Chapter 46: Naruto: Worm Ride.
The Pure Lands
Basking in the oceans of soul-healing and cleansing resources, Madelyne and the speck of Lucian's soul awaited their next rebirth.
'Hey, Luci. Did you kill my father?'- Aya's life was filled with blessings, which she never thought too deeply about, but now, with the time and clarity that death brings, she noticed some interesting peculiarities she never saw while alive.
All the people around her were blessed with health; she doesn't remember her mother ever complaining about sickness even in her old age, nor does she recall her friends or her brother's family falling ill. Even her grandmother seemed peaceful when her time arrived.
All except for one person: her father. He passed away bedridden in sickness.
|No.|- Lucian answered factually.
'I feel like you're hiding something.'
|I did not kill him. I did not heal him like I did Aito.|
'Aito-kaasan? She was sick?'
|Chakra poisoning. I healed her when I determined she would be the mother you deserve, and when I could access enough of my biokinesis. Your grandmother was too far gone for me to do anything.|
'Why? I don't remember him being bad to us.'
|You didn't listen while you slept, but I did, and he was not good enough. He wanted to leave Aito and you—the reason evaded me for years. Then I heard your grandmother tell Aito that he wanted to go and look for his family.|
'He had another family?'
|They probably got separated during The Fall.|
'But that doesn't mean he was bad.'
|He wasn't. He simply was not good enough for you, Madelyne.|
'What do you mean?'
|Madelyne, I protected your soul from The Void for billions of years. The Void was aiding my soul recovery before I decided to protect you; that's why it's taking so long to heal. It no longer lets me use it as fuel to heal, at least not while I protect you.|
|But you were mine. Even if it was The Void that birthed me, I didn't allow it to claim what's mine. I fought back, and I kept you alive.|
|Do you think I would allow anything but the very best possible for you after all I went through?|
|I chose Kaguya, a woman with a psychological profile compatible with yours who was in a desperate enough situation to lean on you. I helped create the best living conditions for you and her. I got rid of the parasites that threatened your reincarnation cycle. I kept Aito healthy until the day her soul gave up, for you. I made sure none of the villagers from Sunagakure died of sickness while you were around, for you. I ensured your little brother and his family had a healthy life and a peaceful death. I made sure your grandmother had a blissful passing.|
|And I didn't heal your father when he told Aito he wanted to go. He was not bad, but I didn't need someone who wasn't 100% invested in your life, like Aito was, like Haruki became.|
'Geez, Lucian. You can be too much sometimes. Things like these are what made me want to spread my legs for you and let you play with my butt. Are you sure you don't love me?'
|100% sure.|
'Cold bastard, but that's alright. I love you 200% for both of us.'
|You don't romantically love me.|
'I know, but you've done so much for me that as your friend, I wouldn't mind spreading my legs for you. Even if Kaguyis chastised me when I told her about our goals.'
|You're not a goth girl, nor stronger than me.|
'Hah! So that's the real reason!'
|I also feel like I shouldn't get sexually involved with anyone... like as if I would be in danger if I did... it's not a memory but more like a...|- He was lost in thought.
'Like a hunch?'- She finished for him.
|Similar. But I'm still interested in the leg spreading and the butt play. I'll make sure to observe if you ever find a romantic partner in one of your next lives.|
'What are friends for? You can watch all you want... just don't tell Kaguyis. She always admonished me about our 'liberal' way of thinking.'
|I promise. She was very annoyed that time you waited for her in her room naked.|
'Hahahahahahaha! I just thought about sleeping together for a change and she got all flustered about nothing.'
|It's time.|
'Ugh. Time to be squished through. How joyful.'
___________________________
2nd Life.
"WaAH--AhWAH"- The broken cries of a desolate newborn echoed through the sandy wilderness.
'Fuck, Luci! This was worse than before! What's going on?!'- Maddy felt cold, and she could also feel the familiar roughness of the sand as she yelled in their mind.
|It appears you underwent a postmortem fetal extrusion.|- Lucian calmly explained from their shared soul.
'... A coffin birth?... Is there anyone around? I can't see shit!'- Madelyne asked, distressed.
|There are other corpses in various stages of decomposition.|- Lucian broke the news to her.
'... What now? Do I die?'- There was some reluctance in her tone but also a willingness to depart from her ailing body.
|The human body can't sustain itself during the early stages of life. You have three paths. You can cry and hope someone finds you. If they don't, you die. If they do, you might live. But we are apparently in the desert, so the chances are low for this path.|
'Ugh, I've got sand in my shitty baby eyes! What's the other option?'
|I can force your soul into the body of another living being nearby.|
'Reincarnate into an animal? I don't think I know how to 'animal', or anything else other than how to 'human'. Is there even anything living in these parts?'
|There are a few insects feeding on your mother's corpse. Also, some scorpions, spiders, and a few sandworms.|
'Yeah, that's not going to work for me. Can I just go back and try again later?'
|Yes. But if that's what you want, then lend me your soul for this life. There's something I'm interested in trying.|
'Oh? What do you have in mind?'
|I want to study the effects of natural energy on creatures other than humans.|
'That sounds interesting, but I don't want to experience it. When you say 'lend you my soul,' will I have to participate, or will I just observe, like you?'
|You'll be an observer.|
'Umm... okay! But if it turns into something good, try and see if you can help Sunagakure.'
|That's acceptable.|
So Madelyne stepped out of the driver's seat and let Lucian take the wheel for this life.
Lucian ejected their soul from the soon-to-be-dead baby and selected the critter with the highest reserves of chakra from the mix—a sandworm.
Unfortunately, there were no animals nearby, which made sense considering that the desert was plagued with extreme weather, space pockets, and rioting natural energy. Most creatures above a certain size couldn't survive in the desert.
'Being eyeless and limbless—does it feel weird?'- Madelyne asked as Lucian acclimated to the new body.
|It doesn't feel any different than when I was human.|
'What? How?'- Madelyne asked in surprise. There was a vast difference between a worm and a human.
|I think my soul is used to taking different forms; it's more malleable.|- The light brown worm squirmed a few times before returning to its meal.
'I don't know how I feel about you eating our previous body.'- Madelyne confessed in disgust.
|We were tender and nutritious.|
'Say no to cannibalism!'
|I believe I am as human as the grains of sand we lie on.|
'But you were human; that has to count for something!'
|I hardly feel human, even if most of my memories are from a human perspective.|
'Well, that's true. Otherwise, I don't see how a man could spend years sharing a female body with a woman.'
|I believe it's easier because I don't share sensations with you. I think menstruation would be the deal breaker if I had to.|
'Please don't remind me of that. But hey, I bet you would enjoy the orgasms. Aren't they supposed to be more intense in women?'
|It wouldn't matter if I could use biokinesis to change the intensity of my orgasms at will, even in a human male body.|
'You're not wrong there...'
|What?|- Lucian sensed she wanted to say more.
