Naruto: Tales of Ashihara
Prologue – Arc 3: Inner-demon
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Chapter 29 – Perfect demonic Illusion
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Evening in Konoha. Sai and Sakura returned from their expedition and brought the scientist's clone to the intelligence division. There, Ibiki Morino and Ino Yamanaka are currently working to access the corpse's latest memories. On a dead body, using this jutsu is far more complicated, and finding the wanted memory takes way more time and chakra than on a living person. The young leader of the Yamanaka clan is receiving chakra from the analysis team and Sakura, and goes through the scientist's mind to find out more about who the impersonator that approached the Hokage is, and who are his collaborators.
First thing she does is quickly navigate through the dead mind to see how far it can go.
"That's odd. This guy was born a few days ago in some sort of laboratory." she says.
"He's an artificial being?" asks Ibiki.
"Seems like. And the first thing he ever saw... is his own self... and another one of him,... and another, and more others. There's like 15 of him."
"So he wasn't bluffing when he said he's a genetic duplicate of his original self." says Sai.
Ino starts to explore the memories from earliest to latest and carefully looks for a man who suits the suspected profile of the identity thief. She finds an Isami Kurama, average-sized, brown hair, dressed like a vagabond. He first spoke with Suto about a month ago. The two men met many times through this month and proceeded to do regular injections that supposedly were to ready his body.
Ino suggests that these injections are essential to comprehend the enemy's motives. It appears that their purpose is to make Isami's body able to contain a tengu without dying. Ino finds this story unexpectedly related to the Minamoto again. Intrigued, she goes deeper in the subject's mind, but her researches are interrupted by a lack of chakra to source it. It's Sakura who stopped providing hers and stepped away.
"What is going on, miss Haruno?" asks Ibiki.
"It's Miss Uchiha." corrects Ino. "Are you ok?" she adds now, asking Sakura.
"I just need a minute." says the pregnant woman.
She holds her belly while hardly walking out of the room. Sai and Ino look at each other. Sai beckons his young wife to go check on her friend.
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At the same time, in the Hokage's office, Kakashi is calmly chatting with Shizune when they're both surprised by a falcon flying in by the window. They stare at the bird, and then at each other, both having recognized Sasuke's falcon. They immediately know what it's about and Shizune hurries to get the scroll attached to the bird's leg. Kakashi takes it and reads its content.
It wasn't me. I'll take care of this myself. I'll return to make a report. Keep me informed of Sakura's condition.
Uchiha Sasuke
This short message is all he got from Sasuke in a month. Shizune still salutes his shown concern for his wife. Kakashi agrees and stows the scroll in a little drawer. He takes another empty scroll and prepares to simply write "Received and validated" when someone knocks on the door.
"Come in." shouts Shizune.
The door opens and Yamato holds it open for Mizuno, the Mizukage's assistant from Kiri. The kunoichi walks in and gets to her knees in front of the Hokage.
"Greetings, Lord Hokage." says the Mizukage's right hand.
"He doesn't like these formalities." Shizune hurries to say, to not embarrass Kakashi any longer.
"My apologies then." answers Mizuno while standing up.
She walks up to the desk and hands Tsubai's scroll to the Hokage who takes it before asking about its content.
"Sealed in, there are reports about recent events from Kiri." says Mizuno. "We got the visit of mercenaries sent after the Minamoto family by a certain Isami Kurama."
"Kurama?" interrogates Kakashi and Shizune together.
"It contains details that were collected from the enemy's memories by Tsubai Minamoto. Judging by the land of Fire's importance in these memories, Lady Mizukage thought that maybe handing this issue over to you was the best thing to do."
"And she thought right." says Kakashi who opens the scroll and reads it.
He learns about the Ripper and the mad scientist, but doesn't care much about this part. What grabs his attention is what is said about Isami Kurama. He learns more about who he is and gets to validate their theory of a former clan member from over the continent. While he reads the report almost in its entirety, carried away by the words, Mizuno just stays there waiting for her next directives. Realizing that now isn't the time to fully explore this document, Kakashi closes the scroll and looks at Shizune, as to express, just with his gaze, his satisfaction. Mizuno adds a few more details that aren't mentioned in the scroll.
