Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Prologue – Arc 3: Inner-demon

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Chapter 30 – Izuna

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Not long after Isami's defeat in Konoha, in the north of the land of Lightning, Sasuke Uchiha lands his perfect Susanoo in a giant forest, lying next to a mountain chain.

In this forest, in a hidden underground lab, deep in a cave, Suto hears and feels the backlash of the landing. He looks at his material tremble and fall down, and readies his mind for what he knows is coming. Alone in this dark cave, He goes to sit on a chair in the middle of his the room and waits. It doesn't take long until he feels a presence in the room.

As he was facing the door to see the wanderer walk in, he turns around and sees him already standing in the corner behind him. Sasuke changed a lot since his fight against the Daitengu. He still has the same eternally young looking face, but with hair falling down on the left side and hiding his Rinnegan. His body is also hidden under a black cloak. The only body part he lets to be seen is his right hand, resting on his new sword's handle. Suto gulps down, and builds up some confidence.

"It really took you no time…" says the maniac biologist, before standing up. "… To go after me, and to find my original body. But unfortunately for you, eliminating the original won't be more meaningful than killing any other me. The others of me are complete different individuals, and my death won't affect them in any way."

"…" Sasuke doesn't say anything at first, and just hides his confusion. He started his search for the man who impersonated him just a day ago, and unintentionally ended up looking for a supposed associate of his. "… I have no idea who you're supposed to be."

"What?" yells Suto, surprised and angered. "How do you not know anything about me? Suto, the one and only. The greatest ninja scientist in the world!"

"I dare to disagree." answers Sasuke, who was with Orochimaru just a week ago.

"I know who you think of. But even he is jealous of my work." proudly responds Suto. "My achievements are here to prove it: my bio-cloning formula, my muscle and skin strengthening, my nervous system re-engineering, my space rifting blade… Nothing surpasses my genius. Not even gods!… Um, are you listening?"

Suto looks at Sasuke who stepped forward and walks around the lab. The Uchiha just roams around and inspects the equipment and tools.

"What are you doing? Did you hear me? I have scientific capacities that surpass even what your eyes can do!" keeps yelling Suto.

"I really… don't care at all." answers Sasuke. "I couldn't care less about who you are. I'm only here because you helped someone who impersonated me and bothered the Hokage… I'll just make sure everything in this lab will never be used again."

"Oh right! And how do you mean to do that?" asks Suto, frustrated by Sasuke's lack of attention.

Sasuke doesn't answer but the mad scientist still gets a sufficient answer, when it begins to smell like smoke. He looks down and sees his body rotting in black flames. Terrified, he shakes around, looking for water on his desk. He spills every liquid he has on the fire, but nothing helps it. It even gets wider with water and spreads through the furniture.

Soon all the lab is being eaten by the eternal flames. Suto falls down as his bones melt. He can't feel any pain, but still senses the despair of his situation. He realizes that, if he didn't modify his nervous system, he maybe would have felt the burning earlier.

"AAHH, Mistakes! Imperfections! ALL THIS NEEDS TO BE FIXED!" he screams out while his face melts away.

Sasuke stands there in the chaos and watches everything being destroyed. Once he's sure that nothing remains, he opens a space rift next to him and walks in to go for Kumo where he intends to quickly report his actions. Because it happened on their territory, he feels like he has to explain what he saw.

On the other end of the portal, he steps out and sets foot right in front of Kumo's main entrance. As soon as his portal closes, he is surprised by a friendly voice, that he however doesn't recognize.

"Oh, Sasuke?" says Choji, who arrives at Kumo at the same moment.

"?" Sasuke is unsettled by this man's familiarity, unsure of if he already met him or not. "You are?"

"Choji. Choji Akimichi! Don't you remember me? We were at the academy together! And we also both were in Ryuka, last year January!"

"Ah, you're right…" answers Sasuke who still doesn't recall ever meeting him. "What are you doing here in Kumo?"

"Good question." says Omoi, who's sitting atop of the gate, interrupting their discussion. "Same question goes for you, Sasuke Uchiha. What are you doing here?"

Sasuke and Choji look at each other, and then at Omoi and Karui, who are both above them on the village's entrance.

"I just did a little mess in your land." says Sasuke first. "I felt like, judging by your Raikage's personality, this would use a little justification."

"I can report for you, Sasuke." suggests Choji. "You should leave for Konoha. Sakura's not so far from the end of her pregnancy."

"I know… And you'd save me some time if you could do this for me, indeed." answers Sasuke.

"And you, strong man? Who are you?" asks Karui, pointing her finger at Choji.

