Suzu: Woah. It's like we're on a weekly update schedule or something!
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- Vainglory -
20: The Fire Shadows
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"It is better to be feared than loved."
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Machiavelli
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Tsunade was engulfed by a distinctly amphibious shadow. For the first time in a long while, she was shaded while out in the open air. It felt like a surreal sort of eclipse.
Fire Country's mythologies opined there was a rabbit on the moon, not a toad on the sun. 'And definitely not a damn yakuza toad', Tsunade groused, as cries of terror rang through the desert floor.
Clearly, this frontal assault was the toad's idea, not Minato's. She knew that blond brat had always held more finesse than Jiraiya and his crazy toad summons. She remembered the wreckage that she'd had to clean up, after Jiraiya's first night out at legal drinking age. What was that old technique called again? The Food Cart Destroyer?*
And now here was little Minato, doing the same thing. She should have had the quiet, precocious boy sign the slug summons instead. Plus, the kid was a fair hand at chakra control. He could have made a pretty decent medic. Had the qualities of a bleeding heart, for sure.
Well, let bygones be bygones.
"Katsuyu-sama. Split."
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Gamabunta's landing shook the earth. A cataclysmic shockwave of sand rippled, as if the toad had jumped into a golden pond and revealed the flurry of activity underneath the deceptively still surface. Magnify this typical pond scene by a hundred-fold and move it to the vast deserts of the Land of Wind. The very displacement of air vacuumed up a small whirlwind of sand and pebbles that pelted Minato as his summons slammed its full weight down.
A few quick explosions of the remaining clay went off underneath. The scale was nowhere near the first explosions, which had seemed to upend the world.
Minato shifted his weight against the tremors, wishing he had eaten more rice cakes in Kirigakure after all. Perhaps it was Gamabunta's sheer size that made the blasts mere child's play compared to earlier. The toad merely adjusted its great webbed feet, grumbling around its enormous lacquered pipe.
After the tremors settled, Minato peered over the side of Gamabunta's back. He winced at the remaining combatants who were fleeing from the vicinity. Luckily, Tsunade-hime's split Katsuyu summons were surprisingly quick for slugs. Each miniature slug was sliding a piss-scared genin out to safety.
Minato noted that the prone body of the gray-haired kid he'd rescued earlier was also being moved.
Gamabunta's voice snapped him back to the issue at hand.
"Tsunade's as contrary as ever," rumbled the toad. "Who knew she would retreat first thing. Quick, give me fire."
Minato laughed weakly. He was a bit limp in the limbs from grabbing onto Gamabunta's back earlier. It was a miracle he didn't fall off he didn't fall during that first jump. Thinking through his options, he sized up the situation while patting the sand from his hair.
Maybe his summoning skills were rusty. He hadn't meant to summon the Gamabunta, just a sizeable, general toad to do the job against Tsunade. But the big boss himself? It seemed fate was intent on dishing out poetic (and ironic) justice. By any estimation, Tsunade may have more history with Gamabunta than Minato did. It seemed that was precisely the problem.
"Shima-san didn't nag you about helping me, did she?" Minato inquired politely. He hoped Gamabunta might be distracted from trampling the fleeing shinobi underneath. Some of the Suna squad needed time to run, too.
"Nagging is all old hags are good for." The giant toad chewed its kiseru pipe with narrowed bulbous eyes. "But we respect 'em all the same, 'cause you can't live without 'em. They're the death of us men either way."
"Right," Minato said delicately.
"Fire, now. Be quick about it."
Minato paused. Then, taking in a long, slow breath, he added his small katon to the glob of oil that hurled from Gamabunta's mouth. The modest fireball melded with the oil and grew in size, sizzling impressively in the air.
The flames streaked toward where Tsunade had leapt away a second ago. Quickly, the desert air was filled with thick, pungent steam that smelled of toad. Everyone moved to clutch at their noses and mouths, as their eyes watered.
Minato, perched atop the fray, breathed a sigh of relief. Judging from the clouded air, Tsunade had fired off a well-timed water jutsu.
Unfortunately, the lull couldn't last. Minato quickly clutched the contents of his stomach as Gamabunta reared up on its hind legs and shook its great head in suppressed rage. Up atop the toad's ridged back, it felt like a small earthquake.
"I CAN'T LET THIS SLIDE! THAT WOMAN HAD A HAND IN ENDING JIRAIYA! I KNOW IT!"
That woman being Tsunade-hime, arguably the only woman his sensei had ever doggedly pursued since childhood. In his childhood, Minato had thought strange how Jiraiya-sensei went about showing his, uhhh, "pure-hearted affections", as the Toad Sage called it. But even if Tsunade-hime had the ability (and the reason) to clobber his teacher six ways to Sunday, there was zero chance she would actually hurt Jiraiya knowingly.
Here, Minato told Gamabunta as much, hoping it would calm the Boss Toad down. No such luck.
"COLD-HEARTED!" the toad squalled unhappily. "That woman's the most stubborn in the world! And Jiraiya had to… had to… LET ME KNOCK SOME SENSE INTO HER!"
"Fair," Minato bartered. "But maybe we have bigger fish to fry? Let's take care of the Iwa ninja first, Gamabunta-sama."
"JUST FIVE MINUTES!"
Minato was a nice guy, not an omnipotent one. So he said a little prayer for Tsunade-hime's wellbeing.
Atop a rampaging toad with a misplaced vendetta, there was not much he could do now. Five minutes with Gamabunta would be the death of any normal human, but Minato had faith in Tsunade-hime's abilities, just as he had faith in Gamabunta's sincere respect for Jiraiya and Tsunade's relationship. Unfortunately, this respect was balanced against the hotheaded temper of the boss toad concerning 'gang family' issues.
By this time Katsuyu had cleared away most of Konoha's personnel. Minato saw that Suna's delegation had chased Konoha shinobi to a few hundred feet away, where scuffles were resuming on that battlefield. He couldn't spot Kushina or Chiyo in the midst of the quickly-moving ninja.
