Addendum Eight: Halloween Special (Part One)
Fortunately for Hiashi, the civilian doctors and nurses were able to… remove… the obstruction without calling in a specialist (aka a shinobi medic). It was painful, even with all the pain killers dumped into him, and traumatizing for all those involved… The poor doctors would require Yamanakas to… erase... their memories of this horrible, horrible procedure… But they did it. Hiashi would have to live with it for the rest of his life – no matter how much he wanted a memory wipe. History had a way of repeating itself, y'see, and without the knowledge of what his eldest daughter was capable of… Hiashi shuddered to think about it.
Hiashi would be on bed rest in the hospital for a good week at least, and he would be seeing a proctologist for the foreseeable future… For the sake of his public appearance, Hiashi was signed in as one Ryo Sato… Very common names.
The Head of the Hyuga Clan winced as the door to his room opened; he had barely escaped his sadistic daughter's clutches… if she had found out where he was recuperating…
"Mister Sato?" … Luckily for Hiashi, it was just a nurse wheeling in another patient… a very familiar patient… "… Meet Mister Sato."
Hiashi winced at his father's condition; the man looked to be in worse shape than he was.
"I'll leave you two alone…" The nurse whispered and then departed. Hiashi moaned at the implications.
"Father, what did Hinata do…?"
"Oh, nothing…" The elderly man grumbled before shifting awkwardly in his hospital bed. "… Just hospitalize every Hyuga Elder that dared to oppose her most recent… law, I should say."
Hiashi paled.
"So she has taken up the role as the next Head of the Hyuga Clan?"
Hiashi's father chuckled bitterly.
"Ohhh, yes… It was a massacre, Hiashi. Not a single one of us could oppose her. As of now, the Caged Bird Seal is done away with completely; centuries of tradition, gone forever in a single bonfire. If only that was the only thing she did…"
Oh dear Kami. Hiashi did not like the sound of this.
"Wh-What else did she…?"
"Apparently, Lady Hinata sought advice from her boyfriend's mother and was able to remove the Caged Bird Seals from all the current Branch House members… Quite painlessly, too. It's over, Hiashi. There is only 'the Main Branch' now."
… To be honest, that wasn't as bad as Hiashi had feared. Yes, the complete obliteration of a sacred tradition was horrible, but he'd been hoping to free his brother from that accursed Seal somehow… Neji, too. Hiashi couldn't help but laugh humorlessly.
"Well… It's not all that bad, all things considered… The Caged Bird Seal didn't really serve its purpose, now did it? I mean… All it did was paint a bigger bull's-eye on our backs than anything else. Enemies were perfectly content with mowing us down if it meant eventually finding a Main Branch member…"
Hiashi's father sniffed haughtily.
"Thanks to your brother, the Hidden Cloud never got their hands on our Dojutsu…"
"At the cost of Hizashi's life," Hiashi shot back dryly. "And even discounting that one time, that was it. Hell, the Hidden Mist somehow got a hold on one of our eyes, despite our 'rigorous' defensive tradition. Like I said, all it took was for one of us Main Branch members to die, and the enemy would have gotten our prized Byakugan. If we really wanted to protect the Byakugan, we should have applied the Caged Bird Seal to every Hyuga. "
Hiashi's father looked at him as if he sprouted three heads.
"Are you daft, man? That would have been anarchy! There wouldn't be a Hyuga Clan today because we all would have been at each other's throats, activating the Caged Bird Seal one right after the other."
"But it was perfectly okay to start a system of slavery," Hiashi rolled his eyes. His father snarled at him.
"They were not slaves! They were… were… indentured servants."
"Indentured servants for life? I don't think so."
"It's not like we subjected the Caged Bird Seal to them daily or anything…" Hiashi's father's voice sounded a bit too defensive…
"Dad. Their living conditions were shit. They had to do all the laundry, all the cleaning, every single mundane task that we could think of. How is that not slavery?"
Hiashi's father grumbled.
"You never spoke out against tradition before now…"
"Because you would have forced the Caged Bird Seal on me."
"And I can't do that now?"
"Not without incurring the wrath of my daughter."
"… Damn you, Hiashi…"
Orochimaru shuddered as the duct tape was finally torn off. Chakra Suppression Seals were in place to prevent him from escaping, and he was firmly strapped down on a gurney. A helmet-like device was firmly attached to his head, a long, thick chord extending from the top of it to a nearby generator.