"Strong man?" says the Akimichi, flattered.

"You're really talking nonsense, Karui." says Omoi. "This man is clearly fat, not muscular."

"Fat?" exclaim Choji and Karui at the same time, both angered by this careless comment.

Karui punches Omoi on the top of his hair, to dig his head down in his shoulders.

"You dumbass!" she yells. "There's no such thing as a fat ninja,… Only strong ones."

"I appreciate it." says Choji, smiling at Karui. "Also, my name is Choji Akimichi. I was sent by the Hokage to stay and serve Kumo for a while, as a pledge of peace between our nations… And may I ask you your name, lady?"

"Um… I'm Karui. Excuse this idiot's manners, please." she says, rubbing her fist on Omoi's hair.

"No problem. Would you mind being my guide through this village, Karui?"

"This is getting awkward." says Omoi. "Karui happens to have a weakness for what she calls strong men. If this goes on, you'll end up in a forbidden relationship between two foreigners. Ultimately, you'll have children and one of you will be forced to turn against his nation for this lovely story to continue. This could cause international trouble, and eventually a new great war. And since Sasuke Uchiha, who's standing right there, is on Konoha's side, I think this would inevitably lead to Kumo's fall. Our village will cease to exist, all because of you, Karui,… again. Like that time when you destroyed Konoha, 5 years ago."

Choji and Sasuke couldn't hear Omoi, who didn't speak up enough. Karui, who heard it, pushes him forward and off the height of the gate. The Kumo-nin lets himself fall over, face first into the ground.

"Shut up, dumbass! I didn't destroy Konoha." she says.

Sasuke still stands there, and elects to forget everything that just happened. He prepares to leave by foot, but sees his falcon come for him. He raises his arm and lets it land. Choji and Karui, and Omoi who gets his face out of the ground, look at him and wait. Sasuke takes the two scrolls that are attached to the bird's legs. He reads the first one, the Hokage's message, that actually simply says "Received and Validated". He then quickly reads through the second one.

"These are clues. Looks like the only remaining enemy is this Isami." he says to himself. He looks at Choji and says: "I'll be going for Kiri now. I'd like it if you could speak in my name to the Raikage. Just say that the destroyed hidden lab and Susanoo footprints in the north are my fault."

He turns around and opens his hidden dojutsu.

Chimatakami

He opens a portal and jumps through, to land in Kiri and visit Tsubai, who is the one who wrote one of the two papers. Choji looks at the closing space gate, and nods. He then goes to offer his help to Omoi, who's still lying with his butt up, on his stomach, after falling from the gate.

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In the Minamoto's house, in Kiri, Sasuke walks through a portal and arrives in the living room.

"Oh, Excuse me!" he says. "I didn't mean to come in without knocking."

He looks around and sees that he just spoke to no one. The living room is empty. Due to the early hour in Kiri, Sasuke supposes that they must all still be sleeping. Standing there, he suddenly hears someone knock on the door. He doesn't hear Tsubai or Tokiwa come, so they must still be in bed.

At his surprise, he sees the third resident of this house slowly walk down the stairs and go for the door. The little boy, Takeshi, doesn't even mind the stranger and the black portal behind him, and just goes to open the door. Sasuke quietly follows him, to make sure he doesn't make any bad thing. The door opens and Kobo sees Sasuke first. He sees him looking down, so he follows his gaze. The two Uchiha stare at the little boy who's holding the door and looking up to the one who just knocked. Takeshi raises his head all the way up and sees the cloaked wanderer stand behind him.

"Oh Hello!" says the kid. "Papa an' Mama are in bed."

"That's okay." says Kobo. "I came because I felt the man behind you coming. Do you know who it is?"

Takeshi turns around and blankly stares directly at Sasuke's face.

"A robber?" guesses the kid while looking meanly at the intruder, who just sighs. "Oh!… Sasuke… Chihuahua?" he adds, after someone in his head just told him.

"I'm here for your father." says Sasuke, not minding the kid's misspelling.

Takeshi keeps starin at him for a moment, before he widely opens the door. When Kobo tries to walk in, the kid holds his leg and shakes his head to say no.

"No one in when Mama not awake." he says as he pushes Kobo back and pulls on Sasuke's cape to throw him out too.

Sasuke lets the boy drag him out and steps out with Kobo, who looks surprised and ashamed at Takeshi. The little one closes the door and leaves. Sasuke doesn't say anything, and just thinks of how this kid is acting thrice his age.

"Um… Is it about this Isami Kurama?" asks Kobo, bringing up the reason why he hurried to find Sasuke.

