I'm back! Sorry for the late update, peeps! I've been concentrating a bit more on my newest Yuri on Ice story—a crossover with Kuroko no Basuke. If you are fans of either anime, take a look! As a side note, I've just set u account to sort of fund my ongoing original novel writing process. The link to it is on my profile, under 'Links to Sites'.
Pairings: Itachi/Yuri. Ren/Hinami. Natsuki/Yuzuki. Possible Sasuke/Noriko. Possible Gaara/Noriko.
Warnings: AU Universe. OOC. Gender swap. Minor character bashing.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Harry Potter and any of the characters, but the OC characters belongs to me
Chapter Ten: Ever Hope is Blessed
Hatake Kakashi probably broke all speed records the moment that he had returned to Konoha with his ANBU squad after their border patrol mission only to be filled in by the edgy Hokage on what had happened to Hyuuga Hizashi, and that Team 5 had a hand in capturing the kidnapper together with the assistance of the genin team from Suna.
Captain Dog's ANBU team had winced as one behind their masks when the Hokage had filled their captain about the incident less than two hours ago and killing intent had immediately filled the office.
Hatake Kakashi's thin temper when it involves his little sister is well known in the village by now. The time when he'd delivered five Uchiha ninjas with multiple broken bones and lacerations to the Hokage was still talked about in the village now, especially since half the village had seen how Kakashi had ordered his ninken to maul those idiots.
Following that, Captain Dog had ordered his vice-captain Taka to file the report before returning to ANBU headquarters and had immediately changed out of his ANBU uniform and back into his usual jounin uniform before dashing straight to the hospital.
By the flurry of activity happening within the hospital, especially at this hour, Kakashi knew without a doubt that the hospital's staff are all busy trying to save the life of Hyuuga Hizashi. Heads will roll if Hizashi ever dies, as Hyuuga Hiashi will no doubt want the life of the one who had harmed his twin.
The man is protective over his immediate family, and is particularly overprotective of his two daughters. Kakashi almost pitied the man once his two daughters are old enough to start dating.
The nurse at the receptionist desk had pointed Kakashi towards the Emergency section of the hospital when he had asked, and was quick to hurry towards said section. It says a lot if Kakashi knew where to go without even asking, seeing as how Yuri had been admitted to said section of the hospital countless times.
Kakashi skidded around a corner, and was immediately met with the sight of a sobbing Hinami who is crying into her hands, and Ren was trying to comfort her awkwardly by wrapping his arm around her shoulders. The Suna genin team isn't around, and Kakashi knew that some of the ANBUs who were part of the investigation squad had taken them for questioning before escorting them back to their worried jounin sensei.
And as for Yuri…
"Yuri!"
Yuri looked up at the sound of her name with red-rimmed eyes, and her eyes widened at the sight of Kakashi. She immediately leapt off the plastic chair in the waiting area that she's sitting on, having drawn her knees up to her chest, and immediately ran towards Kakashi.
"Nii-chan!"
Kakashi immediately wrapped the small girl in his embrace, feeling her shaking. He pushed her away to survey her state and frowned beneath his mask when he saw her red-rimmed eyes. "Are you all right? Is Hizashi-san…?"
Yuri shook her head. "They ended surgery ten minutes ago," she told Kakashi, with her voice cracking up. "Hiashi-sama is with him now. Hizashi-sensei is in a coma. They barely managed to save his life, but they don't know when he's going to wake up. The injuries inflicted on him are too grievous. Even if he could wake, they don't know if he could be a ninja again."
Kakashi froze when he heard the last part, and immediately held Yuri close with those words.
Not be a ninja again?
Hizashi was just fine when he met the older man the other day at the Missions Desk, and the man had even joked, saying that he'll retire as a ninja once he sees his genin team become jounin and had seen his son all grown up.
What of Hizashi's son? Neji shouldn't be much older than four—not much older than Noriko-chan or even little Teddy. What is going to happen to him now? Hizashi is all that he has left, as his mother had died giving birth to him.
