alone her being my sensei."
Kasumi looked uncomfortable for a while before she gathered enough courage to voice her thoughts to her brother. "Onii-chan, no offense but we're still too young to make such decisions by ourselves, our Kaa-chan has the right to decide these things for us. I know we're more mature than others our age but still, I think it's best if we let Kaa-chan know about this. Besides, how do you think she will react once you go missing to complete your training? Do you really think you can keep this from her Onii-chan?"
Kasumi inwardly cringed when she thought about her Kaa-chan finding out they had not told her anything about something this big. This was a major event in their lives, and if Naruto kept this from their mother, then their family will lose the close relationship they share now.
She had already thought Naruto was slowly pushing them away, but now that she knew that wasn't the case, she wouldn't let the slightest possible chance of it actually happening exist.
After some thought, Naruto finally agreed to her request, "I guess you are right. But…but I'm scared. She's not going to be too mad, huh?"
The redhead grinned at her brother, happy that he had accepted her request. "Don't worry Onii-chan, we're in this together now. I'll help you convince her!"
'I hope...' she added to herself. If worse came to worse, she'd still be there for him and would try to do her best.
Naruto grinned and gave her a passionate hug, much to her joy. "Thanks Kasumi-chan, you are awesome!"
The redhead sighed in contentment and relief as her brother held her tightly. It had been so long since she had seen him happy that she was completely starved for that bright smile and his loving touch. Seeing his smile and hugging him again made her feel like butterflies were fluttering in her belly. Even better since she knew it was her that made him happy.
Konoha | Uzumaki Compound
As soon as she had reached the living room, she decided to take a five minute break and lay on the couch. Kushina Uzumaki was still as beautiful ever. She had her ANBU uniform on, with the mask attached to waistband. Her long flowing crimson hair reached down past her waist, and her face almost had an angelic character to it. Despite her tired expression, she had a serene look on her face. She wasn't wearing any make-up, she didn't need to as natural beauty was more than enough to attract a lot of males whom she had to chase away.
She honestly didn't know whether she was lucky or cursed when she had come to visit her grand aunt Mito-sama in Konoha. It was then that Uzushio had been attacked by the combined forces of Kumo, Kiri and Iwa. With no help from the 'allies', Konoha and Suna, and their barriers mysteriously falling, Uzushio had collapsed.
But she lived.
She had then joined Konoha academy, having no other choice. Just two years later, she was kidnapped by four Jōnin from Kumo, and later rescued by Namikaze Minato. Like a knight in shining armor, he had entered her life like a prince coming to rescue a princess.
After that she had lived a life of dreams with a man she truly admired, and then became the proud mother of two lovely babies. But as soon as that happened, her life turned upside down as she had to choose between her husband and children.
In the end, a mother's basic duty to her children far outweighed the admiration she held for Minato. But it didn't matter as he went against her wishes and put her children in danger anyway. That was his final betrayal, one that erased all forms of positive feelings she once held for the man.
Now the name alone was enough to leave a bitter taste in her mouth. Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage of Konoha, and the one because of whom she and her children now lived a life of isolation and fear.
Yes, fear. The normally fearless kunoichi Uzumaki Kushina was afraid. Not for herself, but for her children. Every time she wasn't there with them, there was a constant nagging worry in her mind whether or not they will be safe when she got back. The only thing that protected them in this village was a fūinjutsu kekkei she had put around their compound, but aside from that they were defenseless.
She knew the workings behind that seal her husband had used, it was an Uzumaki fūinjutsu technique after all. She knew he could have avoided sealing Kyūbi into anyone altogether. The demon would have been locked away within a God if Minato wanted. But no, he wanted his beloved village to have a weapon and a scapegoat.
And she wasn't strong enough to stop him. Her fists clenched in anger and self loathing, but then a single thought calmed her down. Her kids were still there for her, she smiled sadly. She may not have been able to protect them at that time, but she could love them as much as they needed right now until the day she died. And she vowed that she would.
