Story Title: Village Hidden in the Bay

Crossover: Worm/ Naruto

Disclaimer: This is a fanfiction. No profit is made from the story. Just a fan's way of keeping the fandoms alive.

Summary: She was destined to be the saviour of her world. She was the fated antihero, coming into power on Jan 2011. Yet webs of fate could be altered. Realities away, a forbidden technique was used, and the web of destiny… was shattered.

Author's Note:

Worm belongs to Wildbow (A remarkable grimdark parahuman web story. The whole dark setting of the universe made it an ideal fanfiction project for crossover fandoms, powers mix and match, just to make the apocalyptic universe have a better outcome.)

Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. One of the best Manga and Anime series. I lost track off it during the Naruto: Shippuden arc. I however still have fond memories of my Naruto manga collection from the first arc.

Chapter One - Awakening

Bureaucracy of Deaths, Multiverse Sector C-13

The universe is in a constant cycle… of order and chaos, peace and suffering, life and death. Each universe is a stream of creation sheathed in reality, and each reality spirals constantly in the near infinite multiverse.

In the great darkness, within the Source of All Origins, the Eternals were born, each governing a Cosmic Aspect, scattered in all the realities of the multiverse, to ignite chaos, to maintain order. Most mortal knew not of their existence, but of the cosmic aspects they represented, a minority were known, and feared by the mortals.

One such aspect was Death.

The Eternals of Death, stewards of souls, would collect the souls of the departed, return them to the Source of All Origins, where one day those souls would be called again into the infinite realities, reborn into new life.

The cycles were never broken, though once in a while, several civilizations or powerful mortals would find a way to place several stumbling blocks upon the cycles of mortality. One such bump, was occurring now, between two far flung realities.

The Eternals of Death situated within that area of realities, froze in their duties as the disruption sent ripples of abnormality through the multiverse. Their All Seeing Eyes found the perpetrator, a powerful mortal, one who called himself a ninja. The ninja had twisted his own soul and body as he continued his quest to gain immortality.

This ninja as of current time, was fighting against his own kind. He was also attempting a ninja technique that was forbidden. The technique would summon the souls of the dead, to place those souls within mortal containers, so that the he could animate three deceased and incredibly powerful ninjas of his world. These reanimated ninjas would be bond to the summoner's will, placed under his full control.

Two of the souls that were summoned, still lies within the Source of All Origins. The disruption to their soul cycles were at a bare minimum. The third soul to be summoned was however already reborn into two other realities. Temporal timelines after all had little effect on soul reincarnations. Parallel reincarnations of the same soul at the same time were however quite rare and would only happen under extremely circumstances dictated by the Fates.

The powerful reanimation technique used by the ninja would tear a piece of the soul that had been reborn, to summon it into mortal container under the ninja's control. Following the path of the reincarnated soul, one half of the soul, a male child, was reborn into the same world as the ninja, and would remain protected from the soul tearing due to a powerful death god seal attached to him. The second half, a female child born into a far flung reality, had no such protection.

The trauma of having a piece of one's soul torn away, would send the mortal body of the soul's female reincarnation into shock. Worst case scenario, the current female reincarnation would expire before its time, its soul returning to the Source of All Origins to wait out its next rebirth after its male half joined it. Best case scenario, the mortal self of the female reincarnation would survive, however memories of its previous lives would began remerging, perhaps even altering her physical body in ways unforeseen.

The Eternals of Death observed the situation for a long moment, a twinkle in the seas of time, then they relaxed. The female reincarnation would survive. The situation would smooth itself out without their intervention, though the Eternals of Fate would be having bitching fits about sorting out the now tangled web of destinies in a far flung reality.

The Eternals of Death took out their blacklist and wrote down the perpetrator's crime.

Deaths' Blacklist

Orochimaru Takuru.

Current reincarnation cycle. C Rank. Human.

Current Reality 647-A894. Sector 746. Planet 567.

Current Transgression. Bearing intent to disrupt soul cycle of 3 souls. Successfully disrupted soul cycle of 2 souls. 1 of which was reincarnated. Destiny of reincarnation under peril.

Total Transgression to date. Disrupted soul cycle of 7 souls.

Transgression tolerance has been exceeded.

Punishment to be given. D Rank reincarnation cycle.

To be submitted for Eternals of Fate's approval. Sending….

…

…

…

Approved.

OoooO

Reality 8757-A41, Earth, 28th May 2010

The 6 hours ride from Delaware to Brockton Bay was killing her back. Sarah Livsey... no it was Lisa Wilbourn now, stretched lazily on the back seat of the bus, hearing a few bones popping. She could see the morning sun hanging over the highway and turned back to observe the few people that actually took the morning bus into the infamous city she was going to.

Her questing eyes landed on the business man in the front row, dressed in a worn overcoat, carrying a briefcase to his chest. Beside him was a travel luggage. Her mind whirled as she released her power, analysing each detail of the man.