Oh Gods…
Kakashi held Yuri close.
Why did this happen?
XXXXXX
The Suna genin team ended up staying for an additional week due to the fuss revolving around the Hyuuga incident. As a preservation seal was placed on the bag that had the herbs and plants that they were originally here for, they don't have to worry about the plants withering before they've even gotten back to Suna.
Morino Ibiki and Mitarashi Anko—two of Konoha's top interrogators have worked on the man whom Team 5 and the Suna team have captured non-stop for two days after the Hokage had signed an order to allow them to perform unrestricted interrogation on the man.
It didn't take long for the man to break under the mercy tendencies of Ibiki and Anko. The head interrogator had later presented his findings to the Hokage who was then in a meeting with Homura, Nara Shikaku, Hyuuga Hiashi and even the Suna jounin who was acting as Suna's representative after the Kazekage had gotten word of what had happened, and had ordered Baki to act as their representative in light of everything.
The man had been a Kumo-nin, though with how he had been throwing lightning attacks all around like nobody's business, it didn't take long for them to figure it out. Ibiki however was cussing up a storm when they'd unmasked him, and the Kumo-nin turned out to be the Kumo ambassador.
Hyuuga Hiashi had been furious for days ever since the attack on his brother, and so was the Hokage, as two young children have almost been abducted from Konoha's walls.
Two ANBU teams were sent to investigate the belongings of the Kumo ambassador, despite the protests of the civilian council that doing so would harm their relations with Kumo as ambassadors have political immunity. Sarutobi Hiruzen had however ignored all their protests, stating that their agreement with Kumo is as good as null, since they were the ones who have harmful intentions in mind when they'd first entered Konoha for the pretence of signing a peace treaty.
Surprisingly, Shimura Danzo had agreed with Sarutobi's actions, and was even pleased with his methods, as the War Hawk had felt that Kumo shouldn't get away with their actions.
The Kumo-nin was here to kidnap a Hyuuga child for the purpose of breeding their own clan of Byakugan users, Ibiki had reported. Hell, they'd almost succeeded too, if the Kumo-nin didn't have the unfortunate luck to run into Team 5 and the Suna team on his way out.
Hiashi counted his fortunes for the thousandth time since his brother was out of surgery that he had invited both teams over for dinner that night. If he hadn't, he would most likely be preparing for Hizashi's funeral now, and Neji would be hating him to bits. The small boy had already blamed him for his father's comatose state. If not for Uchiha Yuri taking Neji and Hinata aside and speaking to him, he probably still would.
Neji had been strangely protective over Hinata ever since. For the past three days since the attack, both Hyuuga children have been entrusted into the care of Tonks Andromeda, with Noriko and Teddy delighted to have two new playmates to play with. Children are incredibly resilient, and Noriko and Teddy have managed to bring both the Hyuuga children out of their shells and get over the trauma.
The Raikage had even made his way to Konoha three days after the attack on Hyuuga Hizashi, acting all pompous and mighty, declaring that Konoha had broken the treaty on their side, and had demanded for a Hyuuga's head as reparations.
(Hiashi had nearly broken the table that he is seated at with that declaration at that point)
Thankfully for everyone involved however, Sarutobi Hiruzen is in no mood to deal with the boisterous Raikage and had been in a hissy mood ever since Ibiki had given him the full details of the interrogation. It was also fortunate for Konoha that Suna had thrown their support behind them, as a genin team of theirs was also present at the scene when the Kumo-nin had attacked Hyuuga Hizashi and had attempted to abduct two Hyuuga children (one whom just so happened to be Team 5's sensei's son).
(Privately however, Hiruzen is certain that the Kazekage is so accommodating in this situation because he had hoped to improve Suna's relations with Konoha)
The long and short of it was that the Raikage's threat was thrown back on its head when Konoha and Suna have both threatened Kumo's trade with Fire Country and Wind Country. While it is true that Konoha is still recovering from the Kyuubi attack, and the rest of the elemental nations were still recovering from the Third Great Shinobi War, they could threaten Kumo's trade routes that is a sure fire way to make the Raikage back down.
