Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

Chapter 44: Deliberations and deceptions

Naruto stared at his mother in surprised disbelief. He couldn't have heard that right. "You are what?"

"You heard me. I'm pregnant."

Naruto couldn't help himself. He looked at his mother's belly. It seemed to be as slim as always.

The action provoked a chuckle from Youko. "You won't see any signs here. This body has nothing to do with it." She gestured at the bench near the house. "Let's sit down to talk."

"I thought you were not able to have children while you are here?" Hinata asked.

"We thought so, too." his father answered. "There isn't enough free metaphysical space for us to unfold properly. Supernatural procreation is complicated and has very little to do with how things work with mortals. We should not be in a state where that can happen."

"We were wounded during the invasion. That translates to a loss of substance. Our best guess is that made enough room. Our proximity to each other did the rest. We were almost finished recuperating when the world we constructed for your sake collapsed. It took us some time to figure things out from there. Our compressed state means we aren't completely aware of all our parts." Youko gestured at the white nothingness surrounding their island of reality. "That is the reason for this. We are sure we can keep this small piece of reality stable under all imaginable circumstances, but the larger it gets the greater the danger becomes. Although, now that you know about it I suppose we can put an illusion in place. The view might be disconcerting. You can act as if this world completely normal; we will compensate for your movements." A moment later the whiteness was replaced by the familiar woods and meadows.

Naruto thought about the information for a few seconds. Then he blinked. "You mean the baby kicking caused everything here to collapse?"

"In a way, although the talk of 'pregnancy' and 'baby' is only paraphrasing the true state of things." Daiki explained. "Offspring of those like us can be extremely varied in nature. Gods have given birth to things like abstract ideas, natural landmarks like mountains and rivers, new gods, spirits or entire species of mortal creatures."

"I think it will be some sort of spiritual entity, maybe even a god in its own right, but it is too early to tell." Youko added. "It might be many years until I give birth. Or it could happen in a few weeks."

"Will the child be trapped here, too?" Naruto asked worriedly.

Both his parents shook their heads. "No, it should be free to leave. Your mother is tangled up in the seal and you. I can leave at any time, but that would drag Youko with me and violently unravel everything. The same isn't true for our offspring."

That took a load of Naruto's mind. Then he remembered something his parents had just said. "Wait, you said you were wounded. Are you alright?"

"We are fine now, really. It only took us a little longer to heal than expected. The battle was hard-fought, but we won in the end. We are very proud of you."

Youko showed her teeth in a ferocious smile. "We crushed the worm that dared attack us. Or rather, Hinata did. She burned him away using my power." Then her expression grew somber. "How are you, Hinata? We feared we would lose you."

Hinata gave her a small, calming smile. "I think I'm okay, but I'm not really sure what happened starting from the point when I tapped into the power of the sun."

"We will have to talk about that at length, but not now." Naruto's father declared. "There is an urgent matter. Naruto, you were attacked just a few hours ago."

Hinata whirled around to face him, worry written on her face. "What happened?"

"One second I was walking through a street full of people. In the next I was alone in some sort of twisted copy of the streets." Naruto continued relating his encounter with the being that had attacked him and touching on the nature of the Land of Fire's ruling family.

Youko growled when he finished, her eyes flaring red. "That pest dares to lay hand on you! I will crush him out of existence!"

"You know who he is?" Hinata asked.

"Yes, I remember him. Once he was a king of cats, part animal and part spirit. He ascended later, but he is a strange fellow. Not mighty in terms of raw power, but dangerous nonetheless. Luck, misfortune and insidiousness are his tools and treachery his trade. Slippery, too. I remember being sent to destroy him more than once during the Age of Gods, but the little pest escaped every time."

"Does he have a name?" Naruto asked.

"Not anymore, as far as anyone can tell. The pest somehow erased everything from existence. It is one reason for why he is so difficult to get hold off. Names and titles represent connections and have power. Without them he is almost impossible to find. At the same time it weakens him a great deal, but apparently he considered that drawback worthwhile."

"Why did he attack Naruto? What did he want?"

Youko chuckled darkly. "What they all want. He wanted the Kyuubi's power. My power. If he could devour me as I had been as a tailed beast he would gain in strength enormously, probably enough to bring him to a higher level of existence. It would also have shifted him considerably towards the demonic side of things, but I suppose that is a minor consideration for a nasty little pest like him."

"If Naruto had not called upon me or shown even the slightest weakness he would have killed him without a doubt. Even while he talked he tried very hard to break through the protection. He only retreated when I was about to take control and strike directly at him." Daiki added before turning to Naruto. "Take note of how he saw you using the Kyuubi's power, but he retreated and attacked much later when he had figured out a way to do so safely. He was very careful about things and bent everything possible into his favor."

"You are talking about how I couldn't use my chakra or draw on mom's." Naruto remarked. That had come as nasty surprise.

"Yes. He effectively took you into himself. There he made the rules. It wouldn't have worked if you were already drawing on the Kyuubi's power. You had a small window of opportunity, but I think he would have simply sent you back out… and that would have caused a commotion in the city."

"Damned if I did, damned if I didn't." Naruto thought a moment. "Why didn't he come after me when I slept? I would have been completely helpless."

"A good question and not one I have an answer for. Maybe he was leery of the daimyo and his wives?" Daiki sent a questioning glance at Youko.

Youko nodded. "That is possible. The cat was always a coward. He prefers to prey on the weak. There is such a thing as caution and stacking the odds. Then there is what the cat does. He likes to stir things up, the more chaos the better. It is almost impossible to get a straight answer out of him as he finds frustration and confusion amusing. He has freed captives only to sound the alarms and set the pursuers on the trail. He has led lost groups out of the woods into unfamiliar lands from which they have no way back to their home. He has told people things that impel them to take risky courses of actions. Then he stands by and laughs while those who trusted him fall to their doom. Only at the end, when they are helpless does he steal what is left."

"Then the advice he gave me…"

"Is most certainly poisoned in some way." Youko made a vague gesture. "Most of it was true enough, though. The cat lies only very rarely. He gives just enough valuable advice to make it impossible to completely discount what he says. We will have to go over everything he said and did in great detail. That will take us some time."

They were silent for a few seconds. Then Naruto spoke up again. "The cat could tell that you are my parents."

"Well, we are. After your confrontation with the shades of Kushina and Minato you declared it yourself. Such a declaration matters. Even before that you had some little piece from each of us ingrained in you. You are our firstborn son in every way that counts."

"He didn't seem surprised to encounter someone like me."