"I've been sent to assist your forces until this case is closed. Am I authorized to?"
"You are." says Kakashi who hands the scroll over to Shizune.
The Hokage's assistant takes it and goes to attach it to the falcon's leg. Mizuno sees this and is confused.
"Who is this for? I don't think this message is supposed to go to anyone else than you."
"This is Sasuke Uchiha's falcon. He'll get this data and bring his own contribution." answers Kakashi.
"Sorry but he isn't supposed to play any role in this." answers Mizuno, distrustfully.
"Actually he does." says the Hokage. "This Isami Kurama first approached me disguised as Sasuke and he's already been informed about this. This is why his bird is here."
"So what's the point for me to be here, if someone like him is already handling it?"
"We are currently trying to learn about the enemy's methods. You could help Konoha's intelligence division in their investigations."
"This isn't what I came for,... But I can do it. It's actually part of what I do in Kiri." she answers, a bit annoyed, but glad to still be of help.
Kakashi takes a pen and writes a quick message for Sasuke to accompany Kiri's data. As he does, Sakura walks in to report about what information were gathered by Ino and Ibiki. She sees Mizuno standing there and gives her a suspicious look. She then looks at Kakashi, as to express her suspicions. Shizune and Kakashi both look suspiciously at Mizuno too, who just looks around confused, not aware of what is suddenly going on.
"I... came to report our results." says Sakura who walks toward the desk and leaves a scroll on it.
Mizuno looks surprised, and impressed, at Sakura's pregnant belly. Kakashi notices this. He takes Sakura's scroll and says:
"Sakura... This woman is Mizuno. She was sent by the Mizukage to assist us on the Kurama case. Could you lead her to a place to rest until we're done."
"... Of course..." slowly answers Sakura as she sees the bird waiting on the window's edge. "Did Sasuke give an answer?"
"Yes, Kiri's intel will be sent to him." answers Shizune. "He said he'll take care of this. All we got left to do is to finish what we're doing with the intelligence team."
"Oh I see. That's good news." answers Sakura who turns around to see Mizuno.
"You can leave for now" says Kakashi. "Miss Mizuno, Sakura will guide you."
The two women nod and leave together. Kakashi looks at Shizune who readies the falcon.
"What do you think?" he asks. "Was there an intruder in the room?"
"Oh? You thought so too." she answers. "I felt like it could be. A Kiri-nin, Sasuke's falcon, and Sakura, all at the same time? It's odd, but maybe we're just paranoid."
"... Did you ever meet this Mizuno before?" questions Kakashi, unsure.
"I think I did...At a Kage council, I believe." answers the assistant. "But I can't tell if this is how I remembered her." she adds, trying to guess if she was just Isami Kurama using his mind mirror again.
"... I am not sure, but I don't think she had hair that long last time..." wonders Kakashi, doubting that she could be the impostor he's looking for.
"Really? Is that so?" says Shizune, playing it sassy, and acting as if Kakashi paying attention to another woman's look affects her.
Kakashi raises his eyebrows, feeling slightly ashamed, but squints his eyes at the same time, not knowing how to answer exactly. Shizune, knowing such irrelevant teasing shouldn't interrupt their discussion, eases it off with a smile.
"So Mizuno is really here." she says, inviting the Hokage to get back to the conversation. "Even omitting this, why would this Kurama guy give us his name and intel about him?"
"It's true, but Sakura wasn't an impostor either." says Kakashi. "Mizuno didn't know about her pregnancy, yet I saw her noticing and reacting to Sakura's belly."
"So she didn't see her as she remembers..." says Shizune. "Did these two ever meet before?"
"Interesting idea... I don't know. And if they didn't, we don't know yet on how the illusion would apply in this case."
Kakashi goes silent, confused by this last suggestion. If this Isami Kurama uses his Shin Kagami to impersonate someone and goes in front of a person who never met the one he disguises as, what happens? Does the genjutsu fails, or does it have an alternative reaction to this case?
"... As I first said, we overthought it." says Shizune. "Even if there was an impostor, he wasn't in this room."
When she says this, Ino bulges in by the door and interrupts their discussion.
"Sakura's having contractions." she yells to them.
