A True Family (Naruto Fanfiction)

Part 20

It was a couple of years later when I saw my Mother waiting for me in my room.

"Ayumi, I want to make a deal with you." Mother stated.

"A deal?" I asked as I entered the room and sat in front of Mother.

"Yes... I want you to become the sole person to be chosen for the ritual and in exchange I will not punish your siblings' disobedience and for the next few years there won't be anymore chosen to be a part of the ritual." My eyes widened.

"I see... then I accept." I said without hesitation. If I do this, then it'll give a few more years for my eldest brother's training.

"Very good, get going." I nodded, stood up and walked out. Slowly walking to the Divine Tree, on the way there I heard running. When I looked behind me, I saw my siblings running at me.

"Sister Ayumi, what are you doing?" Brother Hagoromo asked, panting ever so slightly. "We received a message that you were chosen to be a part of the ritual, what does that mean?!"

"Exactly like it sounds like." I sighed. "Mother confronted me with a deal and when she offered, I knew she had found out about the plan. So I accepted the deal and now you eldest brother have more time to train." They looked terrified at me, like I had committed murder or something.

"But you'll die." They breathed.

"Yes, but you'll have a higher chance at victory when you confront Mother." I countered, I turned away and continued my death march. When my brothers realized that I was walking away from them, they tried to block me. When this continued for a few more minutes, I stopped walking and looked straight at them, activating my Mangekyo Sharingon.

"Sister Ayumi, when did you-?"

"Little more than a decade ago when I discovered the truth of the Divine Tree and when I accidently injured Gamamaru-sensei." I stated. And then I glared at them. "Get out of my way or I will force you to." They stood firm and I intensified my glare, but they still wouldn't move. I placed them in a genjutsu, and they passed out on the ground. Once they were completely passed out, I continued my death march to the Divine Tree.

I had finally made it, I walked to the tree and into the roots where I saw hundreds of bodies mummified in wood. I walked past them and went straight to the middle, where I saw many strands of wood wrap themselves around me. When they did, I stopped walking and let them attach themselves to me.

"What makes you human, child?" A large figure asked, it's ten-tails gracefully moved around.

"My mortality." I answered, as I was being mummified by the thin but wide strands of wood.

"Would you trade your mortality for-?"

"No."

"Why is that so?"

"Because losing my mortality would mean that I would have to watch my comrades, friends and family die and I would have to live with the fact that I would never be able to join them." I explained. "It would be the most torturous thing in the world."

"I'm sorry, child." It apologized.

"What for?" I asked back.

"For choosing you."

"Choosing me? What do you mean?" I asked as the strands almost covered my view of the ten-tailed creature.

"To become the host of half of my power." Then it was dark, so dark. I hated it. I suddenly felt immense pain, it burned like a wildfire, spreading wherever it wanted. Then it stopped after what it felt like hours and I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. Taking in what I saw, my brothers were standing above me with faces full of relief.

"So... did I get you enough time? Did you do it?" I asked as I was lifted from the wilted wooden wrapping.

"Yes, yes you did." They smiled at me and carried me away to where Gamamaru-sensei waited for us. There Brother Hagoromo showed the split soul of the ten-tails. When he was asked what he would do with them, he said he would take care of them himself and raise them to help and trust the humans. Then Brother Hagoromo absorbed them in his fist. Then Brother Hamura said he will stay by Mother, then he explained why. I smiled at him as he explained and held my tears as he left to be by Mother's side.

"Brother Hagoromo..." I started, his attention on me. "I need you to help me with something."

"With what?" He asked.

"To help seal my soul into different parts." I answered quietly.

"Is there a reason why you want this?"

"Yes... when I sacrificed myself to the Divine Tree, I met a beast with ten-tails. It told me that it had chosen my to become the host of half of his power." I explained. "It's probably why I didn't die that day..."

"I see. Well that will explain why we saw you with eleven tails when we found you in the center of the ten-tails." My brother only smiled at me. "Shall we begin?"

"Yes." He laid me on the ground and started to draw a sealing circle around me. Once he was done, he gave me a sign that he was about to start, and I nodded at him in acknowledgement. It began... the extreme pain of a burning sensation filled my chest and slowly, translucent gems all the same size and shape came out. The process lasted for what it seemed like hours and finally there were eleven gems circling around me. When Brother Hagoromo ended the sealing, all but one gem went back inside my chest to be stored at and the left-out gem turned into a white/silver color and a thin metal chain transformed the gem into a necklace and said necklace wrapped itself around my neck. Once it was all over, I carefully sat up and looked at my brother. "Thanks..."