“““Cheese!””” A bright-eyed Ayanami, Hinata, Ino, and Temari all excitedly shout in unison while posing together.
After several brilliant flashes from Ino’s camera, the storm ninja rubs her eyes. “Well…? How’d it come out?!”
A little over a year after the events of The Last movie, on a bright and sunny day, in Spring, the ecstatic storm kunoichi finds herself attending her cousin’s wedding; she wears a dazzling emerald-green dress with her luscious hair curled for the occasion while the Byakugan Princess is adorned in a beautiful white kimono.
While at the reception, the girls have all agreed to take photos together to commemorate this wonderful occasion.
“Be patient, I have to go get them developed first,” Ino says, waving goodbye. “I’ll be back in just a minute.”
As Ayanami watches the next Yamanaka Clan head walk off, she feels her shoulder being tapped. Looking back, she finds Temari, who wears a curious expression on her face.
The sand shinobi asks, “Hey, Ayanami? Recently, I’ve heard rumors that the Land of Ogres has started a new holiday during the Winter months… Is it true?”
“Oh, you mean Christmas?”
“What’s it about?” Hinata queries, joining the conversation.
Giving a friendly smile, the storm ninja shrugs. “Depends on who you ask: *I* say it's about couples exchanging gifts, Jin claims it’s about friends and family exchanging gifts, and Rito says it about everyone coming together and exchanging gifts. The one thing we can all agree on is that we share goodwill, foster gratitude, and celebrate with the ones we care about.”
“I’m curious, what kinds of gifts did you receive?” Temari strokes her chin. “You must’ve gotten something from Jin and Rito.”
Now feeling nostalgic, Ayanami fondly thinks back to Christmas day, just a few months ago.
♦♦♦♦♦
“Merry Christmas, ‘Nami!” Embarrassed, Rito gives a wry smile as he holds out a soccer ball with a ribbon wrapped around it. “I WAS gonna give you this last year, but then Toneri happened…”
The group of reincarnations had gotten together on December 25th to hold a small party where they’d exchange gifts; Rito had already given Jaeger a real version of the Assassin’s Creed hidden blade.
“I love it!” Ayanami gasps with excitement, eagerly taking the ball and expertly bounces on her knees; she occasionally has it go over her shoulder only to hit it back over with her heels.
“Hey, wait… where’s your gift for Jin?” An amused Jaeger curiously asks as he plays with his gift; the jinchuriki watches the narrow blade pop out of his right sleeve each time he flicks his wrist.
Jin hunches over in depression; he emits a purple aura while pouting, “Lieutenant Bastard Toneri broke it…”
“Quit complaining, it was just a prototype.” The genius engineer shakes his head in frustration as he rests his hands on his hips.
“Might as well hand out my gifts for you guys then…” The Onikage sighs, shaking himself out of his dismal stupor. “Like Rito, I meant to give you these a year ago.”
Now calm, Jin presses a hand to the wall and performs the summoning technique. In a puff of smoke, three presents, roughly the same size appear; each one is flat and square in shape while wrapped in colorful paper; all three are very light in weight.
“Merry Christmas, Rito… Merry Christmas ‘Nami… Happy Hanukkah, Jaeger…” The Rinnegan user says as he hands each one their gift.
After handing out his presents, the Storm Village leader nonchalantly rests his hands behind his head and walks out of the room, joining the larger party.
“Wait! We haven't given you YOUR presents yet,” The kunoichi exclaims.
Jin shouts back, “You can hand them to me later.”
Setting her new soccer ball to the side, Ayanami holds up Jin’s gift to her and carefully unwraps it to find it is a framed picture; seeing how well-drawn and well-thought of it is makes her grin from ear-to-ear.
“Well, what is it?” Rito questions.
The Hyuga kunoichi’s eyes sparkle like diamonds. “It’s a drawing of me… sparring with Son Goku!”
Upon hearing this, Rito and Jaeger keenly open their own gifts; their mouths drop in awe.
“Mine has me with Iron Man and Batman, working on some bizzo!” An elated Rito states, gazing at his drawing.
(The word, “Bizzo” is an Australian slang term for “Gobbledygook”.)
Jaeger narrows his eyes while taking a close look at his present. “I’m… sitting in a cockpit with… Jeff and… Will--Oh, I'm in the Independence Day movie!”
♦♦♦♦♦
“I got gifts that would only have value to me.” The storm kunoichi explains.
With arms folded, Temari replies, “That doesn’t tell us anything.”
Ayanami’s heart sinks due to this conversation due to her being reminded of the fact that she is not originally from this world. She cannot reveal her status as a reincarnation since it may cause her friends to question her grasp on reality and distance themselves from her. Furthermore, there is no telling what could happen if Jaeger, Jin, and Rito were exposed along with her; all she can do is humbly bow to the sand ninja.