The only reason she convinced herself to stay alive and fit was for her two little bundles of joy. They were truly a blessing in her otherwise extremely depressing life. She'd been there for them all their lives as much as she could, but her funds had ran out after the first three years and she had to go back to doing S-rank missions to ensure that they had enough money to live.
Everything in the village came at almost ten times the normal price for the Uzumaki, so she had to buy from outside the village while on missions. Sure she could use a simple henge to buy from within Konoha, but why pay the people who hate you?
However, despite all the hate she possessed for the village, she knew that she couldn't leave just like that. Not right now, at least, not until her kids could defend themselves. After that she had no intention of staying here any longer.
She was confident in her skills, and knew that she could probably beat the Sandaime Hokage in a one-on-one battle. But that wasn't the problem at all. The problem was one of her kids, or maybe both of them getting injured... even fatally during one of the hunter-nin parties if she decides to take the path of missing-nin. She would never forgive herself if that happened...
No, she couldn't leave the village right now and endanger her children. That would have to wait till they grow strong enough to defend themselves. Then maybe they could finally be free.
She pushed those thoughts aside from her head though. The village has always brought up rather unpleasant memories. Even after constant attempts of abuse, most of which failed thanks to her presence, except for one, which she berated herself daily for... they still thought they could get rid of the demon's soul sealed in Naruto - by proxy killing her son - and still have her and her daughter's loyalty.
'Those assholes...'
She knew that the only reason they even considered abstaining from harming Kasumi and letting her live was because of their hunger for power, which she had in spades despite it being of demonic nature.
'Some of those guys really have guts. They call my son a demon behind my back and then ask me out on a date? Nothing a good chakra enhanced kick to the nuts won't solve though...'
Just then Kasumi and Naruto entered the living room and ran towards her, getting her attention. A wide grin crept up on her face as she saw them both come.
They were such good kids. Her son... he would be a lady killer in the future. God, she would have to teach him to use that to his advantage! She giggled.
And Kasumi was going to be a beauty, just like her. Okay, maybe better. She was just a bit chubby looking at Kasumi's age, while Kasumi looked quite attractive already. She would have been jealous if the girl wasn't her own daughter. So she settled on being proud.
"Kaa-chan! Can we talk to you for a minute?"
Kushina smiled warmly at them. She knew that her family was never going to have a normal life. Both her children were jailers to a demon lord and a force of nature. People will want them under their control or dead. That's why she had decided to start training them in ninja arts in her free time after their birthday today. While not much, it would definitely make them genin level by the end of the year when they enter the academy.
'Oh that's right, it's party time! Gotta get ready to make the kids happy...'
Naruto fidgeted, appearing extremely nervous. "Kaa-chan, about my training..."
Kasumi looked to be equally, if not more nervous. This of course made Kushina wonder why they were nervous since they were never nervous around her. She frowned, what's bothering them?
And why was Naruto looking down? She couldn't even see his eyes like that. Her son had always looked into her eyes while they talked before, so she knew something wasn't right.
And when she came to think of it, she didn't know where they had been before now. They weren't at home when she came back, but she was so tired that she just fell asleep on the couch for a while.
Doing two S-Rank missions in four days tends to do that. She had been on soldier pills and had not slept a single moment in those four days.
"Explain," She kept her voice even, even though she was worried of what she might hear. It was her fault... surely something happened last night. She shouldn't have slept, should have checked the kids first. She felt like crying. But she had to give her kids strength right now.
"Don't worry mom, we're both fine." Kasumi responded, looking at her worried face.
"Huh? Is it that easy to read me?" The Kage-level kunoichi seemed somewhat sheepish. Great, even a six year old could read her like an open book, and she's supposed to be one of the best.
'Well Kasumi could anyway... Naruto-kun would be oblivious to my emotions even if they were written on my forehead.