'Trust Kushina more', Minato reminded himself. 'Trust people more.'
Suddenly, the fine crevices underneath Gamabunta's webbed toes split and crumbled, sand pouring into the gaping troughs. Gamabunta's massive body wobbled a bit, but the toad didn't leap away as it glared down at the lone figure the size of a pinprick.
"YOU!" Gamabunta bellowed.
"Yes, me," Tsunade retorted cooly. "You're the same as ever, Boss."
"BOSS? YOU'RE NOT PART OF THE FAMILY ANYMORE!" Gamabunta blustered—the sound was discordant and bestial. Minato winced as he felt the vortex of wind being launched at Tsunade from Gamabunta's giant gullet. He tried not to wonder exactly how the toads all thought Tsunade was part of their family. Future sister-in-law? Was Jiraiya-sensei as confident in his words to them as the man had been to Minato? He sighed, and peered over Gamabunta's head to get a closer look at how this chicken fight was going.
Seeing his face, Tsunade redirected her words to Minato this time. "Call Gamabunta off, brat. Katsuyu is treating the wounded genin. There's a fight going on over there. We can't have our battle here, and risk the earth splitting and harming the battle over there. Your choice."
She probably thought he would be the voice of reason. The blonde woman flexed, and Minato eyed the gashes in the ground. This was no bluff. And Tsunade-hime was one person you didn't want to call bluffs on, unless you were in the poker room. Even then, it carried risks.
Gamabunta, however, did not seem mollified in the slightest.
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THOSE OUTSIDERS! THIS IS FAMILY BUSINESS!"
The giant toad brandished his short sword, which gleamed under the cloudless sky. Tsunade's arms rose defensively.
"YOU! YOU DIDN'T EVEN COME TO JIRAIYA'S FUNERAL!"
Toad funerals were long and elaborate things. Minato could understand why they were angry. The only reason Minato had not been at Myoboku was because he had explained his situation to them, and was following Jiraiya's dying wish in heading over to Amegakure. And Orochimaru, the third of the Sannin, wasn't exactly on best terms with the toads. They thought him a freaky snake man—granted, a fair point.
Sitting cross-legged atop Gamabunta, Minato frowned.
Actually, did Tsunade even know…?
He peered down from Gamabunta's back. Trepidation wormed its way into the pit of his stomach. It was hard to tell from up here, but Tsunade seemed to have gone very pale. She was a still, lone figure, standing before the giant toad summons—and quite immediately, she looked older and more wilted than ever. Minato's squinting observations were telling enough, but what transpired next concluded the case.
Tsunade's voice was small. Nothing like her earlier crisp declarations.
"Minato. Call off Gamabunta."
She was calling him by name, now.
This was no demand of war. It was not even a bargaining condition.
Minato pressed into Gamabunta's back to get the toad's attention. "I'm sorry, Gamabunta-sama," he tried. "There's some things I should tell Tsunade, first. Would you leave this to me?"
The boss toad seemed to battle internally, its great eyes narrowing as its ribbed lips chewed harder than ever on the pipe. "You sure?" it rumbled, very low, for only Minato's ears. "You're Jiraiya's legacy, squirt. We protect our own."
"Tsunade's reasonable, push comes to shove," Minato defended. "Katsuyu stays only to heal people. Besides, this is my responsibility."
After a pause, Gamabunta seemed to rumble in acquiescence. "Come to Myouboku soon as you can, got it? We need to train you. Can't have you losing to anyone."
Minato nodded in goodbye.
The next thing he knew, he was sailing through the air back down to the sandy desert floor—aimed straight for the trench Tsunade had made earlier. Acting in that split second, he veered away from falling into the crevice, angling his landing so as to stand a few feet away from Tsunade.
As he looked at her, Minato had to hold in his shock.
Up close, the woman known as Senju Tsunade was unrecognizable. Not just emotionally, but physically. The ribbons of her activated seal had disappeared from her skin. Age and wear showed on every inch of her. Minato had always known Tsunade-hime to be a woman of great pride and quiet strength—even if she waved around fists like a drunkard every now and then. But every deep hurt, all the darkest moments of her life, were always buried in a veneer of stuborrn power or rash impatience.
She uttered a faint whisper, quickly whisked away by the wind.
"Why did no one tell me?"
Minato would not have heard it, if he hadn't leaned in, his hand poised over her back. But here he stopped, unable to offer comfort. This was the Senju Tsunade who had everything in her life taken away from her, but not her pride. Who was Minato, to strip even that?
So he told her a few details of his teacher's last moments, and the aftermath. "It happened right after I left Whirlpool island. Jiraiya-sensei was chased and cornered in the Land of Fire forests. I made a marker there, and delivered the body to the toads. He would have wanted to be buried in Konoha, but… that seemed like the next best thing."
Minato didn't need to fill in the gaps. Konoha would not welcome Jiraiya's body. And even if they did, it was wrong on many levels to deliver Jiraiya's remains to the village that had betrayed him.
Tsunade's voice was throaty with unspent emotion. "I could have healed him, if I'd known. I would have."
"It wasn't that kind of wound."
"That stupid man—that idiot."
No matter what Minato said further in that moment, he knew it wouldn't have mattered. Tsunade didn't hear him. She didn't register anything but her own thoughts, her own memories. Minato guessed that she was blaming herself. She always had.
"Tsunade-hime…"
The term that Jiraiya-sensei had always used for her seemed to snap her out of her shame. Minato quickly looked away from her lifted head. It was an old woman's face. The tears in her eyes visible but unable to fall on withered cheeks.
"Let's stop fighting," Minato said, finally. "We're not on opposite sides."
The Senju heiress looked tired, so tired. But a hard light, like flint, was in her eyes. "I suppose not."
Minato released his held breath. "Then, you have a guess as to who killed Jiraiya."