'Well, now you've got me curious. Is there a limit to the intensity of human orgasms, and can you tweak my next body to experience it?'- She asked eagerly.
|I believe the limit is consciousness, but you pose an interesting query. We shall see in your next life.|
'... What about this body?'- She wondered as Lucian's sandworm body squirmed inside the flesh of the corpse.
|Please don't go there.|
'Alright... Sometimes my pervertedness astounds me.'- She confessed.
Lucian spent a few weeks eating the corpses, and when the last scraps of food were gone, he shifted his predation to the critters themselves.
Lucian managed to learn how to best control the chakra inside the sandworm, giving him the edge to come out on top.
Then it was time to move from the feeding ground into the harshness of the desert.
Life as a sandworm consisted of swimming above the sand during the nights and swimming below it during the scorching hot days.
But even during the night, he couldn't stay out for long. Once the heat of the day fully dissipated, the freezing temperatures of the umbra would attack.
So there were two windows of time within 24 hours that a small sandworm could take advantage of to find much-needed food to survive in these arid badlands.
The early hours of the day, when the temperature rises and transitions from freezing cold to scorching heat, and the late hours of the day, when it lowers from scorching hot to freezing cold.
The life of a sandworm was filled with nothing but sand and fortuitous encounters with food... or predators.
But this was no ordinary sandworm; this was a sandworm possessed by the eldritch being Lucian and the perverted Madelyne.
The soul of the poor sandworm also spectated from the background, watching as these monsters hijacked its body and did as they pleased with it.
'Come here, little worm. I shall bestow upon you the name Sunamushi. When Lucian is pleased with the results of the experiment, we shall give you your body back. I bet it will be all upgraded, running the latest OS, with full extras and luxury rims.'- Madelyne pulled the panicking sandworm to her astral form.
'Come here, Sunamushi. There's no need to squirm away; we are friends.'- Madelyne laid the reluctant worm on her shoulder and observed how Lucian circulated chakra and tried to pull natural energy to combine it into senjutsu chakra.
'Take a look and learn, Sunamushi.'- She instructed.
The average lifespan of a sandworm tops out at five years, and their natural life is three times that. But under the skillful use of the sandworm's paltry chakra pool and the minor energy manipulation Lucian could exert in this body, he began harvesting senjutsu chakra and binding it to the worm's life force, thus extending its lifespan.
With the addition of senjutsu chakra, the sandworm could now spend more time above the surface since its body could better withstand the environment with its senjutsu chakra reinforcement.
The results spoke for themselves: the sandworm was growing, it was stronger, it had a longer lifespan, and the yin part of the senjutsu chakra was stimulating Sunamushi's thinking ability.
'Uno!'- Madelyne exclaimed.
'...'- Sunamushi wiggled a +4 from her cards. Sunamushi had no face, just a circular mouth and a long body, but Madelyne could swear it had a mocking grin.
'*Tch!*'- Maddy reluctantly drew four cards—the third time in the game that Sunamushi had pulled the same annoying trick.
Sunamushi let her almost feel the taste of victory, only to bring her down crashing hard with another +4.
'...'- Again, she could swear there was some mocking coming from the silent Sunamushi.
Eight decades passed, and Lucian felt like he had hit a wall.
Initially, gathering natural energy went smoothly. The desert was filled with it, and it didn't matter if it was rioting or not; just a pinch of energy manipulation was enough to tame it like a golden retriever.
So he wasn't lacking energy, but when he broke through the 100-meter (328-foot) mark, progress slowed to a crawl.
No matter how many space pockets he dried up—which helped both him and the environment—there wasn't enough natural energy concentration to break through the next barrier he felt.
Although he had extended the worm's lifespan, he sensed that it was nearing its new end, which was unacceptable. He had yet to achieve the qualitative change in life level that he predicted the worm could reach.
But when all hope seemed to be vanishing, like a lighthouse in stormy seas, he found the wound left behind after the uprooting of the God Tree from the planet's surface.
The wound was interesting in itself; instead of leaking natural energy, it leaked purple chakra—enough to form a pool in the sand.
This was what he needed. His time was running out, as he could feel Sunamushi's soul being summoned to the Pure Lands, which would mean the expiration of this body. But he was so close that he wasn't about to give up.
Using the trails left behind by the gigantic sandworm body, Lucian began a continuous inscription circling the unending pool Madelyne had named Ryūmyaku, as in Ley Line, or Dragon Veins.
He inscribed script after script nonstop for a week, heating his body with senjutsu chakra, hot enough to glass the sand and make the inscription permanent.
At the end of the week, when the sandworm's body was almost collapsing, the inscription lit up like neon strips.
The chakra source was then modulated to pull the rioting natural energy from the upper layer of the atmosphere, tame it, disperse a percentage to the surroundings of the Ryūmyaku, and cycle the tamed energy to the heavens.
A process that would become self-sufficient once the rioting energy of the upper layers was tamed. But at the moment, the Ryūmyaku bore the cost.
The sandworm's body collapsed, and Sunamushi was caught between the mortal plane and the next. But after a month of recovery, Lucian broke through the barrier.
For the next few decades, they didn't move as Sunamushi underwent changes in their mindscape.
After the evolutionary hibernation of the sandworm, its size reached 400 meters (1,300 feet) in length and 40 meters (130 feet) in diameter.
And in their mindscape...
'... Hello.'- A shy little girl's voice resonated from the gargantuan body of a sandworm in front of the confused duo—a white, featureless man and a silver-haired woman.
'Sunamushi? Your voice doesn't match your ruthlessness during Uno.'- Madelyne commented.
|So this is how it turned out. A Senjutsu Chakra Beast.|- Lucian remarked.
'Sage Beast sounds better, no?'- Madelyne suggested.
|Maybe. What do you think, Sunamushi?|- Lucian asked the sandworm.
'... Yes.'- She replied softly.
Lucian gave Sunamushi control of her body and helped her get used to it for a few years. He also taught her some scripts and helped her set up a proper place around the Ryūmyaku—for her and her future descendants.
Fortunately for her, even though she was the only one of her kind, she could reproduce asexually.
The time for goodbyes came with the end of Lucian's experiment.
'Please visit the humans in the underground village west of here, Sunamushi. They are sort of like my children. Just tell them Aya Futagami sent you to assist them, and they'll understand.'- Madelyne requested.
'... I will.'- Sunamushi agreed.
With their goodbyes and well wishes, the duo departed to the Pure Lands.
_____________________________
3rd Life.
"Waaah Waaaah!"- The cries of the newborn girl echoed in the room.
"My Lady, it's a healthy girl."- A girl dressed in white, splattered with some blood, said respectfully.
"... I promised him a boy... Get rid of it... I'll have better chances of legally gaining his fortune the next time than with a female 'heir'... Make sure no one sees you."- The woman said between breaths, a cold demeanor even after the ordeal she just went through.
