Captain Blues: Ahoy-hoy! Captain Blues here with a brand new chapter. It's been a hectic time with taking over my sister's Owl House fanfics/supporting her while also helping my cousin with his multiple sclerosis while juggling a job. It's…It's been rough but I'm hoping to get some help eventually with my cousin's GFM now up and going.

Alright, enough bitching! Let's get this started!

Ansatsuken
Chapter Twenty-Five: Godokuken

"Dear Kushina,

It's been six years since you've disappeared and my heart is as weak as it was when I first found out. You've missed so much in that time. Sasuke is so skilled at his age. Fugaku just taught him his first jutsu and Sasuke took to it like that.

Itachi is in ANBU, beating out Kakashi as the youngest ANBU member. I am so proud of him…He and Sasuke are truly the beacons of this clan.

The Hokage has once again denied my request to adopt Naruto-kun. I am currently trying to find out more information. Despite this setback, both Hiashi-san and I have been watching him as best as we can in the shadows but I know the Hokage will find out and force us to cease protecting him, and the thought alone infuriates me.

You would be so ashamed Kushi-hime at what this village has become after the Kyūbi's attack…You and Minato both and it fills me with shame, Fugaku-kun feels this as well and has been pushing his clan to train harder for the day we go to war.

I see some Uchiha are hesitant to follow his orders, mostly likely due to their loyalty to this village and a part of me wishes I could talk him out of it but I can't…

When you told me that the Uzumaki clan have long lifespans and can survive injuries that would kill normal shinobi, I knew you wouldn't die from having the Kyūbi removed from you, and yet the Hokage says you're dead.

And because of that, he's so intent on making life harder for your child. From keeping Naruto-kun away from us, thus making sure that he is alone and unloved. It's sickening to me, Kushi-hime…

In my heart, you're out there somewhere and my gut is telling me the Hokage knows where and that's why he's so intent on hurting our kids…I know the way I'm doing this is wrong but I don't care. I will do right by you, My Kushina and I won't stop until the Hokage is defeated and I have our kids in my arms…

But I wonder…If we succeed in this coup and we find you, will you come back to me as the woman that I care for or will you fight against me for helping take over the village?

Kami, Kushi-hime, I really need you. I need you so much that I feel like I'm losing my mind. If anything happens to me and you're alive and reading through this…I just need you to know that I miss you.

And I…And I hope you miss me too.

Until we meet again,
Your Kito-chan…"

Sasuke snapped the journal shut, his eyes bleary and red.

Since he returned home, he had spent the last couple of hours reading through his mother's most inner thoughts and he truly didn't know how he felt. So much had been revealed to him through his mother's entries.

His clan was going to perform a coup on Konoha.

Naruto's father, the Yondaime Hokage, had not defeated the Kyūbi but had sealed it within Naruto.

Perhaps the strangest thing, his mother had some deep feelings when it came to Kushina. His mother was so sure that Kushina was still alive and out there and those thoughts of Kushina were fueling his mother's paranoia regarding the Hokage, thus siding with his father to betray Konoha.

From how his mother wrote to her, he felt there was something he wasn't seeing but what?

There was too much he needed to think about.

He needed to get some air.

Sasuke walked out of his home and walked down the Uchiha district when he paused. "How long?" Sasuke inquired.

Behind him, Tenten stood on the edge of a roof, staring down at him with a small frown. "From the moment you left the Hokage's Tower," Tenten answered as Sasuke turned to look up at her. "I tried to get your attention but you failed to spot me so I followed you." Tenten hopped off the roof and approached him. "I was waiting to make a dramatic entrance to invite you to grab a bite to eat but…It never came. I truly didn't mean to eavesdrop on anything."

"Hm…" Sasuke hummed. "So, you heard everything."

Tenten nodded.

Sasuke looked away from Tenten and stared at the sky. "Would you think it odd that I'm a little relieved at this?" Sasuke questioned. "At knowing I wasn't alone while reading all of this?"

"Honestly? No, I don't," Tenten answered. "From all those journal entries, it was all so heavy. Not one person could handle all of it. I certainly couldn't…"

Sasuke nodded in agreement.

"Still, I feel bad for eavesdropping on some seriously heavy stuff…" Tenten told him as she rubbed her arm. "If there is anything I can do to make up for it, I'll do—"

"Dinner," Sasuke answered. "Treat me out tonight. As you intended. Help me take off of it."

"Alright. Let's head to Kuwabara's. Order whatever you want. My treat," Tenten grinned. "But Sasuke…If you want to talk about it…Swing around my place. I'm always happy to lend my sparring partner an ear."