“Sorry for giving a non-answer, but that’s all I can say.”
“Hey, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask for a while now,” Hinata says, changing the subject; she leans in to take a closer look at her cousin’s hair. “How did you get your hair to be so curly?”
Squinting her eyes, Ayanami gives her cousin an amused smile. “Oh, this? Rito’s gonna tell you all about it later.”
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I wonder if I’m pushing my luck, preparing for the Otsutsuki Clan like I am…? Jin ponders, doubting himself as he’s flipping through a book.
The Onikage leans against a cherry blossom tree, near his group’s table, leisurely reading a volume pertaining to the Land of the Moon/ Crescent Island’s history. In the distance, overhead, Jin can see Ayanami conversing with the girls; he assumes their gossiping. Over on his left, he spots Jaeger speaking with Guy and Lee; he can overhear them talking about various methods of exercise.
Unfortunately, the village head can’t even enjoy his book as he is overcome with anxiety; he is unable to read a whole sentence without losing focus; his mind keeps drifting back to over a year ago, when he had met with his village’s top two medical doctors.
♦♦♦♦♦
A concerned Amaru raises her hand. “Uhh… Excuse me Lord Ji–”
“Hold on. Just another moment.” Jin casually dismissed while using a kunai to slit his wrist.
The Onikage fills up the last couple of vials with his blood. The last twenty minutes had an awkward tension in the air as Amaru, Malice, and Hikari watched him fill a whole crate of vials with his blue-green ichor; he has had to repeatedly cut himself due the fact that wounds would quickly heal away.
As soon as the lids have been put back on their containers, Jin looks up to and faces the three women, who all share the same look of discomfort; he pays it no mind due to him fully understanding why they feel so unnerved.
“Let’s get down to business… I know you’re wondering why I summoned you both,” The Rinnegan-user separates the vials equally. “Malice, I want you to take half of the vials present and make as many poisons, toxins, diseases, and drugs as you possibly can. And I want you, Amaru, to take the other half and make as many cures, antidotes, vaccines, and elixirs as you possibly can. And, of course, any new potions you two happen to create would also be greatly accepted.”
Both medical ninjas’ eyes bulge wide open after hearing their leader’s orders; they are as still as mountains, and as silent as corpses. Even the aide, Hikari’s jaw drops from listening to this.
“ARE YOU INSANE??!!!” Amaru blurts out, breaking the ice and startling everyone in the room. “Why would you want that?! Do you plan on invading another country or something?!”
“Pffffwuhahahahahahaha… AHHAHA-HA-HAHAHAHA!!!” Jin reels back in laughter from the question, slapping his knee; after wiping his tears, he takes a deep breath and collects himself. “Heh heh… No, nononono--ooh, no. Going to war would be counterintuitive to my goals.”
Malice raises her hand and asks, “If you're sure about not going to war with the other nations, why do you want these bioweapons?”
“Excellent question! I’m gonna tell you the origins of chakra, and it starts when an alien, Kaguya Otsutsuki, came to Earth…”
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
♦♦♦♦♦
No, you’re acknowledging just how powerful they are… Shaking his head, Jin sighs and regains his nerve. Kurama had to be sacrificed to beat Isshi–
“Jin! If anyone asks,” A shout Rito interrupts while frantically running toward him. “I was never here…!”
The Onikage curiously watches his brother, in a puff of smoke, transform into an old, rusted trash can, right next to him. An awkward tension suddenly fills the air, ominously.
Jin sighs, “You’re gonna make me ask, aren’t you?”
“Okay, so ‘cause I was part of the war and helped against Toneri…” The genius explains himself. “APPARENTLY, I’ve become super popular with the sheilas in my age gro--*gasp!*”
Rito shuts his mouth not a moment too soon as a menagerie of young teenage girls dart towards the two brothers with Moegi and Hanabi Hyuga at the forefront; all the girls in the group appear to have glowing, pink, heart-shaped pupils in their eyes.
“Excuse me, Lord Jin? You wouldn’t happen to have seen Rito by any chance?” Moegi asks, politely.
“Why yes, I’ve seen ‘im…” A mischievous grin grows on the Storm Village leader’s face; he gently pats the trash can. “As a matter of fact, he’s right here. He transformed into this can.”
The can sprouts a pair of legs and dashes off while shouting, “Dammit, Jin!!”
“Quick! After him!” One girl shouts, pointing at the running can.
Jin gleefully watches Rito being chased away by a mob of lovestruck teens; tears of joy stream down his chuckling face while he clutches his gut.
In the distance, Hanabi yells, “Don’t let him escape!”
“RUN, FORREST! RUN!! Aha Hahahahahahaha…!!!”
“Having fun, your lordship?” A familiar voice says from behind.
The Onikage looks back and sees his cousin, Ino Yamanaka, walking towards him; she greets him with a warm, welcoming smile.