"It is more common than you would think. Take Konoha's great clans. The Uchiha's cursed eyes are a demonically tainted older bloodline. The Senju were a different branch originating from the same bloodline, but they lost all perks aside from the occasionally appearing Wood Release. The Hyuuga still retain a small spark of divinity, although it doesn't actually do anything for them. The Kurama have been warped by a demonic pact. The Inuzuka have bred with some sort of animal spirit with demonic tendencies. Only the Yamanaka seem to be free of any sort of supernatural heritage. We aren't sure about the origins of the Aburame, Akimichi and Nara." Daiki explained.

"The cat has been asleep for at least a thousand years. He is probably used to a higher density of supernatural beings and their partly mortal offspring. Encountering some first generation offspring wouldn't be anything unusual." Youko added. "I wish I could remember more."

"That makes sense, I suppose." Suddenly Naruto realized something. "Wait, what was that about the Kurama and a demonic pact?"

Daiki nodded. "It is something we learned only recently. With parts of us able to act in the outside world we can gather more information. By now I'm sure that the Kurama bloodline was created by a powerful demon in the course of a pact. It seems to have been the original Kurama performing a service and receiving a boon in exchange kind of deal. At least there is no outstanding debt. My best guess is that the boon came with some time limit, like a hundred generations or something like it. That limit ran out, leading to the destabilization and decline of the Kurama bloodline."

"Why wouldn't the bloodline power simply disappear if it has a time limit?" Hinata asked.

"Because some people marrying into different generations causes uncertainty in the lineage. Your friend Yakumo is probably more than a hundred generations away by some counts and less than a hundred by other counts. Although, Yakumo is lucky. I'm convinced that the bloodline has stabilized into a new form in her case. That happens sometimes for a variety of reasons."

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good news, I suppose."

"We have many things to talk about, but I can see that you need some rest. It is not urgent; we have time. Would you like to continue now or only at the end of your stay here? We need some days to go over the information you acquired, too." Daiki said.

Naruto looked at Hinata. She shrugged slightly, leaving the decision to him. He thought a few seconds before answering. "If you can give me an overview now and everything else at the end of our stay it would be best. I don't want to deal with that stuff now if I can help it."

"Very well. All of us survived more or less intact. Konoha is still standing. All your friends are still alive and well. We managed to subdue the Ichibi and gain it as a future ally. Unfortunately we woke pretty much every sleeping being of power in the world. The entire game has changed. Overall, I think we can still call it a victory."

"With that out of the way, let's have some fun!" Youko's form shimmered and changed into that of an elephant-sized fox. "How about a little ride?"

A minute later Naruto and Hinata were holding on for dear life as Youko raced across the endless plains. Both were laughing in delight. The feeling of the air rushing all around them was enormously liberating.

It had been over a month since Naruto's last visit. So much had happened. The invasion of Konoha and its aftermath, the search for Tsunade, the rescue of the Fire Daimyo, the attack of the cat god. Several times he had come very close to dying. Despite all his efforts to relax the stress had built up and up.

Finally, finally Naruto could bring himself to relax. Here he was safe. For once he didn't need to worry about people discovering his secrets, about Akaktsuki or other attackers, about spirits, demons and gods appearing from the woodwork. For a few days he could just enjoy life with people he loved.

Hinata looked out over the flower-covered meadows from the shade of a tree, a content smile on her face. The last days had been pure joy. No duties, no responsibilities, no fear of the future. She had needed this. Her time in Konoha since her awakening had not been particularly stressful, but the things looming ahead had always been on her mind. Part of the time had been spent with Naruto's parents, but on other occasions they had left Naruto and her alone to give them some space. They hadn't brought up any important matters, either; for a time they had been just a family.

Naruto's head rested in her lap. His eyes were closed, but she could tell from his breathing that he wasn't sleeping. For once he was completely relaxed. At the beginning of their visit his tension and paranoia had been palpable. Their double lives had always put some stress onto them, but Naruto took it harder than her.

All other considerations aside, as an aspiring medic Hinata knew how important the ability to rest and relax was. Someone unable to alleviate stress would break sooner or later. Naruto had been nowhere close to the breaking point, but it was still worrying.

'He has ample reason to be paranoid, but that makes it only worse.'

The invasion had only been the beginning for Naruto. Akatsuki had begun actively hunting him. Then he came close to death during his rescue of the Fire Daimyo. The attack of the cat god only reinforced the feeling that he was never safe.

There were threats on every level, supernatural and mundane. With Konoha's situation as it was there was a high likelihood of assassination attempts by other villages. There were simply too many powers that had an interest in Naruto.

The worst part was that Hinata could think of no way to truly alleviate Naruto's paranoia. In his situation it was completely rational to become paranoid. An enemy could strike at any time. All she could do was help him deal with it.

'At least he can relax here. Things should be fine in the long run.'

Putting the matter out of her mind for the time being, Hinata returned to enjoying the day and Naruto's closeness. She only wished they could act that way in the outside world, but that was impossible.

Suddenly Naruto's parents emerged from behind a tree some distance away, slowly making their way towards them. Hinata was thankful that they afforded them the courtesy of not appearing directly beside them.

Naruto opened his eyes and sat up when they arrived. "Is it time already?"

Daiki nodded. "Yes. We need to talk seriously, but there are some individual issues we think should be addressed separately first. "

"Naruto, please come with me. You used my power extensively and there are some things we need to go over."

"Okay, mom." Naruto stood up, but not before kissing Hinata lightly on the cheek.

Naruto and Youko walked away until they suddenly disappeared entirely. Hinata frowned. It wasn't an unusual occurrence in this place, but there was something about it. She couldn't quite grasp it.

Daiki sitting down at her side interrupted that train of thought.

"What do you want to talk about first?" Hinata asked.

"Your engagement would be a good start."

Hinata blinked. She had not said anything about that yet.

"Yes, I read your mind. Normally we act as if we don't, but you know very well that the truth is different. We can't not read your minds while you are here." He paused for a moment. "I wouldn't bring it up, but you didn't intend to talk about it on this visit. I feel the point needs to be addressed."

"There's nothing we can do about it. I don't have any choice in the matter." she replied, the bitterness evident in her voice.

"On the contrary. The betrothal isn't a true threat at all. Until a few months ago you could always take refuge in the sanctuary if something like this happened. Now, with the swallows at our disposal there is nothing preventing you from going missing at any point in time, say a few months before your wedding. Faking your death or abduction should be incredibly easy. While we would prefer to have you at Naruto's side your presence in Konoha is not truly necessary. With the swallows' help the entire world is open to you."