His balls hadn't been chopped off yet, but Orochimaru knew they would get around to it soon…
"Oh dear lord, what are you going to do to me?!" Orochimaru screeched as Kushina sat down with a clipboard and pen in her hands.
Kushina smiled smugly.
"Relax, O-ro-chi-ma-ru! We're juuust gonna ask you a couple preliminary questions, ya know. Need to know how thorough we'll have to be… So, question one: Are you a pedophile?"
"No!" Orochimaru firmly denied, seething. When he got out of these bindings…
"Then why do you want Sasuke-kun so badly, hmm?" Kushina batted her eyelashes a couple times. Orochimaru shuddered.
"I just… want… his… body…?" Orochimaru snapped his mouth shut the instant that rolled off his tongue. He knew that was the answer they wanted, so why the hell did he say that? He had absolutely no intention of saying that!
"Mikoto-chan, how about a Level Seven shock to get him introduced to this system?" Kushina purred. Mikoto, who stood right next to Kushina, smirked, pressed a button, and sent a good amount of volts surging through Orochimaru's system. The Snake Sannin's body twitched for a while before he recovered enough to speak again.
"What the hell is this…? What have you injected me with?!"
"A couple of things…" Mikoto answered innocently. "You're resistant to a lot of poisons, so we had to be a bit creative. There's a chemical that makes you spit out the truth, and then there's a chemical that enhances your senses… So you're reeeally getting the full effect out of those shocks."
Orochimaru's eyebrow twitched as he glared fiercely at the Uchiha Matriarch.
"You… bitch… There's a special corner in Hell for you…" Orochimaru screamed as he got another Level Seven shock. Apparently, that truth serum made him voice all of his true thoughts…
"Let's try this again," Kushina smiled demurely. "Are you a homosexual?"
… This would be Hell. For Orochimaru, of course. For Kushina and Mikoto, well… It was aaall entertainment.
Well… Dan and Tsunade didn't doubt Minarai now. After collecting the DNA of the First Hokage, the Second Hokage, the Third Hokage, and Mito Uzumaki, Minarai had prepared four Spirit Binding Seals, and then performed the technique in the foyer of the main house of the Senju Compound. Blue lights illuminated the room, and then the spirits were summoned. Dan had to admit – it really was a lot like his Spiritual Transformation technique. From their heads to their toes, everything was visible through this technique.
… Don't get the wrong idea, though. Of course the summoned spirits were fully clothed.
"You brought back Grandmother…" Tsunade murmured, her skin very pale. She repeated this over and over like a mantra under her breath. Grandmother Mito was not to be trifled with… There was a reason that Orochimaru didn't attempt the Reanimation Jutsu on her.
"It was only fair!" Minarai giggled. "I respect Lady Mito greatly, and knew she would want to see you all grown up, Lady Tsunade!"
In front of them, Mito purred and smiled demurely at Dan, Tsunade, and Minarai.
"Ohhh, Minarai-kun! You should really be more careful in how you wield the Spirit Binding Seal. Granting me autonomy and the ability to touch the things of this world… I could tamper with your Seal and give myself freedom!"
Dan, Tsunade, and the first three Hokage shivered at that. Minarai giggled some more.
"Oh, I don't know… I think I could send you back to the Pure World before that happens, Lady Mito! You don't even have Sealing supplies on hand! Not even your blood. Ghosts don't bleed."
Mito pouted at this.
"So mean, Minarai-kun…"
Everyone else visibly relaxed as this was pointed out to them. Mito was a very dangerous woman, but even in this form she was rather helpless… At least until she tricked someone into handing her something she could write with. Then they were all screwed.
"Am I the only one that didn't de-age when they died?!" Hiruzen exclaimed. For indeed, Hashirama, Tobirama, and Mito all looked as they did in their young adult years. For Tobirama it was understandable; he did die relatively young. But Hashirama and Mito? They were ancient when they passed away. Especially Mito.
"You just haven't found out how to do it yet, Hiruzen," Hashirama consoled his former pupil. "You'll get the hang of it!"
Hiruzen sighed miserably. Neither Tobirama nor Mito were willing to point out that there wasn't a trick behind it… They just turned up in the afterlife as they did. Kami probably just favored them or something.