"Yes. I told the Hokage that I'll find this man, and he sent me Tsubai's report."

"You don't really need to. The Mizukage sent Mizuno to handle this with Konoha." answers Kobo, trying to give his mentor a break. "And it looks like the enemy is far from what you are used to fight against. Moreover, everything we know is already in this scroll. Tsubai won't be able to tell anything more in person."

"Hmm…" Sasuke thinks.

Before he can answer, they're interrupted by a loud man's scream coming from the first floor of the Minamoto home, probably Tsubai's voice. After this noise, Sasuke resumes like nothing happened.

"Still, I promised the Hokage to take care of this. I don't have much to do in this world anymore anyway. Actually, I was preparing to go for my biggest mission yet." he says.

Over them, Tsubai opens his room's window and looks out to hop in the two Uchiha's discussion. He was just brutally woken up by his kid, who didn't even say anything and just stood silently next to him until he opened his eyes.

"That damn kid I swear…" he complains, thinking aloud. "He damn creeps me out. And he'll do at least until he gets to be a teenager…"

"What is that about?" asks Sasuke, turning around and raising his head to see the tired looking Minamoto.

"Kobo didn't tell you? This kiddo fucking killed a dwarf in my girl's backyard. I know this sounds dumb, but damn it's true…"

Tsubai looks back in his room, when Tokiwa's voice can be heard from the streets. After a moment, he looks out again to keep talking with the two Uchiha standing at his front door.

"Sorry, it was Tokiwa telling me to behave in front of the kid… So what do you want, Sasuke?"

"Nothing actually. Kobo told me this visit was pointless… But not completely. I was saying that my next expedition would be through Kaguya's worlds."

"Oh yeah, and I'm going with you. Remember? We talked about it." answers Tsubai, referring to his old vision. "Look around. I'm here with her and a boy, and the two younglings from back then live across the street. Still don't think you should take this seriously now?"

"I'm coming too." adds Kobo, with a frank and determined voice.

Sasuke turns around again and looks at him, confused.

"Why would you?" he asks, not aware that Kobo knows about Tsubai's foreseeing experience.

"We're a trio aren't we?" says the young Uchiha, trying to hide his real motivations. "If the two of you hit the road, then I'm with you. Like the old days, as Karasu."

"Old day were 2 damn years ago." comments Tsubai. "I wouldn't call this the Old Days. Not everyone's as young as you, kid."

"This won't be a simple exploration." says Sasuke. "It could be dangerous."

"Brother, we fought a time bending creature in another dimension together, and we're still here." argues Kobo. "You really think anything would scare me now? Don't bother refusing, I'll insist. I won't stop, I'll find a way to stalk you and won't give up on this."

"Fine." says Sasuke, amused by his determination, but still a bit annoyed.

"Just one tiny condition." says Kobo.

"So you force me to accept you as a teammate, and then dare to give additional conditions?"

"It's nothing, don't worry. Just make sure that we regularly get to pass by and pay a visit to our homes."

Sasuke doesn't answer he just looks at Kobo, and then at Tsubai above him, and slightly, very slightly, smiles.

"Look at that, Tokiwa, the emotionless freak is doing some weird thing with his mouth. I think he's trying to smile." says Tsubai to mess with him.

Suddenly, by their sides, a man-sized misty cloud comes out of nowhere. Sasuke quickly gets ready and reaches for his sword, but puts it down when he sees through the mist. It settles and reveals Naruto, or a clone at least, standing there. He looks around and sees Sasuke and Kobo in front of him. Raising his clenched fists, he praises his own self alone.

"Oh Yeah! I made it Ya know!" says the shadow clone. "The original just summoned me all the way from Konoha while tracking your chakra, and he managed to make me spawn next to you. It took a while to focus on, but it worked!"

"What's up, piss head?" asks Tsubai, quickly making up a new nickname for the yellow haired man.

"Yo Tsubai!" answers Naruto. "How's the kid?"

"Terribly well! And yours?"

"Same! That's great!… Also, call me piss head one more time, and I'll break your knees so bad I'll end up taller than you!"

"Got it, noodle boy!"

"What are you here for?" asks Sasuke, to cut off the childish nonsense.

"Oh Right! It's urgent, Sasuke! Sakura's giving birth. Follow me!" says the clone who disappears right after saying this.

Sasuke and Kobo stare at each other, not saying a word. All kind of things are going through Sasuke's head. But what rules over all other thoughts is: He's about to be a father. Unable to contain his excitement that he still hides behind an emotionless attitude, he turns around and opens another portal. He now feels glad that he managed to improve his control over this jutsu enough. As long as he doesn't have to leave earth, opening gates isn't a problem anymore to him.