Hinata froze for a moment. Then she blushed in embarrassment. That solution had never entered her mind. She suddenly felt very silly. "What about Hanabi?"

"Your sister is still very young. She has many years before her marriage becomes an urgent matter. By then we will be in a position to intervene if necessary." Daiki gave her measuring look. "The matter touches another issue. Hinata, we think you are displaying a worrying tendency to obsess about some things. You are talking yourself into taking self-sacrificial actions without clear need."

"What are you talking about?"

"In addition to the entire matter about your clan there is the fight against the Ichibi. I will not say you were wrong in doing so, but you fought on far past the point of reason without hope of victory. When Youko took over your body was a ruin. You could have disengaged and called upon us earlier. Then there is the end of the battle when you agreed to be given access to one of Youko's domains." He sighed. "It was necessary, but we didn't do it gladly. You were almost eager to sacrifice yourself. The desire is mostly subconscious, but it is definitely there. It is something you have to watch out for."

Hinata was silent while Daiki waited patiently for her answer. She wanted to deny his claims, but she did trust him to know better than her. Perhaps she really did have a problem. That would require some introspection.

"I promise I will think about it." Hinata paused for a moment before she addressed the most important matter on her mind. "What exactly happened after I drew on the power of the sun?"

"Your soul was falling apart. Too much power of a kind a mortal cannot endure. That is the sort of damage even we cannot fix. Frankly, placing you in the Gate was a measure of desperation." He looked directly into her eyes. "You were very, very lucky. The Gate brought you to the heart of the world, the place were all concepts that form reality come together. You touched the world itself. That saved you, but it had consequences for your very nature."

Hinata remembered the place, the feeling of everything, even if she wasn't particularly sure what had happened. She had touched the world and the world had touched back. The next thing she remembered was walking on a path and trying to get back home. "What am I?"

"Considerable less mortal than you were. All Hyuuga carry a divine spark, a last ember of their progenitor. I changed yours to act as an anchor and doorway to this world. It shattered along the rest of your soul when channeling the power of the sun. Now it is so much more. When you interacted with the heart of the world you took concepts into yourself and fused them together with your shattered soul to create a new whole. For physical purposes you are still human, spiritually… not so much."

She needed a few moments to find her voice after that revelation. "I didn't notice any real difference since I woke up."

Daiki nodded. "Currently it is mostly your soul that is changed. Those who can see will no longer take you for a human. I expect your mind and body will follow in time. It will be a gradual process. Be glad for that. Those who rise too fast usually fall quickly. In many ways this is the best outcome we could hope for."

Hinata wasn't quite sure what to make of that. Daiki and Youko had subtly encouraged her and Naruto towards becoming other than human, although they had never discussed concrete plans. Hinata didn't really have any objection to that, but she was very unsure how it would change her.

"What can I do about it?"

"Frankly, nothing at this time. You live your life as before and we will deal with any issues as they arise. You could try some deep meditation, but I'm not sure how useful that will be. Mainly you need time for things to develop."

"Isn't there anything you can tell me? It's very unclear. I could use some reassurance."

The black-haired man gave her an understanding look. "I realize that you want to know more, but this is all I can tell you at this time. Finding out more would require intrusive methods and I don't want to risk it. I can't even tell what concepts you connected with."

"What exactly you mean by concepts? I remember touching the world in specific places that felt right, but I don't recall anything about concepts."

"All beings resonate with certain concepts and principles, although it is only truly relevant for spiritual entities. You can call them domains. They aren't exclusive. Neither are they well-defined. Countless spirits both greater and lesser, demons and gods can share the same domain without being in any sort of hierarchy or having connections with each other. Even if you take, say, ten gods of fire of equal power they will always put their individual spin on things. What you did was taking those concepts you resonated with into yourself, changing your fundamental nature."

"Did I do the right thing?"

"Touching the heart of the world was the best you could possibly do. You would have fallen apart otherwise. It was a unique opportunity, too. Accessing the heart of the world directly is practically impossible for most purposes. Especially for a human. Making the jump to a changed nature is one of the most difficult steps in the entire process of ascending. It was an extremely risky shortcut. Only my power allowed you to get there in the first place. If you had chosen poorly it is likely the resulting resonance would have destroyed you completely or warped you into something unrecognizable."

Hinata suddenly felt very cold. She had acted purely on instinct then without understanding what she was actually doing. If she had made a mistake… it didn't bear thinking about.

Daiki apparently recognized her distress and gave her a fatherly hug. "You don't have to worry, Hinata. You chose wisely and will be fine."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. "So, how far away am I from becoming a proper goddess?" Hinata finally asked in an attempt to lighten her mood.

Naruto's father chuckled. "Far away, Hinata. The way is long, stony and dangerous. There are countless pitfalls; the cat was right in that regard. It is only too easy to end up in a dead end. Before the invasion Naruto was actually closer to the goal than you. Now you have surpassed him for the time being." He stood up. "I think it's time to meet up with Naruto. Just remember, don't try to consume any energy fields bigger than your head."

Naruto smiled when Hinata and his father rejoined them. He took her hand and squeezed slightly when she sat down at his side. They would have to talk later. Then his attention returned to his father as he began recapitulating the events of the invasion. Naruto had been knocked out for parts of it, although the swallows had already told him what had happened. The detailed account was interesting nonetheless.

"Now, on to the analysis of the invasion and the aftermath. Perhaps our biggest victory was that we were able to subdue the free Ichibi and gain its allegiance. It is the least powerful of the tailed beasts, but it holds much power nonetheless."

"My sibling is in the process of restructuring itself with the help of our combined power. That will take an undefined amount of time. This takes it out of play for the time being, but we will have powerful support in the future nobody will see coming and deny it to others." Youko turned towards them. "Gaara survived, by the way. He is currently inside the Ichibi. I suppose you could consider the Ichibi an aunt and Gaara a cousin."

Naruto nodded. He had tried to stay away from Gaara due to the danger the boy posed, but he had pitied him because of what they had found about his early life. Demon containers had it hard in life and Gaara was an especially egregious example. At least the boy's siblings seemed to really care for him.

"Jashin did something to the Hyuuga during the invasion. One of his priests was present and used some of his power. We observed another spike of power and felt Jashin's presence inside the Hyuuga compound for a moment before it disappeared again. Combined with my visions beforehand we think he enacted some sort of curse, but when we look we see nothing out of the ordinary. We simply can't tell if there is anything abnormal."

"You should keep your eyes open. Especially you, Hinata. Hopefully we will be able to recognize what Jashin did and reverse it."

