Warped

Epilogue Part 1

     "... All this time she was trapped in what she thought what was supposed to happen, " Kakashi realized, "That's why it sounded like she knew she was going to die and felt fine by it. All this time she knew she was going to die and had prepared just for that moment."

      Naruto looked straight into the water of the mindscape, seeing his own frustrated-self looking right back at him. Clenching his fists, he could feel hot tears running down his cheeks. "Sakura-chan... She didn't deserve this."

      "That's where the job of the tailed-beasts come in, " Kurama added, becoming more prideful, "We send people with powers back to where they belong. Hagaromo ordered us to do so to keep the balance between the worlds. If we ever come across someone with powers, we wipe their memories, destroy their chakra coils, and send them to the other world in a complete copy of their old body."

     "... Did you?" Naruto asked slowly, unable to finish what he was about to ask.

     "No, " he admitted, "I sent her as is the other world while using the remaining chakra I would usually use to instead heal her wound."

     "Why would you do that?" Sasuke glared, not exactly trusting of the large, chakra beast.

     "It's not every day that I can gain a rise from humans other than anger. Sakura Haruno was just too pitiful to dump in the other world... Especially since her power would be highly sought after."

      Naruto paused and realized, "So you felt sympathetic, right, dattebayo!?"

     Kurama bared his teeth and snarled, "Do you want me to continue?"

     With another hit, Naruto piped down and awaited the fox's next words.

     "There's also the opposite that happens where people from the other dimension are born with completely natural chakra coils."

      "Do they also use chakra?"

     The Kyuubi laughed, "How could they use it if they don't know the existence? Their powers are innate while chakra has to be trained... But there's something else that makes up for it. Sometimes, wormholes appear in the other dimension and will take people from there to here."

     "Really?" Naruto beamed, "So I could meet one? Maybe one would know about Sakura."

     "But they're all pansies, " Kurama scoffed, "They don't like to kill. Most of them have all been slain. Some were lucky enough and created families and some of their powers that are passed on and intertwined with chakra are called-"

     "Kekkai Genkai, " Kakashi finished, before realizing that he thought aloud, "That's the most plausible answer."

     "Correct. Most but not all of Kekkai Genkai stem from people from the other dimension... Does that answer your questions?"

     Naruto looked at Kurama straight in his eyes with a hesitant expression, "Is she... okay? Do you know if she's happy there now?"

     "I don't know, " Kurama shrugged, "But she's probably better there than here... Now let me sleep. We're done here. I will answer no more questions."

     Kurama then laid on the ground, curling up into a ball with his back facing the shinobi. He wasn't supposed to mention the dimensional rifts and otherworldly powers because of human greed. Although he had broken that rule, he knew that the humans in front of him weren't going to do something like coveting the power.

     When he felt that they had left his chamber, the Ninetails let out another prolonged sigh. He had lied when he said that he couldn't tell what state she was in: teetering on the verge of life and death. She still held a bit of his chakra, even if she didn't even know it. Just by that small connection, he was able to tell how she was doing.