'She was right.'
A strange mix of despair, disbelief and awe surged within him as Fugaku Uchiha stared up at the gargantuan figure in the distance. It was tearing up the village with its thick, burning, chakra stuffing up the air and he could hear the chokes of the overwhelmed younger shinobi around him. With his pulse beginning to pound in his ears, his chakra began flooding his coils in a way that it hadn't had to since the war. He shouted orders to the clansmen that had congregated on the roof of the Konoha Keimu Butai (Konoha Military Police Force) Headquarters, sensing sharpening as he snapped to attention.
"I want every Uchiha Jōnin to go and await orders from either Yondaime-sama or Sandaime-sama, understood? Listen to no one else - that's an order! Chūnin, with me! Get genin and civilians to the shelters!" he barked, flitting off back to street level where the civilians were beginning to flow to the streets after abandoning their homes.
"The Uchiha clan stands with Konoha!" he roared. "Protect the civilians and direct them to the shelters! This is our village, where we reside. Protect it!"
The answering affirmative was a lot stronger than he had anticipated, and slightly eased the discomfort in his chest. A sudden explosion caused his head to whip around in fear, and his eyes scanned the affected area. Smoke was rising from the Uchiha compound, and it was likely to be the first of many. His stomach dropped, and burning tendrils of rage began to spread throughout his body.
That was his clan. His family flashed through his mind as another chakra construct slammed into the compound.
Mikoto. Itachi. Sasuke.
Amaterasu.
A very familiar chakra flared and his eyes snapped to the roof where his wife gave him a brief nod, dressed in her kunoichi gear. It had been a while since he had seen her in jōnin attire, she had retired after she became pregnant with Itachi. She flickered out of sight to join the others and he had to stop himself from following her.
'Mikoto is strong, she'll be fine. Worry about your job instead.' he firmly reminded himself. She survived a war before, she would survive this too.
Time passed, during which he watched carefully and directed the civilians to be escorted through the safest routes, blocking the worries from his mind.
"Father!" came a shout from the crowd.
Itachi jogged up to him, looking slightly roughed up, with Sasuke safely tucked under his arms and a girl by his side who was not Amaterasu. Anger peaked once more.
They had almost got his sons.
"I knew you'd be alright." he said, masking the pure relief he felt at the sight of his children under a stern expression. "Get to the shelters, quickly."
He very deliberately ignored the hurt radiating from his son at his curt words. He would deal with it later.
Where was Ama?
He was distracted from his thoughts when an ANBU appeared silently behind him.
"Fugaku-sama. Danzo-sama orders that you retrieve your jōnin from the front lines. The Uchiha Police Force should focus their troops in escorting the civilians to safety." he murmured lowly, and Fugaku very carefully did not react.
'We have to be seen actively defending against the Kyuubi. If the attacker is seen to have the Sharingan and none of the Uchiha were part of the defense, people are going to misunderstand.'
"I'm not sure if you've noticed, but we're facing the Kyūbi at the moment. My jōnin will be wasted escorting the civilians, and we are moving them at maximum speed anyway." he murmured back, and the shock radiating off the ANBU was evident.
"You are directly disobeying Danzo-sama's orders."
Fugaku turned slightly to glare frostily at him with intimidating crimson orbs.
'Try me.' he challenged silently. The ANBU hesitated before disappearing. Just as he left, the chakra he had been keening for finally arrived.
Ama wheezed as she stopped a few meters in front of him, jerking her head left before running off once more. Fugaku quickly notified his second-in-command of his leave and disappeared.
Once he appeared in front of her, he realised with a start that she was hurt, but he realised her injury wasn't as bad as it looked. Just a gash on her head that was bleeding down her face. She must've been close to one of the explosions in the compound.
"You need to get me to where the Kyuubi is now." The slightly hysteric tone caught him off guard.
He blinked, and despite himself, he felt faintly amused. Trust little Ama to surprise him in this kind of situation.
"Are you concussed?" he asked her quickly.
She snarled at him before turning and running off again at an impressive speed, but judging from the chakra that was bleeding off her form, she wouldn't be able to keep it up for long.
"Going to the Kyuubi is not a plan." he stated.
