Kaguya's Legacy

"Back once again," I whispered to myself as I looked down at the village stretching out underneath me.

It had been four years since my fight with Kakuzu, four years that had gone by in a rush.

At first, nothing much changed; we continued as we always had, traveling as we had since the day I picked them up in Kusagakure.

The Land of Hot Water was a safe place, filled with hot springs and resorts, spas, and more. It was an expensive place to live, but peaceful; even Kumo didn't cause much trouble for this country because of its noble connections.

After all, no one liked expensive resorts more than wealthy merchants and powerful nobles.

Everything was normal, and I slowly started to train Karin in using chakra. Chakra control was important, and more so for an Uzumaki; the more chakra you had, the harder it was to get fine control.

And Fūinjutsu, the sealing arts, required very fine control indeed. Not to mention that her chakra had a natural healing property to it, making her immensely talented in Medical Ninjutsu.

Thankfully, it wasn't difficult to teach a child basic chakra control; walking up walls and walking on water were visually appealing and easy enough to turn into games.

It was also something that could be done without supervision.

Walking up a wall could be done by lying on the ground and putting your feet against the wall and trying to make them stick. There was minimal risk of harm, as you couldn't really fall down.

That method might not be as fast as what shinobi normally did by trying to just run up a tree or wall.

But they were also older by then, so despite being a slower method, many old clans still used it because it allowed their children to learn it early and spend their time on more valuable things as they grew older.

Karin had taken to her training like a fish to water; she happily absorbed everything I taught her, and she was indeed worthy of the Uzumaki name.

However, as time went on, problems began to surface while we were on the road. Bounty hunters started to appear more frequently.

Nobody at the level of Kakuzu himself, barely a Jōnin among them, but clearly, people were going out of their way to target us.

There were also more people following us, enough that I had to go out of my way to dispose of them time and time again.

Most were just bounty hunters or even foolish and overly brave bandits, but there was also a fair share of ANBU belonging to the different great villages.

It was annoying, and I started to suspect that it wasn't happening without rhyme or reason. I knew that my battle with Kakuzu would have drawn some level of attention, but I still felt this was excessive.

After all, neither of us bothered cleaning up the area, so it wasn't hard to confirm that I had fought someone there. My route from the Land of Iron wasn't exactly a secret, and with the signs of Shikotsumyaku all but confirmed, I was one of the two parties who fought.

Fragments of ice and quicklime would no doubt cause questions, but they would also serve to hide the truth of what happened. Because it would appear like a group had fought, likely suspected to be from Kiri, given the signs of Ice Release.

And for a while, it seemed to have worked, but soon enough, people came knocking, and with them, my bounty rose sharply.

There was still no public order for my capture, just a price for anyone who did so.

And over the years, that price just continued to rise. I knew that I was strong, a powerful kunoichi with a powerful Kekkei Genkai, which was indeed something worth a large sum of money, but I was still taken aback by how high it rose.

From a modest price driven by the safe delivery of Kanna and Karin, it soon soared, reaching absolutely staggering sums.

Yet, despite the price for my capture alive, the Bingo Book didn't do a good job of explaining the reason that I was worth that much alive. It just labeled me highly dangerous and advised those who ran into me to avoid conflict.

It was annoying, to say the least.

Still, despite being a massive annoyance, it didn't do much to stop me; after all, few could really push me to take them seriously these days.

And while the villages kept an eye on me, they hadn't yet sent in a team to capture me… though I suspected that that might end after tonight.

Because the village stretching out down below me was Konohagakure, and the stones I stood upon were carved in the likeness of Hashirama Senju, the reincarnation of Asura Ōtsutsuki, my grandson.

And the reason I was back here once more was the timing of events. Last time I was here, I stopped Hinata from being kidnapped and spared Hizashi Hyūga from being killed to placate Kumogakure.

And this time, four years later, I was here for a reason that wasn't too dissimilar from that.

This year, Naruto Uzumaki was seven, Sasuke Uchiha was seven, and Hinata as well. The golden generation were already students at the Ninja Academy.

Neji, son of Hizashi, was also a student there, a year older than the others. And his father was alive; I could see him with my Byakugan. He was inside his home, and there was a third person, a woman.

Canon never really mentioned what happened to Neji's mother. I knew Hiashi planned to allow him to marry out of love, so I assumed that still happened, but it was after I left the village.

I couldn't tell if the woman was his mother or if he had simply remarried now that he survived what should have been his destined death.

