Legion of a ghost child

Shikaku followed the Kitsune Hinata through the halls and down a flight of stairs, he was just about to ask where they were going, when they stopped in front of an open door that led to an empty room beyond it. The room was made up of stone walls and cement floor and ceiling. In the center of the room was a table with two chairs on either side, a single candle was lit in the middle of the table, the room made their feet echo with every step they took. Shikaku looked around the room, noticing that it had no windows, it almost reminded him of the torture and interrogation rooms in Konoha, but without all the bloodstains everywhere from Ibiki's....' tactics'. He turned to Hinata and saw that she had transformed into her human form again, "what is this place?" He asked her, "what goes on here?"

Hinata walked over to one of the chairs at the table and took a seat, she waited for Shikaku to take the hint, he did in no time at all, and she took in a deep breath. "Long ago, before I or my mother was born, there was this girl named Spice, she was one of the first in the clan to master transformation at a young age. This, however, got her into trouble with the elders most of the time, because she would use her human form to go between worlds, on one such occasion, she met a human male that stole her heart, but she didn't steal his back."

"What happened to her?" Shikaku asked.

"She was forced to stay in the Kitsune realm for a long time, but she wasn't all that upset about that outcome," Hinata said, sounding sad.

Shikaku thought about the story and wondered to himself, "and what happened to the man?"

"He stayed in his realm, he was denied our service because of the way he treated one of our own. I heard once, that his clan was wiped out in the second war, all of his family and loved ones gone, except for one son. As a last-ditch effort to have his clan last, he abandoned the child in front of the gates of the new village in Fire Country, you would know it now as Konoha."

Shikaku nodded, "I'm guessing that you guys kept a close eye on this boy after that?"

"You are correct, we watched and waited, the boy was smart and grew well. He even became the fourth leader of your village, however...." Hinata looked down at her hands. "We wanted to bring him in as the next head summoner of our clan, but then things changed."

"What would that be?" Shikaku asked as he was starting to piece together some of the histories between the Namikaze clan and the Kitsune clan. 

"The woman he married, she wasn't right for him, she did things to manipulate him and persuade him to do things that we had never seen him do before. He allowed her to change things, rules, laws of the village, I have no idea how your human villages work, but if it is anything like our clan, then she would be overstepping her bounds and would be punished for it."

"Is it because she was a woman who as doing all these changes? Or was the things that she was doing unsafe for the well being of the village?" Shikaku questioned, he had no idea of this happening if he was right, and he knew he was, then the woman she's talking about is Kushina. But he had no clue what things Kushina might have or might not have done behind her husband's back, even though the story was making some sense, in a way, to him, he couldn't figure out where Kushina fit into all of this.

Hinata looked at Shikaku, she could see the wheels turning in his head and was curious to find out what he was thinking, but she knew that he would share his thoughts soon enough and would need more information to complete his thinking. She continued, "that woman, she went by the name, Kushina Uzumaki, her family used to be able to summon us, but they lost that right after a certain incident prevented them from passing on their head summoner title over to the chosen heir. We had spies in place to ensure his safety, but it seems that Kushina got to him first before out spies could protect him."

Shikaku's eyes became like steel, "was this person hurt so badly that they could no longer become a ninja?"

Hinata shook her head, "no, this person, his name came from a frail and weak mother that died after giving birth to him, one of them was there to see it happen. He saw a lot of grief that day, but none more grate than that of Kushina Uzumaki. She wept for her mother's passing for days, almost weeks, until to point of changing her aura completely. Even though the mother, who was the head summoner at the time, had passed, we still watched over her family because we had to be the ones to chose the next head summoner for the Uzumaki clan. We saw that Kushina herself was a good fighter, but she was very rash and hot-headed, always rushing into battle with barely a plan to speak of, she fought well, but there was something about her that the elders didn't like. Darkness that followed her after her mother's passing, it was a risk to even consider such a person for the position." Hinata sighed, "but then her brother came along, he couldn't write very well and he was a little sickly on most days, but his will was strong, a heart pure as gold, he didn't get mad or jealous about his sister's fighting abilities because he knew that he was strong on the inside, we believed that his inner strength would one day come out and be the thing that saves us all.....But then one day, Kushina played a trick on the village, like most Uzumaki's were known to do from time to time, although it was common in that village, the prank that Kushina did was crippling."

