Hey everyone, it's acw28 her with a new chapter of Lost Legacy!
So, finals are over and I'm done with school (for now), and after watching a few shows and playing a few video games, I'm tired of feeling lazy so I figured I'd get back to writing for fun. Honestly, I have a few half-finished chapters that I started back when I had time between tests and papers, but I'm in a very RWBY mood right now and one of the recent episode of Volume 4 reminded me why Yang is one of my favorite characters.
But enough of my rambling, let's get this show on the road!
Disclaimer: I don't know how many other ways I can say it, I don't own either RWBY or Naruto.
"Boy that was a hunt." Yang said as she walked back into the village. After living in Konoha for a little over a year and a half, the powers that be had decided that Yang could be trusted enough to venture out on her own for extended periods of time. More over Hiruzen had started setting aside Grimm sightings for the Huntress to take care of, giving her a nice contractor's fee for eliminating the monsters. With the money she earned she no longer had to mooch off of Minato and Tsume, although she still stayed with the former. Whenever the subject of Yang moving out came up, one or the other would find some excuse to have the brawler stay, whether it be the good apartments were out of her price range or someone had to take care of Minato's plants.
As she walked down main street, Yang's thoughts turned to Remnant and wondered what everyone back home was doing. Not for the first time she felt guilty about her dad, hoping he'd get over his depression at seemingly another death in the family. On a happier though she'd bet her right arm that Jaune and Pyrrha would have tied the knot by now. Any other thoughts were interrupted when Yang heard a cry of "Sensei!" and felt someone crash hug her.
Looking down, Yang saw Rin looking back up at her. Despite sighing, Yang still smiled as she said, "I still don't get why you call me that. All I ever did was give you a few kick boxing tips. Really the only one I taught anything to was Obito, and that was just a few 'learn-or-die' hunting trips."
"Maybe," Rin admitted, "but the title is also a sign of respect, which you've certainly earned after taking out all those you-know-whats." Before Yang could offer any retort, Rin suddenly let go as she dug around in her kunai pouch. "I almost forgot," the girl began before pulling out a sheet of paper and handing it to Yang, "Kakashi just got promoted to jonin, all his classmates are having a surprise party tonight."
"You sure he'd want me there?" Yang asked, "He always seemed a bit miffed that I would take Obito out hunting and leave him behind." It's not that Yang wanted to play favorites among Minato's students, but that just seemed to be how the situation broke down. Living with Weiss taught Yang a few signs about dysfunctional families, and while Obito may have his grandmother there wasn't any other love for him in his clan, the teen needed to be out in the world where he was free to be himself and not be judged for not measuring up to a near impossible standard. Yang knew the same logic could apply to Kakashi, but the silver haired teen simply couldn't survive on his own against a Grimm, at least not yet. If given the choice, Yang would rather have Kakashi feel a little angry but be surrounded by his friends than feel as if he needed constant babysitting out in the field.
"Oh, he's just a bit jealous," Rin easily confessed, "it's still a little hard for him to admit that he's not best at every single thing." Seeing that Yang was seriously considering the offer, Rin decided to tip the scales a bit more in her favor, "Minato-sensei is going to be there."
Unconsciously, Yang stood a bit straighter and a small smile appeared on her face when she heard this tidbit. Assuming the girl had learned of her feelings through the village gossip, last time she gets drunk with Inocihi, Yang replied, "Then I guess I'll be there. But first a shower, I haven't had access to running water in almost a week."
The party was held at Ichiraku Ramen, a small stand that all three of the men of Team Minato greatly enjoyed, maybe a bit too much in the case of their leader. Regardless, the owner, Teuchi, had set up a small table beside his shop for the party. As she ate her chicken ramen and drank another cup of sake, Yang observed the small gathering, which consisted of Kakashi, Rin, the red-eyed Kurenai, the Hokage's son Asuma, the boisterous Might Guy, and the orphaned Anko Mitarashi. Predictably, Obito had arrived late and the small table was already filled up, leaving the only available sitting space at the stand with Yang. Uncharacteristically, Minato had yet to show up, however Yang didn't have time to think on that as she was busy handling another problem.
As Obito finished his tale about his promotion to chunin and his plans to ask Rin out, Yang gently patted the boy's shoulder. "I'm sorry to hear that little man, that sounds rough."
"Tell me about it." Obito mumbled as he slurped his noodles.
"You know I'm not the best person for romantic advice. Really all I can say is if it's meant to happen, it'll happen." Yang said, trying to console her pseudo-apprentice.
"I know, but why can't it happen to me?" Obito lowly whinnied.
Yang was about ready to just tell the kid to get over it, until her eyes happen to catch a glimpse of something at the main party table. "I've told you about my friends Pyrrha and Jaune before, right?"
"I think so, why?" Obito asked.
"Well before they were together, Jaune had this huge crush on my other friend Weiss. He was so focused on wooing her that he never noticed Pyrrha until it was almost too late." Seeing the confusion on Obito's face, Yang subtly pointed to the rest of the party, more specifically Anko who was staring at Obito in a very specific manner. Upon making eye contact with the boy, the purple haired girl quickly averted her eyes, a small blush present on her cheeks.
Obito honestly didn't know what to make of this and instead decided to figure things out another day. Placing some money on the counter, Obito said, "Thanks sensei, I'll keep your words in mind. I should probably get home now."
As Obito was about to leave, Yang asked, "How's your grandmother doing?"
The boy shrugged and said, "Some days are better than others, unfortunately she mistakes me for my father more often than not."
Yang wanted to say something more to the Uchiha, to tell him to treasure every moment he had with his grandmother, that it wasn't selfish to want more time with one's family, that she would always be there if he need to talk, but Obito was already running back to the Uchiha district. Turning back to her food, Yang attempted to eat some more noodles only for a familiar voice to say, "That boy is certainly going to have a hard time in the near future. Uchiha's aren't exactly known for their kindness, not even to extended family."
Turning around, Yang grinned as she saw her friend wait by the counter. "Hey Tsume, I know you're not a teacher for one of the brats so what brings you down here?"
Holding up a white bag, the wild woman said, "Picking up some take out, Hana had this place a few times when Minato was babysitting her and always demands it when I don't feel like cooking. What about you, waiting around for the perfect chance to jump my friend's bones?"
Ordinarily, Yang would have some cleaver comeback that would make Tsume blush and back off, but feeling buzzed from her sake she instead replied truthfully, "I wish. I give the guy all the signs that I want him and he finds ways to slip away. I literally walked in while he was showering and he uses the fucking Hirashin to get to his room."
"Wait," Tsume asked as she set her bag on the counter and took a seat, "you haven't slept with Minato yet? I though you two would have gotten together by now."
"Please don't remind me." Yang retorted.
"Really, I'm surprised." Tsume continued, "I mean whenever I talk to him he always goes on about you, and some of the guys give him shit about having a hot blond in his house but he just smiles about it. Maybe he actually likes you and is afraid you won't stick around."
"Really?" Yang asked, instantly perking up, "And just where did he get that idea?"
"Well you do always say that you're just visiting, and he is the guy in charge of finding you a way home." Tsume explained.
Yang was silent for a moment before saying, "Well yeah, at first I was all excited to get home, but now…"
As she trailed off, Tsume asked, "But now?"
"Now, it's more so just so I can tell everyone I'm okay before coming back. I really want to stay here, stay with Minato, even if the man can be such an idiot at times."
Tsume snickered as she said, "Tell me about it, you should have heard the questions he asked me after Jiraiya-sensi gave him the talk." Bring her laugher under control, Tsume continued, "In all seriousness though, it isn't too late for you two. You just need to do something big."
"What's big that Yang needs to do?" Minato asked as he suddenly appeared behind the two ladies.
After calming their hearts, Yang replied, "Nothing you need to worry about, we were just having some girl talk."
"Yeah, I know when to leave that alone." Minato stated before taking a seat next to Yang and ordering three bowls of beef ramen.
While Teuchi was near the counter, Tsume whistled to get his attention before saying, "Also give these two a bottle of your best sake, they need to celebrate after all it's not every day a student is promoted to jonin."
As Teuchi bent down to grab the drink, Tsume shared a look with Yang, one that seemed to say "I'm setting this up for you, don't fuck it up." The woman stuck around just long enough to pay for the drink and her take out before rushing back to her clan's compound.
Once Tsume left, Minato filled two saucers with sake, raising his own as he said, "To great accomplishments,"
Yang raised hers as she replied, "and bright futures." As the two downed the liquid, Yang knew what she was going to do tonight.
The party continued for a few more hours, until the reality of a mission tomorrow made it necessary to go home. As Minato and Yang stumbled back to the shared townhouse, any passerby could see they were completely and utterly drunk but somehow arrived home without incident.
Once in the entryway, Minato bent down to help Yang remove her boots. Once that task was done, Yang waited patiently for her host to remove his sandals and then pounced. Before Minato knew what was happening, he found himself pushed against the wall, Yang attacking his lips with her own. Quickly recovering, the man kissed back as he pushed Yang against the opposite wall. Pausing briefly, Minato asked, "How far do you want to take this?" before bending down and gently sucking on Yang's neck.
Taking advantage in the man's decreased height, Yang unzipped Minato's flak jacket as she said, "I don't exactly know."
Bring his head back up to stair directly into Yang's eyes, Minato said, "If you want to stop, just let me know."
"I will." Yang replied before she jumped into the man, locking her legs behind the blond man's back as she renewed her assault on his lips. Somehow the pair managed to stumble around the house and up the stairs, losing clothes the entire time. Yang never said to stop, and late in the night fell asleep next to a familiar warmth.
In the morning, Yang awoke feeling someone groping her chest. Her eyes fluttering open, Yang turned back to find the sleeping form of Minato, a smile gracing his lips. She would have liked to remain there, laying comfortably in Minato's bed enveloped by his warmth as memories from last night slowly came back to her, but soon she felt her stomach protesting.
Not caring for her nudity, Yang quickly dashed out of the bed and into the hall bathroom, barely making it to the toilet in time as the contents of her stomach started coming up. After one heave she was about to let herself sit back, only to feel another pull from her gut. As she leaned forward again, she was surprised as she felt someone pull her hair back. Her business taken care of, Yang leaned back to see Minato's concerned face. Still having a headache, Yang snorted softly before saying, "Well this is a surprise, usually the guy slips out at the first sign of my hangover."
"Well I'm not most guys," Minato said before a smile appeared on his face, "and it is my house." Whatever Yang was going to say was forgotten as she once more leaned over the toilet. Seeing the state his lover was in, Minato felt bad that she couldn't use his hangover trick before deciding to try and help her out.
As she finished throwing up for the third time, Yang was about to swear off drinking forever when she felt Minato touch her temples. Before she could question anything, she felt a warm tingle travel from her temples to her head and then around her body. Feeling much better, Yang turned to the man and asked, "What was that?"
Holding up two fingers, Minato replied, "Chakra. Your body may not have a system to produce it, but we share the same biology to the point that you wouldn't be harmed if I used it for a beneficial purpose. I just used a small amount to burn off the residual alcohol in your system, but you probably should rehydrate."
"Thanks Minato," Yang said, pleased how recent events occurred. She still missed her home, her friends, and her family but there were worse places she could be stuck. She was about to continue the conversation, until she felt Minato lightly tracing three large diagonal scars on the small of her back.
"How did you get these?"
"Remember my story about the cabin and the Beowolves?" When Minato nodded, Yang continued, "Well I didn't tell you the full story. In my world, Aura can be opened one of two ways. The safer way would be to wait until the kid is at least ten before reciting a chant, although then you have to wait awhile for the Semblance to manifest. If you want a Semblance from the get go, you throw a kid into danger and hope they survive long enough."
Instantly putting the pieces together, Minato stated, "Your uncle didn't arrive right away, you had to run for a while and at least one of the beast got you."
It was Yang's turn to nod before saying, "Yeah, but it's in the past so I tend not to think about it, and there's no way I'm telling Ruby. She'd constantly blame herself when it wasn't her fault." Feeling like she'd said enough on the subject, Yang demanded, "Now enough with this depressing shit, let's talk or do something fun." No longer feeling sick, Yang jumped up, unintentionally causing her breasts to jiggle. While she stretched out her back, Yang caught Minato, his eyes glued to her chest and a quick peak below the man's waist showed he liked what he saw. Grinning, Yang dragged Minato towards the shower. "Come on, we've got time for a quickie before we head out to get missions."
"Are you sure, you know how Kakashi gets if we arrive late." Minato stated.
"Oh, we'll be fine," Yang causally dismissed the reply, "we'll be saving time since we're showering together."
Since he couldn't find a fault in that logic, Minato smiled himself before saying, "I swear, someday I'm going to marry you."
Yang chuckled when she heard this and asked, "Going a little fast there aren't you? I haven't even gotten a date yet."
In response, Minato shrugged his shoulders before saying, "We've been living together for over a year, I think I know you pretty well. Besides, shinobi aren't guaranteed long lives, we tend to go after what we want."
"Alright then lover boy," Yang replied, "I'll keep that in mind, but for now we've got to make it through today."
Despite the shared shower, as expected the pair of blonds were late meeting Minato's team at the mission hall. While Kakashi gave the two a light glare as Minato came up with an excuse of helping an old lady find her pet cat, Rin took a quick glance at the pair, noting a few things such as Minato's crooked head band and Yang's change in how she walked. Nudging Obito, the teen pointed out the small changes, which caused the Uchiha to huff before digging out his wallet and giving his friend a few bills.
Soon Minato and his team were allowed into the mission hall to receive their assignments. Yang, still technically a civilian was forced to wait outside for ten minutes before being called in herself. Surpassingly Minato and his team were still present, but Yang didn't have time to dwell on this as Hiruzen cleared his throat. "Hello again Miss Yang, how are you on this fine day?"
"As well as can be," Yang replied as she stretched up and popped her back, "so you got anything for me or will I actually get to relax for a week?"
"Unfortunately you'll have to take a rain check on your break." Hiruzen stated. Nodding to one of the chunin attendants, the man brought forward a wrapped up scroll. "Our forces and our spies report that a large wolf pack have been gathering near the front lines. While the reports don't indicate any trouble, I'm concerned about the fact all the animals have only been seen at a distance and are black in color."
"Makes sense," Yang said as she skimmed over the intel, "Grimm are attracted to negative emotions, those wouldn't exactly be in short supply during a battle."
"Then you see why I called you. You'll be given the usual 'hunting fee.' Furthermore due to the importance of your services, and that they are going in the same direction, you'll be escorted part of the way by Team Minato. Now, if none of you have any questions you may all leave."
With that everyone left the mission hall and proceeded straight to the main gate, each person already packed for a long mission.
After a day's walk with little activity and a peaceful night, the four came to a forest with large trees that had large mushrooms growing out from them. While Kakashi took point, Rin and Obito followed behind him and Yang and Minato brought up the rear. After almost another day of silent walking, Kakashi suddenly stopped, prompting everyone else to as well. While Yang and the other teens were looking around for anything out of place, Minato had a small smile as he thought, 'Good job Kakashi.'
After subtlety leading everyone to a fallen tree, Minato put one finger to the ground and sent out a small chakra pulse. "One…no wait twenty enemies," he whispered, "everyone, keep your guard up, even if it's probably just shadow clones."
"You're right sensei." Kakashi stated as he slowly began a chain of hand signs, "if that's the case, I'll attack."
Up in the trees, a lone Iwa Shinobi was observing the group. 'Hmm, so they found me already, pretty impressive for a bunch of kids.' Turning his eyes to Yang, the man thought, 'She matches the description we got from some of the neutral medical corps about the woman slaying the black beasts. She maybe a non-combatant, but I'll have to be prepared for anything.'
As the Iwa Shinobi began to contemplate his next move, everyone in the area suddenly stared wide-eyed as Kakahsi finished his handsigns, resulting in him holding what appeared to be a ball of cracking electricity.
"Here I go," Kakashi declared as he jumped over the log and started running at an incredible speed towards his opponent, "Chidori!"
'Charging straight at me? The kid isn't too bright after all.' The Iwa Ninja thought as he and his nineteen duplicates moved into view and started throwing kunia and shuriken at Kakashi. Minato expected his student to dodge the blades, only mentally curse when the teen didn't react at all. Figuring out what was happening, Minato cursed before throwing his own weapons to protect his student.
As Kakashi grow closer to the first Iwa Ninja he found, he ran up the tree before thrusting his electric covered fist through the man's chest, only to be surprised by a puff of smoke. 'A clone, no matter, on to the next.'
And so Kakashi continued running from clone to clone, popping each as he went along with Minato protecting him from the enemies thrown blades. As this happened, Obito heard something rustling in the underbrush, turning in time to catch a glimpse of an Iwa Hitai-ate appearing just behind Yang. With a cry of, "Watch out!" the Uchiha and Huntress both acted quickly, Yang dropping down as Obito threw a kunai that popped the clone. As she stood up and dusted off her clothes, Yang yelled something she thought she'd never say, "Non-combatant here! Check your throws!"
However, her words seemed to be lose in the middle of the melee. As Kakashi continued running, he mentally counted each clone he vanquished, getting up to eighteen before charging towards the last one standing as the man drew a katana. "Don't get cocky you little shit!" As Kakashi neared the man, the Iwa shinobi swung his blade, aiming for a lethal cut across the teen's torso. Luckily Minato saw the attack coming and used Kakashi's marker to teleport between the two fighters, pushing his student backwards, although Kakashi still suffered a cut below his shoulder, as he placed a marker on the Iwa ninja.
