Archive of Our Own

Mother's Fury.

The sun was in its full glow, illuminating the morning to a point of searing heat. The hallway of the Jujutsu school in Tokyo was occupied by two of the most promising Jujutsu sorcerers born in this generation. Geto Suguru, a boy with his hair tied in a ponytail and a partial bang swept to his right, his eyes narrow and almost closed, walked alongside his best friend who was a stark contrast to him in every way. Gojo Satoru, said to be the strongest sorcerer of his generation, was a boy with white hair reaching his chin paired with glowing blue eyes, and with his sunglasses perched on top it made for a very pleasing visual to the human eye.

"Tengen-sama asked specifically for the both of you. Frankly though, I think this mission might be too much for either of you." Their sensei and incoming principal of the Jujutsu school, a buff man with a short bizarre hairstyle featuring two lines running through his hair in a circular pattern that passed for his fashion sense, spoke as he led them through the corridor.

"Too much...?" The white-haired boy asked, his tone laced with uncertainty and doubt as he kept pace with the man.

"The Star Plasma Vessel." Their sensei, Yaga, said as he led them to his office. "It is time for Tengen to assimilate with her. Your mission is to make sure this happens without any interruptions or failures."

"So a babysitting mission. I do not see what is so difficult about it to the point where it might be too much for us." The black-haired boy pitched in questioningly, watching as his sensei settled into the chair behind his desk. Geto relaxed his back against the office wall.

"You are probably saying that neither of us will be able to see the assimilation through because it involves taking the life of a girl." The white-haired boy, Satoru, added.

A heavy pause settled over the room as their sensei said nothing for a moment before asking.

"Are the two of you taking the mission?"

"Yes, but only if you answer my question first." Gojo Satoru pressed, his voice taking on a serious tone for the first time since hearing of the mission.

"The Uzumaki clan. Is it not their mission to protect and deliver the Star Plasma Vessel for assimilation as it has always been done?"

"It is, but we fear the boy responsible may have grown too close to the vessel. There are concerns he might actually refuse to go through with the assimilation out of his attachment to the girl..." Yaga sighed as he said the words. A messy situation he would not want to find himself in. Every Uzumaki assigned to a vessel knew not to grow attached, but it seemed as though Uzumaki Naruto had grown to be the exception.

"So are we expecting the boy to be a problem for us when we move to take the girl?" Geto inquired, both hands in his pockets as he spoke. A chance to square off against a member of the Uzumaki clan was not one he would pass on easily. They stood on par with the Gojo and Zenin clans in terms of standing, so the boy could be a genius on Satoru's level.

"No. The boy has been sent on a separate mission. He does not know the assimilation is taking place in a few days and has been dispatched to Kenya for an assignment that will most likely take the better part of a week." Yaga revealed, his voice growing solemn as he did, his eyes closing off.

'What a bunch of heartless cowards.' Satoru cursed inwardly as he absorbed what his sensei had just said.

"So then why are we being brought in to protect her if there is no threat from him?" Gojo asked, adjusting his glasses.

"Because there are two groups absolutely intent on preventing the assimilation from taking place. A group called Q, and the Star Religious Group."

"The group Q seeks to upend Jujutsu society by triggering Tengen-sama's rampage. The second, the Star Religious Group, also known as the Time Vessel Association, worships Tengen-sama as a god.

The assimilation is to take place in two days. The both of you are to ensure it happens without interference or interruption." Yaga said with finality, and sent his star students on their way.

•

A Remote Village in Kenya

Naruto walked clad in a white buttoned long-sleeved shirt with white trousers to match, a backpack slung over his shoulders and white sneakers completing his appearance. He was a boy with blue sapphire eyes and three whisker marks on each side of his cheeks, complemented by red hair reminiscent of the Uzumaki lineage he carried. He was, by most accounts, a fairly attractive boy. If you asked Mei Mei specifically, she would not hesitate to agree.