"Then get me to the Hokage mountain." she snapped.
Fugaku scowled before scooping her onto his back and disappearing in a series of shunshin. He had to direct back a couple of Uchiha jōnin who had been called away from the Kyūbi scene by the ANBU, but apart from that they made it up to the mountains within a few minutes. It was there that he gently dropped Ama off, noticing but not mentioning how the girl stumbled. They shared a look at the sounds of fighting, and Fugaku signed to her to stay still, silently reminding her of their deal. She seemed conflicted, eyes darting unsure between the evident fighting and her clan head.
A small smirk found its way to his lips as he recollected their conversation just the night before.
"Are you strong?"
"...What?"
"Is the clan head chosen by heritage or strength?"
The indignant glint in his eyes must have portrayed something because she shrugged.
"Just checking."
He flickered off, appearing behind the attacker engaged with the Yondaime and swiping at him with a sudden burst of speed. The attacker dodged, and Fugaku wedged himself between his Hokage and the threat. A quick scan showed him that Minato had put some kind of large seal on him.
"Fugaku Uchiha."
"Uchiha-san?"
The two voices were surprised, he could tell. To be honest, if it hadn't been for Ama, this sort of thing would never had happened, so he understood their reactions. His eyes narrowed.
"You possess our eyes, you even recognise me, and yet you are no Uchiha." he stated coldly, flashing through hand signs to the Hokage behind his back.
Civilian. 3 o'clock. 250 metres. Remain.
The attacker was silent, chakra rippling in... unease? He really hadn't thought the clan head would have shown up here, of all places.
"I am more Uchiha than you Senju slaves." came the reply from the masked man (Kamen no Otoko).
"Why so nervous then?" Fugaku asked quietly, eyes scanning and trying to narrow down the possibilities of who the unknown Uchiha was from his body measurements.
"It's over." Minato told him, his voice chilling. "You are separated from the Kyūbi and have been wounded."
Fugaku stilled. Ama was right, even to the last detail. There really had been an attacker with the sharingan controlling the beast.
"It's quite a sharingan you have there. Let's see if I know who you are... Naka? Taiko?"
There was no response, so he continued to his last, most unlikely name. All his research had come to this point, the names of the Uchiha that had not been cremated were more than he thought, but still not too many. Apart from Naka and Taiko, there was only one more that could potentially have this build.
"Or maybe...Obito?"
The air chilled, and he heard Minato's breath hitch. Using the split second of shock from the unknown shinobi in front of him, Fugaku sped through hand signs.
'Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique)'
As the column of fire blossomed in front of him, he pumped chakra to his eyes and unveiled the second stage of his Kekkei Genkai for the third time in his life. He turned and locked eyes with Minato's surprised gaze, feeling the sharp stab of pain in his left eye at the activation of the strongest genjutsu he knew.
'Tsukuyomi.'
Amaterasu was in pain. A lot of it. Her head still throbbed from when the explosion made her crash face-first into a piece of concrete, but she wasn't complaining. That explosion was why she was able to carry out the plan.
[FLASHBACK begin]
She had been in the training grounds just outside the compound, throwing around some weapons to try and get rid of her restlessness and focus on something other than her final conversation with the clan head, when her instincts told her something wasn't right. She had tried to cast out her senses and felt nothing, but was still uneasy. Unable to write it off as paranoia, she left the training grounds as fast as she could without seeming suspicious, and just managed to reach the outskirts of the Uchiha grounds before she was attacked.
And by attacked, she literally meant attacked.
Two masked figures appeared, leaping at her from both sides and she moved clumsily while fumbling for a kunai. They didn't pause, changing their directory and running at her once more. She only had about half a second to take in their sizes before she bolted off, sloppily boosting her speed with chakra - she knew her chakra control wasn't as good as it could have been, forcing her to use more than double the chakra needed, but it was either that or getting caught. She hightailed it to the rooftops, because even though there was less cover, it was more likely that a ninja would sense her distress and come to her aid.
Her pursuers were small, definitely not adults but still larger than her, probably around Shisui's age if she had to guess. Their black outfits and masks screamed Ne (Root or Foundation) but at that time she was genuinely so appalled at the fact that she was being assaulted minutes before the potential Kyūbi attack that she ignored it completely.
