She staggered against the sheer force of the wind pushing her back, but using chakra to stick to the ground, held her place. The tough pieces of paper tied to the ends of her buns fluttered desperately in the gale - peeling one out of her eyes she almost ripped it off in frustration. Another subsonic roar echoed throughout the land, and she clapped her hands over her ears in a futile attempt to block it out. The sound pierced deep into her head, and she suddenly felt like throwing up, the dizziness becoming overwhelming, but it stopped just as quickly as it started, and for that she was thankful. From the height she was currently at, she could see everything, the entire event. And it moved her. Not in a good way. It was one of those things that you shouldn't watch but you can't help it, like when a few shinobi come home gruesomely wounded – you can't help but look.
This was definitely one of those situations.
She watched as a deep crater was literally carved out of the landscape, with slight fear. This was the true potential of shinobi – the ability that came with the job. They were gods with human form.
Being a seal mistress and medic first and foremost, and a fighter second, she knew perfectly well that she could never achieve the greatness she was currently observing, nor could she ever hope (or wish) to. No, that power lay in the hands of the two men fighting to the death in front of her very eyes.
She watched with morbid fascination as the monstrous fox with nine tails plunged forward at the whim of its master, smashing through all the carefully placed trees and roots with an unnatural ease. Her alarm grew, however, when she noticed the plant-life receding, and a tiny figure jump off the demon, disappearing into the barely remaining forest. She knew who that was, and his goal.
Madara was about to kill her husband. She couldn't let that happen.
Hands held her stomach with uncanny gentleness, as she cradled the noticeable bump that sat comfortably between her hips. Her baby. She couldn't endanger him, could she? The beautiful, tiny little life that depended on her. The one she was solely responsible for, the one whose life she now held in her hands. And Hashirama would never forgive her if she lost him, their baby.
But she couldn't just leave her husband. She knew Madara's goals and his aim when he attacked Hashirama when the Hokage went to retrieve him after he left. He wished to take over their newly-formed village to rule by himself, and that was bad. He also wanted revenge on the village for choosing Hashirama over him. She knew from both experience and gossip that the man was insane, but this only proved it. What would he be achieving by doing this anyway? The people of Konoha would never accept him – even his own clan had picked Hashirama over him. And if he died – Konoha, their family, her, and their baby would all perish. A continued safe existence depended on her husband's survival. So she would damn well make sure he lived.
She could only pray her baby would live as well.
She walked forward to the edge of the small cliff she was on, and looked over the edge, straight at the fox. That thing was a very large factor in the possible causes to Hashirama's death – so it would have to be taken out of the equation. She knew her own limits very well, and knew she was absolutely no match for Madara himself. She would only get in the way by worrying Hashirama. Besides, there was no reason to alert them to her presence yet. Her husband thought she was still back at Konoha, having a check-up on their little one's health. And she really should be. She should be sitting on a comfortable chair with one of her medic friends running soft glowing hands over her stomach, chatting about nothing and everything, wondering when her husband would be home from his meaningless trip. But Mito was not one of those women who let the men do everything. She was a kunoichi, and a damn good one. When she had heard Tobirama tell Toka of the new development – that Hashirama went after Madara – she could not simply sit there without doing anything. She couldn't let her husband maybe die without her. Madara was the only person they had ever come across who could fight on even terms with Hashirama – and it was well within the Uchiha's power to kill him, and vice versa. So she had skipped around Tobirama's security detail, muttering a silent apology to her brother-in-law on the way – knowing the crap he would get from Hashirama when he returned for not properly protecting his wife.
So here she was, standing on the edge of a precipice, with only a faint clue on what to do, but knowing that she had to do something. Another look at the fox revealed its attention fixed on a small point on the ground, its tails whipping wildly through the night. The full moon helped her see clearer, and she spotted two small moving objects on the ground. It was them.
They were engaged in a fearsome close combat battle and even over the din in the area she could hear the clang of metal. One of the blood red tails smashed down on the ground, and she saw with astounding relief that the dot jumped out of the way just in time. Another one came down, and the dot dodged again, this time with much less finesse.
He was slowing down she thought with horror as the tails came down again and again, roots and dodges being utilized as best they could. That fox had to be taken down.
The conclusion came with an earth shattering realisation. A seal. The fox had to be sealed. Bitterness flooded through her, and she almost laughed with the irony. It was funny; that the one person that could withstand sealed the mightiest demon within them was standing right in front of it! The only person in the world with the correct composition of chakra to tame a demon was contemplating doing just that.
There was no longer anytime to think. She leapt off the high perch with a fierce push, and quickly stepped down the foot holes that lined the face of the cliff. Her kunoichi speed and reflexes allowed her to speed as if she were going down a flight of stairs. Both hands were holding her pregnant stomach, in order to keep the child from being affected by her harsh descent. She landed on the ground, knee-high in water. She stepped onto the surface with chakra and balanced herself. A quick glance at the fight uncovered that they hadn't noticed her yet. She pulled off her right sealing tag and opened it with a minute flare that neither of the men noticed, what with the large masses of chakra the nine tails was flinging about. Dozens of pieces of paper appeared in her hands, and she gripped onto them hard, not wishing to lose any in the tornado-like winds the fox was conjuring up with its tails. She flicked through them carefully, and yanked out one from the pile. Found it. She impatiently shoved the rest into her kimono sleeve pocket and retied the tag onto her bun.
This was the point of no return. If she didn't back out now, she wasn't going to be able to. She looked at the intricate design on the paper. Eight Trigrams Seal. The pinnacle of her clan's sealing work. It had never been used in the history of the clan, but every high-ranking member knew how to use it, if there was ever a need of it. Being the ex-princess of the Uzumaki clan, she knew this particular seal intimately. Perhaps it was her fate to do this. That could be the reason she had grown obsessed with it ever since she had heard of its existence. Her entire education on sealing techniques was preparation for when she damned herself.
She narrowed her eyes when she saw her husband be hit by Madara's heavy battle fan and stumble. Suddenly, she was hit by a wave of confidence, and she just knew without a doubt that this was something she had to do. For the love of her husband who she had loved since the day she met him. For the love of her unborn son that lay sleeping in her stomach, yet to see the world. For the love of her village, the family bound by a common goal to strive towards peace. For her entire future, the one she wanted to share with all these people and more.
She slowly pulled out a kunai from her right kimono sleeve, and held it high. She held it there, her eyes locked on her husband's losing figure. Determination filled her, and she plunged it down.
The entire front of her kimono that covered her stomach was ripped off, but her modesty was preserved. She threw the useless weapon away and slapped the priceless seal onto her pregnant figure and held it on with chakra. It glowed slightly, and stayed that way. All that was needed was a ram seal and chakra to activate it. She also had to guide some of the chakra of her target into the seal, and the array would do the rest. She only had to provide the energy, a feat she was fairly sure she could do.
Now came the hard part. She had no illusions; she knew it would be excruciatingly painful. Her main worry was the possible miscarriage of her baby. If she was under too much stress, she could easily lose him. The only thing she could do was cover him in a protective layer of healing chakra, and hope it held. She did just that, and a small kick later, and he settled. She didn't smile – there wasn't time – but she felt that strange maternal warmth she felt whenever she thought about him. He was one of the few lights in her life. She couldn't lose him.
She looked at her husband and his now sworn enemy, and closed her eyes for a few seconds to blink away the tears. She began to run forward.
Hashirama, forgive me. I love you.
Hope you like. Should I do a sequel?