"Get in!" he says to Kobo as he jumps in.

Kobo follows, and Tsubai, on the edge of his window, lets himself fall out before the portal closes.

"Leavin' for Konoha, Tokiwa!" yells the Minamoto as he gets through the gate.

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On the other side, Sasuke lands in a crowded room. Naruto is there with Hinata holding her baby. Ino and Sai are also here with their little girl. There's also Kakashi and Shizune, and Sakura's parents. Behind Sasuke, Kobo steps out and stands next to him. Finally, Tsubai lands on his butt and immediately stands up.

Everyone who was in the room stares at Tsubai who's landing was extremely noisy. The portal closes, and Sasuke just looks awkwardky at the present people. Mebuki Haruno, Sakura's mother, comes to him first. She aims to grab his right hand under his cloak, and shakes it endlessly.

"Congratulations, to you two! I'm sure you'll be great parents!" she says, even though she only met him once until now, and this at her daughter's wedding, where he was the groom.

"Yes, Congratulations!" says her dad, who tries to reach for Sasuke's left hand, but fails to catch anything.

Sasuke looks at them, confused, and then at Naruto.

"Where is she?" he asks.

"She delivered already." says Ino. "We're here waiting for permission to get in."

"Ah, yes sorry about that. It really took me a while to reach you with that clone…" Naruto apologizes.

Before Sasuke can get angry at his friend, a door opens, and Tsunade shows her head.

"They're ready! Come in!" she says.

Everybody in the room gets excited, but waits and lets Sasuke go first. Unable to think straight for a moment, it takes a few seconds before he decides to walk through the door and see his wife.

On the other side, Sakura's sitting exhausted in a hospital bed and is holding her new born baby. Sasuke slowly and shyly gets closer. He raises his hand and takes off what covers the baby's face.

"Awwww!" say Mebuki, Shizune, Sai, and Ino together.

"It's a boy!" says Tsunade.

Sasuke looks curious and confused at this little dude, who just seems extremely calm. Sakura lets herself fall aside and land against Sasuke. Seeing this cute family scenery, Shizune blushes and, uncontrollably, grabs and tightly holds herself against Kakashi's arm and shoulder. Kakashi makes a surprised face,… but doesn't do anything.

Sasuke raises his hand and reaches for his son's cheek. But the moment he touches him, the baby starts to cry. The father holds his hand back, ashamed. Sakura holds the kid against her and lightly shakes him in her arms to calm him down. She smiles at Sasuke, to appease him too.

"He really reminds of his father." says Kakashi to Sasuke, looking at the kid's face while walking to come closer with Shizune still clutching to his arm.

Sasuke smiles, and recalls these words in his mind. Where did he already hear something similar? His smile wears off as he remembers. The first Hokage, Hashirama Senju, said the same thing about him and Madara's younger brother. In the end, attempting to stop Madara by using this similarity would have been pointless, but the idea kind of reaches Sasuke's mind now. Izuna Uchiha was the one who's love pushed Madara to go this far, ultimately declaring war to the whole world and casting the Mugen Tsukuyomi.

In the first year following the war, Sasuke went on Itachi's traces, and tried to find out more about his late brother. Eventually, he diverged and went on to discover more about his clan's history and pain throughout the ages. Maybe it is because of their common connection to Indra Otsutsuki, but Sasuke greatly relates to Madara's story now.

This Izuna Uchiha is at the source of events that resulted in Itachi's actions, and the Uchiha massacre. But he was nothing but a loyal and proud Uchiha, after all. Sasuke stands there looking at the kid and stops thinking of the past, to wonder about the future. His son will be the first brick of the new Uchiha clan's building. All the pain caused since Izuna Uchiha's death, ends now.

"How are you gonna name him?" asks Sai.

"…" Sasuke thinks, expecting Sakura to answer, but she doesn't and just looks at him. Almost feeling pressured, he quickly goes back through his train of thought and finds one name that he spells out. "… Izuna."

"Izuna?" asks Kizashi Haruno, Sakura's father.

"I like this name." says Sakura, still held against her husband.

Sasuke is the only one who knows who formerly had this name. He didn't really think it through, and just said what was currently on his mind. But after all, why not? Naming his son after an ancient ninja isn't a bad idea, He himself was named after the 3rd Hokage's father, Sasuke Sarutobi. And in the clan, Tajima Uchiha, last leader of the clan in the warring state era and father of Madara, was also named after a mythical figure of the Uchiha, one of Indra Uchiha's sons.

