Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Kakumei – Arc 1: The Consumer of Worlds

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Chapter 34 – The Strongest of all Kunoichi

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Just out of the hospital, Sasuke walks across Konoha, leaping from roof to roof. He's still avoiding the streets and people, even after all these years. Unsure of where he should go, he just jumps from one building to another until he reaches the gates of the village. There he sees Kobo's wife and son about to leave. Catching up to them, he hesitates for a moment, but engages conversation.

"Are you leaving already?" he asks to Sana, after landing on the ground behind her.

She and Teru turn around to see Sasuke, out of the hospital and well.

"At least you're unharmed." says the mother.

"I am sorry for Kobo. I really couldn't save him…" says the Uchiha.

"It's okay, I'm not gonna hate you for it…" she answers. "Tsubai told me… about the vision he had."

"He told you about that?" asks Sasuke, surprised but understanding the reason.

"I get that Kobo was ready for this all along, You're not to blame. It was his choice." says Sana. "I'm just… disappointed that he never told about his resolve, to me or to Teru." she adds, looking at her son.

Sasuke doesn't answer to that and jut leaves a short silence. Kobo likely didn't tell her about it, because she would have told Konoha about Tsubai's prophecy, which would have gotten way more people involved, and therefore in danger.

"Actually, in his last breath… He gave me his last words, for him." answers Sasuke, who now looks at Teru too.

Sana makes a surprised face, as Sasuke steps forward and gets down to his knees in front of Teru. The boy just looks at him, numb. Sasuke raises his hand and holds the kid's shoulder, before staring right into his eyes with his right eye.

Mangekyo Sharingan

He uses a simple and harmless genjutsu to pass on his friend's last words to his son and his wife. Teru and Sana hear Kobo's voice echoing in their minds.

"You know… I was birthed, raised and trained only to become a killing weapon. I've been manipulated like a soulless soldier all of my youth. I was allowed to know my mother only so I could lose her, and become stronger from the trauma. I never thought I'd ever be anything else than the monster I was turned into, until I met Sana. First, I thought she'll have to die, like the only person I had loved until then. I was full of fear of losing her, but she lived, she acknowledged me, and gave me affection, and love like I thought I wasn't allowed to receive… And our son is the best thing that happened to me. Together, they made my life meaningful, and I'm forever thankful for that… Sasuke, I need you to tell them… What I just told you…"

When the illusion ends, the two of them just stand still, paralyzed by the emotion. Sasuke, still on the ground, stays agape, as he sees the eyes of the young boy, turn red and develop into a pair of imperfect Sharingan. In these eyes, he once again sees the reflection of his failure. Even though he thought the curse of hatred ended with him, he just witnessed it manifest itself once again in these young eyes.

Sana firmly holds on her son's hand, breathes in, and turns around.

"Thank you… We must return to Kiri now, and offer him proper funerals." she says as she walks away with her son, who's still as quiet as ever.

Sasuke doesn't say anything, and watches as they go. He stands up, motionless for a moment, then turns around, to go for a place where he hopes to find comfort.

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At one of the village's training ground, Kakashi Hatake, former Hokage, is having a warm-up fight with Takeshi Minamoto, the young genin from Kiri. Kakashi obviously goes easy against his adversary, but still is impressed by how much effort he actually needs to put in this little fight. Takeshi, with only 10 years old, seems already stronger than Sasuke and Naruto at 13. He really reminds him of what kind of young ninja he used to be, which is not all of a compliment, actually.

As he notices Takeshi progressively increasing his speed and focus, he decides to put an end to this little game. He catches the boy's fist right when he attempts to hit him, and turns his arm around to lock it in his back. To immobilize him for good, he gets behind the boy and pushes him to the ground. Now holding him down with an arm in the back, he immobilizes him with his knee.

"Enough with the warm up." says the 6th Hokage. "What about you tell me the reason you asked for this training session?"

"Ok… I want you to teach me a specific jutsu." answers Takeshi.

"What jutsu? I've never taught you any."

"Shiden. The Purple Lightning."

"Are you serious? This is an S-rank jutsu that could easily end someone's life. It's not something that a 10 year old needs."

"How old were you when you made Chidori, sir?"