As the three men separated, the Iwa ninja jumped back into hiding while Minato brought the slightly injured teen back to his team. Placing the boy on the ground, Rin already set to work using the mystical palm jutsu to heal her teammate while Minato concentrated. 'Okay, he's marked.' By second nature, the jonin recognized where he placed his tag. Slowly drawing a kunai from his holster, Minato dropped his backpack before teleporting behind his enemy, the man suddenly sweating profusely.
"So, you are the Yellow Flash." the man calmly said. When Minato didn't respond, he continued, "Back at HQ, they told us to run away from you no matter what. I can see why." Minato still didn't respond as he slit the man's throat open before using the Flying Thundergod to teleport back to his team.
Flicking his wrist to get the blood off his blade before it stained, Minato said, "Good work on recognizing and responding to a threat, but Kakashi that jutsu is incomplete." As all his students stared in shock at what their teacher said, the man elaborated, "You've got the power and speed necessary to make it work, but you don't have any way to see an opponent's counterattack. The jutsu works fine if you can catch someone by surprise, but until you can overcome this limitation you shouldn't use this 'Chidori' in open combat." Although reluctantly, the teen nodded his head as hearing his sensei's words. Once everyone had calmed down from the battle, Minato gave one final order, "Alright then, move ahead two hundred feet and set up camp, I'll join you three shortly."
Once he was alone with Yang, Minato told his fellow blond, "I'm sorry you had to witness that, I know you don't like war."
"You're right I don't," Yang said before sighing and walking towards the jonin, "but you're a soldier and this is your job, protecting those under your command." The clearing was silent for a moment before Yang hugged the man and said, "So this is where we part, for now at least. I'll miss you, you know."
Minato gladly returned the hug as he said, "And I'll miss you." As the two looked into each other's eyes, they slowly began leaning towards each other until their lips meet in passionate kiss. They continued as such for a few minutes, hoping all would be well but knowing neither may return. When they finally separated, Minato rested his forehead against Yang's as he said, "I meant what I said that day, I'm going to marry you after this is over."
Yang smiled as she stepped back from Minato while saying, "Focus on getting through today first, then we'll talk about marriage."
Minato watched her leave, a smile on his face. He was an elite shinobi whose students were more than capable of handling anything. What could possibly go wrong?
As he jumped through the trees, Obito couldn't help but think of everything that had gone wrong.
It started out well enough. After Yang left the group for her own mission the four Konoha shinobi soon made it out of the mushroom forest and into a clearing with some rolling hills. There Minato-sensei had reviewed their missions, he was to go to the front lines while Kakashi would lead the team to sabotage Kannabi Bridge to stop Iwa forces from using Kusagakure as a staging ground for a large counter attack. Before leaving, Minato also gave Kakashi a graduation gift of a special tri-bladed kunai. Rin also had a gift for her friend, a personalized med kit. Contrary to popular belief, Obito did have a gift for Kakashi, he just left it back at home.
After leaving Minato-sensei, the two chunins and jonin began their trek to the objective, however while crossing a stream the group were ambushed by a pair of Iwa troops. After a short skirmish, Rin was knocked out and captured. That led to a short argument between the boys about whether they should complete the mission or attempt to rescue Rin, which ended with Obito decking Kakashi and calling him "worse than scum" for abandoning his friend.
That brought the boy's mind back to the present, where after spending another half hour with his Sharigan activated as he continued to track down his enemies. As he caught the indention of a set of footprints leading to a cave, the Uchiha had to stop, release his ocular jutsu, and eat a chakra pill. It wasn't a well known fact outside of the clan but an incomplete Sharigan used a lot of chakra even for clan members. Already Obito had to use a few chakra pills to replenish his system, he'd be in pain later but it would be worth it to save his friend.
Taking one last look at the cave, Obito was about to reactivate his Sharigan and move forward when he felt something was off. Before he could react one of the Iwa ninjas, this one with two blades strapped to his arms, appeared and was about to skewer the boy. Obito would have died, if Kakashi didn't show up at the last minute to save him, driving the enemy away with a downward slash that drew some blood.
Shocked to see the other boy, Obito asked, "Kakashi? Why are you here?"
"Well I can't exactly trust a crybaby like you to pull off a rescue by yourself now can I?" Despite the condescending tone, Obito could tell the silver haired teen actually cared.
Before anything else could be said, the Iwa ninja laughed as he held his bleeding side, "Well guess you two actually have some skill, to bad that's not going to matter in a few seconds." Right as Obito activated his Sharigan the man disappeared from Kakashi's sight, but not the Uchiha's. As the enemy rushed forward at inhuman speeds, Obito acted, although not quick enough.
As he saw the man's one blade descend, Obito pulled Kakashi back with one hand while using the other to stab a kunai forward into his opponent's stomach, dragging the blade upward to the man's chest. The man let out a gasp of air before becoming visible again and falling dead. Despite the accomplishment, Obito grew concerned when he heard Kakashi groaning. Quickly rushing to his friend's side, Obito saw the newly promoted jonin's left eye sliced open. "Kakashi," he began, only to be cut off.
"I'm not dead yet." The teen stated. Reaching into Rin's med pack, the boy grabbed a few painkillers and some medical wrapping to keep pressure on his wound. "There, that'll do until we rescue Rin and she can patch me up better." He then turned to Obito and asked, "Do you happen to have a plan, or are we going to charge in there?"
In response, Obito smirked before asking, "Why not both?"
Meanwhile inside the cave, the remaining Iwa ninja was guarding Rin, who was currently trapped in a genjutsu. As the man was beginning to grow concerned for his partner, he saw someone running into the cave. The man smiled until he saw it was Kakashi with his blade drawn. Slightly impressed, the man thought, 'So the brats got some skill, still there's only one of them.' As he was about to draw a kunai, the man felt a blade slide through his ribs and into his heart. Trying to figure out what happened as his vision grew dark, the Iwa shinobi just managed to catch a glimpse of Obito appearing out of thin air, apparently able to copy the camouflage jutsu. Despite being beat, the man still smirked, confidant the Deadman's switch would kill the brats.
Not giving anymore thought to their follow foes, Obito and Kakashi quickly rushed over to Rin. As Kakashi released the genjutsu and Obito cut the ropes, the girl's mind came back as she said, "Obito," but then caught sight of Kakashi's face and gasped.
Before his recently rescued teammate could say anything else, Kakashi stated, "I know, I'll have it looked at later."
Suddenly the cave began to rumble and a few small rocks fell from the ceiling. "Damn it!" Obito cursed as the area became more unstable, "That Iwa jerk must have been pumping chakra into the rocks, without his chakra signature this place is coming down!"
Although all three were exhausted both mentally and physically, they began the thousand yard dash to the cave entrance, Obito taking point with Rin to his left and Kakashi to his right. About halfway to their goal the heavier rocks began falling. Concerned, Obito peaked behind him to see Rin doing fine but smaller rocks kept hitting Kakashi's left side. 'We need to get out of this soon or he might not make it.' As the chunin thought this, he saw the rocks near the entrance collapse but was actually glad as this created a bigger opening in the ceiling for them to jump through. Before he could celebrate this twist of fate, he saw several large boulder fall towards Kakashi's left side and quickly made a choice.
"Stupid fucking beowolves!" Yang yelled as she walked though a forest that felt familiar to her. Wanting to get back to Minato quickly, she had traveled through the night to where the Grimm may be spawning. Once there she quickly disposed of the creatures, but not before one of the beasts used its claws to slash apart her supply sack. If that was the worst of it she could just gather up the scattered items, however her map ended up getting caught in the wind and blown away from her.
Yang hadn't been known for her sense of direction back in Remnant, and it hadn't exactly improved during her time in Konoha. For the past day and a half, the blond had been wondering in the general direction she thought the main road was, but so far that proved to be fruitless. Just as she was about to release another angry scream, the Huntress felt the ground shake beneath her feet. Looking around, the brawler saw part of what she though was a hill collapse in on itself. Although sure it was nothing, she still decided to investigate.
Needless to say, Yang was shocked to find a crying Rin and a one-eyed Kakashi kneeling next to a downed Obito. Looking closer, Yang saw his right arm and leg where rushed by two large boulders while several smaller rocks rested on his chest, thankfully the teen's head was free. Making herself known, Yang demanded, "Anyone want to tell me what the hell happened to you three?" Shocked, Kakashi and Rin turned and where about to answer when Yang said, "You know what, tell me later." Pushing the two teens aside, Yang grabbed and hurled the smaller rocks away before glancing at the two boulders. Expanding both halves of Ember Celica, the Huntress pumped a little Aura into her fists before punching both rock's simultaneously. In the brief half second after the boulder's shattered but before more rushed to fill the space, Yang dragged Obito's body out of the danger zone. As Obito coughed up some blood from the sudden movement, Yang turned to Rin and demanded, "Diagnoses, now. Kakashi you keep a lookout."
The pair nodded, Kakashi climbing up the rocks behind Yang while Rin slipped into a clinical mindset before doing the necessary jutsu. Once completed, Rin reported, "A fractured rib punctured a lung. Along with the crushed appendages, this is leading to major blood lose. He's also suffering from severe chakra depletion, likely the result of taking too many chakra pills." She then turned to Obito and asked, "How many of those did you take anyway?"
"Two or three." The boy managed to say through gritted teeth.
Rin was about ready to explode at her longtime friend for being such an idiot, but Yang called her attention back to the present, "We can yell at him later, what's your current suggestion."
"Ordinarily I'd use the mystical palm to heal the more severe injuries and EVAC him to a field hospital, but we don't have the time or the chakra." Digging into her medical bag that had somehow survived the entire ordeal, Rin pulled out a bone saw, some scalpels, and a lighter, Obito gulping at the sight before him. "I might have enough energy to fix his rib, the chakra we'll just have to hope for the best, but I can't do anything to save his arm and leg." This only filled Obito with more dread, it wasn't unheard of shinobi missing a limb but having two chopped off was an instant career ending injury.
Although Yang knew the practicality of what Rin was planning, she didn't like it. Seeing the look of genuine fear in Obito's eyes, Yang decided to try something. If Minato could put chakra into her body, why couldn't she do the same with her Aura? As Rin continued to prepare for the amputations, Yang placed her hands on Obito's elbow and knee before concentrating on sending as much Aura as possible outward. At first nothing happened, but after half a minute the three in the crater began to hear Obito's bones snapping into place, the boy biting on his sleeve to stop from crying out. Although exhausting to both Yang and Obito, she held onto the boy for another five minutes until she was confidante the libs were repaired. Finally letting go, she noted that the arm and leg looked healthy once more, although heavily scared. Turning to Rin, Yang said, "Check him again."
Once more, Rin did a diagnosis jutsu, before gasping at the results and switching to the mystical palm, "I'm fixing his rib and lung right now, but his arm and leg is healed while his chakra exhaustion is no longer life threatening. I don't know what you did Yang-sensei, but it's a miracle."
"Yeah, well don't expect another one anytime soon. That really took it out of me." Yang would have said more had Kakashi not whistled. Understanding the urgency, Yang told the girl, "Pack up your stuff and help Obito up, we're leaving." Yet it wasn't that simple as several Iwa jonin stood ready to attack. Cursing mentally, Yang put on her best smile and waved as she said, "Well hiya fellas! Sorry about the trouble, we'll just be leaving now." She knew the teens had some sort of mission out her, but quickly decided it wasn't worth their lives.
"Who does this bimbo think she is?" Someone from the back asked rather loudly. Yang was tempted to march over and show them all who she was, except for the apparent leader to speak up.
"I recognize her, at least her description." He then turned to Yang and asked, "You're that non-combatant aren't you? The one that's been killing the black beasts that prey on everyone?"
"I am."
"Then you have my thanks and my permission to leave." The man said, "Those three Konoha shinobi's with you, we'll be taking them."
"Oh come on, do they honestly look like a threat to you?" Yang demanded. By now Rin had managed to help Obito up and the pair were standing next to Kakashi. Pointing at the teens, Yang said, "One's missing an eye, one's mentally exhausted, and the last one looks like he'd faint from the next strong breeze." Although none of the men seemed to care, Yang continued, "They're just kids for fuck's sake, I'll bet you none of them have even been kissed yet!"
"That is irrelevant, they knew of this possibility the moment they accepted being shinobi." The Iwa leader calmly said, "Now move aside, this is your last warning."
Yang looked towards the teens, only reaffirming they were in no shape to fight. A million thoughts ran through her head in an instant, chief among them that she swore to herself she wouldn't get involved in any of this world's conflicts. Despite this, and her own exhaustion, Yang knew she couldn't step aside. Once more expanding her weapon, surprising many of the Iwa shinobi, Yang replied, "Then I guess I won't be offering my services to Iwa in the future."
The leader accepted her words without any change of emotion, just a simple, "so be it." Before the man could react, Yang threw both of her fists back and used the blast to launch herself forward. As she landed in front of the group, she quickly launched an uppercut into the leader's chin, sending the man skyward and flattening his head on a large tree branch. Yang didn't have time to think about the kill as the Iwa ninja's suddenly jerked into action, forcing her to use her robot arm to block several kunai.
Seeing his team's savior in battle, Kakashi knew he needed to help despite his own condition. Drawing a weapon from his kunai pounch, the teen threw the blade only realizing once it was out of his hand that it was the tri-pronged kunai Minato had given him. As the boy was processing this information, a yellow flash filled the forest. When everyone was able to see again, they were greeted by the sight of Minato standing on the other side of the group, one of his special kunais in hand and the bodies of all the Iwa ninjas on the forest floor, their throats slit. The man then turned to everyone and quietly asked, "Now, can anyone tell me what happened?" From there Obito gave a brief account of Rin being captured before him and Kakashi decided it was imperative to rescue her, Yang showing up near the end. Feeling the headache that the official report would be, Minato told his students, "You made the right choice sticking together, now head home. No one is going to think any less of you three after everything you went through."
The three students looked at one another, having a silent conversation before Rin spoke up, saying, "Actually Minato-sensei, we've decided to finish the mission."
Although he could easily tell the teens were exhausted, the jonin also saw a certain spark in their eyes. "I'm not going to be able to convince on this, am I?" When the three teens shook their heads in unison, Minato sighed before saying, "Already, but take a break first and take a proper look at Kakashi's eye." With his students following his orders, Minato then turned to Yang and asked, "You okay?"
Already knowing what her lover was asking about, the Huntress said, "I'll deal, not like it's the first time I was pushed this far." When Minato raised his eyebrow, she elaborated, "Remnant may not have any wars, but there's still crime. Sometimes even the best of us get forced into a situation where it's us or them."
The man nodded, accepting the explanation, "Still, I'm sorry you had to interfere," looking back at his students, the Yellow Flash saw Kakashi getting his bad eye sown up, "and I hate to ask this of you, but could you…"
"Look after your brats?" Yang finished, "Already planned to, I've grown too attached to them."
"Thanks." Minato said with a small smile, "I've got to get back to the front, but I'll see you after everything is done." With that, he gave Yang a quick kiss before teleporting away.
"Damn, that man better give me a ring after everything that's happened these past few days." Yang mumbled to herself before yelling, "Alright rugrats, let's get moving so we can get home and forget about this shit show!"
As Yang and Team Minato left the area, they were unaware they were being observed by a lone figure. Once left alone, the figure seemed to melt into the ground and travel through it before coming to a large cave where an old man sat in a stone chair, connected to an ancient looking tree. Opening his eye, the man saw that the figure returned alone and asked, "And just were is my descendent Zetsu?"
"I'm afraid that there was interference Lord Madara. The boy still lives but is being protected." the figure said.
Zetsu could see the anger in the old man's eyes, but his master was able to control himself and replied in a steady voice, "No matter, there will be other opportunities to snatch the boy. If those fail, there is always another plan."
Thankfully the rest of the mission proved uneventful, save for a small fight between Obito and Kakashi about who got to detonate the bombs surrounding the bridge, with Rin ultimately getting the prize while the other two were distracted. Afterwards the trio were quick to meet up with Minato near the front lines, were they learned the Konoha defense had been successful and Iwa was driven back with such high casualties that they probably couldn't continue the war. Afterwards it was a quick track back to the village, a lengthy report to the Hokage about the mission from everyone, then a trip to the hospital for the teens before Yang and Minato returned home, too exhausted to do anything but sleep, the next day was a different story.
"Are you sure this looks right?" Yang asked Rin as she looked as the knot of the obi in the mirror.
"For the last time Yang-sensei, it looks fine!" Rin yelled, having to answer the same question fifteen times already.
"I know, but I can't help being a little nervous." The blond admitted as she looked over herself in the mirror. Dressed in a white kimono with red accents, it was such a departure from her usual style that the brawler almost doubted her reflection. Sighing, the Huntress shook her head as she said, "I can't believe he managed to arrange this so quickly."
"I'm not," Rin said while adjusting the obi of her own kimono, "Minato-sensei has always worked hard for the things that he wants. Plus you two have lived together for over a year, I'm sure he's thought of this before."
"Yeah, that does sound like my man." Yang admitted, before he gaze turned to the ground, "Still, it seems like we're just rushing into this."
Once more Rin proved to be the voice of wisdom as she asked, "You love him, right?" When Yang nodded, Rin declared, "Then you have nothing to worry about. He loves you just as much, any problems you two have will be worked out."
Yang was about to ask when the teen became so smart, only for a knock on the door to capture her attention. When the door opened, Kakashi poked his head in to tell the girls it was time. Seeing his covered eye, Yang still felt bad that she wasn't able to get him to Konoha fast enough to save the eye, but Kakashi didn't blame her and told her he was alive, that was what mattered.
