The Day Sunlight Died
"Sometimes you'll hold on really hard and realize there is no choice but to let go." Cheryl Strayed
Making sense of the chaos was something Kushina was struggling with. Although the village was mostly empty, she still couldn't grasp the creator of such chaos. It had to be powerful enough to force an evacuation without a fight, but small enough to camouflage itself behind the standing infrastructure that hadn't yet suffered destruction. As much as she asked others, there was this weird sense of fear from other Jonin to talk about the attack. Whatever had happened and whomever it was, it created such fear inside those who'd encountered it, that they dared not speak of it. No one would give her answers, no matter how much she yelled, complained and moaned over the fact. The most she had gotten, after almost ten minutes of continuous "What was it?" had been:
"Something that you can't make sense of. Something so vile, I hope to kami you never encounter it." Saeki muttered, his eyes glazing over with a thousand mile stare, which he quickly recovered from.
Whatever it was, it was beyond human comprehension. And like that, just for a second, she wondered if maybe, whatever it was, had something to do with the beast she carried inside.
They reached the Sakura trees effectively, never encountering another living being along the way. They had encountered few survivors, mostly ones who lived in the outskirts of the village or had been present near the escape routes when the attack had started; others had been aided by the Jonin and ANBU that'd been deployed when the attack couldn't be contained, but most hand perished, having been crushed by falling buildings or trees that had rained down from the sky like rain.
For the first time since she'd escaped the prison, thoughts of mortality clouded her mind. Would she die? Would she survive? Would she be forced to fight against something not even specialized ninja were able to understand? She forced herself to push those dark thoughts out of her mind. Her main goal right now was to saver her father and the few survivors out of the tunnel and hope, that with the confusion around them, he would have forgotten, at least temporarily about her death sentence, giving her few extra hours she so desperately needed to come up with an escape plan.
Stroking with care the seal on her wrist, Kushina followed dutifully the jonin before her, her heart racing as death stroke her cheek.
"-what we have to do is place the key on the largest cherry blossom tree and the door will - humph!" Kushina was brutally interrupted as she bumped into something as she was turning a corner. She had expected the way to be clear, for most of the able villager's had escaped already, there was no reason to encounter another human being. Falling backwards, she was aggressively pulled up as a hand wrapped around her wrist, stopping the fall.
"Kushina!" Satoru yelled, finally realizing that the red he was seeing before him, was actually the red hair he'd been hoping to find since he and Minato had arrived at the village.
"Satoru?" Kushina asked, more confused than surprised.
"An Uchiha?" Saeki questioned, crossing his arms over his chest. There was a cold tone in his voice, his eyes narrowing. "What is an Uchiha doing here?"
Kushina turned to her friend, wondering the same thing.
"I came to get you. We, I mean." Satoru said, stepping closer to Kushina and grabbing on to her hands, finally allowing himself to smile. Until this moment, he hadn't realized just how worried he'd been about her safety, always dreading the moment he caught a glimpse of red hair underneath a boulder or a rock.
"We?" Kushina asked, looking over his shoulder to try and make sense who this we was. "We - who?"
"Me and Minato. Minato and I, I mean. We got word that you'd been held captive by the Kirigakure army so we sent word to your father who confirmed your safety in the village. We have the Hokage's orders to bring you back."
"Hold on a second," Kushina interrupted, holding her hand up to interrupt him. This had to be the most colluded conversation she'd ever had. "Who told you I was in Kirigakure? On whose orders are you here?"
"I told you - the Hokage-"
"Uzumaki-san belongs to Whirlpool," Saeki said, his eyes suspiciously eying Satoru. "What business does Konoha have with one of our own?"
Satoru turned to the jonin, an open scroll in his hands. Saeki took it without a word. "Kushina has been an ambassador and subject of Konoha since she was seven years old. She-"
"It's you!" Saeki said, dropping the scroll to the ground and pointing an accusing finger toward her, realization finally meeting his eyes. "You were supposed to be executed. The council had you imprisoned."
"What?" Satoru asked, looking between an enraged Saeki and a defeated and fearful Kushina.
"That-" Kushina tried, backing away slowly, hopeful that Saeki wouldn't attack her. She had no means of defending herself and Satoru at the same time. She need to think of something fast.
