Kaguya's Legacy

A shuriken bit into the wall of a house, the sound waking the woman inside. Her eyes burned red, with two tomoe rotating within. She lay still, unmoving, yet thanks to my Byakugan, I could see that she wasn't inactive.

She was taking in the situation; the clan grounds were silent, quiet as the grave. It wasn't the sounds that gave it away, nor was it the lack of sounds… it was the smell.

One didn't need to be an Inuzuka to smell the scent of blood in the air.

With so many hearts pierced, so many throats slit, the scent of blood was impossible to miss, and this young kunoichi understood that this strong a smell meant a lot of blood.

I could see how quickly her heart beat. She was afraid—terrified—but she remained calm, forced herself to stay calm, because beside her slept a small child. No more than a few days old.

Despite being a kunoichi, she was weak from childbirth. She was perfect…

I watched as she slowly reached for a kunai hidden under her pillow, her heart calming slightly as her fingers wrapped around the cold metal.

She slowly, and without a sound, got out of bed, her red Sharingan scanning the room. As she saw the coast was clear, she turned toward the bed for a moment, making sure her child was safe.

At that moment, right behind her, the air distorted.

A spiral.

Space bending inward.

Obito stepped out soundlessly, blade already in motion.

He did not hesitate.

He did not speak.

He cut.

I fired.

A bone bullet tore through the night with a sharp crack—pale and impossibly fast.

Obito's Sharingan caught it at the last possible moment.

His reaction was quick, phasing instinctively as the projectile passed straight through the woman's stomach and out her back, and right through his body. Since he had to use his intangibility, the kunai in his hand also passed right through her throat without harming her.

The woman, to her credit, reacted quickly; she turned around, her kunai slashing toward Obito, yet it too passed harmlessly through him.

"…Ah," he murmured.

Not anger.

Recognition.

"So the interloper shows their hand."

I stepped from the shadows.

"I admit, I am surprised a missing-nin like yourself showed up here tonight to save the children of the Uchiha clan. And here I thought your only interest was in those two Uzumaki who follow you around," he said, revealing that he recognized who I was.

"Anyone who could stand by and let this mindless killing happen without at least trying to save a few… is less than trash," I used the very words he once spoke to Kakashi.

His mask blocked even my Byakugan, yet I could imagine the face he made; I could see the irritation in his chakra.

The woman, to her credit, remained calm, taking in the situation. She was smart enough to realize that, despite it being me who hurt her, it also saved her life—and so, she didn't do something foolish.

She didn't attack me.

She just kept her guard up.

"A noble sentiment," Obito continued, sounding bored. "But a foolish one. I shall simply kill them all at once after I deal with you." He clearly didn't take me seriously, far too arrogant to take anyone seriously. "You should have stayed hidden."

"And you should have stayed dead!" I said, and that… that surprised him.

Shocked him enough to lose his focus for a minute.

While his attention had been limited to within this building, I had watched what occurred outside. Itachi had finished his grim business, his own parents dead at his hand.

Sasuke had also woken up and made his way through the empty and dark village, reaching the clan grounds. He had seen the dead and met his brother.

That meant the need for discretion was gone.

My hand rose sharply, and from within my wide sleeve, dozens of explosive tags flew out, all of them hissing, mere moments from exploding!

The woman threw herself over her child to protect it with her body—a pointless gesture, but just the one I wanted. With her arms around the child, I reached for her shoulder, and in that moment—where Obito had to stay intangible to avoid the explosion—I flashed backward under the cover of the fireball.

Not even the Sharingan could track me in that moment, and so I used the Flying Thunder God jutsu to take the woman with me to the collection place. Her eyes widened at the sudden change in location, her head turning rapidly to take in the sea of sleeping infants.

"W-what… what is this?" the woman stammered, her pain momentarily forgotten, replaced by baffled awe.

"There is no time for questions. If you want to live and to protect your child, you will listen and do as I say." I paused slightly, and when I saw her nod, I continued. "Konoha will want to claim that Itachi did this."

"What? Itachi? Why would they—"

I cut her off. "No time."

She shut up.

"You have to go along with it, at least publicly. While this wasn't the village's plan, they have to hide the truth. That means you can't go against them, or they will ensure that you are silenced," I warned her.

"These children are all that remains, and you just protect them. I will open a path—go toward the Hyūga clan. Only they can protect you. They can guide you on what to do. Do you understand?" I asked.