Standing up, Yang took measured steps to ensure she didn't ruin her kimono as she followed the teens to the hall. There she saw Minato waiting for her, dressed in a vertically white and blacked stipped kimono of his own along with a black hoari. Smiling at his bride, Minato held out his arm and asked, "Ready?"
Taking the offered limb, Yang replied, "As I'll ever be."
With that the doors to the hall opened and the pair walked down the center of the room. The wedding was a small affair, only a handful of people being informed of the occasion. Despite this, Yang saw many of the clan heads and their families as well as many of Kakashi's, Obito's, and Rin's classmates. Yang had to smile as she saw Anko sitting close to her favorite Uchiha, it seemed he took her lesson to heart.
Soon enough, the pair arrived at a small alter and knelt as a priest began a long chant to purify the space and the people. Despite the situation, Yang's mind began to wonder. Already knowing his bride, Minato lowly whispered, "What's on your mind?"
"Nothing," Yang replied, "just wondering how my sister will react."
"I can't believe I'm doing this." Ruby said for the tenth time as she paced the small space in front of the mirror, stopping just briefly to look at herself in the strapless large white dress, the neckline starting just above her breasts.
"Oh would you relax." Blake said from her seat, wearing a form fitting purple dress of her own. "You're blowing this all out of proportion, you're just getting married."
"Of course you don't think it's a big deal," Weiss said from the other end of the table, wearing a matching dress, "you and Sun got married in a casino in Vacuo." The maid of honor finished.
"And now you know why I don't drink anymore." Blake deadpanned.
"Really, I thought it was because you were trying for a kid." Ruby blurted out before thinking. Suddenly realizing what she said, along with the shocked looked from Weiss and the glare from Blake, the bride continued, "Which I just remembered you told me was a secret, sorry."
"Oh don't worry," Blake said, although her expression told Ruby she should, "you just shared a secret of mine, so I'll share one of yours, maybe at the reception."
"Please don't!" Ruby begged.
"Oh be nice Blake." Weiss scolded her friend, "It's bad enough her dad is throwing a literal shotgun wedding, don't add to the embarrassment." Yep, Ruby had just the luck that her dad would surprise her with a visit to her apartment after a long mission, using his spare key to let himself in. Of course she may have neglected to inform him she shared the apartment with Sage, resulting in Taiyang walking in on the pair in the living room. After much embarrassment, yelling, and explaining, Taiyang decided there were two possible outcomes to the situation, with the recently graduated Hunter and Huntress taking the option where everyone stayed alive.
Before Blake could respond, the door opened as Qrow walked in, "Okay ladies, we're getting started so go take your places." When the other Huntresses left him alone with his niece, Qrow asked, "You ready kid?"
"NO!" Ruby yelled, "I can't find my bouquet! And I still need to find my good luck charms."
Qrow just chuckled before saying, "Well, here's something new," in his hands were a pair of simple silver earrings. Ruby quickly accepted the gift and while she put on the jewelry, Qrow continued as he held up his hand, "something old," opening up his palm to reveal her old Rose emblem she hadn't worn for years. As Ruby pinned the metal above her heart, Qrow said, "and here's something blue." hanging from the man's hand was a sliver necklace with a small sapphire. When Ruby accepted the latest gift, Qrow finished "As for your bouquet, here it is, along with something borrowed." From behind his back the man revealed a dozen red roses. While the bride to be went to grab the flowers, her eyes were drawn to the yellow ribbon holding the bundle together.
As she accepted the flowers, Ruby asked, "Is that?"
Qrow nodded his head before saying, "Took me an entire day looking through the attic to find one of her old ribbons." Looking over his niece again the man said, "If she was here she'd tell you how proud she is of you, and how beautiful you look."
In response Ruby snorted before saying, "Please, we both know that she'd be the one holding the shotgun."
After sharing a brief laugh, Qrow said, "Yeah, but your dad's got that honor so it's up to me to give you away." Holding out his arm, the man asked, "You ready kid."
Ruby smiled as she allowed herself to be lead through the church to the main hall were everyone was gathered. The wedding actually turned into a rather large gathering with many teams from Beacon and other schools coming, along with the teachers and families. As the music played, Ruby briefly glanced to the left where Weiss and Blake stood with her other Bridesmaids, Pyrrha and Nora. A quick look to the right showed her groom looking handsome in his tuxedo, although sweeting due to Taiyang holding a shotgun against his back. Further along the right was Sage's Best Man, Neptune. Surprisingly there wasn't any debate among Team SSSN on who would fill the role since they already knew Weiss would be Ruby's Maid of Honor. The rest of Sage's Groomsmen consisted of Sun, Scarlet, and Jaune filling in to keep the numbers even.
As Ruby made it up to the alter, Sage lifted her veil before saying, "You look so beautiful today."
This caused Ruby to blush but she was quick to respond with, "Thanks, you don't look so bad yourself."
Any further conversation was halted as Ozpin, who somehow had the authority to officiate the ceremony, began, "Dearly beloved, we are gathered today…"
As the priest finished the chant, he took the bottle of sake that was on the alter and poured some into one of the two cups before offering it to Minato. The man gingerly took the porcelain cup before taking three sips and offered it to Yang who mirrored his actions. The priest then took the second cup and poured more sake, this time offering it to Yang. Being especially careful not to crush the fragile cup with her robot hand, Yang took her three sips before offering the half-filled cup to Minato who finished it off. Finally the priest poured the small remainder of sake into two saucers. Moving simultaneously, Minato and Yang picked up one of the saucers before turning to each other. Once more mirroring each other, the two extended their right hands to bring the saucers to their beloved's lips, then tilted the dish as they finished the sake at the same time. The ceremony complete, the hall was filled with clapping as the pair slipped golden rings on each other's hands, the applause only increased when Yang pulled her husband into a deep kiss.
As the pair separated, Yang smirked as she said, "I guess you're stuck with me now."
"I can handle that," Minato said with his own smirk, "but right now we've got a celebration to attend."
Ruby didn't know how much longer she could stand, the lady stiles that Weiss insisted she wear to match Sage's height were starting to hurt her feet. Finally Ozpin said, "Sage Ayana, do you take Ruby Rose to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold in sickness and in health until death do you part?"
Sage opened his mouth to respond, only to hear a shotgun being cocked. He didn't need to turn around to know Taiyang was glaring at him as the man said, "He does."
Despite the unusual ceremony, Ozpin continued speaking as if nothing was out of the ordinary, "Ruby Rose, do you take Sage Ayana to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold in sickness and in health until death do you part?"
"I do." Ruby said without a moment of hesitation.
Ozpin smiled as he declared, "Then by the power vested in me I declare you man and wife, you may now kiss the bride." Without any further prompting the pair came together, Ruby throwing her arms around Sage's neck as those assembled clapped, a few whistling and some crying. As the two separated, Sage was unprepared to see Taiyang approaching him. Thankfully the shotgun was left behind as the blond smiled and said, "Welcome to the family, now when can I expect grandkids?" Sage didn't have a chance to respond as Ruby began pulling him down the aisle, it was a bit of a drive to the dance hall where the reception was and they needed to get there fast.
As everyone was enjoying themselves with dancing and drinking, Obito and Kakashi managed to have a moment to themselves as the bride and groom opened gifts. As Yang was stunned into silence when Minato surprised her with a photo album of everything from her Scroll, apparently he figured out some jutsu that allowed a projected image to be captured on paper, the two boys just looked on in happiness for the two. Without taking his eyes off the newlyweds, Obito reached into his pocket and withdrew a scroll before offering it to Kakashi. Feeling the question coming, the Uchiha explained, "You don't think I'd really not get you anything for your promotion did you? I got that while out hunting, figured you could use it better than me."
Nodding, Kakashi unrolled the scroll, shocked at what laid before him, "Obito, this is a summoning contract!"
"Yeah, the pug made that pretty clear to me after I helped him and the rest of the hounds fend off some small Nevermores." The Uchiha then caught the eye of his date before pushing himself off the wall, "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a lady to entertain." With that the teen smiled as he strutted towards Anko, taking her in his arms and leading her to the dance floor.
Once alone, Kakashi said, "Don't know what you've got until it's gone. Doesn't Yang-sensei say that sometimes?" Kakashi asked seemingly no one until Rin walked out of the shadows, a fake smile on her face.
"No, it's fine. Obito's a great guy who deserves someone that likes him as much as Anko. I'm happy for him, really."
'You're not a good liar.' Kakashi thought before putting his scroll away and asking, "Would you like to dance?"
Rin was caught by surprise but after a moment said, "Thanks, but it's getting late and I should get home. I've got rounds at the hospital in the morning. Bye Kakashi."
The teen could only watch her leave, hoping this didn't lead to friction between his friends.
After a night of dancing and having fun, it was time for a favorite tradition of a Remnant wedding, throwing the bouquet. As all the single ladies gathered up, Ruby saw Ren looking nervously at a bouncing Nora, who had just drained some energy from the main powerline to have a greater chance of catching the flowers. After winking to her friend, the bride nodded to the recently married Jaune and Pyrrha Arc.
Moving quickly, Jaune walked behind his friend and "accidently" bumped Ren as he was about to take a drink, causing wine to spill all over his shirt. Seeing this, Pyrrha said, "Oh no Ren, that'll stain." At hearing those words, Nora zoomed away from the group to try and help blot the stain, at which point Ruby turned her back to the ladies and tossed the flowers. Realizing she'd been had, Nora quickly zoomed back to the crowd where her fingers just grazed the steams of the roses, however the extra push sent the flowers to the back of the group, where they landed in the hand of a shocked Winter Schnee. At seeing the suddenly appearance of roses, and the glares of several ladies, the Atlas Specialist hesitantly made her was forward as the second part of the tradition began.
While all the single men were gathered up, Sage knelt down as Ruby moved her dress to expose one of her shapely legs, leading to quite a few wolf whistles. As he chuckled, Sage gave the group a show as he slowly slid Ruby's garter off before winking to his wife and snapping the elastic cloth, sending it over the heads of all the men and sailing towards the open bar where it landed on Qrow's shoulder as he was about to take another drink. Seeing the article of clothing, the man grumbled before downing the rest of his drink and walking forward to be met by a glaring Winter. Despite their reluctance, the two knew the importance of tradition so Winter allowed the slightly older man to slid the garter up her leg, giving a brief glare when he snapped the elastic on her thigh, Qrow responded with a grin before leading the white haired beauty to the dance floor.
Once left alone, Ruby couldn't help but chuckle as she watched the two dance, both trying to take the lead. As she pulled out her Scroll to record the moment, the new bride couldn't help but think Yang would be laughing about the outcome.
After what seemed like forever, Yang and Minato were finally allowed to leave and return home. As the newlyweds walked the deserted streets, Yang leaned against her husband and said, "I still can't believe Hiruzen picked you as his successor, I thought he'd pick one of his own students."
"I'll admit, it's a surprise," Minato said as he stopped walking, "and here's another one."
Yang now noticed that they stood in front of a two-story, four-bedroom house, a large tree in the front yard. Not understanding, the brawler said, "This isn't our townhouse."
"No, but it is our home." Minato stated before continuing, "This is a new chapter in our lives, only right that we start is some place new."
Once more, Yang felt a certain warmth in her chest as she asked, "Who all knows you bought this place?"
"Just the realtor, maybe Hiruzen."
"Good," Yang said as the pair walked through the front door, "because we aren't leaving for at least a week and I don't want any interruptions." Already Yang was starting to untie her obi, it was time to celebrate.
Three years passed by quickly for Yang. She still kept up her hunting trips but thankfully the war was almost over. As had been predicted, Iwa had suffered too many casualties to continue and had to pull out from the conflict. Seeing their major ally back down, Kumo, the village hidden in the clouds, had asked for a ceasefire while a peace treaty was drafted, a process that could take years due to council meddling. The last major power was Kiri, the village hidden in the mist, did not make any aggressive moves but so far had been unresponsive to an attempts at peace talks, which resulted in Minato keeping some forces in the area as a deterrent to attack.
Still, despite the good news there was also some trouble in the world, particularly close to home. Obito's grandmother died a month after Minato became Hokage. Not finding much love within the Uchiha district for some reason, the boy spent most of his nights either in one of the guest rooms of the Namikaze house or with his girlfriend Anko. A more broad issue was that the Grimm numbers only seemed to be ever increasing, to the point that Yang began to question if it was just the White Fang capturing Grimm or if they had started reproducing in this world as well.
These thoughts ran through her head as she packed away the last of her ever dwindling supply of dust. As she shoulder her backpack, the Huntress turned to her husband and said, "Well I'm off.'
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Minato asked with a smile. Smiling herself, Yang walked to her husband before dropping into his lap and giving him a loving kiss. After separating, Yang tried to get up, only to have her husband hold her down. "Forgetting something else?" The answer escaped Yang for a moment, before she huffed. Carefully taking off her wedding ring, the blond but it on a gold chain before letting the jewelry drop below her neckline. This was the only major argument between the two that Minato won. After several assassination attempts by "rogue" Iwa shinobi, Minato had asked Yang not to wear her ring outside the village, afraid someone would ambush her to hurt him. Despite the legitimacy of Minato's belief, Yang still argued with him until a compromise was reached were she could wear the ring after Kiri formally withdrew from the war or after the two had their first child.
Despite Yang hiding her ring, Minato was still reluctant to let her go. "I still don't like this."
"It's just a hunting trip," Yang tried to reassure her husband, "I've done this hundreds of times."
"But you were always in the Land of Fire," Minato pointed out, "now you're going past our borders, into the Land of Lightning no less. Not to mention you've had that stomach bug for the past few weeks but won't go to the doctor. Why can't I just send Obito, he's just as good defeating the Grimm as you are."
"Yeah, that would go over well. Send a member of one of the founding clans into former enemy territory and expect everything to be fine, besides you have him, Kakashi, and Rin stationed in the East on defense duty. I wonder how the three are doing."
"I'm sure they're fine." Minato said, having confidence in his team.
They were not fine. Despite starting out as a normal, uneventful day the trio were ambushed at dusk by some Kiri ANBU. After a brief fight, the trio were successful in driving the enemy away, only to quickly realize they abducted Rin during the chaos. After sending Pakkun with a message to the barracks, the two began tracking down the Kiri aggressors. After twenty minutes, they found five of the ANBU finishing some sort of seal on their friend. They didn't show any mercy.
After waking Rin up, the two then began taking her back to base, despite her protests.
"Please, just leave me!" Rin begged.
"I already told you, that's not happening!" Obito yelled back.
"You don't understand, I heard their plans before I was knocked out. If we make it back to the base…"however she was cut off by several kunai with paper bombs thrown in front of the trio and detonating. As the trio were forced to stop in a clearing, they saw perhaps twenty to thirty Kiri ANBU. Kakashi and Obito took a second to nod to each other before simultaneously beginning a string of handsigns, soon both held a chidori in their hands as the rushed forward to meet the enemy, Obito using his eyes to seeing incoming attacks while Kakashi detected his enemies' movements due to the passive benefits of holding the dog summoning contract, increased smell and hearing almost to the level of an Inuzuka.
As Obito ran his fist through another enemy, the hairs on the back of his neck told him to look behind him, his eyes widening at what he saw, Rin running forward to place herself in Kakashi's path. Obito's mind raced as he saw this, trying to find a way to prevent the outcome, 'No, I've already lost my grandmother, I've almost lost her before, I refuse to loose anyone else if I can help it!' The teen felt something inside of him spark, then the world suddenly become colored like a negative while everyone stopped moving. Not questioning it, Obito quickly finished off all the enemy ANBU before moving Rin away from Kakashi's attack. Just as suddenly as the phenomena started, it stopped as the world went back to its normal color and the bodies fell to the ground.
Kakashi blinked as he observed everything around him, noting the enemy was defeated and Obito, who was on the other side of the clearing, was suddenly standing next to Rin, who looked confused herself. Deciding to figure out the headache later, the de facto leader commanded, "Now Rin, please explain to us why we can't go back to base?"
"The container for the Sanbi recently died. They captured it and sealed it in me with a faulty seal to release the beast when we get back to our main forces." Rin quickly explained, although Kakashi was extremely doubtful.
"Rin, let me see the seal." When both his teammates stared at him in confusion, Kakashi explained, "Minato-sensei and Jiraiya-sama have shown me a few things about seals, I can't create them but I can recognize them.
Nodding, Rin still was hesitant to shove the neckline of her shirt to the side, show a seal placed above her heart. Kakashi stared at the writing for a few minutes before saying, "Well the good news is that they lied about the tailed beast, this seal wasn't designed for containment." Before anyone could breath a sigh of relief, Kakashi continued, "It's an explosive seal, and from the looks of it, it extends down to your heart."
"So what do we do?" Obito demanded, frustrated that he could do nothing to save his friend.
"Well theoretically, if we work fast enough we can destroy the seal." Kakashi said.
"But the ink goes too deep, she'd be left with a hole in her chest and we're too far away from base camp to get her help." Obito countered, until he saw both his teammates looking at him. "Oh no, I'm not doing it. It's too delicate an operation for me, not to mention we'd still have too long a time for me to start an medical jutsu that I learned from Rin."
"Then why don't you do whatever you did just now?" Kakashi asked, "The thing that allowed you to eliminate the ANBU."
"I don't know how I did that, or if I could do it again!" Obito yelled.
"Well I suggest you figure it out." Rin said. Acting quicker than either boy expected, Rin stole a kunai from Kakashi's pouch and said, "If you're worried about me dying, then I'm taking that out of the equation." As Rin finished speaking, she turned the blade on herself and started driving it towards her chest.