"Saeki!" someone yelled from the trees, making the three of them turn toward the approaching figure.
"Wakisaka!" Saeki smiled for the first time, relief making him forget the situation at hand. "Is Kirishima-sama with you? What happened to the rest of the council?"
"Most of the people who were in the tower escaped through the river, Ishikura-sama and Kirishima-sama waited until the last civilians were safe." Wakisaka recounter, glancing quickly towards Kushina's direction but nothing registered, so she turned her attention back toward Saeki. "We still need the key to open the door of the tunnel connecting the council building. Somehow the chaos and confusion sealed away the rear end. Kirishima-sama is trapped with close to twenty civilians."
"I have the key with me." Saeki said, returning to his stone cold expression. "We need to get them out as soon as possible and flee. Kirishima-sama has to mee the Heitai who are doing everything in their power to get that thing close to the river. Only council members know the method to uncover the Saishu Shiru. It's the only way to hold that thing at bay."
Wakisaka nodded, understanding her orders. Once again she glanced at Kushina and Satoru. "What about them?" she asked, Kushina's appearance not registering.
Saeki's face turned hard. "We'll let Kirishima-sama decide once every thing's settled. She's not going anywhere anyways, I've placed Kusari seal on her."
Kushina perked up, fear finally making it's way to her eyes. "When?" she asked.
Saeki didn't answer, only turned to Wakisaka. "Show me." And before long they disappeared behind the sea of trees.
"Kushina?" Satoru asked, turning to her with a worried look. "What's going on?"
Kushina turned to Satoru, her mind turning. "Where's Minato?" she asked, not noticing the jealousy that suddenly appeared in Satoru's eyes.
"At the beach, gathering as much boats as possible. Why? What's going on? What is this about you being imprisoned?" Satoru asked, watching as Kushina's face turned from fear to defeated to determination in the matter of seconds. "Kushina?" he asked, once she didn't answer.
"I need you to trust me." Kushina said, finally turning her attention toward Satoru and grabbing his hands. He laced their fingers.
"Always," he said without a second beat.
"Then don't ask too many questions and help me." Kushina said, pushing him away.
Satoru opened his mouth to ask what this was about, but closed it, trying his best to keep his promise towards her. "Ok." He said, watching the sea of trees before them. "What do I do?"
"Did you see what attacked the village?" Satoru shook his head, making Kushina curse under her breath. "I've been trying to get a sense of what happened since I woke up, but the most I've gathered is that there's a creature that makes anyone who comes into contact with it crazy."
Satoru frowned. "Crazy how?"
Kushina pursed her lips, defeated. "I don't know how to explain it exactly. It's almost like it draws all hope from the people it makes contact with. Anyone who engages it in a fight, knows, without throwing the first punch, that it's futile." She turned to him, worried. "We need to engage with it."
"But," Satoru started, trying to make sense of what she had just said. "If you say it's useless, then why even bother? Most of the village has been evacuated by now and whomever is fighting against it will soon realize that it's pointless, then why…?"
"Because I'm the only one capable of sealing it away in the river." She said, looking over her shoulder nervously. The rescuing of the people from the tunnel would take a while, depending on how obstructed the exit was. Yet, she knew that as much as it would take to get the people out of the tunnel, it was not enough time to engage with the attacker of the village, drive it toward the river and seal it away.
She knew that getting the people out of the tunnel wasn't a small feat, but she had hardly counted the minutes since Saeki had left to save her father. The hopeful thinking that this attack and the state of the village would somehow change her father's views of her, were a desperate thought. Her father, much like her and the rest of her family, was an Uzumaki, making him as stubborn as her, if not more. He would only celebrate when her death was done. If he were to find her free and close… well that was a thought Kushina didn't want to divulge in. "The river that passes through the village has been fed sealing chakra since we settled here." She explained, trying to make sense of the present. She would have to pull on everything she'd been taught since birth to effectively pull this off. "It's the closest thing we have to a fountain of chakra. Whatever attacked us, is close; or at least that's what I think. Most of the front liners who've stayed are trying to get whatever it is, towards the lake at the end of the river, in which case, when my father is freed, he will seal it away. The thing is-" she looked over her shoulder once more, her voice dropping to a whisper. "He will not succeed. This thing… it's too powerful. Even with the aid of the river, there's hardly any chance it will be sealed off."
