Thunderstruck
Chapter 2
"Kushina, Takeo," Minato said calmly.
"Yes," we both replied for we had realised there were several someones ahead, waiting for us. We kept walking calmly across the rocky ground, surrounded by trees and enemies. Not the perfect place to fight an ambush but we had been in worse.
We were currently on one of the many missions we were periodically sent on. Since Minato's two companions from his genin team had already died Takeo and I, who made a perfect duo through practice, had joined him to form a three-man platoon with him as leader. I knew of a few teams who took a long time in adapting as companions and often missions didn't go as well as they could because of this animosity, but that wasn't the case with team Minato. We worked in perfect harmony. Takeo was a long-range fighter, quick-witted and good at spotting enemies as well as having a special skill which acted as a good surprise technique. I was a close-range fighter, not so graceful but packed a nasty punch and knew how to get myself out of tight situations. Minato was the quickest out of all of us, having developed what was called the 'body flicker technique', which was why I now teased him with the name of 'Konoha's Yellow Flash'. He was good at both close and long range fighting as well as back up and was not only quick-witted; his bite was just as bad as his bark.
I was currently at the front of the team, Minato picking up the rear since he didn't need to lead to get there first.
"Takeo, how many are there?" Minato asked quietly for there were probably a few who knew how to conceal their chakra. Takeo subtly made a number of seals inside his sleeves, feeling for vibrations in the ground caused by chakra and after a few seconds said,
"Seventeen. Six east, 160 yards; Six southeast 140 yards; five north 150 yards. The leader in north, I think."
"Okay. Takeo, go southeast, Kushina north. I'll act as backup. I'll take care of the four if they attack and if not we'll deal with those together," he ordered and at his signal we disappeared.
Time for some action.
"Fucking rock," I said as I appeared behind one of my prey, slicing his throat with a wind-sharpened blade of water before his gasp could be breathed out, which was my special technique. I could manipulate both water and wind in a way which consisted of revolving water violently inside a skin of chakra-charged wind. This meant a very potent blade or if I made it powerful enough a vortex that could rip you apart. My favourite tactic, however, was to transform these shapes into animals that could aid me in battle. They still had faults; if earth jutsus or chakra strong enough hit them they would disintegrate like shadow clones. The good thing was that my chakra levels would allow me to maintain many at once as well as the fact that normal weapons simply went through them.
"What- argh!" another one down, two to go. But they had already been alerted of my presence and leaped away from me into the trees.
"Oh great, a chase," I muttered sarcastically. I hated playing with my food.
I stilled, listening. In the distance I heard crashes and knew Takeo was at work.
I formed the seals and whispered the jutsu. Out of thin air swirled forms made of water and wind and chakra. Three large wolves and a bird appeared, all the clear colour of water, though a violence of movement could be distinctly seen within them.
"Lets hunt," I growled. I let one go forward first and watched it slip through thrown shurikens from the left and then explode as the earth suddenly climbed into an obstruction and slammed the wolf away.
"Ok guys," I said for I had used that first wolf as a trial. I went for the one hidden in a tree with the bird. Talons of sharpened wind raked through his face and with a startled cry he fell down where he met my kunai chest-first.
The second one was slightly harder to exterminate (neutral words to dampen significance) since she knew how to use the earth element efficiently. It was a danger staying on the ground but I knew that if I stayed out in an open tree I would be shot down, for Takeo used a similar tactic.
Thant's why my bird was a perfect soldier for such a battle.
I heard shouts and commotion not far away and muttered a curse.
"Come out already!" I burst out, leaping towards the offender as quickly as I could, wolf following. We dodged a bush and came upon the victim who avoided the slice of a kunai but my wolf jumped with a guttural, watery snarl. Make-shift teeth latched onto a leg before it was exploded with a cry of pain and a squelch of water. I didn't waste time, propelling forwards and throwing punches as I ducked a spinning shuriken. My fist was blocked, and the next one landed on her stomach as she tried to kick the feet under me. She only half-succeeded, which caused my reflexes to extended my kunai-wielding-hand, cutting her neck open, spraying blood over my shoulder and chest as we crashed on the ground, me rolling away with a grimace.
"Shit."