Then again, I'm no good at reading people's emotions either, so I can't really comment on that...'
Naruto decided that if they had to get this done today, he should tell her before he follows his instincts and switches to other subjects to avoid his mother's fury if she gets mad. Her nickname 'The bloody red hot chili' suits her perfectly when she's pissed.
Kasumi meanwhile was thinking of a different way to approach the subject. While Naruto was very smart, he had no people skills. He could never tell what someone in front of him was feeling. That Hinata girl had been following him for two years and he has yet to notice why. She doesn't know why but for some reason, she was relieved for that attribute. It gave her something she could help him with. Although, she didn't like the idea of Naruto and Hinata together as that would take the little time she had with Naruto away.
Finally, she decided on approaching this situation in a less catastrophic manner. It wouldn't do to say, 'Hey mom, Onii-chan has been talking to the Kyūbi and he's going to leave us to train.'
'Kaa-chan's reaction might be funny though.'
"Okaa-san, how much do you know about our Uzumaki bloodline?" She asked.
Kushina gave her a weird look at the formal title, knowing something's up but she decided to answer her daughter anyway.
"Well let's see, our bloodline is called the Kanzen Tentai or the 'Perfect Physique'. No one has ever been able to utilize it to its full potential. While Uzushiogakure was still standing, I'd seen Uzumaki who were able to slow down their aging process, living almost twice of what is considered a normal life.
Some had blood so pure that consuming it would completely heal even the more lethal wounds from battles. Some were able to regenerate entire body parts provided that they had enough chakra in their system and the body part was non-vital.
I'm able to regenerate body parts by the way, but you already knew that, ne?" she smiled sheepishly as she saw them both shudder.
It was true. Both of them had totally freaked out when their mother came home with just one arm. Like she did on any other day, she went to bed and told them not to worry. They were both worried of course. Even though they were only four at that time, they knew that entire limbs can't be grown back.
That had been proven wrong when the next morning they found her making breakfast with both of her arms like normal.
Kushina continued once she saw the twins understood. "The mastery of these traits varies from one female to another. Sadly enough, no known male Uzumaki has ever been able to utilize the Kanzen Tentai bloodline. But all Uzumaki females have one of these traits.
Mastery varies from person to person. Some can live for hundred and twenty years, while others go as far as two hundred. Some can regenerate only fingers, while I myself can regenerate entire limbs. And there have been legends which speak of an Uzumaki maiden whose blood could bring back anyone from the brink of death." She chuckled wryly. "Heh that rumor had cost us dearly, and many greedy people have been out for Uzumaki blood since then."
Both children nodded their heads at the information. They were somewhat impressed by the potential of the bloodline and saddened by their clan's loss.
Naruto knew he needed to be the one to tell his mother the truth. He couldn't always hide behind Kasumi and be a coward. "Kaa-chan, I need you to let me tell you everything and once I am done you can let me know what you think, okay?"
It was not normal for either of her kids to talk her so seriously unless the situation called for it, so she responded with a nod of her head. She too was curious as to why her son was suddenly asking her for all of this.
"Well Kaa-chan, I've been talking to the Kyūbi for a while now. And before you freak out please let me explain. She's not that bad really.
While she doesn't think of humans as more than cockroaches, she doesn't hate them either. And since her life depends on me she wants to help me stay alive.
She may be a demon, but there's nothing wrong with her helping me as long as we're all safe right? She does have millennium worth of knowledge, and this is what she told me about the Uzumaki bloodline..."
He paused for the dramatic effect. Neither of the girls knew too much history about their bloodline and getting it from a millennium old source was rather tempting. While Kushina was a bit worried about the Kyūbi's interference with her son's life, she had heard that the demons could talk to their containers and sometimes help them to prolong their own survival. Of course, before this there hadn't been many soul binding seals used on containers, and a demon would simply be released once the container dies.
