Work Text
(Normal Pov)
In a distant land, a little bit off from the Land of Fire and the Land of Whirlpools is a secret place where a clan and land that has developed almost as long as Konoha. Where there is no judgment from the clans that helped build it from the ground up. No hatred, no anger, no bitterness between one another, just love, trust, and understanding between brethren. The name of this secret village is called: Hakumeigakure (Village Hidden in the Twilight) and the land where this village is on is called: Land of the Eclipse. Also, the clan's name was called: The Hyuchiha Clan. A clan that had Hyuga and Uchiha members living in harmony and peace without judgment from stepping out of traditions from both clans. This land has been kept secret from others for many years by outsiders but was found out by the first Hokage, Hashirama Senju, in his latest time. When he found out the leader begged him to not let anyone know about what they were trying to do and the land they were trying to live on away from the Land of Fire and the Hidden Leaf Village. He accepted and understood what they were trying to do. So, he decided to help them by going over and creating buildings and other things they needed. The people were so grateful and indebted to him that they said if Konoha had any problems they would help. Hashirama was happy to know they had such powerful allies to help his village.The clan of the land made a secret alliance with Konoha, Uzushio, and the rest of the Land of Fire. Hashirama made a decision that every Hokage would make sure to take care of the land their allies were living on, they would help any way they could, and they also would transfer any members of Hakumei to live in Konoha if they wanted to. The second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, was against it at first, but after Hashirama explained it to him he decided to give it a chance and never regretted it.The clan and its land flourished over the decades that went by with no one knowing of their village's existence. Konoha even gave them certain jobs to do like assassinations, guarding the Hokage (like the Anbu of their time), conquering lands, wars, and many other serious things that Konoha needed help with they did them. Everything seemed peaceful for Hakumeigakure and the Hyuchiha clan grew with each passing year and became one of the strongest clans that were connected to the Land of Fire and The Hidden Leaf Village.By the Third Hokage's time, Hiruzen Sarutobi, decided that Konoha would continue helping Hakumei and the Hyuchiha clan, but they wouldn't rely on their village so much like the previous Hokage. The people of Hakumei understood and told the Third that they would still assist with whatever Konoha needed. Hiruzen was happy with that agreement and calmer knowing that the Land's biggest allies were still a secret to the rest of the Shinobi world. Though unbeknownst to Hiruzen, there was a man hidden away in the shadows who was shocked to hear about a secret village and a clan filled with hybrid Hyuga and Uchiha members. The mysterious man was already against the Uchiha's living in Konoha, but this went far beyond that. He was furious about another clan out there that could overthrow the village if Konoha ever stopped helping them.The mysterious man didn't know how he was going to handle such powerful clans like that, but he told himself everyone had a weakness and he would find it. That man vowed he would stop at nothing to erase the Uchiha's and the Hyuchiha's from the shinobi world. He couldn't let any of them destroy Konoha no matter what it took.17 years later, many things changed in the shinobi world Konoha and Hakumei. Konoha lost a precious Hokage, but they still flourished and grew ever stronger with a new Kage to keep the Will of Fire burning bright. Hakumei was unfortunately not as lucky as Konoha. The Hyuchiha clan was mascaraed, Hakumei was decimated, and the Land of the Eclipse's history was kept buried within the shadows just like the previous Hokage intended, but not in the way they would've ever wanted. Their Will of Fire seemed to be burnt out along with everything they lost, but there was still a slimmer of hope left.One girl survived the tragedy that struck her clan and her village. She may have lost everything precious to her but she will bring her clan and her village out of the shadows they were kept in for so many generations. Hakumeigakure may have lost their Will of Fire and the Hyuchiha may have lost their clan, but this one girl will restore everything she has lost and more.The shinobi world will remember the name Asami Hyuchiha, the strongest kunoichi in the entire shinobi world.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
In a small, deserted village, a random person came through cloaked from head to toe. The Stranger’s hood hides their appearance from watchful eyes, but none are brave enough to approach the mysterious foreigner.
The mysterious stranger decided to walk into a small, ratty-looking restaurant and stop for food before heading on the road again.
