Other world chimera [Naruto fanfic]

229. Interlude: Kushina / Yugito

Kushina sighed as she heard the news through the communication device. She had expected her return. Even so, it didn’t stop her from worrying or fearing whatever that thing was. In the guise of a human, being anything but. Capable of ignoring the most fundamental laws with seemingly no consequence. 

Despite Kushina’s apprehension she couldn’t help but be grateful to her. Being given a second chance at life. Being able to meet her daughter and be there for her. Really, that had come as quite the surprise. She had long conversations with Mikoto, laughing and joking about it.  

Now, she is back in Konoha. Working as a spy alongside her husband. Their mission wasn’t all that hard anyway. Just keep watch for interesting public information. Also keep watch over the clone of her daughter and wasn’t that creepy. It had taken a while for Kushina to dissociate her daughter from the clone. 

Even so, Kushina couldn’t help but feel like the clone was her daughter either way. It all comes back to that girl, Tomoka Fushi. Back when she had been brought back to life she had felt it. She had asked the others but none of them did. Not even her husband felt it, she did. 

That thing’s touch is terrifying. She had felt it break her away from the chains of death. Something no one should be able to do. At least, not without paying a horrible price. For a time she had thought that the thing had paid the price. After all, the girl fell unconscious for over a year. Something told her she was so, so wrong. 

At least, something Kushina was grateful for was the thing’s disposition. It wanted progress and to better the world, even if the method chosen was a little bit… heavy handed to say the least. She had seen it in Yggdrasil, how discord was completely absent from those that live there.

Kushina had been told the hows and why of such happening, It terrified her to the core. Knowing that the free will of any and all of those living there could be subverted without their knowing. It is even more frightening to know that she is within that group and that she, like the others, wasn't spared from it. Yet she is fine with it, perhaps her thoughts had already been subverted to make her accept it. To tell the truth, she didn’t know and didn’t want to know. 

Yggdrasil looked safe, a paradise where she could live happily with her daughter and her husband. A place not ruled by man but by something far more powerful and terrifying. Perhaps this is exactly what it is indeed. It is precisely because of this that she accepted the mission she is currently on. 

Kushina could have stayed within Yggdrasil with her husband, living a happy, slow life. It wasn’t for her, not really anyway. She wanted to have an impact, no matter how small, on the world and its happenings. That is why despite her fears she is here, back in Konoha doing what she believes will in the end, benefit her previous homeland. 

“What are you thinking so deeply about?” A small smile bloomed on Kushina’s lips as she turned to see her husband. Of course the man looked different, just like herself. Even so, she could still recognize him. His bright yellow hair is now an admittedly dull and unimpressive brown just like her own.  

Like herself, Minato’s facial structure had been changed with bits of makeup. Anyone that saw him would say he looked really similar to the fourth Hokage without realizing he was in fact the fourth. Then again, who would expect for the man, and herself for that matter, to come back from the dead. 

“These, all of these. Even now I can  help but think about how crazy things have turned out.” Turning around while talking Kushina continued to work on the flower arrangement in front of her. She, alongside her husband, had gotten jobs at one of the many Yamanaka flower shops. 

“Guess we are just lucky.” Of course seeing as they were in a public environment the duo kept their conversation vague enough. To tell the truth, Kushina didn’t like spying all that much, subterfuge isn’t her strong point. At least, she didn’t need to act all that different. She could be herself, only taking care of following her fake backstory and using her fake name. 

“Guess we are.” Like that the conversation came to an end as instead the duo worked in amicable silence. To tell the truth, Kushina had never expected for her Kunoichi class back in the academy to become useful. It was rather funny seeing Minato fumble around with the flowers at the beginning. Even now he was relegated to do heavy lifting as his flower arrangement skills were simply bad. 

“Thanks for the flowers Akane-san.” The woman paid for the arrangement while thanking Kushina using her fake name. Really, it was just a bad joke in her opinion. Her fake name Akane being written with the kanji meaning deep red. At least it was better than Minato’s being Shiro, meaning fourth son. 

“Do you want to go on a date after our shift is over?” Looking to the side she saw Minato replenishing the different shelfs. Ever since coming back from the pure lands she and Minato had had a lot of free time letting them go on many dates. To tell the truth, Kushina was glad that Minato wasn’t the Hokage. In his short tenure she couldn’t help but feel a little abandoned.

“Sure, where to?” One of the things she liked was to go around Konoha and see what had changed. So far, it didn’t looked like much had. Sure, the village was a bit larger buildings a bit taller. However, the vibe of the place and its people was pretty much the same. Except for the lack of Uchiha of course. She still felt anger every time she thought about it. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much she could do.

“How about that ramen shop you like so much?” That is why she loves that man. She had been thinking of going there again. Old man Teuchi had improved a lot in his craft throughout the years. She still remembers when the old man had sold his food from a food cart instead of the little, cozy shop he now owns. 

“You sure know how to treat a lady.” Sure, many other women would feel offended being taken there. The place wasn’t big, or intimate. She didn’t really care, she liked the food and as long as she was with Minato she would be content. Not to mention, chances were, she would get to meet her daughter's clone again. 

“Why am I not surprised to see you here again?” The hours had passed, meaning Kushina’s and Minato’s shift was over. As she had expected, once they entered Ichiraku’s they found the blond girl stuffing her face with ramen. 

