Back in Kaguya’s ice dimension, the Otsutsuki’s freshly severed arm lands a good distance away from all the action with Jin’s Truth-Seeker Fūma Shuriken embedded in the ground near it; the jagged, irregular projectile towers over the cleaved arm with an ominous aura surrounding it.
“I can’t believe mere children are actually managing to pressure my mother.” Black Zetsu remarks in disbelief.
The Wicked Tongue pokes its head out from the sleeve of his creator’s sliced off appendage, it checks to see if the coast is clear; all it sees is the falling snow and the numerous glaciers in the distance. Everything has gone quiet, Black Zetsu can only assume that Kaguya took the fight to another dimension. Certain that no one is around, Black Zetsu slowly slinks out from the sleeve.
Black Zetsu slowly, cautiously slithers away. “I must return to moth--HRK?!”
“No, no… Let’s have a chat.”
A pair of sharp, black tendrils have just shot out from the shuriken and pierced Black Zetsu, the tendrils inject chakra into the Wicked Tongue, effectively paralyzing it. In the form of a viscous fluid, black biomass flows off and detaches itself from the underside of the shuriken. This mass shifts and morphs, taking the shape of a woman with glowing, red eyes and a mouth filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth.
“I did warn you to stay away from my father and you went ahead and clung to him. Tried to steal his chakra.” Mileena sinisterly hisses, digging her tendrils deeper into her enemy.
The cornered Black Zetsu groans, “Ngh… Aaaugh!!! …N-No… Y-You’re just a piece of the shinobi history I created and nothing more…!”
“So, what? This just means that your time as the author is over…” With a smug grin, Mileena sneers coldly. “Father, Big Sis, and Uncle Rito will pick up the pen and continue the story. And I’ll be there to assist them however I can.”
Mileena pierces her adversary with another tendril. “You are now at my mercy. It is only a matter of time before Kaguya, your mother, your goddess, is sealed. It is over, ‘brother’.”
“No! It’ll never be over!!” Black Zetsu shouts in defiance.
“Lies? In your house of God? No wonder she has abandoned you…” Mileena continues to mock the worm before her.
The symbiote slowly lifts up her enemy and brings him closer to her face, she can almost taste the fear and delusion irradiating off her victim; its taste is sweet. Mileena grabs hold of her prey, her claws sink into Black Zetsu’s biomass.
“But *I* love you.” A smug Mileena confesses.
“What?” Shocked by her words, the helpless Black Zetsu’s eyes grow wide.
“*I* love you…” Mileena ominously repeats, snarling. “I couldn’t be here without you.”
Try as it might, the terrified Black Zetsu can’t escape. Mileena focuses chakra into her hands and tendrils, keeping Zetsu connected to her. Black Zetsu struggles with all its might to break free, but it is fruitless; from a single glance into Mileena’s scarlet red eyes, Black Zetsu knows it’s no use.
“Let me… KISS you.” Mileena says before opening her mouth wide.
“S-S… Stop--!! Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!” Black Zetsu bellows.
The eager Mileena sinks her teeth into her raving adversary and takes a bite. She chews slowly, savoring each and every bite; like licorice, Zetsu tastes sweet and woody with a hint of sour and bitter flavors.
Bleh… Had I known he tastes like that awful candy, I'd have killed him in a different manner. Mileena thinks as she swallows the first bite of her prey. Eh, I’ve already started eating him, might as well follow through…
“AAAAAAAAARGH!!” Zetsu screams with blood-curdling agony.
While steadily growing weaker, the wailing Black Zetsu tries to push Mileena away, but the symbiote just takes another bite and continues to eat. Not much time has passed before Black Zetsu eventually stops screaming, Mileena continues to eat her fill.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, in Kaguya’s core dimension, Obito, Jin and Sakura have managed to successfully infiltrate their way through the Otsutsuki’s portal using Kamui. The Naruto-clone that was with them used itself as a diversion and kept Kaguya’s attention squarely on him. Thinking the clone was the real Naruto, the progenitor of chakra quickly destroyed him and traveled back to her ice dimension.
The dimension itself closely resembles what was seen in the anime; the sky is a greenish-yellow color, and the rocky terrain is various shades of red with a hint of purple. The temperature feels like it is at room temperature despite the sun being out.
A determined Obito sits on his knees with both of his Mangekyou Sharingan activated, he focuses on opening a portal to another of the dimensions in order to retrieve their kidnapped allies. Standing directly behind the Akatsuki leader, Echo and Sakura both have a hand on Obito’s shoulder, supplying him with chakra; Sakura uses her Hundred Healings while Echo uses his naturally large reserves due him being an Uzumaki.