'The gall on this bitch! Luci, do something! We won't die without a fight.'
|I can't do much, there are no bodies to possess within range.|
'Can't you take over one of these humans?'
|No, human souls are different than the lower life form's souls. We won't have enough time to take over, we are too weak.|
'Fuck, I refuse to die like this. Luci, any other options?'
|I could blow us up... It will probably be enough to kill everyone in this room.|
'You don't sound so positive about it.'
|I believe it is too quick a death for them.|
'It's alright, Luci. You win some, lose some, torture some, eat some, and some you take down with you to condemn them for their sin of not wanting US. Go, Luci, full-on kaboom! Let's take this bitch down with us! Let's FUCKING GOOOOOO-'
*BOOMSPLAT!*
_____________________________________
4th Life.
'Luci, I've been meaning to ask this for all 14 years of this life... Why was I born a male?'- Teiru (Maddy) asked in his (her) mind.
Teiru was a pink-haired teenager with an athletic build, eyes as pupil-less and iris-less as usual, left at the doors of the local orphanage in the largest city in this part of the Land of Fire. It was believed that he had been abandoned due to his apparent blindness.
But that wasn't the case.
Teiru was born from the union of a grieving noble and a townswoman of humble origins.
The woman died shortly after Teiru's birth, but she had left instructions with a trusted friend to deliver her baby to the orphanage in the event of her death.
The reason for this was the noble's main wife. This man had a main wife and a concubine, his family having arranged his marriage with the former, which made their relationship rocky, to put it mildly.
But he fell in love when he first met the woman who later became his concubine. He simped for her, worshipped the ground she walked on, and did whatever his 'mistress' ordered him to do... The real problem with his marriage stemmed from incompatibility in bed—the man was a huge masochist, just like his wife, so they were never compatible. The concubine, however... She was a lady of many whips.
When his mistress got pregnant, he was ready to transfer all his fortune to the name of the boy she was going to give birth to. He was prepared to leave behind that masochist slut of a wife!... She wasn't really a slut; in fact, she was loyal to him even if she didn't like him. But the man felt disgusted by the masochist scent he recognized in her.
Yeah... he hated masochists... But he wasn't a hypocrite! He also hated himself... and that made him horny.
But things didn't work out for the S&M duo.
She died during labor... in an explosion. It wasn't clear what exploded; the walls and roof of the room were painted with the innards of those present. The point of origin was at the feet of where the birthing bed was supposed to be. Even his little 'boy' was not spared—either that or someone stole him, because nothing was left of the baby, as if the baby was never there... or maybe the baby was the bomb itself, but that's nonsense. Babies aren't explosives... sometimes they burp, fart, and shit, but definitely not explosive.
This brings us to the woman who birthed Teiru. In his grief, the man went to his side 'mistress', a townswoman who knew her way around whips due to working in training horses and herding cattle.
She ended up pregnant, and unluckily, the main wife discovered his infidelity. She was not happy; at least the concubine had the status to be her husband's concubine, but the townswoman didn't.
The main wife snuck into the barn where the townswoman worked and made her stance clear: the townswoman was to disappear after the birth of the baby and never contact her husband again.
The townswoman didn't even know the noble masochist was married, so she agreed... and then whipped the main wife. Yeah, she was also the 'mistress' of the main wife, but in those times that wasn't considered infidelity, because it was normal for women to take care of the needs of their ladies.
She was very surprised that the two masochists she knew were apparently married to each other... talk about coincidences.
The townswoman carried her pregnancy to term and died shortly after. Her best friend, also a trainee in the art of the whips, fulfilled her last wish and brought Teiru to the orphanage. Later, this best friend would be known as 'The Mistress' throughout the elemental nations, and she would always say that she owed everything to her best friend and trainer.
|Souls are sexless.|
'But my mind is clearly female. I don't even like women like that.'
|If it makes your stay in this body more pleasing, I can alter your sexual preferences and your perception of yourself.|
'Couldn't you use biokinesis to change my sex?'
|Changing sexes involves meddling with your DNA. I won't have enough margin to adjust your body without breaking it at your current strength level.|
'Ugh! By that point, I would have lived like 30 years in a male body... Can you undo what you change?'
|Yes. I can do it after you gain enough strength for me to change your sex, or after your death if you decide to stay male for this life.|
'Okay, just do it. I feel like I'm wearing the wrong skin. I should have asked sooner, but I only felt this uncomfortable once puberty hit in full force.'
|Is it because of that sister in the orphanage?|
'Sister Nia doesn't understand the difficulties of those who have to witness her weapons of mass destruction, and the fact that she's a klutz makes it worse!'
|I'll change you.|
Teiru grew up to become a handsome and manly merchant. In this life, Maddy wanted to take a break from all the fighting, so this was the path he chose.
Later, Teiru's economic empire grew to such heights that many so-called nobles of the Land of Fire began to antagonize his businesses. To avoid this, he got the nobles into his pocket, and before he knew it, he had everyone in his pocket.
Eventually, he decided to settle down and bought a territory near his hometown. This place later became known as the capital of the Land of Fire. Since he never married, he adopted a smart youth from the same orphanage he came from and left everything to this child.
The kid later married a nice girl who turned out to be the daughter of the masochist wife. The first son born from this marriage became the first Daimyo of the Land of Fire.
_________________________________________
5th Life.
'Yes! No extra limb between my legs!'
|Congratulations, Maddy. But it appears we were born as a descendant of Hamura.|
'What?... Ah yes, it looks like my new mother has the Byakugan... I don't think it'll turn out that bad, right?'
|I believe so, considering the descendants of the twins should have an edge over other humans in terms of strength.|
"My Lady! You have to run! I'll hold them back!"- A bloodied and worried girl burst into the room where the mother was breastfeeding her newborn.
'Spoke too soon?'
|It appears they are having internal conflicts.|
'Yeah... Do you think we will make it, or do I have to get ready for another kaboom?'
|Let's see what happens.|
The mother cycled her chakra through her body to reinforce it, then used an application of yang chakra to speed up the healing of her injuries.
"Haruna, please take my girl with you. You won't last long enough."- The mother said, gathering her resolve.
"My Lady! I'll happily lay down my life for you!"- Haruna, the girl, said.
"You're not strong enough to buy enough time for my child, Haruna. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for not betraying me like the rest of the Branch Family is doing. But this time, if I want a future for my girl, I need to lay down my life for you and her. So please, look after her in my stead."- The mother said, kissing her baby one last time before handing her to Haruna.
"... I'll obey, my Lady. I'll make sure she grows up right."- Haruna said, tears welling up in her eyes.
Haruna, carrying the newborn, ran as they felt the shockwaves of explosions behind them.
'That's a shame... She felt motherly to me.'
|I agree, it's a shame.|
The Ōtsutsuki of the moon (Luna) were divided into a Main Family and a Branch Family after Hamura's passing. Over time, differing opinions led to dissent, and the Branch Family rebelled. As a result of these conflicts, some members of the Branch Family migrated to Earth, forming what would become known as the Hyūga Clan.
Haruna's objective was to reach this clan and integrate with them. Uncertain about the situation on Earth, and with little knowledge about their cousins—the Uchiha and Senju—her safest bet was to reunite with the Hyūga.
After making it to Earth through a portal powered by the Tenseigan, Haruna ran for hours until she found a safe place to recover her chakra and mend her wounds.