Satoru's eyes twitched, fighting off more questions, so he only allowed himself one. "If you haven't seen what it is, how can you possibly know that?"
Kushina turned to him, serious. "I don't need to see it to know what it is."
"How?" Satoru asked.
It took a while for Kushina to answer, but when she did, her sentence compelled him into stunned silence. "Because I've seen something like it before."
Whirlpool like buildings hid them from direct sight. There was no telling who was around and Kushina didn't want to run into anyone else for that matter, so they took their time, usually taking back alleys and hiding behind or underneath plants that still remained upright. The whole way, Kushina didn't mutter a word. Ignoring all his attempts to subtly (and not so) find the reason for being cataloged as a terminal prisoner. What could she have possibly done to make her own people so mad that they had voted to kill, not just one of their own, but second in line to the succession of the Uzumaki clan, a founding and ruling clan of Whirlpool? Her crime must be grave enough to merit such a sentence; which begged the questions, what exactly had she done?
He knew, because of Minato, that the Hokage declared war on Whirlpool for the sole purpose of keeping Konoha shinobi out of the small nation, effectively keeping Kushina out of Danzo's prying hands, which he also learned had gotten ever more impatient by the day since they had to be escorted back to the village by ANBU shinobi, almost three months ago. He couldn't remember much about what had happened on the mission, and most of what he could make out of that night was the fact that they had been attacked by Kumogakure for almost trespassing on foreign land, which the treaty of peace between the two villages, forbade. He wounds had been substantial, and he had been forced to stay at the Hospital for nearly two weeks; but what he still couldn't understand, no matter how many times he tried and piece together, was, if most of the people who participated in the mission received everlasting wounds that kept them out of duty for a while, why had Kushina recovered over night without a single scratch on her? And why had she been the only one who had been called after wards to the Hokage's office, even thought, he and Minato, too had participated? What had they talked about? What exactly had happened that night? And why was Danzo so suddenly interested in Kushina and her whereabouts?
Not in a romantic way, obviously, but more in the way that he lately seem to notice Orochimaru looked at Kushina: like she was his new test subject.
It had to bee something important, something that allowed Danzo to dance around the Hokage's orders, which made him the sole soul responsible for her wellbeing. Whatever it was, it had to bee too good for both of them to trespass direct orders, even if they were known for committing illegal acts for the sake of the village. Could it be that Kushina was the sole proprietor of the conflict between two very close allies? The council had been furious at her for bringing two sister nations to war. Could it be Konoha had persuaded Whirlpool into killing one of their own to appease to sister nations from mutually destroying each other? Or could it be that there was a deeper reason that not even Satoru himself could even dare to comprehend or imagine? What could it be about Kushina, that made such powerful people so interested in her in the first place?
Satoru opened his mouth to voice that very question, when Kushina pushed him against a building, her hand covering his mouth.
"Sh." She said, ducking.
Loud voices could be heard beyond the alley, even thought they couldn't see anyone else.
"Are there more?"
"No. Most of the ones I checked had been decapitated."
There was a pause. "What about the children."
"Evaporated."
"Are you serious?" the first voice asked incredulously, not really grasping what he'd just heard. Actually, Satoru had a hard time grasping that too. How could someone evaporate?
"I-"
"She's the only survivor." Kushina dropped her hand from his mouth and clamped it over her own to keep from muttering the name they both associated with that deep voice. Satoru bit his lip. He was about to do the same. "I had no further luck."
"Thank you, Konoha." The first voice said, the sound of rustling cloth followed. "What's the situation?"
"They are down to five, two Jonin, one ANBU and two chunin." Minato said, a tremble visible in his words. "I don't-" he sighed, fear grasping his breath. "I think it's best to evacuate. Immediately. Those five are not going to hold on for much longer."
The other two hesitated, before agreeing.
"I'll take her to the beach. There are boats still waiting." The first voice said.
"I'll help Saeki free the council." The second voice said, turning to Minato. "You must follow Sae here. We can't afford a Konoha shinobi to die. I'll be the doom of us."