Ino, with Inoue in her arms, and Naruto, leading Hinata forward with Boruto, get their babies closer to the new born, for no other reason than instinctively bringing them together.

"What they doing? Comparing their minions?" says Tsubai, ironically. "Should have brought mine. I definitely would have won."

With a dumb smile on his face, he looks forward and sees Mebuki giving him a mean look, not amused by his jokes. He just makes an awkward face and looks away. With the three babies sitting together with their mothers, the fathers stand before them.

"Izuna you said?" asks Naruto. "Isn't that the name of some fox spirit? Don't tell me you tried to name him after me."

"No I didn't, stupid." promptly answers Sasuke.

"Phew, I'm relieved actually." adds Naruto. "Personally, I named Boruto like this because I could feel his chakra affinity as soon as he was born. Lightning release. The name checks out."

"These are cool origins." says Sai. "We just went with whatever name starting with Ino hadn't already been given in her lineage… What about you?" he adds looking at Tsubai.

"… Um… Takeshi… Because… It was easy to remember?" answers Tsubai.

"Come on, boy. Is there anything that you don't turn into a joke?" asks Sakura's mom.

"A lot of things, most things actually." he answers.

"Look at that." says Ino to bring the general attention back to the kids. "Aren't they cute together?"

"They're adorable." says Hinata, looking at the three sitting babies.

"Ain't they gonna be a great team later?" suggests Naruto.

"Putting your kid and ours in the same team?" says Sakura. "What an idea!"

Naruto doesn't understand if she agrees or not, and doesn't say anything more. He just lets the moms have their moment together. They all stay gathered here until Sai reminds Ino that they have stuff to do.

The Yamanaka family are the first to leave. Kobo and Tsubai go after to wait in the halls of the hospital. Tsunade comes closer to Kakashi to talk, and notices him and Shizune, totally out of place, holding their hands together while spectating Sakura's little family. Kakashi checks where Tsunade looks and trembles a bit. He and Shizune look at each other in the eyes, embarrassed, and let their hands go. Shizune shamefully hides behind the Hokage, as she can feel Tsunade's gaze judgement mockery.

Kakashi stays serious and says he has to go. Together with his assistant, they run away before the 5th Hokage can say anything. Mebuki and Kizashi leave next, and only Tsunade, who has to stay, Naruto, Hinata, and the newborn's parents remain. Sasuke turns around and sees that Kakashi left. He steps away and gets serious.

"I am sorry, but I can't stay."

"I know." says Sakura. "You're a busy man, I know. You already did your best, visiting as often as possible while I was pregnant. You can leave the rest to me, don't worry. I'll raise our son, like a mini you. He certainly won't be missing affection!"

Sasuke doesn't answer and just looks at her worried. It isn't about the kid that he is concerned, but more about his wife. Sakura, seeing his guilty look, guesses his thoughts and reassures him.

"Neither will I, don't worry." she says with a smile.

Naruto, Hinata and Tsunade smile at these words. Naruto then looks at Sasuke.

"Where you off to now?" he asks.

Sasuke turns around and looks at him. He breathes in and tells about his next mission.

"Kaguya's worlds. It's about time I find out about the Otsutsuki. Who they are, where they are, and where they come from… Someone has to do it, and I'm the only one who can…"

"Right… But how are we supposed to keep contact if you're in another world?"

"I'll regularly come back to this world. Not necessarily Konoha, but at least one of the 5 hidden villages of the Alliance. Tsubai and Kobo insisted on this."

"So you're not alone?" asks Sakura.

"They insisted to come with me."

"Great. At least you'll still have some human contact." says Naruto.

"What about you?" asks Sasuke now, to change the subject. "Still miserable? Or did you get rid of this lack of abilities?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised!…" happily answers Naruto. "More seriously, it's going well, and in great progress. I'm sure you can already feel the difference in me, compared to two years ago."

Sasuke concentrates, and indeed, doesn't seem to sense the same Naruto than before. But he isn't just like during the fourth war. There's something totally different about him now, that Sasuke can't tell for now. This pleases him. This feeling assures him that he can trustfully leave his wife and son's safety to his best friend.

He looks at Izuna, his new born son, once again, and slowly raises his hand. He lightly pinches the baby's forehead with his fingers, as a gesture of affection, and turns around. Standing at the door, he looks one last time at Sakura, who nods with a trustful smile, as to allow him to leave. The Uchiha wanderer gets through the door frame and goes to find Kobo and Tsubai. Together they get ready for a many years mission that will change the fate of every living being.

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End of Chapter 30 – Next Chapter: The Consumer of Worlds