2.

The Third fire-shadow sighed as he stepped into the meeting chamber. It was going to be a long day. Looks like he was wrong about things getting better.

Not that it started out peachy anyway.

The council men and women of the shinobi and civilian factions had all gathered. All those who had survived the previous night anyway. A particularly nasty thought ran through his head as he thought about Mebuki Haruno… he briefly entertained the notion that she might have perished during the Kyuubi's rampage, but all hopes fled when he saw the woman's stoic face from behind a council-man's head when said man shifted in his seat. Sarutobi could only think that a beast in great want of destruction had literally missed certain people who would NOT be missed; least of all himself. Did the damn creature actually kill the rest of the likeable people in the village?

Sarutobi took his seat and waited patiently for everyone to settle, or rather stalled before his migraine began. Finally coming to a more or less agreeable degree of silence, Hiruzen called for a complete version of it in a less than agreeable fashion, although his aura helped make it far more persuasive.

"Quiet!" he bellowed, leaking just enough killing intent to scare the muttering civilians and ninja alike. Seeing them all visibly straighten, he nodded with approval, "now that we are settled, what's first on the agenda?"

Peace was once again forfeit in the chaotic shouts, each person trying to speak louder than the other except for the clan heads who calmly raised their hands.

"Hiashi-san?" Hiruzen acknowledged.

"What of the Kyuubi? We all know that the Fourth went to intercept it but after a short period of time it disappeared. We wish to know what had transpired," the Hyūga said, or almost demanded as it were. His expressionless face was unreadable, yet Hiruzen noted that there was a hint of worry etched into the man's brows.

The Sandaime gazed at the expressionless Hiashi and gave a sigh. Everyone leaned closer, as if a few inches increased their hearing capabilities. The Hokage began to speak.

"As you all know, the Bijū are beings that cannot be harmed without massive effort from the offender. Also, even if they are 'killed,' they would reform in a few years due to the fact that they are merely creatures comprised of nothing but chakra. So instead," Sarutobi beckoned to a maid holding something swaddled in a lilac-colored blanket.

"He couldn't take the risk of it attacking again in a few years so he did the best next thing." By now the maid had now reached his side and Sarutobi took the bundle from her as people strained to see what was inside the blanket. For a fleeting moment, he wondered if he was about to make the stupidest mistake of his life… again.

"He sacrificed sealed it away in a newborn using the Shiki Fūin, (Reaper Death Seal) a kinjutsu (forbidden technique) which demands your soul in forfeit. He forged the strongest seal ever created with the Shinigami's help in the hopes that you all would see the child as a hero for having to live with this burden; Konahagakure no Sato, (Village hidden in the Leaves)" Hiruzen proclaimed, lifting the child. "She was saved by her youngest son!"

There was an ungodly amount of silence for a minute. On everyone's faces there was the unmistakable look of realization. Hiruzen, for a moment had thought he had broken through to them. Yes, perhaps they would take what he said to heart! He'd heard of instances where the jinchūriki were respected and liked, like Kumogakure. But his hopes were dashed when he heard what was shouted next.

They had come to 'realize' that the boy was a 'demon in disguise.'

It was to be expected... It should've been expected. They were ignorant of the powers of Fūinjutsu. After all, how would one go about imprisoning a demon the size of a damn mountain inside a boy? He'd especially had hopes of the shinobi faction of being more educated on matters related to this, but was instead disappointed when they deferred to making the same shouts as the civilians; whether it was mob mentality or just plain pent-up hatred, Hiruzen didn't know.

"Kill the demon!"

"What the hell?!"

"The damn beast is still alive?"

"Kill it now, Lord Third!"

"My family died to that beast and the Fourth left it alive?!"

Those were just a few of those of the civilian faction. All of them were in hysterics. Fūinjutsu was a strange art yes, but weren't the powers of all ninja strange to the civilians? Granted, at first it did sound farfetched for paper with ink scribbles to explode, but so was breathing fire, calling creatures from other realms, pulling bones from your body to fight with and seeing through walls?

Albeit the shinobi present have to be able to suppress personal emotions. Not completely, but to a tolerable amount. Also, all of them had to various degrees in knowledge of the sealing arts and that it had virtually unlimited potential. But it was hard to grasp that it was still alive. They also called for its death, although they were trying to use logic in their speech.

"We should kill it now Lord Third!"

"The Fourth sacrificed his life to make the Kyuubi vulnerable! After all, what is weaker than a baby?"

"With all due respect Hokage-sama, the child must be killed to destroy this threat."

And so it went. On one hand, they were more respectful of his authority. But on the other hand, the message was still the same. The Third was saddened. To think that no one would recognize this child for who he is, a hero. But then again, heroes were seldom loved in their own country.

An Anbu quietly and slowly reached for his tantō. To anyone who would be watching, they would assume that he was prepared to act as crowd control, in case anyone decided to become physically offensive. His right hand finally completed its thirty second journey to its destination and gripped the handle of his weapon akin to a hungry predator on its prey that refused to let go... He then reached for his cyanide and nightshade pill and held it in between his molars. He then focused a miniscule amount of chakra that could hardly be sensed into his thirty second delay A-grade explosive tag and started to remember his wife… his would be wife.

