The Mad Sage Of Uzushio, A Naruto Fan Fiction, Chapter 18: A Three Hour Tour... A Three Hour Tour...
The Mad Sage Of Uzushio, A Naruto Fan Fiction, Chapter 18: A Three Hour Tour... A Three Hour Tour...
Chapter 18:
A Three Hour Tour…
A Three Hour Tour…
On a moonlit night in the Valley of Exile, under the red and orange flickering Uzumaki Pagoda, lit by a full moon and the flames of a flickering campfire, various shinobi are gathered in solemn meeting around the campfire, just outside the pagoda. Main bodies and training clones alike are gathered around the campfire, with Shintaro standing by the fire in his humanoid owl form. Naruto’s human form main body sits blindfolded next to his young daughter Himawari in her polar bear cub form.
On the other side of the flames sits the light gray fox form of Shikadai next to Denki in his smoke gray monkey form, both wearing almost nothing but their fur and a pair of pull over sleeveless knee length tunics, with a slit at the top for their heads, and a slit down the back for their tails. The gray fox wears a pitch black tunic, fastened about his waste with a steal chain bearing the steal forehead plate from his former headband like belt buckle, with a white frame version of the Nara Clan crest printed on the front and back, as he clutches his harmonica tightly in his right hand, claws and all.
Denki wears a blue tunic with white trim and a white frame version of the Kaminarimon Company logo, the crest of his clan, on the front and back, fastened likewise around the waste with his old headband’s steal plate and a steal chain. The smoky monkey now sports a pair shades with steal frames like his old glasses, with a black bo staff resting upon his lap. Inojin sits next to Denki in his ink form, a yellow, purple, and green colored Super Beast Scroll version of himself, now drawn wearing a set of black shades.
Near by where Shintaro stands by the fire, sits the dragon form Sarada, cradling her biwa and plectrum, now wearing Shintaro’s messenger bag hanging diagonally from her left shoulder down to her right side, while staring and glaring at the new chick, Ichikishimahime, now floating over Boruto’s black furred lightening monkey form. Boruto sits by the gray fox, normally clothed, with his sword still strapped to his back, but now with a knee length loin cloth hanging down in front and back, covering a hole in his pants for his black furred prehensile monkey tail, nervously tapping on the ground with a pair of drumsticks, giving off purple sparks as he twitches like a tweaker.
The class rep sits next to to the dragon girl Sarada, and joins in on the stare, but with more concern than glare. Behind them sits a giant panda form Chocho, with arms folded in front, glaring as well as staring. Chocho’s uncle Yukai sits on the ground next to the giant Chocho panda, cradling a shamisen and plectrum together in one hand, while he nurses a cup of sake in his other hand. Next to him the Ishitara tree sits rooted to the spot, with her koto growing out of her own lap, all three eyes shining. The main body of Konohamaru sits in his small orange and green steam toad form, resting on top of the Ishitara tree’s head, nestled in among the pink flowers, in between the two horn shaped twigs on her tree head.
The stone toad form training clone of Naruto sits behind the real one, surrounded by freshly grown green bamboo shoots, with Master Fukasaku resting on top of his head. The dark crystal form training clone of Konohamaru hovers watchfully over the stone toad, while Sarada’s magma form training clone hovers next to him, also seemingly glaring at the new chick, but with flaming eyes without pupils to point at anything.
On a nearby hillside, Sasuke, Kakashi, and Katasuke sensei observe the proceedings along with Shikamaru, and Choji, with Katasuke feverishly taking mental notes. Shizune and Karui observe from the base of the hill closer to the gathering, along with Hinata, Ino, and Sakura, with their mentor, a barely contained Lady Tsunade. High up on some other nearby hills overlooking the group, two lone Iwagakure shinobi peer out stealthily over the proceedings, a slim young dark haired kunoichi, with short cropped hair and excitedly peering through a magnifying folding telescope, and a much larger and rounder dark haired male shinobi, wearing a hooded cloak and more nervous than excited.
Shintaro:
Well… I believe we’re all here… We’ve all been gathered here to day… because… almost all of us here… are members of a particular club… an elite and select club… the Bakemono Club… of bakemono hito… people who can transform… with sage transformation… gaining unnatural powers not available to normal humans while in human form… without fully mastering senjutsu… and gaining a sage mode… But this special access to power… comes with special dangers… ill-mastered forms leading to ill consequences… errant transformations in one’s sleep are not unheard of… and with forms with slightly or completely deranged senses… among unprepared family… such occurrences can often be tragic… There was once a people… an exiled faction of the Uzumaki Clan… banned from the traditional Uzumaki senjutsu training… or any other training among the Uzumaki… because they were too hot blooded and tempestuous for the clan to deal with… and they could not be trusted with the power… So they sought out the power of Ryuchi Cave… And the White Snake Sage agreed to teach some of them… The tradition of Ryuchi Cave… specializes somewhat in sage transformations… of a far deeper… and sometimes irrevocable nature… among other things… The few that underwent this transformation with the White Snake… developed a permanent and inheritable condition… of an erratic and violence prone transformation… so difficult to control… that the offshoot clan has nearly completely wiped itself out… Their last surviving member… a man named Jugo… has voluntarily remanded himself to the custody of my old friend Orochimaru… and if you know anything about my old friend Orochimaru… you can understand how desperate he must have been… and still is to this day…
Monkey Boruto:
We met Jugo!… He was helping out some birds that were affected like him… because of some psycho jerk’s twisted experiment… He seemed to have a rough time of it…
Dragon Sarada:
He was awfully brave though… I had no idea… about the Ryuchi Cave connection… Hey!… Is it safe for my father and Boruto to be going there?!?…
Ichikishichan:
Safe enough for the brave of heart… like my darling Boruto… not so much for fake dragons!…
Dragon Sarada:
Nani?!?… What did you say?… Snake Skin?!?…
The dragon lady Sarada tips up he hat to glare more directly through her sun glasses. The magma form Sarada’s flaming eyes and hair flare up, under the influence of the agitation.
Dark Crystal K:
Cool it…
The steam toad form Konohamaru jumps off Ishitara’s head and transforms into a human sized humanoid form of his steam toad, and walks over to sit behind the dragon girl and put his hand on her shoulder.
Steam Toad K:
Don’t let her get to you… This is kid’s stuff… not fit for shinobi…
Ichikishichan:
Well it’s only fitting… Konohamarusama… She is just a kid after all… a kid playing pretend dragon…
The magma girl Sarada raises her fists and forms two large hard rock blocks around her fists, then smashes them together in front to her leaving behind two hard rock gloves formed around her porcelain hands, but now with the hard rock materials covering her hand and body developing cracks and crevices of molten orange and red.