Finally Naruto decided that they'd been kept in enough suspense. "As opposed to what you've told us, the male Uzumaki do have a bloodline. But it's so rare that it only activates once every hundreds of years, it's called the Rinnegan.
Because of its rarity it is mostly dismissed as a myth. According to Kyūbi here, the Uzumaki have gained most of the Six Path Sage's powers, and since he was also the container of the Jūbi, that was quite considerable.
The Kanzen Tentai bloodline can grant eternal youth to those who are able to master it. You were accurate on the three classifications you described, but what you said about different people having only one of these was not entirely true.
If a female Uzumaki is able to master the bloodline, she can regenerate any body part except the brain, and has complete control of her age. That doesn't mean she's immortal of course, even the gods can be killed. And it doesn't matter if they've mastered Kanzen Tentai or not, if the opponent is tough enough then they're as good as dead.
She knows this as she says she fought one our ancestors, one with complete control of her bloodline. She was tough to take down but in the end, the fight with the Kyūbi had left her so exhausted that the Uzumaki couldn't regenerate and as a result she was killed. That's all Kyūbi-san knows of the Kanzen Tentai."
Kushina was a bit overwhelmed by all of this information, but she successfully maintained her composure thanks to her years of being a kunoichi. "That was very informative Sochi-kun, but what was it that you wanted to discuss about your training?"
Over the next ten minutes Naruto explained to her some of what he had explained to Kasumi. His mother was silent for a while as she contemplated on Naruto's words, breaking the silence only when she was sure she understood everything.
"So what can the Rinnegan do?" Kushina asked.
"Well, even Kyūbi doesn't know everything about it, but since she doesn't have much else to do in me she's analyzing my bloodline and will tell me when she finds out anything interesting. What I know for now is that it enables the user to control all six elements, including gravity.
The Rikudō Sennin also created the Moon to seal away the Jūbi's body, so we're assuming that the gravity control can be taken to that level if I have enough power and mastery.
Of course, the Sage was hundreds of times more powerful than I might ever be. After all, he did defeat the ten tailed demon, which was made of all nine bijū's together, and defeated her single handed with his own power.
And he was strong enough that even on his death-bed he divided it into nine parts. He can basically be called the Kyūbi's dad." Naruto concluded with a chuckle.
"Can you show me your eyes?" Kushina asked somewhat hesitantly. What she was about to see was considered a myth, and that was without the presence of the Sharingan with it. If her son had the Rinnegan, she knew that it was not something that she should be happy about. Those council war-hawks would do anything to get their hands on a dōjutsu of such power. Not only that, they wouldn't want the 'demon-brat' to have something like that. So their problems were going to increase tenfold as soon as the word got out.
Naruto finally looked up at her straight in the eyes. Unlike the other dōjutsu the Rinnegan couldn't be deactivated at will. Once someone acquires it, their eyes are permanently changed to the blue-gray ripple pattern of the Rinnegan. His version was a bit different though. It had a slightly bigger, central black pupil.
He channeled some chakra into his eye, his cornea became red and a single tomoe surrounded his pupil.
Kushina lost herself looking into his eyes; the beautiful blue eyes her son once had now seemed to tell you with one gaze that either you follow him or be destroyed. They practically exude power.
Meanwhile, Naruto was already feeling exhaustion coming to him. While his reserves were twice as large as those of a genin, and he was only six, they were still too weak to power his eyes for long durations. He was still suffering from chakra exhaustion due to his experience just a few hours back and had yet to recover. He deactivated his Sharingan. The permanent, though small, drain of chakra that his Rinnegan consumed was slowly but surely becoming less bothersome. His reserves were increasing, and he was getting used to it.
Kushina sighed in resignation. This was definitely not something that she'd been expecting. She sat down and thought about it. She had several options she could think of at the moment.