Once more Obito felt something snap and the world turned to negative. Not knowing how long this would last, the boy moved the kunai out of the way and despite his reservations, powered up a chidori. Moving at what felt like a snails pace, the boy slowly drove the electric infused hand through Rin's chest until he barely touched her heart. Obito used the electricity to burn off the top layer of the muscle, than withdrew the hand to ensure the seal was gone. Satisfied with his work, he allowed the chidori to die before powering up the mystical palm jutsu to heal the grievous wound, leaving behind a small scar.
Just as he finished his work, Obito felt the world go back to normal and himself out of breath. As his vision darkened, Obito asked Kakashi, "We good?"
A quick look at Rin revealed the absence of any seal, "Yeah, you took care of it."
"Good," Obito said, "I'm going to pass out now." The Uchiha doing just that.
Shaking his head at his teammates antics, Kakashi asked Rin to give a check up to their teammate. After a few moment Rin reported that he was fine, but still frowned. When Kakashi asked why, Rin said, "Well he shows signs of chakra exhaustion, but he still has most of his still in his system."
Having yet another headache, Kakashi said, "Let's just get him back to base, serve out the rest of the mission, and get home and let Minato-sensei make sense of this."
So far Yang had been traveling for three days, although not by herself. To help ease her husband's mind, the brawler agreed to travel with a Konoha shinobi while in friendly territory. Of course she didn't expect to have Jiraiya, a member of the Sannin and Minato's teacher, be her traveling companion. Yang had already met the man when he came to visit Minato, congratulating the man for finding his happy ending with his own "big boobed blond." Most woman would find offense to that, although Yang just took it as a compliment but made it very clear to the man that if he tried to peak on her he'd regret it as in Yang's own words, "only my hubby gets to see the twins."
As the two were moving through the Land of Frost, Jiraiya suddenly stopped, "Well, this will be were I'm leaving you, Konoha shinobi can't get any closer than halfway through a neutral land." He then turned to Yang and said, "I'll be waiting three days, at which point I'm assuming the worst has happened and start looking. Remember, if you find yourself in trouble, look for the toads, you got it?"
"Yeah, I got it. Seriously, you and Minato worry too much."
Jiraiya was about to scold the blond but just huffed before saying, "Just make it back alright? I don't want to see what would happen to the brat if you didn't come home."
"Don't worry you old toad," Jiraiya grumbled at the nickname, "I don't plan on being away for long, see ya in a couple of days." As Yang continued the journey alone, Jirayia went off to find a town to wait in, maybe he'd continue his novel if he could think of a name for his protagonist.
While Yang continued onward, she couldn't help but wonder what her friends were up to.
Walking through the small village, Neptune continued talking on his Scroll. "I know honey, almost done here and then I'm back in Vale. I can't wait to see you." Digging a small velvet box out of his jacket's pocket, he finished by saying, "I've got a surprise for you."
"I have one for you to." Weiss replied over the phone.
Neptune couldn't help but smile as he asked, "Is it anything like the last one you gave me?"
There was a pause on the other end of the line before the former heiress said, "It's definitely related."
Any further conversation was halted when Neptune heard a Grimm roar, "Gonna have to call you back, duty calls." With that Neptune put both the box and his Scroll away as he ran towards the roar, seeing a beowolf about to pounce on a girl. Quickly drawing his weapon in rifle form, the Hunter shot the beast dead before helping the girl up and to one of the EVAC Bullheads.
For whatever reason the Grimm had become a lot more aggressive, forcing many of the smaller communities to evacuate completely or face utter destruction. It was a dangerous job to provide security, even for trained Hunters and Huntresses, but it paid well.
After dropping the girl off, and thankfully reuniting her with her family, Neptune approached the last remaining Bullhead where the village's chief was and asked, "Is that everyone?"
The man nodded before saying, "Yes, everyone's accounted for, it's time to leave." As the man started walking up the loading ramp, he turned back and looked over what had been his home, "I'm sorry to see this place go," his gaze then turned to some Atlas robots that were holding a defensive line, "but there are some things I'm glad to leave behind." Even years after the Battle of Beacon there was a certain distrust regarding anything related to Atlas Military. Neptune let the man have his moment before they got on the airship, the last living thing to leave the area.
Finally relaxing after the weeklong mission, Neptune was about to call Weiss back, only for the interior of the ship to suddenly be bathed in red light. Mentally cursing, the man walked into the cockpit and asked, "What's going on."
Shakily the piolet pointed to something resembling a radar and said, "We're picking up a swarm of Nevermores coming right for us!"
Once more mentally cursing, Nepturne started running to the back of the ship. After ordering everyone to stay back, he lowered the loading ramp, pulled down his googles, and strapped himself to one of the hydraulics before he started taking shots at the approaching Grimm. He managed to keep this up for five minutes before coming to the realization that there were simply too many for him to take on by himself. Looking down, he could see that the Atlas robots were able to handle the ground bound Grimm, but weren't paying attention to any of the Nevermores.
Suddenly the Hunter got an idea. 'Weiss is going to kill me for this.' Turning to the Village's chief, Neptune said, "Close the ramp after I jump and get the hell out of here!" Before the man could ask what the blue haired Hunter meant, Neptune unstrapped himself and ran down the ramp, jumping into the air. Quickly the chief followed the younger man's instructions before rushing to the cockpit and saying, "I want an extraction team for that young man in the air within five minutes."
"Sir," the piolet began, "it's at least an hour's flight from anywhere…"
He was cut off when the chief grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him to eye level. "That man is risking his life to ensure that we get to safety, it is very likely he'll die. If that's the case I at least want to make it right and give his family something to burry. On the off chance he does survive he'll be wounded. Make the call."
As he was in freefall, Neptune finalized the details of his plan. Angling his descent towards one of the faster Nevermores, he shifted his weapon into it's guandao mode. As he landed on the back of the Grimm, he shoved the blade between the wings, then twisted the shaft to make the large bird-like monster turn around. As he grew closer to the now abandoned village, he made the Grimm begin to land before he finished slaying it. With his feet on the ground, now came the hard part.
Running around amidst the flames and chaos, Neptune finally found what he was searching for, a destroyed bot with some juice left in it. Quickly cracking open the unit's head, Neptune cracked the password and used his Scroll to manually connect to the robot's hive mind to give the still function units new orders. All the robots stood still momentarily before raising their rifles to the sky and began to unload on the avian Grimm. Soon they started marching to the other end of the village for better shots.
Neptune breathed a sigh of relief, happy his plan actually worked. His calm was shattered when he heard one of the robots being torn apart, turning to find a it being ripped apart by an Ursa. Shifting his weapon back into rifle mode, Neptune went to work defending the defenders.
The Bullhead was able to use a slipstream to arrive at the deserted village in forty-five minutes instead of the usual hour. As soon as the ship touched down, the ramp lowered and a squad of soldiers rushed out to see a scene of chaos. Buildings were on fire, numerous robots lay in pieces. Sitting against the fountain was Neptune, his hair matted with blood, his lip split open, his googles in one hand while the other held his heavily bleeding side, the remnants of his jacket lay in tatters around him. Despite his numerous injuries, the man smiled to the soldiers and said, "Sorry fellas, looks like you missed the fun." before blacking out. Quickly the soldiers checked the Hunter for a pulse and finding a faint one, loaded him onto the bullhead as they tried to keep him alive until they got to the hospital.
Blake was pacing, something she hadn't done since telling her parents about her marriage to Sun. Despite walking the same few feet back and forth, the faunus couldn't escape the sight of her friend hooked up to countless machines just to keep him alive. Her husband had initially been with her, but couldn't stand the sight before him and had to go to the waiting room. Scarlet, Ruby and Sage and also stopped by before going off to comfort Sun, leaving Blake to wait for Weiss.
The day had started off so well to. After years of trying, Blake woke up to find herself pregnant. Sun was excited about being a father and was about call everyone when they got the phone call from the hospital. Now it didn't seem like it was the time to share such joyous news.
These were the thoughts that circled Blake's head until she heard heels clicking against the floor at a rapid pace. She wasn't surprised to see Weiss, or when the former heiress started to collapse at seeing the condition of her boyfriend. Quickly to comfort her friend, she her Weiss whisper, "Please tell me he's…"
"He's stable." Blake reassured her, "He was on the table for a few hours to fix the major concerns. He's in a coma right now," Blake hated what she had to say next, "they're not sure when he'll wake up."
Once more the confidence Weiss seemed to always have shattered, "He told me he was almost done, that he'd be home by tonight, that he had a surprise for me."
Blake knew what the surprise was, but wasn't sure if she should share it with the emotionally unstable woman. Finally deciding to listen to her gut over her head, Blake pulled out a small velvet box while saying, "Aside from his googles and weapons, this was the only thing to survive."
Weiss hesitantly held the box before opening it, revealing a simple silver ring with a beautiful diamond in the setting. Once more Weiss felt tears begin to fall and her friend hugging her as she said, "He was going to marry me." The world suddenly became numb, until everything came rushing back, including what Weiss had wanted to tell Neptune.
Seeing her friend become even more distraught, Blake quickly said, "He's going to get through this, you know that. I know your land lord will be lenient for awhile, but know that you can always stay with me and Sun if you need to."
Wiping away some tears before sliding the engagement ring onto her finger, Weiss said, "Thank you Blake, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to do something drastic. I'm going to need to ask my father for a job."
"What!" Blake almost yelled, "but you said…"
"I know what I said," Weiss cut her friend off, "and if it was just me I could get by, but with Neptune in a coma I'm going to need a more stable income than just Huntress missions."
Blake was trying to find the logic in Weiss' statement before realization suddenly hit her, "You're pregnant."
The former heiress nodded her head before saying, "That was going to be my surprise for him." Turning to her friend, Weiss stated, "I know you, Ruby and all our other friends would chip in to help me, but I can't take you away from your families."
Blake nodded, and although she disagreed with Weiss' plan she still put a comforting hand on her friends shoulder and said, "Still, if you ever need help you know you can call us." When Weiss nodded her head, Blake asked, "Do you need anything else?"
"I don't mean to sound rude, but could I have some time alone." With a simple nodded Blake left to rejoin her husband and friends, leaving Weiss alone in the hallway. Once more looking at her would be fiancée, the woman sighed before saying aloud, "I knew I'd have to talk to him someday, but I wish you'd be there with me."
After a few hours of hiking it was beginning to get dark as Yang finally made it to the border of the Land of Lightening, were she found someone waiting for her. As she approached the dark skinned man with the slicked back blond hair and goatee, Yang called out, "Hey, I'm Yang. I heard you folks have some problems I might be able to fix."
"I'm A," the man grunted out in greeting before looking the woman up and down before shaking his head and beginning to lead Yang into the new country, "and I still don't know what my father thinks he'll get out of this. We can handle the bear ourselves."
Although annoyed at the man's attitude, Yang ignored it as she asked, "A bear you say? Does it happen to be big and black and have red eyes?"
"Yes it does." A said before glaring at the Huntress, "You seem to know an awful lot about this beast."
Already knowing where that line of thinking was going, Yang said, "Before you accuse me, no I do not have a summoning contract of any kind. Neither do I carry kunai, shuriken, or paper bombs. Thirdly, I'm not associated with any hidden village." As Yang finished speaking, she though, 'I really need to get that changed considering I'm married to the fricking Hokage, if that doesn't make me associated with a village I don't know what does.'
A seemed to before falling into silence. As dusk approached the pair came to a small village. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, until a loud roar was here. Instantly A turned to Yang and ordered, "Stay here, I'll show you Kumo can deal with its own problems." As the man went charging down the hill, Yang snorted before falling after.
Not surprisingly, Yang saw an Ursa Minor in the center of the village, destroying a few food carts filled with cabbages. What did surprise the Huntress was seeing A become enveloped in lightening before charging at the Grimm with speed that could almost match Minato. As the man got closer, the Ursa tried to swipe at A only for the Kumo shinobi to side step the attack and grab the paw. Before the Grimm could react, A reared his free hand back before delivering a devastating hit to the monster's head. A repeated this several times until the beast was thoroughly stunned, at which point he released the Ursa's paw before grabbing its head with both hands and twisting, a loud snap was heard before the Grimm feel to the ground.
As A breathed heavily and let his lightening armor fade away, he turned to Yang and said, "See, I told you we would take care of it."
In response, Yang clapped before asking, "Yep, you defeated the Ursa Minor, now what are you going to do about the Major?"
"Major?" A asked before he was bowled over by a Grimm twice the size of the previous one, a collection of bone spikes and a mask present. As A tried to get up, he found a massive paw pushing down on his chest as the beast roared in his face, until some crashed against its head and exploded.
"Hey ugly!" Yang called, now having the complete attention of the Grimm, she settled into her fighting stance, "Come get some!" In response the Ursa charged at the girl and began swinging its claws, Yang expertly back stepping each attack. "Oh come on! I've fought Boarbatusk that are more of a challenge!' This only seemed to make the Grimm even angrier as it attacked faster, finally catching Yang in a heavy swipe that sent her down to the ground.
A expected the woman to stay down, or at least be bleeding. Instead Yang slowly got up, a smile on her face as her hair began to catch fire. "Thanks ugly that was just the pick-me-up I needed." In response, the Ursa Major reared up on its hind legs and roared in Yang's face, hoping to frighten her. A was further surprised when Yang hit the beast with a single punch to the forehead, sending it skidding back several feet. While the beast was still stunned, Yang quickly activated her gauntlets before firing off a round into the dirt to propel herself into the sky, then another at the top of her arc to increase her momentum even more as she brought her right fist down, completely obliterating the Grimm's head.
"So that was a thing." Yang said as she walked over to A and helped the stunned man up. "Any place to stay around here? It's a bit too late for me to start the walk home."
Wordlessly, A lead Yang to the local inn, still in shock at the display of power he'd just witnessed.
Yang got perhaps a few hours of sleep until she was roughly shaken awake by her guide. "You need to leave, now." A told her.
"I plan to, in just a few hours when the sun's up." Yang replied as she turned away from the man.
"You don't understand, my father heard of what you did and wants that strength for Kumo. He's planning to kidnap you and erase any evidence you were ever here."
Now fully awake, Yang glared at A and said, "Okay, that is just sick and wrong. I'm guessing you're going to try and capture me to please daddy dearest."
"No," Yang was once more surprised as the man continued, "I want my country to be strong, but this is not the way to do it. And so I repeat, you need to leave, now."
"Thanks for the warning A, and I'm sorry about this."
"Sorry about wha…" before the man could react, Yang had already delivered a knuckle sandwich that knocked the man out.
"Sorry big guy," Yang said as she collected her things and snuck out the window, "but I've got to make it look good."
Jiraiya was calmly smoking his pipe as he sat at the meeting point waiting for Yang. It was only the morning of the second day, but the old man had a bad feeling. As if to prove his gut true, Yang suddenly came running from the distance, the Toad Sage could see a few figures following after her. Although he desperately wanted to jump in and save the wife of his apprentice, Jiraiya knew he couldn't risk restarting the war.
Finally after what seemed like an eternity, Yang managed to make it to Jiraiya's side, the Kumo shinobi stopping when they caught sight of the Sannin. Now safely back from Kumo, Yang proceeded to flip off her pursers as she said, "Take that you fuckers! There's no way you can…oh no…oh god…" that last bit was said before Yang suddenly doubled forward and proceeded to throw up in the middle of the road.
Taking a step to the side to avoid the barf, Jiraiya asked, "Hey hot stuff, you okay there?"
"Yeah I'm fine," Yang replied, "just a stomach bug I've had for a bit."
"Yeah…no." Jiraiya said as he summoned a horse-sized toad and put Yang on top of it, "You're taking the express way back to Konoha and you're going to the hospital." Before Yang could protest, the amphibian was already moving. Turning to face the Kumo shinobi, the Toad Sage glared before asking, "How badly do you want to make an issue of this?" The shinobi wisely choose to go home.
As Minato was trying to make sense of a report from Kakashi, a knock on the door grabbed his attention. Looking up, the Hokage saw his lovely wife enter his office with a smile on her face. "Hey you," Yang said as she closed the distance between them and gave Minato a kissed, "I missed you."
"I missed you to." Minato replied before asking, "So I take it the situation in Kumo is cleared up?"
Yang shrugged while saying, "For now at least, so far we're lucky in the fact that most of the Grimm are spawning in the Land of Fire, any outliers are usually by themselves and weak, meaning a halfway competent jonin could take care of them." She then noticed Minato turning his attention back to the report and asked, "What you got there?"
"Just a report from Kakashi claiming Obito developed some new jutus in the heat of battle that doesn't require chakra use. The details are making me wonder if I should stop issuing alcohol rations."
"I don't know, almost sounds like a semblance to me." Yang stated after skimming the report, causing her husband to stare at her wide eyed.
"How is that possible?" Minato questioned.
"I don't know, this is really the first time we know of chakra and Aura interacting." Yang stated before quickly forming a theory of her own, "Maybe it's possible my Aura took more than I thought when I healed him, sticking around instead of dissipating, gathering energy until eventually it created its own steady supply." When Minato proceeded to fold his hands under his chin in thought, Yang said, "I'll test him when the brats get back and show him some things if he does have some Aura, but right now I've got a surprise for you."
"And I've got one for you, but you go first." Minato said with a smile.
"Well how do you feel about starting a family?" Yang asked. When Minato when slack jawed in shock, Yang nodded before saying, "Yep, no stomach bug, just a case of pregnancy. Doc said it should take care of itself in a few months." When Minato finally recovered and was smiling, Yang asked, "So what do you have for me?"