Magma Sarada:
Perhaps I should play pretend snake hunter… and make myself some snake skin boots…
Panda Chocho:
Fashionable!… Downright stylin!… I could go for a pair…
Dragon Sarada:
She’s big enough for the both of us… Perhaps the class rep would like a pair…
Class Rep:
Uh… that’s okay… I think I would like to hear what else Shintaro sensei has to tell us… Don’t you?… Sensei!… Sensei!… What else do we need to know about sage transformation?…
Shintaro:
It is extremely important to master your forms once you have developed them… Practice is essential for your new forms to become as natural to you as possible… You have to spend time in your new skin… in order to get used to it… and to master it’s special powers… that you may not have access to otherwise… There is also the problem for a few of you having forms with altered states of consciousness that may impair proper reasoning to some extent… Like Naruto’s stone toad form…
Stone Toad:
I am menma!…
Naruto:
Again with the menma!… Is he hungry?… I don’t even like menma that much… ya know… Why is he obsessed with bamboo shoots all of the sudden?…
Stone Toad:
Naruto is menma!… I am menma… We are all menma… In menma we trust… Because we are menma…
Shintaro:
See what I mean?… Inkojin over there seems to suffer to some extent as well… But at least he still seems somewhat functional… He just seems to have excess liquid for brains… jiggling liquid brains…
Inkojin:
Harsh vibe teach… And call me shades… as in shades of ink… plus these… get it?… Cool huh?…
Shintaro:
Honestly?… In general… if you have to ask… then no…
Shades:
Harsh vibe feather bro…
Shintaro:
Others among you may have lesser concerns that will nonetheless have to be kept under close observation for how they may effect your judgment in more subtler ways that might surprise you… For example… young Denkisama’s fire monkey may present a special challenge in this regard… as fire monkeys are known for their erratic and tempestuous natures… something you may have noticed already…
Smoky Monkey:
I have… But it just all seems really exciting… like I can’t wait to cut loose… Unlike Boruto…
Gray Fox:
Ai… He just seems permanently overclocked… high voltage monkey for brains… mendocusei…
Monkey Boruto:
Hey!… So I got the juice… So what?…
Shintaro:
Boruto’s other form is more of a concern… especially it’s dietary habits…
Gray Fox:
What is it?… I never saw it… Because I instinctively flew home somehow that I don’t understand yet… I never saw what happened to Boruto or Mitsuki…
Monkey Boruto:
Shouldn’t Mistuki be here too?… He was gone when I woke up…
Shintaro:
Mitsuki is consulting with his parent… as well as running an errand for me with that same parent… Mituski is dealing with something very special and unique… But he is far better off where he is… I would concern myself more with myself than I would with Mitsuki under the circumstances… if I were you… Fortunately for you… like your father… you have mastered the Shadow Clone Justu… which will allow you to train with your new form… without being lost within it… But you will have to contend with it’s… special dietary needs… Speaking of which… Himawarichan… Do you still have the provisions I gave to you for safekeeping?…
Polar Bear Cub:
Hai!…
The polar bear cub Himawari turns and reaches behind her and pulls forward an ice chest, then removes the lid, revealing the ice chest to be filled with bags of blood.
Polar Bear Cub:
I kept it as close to cold without freezing as I could… just like you said…
Shintaro:
Good… Cover it up and stand by…
The polar bear cub does as she’s instructed and replaces the lid, with her paw on top at the ready.
Shintaro:
Fortunately for you Boruto… Choza is expanding into meat and sausage packaging and preparation… among other things… As such he recently began operating his own slaughter house… for fresh meats… with lots of cheap blood… as an unavoidable byproduct… Generate a training clone with your Shadow Clone Jutsu… then transform it into your new form… if you can… You’ve tried again already haven’t you?… since then?…
Monkey Boruto:
Yeah… About that… Mom forbade me from changing into that thing anymore… at least not around the house… and not around Himawari… I think she saw me drooling in that form while I was looking at Himawari in her squirrel girl form… And she kind of freaked… She clobbered me when she caught me chasing after neighborhood dogs and cats… I woke up normal with my flight privileges revoked…
Shintaro:
Is that why Himawari is transformed into her polar bear form?… as opposed to the squirrel girl?… to avoid any unnecessary areal chases through the skies of Konoha?…
Monkey Boruto:
Basically… I still haven’t voluntarily come back from that form yet… I just pass out for whatever reason… then I come to when I’m normal again… I don’t think I can trust that form… It’s probably for the best that my flight privileges were revoked…
Shintaro:
Well… consider them reinstated… for training purposes… but only with a training clone for now… You may now consider yourself under a similar sort of training restriction as Naruto with his stone toad form… Except under extreme emergencies… never change your main body into your bat form… Only ever use a training clone… And leave it in that form… periodically absorbing it’s accumulated experience… getting use to it… it’s proclivities… and it’s state of mind… until you can handle it… Now!… Imada!…
The sparkly monkey Boruto performs the Shadow Clone Jutsu and conjures up an identical sparkly monkey, then the training clone takes his drumsticks and begins to play with them on the stone wall of the fire pit, as he whistles. A whirling black funnel cloud surrounds the clone completely, then, before the funnel cloud could be dispersed, Boruto’s bat form flies out of the funnel cloud, straight up and howling, before flying back down and landing by the ice box of blood. Himawari pulls her polar bear paw away, just as bat Boruto rips off the lid of the ice box, and begins to gorge.
The blindfolded Naruto begins to whistle a few bars of the whistling version of the Wind Style Chakra Resonance Jutsu, just to get bat Boruto’s attention. The Himawari cub soon follows suit and whistles along. The Boruto bat rears it’s blood soaked black fur covered face, as he listens, then he speaks in a low gravelly voice.
Bat Boruto:
Pretty… Nani?… Is that my voice?… That sounds weird… Everything sounds weird… and loud!… Everything is so loud… And blood smells so sweet…
Ichikishichan:
It does… Doesn’t it?…
Himawari Cub:
Euooooh!…
Naruto:
So you can hear me?… Can you think clearly at all?… I would like to know that my son is still in there… ya know?… even if you’re just a clone…
Bat Boruto:
I hear you… It’s just… everything is just so loud this way… It makes it really hard to think…
Shintaro:
Everything is so loud… because normally bats are completely blind… and navigate by sonar… Your bat form has one special eye… But still relies upon it’s hearing to make it’s way through the world… It will take time to get used to that… But you must keep up your strength with adequate feeding while you train to master it… Now… the main reason I gathered you all here… was to get this ongoing kerfuffle under proper control and supervision… and to lead by example… by not being left behind…
Dragon Sarada:
Left behind?… learned ancestor?…
Shintaro:
Hai… I may surpass you all with senjustu proper… But I have fallen behind with respect to transformation… and been surpassed by my own granddaughter and great granddaughter… And I have other reasons behind my motivation… for what I am about to attempt…
Naruto:
What are you about to attempt?…
Shintaro:
The shadow lightening style transformation… It’s one I’ve been wanting from the very beginning of my efforts… for pure speed alone… of all the elements… lightening is the fastest… and of all the shadow element styles… shadow lightening is the fastest there is… bar none… But it has so far eluded me… But now with so many capable and transformational musicians to help me… I just might finally stand a chance… Now… ready all of your instruments… and for those of you with recourse to the shadow clone jutsu… ready your clones… Young Denkisama… your father bought you a new piano for your training efforts… eventually you’ll need to come up with a better solution… and learn to summon it your self… But for now… I have this one taken care of for you… the same goes for Shades over there…
Shintaro performs quick series of hand seals, and conjures up a grand piano, and an upright base fiddle and bow.
Shintaro:
Now be careful not to get too worked up… and set fire to your instrument again… at least not until it’s easier to replace…
Smoky Monkey:
Hai sensei!…
The smoky monkey takes his seat behind his piano, and Shades take his place next to him manning his upright base. Chocho transforms into her butterfly form and summons forth her ocarina, ready to play. Her Uncle Yukai next to her, sets down his sake cup, and summons forth three additional shamisen playing paper clones, all in sage mode, to join the band. Dragon Sarada summons forth a large number of biwa playing clones, in both in her dragon form and her crow form. She conjures forth at least one lightening Susanoo form Sarada in the form of shadow lightening constructed biwa and plectrum, replacing the normal set in her main body dragon form’s hands. Monkey Boruto summons forth three more monkey Borutos, and four drum kits, one for each monkey. The shadow fox walks over to his friend’s training clone in it’s flying bat form, to help keep an eye on it, as he readies himself on his harmonica.
Shintaro himself conjures forth five paper clones, all with there own paper clone ocarinas, before he begins to play the shadow lightening style chakra resonance justu. Various clones and what not, all join in for a cacophony of music, gradually building to a frenzied and fevered intensity. The cacophony reaches an apparent climax, the purple lightening begins to strike at Shintaro’s main body in it’s humanoid owl form, and his son Yukai’s main body, striking at them from dragon Sarada’s purple lightening biwa, and monkey Boruto and his monkey clones with their various drum kits. Shintaro’s paper clones are all incinerated by purple lightening strikes, as are Yukai’s. Numerous purple lightening strikes hit Shintaro and Yukai in rapid succession, lighting them up like translucent purple x ray images of their normal flesh.
