31-35

As Tomoka opened her eyes the first thing she saw was a pretty blue sky with white clouds. The fluffy things floated in the vast blue without a care in the world. Sometimes she wondered how comfy it would be to have a nap on them. She understood that clouds were just masses of condensated water but still, they looked so fluffy.

[Hey you, you are finally awake.]

That got a chuckle out of Tomoka. She recognized that line. An iconic meme that was still in use even after twenty years. She wondered if Kurama had read her memories or if it had been just a coincidence. 

[What's so funny?] Looks to be the latter option. Tomoka spent some time explaining to Kurama about meme culture and that very meme. However, her mind was elsewhere as she did. Once she finished explaining an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.

"What am I even doing?" She felt tired, not physically tough, after all this is her mindscape. Grasslands going as far as the eye could see. With patches of different forests here and there. In the middle a gigantic lake with clear water. Floating about ten meters above the tranquil waters is a massive building.

Her mind's palace, the place that contained all her thoughts and memories. The Giant building looked like the love child between a stone castle and a wooden library. If one were to enter it they would find a maze of corridors and doors. She planned to fill the thing with Genjutsu traps for whoever tried to snoop around in her head. At the end of the maze a gigantic library containing thousands of books stood in all its glory. 

[What do you mean]

"I almost died, Kurama. I almost died again"

[You looked fine, you even said you didn't care]

"Fake bravado, I was scared shitless. When I was using the static field jutsu I was in panic. I didn't want to die, so I went all out." Tomoka's mental body began deaging. From her usual twenty-five year old mental self to her four year old real self. The girl began sobbing softly in an attempt to hide it from the fox. 

"It's so much fun here. I don't want it to end yet. I don't want to die" Rain began falling in the mindscape as the wind picked up speed. The usually calm lake had its waters disturbed by waves that grew bigger each moment that passed. 

"I am an idiot, Kurama. I am only four years old! I could have died. Training and real combat is nothing alike. There was no need for me to go all out like that. What was I even thinking!" 

As her rant continued Tomoka's tears flowed. Answering her unstable mind, the mindscape became more and more chaotic. Even the mind palace was creaking and groaning under the pressure. 

Tomoka was really angry at herself. She had been a complete idiot, a dumbass, brain dead. She could have died. She repeated those words to herself over and over again. That is until a soft something curled around her. Warm and soft like the softest blanket she had ever come in contact with. 

[I won't deny that you are an idiot. However, you won, you can learn from your mistakes and improve. It is okay to be scared of death, even I am scared of dying and I am effectively immortal. You are alive now and that's all that matters.] 

Tomoka took a deep breath and tried to calm down. Opening her eyes again she saw one of Kurama's tails above her acting like a blanket while another worked as a pillow and mattress. The giant fox was looking elsewhere trying to exude disinterest in the current situation. Feeling a lot better and a little cheeky, Tomoka hugged Kurama's tail while rubbing her face on it. 

"So soft" A content whisper scaped Tomoka's lips

[OI! what do you think you are…] Looking down Kurama saw the little four year old Tomoka cuddle up to his tail. Her soft breathing told him that Tomoka had fallen asleep again. A strange feeling he hadn't felt before bubbled up in his chest. 

Deciding to allow it just this time a small smile appeared on the fox's face as he curled up to take a nap as well. 

{I guess the twerp can be cute sometimes. Not that I will ever admit it} 

Tomoka opened her eyes again. Pain shot through her pupils as they contracted rapidly due to the light. The next thing to assault her over sensitive senses was the strong smell of disinfectant and the annoying beeping of a machine.

"Ugh, this sucks. Guess I am in a hospital" With a groan Tomoka moved her sore body. Everything hurt, from her bones to her muscles, hell, even her very nerves hurt somehow. It felt as if all of the cells in her body were popping only to be rebuilt and pop again. 

After a while the hypersensitivity subsided, though the soreness remained. Looking around, Tomoka saw a mostly empty room. To her left was a heart rate monitor, the source of the annoying beeping. To her right a big window let the early morning sunrays into her room. 

Sighing Tomoka decided to check on her body. Last she knew she should have been burnt to an ugly child shaped coal. After moving this way and that as well as checking below her medical gown she came to the conclusion that she was fine. 

The only thing that did catch her attention were the very faint scars in the shape of Lichtenberg figures all over her body. They were so faint she almost missed them. Releasing a sigh, Tomoka was thankful her body didn't just paint a bunch of black tattoo-like markings all over her body. Looking at her right arm that had those tattoo-like markings Tomoka couldn't help but smile wryly. 