The mentioned Mei Mei was a girl with long blue-white hair tied in a ponytail with two bangs framing her porcelain-like skin. She had dark eyes and red lipstick on her lips, wearing a black tucked-in long-sleeved shirt and a long skirt that reached her ankles.

The two walked along a remote path leading to a village that contained their current mission, the elimination of a curse spirit that had been attacking during every full moon. There had been reports of twenty casualties so far, fourteen of them children aged ten and below.

"Are we close yet?" Naruto inquired, his red hair falling across his eyes. He swiped it back with mild annoyance. 'I might need to cut it sooner rather than later. But not too short. Riko likes it long.'

"Yes. A few minutes at this pace should see us into the village..." Mei Mei answered, her voice soothing and calm, the morning sun intensifying the quality of her features as it fell across her face.

The path the two of them walked was entirely green on both sides, nothing but fields and farmland and everything the countryside holds stretching out before them.

They passed through an array of trees and farms before eventually spotting a small settlement, a village frozen in time and refusing to adapt to the fast-growing technological advances of the modern world, its architecture making that clear from a distance.

The houses were wooden structures and the buildings constructed from stone were fitted with mud mortar, placing them firmly in a rural timeline of their own.

As they drew closer they spotted a wooden bridge leading into the village. The bridge was beaten and unsteady, and as Naruto and Mei Mei crossed it the wood creaked and shifted beneath their feet before they stepped through into the village proper. The moment they crossed what served as the village entrance they were immediately struck by curse spirit energy, their eyes widening in shared shock. It felt as though they had stepped directly into the domain of the curse spirit simply by crossing the threshold.

"Do you sense that?" Naruto whispered to Mei, his tone sharp and alarmed. Neither of them gave any visible reaction beyond the slight widening of their eyes.

"...Yes. Let's make our way to the village leader's house and get the full scope of what is going on here before we act." Mei said with unflinching confidence as they walked past houses whose residents only peered at them from behind windows.

"Hey! Stop there!" A voice broke through the quiet and the two of them halted and turned to find a group of men equipped with household and farming tools.

"Who are you?" One of the villagers demanded, stepping forward. He was middle-aged with a scar on his cheek, his hair cropped in a buzzcut and his body toned and well-built.

"We are investigators sent to begin the search for the missing children and identify the culprit." Mei Mei answered without pause, her tone confident and unwavering.

"Investigators? You?" The man asked, his tone sitting somewhere between doubt and incredulity as he assessed them.

"Finally, they sent someone to help!" A voice cheered from behind the man who had stepped forward, and a chorus followed, whispers of growing relief spreading through the gathered crowd as smiles began to bloom on their faces.

"But you are clearly not natives of this country." The man said, skepticism still lacing his tone.

"We are specialists enlisted from Japan for cases like this." Mei Mei assured him with a small smile.

Naruto had to hand it to her. She lied with a straight face and left not a single crack of doubt in the delivery. He simply followed her lead. She was his superior on this mission, after all. For as long as the Uzumaki clan continued to consider him a failure, it seemed to be his lot in life to be led rather than to lead.

"We would appreciate your cooperation in providing every piece of information you can so we may proceed with the investigation." Mei Mei added.

"Come to my house. We will help you as best we can." The man said, a chorus of agreement rising from the men behind him.

He led them deeper into the village to a house that followed the same construction as every other building there, though the wood used was noticeably thicker. The man brought out stools and placed them for his guests before taking a seat opposite them.

"It began about three weeks ago..." He started as he settled into his chair with a low groan, the sky outside already bleeding into shades of pink and orange as the day slipped away and the night drew near.

"Some of our farmers, after a long day of work, were making their way home when they passed by the old barn at the far end of the village. There they spotted an old woman. Wrinkled skin, long grey hair reaching down to the floor, a hunched back." The man said, a trace of anger creeping into his voice at the description.

Naruto and Mei Mei listened attentively, their minds already working through possibilities of what or who the culprit could be.

