READ WEBNOVEL 222. Interlude: Yugure
Before the beginning, after the end, no path to take, no light to shine the way. A cycle that changes yet stays the same. Can’t be broken, there is nothing to break. Only She remains. - █R█KE█ █NE █KT█OM-A█R██O
In the mountains of the land of lightning two strangers walked leisurely in a direction unknown. The tinkling of bells following them with each step. The sun shining unimpeded by the usual clouds that hung throughout the country illuminated their path. The pristine white cloaks with blue clouds hid their bodies from the glare of the sun as did the straw hats for their heads.
“Do you think she will fight?” A feminine voice flowed out from one of the strangers trying to establish a conversation with her partner.
“Probably.” And so, with a similar feminine cadence to the response, the attempt died in the cradle. It had been like this for a while now, silence. Not awkward silence but not comfortable either, just silence.
Each step they took brought them closer to their target. A woman from Kumogakure, a ninja. One with power to make her name known throughout the land. Dirty blond hair and dark eyes with a rather pale tone of skin compared to what is common in the land of lightning. Yugito Nii, the jinchuriki of the two tails.
A few steps later and the duo stopped. They were ready and in position, soon enough their target would pass through the area and so their mission would commence. In truth, their objective had been long set by someone else. Not only that but the initiation of the plans would have come to pass in the future. They didn’t care, they needed this.
“She is here.” The first one said, tuning slightly towards her left.
“She is” The other one instead turned upwards letting the sun’s shine fall on her face. Delicate features with long straight dark blue, almost black, hair. Her eyes, a deep purple with a strange yellow pattern on them.
Moments later out of the thin forest to their left came a squad of three ninjas, one of them being their target. As expected the ninja stopped in their tracks, guard high and suspicion clear in their eyes. After all, the duo in front of them exude an aura of danger. To make matters worse they didn’t hide their chakra either, firmly placing the duo as elite jounin.
“Who are you?” Yugito spoke while watching the duo. Her instincts were screaming danger. As funny as it might sound, she doubted the duo being spies. No spie would act so overtly unless their mission required it. No, something told her they were here for them.
“Yugito Nii, jinchuriki of the Nibi” The more the stranger spoke the more Yugito felt something was wrong, really, really wrong. The feeling only intensified once she caught a glance of blood red eyes, with a strange black pattern.
“We come with an offer you WILL accept.” Not waiting any longer Yugito sent a fireball in the direction of the duo. Yet, it never got to them as the house sized fireball began shrinking until it puffed out of existence.
Now not only her but her team as well felt cold sweat flowing down their backs. The strangers hadn’t even moved and yet, Yugito’s attack resulted in nothing. They got no new useful information. Things looked grim for her and her team. Thankfully, the strangers didn’t seem to be kin on attack, for now.
“Your life will be in danger in the near future. A group, our counterpart, will hunt you down and those like you.” Silence, it was an uncomfortable silence that set every kumo-nin on edge.
“And who are you?” As soon as her question was given the second stranger moved. She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them once again. Her gaze squarely on Yugito added to the pressure she already felt.
“We are Yugure, the dusk to akatsuki’s dawn. Not like this would mean much to you… yet.” While speaking, the woman’s gaze never left Yugito. Yugito for her part could put some of the pieces together. The first woman had said those like her. There was nothing truly special about her except for one thing. She is a jinchuriki.
Now, thanks to her status it looks like two different groups were after her and the other jinchuriki’s. The question is however, what do these groups want? And so, the best thing to do now was ask. Yugito ignored the growing sense of dread she felt, the helplessness fueled by her instincts. As a kunoichi she needed to keep herself under control, she needed as much information as possible.
“I’m sorry, but we can’t reveal our goals. Not unless you fully commit to joining us.” Once again, the red eyed woman spoke. Her words seemed careless like the tension in the air was nothing but a lie.
“I will NOT be joining you.” For a moment the idea of agreeing to infiltrate the group passed through Yugito’s mind, an idea she discarded instantly. The very thought of it had sent all sorts of alarms blaring in her head.
“A pity, looks like it will be the hard way then.” The woman with purple eyes commented almost with disinterest. Yet the instant sense of danger Yugito felt sent her into motion.
