Splash… Splash…

Uhum… ​​

Kimimaro slowly opens his eyes and looks around.

Snap…

He immediately takes out a bone from his arm and turns it into a knife. Kimimaro warily searches for the intruder.

Bonk…

Izuna slaps Kimimaro's head.

"Aww… That hurts."

Kimimaro yells in pain.

"Yo! Kid. You fine?"

Izuna lowers his head to look at Kimimaro.

"So kid, you fainted from physical and chakra exhaustion? How are you feeling now?"

Kimimaro stretches his hands and legs and checks his body. He doesn't feel any exhaustion and fatigue anymore.

"Kid, you were out for half an hour. I healed you. Also, what's your name, kid?"

Izuna curiously looks at Kimimaro's reaction.

'I never expected to meet Kimimaro here. Kimimaro has quite the potential, but sadly he dies because of an unknown disease.

Like, come on… what kind of deadly disease are spreading throughout this world?'

Izuna activates his Sharingan and inspects Kimimaro's body.

'Hmm… I can't see any signs of disease for now. Maybe, he will get it later.'

Kimimaro silently stares at Izuna, who is inspecting him from top to bottom. He resolutely clenches his fist and bows before Izuna.

"My name is Kimimaro. I am a member of the Kaguya clan…. Than… thank you for saving my life… for me… for me… you are a God who saved me from the darkness."

Izuna is startled by Kimimaro's sudden reaction.

"Wait! Hold on! I am not any God, I am a human just like you." He picks up Kimimaro.

Sob… sob…

Tears flow from Kimimaro's eyes as he wipes them and continues.

"I was trapped in endless darkness… slowly waiting for death… when I was close to death… I prayed to God to save me… and then… and then… you came and saved me… so… so you are God in my eyes."

Kimimaro tears up and hugs Izuna's legs.

"Don't abandon me. Please, I will do anything you will ask me to do. I will become your weapon… tool… whatever you ask of me."

Kimimaro sobs silently as he pleads.

"This…"

Izuna scratches his head as he thinks about what to do with Kimimaro.

'To be honest, Kimimaro's life in Naruto wasn't that great. His clan locked him up in a dark cell. Orochimaru used him as a test subject and then as a vessel. Finally, he died because of his disease.'

He stares at the pleading eyes of Kimimaro.

'Humm… I am looking for some members to recruit in my organization. If I train Kimimaro, then he can turn out to be a perfect member of my organization. His Kekkei Genkai Shikotsumyaku is a watered-down version of Kaguya's Kekkei Mora 'All-killing Ash Bone' similar to Byakugan and Sharingan.

If I train him properly, then his Kekkei Genkai has too much potential… that's it… it's decided then.'

Izuna turns to Kimimaro.

"Good… you are free to follow me. I will personally train… but remember… my training is quite hard… so make up your mind."

Kimimaro clenches his fist in resolve and nods his head.

"I am ready for any kind of training. I will put my heart and soul in the training."

Izuna nods his head. He stares towards a cliff and smiles.

'I see… this snake was involved in this matter. But now that I have my sights on this kid; he can only return empty-handed.'

At the top of the cliff,

Orochimaru clenches his fist as he angrily stares at Izuna.

"Damn you! Izuna Uchiha. Why are you interfering in my matters?... I can't fight against him, I am not his match for now."

Orochimaru takes a last glance at Izuna before retreating.

Izuna turns to Kimimaro and nods his head in approval.

"Good… I like your resolve. I am Izuna Uchiha from the Uchiha clan."

Izuna makes some hand signs and taps on Kimimaro's forehead.

A small Fuinjutsu seal appears on top of Kimimaro's forehead. Kimimaro accepts the seal without any resistance. Izuna raises his eyebrow as he questions Kimimaro.

"Aren't you curious to know… what kind of seal I placed on you?"

Kimimaro shakes his head and replies.

"No! I will never doubt my God."

"…"

Sigh…

Izuna sighs and answers him.