"… I created Chidori by myself. Why don't you try and make your own jutsu, like I did?"

"Oh! It's a challenge then!" answers the genin. "I accept it, but I won't be satisfied until I get to compare the result with your Shiden."

Kakashi doesn't answer. He knows that such a task is totally approachable by such a genius kid, and even more if this kid has a super intelligent tengu to help him. The aforementioned young genius is currently struggling to move with Kakashi still holding him down.

"Could you please let me go now?" he asks, tired of trying for nothing.

"What do you want such a jutsu for, all of a sudden?" asks Kakashi while standing up to free him. "Is it what happened to your father and his colleagues?"

"I don't know… Maybe." answers Takeshi, sitting on the ground and stretching his arms.

"Don't stay too focused on this. There's nothing you can do about it. It's business that even the Kage can't handle. It requires a person who could destroy the continent alone… At least."

"So what? I'm obviously not willing to go and avenge Teru's father by myself. I'm just pumped up and motivated. Isn't it a good thing?" says Takeshi who pulls his mask down.

Kakashi looks at the young man for a moment… and smiles.

"You're right." he says. "Be motivated. Train, and maybe in 10 years or so, you'll be the one going with Sasuke through other worlds."

He takes Takeshi's hand and helps him up. The two are now standing in front of each other, ready to leave. Kakashi goes first in direction of outside the field.

"I can't go for travels." says Takeshi, staying on the field. "I'd prefer to stay in Kiri."

"Stay in Kiri?" asks Kakashi. "So did the Minamoto clan officially move out of this land?"

"Not really… Aunt Saori is still the leader in Ryuka, and my father is the supposedly official leader of the clan. But they're not decided."

"I guess you'll have to settle this when you take on the mantle."

"I guess so."

The 6th Hokage leaves the training ground and goes back to the Hokage mansion. Takeshi stays there and doesn't wait longer to start his new training.

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Meanwhile, Sasuke arrives at his family's house, in what used to be the Uchiha block, where Izuna and Boruto are arguing over anything in the front yard. When they notice him, the two kids stop talking and just stare at him awkwardly. After a few seconds, Boruto speaks up.

"You're Uncle Sasuke, aren't you?"

Sasuke just lightly nods, but doesn't say anything.

"Dad used to say that you were the lamest and most boring kid at the academy." adds Boruto. "Is that true?"

"That's just your dad playing dumb." answers Sasuke, faking a smile to look friendly. "Actually, he was the most annoying kid. He even was among the worst from the academy."

At these words, Boruto smiles, and contains his laughter, as he rarely gets to hear such facts about the Hokage. But Izuna doesn't find it funny. He stares angrily at his father.

"Don't talk about Lord 7th like that!" he yells.

Sasuke and Boruto look at him, a bit surprised by his reaction.

"You're apparently my dad, but the first time you ever get to meet me, you had to come and get someone else's dad killed on the road…" coldly adds Izuna. "You should have stayed in whatever forest you were."

Boruto is shocked by how aggressive Izuna just was. Sasuke stays numb, he just stares at his son, disappointed. Not giving any more attention to these kids, he briefly uses his left eye, hidden behind his hair, to see if he can see Sakura's chakra in the house, but he doesn't find her.

"I don't have no time to argue with an 8 year old." he says, as he turns around and goes away.

"Yeah. That's it! Leave again. And don't come back this time!" yells the Uchiha kid.

Sasuke just walks away, but turns around again, out of curiosity, when he hears something that sounds like someone getting punched behind him. Boruto just struck Izuna's face with his fist. Izuna takes a few steps back, and touches his cheek, where his friend just landed a punch.

"What's wrong with you?" yells the kid again.

"What's wrong with YOU?" answers the Hokage's son. "Uncle just came back from hell knows what kind of trip and lost a friend, and all you find to do is cry out like a fatherless baby?"

"He may have lost a friend, but Teru lost his dad. I wouldn't care if I lost him, I didn't even know him. But Teru knew his father. Just seconds before that hobo showed up, he was telling us how he was his life model!."

Boruto doesn't answer, and briefly turns his head to Sasuke, who doesn't move either. When he looks back at Izuna, he sees him throwing his punch at his face, to get revenge. Being much stronger, and having learned from his mother, the young Uchiha sends the Hyuga boy fly a few meters away through the yard.