"On to the Reibi. I freely admit we underestimated it. In the grand scheme of things the Reibi was only a minor threat that was in just the wrong spot at the wrong time and grew to a major one. Its first attack on you, its use in the Sky fortress to create the equivalent to a bijuudama and especially when it attacked us directly are examples of this. We simply didn't foresee how much the conflict in Konoha would strengthen it, but on the flipside that very strength would have drained away very quickly. Demons and spirits connected with human emotion are one of the most common types. The Reibi was unusual in how quickly it could grow, though."

"In the end we crushed it, but the consequences are dire." Youko said.

Daiki nodded. "Indeed. It's death cry combined with everything else going on echoed through the entire world and woke up practically every being with spiritual awareness. We can no longer keep our existence a secret. In the time since the invasion no less than four entities of undetermined power and nature took a personal look at Konoha, fortunately without interfering. None sought conflict, but they didn't communicate either."

"Wow, that's bad." Naruto said. That was nearly a worst-case scenario. All sorts of nightmarish consequences were already taking shape in his mind.

Youko made a calming gesture. "It isn't quite as dire as if it may seem. Deception is key. Instead of seeing two greater gods bound and nearly helpless we try to create the image of two locally limited minor gods who can bring a lot of power to bear near their stronghold, but aren't really a factor to anything in the wider world."

"As far as we can tell the deception is successful even under scrutiny. We would have preferred avoiding a trial by fire, but the attack on you proved our success. The cat didn't actually recognize that we are bound inside you, Naruto. Well, this realm isn't truly 'inside' you, but aside from the sanctuary it is the primary access point." Daiki explained.

"We enacted measures to conceal your status as a demon container. The cat saw through that, possibly because he was already watching the palace when you used my chakra. The Kyuubi's demonic chakra masks your soul. The cat saw through that as well, correctly identifying you as not quite human and your relationship to two gods, but only when you called on your father's power. There are two additional layers of deception. The partly divine nature of your soul covers the four tails of divine chakra bound in you, thereby obscuring the fact that I as Kyuubi am identical to your mother, the goddess. As far as we can tell the cat didn't realize that."

"The final layer is that the entirety of nine tails of chakra and your soul bars the connection to this realm and our true nature. This is the most critical secret of them all. All in all I think we can call our attempt at deception a success." Daiki finished the explanation. "That is pretty much everything regarding metaphysical consequences on our side. You and Hinata will have to speak about what happened to her when she is ready."

Naruto cast a worried glance at the girl at his side, but she gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm okay, Naruto. You don't have to worry. I just have to come to terms with some things."

"I take your word for it." Naruto turned back to his parents. "Do you have any details about who woke up? Who they are, what their intentions are, all that stuff."

"Not as much as we would like." Daiki answered. "This is what we know."

A large statue of white and black marble appeared on the meadow in front of them, depicting a black humanoid figure with visible white bones and holding a scythe.

"Jashin, the Wicked Heart of Death and Slaughter. He is one of those we have the most information about. In the Age of Gods he was a mid-tier player, but he has apparently grown in power since then. His aspects are centered on death, destruction, sacrifice and mass murder. He has been active for several years and has already gained a priesthood, probably spread out all over the world. In short, he has a head start."

"He has been careful not to cause any widely felt disturbances, meaning he was trying to let the others sleep while he gorged himself on sacrifices. Not a team player." Daiki added. "It seems he prefers to act through disposable mortal pawns. His interventions seem to happen all over the world, but are of limited magnitude. On the other hand, he might change his approach in light of the new situation."

Naruto nodded. "We met his followers back on our third mission out of Konoha."

"Jashin can be presumed to be hostile, but he is cautious and prone to avoiding direct confrontations. I don't believe there is any chance for us to reach an accommodation of any sort with him. In the same vein we don't believe he will ally with anyone else. He knows only slaves, pawns and victims, not partners."

Two new statues appeared: A man with horns and a woman holding a tree sapling in her hands.

"These two are the ones the daimyo's wife identified as the Horned Lord and the Lady of the Tree. They felt vaguely familiar, but I have no further memories of them. The Horned Lord was apparently bound on the southern continent, woke up and freed himself in an extremely noticeable manner. Then he relocated to another continent on the other side of the world and caused another great disturbance. He seems to have considerable connection to all of the world's elements." Youko said.

"From what we can tell he woke or freed his partner. In the process he returned free magic to an area of the world, similar to what we did with the sanctuary, but markedly grander in scale. Since then we have detected no further activity, but it might just be outside of our perception."

"We are working from very limited information, but the two seem to be the most powerful of all the beings we observed. We don't know if they will be outright hostile or if some sort of accommodation is possible. Don't take any chances if you encounter them."

Three statues appeared, depicting cloaked and hooded figures.

"The Weavers of Destiny, the Three That are One. Mid-tier powers, but very good at leveraging what they have. They have become active a few weeks ago. Minor manipulations and manifestations bearing their mark are taking place all over the world. I think they are using something similar to my prophetic abilities to get the most effect for minimal effort."

"Aren't those the ones the cat talked about?" Hinata asked.

"Yes. We have no reason to presume them to be hostile. In fact, I recall them to be rather peaceable. It would be just like the cat to set potential allies against each other." Youko shrugged. "We have no idea about their intentions."

Seven medium-sized statues appeared, wrapped in chains. Naruto immediately recognized them as the tailed beasts.

"The seven remaining tailed beasts, sealed in mortals and subjected to the Sage of Six Paths' dominion. If they throw off their shackles each will become a mid or high tier demon. You can presume them to be hostile, although limited cooperation might be possible. We expect other powers to actively hunt them down soon."

"That will play hell with the Great Hidden Villages." Naruto remarked. "Jinchuuriki are strategic assets. If they are attacked by supernatural beings it will throw everything even more into chaos."

"You should know that the Sanbi is out of play for the time being. Its host was killed near the time of the invasion. The Sanbi's essence was dispersed. It will be years until it will pull itself together again."

"We knew that already. The Mizukage Yagura is dead." Hinata said. "That will plunge Kiri into civil war. Everyone agreed that he was the only factor holding the village together."

Naruto made a thoughtful expression. "I'm still not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing for Konoha and us personally."

"Back to the matter at hand. We already spoke about the cat god who attacked you." A small grey statue of a cat materialized. "He is a liar and we don't trust him in the slightest. Neither should you. The owl he spoke about probably exists and holds valuable knowledge. We are reasonably sure it was one of the entities that took a look at Konoha. Currently we assume the shrine is some sort of trap. On the other hand, he might have spoken the truth in that matter. As we don't have any idea about the shrine's location it doesn't really matter for now. Unfortunately that is pretty much every being we have information about. That leaves these." Daiki gestured towards the meadow.

