Chapter Twenty One - Animagus Potion Growing Pains
"I can't believe this is happening! Why now? Why ever?"
"It was unforeseen Minato-kun. How were we suppose to know that the Bakufu would think of doing such a thing? It was suicide"
Turing, the golden haired young took a deep, his blue eyes tinted red from tears that wouldn't come.
"But I should have known Saturobi-sama! For Kushina and Kaji's sake!"
The older man, shoulders refusing to bow, sighed sadly. "I know you feel that way. Knowing your wife's past, it is completely reasonable. But it wasn't your fault that the dragon-god discovered the existence of your unborn born child or the type of beast that could sealed inside him. That infernal clan made the mistake of summon that demon, then to rob it of its sanity and to tell it that Konoha was at fault - I mean the fox destroyed them anyway"
"I know!" Minato snapped with frustration and began to pace with worry. "Our people are dying because of a power hungry tyrant that has already gotten his dues. The stress has caused Kushina to go into early labor and I can't be there at her side! Only Kami knows if either she or our son will live. Ryuusaku knew what he was doing when he summoned Kyuubi. Wither he lived or not, he knew that I would have to seal the monster inside Kaji if any of us were to live. He has already gotten his revenge…"
"But what are we going to do? Our best shinobi are being killed left and right. We don't even have the sealing jutsus that allow such a thing so there's no why to stop the demon's power"
Minato growled and looked at the blood-soaked ground. All of Konoha - his village, his people, were in ruin. There was a way to stop the demon, but did he have the courage to do the unspeakable? Could he really…
"There is a way…"
Saturobi looked up at him in shock. "How?"
Minato sighed and ran a hand through his thick golden hair.
"Ever since Kushina-koi confessed about her clan's horrible history, I've been working on a modified seal - one that would cage a deity within the host rather then let it have full control. Instead, the seal would work in reverse, allowing the Jinchuuriki to absorb the deity over the course of fifteen years. But the vassal would have to be newborn…"
Saturobi's dark tired eye widened in shock. "You don't mean you're going to sacrifice your own son?"
"It's the only way!" the blonde Hokage cried out. "The Fuuinjutsu Shikifuujin is the only thing that can save Konoha now. As a heir of the Bakufu curse, Kaji is the only human that can safely contain the Kyuubi's spirit without being torn apart or driven insane…" and as a afterthought added " And I feel pity for the poor child of the Kazekage and what he will endure when he is born…"
Minato's fist unconsciously clenched. It hadn't been long ago that he'd discovered that the Kazekage of Wind Country had sealed the insane raccoon demon Shakaku within his wife's unborn child. Rumor was that he planned to use the child as a weapon of war, and if he wasn't able to bend his son to his will, he'd kill him.
But the sound off running feet could be heard from behind them. When he turned to see who approached, he found that it was not one of the fighting shinobi, but rather a very bloody and distraught medic-nin. The green haired and bloodstained young woman was barely managing to contain her fragile sobs as she neared them, her delicate frame shacking harshly.
Panting, the medic collapsed at Minato's feet. It was only then did the young man recognize her as one of the few medics that had remained in the hospital to care for Kushina…
"Y-Yondaime-sama…" the woman sobbed. "I-it was t-to much. We c-couldn't stop the b-b-bleeding…"
"Clam down. What happened?" he gasped as he knelt down and gripped her by the shoulders.
Tears continued to spill as she looked up into his eyes.
"T-the b-birth of your s-son took everything p-poor Kushina-sama h-had. After K-Kaji-san w-was born, she b-began to hemorrhage. We all t-tried to help. Every medic did w-what they c-could to try and s-save her. Oh I'm s-so sorry Hokage-sama, but y-your wife has left us one l-last time…"
The poor medic broke down then sobbed hard as Minato knelt beside her in numb horror. His mind seemed almost sluggish as it took in the information that he had just been given. Kushina was dead? It couldn't be… she was too much of fighter to leave him…
Drawn by sheer instinct, the blonde was on his feet and running as fast as his legs would carry him. He flashed through the battles and monstrous demon's assaults from above. These were his people fighting for their lives in a terrible battle that had only just begun. But he was of no use to them right now. Fueled by a grief that tore his heart to shreds, the Yellow Flash had only one destination in mind.