Age 35. Caucasian. Lost his old job, have found new employment in Brockton Bay. Nervous and uptight about his soon to be new life. Not carrying much money, neither does he have much savings.

Lisa blinked at the influx of information, shaking her head. The amounts of analytic info she could glean using her power still felt terrifying at times, but it was also empowering to her own ego. She could tell what someone's character was and their probable intentions just by looking and observing them. Nobody could hide anything from her.

Using her power too much tends to give her a migraine, but it was not as though there was anything to keep her occupied on the bus after all. Analysing a few ordinary people would not cause her powers any problems so she might as well get in some practice with her parahuman ability. Tilting her head, she observed the two roughly dressed couples snuggling into each other, while an old lady seated across from them was averting her eyes.

Tattooed. Asian punks. Gang markings on forearm. Most probably belong to one of Brockton Bay's gang. Arrogant in knowledge no one will mess with them. Seeking trill of excitement in public exhibition of their sexuality. Going to be doing more than snuggling and kissing soon.

Lisa snorted, rolling her eyes at the information coming to her. It had been three months since she triggered… since her brother's death. And there were times she was still astonished about the dirty details she could find out about people. There were times where her power was both a gift and a curse, wrapped in one tidy package. Her thoughts idly wandered to what she knew of her own ability and parahuman powers in general.

Ever since 1982, following the first appearance of Scion, the first known seemingly immortal and all powerful parahuman, ordinary humans had begun triggering in great times of stress, gaining superhuman powers and abilities. The term capes was widely used to describe parahumans, people with superpowers. The name actually came about when a lot of the first generation capes began dressing in costumes to hide their identities.

The 1980s had been a time of great chaos, as a lot of those who gained superhuman abilities used their powers for selfish or wanton reasons. It was only when a group of powerful capes and government officials got together, forming an organisation in U.S to combat parahumans who misuse their powers, that order was reinstated. The initiative began to spread worldwide until today where almost every major country in the world have some form of parahuman defence task force.

The U.S based parahuman task forces became known as the Protectorate, and capes who worked under them were termed Heroes. The capes that actively used their powers for crimes became known as Villains, while those who stayed neutral in the 'cop and robber games' became the Rogues.

Then the appearance of three horrifying superpowered and inhuman monsters in the late 1980s nearly broke the tenacious peace. Given the term Endbringers, the three beings known as Behemoth, Simurgh and Leviathan were named due to their appearances and powers. No one knew if they were aliens or they were constructs created by some powerful parahuman. All everyone knew was that they wrecked great destructions across Earth at periodical intervals.

Even till today, no one knew why the Endbringers would attack cities and people. The attacks were so random and powerful that they were treated as natural disasters. Parts of Japan and Newfoundland were totally devastated by their attacks and millions of lives had been lost through the decades. It spoke of how dangerous they were that Heroes, Rogues and Villains would work together under a universal truce when the Endbringers appeared.

Humans however were resilient as a species, and with threat of massive casualties, plans were made to minimize death and destruction during Endbringer attacks. Education on parahuman history and powers were also taught in most school around the globe. Most of the governments in the world wanted their citizens to be aware of the dangers of Endbringers and capes, and how to identify possible parahumans when they came into their powers.

The Protectorate also explored more effective methods to locate the increasingly numerous capes that triggered, in hopes one could trigger a power that could deal with the Endbringers. Of course it took more than mental stress and physical distress to activate a Trigger Event. Even now, the best scientists and Thinkers could not answer exactly what were the criteria necessary to gain parahuman powers.

Considering her own ability, Lisa knew that her own power was some sort of superpowered intuition. It had triggered during the brief interval following her brother's suicide… when Lisa had been consumed with guilt over why she had not identified her brother's symptoms much faster and acted on it to stop him. If she was following the Protectorate's cape power classification, she would label herself as a mid-level Thinker cape.

Her power was actually the deciding factor that made her chose Brockton Bay as her next destination. She was on the run from her own parents, who had been forcing her to use her powers to prosper the family's business, while blaming her for not stopping her brother from committing suicide. Lisa had needed somewhere she could lay low and hide and her power had told her the city she was approaching was the best place to disappear.

Brockton Bay was considered one of the top U.S cities with high crime rates, especially since the recent collapse of the once prosperous dock areas. Within a year of the docks' collapse, parahuman gangs had set up bases in the god forsaken landscapes. Within another half a year and Brockton Bay's underbelly was well known to be dens of sin, with lucrative drug trade and smuggling businesses under control of several parahuman gangs.

Law enforcement was known to be relatively weak in Brockton Bay, especially given the control the established villain gangs had over the city. The more well-known ones like ABB and Empire Eighty-Eight were untouchable since even the Protectorate had problems with them.