The next day, she woke up intending to hunt for food, only to realize that the uncannily silent newborn hadn't cried since they descended from the moon.
"Baby girl?"- Haruna poked the baby's cheeks with her finger.
"Waah?"- The baby responded.
"..."
"..."
They both stared at each other—well, Haruna stared at the baby, who was looking back with unopened eyes.
Even Haruna, a 12-year-old with no experience with newborns, knew something wasn't normal.
First, the baby didn't cry during the escape. Second, she didn't cry at night. Third, she wasn't crying despite clearly being hungry by now. And lastly, did the baby just answer her?
"Uhmmm, baby girl... maybe we should find you a name... I can't keep calling you baby girl, and like it or not, I guess now I'm your mother... I didn't even get to spend the night with a man yet... Uhmm, you don't need to know about that... How about Sara?"- Haruna said, struggling to cope with the situation.
"Waah!"- The baby cried.
"...Uhmm, is that a no?"
"Waah!"
"One cry for yes, two cries for no. Sara?"
"Waah! Waah!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Okay, what about Misaki?"
"Waah! Waah!"
"... Natsuki?"
"Waah! Waah!"
"Hina?"
"Waah! Waah!"
|What's wrong with those names?|- Lucian asked from their soul.
'Nothing, I'm just messing with this girl. Don't you think it's interesting how she's just accepting the situation?'
|I thought she was mentally challenged.|
'Hahahahaha! No, no, I think she's just ignorant and naive.'
|Maybe, but babies aren't supposed to understand you just a day after they're born.|
"Sayaka?"- Haruna asked, exhausted.
"Waah!"- Maddy finally stopped messing with her.
"Yey! Sayaka it is! My name is Haruna, nice to meet you!"
"Waah!"- The baby smiled. It was apparent this was no normal baby... but that wasn't apparent to Haruna.
"Sayaka-chan, do you know what you can eat?"- Haruna asked, completely unaware of how to care for a newborn.
"Waah!"- Sayaka cried once.
'... I mean, I feel like I will die if I don't help this girl out.'
|I didn't disapprove of your approach. It's clear this child needs help, and so do we.|
"Great! Because I wasn't sure if I could breastfeed you, but we'll have to try later. I'll go get us some meat, be right back!"- Haruna set Sayaka down in a makeshift crib made from her coat and went out to hunt.
'Oi, Luci! Did she just...'
|She did...|
'The future is bleak.'
|The bright side is, if she tries to breastfeed you, I think I'll be able to get her to produce some milk after a few tries.|
'You think?'
|Well, we are weak, so I can't overexert this body. But it isn't so hard to trick her body into believing it's pregnant.|
'It isn't?'- Sayaka asked in disbelief.
|Regular and consistent stimulation of the breasts and nipples can naturally signal the body to start producing prolactin. I'll just make sure it happens with a little bit of biokinesis.|
'Huh... the more you know.'
3 hours later
'Did she... die?'
|You will in a few hours...|
1 hour later
"Sara-chan! I'm back!"
'Did she just...'
|She did...|
"I've got us 4 hares and some fruits I think we can eat!"
'... Yeah, it's bleak.'
|At least she got the fruits right; those are edible.|
"So... Uhmm, I'll cook this. You can eat this... uhmm... apple?"- Haruna handed the newborn Sayaka(?) an apple-like pear.
After setting up a small campfire and cooking the hares, she returned to find the baby with the pear still on her chest, right where Haruna had left it.
"Sara-chan, you don't like it?"- Haruna asked, worried.
Sara-chan tried to control her facial muscles enough to smile brightly and show her toothless gums.
"... Oh? You don't have teeth?! Is this normal? How should I feed you then? Uhmm... Okay! I've seen birds do this!"- Haruna took a bite of the pear and chewed it.
'She will, won't she?'
|Yes, she will.|
'I guess if I want to live, I can't be too picky about my basic needs.'- Sara accepted her fate.
|As long as you get food and liquid, I can make sure you don't die.|
"Okay, Sara-chan. This is my first kiss... and yours too, so, uhmmm, yes! Let's do this!"- Haruna brought her lips to Sara's and fed her the chewed bolus.
'She's going to pass food through my airways!'- Sara complained as she felt Haruna pushing more bolus than she could swallow into her mouth.
|Don't worry, breathe it in if you have to... seeing how useless this child is, we'll need all the nutrition we can get. I'll also speed up your physical growth, so in a few months, we'll gain some semblance of independence.|
Night fell, and Haruna remembered to try breastfeeding Sara.
'How do I do this?'
|You suck while touching her breasts the same way you do when you play with yourself.|
'... This is not what I expected. And baby hands won't output the same strength I usually use.'
|I'm taking advantage of the natural response of her body. You have to do the work for my biological manipulation to work.|
'... Okay, I guess... I do want to live.'
After an awkward breastfeeding session that could compete for the most uncomfortable in the world—Maddy's and the twins—Haruna finally stopped.
"... Was it supposed to tingle like that?"- She asked, flushed and uncomfortable.
"Waah!"
"... Uhmm... Are you sure? I... Uhmm... I damped myself a little."- She spread her legs a little and saw the wet patch down below.
"... Waah!"- After a doubtful second the baby—clearly the more knowledgeable of the two—confirmed how this was expected.
'I feel... sort of disgusted... I miss Aito-kaasan.'
|If it makes you feel better, no laws were broken, and you'll die without doing this. Also, as far as I've seen, these savages wed their females around Haruna's age or minor. So by this society's standards, Haruna is a fertile, breedable female, no matter how disgusting that is.|
'Yeah, I know... I just... This life is turning out to be more tiring than I expected. My life as Teiru feels great in comparison. At least the sisters at the orphanage knew what they were doing.'
|Do you want us to switch? I wouldn't feel any more attracted to a child worm than to an adult worm.|- Lucian said.
'No, it's not about attraction. I don't like females, and Haruna is a child, even in my eyes... I just can't help but compare her to Aito-kaasan.'
|You didn't have this problem with the orphanage sisters.|
'I think it's because I was born a boy in that life... I can't find the logic behind it, but I feel like being an orphan didn't hit me as hard in that life because I was a male.'
|Okay... My offer still stands; we can switch if you want.|
'Nah... It's okay, I'll get used to it. And this idiot isn't that bad—even if we consider that I would be dead if I were a normal child—Haruna really is trying her best. But there's no denying she's failing pathetically at it.'- Sara said, glancing at Haruna, who was awkwardly rubbing her legs.
|She is... masturbating without realizing she is... that in a way is interesting.|
"~Ahn."- Haruna moaned silently.
'Yeah, she is amazing in a weird way.'
________________________________
15 years later
"Haruna-nee, I think we should move to the Land of Fire. That's where I believe we'll find the Hyūga."- Though Sara was 15 years old, her body's apparent age was no different from Haruna, who was now 27.
"Why do you say so, Sara-chan?"- Over the years, with Sara's guidance, Haruna had managed to develop some common sense... allegedly.
"The Senju and the Uchiha were there, so I imagine the Hyūga might be nearby."