"Anyway… Let's go back to this Seal of yours, Minarai," Dan insisted. All eyes were on him. "Do you need a Seal for each and every ghost you summon?"
Minarai shrugged neutrally.
"Eh. I probably could have used one Spirit Binding Seal to summon all four of them, but they would have felt cramped, and that would have motivated Lady Mito to tamper with the Seal…" Minarai tapped his chin in thought. "Or I could have expanded the Seal to accommodate all four of them… But again, in everybody's best interests I kept Lady Mito away from the Sealing supplies. A bigger Seal just means a higher chance of her reaching any kind of writing utensil. Nobody but Lady Mito wants that."
This time everybody but Mito shivered at that; Mito just adopted a shit-eating grin.
"I must confess, I forgot about that aspect of the Seal…" Mito laughed. "It really has been too long since you died, Minarai-kun. I wonder why I wasn't brought back like you were?"
Tsunade snorted.
"Beyond the fact that you were married to Gramps, who's a Senju? The history books. You did a damn good job of cementing your reputation, so even Sasuke likely feared what you might do if you were brought back."
Hiruzen cradled his head in his hands as that boy came up again.
"Oh dear… What has that boy done this time?"
"Beyond resurrect me and Minarai here?" Dan gestured at himself and Minarai. "… Resurrected a shit load of people. Including the Uchiha Clan and plenty of people outside the Land of Fire."
Hiruzen's face suddenly became stern.
"The Uchiha Clan? Don't tell me there's a coup going on right now…"
Tsunade laughed bitterly.
"Oh, that? You don't need to worry about that right now. Mikoto and Kushina are reunited. Plus, Itachi and Minato were brought back, too; I think we can safely assume that the Uchiha Coup d'état will never happen."
Hiruzen looked distinctly pale now.
"A-Ah… I see…" Hiruzen had never been more glad that he was dead. Mito had sparked quite the pair of hellions by introducing them… And then she got off easy and died soon after that. Some people have all the luck.
"Oh? Mikoto-chan and Kushina-chan are still getting along? I'm so glad," Mito purred. "I wonder how many souls they've shattered by now?"
"Far too many…" Tsunade and Hiruzen muttered in unison.
The meeting continued on like this for some time. Eventually Minarai excused himself to take care of some personal business, but Tsunade and Dan were left to speak with the ghosts… It was rude to drop a conversation when Mito and Hashirama had so many questions, after all.
Minarai was sooo lucky… Or so Tsunade and Dan thought.
Even in his drunken state, Jiraiya whimpered as he was tied up and dangling over the hot springs on the women's side. Apparently, Konan's justice was swift, unmerciful, and delegated to various kunoichi he had peeped on in the past. Hey, Konan might have been able to hold her liquor, but that didn't mean she could function one hundred percent normally; she still felt some aspects of a drunk state, so she had to make sure that Sensei was served an appropriate punishment for hitting on her…
Oddly enough, the Toad Sannin was already screaming about his testicles before the kunoichi in the hot springs laid a finger on the man…
"Sir, are you sure you want to do this? Lady Mizukage might not take well to you taking the hat back. She's… kind of grooming Lord Chojuro as her successor."
Gengetsu waved off his subordinate dismissively.
"I'm not taking the hat back… I'd have to be crazy to want to tackle all of that paperwork crap again. I'm just going to… implement some new laws. Y'know, through her. Aaand maybe suggest a Kage Summit just to see where everyone stands. I have a feeling that the Hidden Mist isn't the only one unaffected by all these random people coming back. Like that one kid that claims to be the successor of my successor… Yagura, I believe. He said that he'd been brought back with some Utakata guy that broke off to go search for some chick named Hotaru…"
"… It is odd that almost all of our Mizukages are back. Even the Third Mizukage was seen walking around earlier… In addition to some of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen…" the random subordinate muttered.
"Yeah, well, just keep on your toes," Gengetsu advised with a smirk. "I have a feeling that things are about to get pretty lively really soon. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to meet with Lord Fifth."
"I wouldn't do that…!" The subordinate called out as Gengetsu unceremoniously strode into the Mizukage's office. "… Well, crap. Hopefully Lady Mei doesn't melt him for barging in without warning…"
"… Where's the Old Man, un? And aren't you supposed to be dead, yeah?" Deidara asked as he sat across from Mu in the Tsuchikage's office. He was tied up pretty thoroughly, of course. No spontaneous demonstrations of Art for him.