The answer to that, like everything else hanging unspoken in the hot desert air, did not need to be said out loud.
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As Kushina regained consciousness, a pungent whiff of antiseptic and iodine hit her nose.
At the same time, two voices hit her ears. It sounded like a frantic duet, battling back and forth, each note more irritated than the last. Tentatively, Kushina opened her eyes. Instead of sky and desert cliffs, she saw old ceiling lights and a few dead moths.
"Never thought I'd be treating Konoha's old hag!"
"Well, I never thought I'd be treated by Suna's resident zombie!"
Kushina sat up cautiously, shifting the worn but warm bedding over her squeaking hospital mattress. Her surrounding was a small ward room of sorts. Surprisingly, it was not nearly as ramshackle as all the other buildings she'd seen in Suna. The walls were painted a muted peach, and it seemed like not much could fit in here besides the two beds. But the place was neat and tidy. Kushina turned and peered across the electric space between the two other women in the hospital room.
"Um," she started, smoothing a hand over her nest of red hair. "I just woke up, so if you could keep it down…"
"Yes, keep it down, Tsunade-chan," Chiyo said, oozing faux sweetness. "You of all people should know proper hospital etiquette."
"Why you shitty old—"
They were interrupted by a knock and a man's voice.
"You're all awake?" came a knock at the door. "Excuse me, then."
Their small room in Suna's hospital was made smaller still as an additional guest came in through the doorway. Kushina quickly sped up the pace at which she smoothed her hair, biting her lip as she tried not to smile too broadly. Instead, she gave a hasty cough, and tried to avoid Chiyo's knowing wink.
"Minato," Tsunade intoned gruffly, eyes narrowed. "I said I could heal myself."
"Your chakra levels were dangerously low," Minato said. Of course, he looked spotless, with only a bandaid drooping from his brow as evidence of their earlier mission. "You healed almost an entire fort of people by yourself. All this after you took out Iwagakure's first group of soldiers. I think you've done enough."
"If you weren't parading around in skin that's fifty years younger than it should be, maybe you wouldn't run out of chakra," remarked Chiyo.
The Senju either missed or ignored the blatant overestimation of her age. She peered around her bed instead, looking at the IV drip that ran into her arm. "What do you guys put into your solution? Not trying to poison me, are you?"
"We like to keep our hostages alive," Chiyo cackled, doing a very good impression of an evil scientist. "Maybe watch them suffer a little, but not die. Though, if it were poison, I'm sure Konoha's princess would know how to brew an antidote, yes?"
Minato slapped on his standard startled look, and moseyed over to Kushina's bedside to fidget with her IV. It seemed more an excuse to be at her side, because his hand brushed over hers ever so lightly. Kushina flushed and rolled her eyes, but couldn't stifle her grin.
"Don't start anything, you brats!" Tsunade shouted in their direction. "I'm still in the room, you know!"
"Single and bitter is so unbecoming at your age, Tsunade," sniffed Chiyo. "What happened to that teammate of yours that used to kiss the ground you walked on? Moved on to greener pastures?"
Kushina sucked in a breath. Tsunade looked vaguely homicidal.
"A-anyway!" Minato interjected hastily. "We have drafted the truce. I'd like you to sign on it, Tsunade-hime. Move the Konoha fort back across the border, and Suna will not retaliate. "Right?" Here he looked at Chiyo, who cackled again in what was, functionally, her most perfect poker face.
Tsunade remained silent, watching the drip of her IV pouch. She seemed to contemplate something.
"On one condition."
Kushina frowned, though experience should have told her to expect Konoha negotiators to cheat. "Hey! You said we were done bargaining!"
"Let's hear her out," Minato suggested, eyes searching Tsunade's re-made youthful face. "But we should avoid fighting if we can, at this point. Sunagakure can't handle losing more people. We can't afford it at this time."
Chiyo chortled, pretending to huff. "Who died and made this brat Kazekage?"
Tsunade actually chuckled. "Yes, he tends to do that. Doesn't look it, but has a hidden ego the size of Hokage Mountain. This is the tip of the iceberg, I'll bet."
"Watch out. He's strangely sensitive, too," Kushina added.
Now that he was the butt of their extended, convoluted, joke, Minato relaxed. Once upon a time, he might have felt slightly miffed. But today, he smiled, glad to be of service in uniting the three women on one thing, at least.
"So, Tsunade-hime, your request?" He still made sure to enunciate 'request', because even if he wanted to hear her out, he did want to remind her and Konoha of its bargaining position. In response, the blonde Sannin huffed, and stared into her own hands for a few seconds.
"I need to go back to Konoha."
"We won't keep you here," Minato promised, to which Chiyo started to protest. "I doubt it'll be worth the battle," he added in explanation, shuddering to himself as he thought to how Tsunade could likely topple this hospital wing with a pinky.
"—And I want Kushina to come back to Konoha with me."
The hospital room went very still. The air seemed to grow thick with unappeased protests.
"You do realize she's the kyuubi's vessel, right?" Chiyo muttered, slowly. "Sure, Kushina's more than just a vessel, I've learned, but in terms of military tactics, we would be doing ourselves a great disservice by sending her back to Konoha with you."
Minato's grip on Kushina's bedframe had gone tight. However, his countenance showed no signs of disturbance. "Why?" he asked lightly. "Do you need an escort, Tsunade-hime?"
Kushina toyed with the Shodaime's necklace that she'd put back on after her fight. She wondered if there was something she was missing. Something Tsunade wasn't telling them. "You of all people should know the risks, Tsunade…" Kushina hedged.
The Senju woman stretched her legs out on the bed, then quickly pulled out her IV needle, resting it on the side table. Before Chiyo or Minato could protest, the Sannin had righted herself and walked over to the side of Kushina's bed.
"I'll tell you the reason. Could you let me see that seal?" she said. "There's been something bothering me since I saw you fight."