As soon as he hits the ground, Boruto stands up and angrily runs back to Izuna. The two kids start to fight against each other, with their bare hands. Sasuke just stays back and watches as Boruto is taking the advantage and beating his son up.

On his right, Hinata arrives and runs to the two kids to separate them and stop the fight. She pulls on her son's arm, and tries to slap him as a punishment. As if by reflex, Boruto catches her hand before it lands to stop her slap, but panicks when he sees his mother's shocked and angered reaction to this.

"Crap… I mean, Sorry." he says before slapping his own self with his mom's hand. "That's it. I deserved it."

Behind Sasuke, Sakura arrives with two baby girls in her arms, Himawari and Sarada. She looks at the kids, then at Sasuke.

"You're out of the hospital?" she asks first, but doesn't get an answer. "Why didn't you stop them?"

Sasuke still doesn't answer, and just looks at the two babies she's holding. By the little whiskers on the cheeks, he guesses that the 1 year old is Naruto and Hinata's daughter. And the other little girl, she looks a lot like Sakura, but she has his eyes, and his hair.

"Is that…" he starts to say quietly.

"Oh yes." immediately answers Sakura who hands this girl over to her father. "Sasuke, meet Sarada, your daughter."

Sasuke takes his arm out of his cape and holds the 6 months old little girl. For a long moment, he doesn't say anything and just looks at her. While he does, he feels like his soul is finding peace, calming down, taking a break from the hell he's living through. He doesn't say anything, and just stares at her. This time, unlike when Izuna was just born, the baby didn't start to cry as soon as he held it. She's just as quiet and peaceful as him. Sakura watches as her husband and daughter are visibly getting along pretty well, and lightly smiles.

Sasuke's brought back to the world by the sound of the front door clapping behind him. Hinata just sent the boys in, and Izuna angrily closed the door. Sakura looks at the door and back to Sasuke.

"This one…" she says, about Izuna. "He's really a bad mannered kid."

"He isn't happy to see me, I guessed." notes Sasuke.

"Oh, don't worry. It's just that he's like that, really stubborn, and don't want to get to know you for now." she answers, to reassure him. "It's just a phase, he'll get over it."

"No… I understand. Anyway, he won't see me around for long… He's right, I never did any effort to meet him before, and when I come back, it's as a loser."

"What the hell are you saying?" yells Sakura.

Sasuke raises his head and looks at her, startled by this sudden rise in tone. Himawari, in Sakura's arm, is as startled as Sasuke and stares with her white eyes wide open at her auntie.

"You know Naruto improved a lot since last time?" Sakura says, now calmly. "He didn't just get his powers back. He got them better, stronger. I too, improved a lot these last 10 years. I've got so much chakra stored in this seal that I could blow up this whole village. And you? What have you been up to? Don't tell me you'd really let ME catch up to you?"

Sasuke doesn't say anything, again. He just understands his wife's point. He also improved. His swordplay, his Ninjutsu, his use of the Rinnegan, and of Susanoo. He improved in every way since his fight against Kaguya. He could maybe even stand his ground alone against her now. And he's not done improving. The next time he meets this Momoshiki, he'll beat him. That's all he has to do. Sasuke hands Sarada back to his wife, and simply pinches his two fingers on the baby's forehead. Sakura smiles, and looks at her husband, faithfully.

As Sasuke walks away confidently, Hinata comes back, after handling the two boys and takes Himawari in her arms.

"Momma?" says the little Hyuga girl.

"Mm?" answers Hinata, calmly but a bit unsettled by the curious tone of her daughter.

"What the Hell?" calmly says the little girl, repeating what her aunt yelled earlier.

When they hear that, and after a little second of realization, the two moms freak out. Sasuke, hearing the scene behind him, smiles, and even lightly laughs, before using the Shunshin to leave the place, and go to the Hokage's office.

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Across the ocean, in the lands of Heart, a threat came to claim the territory, and the current inhabitants are mobilizing for defense. Of all the clans that battled to reign over these lands, the most powerful is the Tomoe clan from village of Ketsugakure, hidden in Blood. It is a female-only clan that was founded by the one Kunoichi that united all the countries of this continent under her orders: Gozen Tomoe. This woman is famed, feared, and well-known all across the land as the most powerful kunoichi in the world. Her strength is such that even the tale of her life is now impossible to tell apart from the myths that were built around it.

