Lightning's Shadow

(Mikoto's Point of View)

Mikoto Uchiha stood there dispassionately glaring at the now terrified mist swordsmen. The only trace of emotion to be found was in her eyes. It wasn't her expression, nor any sounds or mannerisms; it was her eyes.

Ominously, they gave off a malevolent energy that pierced Mao's mind, ingraining in it the smaller woman's inferiority in front of a god. While Mikoto hadn't achieved that level, to the two swordsmen, she might as well have. The mangekyou's passive genjutsu amplified this difference in the victim's mind.

Glancing at the now semi-berserk jinchuriki, Mikoto's eyes met his. It hadn't been hard. She was the most dangerous being in the area and she had an evolved sharingan; of course it would focus on her.

Not a moment later, she was inside a sewer.

Staring down at her nephew was a massive amalgamation of red bubbles shaped like a fox. The major discerning feature was its crimson red foxlike eyes. Since she could make out the main body of the fox in the seal, this was clearly just a representation of the chakra that broke through.

'If I had to guess, the nine-tails must have seized the opportunity when Naruto was in a near-death state. His body was failing, and his chakra was low, so the seal was at its weakest. It's a similar reason to why a female jinchuriki's seal is weakest during pregnancy.' She concluded.

Naruto was on his hands and knees, struggling to fight off the influence of the beast.

"Funny. Out of all my hosts, you're the most pathetic. Your powers are weak; your tactics are lacking. The most you could do was get that weakling to wound herself." The fox chided mockingly. Its voice was low and gravelly; truthfully, it sounded like it was trying to lower its voice deeper than what was natural for it. Perhaps for intimidation?

"Shut up! What the hell are you!? Where am I!?" Naruto shouted, trying to ward off his fear with false bravado.

"Hmph… You don't even know that!? Hahaha!!" The fox roared in laughter as if it had been told the funniest joke in the world. "Kid, you're – "

"You're inside your mind. I'll explain it after this fight's over. Right now, just leave this to your dear old aunt." Mikoto interrupted the fox, startling Naruto.

"Uchiha!!" The fox roared in rage; its fury stoked by the familiar feeling emanating from her mangekyou sharingan. "How dare you show yourself in front of me!!??"

Despite the beast's booming voice and the overwhelming hatred-filled malice it directed at her, Mikoto ignored it. No Uchiha with a fully matured sharingan, let alone one with a fully evolved mangekyou, would ever be afraid of a tailed beast.

"Aunty!? What are you doing here!?" He asked, confusion clear on his face. Unconsciously though, he relaxed. Everything would be fine if she was here.

"I'm your back-up." She explained with a smile. Turning her head over to the fox, her smile turned stern.

"Be happy boy. My true warden is here to clean up your mess. She's come to put the collar back on the both of us." The nine-tails growled out in annoyance. It knew that with an Uchiha here, it just lost its chance to influence its container, to play on his fears and insecurities. That didn't mean it wouldn't try to confuse him a little before its inevitable suppression.

That was the worst part about this one, the boy had multiple Uchihas in his family and a solid support structure. Getting him addicted to its power would be challenging. It would be a long-term project to be sure.

"I must thank you for saving his life." Mikoto thanked, her face still stern. "But I will warn you just this once. Back off. Your hatred isn't wanted. The boy's done nothing to you and we will not let you harm him." Her voice was iron as she delivered her warning.

"YOU!!!" Furious, the fox projection prepared to lunge at her, only to stop in its tracks. Mikoto's mangekyou pattern now reflected in its eyes; it was like looking into a mirror.

'Kotoamatsukami: Divine Covenant' her left eye flashed for a moment, embedding the fox's mind with a binding covenant.

This was her left eye's mangekyou ability, a variant of Kotoamatsukami with the power to create a covenant that both she and the target had to follow when agreed to by both parties; failure to comply with the agreed upon terms would result in death. Unfortunately for the beast, its kind could be forced to accept any covenant through the sharingan's mind domination. Humans didn't have this weakness.

The contract was as such. The beast couldn't pass Naruto more chakra than it believed he was capable of handling without losing his mental faculties. If he realized it was too much for the boy to handle, he was to immediately pull it back to safe levels.

If Naruto wanted to fight without the fox's chakra, it was to withdraw all support outside of healing functions. It must always keep enough of its chakra flowing through Naruto's system to both power the healing function and expand his own available chakra pool. If it believed Naruto was going to die, it would immediately push the needed chakra into the flying thunder god tag built into the seal to teleport Naruto back to the village.