No kage, no matter how idiotic, would risk his country's trade routes with another, especially not if said country is also fast friends and allies with a neighbouring country that can very well starve Cloud and render them penniless within a year if they block off all their trade routes.
Let's not let it be said that Konoha is said to be the greatest of the Five for a reason.
And Sarutobi Hiruzen is called the God of Shinobi for a reason too. He didn't get to be called that for his prowess as a ninja alone. If it was just for his ninja prowess, he wouldn't even be the longest reigning kage of any nation.
The end of it was that the Raikage had to swallow his pride and make a public apology, also allowing Konoha to exact their punishment on the man who had almost made away with two Hyuuga children and was responsible for nearly killing the brother of the Hyuuga clan head.
(Danzo is almost certain that the Hyuuga clan would lynch the man alive. In several ways, it might even be a kinder fate if the Raikage had been the one to handle his punishment)
The Raikage was even forced to hand over three A-rank lightning jutsu scrolls to Konoha as reparations that the Hokage had given to Kakashi for Yuri, as she had essentially been the one to stop the Kumo-nin from making off with the Hyuuga children.
All that had happened over a week ago, and both sides were exhausted by the end of it. The Suna genin team have also gone home by now, though Natsuki and Yuzuki have kept their promises, and have written regularly to Team 5 via messenger birds.
In one of their letters, it is stated that due to their part to play in the incident, it seemed to have improved Suna's relations with Konoha, and their mission intake had increased just slightly.
Much to Kakashi's annoyance however, once the fuss of the Hyuuga incident had blown over, the Uchiha clan had been badgering the Hokage to either allow them to remove Yuri's eyes or seal away her Sharingan for good because she is 'out of their grasp'—two things that Sarutobi had forbid them. He had even explicitly stated that they are not to go near Yuri, with Kakashi having taken a restricting order against any Uchiha who is not Shisui or Itachi, having been tired of the number of times Yuri was set upon by them.
"It's not your fault, both of you." Ren reasoned, with Team 5 having huddled together on the Fourth's head atop the Hokage monument—their favourite place to go ever since their days as Academy students. "We did the best we could. There's nothing we could have done."
Due to Hizashi now out of commission, Team 5 has been placed on the non-active duty roster, awaiting the Hokage to assign them a new jounin instructor. In the meantime however, they've either been training by themselves or visiting their comatose jounin instructor at the hospital. As the only missions they could take at present without a jounin instructor are just D-ranks, they've stuck to taking just a few each week to make some extra pocket money.
"You sound like the Hokage or even my brother." Yuri sighed, burying her face into her knees. "They said that too."
"Because it is the truth." Ren interjected, wondering just when was it when he had become the voice of reason between the three of them. That had always been Yuri's role. "You know that." He was met with silence, and sighed, looking skywards at the afternoon sky. "I wonder what we are going to do now? Even after we are assigned a new jounin instructor, then what? Where should we go from here?"
There was silence for several moments.
"…I'm going to train more as a medic-nin." Hinami was the first one to speak, looking at her friends and teammates, a determined expression on her face. "I'm going to be the best medic-nin in the elemental nations, just like Tsunade-sama. I'll treat Hizashi-sensei." She vowed.
Unseen by the three, a strange glow surrounded Hinami the moment she said those words.
"I'm going to be Konoha's head strategist." Ren swore. "This would never have happened to Hizashi-sensei if we'd just checked our security thoroughly. I know that it's not my uncle's fault. But…" He closed his eyes before shaking his head. "I'm going to be Konoha's head strategist, or even the Oinin Commander."
Once more, unseen by the trio, a strange glow surrounded Ren.