"I have my hiraishin." Minato said, dismissing the offer. "I'll just have one last quick round to find any more survivors before meeting you at the beach." There was a clink of metal. He had handed Sae one of his weird kunai. "I won't take long and I'll keep myself out of harms way. With this I'll be able to teleport myself toward the beach, keep it with you at all times."
Satoru didn't know what Minato had said to them before to make them trust him so profoundly, but the Whirlpool shinobi had agreed without a moment of hesitation or further questions. Withing a few seconds the sound of footsteps alerted them on the departure of the shinobi, making them think they were alone again, until Minato spoke.
"You can come out now."
Kushina didn't hesitate, but Satoru falter on his step, wondering if Minato had known from the beginning that they ha been hiding this whole time.
Before Satoru could even grasp him mind around any conceivable question, Kushina stepped up and hugged him, surprising both men.
"You're alright." She said into his shirt, squeezing him tight.
Minato returned the hug without looking his way. "So are you." He whispered into her hair, stroking it with one hand.
Satoru just stood there, awkwardly wondering why hadn't Kushina hugged him when they first saw each other. If she had been that worried about Minato, could it be that she hadn't been that worried about him? And if so, could it be because her feeling for the blond ran deeper than hers for him? Could it be that he had already lost hid chance with Kushina, even before he had even voice his feelings of her to himself? To her? Was she regretting him with this hug?
Satoru eyed Minato, taking ever detail of delight he'd shown at being hugged by Kushina. The soft, tender stroke of her hair with his hands, the softness of his eyes as they remained closed, the slight upturn of his mouth, that wasn't quite a smile, but the closest thing to it, the chill pose. If Satoru hadn't known better, he would easily mistaken these two as lovers and not friends.
Satoru cleared his throat, making Kushina lift her head from Minato's chest and look over at him with a raised eyebrow.
He eyed her, turning his head to the side. "What about the river?" he asked, hoping she would catch on his meaning and let go of Minato, twenty seconds was plenty of time to physically make sure he was alive and well.
"The river," Kushina repeated, finally letting go of Minato and getting that dazed look he had seen earlier. He didn't take it as a good sign.
"What river?" Minato asked, looking between the two. Satoru, delighted over the fact that he knew something that the blond didn't, didn't elaborate, instead stepped forward to better read Kushina's facial expressions. It had taken everything in him not to punch the blond away from her, even if she'd been the one who'd initiated the physical contact.
"Kushina?" Satoru asked, about to put a hand of her shoulder when an earth quake shattered the ground, followed by what Satoru could only describe was a black ball of energy that evaporated everything in it's path.
Falling face down on the ground, Satoru put his hands over his head, trying to prevent the bricks of the now destroyed buildings from falling on him. It helped a little, but as soon as they stood up, the three of them had to dust themselves clean, both buildings which had previously sheltered them from the outside world, were now partially gone, with a giant circle like hole interrupting their natural shape. Whatever that was, it was powerful. Ten buildings of brick and stone hadn't stopped the attack.
"What was that?" Minato asked, dusting dirt from his hair.
"I've never seen a jutsu like it." Satoru countered, peaking over what was left over the wall to his left, in the direction that the attack had come from. All he saw was similar holes on nearing buildings. Whomever it was, moved fast.
"We have to get to the river." Kushina said, having her peak too. There was no one around. She was the only one who didn't seem surprised by the attack.
"What was that?" Minato asked once more, waiting for Kushina's answer. When she didn't he grabbed hold of her arm. "What was that?"
Kushina looked down at his hand, as surprised as Satoru felt, for in spite how mad he sometimes was at her, Satoru was sure that Minato had never laid hands on her that she hadn't call on to before. She locked eyes with him, fear clouding rationality. "Something very very bad."
Satoru clocked his head to the side, about to open his mouth to ask the questions he knew Minato was about to voice, when Kushina placed her hand on Minato's chest, a seal appearing as soon as it made contact. Satoru had never received formal education from Kushina over the purposes of certain seals, but having been her friend for almost ten years he had, without really knowing it, learned to recognize certain patterns, so he wasn't all that surprised when Minato bend over into Kushina's arms, unconscious.
"Help me." Kushina said, keeling down to prompt Minato onto the building behind them.
"Why did you do that?" Satoru asked, stretching Minato's legs and placing hands over his legs.