It would not act with the intention of escaping nor setting the conditions to escape. Mikoto agreed to not subjugate the nine-tails with her sharingan as long as this contract is in effect and is being upheld. Naruto could void this contract if he had the consent of either Minato, Mikoto, Kushina, or Kamui.

Truthfully, Mikoto didn't have to add the restriction on her part. It was simply a show of good faith on her part and trust in the contract she created. Plus, she could always modify it if Naruto wanted to. He just had to ask her to void it and she could reinstate it. While this mangekyou ability was extremely taxing, that was not the case with tailed beasts.

If Minato had let the boy know of his status earlier, she would have created this covenant then, but he wanted him to have a relatively normal childhood, unaware of his full destiny. It was an admirable goal, though it did result in the boy's lack of true motivation to improve; the same could be said for her youngest son. Had they bore the same drive as their sister, they likely wouldn't have needed her help here. This experience was a good, albeit painful, lesson.

"I would not enslave you beast, but I will do what I must to protect my nephew. Truthfully, I pity you. What you have become is a shell compared to what our clan's records described you to be. To think a guardian of humanity would fall so low; to think you would become an apparition of hatred and malice. Pity." The steel in her voice gave way to pity towards the end.

Although it couldn't react to her words, it heard every one of them. If it was furious before, it was livid now. An Uchiha had no business feeling pity for what her clan did to it. Still, it could do nothing with her spell in effect.

And with those words, both Naruto and Mikoto were removed from the mindscape. With it, all the fox's chakra returned to the seal. Escaping would be impossible now without their family's consent.

"*Growl* The blasted wench. Those damn eyes!" For the next few hours, the fox would rage about in Naruto's mind, reminded of the pair of mangekyou that destroyed his life all those years ago.

Real World

While the conversation inside Naruto's mind may have been of moderate length, in reality, it was only an instant, a glance. With that, Naruto's cloak of chakra receded, leaving him to pass out in a Kakashi clone's waiting arms.

The jonin body-flickered back to Sasuke and the bridge builder. Nearby, the clone that protected Sakura had used Zabuza's distraction to go back to Sakura and bring her to the rest of the group. Now, the original group was back together. Kakashi worked with his clones who provide field first aid to Sakura, Naruto, and Tazuna who had been injured in the crossfire.

Earlier, when Naruto bombarded the forest, he had taken out one of Zabuza's clones, the one creating the mist. As such, the scene was almost completely clear. The nine-tail's chakra had blown the remaining mist away with ease.

"I see you've roughed up my precious little boys and their teammate. Considering you figured out their value to both the Hokage and the village and still went for the kill, you're clearly out of your minds." Mikoto asked, her tone lacking any strain or emotion.

In the village, there was no Uchiha alive who has refined their mangekyou abilities longer than Mikoto. She has had sixteen years at this point to do so. While she may not have been considered a prodigy before. Kamui's birth's influence on her body plus her awakened mangekyou unlocked the cap on her potential that had previously been present.

Mao's body trembled. She had a hard time even looking the kunoichi in the eyes. The sheer presence she radiated was too much for her to take.

Still though, she took a deep breath, pushed her chakra through her system a little faster and looked up at the eyes that held her with such contempt.

"T-they knew the rules. When y-you take a mission…, bloodlines don't matter…, families don't matter. Only results do. Those little squirts don't get special privileges out here." At the start, she stuttered getting the words out. Closer to the end, her confidence started to build. Still, she was afraid.

While her instincts compelled her to run, it was what she saw with her dojutsu that crippled her ability to think properly. In her eyes, Mikoto's power, relative to hers, was on a different level. She was a monolith that towered above her, a Kage-level combatant. Not only that, but the speed of her attack wasn't something Mao's eyes could follow. She was confident that she and Zabuza couldn't escape without her consent.

"Oh? I understand that logic, but I also understand the general thought process of showing mercy to the young. I understand that this world isn't so simple as to waive off deaths of VIPs as casualties of the mission. Wars have been started from less. That's why we take care to avoid unnecessary deaths on missions. It's out of respect and caution. It's clear you don't understand this simple truth." Again, her words lacked emotion. When she got to the next part though, they shifted to contempt. "Regardless, you have proven yourself to be a rabid animal."

'Raiden: Stage 1' At her command, both of her eyes flashed crimson. Almost immediately, bolts of black lightning exploded out of her body, coating it in a cloud of seemingly divine lightning. [1]

'Futsunomitama.' Her right eye glowed brighter for a moment before the cloud started funneling large volumes of black bolts into the shape of a chokuto, a straight, single-edged sword measuring at 2 Feet 7 Inches. Each second that continued to pass allowed more black lightning to funnel into the sword. [2]

"As such you must be put down."