It was doubtful any police or investigators her parents hired could find her once she had integrated herself into the city's backdrop. For the moment, the villain gangs were still reluctant to incite major clashes against the city's law enforcement and the Protectorate. As long as she played it smart and stay alert, she would be okay and not be trapped in any gang wars.

She had a small bag of clothes, but the money she had stolen from her parents before she had fled from them was almost used up. Fake ID and identity had cost a bomb, and she probably only had enough savings left to rent a motel for a few days. She did learn a lot about computers and programming while watching the hacker create her ID and identity.

But with reduced funds, she would need to find a job, and failing that, use her powers for petty theft. If it was the later she was to engage in, she should not have any problems using her powers to identify some easy rich marks to lift wallets from.

As the bus rolled past the street sign saying 'Welcome to Brockton Bay', Lisa gave a small tentative smile. She had made the choice to run, to cut off all ties to her parents. Now she had to sleep on the bed she had made, and create a whole new life for herself.

Thankfully there was a whole city to hide in, and with her power, Lisa was pretty sure she would be able to look out for herself. After all, words and information were her weapons, and unless she ended up in a physical cape fight, everything would be fine… wouldn't it?

OoooO

Reality 8757-A41, Brockton Bay, 28th May 2010

It was the last school day of May. After which would be a long Summer Vacation until August. For those twelve weeks, she could finally escape from the constant bullying campaign she suffered while in school.

Taylor Hebert fidgeted slightly in her seat. Her clothes still felt clammy from the orange juice Emma had dumped on her after lunch. Taylor had tried cleaning the mess as good as she could manage. But there was still a large stain on her shirt, and the patch still felt slightly moist.

Across the lane, Sophia Hess gave her a smirk. Taylor controlled the fury burning within the pit of her stomach. Since the start of the school year, Sophia, her ex-best friend Emma, and their pet follower Madison had made life miserable for her. The half a year long torture had been nearly enough to break her.

In the course of the past five months, they had ruined her seat, her homework, stolen her stuff and done much worse. Initially, Taylor had tried going to the school staff for intervention, but nothing ever happened. Taylor soon realised the school board was somehow turning a blind eye to the three bullies' actions. Whatever Taylor said was useless.

Noone would speak up in Taylor's defence, they were either too besotted with the three 'Beauties' of the High school, or they were too frightened by them. Sophia was athletic, Emma was a part time model, while Madison was the "cute" one. Even the teachers were taken with them, taking their side over Taylor's. They were the popular girls, they could do no wrong.

Crippled with a weak self-esteem and awkward social skills, Taylor knew that the best she could do was to avoid the bullies, so that they would not have a chance to ruin her day. Not to mention Taylor was still trying to get over the death of her mother that happened near the beginning of the year. With only five more minutes till the last bell rang, Taylor was already planning her exit strategy, so that the three bitches would not have a chance to corner her.

She planned to escape with the rushing crowd of students, go down the side staircase and quickly make way for the school entrance. Her books were already packed. Her bag half slung across her shoulders as she waited for Mr. Gladly to finish talking about his requirements for the winter assignment.

The last bell rang and there was a stampede as everyone began making for the door, even as Mr. Gladly dismissed the class. Taylor made to follow, quickly cutting across a desk lane to avoid Sophia, pushing her way through the crowd to the door. She almost made it…

Blinding pain stabbed through her chest. Her back arching back as she let lose a strangled cry.

Her mind shrilled with pain. A blaze of white light filled her vision. Something within her tore apart, sending her whole body into convulsions.

Distantly, she thought she heard screams, as bright white light burnt her sight.

Pain radiated everywhere, and then there was blessed numbness.

As the light went out.

OoooO

Taylor had no idea what happened. One moment she was rushing to the entrance, trapped within the crowd of her classmates. Then she had something like a cardiac arrest, her body had gone out of her own control as pain wrecked her. She must have sank into unconsciousness, because when she woke, she found herself here…

It was as though she was dumped into another world, in another time. The land before her was rich with life, filled with giant blooming trees, with flowering plants she had never seen before. It however also boiled with war and strife. How she knew about the land being at war, she had no idea, but the world around her began to blur, as if she was moving in a fast motion picture, until she found herself in a warm and shuttered room.

A woman was in labour, aided by a mid-wife. Blood was everywhere… and then the child was born.

…

He was born during the Warring States Period, where there was no peace, only war between hundreds of shinobi clans. The leaders of the Elemental Nations employed the shinobi, turning clans against clans, all for the rights of lands and property.

During this time of struggle, two clans came to be feared as the strongest. They were the Senju clan and Uchiha clan, both whom developed deep enmity against each other, as they were often hired to oppose one another.

He, Hashirama Senju, lost two younger brothers before he even reached the age of twenty. Together with his last remaining brother Tobirama, and his dear friend Madara Uciha, he sought to unite the shinobi, and bring peace to the land.