It was only a few seconds before they caught up to her, and Ama felt the hair on the back of her neck rise. She abruptly changed direction the next time her feet touched the roof and was promptly rewarded by a resounding thud behind her, making her heartbeat increase even more. That sounded quite like a kunai being slammed into where she had just been.
Her instincts however hadn't been enough to save her from the foot that slammed into her back, launching her forward and making her body strain and almost fold around it. She hit the ground awfully, rolling painfully on the roof before falling in between two buildings and landing on her front two meters below. She gasped for air, being unable to breathe, and couldn't do anything for a good few seconds, before she felt the iron grips of her attackers on her arms dragging her upright.
It was then that a muffling, suffocating chakra suddenly saturated the air and Amaterasu whimpered once more before recognising the roar.
Kyūbi.
As soon as she felt the stiffening forms of her kidnappers she wrenched her arms out of their grip, dislocating one of her shoulders in the process. She barely managed to reached the street before the building in front of her exploded.
The next time she woke up her head was throbbing, and a warm substance was flowing down the side of her face. She rubbed at it to get it out of her eyes before she was up again. Slowly. At the pain in her shoulders, she took a moment to bite her bottom lip, squeeze back her tears and snap it back into place using the technique she had used so many times as a doctor.
Boy was it an experience doing it to yourself.
She had to take a few more moments to collect herself and let the pain fade a bit more before she had leapt off to find Fugaku.
[FLASHBACK end]
Now she had just heard a similar sound to a flamethrower and felt a massive wave of heat wash over her and her mouth dried, knowing that Fugaku had engaged with Tobi. Obito.
She never found out if Fugaku, by reviewing old reports, managed to find any Uchiha that could've defected or a Sharingan that remained unaccounted for, and she was only able to question this briefly in her mind before yellow entered her vision and a firm hand muffled her shocked scream.
Minato.
"Kushina?" she whispered hoarsely, and his blue eyes were guarded as he scooped her into his arms, evidently scanning and taking note of her injuries.
"Kushina?" she repeated more insistently, pleadingly, forcing back tears as he unknowingly put pressure on her back. Minato stared carefully into her eyes for a second longer before murmuring.
"I need you to get yourself and Naruto as far as you can from the shelter, okay? I'm going to bring the Kyūbi there but don't worry, you'll be safe. I promise."
Understanding shone in her black orbs, determination flowing through her in waves. In the next moment they found themselves by a bed and Minato was gone once more, so Ama leapt forward, picked up Naruto and sprinted off, ignoring Kushina's weak shouts. She ran outside the shelter and kept running until she reached the edge of the forest, trying her best not to jostle the newborn too much and keep him as warm as she could.
She knew Minato would bring the Kyūbi here, she knew he was going to seal it but she didn't know how much Fugaku had told him, if anything. It was only then that she realised that she was still too close to the clearing and she blasted chakra into her muscles once more.
However, in the next moment there was another explosion, except this one was much larger and, although she had managed to put some distance between them and the house, the gale it caused made her fly off her feet - her only thought being the baby. She clutched him tightly, turning in the air in an attempt to land on her back and protect the newborn from the impact. Oh why did Minato trust her with a newborn, she was going to kill the main character before he was an hour old, why did -
They slammed into something but it was softer than the ground or a tree trunk, and arms wrapped around them both before the surroundings changed once more.
"What is Ama doing here?" someone asked weakly. A woman?
Ama slowly opened her eyes at the weak voice and her stomach sank, horror plastering itself onto her face.
Kushina. Darling, bright, cheerful Kushina looked awful. The anime could never portray this, and Ama was once again blasted by the fact that this was reality. Her face was so sickly pale, with dark shadows under her usually shining eyes and blood trickling down the sides of her mouth.
From the bruising around her exposed abdomen and the rate at which she was losing blood, and probably chakra, the doctor in Ama knew.
This woman was going to die.
"Minato... I can still do it." she murmured, and Ama's heart squeezed. 'No.' she wanted to say. 'Stop. You're hurt.'
