Thud!
Thud!
Three figures collapsed into a pool of blood.
Yatsume Yurei's neck was snapped from above and below, his head rolling far across the ground.
Naruto, his skin shed and skull fox-like under the Kyuubi's influence, stared through Yurei's severed white vertebrae at Hikari. Her face was half-split, jagged teeth dripping with blood.
His vertical pupils trembled wildly.
"Hikari, how did you—"
"Cough, cough—give me your hand."
Hikari hacked up charred blood clots.
Her condition was dire.
Her chest was pierced through. Though she'd shifted her lungs and heart in advance, it only downgraded a fatal wound to a severe one. The enemy's desperate counterattack had sent terrifying Raiton (Lightning Release) surging through her abdomen, cooking some of her organs.
Thankfully, she'd blocked out her pain receptors.
She only felt weak and heavy, not on the verge of passing out from agony.
She was clinging to life purely on adrenaline.
"Give me your hand!"
"Huh?"
"Now!"
Naruto didn't understand why Hikari had become so monstrous, but her tone was unmistakable—this split-mouthed girl was definitely Hikari.
He extended his hand.
But what met his eyes wasn't the familiar arm he knew. It was a blood-red claw, muscles and flesh exposed, with menacing nails protruding from the fingertips.
So I really am a monster?
Naruto finally understood the source of the village's hostility toward him.
"Pfft!"
Hikari spat out chunks of the enemy's flesh, squeezing out her last bit of chakra to reshape her jagged teeth.
Then, she bit down on Naruto's arm.
"Hiss—!"
Naruto shuddered in pain but forced himself to endure, letting Hikari bite.
Her sharp teeth tore into his arm, miraculously avoiding tendons and only piercing blood vessels.
Sweet, metallic blood flooded Hikari's mouth.
Gulp!
Gulp!
Her throat worked as she greedily drank Naruto's blood, along with the lingering Kyuubi chakra within it.
Drip, drip!
The scalding tailed beast chakra flowed down her esophagus with the blood. The blood spilled from her pierced chest, sliding along Yurei's severed arm, but the tailed beast power was intercepted by Hikari.
Whoosh!
The fiery, life-filled Kyuubi chakra seeped into Hikari's near-exhausted body.
Crackle!
Her esophagus and meridians were scorched by the domineering Kyuubi power, but the tailed beast chakra immediately converted into vitality, restoring her damaged flesh.
Destruction and repair cycled endlessly.
Her chakra seed pulsed with joy, her meridians like roots greedily absorbing the foreign chakra. Her deep blue essence clashed with the scarlet Kyuubi power once more.
Hikari cautiously manipulated her chakra, splitting the Kyuubi power.
Back at Peichuan Port, she'd devoured tailed beast chakra once before.
That time, it mutated her chakra seed into blue, turning her ordinary azure chakra into a deep ocean blue, granting her seal-less Suiton (Water Release) and the tailed beast cloak.
The unexpected Hyoton (Ice Release) chakra nearly froze her solid, making the process more perilous than a battle.
Now, fully prepared, Hikari was caught off guard again.
Her deep blue chakra tried to slice and consume the Kyuubi power bit by bit, but before she could break it down, the wild Kyuubi chakra acted like it had found kin, ceasing its resistance.
The Kyuubi power even began to meld with Hikari's chakra willingly. The blue and red chakras intertwined seamlessly, merging without her control, forming a faint purple hue at their contact.
The Kyuubi chakra showed none of the Sanbi's earlier rejection.
Arrogant, huh?
Hikari kept sucking on Naruto's arm until his demon fox transformation faded and no more Kyuubi chakra could be drawn. Reluctantly, she let go.
Naruto was utterly exhausted.
He'd split into hundreds of shadow clones to fight the beast horde, then battled Yurei—an opponent far beyond him—while in demon fox mode, and now he'd lost a ton of blood to Hikari.
His blue eyes lingered on the gaping hole in Hikari's chest.
Crack!