"Our men tried to help her. They asked if she needed assistance or had lost her way." The man continued, his tone settling back into its relaxed and measured cadence.

"She said she was looking for her child. Wept bitterly as she begged the men to help her. One of the men took her in since the night had grown too dark to search, and they brought her to his home. But deep into the night, around midnight, she struck."

"Struck?" Naruto asked, his tone pressing for more.

"Yes. She took the child of the man and his wife, hysterically insisting that the child was hers, when everyone here knows full well when that child was conceived. The man and his wife tried to take their child back but it was as though she was using some form of magic. She was manipulating their bodies, turning them and the tools they carried against the villagers who gave chase. The attacks continued until we were forced to put them down." The man said, his voice dropping into a low and solemn register as he reached that part of the account, a tinge of regret evident in every word.

"And for the three weeks since, every full moon, the witch returns to take a child from the village and carry them into the barn at the edge of the forest behind us. Any parent or person who has tried to go to that barn has not been seen since." The man sighed deeply, breathing through his mouth to steady his nerves.

"And by our estimate she is going to appear tod-" He was mid-sentence when a squeal broke through the room as a girl of around five years old came barreling into him with the full force of a child's tackle.

"Father, is it true the witch is going to take me...?" The little girl asked through her tears, hiccuping between each word.

"No. Of course not. Father will protect you..." The man said gently as he patted the girl on her back. Naruto and Mei Mei did not interrupt.

When the man eventually retreated into his home with his daughter, the two of them shifted into something closer to detective mode. Naruto moved toward Mei Mei and lowered his voice.

"Can we be certain it is a curse spirit that is kidnapping the children?" He asked quietly, his tone measured so his words would not carry to ears not meant to receive them.

"Most likely. And thankfully tonight appears to be a full moon. We could resolve this and be on our way before long." Mei Mei added, stroking her chin in thought.

"Hopefully it is not a special grade." Naruto said with a trace of optimism in his voice. 'I need to get home as soon as I can. Riko needs me...'

As Naruto drifted into his thoughts he did not notice Mei Mei watching him with a quiet, appraising look before her gaze eventually moved elsewhere.

"What if we check the barn the village chief mentioned?" Naruto suggested. "Perhaps it is a curse spirit that draws power from the moon. We might be able to catch it off guard before it fully awakens."

"Maybe. But the moon is set to appear at any moment, which may already be too late for that approach." Mei Mei replied, her tone lazily measured in the way she always presented the shortcomings of a plan that was not her own.

"Yeah, you're right..." Naruto conceded, his gaze shifting toward the entrance of the village chief's home, his eyes gleaming with careful contemplation. "About the young girl's proclamation, should we take it seriously?" He asked Mei Mei, who was walking toward the stool and sinking into it, releasing a sigh of relief before she answered.

"...She is one of the children aged ten and below..." She replied smoothly, her tone sultry and calm. "It is better we keep our guard up around the eligible targets than not."

"Alright. Your orders then?"

"We wait here for it to come to us."

The day passed and the moon rose in its full might and intensity, its pale white light illuminating the village beautifully. Houses throughout the settlement lit up with the glow of lanterns, giving the village a sudden warmth and beauty that genuinely surprised Naruto. It was his first time leaving Japan and the experience was not turning out to be bad at all. He decided to take a stroll through the village while Mei Mei remained stationed beside the home of the village head.

Naruto's patrol was interrupted when he was approached by a girl who looked to be around twelve, if he had to guess. Her hair was brown and her skin the same warm shade, shining under the glow of the lanterns. She was carrying a bowl of food.

"Mister Investigator?" Her voice was high and soft. Her cheeks were flushed a shade of pink despite her golden skin and she was doing her best to avoid his gaze, looking anywhere but at him. "Here." She offered the bowl of rice to Naruto, who tilted his head in quiet question. "My mom said I should bring this to you for keeping us safe." She added after he continued looking at her.