The local villagers were either tense or suspicious of this obscured foreigner and the intense aura surrounding them. It made it difficult for the locals to settle down.
It wasn’t until the perplexing figure sat down and called out to order something that they discovered a missing piece of the puzzle that connected to this foreigner. To everyone’s surprise, this mysterious person was none other than a woman.
From her stature and how the cloak didn’t cling to her body, she didn’t give off any assumptions that she could’ve been a woman.
There was no denying it after hearing her soft and enchanting voice. It caught all the locals’ attention, and they were wondering if they would find more pieces for this enticing puzzle.
The waiter who came to take the woman’s order shook himself before going off and making her food request. When the waiter returned, he returned a tray of color-coated Hanami Dango with a steaming cup of green tea.
Before the cloaked woman ate, she put her hands together in prayer. The woman said a soft prayer under her breath before finishing with “Itadakimasu” and eating her meal.
With each dango stick and sips of her tea, she managed to eat everyone without the locals seeing what her face looked like.
Some locals were frustrated at not being able to see what the mystery woman’s face looked like, some were astonished at how she could eat seven servings of dango without even trying, and others were just curious to see what she would eat next.
After a few minutes, the cloaked woman finished her dango and tea. She walked over to the server and gave the exact amount of ryō before giving a soft “thank you for the meal and tea.”
The locals were shocked in silence. They expected drama or maybe a struggle using bribery, but the cloaked woman was nothing more than a mysterious foreigner with gracious manners.
The locals watched her walk out of the small restaurant and wondered where the mysterious woman would go next and if they’d ever see her cloaked figure again.
Meanwhile, the cloaked woman was heading toward her next destination when she heard a familiar and booming laugh.
She turned around and saw a tall man with brown eyes, olive skin, short black spiky hair that connected his sideburns to his beard, and finally, his signature cigarette that barely hung on the edge of his mouth.
It’s Asuma Sarutobi, the son of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and a well-known Jonin of the Hidden Leaf Village. Someone the mysterious woman hadn’t seen in a very long time and wanted nothing more than to rush over to talk to him.
Before the young woman could follow up with her train of thought, she paused for another second after seeing three people following Asuma.
The first member of Asuma’s team is a fair-skinned young woman of average height with light blue eyes and long, platinum-blonde hair that lands at hip-length with thick bangs framing the right side of her face.
The second is a fair-skinned young man of a rotund build with spiky, light brown hair that sticks upward and goes down to waist-length. He also has swirl markings on his cheeks and matching silver studs like the blonde-haired woman.
The third and final member is someone she recognized along with Asuma. The young man wore shoulder-length, spiky black hair tied in a high ponytail. His narrow brown eyes show emotions between boredom and apathy that match the expression on his face. The young man shared the same kind of silver studs in his ears as his team.
The young man’s name is Shikamaru Nara. He is the next heir to the Nara Clan and a very old friend of the mysterious cloaked woman.
It’s been years since she had seen Asuma and Shikamaru, but she also knew that she couldn’t just approach the two out of the blue, especially if they were on a mission for the Leaf with their team.
So, the cloaked women decided to follow Asuma’s team to figure out what kind of mission they were on and maybe slip them a surprise visit, too. She discovered this village was ravaged by a sea monster that had destroyed their boats and ports, making it impossible to fish or travel by sea.
Konoha brought them here to eliminate the sea monster and stop the attacks on the village. The cloaked woman also discovered the names of Asuma and Shikamaru’s teammates: Ino Yamanaka and Choji Akimichi—two well-known and close clans of the Nara and Sarutobi clan in the Hidden Leaf Village.
She had no idea of the situation that was going on in the village, but she hadn’t planned on staying there long enough to find out about it until now. The cloaked woman continued forward, ensuring she stayed within reach of her targets but not close enough to be seen.
Just when she was about to follow them to the team’s next destination, the cloaked woman stood frozen. She wanted to see what kept her from moving, though she had a good idea of what had happened.