Both Echo’s Sage Mode markings and Sakura’s Hundred Healing Markings spread to Obito as they supply him with a surplus of chakra; to Echo, Obito vaguely resembles someone who has a full-body tattoo.
“This time-space should be connected to all the others. We’ll–”
“We know what to do. So, start making portals.” Echo impatiently interrupts, ordering his reluctant ally. I failed them once; I won’t fail them again…
♦♦♦♦♦
Years ago, in an old abandoned Orochimaru hideout located on the outskirts of the Land of Fire, a 33-year-old Jin is in the process of unsealing Karasuki, the Otsutsuki relic that possessed the ability to time-travel. While only an Otsutsuki can normally unseal it, Jin had managed to steal a sliver of Kaguya’s chakra before she was absorbed by Moryo.
He along with Ayanami and Rito have spent the last grueling fifteen years trying to bring their hail-mary plan to fruition. They spent eight years searching for it at the bottom of the ocean and another seven years amassing enough chakra to even use it.
“Well? What are you waiting for?” The commanding Ayanami has grown impatient, the once beautiful Hyuga ninja gently rubs the scars on her face.
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While weaving the necessary hand sign, Jin is quick to remind her that, “The process can’t be rushed.”
“It’s a machine. Just hit it.” The kunoichi argues.
“No, you LITERALLY can’t rush the process. It’s a turtle.”
Jin’s eyes begin to sparkle when he sees the small stone urn start glowing an emerald green. For the first time in a long time, the red-haired rogue remembers what hope feels like; it feels warm.
The stone disappears like magic, leaving a small turtle shell with a red rope wrapped around it. The shell is small enough for one to hold in their hand as they would a phone from the 90s. Jin marvels at the artifact while Rito and Ayanami silently look down on it with cold skepticism.
“Awaken, Karasuki.” Jin commands the device.
With slow mechanical movements, the front and back flippers pop out of the shell before sticking out its head.
“Activation: Authenticated. I am Karasuki, the noble device, allow me to advise you on the procedure of my operation.” The relic slowly speaks. “Confirming procedure. My operation will be hindered if any steps are made out of order. Master Jin, I must first be charged with chakra to operate. Once charging is completed, please configure transfer settings.”
“Ugh… It’s so slow.” A tired Ayanami complains.
“Jin did say it was a turtle.” Rito reasons.
Just as Jin holds up his hand to transfer chakra, the entire hideout begins to violently rumble; someone has just forced their way into the compound. They don’t know who it is, but what they do know is that the intruder entered through the main entrance.
“Is it Moryo’s forces or Kara's?” A now terrified Rito asks.
Nearly a year ago, Kara, the terrorist organization from Boruto, made themselves known to the world. The Kara leader, Isshiki Otsutsuki, was able to fully revive himself, using a young boy as his vessel. With an army of cyborg ninjas, Isshiki wages war on Moryo and his terracotta soldiers; Jin considers anyone who dies in the collateral damage of their battles to be lucky, they no longer have to continue living in this hell.
“It doesn’t matter, just run like hell!” Jin orders while grabbing the turtle.
With their blood freezing, all three shinobi quickly make their way out of the chamber and bolt in the direction opposite of the tremors; blood roars in the terrified Jin’s ears as he runs. While running, he makes sure to feed the Otsutsuki relic the chakra it needs to function.
“Are there any other exits?!” Ayanami asks.
“It’s an Orochimaru hideout. There are TONS of escape routes.” Jin answers in a panic. “Observe.”
Jin stops in his tracks and knocks on the shaking wall beside him, a doorway appears, it opens, revealing a dark tunnel. They make their way through the passage, running as fast as their legs will carry them. About halfway through, they can see a light at the end of the tunnel.
“As soon as we find a new place to hide, we can make preparations and go back. We can fix everything!” Jin finds it difficult to hold back his excitement, his eyes begin to water.
“Get it done then.” Ayanami says, coming to a halt.
Confused by the kunoichi’s abrupt stop, both Jin and Rito stop running and look back toward their friend. Ayanami stares back at them with a somber smile.
“Why’d you stop? C’mon, let’s go!” Jin waves his ally over.
“It’s time to get serious, guys.” The louder rumbling makes the kunoichi look back.
“No, the three of us can make it! We can do this!” Rito argues, trying to reason with his friend.
“I’m tired… Rito, what exactly will happen if this plan actually works?” The exhausted Ayanami asks.