"...Okay, that makes some sense, I had thought they would avoid them since the Senju and Hyūga tend to be more dangerous than the other clans... Uuuhmm, but we'll have to circle the desert. I don't want to die to the sandworms or their riders! No one who goes in makes it out! I even heard they eat people, which is why no one survives!"- Haruna shivered, recalling the terrifying rumors.
"Those are just rumors. Why would they eat people?"- Sara rolled her eyes at her sister's wild imagination.
"Because there's no food in there—just sand and more sand!"- Haruna's eyes widened in alarm.
"Okay, fine! That's a decent reason, but if there's only sand, why would they stay there? They've got to eat and drink something, right?"
"Human flesh and blood?"- Haruna replied as if it were obvious.
"I feel like I'm losing brain cells the longer this conversation goes on."- Sara sighed in exasperation.
"It would be simpler if you flew us over it."
"If you want to fly, learn to fly. I'm not your transport."- Sara dismissed her sister's not-so-subtle hint.
"I carried you for three months in my arms! Be grateful and carry me across that sandy death trap!"- Haruna protested, her righteous anger flaring.
"Please, you might have physically carried me, but I carried us through survival!"- Sara shot back.
"Your survival maybe, but not mine. I would have done just fine!"
"Oh really? Then remind me how many times I had to heal your stomach after you ate some wild poisonous fruit you mistook for an apple."
"Yeah? Then remind me who breastfed you even though she wasn't lactating!"- Haruna crossed her arms beneath her ample breasts.
"Are you seriously bringing that up? If I recall, those feeding sessions benefited you as much as they did me..."- Sara grinned mischievously, her gaze drifting pointedly towards Haruna's loins.
"You! Shut up! I was an innocent girl, and you were the hag-turned-baby who corrupted me with your toothless nibbles! I was the victim!"- Haruna shifted her body, trying to evade Sara's teasing stare.
"It's your fault! Who in their right mind asks a newborn for advice? And who's ever heard of feeding a baby bolus? I had to make you lactate, or I would've starved."
"It's not my fault. How was I supposed to know what newborns needed? You were the first one I met."- Haruna pouted, clearly ashamed.
"Yeah, I can't really fault you for your naivete and ignorance. Sometimes expecting common sense is a luxury. Anyway, you were about as useful as a newborn, and I was one. You should be grateful I was a 'baby hag'."- Sara gave her a knowing look.
"That... I can't deny."- Haruna admitted, finally conceding the point.
"Don't dwell on it too much, Haruna-nee. Let's go. If we make good time, we can stop by those thermal waters I've heard so much about in the Land of Geysers."- Sara suggested with an encouraging smile.
"Thermal waters?"- Haruna asked, curious about the difference between this and regular hot water heated by fire chakra.
"Hot springs? Haven't you heard of them?"- Sara looked surprised.
"No, I don't think we had those on the moon, and as far as I know, we haven't encountered any here, right?"
"Well, we usually avoid crowded places, and hot springs can be crowded when they're cool enough."
Two young girls at their age, in their prime, tended to attract unwanted attention, so they had grown accustomed to avoiding larger villages.
"Oh, that explains it... I hate dealing with those predators. At first, they wanted to steal you from me and bed me, and now they want to bed both of us. Are you sure it's not better to just get rid of them?"- Sara asked, giving her a pleading look.
"When we encounter them, we always kill them, but isn't it better to avoid them altogether?"
"I think it's better to lure them out and then kill them."
"I'd normally agree... But then we'd be getting rid of most of the male population in the world."
"... Isn't that even better?"
"... Okay, I can't blame you for thinking that way. These recent years haven't shown us the best of humanity... Sometimes I want to let my partner out and let him deal with the scum, like he suggests."- Sara mused.
"So far, the only not-negative interactions we've had with strangers are when we cover ourselves with those 'burqas' you made... I'm just saying, maybe they do need a little bit of cleansing."- Haruna said with her hands on her waist to remark her statement.
"Look at you, Haruna-nee, since when did you grow up to be an extremist? I'm sort of proud and worried, but mostly proud."
"Huh? I thought you'd oppose my ideas of mass slaughter."
"No, it's not that I don't approve of some of your extreme thoughts, it's just..."
"What?"
"When you've been around as long as I have, you realize it's to be expected from humanity... Like when you get close to a viper, do you get mad at it for biting you, or at yourself because it was obviously going to bite you? It was a viper after all."
"The viper... but I see your point. To you, this is just part of reality, so you've learned to accept it and deal with it by avoiding the 'viper'."
"Sort of. I think one human can be great, two can be awesome, three can get complicated, and a herd of them is dubious at best. You don't know which ones will kick and which ones will charge at you. Especially if the herd doesn't have a competent bull leading them."
"... And they currently don't have one."- Haruna said in conclusion.
"Exactly. Since my fall and Kaguya's, there hasn't been anyone capable of leading the herd like we did."
"Why don't you?"
"It's not possible. I have to keep rebirthing, and after every death, my body resets and with it my strength. Without a powerful figure protecting me during my times of frailty—like we intended Kaguya to do—any dissenters would try to get rid of me before I regain the strength to sit back on my throne. At best, humanity would be caught in a cycle of order and chaos with every birth and death of mine."
"I never thought of that. I just assumed you were disappointed with humanity after Hamura and Hagoromo's betrayal."
"No, not really. We never blamed humanity for that. The twins weren't exactly human, and although I did blame their father's genes, it wasn't fair because Kaguya also betrayed her people. It was simply unrealistic to think humanity would wait for me after every rebirth."
Talking and walking, sometimes dispatching the occasional bandit, sometimes Sara helped Haruna's training, and sometimes they simply enjoyed the landscape. In this manner, a few months later, they made it to the Land of Fire.
"Should we go and ask around the nearby towns?"- Haruna asked.
"I don't think they'll be all that willing to share information with us about the clans. But I can read their minds even if they don't, so yeah, that's a good idea."- Sara replied.
They visited three small towns before Sara was able to pick up some credible news from the locals' minds.
"So, the Uchiha and the Hyūga clashed about a month ago over some territory. The Hyūga lost that encounter and moved their clan's land some distance away from their original location. This new location isn't known to the civilians, though."- Sara informed Haruna while they were in the room they shared at the town's inn.
"Mmmmmmm, I don't know. Should we wait here for more news or try our luck and look for them someplace else?"- Haruna wondered out loud.
"We could go to the Uchiha and 'ask' them."- Sara hinted at reading their minds.
"That's... They'll try to kill us, won't they?"
"Possibly, but I just need to be close enough to read their minds. Even if they try, I'm strong enough to escape with you on my back, so we won't lose anything by trying. Worst case, a few Uchihas will end up dead."- Although the Uchihas had a greater resistance to mind reading due to their strong minds, this wasn't a problem for Sara.
"Okay, let's do it then. I'm also excited to see how strong these cousins of mine are."
"I wouldn't get my hopes up too much. Unless a reincarnation of Indra is present, I don't think they have much to show for it."