Shizune and Kakashi look at each other. They just saw Sakura in this room, and she didn't seem like a fake. Her having contractions all of a sudden would be odd. Moreover, Ino was supposed to be with the analysis team. This would mean that a fake Sakura is interfering with the intel division's work. Kakashi hurries to stand up and follows Ino to where her Sakura is, according to her.
"Shizune, send the message off to Sasuke." he quickly says before leaving.
Kakashi and Ino run to Sakura's position, hoping to find the impersonator and get rid of him. "How did he get in the village so easily?" wonders Kakashi, who also thinks that he must be looking to interfere with Konoha gathering intel about him.
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In the hallway of the intelligence work quarters, Sakura's taking deep breathes and slowly getting ready to get back to work. Behind her, Ino comes and holds her back.
"Are you okay?" she asks.
"Uh?... Yes... I'm coming back, just give me a second..." answers Sakura, who thought that Ino went to the Hokage's office.
Not really thinking straight, she looks down, bent over and holding her knees to breath. Behind her, Ino slowly takes out a weapon from her tool pocket.
Shiden
Out of nowhere, Kakashi blitzes in the hall and stabs through Ino's chest with his Shiden, a lightning jutsu strong enough to replace Raikiri, and not needing the use of a dojutsu to work properly. As he ran in the scene, he was aiming for Sakura, that he thought was the impostor, but went for Ino instead, as he knew that the real her is who guided him there. Sakura turns around, sees Ino being pierced through by the Hokage and looks horrified at the scene before realizing what it means.
Ino's appearance fades away and reveals Isami Kurama... who disappears like a shadow clone. Kakashi turns off the purple lightning of his Shiden and looks at Sakura. The real Ino comes behind them and looks around, confused.
"Is the genjutsu user currently in the village?" she asks.
"You're... really Sakura." says Kakashi, ignoring Ino's question and thinking. "This means that..."
He now understands everything. The clone he just killed was aiming for Sakura, which implies that she isn't a fake. This means that the Sakura who came to the office and is now guiding Mizuno is the enemy. He wasn't only looking to interfere with the intel gathering team, but also with Kiri's agent.
As Shizune suggested, they didn't know how the illusion worked when the spectator never met the impersonated one. But it seems like it just goes according to the user's knowledge in this case, which is quite profitable for him. Kakashi stresses out, and runs away again to find Mizuno and the fake Sakura. The real Sakura immediately follows him, unsure of the details but sure about one thing: the one who impersonated Sasuke is currently here. Ino looks at them going, confused and readies to follow.
"Keep on the mind reading, Ino!" yells Sakura while trying to follow the Hokage.
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In the streets of Konoha, Mizuno walks forward while the impostor, disguised as Sakura follows her. As his shadow clone is destroyed, his memories return to the original and he learns that the Hokage found out about his plan. Really embittered by this turn of events, he also sees Sasuke's messenger falcon fly over them. Short on time, he takes two kunai out of his pocket. He throws the first one to Mizuno's neck and takes her down. He sends the second one toward the falcon to stop Kakashi's message. But Mizuno didn't let herself be played so easily.
Kawarimi no Jutsu
As she falls over, she's replaced by a big vase that falls and breaks. A kunai is sent faster behind Isami's and manages to deviate it before it reaches the messenger bird. Isami turns around to see where the kunai came from, but gets kicked in the face before he can. Sent falling on the streets, he hurries to get back up and gazes at Mizuno standing there.
"Did you really think I'd be that easy to fool?" she says. "Really kind of you to to be here. You're making the job a lot easier, Kurama."
The Kiri-nin, who didn't feel safe by this Sakura's sides, had readied herself to avoid a possible surprise attack. Her intuition turned out to be true, and she escaped the Kunai by exchanging herself with a random object from the street using Body Replacement.
Kakashi and Sakura arrive next to her and confront the exposed intruder. The Hokage turns around, just now noticing Sakura who followed him.
"What are you doing here?" he says, worried that she gets hurt, since she wasn't feeling well minutes ago.
Sakura doesn't answer, and simply looks at the stranger, whose disguise as her wears off like a mirage.
"Oh nononono..." he whispers. "This really goes off my plan."
"You're done." says Kakashi. "What did you think would happen, when you try to infiltrate one of the ninja alliance's hidden villages?"