A dejected Rito slowly answers with, “Either this entire timeline changes and we cease to exist… Or we create an alternate timeline where none of this ever happens.”
The reincarnations are in no way certain if their plan will even work. They are completely inexperienced when it comes to time travel; all they have to go on is what they’ve seen in movies, shows, and video games.
“Either way, it’ll be a far better outcome than this hell we’ve had to endure.” A fire lights up in the kunoichi’s eyes, she turns her back on her friends and faces the rapidly encroaching enemy.
“Don’t be a fool, Ayanami! If it IS Moryo’s forces, you’ll end up like Hinata.” Jin desperately warns, pleading for his friend to see reason.
After absorbing Kaguya and killing Naruto and Sasuke, Moryo undid the Infinite Tsukuyomi. The insidious demon had his immortal army round up all the kunoichi who either possessed kekkei genkai or had the genetic potential for kekkei genkai such as Hinata Hyuga, Mei Terumi, and Kurotsuchi; they were all--and currently still--being forced to birth Moryo’s children.
“Go. Save the world.”
Activating her Byakugan and Sage Mode, Ayanami slams her fist against the wall. Cracks begin to form all across the area where the kunoichi had struck and spread, causing the tunnel to cave in; the falling boulders and debris seal the tunnel, separating Jin and Rito from Ayanami.
The red-haired rogue immediately lunges for the mound of dirt and rubble, his hands hurriedly digging through in an attempt to get to the other side when he suddenly feels a hand grab onto his shoulder. He looks up and sees a somber and dejected Rito looking back at him.
“Jin… we need to go.” Rito says quietly.
Jin looks down at his muddy hand in defeat. “Damn it.”
With a heavy heart, Jin gets back on his feet and makes his way toward the exit with Rito right on his heels; his legs carry him unsteadily due to the pain and shock of losing one of the few friends he has left.
♦♦♦♦♦
“Wh-What…? What is that?” Sakura asks.
The medical ninja’s shock and confusion calls Echo back from memory lane, the time-traveler looks up and witnesses Obito open a dimensional rift; a distortion appears before them in the form of a swirl, the distortion opens up a doorway into another time-s=ace. They all look through the doorway and see a landscape covered with terrain shaped as countless small pyramid-esque structures.
That’s the gravity dimension, you moron… Echo keeps this thought to himself.
“He’s not here either…” Obito speaks with a raspy tone while closing the portal.
Coughing profusely, the Akatsuki leader lurches forward and lands on all fours. Blood flows from Obito’s eyes like tears; Echo’s mask hides the fact that he is looking down on the Uchiha with contempt.
“Maybe… you should rest a bit.” A concerned Sakura suggests.
Obito looks back. “What about chakra?”
“Oh… I-I… still have some… reserves…” Sakura meekly answers.
“I have plenty to spare.” Echo replies professionally.
“Just keep enough to get yourselves back because… y’know? In the event we can’t find the–”
“We’ll find them. Just keep searching.” The time-traveler orders in declaration.
The Akatsuki leader looks ahead with determination. “The next one!”
Echo patiently watches as a new distortion made by Obito’s Kamui appears before them. The distortion opens up to reveal a dimension that is just the color, vomit-green; Echo is put on alert the instant he sees bubbles floating up in the time-space.
“Get back!” A shouting Echo warns.
Heading the time-traveler's words, everyone leaps back to safety. Just as they are leaping away, a green liquid comes pouring out of the portal; some of this liquid manages to splash onto Echo’s mask and Sakura’s vest.
Without hesitation, Echo rips off his now smoking mask and throws it into the distance, he checks his face and feels a wave of relief wash over him as none of the acid had actually made contact with his flesh; the time-traveler is thankful he wore a thick mask.
“Are you okay?” Obito asks as he closes the portal.
Future Jin looks to his side only to the medical ninja gripping her right arm in pain, the acid has left marks on her arm. The time-traveler calmly, quietly watches as Sakura fights through the pain.
“Don’t worry about it. Our chakra has a–” Sakura stops mid-sentence when she sees Echo’s face, her eyes widen and her jaw drops.
“What is–?!” Obito looks back and is surprised just as Sakura is.
Their mysterious ally looks an awful lot like someone they both know, the only differences are that Echo is older, still has his red hair and fair skin, and possesses a tomoe Rinnegan in his left eye and a Byakugan in his right.
The shocked Sakura points at Echo and remarks, “Y-You… You look a lot like Jin. …Why is that?”
I hope Rito and Ayanami are doing okay… A brooding Echo sighs while rubbing the back of his neck. “If you have time to ask pointless questions, you have time to look for our missing comrades.”