"I still can't believe Indra and Asura liked to fight so much that they reincarnated through their chakra."- Haruna shook her head in disapproval.
"Well, that was my assumption. I was also surprised when I saw their souls in my last life."- Sara said.
Teiru had hired the Senju and Uchiha on multiple occasions to guard his caravans, and this was how Teiru had met the reincarnations of Asura and Indra a few times.
Teiru received news of them fighting about as often as the originals did, so he assumed that they reincarnated to continue their friendly spars or to rack up as many accomplishments in property damage as possible before ultimately dying for good.
"Let's go to sleep earlier today."- Haruna said excitedly.
The next day, they left the town and walked toward Uchiha territory.
Along the way, Sara used a black rectangular strip of clothing to cover her eyes, as if she were blind. Sara was a woman with a lithe physique and long black hair that she inherited from her mother. She normally wore black, just as she did in her life as Madi Futagami.
She then used her biokinesis to change the byakugan in Haruna, giving her soft pink eyes. Haruna was a woman with ample breasts and a narrow waist; her wide hips gave her a motherly body—even if she wasn't very motherly. She had sharp eyebrows and had taken to wearing black after Sara, though she normally complemented her clothing with her favorite color, pink. She sported a bob-cut hairstyle, and her hair was as black as Sara's.
As they approached Uchiha territory, they were intercepted by a group of ninja-like child soldiers.
"Stop!"- Demanded the leading child.
The girls stopped as requested and waited, showing their cooperation with the children.
"You're approaching the lands of the Uchiha. State your business or turn back; you won't be asked a second time!"- The child demanded with authority in his voice.
"Hello, child. We are looking to hire some of your clan members to help us with a special task. Should we discuss business with you and your companions?"- Sara asked with a relaxed yet formal demeanor.
"..."- The leading child made a hand signal to one of his companions, who then flickered back to the clan to ask for instructions.
"We shall wait here!"- The child leader said. His other companions encircled the girls but kept a respectful distance from them.
They had sensed chakra in them—more than the average civilian, but less than someone from the clans—so they took no risks but weren't exactly distrustful of them.
Sara had painted a script on both of them to mask and restrict their chakra. Normally, this would put them at risk, but Sara could use Lucian's psionic energy just fine, and that was undetectable to everyone they'd encountered.
|These kids don't know anything about the Hyūga's whereabouts. And the leader child has a crush on Haruna.|- Lucian's voice informed Sara, and she shared the message with Haruna.
Haruna maintained a mask of professionalism, but Sara knew she would later complain about the distraction during a 'risky' operation.
A few minutes later, an adult arrived—a 15-year-old, which was considered an adult during a time when the clans' life expectancy was about 30 years old.
Even the average civilian under the rule of the Teiru royal family—the last name adopted by the first Daimyo—had a longer life expectancy.
"Welcome to Uchiha territory. Are you carrying any sealed weapons?"- The teenager asked stoically.
"A chisa katana and a tanto."- Haruna said, showing the script storage tattoo on her wrists.
"A staff."- Sara added, showing her left wrist, which had the same script as Haruna.
"Did you get the script done yourselves, or did someone else do it?"- The teenager asked, activating his three-tomoe Sharingan to catch any microexpression that might indicate a lie.
"We got it done on the other side of the desert a few years ago. I can tell you where if you want; it's no secret."- Sara replied without lying.
"No, we don't cross the desert. May I have your weapons? I'll escort you to our clan leader to discuss your proposal."- He said, making a face of discomfort at the mention of the desert—which was normal; no one liked the desert.
Haruna and Sara flowed chakra through their scripts and produced their weaponry. The teenager received them and sealed them in a scroll.
"That didn't look like scripture. What was it, if you don't mind me asking?"- Sara inquired.
"It's not a secret. It's called fūinjutsu. It's similar to script but uses only chakra, so it's easier to learn... at least the simple seals are."- The teen said, recalling some of the complicated seals the Uzumaki had.
"That's interesting."- Sara said.
|I feel like they bastardized my work.|
'I was thinking the same, but chakra is indeed easier to handle. You wanted to encompass various forms of energy within a single system, so it's no wonder that scripture turned out more complicated than this fūinjutsu.'
They moved at a civilian's pace and arrived at the ancestral land of the Uchiha.
As expected of the descendants of Indra, they looked stoic and somewhat broody.
Under the red eyes of several Uchiha, they walked to the largest building, where the clan leader awaited them.
After going through a few security checks, the girls sat in seiza position in front of an old adult—who was closer to 25 years old.
"My name is Kaito Uchiha. May I have your names?"- The clan leader asked.
"My name is Sara, and this is Haruna. No last names. It's nice to meet you, clan leader."- Sara said respectfully.
"I was informed you wanted to discuss a special request for my clan."- Kaito said with a nod of acknowledgment at their introduction.
"Yes, clan leader. We come from the Land of Silk, from across the desert. We are trying to establish a sericulture business around these parts, and for that, we need to study and evaluate the environment to identify potential pests for our silkworms. It's a long study that we'll need to conduct throughout the year to understand how the seasons will affect these pests. During this timeframe, we would like to request protection from your clan and assistance when necessary."- Sara explained, repeating what Lucian had told her.
"Mmmmm, why come to us? Isn't the Aburame clan more suited for this task?"- Kaito Uchiha asked, eyeing them with suspicion.
"We don't need protection from the environment or its predators, nor do we need assistance with our silkworms. If anything, we'd prefer that our techniques remain a secret from a clan that could potentially steal our business. In reality, our first choice was the Hyūga clan since we've been told their Byakugan has a wider field of view, which could help us locate insects. But we don't know where they are."
"That still doesn't explain why you came to us."- Kaito Uchiha said, sounding more irked now that he heard the Hyūga were their first choice.
"What we need is protection from the other clans while we conduct our study. The Uchiha are known for their ability to overpower other clans in single combat, so we thought you were more reliable for the task."- Sara said with a faint smile.
|He doesn't know either. We'll have to wait until they encounter each other.|
'Ugh, annoying!'
|I'll take advantage of this and recover Hagoromo's staff.|
'It's here? I thought the Senju inherited it.'
|I don't know, but I felt traces of Hagoromo's chakra here. I assumed it was the staff.|
'Maybe he left something to Indra.'
|You might be right, but I believe we heard that Asura inherited his legacy.|
'Then we shall see.'
"The Uchiha will accept your commission."- Kaito Uchiha said after deliberating for a few seconds.
"Thank you very much, clan leader. We only need to convene once a week; we will be staying at the town's inn."- There was only one town and one inn nearby.
"One last thing before we part, miss. The script on your weapons—did you get it in the same place where you obtained your storage script?"- He subtly eyed their wrists.
"Yes, are you interested in them?"- Sara asked, not paying much attention to the intrusiveness of his question.
"The other side of the desert is too far from our land, but we would like you to leave your artifacts with us for study, we would of course return them."- He asked nonchalantly.
"No, that's not possible, clan leader. We need those for personal protection. You can study the script when your clan members are fulfilling their protectorate role. I hope that's agreeable to you."- Sara made her stance clear.