It had had taken him mere moments to cross the village and enter the hospital, working his way to the vary room that his mind screamed at him not to enter. Entering anyhow, his ears were met by the sound of crying, but most of all the wretched sobs of a newly born infant.
On one end of the room three medics stood back, one holding tightly to a sobbing bundle. They looked as he entered, grief evident in their eyes.
"Hokage-sama…" one of the medics whispered.
Unhearing, Minato crossed the room and gently pulled back the thin white sheet that covered his wife's face. Kneeling down next to the bloodied bed, he looked down at her pale face - how robbed of life is was. He reached out a shacking hand and softly stroked her now cooling cheek. To look at her was almost ethereal, as if she wasn't really gone. Her beauty remained, as did her form, but soul has long since departed.
Tears unshed finally slowly began to roll down his cheeks. He was Hokage, the Yondaime, the one man that was meant to protect his people. But one woman… he couldn't even save his own wife.
"I'm so sorry kiobito. I should have been here with you…" he whispered quietly.
Standing suddenly, he rubbed his face tiredly with one hand. Slowly he returned to sheet, hiding her pale face so it could not brake his heart any more then it already was. Turing back to the silent medics, he numbly walked over to the one holding his son. Words unspoken, the child was handed over into the waiting arms of his new father.
Minato smiled sadly as he looked down at tiny infant. Flawless pink tinted skin and a sunny mop of golden hair. An absorb button of a nose that was so like his mother's as were his tiny lips. Impossibly small fingers reached out by instinct to curl around one of his own. It was then did the baby open his eyes. Large electric blue orbs filled his small face as he stared up at his father innocently, fearless of the fate that awaited them both. The thought of sacrificing this beautiful child nearly brought him to his knees. How would be able to do such a thing to his own flesh and blood?
"Please," he began, and looked at the medics one by one. "There is something I must do that will save us all. I know that you will never be able to understand my choice, but it is all I have"
Before any of the medics could say a single word, Minato vanished, his son tucked safely in his arms. As he returned to the battle field with his newborn child, he knew what the outcome would be. Meeting again with Saturobi had been the easy part, telling the old man what was to take place wasn't.
Life now was like a kaleidoscope, forever spinning out of control. He could hardly register what was happening in the world around him. It was his final moment, the one second that would save and damn his soul. While he rode atop of Gamabunta's head and faced the murderous intent in the Kyuubi's blood red feline eyes, it was like time was slowing down. Beyond the maw of the great beast and even the dark Shinigami that waited for the inevitable sacrifice, his fate was sealed.
"Fuuinjutsu Shikifuujin"
As soon as the words of the sealing jutsu were past his lips, Minato felt an unimaginable burning clamp down upon his heart. He watched with mild satisfaction as terror filled the Kyuubi's eyes before it let out and inhuman scream of pain, spiraling down into the abyss.
What happened next was a blur. He remembered little as he knelt uneasily with Saturobi at his side, and placed his hands directly over his son's bare stomach. The child began to sob wildly as the tainted soul of the demon was funneled inside of him and locked away until the day they died. The seal, the brand that marked the prison of the Kyuubi was now burned black over the infant's navel. Eyes blurring, Minato watched with a mix of intense sorrow and longing as Kaji opened his tear-filled blue eyes to look upon him one last time.
"I am so sorry for what I have done to you my son. I know you'll survive and I'll always be there to watch over you, even if you can't see me. I love you…"
And with a violent shudder Minato backed away. Collapsing into Saturobi's open arms, the young blonde smiled wanly up at the elder.
"It is done…" he wheezed softly. "Please make sure that son is seen as the hero that he is. The people have no idea how much they owe him…"
Breathing his last, Minato left his soul being removed from his body by the Shinigami. Memories whirled about his fading mind like dancing leaves in the wind. He could still hear Kushina's voice, the tingling lightness of it as they discussed the possible danger to their child with Saturobi.