First was to deny her son his request of training outside the village, which helped since she didn't want him to leave his sister and herself anyway. While she had grown fond of the village before Minato died, right now she wouldn't give a flying fuck if it burns in hell. All they do is scowl or sneer at her kids, and the more daring ones even glare at her for housing 'hell-spawns'.
Next option was to allow him to go out alone, which was unsafe. True he had a demon to guide him and had the Yogengan as he called it for additional help, but he still just wasn't skilled enough to survive out there alone yet.
So she decided on the third option. It was time to start her kids' survival training. Once they're done with that then they will be able to decide on the next course of action, to leave the village.
"Naruto-kun, I understand what you are saying. But I propose that I train you and your sister personally for a year inside the village. During this time no one must come to know about your or my bloodline. I've already told you how important it is to keep secrets in the ninja world. That's why not even he knew much about it despite living with me for all those years. If anyone comes to know much about Kanzen Tentai, Kasumi's and my blood will be on the market and you will be used for breeding the next generation of the Uzumaki bloodline." If her tone didn't make it completely obvious that she being serious, the look in her eyes did.
"We understand Kaa-chan." Both Kasumi and Naruto responded simultaneously. Naruto found that he was somewhat happy with his mother's decision. The events at the forest clearing a few hours ago had made him face the truth. If even a single person from that mob had survived, Naruto would have been killed while he was passed out. He needed to be stronger than he is right now to be able to survive out there all alone.
Kushina smiled brightly at that. 'This wasn't so bad, right? I get to keep my kids with me for now. I'll think about the future later...'
An evil smirk lit up Kushina's face as she addressed the twins again. "Alright then, enjoy the last day of your somewhat free life. From tomorrow your survival training will begin. And you're going to be in a world of pain. You'll almost wish you had been adopted by some Konoha civilian. Kukuku..."
Her smirk and chuckles sent shivers down the two kids' spines, and Kyūbi nervously wondered if this would be the last year of her existence.
Next Morning
To neither of the twins' surprise, their training had begun with basic chakra exercises. It was the basic building block of everything ninja, so they had to learn how to harness and control it before doing anything advanced.
But the twins were receiving different types of exercises because of the great difference they had in their needs. While Naruto had been training for a year in secret and had high-chūnin level chakra control, he only had low chūnin level reserves. This would have been excellent if it was someone else, but the Uzumaki naturally have about four times the normal chakra reserves. His Yogengan while fully activated also drained him very rapidly.
Kasumi's case was just the opposite; she already had mid-jōnin level reserves but her chakra control was non-existent. Right now, Naruto was trying to maximize his chakra reserves while Kasumi was working on chakra control. Their Kaa-chan had told them they will be learning the 'Shadow Clone Technique' after one week of chakra exercises. By that time Naruto should have enough chakra to perform the technique efficiently while Kasumi should have enough control over hers to at least use it to some extent.
Once they've learned it their control and reserves will probably increase at inhuman rates. Naruto, according to Kushina won't be able to make as many clones as Kasumi at once, even after all the chakra exercises - simply because the yōki stored within the girl had stretched her coils out since she was an infant. The redhead had such high reserves that her non-existent control should allow her to keep up, and maybe even exceed Naruto if not for his mind-scape training and bloodline.
"Ow ow ow... that hurts!"
Right now our blond hero was busy boiling himself while trying to walk on hot water. Kyūbi was inwardly panicking due to the temperature. She'd reached the conclusion that Kushina was a sadist. Ever since she had implanted the Sharingan into Naruto, the seal had somewhat relaxed, which allowed her to feel what Naruto feels, and see what he sees to a greater level.
Needless to say, she had never been boiled alive before. 'Oh for the love of all that is evil and demonic, please don't fall again!'
She let loose another painful wail in the blond's mind as he fell into the boiling hot water, but it was to no avail. She once again cursed herself for her arrogance, how could she have thought she was invincible and then let herself be sealed in a child abuser's baby? She never should have come here.