The Nara clan’s signature technique is the Shadow Possession Jutsu. Other shinobi would be nervous or even scared to be caught in this jutsu, but the cloaked women seemed amused at being caught off guard so suddenly and impressed with the level of skill it took to do it unexpectedly.
“Shadow Possession complete. It's time to stop hiding. We have you surrounded,” Shikamaru said while coming out from the corner of the building, making the cloaked women move towards him. His other teammates appeared from different hidden spots as well.
“Now, there must be a reason for you following us all over this quaint little village, but I’m more interested in the ‘why?’. I want to avoid unnecessary fighting, so what will it be?” Asuma said causally.
“Are we going to do this the easy way, or do you want to do this the hard way?” Asuma finished while his team looked to be on high alert for what choice their captured target would pick.
After a few minutes of silence, the cloaked woman gave her answer with a soft, bell-like laugh. Asuma and the rest of his team were shocked by her response but unwilling to let their guard down.
“You caught me by surprise with your sneaky technique, but if you wanted to talk, I wouldn’t mind chatting for a little while.” the cloaked woman said with a hint of sarcasm.
“It is always nice to catch up with old and new friends. Wouldn’t you agree, Asuma Sarutobi or Shikamaru Nara?” the cloaked woman finished as her head pointed towards Asuma and Shikamaru’s general direction.
Team Asuma grew tense with the information this mysterious, cloaked woman gave them. Asuma lost all casualness from his face while Shikamaru and the rest were confused and anxious about how this woman knew two of their team members' names.
“Who are you?” Asuma demanded, with his weapons ready for any surprise attacks or means of escaping.
“Isn’t that your job as shinobi to do that yourselves?” the cloaked woman responded snarkily.
Asuma called out for Ino to use her jutsu to get as much information as she could from their captured target. Ino got her hands into her signature position and called out her jutsu. “Mind Transfer Jutsu!”
The jutsu hit the cloaked woman directly, sending Ino straight into the target’s consciousness. Still, when Ino tried gathering information from their target, she saw something deep within that sent Ino back into her body. When Ino returned to her senses, she breathed heavily and gasped for air.
Asuma and Choji rushed to Ino while Shikamaru stayed in position with his shadow possession. It took a few minutes, but they finally calmed her down so she could tell them what happened.
“T-That woman…she's a monster.” Ino breathed out. Everyone was shocked by what Ino said, but it made them even more suspicious of the cloaked woman.
“Ino, what did you see?” Shikamaru asked with some strain from holding his shadow possession for so long.
“T-That woman…she has some kind of monster, no monsters inside her.” Ino stuttered as her body shook from the terror she just witnessed.
“What?” The others exclaimed while the cloaked woman started to laugh from their reactions.
“I wouldn’t call myself a monster, but I sure as hell can become one if that’s what you’re looking for?” She said threateningly. At the same time, she is locking her piercing white eyes toward the group. Her eyes matched those of a tigress on the hunt. Ready to pounce and capture her prey.
Those eyes stared hauntingly into Asuma’s team and sent a shiver down each of their spines, especially Ino’s.
Asuma and Choji brace themselves for the cloaked woman’s next move. But before they could signal an attack, they heard Shikamaru grunting and struggling to hold on to his jutsu.
“Asuma…Choji, I-I can’t hold this much longer. You must get her now!” Shikamaru groaned harshly from overexerting his chakra reserves.
Asuma and Choji shared a quick look of determination and urgency between the two before going on the offensive. Choji charged his chakra before calling out one of the Akimichi’s secret techniques, the Partial Expansion Jutsu. He then grabs onto the cloaked woman just before Shikamaru’s Shadow Possession Jutsu wears off.
“Ok, Asuma sensei. I got her now it’s you’re up!” Choji calls out. He tightens his grip to make sure she can’t get away. Asuma grunts and pulls out his chakra blades. They resemble trench knives worn like brass knuckles, with a zigzag-shape blade to give them a “teeth-like” appearance.
He jumps onto
Chōji's
expanded arm and charges toward the cloaked woman with a long, sharp, and chakra-infused blade ready to cut down his enemy.