I got up with determination, quickly sending my bird to scout ahead. It came back to my apprehensive self on its glimmering wings.
"Come on boy," I whispered and with a sprinkling beating of its wings it leaped into the air and took me towards where the battle was taking place. Adrenaline made my thoughts scarce; all instinct and nerve as green blurred by.
I halted and hid as I reached an area where the ground was destroyed, an improvised battle field with trees that had been ripped away and rocks rumbled into dirt and gravel. The zone was littered by large puddles of thick, bubbling mud and large spikes made of earth protruding from the ground and I knew Takeo had been at work here.
I created three big monkeys quietly and observed the fight. A few years ago I might have thrown myself right the fray with little more than a shout as warning, in but I had learnt to refrain myself at least some of the time.
There were two people left in the open, but counting the bodies and looking at their uniform it was possible that the leader had either been killed somewhere else, was hiding or had run away. Since I couldn't see Minato, however, I guessed he was holding the leader off.
The two remaining rock shinobi were up in the trees and I could see they had prevailed this long because they were good at defence.
"Go," I told the monkeys and they climbed the sturdy trees as I ran into the middle of the field, catching their attention and so distracting them from the approaching watery forms. I avoided their shuriken easily and landed farther away where I could see them; one large man with a tangled beard and shaggy blond hair and a woman with long, sharp features and a big nose, hanging from one of the branches upside down from her chakra charged feet.
I could sense Takeo hidden in the shrubbery but ignored him, opting for throwing clumsy shuriken in a way which made the two ninjas leap from the trees right into my monkey's fangs.
They gave strangled cries and fell with a spray of blood unto the ground where the earth suddenly turned to mud; Takeo's doing, for he could manipulate earth in a way which, combining it with water, meant the ground could turn soft and trap the opponent or harden and attack from below. And when the opponents jumped away from the ground thinking they had found the weakness to Takeo's attack he would shoot special-made arrows, constructed from a self-made mud, poisonous to the touch.
The bodies slowly sank into it mud, a gurgle of open windpipes as they melted into the floor.
"Find Minato," I told the monkey and they were off as Takeo jumped down beside me, and then away as we followed my waterlogged animals.
No time to talk of breathe or think.
It was soon clear where the battle was going on when a sudden bolt of lightning struck a tree a few dozen yards away.
"Holy fuck, what was that?" I asked. Takeo looked at me and then ahead, lips pulled tight. He had a strong weakness against lightning jutsus and we both knew it. Apprehension built inside us.
"Fuck!" I repeated under by breath as more lightning sounded with deafening cracks of wood and rock. I thanked anyone who was listening that Minato was fast.
"Kushina stay back, we don't know what the situation is," Takeo said sensibly. I glanced at him and went going forward.
"I know exactly what the situation is. Someone is trying to fry Minato's ass with lightning and I have control over wind element. I win," I growled.
The fight was taking place in a mess of charred trees and destroyed rock, creating a dangerous pit. Minato's quick movement was flickering from place to place, a whirlwind of action as the enemy, a woman with her mouth and nose covered by bandages and a Rock Village forehead protector keeping brown hair from her eyes, tried to keep up with him by continuously moving and though she was not as fast as the Yellow Flash she could keep up by swapping deadly shuriken and lightning attacks with the Konoha prodigy.
"We're not as quick as Minato and would probably get in the way, not to mention get struck by her attacks if we ventured into that mess," Takeo glared. I cursed under my breath. "I'm the long-range fighter so I'll try to trap her with my mud. That will hopefully give Minato enough time to get a hit. Cover me," he finished. I assented and stood before him, seals ready and a water made lynx, my favourite type of simulation animal, trembling beside him.
I could feel Takeo's chakra flare as he preformed the ninjutsu and knew he was at him limit as he gasped behind me. With a sudden grinding of earth the ground under the woman had melted and caved in into a mess of churning mud. Minato threw three shuriken in quick procession. One hit her arm, another the woman's collarbone and the third sliced right into the stomach with a spray of blood and a cried gasp from her.
"Yes!" I cried out in victory but before I could even turn to smile and comfort Takeo I watched, horrified, as she quickly formed seals; the tiger, the dragon, the horse, and knew she was aiming one of her lightning strikes at Takeo, who had caused her defeat.