"What? I—" Kushina flushed, her eyes shifting to Minato, who looked subtly surprised. It wasn't anything he hadn't seen before, in Amegakure when she'd first told him. But still…!
"Boys, out. Old hags, out," Tsunade commanded briskly.
"Speak for yourself," Chiyo muttered, but obliged. Minato, too, acquiesced to his sensei's old teammate.
Once they were alone in the room, Tsunade performed an efficient examination of Kushina's abdomen, with the efficiency of a harried doctor at a hospital checkup. But Tsunade's scrutinizing gaze went wide in surprise, scanning the tweak that Chiyo and Kushina had thought of, to let the kyuubi chakra be siphoned out more evenly by Kushina. However, at the end of her examination, Tsunade's face looked dark.
"It hasn't changed."
"What hasn't?" Kushina's wide gray eyes belied the truth.
"You know already," Tsunade replied curtly, adding: "I'm surprised you haven't told Minato the full truth, yet." When she saw the protest on Kushina's lips, she snapped. "No, don't deny it. Otherwise, he'd be clamoring to come with you this instant, to Konoha."
The hospital ward seemed smaller and more claustrophobic than ever, even if it was just housing two instead of four. "How much time do I have?" Kushina asked, impatience tugging at her voice. "I could always go back to the Land of Fire and retrieve that scroll."
"If it's Danzou's scroll, don't bother. He writes in code," said Tsunade. "It'll take time to crack the contents. I suggest you go straight to the source."
"That's suicide!"
Tsunade shook her head. "He won't kill you, even if you disobey his plans. You're too valuable. And by the looks of it, I'm the most suspicious one, in his eyes. If anyone goes first, it'll be me."
"I could go back to Whirlpool first."
"You'd just play into his hand."
"No way!" Kushina cried, face grim. "I can find some sealing scrolls there that will help. And see Karin!"
At the name of the young Uzumaki, Tsunade's whole face pinched.
"That's the other thing," the blonde relayed. "Karin's been taken to Konoha."
The IV drip seemed to still, as Kushina's blood ran icy cold and her heart hammered in her chest. She held a hand over her forehead, over her eyes. A thrumming, the start of a headache, worked up to her temples. Memories threatened to engulf her, swimming behind each closed eyelid. Finally, she opened her eyes, exhausted.
"Who took Karin?" whispered Kushina. "Danzou?"
"He signed off on it. They want to run experiments. But all Konoha experimentation happens under Orochimaru's nose."
"Orochi…" Kushina tested the name.
A snake? It sounded familiar.
"Orochimaru," Tsunade repeated. Steel laced her voice. "I've learned my lesson. I was too late for Jiraiya, but I won't miss my chance here. This Sannin business is something I've neglected for far too long."
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Minato was pacing the floor.
News of "a good-looking diplomat from Amegakure" quickly circulated within the hospital. If not for that rumor, Namikaze Minato might have been mistaken for some civilian father-to-be. A father-to-be pacing the room outside waiting for news of his firstborn or some equally cathartic event. Indeed, their little room in the hospital was located in the obstetrics and gynecology facilities. This was probably because the OB-GYN facilities were the ones generally occupied by a greater number of civilians, and much less frequently by shinobi. This set up lowered the risk of recognition by some errant Suna shinobi.
Chiyo had left already to attend to business with the Kazekage. The Suna mission to eradicate the Konoha fort was a success on paper, but they had lost two chuunin and several of their best puppets. While this was a small price to pay for devastating Iwagakure's forces and forcing an unconventional surrender from Konoha, it still left Suna in a tricky position. What to do now, who to fight and fight first, all hung in the air as Suna tended to this open wound on already depleted shinobi numbers.
There were only three Konoha shinobi in the hospital—since most had been healed by Katsuyu during or immediately after the battle. The first was Tsunade, more due to Minato's wrangling that the Senju rest, than actual injuries that the medic nin couldn't heal herself. Another remaining in the hospital was heavily wounded, sustaining injuries from the explosions that required amputation. And finally, the third was the gray-haired boy, whose name was Kakashi, as identified by a Konoha squad leader. He looked no more than ten, and Minato guessed he was in ANBU, by the way he had held himself while running through the sandstorm. It belied years of assassination training. However, things were at a standstill, since Kakashi was still unconscious, somehow.
Finally, Tsunade walked out of the room, muttering something about checking up on the other Konoha shinobi. She stuck a thumb inside, eyeing Minato meaningfully as she walked away.
Cautiously dismissing the possibility that Tsunade would go on a rampage and destroy the hospital (it was more likely she would rampage and heal everyone in the hospital), Minato walked into the room. The two small beds were side by side in the small windowless room. Another reason for using a maternity ward. Privacy.
She looked strangely drawn. Minato half-expected her to tell him she was leaving for good. Maybe something about being sick of him. Her first words were unexpected.
"That boy you saved… he'll be in danger here."
"Kakashi?"
"If Karura comes, she'll confirm that he's the one who tried to assassinate her and the baby."
This was news. Minato felt a pang of guilt (he'd been asked to assassinate the very same target, once) and surveyed Kushina's face. "You're telling me this because…?"
"You empathize with that kid, don't you?" she said, growing angry. "I know you well enough to see that. Stop trying to hide your emotions and solve everything by yourself!"
Though Minato had grown, he couldn't shake bad habits entirely. Minato closed his eyes, then opened them again. "Thank you. I understand. What's the verdict regarding Tsunade?" he asked, crossing his arms.
For all intensive purposes, he looked nonchalant.
To Kushina—who raised an eyebrow at him—he revealed how tense he actually was.
They hadn't had a chance to be alone together since their time in the small room in the Kazekage's office quarters. He supposed his tongue shouldn't be tied as he tried to ask about her game plan. He also supposed that he wasn't supposed to feel this protective of her. She was her own woman. She was…
"I'm going back to Konoha."
Shit.