'If anything should happen to us, make sure that Kaji is safe - even if you should have to change his name. If you should call him anything, call him Uzumaki Naruto - Uzumaki after my beloved nii-san Maki and Naruto for Minato-koi's impossible love of ramen…'
Then it all faded, and yet he remained, a shadow everything else gone.
Defense Against the Dark Arts - the second best class in the whole school to sleep during. Make sure you know Professor Lockhart's favorite color is lavender, and you'll pass the course with top marks. At this moment, the flashy professor was dressed in pastels while he raved on and on about the time a lovely maiden from the clutches of a nasty vampire with the minty freshness of his breath.
As long as there were a few girls awake to swoon over him, he hardly noticed the sound of his other snoring students. It seemed the that the one thing the Gryffindors and Slytherins (still struggling from their loss of Draco Malfoy) could agree on was that Professor Lockhart was a fag.
The only thing that managed to save the children from death by boredom was the loud going of the school bell, signaling the end of class.
"H-hey Naruto - class is over"
The blonde snapped awake with a gasp, his blurry eyes focusing on Neville. His timid, pudgy friend stood there was a half a smile, his arms loaded down with books.
"How long was I asleep for?" he asked, yawning so wide his fangs showed.
"More t-then half the class. You s-snored…"
"I really must have been tired. Thanks for covering for me"
Naruto stood up, but his brain seemed to foggy that he began to sway on his feet and would have fallen over had it not been for the other boy dropping his books and catching him. Smile with gratitude, the blonde knelt with the pudgy boy to help him gather up the book. When Neville finally looked back up, he face was written with concern.
"H-have you been sleeping alright?"
Naruto yawned again. "Yeah, sure I have. Why?"
"Now that's a lie…"
'Shut up Kyuubi'
"Well the boy is right - you haven't been" the fox sniffed indignantly. "Ever since that pervert told you the truth, you keep having those nightmares…"
He mentally gave the ninetails a kick. 'Like you even care'
As the pair headed for the door, the blonde looked over at his friend as they existed the dungeon classroom. Neville looked worried - really worried. It was something Naruto wasn't used to seeing when he was concerned and seeing his friend look like that bothered him.
"Well…" Neville started, after having been so quite. "I can't s-sleep much myself - never have. I think about my parents… and how m-much I wish they could remember me…"
The blonde stopped.
"What about your parents?"
The timid boy winced.
"Y-you've heard the tales about You-Know-Who right? It was horrible back then and from what my gran has told me, I'm g-glad I wasn't old enough to remember…"
He began to walk faster, leaving Naruto to catch up.
"Well," Neville continued. "It w-wasn't long after his after his defeat that some of his remaining followers attacked my family. Even though my mum and dad where trained in fighting evil w-wizards like that, they were defenseless. They were t-tortured until they d-driven insane - they don't even recognize me"
"At least you still have parents…"
Neville turned to him, face written with confusion.
"Naruto…"
The blonde laughed bitterly, but looked at his friend with nothing but respect. "That's not even my real name. If you want, you can call me Kaji. Up until a few days ago, I had no idea who I really was. For reasons still unknown to me, I was lied to about my parents. Turns out my mother died during child birth and my father sacrificed his soul all on the same day…"
Neville flinched.
"I'm s-sorry"
Naruto smiled softly and shook his head.
"Don't be. Lots of children lost their families that day. I seem to find other orphans wherever I go and I understand that we all have different stories - some worse then others. Take Sasuke-teme for example - he was eight years old when his older brother slaughtered their entire clan"
The timid boy's mouth dropped open. "So that's why he cries in sleep…"
Naruto stopped again, his hand grabbing onto Neville's arm.
"He cries in his sleep?"
Neville didn't answer.
Instead he look over at the blonde with sad eyes that spoke of much pain. Naruto remembered the Sandaime telling him when he was very young that a person's eyes were the windows to their souls. It made perfect sense when he thought about the people he knew that had the most 'vocal' souls he had ever seen.