I threw myself at him mindlessly, forcing him unto the ground and covering him with my body right in time as a spear of charged electricity reached us. The lynx that had clung to me in protection took the brunt of it and burst from the sheer force of the attack. I tried to raise wind chakra around me but the attack was simply too fast and the electricity struck me, setting my nerves on fire, fraying them, butchering my senses until all I could do was hear screams and the world enfolded by pain. Blinding white inundated my vision and I could feel nothing except the electricity that had scoured through my veins, coughing up blood as my lungs leaked.
Focus
I ordered myself as I slipped in and out of my surrounding, trying to get a grip and fight through the pain. I opened my eyes blearily to find I was looking up instead of down, Takeo and Minato's faces hysterical above me.
Focus.
"Shit! Shit, I should have gone for the vital points!" Minato was saying as he tried to perform some first aid on me along with Takeo, a brief, soothing relief of healing in uneven places.
"Kushina? Kushina say something. Come on Kushina don't- come on! Kushina?" Takeo kept repeating. I tried to opening my mouth several times as my eyelids flickered and finally got out,
"Fuck...that h-hurt," before passing out.
O
The world attacked me as I woke up to a buzz of pain on my skin, but it was not nearly as bad as when I had been knocked out. The first thing I did was take stock of my surroundings; temperature provided it was night time. The noises were of a crackling fire, the hoot of night birds and crickets and a running stream as well as someone moving about, probably cooking what I guessed, through smell, was roasting fish. I lay there, straining muscles to make sure they were all functional.
"Fuuuuuck," I moaned as I opened my eyes. Takeo was by my side in a moment, smelling like smoke and earth.
"Kushina! Oh Kami, thank...shit," He said shakily and him cursing only made me chuckle sorely.
"For a second there we though...well, I'm just glad you're awake. Try not to move much," he said, hands on my forehead, brushing me hair back, a cloth of something ripped mopping at my brow. I ignored his words and protests completely and sat up, hating lying around after getting injured. I simply found muscles cramped and I ended up even more tired than if I moved about.
"I'm ok," I smiled. He looked at me, exasperated but with relief clear on his face.
"You're such a moron," he said and his face darkened, looking at me seriously. "Don't you do that again." I grinned and shrugged, my look steady. I tried not think about my muscles.
"You told me to back you up didn't you?" I asked, rhetorical, and looked at the fire where fish was indeed cooking on sticks.
"How long have I been out? Where's Minato? Man, I'm hungry," I said, patting my empty stomach painfully.
"Minato's out getting more wood and you've been out a day and a bit. Konoha was too far away so...well, we're inside Fire Country borders so it's safe to make a fire," he shrugged, still looking concerned but he was used to me. He had a calm, logical demeanour compared with me who was at most times a fuzz of sound and action. I looked around and found we were just at the edge of a typical Fire Country forest, taking the shelter of the trees but close enough to a stream, making a perfect camping place. Hungrily I decided it best to move closer to the fire for it was chilly this time of night as well as it was closer to the food.
I struggled to get up on shaking legs whilst Minato tried to both pull me down and help me up at the same time in exasperated concern.
"Honestly Kushina, what am I gonna do with you?"
Several bandages covering minor cuts strained under the movement as I stumbled forwards towards the fire, Takeo's arms around my waist as I tried to tell him I didn't need his help even though I clearly did. Despite my protests I leaned on him confidently, having been in this situation, and vice versa, more than a few times before.
"That bitch sure got me, huh?" I joked, scratching at one of the plasters on my face. Takeo pushed my hand away and soothed the bandage down. His green eyes smiled sadly as he squeezed me slightly against him.
Like old times I thought, and laced my hand with his.
"What do you think you're doing?" A voice sounded angrily from our right and, startled, we turned to see Minato walking towards us, packed with wood. Takeo helped me down beside the fire slowly and moved slightly away as Minato dumped the wood on top of a small pile.
"What?" I asked, confused at his anger. I stared up at his towering form, shadows flickering with the dance of the fire.