Still, I did remember the woman, though she had been far younger when I last saw her, but the chakra signature was still the same.

Not everyone goes through what I had done, to change it to the point that even Hiashi didn't recognize me.

Tonight was the night something big was going down; it hadn't been easy to track down the date, nearly impossible in fact, so I was rather proud of myself that I had managed to get it right.

Wouldn't want to miss this.

Miss the Uchiha massacre.

I wasn't here to gloat. I wasn't here to simply watch this moment of history. I wasn't that vain.

No, I was here to leave my mark on history.

The Uchiha clan was of my blood, the descendants of Hagoromo. The clan of Asura was already gone, just one lone woman left, and the sister clan, the Uzumaki, was barely doing better.

I might have little love left for Hagoromo, but that didn't mean I would stand by and watch as every member of his blood was butchered down to the last infant.

This wasn't something that had to be done.

The great plan didn't require this sacrifice.

Politics demanded that the Uchiha clan fell; it couldn't stand, couldn't survive tonight… but that didn't mean the bloodline itself had to fall with it.

Everything I knew about Hiruzen Sarutobi told me he wouldn't want to wipe out the entire clan; he didn't desire the deaths of helpless infants.

Not even Danzō would want that; he would want to train them, turn them into mindless puppets who knew nothing but obedience toward him.

There was only one person who wanted this… and it wasn't even Madara; he didn't hate his clan, he was simply beyond it now.

Just like how I didn't hate my children; despite what they did, I had simply accepted that it was wrong to love them.

No, only Obito Uchiha wanted to kill them; only he was so twisted that he would happily, gleefully slaughter every last man, woman, and child of his own clan.

Even as a tool, he wasn't very obedient.

He cared for nothing but Rin. He cared for nothing but a single girl and would happily see the world burn for her.

I barely remembered my old life, life before Kaguya. Only the parts related to this world were something I had fought to remember due to the value of such information.

But there was one thing I remembered, and that was the meaning of the word "simp."

Yeah, if this world were to have a dictionary, a picture of Obito would be right next to that word. No person was a bigger simp than him.

He knew Madara could wait. If this plan failed… Madara could just wait. The man was dead; a hundred years or ten, it didn't matter to him.

Only Obito couldn't wait. He wanted to force things, force this plan to succeed now.

The best way to arrange that was to ensure there couldn't be a second attempt.

The plan required one thing above all: the Rinnegan.

Without that, the plan would fail.

The Rinnegan required two things: the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and the power of the Senju.

The Senju clan was gone, but thankfully, the cells and body of Hashirama Senju could still be found and wouldn't disappear. Madara and Zetsu had ensured that long ago.

The harder part to get was a pair of Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. In the history of the shinobi world, they had only appeared a few dozen times across a thousand years. And many of those were back before the blood of Hagoromo thinned out.

Since then… it was hard to find many examples of it happening.

In the last hundred years, only once. Only Madara.

Still, with enough time, another pair could appear, like they would with Sasuke, but if the Uchiha clan were wiped out?

It would be impossible… meaning the current pair of Rinnegan held by Nagato was the last and only pair.

Meaning there was no chance for Zetsu to restart the plan later, or to delay it for a while if things spiraled out of control. Should the difficulty be too great… he would likely choose to lie low rather than take unnecessary risks.

But without the Uchiha clan… he would have to do his best now… and that was what Obito wanted, to ensure that either the plan worked while he was alive so he could be reunited with Rin, or it would never happen at all.

A world without Rin… didn't deserve peace, that was his thought.

But… I couldn't allow that.

Below me, I watched as the actors moved into position. Itachi meeting with Danzō one final time before the act, I watched the ANBU and Root block off the Uchiha clan.

And Obito was somewhere, watching, waiting for his moment to strike.

And so too was I.

Tonight, I would reveal myself before the Akatsuki. Obito would finally have to pay attention, as would Zetsu.

Over the past few years, I had reached the point where I needed to meet with him.

Already, horns were growing from my head, still small, but I was getting closer and closer to my true self. My chakra had stopped growing, evolving. I had reached the limit now, and I finally believed that he would recognize me.

Yes… today the Uchiha clan would die… but the clan wouldn't end… and Kaguya Ōtsutsuki would take the first steps in reuniting with her last loyal son…

"Zetsu… just wait," I whispered as I vanished in a yellow flash just before a black vortex appeared on the stone head of Minato Namikaze.