Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto so that means that I'm not Masashi Kishimoto.
Chapter posted 03/27/2009.
Some thoughts about the encounter in chapter 440:
SPOILER ALERT! SKIP THIS PART IF YOU ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE LATEST CHAPTERS OF THE MANGA!
It was not bad, but I missed things like a hug or more encouragement words but I found Naruto's reaction was very reasoning. Minato looked a bit distant but it should be normal for spirits for a spirits who is resting in peace, the info he knew makes me think that he is not in the Shigami's stomach. My problem with the chapter is that I saw more emotional versions of the encounter in fanfics, but it is not Kishimoto's faults.
SPOILER END! YOU CAN READ SAFELY FROM HERE.
It was almost night when Naruto woke up, he found himself in a hospital room with the only company of his father.
"Hello Son, you know, if you want to be Hokage you should try to not end your greatest battles in a hospital room", joked Minato while he ruffled Naruto's hair.
"Yeah, I overdid a little, but it was a great fight...", responded Naruto with a smile until he realized something.
"What happened with Gaara!? And the others!?", asked worried.
"Gaara is fine, you managed to reseal Shukaku and now he is resting after the medics healed him. Before we leave Suna I'll remove the Five Elements seal you place and then I'll fix his seal", said Minato.
"How are Hinata-chan and the others?", asked more calmed.
"Hinata-chan is resting in the next room with her father looking after her. Chouji has just been placed into another room after it was confirmed that his life was not endangered anymore, thanks to the drinkable version of our clan's secret medicine", said Minato.
"Are you talking about the one you told me weeks ago?", whispered his son.
"Yes, THAT one", responded Minato.
FLASHBACK
Minato took Naruto to a room of their house that looked like an apothecary's shop.
"Naruto, what I'm going to show you today is our family's greatest secret, nor the Hokage is aware of it and you'll know why", said Minato in a very serious tone.
Naruto looked at his father with attention, Minato began to mix some herbs in the mortar.
"You know that our blood limit has two powers, don't you?", asked to his son.
"Yes, the first one is that we heal very fast and the second one is that our healing is total, without scar or sequels from the wounds", said Naruto.
Minato nodded.
"Yes, but it has two other qualities that I didn't mention to anyone: The first one is an effect of the perfect healing, at the moment our bodies reach adulthood they stop aging until we are very old, our seventies or eighties, at that point our blood limit fades and we begin to age in an accelerate rate, until our bodies are as old as they should be. Our ancestors named that process as the twilight, most of our familiars chose to seek for a heroic death on a mission and die when still in their prime instead of suffering the decay of old age", explained Minato.
Naruto was speechless.
"T-That means that you'll keep looking like this when you get s-sixty years old?", babbled.
Minato nodded.
"Yes, but don't be afraid of it, we don't live longer than other people, we just have a very long youth, the reason because it must be keep in secret is very obvious, people would be too jealous of us", said Minato.
Naruto didn't look very excited about that.
"D-Does it mean that if M-Mom lived she would get old while you keep young?", asked concerned.
Kushina smiled, that was the same question that she had in mind when Minato revealed her that secret. Her concern didn't last when Minato told her the other secret as he was going to do with Naruto now.
Minato denied Naruto's question with his head.
"There's a solution for that problem, it is related to the other secret of our blood limit", said while he finished to smash the herbs.
Then Minato made a cut on his hand and let the blood fell over the mixture of herbs.
"The secret power of our blood limit is that we can share it with others to a point. The healing powers are inside our own blood. If we apply our blood in someone else's wound, it will heal at the same rate as ours and without scars or other sequels. Even more, if our blood is applied on someone's wrinkles or scars, it will erase them and those who drink drops of our blood with some regularity won't age, with enough uses they will even rejuvenate", said Minato seriously.
Naruto paled, trying to diggest the revelations.
Minato finished to mix the blood with the herbs.
"Your great grandmother had the idea of an oinment that would mask the scent of our blood so we could use it in our allies without revealing the secret, making everybody believe that it is just a family medicine", explained Minato showing Naruto the oinment.
"I-It is the same medicine that you give Iruka-sensei for his training isn't it?", asked Naruto.
Minato nodded.
"Yes, it is. This medicine is the reason why he is completely fine after his rough training sessions. I warned him to keep it away from his nose so it won't erase his scar and endanger our secret", said Minato.
Naruto didn't say anything, but he was happy to know that he could share part of his power with his friends.
Minato showed him a bottle with a strange liquid.