"What? What? After that stupid stunt you ask what? What the hell are you doing walking around after that? For fucks sake what the hell are you thinking?" He didn't even glance at Takeo who didn't say anything, meaning he agreed with Minato but not in such an active way. I gaped at Minato, absolutely shocked at the outburst and realising I had never seen him get really angry before. I had barely ever heard him curse.
"Stupid?" I asked, getting angry in return. "Stupid? How the hell was protecting Takeo stupid?" I said loudly, instantly getting incensed.
"It was stupid protecting him like that! You have wind manipulation as a skill and could have stopped the attack with that! You can't just throw yourself in front of the first jutsu that comes your comrade's way!" retorted Minato. I scrunched up my face at his words.
"You're wrong," I said soberly. I had enough experience with this.
"I have seen a whole country go down because of exactly that. Being too afraid of giving your life for others, however stupid it may seem. I had no idea if I could do a potent enough counter fast enough. My chakra only protected me because it was me; it's different if it's someone else, you know that." Minato tried to interrupt me but I went on, angry.
"No, shut up. You're the leader and should know this. Teamwork is the most important thing. The most important. A failed mission can cause a world of trouble but a place that doesn't work together is doomed from the start. So don't you fucking tell me off for saving the life of someone I love because you would have done the same for him, and me. And I would do the same for you. And there is nothing you can do or say that can change that," I finished savagely, staring at his wide blue eyes. There were few times when Minato was struck speechless, and this was one of them.
I could feel the scowl cramping up my face and relaxed my muscles even though frustration still thrummed inside me, made heavier by the lead of sadness Whirlpool always caused. I looked at Takeo and he was staring at me, so understanding and sad and sorry and...
I could barely stand the look. This was Whirlpool in his eyes. An old tragedy now, worn, and I thought, Shit, will we ever let it go.It wasn't really a question because everybody knew that a real ninja lived for their country and people.
And we had failed ours.
I took a deep breath and smiled. I didn't fake it. I never faked smiles. This was how Uzumaki dealt with things. We didn't shush things, we shouted them. We didn't lock things up, we cried them out. We didn't turn away from problems and promises. We faced them with a smile. A real one, even when it hurt. We pulled them, dragged them out by the neck. We let them grow slowly, we used them as weapons, shields, truths. A smile didn't mean quite the same to me as it did to other people.
"But fuck, we know that cause we're gonna make it. A promise is a promise. One day Whirlpool will be back and we're gonna be there. Right Takeo?" I asked, grinning at him with tears in my eyes. The fire cast shadows like a puppets, controlled so that they jumped along his face and eyes.
"Yeah," he said softly. "Don't think we won't call on you for it. We're just trying to make sure you get there, not fried in the way, you know?" He half-joked. His smile was strained.
"Yeah," I said quietly, and I smiled as his hand gave mine a single squeeze. The conversation, however, was over as the night-time silence stretched. I ignored the other two as I turned towards the fire where the fish were charred.
O
The pain was lazy inside me and I was dead tired, but sleep would not visit me. I lay there looking at constellations I couldn't be bothered to learn and avoided thinking about the day. Instead I thought about Konoha and the boys. The dogs, the roads, the mountains. I thought about the sunshine and then thought about Takeo and his eyes and our past and my thoughts stilled. I sighed. And then I heard footsteps and sighed again.
"...Hey," Minato said as his feet stepped into view beside me. I didn't turn my head, though not out of anger.
"Hey," I replied. He sat down beside me, figure subdued in the darkness.
The breeze crawled, lethargic over us. The stars were invisible to my eyes now; all my attention on him. I could never help it happening.
Silence laced around every noise between us.
"You know...you always shout about Whirlpool but you never talk about it," He commented and I knew he hadn't asked anyone before, not the rest of our scattered comrades in Konoha (Whirlpool doesn't stick together) or even Takeo, resting by the dozing fire not that far away from us.
"No one really asks. Whirlpool is history to most people. No one wants to know history in the middle of a war," I said nonchalantly. My hands were numb under my head but I didn't shift. I was almost nervous.
"I want to know," he said. I took in a sharp breath, not because I was surprised but because...Where could I begin? If Whirlpool had ended, where was its start for me?