She looked at the sleeping children, tears streaming down her face as she started to realize what had happened. But she nodded all the same.

We didn't have much time; the fact that I used space-time ninjutsu would have thrown Obito off our track for a moment, but it wouldn't give us much time. Nor was I willing to use it to take them to the Hyūga clan.

"Remember—stay silent about me. Konoha can't know that I did this," I warned her, and honestly, I doubted it would work… but I had to try.

The children were wrapped up in a thick sheet, like a big, heavy sack filled with sleeping children. They would likely need a medic by the time they reached the Hyūga clan, but there was no other choice.

"Go. I will open a path." She nodded again, ignoring the pain and the bleeding. She picked up the sack and rushed off.

She was an easy target—slow and visible.

Thankfully, I was able to track the whole village, so it wasn't too difficult to ensure she wasn't stopped.

The explosion had done what I needed: it had dragged ANBU toward the wrong point, pulled attention like a hook through water. Confusion spread. Patrol routes shifted. Eyes turned inward.

The Root shinobi didn't move from their positions. Despite the chaos, they never forgot their orders; they were to stop anyone from escaping. So even if the village burned, unless Danzō ordered it, they would do nothing.

That meant I had to deal with them. The woman—my chosen survivor—had to make it past them, had to make it past everyone, and reach the Hyūga clan.

So these brainwashed weapons had to go.

I moved ahead of her.

The Body Flicker carried me across rooftops in short, silent bursts—never in a straight line, never predictable. My Byakugan painted the perimeter in pale lines of chakra.

Eight Root operatives along this stretch.

Two on the rooftops.

Three at street level.

Three further ahead near the boundary road.

They remained so still that one might mistake them for dead; even their chakra was steady, controlled, and calm.

Yet ultimately shallow, merely at the level of a chūnin. Danzō had few at a level better than that; to him, this was enough.

Yet before me, they were nothing but wheat to be harvested.

The first one died without even knowing it. One moment, he was watching the perimeter; the next, he knew only darkness.

My hand passed through his chest before he even sensed me.

Shikotsumyaku.

A thin spike of bone erupted silently from my palm, piercing straight through his heart and retracting just as quickly. No spray. No dramatic collapse.

His body simply went slack.

I caught him before he hit the roof and lowered him gently.

One.

The second rooftop guard sensed something.

A flicker in the corner of his vision.

He turned—

Too slow.

A bone blade slid cleanly through the gap beneath his mask, severing his spine at the base of the skull.

He never made a sound.

Two.

The three at street level were positioned in a triangle formation, each within line of sight of the others.

Efficient.

Yet… stealth wasn't a requirement, not anymore.

"Rabbit Hair Needles!"

Four streams of sharp hair needles flew through the air. They struck far too fast for mere chūnin to dodge. They barely managed to notice the attack, but were all too slow to react.

One.

Two.

Three.

Three attacks connected, and three bodies fell to the ground.

The fourth attack—that one didn't connect, and my hair needles struck the ground.

"So, you went after me," I said to Obito, who had silently appeared behind me and prepared to ambush me before he had to turn intangible to avoid my sudden attack.

"As long as I keep you here, that woman is doomed," he simply said, as if he had only wanted to keep me, and hadn't at all intended to kill me just now.

He really knew how to pretend.

"You underestimate me, and greatly overestimate yourself," I scoffed. Sure, if I didn't know the location of the remaining Root shinobi, I would likely be unable to stop them from completing the grim task of stopping any survivors from escaping their death.

But sadly for him, I could see them perfectly clearly, and I could kill them even from here.

"Rabbit Hair Needles!"

I once more used one of my true aces; the Kekkei Mōra-derived technique was far beyond what a few chūnin could deal with, no matter the distance.

Nor did I give Obito a chance to act. This attack was on a far greater scale than the last one. The last three Root died as their bodies were reduced to pulp by the power of this move, and Obito was forced to remain intangible.

Kamui was a truly unfair ninjutsu, but once you figure out its weakness, it wasn't all that hard to deal with.

After all, he could only stay in that state for so long, and he couldn't attack while in it—so as long as I covered his location with my attack, he could do nothing.

"A pointless gesture," he scoffed arrogantly as my attack failed to harm him.

I just snorted.

Time was on my side; the night began to fracture. Signal flares streaked into the sky above the Uchiha district, red and white light blooming like dying stars. Shouts echoed from distant streets. Doors opened. Windows slid aside.