“Ino… You and me--we’re cool--you don’t have to call me ‘lord’.” Jin purses his lips. “I’d actually, very much, prefer it if you dropped the title.”
“Oh, alright then… Having fun, Tomato-Head.” The leaf ninja giggles, mischievously.
Jin confidently retorts, “A blast, Ino-pig.”
“It’s hard to believe Naruto’s the first in our class to get hitched, and with Hinata no less.” Ino says, staring at the couple in the distance. “It’s crazy, isn’t it?”
The Rinnegan-user shrugs, “Ehh… I saw it coming a mile away.”
“What about you, Jin? Are you seeing anyone?” The Yamanaka questions, pivoting topics. “I’m pretty sure Yuno’s still interested in yo–”
“Oh, I’m already dating someone.” Jin cuts her off.
Surprised, Ino speaks up. “Really?”
“Yeah… In fact, here she comes now.”
The Onikage gestures to a beautiful girl, who’s walking up to them. She is a fairly tall woman with fair skin and brown, pupilless eyes; she has green hair tied into a bun on top of her head with a hair needle running through it and one short and long strands of hair with orange tips framing each side of her face. For this special occasion, she wears a dark gray dress.
Jin’s girl walks to his side, takes his hand, and leans on his shoulder; The Rinnegan-user cannot help but smile as the butterflies in his stomach take flight.
“Ino, this is my girlfriend, Pakura,” Jin happily introduces the two. “Pakura, this is my cousin, Ino.”
“Hello, Ino. It’s an honor to meet you.” The Scorch-Style user says, bowing politely.
“No, the honor’s mine.” The next head of the Yamanaka Clan kindly returns the gesture. “If you don’t mind me asking, how did you two hit it off.”
“After the whole Toneri fiasco, Rito and Ayanami threw a party. While the party was going on, I was outside, drawing, and she just came and walked right up to me. She kicked up a conversation with me--I was enamored--and when the party ended, we didn’t want to go home. So, we went to a sushi place and continued talking, and when the restaurant finally closed, we still didn’t want to go home…”
“Then we were outside, just watching the stars,” Pakura finishes the story while playing with a lock of his hair. “It was around 2 AM when I cut to the chase and asked him if he liked me.”
“That’s great! I’m glad you two found each other.” Ino speaks with a sincere tone.
“I know you didn’t just want to talk about our personal lives… What about you? Make any progress with Sasuke?”
Ino gives a flustered smile. “He and I have been writing to each other…”
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“This is so stupid.” Nanashi sighs, rolling her eyes.
Cornered by the menagerie of lovestruck girls, a desperate Rito is forced to hide behind his fellow storm ninja, who just so happens to be wearing a dark blue kimono for the event; sweat pours out the cowering genius as he frantically thinks up a way out of this predicament; arms folded, the Uchiha can’t believe that he actually dragged her into this mess.
“L-Ladies… you’re g-g-great--y-you’re ALL very beautiful,” The engineer stutters, speaking up. “BUT I-I… I can’t go out with any of you.”
“And why not?” A skeptic Hanabi squints her eyes.
“B-Because… Because… I’M ALREADY DATING HER!!”
A desperate Rito smiles and puts up a front; he stands up tall, wraps his arm around Nanashi, and quickly pulls her in close; the storm kunoichi’s entire body stiffens and her face becomes as red as an apple.
“O-Oh, umm… Y-Yeah… I’m his girlfriend--he’s my man.” Catching on, Nanashi is quick to recompose herself.
Not buying it, Moegi raises a brow. “You two don’t look like a couple.”
“We ARE… We go on walks. We uhh… eat out together. And we--uhh–??!!!”
The Uchiha interrupts by grabbing onto the genius’ face with her swift hands, she pulls him in close and kisses him in front of all the other girls; he is surprised, but does not hate it, his breath is just taken away.
““““AWWWWWWWWW~...””””
Now heartbroken and depressed, the rejected girls all gradually disperse, dragging their feet. Once they're all gone, Nanashi releases a now flustered Rito, who gasps for air.
“Gnarly.”
“C’mon,” Rolling her eyes, the Uchiha grabs the young Uzumaki by the hand and drags him off. “Lady Ayanami needs you to explain to Hinata what her wedding gift is.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“This is something I invented for the occasion.” Rito states while handing Hinata her gift. “I’ll explain it, but can you open it first?”
A crowd of curious guests gather around as the bride opens the special gift from the Hidden Storm’s head scientist and engineer. After opening the box, Hinata makes a perplexed expression when she pulls out two devices; one appears to be a brush of some sort while the other is…
“It’s a brush-attached dryer and a hair iron. Both are powered by chakra.” The young Uzumaki explains.
Hinata tilts her head and raises a brow.”..................A device to comb the hair, is it?”