"Deidara, I have a proposition for you…" Mu began, but then stopped as he considered the blond's query. "… And that bastard will have his comeuppance, I assure you… But I digress. Deidara, the Explosion Corps could really use your talents again. Apparently their reputation has taken a rather sharp turn after Gari died and you turned traitor. If you can lead them to prosperity again, I won't lock you up in a containment cell. Deal?"
Deidara hummed noncommittally.
"I dunno… The Corps were a great starting point, but they're not very Artistic, if ya know what I mean. Un. They're sooo single-minded in what they do. Blow up this, blow up that, but where's the style, yeah?!"
Mu tapped his thumbs together as he looked Deidara straight in the eye.
"As their leader, I'll let you have free reign if you go and do a little something for me in the Land of Water…"
Deidara suddenly adopted a shit-eating grin as he bounced in his seat a little.
"Where do I sign on, yeah?! You're loads better than that old lawn gnome!"
… Poor, poor Mu… You just don't know what you're unleashing upon the world…
Minarai entered his room with a sense of anticipation. Tsunade and Dan were having a great time with the first three Hokage and Lady Mito; so why couldn't Minarai have some fun, too? Removing a scroll from his pocket, Minarai released the seal and a cloud of smoke appeared. When it settled, the ancient corpse of Madara Uchiha was revealed in all its decaying glory.
You see, the Alliance had more or less ransacked Akatsuki's base in the Mountains' Graveyard when they won the Fourth War. When they did so, they discovered the real Madara Uchiha's corpse, which had been preserved for the sake of Rinne Tensei. The Hidden Leaf had claimed the body, of course; they had been planning to cremate the body so that he would never return, but apparently the body had been placed in storage and forgotten due to the return of Kushina Uzumaki and the chaos she brought with her.
Two years had passed since then. When Minarai had first been brought back, he had heard whispers of Madara Uchiha's defeat, and as funeral director he knew exactly where they would place his body if they preserved it at all. Nobody questioned his poking about because they were all confused by so many people being brought back to life; Minarai had free reign of the village up until he went to see Tsunade.
One might think, 'Why in the world would Minarai be interested in the corpse of Madara Uchiha?' Simply put, the man was so obsessed with his job that he believed everyone deserved a proper burial – even a traitor and deserter like Madara. As he was a traitor, Minarai would be following the Ancient Hidden Leaf Custom of burying the body in some barren, out-of-the-way location in the Land of Fire, but first Minarai wanted to channel the spirit since his clan wouldn't exactly wish to see him. Let alone anyone else. The guy brought about so much pain and misery, what would you expect?
But no. Minarai had to speak to the man. Had to give the man closure if possible. Minarai had a sacred duty as funeral director!
So, once Minarai had drawn up the seal and taken a sliver of Madara's flesh, he activated the Seal and the room was enveloped in a blue glow. Madara's spirit, which appeared to be somewhat miffed at being brought back in an ethereal form, sat in the center of the Seal array. The first thing Minarai noticed was that Madara seemed younger than his physical body; he would need to inquire as to how that happened.
Minarai gasped as the soul seemed to have two eyes, as opposed to the one the corpse had, however. That was even more shocking than the discrepancy in age. The ancient Uchiha Leader smirked at this – he hadn't expected eye contact to be accomplished so easily. Wasting not even a single second, Madara activated his Mangekyo Sharingan; Minarai hadn't stood a chance. He was instantly hypnotized.
Yes, indeedy. As careful as Minarai was in crafting his Seal, he had neglected to take into account the Sharingan; understandable, since the Uchiha took care of their own dead back in the early days of the Hidden Leaf. Even if he did take into account the special properties of the Sharingan, he wouldn't have been able to translate that into the Sealing matrix; he wouldn't have known the symbols or Kanji to take such precautions.
Once again, it all came down to the Uchiha being the weakness of a technique. Funny, that.
In minutes, Madara had all that he needed. Minarai had given him all his knowledge on the Spirit Binding Seal (rather unfortunate there was no 'break the contract seal' option; that would have made things quite easy…), had expanded the array surrounding Madara so that it encompassed the whole Senju Compound (apparently each Spirit Binding Seal could expand to a certain distance; unfortunate that it only expanded to the boundaries of the Senju Compound, but Madara took what he could get), and then he had committed seppuku. Madara, naturally, brought back Minarai with his own technique; with an array that encompassed the Senju Compound, he had no need to draw up a new one.