"How bad was it?" Shikaku asked.

A sad look came into Hinata's eyes then, "I was given the responsibility to watch them that day, I was still very young and experienced back then, but. But...if I was a little fast, I-I might have been able t save him from that faith." She wiped away the tears that started welling up in her eyes, "on that day, Kushina crossed the line, she killed her only brother, in the name of a prank, a prank that shouldn't have happened, because she was meant to watch him that day while their father was out on a three day mission." She shook her head, "by the time he came back, his son was dead, and his daughter hand been banished from the village forever, never to return for doing such a stupid thing."

Shocked, Shikaku sat at the table, letting it all sink in. "Kushina had a brother, she liked to play pranks, but one of her pranks went wrong and she ended up killing her little brother in the process, maybe even others that weren't known at the time. What kind of prank was it? How did he die? Was he suffering until the end?" These thoughts ran around in Shikaku's head, round and round they ran until he couldn't take it anymore, he had to know, "what kind of prank was it?" He asked, curiosity getting to him.

"It was something that involved paint, from what I can remember," Hinata informed him. "She rigged up wires and paint cans, along with other stuff that I had no idea what was in them, all over the village in every containment unite that she could get her hands on. Cans, cups, scrolls, pots, you named it, they were all filled with pink paint, everywhere you looked, the paint containers were set up everywhere. Then when first light came, the containers toppled and so did many of the people, some that were just exiting their homes, some that were with their kits, animals too, no one was spared. The paint had two forms, some in liquid form, some in powder form, both equally damaging. The hospitals were packed for weeks on-end, many children lost their sight, some went blind forever, but there was only one death that came from this cause, and it was Kushina's younger brother."

Shikaku felt as if he had enough piece of this side of the story to guess what happened back then, but there were a few things that still bothered him. It was like there was some piece missing, but he couldn't be sure of what that piece was as of yet. After another minute with his thoughts, he looked back to Hinata, "why did you decide to bring me down here to tell me that story? There has to be a reason for it, am I right?"

Hinata finished drying her eyes on a handkerchief that she took out from one of the inner pockets of her clothing, she nodded to him once. "Yes, there is a reason. Shikaku Nara, I would like to make propitiation, one where you will no longer be separated from your son, what would you think of this offer?"

Shikaku, for a split second, thought that he had heard wrong. There was a way for him to be with his son, even though they live a mile apart now, was that possible? He shook his head of those thoughts, "what would be the cost?"

Hinata placed both her hands on the table with a sigh, "listen, I know you are expecting the worst, however, I know for a fact that the Nara clan has had a secret that they didn't want anyone to know about. Lest of all Konoha, the very village that they live in, but since the Kitsune line knows most of the Deer's secrets, as well they ours, I thought that this deal would be all too fitting for you to consider." 

"Which would be to...what, exactly?" He asked.

Hinata got up from the table and walked to the farthest wall from them, she pressed some spot on the wall in seemingly random places. At first, nothing happened, then suddenly the wall started to part and a bright light shined through, it filled the room up that Shikaku had to shield his eyes from said light. Once the light died down, Shikaku brought down his arms from over his eyes, he stood from his seat and stared at the opening in the wall. Beyond that wall seemed to be a room that was now directly connected to this one, it had the same walls, the same chairs, the same table and candle in the center, it was a mirror image of this room, or maybe this room was a mirror of that one. He decided to not worry himself over those facts and focused on the person standing on the other side of the opening, it was a girl, dressed the same as Hinata, but her kimono was forest green with white smoke clouds, while Hinata's own was a dark, midnight purple color. The newcomer had pale looking skin, pure white in fact, but what stood out about her was her bright ruby green eyes that shined like the brightest jewel he had ever seen. His hair was a chocolate brown color that framed her face nicely. Coming out of his trance, Shikaku cleared his throat and stood up straighter, "who is this?" He asked.