"He would have just slowed us down." Kushina said, reaching for his pouch to take one of Minato's weird kunai with her. "We have to ask fast. Besides you promised me no questions. Remember?"
Satoru tried looking at Kushina, but she was effectively hiding her face behind her hair. Slow them down? Satoru asked himself, taking the weird kunai Kushina was providing him. Satoru wouldn't have thought that for a second. Whatever jealousy Satoru felt for Minato, he knew it was solely based on Kushina's potential feelings for the blond. It annoyed him that even though he had known Kushina the longest, she seemed to be more attached to the Minato than to him, making him wonder, not for the first time, if her affections for the Minato went beyond platonic friendship. But that was personal; petty thinking based on physical and emotional attraction toward the red headed. If he was to compare himself against Minato, basing his judgment only on their ninja skills… well Satoru would always come out as a second contender, never even daring to imagine himself on the same category as Minato.
Opening his mouth to ask Kushina her motives, and obviously forgetting the promised he had made earlier, Satoru was surprised to find her gone, making him panic for a moment, wondering if they had been subjected to any more attacks he had been too distracted to notice. Peaking over his shelter, he relaxed once he made out her fleeing form only a few yards away, running towards, what he could only guess, was the river.
Attaching Minato's weird kunai on his belt, Satoru followed her, only having a second thought of whether they should leave Minato, all by himself, with such a looming threat over them.
Minato woke up with slowly at first, and then suddenly, shutting his eyes as soon as he opened them. There was dust around him, dust that was being propagated by the wind that seemed to have come out of nowhere. Scratching his eyes with one hand and daring to open his eyes once more, Minato looked down at himself, wondering if he had suffered any light wounds. He was fine as far as he could tell. Nothing broken.
Spreading his fingers over his chest and abdomen, Minato hoped that the seal Kushina had placed over him would appear, giving him space to use the little knowledge he had managed to wrestle out of Kushina, to counter act it, so he could move; but there was nothing. However strong the seal had been, it was gone now. Which begged the question: how long had been out?
Cursing under his breath, Minato stood up, dusting himself up and pressing his back against the wall he had been lying against. He still didn't know what or who had caused such destruction, or even if that threat had been neutralized. He could only assume it had been a few minutes since Satoru and Kushina had been in front of him by the position of the sun. It was still slowly falling down over the horizon, a few more hours of daylight. Was he the only one left in the village? Or had the ANBU team, who had been in charge of containing the threat successful? Had Satoru and Kushina left the village for Konoha? He doubted it. Knowing Kushina as well as he knew her, he was sure she would have been fighting in the front lines, despite direct orders from the top.
Now, all he had to figure out was: why had Kushina placed a kitzetsu seal on him? He had recognized it, milliseconds before he lost consciousness. She'd taught it to him before, after months of his begging and the promise of teaching her his Hiraishin no Jutsu. He had always been interested in seals, even in school, but since Konoha didn't have any knack knowledge of the subject, he was left to content himself with the basics. It wasn't until he had met Kushina and learned that on top of everything they had to learn in school, she was subjected to sealing teachings, that he really became interested into knowing her. Having someone, who was not only fluent, but a master of a subject so foreign in his village, was a plus side; little did he know that he would eventually fall in love with her, from all the time they spent together. It was the reason he had asked the Hokage to sign that seal, he hadn't counted her eventual disappearance the night of the FU mission, which lead him to this very moment.
An explosion near him made him duck, reaching for his kunai. When nothing happened, he dared to peak over the destroyed wall behind him. At first there was nothing, but then three figures appeared, clouded by a cloud of dust. Trying to make sense of the figures deeply engage in combat, Minato crouched, summoning as much chakra as he could to jump over the wall and into the larger figure fighting. As he landed, he summoned his wind chakra to funnel it through the kunai, driving it down on the hard surface he was now kneeling on, hoping to create some kind of wound on what he had accurately guessed was the enemy. Yet, as the kunai burried himself deeper into the shell of a turtle, the saber broke, flying off with a ping.
"Minato!" Satoru yelled, pulling the blond on his feet by his arm. He hadn't realized the Uchiha had landed besides him.
"Where's Kushina?" Minato asked, not seeing her nearby.