Hinami and Ren then turned to look at Yuri who is sitting in between them both atop the Fourth's head, her knees drawn up to her chest. She had been strangely quiet for days now, ever since the attack and she'd gotten her Sharingan, and she had since been badgered by Uchihas until Kakashi had threatened the lot of them with his ninken.
"…I'm going to take my Mastery in fuuinjutsu." Yuri said at last. "I've decided. I'm switching my focus to fuuinjutsu as a combat seals master. I'll maybe get an apprenticeship with Jiraiya if Keiji-san's offer is still open."
Ren and Hinami blinked owlishly at their teammate. Yuri had never made it a secret that she had disliked Jiraiya on a personal level due to the Sannin abandoning his duties to Noriko.
"Don't you dislike him?" Hinami questioned.
"I'll set my pride aside if I can help sensei." Yuri responded. "I've decided. I'm going to be a combat seals master. I'll keep my promise to sensei—I'll find a way to remove that seal."
Again, unseen by the three, a strange glow surrounded Yuri.
Hinami gave a small smile.
"And like what we've promised sensei the day that we've become his team, one of us will become Neji-kun's jounin instructor someday in the future." Hinami said.
Team 5 exchanged looks and nodded as one.
An Unbreakable Vow made as a team.
XXXXXX
"So did you receive a letter from Yuri, Hinami or Ren the other day?" Sewai Natsuki asked Kusanagi Yuzuki even as they both took the long trek back to their houses after a long day of missions and training.
"I did." Yuzuki nodded. She had a really amused look on her face. "Hedwig sent the letter for Yuri." For the past several months, Hedwig had been getting lots of exercise by being sent to and fro between Konoha and Suna as a mail delivery bird. She is probably already overtaking Takimaru as fastest messenger bird by completing a mail delivery in just over a day. "Seems like they've been assigned a new jounin instructor last month. Shiranui Genma is his name."
Natsuki stilled. "Pressure points user, Shiranui Genma?" he echoed, and Yuzuki nodded.
The name Shiranui Genma is pretty well known, as the jounin is pretty famous during the war. He had also served in the Yondaime Hokage's personal guard, and is one of the four still alive today that knows the Hiraishin, Namikaze Minato's trademark jutsu. He had also been one of the jounins present that night when the Kumo-nin had attacked.
"He's a pretty skilled and well-known jounin." Natsuki remarked. "Yuri and the other two will be in good hands with him."
"Seems like they've decided on their career paths too." Yuzuki said mysteriously, and Natsuki looked at her knowingly. "They'll go far if they stick to it, and will someday be famous amongst the ninja ranks."
"Did you See something—"
Whatever that Natsuki is about to say was cut off with loud screaming even as hordes of children ran away from the direction of the local playground, screaming something about a monster.
"What's going on?" Natsuki frowned, staring at the backs of the screaming children as they disappeared in the distance, presumably heading back to their houses.
Yuzuki looked in the direction of the playground where the children have ran screaming, and tugged at Natsuki's sleeve. "Come on," she said. Natsuki raised a brow, but followed Yuzuki, trusting in her lead. Yuzuki has never lead him wrong before, whether she was known as Luna Lovegood or as Kusanagi Yuzuki.
The local playground soon came in sight, along with the sounds of harsh sobbing—someone, a young child sobbing his heart out that it almost made Natsuki's heart break at the sorrow that he could hear.
And there, in the middle of the playground stood a small child, maybe not much older than three or so with blood-red hair, bawling his heart out.
Both Yuzuki and Natsuki knew who he was immediately.
Every child and adult in the village will know who the child is.
The third child of the Yondaime Kazekage, and also the Jinchurriki of the One-Tailed Raccoon.
Yuzuki and Natsuki exchanged looks. Now they understood why the children have ran, screaming something about a monster.
The containers of Shukaku, the One-Tail have always been unstable, as the demon eats away at the mental stability of his containers, rendering them insane within a few years. And once his container sleeps, the demon comes out and starts killing.