"We also have a liquid version that can be drinked or injected for internal wounds, I'll tell you how to make it later... Naruto, you must keep this secrets only for yourself, that you can't say it to anybody nor your friends nor the Hokage. The only person you are allowed to tell this is your wife, after your wedding. The consecuences if these secrets are exposed to the public would be disasterous", told Minato.
"Why it is so important to keep it secret? It is not something to be ashamed of and people would find it very valuable", reasoned Naruto.
"That's the point. The council and the rest of the village would find us too valuable to risk our lives on mission while we could be producing a medicine has powerful as this and we would be destined to drain ourselves. This if only they find out about the healing properties", explained Minato.
Naruto shaked at the thought, his father continued to explain his reasons.
"If the wrinkle removing properties are discovered, Fire Country's nobles would ask Konoha for a permanent contract using our blood as beauty cream to keep looking young, we would be ordered to work exclusively in that purpose, forgot about your ninja career", said Minato.
"I don't want to work in aesthetic the rest of my life for a bunch of old hags...", complained Naruto.
"This is nothing if they find out about the rejuvenation properties. Many nations started wars because the ambition of their rulers. The daimyios and other nobles would find fine to go in a war against Konoha if the prize for victory is eternal youth", said Minato.
He reminded Orochimaru's dreams of inmortality, with their blood the Snake Sannin would have inmortality and wouldn't need to change body, keeping the most powerful one he could get.
"We wouldn't feel ourselves safe anymore, the atempts to capture us would be our daily basis... the worst part is that many of people from our own country would be behind them... If we get captured probably we would be the rest of our lives chained in a bed with a tube drains our blood to maintain our kidnapers while we receive forced feeding to replenish our blood...", said Minato.
"You are going to scare him!", exclaimed Kushina.
"He must we aware of the consequences if this secret is aired, Kushi-chan", reasoned Minato.
"I-I understand... I would have loved to tell this to Hinata-chan and the others but you are right... Ok, I won't tell this to anyone", said Naruto.
"You can tell it to Hinata if you marry her...", suggested Minato.
"Dad!", exclaimed Naruto.
END FLASHBACK
"What about the rest?", asked Naruto.
"Shino, Shikamaru, Temari and Kankuro are fine, remember that they are in reality experienced ninjas from the future. Sai came back to the is sharing a room with Haku, with Kakashi and Zabuza looking after them", explained Minato.
"Kakashi and Zabuza are here? I thought they were in Konoha...", said Naruto.
"They were, the Hokage called the rest of the Hand of Death squad so I teleported back to Konoha and brought them there. The Hokage told me that Bear was already in Suna under a disguise and Yamato is guarding this room's door", explained Minato.
Naruto felt relieved for his friends but he found strange that the Hokage called his father's squad.
"Why they are here? I understand that Kakashi and Zabuza came for Sasuke and Haku, I don't understand why the others came too", asked "After we found out that somebody used a genjutsu in Gaara to kill you, the Hokage decided to bring the squad here and stay on guard if the enemy decides to strike again, I bet that it was an Akatsuki member. It is the best course of action, specially now that we found that there's a third jinchuuriki in Suna", explained Minato.
"A third jinchuuriki!? Who is him!?", asked Naruto excited hoping to make a new friend.
Minato explained Naruto the night out with the other Konoha nins and the consequent duel vs Kirabi at the other side of the village, explaining why nobody appeared during their fight against Gaara.
When Minato finished Naruto was full of questions.
"I knew that Fuin Jutsu was powerful, but not to the point to able to transform chakra... That means that you can use Mokuton like you had the bloodline", commented Naruto.
"It is not as strange if we take account that your own seal tranforms Kyuubi's into yours... However two thirds of the chakra I used in that attack was spend in the transformation of the chakra required to create the three. Transformations without the specific bloodline implied uses prohibitive amounts of chakra and that's not the only drawback it has", explained Minato.
"What are the others?", asked Naruto.
"First: Each seal must be created for a specific jutsu and it will only perform that jutsu. Second: the seal disappears after it is used. And third: The seal are too complex to be made in the field. The chakra transformation is a powerful tool, but it doesn't have the efficiency and versatility of someone with the emulated bloodline", said Minato.
The ex kage looked at his son with a more serious face.
"Naruto do you realize the feat that you and your friends did today? You managed to defeat a bijuu! Last time I fought one I had to sacrifice myself and...", tried to say but Naruto interrupted him.
"But Dad, we defeated the weakest one and Gaara was holding it back, you had to fight something more powerful without nobody holding it back", said Naruto.
"Perhaps, but it is still a battle that will be recalled for years, now more eyes will be focused on us, my own battle didn't do anything to avoid that... By the way, I have a pair of questions about your battle", commented Minato.