A week passed by and Kushina finally taught them both how to use the Shadow Clone technique, also known as the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. The results had been anything but normal. Right now, our hero was gaping at the sight of his sister's shadow clones.
"For the love of god... Kasumi-chan! This means you're going to train more than a hundred times faster than normal!" he exclaimed in shock and awe. To think, his sister actually managed to make almost five times the amount of clones that he was capable of. He shuddered to think how far behind he would have been had he not started a year earlier than her.
'But still, with reserves that big she'll never be able reach the level of control I have. Not to mention both our reserves will only increase with time...'
Kasumi grinned in slight embarrassment at her brother's words. The redhead felt somewhat guilty for getting all the yōki while her brother only got a whiny bitch in his head. Who would want that?
Before she could apologize, her blond brother pouted and started whining. "It's not fair!"
'Aw, Onii-chan looks so cute!'
Naruto was wearing dark blue sunglasses that she had given him to cover his eyes. Even though they were inside the compound, Naruto wanted to make it a habit to wear sunglasses until he's strong enough to reveal his eyes.
Despite his complaints, he knew he was doing pretty well with twenty shadow clones. Most chūnin would die if they even attempted the chakra intensive kinjutsu.
Kushina smiled warmly at the duo, she was so proud of them! They had exceeded all her expectations and beyond. "That's enough for today kids. From here on out, you can leave your clones to do all the chakra control exercises. Your reserves will increase from the strain of using a chakra intensive kinjutsu that the Kage Bunshin is, and most of them will work on your chakra control giving it a massive boost due to their numbers. That takes out the chakra, or rather, spiritual aspects of your training.
Now we'll have to work on the physical aspects as well. That means from tomorrow, your physical conditioning begins!"
She gave them a grin that a predator would give its prey before devouring them whole. Both of them gulped nervously while Kasumi tried to hide behind Naruto. They knew this was going to be hell. They've only been working on chakra control till now, and it was anything but pleasant. The twins had no idea what their mother was planning for 'Physical Conditioning'.
They could've sworn they just saw two devil's horns on her head just now.
"Kukuku..."
The other three shivered in despair. 'I don't like it when she does that creepy laugh...'
Before anyone knew, a month had passed by and both Naruto and Kasumi grew dramatically in both mental and physical aspects. They were now capable of running more than ten laps around Konoha and not be winded, while the Kage Bunshin training was causing them to mature faster than what would be considered normal. Of course they didn't actually run around Konoha, but instead did hundreds of laps in the rather large private training grounds.
Naruto always had thirty Kage-Bunshin working on chakra exercises sixteen hours each day, and while sleeping he trained with Kyūbi in his mindscape. If not for the mindscape training, Kasumi would be miles ahead of him right now.
He wished he could create that many shadow clones. But Kaa-chan said she will be starting their jutsu training from tomorrow, and he was already feeling dread rise from the pit of his stomach.
'Hey Naruto.'
'Yeah?'
'You know, you weren't so bad, for a pathetic human brat.'
Naruto was shocked that Kyūbi, of all people, would say such a thing to him. If she was anything, she was stuck-up and prideful.
'What do you mean?'
He could have sworn he just heard a choked sob.
'I mean, you know, tomorrow your sadistic bitc... I mean mother will start her Jutsu training, and I don't think we'll survive it. I wanted to at least be on good terms with the person I'll be spending an eternity within the Shinigami's stomach.'
Naruto sweat dropped. Kaa-chan's training was hard, but he was sure she wasn't going to kill him or Kasumi.
That couldn't possibly happen, right?
'I think you are just overreacting Kyū-chan.'
He made a mental note to tell Kasumi and Kushina he loved them first thing in the morning just in case he didn't survive the training though. He was starting to question his Kaa-chan's sanity. She just might end up killing him. With some apprehension, he let the darkness take him. He wasn't going to train in his mindscape tonight, he needed some mental rest from time-to-time as well.
|- End Chapter -|