Sasuke could see how genuine Tenten looked and allowed a small smile to appear on his face as he nodded and turned away.

Chaos.

That was the world Naruto re-awakened to as he leaned off the ground and looked around. Through blurry eyes, he could see Ino shaking Rock's unconscious body while Hinata and Honoka were treating the unconscious trio of an unknown male and two females, with the male having six arms.

He let out a sharp gasp as he looked down to see that his right thigh, left shoulder, and right hip had been punctured by wooden stakes.

Hinata happened to turn her head to see him stirring and quickly rushed to his side. He could see her mouth moving but the ringing in his ears muffled her words. He shook his head until the ringing slowly ebbed away enough for him to hear "—u okay?"

"I'm okay," Naruto answered with a small grimace. "A little dazed and injured but okay…What caused all of this?"

"I don't know but you, those three over there, and Lee were hit the hardest by it," Hinata explained as she helped Naruto to his feet. "We need to get you to a healer. You're going to bleed out at this rate."

Naruto shook his head and looked around when he noticed someone in the distance. Standing there was a woman with a slender, but feminine build, and fair skin.

Her blazing red hair cascaded around her shoulders and down to the middle of her back, causing a good contrast against the light gray and white high-neck straitjacket she wore with the sleeves shredded below her arms and several white belts all over the upper body with white and gray straps to cover the upper arms.

She also wore white and red pants with several white belts and a sash which hung loose on each side with a gray belt along with a matching cross belt on her waist, and white leg guards.

She also wore a different pair of short boots and black demonic-like gauntlets with a long chain on her neck which was hanging loose on her jacket and a white facemask that covered the bottom half of her face that held a skeleton/scorpion motif. In the woman's hands were glowing fiery chains with a kunai attached to the end of it.

But what startled him was her eyes.

They were a cold and lifeless violet.

"Who is that?" Hinata whispered.

"I don't know…" Naruto panted, his vision briefly darkening. "But I'm getting a real bad feeling in my gut…"

"Ah, shit! That fucking hurts, woman!"

Naruto and Hinata turned their heads to see that one of the unknown girls had leaned off the ground with a wince. Naruto then saw the woman in the distance rear her hand back before lunging it forward as she shouted, "Come here!"

The chain in her hand whipped forward toward the downed redhead but Naruto immediately summoned a clone, who dove in front of the girl to take the chain in its chest, causing it to explode into smoke.

The woman exploded into ash and fire and appeared in front of Naruto and Hinata. "Naruto-kun!" Hinata exclaimed before she pushed Naruto away and met the woman's fists with her palms, which forced Hinata backward into the air, where she skidded to a stop and stepped into her jūken stance.

"Jūken. Acknowledged," the woman said as she held up her hands. "Godokuken: Senchipīdoken."

Hinata's eyes widened as embers floated from the woman's vibrating body as her body began to sway back and forth, her palms facing the ground.

Her teacher, Kō, once taught her that throughout the shinobi world, there are plenty of Taijutsu styles but there was a certain Taijutsu that was heralded as one of the strongest.

That was Godokuken (Five Venom Fist).

This style was powerful as it was the combination of five different Taijutsu styles that five legendary Taijutsu specialists created. While there were a few practitioners who could learn one or even two of the styles, there was no one who could learn all five.

To face even someone who could use one was a challenge to fight.

Unfortunately for Hinata, she was now faced with the venom style that could match or surpass the speed of her Jūken.

This was no time for her to hold back.

Hinata said, "I understand." With a pulse of chakra, Hinata's Dōjutsu activated, causing veins to bulge at the sides of her eyes while her irises changed from lavender to pearl. "Byakugan: Lock on."

With speed that only her Dōjutsu could see, the woman flickered before her and aimed a palm at Hinata's head. Hinata attempted to smack the palm away, only for her palm to fade through the woman's arm, causing Hinata's eyes to widen before she quickly moved her head to the side to avoid the woman's true palm.

Hinata took a step back and barely avoided each of the woman's unnaturally quick palm strikes while attempting to return fire with her own strikes, only for the woman's speed to either smack away or avoid her attacks.

After her right arm was smacked away, Hinata twisted her body and attempted her roundhouse kick, which the woman blocked with her forearm and then pushed away. "Senchipīdoken: Gaidokuken, (Centipede-Fist: Harmful Toxin Fist)," the woman uttered as her right palm flashed green seconds before she slammed her palm into Hinata's stomach, sending the girl skidding backward, her sweater and shirt beneath it ripped, revealing a glowing handprint on her bare stomach.