"By the river," Satoru said, pointing with his head towards the destroyed boats nearby. She was not visible. "We have to bring the creature closer so she can seal it."
"How?" Minato asked, jumping as the creature shook himself, trying to get the two shinobi off him.
"Do you know any wind jutsu?" Satoru asked, jumping off the turtle to land a few feet in front of it. Minato quickly followed.
"I doubt it's strong enough." Minato said, tensing in a defense pose to defend against any possible attacks from the turtle.
"I'll help you." Satoru said, posing some hand seals. "Just follow my lead."
Minato quickly followed suit, feeling the chakra accumulate in his mouth. When he was ready, he blew a gust of wind, which was quickly enveloped by a fire ball, hitting the turtle before them. There was a cloud of steam, but as it dissipated, they saw how the turtle had fallen back a few yards.
"One more time." Satoru yelled, repeating his steps, Minato following once more.
This time, they drove the creature on his back, it sinking on the river it had landed on.
"We lost it," Minato said, afraid to step on the water. He didn't know if the creature had domain over the element.
"We did it," Satoru corrected, looking upstream for any sign of Kushina. "Now all we have to do is-"
An explosion of water interrupted them, forcing them to cover their heads with their arms as rain fell.
"What's going on?" Minato asked, trying to make things out through the rain.
"I don't know." Satoru said, dodging a lighting strike that came their way. "But we need to-"
"Help me!" Kushina's cry alerted them to her presence, followed by a wall of water that enveloped the two. It quickly dissipated, for the lightning cut through it. They were alive for now.
Reacting quicker that Satoru, Minato pulled on Kushina's arm, making her stumble onto her feet and onto him. They dodged as Satoru produce a third fire ball.
Steam enveloped them, but the creature was no where to be found. It obviously had dived once more.
"What is that?" Satoru asked, taking one of the bodies Kushina was carrying from her, putting it over his shoulder.
"A tailed beast." Kushina said in such a matter of fact tone, for a moment Satoru thought she was joking.
"What?" Satoru reacted, not wanting to believe her. "Tailed beast are just a myth. How can one be-" but he didn't finish for another dark ball of energy was thrown at them.
They dodged it, but barely. If they didn't contain the creature and soon, it would be surprising if they lived to see another day. Satoru was about to suggest they fall back and escape when a second, but much smaller ball of energy started to form in the creature's mouth.
"Enough!" Kushina yelled, dropping the body of the unconscious girl she'd been cradling in to the arms of Minato. "This ends now!"
Brushing her hand against her tight, she unsealed the sword Nobu had giving her at the pink island, finally desperate enough to wield it. Holding in with both her hands, she funneled her wind chakra through the blade, watching as it responded by glowing white. As the black ball was thrown in their direction, Kushina raised the sword over her head released her chakra with a cutting motion forward, watching with surprise as it created a white glowing gust of wind that eventually collided with the ball of energy, cutting it in half. The divided energy didn't exploded as she thought, instead it regained it's original sphere like shape, diverging to the sides as it took everything in it's path.
Neither of them had time to grasp what had happened, for the turtle quickly opened its mouth to produce another one attack.
"Take them to the beach," Kushina commanded, never taking her eyes off the turtle before them. "I'll try my best to seal it."
"But is a tailed beast!" Satoru yelled, hunching to pull the body he was carrying further up his back. "It's insane to take something like this on your own!"
"I'm not going to fight it." Kushina said, producing once more the white wind. It collided with the creature, closing one of his eyes. Other wise, he was harmless. "I'm going to seal it. The lake in the middle of the city is a sealing temple. If I drive it there, I can perform a seal strong enough to contain it. At least for the moment."
"We'll help you," Satoru said impulsively, gaining a look from Minato. Never mind the fact that they couldn't possibly conceptualize the actual existence of a mythical creature; the most they knew about sealing jutsus was the summoning one, which, as far as Minato could tell was the most basic of sealing jutsu ever created. Satoru ignore him.
"What I need is for you to get out of here!" Kushina yelled, turning to her friends, her pupils no longer round. Had her voice grown deeper? "Take the remaining survivors to the beach. Take the boats sealed there. Get out of here!"