The green-eyed girl bowed, "hello to you too, Shikaku, it's been a while since you last summoned me." She said with a polite smile on her face, "though I don't blame you for not knowing who I am, I would hope that you at least remember the name of your very first summons when you became head of your clan."

Something clicked inside of Shikaku's mind, he put the piece together in his head as he made his way over to the opening in the wall. He stood next to Hinata and bowed to the green-eyed woman, "it's good to see you again, Shimoto, I didn't expect you to be in your human form. You never use it, around me anyways, I almost thought you hated it, what changed?"

The now named Shimoto giggled, "just because I don't use it around you, doesn't mean that I hate using it at all." She said, she turned to Hinata, "may I cross over?"

Hinata nodded, "yes, of course," she said, Shimoto nodded her thanks as the three walked back over to the table. Shimoto sat in the spit that Hinata was sitting in before and Shikaku took up his seat from before, while Hinata stayed standing. "I will leave you two alone to talk, would any of you like anything to drink?"

Shimoto took a long look at Shikaku, a sense of nostalgia washing over her, she had, after all, known this man since he was ten years old. She shook her head, "whatever you have up there will do fine by me, I'm not picky," she said with a sigh, Shikaku said the same thing, but with sake. Hinata nodded and left the room to the two so they could talk about the deal, once Hinata was out of the way, Shimoto closed her eyes. "I came here to talk about business, but I see no reason no to catch up a bit first, how long has it been since we last saw each other? Eight, ten years?"

"More like eleven, Shikamaru's birthday passed a few weeks ago," Shikaku informed.

Shimoto's brightened, "ah, Shikamaru, and how is the young lad? Still lazy like his old man?"

Shikaku chuckled, "from what I've seen of late, he's not so lazy anymore. I think he may start a revolution within the next generation of Nara's, our cloud watching days may be numbered, after all, Shimoto."

"Oh too bad, I was looking forward to more of them in the future, but do tell, I want to know it all," with that said, the two talked about past events until Hinata came back. Shikaku even went so far as to bring up the pictures his son sent him over the years, as well as baby pictures.

Meanwhile, back in Konoha

Minato stared Kushina down, his three oldest doing the same. Family relations were thrown to the wind, the only thing that was cared about was the truth and the dark secrets that she tried to hide from them about their missing family member. "Kushina, tell us....what did you do to Naruto back then, when he was two? The video doesn't show all of it, I know some major pieces are missing and I want to know what they are."

Kushina was quite for a long time when she finally looked into the eyes of her family, she saw that here was pain and hate that was building up in their eyes. Hate against her. She didn't want to see that look in their eyes, not when it's directed towards her, "alright, I suppose it's about time I tell you the whole truth. But you must promise me one thing. Do not interrupt, don't say anything at all, allow me the chance to tell you everything that I did, the good, the bad, and the ugly."

Minato folded his arms in front of him, "I will hear what you have to say. Start talking."

Kushina took a deep breath and spoke, "I tried to kill him and sell him to Iwa form-"

Before Kushina could finish that statement, a fist connected to her face so hard that it sent her flying twenty feet away. When everyone saw who did the punch, they were a little shocked to see that it was Shion, but no one moved to help Kushina out of the ground or asked if she was okay. Shion clenched her fist tightly, "you, you, you sick piece of-how could you even think about doing such a thing to poor Naru?"

"Shion!" The said blond looked back at the person who called her name, it was her father, "we said we will let her tell her story. If you are going to keep beating her up, then we will be here all day, please come back to stand by me, if you interrupt again, I will have yo ask you to leave the area. Is that understood?"

Shion wiped the tears from her eyes, "yes dad," she said and took up her original spot next to Ryu, who placed a hand on his sister's shoulder to comfort her.

Kushina got back to her feet, she sighed, she knew that she deserved it, for what she did, "if Shion got mad about this part, how would she react to the rest of the story?" She wondered. 

To be continued......