Naruto looked out over the meadow. There were now almost two dozen featureless statues of large and medium size and hundreds of smaller ones scattered across the grass. "Who are they?"

"The large ones represent the ones I detected before I made my entrance to this world and some traces we picked up since the invasion. We don't have enough information to say anything about them. There are too many players and pieces on the field. It becomes hard to determine anything because the sheer number of supernatural interventions begins to obscure any details. Even small gods and spirits are waking up and make their presence felt."

"Before the invasion the situation was similar to spotting isolated fires in the night. Now the entire world is ablaze and it will only get worse." Youko said. "We are sure that at least four extensive areas beside Konoha have regained freely flowing magic. None on this continent, but it is only a matter of time until it happens here. There is a sufficient number of beings who will have an interest in restoring the natural order of things."

"Not all is negative. The situation offers some advantages. With the massively increased supernatural activity we will be able to intervene much more freely. It will simply blur into the background as long as we use some restraint. We are confident we will be able to weather any direct attack on the sanctuary by all but the most powerful of beings."

Naruto considered their situation. It had far too many unknowns. They were pretty much acting blind. On the plus side, they did have a stronghold and if the deception held nobody would specifically hunt them. They continued talking for a while about some additional details Youko and Daiki had picked up, but the overall strategy amounted to keeping their heads down.

"There is something you should know. We will begin looking for candidates that are suitable to foster belief in us. Enough of our being is in the outside world that we can support a small cult. An additional source of power would be very welcome. With everyone doing that we can risk it."

"Couldn't you use us to spread the word and jumpstart things?" Naruto asked, curious about the matter. Until now his parents had always refrained from attracting followers.

"You could, but that would bring attention to you. You really don't need that. Neither does Hinata. We will set it up completely separately so that nothing can be traced back to you. Dreams, a few small miracles, that sort of thing." Youko explained.

"That leaves another matter. The Fire daimyo and his family. They are minor demons as far as we can tell. What worries me is that they bear a modified mark of the cursed Sage. We have absolutely no idea what the connection is. They know things and could be very dangerous."

"What should I do?" Naruto asked.

"It's simple. Invite them to Konoha. We want to speak with them and the sanctuary is the best place for that. Considering what the cat was up to in their backyard they should be interested in support we can offer. We need to know what they want. Maybe we can hash out an agreement."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Hinata asked. "The sanctuary is the center of your power in the outside world. If you invite them inside they could do a lot of damage."

Both of Naruto's parents nodded. "It is, but we need to take the risk. I doubt they are powerful enough to pose a true threat. They seem to be not that powerful and still fall into what shinobi can handle."

The group spent a few minutes talking about how to best go about the negation. Then Naruto brought up a last matter that had been on his mind for a while.

"Now that the secret about your existence is out of the bag can we tell our friends about you?" Naruto asked. "I'm thinking about Yakumo in particular." He gestured between himself and Hinata. "I want to resolve the entire thing between us. She needs to know or I can't really explain properly."

Daiki and Youko looked at each other. Naruto had the impression that an entire conversation was taking place and they were having an argument. Finally they turned back towards them. "You have our permission to tell Yakumo. She saw us during the invasion. The time stop didn't affect her. Furthermore, she has already told Ino. A swallow witnessed their conversation and told us. They have questions for Hinata, too."

"In a few days we will be able to speak to you in the sanctuary. We made some needed changes." Youko turned towards Hinata. "That is the reason minor spirits have begun appearing in the sanctuary. Until now we unintentionally smothered all development."

The group continued talking about different matters for hours, the best way to get their two friends to the sanctuary among them. Then it was time to return to the waking world.

'It will rain soon.' Yakumo thought while watching the sky. 'At least we have roofs over our heads.'

The dark clouds were gathering at the southwestern horizon. It would be an hour or two until they got here, time enough to get everyone inside. If she wasn't mistaken it would get quite stormy; the wind was already picking up.

Yakumo, Ino and a group of about two dozen Konoha shinobi were currently staying in a village near the northwestern border of the Land of Fire. It had been designated as the meeting place for the different squads of taskforce Mugon, the force assigned to wiping out Otogakure. By now they had destroyed all of Orochimaru's hideouts in the Land of Fire. The Land of Rice would be next, the center of the traitor's power.

Three squads had already been at work for over a week, scouting, preparing positions and taking out targets of opportunity, but the larger bases required concentrating the task force's power. It seemed Oto's remaining forces were holing up and trying to extract as high a price as possible. They didn't have the manpower left for open warfare thanks to their losses during the invasion and Konoha's quick counterstrike at the beginning of the campaign, but they had still enough to pose a problem. If they didn't remove the support structure now Orochimaru would be easily able to train a new generation of shinobi.

The rest of the campaign would take place without Yakumo and Ino, though. They had been assigned to guard the wounded and escort them back to Konoha. The main force had departed three days ago. The campaign was pretty much over for them. They were only waiting for one squad that had missed the meeting date. If they didn't turn up tomorrow they would depart for Konoha without them.

'No sign of them anywhere.' Yakumo thought when she once again scanned the landscape from her perch on the highest tree available.

That was troubling. There shouldn't have been anything that could destroy a group of a good dozen shinobi on their route. They had only been supposed to wipe out a small hideout, more of a safe house than a proper base and keep away from any contact with people. Heck, according to the information they had the hideout should have been abandoned. It was more a question of destroying the stored supplies than eliminating shinobi.

As a chunin and a jonin's apprentice Yakumo had witnessed the discussion of the jonin leading the task force. Some had argued for investigating, but that would have ruined the timetable. It was likely that there were still considerable forces left in the Land of Rice that needed to be taken out as quickly as possible. Some of the last bases they had destroyed had apparently been informed of the campaign and fortified. Digging them out had not been pretty.

After the first large battle against Oto's large base near Konoha the campaign had turned into a series of small skirmishes. Orochimaru had established a network of countless small bases and hideouts spanning across the Elemental Nations. They had to be taken out to destroy Oto's war fighting ability. Thanks to the ample amount of prisoners they had good intelligence of where to find them; it was only a question of destroying them.

The last month had fallen into a steady rhythm. Move to a location, annihilate a small force or destroy a hideout full of traps, rest, repeat. It wasn't as easy as it sounded, unfortunately. The Konoha shinobi always made sure to attack with overwhelming forces, but they still sustained losses. For every three Oto shinobi killed Konoha lost one.