"What do you want to know, Dad?", asked Naruto.
Before Minato could respond they heard a commotion from outside.
"THE KAZEKAGE HAS BEEN ABDUCTED! THE KAZEKAGE HAS BEEN ABDUCTED!"
"The Kazekage!? I must check this... Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!", exclaimed Arashi.
The clone met the other members of the Hand of Death in the hospital's corridor.
"I'll go to check what happened. Yamato and Bear, go to guard the Hokage, Kakashi and Zabuza keep there to protect the kids. I suspect that this is one of our misterious enemy's plans", said.
The masked nins nodded.
The clone headed to the Kazekage's tower where he met the other ninjas from Konoha.
"What happened?", asked to Shikaku.
"We are not sure about it, but it looks like a pair of men got into the Tower,incapacitated the Kazekage and took him away", said the Nara.
"How they looked like?", asked Minato.
"Nobody could see their faces, they had straw hats covering their heads, they say that one was a hunchback and both of them were wearing cloaks with red clouds... Wait! Wasn't Itachi Uchiha dressed like that?", asked Shikaku.
"Akatsuki! But why they kidnapped the Kazekage?", asked the clone to himself.
He headed to the place where the Hokage was signed, the body guards (Yamato and Bear) let him pass without questions.
"Hokage-sama have you heard the news?", asked.
"Yes, Arashi... Suna is in a uproar. You said that they were going to move in a few years but it looks like that they decided to bring forward their plans", commented the old man.
"Obviously Madara's doing... They took advantage of the crowds that came to see the Chuunin Exams to infiltrate into the village. They must be the ones behind the genjutsu used over Gaaral, but it doesn't make sense... They want Naruto alive for the Kyuubi, why try to kill him?", asked Arashi worried.
"I don't know, I think that we should offer our help to Suna with the ninjas that obviously they will send to rescue the Kazekage. We have Tsume and Kakashi here, they and their dogs are among the top trackers in the world", said the Hokage.
Somebody knocked at the door, the Hokage gave permission to enter, one of Konoha's ANBU got there and made a bow to each men. After making sure that nobody was hearing he proceeded to tell his news.
"Sandaime-sama, Yondaime-sama. I came here to communicate that Suna's council has decided to declare state of emergency after the Kazekage's kidnapping. All gates will be closed inmediately, nobody with the exception of the rescue team is allowed to leave Suna until the Kazekage is back alive or his death is confirmed. All foreigners are told to stay in their hotels if they don't want to be interrogated", said the ninja.
"Shit, it's the same as the time they kidnapped Gaara in the future, do they want to trade Gaara for the Kazekage? Are they going to blame it on Konoha or Cloud", thought the clone.
"I'll be in the hospital, tell me if something else happens", said the clone before dispelling himself.
The real Arashi received the memories of the clone and told Naruto the news.
"Dad! We must check for Gaara!", exclaimed Naruto.
Arashi nodded and they headed to Gaara's room, that was in the last floor of the hospital.
They found the unconscious form of Temari and Kankuro, they saw that the room was empty.
"What happened here? Where's Gaara?", asked Naruto.
FLASHBACK
Temari and Kankuro had heard from a nurse the news of their father's disappearance but refused to leave their place guarding their little brother's room. They suspected that it was a plan to make them leave Gaara unprotected now that he was vulnerable with the seal that Naruto placed on him.
They noticed Baki heading to them.
"Greetings, sensei. You are not trying to convince us to leave Gaara unprotected don't you? We don't care about what happened to the Kazekage, our brother comes first", said Temari.
"I say the same thing", remarked Kankuro.
"You also care for your little brother? Touching, but Gaara will come with me", said Baki while his only visible turned red with three tomoes.
"The Sharingan!? Shit...", babbled the Sand Siblings before falling unconscious.
Minutes later, a rescue mission leaded by captain Yuura and Baki left Suna to chase the kidnapers of the Kazekage. When they were far away enough from Suna, Sasori dispelled the henge that used on his puppets and himself to look like Suna ninjas while 'Baki' did the same on himself revealing Itachi Uchiha carrying the unconscious form of Gaara.
Sasori looked at Yuura.
"You know the plan, you head to meet the Kazekage and both of you come back to Suna tomorrow with the story of a battle against a group of missing nins that kidnapped him. Meanwhile we will be extracting the Shukaku without worrying about a rescue mission for the jinchuuriki thanks to the state of emergency in Suna", said the puppeteer.
Yuura nodded and headed to the rendevouz point with the Kazekage while Itachi and Sasori headed to the cave where the statue for the extraction was placed.