Decades of struggles passed before the three achieved their dreams. He became a powerful sage, possessing the most powerful Wood Release bloodline of the Senju. His brother Tobirama was known as the most powerful Ninjutsu and Water Release expert of his time. Madara possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan, the highest level of the Sharingan bloodline, and knew thousands of Ninjutsu techniques.

With the three's efforts, they formed alliances between the Senju, the Uchiha and various other shinobi clans, establishing the shinobi village of Konoha. Hashirama was made the First Hokage, leader of Konoha, and he brought peace to the village and the surrounding lands.

When Madara turned against him, their epic battle reshaped the landscape of their battle site. The fires of war began to rage across the countries again, and he perished while protecting Konoha from an attack by a shinobi army.

Death had been a release and…

…

…

He was revived again, summoned into a body shaped to look like his old physical self. Powerful seals were placed on this body, forcing him to obey the summoner's command.

Hashirama instantly realised the technique that summoned him as one highly forbidden technique created by his late brother Tobirama. It was the Impure World Reincarnation Summoning technique, which requires a human sacrifice to reanimate a deceased soul and place whoever was summoned under the summoner's control.

He turned to face his summoner, a pasty faced shinobi that radiates an aura of negative chakra. Hashirama also discovered he was standing on top of Konoha's shinobi stadium, giving him a clear view of the village he had founded.

Smoke and fires in the distance spoke of Konoha being under attack, and the rooftop he was in was surrounded by a powerful barrier seal, keeping Konoha's Anbu outside the barrier, while the ninja that summoned him was having a face off with a withered old man that seemed familiar… wearing the hat signifying the Third Hokage of Konoha. It did not take much to deduct that the old man was Sarutobi, Hashirama's former student and third successor to the village.

Beside Hasirama, two coffins were raising out of the rooftop. One opened fully, revealing his brother Tobirama, also revived by the forbidden technique, the other coffin was stopped half way by Sarutobi, who disrupted the technique.

Though this revived body of his bears only a portion of his original strength, he still had enough power to level the entire village given enough time. Hasirama felt great regret as he and his brother was forced to fight his former student. Yet pride filled him as Sarutobi parried blows after blows, before trapping and sealing him, along with his brother, back into the realms of death.

…

…

He walked down the tunnel of light, out of the Source of All Origins, back towards where his true self resides, towards a skinny black haired young girl, who looked at him with awe and fright.

He stopped in front of her, both of them surrounded by the tunnel of blinding light, and chuckled. "So you are my next reincarnation... or at least one half of it. You are a skinny little thing aren't you?"

"What happened? What is going on? The things you did… the things I saw, at least those that I can remember seeing… you are more powerful than any parahumans I ever seen… except for Scion and the Endbringers." The girl stammered in fear.

"I am the past self of your soul." Hashirama said with a wryly smile. "The previous reincarnation cycle of our soul. Just as you are the present soul cycle, the current reincarnation."

"I don't understand." The girl stammered in fear. Her trembling ceased as Hashirama laid a gentle hand on her head.

"Don't worry. You will understand in time. With what happened to cleave our soul apart, my consciousness within your soul is awakened. I will… be around now to guide you in a way." Hashirama said, walking with her towards the other end of the tunnel. "What happened to us is unprecedented but fortunate. Having my conscious awakening in our soul allows me to imprint on your physical body, causing mild changes that will allow your body to take on characteristics of my old physical self."

"Changes to my body?" The girl asked with wide eyed horror. "Am I… am I going to turn into you?"

"Unless I forcefully imprint your entire body, that's very little chance of that happening. I have already lived one life, I am content with it. Your Earth, your father, they are your life, not mine, and I will not intrude on that." Hashirama said with a grin. His current girly reincarnation was just so mousey that the impish part of his self could not help teasing her a bit. "You will still keep your girl parts, I am just going to 'encourage' your physical body a little, seed, activate and strengthen your chakra system so you can use ninja techniques, begin encouraging the Wood Release bloodline to blossom in your physical body so you can tap into Wood chakra and all the other Elemental chakra."

"But why… why are you doing things like that?" The girl asked, apprehensive as to why Hashirama would empower her in such a way.

"While you were seeing the entire memories of my past, I was seeing the entire memories of your life to date." Hashirama with a frown, a serious look on his face. "Let's just say I understand what you have to go through at school, and the threat your world actually faced from parahumans that misused their powers, and those Endbringers of Earth. Having a strong chakra system and the Wood Release bloodline will ensure you recover from physical wounds more quickly. Having the ability to use elemental manipulation techniques means you are more likely to survive the harsh dangers of your world."

"But… why would you even help me?" The girl asked in confusion, pulling away from him a little.

Hashirama grinned at her. "I am you, just as you are me. We are the same soul, just from different cycle, time… and space. Why wouldn't I help myself in this strange world of yours? Not to mention, it will be entertaining at the very least to see what a female me can accomplish. Mito will be highly amused at the very least."

"Mito… you mean your wife? The red haired woman I saw in your memories?" The young girl asked slowly.