"No... I mean... I really didn't plan on killing the Hokage today, but... Here we are." confidently sanswers the vagabond before performing unusual hand movements, even before completely standing up.
Magen – Seishin Seikai
Kakashi, Mizuno and Sakura, who weren't suspecting such an action, suddenly see the world around them slightly change color. Already aware of the range of abilities of his opponent, the Hokage disrupts his own chakra flow.
Genjutsu Kai
As he understands that this is a genjutsu, he tries to dissipate the illusion, but it doesn't work. He's still trapped in it and the conventional way seems inefficient.
"Fool, all your senses are now totally under my control." says Isami as he gets up on his feet. "Until I leave you to death, you'll be in a world that I rule. Such basic spells won't free you from me now. This is my clan's ultimate illusion."
"Your clan?" asks Mizuno who feels pressured by gravity all of a sudden.
Same applies to Kakashi and Sakura, and they all fall to their knees.
"The... Kurama clan." says Kakashi. "They are specialized in Genjutsu, and are from the lands of Heart. They went extinct after losing a war against the Onikuma clan."
"... You're well informed, Hokage, but it doesn't matter, you'll die anyway."
"I just have one empty spot..." adds Kakashi, trying to turn this situation into an improvised interrogatory. "Why do you want a tengu? What makes you think that you're entitled to it?"
"... Usually I wouldn't answer, but in this illusion, doing so won't even waste my saliva. I can at least give you that, as a treat for exposing me so fast." answers Isami. "See, my clan believes that those who can use this specific illusion, Seishin Sekai, the Mind World, the best of us, have the power to rule the world."
"If that's the case how did you lose a war and go extinct?" asks Mizuno, to tease the enemy.
Isami feels offended, and overreacts. Mizuno is suddenly blown away and sent smashing against surrounding walls before she's left, beaten up, and almost passed out on the ground where she was just standing. Kakashi gathers chakra and tries to attack Isami.
Katon – Gokakyu
He throws a fireball to him but it passes through and flies through the air, never landing anywhere.
"This would have been fatal if it touched me. But as I said. I control reality now."
"There has to be a flaw..." says Sakura who manages to stand up and walks forward.
"No there isn't." says Isami who now causes Sakura and Kakashi to freeze. "What was I saying? Ah yes... The power to rule the world. Over the years, my clan became sure of one thing. The power of Kurama, which is the real name of the Kyubi, was meant to be ours. This is the power to rule the world..."
Mizuno slowly gets back on her knees and tries to stay awake. Isami sees her and she now starts to vomit blood, feeling the pain like it's real.
"But of course..." resumes Isami. "Going after this power now would be pure madness. And the idea of putting my life at stake to keep a Biju's chakra wasn't really tempting to me. This is why I adapted the clan's belief and prophecy to my liking. I discovered the existence of tengu. To absorb their power is dangerous, but once it's done, in most cases, there's no risk for you. This inner-demon sounded way more interesting to me. So that's what I'm doing. Trying to fulfill my ancestor's prophecy, and unlocking my true power. The power that will guide my revenge against the Onikuma savages, and shred them to pieces." he says, gradually getting more dramatic and hyped by his own speech.
"No one cares." says Sakura who breaks the ice that blocks her and runs up to him, full of determination.
Right to his face, she punches as strongly as she can, but nothing happens. Isami looks boringly at her and she suddenly stands where she went from again.
"What makes you believe that I'd let you be free of your movements here?"
Isami slowly walks toward her and completes his saying.
"You won't move from where you are now. And I... am not really where I appear to be."
He walks over to Sakura and punches her like she just tried to. He sends her flying through the air and as she falls away, A giant golem hand emerges from the ground and catches her to violently throw her back to the ground. Not in control of her own movements, she crawls back to where she previously was.
Kakashi sees this and, unable to help his former student, tries to think of this jutsu's weaknesses. He guesses that he has to constantly bring his targets back to where their real position is. But there must be a bigger flaw. This man doesn't seem to have enough chakra to really make village level range illusion. There must be a flaw, something that is real, that he can't control. Isami walks to Sakura and keeps talking.