“Sort of. I figured women are more versed regarding hair treatment, so I had ‘Nami use the prototype prior to this. She’ll take it from here onwards.”
“Well then, excuse me…” Ayanami steps forward, takes the brush and holds it up for all to see before brushing her cousin's hair. “This is a brush-attached dryer. If you apply chakra to the device…”
Rito and the others look on as with each stroke, Hinata’s hair becomes more and more voluminous and curly.
“You will be able to arrange your hair as you like.” The storm kunoichi continues.
“Amazing!” Someone shouts, from the back.
“Well, then… Onto the other one…” Ayanami sets down the brush, picks up the iron, and holds it up like she did the brush before informing, “The iron part of this device conducts heat.”
“If you insert your hair between…” The kunoichi goes on to explain while working on Hinata’s hair.
“My hair…” Eyes sparkling, the Byakugan Princess marvels at what's become of her precious locks. “It’s even straighter than when I normally have it…!!”
Ayanami finishes by twisting the device. “Furthermore, if you include a small twist…”
Welling with pride, Rito smirks as he watches all the girls aside from Ayanami become infatuated with Hinata’s hair. However, the Uzumaki’s feeling of accomplishment quickly vanishes and is replaced, instantly, by an overwhelming sense of dread; his blood freezes and his neck hairs stand on end. He feels like a rabbit surrounded by a pack of ravenous wolves; shaking, Rito slowly looks back to see all the women staring intently at him.
*BLUUUAAARGH!!*
Everyone’s attention immediately shifts from Rito over to the Scorch-Style user, Pakura, who is heaving profusely into a trash can; Jin is at her side, patting her back.
“What’s wrong?!” Rito shouts to his brother.
The Onikage yells back, “I dunno. She said she suddenly felt sick then THIS happened!”
“Huh?”
The genius looks over and sees Ayanami standing beside him with her Byakugan activated; at first, she looks concerned, but then her expression shifts to relief mixed with great excitement--it almost looks like she wants to laugh.
“CONGRATULATIONS, JIN!!!” An elated Ayanami howls.
“What do you mean by ‘congratulations’?” Rito queries in befuddlement. …Don’t tell me…
Jin stares back at her, blankly, before shouting, “What the hell are you talking about?”
The storm kunoichi uses her hands to make a cone for her mouth. “She’s pregnant!”
All eyes fall on the Storm Village leader, who’s jaw has dropped; he is as silent as a dead body, he is motionless like a rock; his eyes, however, have grown so wide, they appear as if they are about to fall out of their sockets.
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Meanwhile, within the genjutsu world of the Limited Tsukuyomi, Menma Uzumaki has the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, at his mercy; he holds up the aged Kage by his throat, surrounded by the remaining debris of his office. The Genjutsu World’s Hidden Stone Village is burning; all of its elite shinobi are among the piles of corpses, and the surviving ninja are all surrendering out of pure terror.
“You foolish old wretch,” Menma growls, tightening his grip on the elder’s throat. “This could’ve all been avoided had you bent the knee…”
Beaten and bloodied, Onoki struggles to speak, but his grievous wounds and the young tyrant’s grip prevent him from doing so; because his spine has been shattered, Onoki’s legs dangle, feebly, in the air.
With a chilling glare, Naruto’s evil twin continues. “You could’ve served the greatest empire in existence, under the most illustrious of leaders, but NO. You chose to be conquered. Haven’t you realized it? I. Am. Inevitable.”
Using the Chimera Jutsu, the Third Tsuchikage is engulfed, from head-to-toe, in a large mass of deep blue, viscous fluid and absorbed into Menma’s being. Infusing chakra, the tyrannical dictator weaves the Rat, Boar, and Snake hand signs; a twisted and sinister grin forms on his face when he witnesses what appears in his hands, a glowing, translucent cube of energy with a bright, glowing sphere at its core.
“Lord Menma!” Shouts a familiar voice.
A ninja appears before him, kneeling; he is a slim and fit young man with spiky, light brown hair that grows to waist-length and square-shaped swirls on his cheeks; he is about Menma’s age and sports a red suit with plated armor on his torso, arms, and upper legs; the kanji on his chest armor reads "work" (職, shoku). The shinobi wears a standard red forehead protector and studded earrings. He also wears the standard Hidden Leaf flak jacket over his outfit.
“What is it, Choji?” Menma questions with a dismissive tone, dispelling his jutsu.
“I have some intel to report, and it’s not good,” Choji Akimichi explains the situation. “The Hidden Cloud is putting up much more of a fight than we initially thought, the Sand and Mist villages are struggling against them. And it gets worse… the Akatsuki have defected and allied themselves with the Cloud Village.”
The tyrant’s fists shake with rage. “Useless…!! Fine, I’ll take care of it myself.”