Konoha was waking.

Obito stood within the fading rain of my hair needles, still intangible, still untouched.

Still pretending.

"You are bold," he said calmly. "Revealing yourself like this. Do you think chaos will protect you?"

I tilted my head slightly.

"No," I replied.

"I think it protects them."

Behind me, through the pale vision of the Byakugan, I saw her.

She was halfway to the Hyūga compound.

Bleeding and staggering.

But moving.

She would make it there. I saw nothing moving to stop her; people were too busy looking at the sky to spot one injured kunoichi carrying two dozen small children on her back.

"You think I cannot reach them?" he asked.

"I think," I said evenly, "that you cannot afford to."

For the first time tonight, he paused.

Just slightly.

Because he truly couldn't afford to be exposed, while I could. Sure, it wouldn't be good, but I wasn't afraid; he was desperate for his plan to succeed, and if he was exposed, that might expose the Akatsuki.

The killing of the Uchiha clan had been something minor, something he had done by himself… Zetsu wouldn't approve, and he wouldn't be able to justify it to Nagato. As long as nothing happened, neither of them would bother with him over it.

But if he messed up… got fully exposed… that would be troublesome.

"Don't worry, she won't mention you. Konoha already has the villain they need… go, leave this place, and let them grow up. They have already lost everything… why must you hunt them? What have they done to you?" I asked.

He remained silent for a moment.

"This isn't over…" he said, before his body was slowly sucked into a black vortex.

I suspected that he had to go find Itachi; he had his plans for him, and if he was delayed, those plans would fail.

I stared at the spot he had disappeared from for a moment before I too disappeared—though not using space-time ninjutsu. No, that would reveal too much.

I had already been spotted, so I just relied on pure speed to vanish.

My destination was the Hyūga clan compound. The Byakugan had spotted me already, and the woman had finally reached the clan grounds, collapsing just inside.

I needed to ensure that they didn't mess this up. While I knew Hiashi, I hadn't seen him for a few years, so I couldn't tell how much he had changed. I had to ensure he understood the situation.

Within moments, I crossed the village. The trip that had taken the injured woman minutes was covered by me in seconds.

"That's enough," a voice greeted me as I stopped on top of the main hall.

"How much do you know?" I asked him, not minding the hostility.

He didn't say anything at first; instead he just looked straight at me.

"The Byakugan," he finally said.

I had expected it. After all, he could see my chakra… and I had my own Byakugan active. The chakra in my eyes wasn't something he could miss that easily.

"You should know your own history," was all I said.

In turn, Hiashi just nodded. "Indeed. The Kaguya and Hyūga clans are distantly connected… so it is theoretically possible for someone to possess both the Byakugan and Shikotsumyaku."

"I would say that I am proof that it isn't just theoretically possible," I answered.

"Last time, I was too busy worrying about Hinata to notice… but how could I not see it now… why?" he asked, his voice filled with a wide range of emotions.

"The Hyūga clan didn't deserve to take the blame, and the Uchiha… I couldn't stop it, but at least I can ensure some survive. They are such an old clan… for them to simply disappear like that? I couldn't accept that."

"That's not what I asked, and you know that!" Hiashi nearly shouted.

"I know you will take care of them… you are both dōjutsu clans, and you would benefit from this, even if it annoys Danzō—though that would just be a bonus, wouldn't it?" I ignored his question.

His hands were clenched into tight fists, his body shaking, yet I paid it no mind as I continued. "The woman… she can teach the children, and you can guide her. Make sure she says what she should, and make sure that the Hokage and his core don't benefit from this. After all… it would set a dangerous precedent."

Hiashi closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh, and suddenly all the tension, all the energy, just melted out of him.

"Even now," he whispered, voice breaking despite himself, "you still care about the clan…"

He swallowed, hard.

"Thank you," he said, and the words sounded like they cost him. "And… I'm sorry."

I stiffened.

"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you," he continued, eyes shining in the moonlight. "Yuki."

For a heartbeat, the world went still.

The flares in the distance. The shouts. The chaos.

None of it mattered.

"Yuki is dead," I said coldly. "Died protecting her clan… doing her duty… killed by the higher-ups for giving her clan the chance to rise higher… You know what to do, Hiashi. I know you do." I finally said his name.

Support me at /unknownfate - for the opportunity to read up to 30 chapters ahead.