Hinata ripped off her jacket and took a step forward, only for her vision to blur. She bowled over and violently coughed, causing her to spit out blood.

Hinata's head snapped up to see the woman before her with her right arm cocked back. Hinata dodged to the side to avoid the palm and attempted to strike the tenketsu in the woman's neck that would temporarily disable her from the neck but her vision wavered as more blood spilled from her mouth.

Hinata was barely able to avoid being kicked in the stomach and finally landed a palm on the side of the woman's head, cracking the side of her mask while sending her skidding to the side. The woman recovered and stepped to the left to avoid Hinata's flying palm strike and uttered, "Senchipīdoken: Hyakuzanshu (Centipede-Fist: Hundred Chops)."

Hinata twisted her body and saw several palms flying in her direction. She quickly attempted to deflect the palms but each time she did, her palm would phase through the arm and she would be struck in a different area of her body.

Each strike that managed to hit Hinata's body was so forceful that it ripped the back part of her clothing until the woman's final strike sailed toward Hinata's head. But just before it could strike Hinata down, the woman's palm hit nothing but air.

The woman turned her head to see Honoka standing there with Hinata in her arms. Honoka placed Hinata on the ground and turned to see the mysterious woman. "A new opponent, acknowledged," the woman emotionlessly stated.

Honoka lifted her right arm in the woman's direction while her left arm remained relaxed. "I do not know who you are but you have attacked my home. Under the degree of the Hachijō clan, I, Uzumaki Honoka, will take your life."

"Uzu…maki?" the woman questioned. The woman suddenly moved her head to avoid Honoka's palm strike but Honoka suddenly stepped aside from the Honoka before her and aimed a kick at the woman's head.

The woman stepped back to allow the foot to pass her face as the first Honoka faded away with pale green chakra, leaving only the second one to twist her body to perform an arching palm strike that was covered by pale green chakra.

The woman stepped back to avoid the wave of green chakra only for another Honoka to kneel beneath the previous one and perform an uppercut that took the mysterious kunoichi off her feet and into the air.

The first Honoka vanished as the second one grabbed the kunoichi's waist and launched her to the ground, but the woman recovered and landed on her feet and uttered, "Yōseiken (Fairy Fist). Acknowledged. Godokuken: Sunēkuken (Five Venom Fist: Snake Fist)."

Honoka watched as the woman bent both arms with her palms faced down and straight while jutting her hip out with her left leg crossed in front of her right. Purple chakra formed around the woman's fingers to create talons while the woman's body seemed to move similarly like a snake. Honoka sensed something familiar about the figure's chakra but it was so muted, she couldn't figure it out.

Honoka narrowed her eyes and took a step, causing a mirror Honoka to charge forward with her right palm cocked back. To her surprise, the woman vaulted herself into the air above her mirror self and when she got close, the woman repeatedly darted her arms out toward Honoka.

Honoka took the place of her mirror self and turned around to see the woman landing on the ground and seamlessly slithered on her back toward her before launching herself talons first. Honoka twirled back to avoid the lunging woman, who bounced off of the ground and performed two kicks, which Honoka blocked.

Honoka performed a chop to the woman's shoulder but her opponent slithered around Honoka until she was at her back, grabbed her hip and outstretched arm, and then flipped her off her feet and onto the ground.

Honoka landed with a slam but immediately rolled to the left to avoid the woman piercing her skull and flipped to her feet, where she performed a kick at the woman's head, only for her to twist her body in the same vein of a coiled snake and jab Honoka's stomach twice.

Honoka could feel poisonous chakra flowing through the wounds she just received and immediately placed her left palm against them to purge the poison out while avoiding the woman's swift grounded kicks.

Honoka stepped forward and her mirror stepped out of her to deliver several quick swats of her hand while she jumped into the air to try to attack the woman from both sides but the kunoichi managed to avoid every single strike both she and her mirror threw at her with a shocking ease.

Finally, the kunoichi twisted her body and speared the mirror through the head to dismiss her and then twisted her body to kick Honoka in the face, sending her falling to the ground with a twist. The woman stood upright and lunged her hand toward Honoka's head when she heard something that resonated deep within her.

A thousand birds chirping.

She turned around to see the famed Hatake Kakashi rushing toward her with a Chidori in hand to strike her down. She immediately vaulted over him and landed on the roof of a business before she exploded into ash and fire.

Kakashi skidded to a stop and ceased his Chidori and muttered, "Damn it…"

They got away.

Captain Blues: This chapter went through so many changes and while I'm not satisfied, I figured showing Kushina off just enough with Hinata and Honoka would be enough but she's not quite through yet. Until the next chapter, time to set sail