Shintaro becomes transformed in to a silvery metallic statue of his feathered owl form and his ocarina likewise seemingly carved from the same metallic chunk. And Yukai disappears entirely after the last purple lightening strike hits him. All of the assembled musicians suspend their playing suddenly in shock at the transformations. The shiny Shintaro statue begins to shape shift and transform again, as if melting and reforming slightly, taking the form of a naked but anatomically incomplete version of himself, like a silver manikin version without his ocarina. The silver manikin raises it’s arms high above it’s head, and purple lightening shoots up out of the ground and dances all around the silver figure, and all along it’s silvery surface, all the way up to it’s head and hands, then straight up to the sky, like connecting a circuit. The purple lightening continues to spread throughout the clouds in the sky above them for a moment, before stopping. A purple lightening strike hits the Shintaro statue’s shoulder, then takes the form of a hunting falcon of some kind, made of pure purple shadow lightening, like a real life thunder bird.
T Bird Yukai:
I made it dad!… My first transformation!… And I’m very satisfied… and electrified!…
The Shintaro statue turns seemingly to look at Boruto, and speaks without moving his lips.
Silver Shintaro:
Boruto!… Hand me your device!… I know you have one… you weren’t supposed to bring one… But you did anyway… I can sense it on you… But it’s just as well… I need to test something… Now hand it over!…
The main monkey Boruto gets up from his drum kit, walks over reluctantly while reaching into his pocket to pull out small portable electronic game, the hesitates before handing over to the eager silver sage. The silver sage feels about the device with it’s silvery hands, looking for the on button. Then he finds it and presses it.
Silver Shintaro:
It worked!…
Monkey Boruto:
Of course it worked… I fully charged it before we left…
Silver Shintaro:
No!… I mean it worked for me!… They always go haywire when I try to see inside them… But not only does it work… I can see inside it while it does… I can see the flow of the electrons!… With this… I can finally master fusion!…
Then the silver sage tosses Boruto’s device high up in the air, before it explodes over head.
Monkey Boruto:
My game!… Was that fusion?!?…
Sliver Shintaro:
No… That was the explosion style… the combination of lightening and earth… And that… was for bringing an unauthorized device… that you were told explicitly not to bring…
Smoky Monkey:
I told you… You should have seen what he did to my laptop…
Silver Shintaro:
Fusion is a form of technology that generates power by fusing two atoms together… But every version of fusion that I ever come across in my travels… has required the mastery of advanced electronics… something that I could barely even touch without causing it to go haywire… let alone see inside… But now these devices are as transparent to me… as I’m told that glass is… to people who see normally…
Ichikishichan:
Not bad… for a secondary fledgling tradition…
Dragon Sarada:
Secondary fledgling tradition!?!… Snakeskin!?!… Who are you calling secondary?… or fledgling?…
Ichikishichan:
It’s nothing personal… I’m just being honest… The Uzumaki themselves haven’t been around that long… let alone the Uzumaki tradition… Compared to my mother alone that is… But a fake dragon wouldn’t understand that…
Dragon Sarada:
Are you… trying to pick a fight?…
Butterfly Cho Cho:
That’s what it sounds like to me… Does the snakeskin mouth breather want to back up those words?…
Class Rep:
Now now… Can’t we just continue with Shintaro sensei’s instruction?… Since that is what we are here for… is it not?… Shintaro sensei?…
As if in organic response to the class rep’s emotional distress about her friends conflict, the kept yokai Nue spontaneously materializes, about the size of a lion, with grayish fur, black tiger stripes, and a white lion’s mane, and a tail that is really a tentacle, with sharp toothed circular mouth on the end of it like sucker fish. Nue appears already growling at Ichikishichan.
Ichikishichan:
Snacks?… For me?… You shouldn’t have!…
Ichikishichan transforms into a large giant white snake similar but smaller compared to that of her mother, the White Snake Sage, then she makes a beeline, swimming through the air like a dragon with jaws gaping, for Nue. Cho Cho jumps in front of Nue instinctively to protect her friend’s familiar.
Cho Cho:
Nue!…
Karui:
Cho Cho!…
In a flash of purple lightening, Karui disappears from her observation point next to her newly revealed sister Shizune, then reappears transformed, in a feathered humanoid dragon form, with sparkly pink scales and red and orange feathers, and sparkly pink talons. Karui smashes the giant snake snout of Ichikishichan down into the ground as she reappears in her newly revealed dragon form in between Cho Cho and Ichikishichan in a flash of purple lightening.
Dragon Karui:
Back away from my daughter!… Snake Skin!…
Karui kicks up at the giant white snake’s chin, and sends the snake hurling back and away from her and her daughter. Sasuke comes along with Choji running down to join his wife and daughter.
Cho Cho:
Mama?…
Dragon Karui:
Yes baby… My father taught me too… But I got results similar to your cousin Sarada’s… I did it some time after you were born… I dedicated myself to the training for it… But I knew I had to leave active duty for it because I wouldn’t be able to keep our family secrets…
Choji:
But… then you… could do that… when the Otsutsuki attacked the Chyunin exams?…
Dragon Karui:
Yes Choji… I wanted to act… But my father’s secrets have turned me into a habitual coward in my retirement… I wanted to tell you Choji… But I felt ashamed for not acting back then…
Silver Shintaro:
As it is… you probably acted correctly… or the empire would already know of your existence here… and everyone would be worse off for it…
Naruto:
Agreed… ya know… and we wouldn’t have believed it then anyway… we weren’t ready for any of it yet any way… ya know…
Choji:
Agreed… You were just doing your family duty in keeping the family secrets… and as my wife… your family secrets are mine too… And I have no complaints… I have a family…
Ichikishichan transforms back into her young teen girl form, and floats her way back over to Karui and Choji, along with Cho Cho, Sarada, and the class rep.
Ichikishichan:
Well I say… I for one am most impressed… And I must say that I approve enthusiastically!…
Dragon Karui:
Nani?!?…
Ichikishichan:
And I am more than happy to share Boruto with his other girlfriends… even the Dragon Lady…
Dragon Sarada:
Me!?!… I’m not!…
Cho Cho:
Were not like that… Or at least I’m not… Maybe those two are… But I’m not…
Dragon Sarada:
Cho Cho!?!…
Class Rep:
Nani?!?…
Ichikishichan:
I said that I would share… But I’m clearly a distraction here… So I’ll leave Boruto to his other girlfriends… for now… But I’ll be back…
Sasuke:
Ichikishichan… the White Snake Sage will hear about what’s been going on here… sooner or later… from one source or another… And my daughter isn’t a fake anything…
Ichikishichan:
I meant no real offense Sasukesama…
Ichikishichan shimmers away and disappears, leaving Silver Shintaro to handle an interloper about to get caught interloping.
Silver Shintaro:
I’m sorry I ever put you in such a position Karui… But as I told you before… you needn’t ever keep secrets for me again… Now If you don’t mind… I need to teach some friendly spies a lesson in manners versus the utility of eves dropping…
Sasuke:
Friendly spies?…
Silver Shintaro disappears in flash or purple lightening, followed by dragon Karui and Yukai doing the same. Butterfly Cho Cho changes to her purple lightening butterfly form and follows suit. Silver Shintaro and the others materialize in a flash of purple lightening surrounding the two lone Iwagakure shinobi spying on the proceedings from a nearby hilltop in the Valley of Exile.
Silver Shintaro:
It is exceedingly rude to spy on friends Tsuchikagesama… Even though it is common for shinobi… Kurotsuchi desuka?…
Kurotsuchi:
Hai… Kurotsuchi desu… How did you know who I am?… did they tell you?… Ghost of Winter?… That is who you are?… right?… The… Ghost of Winter?… In the flesh?… sort of?…
Silver Shintaro transforms back into his fully human form, momentarily naked in his first transformation back to human form from his silver sage form. Shintaro quickly covers himself in one of quickly forming shikigami paper mache clothing fabrications, but not before a star struck Kurotsuchi gets an eyeful.
