~'Cause one voice is enough to make sleeping giants wake up, to make armies put their hands up and watch whole nations stand up, it's one belief, one spark, one faith and one restart, and we can reboot the whole chart before it all falls apart~
Kiyomi's POV
The five of us quickly moved so we were closer to where the rest of the Konoha nin were. Obito was laying on the ground with the Fourth Hokage and Kakashi watching him, and Naruto seemed to be in the sky on some weird bird.
Obito had just finished saying some things to Kakashi and was forming hand seals when a black mass erupted from his shoulders. At the same moment I felt a pang in my head, a pang that exploded into a blinding headache that made me collapse to the ground with a groan.
The worried sounds of my concerned friends were blocked out by the pain. It felt like something was going to explode. I closed my eyes, and once again was whisked into my mind. Gods, this is starting to become the new fainting...
In the familiar landscape of my mind, the first thing I saw was Fen, who looked surprised to see me. "Kiya, why are you here?" he asked, then he saw how I was clutching my head. "What's wrong?!"
I tried to speak, but I couldn't seem to form the necessary words to describe the pain in my head. It was strange, the fact that my head hurt and I was also in my head. I also distantly noticed that I could see out of both eyes, but I couldn't really focus on that.
Fen was fussing over me when a familiar box rose up out of the ground, making both of us still in recognition. That was the box where we stuck Zetsu. The box was shaking, almost like it was about to explode.
Then it did explode.
The black wave that was Zetsu rocketed out, heading straight for me again. Seriously though, why doesn't it chase Fen? But the wave seemed larger this time, much larger. Unlike before, when it could only surround my head, this time it seemed like it could easily cover my whole body.
The side of my face and my eye where the blackness was stung horribly when the wave came in contact with me. It didn't hang around though, instead forming into the black sphere around me. The sphere was much bigger than the first. I still couldn't see Fen, though.
It seemed like Zetsu had more power this time, because instead of whispers I actually heard regular speaking. Gods fuck this. Like seriously. Come on.
Another different thing happened. As I stood there, frozen in place, a multitude of Zetsu clones rose out of the ground, all having the same appearance as the original with a single yellow eye and made of darkness.
There were literal hundreds of them, all staring at me maliciously. One at the front opened up a hole below it's eye and began speaking. "As the previous attempt at manipulating you seemed to fail, this time we're just going to use brute force. I'll take physical control of your mind!"
My face pulsed with pain with each word the thing spoke, and I really wasn't sure how I'd escape this one. I don't have time to try and regain movement, and this time Zetsu seems to be more careful, and also stronger. I don't know how, that's just what it was.
The body that spoke had only taken one step towards me when Fen appeared. Except this time he didn't break through the sphere in a burst of light, but instead materialized from the darkness itself.
It... wasn't really Fen, though. The wolf's body was ghostly, and without color. It looked like Fen's ghost had gotten stuck in a black-and-white world, to be honest. And the eyes. They were blinding white, with no pupils or anything. Like the iris had just disappeared, leaving the sclerae behind.
Zetsu stopped in it's tracks, the rest of the bodies halting as well. The ghostly Fen took a step in front of me, then turned to look at me over it's shoulder. "Don't worry," it said in an echoey voice, and that's when I knew it wasn't really my friend. "We're here to help."
I couldn't answer, but the question must have shown in my eyes. The wolf then glanced to the side of me, and I felt a light touch on my shoulder. Then I could suddenly move.
I looked over to see another ghost, except this one looked like Ryuuko. It removed it's glowing hand from my shoulder, then a hint of a smirk appeared on it's face. "Since you and Fen couldn't do this yourself, we're all here to help."
My mouth opened, but no words were coming out. This was easily one of the weirdest things to ever happen to me, and I've seen some pretty strange stuff. These apparitions obviously weren't real, but they were doing something to make Zetsu stay away.
A faint swirl signaled the arrival of another spirit. This time it was Gaara, looking distinctively different without any color in his normally-red hair. This new spirit had it's arms crossed over it's chest in a perfect imitation of the original, though there wasn't the normal swish of sand that accompanied the gesture.
More ghost-like figures were appearing. Jiyuu, Orion, Kakashi, the Misfit Team, Hachi, everyone I'd ever befriended. They formed up around me, having no presence but still managing to intimidate the Zetsu clones gathered in this sphere of darkness.
