Chapter 122: To each of their own futures
"So which one will it be? The easy way or the fun one?" Kaname chuckled. Knowing the likelihood of getting caught in a genjutsu, Kabuto stared at his feet and tried to ignore her melodic voice.
"Those eyes, you're an Uchiha?"
"Don't look at them, fool!" Kabuto yelled at Kimimaro, checking his chakra pathways for any indication of foreign chakra.
"Oh, Kabuto-chan, if I would have wanted, you two would already be heads-deep in numerous genjutsus. Would you introduce me to your friend? We may not have met yet."
"We're no friends. For Orochimaru-sama's sake, I would have killed this traitor if you didn't interrupt me."
"For his sake, huh?" she thumped her feet with impatience, "Loyalty is something I appreciate, but I did not expect that anyone was supporting that worm out of his own free will."
"HOW DARE YOU!" Kimimaro shot out a bone spear, trying to impale it into Kaname's neck. A blink later, something nicked his cheek, piercing the corridor's wall. Stopping the life-giving liquid with his palm, the white-haired man look above his right arm - a kunai perforated deeply into the cement, creating a small crater and several ripples across the surface. "W-what?"
The woman dropped the spear into the closeby colorless ripple, smirking at the man, "Hehehe. The Uchiha yeeteth and the Uchiha yoinketh away. And you, Kabuto-chan, where do you think you are going?"
"Uh?" The spy froze, standing ten steps further back from where Kaname saw him last.
"Tsk... Coward."
"Knowing your luck, you're the unfortunate holder of DNA samples. Hand them over. I will ask that nicely only once, Kabuto-chan." Kaname steadily called out.
"Dying for his ambition is not worth it." Kabuto pulled out two vials from a pouch and threw them towards her.
The man, protected with his bone armor, jumped and caught the tubes mid-air, "I heard about you." he continued, "I can't let Orochimaru-sama's primary adversary leave this place alive!"
Seeing his chance, Kabuto threw at his two opponents a pair of smoke bombs, effectively filling the narrow tunnel with dense gas. While bolting towards the exit, he decided to spare himself future troubles and sent a kunai towards Kaname's head. Luckily for him, that slowed him down just enough for the flying shuriken to lightly graze his neck. 'A hairbreadth further in, and I would be dead... She still sees me?! Shit! No time for digressions - I need to bail out if I want to live!'
The black-haired beauty slapped the kunai out of the air. Kaname's tapping high-heel was transferring tiny shockwaves through the ground, giving her almost perfect vision of the corridor, 'That was a clever move, Kabuto-chan. Run, maybe you will survive the explosion, we shall see. <Futon: Ressenpū> [Wind Release: Violent Whirlwind]'
"So the trash has run away." Kimimaro stated the fact, "Pity, I'll have to look for him. I can't let someone like him stand at Orochimaru-sama's side. Now, what to do about you."
She shrugged her shoulders, "I'm always keeping my word. Kabuto-chan tried to pass the vials to me, so I gave him a chance to flee. I feel magnanimous today, and I don't really care about you - I can let you leave if you pass the vials over and say that Orochimaru is a cruel asshole. It's a good deal. You should take it."
"Y-YOU!" Kimimaro's body changed appearance. The man now had dark grey skin, dark black eye sclerae with yellow eye irises, sharp teeth, six large bone spines protruding out of his back, and a long bone-spiked tail.
"Yeah-yeah, cursed seal, dealt with it hundreds of times already." She yawned.
Like a mad beast, the dinosaur-like creature charged at Kaname. "Nope, it won't work." the woman flashed away, reappearing next to a kunai that she threw before, "You may be stronger now, but you gained all of this power by sacrificing your speed."
"RAAAH!" a hail of bone spears shot out of Kimimaro's back.
Kaname disappeared for several seconds, only to teleport back in once the projectiles passed, "Unfortunately, I'm the worst kind of enemy for you."
"For Orochimaru-sama's sake-"
Kaname teleported right behind the man's back and whispered to his ear, "I heard the same words from Tayuya. I wonder what will you say once I erase that worm's loathsome seal." she had to speed away once she noticed the bones under the man's skin moving slowly towards her.
"GRAH!" expanding almost all of his bones, Kimimaro swept around himself. Gorging only the walls, he glanced around, looking for Orochimaru's enemy. "... *Cough*!" He spat out a handful of blood as the coughing fit sent him down on a knee.