Shintaro:
Hai… Tsuchikagesama… I have gone by that name in the distant past… did your grandfather tell you about me?…
Kurotsuchi:
Hai… And call me Kurotsuchi!… or whatever you want really…
Shintaro:
You seem rather excitable… Kurotsuchisama… Are you well?… You seem fevered… is that your excuse for rudely spying upon allies rather than introducing yourselves properly…
Kurotsuchi:
Excuse?… Oh I don’t need an excuse under the circumstances… When I get reports of the demonic infestation of Konoha… and the return of the Ghost of Winter… why shouldn’t I assume that the fifth great ninja war hasn’t already started?… and that Konoha isn’t already compromised?…
Shintaro:
A very competent cover story… for anyone not used to dealing with shinobi… And your heart keeps racing… Are you sure that your are not ill?…
Kurotsuchi:
I have a reason!… But it’s private… for your ears only…
Shintaro:
You presume to bargain for secrets?… as an unannounced interloper?… Boldly presumptuous… even for a kage…
Kurotsuchi:
It’s private!… But I’ll tell you in front of these strangers… if you answer my question first… How did you know that I was the Tsuchikage?…
Shintaro:
First of all… these are my children and grandchildren… not strangers… Secondly… I recognized the chakra of the Third Tsuchikage in the body of his descendants… in particular… you… Thirdly… the particle style kekei genkai of the Second and Third Tsuchikages is exceedingly rare… almost as rare as the wood style… And you certainly have it…
Kurotsuchi:
Wait… I don’t have it… I didn’t inherit that… I wish I did… The state of affairs for Iwagakure would far better if that were the case…
Shintaro:
I assure you… you have… I’m almost never wrong… or least I haven’t been so far… Just premature perhaps… My great granddaughter Uchiha Sarada has a sage element form that allows her to use the particle style… she could use a training partner with their own natural kekei genkai… She had the opportunity to copy your grandfathers with her Sharingan when he came to Konoha once… But she could only just recently begin to make use of it… I could help coach you… if that is the reason for your keen interest… So what exactly is the reason for your interest being so keen… that you would forsake good manners among allies?…
Kurotsuchi:
I want your seed!…
Temari:
Nani?!?…
Karui:
Temarisama!?!… Why are you spying?…
Temari exits her place of concealment behind some bushes, followed by her brother Kankuro from Suna, and his team of genin, featuring Temari’s nephew Shinki.
Temari:
I… was asked… and I work for Konoha now!… You’re the retired one… My brother was in town for personal family reasons with my nephew and his team… allies of Konoha who weren’t sneaking about in the dark… not without my permission any way… we spotted you two goofballs and your careless and distracted sneak in attempt… I told Shikamaru that we’d keep an eye on you till you started to make sense again… But that’s not likely to happen anytime soon is it… Now I know why your acting so careless and distracted… You’re some sort of fan girl aren’t you?…
Kurotsuchi:
I’m not a fan girl!… exactly… I must admit to being a bit of a fan of the stories that my grandfather would tell us… But I must also admit to being lonely at the top… trying for a top flight kunoichi with high standards to begin with… all the worse for the kunoichi that becomes Tsuchikage!… My crowning success as a kunoichi… has left it difficult to mange other matters… And there are few who measure up to begin with… The real life legend of the Ghost of Winter… would certainly do it… as long as he wasn’t too ugly… I was prepared for a little ugly… but he’s gorgeous!…
Dragon Karui:
You are a fan girl!… I’m seen this before… It’s Yugito all over again… My father has no skill at all with women… or people in general… But it never fails… And it’s always the same general type… He’s an incorrigible power babe magnet!…
Kurotsuchi:
Don’t make me beg!… or forsake the alliance for it… I need… heirs… for my kekei genkai that I didn’t even know that I had!… and… I need… training… for my kekei genkei… Without this… I may have to step down as the Tsuchikage… unable to carry on… for a variety of reasons… And that would destabilize the alliance…
Tamari:
You wouldn’t!… Not the sake of some… fan girl crush!…
Shintaro:
What you are suggesting… is essentially political blackmail…
Kurotsuchi:
So be it!… I’m not a fan girl!… I am the Fourth Tsuchikage!… But I may not be for long… realistically… under the circumstances… I can’t talk about it… but recent events under my watch… have destabilized and weakened Iwagakure… I’ve been tempted to step down as it is… I need you personally… and desperately… for Iwagakure as well as myself… so you may consider yourself a royal hostage to my political blackmail if it makes you feel any better… But I will have your seed one way or the other… so lets’ not escalate things and involve the feudal lords… and some secrets I know that our grand father told me from the good old days of the second great ninja war… And you’ll find it very difficult to pull off anything politically then… if you still insist…
Shintaro:
Very well… Kurotsuchisama… I will take you as my student… And I will take you as my concubine… Kurotsuchisama… I will be your royal hostage… But you will be mine… Now come with me… And we will find a place for you… as soon as I know where I’m sleeping…
Wild rumors begin to circle about for several days as training with the mad magician continues, among other things, in the aftermath of Shintaro’s demonstrations. Various media of Konoha and elsewhere begin reporting on the speculation, until being quietly advised to err more on the side of discretion for the time being. Messengers from Konoha are sent to inform the other kage and their respective villages, about all of the chief revelations learned, as well as the mad magician’s proposal for a shinobi university, and the offer of the infamous Blood Treasury of Uzu to help finance to whole project. Word of extreme interest circulates back to Konoha fairly quickly, within a matter of days, not so much for the mad magician that almost no one remembers, but more for the infamous and legendary Blood Treasury of Uzu on offer.
A five kage summit is immediately called for by Naruto and Shikamaru, emphatically supported by the feudal lords of the five great nations, dreaming of the legendary coffers of the Blood Treasury of Uzu. The day before the summit, a pair of Kumo shinobi arrive early in Konoha. One with dark skin and bleach white hair had a large cleaver style zanbato sword strapped to his back. The other shinobi was much lighter skinned with similar hair and a katana strapped to his back. They make their way discretely through the streets of Konoha to the front door of Naruto’s house, where they ring the doorbell. Shintaro answers the door and greets the cleaver master by name.
Shintaro:
Daruisan!… So glad you could come!… I hope your not too cross with me for taking Yukai away with me… I assure you I was always planning on returning him eventually… And I just figured that you would understand once I returned him to you as a much more powerful shinobi that I took away with me… My son Yukai is now a sage of the Uzumaki tradition…
Darui:
That sounds very impressive and promising… But I was never really concerned about Yukai to begin with… I figured you two would show up again… eventually… I’m more concerned about your latest incident of mass disruption… And figuring out what I’m supposed to tell the other kage about why we kept your presence in Kumo a secret from them… in violation of the previous agreement by the five kage… Politics can be so tedious and tiresome…
Shintaro:
Oh… Never mind all that politics now!… You and Omoisan are just in time to leave with us!…
Darui:
Leave with you?… For what?… To go where?… We just got here!…
Shintaro:
For a tour of the meta-verse of course!… We’re leaving on an errand to retrieve the Blood Treasury of Uzu!… to build a university!… Don’t you want to see it?… the things that I told you about so many years ago?… before you became Raikage?… There is a vast and infinite metaverse out there… waiting to be explored!… Come with me and the Konoha shinobi!… You too Omoisan!… I hope you’ve been practicing… The demon order of Kumo will need you… no doubt… And the alliance will need the Demon Order of Kumo!… That is it’s purpose after all… That was the purpose for which I endeavored to start it in the first place… when I first came to Kumo… It was always about more than just the interests of Kumo…
Naruto:
The Demon Order of Kumo?…
A masked and cloaked Naruto chimes in from behind Shintaro as he makes his way to the door, followed by Shikamaru, Konohamru, and a tired but pleased looking Tsuchikage.