"This seal will change your chakra signature. I am on a mission in Kiri, so we will have to infiltrate Kiri. It will help you hide your presence from Kiri sensors."

Izuna makes some more hand signs and taps on Kimimaro's forehead.

'Transformation Jutsu'

Poof…

Kimimaro's appearance changes entirely. Izuna takes out some clothes from a scroll and gives them to Kimimaro.

"You can use them to change your appearance. They are my clothes when I was your age. For now, wear them. I will buy you new clothes later."

'Transformation Jutsu'

Izuna changes his appearance to that of a merchant.

'I will infiltrate Kirigakure as a traveling merchant and probably open a temporary shop.'

"Let's go."

Izuna signals Kimimaro and both of them walk towards Kirigakure.

-------------------------

At Kiri borders,

The Kiri squad under Mei returns and report to her.

"Captain! We found the Kaguya clan members fleeing away from the village. When we approached them, a strange seal appeared near their neck and all of them died instantly."

The Older Ninja reports the entire detail to Mei.

Mei frowns and ponders.

'Who could have done it? I can't make any sense out of this situation. Kaguya clan attacked Kirigakure and almost all of them died.'

"We will leave this matter to Anbu. Line all of their body near the camp. Later, the Anbu members will take care of them."

Mei orders them. The Kiri members lines up the corpses of the Kaguya clan and their fallen comrades near the patrol camp.

"It's time to return and report the matters to the village." Mei and the rest of the squad prepare for their return journey.

While traveling through the forest,

Mei inspects her squad as she ponders.

'We lost forty-five shinobis in this fight. The losses are quite huge. Father is politically suppressed by the higher-ups of the village, and now they provided us with false intel. Looks like, the noble clans want to deal with us.

We have become a threat to their rule.'

Mei raises her guard as they move on.

'I won't be surprised if someone tries to assassinate me now.'

Swish… swish…

Many kunai and shuriken target Mei.

Clang… clang…

Mei skillfully deflects all of them and stare at her attacker. The rest of her squad immediately gets into formation to combat the attackers.

There are around 10 ninjas draped in complete black and blue outfits surrounding them. All of them wear a mask with thin slitted eye-hole and a wavy design in place of mouth with the Kiri symbol engraved on top.

The group frowns, and one of the ninja questions.

"What's the meaning of this? We are returning from war. The village lost forty-five shinobis in the war. This matter needed to be reported urgently."

"Why is the hunter-nin squad of Anbu after us? We just fulfilled our mission." Another ninja questions them.

"Don't bother with them. They aren't after us… they are after Captain." The older ninja clarifies the situation to them.

"The village and its politics are quite complicated. Sigh…" He sighs.

"But… but… we can't allow them to kill Captain. Captain should be rewarded for her meritorious efforts, but instead, the village has given the death penalty to her.

No… we won't allow this. We will fight alongside her and protect her." All of them take out their kunais and shurikens from the holster and get ready to fight against the squad of Mei.

Mei looks at her and a mixed feeling of grief, sorrow, remorse, and elation overwhelmed her.

'These people are ready to put their life on the line for me. They are my team. I won't allow them to die a meaningless death. I will stall their attention to make a window of opportunity for them to escape and inform the matters to Father.'

Mei turns towards her team and whispers to them using hand signs and codes.

"I will stall them while you escape. Report the situation to Fuji Terumi."

Mei turns around and blocks another kunai from the missing-nin anbu squad.

"No, captain! We can't allow this. You must escape first while we stall for time." The older ninja denies her request.

The Missing-nin anbu squad leader stares at them and smirks.

"None of you will leave alive from here. This forest will be your graveyard and the entire blame will fall on the Kaguya clan."

He signals other missing-nin anbus.

The anbus make some hand signs and slam their hands on the ground.

'Co-operation Ninjutsu: Water Release: Great Water Prison'

They create a large dome of water around the area. The water dome covers most of the surrounding forest and blocks their route of escape.

"Now attack and finish them off. Don't leave any trace of Anbu."

The Anbu members float inside the water prison as they surround Mei and her squad.