But they were shinobi.
Minato slowly lowered them down, but Amaterasu was deaf to his gentle coaxing to release Naruto. She kept a firm grip on him, feeling comforted by the fact that he was grabbing her shirt in return. It reminded her of her days in the obstetrics and gynaecology ward - this was just a newborn child, only minutes old.
She watched, tears filling her vision as chakra spiked in the woman in front of her and the kongō fūsa (Adamantine Sealing Chains) - how was such a thing possible in that state? - shot into the ground and wove around the Kyūbi, tightening and preventing it from moving.
They were weak, but they were there, and there was now a impenetrable barrier around them.
Naruto began to cry, and Ama snapped out of her daze, turning to catch Minato's grim expression. She knew why he had brought her here now. Fugaku had talked to him.
"He told you." she breathed. The blond Hokage nodded once, slowly going through handsigns, and summoned a ritual altar.
A low, thunderous growl made Ama tense up, looking up at the huge beast in front of her. She paled when she realised that the Bijū was staring straight at her.
The beast roared and Kushina hacked blood as the beast strained. Ama's eyes widened.
"No, he's not going to seal you I promise!" she called quickly, her telltale sign of being pressured coming out now of all times as she continued to blabber. "It was an accident to bring me here, I'm just a spectator I swear!"
Kushina screamed and spasmed.
"Please stop moving Kurama!" she yelled desperately, handing Naruto over and running towards the beast. She didn't notice Minato's shout, nor did she notice the burning feeling of the Kyūbi's raw chakra intensify as she got closer. All she noticed was that miraculously, Kurama stilled.
"What...did you call me?!" he hissed quietly, and despite the raw heat that was surrounding her Ama felt chills running down her spine. The slitted red eyes locked on her form, seething with absolute fury as she came closer.
"Shukaku, Matatabi." With each step she took, another name escaped her lips. "Isobu, Son Gokū, Kokuō, Saiken."
The hot, demonic chakra was shivering with his agitation.
"Chōmei, Gyūki, and you, Kurama" she finished under her breath once she was by his paw. She knew he could hear her. The beast was completely still and there was such silence that she could hear Kushina's wheezing from across the field.
It only lasted a few moments, and it was stifling. Ama hadn't planned this. For once in her life, her mind was blank. She had no idea what was going on, going to happen, and she wasn't thinking about it. Nothing seemed to matter anymore. Seeing Kushina like that had snapped something inside of her, and now she didn't care.
If something went wrong here and Ama died, at that point she wouldn't have cared.
This woman with a heart of gold, who was unafraid to speak her mind, who had caressed her unborn child every day, looking forward to a life with him, was going to die.
And it was her fault. Who was she to decide that the best scenario would be for these parents to die? Who was she to judge that the baby would turn out fine?
What idiot gave her this sort of responsibility and choice? What godforsaken bastard decided to put her in a world that she knew one future of?!
But who cared? These deaths be the first of many after all. That's what a life as a shinobi offered her. It was either kill or be killed.
If Ama had been thinking rationally, she would have questioned the turn her thoughts had taken. She would have noticed the twinging in her eyes, and she would have noticed the tensing of the large beast in front of her.
Instead, she began to appreciate the power that her knowledge gave her. That's why she wasn't dead yet. What was the use of creating bonds in this world if they were going to be wrenched from you anyway? Focusing on that distanced her from her own body, and she was numb all over.
So she didn't really feel it when the paw next to her flicked towards her, nor did she feel the burn as a single claw dragged a deep line of fire through her side, slicing through bones and flesh alike.
She didn't hear the screams from across the field.
She didn't feel the scream that came from her own lips.
She didn't feel anything.
Something's changed with Ama, and I'm not sure if it's for the better. To be completely honest with you I'm not too pleased with this chapter, I think I could have done better. I'll come back and fix it later...but do tell me if you think something's not done v well - Simone did a fab job of making it so much better than what it originally was though! THANKS AS ALWAYS3
Ama's not very well in the head is she? What do you think about Minato's decision?
Do you like the format used for techniques and names?
Hope you enjoy xx
EDIT: 25/10/16