“Ah, Akane, long time no see.” Naruko said after swallowing a mouthful of ramen. Sure, this was a clone but Kushina couldn’t help but see her as her daughter still. That is another reason why she liked coming to this place. 

“Naruko, have you been eating properly.” Yeah, she couldn’t help but act motherly whenever she saw the girl. She knew that the girl would eat ramen every day for every meal if she could, that wasn’t healthy. 

“I-I have!” Yeah, Kushina wasn’t buying it. She was about to start lecturing her daughter's clone once again when Minato's hand fell on her shoulder.  

“Come on Akane, don’t be so hard on her. I know for a fact your dietary habits were just as bad when we were kids.” She couldn’t believe her traitorous husband would do this. No, she could, ever since Minato met Naruko he became the kind of father to spoil their daughter rotten. 

“Whatever-” With a sigh Kushina decided to just give up. She was hungry anyway. 

“-Teauchi, a bowl of extra spicy for me, extra large as well.” After taking Minato’s order as well, the two sat down while chatting with their cloned daughter. It was at moments like this that Kushina could see the subtle differences between the two. The small differences in their likes and dislikes, in their way of thinking. The clone felt more like a twin sister of the original than an exact copy. 

Kushina couldn’t help but feel like the girl was more than just a clone. That she was a person through and through and in that same way that she is her daughter as much as the original. She would need to talk about this with the higher ups in Yggdrasil next time. For now though, she would enjoy the moment. 

Yugito was once again meditating. Trying to figure out what had been done to her, or more precisely, to the Nibi. After her encounter with Yugure, she was found a day later passed out near where she had been taken. After that, she was tested a lot, from physical to mental nothing was left untested. Everything came clean, no wounds on her body nor mental controls in her mind. 

It took a while for Yugito to find out what was wrong. During one of her training sessions, she sat down to meditate. To try and better understand her biju so she could become a perfect jinchuriki like Bee. It was then that she realized Nibi or rather, Matatabi was unresponsive. 

No matter what she tried the biju would not react, not even when she pulled the beings chakra without its consent. Matatabi just layed there, tranquil within her, as if in a deep coma.

On one hand, this meant that Yugito could use Matatabi’s power as much as she liked without repercussions. In a way, she had become a perfect jinchuriki. It didn’t feel right however, it worried her what this could mean. That is why, as soon as she found out, she reported it to the Raikage. 

~Flash back no jutsu~

“Raikage-sama, I have something to report.” Yugito felt nervous, not because of who she was reporting to but rather, the implications of what she had found.  

The muscle bound man, fourth Raikage A, looked up from the papers he had been reading through. He was glad for the distraction as he was just about to break his desk once again from having to deal with so much paperwork. His mood however, plummeted once his eyes landed on Yugito. He could tell from a glance that the woman was stressed and nervous. 

“Go ahead.” 

“I believe I have found out what Yugure had done to me, or more accurately to the Nibi.” That made A worry. From the report of his ninja and Yugito it was said that Yugure as well as another group is after the jinchuriki. Nothing wrong had been found with Yugito but now it made sense if it was the Nibi who had something done to it. With a simple nod A asked Yugito to continue.

“The Nibi is unresponsive. Like it has gone into a coma or something. I can still use its power but no matter what I do, it doesn’t react.” That was concerning. Usualy, the bijus would do anything and everything to try and escape. The only exception so far had been Bee who had somehow befriended the thing. Even then, Bee had said that the Hachibi was constantly talking to him, not this.

“Have you found any difference in power when using the Nibi’s chakra compared to before the incident?” From Yugito’s expresion A could tell she hadn’t tried to test that yet. It was a moment later that the woman confirmed his thoughts. 

“Come with me, we will spare, I’ll need you to go all out to see if there is a notable difference.” Not waiting for an answer A stood up. He was somewhat glad that he could escape from the paperwork. 

It was a while later that A and Yugito found themselves in a vast training ground. At the start the duo’s fight began simply as they ramped up. However, Soon enough it became obvious to A that something was different. For starters, Yugito’s usual hyper-aggressiveness when using the Nibi’s chakra was gone. After more fighting and ramping up Yugito finally hit a limit, one A could tell was much lower than normal. Having found what they were looking for, the fight stopped. 

“Thoughts?” A asked Yugito as he had his own. This was simply put, bad. He could tell Yugito’s upper limit had been cut in half. Or rather, it was more accurate to say that the Nibi’s power had been cut in half. 

“It's much easier to use the power but it feels as if I only have access to half of the Nibi’s chakra.” Precisely what A had thought. Even so, he needed to confirm a few more things.

“Did it feel like something was blocking you from getting the rest or was it simply not there.” This is important to know. In the case of the former then it could be that a powerful seal had been placed on Yugito, one their usual methods hadn’t found. To tell the truth, A much prefer this than the other option. Unfortunately…

“It's simply not there.” This finally pissed off A as he slammed his foot against the ground, cracking it. Those Yugure people had somehow found a way to steal half of the Nibi’s power somehow. It pissed him off even more thinking that something like this could happen to Bee as well. 

“We will need to keep an eye for more of those Yugure people, as well as those Akatsuki they mentioned. I don’t like where this is going.” With that said A dismissed Yugito as he got back to his office. He would need to increase the security around Bee… again.