"Oh just this," Minato said as he took a scroll out of his desk, Yang could see the seal had kanji on it, making the word "Remnant." Now it was her turn to be shocked as she asked, "You finished it?"
Minato nodded as he said, "Just yesterday, only problem is I'm not sure of the effects inter-dimensional travel would have on a pregnant woman."
Crying tears of joy, Yang said, "It's fine babe, I've waited a couple of years to see my family I can wait a few more months. Oh I can't wait for you to meet everyone, but for now can you get off work early? I feel like celebrating."
The months passed by quickly. In the first month the former Team Minato finally made it back to Konoha. While Rin was getting a full physical to ensure she was no worse for wear aside from her scar, Yang confirmed that Obito somehow manifested an Aura and Semblance of his own and began teaching the boy a few things, happy someone could vanquish Grimm while she was on bed rest. The rest of the time was a flurry of doctor's appointments, one at which she found out she was going to have a son, and visits from Mito. Jiraiya also stopped by late into the pregnancy, where the pair informed him they decided to name their son after the protagonist in his book and to make him the godfather. Throughout that time, Yang couldn't wait to welcome her little boy into the world.
Those peaceful thoughts, however, were currently absent as Yang felt another series of contractions and started crushing her husband's hand. "Fuck you Minato! You did this to me!" Currently Yang was reclined on a hospital bed, her water had broken earlier this, the contractions beginning in the afternoon and continuing well into the night. As the latest contractions stopped, Yang eased her grip on her husband's hand as she apologized, "I'm sorry honey, I know I'm being a bit emotional right now."
"No it's fine." Minato quickly said while subtly using a minor healing jutsu to fix his bones.
"Bullshit," Yang replied, "once we get done here I'll make it up to you properly. I seriously don't know how Tsume went through this twice." The Inuzuka family had been another set of visitors Yang regularly saw, especially after Tsume's husband ran off shortly after she became pregnant again, her son Kiba had been born back in July. Minato retook his wife's hand and was about to say something, only for the contractions to begin again. "God damn you Minato Namikaze! I swear if you weren't such a good fuck I'd neuter you after this!"
It was at this moment that a nurse walked in, blushing at what she heard. "I came in to see how close the contractions are and to check the dilation." Yang just nodded her head as the nurse went to work, informing the expecting parents that Yang was close put still had a few centimeters to go before she could start pushing. Minato just nodded, knowing this was out of his area of expertise, and hoping that a little embarrassment was the worse they would have during the night.
Mito Senju enjoyed the quite walk home near the edge of the village. After going to the Namikaze residence, she was told by Kakashi that the two were at the hospital already. The old woman couldn't wait to see the pair's son, and to spoil the boy rotten. This line of thought reminded the woman of her own granddaughter Tsunade, and how she wished the girl would write more often aside from asking for money to clear some gambling debt. With these thoughts going through her head, the once fearsome kunoichi didn't sense the presence near her.
Appearing out of the ground, Zetsu quickly grabbed the old woman by the throat with one hand while the other grabbed one hand to stop the woman from making handsigns. "Pathetic," the creature thought aloud, "my master has memories of a much younger you, one so beautiful and feisty. But now look at you, a few decades and your beauty falls away, your strength abandons you." The plant creature then gained a sadistic smile as his hand quickly slid from Mito's throat to her stomach, tapping a few points before saying, "Take comfort in knowing your death serves a much greater purpose." With that, Zetsu disappeared back into the ground.
As Mito felt the seal loosening against her control, she had one final thought, 'I'm sorry everyone.'
It was getting close to show time for Yang when the entire hospital was rocked by what seemed to by an earthquake. Turning her head to the window, the Huntress yelled, "What the fuck is that!" when she saw something bigger than the Grimm Dragon on the edge of the village.
"That would be the Kyuubi, the nine-tailed fox, which means Mito-sama is dead." Minato replied in a grave tone. Already he could see his shinobi rushing to engage the beast. Feeling a slight pressure on his hand, he saw his wife looking up at him.
"Go," Yang said, "your village needs you, we'll be here when you get back."
Although still hesitant, the Hokage eventually nodded before walking out into the hallway, Yang just barely able to hear him order the staff to be ready for incoming wounded and having some of the jonin round up the younger members of the forces to ensure they stayed out of the battle and would live to carry on the will of fire.
If Yang would turn her head, she'd be able to see a grand battle between ninja and a force of nature. Eventually the shinobi of the village, no doubt suffering a great number of casualties, pushed the giant fox back into the vast forest surrounding the village. As the beast charged up a bijuu bomb, there was a flash of yellow before the giant sphere of chakra was teleported far away from the village. Yang however, didn't watch any of this as the actual birth of her son began. Maybe it was the pain from the contractions feeding into her semblance and making her pushes stronger, or the concern about her husband, but it was only a matter of minutes before the room was filled with the cries of a newborn. As the doctor cut the umbilical cord and washed her son, a nursed asked for a name, to which Yang replied, "Naruto Namikaze." If the woman was shocked about the last name she didn't show it as she swaddled the now sleeping newborn and gave the boy to his mother before exiting the room to help treat the injured that started coming in.
As Yang looked over her son, she couldn't help the grin as she saw his blond hair already spike a bit like his fathers. Her son looked like a mini-me of his father, save for the whisker-like markings on his cheeks, probably a side effect of the Kyuubi creating so much malicious energy that one could feel it in the air. Yang however didn't care, this was her son and she was going to love him no matter what. "Hi little Naruto," the baby just cracked its eyes open, revealing a bright blue color, at hearing the woman's voice, "do you know who I am? I'm your mommy, and I'm going to love you to death, yes I am." The boy seemed to smile at that before falling back asleep.
Yang smiled as well, before setting her baby aside and climbing out of bed. A benefit of Aura was that although wasteful, one could use it to burn off excess fat. Already knowing she wouldn't be much use in the coming fight, that's exactly what she did before changing out of her hospital gown, happy Minato remembered to bring her old Huntress gear. As she finished getting dressed, including slipping her wedding ring on her chain for the last time. Yang turned around to grab Naruto and get him out of the room, knowing someone else may need it soon, only to be enveloped by a white light.
A few seconds later, the room was filled with a yellow light as Minato appeared in the almost empty room, immediately noticing the absence of his wife and the cries of his son. As he went to pick up Naruto, the Hokage thought, 'They must have figured it out on the other side.' He then spoke to his son, "Don't worry Naruto, I'm sure your mommy will be back soon. She's just visiting some family." He then added in his mind, 'And she'll certainly be a better parent than I'll ever be.'
When Yang once more was able to see she found herself in a large, dark room with large columns. She could see that she stood in the center of some white machine, but that was all she could process before she heard a cry of "YANG!" and felt something slam into her. Keeping her bounce, the Huntress looked down to see her sister hugging her, "Oh my god Yang! I can't believe you're here! I mean Ozpin called saying that you might still be alive and we could get you back and…um Yang, are your boobs bigger?" Ruby quickly said.
Before Yang could respond, she found herself and her sister encased in a green translucence bubble as the machine around them exploded. Once everything settled down, Ozpin limped forward as he said, "I told you Mrs. Ayana, I was able to repurpose the transfer machine for this task but it was highly likely that the system would overload afterwards. You were to get Ms. Xiao Long clear incase this sort of thing happened." The headmaster then turned to Yang and said, "It's nice to see you again Ms. Xiao Long."
In truth, Yang wanted to demand to be sent back to the Elemental Nations, she needed to find out if her husband and son were alive, yet Ozpin's scolding of Ruby revealed that was impossible. Instead, Yang put on her best smile as she replied, "It's nice to be home." she then turned to her sister as her eyes turned red and asked, "So why didn't Ozpin call you 'Ms. Rose,' and why are you wearing a wedding ring?"
Ruby put some distance between herself and her sister as she scratched the back of her head and said, "Heh, heh, funny story about that," and used her semblance to rush to the elevator.
"RUBY, GET BACK HERE!" Ozpin just chuckled and took a sip from his ever present coffee mug, the more things change the more they stayed the same.
It was a quit day for Ozpin. He signed off on a bit of paper work, sorted a few promising Hunters and Huntresses for admittance next semester, and began the process of bringing Oscar into Beacon. As the tired man was about to take a break, his office door was kicked open by Qrow, dragging his niece in behind him by the hair.
"Uncle Qrow, let go!" Yang demanded, "I told you I'm fine!"
"No you're not." Qrow stated as he threw her into the chair in front of Ozpin's desk. "You've been back for a month, and all you've done is drink and get into fights. There's only room for one bum drunk in this family and I don't intend to give up the position anytime soon."
"What do you know?" Yang questioned as she pulled out a flask, taking a long drink. Qrow quickly gained a look of surprise before padding down his pockets and growling.
After reclaiming his flask, the man continued, "I'm serious about this firecracker. Your behavior is getting worse, you almost snapped that bouncer's neck!"
"She started it!" Yang quickly fired back, but Qrow ignored her as he continued ranting.
"Aside from your family, have you even told anyone you're back? Have you visited Blake or Weiss, did you even know they're going to have kids any day now?" When he was meet by silence, Qrow gave a sharp exhale before saying, "Clearly something's getting to you, and since you won't talk to anyone else I'm calling in the big guns. Now have fun."
Yang glared at the retreating form of her uncle until he closed the door behind him. Turning her gaze to Ozpin, she stated, "I don't care what that old man thinks, I'm fine and I'll be leaving now."
However, as she went to stand, Ozpin began speaking, "Tell me Miss Xiao Long, have you heard the saying 'knowledge is power?" When the Huntress didn't say anything, Ozpin stood up, turning his back to her as he looked out his window. "Of course they're right, but knowledge is so much more, it's a double edged sword that cuts both ways." Now Ozpin turned back to look at his former student. Setting his mug down, the old headmaster continued, "What if you stumbled upon a secret that changes your entire understanding of the world? Would you share this new knowledge with those around you? But what if they don't believe you and ridicule you as you lose your reputation? But what if withholding this knowledge puts those close to you in danger? What would you do Ms. Xiao Long?"
The room was deathly silent for what seemed like a eternity until Yang took a deep breath and began, "I haven't been Ms. Xiao Long for a few years now," from there everything started pouring out, from waking up in the Elemental Nations, meeting Minato and his students, her hunting trips, and finally her eventual marriage and child.
Once more the room was silent before Ozpin said, "I'm sorry that I pulled you away from that life."
Yang waved off the concern while saying, "It's fine, well not really but you didn't know."
"Still," Ozpin continued, "I wish there was some way to make this up to you, but I'm afraid this is a little outside my area of expertise, frankly it was mostly luck we were able to retrieve you."
"Yeah, I figured." Yang replied before asking, "Hey, if it's not too much trouble, could you share with me what you learned about the dimension travel?" When Ozpin raised an eyebrow in question, Yang explained, "I'm not going to go on a single minded pursuit or anything, in fact I'm going to call Blake once we're done here, but I managed to pick up a few things from Minato, maybe in time I could piece it together."
Ozpin sat a moment before turning to his computer and typing in a few commands, seconds later Yang's Scroll beeped. "I used the corrupted data you were able to retrieve so long ago as a base before building upon it with an equation associated with teleportation semblances. Admittedly it's a band aid solution that I'm not sure would work again, but it's a start."
Yang smiled as she said thank you, got up and left the room. Once alone again, Ozpin typed something on his computer before taking a sip from his mug, the wheels in motion for a new plan.
Four Years Later
"Hey Goodwitch, what's up?" Yang asked as she walked into the office of Beacon's new Headmistress. The woman hadn't changed much over the years aside from a few streaks of grey in her hair and some bags under her eyes. "I know you're still adjusting to the job, but shouldn't you get some sleep?"
In response the older blond glared at Yang before gesturing to the stacks of paperwork on her desk, "Now I know why so much of our budget is for coffee, I didn't even need to do a tenth of this in my old job."
"Why not get your intern to do it for you?" Yang questioned.
"Oscar is more of a hands on teacher than an office worker." Glynda quickly replied.
"I'll say, saw him sparing with a few students on my way up here. I'll admit, I never thought to use a pitchfork like that."
There was a moment of silence between the two before Glynda remembered why she called her former student. "We're getting off topic." As she searched her computer for the files, Glynda said, "As you know, before his death Professor Ozpin had a number of plans in motion and programs to alert him to certain events. Earlier today this popped up."
Turning her monitor so that Yang could see what was on screen, she took some satisfaction in seeing the younger woman's eyes widen. Yang quickly regained her composure before demanding, "I'm taking charge of this operation, and you know who I want."
Glynda just smirked as she got back to her paperwork, "They were already informed, a Bullhead is waiting for you." As she heard Yang walk out the door, Glynda still didn't fully understand how a White Fang sighting could be so important.
After a twenty minute ride, the Bullhead landed in a clearing a good distance away from the White Fang inhabited village. As Yang exited the airship, she could already see a number of Vale soldiers doing basic drills to stay limber for the coming conflict. She was perhaps three steps on the ground before she felt something slam into her back and yell, "Yang!" Smiling, Yang turned on her heel and returned Ruby's hug, taking a quick look over her younger sister. Motherhood really looked good on the young woman. Once more Ruby had changed her look, now wearing a simple white long sleeved blouse underneath a black corset that only covered her stomach. The red pants contrasted nicely with the ensemble and matched the ever present hood, her flats the same color as the corset. Crescent Rose was holstered across the woman's back.
Once satisfied with the hug, Ruby looked over her sister, noting that she retained her original hunting gear. Groaning lightly, Ruby asked, "When are you going to let me help you update your look? Seriously, Weiss is Coco's business partner, we could do it practically for free."
"As soon as there's a ring on this finger." Yang stated, pointing to the unadorned ring finger. "And what's wrong with keeping things classic?"
"Exactly," the two turned to see Qrow walking out of the command tent, "haven't you heard of if it ain't broke don't fix it?" When Ruby blew a raspberry, Qrow just chuckled before turning his attention to Yang, "You ready for this?"
The young woman just nodded her head before saying, "Yeah, I'd like to talk to Weiss and Blake before we begin, but other than that I'm rearing to go."
"Alright, I'll go grab them, just don't go wondering off and disappearing on me for two years again."
Now left alone with her sister, Yang asked, "Hey, I didn't pull you away from anything too important did I?"
Ruby shook her head as she said, "No, Sage can take care of Quartz for a while and can always go to dad if he needs help. Besides, it's nice to get the old team together again."
Yang was going to respond, only for someone behind the two to clear their throat. Turning, Yang saw Weiss dressed in her usual pure white blouse, pencil skirt and heels, Myrtenaster on her hip. Blake, meanwhile, was dressed in a black crop top along with an open white coat on her shoulders, her black pants barely able to be seen underneath her thigh high black heeled boots, Gambol Shroud strapped across the faunus' back.
'I still don't get how she's so agile in those things.' Yang thought before asking, "What about you two, did I pull the CEO of Schnee Industries Vale branch away from some important meeting, or our favorite ship captain from something equally as important.
"Not really," Weiss replied, "just a quarterly report that my assistant can fill me in on later, and Winter doesn't mind watching Otto for a few days."
"Sun wanted some daddy daughter time anyway," Blake said, "plus now he has some time to put together his pitch to my father about establishing settlements in Menagerie's desert."
Nodding, Yang went into leader mode as she began, "Right, well the soon we get this done the quicker you three can get back to your normal lives, and more importantly your kids." Strolling into the command tent, Yang went to the front before clearing her throat and waiting for silence. "Thank you. Now, we are here for a simple reason. Recently a small group of White Fang has been spotted in an abandoned village a little south of here. Normally you soldiers would be all that's required, but it's believed that this group is in possession of technology of unknown purpose." As the seriousness of the threat sunk in, Yang continued, "Now here is the plan, myself and my fellow Huntresses will drive the White Fang out of the village in too great a rush to form any cohesive resistance, you lot will be led by Huntsmen Qrow in detaining the those fleeing. Are there any questions?" When no one spoke up, Yang said, "Good, we move out in five minutes."
Moreau was at his wit's end. All these years of studying this dimensional technology and he was no closure to truly understanding it. True they used the system to dispose of the excess Grimm often accompanying Adam's true master, but he was still unable to figure out just where the beasts went. He'd considered sending one of the less capable grunts through the process, but the White Fang wasn't exactly gaining in popularity and needed as many troops as possible.
As the gorilla faunus tried to find the solution to his conundrum, an explosion rocked the ground and knocked him down. Getting back to his feet, the scientist grabbed the nearest person and demanded what was going on, only to be told "Sir, we're under attack by four Huntresses."
"Only four!" Moreau raged as he started going to the door. "Get off your lazy asses and…" A quick peak through the open door of the hut revealed a large glowing white knight wreaking havoc on the few guards of the area. "Retreat!"
As his underlings started grabbing anything of value and running off Moreau was left alone to start the self-destruct program for the dimensional teleported. Just as he was about to execute the program, he heard someone say, "Not this time monkey, night night." and then only saw darkness.
As Yang threw the unconscious gorilla faunus outside the hut, she called to her uncle, "got one more for ya!" before stepping back inside. The last time she'd seen a machine like this used she didn't get a chance to admire it. Now with some free time she could see how the free space was surrounded by a white metal ring that was meant to keep the dimensional rift contained or expand it. Seeing as no one was coming to get her, Yang began her real plan.
Sitting at the terminal, the brawler deleted the last command before she began typing out a long and complex chain of numbers, letters, and symbols that she had memorized. As she was nearing the end of the chain, the rest of her team came in with Ruby asking, "Hey Yang, everyone's done so what are you still doing in here?"