Hashirama smiled, looking into the distance. "Yes Taylor. And one day when we return to the Source of All Origins, when our soul regained its entire consciousness, I hope to see Mito's soul again. Perhaps you might even find your own soul mate before this cycle of ours ends. The wheel of life and death never ends after all."

The two continued their walk down the tunnel as Hashirama chuckled. "It is going to be one long walk to the other end from the Source of All Origins. Since I am going to imprint my powers on your body, let me teach you a few tricks in how to use them. I will be a guiding voice at the back of your head once you return to your body, but it will still be useful for you to have a few chakra techniques to start yourself off."

Taylor paused, staring down the tunnel leading before them, and then turning to look at Hashirama wryly. "And how long is it going to take us to reach the other end?"

"Well, time is a little different in the soul tunnel." Hashirama said, scratching his head as he grinned. "It will feel like months for us to get to the other end, but most probably only days or weeks would have passed back in your Earth."

"WHAT!"

OoooO

He finished work with a leaden heart. His colleagues looked at him with understanding as he left work right on the dot, quickly making his way to Brockton Bay's General Hospital. It had been five days. Five days since Winslow High's Nurse had called him, saying that Taylor had some kind of cardiac arrest and had to be sent to the hospital immediately.

His panicky rush to the hospital had only been met with the sight of his daughter lying pale faced on a hospital bed, surrounded by monitoring equipment. The doctors were baffled at what had happened to Taylor. Their scans had apparently found no signs of heart attack or brain damage, yet Taylor had slipped into coma by the time they managed to get her to the hospital.

Taylor had been kept in observation for the next five days. And for five days Danny Hebert had sat in silent vigil beside his daughter's bed after work, hoping she would wake up one day. His limited funds were running low, work had not paid well these past few years ever since the docks closed. He might have to pull Taylor off life support soon if he could not find a way to continue paying the bills.

Sinking his head wearily on the bed where Taylor laid unconscious, Danny began to drift to sleep, from his seat next to the bed. He had no idea what woke him. He had a vague recollection of a suddenly wave of heat washing over him. The very air seemed to tingle sharply. There was also a presence, a powerful one. Firm and Gentle, the scent of moist earth, the sensation of nature and life surrounding him… Danny lifted his head, blinking in confusion, only half awake.

The hospital windows showed that night had fallen and the patients on the other bed were asleep, only one other patient had family staying for the night, and the fella was already stretched out on a portable hospital guest bed unconscious to the world.

The sounds of heavy breathing drifted to his ears. Turning, he jerked upright, snapping out of the sleep induced blur in an instant as he saw Taylor's flushed cheeks. Her face and skin were no longer pale and clammy. There were colours in her cheeks, and she seemed healthier… much healthier than when he saw her a few hours ago.

There was a soft gasp, and then Taylor snapped her eyes open, her body quickly coming up in a sitting position as she grabbed her chest with her right hand, breathing hard.

"You jerk! You didn't say it would hurt so much!" Taylor cursed in a sharp voice, her eyes still unfocused.

"Taylor?" Danny asked incredulously, grabbing at his daughter's hand, to reassure himself that Taylor was alright now, even though what she said did not make any sense.

Taylor froze, turning stiffly, her eyes went wide as she saw who was beside her.

"Dad!" Taylor sputtered, flushing quickly. "Oh god dad I am so sorry! How long was I out?"

"Five days." Danny said, engulfing his daughter in a hug which she returned. "I got the call from school and when I came down to the hospital, they told me you have slipped into a coma."

"Five days!" Taylor gasped, his daughter's eyes widening in shock. "But the bills."

"I will settle it." Danny said firmly, not wanting his daughter to worry about that. He knew Taylor was aware of how bad their monetary situation was, but his daughter was still a teenager in high school, he would find some ways to take care of the family's money matters. "Just worry about getting well again, I will get the doctors to look at you, maybe they can…"

"Dad." Taylor cut in, pulling out of the hug to look him in the eye. "I am fine now, really. I hadn't felt so much better in my entire life!"

Before Danny could stop her, Taylor had wriggled out of the hospital bed, pulling the various needles out of her arms, causing the machines they were connected to, to begin beeping furiously. As Danny gaped at her, Taylor walked around the bed back to him, looking as though she had not been lying unconscious for the past five days.

"See? I am fine, nothing to worry about." Taylor said reassuringly. "I am hungry though. Do you think we can return home dad? I don't want to spend another night here…"

Taylor never got to finish her words as a doctor and two nurse rushed in, though the three of them stopped at the sight of Taylor standing next to her bed. The doctor however recovered quickly and stalked towards Taylor with a frown. As the doctor ignored Taylor's protest that she was fine and guided her away to the examination room, Danny resigned himself to staying another night at the hospital, but at least now, his daughter was awake.

