Naruto : Saga of Tanya the Kunoichi

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"Your little sister… is so strong…" Sasuke muttered. He looked at her with respect.

"...Yea." Naruto had to agree. Though the three had questions on why she was unleashing her overwhelming chakra like this. The chaotic red purple chakra surrounded and intertwing her entire body.

Kage bunshin! Ten shadow clones created. 3 of them remained on Tsuyu's side, while the rest stood in lines like proper soldiers.

Tsuyu raised one of her hands, chakra gathered and spun. One of the clones compressed the chakra. The other used Earth Nature transformation. The third one maintained its stability.

"This is rasengan! But… how…?!" Naruto was shocked. 

"She is infusing Earth chakra into the rasengan… she uses the extra clones for nature transformation…amazing!" Yamato answered the question with his own praise and awe.

The originally blue rasengan grew into a gigantic meter radius, before it shrunk and turned darker and darker, into an almost opaque black condensed sphere of chakra of half a meter radius. In Yamato's perception, such a dense amount of chakra compacted into such a core… it was almost like a bijuudama! This is definitely an S rank jutsu!

Earth Release: Giant Rasenbakudan!

One of her clones went to touch the dense sphere of chakra, and with a hand seal… it disappeared along with the dense core of chakra.

Yamato gasped, his mouth wide open in disbelief. He finally understood.

"Tsu-chan? What are you-" Before Naruto could finish-

Boom.

A loud echo of explosion resounded from far away, accompanied by cries of birds and animals. Light flashed against the sky for a split second before disappearing. The earth felt it trembled imperceptibly. 

"What is that…!" Naruto was so confused. He turned to look at Yamato, as if wanting to know what was up.

Yamato remained silent. Sasuke had realised what Tsuyu did, his mouth parted just like Yamato. Is that even possible…??

Tsuyu continued, sending 7 Giant Rasenbakudan through shadow clones teleporting with them in a row. Each time, the sky flashed with light, the earth very slightly shook. An echo of an explosion like a rumble of thunder reached their ears.

"Ha…." Tsuyu's transformation was undone, the curse mark receded. Her demon eyes turned to normal. Her shadow clones poofed away after she sent the last shadow clones.

"Alright. Now we can have some rest… they shouldn't attack for a while…" Tsuyu said quite weakly. Her face was a little pale from chakra exhaustion.

"Tsu-chan… what did you do?" Naruto was still very confused.

"Hm?" She chuckled slightly. Her brother was the same as ever when it comes to reading the room and analysing things.

"I sent the bombs to those desert rats I marked with Flying Raijin. Their base should be entirely destroyed." Tsuyu said calmly, as if what she did was nothing at all.

Naruto felt chills crawling down his spine. Sasuke gulped his saliva. He never thought a shinobi could fight like that. Fight? No. It was a one sided massacre. Yamato remained silent.

That way of 'fighting' had no place in the Shinobi World. 

Tsuyu… no wonder… no wonder you bear the moniker Demon of Konoha… Kumogakure had a reason to call you that…

Yamato finally understood the full extent of the reports and why Kumogakure called her Demon of Konoha. The reports he read didn't do her justice at all.

Just like that? She just… Naruto still felt it was all unreal.

"You… marked them with Flying Raijin seal?"

Tsuyu nodded with amusement. Naruto's clueless face had always been really funny to her.

"...And you… let them escape so you could send your shadow clone with that jutsu…" Naruto's eyes turned from confusion to disbelief, to horror.

"Quite creative eh? If it's not for you using Shadow Clones to perfect the Rasengan it might have escaped my head to use them more creatively. We all share the exact same chakra signature. Many things were possible." Tsuyu chuckled to herself, praising the genius of Tobirama to create such an absurd technique inwardly.

"Creative…?" Naruto's words were almost like whispers, his voice shaky.

"I planned to set the prisoners free one by one. That way we can destroy new bases and infrastructure each time they rebuild it once they go back. Hey, maybe I could kill their Kage accidentally if I am lucky and he happens to be there." She explained with calm and a bit of joy. She was winning, of course she's happy.

They felt their scalps tangled hearing such words from her. Send one by one… 

Naruto took a shaky step back. His eyes looked at Tsuyu with fear for a second. He had to take deep breaths in, his heart palpitating. 

"Hm? You look pale… you alright?" 

"I… I just need to rest… Tsuyu…" Naruto turned his eyes away, unable to look in her eyes.

Tsuyu's eyes softened slightly. 

"You had a hard time. Good job out there. I brought a lot of Ramen cups with me. We can have some later." Tsuyu came close and patted his shoulder. Naruto stiffened a little from the touch.

Seeing her almost gentle smile and the little bit of warmth in her eyes, Naruto had… a lot of questions.