Her chest bones, like a whittling knife, spun along Yurei's arm, carving it apart like a butcher.
Flesh and bone separated.
The arm fell through the cavity in Hikari's chest.
Thump… thump…
A heart glowing with a purple aura pulsed rapidly. In Naruto's blurring vision, it slowly rose from her abdomen, returning to the massive cavity.
Flesh buds sprouted, filling the gap.
As Hikari regained vitality, Naruto grinned, unable to hold on any longer, and passed out.
Hikari examined her body internally.
The four green light points in her brain and chest dimmed.
The four gates of the Hachimon Tonko (Eight Gates) closed one by one.
Her body grew heavier.
At her heart, the purple chakra gradually consumed the red and blue. Once the blue was gone, the red could no longer merge.
Hikari tried to force the new chakra to consume it, but her once-controllable chakra became unruly. The purple was overtaken by the overwhelming red.
The demon fox transformation began spreading through her body, startling her into halting the fusion and expelling the excess Kyuubi power from her heart.
Her chakra and body normalized, steadily fueling her Shikotsumyaku (Dead Bone Pulse) to repair her flesh.
Charred organs shed their blackened shells, revealing fresh pink tissue.
Hiss!
Scalding steam evaporated.
The fused purple chakra flowed through her meridians, inheriting the Kyuubi's Yoton (Yang Release) traits, rapidly healing her battered body.
Her Byakugan's pale gray pupils filled with purple.
Her Shikotsumyaku tapped into new potential, vying for the remaining Kyuubi power.
Her steel-like bones, now absorbing Kyuubi chakra, grew denser, a faint ashen hue creeping across their surface.
All her powers were evolving.
A tidal wave of strength surged from the depths of her body, filling Hikari's heart with joy faster than the flesh filling her chest cavity.
The Kyuubi's power was like a supreme tonic—abundant and satisfying.
The chakra lingering in Naruto's blood alone surpassed Hikari's peak reserves.
Most crucially, this life-filled chakra not only healed her internal injuries but synergized with her Shikotsumyaku, elevating her self-repair to near-Sage Body levels.
In moments, her near-death state recovered to roughly a severe second-degree injury.
Still grievous, but no longer life-threatening.
That was enough!
As her chakra neared depletion from healing, dizziness hit Hikari's brain, and the world blurred.
Her head grew heavy.
Her vision darkened, and she collapsed.
Thud!
Her small but heavy body kicked up dust.
Moonlight poured down.
Silver-blue light flowed through withered branches, the scent of humus and night dew chilling the air.
The chaotic battlefield fell silent.
Only the crackling of flames on branches broke the quiet.
It was just past midsummer, the foliage lush. The fire couldn't sustain itself, soon fading into choking green smoke.
Insects, disturbed by the smog, crawled away through the grass.
Time passed swiftly.
The forest's insect hums faded, sinking into deep silence.
Whoosh!
Rustle!
A swift figure darted through the treetops.
Swish!
Like a falling leaf, an old man in black combat gear stepped into the shattered battlefield.
His boots paused on the brittle branches.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, finally arriving, was stunned by the scene.
The ground was scarred with jagged trenches, irregular pits as if the earth had been overturned. Charred tree trunks leaned over, split by lightning, their fires gone but smoke still billowing.
At the battlefield's center, three figures lay still.
The towering, muscular man was unrecognizable, his chest torn open, heart exposed. His scarlet neck revealed jagged vertebrae, wounds torn as if by a beast. His head rested quietly on the ground, features twisted, legs limp like noodles, arms shredded.
Hiruzen frowned, thinking.
Elite Jonin from each village were well-known. This man's familiar face and imposing build, even in death, sparked a memory.
Moments later, details surfaced.
Kumogakure's Wild Thunder—Yatsume Yurei.
A veteran elite Jonin of the Yatsume clan, active in the ninja world forty years ago.
When Hiruzen accompanied the Second Hokage to Kumogakure for a peace treaty, Yurei was already a renowned master. They'd even met once.