A tide of jumbled thoughts hit him, but the shores of his brain had a hard time unraveling them from one another. Just one thing was clear: what he wanted was more than just "simply", more that just "casually", asking nothing in return. Minato realized again that he respected this strange kunoichi from Whirlpool. He also realized that the sky wouldn't be as blue in the morning if he didn't know she was safe, under that same sky. Yet, the Yellow Flash had zero experience in these things. For personal relationships in general, he'd gotten rusty. How did you go about conveying your thoughts without being overbearing?
"Tsunade won't let what you're fearing happen to me."
"She's not the one making the rules."
"She has some sway. And I won't be there long."
Kushina explained her reasons, and though they made sense, though this was a risky, but not a crazy, gamble, Minato had a hard time letting go. He tried to smile as she locked eyes with him.
"Trust me." Her voice was insistent.
On her end, Kushina had felt as if her blood were burning earlier. Ninja were taught to adapt to revelations. However, things were escalating at an unpredictable pace. She felt herself being laid bare, even as she was wrapped in more and more threads of unsettled business.
Yet, here was the greatest revelation of all. It unwound her.
"This isn't casual." Minato paused, testing the weight of his words as he said them. "And I can't not ask for anything in return. I'm not as selfless as you are."
Kushina's throat felt far too dry. Her brow knit, even as she tried to keep an impassive face.
"Minato, what are you…"
His stare was hooded, but unflinching, as he smiled. "Do you know what this means?"
Her heart whispered a fervent prayer. 'Don't let him ask the impossible of me. I can't stay, even if I want to. Don't let him ask to keep me locked up here. Don't let him be like everyone else.'
Minato stood very still, as if perched on a precipice.
"Stay alive, and come back to me."
His eyes were dizzying to stare into, as if all the feeling poured into his words resonated felt the knot in her stomach come free, the small hum in her abdomen quieting. Her voice came out crystal clear in response. Defiant. Strong. Seeking.
"Come and kidnap me back, then."
'Do you know what this means?' was the unspoken question she'd left hanging, mirroring his earlier one.
He must know. This was about more than her. This was about more than him.
This was about Konoha. The pieces were falling into place in ways neither of them were ready for, but that was the way it should be, sometimes. That was what their responsibilities entailed. That was what their growth demanded of them, now.
Minato's smile was softer than any he'd shown others. He crossed the distance to Kushina's bedside, putting a hand over hers, words teasing in his borrowed catchphrase.
"Count on it, 'ttebane."
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Kushina ran through the village at breakneck speed, avoiding the growing shadows beneath the street lamps, where the faint illumination couldn't reach. She wanted to dismiss the flitting shadows that seemed to move from one side of the lamp to the other as merely her imagination, or some play of the light. Her breath came in gasping pants.
She had to find him! She had to warn him! She wasn't sure about Mito, but clearly that Danzou and the Hokage guy were up to something rotten! Hadn't her father always told her that Konoha's leaders were like monsters in sheep's clothing?
Finally, out of breath and gasping, she settled down on a bench, at the edge of a training ground. 'This is crazy', her brain spat at her while her body rested. 'You hardly know him and maybe this is just some other village's business.
'But wouldn't you want to be warned, if the leader of your village was planning to make you into some creepy science project? And didn't they say they wanted to keep you here, too?'
Under the glowing orange light illuminating the early onset of darkness, her insistent thoughts wouldn't leave her. As much as Kushina wanted to run back to her delegation and pretend she hadn't heard anything at all, the Sandaime Hokage and Lady Mito's words lingered. Her parents had always been a little more protective of her than of her brothers. Her father had always warned her about being careless, about how she was special, and the world had evil people in it who would exploit her. She had thought this was a speech all fathers gave their daughters.
But her village—perhaps they'd always treated her a little more reverently. More coldly, as if she were some tithe to be given away to another.
'No!' she clutched at the elusive pounding in her head. 'There's no way! Right now, it's about finding that boy Minato! I'll ask him about it! This is probably just some special class or challenging mission! He'll know the details!'
Then, out of the corner of her eye, a shape materialized. It was human, and it was wrapped entirely in swathes of black garments. The only part that didn't blend into the shadows was the white lacquered mask.
Kushina let out a resounding shriek, the loudest she could muster. The masked person cringed. Wishing his ear drums a painful end, she ran, shouting all the while, down the street. The slap of her shoes against the pavement seemed alarmingly loud in the strange stillness of the growing night. Her heart pounded as she saw the long row of benches and street lamps. Maybe more shadowy people would peel themselves away from the lamp post, like this one had!
Turning, Kushina veered right, into an open, dark field.
She imagined she could lose him this way. There were a large number of wooden posts. Maybe this was another one of those training ground, like the one that Minato had shown their delegation on their little tour.
'Wait! That's it!' That Minato boy had mentioned his favorite training ground, hadn't he? Kushina wracked her brain. She had no clue if this was the one, nor did she find it likely that he would still be here, practicing katas or something. But he'd seemed like one of those goody-goody, diligent types. Breathing hard, Kushina ran as fast as her feet would carry her, zigzagging through the posts. If she could reach the other end, she could duck into the tree line and lose that weird masked person!
"Kushina!"
She paused. The voice that rang out over the training field was familiar, and not unwelcome, at this juncture.
"Sensei?"
She started in the direction of Gouza-sensei's voice. Sensei sounded close.
"Sensei! Help me! I'm being followed!"
And here, she spun around, as she felt the air behind her suddenly get displaced by quick movements.
Her masked assailant had returned.
"SENSEI! GOUZA-SENSEI!" Kushina shrieked, kicking at the person who had pinned her arms and lifted her above the ground. "HE'S GOT ME!"
There was nothing exciting about having an adventure that ended in a battle with a mysterious assailant. Like all the other kids in Whirlpool, Kushina had wandered the cliff edges and explored the caves, usually having fake battles with imagined monsters or invader ninja. Well, Kushina had never been invited to play except with her brothers. She'd mostly just launched herself in. But now, in this moment, all of her bravado failed her.