"If there's nothing else, I will need some food. Later you three." Tsuyu said with a sigh of exhaustion. She headed toward the camp, leaving the three still speechless and in their own thoughts.

***

In a matter of an hour after Tsuyu's act of slaughter along with SORA's support on other fronts, Sunagakure retreated, giving Konoha room to breathe. Yamato led Naruto and Sasuke to check out the aftermath. 

When they arrived at the supposed military base of Suna a few kilometers away from their camp, he felt his heart shaken. Land of thousand meters square was barren, nothing but destruction and large craters. There's not even intact corpses. 

Wait… there's few. Naruto noticed them… mushed flesh, smell of burnt meat, the sign of blood on the perimeter of this barren land. Following the trail of blood, he saw a still red broken arm.

Naruto felt a sense of dread deep inside of him. It was an instinctual fear. Fear of her.

"She's strong…" Sasuke muttered the praise again. He clenched his fist, and he set his sight on this kind of strength as a benchmark so he could defeat Itachi. She wondered if Itachi could survive this kind of bombardment. The comical part was Tsuyu didn't even move her real body. It was too unfair even in his perception.

Somehow in Sasuke's mind, the memory of when Tsuyu asked to join him to kill Itachi together resurfaced. Back then, Tsuyu was highlighting to him the need for support and friends, and that was why she made the offer. Seeing the destruction here, the idea of killing Itachi wasn't impossible. If he just asked her for help, it would be really possible.

But… he wanted to do it with his own hands. He felt thankful that he had support in his endeavor, but if his revenge was carried out by someone else he wouldn't be able to live peacefully. 

After looking at the aftermath, Naruto had wanted to talk to Tsuyu. He had… so much to talk to her about. Naruto headed back to the camp's dining area, looking left and right for her.

"Hm? Tsuyu? I saw her heading that way after she's done." One of the shinobi pointed eastward, seeing her walking in that direction.

"Thank you mister." 

Naruto went looking eastward. 

That's the area where prisoners were… was she…marking them…

Naruto felt complicated inside. He didn't know what to think. She weaponised them, turning them into a real living weapon… What's the difference between that and planting explosive tags inside a living person and sending them back home…

He felt… it's so… wrong. But he understood Tsuyu had to do this. Maybe… maybe she never wanted to do such a… cruel thing.

Naruto took steps forward, reaching the infrastructure where the prisoners were kept. The two shinobi keeping watch greeted him with smiles. Naruto was the jinchuriki and was well known as someone strong from his performance against Suna along with his status as Minato's son. But most people never talked about the latter for various reasons. Mostly shame because they hated him due to 9 tails, but unaware Minato, his own dad, sealed it into him.

People can figure out the truth after knowing his lineage. Kushina was 9 tails previous Jinchuriki. And that night of the 9 tails attack, he must have sealed the 9 tails into his own son to save the village. No one apologised to Naruto, but everyone was trying to treat him better silently.

"Is Tsuyu in there?"

"She just came in a minute ago." 

"I see. I need to talk to her…" The guards look at each other, but receiving no instruction from Tsuyu, they let Naruto pass.

Naruto came down the barely lit basement.

But as he reached the underground space, he could hear muffled sounds. As he walked deeper, he could hear them. It was… groans of pain.

Naruto hurried his footsteps, feeling heavy and anxious in his heart.

Tsuyu… what are you doing…

 The groan of pain turned to wailing, Naruto steps were almost running at this point. 

Tsu-chan… please… don't… Naruto had a bad premonition in his heart.

As he reached the cells at the very end of the underground space. What he saw made his heart tremble in fear.

Tsu-chan… His eyes felt stinging at seeing it.

Black chakra limbs sprouted from her back, all attached to each of the prisoners in the cells. Chakra was drained from their bodies painfully slowly from each of their bodies. Only this way would it be more efficient and safer. The body has a limiter on how much chakra can be produced and flow in their chakra circuit. Forceful absorption would lead to their early death.

"Ha…mm~" Tsuyu was relishing the feeling of having her chakra being filled back up again. A smile carving her lips. She had made a note for all prisoners to be well taken care of on all camps. She needed chakra cattles to replenish herself each time she teleported and fought. Even with 9 tails, Nue, and Reibi, it wouldn't be enough.

Ah…! Stop…! Please…! 

It hurts…! Ah…! No… Please…

The groans of pain were like white noises for her, not caring about it. She noticed Naruto's presence and turned around.

"Nii-san, why are you here?" 

She frowned slightly. Naruto wasn't supposed to see this. She knew he wouldn't be comfortable and wouldn't like what he saw.

"Why are you so cruel…?" 