"Sakura Haruno... known as the world's strongest woman... First of all, know that I can certainly disprove this claim. This continent isn't the whole world. You ninjas of the great nations need to widen up your spiritual range and stop thinking of yourselves as the center of this world... You're not the strongest woman in the world, and in your current state, you're nothing but a sentient corpse, waiting to die." he keeps saying as he comes to face her, who can't move at all. "You, and the sorry thing you'll have birthed if you had lived."
He raises his hands and punches her right in the stomach. Sakura feels it, seriously. She falls to her knees and holds her belly, panicking and worrying for her unborn child's life.
"COWARD!" screams Mizuno, enraged by what she witnesses. "Dare to hit a pregnant woman's belly. Are you even human?"
"You'd understand if you were the same god as I am in here."
Kakashi is as enraged as Mizuno, but tries to stay silent. He however can't hide his physical anger. Sakura falls to the ground with her face to the dirt. This punch, she felt it, but more real than the previous attack. She suffered from it, but she could swear she felt her baby being hurt too. This feeling almost makes her tear up. But she does her best to think straight and focuses on breaking out of this jutsu.
This hit was real. It was the real Isami who punched the real Sakura. So she's really with her feet down here where she stands, and he really was facing her a second ago. Now with her ear against the ground, she's notices something surprising but stays discreet. She can actually feel beats on the ground, those of footsteps. The only one who can move currently is Isami. Judging on this, she tries to guess his real position.
He who still appears in his genjutsu walks toward Mizuno who screamed out in anger and is still going on.
"I'll send this one back to you." she exclaims. "We'll break out of this shit, and send you to rot in a jail. Death would be a blessing compared to what you asshole deserve."
"Words won't reach me. Nothing can reach me. And you Hokage, don't think of trying anything. I see you trying to move. Breaking out of this genjutsu isn't possible to do on your own. And even from outside, no ninja here has enough chakra to break this illusion."
At these words, Kakashi thinks, and widens his eyes. Having processed what he just said, he found what he was looking for. The enemy just revealed that his illusion could be broken from outside, but still, no ninja currently available has enough chakra to do so. This is where he's mistaking.
The Hokage breathes out of relief and checks to see if Sakura heard Isami's last remark too. She did. He raises his head and looks at Isami.
"Thanks for your cooperation."
"You're welcome." spontaneously answers the Kurama survivor without thinking about it, blinded by his own confidence.
Now determined to end this, Isami causes Kakashi and Mizuno to catch fire. He intensifies the flames every second to make them burn like in hell, aiming to kill them with the moral harm inflicted by the genjutsu. Defenseless, the Hokage and the Kiri-nin are prey to the agonizing pain until their lives fade away. Before they reach this point, A hand lays on Isami's shoulder.
"Hey?" says Sakura standing behind him, free of her movements.
Isami turns around and sees her. Just surprised, he refuses to believe what he sees, until he notices the black strands going through her face and body. Sakura applied what Isami said and broke out of the illusion. Only an inhuman quantity of chakra from a stranger reserve can break this spell. This is exactly what she did with the Ninpo Sozo Saizei – Byakugo no Jutsu. By completely releasing the chakra in her seal to flow through her body, she created a strong enough disruption in her and escaped the illusion.
Now with her strength, durability and healing ability improved by the chakra that flows through the released seal, she concentrates power in her hand.
Okasho
Not even making physical contact with him, she punches the air between them. The push and pressure of the blow are enough to send Isami flutter across the streets and through several buildings. Many hundreds of meters away, Isami crashes, still alive as Sakura managed to pull her strength back enough, but unconscious by just the blow of the punch.
Sakura keeps the seal active to heal the physical and spiritual damage that was dealt to her and the growing baby inside of her. She walks over to Kakashi and Mizuno, who both were released from the illusion, due to the caster's defeat, and heals them too with the chakra of the seal. She closes the seal back to avoid wasting more chakra and gets on her knees, ready to fall over. She suddenly feels contractions again. Mizuno catches her shoulders before she hits the ground.
"You truly are amazing, miss Uchiha." says the Kiri-nin, full of respect.
Sakura smiles and thinks of the kid she carries. This experience created a love bond between this child and her, and this even before its birth, who seems to be just imminent.
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End of Chapter 29 Next Chapter – Izuna