"Help…" she whimpered. And then, in desperation, she kicked her foot back, hard, right between the assailant's legs.
She met the ground with a soft thump, her mouth tasting dirt and grass. Kushina twisted with a snarl to peer over her shoulder. The person in black was kneeling, hands held over his groin, when it happened.
The figure appeared blurred in its speed, as its leg connected with the back of her assailant's neck. The man crumpled.
"Sensei?"
But the newcomer was too small.
"N-Namikaze Minato?"
The boy righted himself. He was wearing training sweats and was breathing shallowly, as if he'd just run a marathon at breakneck speed. "Are you alright?" he asked.
Shaken but unhurt, Kushina nodded. "I-I've been looking for you 'ttebane."
"Me?" Bright blue eyes peered at her from the dark. "Why would you be looking for me? Did your delegation have more questions? And—" Minato's boyish face crumpled into a squint as he toed the unconscious masked man. "—Who's this guy? Jiraiya-sensei says there's real perverts out there that put him to shame, but I've never actually seen one," he added matter-of-factly.
"You're… weirder than you look." Kushina dusted off her scabbed knees. Her sense of urgency returned. "Listen. Did your hokage ask you to do anything recently? Any funny missions?"
Minato was already tugging up the arm of the assailant, to turn the man in. What a good Samaritan!
"Why do you ask? I do routine check ups with his office, but I guess he likes to keep an eye on everyone. He's hokage, so he cares for the whole village like family. What about Whirlpool?"
Kushina was not pacified. Her experience tonight confirmed every paranoia her father had instilled in her. She breathed in, hard, as she tried to remember the earlier conversation.
"Well, your Hokage is gonna make you a jinky-churro and put the Will of Fire in you."
"What?" Minato stopped trying to position himself to carry the crumpled figure, and laughed. "The Will of Fire's a metaphysical ideal. It's the principle we fight for, as shinobi. What do they call it over at your village?"
Kushina was aghast at Minato's encyclopedic vocabulary. "We don't have anything like that dattebane! We don't have a jin… a jinky-churro either. What the heck is that, Smarty-Pants?"
The boy paused to think, then shrugged. "That one I don't know. But it'd be an honor to serve the village, however I get to do it."
"You're not the least bit worried?" Kushina scowled. "You don't think this… and this masked guy you chopped… point to something being wrong?"
"Today's been pretty normal, all things considered," Minato reported. He was now fireman-holding the unconscious masked man over his back. "Let's just get this guy to the police, okay? If he's not a pervert, I don't think the Uchiha like finding unconscious ANBU just lying around in the streets."
"You're the one who clobbered him."
Minato blinked at her. "You're… different from other girls."
Not sure of what to make of this, Kushina kept her mouth shut. She didn't want to appear any more ignorant than she already was, not knowing what a Will of Fire nor a jinky-churro was. And if Minato thought that everything was fine, well, that was good for him. All Kushina wanted to do was to find her delegation and get out of this place.
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Trees.
Lots and lots and lots of trees.
To Fire natives, it wasn't a big deal. But to the Ame tourists, their slack-jawed stares were enough to lighten everyone's mood.
Great stretches of forest covered the Land of Fire. But what fed these lands was the collection of rivers, streams and tributaries from higher, mountainous ground in Kumo. Along its border, glaciers that touched the edges of the heavens melted with the changing seasons and supplied water to the great forests of the continent via a network of rivers. Some of these rivers snaked inland, slinking to curve around Ame's borders, although the river was very small and muddy there.
Shikaku's plan was brilliant. He'd had a whole fleet of smaller rafts made to carry a number of seal scrolls (with supplies in them) downstream into Kusagakure. The small, formally neutral nation had far fewer surveillance teams scouting the border. Of course, their leaders' sympathies lay with other small nations like Amegakure. Once much closer to the Fire border, their rafts were disassembled to create larger, sturdier ships, which would double as trade ships as they hoisted any leftover lumber down into Fire Country. There, the river widened into a great gulf of shining, rippling water. It was still murky with the silted earth on either side of the banks, but the weather was good, and the fishing was plentiful. There was no need to pack extra food on the trip.
"We're making good time. There's Kannabi Bridge up ahead," said Shikaku, looking out at the distant bend on the river.
"There's people, though," Bato muttered. "We ought'a be careful."
"I paid them off. The bargain should hold. There are some Iwa-loyal merchants mixed in with the bridge operators there. They shouldn't make trouble if they don't suspect our ties to Suna."
"Chill out. It's fine, isn't it? As you said, we're making good time," Noya supplied. "We can just detour through the fo-li-age." He was testing his newfound tree-vocabulary, and looked even more cheerful now that they weren't in glorified rowboats.
Minato gazed across the water toward the horizon. Good time was relative.
The beginning of their war effort was quite the opposite of efficient, in Minato's eyes. Once Kushina had left with Tsunade, he'd high-tailed it back to Amegakure, making the journey in record time. He'd towed Noya back with him. The Ame man had gotten a bit motion sick, though at least his sinuses finally cleared up. Before they left, the Kazekage had promised reinforcements to Ame as soon as they fortified the border with Rock Country for good. Minato had shook on it when he'd left, not missing the twinkle in Chiyo's eye as she cackled that rescuing damsels was the way her late husband had done it. After that, an embarrassed Minato had been quite glad to set off.
Back in Ame, it had been astounding to see the work that Akatsuki had put into setting up for an attack on Konoha. Ame joining the war had been merely hypothetical months prior. They elected everyone but Yahiko and Nagato to make the journey to Konoha, since Ame had to keep running as headquarters. Still, all the rest of Akatsuki, and several of Hanzo's finest shinobi, were leaving.
It should have been a very serious affair if so many people were going. But during planning meetings, all the others wanted to do was name their mission fancy things. They called it Operation Poison Pill, because Trojan Horse and Sheep's Clothing both made Kushina sound like an animal—the last thing a kyuubi host should be characterized as, said a self-righteous Noya. "I've learned you should never treat humans as beasts," he had sniffed.