"No matter how many of you there are, I will still triumph!" Zetsu said, having stepped back into the protective circle of it's clones. "You cannot be allowed to fight against my mistress!"
I didn't have time to think about it's words, as Jiyuu spoke up immediately. "Like you could win!" the ghostly girl retorted, sounding just like the real person. "We can take you out, no sweat!"
"She said it," Hachi continued, for once not relaxedly twirling the snowflake pendant around his neck. Instead, the spirit was standing straight, ready for a fight.
The ghostly Kakashi was next to speak. "Can we just get on with it?" it asked. Then it looked at me. "Kiyomi has places to be and people to see."
I nodded, and the ghosts got ready to fight. Zetsu reared up like a wave before us, re-combining all it's bodies back into one giant mass, stretched paper-thin and expanded to almost touch both edges of the sphere.
But the ghosts surrounded me and stood strong, and the black wave was repelled. It couldn't seem to pass through the spirits, and with the number surrounding me Zetsu didn't have a chance.
Also, any part of Zetsu's body that made contact with the ghosts started steaming, and prolonged contact seemed to be like a burn. The glowing light that was emitting from the spirits strengthened, then Zetsu screamed.
I faintly noticed that as the light around the spirits got stronger, I felt weaker. But the light kept getting stronger, and then I felt myself start to fall. I barely noticed before I hit the ground that Zetsu's screaming had stopped, and the black sphere had dissolved.
The last thing I remember seeing was Fen's worried face appearing over me, then everything kind of disappeared. It didn't turn black, thankfully. Just faded away into nothingness. Much fun.
Third Person POV
As soon as Kiyomi collapsed on the ground, the rest of the hosts stopped. None of them could react fast enough to catch her, but before she hit the ground Kakashi caught her. Kakashi had looked up when he sensed them heading over, and reacted instinctively when Kiyomi started to tip.
They all stared at Kiyomi as she began to thrash, the black marks on her face starting to spread across to the rest of her face. A strange black substance started leaking from her right eye as well.
"What happened?" Kakashi demanded, holding his former student carefully. Her thrashing had quickly stopped, but now she was shivering in his arms. "Why is she like this?"
"We were fightin' Black Zetsu," Orion said, tightening his grip on his sword and looking around the battlefield nervously. "Well, we were fightin' Zetsu who'd taken over Kiya there. She managed to bind it inside her mind, but obviously wasn't as strong as she thought she was."
"Zetsu..." Kakashi muttered. Then his eyes widened and he whirled around to look back at Obito. "Zetsu!"
But it was too late, and Kakashi and the hosts could only watch as black threads wrapped around Obito. There wasn't enough to cover his entire body, but Obito's one visible eye was swirling in panic as his hands finished forming the signs for the Rinne Tensei jutsu.
The blackness around Obito slowly melted away, reforming into it's own being. Zetsu peered curiously at the limp Kiyomi in Kakashi's arms, then winced. It recovered quickly, then looked over at where Madara had broken free of his restraints.
"Thank you for your-" Zetsu started to say, then coughed harshly. "-Your sacrifice. But we will require your eye back."
Minato lunged at Zetsu, but the black humanoid repossessed Obito's body. Kakashi wanted to help his mentor, but a faint movement in his arms reminded him of the body he carried.
With Jiyuu, she glanced at where Madara had been revived, and saw him staring at the Allied Shinobi nations gathered together. Their little group was off to the sides, but she could see beside the shinobi were the hulking forms of the Tailed Beasts, freed from their jinchurikis.
'We need to help,' Seaiga spoke for the first time in a while, sounding unusually serious. So far, the two of them had been communicating wordlessly, speaking through their actions in battle. 'Our siblings fight on their own feet, so should my siblings.'
'Ahio is free, but none of us besides Kiyomi know how to free you without near killing ourselves in the process,' Jiyuu replied worriedly, looking at her fellow hosts. She would do that if she felt it was necessary, but she sure hoped it wouldn't get to that point.
Orion was tensing and relaxing his grip on his sword, but it seemed to be an unconscious gesture. His eyes were blank as he too spoke with Bren. The tiger was telling him things similar to what Seaiga said.
Roka as well. All three of them agreed with their beasts in that they needed to help, but none were quite sure how.