Mao mustered every bit of concentration she had to bite back her response.

'How dare this bitch talk down to us!? Just because Konoha can afford to be nice little shinobi doesn't mean the rest of us can. That's not how this works!' she thought frustratedly.

'Raiden: Lightning Steps'

In a black flash, Mikoto was in front of her, preparing to strike the girl down. Her speed augmented by the lightning cloak wasn't something Mao could properly track. It was due to her many years of experience that allowed her to barely raise her sword in time for defense.

'Raiden: Lightning Flash' When the sword came down, a similar sword wave to the one she used previously was released, crashing into the raised Splatter. Caught on the traveling wave, she was sent flying.

"AAAHH!!!" she screamed in pain as she was assaulted with millions of volts of electricity. What's worse, the electricity ripped through the paper bombs embedded in her sword, disabling them all. It would take at least a month before she had enough for use in A-ranked combat.

This was something she didn't account for. She was holding a metal weapon and fending off a wave of lightning. Even if she blocked the wave, the electricity would still travel through the conductive blade, down the handle, and into her tightly gripped hands, burning them severely. It was due to her many years of cultivated willpower that she was able to keep holding onto the blade long enough to save her life.

Eventually, she crashed into a tree after barely altering the trajectory of her fall away from the wave. Still, the blade slipped out of her hands after having done so and had flown off in a different direction. At this point, she had third degree burns on her arms, damage to her organs, and involuntary twitches from almost every muscle in her body. Still though, she was conscious, if barely.

It was lucky for Mao that Mikoto was only using Raiden's stage one or that attack would have ended it. Still, it spoke to her high competence that she could even block that level.

"Mao!" Zabuza exclaimed with concern as he rushed to engage the black demoness that had attacked his comrade.

"Oh? Zabuza Momochi showing compassion? How rare?" Mikoto commented from Mao's previous position. While she focused on the incoming demon, he wasn't the only one she noticed. During Mao's previous scream, another presence became clear to her; it was also this presence that made Mikoto's eyes widen oh so slightly.

Zabuza ran through a set of hand signs.

'Water Release: Water Drilling Bullet Barrage.'

In the air around him, drill-shaped bundles of water formed and started to spin. Two seconds later, they shot out toward Mikoto from different directions.

After what just happened to Mao, he knew he couldn't use his blade against hers. Metal weapons simply weren't a good match against Kage-tier lightning users. As such, he had to rely on water release. Fortunately, water release's power and versatility increased drastically in humid climates like this.

'Raiden: Lightning Steps.' In a blur of black lightning, she escaped the encirclement of water bullets and appeared behind Zabuza.

In a quick motion, she slammed the butt of Futsunomitama into Zabuza's back, pumping just enough electricity into the man to ruin his motor functions for the next ten minutes.

"Ahh!!" He roared in pain as he collapsed to the ground, convulsing in the same way Mao was.

"You know…" She commented with an unimpressed stare. "I planned on killing you. I was really going to, but something changed my mind." She said, confusing the two-convulsing shinobi.

Her gaze fixed on a tree in the distance, south of their position.

Both shinobi's eyes widened at the action.

"N-No!! Please don't!" Mao screamed. That was all she could do though; her body was too battered up to do much else. In fact, all Mao could do was flail her legs and try to get them listening to her pleas.

Zabuza was less vocal. Instead, he gritted his teeth as he used every ounce of strength that he could muster into trying to stand up, emphasis on trying.

Mikoto shook her head.

"I'm not going to kill him. I just realized what you're fighting for. Come out kid. I think we're done fighting." She explained.

Hesitantly, a black-haired feminine boy came out of the trees and slowly approached the group.

He looked to be around 17 years old with an androgynous appearance that could be called beautiful by the unaware. He had a slender frame, long black hair gathered into a bun via a white bun holder with two locks of hair framing his face, pale-white skin, and large, dark-brown eyes.

His outfit consisted of the standard Kiri brown pinstriped full-body outfit which stopped at his knees. Over this, he wore a green haori with white trimmings, and around his waist a brown sash with a fringed trail wrapped around his waist twice. He also wore light-brown platoon sandals with straps in the same color as his haori and nail polish on his fingernails and toenails in matching blue green color. Lastly, he wore a black forehead protector with Kiri's symbol upon it and on his right wrist was a black sealing bracelet that had the words 'Sewing Needle' written in Kanji.