Letting her body fall again on the soft bed she began thinking about her actions. Why did she need to act in the first place? In cannon, Hinata was saved by her father. Yeah that led to a bunch of problems due to political bullshit but it's not her problem. 

There is also the fact that she rushed things too much. She didn't need to beat Kumo-nin, buying time for someone else to come would have been the smart move. Lastly but also very important is the fact that she didn't use her air jutsus. Using wind bullets would have been very useful.

All in all, the adrenaline had blinded her. The fear of death had blinded her. In conclusion, she needed more training, but above that, she needed experience. She might be smart, inventive, and skilled. However, that did not remove the fact that this had been the very first time she had ever participated in a life and death battle. 

That brought another point to Tomoka's mind. Raising her right hand to look at it she wondered about what she had done. She had taken a life and yet she felt calm. Her expectations and reality were worlds apart at the moment.

Tomoka wasn't dumb, she knew that being a shinobi would involve killing, a lot of it in fact. She expected to feel remorse or some such after her first kill and yet she was calm. There was no remorse, there was no guilt. There was no satisfaction either so at least she knew she wasn't a psycho. 

The man might have had a family, ambitions and whatever else but she didn't care. For her, that guy was the same as every other person out there in the streets she did not know. Another face lost in the sea of people. All of them could die for all she cared and she wouldn't even look twice. 

'I wonder if I am still human. I wonder if it is normal for a human to think like this. For that matter, what does it even mean to be human?' A philosophical question that had no real answer. Is a human defined by their genetic code? Or by their social interactions? Both? or perhaps something else. 

[Who cares if you are. Humans are gross anyway. You are you and that is what matters, isn't it?] Kurama felt irritated when he heard Tomoka's words. For him, it didn't matter. So what if Tomoka is no longer a human? He isn't a human either. He would rather have Tomoka go back to her slightly crazy self than this depressed version of her.

'You know what? You are right, I am not even from this world so at this point, who cares? I will just do whatever the fuck I want as I have been doing for a while now. Though I still need to improve a lot to not end up dead. Thanks Kurama' Having said that, Tomoka closed her eyes with a smile on her face. 

[My pleasure, now could you come in here. There is a weird thingy floating here and I don't know what it is] 

'A what now?' The smile that had formed on Tomokas face cramped up instantly. 

A little worried Tomoka entered her mindscape. What she found was a wry looking Kurama sitting in front of the central lake. 

"So what thingy are you talking about? I don't see anything out of order" As she said that Tomoka felt a foreboding feeling. Like there was indeed something that wasn't supposed to be there. 

[look up and tell me what is that] Using one of his tails Kurama pointed upwards. 

In the sky above a bizarre image was painted. A white sphere floated in the sky with lightning constantly zapping the air around it. The circumference of the sphere is defined by a strange distortion of light, akin to that of a black hole's event horizon. 

What made it even weirder would be the perception the two had of the sphere. Tomoka somehow knew the thing was barely a single centimeter in diameter, yet it fell massive in the sky above.

"What that fuck is that, and what the fuck is it doing here, and why the fuck didn't you tell me before?" Tomoka glared at Kurama, this was important. This place is the equivalent to her soul. Whatever happens here will drastically affect her. 

[Well, to answer your first two questions, no idea. As for the last one. Since it didn't do anything I thought it would be better to calm you down first] Kurama was a bit sheepish about it.

"Whatever, what is important right now is figuring out what is that" With a sigh Tomoka concentrated back into the anomaly in her mindscape. 

Seeing the red lightning gave her a feeling of familiarity but she couldn't figure out why. After a while she decided to experiment a bit. First she tried to move the sphere through her will. Nothing, the thing didn't budge. As a matter of fact, it felt as if it was firmly lodged in place inside her mindscape. 

The next thing she attempted was to use her chakra to inspect it. As it flew towards the sphere she felt it pulling on her chakra. The force quickly tore some away from her control and devoured it, expanding for a moment. The next instant a red lightning bolt struck her.

She expected to feel pain and the usual numb feeling of having electricity run through the body. Instead she felt her perception speed up for a moment. It was but an instant, nothing more than a fraction of a second in real time. 

[Tomoka are you alright?] Seeing her being struck by lightning again made Kurama worry.

"Yeah, I am fine." Not paying much attention to Kurama, Tomoka went back into her thoughts. 

Alongside the increase in perception some information flew into her mind. Just a tiny piece, a name: Speed-force. As soon as her mind caught up and understood the name she froze. There was no way for something like that to appear here.