Then Kiyomi, who they'd all kind of forgotten about in the heat of the moment, shuddered and her body let off a light glowing mist. That drew all attention to her as the wisps of light dissipated, then her body went entirely still.
'You want to help?' Fen's voice echoed in the minds of everyone nearby, even Kakashi and Minato. 'I'll tell you how.'
======
Madara looked across at all the forces that opposed him, his eyes lingering on the Tailed Beasts in particular. "I'm gonna get you next," he muttered, narrowing his eyes. "You beasts." He was shirtless, displaying the face that was just beneath the surface of the skin on the side of his chest.
A sudden movement drew his attention to one side of the battle as four new creatures burst into existence, and one other winged his way over to stand beside them. The action drew the attention of the rest of the shinobi in the area, as well as the Tailed Beasts.
None of them rivaled the size of the Tailed Beasts, but these new beasts were accompanied by an almost shift in the very space they accompanied.
The first most people noticed was the tiger, a large orange and black beast that appeared to erupt from the air in a huge burst of red-orange fire. Next was the black horse, thunder rumbling ominously overhead as lightning crackled in the horse's mane.
Third appearing was a lithe snake, it's long and sinuous body coiling up around itself serenely as a light rain began to fall from the sky. The fourth animal was a hawk, it's wings beating strongly against the wind that seemed to spring from nowhere.
And finally, one creature that wasn't quite as dramatic, but was certainly as, if not more, striking. The great brown wolf, looming behind the other four and casting an intimidating shadow. The very earth seemed to shake at the wolf's appearance, and a few people even fell to the ground because of the shaking.
Beneath the new creatures, Kakashi and Minato looked at them in awe. The three hosts stood atop the heads of their Elemental Beast, and only the wolf and the hawk stood alone.
Fenrir leaned his head down and briefly touched his nose to Kiyomi's head, where she lay in Kakashi's arms. "Take care of her," he ordered Kakashi seriously. The wolf's green eyes bored into Kakashi's, and the man nodded, equally as serious.
"Of course," Kakashi answered honestly. His arms tightened around Kiyomi unconsciously. "I won't let her get hurt again." And there was a whole other meaning to those words.
Fen inclined his head once. "I trust that you will," he growled. Then the wolf rose back up to his full height and turned to stand beside his siblings once again. The Elemental Beasts exchanged looks with their cousins, the Tailed Beasts, then looked towards Madara.
Across the field where the Kages stood, Gaara let out a small sigh of relief as he stood, once again encased in Shukaku's sand. When he saw the large brown wolf he knew Kiyomi must be fine. Fenrir wouldn't have let anything happen to her, not with how close the two appeared.
That's when the fighting began.
Kakashi leapt out of the way as the earth shook, trying to keep his student safe. He glanced back once, checking on Minato as well as Obito's body, which was still possessed by Zetsu. But the black humanoid seemed to be having some problems, as black matter seemed to be falling off of it and splattering on the ground. It also seemed to be continuously coughing, and more black matter was falling from it's mouth area.
Kiyomi's eye and left face were still streaked in black when Kakashi checked on her. But she wasn't trembling anymore, and was instead laying peacefully in his hold. Kakashi made sure Kiyomi was secure in his arms, then leapt off along the side of the battlefield to try and find Sakura. If anyone could figure out what was wrong with Kiyomi, it was her.
Fenrir stamped a paw on the ground, sending a spike of earth up from Madara's feet. While the Tailed Beasts were doing the full-on attacking, Fen and his siblings were a bit more reserved in their attacks. Small things, like Fen's earth shaking, or Seaiga and Jiyuu's lightning bolts/arrows. The five of them were cautious to get into a full confrontation with Madara.
======
Kakashi had carefully placed Kiyomi's body on the ground, hidden beside a a large rock. Her brown jacket was enough camouflage that it was difficult to see the girl if you weren't looking closely, and Kakashi assumed that she'd be safe there.
He didn't really have another choice in the matter. Minato was having trouble fighting Black Zetsu in Obito's body, and Kakashi needed to help his teacher. He just hoped Kiyomi would be fine.
======
Kiyomi's POV
When my consciousness seemed to return from the void, it felt like waking up from a long sleep. There was a heaviness to my body that was strange, and as my eyes slowly adjusted I tried to sit up. That was tough, but I managed.