"No, it's fine..." Naruto was saying but the way her face fell made him feel guilty, and in his naivety he wanted to wipe the expression from her face entirely. So he took the water from beside the bowl and drank from it, and instantly the girl's face broke into a smile.

"Ahh, I needed that. Thank you." Naruto said with a grin that only deepened the pink in the girl's cheeks. But as he made to move he felt the world tilt, everything drawing slightly closer, and in an instant he fell with a thud, his body weakening and his eyes growing heavier.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but she said she would take my younger sister if I didn't do what she asked!" The girl cried hysterically, brandishing a knife and driving it at Naruto's back. He immediately reinforced his body with curse energy and the blade ricocheted from his skin, flying from her grip and clattering to the floor.

She gasped in shock. Naruto pushed himself upright, curse energy lacing his entire body. He stood wobbly and unsteady, then peered at the girl shaking with fear barely holding herself together. He moved faster than she could follow, appearing behind her and striking the back of her head with precision. She crumpled to the ground without a sound.

"I know you're there..." Naruto said aloud into the open air, his voice steady as he turned in a slow deliberate circle, scanning his surroundings.

"Come out."

"A brat still wet behind the ears dares to give me orders." The curse spirit's voice came from every direction at once, giving Naruto no bearing on its position. His eyes narrowed on a particular direction, his gaze concentrated and still.

In an instant Naruto moved with great footwork, his feet carrying him to the far edge of the village and he was face to face with the cursed spirit, which appeared far more like an old woman than a cursed entity. Hunched back. Long greying hair.

"I am here to exorcise you, cursed spirit." Naruto said, his voice carrying a slight and deliberate respect even as he informed it of its fate.

The declaration drew a snicker from the curse spirit that grew into hysterical laughter before it muttered its next words, its hands forming a hand sign.

"Blood Manipulation: Piercing Blood." A stroke of blood condensed into a single line and launched itself at Naruto with cutting speed. He could only sidestep as the attack grazed his cheek, drawing blood, before it continued past him and tore through the wall of a house behind him. The occupants screamed and fled from their home.

'Blood Manipulation. A Kamo clan technique. How?' Naruto had less than a second to process the thought before the old woman, clad in a single piece of brown clothing, nimbly launched herself upward and charged at him with her movements enhanced by blood. She shaped blood into two daggers as she closed the distance. Naruto's eyes widened at her speed. He reinforced his body with curse energy hoping to absorb the impact but was met only with disappointment as she cut through him at the stomach and then sliced across his arm when he raised it to block. His right arm dropped, useless.

"Stupid boy." She muttered, anger threading her voice as she stood over his bleeding form. "You were misled, as I am sure you were, by Jujutsu society into coming here to exorcise a cursed spirit. But I am no cursed spirit. I am the mother of the current leader of the Kamo clan and of the former leader before him." The old woman declared, pride filling every word, her green eyes carrying a cold and particular power.

"Blood Manipulation: Cellular Replacement Technique." Multiple screams tore through the air the moment she activated it, the pitch and cadence unmistakably those of children.

A pool of blood gathered in the air, clearly illuminated by the moonlight. The villagers who had emerged from their homes gasped as they caught sight of it. The old woman laughed and with a gesture of her hand she directed the blood over herself, a steaming hiss filling the air as it swallowed her form entirely. The quantity reduced, and reduced, until there was nothing left, and in its place a woman stood in the moonlight. Young. Naked. Black luscious hair cascading past her shoulders. Green eyes alight with power.

"Ahh!" The woman moaned in delight. "I'm back. Haha, hahahaha!" She screamed into the night, hysterical laughter carrying across the village.

She retrieved her previous cloak and used it to cover herself.

"Time to finish what I started..." She murmured, appearing to have entirely forgotten about the red-haired boy bleeding out behind her.

"What..." Naruto choked out. "What have you done."

"Hmm." She turned to him as if suddenly remembering his existence.

"Still alive, you brat." She crooned as she walked to where Naruto lay.