Shintaro:
Hai… It was modeled partially after the original anbu unit here in Konoha… itself meant to replicate the demon order of Uzushio… But I applied the hard lessons that I learned there… in an attempt to avoid a repeat of my own mistakes by anyone else… But that is a long story… And we have no time to waste!… Stories can wait!… Besides… it will be easier to show rather than tell… And once we set sail… there are an endless array of things for me to show you all… I can’t wait!…
Kurotsuchi:
Sounds endlessly exciting… my pet sensei…
Darui:
Kurotsuchi?…
Kurotsuchi:
We’re a thing now… I’m his concubine… And he’s my sensei… with benefits… The reasons are complicated and personal… But I put my second in charge as a regent kage… like Naruto did with Shikamaru here… for training purposes… I’m in training… among other things… I’m also babysitting a mad magician… so don’t bug me while I’m babysitting…
Shintaro:
Yukai is currently helping to train some of our cousins over in the old Uchiha Quarter… We can set sail immediately!… or as soon as an exploratory crew can be assembled for our little three hour tour…
Darui:
A three hour tour?…
Shintaro:
A three hour tour… Well… most likely… The retrieval of the Blood Treasury… and a little tour of the metaverse along the way… two birds… one stone… You can also see for yourself the kind of shinobi that my son has become… We’d better get going…
Shikamaru:
I gave Choji a list of shinobi to bring along… By now everyone should be assembled and waiting with Yukai in the old Uchiha Quarter… If you are coming then your timing is perfect… But don’t sweat the stuff about Shintaro too much… We here in Konoha have our own complicated history to sort through when it comes to the mad magician here… It seems like a pattern with him… Mendocuse… But we do have to go… The feudal lords want the Blood Treasury… in Konoha… before the summit tomorrow… or they want actual blood…
Darui:
Hai… I heard that much already… We’re ready to go anytime… It’s somewhat tedious and tiresome but… I need to talk to Karui… sooner rather than later… preferably before we leave…
Shintaro:
She is coming with us… You can talk along the way… Icu!…
Darui:
Hai… Hai…
Shintaro leaves the house arm in arm with his new proudly grinning concubine Kurotsuchi, along with Naruto, Shikamaru, and Naruto’s stone toad form training clone, with a small Kurama clone riding on top of his head, along with the new arrivals tagging along as well, and they begin to make their way to the old Uchiha Quarter where a flesh and blood Yukai is busy sparring with a normal human Chocho and a normal human Sarada. With Yukai using his sword to put them both through their paces, Sarada with her kusarigama, and Chocho with her three-sectioned-staff, a dragon scale free Karui looks on with a subtle smile on her face. Choji and Choza arrive carrying provisions, followed by Sai and his son Inojin, Chocho’s teammate, and Inojin’s mother Ino. Shikamaru’s wife Temari and their son Shikadai follow along, Chocho’s other teammate. Sakura, Hinata, Sasuke, and Boruto follow behind them as well, with little Himawari in tow. As they approach, Boruto sees Yukai, Sarada, and Chocho sparring and reaches back with his left hand and pulls his sword out from it’s scabbard, hanging from his left shoulder diagonally, then begins to hurry to join the fray. Sasuke sticks his arm out in front of Boruto to stop him.
Sasuke:
Don’t bother… We don’t have time… You can spar later…
Boruto:
But Sasuke sensei!… We’re just going to be standing around forever while my old man struggles to feel his way here!…
Sasuke:
It’s not that difficult for him… And he has Shintaro and Shikamaru with him… We’ll probably have to be underway fairly quickly… This has quickly become something of an S-rank mission… in terms of importance… if not risk… And who really knows what the risk is… except for my crazy grandfather…
Karui:
So… you agree with me?… that he really is crazy?…
Sasuke:
Crazy enough… Crazy enough to be useful…
Karui:
Well… Sumimasen… But I just can’t see it that way… But I also can’t leave you normies to fend for yourselves with him… given how enamored you all seem to be of him all of a sudden… Especially you Chocho!… I’m afraid I’m just going to have to keep an eye on him myself… Besides… I haven’t seen my childhood home since… since we had to leave it forever and come to Kumo… when I was a little girl… I wonder if it’s even still there…
Karui’s words catch Chocho’s attention, as she’s momentarily distracted, she fails to block Sarada’s swinging kusarigama chain and it ends up wrapping around her, with the ball on the end smacking her right in the face after it wraps around.
Chocho:
Ouch!…
Karui:
Pay attention Chocho!… Yukai!… That’s enough sparring!… We’re going to have to leave soon anyway… assuming our crazy old man is ever showing up that is…
As Karui says this, the sound of whirling wind is first heard low in the distance, but then rapidly grows louder as the source of the whirling sound becomes visible. A massive funnel cloud with Shintaro at the center of it, Kurotsuchi in his arms, approaches with Naruto, Shikamaru, Konohamru, Omoi, and the Raikage, stone toad and Kurama, hovering more or less motionless but orbiting around Shintaro and Kurotsuchi at the center. As the funnel cloud reaches it’s destination, it lowers everyone gently onto the ground next to the others waiting for them.
Karui:
Raikagesama?!?… Omoi?!?… What are you doing here?… The summit isn’t until tomorrow!…
Yukai:
Raikagesama?!?… Sumimasen!… Raikagesama!… Please forgive my absence!… I assure you… I have been serving the interests of Kumo this whole time… learning everything that I can… becoming stronger… for Kumo!…
Darui:
Don’t sweat it kid… I was never really that concerned about you to begin with… I already pretty much figured out that that was the case… But your father has been talking you up a bit… I certainly hope that you can live up to his promises… I would hate to think that all that time invested… ended up being wasted…
Yukai:
I assure it hasn’t Raikagesama!… And I have so much to show you!…
Shintaro:
Yukai!… Enough Grovelling!… I hate grovelling!… And I don’t think anyone here really wants to listen to it… It’s time to go!… Now!… Icu!…
Yukai:
You got it pops!…
Darui:
A little grovelling now and then isn’t too bad… Although… It can be a bit tedious and tiresome sometimes…
Stone Toad:
What if I feel grovelly?… Or is it gravelly?…
Yukai reaches behind him and pulls out a small scroll from his fanny pack. He opens it up, then places it on the ground as he kneels down before it. Yukai performs a quick series of hand seals, then raises his right hand above his head as it begins to emit an electric purple aura, before he presses down onto the surface of the scroll, covering a black hand silhouette printed on the scroll, surrounded by black ink drawn seal formula. The electric purple aura suddenly ramps up it’s amplitude on contact with the scroll and then shoots straight up several meters into the sky, where it forms a large opaque but glowing electric purple oval, like a large plasma sphere that has been stretched out lengthwise in order to contain something very large and very long.
The opaque oval electric purple aura suddenly and almost completely dissipates, except for some residual remaining aura surrounding what can now be clearly seen as a large flying wooden dragon boat, with the twelve steel ores on either side, with a carved dragons head and teeth at the front, and a carved dragon tail at the back, just in front of the rear pilot house. A large banner with the Uzumaki crest on it, is hoisted from a pole on top of the rear pilot house. The dragon boat hovers over the assembled shinobi for a moment before Yukai motions with his still glowing hand to lower the ship close enough to the ground for the assembled shinobi to jump on board, before the electric purple aura dissipates from his hand as well.
Boruto:
Wow!!!… That’s your ship?!?…
Yukai:
That it is!… That’s pops fastest design… and my personal favorite toy… He made it in large part specifically for Kumo… But the design can be used by the lightening users from any village of the alliance really… This one is spoken for but… we can’t quite turn it over yet… Because we’re not quite done with it yet… And we need to make more anyway…
Shintaro:
Naruto… You should go ahead and remove your mask and blindfold… Where we are headed… you are definitely going to want to see with your own eyes… But all other training requirements remain I full effect… Wakarimasuka?…
Naruto:
Hai!… Wakata!…
Naruto pulls back his hood and slides off his mask, and the blindfold it covered, and stashes his blindfold and mask inside his cloak for safe keeping.