"Personal project." Yang quickly replied, but by then Ruby recognized the machine.
"Yang! This is the thing that made that white light!"
"I know that Ruby, don't worry, I've got this under control." Yang reassured her sister with a smile.
"Really?" Blake asked, looking over her partners shoulder at the string of characters, "Don't take this the wrong way Yang, but you were never the best at studying in Beacon and this seems pretty advanced."
"What can I say? I became interested after everything that happened and I've had some time to study." Yang tried to play it off.
"Please," Weiss said as she leaned against the terminal, "you might have a basic understanding of this machine but I'm willing to bet you are guessing most of this." Unintentionally, Weiss' fingers pressed a few more keys and then the enter button. As the machine came to life and began to rumble, the Schnee asked, "Yang, what's going on?"
After taking a quick look at the last few characters, Yang typed in a few commands to limit the size of the dimensional rift only having time to say, "Weiss you dunce." before the group was swallowed by the white light.
Qrow was overseeing the transport of prisoners from the village when he saw something flash behind him. Running to the cabin where his nieces' and their friends were, the veteran Huntsmen saw that it was empty save for a strange machine. The man could fell his heart breaking all over again but knew if his niece came back once she could do it again.
Walking out of the hut, the man grabbed the nearest prisoner and demanded, "Who's in charge of this dump?" When the faunus shakily pointed to a gorilla faunus just regaining consciousness, Qrow thanked them before walking over to the apparent leader. "Now, I'm going to make this really easy for you," Qrow began, "you're going to tell me what type of crap goes on in that hut."
"And just why would I do that you filthy human?" Moreau asked. He was not expecting a fist to the face as a response.
"Let me make this clear to you." Qrow tried again, "Four woman went into that hut and now aren't there. Two of them are my nieces, one is the sister of the second in command of Atlas' military, and the last is the daughter of the chief of Menagerie. So here's what's going to happen, were going to take you back to Beacon where you're going to explain to how that machine of yours works. If at anytime you lie, I'm going to gut you with a rusty spoon before calling the other girls' relatives and let them have what's left." When Moreau passed out from the severity of the threat, Qrow ordered the guards, "Put him on the first Bullhead out of here, and make sure he doesn't escape." Taking one last look at the hut, the Huntsman thought, 'Don't worry girls, we'll get you home.'
When Yang could see again, she found herself on a familiar dirt road, just as planned. What wasn't planned was her three friends tagging along for the ride. Being the second to recover, Blake asked, "Can someone explained what happened?"
"Easy," Yang began, "Ice Queen over there messed up the time sequence, so instead of a delayed ignition the machine started immediately and took all of you for the ride."
"Wait," Ruby interrupted, "you mean you planned on turning that thing on this entire time?"
"Well yeah." When she received blank looks, Yang sighed before saying, "Guys I was here for over two years, I had a life here. What did you think I just lived as a savage?" When her friends gave a simultaneous answer of yes, Yang shook her head before helping Weiss up and saying, "Come on, I'll show you." As the group crested the hill, Yang was satisfied when her old team's jaws drop at their first glimpse of the village, "That's Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves. And before you say it, don't give the 'hidden' part of the name too much thought." Yang then started down the hill before a thought struck her, "Oh and Blake, you should probably hide your ears. There aren't any faunus here and you'd probably get confused for a yokai."
As Yang put some distance between her and everyone else, Weiss asked, "Yokai? Doesn't that mean demon?"
"Roughly," Blake replied as she tore some of her crop top off to use as a makeshift bow, "but she's been her before so I'll just follow Yang's advice."
It was getting dark as Yang lead the group towards the village's massive gates. Upon getting closer, she saw two familiar faces and grinned as she called out, "Hey Izumo, Kotetsu! Glad to see you two finally got promoted to chunins, hope you don't get stuck too long on gate duty."
The two teens were stunned as they watched Yang lead her friends into the village. Once the woman had passed, Kotetsu turned to his friend and asked, "Was that who I think it was?"
"I'm not sure," Izumo admitted as he pumped chakra into an emergency seal, "either way we should warn the ANBU."
Yang was unaware of this conversation as she led everyone through the village, wondering where Minato and Naruto would be at this time of day. 'Probably at home.' she finally decided.
While fallowing after her sister, Ruby noticed many people would stop and stare at Yang before turning deathly pale and running away. Deciding to voice her concerns, she asked her sister, "Hey Yang, why do these people look like they've seen a ghost?"
"Well I did disappear without a trace four years ago today."
While Ruby noticed the people paying attention to the blond, Blake noticed a lot more were busy setting up booths and food stands. "Hey Yang, what's with all the hub bub?"
Taking a quick look around, Yang shrugged her shoulders as she replied, "Seems like they're setting up for a festival, but I don't remember one taking place this time of year."
As Yang was trying to piece everything together, Weiss had a question of her own, "Yang, how come I'm not feeling any Aura in the air?"
"Oh, that's because people don't naturally have it here." Once more the rest of Team RWBY's jaws dropped. Weiss was about to demand a more comprehensive answer, but before anything else could be said, the entire group's stomachs growled. While Yang chuckled, she a familiar food stand. Grabbing her sister, Yang ordered, "Come on, I'll explain it some more while we eat."
After lifting up the flaps and allowing her team to sit first in the desert ramen stand, Yang grinned when she noticed Teuchi with his back turned to everyone. Taking a seat herself, Yang yelled out, "Hey old man, I'll take two misos, one tuna, and one chicken!" Teuchi turned quickly, his eyes widening when he saw who was sitting down. Most of Team RWBY jumped back when the man brought a meat clever down in front of Yang, glaring at her all the while. The blond however just scratched her cheek and asked, "Is this about my tab? I know I'm a little late but you know I'm good for it."
"This isn't about your tab." the chef replied, "You've been gone for four years, did you honestly just think you could come back like nothing ever happened?"
Yang's eyes turned red as she stood up, grabbed the man by the shirt, and lifted him to eye level, "Do you honestly think I'm an idiot? I came back, and I want to make things right but I can't do that if no one tells me what's happened, now can I?" Now calmed down slightly, Yang's eyes returned to their usual purple color, although she kept a hold of Teuchi, "And for the record, I didn't choose to leave."
Before Teuchi could reply, a new voice made itself known, "Hey old man," walking into the ramen stand was a young boy with spiky blond hair and blue eyes wearing a dirty white tee shirt and tan shorts. Seeing the scene before him, the boy said, "You know what, I'll just come back later."
At seeing the boy, particularly his eyes and hair, Yang couldn't stop herself from saying, "Minato." While her friends gave her questioning looks, the boy turned on his heel and said, "I don't know who you are lady, but my name's Naruto, not Minato." With that, he left the stand. Yang was paralyzed with shock for half a second before leaping off the stool and out into the street, but Naruto had already disappeared.
Walking back into the stand, Yang leveled a glare at Teuchi and demanded, "Where did he go?"
"He won't be at his home." the chef replied, "After what happened last year he'll keep moving, helps he seems to get faster with each step."
"Hmm, almost sounds like a Semblance, momentum constantly compounding speed." Weiss idly noted, unaware of the effects the words had on Yang.
If her thinking was right, there was only one way for the kid to have Aura, and there wasn't anyone who knew how to unlock it for him. Surprising almost everyone, Yang reared back and brought her fist down on the counter, shattering the wood with a cry of, "God fucking damn it!"
As Ruby jumped into Weiss' lap and Blake up onto the ceiling, Teuchi just shook his head as he said, "Great, now I've got to replace that again." Turning his attention to Yang, the chef asked, "So that's it? You find out I can't help you so you give up? You certainly aren't the woman he fell in love with."
"Oh I know you've got spares in the back," Yang replied as she extracted her arm from what remained of the wood, "and if you think I'm giving up, then you obviously don't know me that well." With her piece said, Yang left the ramen stand, her team following after her.
"Yang," Ruby called out as she followed her sister around the crowded streets, "why is this Naruto kid so important to you?"
"Not now Ruby." was Yang's short reply.
"Come on, tell us!" Ruby demanded.
"I said not now!" Yang yelled back. Before a full blown argument could start between the sisters, a loud boom overhead grabbed their attention. In the sky, a firework had detonated, revealing the frightening profile of a fox with its fangs on display. As the image faded, another rocket was sent up, this time the explosion revealed a man with spiky hair leading others into battle. The next image showed a giant toad wielding a sword.
"Well that's certainly taking some artistic licenses." Weiss commented, causing Yang to silently chuckle to herself, that is until she saw the next image. It was the spiky haired man again, but this time there was something behind him, something that looked vaguely human but had horns and a mouthful of teeth. Yang briefly recalled a similar image from when Minato looked through the Scroll of Sealing to help him get her back to Remnant, and understood what must have happened. 'Minato, you better hope I don't find you for a long while.'
Any other thoughts were forgotten when the party of Huntresses heard a commotion on the next street over. Looking through the ally, Yang saw Naruto moving fast but knew from experience that the street was a dead end. Without thinking about it, the brawler left her team behind and charged through the ally, arriving at same time as the mob. Not breaking her stride, Yang launched a fist at the person leading the mob, sending them into the building across the street. Taking a defensive stance in front of Naruto, Yang said, "I'm only telling you this once, you want the kid you've got to go through me."
The mob stopped in its tracks, but didn't dispersed as Yang had hoped. Eventually someone near the front recognized her and called out, "Hey blondie, I know you've been gone awhile but that thing is just a demon. You weren't here that night, you don't know what happened."
Although she didn't recognize the man, she could see the symbol for the Uchiha police department on his uniform. Clicking her teeth before responding, Yang yelled back, "Disgraceful, you're suppose to be keeping order in the village, instead you're participating in a riot. And trust me, I know more about what's going on than some Uchiha."
Angered, the man quickly reached into his pouch and withdrew a kunai, only to find Gambol Shroud wrapped around his wrist as he was about to throw the weapon. As Blake leaped down onto the street and pulled her weapon back, she stood next to Yang and said, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't threaten my friend."
As everyone stared stunned, Weiss and Ruby walked out of the ally and stood beside their friends. The crowd wasn't too intimidated as the Schnee drew Myrtenaster, but quite a few started shaking once Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose and drove the tip of the blade into the ground. Throughout all of this Naruto just stared in awe, wondering how it was possible these four ladies he just met were willing to defend him.
Suddenly from inside the crowd, a civilian pushed his way forward as he yelled, "I don't care what weapons you have, there's only four of you!" As the crowd around him cheered, the man picked up a rock and declared, "Tonight, the demon dies! Tonight Minato-sama is avenged!" before throwing it, only for the projectile to be caught in Yang's left hand.
"Anyone want to try that again?" Yang asked as she crushed the rock, however she didn't see the beer bottle until it was too late. Time seemed to move in slow motion as Yang saw the glass bottle sail past her and hit Naruto in the head, the hit sending the boy to the ground, out cold. When time resumed its normal pace, Yang slowly turned back to the mob, her eyes red and her hair aflame. After activating Ember Celica, the brawler asked, "Okay, who's dying tonight?" This was enough cause the civilian members of the mob to attempt to runaway, yet they didn't get far as a few squads of ANBU surrounded the group.
The situation was tense as the ANBU with the wolf mask started giving orders, "Take the civilians to I&T, the Uchihas are to go straight to Ibiki." He then turned his gaze to Team RWBY and ordered, "Tora, Cat, Weasel, follow me." Faster than Yang expected, she found the wolf masked ANBU holding a blade to her throat, her teammates in a similar situation. "Now, who are you and what do you want with the boy?"
Yang was about to demand who the ANBU was until she recognized his silver, gravity defying hair. Taking a quick glance at the blade confirmed her suspicions so she said, "Kakashi, is that you? Can't say I'm not surprised, but I am surprised this is how you greet me after so long."
"You look like her, but for all I know you could just be a spy." Kakashi calmly said.
By now the mob had been gathered up and escorted away, but Team RWBY and Naruto still remained. Sensing the tension only growing, Blake tried getting her partner's attention, "Yang."
"Relax Blake, I've got this." Yang reassured her friend. Shifting her attention back to Kakashi, she boldly said, "Obito is dating Anko, lucky guy probably has gotten laid by now."
"Anko Mitarashi has been M.I.A. for the past three years. If you are spies, you need better intel." Kakashi replied as he pushed his blade right against the skin of Yang's neck. "Last chance."
Knowing what she needed to do, but wishing to save the reveal for later, Yang slowly reached into her shirt. She could practically feel her teammates eyes on her as she pulled out a gold chain, a simple gold ring resting on the links. She knew Kakashi recognized the ring but still said, "The one argument he won. He didn't like me wearing it outside of the village, afraid someone would figure out the connection and use me to get to him."
Everyone was still for a moment before Kakashi removed his sword from Yang's neck, his fellow ANBU taking it as their cue to do the same. "I suppose you'd like to speak to the Hokage?" Kakashi asked.
As she bent down to pick up Naruto, Yang said, "You bet I do, I have some questions that need answers." When Kakashi motioned for her to hand over Naruto, she gave the boy a light glare and asked, "After what I saw do you really expect me to let go of him again?"
"I suppose not." Kakashi admitted before placing a hand on her shoulder and used the Shunshin jutsu, the remaining ANBU doing the same with the remaining members of Team RWBY.
As the smoke cleared from her vision, Yang wasn't surprised to see the hallway leading to the Hokage's office, however she did find some amusement in seeing her teammates sitting on the floor. "Yeah, sorry about that. I should have warned you the first few times can make you a bit dizzy."
"How did they even do that if no one here has Aura?" Weiss questioned as she tried to make the room stop spinning.
At hearing that Kakashi turned his gaze to Yang in a questioning manner. The blond huffed before saying, "I didn't know if I'd ever make it back, so I didn't see the point in telling them anything. When we got here I had a bit more pressing concerns." she finished by indicating the still unconscious child in her arms.
"Right, well Hokage-sama shouldn't have any business right now and can…" Yang didn't wait to hear the rest as she walked through the doors, intent to give Minato a piece of her mind. However, the man behind the desk was not who she was expecting.
"I'll be honest, I didn't really expect you to have this job."
"A lot can change in four years," Jiraiya stated before nodding to Naruto, "as you can see. I actually don't officially have the job, I'm just keeping the seat warm until the councils can agree on someone else. You really should take the kid to the hospital to check for a concussion."
Yang was about to say she planned to once this little meeting was over, and ask why they needed a new Hokage, but before she could say anything the rest of her team burst into the office. "I'm not sure where we are, just that you've dragged us all over this village, saved a kid from a mob, and possibly got us arrested. Now someone tell me what is going on!" Weiss ranted.
"And who's this Minato person that everyone keeps mentioning?" Ruby added.
Yang opened her mouth to answer but Jiraiya beat her to the punch. Pointing to each girl as he spoke, "Ruby, Weiss, and Blake," while the girls got over their shock at being known, the older man continued, "Yang here talked a lot about you while she was here. It seems that she didn't share as much with you three so let me fill you in on the details." Spreading his arms out wide, the sage said, "This is Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves. I'm Jiraiya, the acting Hokage and tonight was the Kyuubi festival were we celebrate the defeat of the Nine-tailed fox. As for Minato Namikaze," Jiraiya pointed with his thumb over his shoulder to the large window that offered a spectacular view of the village, particularly the Hokage monument, "he's the guy on the far right, he was our Fourth Hokage."
While Team RWBY looked with wide-eyes at the Hokage monument, each wondering how they missed seeing such a thing, before Blake spoke up, "Wait, you said 'was,' what happened to him?"
"We don't know." Jiraiya said as his eyes gained a glassy look as he reminisced about the past four years, "After leading us to victory against the Kyuubi he just vanished, no one knows to where. It hit the village hard, some more than others. He was my student, Kakashi's teacher, and something else to Miss Yang here."
Hearing this, and seeing the still visible ring on Yang's chain, Weiss spoke up, "Wait a minute…"
Chuckling a bit, Yang said, "Well looks like Ice Queen figured it out. Yeah, Minato is…or I guess was my husband." Mentally Yang counted down, '3…2…1…"
"WHAT!" was the collective yell from the other members of Team RWBY while Ruby continued, "Since when?"
"About seven or so years ago, got pregnant about four."
"Wait, does that mean you've got a kid running around here somewhere?" Blake asked as Naruto began to steer.
After blinking a few times, the boy noticed he was in the Hokage's office again. Looking around, the blond noticed he was currently held by Yang and asked, "Um miss, could you let me down now?" Not trusting her voice at the moment, the older blond just nodded before setting the boy down, who then walked towards Jiraiya and said, "Hey Pervy Sage, it happened again didn't it?" Yang had to stop herself from laughing, if there was any doubt in her mind it was gone now, but Naruto's statement raised a few questions.
"Again?" Yang questioned, a slight big of anger bleeding into her voice.
"Unfortunately, do to certain circumstances outside of his control; Naruto hasn't had the best childhood." Jiraiya answered while looking away.
"Does he know?" Yang questioned. When the man shook his head no, Yang asked, "Are you going to stop me?"
"I don't think I could." Jiraiya admitted. Ruby and Blake were just confused while Weiss started biting her nails.
Taking a deep breath, Yang began with a question, "Naruto, what's your last name?"
After a moment the boy answered, "I don't have one, they told me demon's don't deserve a family, much less their name."
Instantly Yang's anger got the best of her as her eyes turned red as she yelled, "That's it, someone's going to die!" When she saw Naruto beginning to shake, she quickly calmed down and offered the boy a small smile before ruffing his hair and saying, "Don't worry sweetie, I'm not mad at you. In fact I'm really happy to see you."