"We can't leave you here!" Satoru yelled back, looking over at Minato to find support. All he found was a grim look. Minato wasn't as torn as he felt over this suggestion, even if it pained him. He turned to Kushina again. This was his last chance. "You can't win against it."
Kushina summoned a ball of wind chakra over her head, releasing it forwards. It pushed the turtle back a a few hundred feet.
"I don't expect to win," Kushina muttered, glancing quickly at the seal on her hand. If she was fast enough, she'd bee able to channel all her chakra through the seal toward Satoru, effectively bringing him back to life. She had been avoiding such action since that meant the possible release of the Kyuubi, but - she was desperate. And desperate times called for desperate measures. Now all she needed was for Satoru to be as far away as physically possible for this suicide plan to work. Sacrificing herself only to have him be killed by this thing was not in her plans.
"Then come with us," Minato finally spoke, watching as the turtle fell back once again when Kushina tried her attack. He was by far, the calmest of the two.
Kushina looked over her shoulder. Their grim faces breaking her heart. "I'm the only one who has enough power to fight this thing."
"We can help you," Satoru stepped forward, reaching towards her with an extended hand. "We might not have enough chakra to-"
"No!" Kushina yelled, her voice suddenly not her own. She felt the familiar sense of loosing herself. Her anger was giving path to something she wasn't prepare to let loose. She turned toward the turtle, not wanting her friends to notice her redding eyes.
"Go!" she yelled, summoning the wind blade once more. This one had a direct hit, breaking the shell ever so slightly.
When she dared look back and saw her friends still standing there, she summoned chakra on her hand, releasing it toward them. It pushed them back with more violence than she'd intended, but it did the job, letting her focus on the looming threat before her.
The next few hours were torture for Satoru. As soon as he'd helped the last survivor get on the ship, he'd tried to journey back to the village. They hadn't heard any more monster like cry since Konoha's special ops and police had landed on the beach, a few hours ago. Minato's toad had effectively reached the Hokage, who had sent special ops. Most of the survivors had either left for neighboring islands or were being loaded on the boats Konoha had brought with them, only leaving the heavily wounded behind to be treated. Selected ANBU shinobi returning every few hours with survivors.
He had been instructed, by Fugaku himself, to stay put, forcing Satoru to test the limits of his patience.
"But there could be more survivors!" Satoru had said as soon as Fugaku stepped in his way, blocking his path from the village. He was keen on returning as soon as the situation had calmed down and the wounded treated; there was a big chance Kushina was wounded and waiting for him.
"The Hokage will send special team to reckon the village as soon as it's safe." Fugaku repeated again, annoyance showing through his serious grim. It hadn't been the first time he'd said it. "Toxic air has been reported near its borders."
"But Kushina-"
"You've been ordered to return to the village immediately." Fugakure interrupted the younger Uchiha, handling him a sealed scroll. It was his fathers.
Satoru didn't even glance at it, his eyes never left calmly dancing leaves before him. It was such a nice sunny afternoon. "Kushina's still alive there. She could be hurt. I have to get to her."
Fugaku gave him a quizzical look, like the one, one gives to a child who's said something illogical. "How can you be so sure?"
"Because of this!" Satoru shot up his sealed hand, finally conscious over the fact that he'd been checking it impulsively since he and Minato had reached the beach. As long as that seal was there, Kushina was alive. "As long as I have this, she-" but he didn't finish, for the inter wining circles that had been the art of his seal started to fade, leaving behind white skin.
"No!" Satoru yelled, grabbing his wrist with his other hand. He shook it desperately, hoping it was some kind of bad signal. It just couldn't be possible. He wouldn't accept it. "No!"
"What-?" Fugaku asked, trying to make sense of the younger Uchiha's behavior, but Satoru didn't hear the rest for he jumped on the nearest branch, hastening his way toward the village.
It just couldn't be true, it couldn't. Kushina promised, she gave him her word. She'd sworn it! She would come back to the village and work things out with the Hokage. She had sworn that this wouldn't be the end for her. She had sworn that they would have a life together. Well, she actually hadn't used so many words, but the night she'd visited him on his hospital bed she'd said that as long as those two seals were on his wrist, she would be alive, consequently keeping him alive. If the seal was fading it could only mean-
Satoru covered his stinging eyes with his arms as a flash of lightning eclipsed the sun.