According to these myths, Gozen Tomoe was a young princess, who's been forcibly put in an arranged marriage by her father, with the much older sovereign of a Samurai land of the west. Not long after this marriage, her father died of an unknown cause, that she suspected to be a poisoning by the man she married. In result of this death, her husband got control over more land, and fueled the other leader's jealousy and hunger for power.

In the rage of war, the old sovereign, with whom Gozen had a child, a young girl, found himself in need to overcome a workforce problem. She proposed herself as a soldier, which the old man first refused, but had to accept after seeing her innate talent for battle and weapon handling.

However, as the countries of all the continent were destroying each other, their empire eventually came to an end too. In an ultimate battle, Gozen Tomoe and her husband found themselves in an ambush, where the sovereign died. After this, the young woman, just 16 years old at the time, massacred all the enemies and returned to her late husband's kingdom with only his corpse's detached head, that she traded for her infant daughter to the rest of the government.

After this, she supposedly left the kingdom and went on to found her own village, with only her daughter and other young women and war orphans that she found across the land This village is Ketsugakure… Years later, she and her new clan took over the warring villages and clans in an ultimate effort and forced the whole land into peace.

Oddly, every time one of the women of this clan got pregnant, the baby was a girl, keeping the clan 100% feminine. The Tomoe clan left their village and moved to the capital: Hikarigakure, the village hidden in Light, which serves a the capital and main siege of the land rulers. This story took place over 40 years ago.

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This same village is the one where, nowadays, Momoshiki Otsutsuki and Kinshiki Otsutsuki come to claim the leadership of the land. Gozen Tomoe, still ruling over the continent she united, comes to oppose the invader. As the two strangers wander around, she stands still, accompanied by her troops on horse backs. Momoshiki stops somewhere and looks at the human herd.

"Kinshiki, I have an idea." he says. "This place seems nice. Let's split it here. The east will be our garden, the left will remain their living place."

Kinshiki creates a red spectral axe in his hand, that he firmly holds. He then flies with all his speed toward the ground.

Ameno Habaya – Odachinagi

He hits the ground with his axe, and slices the whole land in two parts, like his partner requested. Momoshiki slowly comes closer to the ground, and looks at the humans, as their horses start to back down, afraid by this strength demonstration. Leading the troops, Gozen Tomoe, gets off her horse, and lets it flee as it pleases. She walks forward to the Otsutsuki.

Momoshiki notices her. An aged woman, that looks in her 50's, almost 60's, with brown reddish hair, pale skin, and red markings on her face, around her eyes. She wears a dark brown combat robe, a samurai armor like those of the warring states era, but white, attached with golden strings, like the head band she's wearing on her forehead. Momoshiki looks at her, provocatively, while she remains dead serious.

"I refuse any deal you could propose." she firmly says. "East and West of this slice will forever belong to us, the Tomoe clan. If you want any piece of this land, you'll have to get through me."

"There seems to be a misunderstanding, …" answers Momoshiki, who stays in the sky while Kinshiki gets to the ground and comes to face her. "This split in the land is just a personal mark. Like a reminder to my own self. I intend to take all this continent from you, not only the west."

The kunoichi raises her hand, as a signal for her daughter, who grabs a spear and throws it to her mother. Gozen Tomoe catches the weapon and gets ready to receive Kinshiki's offensive. Seeing his opponent, the giant creates a spear similar to hers and leaps forward to take her on.

The kunoichi makes a war cry, before jumping to the enemy, and the two start a powerful short range combat. Kinshiki sees his opponent going with all her heart and actually managing to resist his phenomenal strength.

Trying to use his height as an advantage, he strikes from above to force her to use the spear and leave her body defenseless. But she doesn't. Instead, she takes advantage of his brief stop in offensive and slides between the giant's legs. Firmly holding her spear, she uses it to sweep his legs off the ground. Surprised, and caught off guard, Kinshiki falls over. Without standing up, Gozen performs a few hand seals and smashes the ground with her spear's safe end.