Was it the first time I was cared for by one of my people? I remembered Takeo and I going every morning of the first years of my memory to an old woman's house to find her wrinkled, fading figure waiting for us with a creased smile and scraps of food, as if we were stray, loyal dogs. Her watery white eyes would stare half-blindly at us as we ate and I chatted. Two filthy figures in large scraps of clothing held tight by various ropes and patched together by a million threads. Takeo would eat silently on the dusty floor, leaning his back against the woman's legs contently whilst I talked through meagre mouthfuls of bread and tea and, if we were lucky, fish. She would nod and smile and her voice would creak when she asked questions to these children who had nothing to do with her except that they came from the same place. It was us who found her dead in that same chair she always sat on, hands that had patted our hair and knit our clothes, cold and hard. Takeo had thrown up on the doorstep and we had cried until we saw it was useless.
Or was it the first time we saw the enemy
Like ever memory in Whirlpool, Takeo was threaded to it. We had been half-playing, half-training in the shadowed, lively port of our village. Takeo's laughter rang out as we threaded around people as fast as we could, causing commotion. Out hair was dirty with the mud we had been warring with, our eyes shining like only children's can. We were like cats on the run.
The first scream that froze us was followed by the sound of cracking wood and then noise, just noise like a physical wall, stopping our steps, turning every head in the vicinity to the source of the trouble.
The confusion had been immense. It swallowed everything up. It blurred one moment with another and made a panic until all I could remember was two sides;
Ours and Theirs.
And when I saw our side fighting for what was ours, Takeo and I trembling against each other, I knew I had found what I had been looking for. Defending what we loved, living for what we defended.
Takeo had pulled me away from the fight saying quick, quick. We wound through streets that were as part of us as our own veins and hid from the sounds of battle that echoed on forever.
Takeo's eyes were intense as he looked out, shushing me, silent feet pushing into shadows. We were made for this. We threw rocks with exploding tags on them to the enemy. It was easy to differentiate. They were them and we were us.
That was our fist duet. Our first duel.
"Whirlpool was...messy," I started, closing my eyes. Kind of like me. "It was grey and dirty and wonderful. There were mud-banks to play in, and children everywhere. We were all strays. There were no dogs in Whirlpool, just anorexic looking cats and anorexic looking children. And we loved it because it was everything we knew. We played ninjas in the docks; learn to walk on water real early. Takeo and I would clean boats for food. The village was fairly small and fairly broken. Power struggled everywhere. How do you cope with invasion and civil war at the same time?" I asked rhetorically.
"Whirlpool was...home. We knew every street. We could talk to anybody, do anything. We were so free it was sick, ya know? Takeo is so sweet looking he would distract shop owners as I made water shapes to steal food. My control wasn't as good then so they were always small and would wet the bread," I laughed. Minato continued in his silence and I with my choppy explanation.
"It always snowed in winter and though sometimes it was fun it was often the worst time of the year. Because of the cold ya know? I loved summer because it was fairly hot if not a little misty and we got to spend the long days at the docks. Takeo loved spring because the mud would be wet or crusty in patches, perfect for playing.
Whirlpool wasn't great but...it was perfect for us, if that makes any sense. I dunno. It was ours."
I turned my head to look at him and found him looking back and maybe I fell in love with him then because he held no pity in his eyes, only understanding, and it was what I had been searching for all my life.
He reached out and brushed the hair out of my eyes and said
"Yeah."
OoOoOoO
A/N
Disclaimer: I own nothing which is not mine
Another chapter! Yay?
May not update next week just because I'm not home from Saturday to Wednesday due to interviews (wishmeluck), even though I do have the chapter ready and stuff, so yeah maybe on Friday.
I would really like some feedback on this story! Especially regarding the timing (the way some scenes are in detail and other are not, or the way large periods of time are skipped). It's not like I can really change it very much because, firstly, I've written too much of the story to do so and secondly I wouldn't be able to write out Kushina's whole life in detail, but it is quite 'distanced', the writing style, and I'm just wondering if that kind of ruins the feel of it or something... So any opinions would be welcome
So, yeah! Review! That way checking my e-mail every 5 minutes can be attributed to something other than insanity. Whoo.
Thanks for reading:3