According to Yakumo's more experienced comrades that was a fantastic ratio, especially because the majority of losses was temporary – injury, not death. It still took a mental toll watching it happen. There was nothing Yakumo or anyone else could have done to prevent it. Combat meant losses. By the time Yakumo and Ino had left their squad more than a third of the members had been switched out with reinforcements, either from Konoha or other squads.

Climbing down the tree, Yakumo made her way back to the village.

"Nothing to report, just rice paddies, woods and swamps as far as the eye can see. There is a storm coming. It will be here in little more than an hour. No sign of Squad Six." she reported to the chunin in command of the group, a middle-aged woman named Misaki who had lost several fingers on her right hand during the last battle.

"That's not good. We should have heard something, if only from a survivor. That means they have run into something big that let nobody get away." Teiko, another middle-aged chunin tossed in, her expression worried. "Do you think they ran into a group of Orochimaru's elite?"

Misaki shrugged, but her face showed the same worry. "Could be. We don't know where he and his closest followers are. Or it could be another village. The last message from Konoha said there have been probing attacks from at least three different minor villages in the last two weeks. There's no way to tell. I wish we could leave now, but with the weather as it is we can't risk it."

Not interested in speculating, Yakumo took her leave from the two. The worst that could happen was that whoever had taken out Squad Six would come after them if they had learned of the meeting place.

Unfortunately there was nothing they could do about it. Most of the injured could be moved only slowly. They had needed the days they had spent here to allow the worst cases to recover enough for extended transport. Only Yakumo, Ino and two chunin were completely uninjured and one of them was primarily a non-combat medic. In terms of combat strength the two girls were actually the group's heavyweights.

Trying to put these thoughts out of her mind, Yakumo found herself a place near the village's central square to enjoy the last rays of the sun before the clouds obscured it.

Some of the village's young children were playing on the square. Watching them made Yakumo smile, but she couldn't help but notice how different their games were. In Konoha even the children's games were preparation for becoming shinobi. Many didn't make the cut to visit the academy and become true shinobi mostly due to lacking chakra capacity or physical deficiencies, but it still made a stark contrast to this farming village. The games were more innocent.

On the other hand, the children had to help with the work as soon as they were able. It was a hard life for children and adults alike. There was not much time for leisure and no luxuries to be had. The people were very poor in comparison to Konoha, but not destitute. Since the shinobi were paying in coin for their stay they were welcome guests.

Closing her eyes, Yakumo feigned sleep in the hopes of discouraging the children from approaching her. As the youngest shinobi present Yakumo and Ino had become celebrities among the village youth. Whenever they were free the young people tried to speak with them. Both girls had traveled far and wide in the time since their graduation, much farther than any of the villagers could ever hope to. The most they ever saw was the next market town. Proper cities were almost beyond their imagination.

The village itself was only about fifty years old, but it was smaller than it had been. There was a collapsed, burnt-out manor house on a hill overlooking the village and several empty houses that now served as the shinobi's lodgings. Apparently the second son of some minor noble had taken a hundred peasants from his parents' estates and tried to found a village of his own in the wilderness. A large group of bandits had killed the man and carried off dozens of villagers as slaves around forty years ago, but enough of the population had remained for the village to persist and grow. Since then everything had been peaceful.

A ball rolling against Yakumo's leg caused her to open her eyes. Five young children were watching her. She picked the ball up and threw it back, but the children stayed. They looked like they wanted something, but were afraid to speak up. "Will you play with us?" a red-headed girl asked after a few seconds.

Yakumo smiled kindly at the children. "Sorry, I don't have time to play now. I need some rest because I will have to stand watch tonight. You should get inside anyway; a storm is coming."

"Aww."

"Why don't you play with Ino? She should have time." Yakumo said.

The children looked at each other. Then the oldest of the group, a brown-haired boy spoke up. "Ino left shortly after noon. She said she wanted to gather some herbs."

Yakumo cursed silently. "Thank you for telling me this. I have to go and make sure she knows about the storm."

A quick check of their lodgings and the other shinobi showed that Ino truly wasn't in the village anymore. Again Yakumo cursed silently. Her friend was not supposed to go anywhere alone. Fortunately Yakumo knew Ino's likely destination. After giving the word to Misaki Yakumo left the village, entering the woods.

Ino had shown troubling signs in the last few weeks. Yakumo had spoken with Kurenai about it in secret; it was the main reason they had been assigned to the returning force. Her blonde friend was not well even though she tried to hide it. She was increasingly absentminded and sometimes simply gazed into space. Never in battle or other critical situations, thankfully, she did it only when nothing urgent happened. Worse, more than once she had shown expressions, reactions and habits that were just wrong for the Ino Yakumo had known for years. Additionally she had shown increasingly advanced skills with the mind arts, improving far faster than before.

Yakumo suspected the reason. She knew Ino had received the memories of ancient Izumi Yamanaka about a year ago. Her friend had made good use of those skills, but now they were a cause for concern.

She believed that Ino was increasingly escaping into the foreign memories to avoid dealing with her pain and grief, losing herself in the process. In retrospect the signs were obvious, starting with the aftermath of the invasion.

When they had discovered the corpse of Ino's mother the blond girl had gone to pieces. The next morning she cried and cried, only to suddenly stop and leave to try to take control of her clan. She had barely reacted to the news of her father's death. One day later she had seemed sad and teary on occasion, but no longer devastated. Two days later she had been back to normal. The recovery had been too quick.

Naruto and Yakumo had been orphans for a long time. Hinata's mother had died long ago, but her father had still been alive until the invasion even if their relationship could only be called strained or worse. Only Choji, Ino and Shino had both parents survive to their graduation. Now only Choji was in that lucky position, although Shino's mother had survived as well. Hinata and Ino were now complete orphans.

Yakumo still remembered the loss of her parents and her clan. It had taken her weeks, perhaps even months to return to a semblance of normality. Ino was much older than she had been, granted, but the recovery was still far too quick.

Now Yakumo thought Ino had not recovered at all, not truly. Instead she had repressed everything. Perhaps she would have worked through it in time had they been able to stay in Konoha, but the campaign added enormous pressure. Worse, Ino was often called to participate in the interrogation of prisoners because of her Yamanaka mind techniques. Considering what kind of people they were and what horrible things Oto had gotten up to under Orochimaru's leadership that was probably taking a toll of its own.