"Really?" Naruto asked, although his eyes still contained a hint of worry.
"Yep, in fact…" Yang paused, not sure what to say. "You see I'm…I'm…God it should not be so hard to say this." Deciding to try a different approach, Yang said, "You know I lived here for a while, got married and had a kid before I had to leave." Now Blake and Ruby made the final connection, and became just as nervous as Weiss.
Genuinely curious, Naruto asked, "Who was your husband? What happened to your kid"
"My husband's name was Minato. As for my son, well I only got to hold him for a few minutes but he had his father's blond hair and beautiful blue eyes." Yang finished with a small smile.
"Wait.." Naruto said as the pieces came together in his mind.
"Seems like you figured it out." Yang said. "Yeah, my full name is Yang Namikaze, it's also your last name."
Everyone was expecting a lot of different reactions to the bombshell, but now one was prepared when Naruto calmly asked, "Where were you?" Instead of giving his mother a chance to answer, he asked another question, "Where were you when I had nightmares every night for a month? Where were you when the matron at the orphanage would only feed me rotten food? Where were you when I was almost killed last year on my birthday?!" Throughout the entire tirade, Naruto's voice kept getting louder and some tears escaped his eyes. Before anyone could recover, Naruto yelled, "I don't know where you were, but you weren't here for me! You're not my mother and I never want to see you again!" With that Naruto ran out of the room, Yang quickly following after but soon losing sight of him when the boy unintentionally activated his Semblance.
Having now idea were her son went, Yang wondered around the lower levels of the Hokage tower until she heard muted crying from a storage closet. Slowly opening the door, she saw Naruto sitting in the corner with his knees against his chest. Moving slowly, Yang tried to pull the boy into a hug, only to be pushed away with Naruto saying, "I told you I don't want to see you."
"Sweetie," Yang began, "I know I've been gone a long time and I'm not asking you to forgive me for that. I just want you to know that I'm here now, and I want to be there for you."
"Well I don't want you here." Naruto stubbornly said.
"Is that want you really want?" Yang asked. After a few moments of hesitation the boy nodded his head yes. "Alright," as Yang got up and headed for the door she said, "but if you ever change you mind, I'll be here for you."
Once back in the hallway, Yang had to stop herself from crying or punching the wall before Ruby started running towards her. "Yang, what happened? Where's Naruto?"
"He's alright," Yang pointed back to the closet, "just doesn't want to see me, and I don't blame him. After what I just told him, he needs to process everything." She then shook her head before mumbling to herself, "Should have known it wouldn't be sunshine and rainbows, he's got too much me in him for that." Turning her attention back to her sister, Yang said, "Go ahead and ask Jiraiya for directions back to my old house, I need some time to myself." With that, Yang left her sister behind and walked towards the exit.
Ruby remained standing in the hallway before coming to a decision. Softly knocking on the door, she asked, "Naruto, can I come in?" When she didn't get a response, she opened the door anyway to find Naruto in the same position as Yang did, only the boy had calmed down some and wasn't crying. Taking a seat a small distance away, Ruby asked, "Could you tell me what happened?"
"Isn't it polite to give your name before trying to butt into someone's life?" Naruto asked rather harshly.
"Guess I deserve that," Ruby muttered before saying, "I'm Ruby Ayana, your mom's sister." When Naruto didn't respond, she continued, "I understand that you're upset about this, but you didn't see her when she came back. For the first month or so, she just wasn't herself, getting into way more fights then before and just acting so moody. I didn't understand it back then, but now I guess it's pretty obvious what was going on." When Naruto still didn't talk back, Ruby said, "After that she started acting more like her usual self, but I'd still see her every so often with this faraway look on her face. Despite what you think, she never forgot about you and she desperately wanted to come back."
"Why are you telling me all of this?" Naruto asked.
Staring directly into her nephew's eyes, Ruby said, "Look, I'm not saying my sister is perfect, but she will be the best mother possible and if I had the opportunity to have my mom back again, I wouldn't think twice about it. Just some food for thought."
When Ruby got up to leave, she was stopped by a cry of, "Wait!" Turning back to Naruto, the boy said, "Maybe I should get to know her before jumping to conclusions so quickly."
Smiling, Ruby held out her hand before leading Naruto back to the hallway.
After seeing Yang exit the building, Blake followed after her as her friend went back to the ramen stand. After watching the blond down a few cups of sake, Yang called out, "Are you going to come out anytime soon?" Surprised at being caught, Blake stepped out of the shadows. Before the faunus could ask the question, Yang said, "I was married to a ninja for six years, it became very hard to surprise me very fast."
"So what are you doing here?" Blake asked as she took a seat.
"Just trying to come to grips that despite everything I promised myself I became just like my mother." When Blake opened her mouth to protest, Yang said, "Save it, I gave birth to him and then left him to fend for himself, I'm just like the bitch."
Putting a hand on Yang's shoulder, Blake began, "Yang you're nothing like her." When the blond snorted, Blake continued, "I'm serious. She left by choice, you were forced away. She stayed away, you came back. You couldn't be more different than your mother if you tired."
Despite herself, Yang smiled as she said, "Thanks Blake."
After a period of silence, Blake asked, "So are you going to try and break through to him?"
Shaking her head, Yang replied, "Won't do any good, kid is just as stubborn as me. With something big like this I could talk for years and it won't do any good until he decides to listen." Suddenly the pair's Scroll's beeped, signaling they got a local message. A quick look at the device caused Yang to smile as she said, "And just like me, it seems Ruby knows how to get through to him."
Feeling a bit dizzy, Yang quickly pumped Aura to her fingers before rubbing her temples, the dizziness soon disappearing. Seeing Blake's raised eyebrow, Yang explained, "Trick I picked up from Minato, chakra's much more efficient though."
The five met in front of the Namikaze house, Naruto still not speaking to Yang as she opened the door. As the group moved into the house, Yang had to yell at her teammates to take off their shoes before they moved into the living room, Naruto immediately noticing the pictures on the walls. "Hey, that's Uncle Obito and Aunt Rin, and this one has Uncle Kakashi and his dogs."
"Makes sense," Yang said, "they were you're dad's students." Shen then picked up a photo from an end table and knelt down next to Naruto with a hand on his shoulders. Surprisingly, the boy didn't pull away as Yang showed im the picture, which featured a smiling Minato and a heavily pregnant Yang surrounded by Kakashia, Ring, Obito, and Anko. "This one's my favorite though; it's the first picture where we're all gathered as a family."
The boy seemed to think about this for a moment before pointing to Anko and asking, "Who is she?"
"That's Anko, she was Obito's girlfriend but I guess she's been missing for the past few years." Any further conversation was halted when a knock on the door was heard. "That should be Ichiraku's, I ordered take out since most of the food is probably bad. You guys can go ahead and start eating, but first," as if knowing what was about to happen, Naruto tried running away only for Yang to grab the back of his shirt, "Someone needs to get a bath." Naruto continued to struggle as Yang lifted him onto her shoulders and took him upstairs, the three Huntresses just laughed to themselves, knowing how much a hassle bath time could be.
After ten minutes, the three woman of Team RWBY were halfway done with their ramen when Yang came back down stairs, her hair, shirt, and arms soaking wet. A now clean Naruto wearing a too large white shirt and flannel pants that needed to be rolled up several times followed a bit afterwards. Now that he was cleaned up, the woman could see that he had slightly tanned skinned, although Blake was interested in what appeared to be whiskered shaped birthmarks. As Ruby barely contained herself from pinching her nephew's cheeks she asked, "Where did you get the pjs?"
As Yang went to reheat Naruto's ramen, she answered, "There some of Obito's old things, he spent the night here sometimes." She then heard her Scroll go off and saw a text from Blake.
'I thought you said there weren't any faunus here? Your son's birthmarks and teeth beg to differ.' Shaking her head, Yang fired off a quick "tell you later" text before getting back into the conversation. After twenty minutes, she turned to her son and asked, "You okay there sweetie, you're awfully quite."
"Miss Yang," Naruto began, "do you know why they hate me?"
The table sent silent as Yang said, "I have an idea, but I need Jiraiya to confirm it."
"And you're not going to tell me." Naruto added.
Pulling Naruto into a one armed hug, Yang patted his side as she said, "Trust me sweetie, I know it sucks but sometimes life isn't fair. It's not that I don't want to tell you, I just don't know if you could handle it, but Naruto believe me when I tell you that I will tell you when I think you're ready." There was a stillness in the air before the boy nodded, then yawned. Smiling, Yang said, "Well looks like it's time for bed."
"But I'm not tired." Naruto protested as he yawned again.
"Sure you aren't big guy, sure you aren't." Yang said as she picked up her son and carried him upstairs to what was the nursery. Yang and Minato argued about colors back and forth, ultimately deciding to leave the walls white. A small crib was in the center of the room, which Yang quietly pushed aside with her foot before going back to closet and retrieving a futon and pillow. It wasn't then best arrangement, but it would do until tomorrow. As she tucked the now sleeping boy in for the night, Yang kissed his forehead before feeling as if something was missing and grabbing an orange stuffed frog from the crib and giving it to her sleeping son, who smiled. Yang enjoyed the scene before heading back down stairs, where she found her teammates laughing at a few pictures. "Everything alright down here?"
"Yep," Ruby replied as she showed Weiss and Blake a picture of Rin patching up Obito and Kakashi after a spar with Yang, "we're just going through your old photos. This kid with the orange googles has quite the Grimm count."
"He should, I did teach him after all." Ignoring the looks of disbelief, Yang continued, "I'm going to head to bed. There's a two guest rooms upstairs, one has a queen and the other has two twins, you can decide who sleeps where."
"Well I think it's obvious that Ruby will take the queen." Weiss said as she reached for another photo album, this one smaller than the rest with a red cover. Recognition came a second too late to Yang as Weiss opened the cover before Yang could tell her not to, resulting in a loud screech when she saw the first photo. "How did that fit in you!" Curiosity peaked, Ruby and Blake both snuck a glance at the photo before quickly turning away.
Yang awkwardly scratched her head before saying, "Yeah, that was an anniversary gift. I don't know how it got down here." After collecting the photo album, Yang quickly said good night before going upstairs. Once in the master bedroom, she striped, put on a nightgown, and put on her wedding ring before disconnecting her arm and plugging it in. With all the craziness of the day, the brawler took a second to admire how the ring looked on her finger. At that moment she decided it wasn't coming off ever again, she'd be buried with it.
As she turned off the lights and climbed into bed Yang couldn't help but be impressed that practically everything was where she left it four years ago. 'Hmm, I wonder if that is still here.' With that thought the brawler opened her nightstand in search of a particular item she ordered for when Minato was gone on missions or working late at the office. Her search came to an end when someone knocked on the door. Quickly slamming her nightstand shut, Yang turned on a lamp and said, "Yes?"
Slowly the door creaked open and Naruto poked his head in, "Miss Yang…"
Her earlier curiosity forgotten, Yang asked, "What's wrong sweetie, did you have nightmare?" When Naruto gave a hesitant nod, Yang pulled the blanket aside and patted the mattress beside her and said, "Come here." Slowly Naruto walked into the room and climbed onto the bed, his eyes instantly drawn to Yang's missing limb. "Oh don't worry about that, I lost that arm a long time ago." Naruto seemed to accept the explanation as he settled against Yang's side, but the woman could still feel that the boy was restless. Taking a deep breath, she prepared to do something she hadn't done in years.
(A/N: For the best experience, listen to "Gold" from the RWBY Volume One soundtrack for this next part.)
As Naruto tried to get comfortable, he was surprised when Yang started humming a few bars before she started signing, "Dream of anything, I'll make it all come true-, everything you need I have for you-. I'm forever by your side, whenever you need a friend, never far behind." The woman then took a brief breath for the next verse, closing her eyes as she got lost in the song, "If the stars all fall, when there's no more light, and the moon should crumble, it'll be alright-. Don't you worry about the dark, I will light up the night with the love in my heart, I will burn like the sun, I will keep you safe and warm-." Naruto just stared amazed at the show he was seeing, "Like the smell of a rose on a summer's day, I will be there to take all your fears away, with a touch of my hand I'll turn your life to gold-." Naruto started to feel his eyelids grow heavy, but still he tried to stay awake. "Let's have everything, nothing we cannot do, every heart just beaming, every sky turns blue-. I'm so happy, just to have you here," Yang pulled her son closer to herself as she continued, "Smiles bringing sunshine, worries disappear. When the days turn dark, and we start to fall, I will pick you up and we will fix it all-." Naruto found his eyes closing as he snuggled closer to his mother as she repeated the chorus, "Don't you worry about the dark, I will light up the night with the love in my heart, I will burn like the sun, I will keep you safe warm-. Like the smell of a rose on a summer's day, I'll be there to take all your fears away, with the touch of my hand I'll turn your life to gold-." Yang then took a deep breath for the next few lines, "Don't worry, I've got you, nothing will ever harm you. I'm close by, I'll stay here, through all things I will be near. Close your eyes, don't you cry, love's around you, in time you'll fly-." As Yang got ready to sing the final chorus, she noticed Naruto was soundly asleep, clutching at her side and snoring softly. Smiling, Yang whispered, "I guess we'll finish the song some other time," then then bent down and kissed the boy's forehead, "good night sweetie." and turned off the lamp.
As Yang fell asleep, she was unaware that her singing was heard by the other women in the house. After tracking down the source, Blake and Weiss were amazed at what they heard, "I can't believe she actually knew how to sing. She sounds just as good as I do." Weiss commented.
"I knew," Ruby admitted, "she use to sing me that song every night after mom died."
"There's something else, isn't there?" Blake asked.
Hesitantly, Ruby began, "I think Yang's going to stay here." Before either women could protest, the Winter Maiden turned to her partner and said, "I know you wouldn't leave Otto if you could help it," she then shifted her gaze to Blake and asked, "and would you willingly leave your family?"
"So then what's going to happen?" Blake asked back.
"Most likely, at some point tomorrow someone will figure out how to get us back to Remnant," Ruby stated, "and if Yang wants to come back here I will help her do just that." A look passed between Blake and Weiss, and they both made their choice, nodding in agreement to Ruby.
Opening her eyes, Yang found herself in a field where her and Minato often had picnics. Due to this, she wasn't surprised to find herself leaning against a familiar blond haired, blue eyed man. When Minato gave her a smile, she stated, "This is a dream."
"Maybe," the dream Minato admitted, "but does that make it any less real?"
"It's in my head, so of course it's not real." Yang replied. Even though she knew this was a fantasy, she couldn't stop herself from asking, "You sealed the Kyuubi in our son, didn't you?" When the dream Minato slowly nodded his head, Yang decked him before demanding, "Why did you do that you bastard!"
"I didn't want to, if I could have taken the fox with me to the grave I would have," the dream man began as he wiped some blood from his mouth, "and I hated that I had to do it. But I know there was no other way to stop the Nine-tails, if I hadn't did what I did it would have destroyed the village along with our son."
"But why use our son?" Yang asked.
"What kind of leader would I be if I ask of others what I wasn't prepared to do myself?" Minato answered, "Also who else would I trust to use the fox's power responsibly?"
Yang had to think for a minute, but still drew a blank. "See, this is why I hate arguing with you! Now scoot over," as Yang laid down, she pressed her back into her dream husband's chest and enjoyed the warmth, "and let me enjoy this."
As the early morning sunlight filtered through the bedroom window, Yang slowly woke up and was about to stretch when she felt a weight at her side. Looking down, the brawler grinned at seeing Naruto snuggled into her side. Shaking the boy, she said, "Naruto, time to get up."
"Don't wanna, I don't want this dream to end." The boy responded, causing Yang to have a bittersweet smile.
"Sweetie, open your eyes." Yang said. Not hearing the nickname until late yesterday, Naruto's eyes snapped open. At seeing Yang, he buried his head into her side, crying tears of happiness that last night's events weren't a dream. The scene was uninterrupted until Ruby appeared at the door.
Chuckling nervously at her sister's light glare, the silver eyed Huntress said, "Hey Yang, that masked guy from yesterday is at the door saying you're needed for some meeting."
Having an idea what was going to happen, Yang groaned before looking down at Naruto, "You alright if your Aunt Ruby looks after you for a bit?" At seeing the worry in his eyes, Yang said, "Don't worry, I promise I'll be back." Reluctantly Naruto left his mother's side and the room as Yang hopped out of the bed and began planning what she was going to do.
After a quick shushin, the brawler found herself outside of the council room, waiting for Kakashi to allow her inside. She could hear Jiraiya through the door finishing up his talk about the budget before he said, "And now onto the final order of business. As you know, since Mito-sama's death the Uzumaki clan seat has been vacant, however recent events have allowed the seat to be filled." When Kakashi nodded for her to go in, Yang took a deep breath before opening the doors.
Admittedly, she took some amusement from the shocked faces of nearly all present, which only increased when she took the empty seat next on the end of the clan side of the table, gave everyone a small wave and beamed as she said, "Hey everyone, long time no see."
Instantly the room exploded into yelling, with many pointing fingers at the brawler although Yang couldn't make out what they said. Finally Fugaku managed to make himself heard as he told Jiraiya, "Jiraiya-sama, I demand to know the meaning of this!"
"Don't go make demands of those above you." the older man warned as the room fell silent. "But seeing as this is a matter of confusion that must be clarified, I suppose I'll enlighten the rest of you. I'd say it's common knowledge that Mito-sama willed her council seat to Minato in the event of her death as her last living relative, her granddaughter Tsunade, would take the Senju seat if she ever came back."