"I don't even need to fight you. You're dying, are you not? What is your illness?" His yellow eyes only stared back at her with rage. "Blind loyalty. Haah, so you chose your fate." Kaname pulled out her katana and walked towards the man crippled by his ailment - wheezing in his last breaths. "I didn't even get to know your name, but I can at least give you painless death."
She swung her sword down, cutting clean the bones that sprouted in defense.
"Stop it!", Just a moment before the blade reached Kimimaro's nape, Kaname felt an iron grip of another female's hands halting her strike, "I'm sorry, Boss." The clone replied, standing between her and the white-haired man, "I think there is still hope for this guy."
"Explain." Kaname ordered. *Poof* the clone popped out of existence, sending all of the memories back to its creator. "Hmm, Jūgo-kun?" She called out to the orange-spiky-haired boy hiding behind the broken doors. A childish head popped out of the cover, calmly looking straight into her eyes. "Come here, Jūgo-kun."
As the famished boy walked out in front of her, Kaname turned him around for Kimimaro to look at, "What's his name?" she whispered into the boy's ear.
"He is Kimimaro, Kaname-san. Don't hurt him, please. He isn't evil."
"So Kimimaro-kun, which you will chose? This walking time bomb on steroids, aka, your best friend, or your blind faith in a man that did that to you..." She smirked.
"Oro-" the man groaned out.
"Ah, the seal, right!" Kaname swiftly teleported next to Kimimaro and struck his solar plexus, erasing Orochimaru's tattoo.
Without the seal, his transformation started quickly receding back, exposing his body in the same form Kaname met him. "W-What did you do?" Kimimaro coughed out.
"Jūgo-kun's chakra is unique - no wonder that Snake was experimenting on it. Noting the experience you've exhibited, you must have been one of his best experiments to date. But this chakra is not something that you can control by pure will. From what my clone has read from the reports, the cells in Jūgo-kun's body adapted to his overflowing power. Despite that, his brain can't compute the rapid surges of emotions, making him rage and kill everything in sight ever so often."
"Uh..." Jūgo groaned.
"Heh," Kaname patted the spiky-haired young teen, "You're one of the few that can calm down his sudden bouts of anger."
"What about me? *Cough*."
"You're pretty short on time. Jūgo-kun's potent chakra is prone to transform cells and genes in the body. I think in your case, it was the mutation of your respiratory system, in other words, cancer - and it's at a very developed stage already, I can't help you."
"I see..."
"So do you still want to stay under Orochimaru's heel, or are you going to spend the rest of your days with a friend? Just pass me the vials, and I will let you two go."
"I won't betray Orochimaru-sama - I owe him much more than you can imagine." Kimimaro replied, tiredly falling prone on the cold ground, "But I'm useless to him now. Why are those test tubes so important to you, Uchiha?"
"Those hair strands belonged to something akin to my family. I can't let Orochimaru use those to resurrect their owners and play them like they were his personal dolls."
When she mentioned family, Kimimaro's eyes ventured towards Jūgo. After shallow three breaths, the man reached into his clothes and set the vials in on the ground in front of him, "Take them, and leave us be."
"Wait, Kaname-san!" the orange-haired stopped her, "H-how long does Kimimaro has?"
"Who knows - maybe years, maybe hours? If the time comes, give him these." Kaname passed over some red pills, "They should... ease his passing."
"I see... thank you."
"Don't worry, boy. Everything will be okay." She patted his head, teleporting him away.
"Ugh... Where did you send Jūgo?"
"Somewhere far away." Kaname pulled Kimimaro back up on his feet, "Your cancer will sooner or later end you, but for now, I'll let you spend the rest of your days with his company. Jūgo-kun's fate is in your hands. Will you pass your best friend for further tortures and experiments only because of your blind loyalty or spare him the pain of it?"
"I'm not going to thank you." Kimimaro groaned out.
"I figured." Kaname smirked, "Stay strong, Kimimaro. Maybe we will meet again someday. Oh, and for the next hour - head south, don't try to come back here."
With a flash of red light, Kimimaro found himself in a dark forest, "Haah... What a weird woman, I tried to kill her, and she let me go." he sat back on the ground.
"Kimimaro? Are you okay?"