Her father had never liked him, but despite the fact that his denial of their relationship, the two lovers had been set to elope on the twelfth of October. He could easily recall her vivaciousness; it was one of her many qualities that he had found attractive. She was all over the place, writing this, trying on this, putting on that, going here and there mad with preparations. He was passionately in love with her and her with him. He was sure that after marriage he would quit being an Anbu, and slow down. Go on missions only once in a while and doing mostly routine village guard duty. As tears stated to drip freely from the inside of the mask on his face to the ground, he realized that the day he yearned for, that being the twelve of October was no longer real. No longer within his reach. It wasn't coming tomorrow.

20 seconds.

He thought of the corpse of his fiancée he had seen half-buried under the rubble of their would-be shared home, the place they would have raised their family. Even so, in that tragic moment, he had to leave to fight her murderer, who had moved on to destroy another area of the village. But he had failed. He couldn't even get close to the monster. It had all been for naught.

'No,' he firmly thought. It wasn't that it wasn't within reach. For him, there was no tomorrow.

But he would join her today.

17…16…15…

He dashed forward at the Hokage, who was currently holding the child in his arms.

…14…

The Hokage was caught unawares but his reflexes saved him and the baby as he withdrew a kunai from under his robes, but quickly parried the tantō with the kunai in a reverse grip.

…13…12…11…

The God of Shinobi channeled chakra into his blade and cut the tantō in two and the offending Anbu leapt back from the Hokage, sliding back in a prepared running man stance already starting to charge at Sarutobi once more.

The other Anbus watching the fight were surprised at first but got over it as they hurled multiple kunai and shuriken at the offender that struck and embedded themselves in his flesh, particularly his heart, lungs and stomach.

His sprint slowed to a run, then to limp, then to a pained crawl still moving towards the old man holding the bane of his existence. The killer of the love of his life. Holding the baby as if it was innocent.

…10…9…8…

Halfway there.

His final position was settling into a prostrate form in front of the Sandaime, kunai and shuriken sticking out of him everywhere, making him resemble a human porcupine. The weapons also made the man bleed out to some extent but not enough to kill him in the next few seconds. Hiruzen noticed something akin to water at the bottom of the anbu's mask.

Saliva. Tears maybe?

…7…6…5…

The Anbu groaned in pain. "Won't be long," he grunted to the Hokage.

'Why would he say that?' The Hokage thought. 'Probably because he's dying. But there was some satisfaction in it, even though he failed to kill me. Was he a spy? Assassin perhaps? Kami, just what I needed-… some no-name assassin at a time like this-' It was then with stark alarm that the Hokage noticed the bomb tag half-out of the anbu's bomb pouch with a slight glow around the kanji for ignite, and who knew how many more passive ones waiting to be detonated. 'Of course…'

…4…

"Explosive tag! Run!" Sarutobi bellowed. He quickly looked around and saw everyone fleeing, and noticed that Anbus were performing the Shunshin no jutsu (body flicker technique) with the slower civilians. In the heat of the moment, he grabbed Homura with his right hand and used a seal-less Shunshin outside.

…3…

The Hokage suddenly appeared outside and released Homura, who promptly proceeded to dry heave; it had been a while since he himself had been or done a Shunshin. Moving at high speeds at short ranges with drastic changes in scenery does that to the inexperienced or infirm at times when it seemed as if they were teleporting.

…2…

"Will you be alright?" Hiruzen asked hastily to the man who was on his knees who looked appeared as if he was about to cough up a lung.

"I will be fine," he answered between coughs. "But where is Koharu?"

"Koharu?!"

…1…

"You must go back for her!"

"Take the boy!"

As Sarutobi was about to hand over the child to Homura, the council room exploded in shattered glass and assorted flying debris. His face became crestfallen in worry for his former teammate and hoped that no one, including her, got caught in the blast. He watched the Anbu perform assorted Suiton (water release) techniques pulled from wells using water manipulation or water made with pure chakra. Knowing his duties as Hokage, he proceeded to do the same.

=X=X=

Koharu lay on the bed, having been dosed heavily on anesthesia. She had yet to become more aware of her surroundings, as well as her immediate situation.

But Hiruzen at her bedside knew. And his insides were in turmoil of what it was. He was consumed by "IF."

"If only I had intervened more quickly…"

"If only I had screened Anbu with personal tragic losses…"

"If only I had given the child to Homura, then grabbed both him and Koharu, all would have been saved…"

And so on.

Hiruzen sighed. He knew that the past was past and what done was done. But he knew when Koharu woke up, probably in the morning, she would not be pleased, especially given their rising animosity in the recent years concerning Ito's exile. Her son was gone.

Who would explain to her? No one liked to be the bearer of bad news. Would Homura, their other former teammate do it? No. knowing him, he would come perhaps three hours after she was told. Makes it easier to deal with the after emotions as well as being a bit distant from it to separate himself from the problem should it become worse. Let a doctor do it. They were used to giving bad news after all. He would simply come with Homura later. Much later.

What a shitty week.