There were a couple of loopholes that Madara exploited: One, a single Spirit Binding Seal could bring back multiple people so long as there was DNA for each person on that particular Spirit Binding Seal (obviously Minarai's corpse was touching the expanded Seal); two, the Spirit Binding Seal was automatic, which meant that the second Minarai's body hit the floor, his ghost was brought back from the Pure World. And of course Madara had brought the old man back under his control upon his return; he'd be foolish to not recruit underlings.
In other words, Madara had taken control of the situation quite handily. So long as he stayed within the Seal array, Madara would remain in the mortal realm. His only other obstacle, the 'Summoner', was dead and now under his command. Madara had a chance to make a comeback – it was a very slim one that was dependent on the fact that even just one of his Rinnegan was preserved, but it was a chance.
Yes… Madara would be resurrected if he had any say in it…
To be continued…
Author's Note:
Here's another chapter, guys! I hope to get another chapter out next week (obviously in celebration of Halloween). I know things are a bit dramatic at the end here, but it'll all come out as crack, I assure you. There's a reason the Great Toad Elder's vision was cut off so abruptly, after all…
I loved Minarai, I really did; but significant OCs just aren't my style. I accomplished what I wanted through him – at least his death was mostly painless. Can't feel very well in a hypnotized state. :P How will that work out for the other Uzumaki? Well… I'll work it out when they make their grand entrance. Which might be in the next couple chapters. I dunno – this just isn't planned out. At all. XD
At least I gave Mads a flimsy second chance at life… Obviously this is still 'That was Anticlimactic', however, so he technically doesn't stand a chance… Ohohoho… :D
Hope you enjoyed!
Review Replies:
Eaglebucky: Glad it's still enjoyable! ^^ Sakumo's supposed to come in at some point… He's just really hard to find inspiration for, 'cause we've seen so little of him. I considered Might Dai, but… I'm iffy on him. Ehhh.
FictionLover12: And she hospitalized the Hyuga Elders… and did away with the Caged Bird Seal… 'cause that's how Hinata rolls, yeah. XD I dunno what you're talking about… Not like Madara's trying to make a comeback… again… XD
Fallen's Child: Well, it is getting a bit 'plot-ish' now, but we'll soon back to glorious anarchy again soon… I just wanted to do up a Halloween Special. :P Glad you're still enjoying it!
Garm (Guest): Thanks! Giving it my all. So much fun. :D
Simgr101: … Is this chapter good enough of an answer? 'cause we'll see the (former) Jinchuriki eventually. XD Sadly don't have anything in mind for 'Bito yet. Remember, I like the anarchic design of this fic; if something fun pops into my brain, it will transfer to paper. Until then, 'Bito will be reeling from his chat with Rin… I think I have a little something in mind for the next bit with him, but I'm keeping it a secret. :P Oh, and Anko didn't die; not in canon, and not here. Anko (her Curse Seal) technically was used to boost the power of Kabuto's Edo Tensei, and then she was just left in that cave hideout. She returned to the Leaf Village and… let herself go, in canon. I'll just say that. :P But here? I dunno what she'll do yet… But she might mess with Jiraiya for a bit…
reydrago: Glad it's enjoyable! I liked that chapter a lot. :D
AJGuardian: Thanks for the review!
Black' Victor Cachat: Surprisingly well? Hmm. If you see Tsukuyomi therapy as Itachi doing well, I'm gonna hafta fix that somehow… XD Behold the next Hyuga Clan Leader. Hear her roar. XD
ultima-owner: … Do you really wanna know? XD
Duesal Bladesinger: Yup, yup… Uzumaki are to be feared. Minarai's just one example of how reckless they can be. XD To be fair, though, Uchiha tend to throw a wrench in a lot of things… Yeees, pity the fool. And the Elders. And… anyone else that tries to stand up against Hinata. XD Yes, Izuna did… I have every intention of giving him another scene in the conclusion of this little special… He got left alone in the afterlife again… XD Kushina and Mikoto are so much fun. They're just startin' on Oro-chan… I will be sure to follow up on the therapy thing, then. That is a veeery entertaining concept. The brothers might have found their calling in life. :D