I didn't try and go any further than that, and instead started looking around. Like normal when I wake up after fainting, I had no idea where I was. Oh, but my one-eye-sightedness is back. Joy.
The area was very blank. There was literally nothing in sight. I seemed to be sitting atop water, but my butt wasn't wet and I wasn't using any chakra either. There were also no people, and I couldn't feel Fenrir either.
"Hello." I whirled around when a rough voice spoke. Also like normal, I wasn't expecting what I saw. Also, turns out there was a person. Floating about half a foot off the ground was a man with horns on his head. He wore a white cloak and carried a black staff in his hands.
I backed up carefully, putting some distance between the two of us. The last time I'd met a strange person in a place that didn't exist in reality (well it might, but I don't want to get too philosophical), they'd tried to take over my mind. I wasn't convinced this person wouldn't do the same.
"Who are you?" I asked cautiously, my eye never leaving his form. In fact, my hands were unconsciously drifting down to my waist where my weapons pouch was. An unfortunate habit drilled into my head by Kakashi, and one that always seems to fail me. And that may be because I don't carry weapons in my weapons pouch.
The man looked me dead in the eye. "I am the one who brought peace and order," he said seriously. "My name is Hagaromo."
I blinked my good eye. Then shrugged. "Ah, okay," I nodded. "So the Sage of Six Paths is speaking to me. That's cool." Honestly, I'm at the point in my life where not much is going to surprise me anymore. Like really, if Madara started to do a strip tease for the First Hokage, I'd quite honestly just kinda go with it.
... I also think I may be in shock.
"You are currently trapped in your mind," Hagoromo continued, just accepting that I was accepting what was going on. "An after-effect from the trauma you experienced at the hands of that thing."
I frowned. "You mean Zetsu?"
Hagoromo nodded, gesturing for me to take a seat. I did, sitting gingerly on whatever we were standing on. It looked like water, but it sure as heck didn't feel like it. "Yes, Black Zetsu. I do not know the origin of that being, but I am... apprehensive of it's existence here."
I frowned. Hagoromo doesn't know? "Well that's not good," Hagoromo inclined his head. Now I needed to know why I was here. "But where do I fit into this? I've read a lot, and I know of the transmigrants. I also know that I'm not either of them."
"But you know who they are."
"Yeah," I sighed. "Naruto and Sasuke. It only really clicked recently, but now that I know it's not that hard to see."
"Naruto is the boy of the prophecy, destined to change the world with the help of the Tailed Beasts," the Sage intoned, and a reflection of Naruto's face appeared in the water below us. Surrounding his image were nine beasts that I assumed were the Tailed Beasts. "But... his destiny does not include the Elemental Beasts. They alone are your responsibility, and the reason I brought you here."
Naruto's reflection and those of the Tailed Beasts disappeared, and in their place were now familiar faces. Fen, Seaiga, Bren, Ahio, Salila, all of them. And my face was right in the middle of them, black eye streaks and all.
"But, what?" I stared in confusion at the water. "I don't understand. What am I supposed to do?"
"Naruto will bring peace," Hagoromo explained. He reached back and grabbed his staff, then held it horizontally in front of him. "Or, he says he will, and I trust him. It is your job to sustain that peace, using the connections you have forged with my younger creations."
The staff pulsed once, and then the water began to ripple again. Then five shapes burst out of it's reflective surface. All five of the Elemental Beasts stood around us, looking larger than life.
The Sage looked fondly up at the creatures. "Kiyomi, your part is not great in the coming fight," a small grin formed on his face when he saw my relief. "But your part is also nowhere near finished. When this is over, and it will be, do not forget your part."
Fenrir leaned his head down to be level with mine. The wolf's warm breath washed over my ear as he spoke "He says that, but he can't control your fate anymore than I can," Seaiga snorted nearby. "That is humanity's one power, after all."
"I only offer advice," Hagoromo said. "But you would be wise to at least consider my words."
I nodded. "I wouldn't do any less."
The staff returned to it's position floating behind Hagoromo. "You should leave," he advised. "Your friends are already back, and many people are getting worried about these guys disappearing so suddenly. Especially their hosts," Hagoromo pointed at the Elemental Beasts. "But, for my parting gift, I give you this. Power to defend, and power to protect. Not to fight," he sent a glance at Bren in particular. The tiger sighed.