During their visit to Konoha however, when Yuzuki had asked Yuri off-handedly about seals and Jinchuurikis, with both not revealing the identities of their respective villages' Jinchuurikis, Yuzuki had learned enough from Yuri that the seal on Suna's Jinchuuriki isn't strong enough to hold the Shukaku back at bay, and still let the child sleeps. Yuzuki played with the idea of asking her father to ask the Kazekage to direct a mission to Konoha to help their Jinchuuriki.
"Poor kid." Natsuki murmured, his eyes soft as he looked at Gaara. In certain ways, he had reminded Natsuki of himself in his past life as Neville Longbottom—friendless and alone until he'd befriended Hilda and had gotten to known her better in their fifth year.
Yuzuki bent down to pick up a lone red plastic ball at her foot and walked towards the sobbing Gaara whose sobs have lessened to mere hiccups as he looked at Yuzuki through tear-stained eyes.
"Here you go." Yuzuki held the ball out to Gaara gently, bending down so that she met him at eye level.
"T-Thank you." Gaara mumbled, taking the ball from her with shaking fingers. He turned away sadly, sure that they would run away from him now. Everyone did, even the adults.
"Your name is Gaara, right?" Natsuki asked, and Gaara turned towards him, surprised. Everyone always ran away from him. Even Yashamaru seems afraid of him sometimes. Natsuki smiled at Gaara who only smiled back uncertainly. "Would you like to play with us?"
Gaara's eyes widened.
XXXXXX
"…Y-Yuri-nee-chan…!"
"Keep behind me, Noriko!" Uchiha Yuri hissed, pushing the frightened child behind her even as she pulled out a kunai, her eyes blazing with fury even as she studied the Uchiha ninja standing in front of her, blocking their only way out. "Why am I not surprised? I thought that it's only a matter of time before you idiots are up to your old tricks again. I'm only surprised that it took you this long."
The Uchiha sneered. "You sure seemed to have grown quite a mouth on you, freak," he sneered. "Maybe it's high time you learned how to treat your betters."
Yuri glared right back. Gone are the days when she is cowering in fear from the attacks of her supposed blood family. "And maybe it's high time you lot grew a brain and learn that what you're doing right now isn't endearing yourself to the village any," she countered.
"Conspiring with demons now, are we?" The Uchiha sneered at Noriko who is hiding behind Yuri. "And to think that you possess the vaulted Sharingan! No more, I say! I say we remove the stain on our name!"
Yuri let out a long suffering sigh, though she is furiously trying to think a way out. She knows that she can never beat a full-grown adult Uchiha more than three times her size, especially not if she has to defend a frightened three-year-old whom he is also trying to kill.
"You know what? At this point, I'm not even going to bother." Yuri said at last. What's the point anyway? They only hear what they want to listen.
"We should have done this years ago." The Uchiha sneered, brandishing a kunai. "The Kyuubi attack is the start of everything! It's not our fault that the Kyuubi attacked!" Yuri raised a brow at that strange comment, mentally filing that away for reference. "And yet, the village refused to listen to us and shoved us away like we're something diseased! Once you're dead, the village will start respecting us again!"
Yuri's eyes widened in horror when she realised that the man is going straight for Noriko who looked frightened and had frozen up completely.
"Noriko!"
Noriko's frightened wide-eyed expression was all that Yuri could see for several moments as the Uchiha ninja made his way towards her, kunai in hand. Almost like in slow motion, Yuri could see several things clearly.
A splatter of blood resounded in the air along with a bloodcurdling scream from a terrified child.
"YURI-NEE!"
And then, all she felt was pain and red.
A/N: Once again, apologies for taking so long to update. I've been concentrating a lot more on my on-going novel as I've neglected it for well over six months. And as mentioned, I have an account with n, and I will appreciate it if you can show your support and spread the word.
I hope that you like this chapter, and please read and review! Reviews give me inspiration to update!