Paths of Divergence

Phantom

Chapter 55

-Phantom

Cold.

Warmth.

The two sensations collide, separate, and travel to different corners of the Uchiha's body before converging again. It feels akin to healing jutsu as it hovers across but not as refreshing. Rather than slowly mend it forcibly binds. Shizake can hardly comprehend anything going on. He feels a bandage press against his forehead then suddenly a lance of pain as pressure is applied to his ribs.

"You did a great deed today," a feminine voice states.

"D...deed? Wh-what?" Shizake asks through the mental fog.

The woman adjusts the half breathing apparatus for a moment before returning to the Uchiha's wounds. Her words are like static to the ears partially marred by the apparatus but ghost like too. "That... thing. Monster. Person. Though at that point he was hardly even a person anymore," she continues.

"Right. Him. What even was he? I know I delivered attacks that would kill normal shinobi. Yet he..." Shizake says, trailing off before coughing.

"Didn't? That's because he wasn't 'normal' as you so put it. How did you encounter him? We've been searching for him for near decades at this point," she replies as she affixes her ghostly white hair that's bound into a high thread wrapped braid. Her pale blue-gray eyes scan the Uchiha's scarred body, checking for any wounds she had missed. Her eyes affixate over his chest, rather the spot over his heart.

Her eyes cloud over with a faint silver glow as she examines the area. She lifts a hand up as a transparent skeleton like appendage separates from her arm and touches the ethereal thread emanating from the spot. She tilts her head before looking at the boy with a hint of confusion. The silver glow fades from her eyes as she clears her throat before pressing a cotton swab to the boy's brow.

"What was that?" He asks. "Your eyes glowed for a moment."

She shakes her head, "You probably have a lot of questions and I will answer them... but back to my first question, please."

"I was sent here on a fake mission. One of the assassins released that beast from a sealing scroll," Shizake recalls.

The woman nods her head, "I see. That explains why we couldn't locate him. Someone captured Geru and locked him away."

Shizake wheezes up blood, groaning in pain. "Why would you even be after that monstrosity?"

"My master will explain it better. For now, do you know where you are?" she asks.

The boy pinches the bridge between his eyes rummaging through his brain. "Somewhere north... past the hidden glacier village, I think.

"Technically that's correct. However your battle nearly destroyed the valley concealing us. We're in the Shin'en chasm," she says.

"Shin'en chasm? I've never heard of it," Shizake replies.

The woman adjusts her breathing mask again, taking a deep muffled sigh through it. "Most haven't. To be honest I probably would've left you to die but since you brought Geru to us I figured it was the least I could do," she says bluntly.

A sweat drop forms on the Uchiha's forehead, "Gee thanks," he says as he sits up and observes his surroundings.

The sight nearly breaks his brain. Black and red jagged stone pillars surround the chasm in whispering spirals that reach high into the never ending ceiling. A light gray mist blankets the ground pouring in from an unknown source. Off to the side a waterfall cascades into a rocky ravine but on the opposite end the water rises up. Floating stone platforms hover in between the spiraling formations as if they were suspended in stasis.