An instant later Yugito got to witness how her two teammates were squashed against the ground by forces unseen. Thankfully, they looked alive if barely. However, things were not over. A flare of her combat instincts honed through years of conflict sent her sideways to avoid another unseen attack.
“She’s fast.” Dodging again Yugito’s gaze landed on the red eyed woman. Yet out of instinct once more, she avoided those eyes with a fervor ninjas only gave to the Uchiha. It was then when it clicked. Uchiha, the woman was a Uchiha. Not only that but currently there were only three Uchiha known alive. Two of them were nukenin.
“Shit.” Yugito cursed under her breath as she continued to dodge the random unseen attacks. However, as troubling as this knowledge was, it also provided her with opportunity. Not wasting any more time Yugito slammed a smoke bomb on the ground, finally breaking the woman’s line of sight.
“Smart too.” The second one commented and that was when Yugito felt her entire world turn upside down. Before she could comprehend what was happening she found herself falling towards the sky. Looking around her eyes landed on the second woman. The yellow imprint on her eyes had turned golden sometime and her gaze was firmly placed on Yugito like her partners had been.
Seeing no other way out, Yugito made a decision. The next instant blue flames bursted out of her body as they coalesced in the form of a gigantic twin tailed cat. Unlike Bee, her relationship with the Nibi wasn’t as great. Every time she transformed it would become a battle of wills. She needed to end this quickly otherwise she might lose control.
“The Nibi, or should I say, Matatabi?” The Uchiha woman commented with a small smile on her face. This wasn’t important however, not in the least. What was important was the impact of her words. The Nibi’s efforts to take control redoubled, freezing both of them in place as they fought for control.
“What I said is the truth Matatabi. Akatsuki will hunt you and your siblings down. I can’t say much more than that right now. However, I can guarantee we are on your side. Afterall, Kurama is already with us.” Yugito lost control. Never in her life had Nibi fought this hard for control. It felt feral and… desperate.
“HOW DO YOU KNOW THOSE NAMES!?” Nibi’s roar was accompanied by a wide area attack of blue flames. Flames that banished into thin air when the woman’s gaze landed on them.
“Your sibling told them to us we-” Before the woman could continue the Nibi interrupted her with another shout and flames.
“Bullshit! Kurama hate’s you humans. He would never ally himself with any of you.” At that the woman with purple eyes giggled.
“Yeah well, people change. He was separated into two parts. Yin Kurama’s hate for humans is pretty much gone by now. Though I could see where you are coming from after meeting yang Kurama.” Now Yugito, who was acting more like a spectator at this point, felt confused. What the hell was going on?
“Ah! Where are our manners? Let us introduce ourselves. My name is Hinata Hyuga, former Konoha ninja.” Saying that Hinata gave the Hitai-ate hung around her neck a small tug. The Konoha symbol could be clearly seen with a line crossing it out.
“Right, Mine is Nozomi Uchiha, also former Konoha ninja.” Unlike Hinata, Nozomi decided to wear hers properly on her forehead.
Matatabi didn’t know how to react. The two girls were too nonchalant, that coupled with the fact they knew Kurama’s name gave some credence to their words. Even so, she was having a hard time believing them.
“If that is the case, why isn’t Kurama here?” All Bijus could feel when another one of them was nearby. The fact she couldn’t feel Kurama anywhere near made her wary of the girls.
However, the answer the two gave her solidified her opinion. The duo were telling the truth… mostly at least.
“Ah, that. Well… let me quote “No thank you, I much rather stay here and nap than bother with that” end quote. So yeah, the lazy fox couldn’t be bothered with coming along.” Of course they could also have asked Shukaku and Gaara but to tell the truth, they wanted to know how they would do by themselves.
“I see, in that case I agree.” That was the moment when Yugito finally broke from her confusion and began wrestling back for control. Like she would let whoever these two are take her away.
“Looks like Yugito disagrees, let me help.” Before Yugito could do anything her sight was taken by a pair of bright crimson eyes. Out of instinct she began to flare her chakra trying to break away from whatever genjutsu had been cast on her.
“What did you do?” Matatabi asked with curiosity, clear in her tone. A moment ago she had been struggling with Yugito for control and the next Yugito fell silent as soon as their eyes met the Uchiha’s eyes.