END FLASHBACK
On their way to the cave the Uchiha prodigy and the puppeteer they met a pair of men who also wore Akatsuki cloaks. One was a very big tall man with blue skin, gills and a huge sword that was wrapped in bandages, he had a Mist forehead protector with a slash, anybody with an updated Bingo Book would recognize him as Hoshikagi Kisame.
The other man seemed to be in his late forties, he had orange hair and a scar that crossed his father in diagonal, he was armed with a strange staff and had a slashed forehead protector from Konoha.
Itachi looked at the newcomers.
"Oh it's you, Kisame", said to his partner before looking at the other missing nin from Konoha.
"You must be Kakuzu's new partner, Kaworu Yashida. Why are you there?", asked without emotions.
"The leader ordered us to assist you, it looks like someone has been following you from Suna at great speed", said Kisame.
"They found out the truth about our distraction plan? Who are them?", asked Sasori.
"Us", said a voice.
The four Akatsukis looked at the source of the voice, at the top of a dune.
They saw group of masked ninjas standing there, they recognized them as Konoha's new top team, The Hand of Death.
Hoshikagi Kisame crossed looks with Momochi Zabuza.
"Zabuza", said Kisame unwrapping his Samehada.
"Kisame", responded Zabuza drawing his sword.
Kakashi glared at Tsugo with visible hate in his eye, shaking with rage, surprising his partners, he always was good keeping his cool.
"Sakumo, is that you?", asked Kaworu looking at Kakashi stranged.
"I'm his son, Scum. Hatake Kakashi", responded the Copy Nin revealing his Sharingan eye.
"Ooohh! The pup wants to avenge his daddy?", teased the other man.
"Minato, wasn't this man one of Sakumo's team mates, the ones he decided to save instead of completing the mission and later rejected him?", asked Kushina.
"Yes he is... He defected Konoha when I became Hokage, fearing that I would use my new possition to take revenge for Sakumo if Kakashi asked me", said Minato.
The former kage looked at the missing nins.
"Handle us the boy and surrender to us or prepare to be executed", said Arashi.
"You are the only ones who will be executed", responded Itachi.
Next chapter: The Hand of Death vs Akatsuki
Hidan was not in Akatsuki at that time of the original story, so I added Kaworu to fill his place. He is supposed to be one of the partners that Kakuzu killed before Hidan joined. I think that a man who betrayed a team mate who fell into dishonor for saving him is perfect for an organization of traitors.
OMAKE: WHAT HAPPENED WITH DEIDARA?
Deidara cursed again. Why the hell they paired him with that clown who wasn't even a full member of Akatsuki?
At first he was going to be Sasori's partner, however the leader decided that Itachi was better prepared for an infiltration and capture mission than him, being the Uchiha a former ANBU captain. Deidara argued that he could capture Sand's jinchuuriki with a frontal attack but the leader replied saying that it was too risky to make a frontal attack with three kages and their elite guards in Suna.
Sasori headed to Suna with Itachi while he had to go with Tobi to capture a fugitive and collect the reward for Akatsuki's funds. Tobi was utterly childish and annoying, asking stupid questions about him like if he could use his extra mouths to eat and other crap.
Tobi insisted to cook food and Deidara accepted to try his dish. The thing ended with Deidara puking over his masked partner, but it was too late and Tobi's food caused an indigestion in the poor blonde.
Deidara was now in the bushes suffering the effects of the plums that Tobi added to his squid with vanilla icecream and anchovies while Tobi decided to take a shower to clean himself from Deidara's vomit.
One of Deidara's worst points of his bloodline was everything that the blonde grabbed with his hands was dangerously near his mouths... including the toilet paper. For that reason Deidara always had a pair of rubber gloves in his pouch for the 'nature calls'.
Then he noticed something: The gloves were not in his pouch... the ex Rock-nin paled.
Minutes later a very green Deidara was greeted by a soaked Tobi, who was only with his mask and his oficial Akatsuki boxers (with cloud and all).
"Hiii Deidara-Senpai! Tobi is not angry with you for puking over him because I found out a way to have one of civilization's comforts in the wild", said the masked guy.
He pointed to a tree's branch where he improvised a shower using Deidara's rubber gloves, making a small hole in the tip of each finger and filling them with water, making a simple but funcional shower.
Deidara's visible eye twitched.
"Seeee Deidara-Senpai? Tobi is a smart boy! ? Why you took off your cloak? Are you going to have a shower too? WOW! You have a very big mouth in your chest! Why are you feeding it with all your explosive clay? And why are you looking at me with that strange smile?"
The explosion was heard in all Ninja Villages.
END
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