Asuma slashed two perfect vertical lines across the cloaked woman’s body. Her body fell apart into pieces, and only her lower half was in
Chōji's
palm.
The group waited until they were entirely sure their captured enemy was truly finished before letting their guard down.
When Ino was finally calm enough to stand again, Choji returned his arm to normal and dropped their enemy’s remains on the ground to check on Shikamaru. But Asuma wasn’t convinced this was truly over.
Asuma’s assumptions became correct when he heard the voice of the supposedly dead, cloaked woman. “That was some great teamwork you guys had going there. I was amazed and impressed with the collaboration of the famous Ino-Shika-Cho team,” she said. At the same time, her sliced body parts were scattered into dozens of glimmering rainbow-colored butterflies.
“It’s a shame I couldn’t experience the full thing. Ah well, maybe next time?” the cloaked woman finished with a soft and melodic laugh.
The butterflies flew and surrounded Asuma and his team. Ino and Choji couldn’t understand how the cloaked woman’s dead body transformed into butterflies, while Shikamaru was questioning when she cast this jutsu when she didn’t even know she was caught until it was too late.
“Ino, Shikamaru, Choji! Move into formation. We don’t know what’ll happen next, but we must be ready for anything our enemy throws.” Asuma shouted before getting into a fighting stance with his chakra blades at the ready.
The three of them shook themselves from their disbelief and confusion and got into formation. They were all back to back and waiting for upcoming attacks as the butterflies flew around them like an enchanting dance in the sky.
“Well, it seems like my little game of fun has ended. I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble, but I guess that’s what happens when you don’t let everybody in on the rules of the game.” the voice of the cloaked woman said. It made it seem like she was around them all at once, just like they did to her when the cloaked woman was captured.
The butterflies stopped circling Asuma and his team before converging in front of the guarded group. The butterflies slowly turned into the cloaked woman’s full figure, unharmed and completely intact.
Team Asuma immediately switched to a new formation facing their opponent but ensured no more genjutsus could be made by the cloaked woman.
“I think it’d be best to bow out before this gets more complicated. Thanks for the fun, and I’ll be on my way now.” The cloaked woman turned around and started walking away from Team Asuma. She suddenly stops and says one more thing before she leaves the confused and tense team.
“I hope you have a medical ninja in your team because Shikamaru will need assistance after using so much of his chakra to capture me earlier.” She finishes and goes back to walking away towards the woods.
“Wait right there!” Shikamaru weakly shouts. It makes the cloaked woman stop in her tracks.
“Who are you, why were you following us, and how do you know my name? There are only a few explanations on how you know who we are and even our clan names, but even then, you shouldn’t know this much,” Shikamaru said as he tried to stand alone but used his teammates to hold him up.
“Unless you’re a spy coming here to eliminate us.” Shikamaru finished. The sentence froze the air around the area. It shook the team, but they were ready to fight for their lives and the lives of the Hidden Leaf.
The area grew colder and tense from the length of silence hanging in the air. The situation would appear to be reaching a climax if the cloaked woman didn’t answer quickly enough.
Team Asuma was ready to go another round, but the cloaked woman’s boisterous laughter utterly railed them. They couldn’t believe their eyes.
Over in the distance was a mysterious and potentially dangerous woman cloaked from head to toe and laughing as her life depended on it. To anyone else, it looks like pure madness at play.
The cloaked woman finally starts to calm down and tries to catch her breath from her overzealous cackling. She stands up straight and slightly turns to look directly at Team Asuma, specifically at Shikamaru.
“I can guarantee that I’m not a spy here to kill you and your team. All of us meeting was by chance and nothing more. It was great to see you again, Shikamaru and Asuma too. Can’t wait to see you and your team again.” The cloaked woman says as she walks away and enters the woods before disappearing into the trees.
Team Asuma was left astounded with more questions than answers. One thing all of them could agree on was that whoever that mysterious cloaked woman was, they needed to find out who she was and fast.
Team Asuma still has more questions, and she can only give them all the necessary answers. They hope they can find her sooner rather than later.