OoooO

The city was coming alive by the time the Heberts reached home. Taylor had prepared breakfast while her father had gone to his room after making sure that she would be fine on her own. Her father had called off work, asking for an off day. Having seen the heavy eye bags under her father's eyes, Taylor knew that he most probably had not had a good rest since she became unconscious.

A bowl of cereal was all it took to satisfy her hunger, even as she glorified in how energized and strong her body had become. Hashirama Senju, her past self had tried explaining things to her through their months long journey back to her body. Taylor had not understood all of the reincarnation stuff, but she understood enough not to panic when she was back in her body. It had been a relief to discover only five days of real world time had gone by while she was trekking across the spirit plane.

This place is cosy, but it could do with some appropriate decorations. Hashirama commented within her head, while she was slurping cereal while snuggling in the living room couch.

Since when are you a fashion police? Taylor snarked back, her body was still aching from the imprint process Hashirama had done to her. According to the powerful ancient ninja, he had to forcibly connect Taylor's mental energies to her physical lifeforce by creating a whole new chakra system from scratch. Apparently the people of her world do not come part and parcel with a working chakra system.

Getting to really know her past self face to face had been a much different experience then viewing his memories. For all that Hashirama Senju was the most powerful ninja of the Elemental Countries, for all his charisma and fearsome reputation, the man could be incredibly nosy and childish at times.

The time in the spirit tunnel had been insightful yet frustrating. Taylor was nearly driven mad with the way Hashirama injected lame jokes and pranks while teaching her various hand seals for chakra manipulation techniques. Her past self was so different from her that there were times she wondered how they could possibly share a singular soul.

A few flowers will do wonders to liven up the place. Hashirama said goading slightly. Taylor could almost see him grinning as he spoke.

You just want to see if I remember all the practice in the spirit plane. Taylor grumbled, lying the bowl of cereal on the table.

With the changes Hashirama had made to her body, Taylor could easily tap into her active chakra system, pulling out some of her chakra.

Your body currently possessed High Genin level chakra reserves and your Wood release bloodline though potent is very much weaker than mine. There are ways… to focus and enhance the power of our bloodline other than mind numbing practice. There is also a secret to the chakra possessed by our soul, to make it even more potent and powerful… a hidden legacy from one of our previous reincarnation. But that's a topic for another day. Hashirama confessed. I have already stressed your body to its maximum with the imprint of my essence on your physical self. Any more alterations will most likely cause detrimental effects on your physical self, resulting in a full imprint. You will need to grow stronger through constant practice and training. And in time, I will teach you more ways to enhance the power you now have.

Thanks sensei. Taylor sent back mentally. It was a term of endearment that Taylor had used ever since Hashirama began teaching her back in the spirit tunnel. Sending chakra to strengthen her fingers, she could feel the warmth of her physical and spiritual energies pooling at her fingers.

Her hands began to flicker into the various handseals needed to utilize a Wood Release technique. Though her handseals speed was not as fast as the ninjas in Hashirama's world, with chakra pooling at her fingers, the handseals making speed she managed was considered respectable for a budding Ninja Academy student. She made a mistake with a handseal, fumbled and had to restart the technique again as she felt the chakra she gathered dissipating.

Giving a frustrated growl, Taylor restart the handseals sequence again, but fumbled again half way through. The third time round, Taylor formed the handseals at a much slower pacing and finally succeeded. The technique took form as Wood Element chakra in her chakra system was formed and moulded into a proper technique. A bunch of beautiful red blossoms from Hashirama's world grew out of her hands and broke off, lying on her lap.

The Wood Release bloodline was essentially a powerful form of plant manipulation. Any ninja with the bloodline could use Wood chakra to infuse a plant, gather and remember the essence of a plant, regrow the plant essence from Wood chakra, or even modify the plant essence with the bloodline. Hashirama was so proficient in using his Wood Release bloodline that he could internally manipulate Wood Chakra into various techniques without the use of handseals. It was something that he had achieved with decades of training and conditioning of his body, of which Taylor did not possess.

Through his long life in his world, Hashirama had built up an impressive plant essence library within his head. He could easily replicate potent herbs or poisonous plants from his world, even many food crops. He could sprout plant life from various surfaces and even his own body. He had taught Taylor the technique to remember some of the plant essences he remembered. The Summer Blooms sitting on Taylor's lap was a type of herbal plant with mild healing properties, this plant essence was handled down from Hashirama to Taylor during their months long journey.

Very good. Even though you needed to slow down your handseals making speed at a snail's pace to accomplish your first ninja technique, you did a good job for a first timer. Hashirama said with part criticism and part approval. As part of an awakened soul, he could gain access to Taylor's senses. He was most probably seeing the flowers with Taylor's eyes right now.

Taylor had set some ground rules when she first found out he could do that. They agreed that there were times when Hashirama would not have access to her senses, like when Taylor was in the bathroom or any of her personal time out.