Naruto:
Woh!… Did you really make that?… Did you use the wood style for that?…
Shintaro:
Hai… Among other things… Most importantly… the application of very complex formula… and very specialized forms… of fuinjutsu… some of which are included in the Space-Time scroll that I gave you… formulas and applications meant to replicate with fuinjutsu… the features of very advanced technology… from worlds far more advanced than our own… to travel faster than light… without portals produced by kekei genkai… or relying upon summoning contracts to access portal networks… And with the added advantage and flexibility of being able to change course as necessary… on the fly… in a manner of speaking… The name of the ship… is the Raikame!… Permission to come aboard granted!… Icu!…
Darui:
The Raikame?… Isn’t that a bit… grandiose?…
Shintaro:
With all due respect raikagesama… what would you have called it?… the Drab Minnow?…
Shintaro uses his whirl wind and flies up and over and onto the deck of the Raikame, with Kurostsuchi using an earthstyle levitation jutsu to tag along with him by the hand like a tethered kite, followed by his son Yukai with a quick burst of purple lightening. Then Yukai motions from the deck for the others to follow. Karui exerts her own burst of purple lightening to join them, followed by the Raikage himself doing exactly the same. The remainder of the assembled shinobi jump on board. On the deck, Shintaro motions for the rest to follow him into the pilot house. As they follow him inside, they find a relatively normal looking pilot house, but with out any conventional helm. In place of a helm, a large circular wooden pedestal sits in the middle of the pilot house, with a large silvery glowing hemisphere mounted on top of the pedestal, like a giant silver ball embedded halfway into the top of the pedestal, without any other feature or markings on the sphere or the pedestal. A giant circular magnifying lens is folded up out of the way flush against the ceiling.
Shintaro:
I can show you how the helm works later… Raikagesama… For now I can give you all a brief little tour of the ship… before we set sail… Choji… Choza… You can just set those provisions down in here for now… Let me show you all the real power behind the dragon boat…
Shintaro heads down through a stairwell leading down along the side of the pilot house leading below deck. Choji and Choza deposit their provisions on the floor of the pilot house, then follow in behind the others having already followed Shintaro below deck. At the bottom of the stairwell, Choji and Choza find the others gathered just inside an open door, opening into a seemingly impossible space, with the assembled shinobi stunned into stillness and silence. Choji and Choza make their own way through door for a better look at the impossible sight. Sarada is the first to break the silence.
Sarada:
That’s… That’s impossible!!!… This is all… ridiculously impossible!!!… Is this… some sort of… genjustu?… Is that door supposed to be… some kind of portal?…
Shintaro:
This is no genjutsu!… But the door does serve as a portal… of sorts…
Sarada:
Of Sorts?…
The sight that greets the stunned shinobi, is the inside of an impossibly large space, like the inside of a large warehouse complex, filled to the brim with all sorts of exotic odds and ends. The large space is brimming with collectors items, artifacts, and bits of advanced technology, all of various sizes ranging from extremely small things being collected on various shelves, to extremely large pieces of advanced technology and large statues, occupying whole corners of the warehouse complex.
Shintaro:
Hai… That door is not a portal to some separate space not located on this ship… We are still inside the same ship that you all just boarded… But that door still counts as a portal of sorts… in a manner of speaking… But it is a portal from an unaltered space… into a warped and distorted space… made dimensionally warped… by space-time fuinjutsu… creating the illusion of dimensional transcendence… effectively being bigger on the inside than outside…
Sarada:
Space-time… fuinjutsu?…
Shintaro:
Ai… The room in question is sealed… with a seal that warps and distorts the physical space within it… and everything that enters into it… creating the illusion of more space than is really here… because everything that enters this space is distorted… objects and people are effectively and seamlessly shrunk… pathways of rays of light effectively bent and twisted around… all smoothly and seamlessly creating the illusion of being dimensionally transcendental… But the illusion is trivial… however impressive it may be… The most important part is the part that’s real… increased effective storage space… a more elaborate application of the Uzumaki slight-of-hand with fuinjutsu… I haven’t even shown you the reactor room yet… This is just storage… The reactor room is the next one over… Let me show you what I’m talking about… when I talk about the real power behind the Raikame…
Shintaro leads the group over to another door, right next to the one they just came through. As they walk through the door, the source of a flickering purple glow comes into to view. In the center of a large cavernous room sits a massive glass water tank, filled with bubbling water, lit by the pulsating purple glow of a pair entwined purple streaming plasma ribbons, streams of charged particles, encircling around just outside the middle of the cylindrical water tank. The end of each ribbon connects to it’s other end as it circles around the tank creating two entwined closed loop plasma streams, like a pair of purple plasma ouroborises, entwined with each other and encircling the tank. As the entwined plasma ribbons rapidly spin around the water tank clockwise, the amplitude of the ribbons pulsate in synchronized fashion with six glowing purple orbs floating equidistantly around the central water tank, sending periodic purple discharges into the ribbons at the peak of their amplitude modulation.
Above and below the entwined plasma ribbons on the outside of the water tank, are placed six matched pairs of seal paper with one of each pair above the ribbons and the other half of the pair below them, with each pair placed equidistantly around the water tank, coinciding with the locations of the floating pulsating purple orbs. The seal papers on the water tank are covered in seal formula written in black ink that periodically turns purple, synchronized with the peak of the amplitude modulation of the ribbons and the orbs. At the peak amplitude, the seals on the water tank give out purple discharges to other similar seals placed on the walls surrounding the reactor, with normally invisible lines of energy connecting those seals with other parts of the ship, but only coming into view and they turn electric purple in response to the pulsating energy coming off of the reactor in the center.
Shintaro:
If you think that’s impressive… wait until we actually start using it!… Right now it’s only in standby mode… At peak power… you can’t even stand in this room… without being fried… It’s still a work in progress… But it’s coming along nicely… I’m actually working on a Fusion Scroll to add to the Demon Scroll and the Space-Time Scroll that I already gave you… But it’s a very frustrating and slow going process… and the work is still woefully incomplete… But made substantially more practical now that I have my new transformation… But still… I may never actually be able to complete it myself… I may have to pass on the remainder of the task to others… given the limitations of time… since none of us are truly immortal… none of us are true gods…
Sarada:
Limitations?…
Shintaro:
Hai… Not as much as before… My one true blindness… was a source of endless frustration to me as I traveled the metaverse… You see… I have always… practically since birth… instinctively and habitually infused my chakra into objects… so that I could see them… and see into them… But when I do this to any modern electronic devices… their infernal innards go horribly awry… It makes it virtually impossible as a practical matter… to properly study advanced technology… like the many examples of fusion reactors… that my son and I have come across… in our travels throughout the metaverse… from worlds with far more advanced technology than what we have here on this planet… even now… We like to collect these as we travel… for possible future study by people more qualified to do so than us… My son Yukai knows somewhat considerably more about electronics than I do as he does not suffer from my limitation… But it is still not enough to master the sort of advanced technology that we’ve found in our travels… Cheating with fuinjutsu is all I can do for now… And I still have to finish that damn scroll… As it is… I do have some working designs using fuinjutsu… that can be replicated with very large expenditures of chakra… And frankly… also driven by fairly large amounts of chakra… Whereas… advanced technology requires no chakra at all necessarily… whether to build or to run… Even ordinary people can use it… as long as they are educated how… It opens up avenues of power to people that have no other means… But I still can’t yet help with that… At least… not well enough yet… But enough of my wallowing in frustrated self-pity… Time to show you people how the helm works!…
Shintaro turns to walk out the door followed by his son Yukai and the others. With Sarada lingering slightly as she stares at the pulsating purple glow at the heart of the dragon boat. She starts to walk while still staring at the reactor, then bumps into the doorway to the reactor room.
Sarada:
Ouch!…
Chocho:
Sarada?… Daijoubudesuka?…
Sarada:
Hai!… Daijoubudesu!…
Sarada rubs the sore side of her head as she closes the door behind her. As the door shuts, a purple glow briefly emanates from the door jam, as it automatically seals behind her. As she makes her way back up to the pilot house with the others, she hears her father and Shintaro arguing.