Decades later, this old man had infiltrated Konoha by some unknown means, only to die at the hands of two academy students.
Hiruzen's emotions were complex.
He was shocked at Konoha's massive defensive lapse—how had an enemy entered undetected? Furious that Kumogakure dared send a ninja after the Kyuubi during peacetime, risking war. Yet proud that Konoha's young saplings were so exceptional, with Hikari and Naruto slaying such a foe together.
His gaze shifted to the other two.
Naruto, with his yellow hair, lay bloodied, his exposed flesh slowly regrowing skin.
Hikari was even more horrifying, her white robe soaked red, a massive cavity in her chest.
Hiruzen could see her pulsing lung lobes.
His throat tightened.
Their horrific wounds made even Hiruzen's heart skip.
But considering the strength of their opponent, surviving with only severe injuries was a miracle.
He couldn't help but wonder.
What kind of brutal battle caused such explosive injuries?
No time to linger.
Hiruzen swiftly formed seals, spitting water to douse the smoking trees.
He hoisted Naruto and Hikari over each shoulder, their contrasting weights making him pause briefly. Grabbing Yurei's head, he turned to leave.
A gentle breeze blew.
At the battlefield's center, only a twisted, headless corpse remained.
Training Ground Zero, South Gate
Firelight illuminated the crowd.
Medical ninjas with kits bandaged injured students. Teachers with notebooks recorded names, compiling a death toll.
"Iruka-sensei… sob… Taiji, he—he's gone—"
Yuta and Ryuya, sobbing, reported to the recording teacher. Yuta, usually arrogant when bullying Naruto, was red-faced, trembling with gasps.
Iruka, already aware of the tragedy, wrote Taiji's name heavily, his expression somber.
Every encounter with death was heavy.
Recalling his family lost in the Kyuubi attack, Iruka gazed toward Training Ground Zero.
Naruto carried the Kyuubi. From Shino, he'd learned the enemy's target was clearly the Kyuubi.
If the Third Hokage didn't arrive in time, if the enemy unleashed the Kyuubi…
The disaster from six years ago would strike Konoha again.
How many would lose their lives?
Iruka couldn't bear to imagine.
He could only close his eyes and pray that the Third would resolve everything and his students would return safely.
Hyuga Neji prayed alongside him.
"Neji, aren't you hungry?"
Tenten eyed Neji, who was squeezing his bread to a pulp, her big eyes full of confusion.
Not to your taste?
No need to strangle it!
The bread was practically flour now.
Neji, ever polite, opened his mouth to reply but found his throat voiceless.
Kazama Etsu's arms were destroyed. Even the hospital's head medic could only save his life.
This showed how terrifying the enemy was.
An elite Jonin, one of the handful in any village. No matter how gifted or strong Hikari was, her age limited her. Holding out until the Hokage arrived was a slim hope.
Yet she was the branch family's only hope in a millennium!
Neji closed his eyes in pain.
His fingers grazed the Caged Bird seal under his headband.
The world's greatest pain wasn't living in darkness but glimpsing light only to fall back into shadow.
Hinata, the main family's heiress, faced the enemy and emerged unscathed despite her weakness. But Hikari, the branch family's genius, was still missing, her survival unlikely.
Is this… fate?
The inescapable Caged Bird, the destiny of all Hyuga branch members?
An intangible fate felt all too real.
"They're out!"
"It's the Hokage!"
"That's…"
Neji, lost in pain, was jolted by the teachers' cries.
"Medical ninja—hurry!"
"This girl's badly hurt!"
Whoosh!
Neji's eyes snapped open.
A crowd blocked his view.
Byakugan!
Activate!
Never had he formed seals and activated his eyes so fast.
At the crowd's center, a pulsing argon-purple chakra filled his vision.
It was a chakra he'd never seen, yet the most beautiful color he'd ever witnessed, sustaining its dying owner's final spark of life.
A radiant smile spread across his face.
She'd beaten fate once again!
vote and read more inpatreon
belamy20