The speed force is meant to be a fundamental force of existence in the DC world. However, she is in the Naruto world, that thing should not be here! Not to mention that knowing what the speed force is from her comic knowledge Tomoka knows it is overpowered. 

In an instant Tomoka felt excited and tried to call forth the speed force once more. In the flash comics it was just a matter of wanting to use it. However, nothing happens. No, something did happen but it was underwhelming.

She could feel her perception accelerating once more, however it was negligible. The difference between having it and not was like a beach having an extra grain of sand or not. This brought a frown to Tomoka's face. She could feel the speed force follow her will, however, something was interfering. 

Looking up she saw the small sphere for a while. Suddenly understanding struck her. That sphere was in fact a form of portal. Through it the speed force flowed into her. However, the opening is too small for anything significant to go through. When the portal took her chakra it used it to increase in size for a moment allowing more of the speed force to flow through. 

Wanting to confirm her theory, Tomoka sent a large amount of chakra towards the portal. Around sixty percent of her chakra flew towards the portal. In a moment the chakra was swiftly absorbed causing the portal to rapidly expand. 

[What the hell are you doing!?]

"Experimenting" Once again disregarding Kurama, Tomoka observed the changes. The lightning around the portal increased in intensity and she could feel it sufusing into her body, mind and soul. If she wills it, it would do her bidding and provide her with its power. However, it did not last.

As soon as it expanded it contracted once more. The entire thing lasted but a single moment. With this Tomoka understood a few things about this speed force of hers. 

Through experimentation Tomoka realized a few things about her connection with the speed force. For starters, made a few theories of what happened during her confrontation with the Kumo-nin. 

"Running the numbers it is impossible for me to replicate what happened before with my current amount of chakra. Not to mention that the portal was not here before. However, the feeling it gives me is that of familiarity. Perhaps the portal had been blockaded by something before and an even smaller amount of speed force had been constantly leaking. 

Following this line of thought, it could be possible that the speed force had backed up, like a dam containing water. Then when the blockade was broken all that backed up speed force rushed into me. Now that the way is open properly only the right amount will flow even if I increase the size of the portal. What do you think Kurama"

[I don't know much about all that scientific mumbo jumbo but it makes sense I guess] To tell the truth, Kurama wasn't all that interested in the whys of the matter.

"Well, it doesn't matter. I will still need to train with it and figure out what I can do with it as well as the most efficient way of using it. But before that" With a smile Tomoka began concentrating. Pushing her will into her mindscape she began reshaping it. 

From the ground a massive black tower rose into the sky. At its top four curved spires extended towards the portal as if grabbing it. This tower was built for no other reason than aesthetics. In the end it looked similar to Sauron's eye tower from Lord of the rings.

Satisfied with her work, Tomoka decided to go back to reality. Slowly she opened her eyes once more just in time to see a pair of black orbs gaze towards her from the room's door. In an instant that lasted an eternity the expression of the girl at the door shifted. Surprice, relief, worry, anger, many emotions were displayed one after the other and back. 

"TOMOKA!" Not being able to contain her emotions anymore, Nozomi launched herself towards her best friend. The poor girl had been worried sick for the last twenty-four hours. It had been a rollercoaster of emotions for her. 

Tomoka on the other hand felt a little conflicted. Seeing Nozomi worry so much for her was heartwarming but at the same time it made her feel guilty. Not knowing what to say she decided to stay quiet instead while hugging her dear friend. 

For some time quiet sobs could be heard in the room as Nozomi let go of all the stress the situation had set on her. Tomoka for her part was softly brushing Nozomi's hair. After a little while longer the crying girl finally calmed down. 

As they separated Tomoka was now able to see Nozomi's face again. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. Her eyebrows twisted into a frown while her cheeks were puffed up into a pout. It was more than obvious that Nozomi was angry. 

"Tomoka you idiot! Idiot! idiot! idiot!!!" Now that her worry and fears were gone it was time for Nozomi's anger. She smashed her small fists on top of Tomoka's head. Even though she was angry she still measured her strikes as not to hurt her friend. 

"Sorry! Hey, stop that!" Even though Tomoka was fine and could have dodged the strikes she decided not to. She indeed deserved what was happening to her for being too brash. Not to mention that they didn't hurt all that much anyway. 

"Promise me you won't do something like this again or I won't stop!" 

"I promise!" As soon as she said that Tomoka was hugged again. A soft giggle escaped her lips as she reciprocated the hug. 

"You also have to promise to stay with me forever" Those words came out of Nozomi's lips as but a murmure. However, due to their close proximity that was enough.