“Genjutsu, a rather powerful one. She won’t be able to break it by herself.” Funnily enough, Nozomi isn’t all that much of a fan of genjutsu. Her eyes however, make using it a rather simple matter. Of course she wouldn’t be able to compete with Itachi in this regard. However, compared to others she could still be considered a genjutsu master.
“Shall we go?” With a nod Matatabi’s form changed back to that of Yugito. However, it could clearly be seen that she is still in control of the body as Yugito’s eyes weren’t their usual dark color but instead one green and the other yellow.
Before the trio left, Hinata took a few moments to heal the poor kumo-nin that had been injured by Nozomi’s attack. Most of the damage was internal from having the force of gravity suddenly increased on them. After that the trio set off.
“Say Matatabi, would you like a humanoid body of your own?” Hinata, a bit bored, decided to initiate a conversation. She wanted to know what would be Matatabi’s reaction. Not only that but she wanted to see her reacting to her brother now sister.
“Why do you ask? It isn’t possible anyway.” As she said that Matatabi looked towards the duo. Their smug expressions made her doubt what she had thought would be obvious.
“Is it?” As she questioned her own affirmation the duo’s smile grew into smug grins instead.
“Well, your brother already has one.” Nozomi, understanding Hinata’s intentions, decided to play along. She too would enjoy seeing Matatabi’s expression once she met Kurama.
“Huh, well, I have never given it much thought. I guess I wouldn’t mind.” Like that the trio continued making small talk as they walked. Soon enough they were met with the sight of a quinjet waiting to pick them up.
“What is this contraption? It looks… weird.” Shrugging, the duo came aboard alongside Matatabi as they left for Yggdrasil.
A few hours later Matatabi found herself unable to think. Her jaw wide open as her mind worked extra hard to make sense of the scene in front of her. Surprise after surprise followed as soon as she saw the frankly ridiculously sized tree. However, this took the cake.
“K-Kurama?” Matatabi wanted to believe it a lie. She wanted to believe that the woman currently drinking merily was nothing more than Kurama’s jinchuriki. Her senses were telling her otherwise.
“Hm? Who?... M-Matatabi?” After turning around Kurama felt dread. Sure, Shukaku was already aware of her new… tendencies and her other sibling would know in due time. She however, didn’t expect for Matatabi to find out like this.
“Is that really you?” Matatabi was still having a hard time believing her own eyes. For starters, why was Kurama a woman? Why was she drinking merily with a bunch of humans and above all else…
“Kurama? Is she another one of your girlfriends?” Mina who was currently rather drunk said with a sultry tone as she began licking Kurama’s neck seductively. It didn’t help that the only thing currently hiding her breasts was her black bra nor the fact Kurama’s left hand was under said bra.
“I… uh… can explain?” Hearing that Matatabi’s brain finished rebooting enough to give her a disbelieving look. In her centuries of life she had never, ever, thought she would see Kurama of all bijus interloping with a human.
“Yeah? How so?” Matatabi expected many things. She expected Kurama to act defensive. Maybe try and act like nothing ever happened. Hell, she was ready for -him?- to try and act like he still hated humans, instead she heard something completely different.
“Okay so… I blame Tomoka, and those two as well.” Kurama said while pointing towards Hinata and Nozomi who couldn’t contain their laughter anymore.
“What?” Yeah, Matatabi’s brain entered into another session of rebooting as she tried and failed to comprehend what was going on.
“Have a flesh and bone body, they said, it will be fine, they said. Well, guess what? This body came with its own set of needs and instincts!” Kurama began ranting, she had a love-hate relationship with her new body. She loved the pleasures of the flesh, good food, sleep, sex, oh she definitely loved sex.
“Trust me, you won’t understand no matter how hard I try to explain unless you get your own.” Kurama’s grumbling came to an end as Mina moved from kissing and licking her neck to doing the same to her lips.
“I uh…” Before Matatabi could get her thoughts into words she was interrupted by Nozomi.
“So? Are you interested in a body of your own?” Hearing the question Matatabi began thinking. She was having a hard time deciding until she gave Kurama a glance. The fox was currently smiling as she kept exchanging kisses with Mina. She definitely looked happy, content even.
“Yes.” With her mind made, Matatabi condemned herself to a life of leisure and happiness. Not like she knew that.