Doton – Dai Kiretsu

A giant crack opens the ground just under Kinshiki and engulfs him into the ground. As soon as he fell down the hole, the Tomoe clan leader holds her two hands on the ground and closes the crack to trap and squash her enemy. After a few second of silence, she stands up. Her troops are starting to rejoice, except for her daughter, and her two granddaughters. They know, by the look on their elder's face, that the fight isn't over.

As expected, The ground shakes, and lightning spreads through it.

Yoton – Gomutai

Gozen briefly changes her skin into rubber, by using the Rubber version of Lava Style, which immunizes her to the lightning shock. Many of the horses fall down, electrocuted and the ground shatters.

"Run away!" Gozen orders to her troops. "Retreat to the capital. I'll join you there!"

She looks at her daughter, who looks back at her.

"Toshima…" she tells her. "Take the lead while I'm gone."

Her daughter hits her horse with her foot, and goes away, followed by her two daughters. The oldest of Gozen's granddaughters looks back with a worried face. The leader stands proud and waits for her enemy, who now emerges from the ground, surrounded by a lightning storm. Now alone, with the enemy, she readies herself for another offensive.

In an instant, Kinshiki arrives in front of her and hits her, bare handed. Too fast for her, she can't do anything and is just thrown away, up the in air. While the giant thinks this hit knocked her out, she feints to be for a moment, and then throws her spear, covered in lightning too, at the enemy's face with all her strength and speed. The weapon rapidly flies through the air and pierces the wind toward Kinshiki's nose.

Still able to see it coming, he moves his head to dodge, but not fast enough. Usually confident in his skin's durability, he couldn't expect the cut that the spear leaves on his cheek when passing by. After the weapon lands in the ground behind him, he touches his face and feels the small wound.

Gozen Tomoe lands back on the ground, face to face with her opponent, who's still troubled by the little damage he took. She breathes in and out, to recover from the strike that propelled her seconds ago.

"By the great bringer of balance! The goddess of fortune and purity! I swear by her name, I shall chase the invaders and send them to the Pure Land as losers!" exclaims the sovereign of the land, full of conviction and trust.

"Goddess of fortune and purity?" growls Kinshiki, interrogatively before turning around to look at Momoshiki. "Naobi has worshipers on this world?"

"Do Not dishonor the name of the gods by spelling them with such little respect, stranger!" exclaims Gozen.

"Dishonor their name?" asks Momoshiki who was only spectating until now, in a sarcastic tone. "Listen to me, vile creature… I am not gonna stop at 'dishonoring the names' of the gods… I will find them in their homeland, and massacre all of them! Including your so-called whore of purity!"

Gozen doesn't answer and just makes a shocked and unsettled face. Could this be that the invaders she is fighting, who know and speak so little of her high goddess, are themselves higher spirits? Did she engage in a battle against gods? In this case, for what purpose are they taking her land away? When did she lose faith?…

No. These men, even if they're gods, are enemies of balance. She, Gozen Tomoe, founder and leader of both the Tomoe clan and the lands of Heart, most powerful kunoichi in the world, will stand her ground and defend her territory, alone with her faith in Naobi-sama, the goddess of good fortune, purity, and propriety.

"That's it." says Momoshiki. "Kinshiki, I know you've been going easy on her, but you're done playing. She's impressive enough,… for a human. I want her chakra for myself."

She looks up to stare at the celestial being, slowly descending upon her land. Kinshiki flies up and leaves the fight to his partner.

"Now, see your end and faith be destroyed effortlessly by the enemy of your goddess, while she does nothing to come to your rescue."

By just the intensity of the chakra and the look of her opponent, Gozen understands that this fight is probably her last, despite her strong beliefs. But this won't make her give up. Raising her head, to show a face full of determination, she lifts both her hands up and unleashes her best weapon.

Heike no Yumi

A large spectral chakra bow appears in her hands, intensively glowing, and surrounded by a strong aura, made of all 5 natural elements. On the bow, 5 arrows appear, each made of a different element. Gozen Tomoe holds her ultimate weapon, and prepares to give all her remaining strength against the man who threatens her properties and her protector.

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End of Chapter 34 – Next Chapter: The 7th Hokage's Konoha