Your chakra control still needs working on. You nearly drained half your entire chakra pool forming that low level Wood release technique. Good job for a first successful practical try. At least all the theoretical work I have drilled into your head actually works. Hashirama continued his assessment.

Taylor rolled her eyes as she went to the kitchen to get a vase to put the flowers in. Everyone's a critic. She thought back, but there was a smile on her lips as she arrange the flowers in a vase and placed them on the living room coffee table. Let me have a little more time to settle in, restore my chakra reserve, and then we will begin the plans we came up with back in the spirit plane.

The long journey through the spirit tunnel with only Hashirama to talk to and act as her guide meant that the two of them had spent a lot of time plotting how Taylor would use her new powers. Through Taylor's memories, Hashirama had known how chaotic Earth had become with the appearance of parahumans and Endbringers, he had wanted Taylor to be able to protect herself and contribute back to her world in some ways.

Hashirama was not going to dictate her life, but he would be around to advise her if needed. As he had succulently said during the long journey. This current soul cycle was not his life, but hers. The decisions Taylor needed to make were hers alone. The purpose of reincarnations was for the soul to grow and mature with each cycle. Taylor would need to grow on her own, albeit with a little help from Hashirama.

Taylor had considered being an independent cape, a rogue of sorts. There was no way she would join the Protectorate, because with her age, she would be dumped into the Wards, and she was not exactly dying to see the parahuman version of teenage angst and drama. There was enough of that going on in Highschool.

As for being a villain, Taylor had not even considered it. Taylor and Hashirama did begin the bare bones of a plan to increase Taylor's own resources and set up a base where she could begin her ninja training in secrecy. The techniques Hashirama taught her were highly catered to that aspect. Due to Hashirama imprinting on her physical body, Taylor's chakra became a weaker duplicate form of Hashirama's own chakra, which in its natural form contains powerful Water and Earth elements, as well as weaker Wind, Fire, Lightning, Yang and Yin elements which Hashirama managed to cultivate in later years.

Hashirama was called the God of Shinobi in his world for a reason, and was one of the rare ninjas who actually master the five basic chakra elements. This basically meant Taylor would do very well with techniques utilizing the five basic chakra elements (Water, Earth, Wind, Fire, Lightning) and the two exotic chakra elements (yang, yin). Add in the Wood release bloodline which would instinctively combine Water and Earth to form Wood element chakra, using most of the elementary and some of the more advanced chakra techniques would in theory, come very easily to Taylor, even if she was a first timer.

As her first test had proven, she could wield Wood chakra easily, she would have to test Water and Earth, followed by the rest of the chakra elements much later. Her chakra pool was limited at the current time, so she would be needing quite a while, a periods of rest to replenish her chakra, to really explore and get used to manipulating the power she now possessed.

It took an hour for her to finish breakfast and rested enough to restore her current chakra reserves. Carefully making her way behind the stairs, she opened the door leading to the basement of her house. The basement was one part of the house that she and her father had seldom accessed. When mom was alive, she would make it a monthly family day to clean and maintain the place. But with mom gone, the basement was pretty much left alone, to be accessed periodically for some of the storage archives.

This made the basement the best location to start off her secret base. Closing the basement door behind her softly so as to not wake her father, Taylor descended into the basement, moving past the old washing machine that was spoilt and had been sitting down here for the past year. She manoeuvre around the boxes of old photo albums and stuff her mom had collected during her tenure as a college teacher. She finally reached the far corner of the basement and wrinkled her nose at the smell. The walls were leaking again, she would have to do something about them later.

Moving a few boxes around, she began to clear some space on the floor, in the corner of the basement. She then carefully kneel down, avoiding the moist patches of the basement floor, and began making the handseals for Earth technique: Earth Sense. It was basically a High Genin level ninja technique that was used by scouts to sense what was in, on and around a specific patch of ground infused with chakra.

She failed the first attempt because of a wrong handseal, her second and third attempts were similarly duds, she finally got it on the fourth. Feeling the formation of power on her hands, she slammed her palms on the cleared space before her. The Earth element chakra poured from her palms in a controlled flow into the ground, infusing a significant area.

At the edge of her mind, images, like a black and white, grayscale pictures began to form. She could "see" wriggling worms under the ground she was touching. She saw the location for her house's foundations. She saw stone blocks of past construction attempts before the house was built over. There was even a nest of what looks like rats. The grayscale images of the huge number of bug life and cockroaches was enough to make her skin crawl.

Taylor cut off the Earth element sensor technique, taking a moment to compose herself as the images she saw retreated from the back of her head. Now that she knew where her house's foundations were, she could try out her next technique. The Earth technique: Tunnel Expansion was basically a mid-level, Chunin level, ninja technique, that was used by ninjas to construct underground tunnels.

The technique could also be used to create underground rooms deep within the earth bed. She planned to try out a weaker version of it first to test the waters before doing full scale earth shuffling underground. A less powerful Genin would need lots of safe ground to test the technique, Taylor had an edge in that area as the chakra control and reserve she now possessed was enough to ensure if things go wrong, she would not end up sinking her whole house.