Yakumo had participated in prisoner interrogation as well. Genjutsu were useful in breaking prisoners so that the invasive mind techniques worked better. The entire process didn't bother her as much as it probably should. In fact, Iwashi Tatami, her squad's intelligence officer had told her that she might have a future in the Torture and Interrogation Department. She was considering it but had not yet reached a decision.

Finally, after a trek of almost half an hour, she reached her destination: a pond deep in the woods with water so dark it looked black. Ino had shown it to her two days ago. Yesterday Ino had visited it again. For some unfathomable reason her blond friend liked it here. The villagers apparently didn't even know about the pond and considered this section of the woods haunted.

'Something is different.'

The atmosphere was strange. A certain heaviness was lying on everything that made Yakumo's hairs stand on end. It didn't feel as if it was due to the approaching storm, either. In that moment a bright ray of sunlight hit Yakumo in the face. For just that moment the water in the pond seemed to shimmer in all colors of the rainbow. When she blinked everything was back to normal.

'Creepy.'

Looking around, Yakumo spotted Ino a short distance away, staring into the black waters.

"Ino."

The blonde girl didn't react.

"Ino!"

Yakumo frowned when she still got no reaction and moved closer. She had a suspicion. It was time to try something.

"Izumi?"

"Yes?" Ino asked without moving her head, still staring into the lake.

'Oh crap. This is bad.'

"It's time to return home. A storm is coming."

"Oh. Okay then." Ino raised her head and turned towards Yakumo, but stopped as soon as she got a look at her. Confusion was written on her face, but no recognition. Yakumo was about to panic when that expression remained unchanged on Ino's face for several seconds, but then the light of recognition dawned in Ino's eyes. "Yakumo? What is the matter? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Yakumo slowly let out a breath she had not realize she had been holding. "You reacted to the wrong name and you didn't recognize me just now."

"Oh."

"Oh? Is that all you have to say?"

Ino shrugged. "What do you want me to say?"

"An explanation would be nice. You are constantly diving into Izumi's memories, aren't you? These days you are living more in old memories than in the real world."

The blonde girl looked away. "Maybe I do. It helps me deal with things. I need the power the memories offer, too. I can control it. I just need some time."

"What you are doing is not 'dealing'." Yakumo changed tracks. Getting into an argument wouldn't help matters. "Why do you like the pond so much anyway?"

Ino got a faraway look in her eyes. "I spend much of my childhood near here. There was a Yamanaka settlement nearby, although now it's completely overgrown."

"It wasn't you; the memory belongs to Izumi."

"Do you think that makes much of a difference for me? It might as well have been me."

"You always said Izumi's memories were different from your own."

Ino didn't say anything for a few seconds. "They were. Now everything kind of blurs together."

Yakumo sighed. This was getting worse and she had no idea what to do about it. Once back in Konoha she might have to go behind Ino's back to some of her Yamanaka relations. She needed to think about it and speak with her other friends. "We will talk about this later. Come on; let's get back into the village before the rain starts."

The walk back was mostly spent in strained silence. Yakumo tried to make some innocent conversation, but Ino repeatedly spaced out.

They were almost back in the village when Yakumo felt the use of chakra directly ahead. "Something is happening in the village. It feels like a battle. We have to hurry." she shouted before accelerating to a run.

Ino was at her side immediately, her eyes sharp and without any sign of her earlier absentmindedness. It took the two girls no time at all to rush through the rest of the forest. Reaching the last of the trees, they came to a full stop to get their bearing. It was clear there was fighting going on judging by the sounds, but a bank of yellow smoke covered almost everything of the village proper. Only a field of grass separated them from the cloud. A few houses were barely visible.

Just in that moment one of the houses disintegrated in a shower of splinters when a green giant charged through it, swinging a massive club that was larger than a man. The giant's face was completely covered by hair and he didn't seem to see them, turning around and charging back into the cloud.

"Is that music?" Ino asked.

Yakumo listened. Yes, there was definitely someone playing a flute, not that the fact told them anything. She thought frantically about the best course of action to take. Obviously the group was under attack, but charging in blindly would be worse than useless. That would only get them killed.

"I'm taking over a bird to see what is going on. Take care of my body." Ino said before forming a hand seal and slumping down. A moment later one of the birds circling over the village took a plunge into the smoke.

Yakumo grit her teeth. Ino should have waited for her response before taking action. Well, she had to make the best out of the situation. As a first measure Yakumo used a genjutsu to hide them from prying eyes. Then she tried to discern details through the billowing yellow smoke.

Suddenly a villager stumbled out of the smoke. Before she was able to take more than a few steps a blur pierced her chest in a shower of gore and the peasant went down. A big, bloody arrow was sticking from the ground a short distance away.

'The arrow landed like that… that means the shot came from… there.'

Carefully edging around a bush, Yakumo tried to find the origin of the arrow. It took her a few second to spot a strangely deformed man with six arms and a large warbow sitting in the top of a tree quite a distance away. It had been pure luck that there had been an obstacle in the way. Otherwise he would have spotted them immediately.

'He's too far away for me to hit him with a jutsu.' Yakumo judged.

Another disturbance at the edge of the smoke cloud caught Yakumo's attention. Two peasants and the group of children Yakumo had talked with earlier emerged. The archer was unable to see them for now, but they would invariably enter his field of vision if they wanted to reach the forest.

The young Kurama was about to cast a second genjutsu to hide them when a grey-haired shinobi wearing the attire of Otogakure emerged from the bank of smoke. Before she could react in any way he had already cut the adults down.

Yakumo aborted her technique and switched to an offensive genjutsu. She could feel the technique taking hold… only to suddenly shatter when the chakra system of the shinobi was purged by some sort of external source. That short moment of confusion sufficed for the man to kill four of the children and pick up the fifth by his neck. A snap indicated that whatever Yakumo decided to do it was too late for the children.

"Sakon! Genjutsu behind us!" came a voice from the man.

'Damn it!' Yakumo thought while already forming another hand seal. 'Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet'

Things happened very quickly.

A big stream of flames shot from Yakumo's mouth towards the shinobi who was still in the process of turning around.

Another shape left the smoke cloud, landing in front of the grey-haired shinobi and striking the ground with its hands.

The earth in front of the two folded upwards, forming a wall.

He flames collided with the wall and were diverted, leaving the shinobi behind unharmed. On the plus side, the field between her and them was now on fire, giving her a short breather. Then she realized where she had seen the two before.

'Damn. Damn. Damn. Those are two of the four guards Orochimaru had with him when he fought the Hokage, the ones who erected the barrier.' She quickly glanced back at the spider man who was now looking in her direction. 'He looks similar to the third. That means Orochimaru's elite is here. We are fucked.'