"Yeah, I promise" The wording was a bit odd but Tomoka didn't mind it. Nozomi was just a four year old kid, who knew what was going through her mind at the moment. 

"Forever and ever" Nozomi's hug became tighter as if Tomoka would disappear if she let go.

"Nn, forever and ever" At this point Tomoka wasn't paying that much attention. She was just agreeing so that Nozomi would calm down. 

"It's a promise, If you break it I will hate you forever" Letting go Nozomi said those words with a serious tone. 

Before Tomoka could reply her attention was brought to the open door to her room. Standing there were her parents and whom she assumed to be her assigned doctor. At that moment she realized that she had fucked up. Nozomi was one thing but pasifying her parents was a whole other problem. 

[Good luck surviving this one. you will need it] Said Kurama with a jovial voice that hid a snicker. 

'Yeah, I will need it' 

'I pray to thy lord up above, aid me in the battles to come. Thine lost sheep prays for guidance in the challe-' 

"TOMOKA!" In an instant Himiko flew through the room at light speed with tears in her eyes. This scene was a carbon copy of what just happened with Nozomi. The only difference being that instead of a cute four year old landing on top of Tomoka it was a full ass grown adult. 

"OOF" Unlike Nozomi, who escaped with the ability of a ninja in training, Tomoka received the full weight of her mother up front. She could have escaped like Nozomi but she knew better than that. 

"My sweet baby girl, you had your mother all worried! I will never, ever let you out of my sight ever again!" Now that the poor girl had survived having the full weight of her mother slamming against her it was time for the second ordeal. 

With the full strength of a jounin Himiko hugged Tomoka. With her head in Himiko's breasts Tomoka was unable to breath but that wasn't the worst part. The thing that was truly troublesome was the increasing pressure Tomoka felt on her spine. 

'So this is how I go huh. Not through combat or old age, but from the love of my own mother. Kurama, it was a pleasure to have met you even if our time together was short'

[Oi, aren't you exaggerating?]

*POP* 

"What was that?" The sudden sound had distracted Himiko. Looking down she saw her dear daughter on death's door with a weirdly bent spine. Not really, but the image was close enough. 

"Uhm Himiko-san please calm down" The doctor didn't know what to do. He was sure that a child's spine should not make a popping sound. Not to mention what he had just seen. Himiko had used the body flicker jutsu to jump towards her daughter. In the end he had no time to react before all of the above happened. 

"Leave it be. When she gets like that, there is no stopping her" With a sigh Nagi could do nothing more but wryly smile as he saw Himiko rubbing her cheek with Tomoka's. He knew full well what would happen later on. 

A few minutes later Himiko finally calmed down. Tomoka on the other hand looked like a dead fish. Her eyes hollow from being handled roughly by her mother. However, she knew that the worst part of the ordeal was yet to come. 

"Tomoka~" With a sing-song voice Himiko called her daughter. Tomoka, hearing this, wanted to flee. Her instincts were screaming danger at the top of their lungs and yet there was no escape. With slow measured movements Tomoka turned her head to look towards her mother. What she saw next froze her blood. 

Himiko sat there with a calm expression, no tense muscles could be found in her body. A serene motherly smile adorned her face. With these facts one would think that Tomoka's reaction was exaggerated. However, Himiko's eyes told a completely different story. 

Eyes that looked at Tomoka with the righteous anger only a mother could hold. Eyes that looked at the poor girl with a predatory gleam. Eyes that promised suffering like no other. Those scary eyes combined with Himiko's otherwise calm demeanor made even Kurama afraid. 

[I pray to thy lord up above, aid me in the battles to come. Thine lost sheep prays for guidance in the challe-] 

Before the fox had a chance to finish his prayer it happened. Himiko moved with grace in such a way that her movements looked calm and measured. However, the sheer speed of the angry mother's actions made it impossible for even the fastests of shinobi to escape. 

"Little Tomoka made her poor mother very worried~. She will be a good girl and accept her punishment right~" Those words were spoken as Himiko held Tomoka gently. However, to everyone present it looked like Tomoka was in a choke hold that would snap her neck if she dared give the wrong answer. 

"Y-yes! I will!" Tomoka's nervousness had led her to shout that in an instant. 

"Good~. We will have lots of fun together~. To-mo-ka~" After saying that Himiko left the room that had become eerily silent. The only sound that could be heard was that of the cold sweat dripping from everyone present. 

Everyone had their own thoughts about the situation. The doctor couldn't help but wonder about what he had just witnessed. Nagi was lost in memories of the past where he had been in a similar situation as his poor daughter. As for Nozomi… 

"Mothers are scary" and she was completely right about that one.