She did not care much about the items themselves, but they belonged to her and Haruna, and like Lucian, she didn't like sharing what was hers.
The clan leader stared at her impassively, but the 'blind' woman in front of him stared back, not succumbing to the unspoken pressure of his gaze.
"It appears you're not willing to back down, clan leader."- Sara said emotionlessly.
"The recent introduction of fūinjutsu to the battlefield by the Uzumaki—allies of the Senju—has negatively impacted my clan. The script on your weaponry could help us restore balance on the battlefield."- He said impassively.
"You value the possible, but unlikely, gains from studying our artifacts more than the handsome payment my request offers?"- Sara asked.
"It doesn't have to be one or the other. I will assign an escort for you during the time we withhold your weapons."- The clan leader stated. If the problem was protection then he could have some Uchihas take care of the role while his people study the weaponry.
"Don't bother. You can keep those; I will find a more honorable clan to help me with my request. The Senju should do, or perhaps the Uzumaki."- Sara said coldly as she stood up, with Haruna following her.
"You should have accepted."- Kaito Uchiha said through gritted teeth as a squad of clan members flickered into the room.
"No... You should not have angered us."- Sara's voice changed, and everyone felt as though something otherworldly was speaking through her.
Lucian made the entire clan fall into a nightmare, then calmly walked to the place where he felt Hagoromo's chakra. With Haruna following behind.
"I thought you couldn't read their minds without narrowing the distance, how come you can knock them out?"- Haruna asked, not bothered by the scene and the strangeness of her little sister.
"I can't, but Lucian can at the cost of some mental strain. At least at this point of my life, I have a body strong enough to withstand this much."- Sara wiped some blood from her nose.
"That looks serious enough."- Haruna commented and offered a tissue from her storage script.
"It's alright, this body is particularly durable. In comparison, Lucian had to invent osteo-script in my first reincarnation to get me to the appropriate level."- Different genetics required different boosts or alterations.
The girls arrived at the shrine where he had sensed the remnants of Hagoromo's chakra. Lucian saw through a sealing formula intertwined with script and made one of the Uchiha guarding the shrine unlock the entrance to the secret room he had spotted earlier. Instead of the staff he was looking for, he found a stone monument.
He observed it for a few seconds, changing filters in their eyesight, until blood started to drip from Sara's eyes.
Haruna hurriedly but carefully moved to clean her blood tears.
|I found the first traces of Kaguya's Will.|
'Eh? How come? I only feel traces of Hagoromo's chakra.'
|Kaguya's will mimicked his chakra and altered this stone monument, I think. I don't know what the original said, but this will lead the descendants of Indra to assemble the key needed to release Kaguya.|
'Ehhh? Really?'
|Yes. Chakra from Indra and Asura is needed, along with the nine chakra beasts. There are also some minor requirements, like the Mangekyo Sharingan and its Eternal version, all leading to the Rinnegan and finally merging with the body of the God Tree. The point is, Hagoromo wouldn't leave an instruction manual on how to unseal his mother.|
'Ah, gotcha! Kaguya's will altered the stone monument to trick one of the Uchihas into unsealing Kaguya. Very smart, very smart—I approve!'
|Yes. With this, we will have an appropriate alarm in case someone fulfills the requirements before we finish purifying Kaguya and the chakra beasts.|
'Someone capturing the chakra beasts!'- Maddy concluded in her mind.
|Exactly.|- The Rinnegan could be hidden, but the disappearance of many of the massive chakra beasts could not.
After that, they left the Uchiha grounds and moved to another town, one closer to the Senju, to avoid the Uchiha following them.
Lucian could have erased their memories, but he didn't care. He wanted them to know there were people they shouldn't mess with.
A few months later, the Hyūga resurfaced, and the girls went to their new location.
"Finally, I will fulfill my lady's mission."- Haruna said as she felt the gaze of several Hyūgas on her.
"I think your mission was to protect and raise me well. I'll have you know that I believe I raised you, not the other way around, Haruna-nee."- Sara said, giving her a cheeky smirk.
"...Shut up."- Haruna replied, she was well aware of how a terrible guardian she was.
"By the way, why are we coming here if we could protect ourselves better without any help?"- Sara asked. By this point, they had been seeking the Hyūga for so long that Sara didn't really care about the motive and felt more like she was playing a legendary version of hide and seek.
"Uuuhmm, initially it was about security. Now it's still about security, but more like the security of our children and grandchildren—those who will not have you or me protecting them after we die. I figured staying with the clan would help."- Haruna said after musing it over for a second.
"I don't think I want to have children, Haruna-nee."- Sara confessed.
"You might change your mind, and I definitely do. I had so much fun with you! I can't wait to have a couple of kids of my own blood!"- She said excitedly. She didn't see the horrified gaze of Sara.
|She should know by now that normal babies are different than us... right?|
'I think so, we've met a few. So I don't think she'll be as ignorant as before... right?'
When they arrived at the doors of the Hyūga settlement, what awaited them was a crowd of bulging veins and pupil-less eyes staring fixedly at them.
One appeared blind, while the other had a pink Byakugan. The pink coloration was purely aesthetic, and since she had a biokinetic little sister, she took advantage of it and requested the change.
She had also requested other upgrades, such as the way her hair grew, places it shouldn't grow, a tamer menstrual cycle, a better metabolism, healthier skin, and several other small cosmetic changes.
"The patriarch awaits you. Follow me."- A stiff-looking—like most Hyūgas —man ordered them, and the crowd made way for the newcomers.
Similar to the Uchiha, they went through a few security checks, and their weapons were taken.
Unlike with the Uchiha, the clan leader, or patriarch as they called him here, was not alone. He was with a few other adults.
|They are probably a form of a council of elders.|
'Luci, if our eyes are not mistaken, these guys branded the people outside with a weird script of control, right?'
|That's the case. I assume the ones outside are the lesser class of this clan.|
'Disgusting.'
|I agree. All of them are a lesser class, so why would they think a faction of them was better than the other?|
'Maybe it has something to do with the rebellion the branch family led on the Moon.'
|It's possible.|
The meeting went about as expected.
The main branch elders tried to brand Haruna and Sara—even though the latter didn't carry the Byakugan—and Haruna got angry for the first time in her life.
"You want to brand Sara-chan even when she doesn't have the Byakugan?"- Haruna asked with a stillness uncharacteristic of her.
"The burden of protecting the main family can only be carried by the branch family. The seal is the only way to ensure the Byakugan doesn't end up in the hands of our enemy clans. If you want her to be part of our clan, you must conform to our lifestyle, Caged Bird Seal Script included."- One of the elders explained.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but because the main family carries the highest purity Byakugan, the branch family bears the load of protecting them, right?"- Haruna asked.
"That's correct."- Another elder said.
"And because of the risks these branch family members will be exposed to, they are branded to protect the Byakugan, right?"- Haruna continued, the flatness in her voice unwavering.
"It is as you say."- A different elder agreed.
They were starting to feel very pleased with the newcomer.