He was long prepared to interfere and save the others by ambushing the Uchiha but was silently signaled by Zabuza to remain hidden regardless of their fates. He was strong, but all three of them knew he wasn't Kage-level. From the trembling of his hands, Mikoto could clearly tell that he wasn't very comfortable sitting out of the fight. After all, it was his insistence to interfere that gave away his position.

'Impressive. He might even be stronger than these two… I wonder what fighting him would be like?'

"Since these two are out of commission, let me ask you something. Are you truly missing shinobi?" She paused to let the words hang in the air. "Or are you rebels?"

The downed shinobis' eyes widened at the question. Nobody should have known their true affiliation with the rebels. Yes, Zabuza may have attempted to assassinate the Mizukage, but officially, he was on his own. Actually, the biggest reason they planned on killing the Konoha team in the first was to prevent anyone from learning of their partnership. After all, if Konoha took this mission, they may find clues that would associate them together.

The silence was all Mikoto needed.

"So, our intel was right. Mao and Zabuza raised an adoptive Yuki Clan child, Haku Yuki. We've had reports that you two may be a couple, but nothing concrete. I guess this proves it and from the kanji on the boy's wrist, he seems to be the inheritor of The Sewing Needle." Mikoto's tone had lost any edge it may have had by this point. Now, it was more casual, as if she were discussing the weather.

This time, everyone's eyes flew open, including the genin team. Two members of the seven swords possibly marrying and raising the third outside of Kiri's control was massive news. With two others being confirmed aligned with the rebellion, that's five of the seven swords.

Considering the swords were major symbols of their strength and prestige, news like this could lead other nations to declaring war on the clearly weakened nation. It didn't even have to be one of the other five. With their internal struggle, even a minor nation could do so.

Having this realization themselves, the three swordsmen trembled in frustration. They may no longer be officially registered Kiri shinobi, but they still loved their homeland. They just disagreed with the current leader and his policies against bloodline shinobi. Above all, they didn't want their village to be seen as easy pickings.

Seeing the desired reactions, Mikoto's lips curved into an easy-going smile.

"Seeing that we're all on the same page, how about we form a contract… and don't worry about trust; I have a Jutsu that will make it binding for both parties." Hearing this, the three rebels went on guard.

'Kotoamatsukami: Divine Covenant' her left eye glowed as it quickly made eye contact with each of them at least once.

"Konoha will give you the means to suppress the current Mizukage, the perfect jinchuriki of the three tails. In exchange, you three will serve Konoha as Konoha shinobi ambassadors to Kiri after the current Mizukage's death. You will work to establish and maintain a peace treaty between our two nations.

"Your lives will be contingent on you remaining the wielders of your current weapons and a seal will be applied to the swords to ensure no one else but you can use them during the length of the contract. This contract will remain for 15 years. If Kiri goes to war with Konoha in this time, you will be recalled to Konoha and will become Konoha shinobi permanently.

"Lastly, the first thing you will do after recovering from our current fight is assassinating Gato and ensuring Tazuna is able to build the bridge in the wave. Do we have an agreement?"

Haku pondered for a moment. Altogether, it was a good deal. Mei had expressed interest in a trade agreement with Konoha and the current generation of Konoha Hokage candidates were honorable. Although they would officially be Konoha shinobi, they would still be able to help Kiri and would be treated as Kiri shinobi for as long as peace between the two villages exists. There was also another consideration that made this a good deal. Konoha was much too powerful to go to war with, so they hadn't planned on doing so in the first place.

As for killing Gato; well, as long as they can win the rebellion, who cares. It would be a stain on their reputations, but they had their priorities. Still though, he needed his parent's inputs.

Glancing at his parents, he saw a resigned nod from Mao, who likely focused on Mikoto's power over them, and a hesitant nod from Zabuza, who most definitely focused on the practical win-win. Haku's adoptive father would rather die than submit to a deal against his values, so if he accepted, it was absolutely because he valued the deal itself.

'Seriously? Did they really make such a life altering decision that fast? You would think they would have compared pros and cons jointly, taking their time in making the final decision. Then again, ninja like them survive on quick decisions and these conditions are favorable all things considered. The rebellion simply doesn't have enough power to take on the current mist government and its jinchuriki Mizukage. We do. It's as simple as that.' Mikoto pondered.

"We accept." Haku stated,

Mikoto nodded in acknowledgement. Her left eye glowed even brighter and once again made eye contact with the three of them. As it did, blood leaked out of her left tear duct; it wasn't much, but it wasn't common for eyes as matured as hers to do so.