Sasuke:
No way!… No way in hell!… Not in any hell!…
Shintaro:
I need him!… And you should already know why!… At least partly…
Naruto:
With all due respect Uncle Shintaro… I’m with Sasuke on this one… We simply can’t bring Orochimaru with us… We don’t need the trouble!… And there is no way we can trust him…
Sarada:
Orochimaru?…
Chocho:
Granpa wants to go pick him up and take him with us!…
Shintaro:
I need him!… And as far as trust is concerned… I know him far better than I know just about any of you… And rational trust… is a function of familiarity more than anything else… consistent conformity to familiar expectations… of familiar people… You may not be able to trust him… But I know him… And I know I can trust him to be… as I know him to be… Not because I approve or agree… But because I understand… And I don’t need anyone’s permission for that!… If we cannot take him with us now… Then I will just do what is necessary later… without the rest of you to tag along… or to be any the wiser… for having been absent by choice!…
Sasuke:
Like you trusted him with your own niece?… Karin?…
Shintaro:
Hai!… A decision I stand by even now… without regrets!… save for having been too late to save her mother… A far more rational decision than you trusting him for the sake of power and revenge!…
Darui:
Look… It may be somewhat tedious and tiresome… But I’m with Shintaro sensei on this one… I may not like it… or trust it… But I’ll trust Shintaro versus Orochimaru any day… if it comes to it… Quite frankly… I trust Shintaro sensei to keep Orochimaru in check… better than I trust the Five Kage to be able to manage it…
Sasuke:
Fine!… But if he gets out of line… Then I’ll kill him myself!… Once and for all!…
Shintaro:
Didn’t you do that already?… How many times do you think you need to kill him before he learns his lesson… and stays dead?…
Sasuke:
I’ll let you know when I’m done…
Shintaro:
Very well then… You’re welcome to try… But don’t you remember what I said about killing demons?… There simply is no killing or destroying a demon… A demon that is not sealed… is not defeated… And my old friend Orochimaru… has unfortunately made himself into little better than a demon of his own twisted design… Something that… as a member of the Demon Order of Uzushio… I simply cannot abide… But I need him… And I have recourse to means that no one else has… to remedy the situation permanently!… one way or the other… provided I am not interfered with… Yukai!… Set course for Orochimaru’s Redoubt!…
Yukai:
Ai ai pops!…
A tense silence settles over the pilot house as Yukai stands behind the helm and pulls out a piece of paper with some kind of navigational seal formula, then he plants this seal paper onto the surface of the glowing hemisphere, with his suddenly glowing hand and it’s electric purple aura, firmly upon the glowing surface of the silvery hemisphere, infusing it with a similar electric purple glow, as the steel ores on either side of the dragon boat begin to spike and then pulsate in the amplitude of their similar aura, but in different phases of oscillation, generating a standing wave among the pulsating ores. An oval electric purple field suddenly encompasses the entire dragon boat, then flashes brightly and blindingly once before disappearing, as the navigational seal paper on the surface of the helm’s silver hemisphere disappears in small flash of purple light, revealing a landscape and geographic markers completely different from what they left behind.
Naruto, Sasuke, and few of the others, recognize their new location as being high above Orochimaru’s Redoubt where the agents of Konoha still stand guard as observing sentinels. With his hand still on the helm and still glowing purple, Yukai begins to lower the ship down closer to the ground. When the sentinel shinobi suddenly jump on board the ship without permission to investigate the unknown ship, kunai drawn at the ready, prepared for whatever they may encounter. Naruto goes out onto the deck to talk to his shinobi, followed by Sasuke and the rest.
Naruto:
Oi!… Yamato taisho!… Stand down!… You’re not going to believe this but were here for Orochimaru… And I’m going to need you and your team to come with us too…
Yamato:
Come with you?… Where are we going?… with Orochimaru?…
Naruto:
I can’t really explain that… because I don’t actually know exactly… ya know… But uncle Shintaro here insists… And we’re just going to have to see what happens for now… and be ready for anything that comes… I have a feeling… it’s going to a long three hour tour…
Yamato:
A three hour tour?!?…
Naruto:
A three hour tour!… I think… That’s what we were told… ya know…
Shintaro suddenly jumps off the deck of the ship to land down next to the entrance of the redoubt. Sasuke, Naruto, and Yamato jump off after him followed by Shikamaru, Choji, and the other sentinal shinobi, leaving the remainder to stay behind, reluctant to get involved unnecessarily in the kerfuffle to come. As Shintaro begins to make his way inside followed by the others, Orochimaru comes out to greet them, followed by his son Mitsuki and his assistant Karin.
Shintaro:
Orochi!… Ready to see the metaverse?… I’m afraid that not everyone likes my idea of taking you with us… But I managed to talk them into going along for now… But… if you misbehave… my grandson promises to kill you again… and then we’ll have to start all over again!…
Karin:
That’s… my uncle?… Is he off his meds?… or… on some really bad ones?…
Orochimaru:
Who knows?… Both have been known to happen… either way… it should make for a really interesting day…
Shintaro:
Karin?… I hope you can understand to some extent… why I had to do what I did… If that’s little consolation… for your mother… I will understand completely… But you seem to be doing very well… in spite of everything…
Karin:
I’m no hardship case… if that’s what you mean… Honestly… I don’t know you from squat… I’m here for Orochimarusama… because Orochimarusama… was here for me… You made sure of that… So you can hardly be surprised… when I don’t necessarily care what you’re up to… or what your excuses are… Just don’t try to get all… familial… like I owe you anything…
Shintaro:
I wouldn’t presume to deserve your respect… as your uncle… And you owe me absolutely nothing as such… If anything… I owe you a great deal… for failing to be there for you… as your uncle… one of many such debts that I have… that can never be paid…
Sasuke:
Orochimaru!… What exactly do you know about this?… What are you and my grandfather scheming?…
Orochimaru:
Scheming?… Honestly… you would have to ask Shintaro that question… assuming you can get a straight answer… All I know… is that he sent Mitsuki here to tell me he was coming… and that he had an offer that I couldn’t pass up… Whatever that could be… is beyond my ability to guess… People may think I’m unpredictable… But my old friend here is the real wild card… honestly… I just can’t wait to find out my self… Omoshiroi!…
Karin:
Is he really… your grandfather?… Sasuke?… and Naruto’s Uncle?… Orochimaro only just told me about him yesterday… when Mitsuki showed up with the news of his return to Konoha… I’m still not sure if I buy any of this… Do you?…
Sasuke:
It’s all been confirmed… at least as far as him being who he says he is… cousin Karin…
Shintaro:
Please… If we can just get underway… I’m sure much of this will begin to make much more sense… Once I can show you what I’m talking about… instead of just wasting breath on unbelievable words…
Shikamaru:
I agree… I think we’re wasting time arguing over matters… that cannot be settled here… And I must confess to being a bit impatient to see things for my self… Battles of words without evidence… are a complete waste of time… And we really do have to go… So… are you coming?… or not?…
Orochimaru:
I can’t wait!…
Karin:
Hai… let’s get on with this circus… We certainly have enough circus freaks to put this show on the road… We might as well just get on with it…
Shintaro:
Very well then!…
Shintaro begins to whistle, and a small funnel cloud starts spinning around him and spreads out over everyone on the ground, engulfing them all and lifting them up off the ground, to hoist them up and deposit them as gently as he can onto the deck of the Raikame, before dissipating.
Shintaro:
Yukai!… Set course for the Sky Lantern Flotilla!… Immediately!… before anyone changes their minds…
Yukai heads back into the pilot house to set course, followed by Karui, Omoi, and the Raikage. Yukai begins to go through the motions of setting course, puling out another navigational seal, then applying the seal with the same electric purple glow activating the ship’s drive systems. The pulsating electric purple of the ores return, but with a net phase propagation within their oscillation, propagating from front to back as the ship begins to rise and move forward slightly. The electric purple oval returns, briefly flashing and obscuring the view of the surrounding landscape and the horizon, before lowering it’s amplitude to reveal a light pinkish transparent halo surrounding the ship. Outside the field, multicolored streaks of light can be seen whizzing past the ship as it travels, dazzling everyone on deck while the Kumo shinobi are gathered together in the pilot house.