Neville's eyes were filled with burgeoning fear; Tsunade's eyes were filled with inner heartbreak; Snape-sensei's eyes were filled with obvious resentment; Sasuke's eyes were filled with bitter betrayal; and his own… his own eyes were filled with question - questions that always changed in emotion.
Looking back at the boy next to him, he got his answer. Even after everything he had gone through, Naruto had not expected Neville's reply to be what it was.
"You do too"
"We get to become animals! We get to become animals!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes and groaned, putting his hands over his poor harassed ears to drowned out the sound of Sakura gushing about what they would be doing in their privet class with Tsunade and Jiraiya today. Mostly he was still put out from yesterday's class and the summon contracts they had gotten.
Snakes…
He had been unwitting contracted to SNAKES!
The two sennins had no idea how it happened, but some how the Snake contract ended up in his possession. When he and Sakura had used the summoning technique, they had no idea what they were going to get other then what their senseis told them. The pink haired kunochi had known all along that she was going to get Slugs because it was Tsunade's personal summon, but they had no idea was he was going to get.
Jiraiya had eagerly explained that he had returned to Konoha to retrieve one of the few unused contracts that the Sandaime had in his collection. So it was to everyone's shock when it turned out that contract he had just signed was for Snakes - Orochimaru's personal summon. Sasuke shuddered as he remembered the smug serpentine smile on Manda's scaly maw, as the Lord of Snakes laughed at him.
'Fate is cruel child, is it not?' the massive snake had chuckled. 'History has nearly made a full circle. You'll understand in time your 'new' importance to my other summoner. You are stuck with me know and have fun whilst it lasts. It is only a matter of time before darkness falls…'
He hated it when people, or animals, were cryptic with him. Naruto had been that way for the last few days since Sasuke had been forced to drag the blonde back into the castle before he died of hypothermia. Out of the corner of his eyes, he watched as the fox boy walked into the classroom, late, while unconsciously fiddling with the green stone that hung by chain around his neck (the symbol that he had won his bet with the blonde sennin), his mind somewhere else.
The truth had really hit the other boy hard.
He had decided he would wait to let Naruto tell Sakura the truth about his parents on his own, and heaven forbid, Jiraiya as well. Knowing that white haired sennin had been the Yondaime's sensei and that the old pervert was still oblivious to truth about his student's son, no matter how much the pair looked alike, was almost too much for Naruto. He would wait, but for how long was a mystery.
Ignoring Naruto and focusing on the front of the classroom, Sasuke tired to keep his mind on what was being said by the big breasted sennin at that very moment. Tsunade stood behind the desk that held two vials of murky golden liquid, her hands planted firmly down on either side of them.
"Okay now. We will now be moving onto the Animagus Reveal Potion" she said, trying to smile at the two genin before her. "There are many steps to this after the initial transformation. It may hurt, to whatever extent your soul animal is. You will remain in beast form for a matter of minute before reverting back to your natural states and from then on you'll have to train in staying in your second form for unlimited time"
Sakura blanched. "You mean it isn't permanent thing? But Naruto - "
Tsunade sighed and at the moment, Sasuke knew exactly how she felt.
"Naruto can change and remain as a fox for as long as he likes because of the effect the fox demon had on his body when their souls began the merging. He didn't have to what you have to. With this wizard's potion, the user has to train their body into retaining the form. It can take up to five years or more before someone can successfully stay transformed for more then two hours. You'll also have to train your minds as well. Depending on the animal you become - the wild instincts come as part of the package"
The pink haired girl gapped for a moment before she turned to look at him. He gave her an perturbed smirk, showing her that he wasn't worried one bit by the information like she was, but rather he was ready to meet all challenges. It was eager and unfaltering - he knew what he wanted.
"Well…?"
"Hunh?" Sakura gasped and looked at him again.
"Are you ready?" he asked impatiently. "We don't have all day"
She glared at him and reached for the vial closest to her.
Uncorking the vial, he took a deep breath, eyes still locked on Sakura with an 'I dare you to go first' look as she did the same and they downed their potions in a single gulp.