Shikaku had swept his brow in sarcastic relief. "Oh good. Now stop calling me an edible fungus and we're getting places."
"Shiitake are expensive. It's the highest form of compliment."
Despite the bickering, Akatsuki was evolving from a band of misfits. Even as they grew in followers, there was still room for banter among its core group, malcontent at the thought of ever getting a big head over their proposed feats. The latest evolution was that Minato was turning into a real barbarian dictator, etc. etc.
"I'm not becoming a dictator," Minato voiced his consternation. He was still tired from his trapeze across the continent, and back to Ame. "I thought I was Akatsuki's leader?"
"You suggested we pee over the starboard of the boat, instead of wait half a day for us to build latrines. That's a barbarian dictator if I ever heard of one," Bato noted.
Minato hummed innocently. "Well, we are in a hurry."
Noya, ever defying the impossible, looked sour and smug at the same time. "You mean a hurry to go back and neck Red."
Well, they had decided on the bathrooms, in the end. And they were built within the hour with the help of seals and some rumors. Once word got out the mean and scary Yellow Demon would teleport into the shipwrights' homes and steal all their valuables, work got done real fast. ("Seriously?" Minato sighed, his former titles demoted to bogeyman stories.)
And that brought them to the present. The rag-tag, insufferably insubordinate group on what had become a joy-ride down the river into Fire Country. Despite his sense of urgency, deep down, Minato wouldn't have it any other way.
Except for one thing.
Shikaku had taken to reviewing maps in his head. It was eerie to see him with his eyes closed, legs crossed, arms swaying wildly in some interpretive dance that he said was marking X's on an imaginary map. Most the crew had taken to ignoring those moods. Some had betting rounds to see if Shikaku invoked bad weather patterns, with his mumbling and waving.
"Are you sure your summons trick will work?" Shikaku asked, getting up from his most recent session and sidling up to the Akatsuki leader.
"Shima-san assured me it would."
"I can't believe you get to travel to Konoha via summoning! I bet they'll be so surprised by your grand entrance! Behold, losers! Be awed by my summoning smoke!" Noya did a little dance in place.
"Reverse summoning, you mean." Minato laughed.
Indeed, the middle part of the plan was for Minato to lead the vanguard. A group of battle hungry Kirigakure rogues were already snaking their way up the delta toward the hidden village of Konohagakure. They would debark first, and travel as quickly and quietly as possible up the forested lands right to the vicinity outside Konoha. When Kosuke the messenger toad had suggested reverse summoning Hozuki Shigetsu's Kirigakure band as well, Minato informed the toad that many of them could blend into water. Perfect for undetectable travel up even the smallest streams in the woods and prairies.
"I need to talk to you," said Shikaku when they were still far enough away from the bridge and most of its foot traffic. "I got a strange message from Inoichi when we arrived in Kusagakure. Yahiko had it delivered, but I don't know what to make of it since I don't have the original letter."
"I could send Kosuke to get it," Minato suggested.
"Don't bother," answered Shikaku. "I need your toad summons for more urgent communication with Kirigakure's Akatsuki. And I have my own ways. What I need from you is a publicity stint before we arrive in Konoha."
"Because missing nin are so good at those."
"Novel, isn't it?" Shikaku chuckled. "Despite what that Noya thinks, we're not going to ram head on into Konoha's walls. You know that, Minato."
Minato made a noise of agreement. He looked over the placid waters of the river and wished they had made oars. Wind jutsu were good as long as they were out of sight, but they were entering into a fishermen encampment part of Fire Country now. With a population several times Amegakure's country, there was no way they could win with brute force.
"What we need is a magic trick."
"You're a great statesman," Minato remarked. "I didn't know you were a magician, too."
Shikaku returned Minato's grin, receiving his praise more gracefully than he'd done in a long while. Perhaps the Nara was also happy to be back in Fire Country, to smell the pine in the air and feel the warm sunlight, dappled and bright.
"I'm going to open Konoha's front doors wide for you, Minato. I'm going to open them from the inside."
"We're an invasive force. I doubt it's Kushina kicking open the doors. Tsunade might be on our side now, but there's a whole village to stop her." Minato stared at his friend's unwavering smirk. "…I'm guessing this has to do with that letter you got."
"Bingo." Shikaku flourished his arms. "You're used to being the talk of town, Minato, but now you're going to be Konoha's hero. At a scale never seen before."
"Danzou's not as unpopular among non-shinobi as that." Minato folded his arms, smile wry. "What publicity stint are you talking about? Is it a solo mission for me?"
"Yes," Shikaku said firmly. "Listen. From what I glean from Inoichi's most recent letter, there's scores of Kumo shinobi, apparently, knocking on Konoha's door. So I'll need you to finish up that Kumo assignment you got."
The Kumo assignment, as it turned out, wasn't quite the right descriptor. Per Danzou's orders, Minato was supposed to assassinate the then-Raikage, A and B. However, here, Minato was supposed to tackle the problem of the platoons of Kumogakure shinobi that had stationed themselves outside of Konoha walls. Since there was a logical limit to betting for one against thousands odds, Shikaku naturally assumed the quickest solution would be wiping out leadership.
Minato had other ideas. By this point, A and B's tag team had likely been perfected. He'd need more than strength to beat it. He'd need smarts, and some luck. But he would be lying if he said a part of him didn't itch to prove his skill against A's. The new Raikage bounced back from the blow Minato had dealt his village. To this day, Minato remembered A's parting words. And if Minato had grown at all, and found his own answer on how to lead and love, then Minato wanted to demonstrate it to the older man.
"No one in Konoha is prone to hero worship, Shikaku," said Minato, finally. "Just because I stop Kumo's invasion doesn't mean I'm suddenly free from all those rumors." He stared at his hands. "Some of the things the stories say aren't just rumors."