"Yes, but how does that explain Miss Xiao Long occupying that seat?" Danzo asked.
In response Yang held up her hand, showing off her wedding band as she said, "Well Minato was my husband." Once more the room erupted into yelling and denials, but Yang quickly made herself heard, "Ask Jiraiya or the clan heads, except for Fugaku, if you don't believe me. They were at the ceremony."
"Is this true?" Koharu asked the acting Hokage.
"It is, we all bore witness to the union." the man answered.
"And why was I not invited?" Fugaku asked Yang.
"Because we wanted to have fun and didn't need any Uchiha wet blankets." Yang replied, to the laughter of many in the room.
Before the Uchiha clan head could say anything, Jiraiya cleared his throat, "And so out last piece of business, the Uzumaki seat will now be known as the Namikaze seat. With that everyone is adjourned save for Mrs. Namikaze so I can catch her up on current events." Those assembled did just that, no doubt eager to spread the latest bit of news. Yang gave a few brief hellos to the friendlier clan heads, although she was utterly confused when Tsume gave her a glare and avoided speaking to her.
Once alone with Jiraiya, Yang asked, "Any clue what's up with Tsume?"
The Toad Sage shook his head before saying, "You've been gone for four years, people change and it's up to you to figure out where you stand, but enough of that." Standing up, he lead Yang out of the room as he said, "We've got business elsewhere."
Through there short walk, Jiraiya quickly explained the majority of Naruto's childhood and how the old man tried to be there for the boy but his duties as acting Hokage and spy master left most of the work to Team Minato, whose members where often requested for extended out of village missions. As difficult as it was, Yang accepted the four had done as much as they could for her son, certainly more than she had.
When they finally arrived at the destination, Yang raised an eyebrow at seeing the hospital, not understanding what this had to do with anything but figured she'd save her questions for later. Wordlessly, she followed after Jiraiya as they past by the front desk and into the guarded section of the hospital. The jonin on duty gave Yang an odd look but didn't say anything considering who she was travelling with. As she walked past the rooms she heard quite a few cat calls from the conscious patients. Finally past her breaking point, Yang demanded, "Just why are we here?"
"For this." Jiraiya said as the pair stopped in front of a door labeled "Cleaning Supplies." After opening the door, the acting Hokage nodded his head and said, "After you."
Still not understanding, Yang walked in with some apprehension. The room was dark, but she could hear a heart monitor beeping regularly. She then heard the door close before the lights turned on. What she saw nearly took her breath away, even after four years she hadn't forgotten the man's face. Walking slowly, she placed her natural hand against her husband's face afraid it would disappear before her eyes. With unshed tears she turned to Jiraiya and asked, "How, I thought you said he was M.I.A."
"Officially he is." Jiraiya responded, "The only ones who know about this are me, his old body guards, and a trusted nurse who checks his vitals."
"How?" Yang asked again, "If he used the Reaper Death Seal for the sealing he should be dead." Seeing Jiraiya opening his mouth to question how she knew that, Yang quickly said, "Hiruzen let Minato look through the Scroll of Sealing to help get me back to Remnant, I took a peak. Where is the old monkey anyway?"
The room was silent as Jiraiya was deciding what to say. Finally he began, "I was out of the village during the attack, but Gamabunta reversed summoned me when the dust cleared and filled me in. You are right, Minato intended to use the Reaper Death Seal, even got as far as summoning the Shinigami and putting half the fox's chakra in himself, but then the unexpected happened. You see, in the course of the battle, Sensei was gravely wounded. There's no doubt that despite the injury he would have lived if he'd gotten treatment fast enough, but while he was on the border between worlds I'm guessing he saw the reaper and took action." Jiraiya had to pause to wipe a few stray tears from his eyes, "Sensei ate a soldier pill before rushing forward and pushed Minato out of the way, taking his place in the jutsu and finished sealing what was left of the fox into Naruto."
"Wait," Yang interrupted, "the Shinigami sealed two things. Hiruzen counted as payment for one, but what of the other? And that still doesn't explain how Minato is alive."
"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure." Jiraiya said as he rubbed his chin. "When I talked to Ma and Pa about it they said they didn't sense any shift in the balance of the world, so that leads me to believe that Hiruzen offered the consciousness of the fox, leaving your boys with just the chakra." He then nodded to Minato and said, "And that's probably why he's still alive. My guess is that the Shinigami had already torn out most of Minato's soul when Sensei intervened, but he still had the fox's chakra. Without a mind of its own, it's possible the chakra fused with his soul, allowing for Minato's continued existence. It would also explain some of the reports that we've gotten concerning Naruto."
"Such as?" Yang questioned.
Releasing a sigh, and hoping Yang wouldn't go off on a rampage, Jiraiya said, "It's well known that the only person to truly control the Kyuubi was Madara Uchiha, so a vocal minority within the village started to question if the clan was responsible for the attack on Mito-sama so that they could take the fox. Apparently this got on someone's nerves and we learned of a conspiracy within the Uchiha clan to kidnap Naruto and 'cleanse' him. Unfortunately, by the time we learned this it was too late to act and Naruto was already snatched away from the orphanage." Seeing Yang's fists trembling, Jiraiya paused in his tale to say, "Don't worry, the matron has already been exiled from the village. Anyway, I searched the village for the rest of the day looking for Naruto, ordering the ANBU to do the same. I had checked everywhere but couldn't find the boy, then it happened. On a clear day, without a cloud in the sky, I saw several bolts of lightening hit an old war bunker, going through the roof. When I investigated, I found Naruto tied up and five members of the Uchiha clan dead, I didn't need an autopsy to know they'd been struck by lightening."
As the story ended, Yang tried to process the information, "So what you're saying is that you think my husband's soul is still around and looking after our boy? But then why doesn't he get back into his body?"
"My guess, the path is blocked." Jiraiya stated. "Again, I can't be sure but from what I can understand of the jutsu notes there doesn't seem to be a way for a soul to go back into a body. There might be something in the Uzumaki scrolls, but most of those are lost and even as great a seal master as I am I can only understand so much of them."
"So what, we just keep Minato hooked up and hope he finds his way back into his body?" Yang asked, not believing that was a possibility.
Jiraiya actually smirked as he said, "What was your husband's favorite saying whenever he developed a new seal? 'It's all about balancing the equation.' That's what happened with your return to Remnant, someone on the other side of the equation came up with the solution before Minato did. If anyone can balance this equation as a disembodied soul, I'm confidant my student can. But that's not important right now." Looking directly at Yang, the man said, "What's important right now is that Naruto has one of his parents back."
"Yeah, but I've already missed so much." Yang lamented, "In two years he'll be at the academy, and then before I know it he'll start taking missions."
"Not necessarily." Jiraiya mumbled. When Yang motioned for him to continue, the Toad Sage said, "We've had to make a lot of concessions to the civilian side of the council in the chaos that followed the Kyuubi attack, but they were more than happy to implement a new academy system of Minato's design. We started it last year where the students begin at age six, but we place a bit more emphasis on combat related classes and have a higher standard, resulting in more classes necessary and an average graduate age of sixteen, but more well round shinobi who are less likely to die on their first mission. Not only that but…"
"When other nations see the success of what we're doing they'll adopt the system as well." Yang finished. "I wonder where Minato got the idea for that."
"From what he told me, he was inspired by a beautiful blond who could kick ass and handle almost anything the world could throw at her."
Smirking, Yang asked, "Almost?" but then felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Having an idea of what was about to happen, Yang quickly yelled, "Fuck! Jiraiya, get to my house quick and watch Naruto until I get back!" Before the man could respond, a flash of white light filled his vision, when he could see again Yang was gone.
Yang wasn't surprised to find herself in Beacon's hidden chamber, or that Glynda Goodwitch was currently giving her a light glare, although she was surprised to see the dimensional travel machine rebuilt in this place. Not having time to explain, Yang grabbed her sister and placed her in front of the Headmistress before saying, "Gotta run, you explain." and promptly ran to the elevator.
Once Yang was out of sight, Glynda fixed her gaze on the remaining woman and lightly tapped her riding crop against her arm. Her glasses captured the light in the room as she asked, "Now, would any of you care to explain why Miss Xiao Long is in just a hurry?"
When highly motivated, Yang moved fast. After quickly getting to her apartment, the brawler packed up her clothes and personal items into a few backpacks and duffel bags before turning in her keys and hopping on her motorcycle for a quick trip to the bank. Once there she drained all her accounts of available lien, giving the teller the excuse of having a long term mission and needing the funds directly on hand. After that, it was a circuit around the city to every dust shop where she bought out each stores' entire supply of dust shells. Once her pockets were drained, it was a quick drive back to Beacon where Yang parked her beloved Bumblebee, the one thing she regretted not being able to take with her.
Hefting her luggage onto her shoulder, Yang almost ran back to the tower elevator, taking it back down to the secret chamber. Once there, she saw that Ruby, Weiss and Blake had moved out of the machine and where still explaining to Goodwitch everything that had happened. As silent as she could, Yang placed her bags in the machine before typing in a few commands. Once finished, Yang took her own place within the contraption before digging her keys out of her pocket. Whistling to grab everyone's attention, she tossed the keys to Ruby before saying, "Take care of my bike sis, do NOT let Jaune touch it." Before anyone could say anything, Yang gave a two finger solute before being teleported away.
Silence rained for those that remained in the chamber until Blake asked, "So how are we going to tell her living in the other dimension is a sanctioned Hunting mission?"
Pinching the bridge of her nose, Glynda said, "I'll be sure to send a senior member of the inner circle later, but for now I believe all of you have families that are dearly missed."
As planned, Yang and the bags appeared in a deserted ally a bit away from her home. After a quick run, she found herself back at her house, opening the door to find Jiraiya trying to console a crying Naruto. The older man immediately noticed Yang, but kept quiet when she brought a finger to her lips. Quietly walking in front of her son, Yang softly shook his shoulder as she asked, "Hey sweetie, what's the matter?"
Naruto seemed to stop thinking for half a second, before launching himself into his mother, the crash hug sending the pair to the floor. As Naruto's tears turned to ones of happiness, Yang could hear him say, "You came back."
Returning the hug and rubbing her son's head, Yang said, "Easy there kiddo, I promised I'd be back didn't I? There's no way you can get rid of me that easy." As her son continued to hug her, Yang just smiled, happy to be home.
And that's a wrap at a little over 55 pages, which makes this officially my longest update to date. Don't expect this length to be a regular thing, it took me way too long to write and edit this for my liking.
Before I say anything else, happy belated holidays and a Happy New Year to all my readers, I hope you all enjoy the little present after this author's note.
So Yang got married to Minato and gave birth to Naruto, then got pulled back to Remnant before waiting four years to find a way back home. Realistically, I probably should have split this chapter up a bit but I felt that the flow was better with it as one piece.
So after this monster of a chapter, there's a few new questions, such as…
Why is Tsume acting so harshly to Yang?
Will someone find a way to get Minato's soul back into his body?
What adventures in parenting await Yang?
To find out the answers to this questions and more, stay tuned for future chapters of Lost Legacy!
But until then, I'm acw28 saying, "until next update."
Omake
One Night in Vacuo
As she returned to the world of the living, Ruby felt a familiar ach between her legs and a familiar chest against her back. Without opening her eyes, the young woman said, "Good morning Sage."
"Morning Ruby." The man replied before his girlfriend tilted her head upward for a morning kiss, but had several questions once she opened her eyes.
"Sage, why are we sleeping in a bathtub?"
As the man looked around the rather large bathroom, noting the collection of discarded clothes, he answered, "Honestly, I don't know. What's the last thing you remember?"
"Let's see," Ruby began as she thought back to yesterday, "our teams got off the Bullhead for our mission in Vacuo. We wiped out a nest of Deathsalkers and King Taijitus and saved the daughter of some casino owner."
"Who offered us a pent house suite for the night as thanks, which we gladly took considering how tired we all were." Sage continued. "After that I just remember a lot of drinking."
Before Ruby could try to remember anything else, the pair heard a loud scream coming from beyond the door. Quickly bolting into action the pair rushed into action, Ruby grabbed her panties and Sage's long coat to cover her nudity while her boyfriend didn't seem to care about his own.
Sliding into the living room, Ruby wasn't too surprised to see her partner Weiss but was surprised at what she was wearing. Apparently the former heiress was as well since she stared open mouthed into the mirror that reflected the image of the young woman in an ice blue sequined thong with matching tasseled pasties being the only things that covered her modesty. Ruby instantly asked, "Weiss, what's going on? Why are you dressed like that?"
"I don't know," she replied. As she turned to further talk to Ruby, she caught sight of Sage and blushed as she yelled, "but tell your boyfriend to put some pants on!" Sage just shrugged before looking around, finding what appeared to be his pants thrown across the couch. Once everyone was somewhat decent, Weiss rubbed her forehead and asked aloud, "Just what the hell happened last night?"
The answer came from the least expected place. At the sound of a door opening, the trio turned to see Neptune exiting one of the penthouse's two rooms, a smile and boxers being the only things he wore. As he strutted towards Weiss, he gave the Huntress a kiss on cheek before saying, "Mornin' snow angel, thanks for the Weiss-cream cake last night."
As Ruby and Sage failed to contain their laughter, a glare from the woman promised pain later on. Any conversation that may have followed stopped as the suite's front door opened, revealing a fully dressed Scarlet. After taking in the appearance of those in front of him, the numerous clothes simply laying around, and the fact someone had raided the mini bar, the pirate shook his head before saying, "It's way too early in the morning for this, meet me for breakfast when you figure things out." and closed the door.
"Okay, so that explains what happened to most of us, but where's Blake and Sun?" Neptune asked, only for a scream from the remaining bedroom to respond. Rushing quickly, the four trained Hunters and Huntresses almost broke down the door to rescue their friend from danger, only to find Blake dressed in a bathrobe, sitting on the floor due to an absent mattress, staring at two golden rings on her left ring finger, the first adorned with a diamond the second plain. Upon seeing everyone in the room, and the varying levels of dress, Blake asked aloud, "Just what the fuck did we do last night? And where's Sun?"
"We're still trying to figure both of those out." Sage admitted before everyone's attention was drawn to a tap on the window. It appeared that somehow Sun had gotten up to the roof and was just barley able to hit the top of the large window, now doubt his tail was wrapped around a guardrail. When everyone turned to Sage, he just shook his head before saying, "No, I'm not doing it. We can just go up to the roof and grab him."
"But babe, that will take forever." Ruby stated. When her boyfriend didn't seem to budge, she grabbed onto his arm and looked up while pouting, "Please?"
Sage huffed before telling everyone to stay back, the numerals tattooed on his neck lighting up to the sixth one before he punched the window, the glass shattering. Soon after Sun swung through the open window, "Thanks bro, if I stayed up there any longer I was liable to burn." He then looked at everyone and asked, "What happened last night."
"That's what we're trying to figure out." Blake said before noticing something about her boyfriend. "Sun, is that a wedding band?"
Looking at his hand, the faunus said, "Huh, so it is. Matches yours."
"That's it!" Ruby suddenly declared. "That's what happened last night. We were celebrating the mission when Sun surprised Blake with an engagement ring. We celebrated and got a little drunk when the waiter told us the chapel was still open."
"Thank god it was you I married!" Blake suddenly said as she hugged Sun.
"Wait, judging with how you're dressed, you woke up naked didn't you?" When his new wife nodded, Sun continued, "So you're more concerned about who you married than who you slept with?"
"If I married a stranger I could just get an annulment, but I don't know how I'd unfuck someone." Blake explained to her new husband's satisfaction. "But still, what happened to the rest of you?"
"Well I think we came back to the room, save Scarlet who went back to the bar to hit on the waiter. I remember celebrating a bit more before you and Sun took the master bedroom to celebrate your honey moon." Weiss said as last night came back to her.
"At some point Blake came out saying Sun fell asleep when she told him not to and asked us to help her with a prank." Neptune finished.
"Well that explains why I woke up with the mattress on the roof," Sung supplied before pointing at Weiss, "but what's up with Miss Showgirl here?"
"Well after Blake went back to her room, the four of use started a card game," Ruby said as she started remembering the finer details, "and Sage made a joke about the lack of a bachelor party, but said we couldn't find strippers on such short notice. Then Neptune said he thought Weiss would make a good stripper," Ruby paused as everyone watched Weiss slap her soon to be ex, "which got him slapped before he said that he was joking and didn't want to share her beauty with anyone." Weiss quickly mumbled an apology to Neptune before giving him a quick kiss.
"Yeah, those two then started making out before Weiss told lover boy to wait in the free bedroom while she went to get something. She called the kitchen on her Scroll before heading out, an hour later I had to answer the door for room service and wheel a ginormous cake into the bedroom." Sage finished.
"I guess me and Sage weren't eager to listen to our teammates love making, so we slept in the bathtub." Ruby stated.
Silence rained over the group as each absorbed the meaning last night. Taking charge, Sun said, "I think we can all agree last night was wild," here everyone nodded, "and that it's best that we never mention it again, ever," again all assembled nodded, "and that we should probably get cleaned up and out of this room as fast as possible, housekeeping is not going to be happy with us." For the last time, everyone nodded before dispersing to collect their scattered clothing.
Once left alone with Blake, Sun seemed to deflate. "Sun, what's wrong?"
"It just sunk in," the monkey faunus began, "We just got married, in Vacuo, in a casino."
"Yes, we did didn't we." Blake stated before asking, "Is that going to be a problem between us?"
Shaking his head, Sun regained some of his optimism as he said, "It won't be. I love you and it was bound to happen one day, but that doesn't change the fact your dad's going to kill me."