Naruto muttered the question without a thought, his eyes looking at her, the chakra limbs detached from the prisoners, letting the prisoners shut up so they could talk properly.

"... I need to replenish my chakra. Using Flying Raijin across nations took a lot out of me. I need to cross multiple battlefields to reinforce our troops each time. If I stopped moving, Konoha would perish. I needed this."

Naruto opened his mouth, wanting to say something hearing such a cold, calm response. But he didn't have a word to say. He looked at the prisoners behind her, their expressions pale, their bodies trembling from the pain she had inflicted.

Tears well up in his eyes. But it didn't fall.

Tsuyu sighed. Her expression turned a little colder. She realised she needed to make Naruto realise the harsh reality that what she's doing was necessary. She disliked doing this too. It was against her principle of free will and peace, but ultimately she had to put herself and Naruto first before others. Much like her own brother, she disliked war and she's a peace-loving person.

"Nii-san… I will admit I am cruel. But our enemies were just as cruel if not more. War is and always has been cruel. Suna used vicious poison, inflicting pain and torture to our allies. They poisoned rivers and wells, trying to weaken our forces. But civilians' lives were affected by their actions. How many unrelated to us died?"

"..." Naruto heard them, and it felt like a weight crushed his heart further.

"Kiri used their silent killing to target medic nin. Even medic tents were infiltrated and those inside that weren't able to defend themselves were slaughtered, not leaving anyone alive."

"Kumo gouged the eyes of the Hyugas, chopped up the bodies of Akimichi, desecrated corpses of our shinobi to find the secrets of their bloodlines. They take kunoichi's of a prominent clan, and use them as breeding machines to give birth to a strong bloodline of their own."

Naruto held onto his chest. It felt so heavy. He didn't cry. But all he could feel was… despair.

"Iwa used their flight advantage to bombard the surroundings, denying water source, destroying fields and threatening surrounding areas to create resource blockade. But doing that denied the civilians of the same need, many left starving, lost their home and comfort and had to migrate to find a new place to live. Those people planted trap mines along paths that we might go through even if it was a road used by civilians. At least we shinobi had sensors. What do they have?"

"What I am doing is nothing different. Everyone wants to win, and they use all means necessary. This is a truth you have to accept, brother. But I am not here to win like them. I am here to survive. We have to be ruthless when all of them are."

"..." Naruto clenched his fists tight, red chakra flared from him. His iris turned red, the 9 tails chakra was leaking uncontrollably as he looked up to face Tsuyu. His expression was almost distorted with various emotions. It was…

Anger. Rage. And even hate. Tsuyu was taken aback seeing his expression. She wasn't sure if it was directed at her, or something else.

"Calm yourself down." Tsuyu took slow steps forward, one of her hands raised, with purple flames lit up on each of her fingers. She's ready to use the 5 Pronged Seal to stop Naruto from losing control.

But just then, the red chakra receded, Naruto turned to his normal self. His expression turned from that anger earlier… into a state of emptiness. His eyes dropped to look down at the ground.

Tsuyu remained quiet, observing Naruto closely waiting for him to speak. 

"I get it… Tsuyu." Naruto muttered.

"It is a harsh reality, but we have to accept it." Tsuyu said it carefully, observing Naruto's expression closely.

He didn't respond. Naruto turned around, and left slowly.

Tsuyu frowned slightly. She felt something was off when Naruto didn't crash out at her. It made her feel uneasy. No, maybe Naruto had really grown up and accepted what she had said. She tried to comfort her uneasy feeling.

She summoned a shadow clone, asking it to tell Yamato to keep a close eye on Naruto as there was a chance for him to lose control.

She turned to the prisoners behind her. Her expression was complicated.

"Tsuyu…" She noticed the way he called her. Some part of her felt like Naruto had distanced himself from her. Maybe, like before he would turn around someday. He just need some time. It had always been like that.

Is this unacceptable for him? Even if it is… this is what I need to do. I cannot be kind for you, brother. Not until we both are guaranteed to survive till the end.

… She closed her eyes, rethinking about her whole life.

Once it's all over… we can continue our lives as usual, like before. You can be the silly brother that annoyed me at times… I would enrich my mind with more books and indulge in gourmet coffee, while you could talk about different types of Ramen. We could invite our friends for a party once it was all over. No more killing, no more of all these senseless waste of energy and emotions.

Black limbs of chakra grew from her back latching onto each of the prisoners inside the cells. Groans and wails of pain echoed in the chamber, carefully extracting them. She wouldn't kill these people and use them up to their fullest potential. If prisoners can't be sent back, they could be used as chakra cattle. They would have died regardless, her methods were efficient and in a way, it is a mercy to fully use them effectively and not wasting their life.

***