------
"It seems the clones have finished, not counting some insects and vermins - there are no life signs left in here. Time to test this." Kaname pulled out a scroll, 'This seal really scares me... I do not want to be anywhere near once it gets activated.'
Leaving the scroll on the ground, Kaname teleported back home. Instantly her ears were pierced by her son's cry, "Hey Utakata! I hear you have a loud problem on your head?" Once the trio heard her voice, the cry stopped immediately. Lightly sobbing, Haru extended his little hands towards Kaname.
"At last! I tried everything! Haru just wouldn't stop crying." the man complained, rocking both babies in his arms.
"Hahaha." she laughed out, pulling Haru and Kushina into her arms, turning their sobs into happy gurglings, "See? Easy."
"Yeah, for you... While Kushi-chan doesn't care which one of us plays with her, Haru clearly is a momma's boy." Kaname snorted back in reply. "Have you finished in Otogakure? Are you alright?"
"Yep, let's go to Granny's office. I'm pretty sure she is cursing my name already."
"What did you do this time?"
"Nothing bad - just gave her heaps of new work. Wait until I uncover what my clones are doing. It will blow her socks off."
"She doesn't wear socks, Kana-chan."
"Don't mind the details, come on."
...
"Hi, Sis!"
"Oh, Naru-chan, what are you doing here?" Once Kaname and Utakata entered the Hokage's office, a blonde Uzumaki loudly called out to her.
"I had a talk with Ero Sennin, and... I need to know what you think about our plan ~ttebayo."
"Sure, give me a sec."
"You're insufferable, Flat Board. What the heck was that?"
"You wanted me to save the prisoners, Granny." Kaname shrugged her shoulders, "What did you think I would do? Send some civilians to the middle of the forest?"
"Haah..." the Hokage sighed, "What about men? You sent only women and children." the Uchiha stared back incredulously at the blonde woman. "... Mother fucker." Tsunade cursed once the implication reached her.
"Exactly. It's much easier to control the families once you kill the men off. Civilian women are mostly defenseless."
"What a headache. Let me think for a moment about our next move..." the new Hokage turned towards the ANBU and started dishing out orders.
"So, Naru-chan, what did you want to talk about?"
"After the chūnin exams, I noticed I was too weak ~dattebayo. Too weak to protect you, too weak to protect Kushi and Haru. I don't want to see you suffer anymore, so I talked with Ero Sennin, and... he offered to train me ~ttebayo."
"What about your team, Naru-chan?"
"Scarecrow-sensei should concentrate on Teme's Sharingan training. I don't want to take that precious time of their practice. Hina-chan is developing her techniques much faster than both of us combined. I'm the only one that isn't improving. Can I go?" Naruto asked hesitantly.
"Hahaha, Naru-chan, you can make your own decisions. If you want to go, I can only wish you good luck."
"Hehe, thanks, Sis. It will take only two years or so! I promise I will come back!"
"*Cough-cough* That's touching," The retired Hokage groaned, "I have a plan as well. Tsunade-chan asked me to repair our relationships with Suna. I thought of taking young Sasuke-kun under my wing and teach him some things."
"Wait, Sensei!" Tsunade interrupted him, "You want to take another student? At your age?"
"Huhuhu, it's time to pass the teachings to the younger generation. But you are right, Tsunade-chan, I think I could use a bodyguard."
"Hehehe, Scarecrow-sensei won't be happy. Newest Ero Sennin's book will be posted in the next few months, and you're taking him away from Konoha, Hokage-Jiji."
"Hmm, I see only a small problem with that, Jiji." Kaname pointed out, "Aunty Mikoto is a mother hen - she won't let her Little Duckling go."
Hiruzen breathed out the smoke of his pipe, "I talked with her before. I assured her that I won't let anything happen to a young man that kept the namesake of my father."
"Hahaha, sometimes I forget how shrewd you are, Jiji."
"Thank you, Kana-chan." the old man nodded his head.
"What about Hinata-chan? I don't have the time to teach her myself, but maybe you could do it, Granny?"
"I had a talk with Hizashi-san. He and her mother are constantly pushing her development. I suppose I can show her some iryōnin techniques. I always wanted to know how overpowered the Byakugan would be in the field of saving people's lives."
"They're good. One of my first students is a Hyūga. Now she is treasured as one of the best doctors in the hospital."