Darui:
How are you holding up?… Karui?… I know you and your father don’t exactly get along… I also know he’s not always so easy to deal with… even when he means well…
Karui:
Admittedly… he threw me for a bit of a loop at first… Now I’m more or less over it… Now… I’m more worried about why… You know how much he hates politics… Now… he’s wading neck deep into it?… What’s making him so desperate to do that?… I keep wondering what else he hasn’t said… while at the same time I’m hoping that I never find out… But I know that’s not an option… especially for Chocho… as much as I hate it!… I just want to know how I’m supposed to protect my family… when lunatics wield the power of gods… and the actual supposed gods… are even crazier than the lunatics…
Darui:
I don’t exactly know the answer to that either… But I know we need your father… But even more… I know that we need to keep an eye on him… for his sake… as well as everyone around him… I know it’s tedious and tiresome… But almost no one knows him as well as we do… So it falls to us to make sure things don’t get out of hand… Shintaro is brilliant and powerful… even if extremely eccentric… Who wouldn’t be… all things considered… I think he’s remarkably sane… in spite of everything… But he’s no shinobi… not like us… He doesn’t think like shinobi… And he doesn’t want to… So we have to do it for him… But these other shinobi don’t necessarily understand that just yet… So now we have to do it for them too…
Karui:
Hai… I suppose… What about you Yukai?… You’re awfully quiet all of a sudden… Anything you’re not telling us?… You keep saying there’s a lot I don’t know… You could help with that… and just spill it!…
Yukai:
Come on sis… You know how he is… Don’t put me in the middle of this…
As the Kumo shinobi discuss the mad magician, Chocho and Sarada lead their cousin Karin into the pilot house.
Chocho:
Mama!… Mama!… This our new cousin… Karinsan!… She wanted to meet you… She wants to know what it was like… to be raised by grandpa… You never really talk about it… And to be honest… I would really like to know too…
Karui:
What it was like?… Maybe… you should just ask Yukai…
Yukai:
Well… He was always just an incorrigible show off I suppose… He likes to instruct by demonstration a lot… In part because he thinks it’s more effective that way… But mostly because he likes to show off… He also likes to entertain as well as instruct… especially when it comes to his kids… and his younger students… So he likes to do a lot of things for effect… I think more than anything… he wants to live up to his grandfather’s dream… to harness the power of skill and artistry… to inspire… and to heal… as much if not more… than to kill and destroy… So he was always showing off a lot… especially when he was teaching… In fact… I learned so much when I was really young… that I never realized until later… Because it didn’t even seem like instruction… It was always just our crazy dad showing off again to entertain us kids… Isn’t that about right?… Karui?… Is that what you remember?…
Karui:
What I remember?… I… I don’t know that… I don’t really remember all that much before Kumo… to be honest I think I must have blocked it out for some reason… From what I remember of Kumo… I just remember a lot of difficulties in dealing with the consequences of our father’s… eccentricity… I don’t recall ever being all that entertained… to be honest…
Yukai:
What about mom?… on the dragon world where we were born?… I don’t really remember much from that time either… mostly vague memories of our mom… and the occasional dragon… But I was just a little kid back then… What about you sis?… Do you remember anything?… about mom?…
Karui:
About mom?… Mom?… Mama?…
Chocho:
Mama?…
As she tries to remember, Karui’s eye’s begins to tear up slightly, as she seems to visibly struggle with her own memory, then she closes her eyes slightly. Then suddenly her eye’s shoot wide open, as she exclaims in a panic.
Karui:
Mama?!?…
Karui starts to run down the stairs as if fleeing in a blind panic from something chasing her, as she bolts down deep into the storage room that seems to go on forever, and disappears out of sight. The shinobi in the pilot house chase after her, but lose her in the stacks.
Chocho:
Mama!… Mama!…
Yukai:
Karui!… We need to find her now!…
Sarada:
I’ll go get help!…
Darui:
Wait!… Look… I can’t go into it now… But Karui’s dealing with an intense trauma right now… The last thing she needs right now is to have to deal with everyone on this ship looking for her and potentially prying into her private trauma… We need to deal with this ourselves… Yukai… Can you sense her well enough to find her?…
Yukai:
Iie… The space warping seal on the storage room… tends to interfere somewhat with the starlight gaze… And chakra permeates it as well… making really hard to just sense her chakra in here…
Chocho:
I can see her!… But I still can’t tell where she is in here… The starlight gaze is weird… How do I find where she is?… if I can’t recognize her location?… and I have no idea where it is?…
Yukai:
If you can see her… That’s all you need… You just need to concentrate on that image and visualize yourself there… along with the rest of us… everyone join hands together along with Chocho… Okay Chocho… We’re depending on you now… and so is your mother…
Chocho:
That’s too much pressure!… I’ve never done anything like this before!…
Sarada:
It’s okay Chocho… It’s only your mother… I’m sure we’ll find her body eventually…
Chocho:
Sarada!…
Chocho responds to Sarada’s obvious provocation by closing her eyes and gripping her hand that much more tighter, as she redoubles her efforts. Just then the entire group seems to shimmer away where they were, only to shimmer back into view next to Karui, as she continues to sob uncontrollably with her face in her hands.
Chocho:
Mama!…
Karui:
Chocho!…
Karui perks her head up out of her hands, still drenched in tears, then pulls Chocho to her with death grip like bear hug.
Chocho:
Aggh!… Mama!… Daijoubudesuka?!?…
Karui:
I will be Chocho… I will be… I’m just… I don’t even know how to begin to explain!…
Yukai:
Why don’t you just start from the beginning… Sumimasen… big sis… I did not mean to trigger the reliving of your childhood trauma… But now that we’re here… maybe you should just try… sharing the burden a bit… Your memories may seem like less of a burden if you can share them…
Karui:
What did father do to me?!?… Damn him!!!… Is this one of his genjutsu tricks?!?… A memory seal?!?… What do you know about this?!?…
Yukai:
Father didn’t do anything to you!… Life did this to you!… But only you can find your way out of it!… There is no other way out of it!… Why don’t you try one of father’s story telling jutsu… I know you don’t practice that sort of thing normally… But I also know father taught you more than enough to pull it off… It may be the only thing for it sis…
Karui:
What do you know about this?!?… Do you know what happened?…
Yukai:
I wasn’t there sis… as far as I remember… And I was just a toddler at the time… I only know what father told me… But… we knew we couldn’t simply force you to face what you couldn’t already face… Not until you were ready… Now we have no choice… And only you… can get you… out of this…
Karui puts her head down slightly as she releases her desperately loving death grip on her daughter. Karui reaches over to her side where her Katana is tucked into the sash about her waste, and pulls out something smaller tucked in next to it. As the object comes into view, Chocho recognizes the object in her hands as a metallic transverse flute, a little bit shorter than the typical wakizashi that might otherwise normally accompany a katana as part of a matched daisho pair.
Chocho:
Your old flute?… I haven’t seen you with that in years!… I didn’t know you still played!…
Sarada:
Did you learn how to play… from Shintaro sensei…
Karui:
Shintaro sensei?… Iie… This… was my mother’s flute… She taught me how play when I was little… They’re the only real memories I have left of my mother… My father may have taught me some of his jutsu with it… But it was my mother who taught me how to play… She was way better than he was… musically at least…
Karui tilts her head back a bit as she closes her eyes, squeezing the tears out of the way with tightly closed eyelids, before wiping the rest away with a casual swipe of her other hand. Karui lowers head down and slightly forward into playing position, as she moves the flute up to her mouth, holding one end just outside of her mouth, while holding the rest horizontally off to her right side with both hands. Then she begins to play. As she plays, a familiar and colorful shimmering sparkling twinkle fills the space between them and around them until it displaces all remaining light from the entrance way to the storage room, obscuring, displacing, and replacing all perception of the present time and place.
There Is No Alone!
Forever Never Ending!
There Is No Escape!
There Is No Point In Pretending!
For compilations of previous chapters in paperback hardcopy:
The Mad Sage Of Uzushio, A Naruto Fan Fiction: Volume 1: Chapters 1-17 Paperback On Amazon.com