As for the three contracted Kiri, they could feel what felt like shackles form in their minds. It was an odd feeling. It wasn't uncomfortable, it was just a barely noticeable pressure on their spirits. They quickly found that if they focused on that pressure, the terms of the contract would appear in their mind, reminding them of their obligations and potential consequences.

Finally, the light died down and Mikoto's left sharingan deactivated. While the contract with the nine-tails took virtually no effort, three humans were a lot. There were a lot of stipulations in this one, and they weren't inherently subservient like the nine-tails was to her eyes.

It wouldn't be wise to use that ability for at least a few months. She still could, but the strain would start damaging the internal structure of her left eye, no matter how 'eternal' it was. Already, she pushed it beyond her previously defined limits and not in a good way; the blood leaking out of it was proof of that.

"Once I finish bringing them back to Konoha, I will personally return to deliver the goods. Since you'll be guarding the bridge builder for the next few months, I'll meet your there. Oh, and don't worry about your injuries, I'll send a message to the Hokage in a moment to request a medic capable of treating you. Just lay low for a bit." Mikoto explained.

Normally, she'd delegate delivery tasks, but if something went wrong with the shipment and she didn't hold her end of the bargain, her eyes would kill her. It was important she personally verified the completion of any conditions she agreed to when bound to the covenant.

Sighing, Mikoto turned to the Konoha team that was still trying to get Sakura properly patched up and walked toward them.

'Naruto looks good as new. At most, he looks like he got scuffed up in training; well, on the surface. Jinchuriki really have it good.' She thought, completely ignoring the cheat code that is the sharingan.

Looking away from the battered Jinchuriki, she then looked at her son, who's eyes looked much duller than she remembered; clearly, his pride had suffered crippling damage.

'Sasuke's pride definitely looks wounded, though hopefully my demonstration shows him that there's a world of potential for him to unlock.'

Shifting her gaze to the wounded Kunoichi genin, she had a brief thought.

'It's clear that we'll need to have a serious talk. This will be a major fork in her life. Does she quit being a shinobi after experiencing their world's reality, or will her motivation ignite from a candlelight to a bonfire.'

Mikoto really wanted the girl to succeed. She was the ideal that the Hokages, past and present, strove to create, whether Minato realized it or not. She was a civilian who got to enjoy her childhood without being raised in a culture of war. Sure, it'll take her longer to acclimate to shinobi life, but if she can succeed in becoming a splendid ninja, then that lends credence to their naïve dreams.

As for the mist ninja, they were no longer of any concern, so she ignored them and let them lick their wounds.

Truthfully, she would have preferred to kill them, take their weapons, and further solidify Konoha's powerbase. Unfortunately, her husband wouldn't want that. He would want an alliance over hegemony, an idealistic mindset inherited by an idealistic pervert.

Regardless of her feelings on the matter, he was both her husband and Hokage, so she deferred to his judgement, albeit reluctantly. That said, she made sure to secure their loyalty in the contract to get as close to her desired outcome as possible.

Now, she just needed to brief the group and take the genin team back to Konoha. Well, she'd take the genin. Kakashi would be protecting the mist trio until they were in good working condition. Only then was he allowed to return to Konoha. That would give the Hokage plenty of time to prepare the jonin's in-village punishment.

Seeing Mikoto ignore them, Haku body flickered to Zabuza, grabbed him, did the same with Mao, and laid them next to each other on the ground. He wanted to take them away, but he needed to secure the bridge builder now that a contract was in place. He was well aware of the price of failure.

'*Sigh*' I don't know much about those eyes, but aren't they a little too powerful…?' Haku thought in resignation.

Footnotes

[1] Mikoto doesn't have a Susanoo. Instead, she has Raiden, an ability that allows her to channel divine lightning. In its first stage, it works like the Raikage's lightning armor; it progresses closer to a human-sized Susanoo at the higher stages. Raiden's other useful benefit is granting Mikoto the ability to apply this lightning to her offensive jutsu, increasing their speed and power. The downside is that it consumes massive amounts of chakra, especially at its higher levels. Mikoto can sustain level one for hours, level two for an hour, and level 3 for five minutes at most. These estimates don't take her combining Raiden with Futsunomitama into consideration.

[2] Mikoto's Futsunomitama is extremely simple. It lets her project her chakra as swords. The specific shape is up to her, and the power is dependent on the type of chakra used to fuel it. The cost of this ability is proportional to the quality of chakra being fed into it. In most cases, combining a nature transformation with this ability is the strongest offensive means Mikoto can create with that element. The sword's augment feature works best with lightning and therefore is extremely compatible when working with Raiden. Of course, using both together increases the chakra consumption greatly.