"Interesting, wait a moment! You said you didn't have the time?! I know that taking care of two newborns is taxing, but you can use clones for that! What the heck are you doing, Flat Board?!"
"Hehehe, I'm gaining knowledge, Granny."
-------
"All of them died! What the heck was that?" Kana-5 stood upon the western shores of the Land of Whirlpools.
"Uzumaki's went full bonkers on their enemies." Her doppelganger groaned, "Jiraiya must have been lucky that he got here hours after the combat. Their seals somehow only got stronger with time."
"I noticed, dodging those whirlpools was fun, but this?" The shadow clone pointed at a colorless bubble of energy slowly passing in front of her.
"Do you think the same thing I do?"
"We're copies of each other... Have fun."
"Wait, why me?!" Kana-6 complained out loud.
"Okay-okay... I hope it doesn't hurt." The second shadow clone carefully walked towards the storm of power. Activating her Sharingan, she threw a kunai inside. Before it disintegrated, Kaname's mirror image noticed the trace amounts of rust clearing out. "Did they try to play with time?" Groaning out, she extended her hand and slowly touched the disturbance.
"Tsk..." Kana-6 clicked her tongue, seeing her double evaporating instantly, "Uzumakis were insane! I need to report all of it to the boss."
------
"What?!" Tsunade's jaw hit the desk, "Uzushiogakure?!"
"Yep, no wonder the combined forces of three great villages were decimated." Kaname snorted, "The seals we're using in combat today were a child's play for them, Granny."
"What do you mean, Sis? You told me we were allied to Uzushio ~ttebayo."
"Yeah, but you don't give all your biggest weapons to anyone, even your allies. My Hikōjin seal needs decades of work to even compete against some of their best seals. And that's my masterpiece."
"Hehe, my ancestors were amazing ~dattebayo."
"You will become a powerhouse someday, Naruto-kun, just like your sister. I'm sure of it."
"Hehe, thanks, Hokage-jiji."
"Haah... I will have a headache tomorrow. What did you find there, Flat Board?"
"Some trash seals thrown everywhere, I use them for demolition of Orochimaru's hideouts."
"Trash? What do you mean?"
"Trash implosion seals, at least trash for Uzumaki's. They were set up as mines across the coast... Dozens of my clones died against those."
"What is implosion, Sis?"
"An explosion in reverse." She explained in simple terms.
Tsunade facepalmed, "Yeah, I expected that of them. Anything else?"
"A new discovery a couple of seconds ago. Jiraya was extremely lucky when he attempted to enter Uzushiogakure years ago. We all heard how he got mutilated by some kind of active seals protecting Uzushiogakure. I think I found what hurt him." Kaname continued, "In the last attempt of resistance, Uzumakis must have tried turn back time with one of their seals. Maybe to prepare for the invasion, or maybe to inform Konoha of it beforehand. I doubt we would know what was their real plan after so many years."
Tsunade's forehead hit the table, "Turn back time?"
"Yeah, something must have gone wrong. I think the seal was something like an untested weapon. Or Uzumakis lacked the chakra to power it up, and it exploded in their faces?"
"Huhuhu, you're wrong about it, Kana-chan. Knowing some of them personally, they would cause it to explode just to spite their enemies - Uzumakis were too stubborn to go down quietly." the old Hokage chuckled.
"Even after almost eighteen years, the laws of physics and mother nature isn't happy with the time disturbance across that island. There are many bubbles of pure space-time chakra cruising along the Land of the Whirpools, disintegrating anything they touch."
"I see... Keep me informed of everything, Flat Board. I'm scared to ask, but I have to, anything else?"
"Yeah, I'm getting married."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
dahnik
dahnik Hello, my dear readers. I hope you liked this chapter, I have some good news for you... This book is finished, but I'm already planning the Shippuden arc - it will be posted as another story [info about the publishing will be posted as the next chapter here :-)] I wish I will meet all of you reading my second book :-)
It will take me some time to publish it [3-4 weeks; I deserve some rest :-)], this time I want to create some buffer chapters so I don't have to write it on the fly and be able to edit a bunch of the mistakes before I show it to you.
Any comments, ideas, reviews will be always welcome :-P
And as always - If you found any mistakes please inform me :-) I don't like mistakes :-)