Yakumo didn't hesitate. Throwing Ino's limp body over her shoulders, Yakumo ran back into the forest. She couldn't tell if she was being followed. Hopefully the genjutsu and the fire would buy her some time.

Suddenly Ino moved, almost causing Yakumo to stumble. After a few second of disorientation Ino spoke in a flat voice. "Orochimaru is here. His forces attacked just before we reached the village. Most of the villagers and the Konoha shinobi are already dead. The rest are stuck and will blow themselves up to avoid capture. We are to try and escape. If we can't make it we are ordered to kill ourselves. You can let me down now."

Yakumo let go. Ino jumped off and started running on her own feet. "Can we escape?"

The blonde girl formed a hand seal without stopping in her run. "I feel their minds. They are following us. Three closely behind us and gaining. A lot of unusually intelligent snakes are a bit farther behind." Her voice turned bleak after a moment of silence. "…and I think Orochimaru himself and one additional person are behind them and gaining even more quickly."

A feeling of dread filled Yakumo. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Izumi knew the 'taste' of Orochimaru's mind. It's him without a doubt." She was silent for a moment. When she spoke again desperation leaked into her voice. "We won't make it at this rate. They are faster than us. We don't have time to set anything up. It's the end for us."

'It can't end this way, not like this.' Yakumo thought while tears began to leak from her eyes. She had survived the chunin exams, the invasion and a month of campaigning only to be attacked by one of the Sannin. It just wasn't fair.

A loud explosion far behind them signaled the end of the Konoha shinobi. Getting captured by Orochimaru was one of the worst fates imaginable. It had been long years since he had left Konoha, but the tales of the horrors he had committed against the test subjects he had abducted from the village were still very much present. Everyone agreed that death was preferable.

'Perhaps we can escape. Perhaps there is still a chance.'

Using what techniques seemed suitable, Yakumo began setting fire to the woods while she ran. Unfortunately the woods were rather wet and the fires remained small. It wouldn't hinder their pursuers in any significant manner. Ino pitched in with various earth techniques.

"To the pond." Ino suddenly shouted.

"Why?" Yakumo gasped out. By now she lacked the breath for longer speech.

"Trust me."

Yakumo didn't ask again. It would be as good a place as any to make their final stand. Their headlong flight continued for several minutes until the black pond came finally into sight.

"We're here. What now?"

Ino ignored her and shouted something at the pond. It was strange, Yakumo could tell that she was saying something, but the actual sounds didn't consciously register. Then Ino repeated that two times.

Nothing happened.

"Was that supposed to do something?" Yakumo asked.

Ino turned around, facing the direction they had come from. Yakumo got a look at her face in the process. The expression was all Izumi. "A call for help. Prepare to jump when I say so." She hesitated a second, looking more like Ino. "If I'm mistaken and we don't make it… I'm glad that we have been friends. Don't let them catch you alive."

Yakumo was about to reply when the leaves rustled and the pale form of Orochimaru appeared. He didn't seem to be winded in the slightest.

"Ku ku ku. What do we have…?" His question was cut off by a stream of flames from Yakumo's mouth. When the fire subsided there was only a charred pile of earth standing there.

'An earth clone.'

"Look ou…!" Ino began to shout.

In that moment something hit Yakumo in the side with bone-crushing force and she was hurled away. The collision with a tree stump jutting out from the water of the pond hurt almost as much as the initial hit.

Yakumo bit her lip in an effort to stay conscious and tried to prevent herself from sliding into the water. She couldn't move her right arm anymore. From the looks of it the limb was broken in at least two places. That would make using jutsu impossible.

Ino had escaped the initial attack unscathed and was now edging towards Yakumo, walking on top of the water.

"Can you stand?" she asked once she was close enough.

Yakumo gritted her teeth and nodded. Her footing on the water wobbled. From time to time she slightly broke the surface when her concentration faltered and the chakra flow grew unsteady. The pain was really distracting. She reached into one of her weapon pouches and retrieved a kunai, holding the weapon in her left hand. It wouldn't do much, but it was better than nothing.

"There are snakes all around us. I can't get a fix on Orochimaru's position. The other four are hanging back."

Yakumo was about to answer when she spotted something suspicious at the edge of the pond. There was something there. The pain she was in made it somehow stand out. It wasn't even a ripple in the air, but Yakumo recognized it as a subtle and limited but extremely high-level genjutsu. She immediately threw her kunai at it.

The weapon sank into the ground with a dull thud. A small, brightly colored snake became visible briefly before it disappeared in a puff of smoke. Unfortunately Yakumo's throw had been slightly off target, but there were still some blood on the grass.

"I think you just pissed off Orochimaru. Apparently that was his favorite assassination summon." Ino remarked while scanning the forest for threats.

"That's too bad." Yakumo said.

"He's doing something; I can't tell what."

For almost a minute nothing seemed to happen. Then the woods erupted with hundreds of snakes converging on the pond from all directions.

"Down!" Ino shouted.

Yakumo didn't hesitate. She simply let herself fall through the water's surface. In the last moment she caught some sort of rainbow-colored ripple on the surface.

Total darkness engulfed her. She couldn't be more than a hand's breadth away from the surface, but there was not the slightest bit of light anywhere. There was the sensation of falling. Up and down had lost their meaning.

'I guess this is the end. We can't escape.'

She tried to get another kunai to end things on her own terms, but her searching hand seemed unable to find her weapon pouches.

Slowly she ran out of air. She had no idea where the surface was, not that she was intending to head there. If she stayed underwater she might manage to drown and die before Orochimaru and his minions got their hands on her body and revived her. There were fates so much worse than death.

She knew she was crying, but she couldn't feel the tears on her face. There were so many things she wanted to do in her life and now wouldn't get the opportunity for.

Finally Yakumo couldn't hold her breath any longer. The darkness was so complete she was unable to see the air escaping her mouth.

Then she breathed in. Strangely it didn't hurt. Getting water into one's lungs should hurt.

Before Yakumo could consider the implications a blinding light in all colors of the rainbow filled her perception. A moment later she fell unconscious.

Author's notes: Thank you for all the reviews. Well, writing this chapter took me much longer than intended and it didn't turn out quite like I wanted, but it's finally here. My apologies.

Unfortunately how Kishimoto is handling the manga has mostly killed my enthusiasm for Naruto and writer's block is making things difficult. I do intend to finish this story, but it won't be a quick affair.

So long.