She failed the first attempt because of a wrong handseal, her second and third attempts were similar failures, she finally got it on the fourth. Feeling the formation of power on her hands, she slammed her palms on the cleared space before her. The Earth element chakra poured from her palms in a controlled flow. She heard a soft groan as something within the cement floor and earth bed underneath began to move. Then the basement cement floor she was lying her hands on began breaking into dust, sinking into a deep dark tunnel that seemed to stretch all the way down.

Well… it is not bad for the first try. But I think we might have missed some crucial parts in the planning process. Hashirama said after Taylor stared down at the long dark tunnel opening in front of her with a long silence.

You think? Taylor thought back incredulously. Where are we going to get the lights to light the damn tunnel? And how are we going to get down there?

Well I don't exactly have much experience in building underground bunkers, Tobirama was usually the one that handled that part of the village duties with the help of my clan. There was always a ready supply of clan Genin and Chunin to dump the work on. I was always more of a front line kind of guy. Hashirama defended himself. I guess we could modify the tunnel with another Earth technique so it would not go so deep. As for lights, I know some seals that could produce light, but we lack the materials right now to make chakra ink, which means we will have to grow the plants to make the ink first.

And since I only have High Genin level chakra reserves, and is just starting out using chakra manipulation. With limited reserves on my hands and to carter for my mistakes, it will take days before we can get anywhere with our plans for the underground base. Taylor sent back a mental sigh.

Well this can be a good thing. We all know you will not get things right on every first tries. You have an advantage over most Genin who took years to develop their reserves and control. But in the end, you lack any practical experience in using your power. Hashirama said realistically. Just use the time, make sure you don't cause any major mistakes with your techniques. We are not in a rush anyway. Better to do things nice and easy, then to end up sinking your own home. On a side note however, we'll need to hide this dark pit you've created. It will be disastrous for someone to fall into it.

OoooO

Ninja Terms:

Chakra: A moulding combination of spiritual and physical energies (mind/ mental energies + body/ lifeforce). Some ninjas are born with certain chakra elemental affinity in their system. Usually these ninjas are born from established clans whose ninja bloodline stretch generations.

Chakra Elements: There were the common five basic elements: Fire, Earth, Water, Wind and Lightning. There were also other rarer more exotic elements (advanced elements) like Wood, Dust or Lava. Having an elemental affinity meant that the user would have an easier time moulding chakra of that element or even using techniques relating to them.

Genin: Rookie Ninjas

Chunin: Mid-Level Ninjas

Jonin: High-Level Ninjas

Notes: This is a "past self" crossover fic between Taylor and Hashirama. Taylor's body was basically enhanced to contain High Genin Chakra, Genin Chakra Control, with Wood Release bloodline that will increase in strength with practice.

She views Hashirama's memories as "moving pictures"/ "movies", much like when someone is learning a new skill from a video. Due to that, she had no emotional attachment to the memories, neither does she have Hashirama's muscle memories or dexterity. She needs to memorise the actions and replicate it, and get better through time. Hashirama exists as a voice in her head, providing guidance if needed.

She has strong Earth and Water elements due to the Wood Release bloodline. In this story, (AU) Hashirama managed to train up his Wind element during his past life. His Wind element was weaker then Earth and Water, and it was the third chakra element that Taylor now possessed.

[Edited 28/12/2014]

Based on Naruto canon, Hashirama possess the five basic chakra elements, he knows how to use yang release, and most probably yin release. As such, I am modifying the story to fit what that. Let's take it for this (AU) crossover story, Taylor will have strong Earth and Water elements due to the Wood Release bloodline. Strong Yang elements due to his constant strength, endurance and medical training. Less powerful elements in Wind, Fire, Lightning and Yin. Thus Taylor's more powerful future techniques would revolve around Wood, Water, Earth and Yang elements.

Wraithrune's Thanks:

Knightowl 4183, Wawv: Thank you for highlighting to me my inconsistencies with Hashirama's original powers and abilities. =D I have edited the story to fit in with Naruto canon.

Knightowl 4183: Thanks Knightowl :) for the bit about Brockton Bay Brigade, I missed that detail. Appreciate you voicing out.

naruto-nerd: Thanks for highlighting the Naruto canon :) I have adjusted the story to fit with the known facts.

As for the seals to contain Jinchūriki, I was trying to build a back story. If I am not wrong, the Four Trigrams Sealing Style used on Kushina (developed most probably by Mito, as she was the first to ever successfully contain Kurama within herself) was supposed to be a variant of a sealing technique based on the fūinjutsu of the Uzumaki clan.

The seals used on Killer B and Fu are supposed to be different, not of Uzumaki origin, at least I didn't see any links to the Uzumaki in canon. And are supposed to be created by their own villages.