"Jujutsu society and their worship of those brats Uzumaki Nagato and Satoru Gojo will meet my fury and the full weight of the Kamo clan upon my return. Sacrificing my daughter to Tengen and being cast out of the Kamo clan when I tried to resist has stayed with me for years. I roamed the world searching for the perfect place to enact my plan and this village was it. A shame about the children, but it had to be done." She said it as though her reasoning were sufficient justification for using and sacrificing children without a second thought.

"The Kamo clan's forbidden curse technique. With it I can extend my life for three centuries should I wish." The black-haired woman said. "During my prime I was regarded as the strongest, the pinnacle of Jujutsu. Now brats from the Uzumaki and Gojo clans are the talk of the world. I am going to remind them." She declared, but was interrupted as a woman with light blue hair swung an axe at her, which she dodged casually with a tilt of her head. The woman lifted Naruto from the floor and positioned herself between him and the Kamo woman.

"Kamo Tomoe... The strongest leader the Kamo clan ever produced..." Mei Mei said through narrowed eyes, her tone carrying equal parts inquiry and disbelief.

"Now here is someone who has done her reading." Tomoe purred, visibly pleased that her legend had endured.

She brought her hands together, pointing them at Mei Mei. "If you know that much about me then I am sure you know this attack as well."

Mei Mei raised her axe defensively in front of her and glanced at Naruto beside her.

Naruto was already assessing the situation. The moment he heard the name Mei Mei had spoken he understood that a straightforward exit was not going to be possible. He had intended to rely solely on curse energy enhancement, but here he was, standing at the edge of revealing his true ability to the world.

"Curse Technique: Yin and Yang Manipulation. Shadow and Light." Naruto said, drawing the attention of both women. They turned to him with varying degrees of surprise etched across their faces.

Two orbs rose from the technique and into the air, one black as the deepest night and the other blazing white, illuminating the village anew as though the sun had descended.

"Blood Manipulation: Convergence!" Tomoe drove her palms toward Naruto as a dense single beam of blood sliced through the air toward him, but it caught only empty space as Naruto vanished.

"Shadow Manipulation: Portal." Naruto announced, appearing behind Tomoe. Her eyes went wide. Mei Mei's did the same. She had known of the Uzumaki clan's so-called failure, and here he was demonstrating he was anything but.

"So the brat has a handle on shadow technique." The woman said, and moved her hands. A beam of blood cut toward him and grazed him, drawing a sharp gasp from Naruto before he slipped into Tomoe's shadow and emerged from Mei Mei's.

Tomoe's wounds sealed over and in an instant she was airborne, standing on a platform of blood that carried her through the air and toward the bridge, retreating.

Naruto drew out the black orb and replaced it with the white one. His skin, which had been absolute black, shifted to a blinding white. His wounds sealed shut in the same breath, the quiet efficiency of his reverse curse technique evident to anyone watching.

"Wait." Mei Mei said, stopping him as he prepared to launch himself into the air after Tomoe.

"The mission is complete. The village is free of the threat. We return." Mei Mei ordered. Naruto looked as though he wanted to argue, but held his tongue.

"Alright." He agreed, releasing the technique. His skin returned to its normal shade. 'At least I will see Riko soon.'

"Mei Mei." Naruto called out. She hummed in response, prompting him to continue.

"Can you keep this between us?" He asked, his gaze on the floor.

Mei Mei regarded him with neutrality before answering. "I do not see what I stand to gain from reporting your secret to Kyoto High." She answered plainly, walking toward the bridge and retying her axe with white bandages as she went.

'It is going to cost your grandfather considerably extra for sending you along with me on this mission if he wants the full account of what happened tonight.' Mei Mei pondered as her gaze lingered on Naruto.

'Uzumaki Naruto. Even with just that glimpse of your curse technique it is clear to me that you are not the inferior thing the world has decided you are.

We will see how it all unfolds when you realize the true reason they sent you on this mission, removing you for the first time since appointing you as bodyguard to the Star Plasma Vessel.'