The burning sensation came instantly, tarring through him worse then any injury that he ever had to endure. It felt as it his bones were shattering and reforming as the sickening spinning world around him seemed to get very large. The only enjoyment he got out of this whole experience was the sadistic pleasure in the knowledge that Sakura must be suffering just as much. And even though he that everything perfectly fine with what was happening and nothing was going to go wrong, a panic so undiluted that is began to scream through his veins came over him.
'What the hell is going on!'
His vision dulled and went gray, but the panic didn't go away - it only intensified. Feeling very small, he had never been this afraid for nearly five years… ever since Itachi slaughtered their clan…
It was an experience like no other.
'What kind of animal am I?' he thought, his new body felling oddly familiar yet completely foreign as he looked down to see a pair of tiny white paws in front of him. 'What's going on?'
Then his new nose started to twitching spastically. He could suddenly smell danger. Looking around in a jerky motion, Sasuke could only see the legs of the desks around him. But something was missing…
'Sakura?'
His question was answered as his now highly sensitive earspricked at the sound of clicking nails. Raising his head ever so slowly with eyes wide, he looked up to see that perched on a desk directly above his head was a very, very large hawk. He froze instantly as he noticed that the bird of pray looked down at him with hunger glinting in it's beady eyes. Understanding the basic laws of nature, the transformed boy realized that he was moved down the on the food chain…
He was the pray.
That fact alone caused his tiny heart to pound like a cage bird. If he didn't run soon, he'd be shredded by the vicious talons. So as it was, the proud Uchiha heir succumb and let his new animal instincts take control. Fueled by his new found terror, Sasuke launched himself into a run that would a gauntlet for his very life…
.-
One minute Naruto had been perfectly happy with zoning out everything that went on around him, like Sasuke and Sakura's imminent transformations into some sort of freakish creatures. He found himself mulling over what Neville had said earlier, and would have continued on doing just that if it hadn't been for the sound of obaa-chan's frantic shouting shocked him out of his reverie.
"What the - "
The blonde had to rub his eyes vigorously just to make sure that what he was seeing was what he was actually seeing. He watched in absolute shock - what he was seeing was real.
"Sakura! Get yourself under control before you kill him!"
Tsunade was in the middle of throwing various stunners jutsus at a large pink hawk that was cashing after a fluffy white bunny!
Naruto literately feel out of seat as he started to die with laughter. He caught sight of rabbit's big terrified red eyes and the strange black spot of fur on its left shoulder that resembled the curse seal and knew instantly that it was Sasuke! Oh karma had really gotten his dark haired teammate this time. Who would have thought that the great and powerful Uchiha survivor's soul animal was a bunny?
With tears of laughter in his eyes, the foxy blonde watched as the tiny rabbit dodged under the desks to avoid the rather sharp talons of the hawk that wanted to eat it. If it was possible, Naruto started to laugh harder as he realized the hawk had to be Sakura. Imagine how the poor girl would feel when she found out that she had eaten the boy of her dreams…
"STOP LAUGHING YOU BRAT AND HELP ME!" Tsunade hollered at him as she kept repeatedly missing her moving target.
"Calm down obaa-chan!"
She didn't get much of a chance to yell at him again because the Sasuke the Rabbit gave a squeal that was soo blackmail material and suddenly launched himself into the blonde's arms, scratching furiously at his clothing as hawk narrowed in for the kill. Biting the inside of his cheek to still his laughter, Naruto pulled out his wand, made aim and fired.
"Stupefy!"
The stunning charm hit Sakura dead on. With a screech, the pink feathered bird dropped out of the air to land with a hollow thump on the stone floor, completely stunned. Returning his wand to his robe pocket, Naruto looked down at the bunny in his arms. Sasuke was twitching limply as if he were having a seizure.
Seconds later, the transformation reverted, Sasuke being held aloft in Naruto's arms, and with momentum off balance, the two boys went crashing to the ground. The pale boy's cheeks were beat red with embarrassment as Naruto howled with laughter for the second time.
It was at times like these that Sasuke really wanted to kill Naruto.
"T-thank you!" the blonde gasped though hiccups that wrecked his body. "Thank you so much!"
Sasuke glared menacingly.
"What for?"
"For the best five minutes of my life!"