Shikaku shrugged. "You've been gone for a long while, longer than myself. You'd be surprised what people say about you."
"Oh really."
The Nara flicked aside his companion's sarcasm.
"So, you okay with this, Minato? It's risky to take on Kumo first, but it'll save us a lot of fighting with Konoha forces. Some of those people will be our friends."
Those were the magic words. (And Shikaku was a magician after all.) Minato thought to the preserved lives and decided it was high time to sharpen his own skills. There was no meaning to being the leader of Akatsuki if he didn't have the skill to live up to his reputation. There were troops from Ame, from Suna, from Kiri, who were going to battle and die under his banner. If that was the case, he owed them something.
And it was his promise to enter Konoha as soon as possible.
After all, he had a date to kidnap a certain redhead back.
"There's the signal," Shikaku told the group. "Transform."
And they did. Now all of the shinobi on the starboard looked like ordinary fishermen. The exception was Bato, who had worn the ensemble of a sort of backwoods bodyguard. Additionally, Noya's henge outfit was a bit too showy to be any respectable fisherman, with resplendent, barnacled ropes and kelp-infested nets.
Ideally, they would have passed by Kannabi Bridge with little fanfare. Unfortunately, their hostage downstairs chose that moment to get rowdy. Noya and Bato quickly rushed downstairs to retie the bonds.
The gray-haired boy Kakashi took to unpredictable moods since leaving Suna. Half of the time, he seemed content to sleep and wait to be transported. The other half, he seemed ready to break free and kill every one on board the ship. When Minato had suggested they untie the boy and try a different strategy, Shikaku had advised not to. "We'll need a hostage when things get bad," he'd said. "Don't worry—I won't treat him like Konoha treats their hostages."
"It's favor enough that you got him out of Suna," Shikaku said. "They would've skinned him alive if they found out his full identity."
"You seemed pretty keen on that idea," said Minato. "You said he's Hatake Sakumo's son, but are you sure?"
"That scowl runs in the family. No mask can hide it."
And no mask could. Kakashi's scowl ran deeper the further they got into the heart of the Land of Fire. Minato's success with winning the hearts and minds of his hostages could, on generous counts, be a tally of one. That seemed good enough for him to go walk their rickety stairs down to the single holding room below deck (the only other private room with walls besides the toilet room, where they added the wall thanks to Noya's moans of "barbarian dictator!").
Minato had heard about Sakumo. He was counted among those unfortunate enough to be were lauded before death, but failed to be revered after. Well, perhaps before death. It was arguable that Sakumo had actually died the day his village deserted him, decrying his choice in Sunagakure to save his comrades at the expense of the mission. Konoha's White Fang was many times Minato's senior in the legendary title department. Yet, Minato had never interacted with the family. He did not realize that Hatake Sakumo had taken a wife and sired a son. Indeed, Hatake Kakashi and Minato were not quite so alike when family legacy was factored in. In that sense, Minato had been a pauper shinobi had picked off the street, to be whisked into the academy. His success once inside the system had been a fluke. And that was why Minato had worked so hard. Here was a different sort of child, working hard perhaps due to his father's legacy.
Bato and Noya had retightened the hold of the clasps around Kakashi's arms, which secured his hands behind the chair. And once they'd found out the hard way about the lightning jutsu which sliced through most things like butter, they'd tied the kid's legs as well. Now Kakashi was staring morosely at Minato as if he was looking through air.
"Kakashi, we're not going to keep you forever," Minato said softly.
"Save it," Bato said, having come downstairs to use the restroom. "Kid's got the personality of a rock."
"We'll see."
Being drafted at a young age did that to you. But more often than not, there was some good lurking underneath that impassive exterior.
Once he'd turned away to rejoin the others upstairs, he was surprised at the snarl behind him.
"We just passed Kannabi Bridge, didn't we?"
Minato turned around. Kakashi was glowering, his dark onyx eyes more alive than Minato had ever seen.
"We'll soon be in Konoha, then," Kakashi spat.
"Yes," Minato confirmed, intrigued.
"Fight me."
"What?"
"I said 'fight me'." The boy shook, and not because of the ship's gentle lull. "I refuse to be rescued by someone. I'll best you in a fight and then spare your life. Then we'll be even!"
"He's nuts," Bato supplied, walking over to see what the commotion was about.
"Do it! You're the Yellow Flash, aren't you? Show me why you deserve that name! Why you deserve to live when you failed your mission!" The boy's lithe frame wracked with unspent tension, as he strained against his bonds. Minato motioned for Bato to step back.
"Shikaku's plan…" Bato said. Minato signaled he understood.
His next words were soft again, but precise. "Do you know what it's like to lose a village? It's like losing a child.* Your own father likely knew the former, if the stories are true. Do you want him to experience the latter as well? Even he'd never want his child to think his own life was worthless."
Kakashi's eyes dipped. If they were clouded with rage or remorse, Minato could not tell.
"You'll have your turn at me, Kakashi. In the meantime, I want to see you grow strong. Stronger than someone who can't see meaning beyond the mission."
Minato believed there was a depth to be found in Kakashi—a passion for something that went beyond being powerful for the sake of power, being feared for the sake of fear. Shinobi were all just trying to create meaning out of disorder. Sarutobi's Will of Fire, even Danzou's careful regimented expansion.
But perhaps Minato simply deluded himself into believing thus.
After all, if this weren't true, what would that make him?
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tbc
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Asterisk Glossary (a "front" for my own education, really):
Food Cart Destroyer: I kid you not that there is an actual wikia page devoted to the jumping thing that Gamabunta does. And it's called this. Seriously. Can someone tell me if this is an internet troll's prank? I don't watch the anime, and have only read the manga so…
Losing a village, like losing a child: This is Kishimoto's dialogue for Minato in Chapter 503. It bred some of the character development angst for Minato, when he technically lost his village. It's the ones with the perfect veneers that are the most hardworking, but also the most sensitive.