======
Naruto and Sasuke were in the middle of fighting Madara, having reunited after both receiving the power of the Sage of Six Paths. They had just bound Madara's shadow, and were now gathering back with Kakashi and Sakura.
Kakashi's Sharingan eye had been stolen by Madara, who had vanished into the Kamui dimension. Sakura had tried to heal it, but not much could restore a taken eye. Except Naruto's new powers, of course. Which he used.
"No way!" Sakura exclaimed, looking at her teacher's new eye in disbelief. "How did you do that?"
"Well, it's kinda hard to explain it," Naruto rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It's like I took a part of Kakashi-sensei... and kinda... um..."
"Don't let your guard down, Naruto," Sasuke warned as he surveyed the area. Madara hadn't reappeared, but the Uchiha was going to be ready when he did.
That just made all three of them start bickering, almost sounding like they did when they were younger. And to make things even more realistic, Kakashi was watching from near them with a sweatdrop forming on his head.
"Wow, you're all real losers, aren't you?" a new voice said from nearby, and one of the black orbs behind Naruto instinctively struck out at the source. "Whoa, chill. It's cool." The orb was bounced back, and returned to it's original position.
Kiyomi stepped out of the shadow of a nearby rock. Quite literally stepped out the shadow actually. Upon her awakening, she realized that she had quite a few new powers, thanks to the Sage. It seemed that shadow manipulation was one.
All of her former teammates stared at her new appearance, as her powers weren't the only things to improve. Once again, there was an outfit change. Kinda.
The first thing they noticed were the familiar wolf ears popping out of her head. The bushy brown tail that normally accompanied her transformation was also present. Next was the crest of steel-gray feathers peeking out from behind the wolf ears, and twitching slightly in the breeze.
Third was the tiny little zaps of lightning coming off of Kiyomi's brown hair. It was concentrated in the hair at the end of her ponytail, thought small yellow bolts were racing all the way up to her scalp.
There was a small pair of whiskers on her face, the group noticed then. And right above them were her eyes, though before anyone could notice the color change they first noticed the slightly-shimmering scales around the outside. The scales on the left were a light blue and smooth, and the ones on the right were similar, if not for the streaks of black that snaked through them.
And her eyes...
Well, only one eye actually. The right one was still dark as night. But the left one was a constantly changing color, going from purple one second to a searing red the next, then a light green the moment afterwards.
Her clothes weren't that different, but they had changed a bit. There was a multi-colored star design on the front of her black shirt, and the wolf on the back of her jacket was glowing blue. On each point of the star was a small symbol designed to represent the five elements, with the earth symbol at the top of the star.
"Kiya..." Naruto trailed off.
"I guess it's good to see you all again," she said nonchalantly. Her eye was a light purple when she looked away from all them. "Unfortunately these aren't the best circumstances."
Sasuke took a step forward, drawing her attention to him. "Where did you get that power?" he asked seriously, his Rinnegan eye a bit off-putting. His eyes flickered from the crest of feathers to the scales around her eyes, then to the star on her shirt.
Kiyomi smirked. "Same place you did, I believe. But hey, I already told you I'd answer questions later. That still stands." Her eyes shifted to yellow.
Sasuke hesitated, then nodded reluctantly. Then he thought of another question. "... Is Roka okay?"
"Probably," Kiyomi shrugged. She concentrated on her last memory of the gold-eyed boy. Last thing she remembered was seeing his face as she lost consciousness a second time and fell to the ground. "I haven't seen him in a while and he's probably worried since I kinda stole his snake, but he should still be alive."
Sakura looked confused. "Stole his snake...?"
"Salila," Kiyomi clarified. "There's a reason you haven't been hearing much from the Elemental Beasts recently. The Sage sealed them inside my body."
While the girls were talking, so were Naruto and Sasuke. And like normal, they were arguing. Then Kakashi interrupted. "Enough you guys!" he exclaimed. "Everyone can figure things out later. For now, you have to beat Madara."
All of them became quiet, and let Kakashi continue. "Do you remember your first mission?" he asked. "Stealing the bells? Don't forget that lesson. Teamwork."
"Of course!" Naruto exclaimed. A swirl in the air signified that Madara was returning, and they were ready just in time. "Let's go!"
~We march, with feet on solid ground. We walk, where no one wants to go, on this untraveled road~