"And the purity of the Byakugan matters because the purer it is, the stronger and more pristine our lineage will carry on, right?"- This time she smiled at them.
"Exactly."- The patriarch said.
"Then that means the main family's strength symbolizes the purity of their Byakugan, correct?"- Her smile was turning into something inhuman.
"..."- The elders and patriarch nodded, feeling something was wrong with the way she posed the last question, but they nonetheless agreed.
"Then if the lower purity belongs to the branch family and the higher to the main family, from this moment forward, I shall found the 'royal' family, where my Byakugan—the one of the highest purity—stands alone!"- Her chakra burst forth, pressing all the clan members down.
Children passed out and would have died if Sara had not protected them.
The natural energy was affected by her senjutsu chakra, and nature was turning hostile. The ground became rough, the trees twisted unnaturally, the air grew heavy, the water boiled, and lightning flickered from Haruna's hair strands—her chakra's highest affinity.
The elders tried resisting, but it was futile. Whenever it looked like they were about to break free from the oppression, Sara would subtly disrupt their concentration.
After that day, the Hyūga were divided into three classes: Branch, Main, and Royal family.
The main family was branded with a new script. The aspects of life, death, and pain control were removed from all seals, and only the aspect of destroying the Byakugan upon death remained.
To Haruna, it didn't matter if their progeny were later replaced by a stronger Hyūga; what she cared about was the prosperity of the clan and the well-being of their future children. If even one of her children would end up as a second-class citizen, then she would rather make everyone but her and Sara second-class citizens... that way they'll be only second-class compared to her and Sara.
The changes she enacted ensured that after her passing, everyone would be equal, and the designations Main, Branch, and Royal Family would become merely words, with the more apt Hyūga taking the leading position.
These designations would ensure that the purity of the Byakugan is conserved by marrying only within their 'class'. This would inevitably keep the power seat mostly within the main and royal families, but at least this way, no one was a slave to anybody.
Time flew by, and during her reign, Haruna made sure the Hyūga stayed as uninvolved with the clan fights as possible.
Haruna found a partner and birthed two boys, less than a year apart.
Sara had Lucian create some Hyūga male gametes, and through insemination, she impregnated herself. She said that none of the Hyūga were to her liking, so she would rather not attach herself to someone who was 'the least bad'.
Lucian agreed, as possessive as he was, he wanted her to have the absolute best first partner. Since there was no one available yet and Maddy was ready to have progeny of her own, he took it upon himself to grow some qualified sperm. After taking blood samples from every Hyūga and selecting the best genes for the sperm, he inseminated her.
Nine months later, she gave birth to two girls. They were born with golden Byakugans. Their hair was the same color as Kaguya's, and they shared the same skin paleness, but they mostly resembled Sara.
'Thank you, Luci. They are perfect.'- Sara said while she breastfed the twin girls. Her legs rubbing.
As a consequence of Haruna and Sara's influence, the Hyūga specialized in medicine and archery. They still adhered to their famed Gentle Fist, but it couldn't be denied that they were also the best medics and archers among all the clans.
The twin girls grew up, and by their 15th birthdays, they married Haruna's boys.
In this life, Sara passed away first. The rapid growth she experienced as a baby had taxed her lifeforce a bit. She didn't die young, but she passed away considerably sooner than in her lives as Aya and Teiru.
"I'm going, Haruna-nee."- She told her older sister. Her kids and grandkids surrounded her.
"Will I get to see you in your next life?"- Haruna asked. It was common knowledge among the Royal Family about Maddy and Luci.
"I doubt it, but it's possible. Though I would rather not see my family die, so I won't look for you. If we meet, we meet; if not, I won't force it."
"Coward!"- Haruna reprimanded, with no heat in her voice.
"Yes, I know. But Luci might make you all immortal if he sees me suffering too much. I would rather not curse you with immortality; I love you too much for that."- Sara told the ones present.
|I would.|
'I know you would.'
"But I will always have you in my heart. You were the first family I birthed; I won't ever forget you."- Sara said, looking at her tear-stricken adult kids.
"Sara, you were my first child. I will never forget you!"- Haruna looked at her with a mocking grin.
"YOU were my first child. I couldn't forget you even if I wanted to."- Sara returned the mocking grin.
Her body soon enough turned to dust and light specks, and she found herself alongside her featureless friend in the Pure Lands.
She floated closer to him and hugged him, seeking comfort.
She felt her death meant more to them than to her.
'It was hard, Luci. Like a nagging voice in my head always reminding me about our inevitable separation, and I couldn't help but love them more. It was a cycle of love and fear that I don't want to repeat again... I think I finally understood why you took ownership of my soul and made me eternal as you... I don't know if you have family waiting for you, Luci, but I'm 100% sure that if you do, you made them eternal like me... like us.'
Lucian didn't comment, only holding her close to him as they floated through the Pure Lands.
___________________________________________
6th Life.
Maddy reincarnated as a priestess in the Land of Demons.
She had a mostly normal life but in her last days of life, a dark demon from another world invaded, one known as Mōryō.
Because she was lacking in strength, the only way she had to deal with it was sealing its fate with hers. So she sealed it in her soul and lost her life in the process. In the Pure Lands Lumian welcomed the snack and ate Mōryō.
____________________________________________
7th Life
In this life, she reincarnated as a boy of the Kaguya Clan. Initially, she was happy about her reincarnation, sadly her Shikotsumyaku kekkei genkai had an atavistic regression and she was born with Kaguya's All-Killing Ash Bones.
Her body couldn't hold the load for longer and soon enough was turned to ash by her own bones.
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8th Life.
She reincarnated in Sunagakure.
"IT'S AYA-SAMA!!!"- An overly eager obstetrician shouted.
"WHAT?!"- An equally eager mother who had just given birth shouted.
"IT'S TRUE!"- A father with a crushed hand shouted after rapidly moving to the newborn and checking out the white eyes the doctor was observing.
'...'
|...|
Maybe they should have been a bit more subtle about the whole reincarnation thing.
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{A/N:
This is the end of this chapter. This 8th life is during the time of Madara, or more accurately she will be an old lady during the time of Madara. After that, her reincarnations will be as follows: Uzumaki, Senju, and lastly Uchiha.
I don't know how many lives I will be able to fit in the next chapter, but I was hoping this 8th life and the 9th, but we shall see when we see.
How do you guys feel about the pacing? I don't want to unnecessarily extend this arc if I don't have to, but I also don't want to cut it short. I am clearly not going to go through all the +700 chapters of Naruto, but I plan to reach the end. This means I will not address some stuff and some others will be solved with overwhelming power.
For example, there won't be chapters about other POV unless it's to advance the story; there won't be chapters about certain relationships between the MC and other characters, and stuff like that.
If you guys want I can make the story a bit full of extra details in the chapters pertaining to canon. But I do want to return to Marvel somewhat soon enough, given that the tags on this story are not about Naruto but Marvel. But I have no personal issue if you want fuller chapters, but be aware that the release date will increase. At the moment I can do about 18k words a week, keep it in mind a chapter usually has 12k words or so.
}
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