Amidst the Hate: Chapter 56
"And here we are again...standing in front of a hospital room with Anza unconscious in it after she tried to kill us…" said Minato with pretty much everyone that lived in his house plus Kakashi standing with him.
"Is...this going to the norm for us?" sadly murmured Kushina.
"...I don't know anymore...but I'm going to do my damndest to make sure this never happens again. I'm sick of seeing her so hurt and broken...of seeing her so close to death because of her own attacks. Luckily...we didn't see her die out there. I owe the Kyuubi a lot for doing that."
'Yeah...thanks, fuzzball. If you hadn't done that, we'd be at another funeral...and this time, we'd be burying a body.' mentally said Mito.
"Don't thank me, thank Asura. He was the one who pointed out the potential significance of her whisker marks, I only acted on it."
'That reminds me...how are they so important?'
"Simple. They signify a connection to me that was formed a few months after the both of you were conceived. The womb is just behind where my seal on Kushina was, so every minute you were in there you were being exposed to some of my chakra. On Anza, that was reflected as those whisker marks and possibly the discoloration of her skin and hair, while you had no such defining features. Instead, you got slightly increased speed in comparison to her, at least that's what I noticed from your memories. Makes sense?"
'I think so...and before I go, since you said it...thank you, Asura.'
Her ancestor waved her off. "No problem."
Back with the outside world, the doctor inside the room came out, and turned to face the family. "This is the second time you brought Anza to me before I could go take a trip outside of Konoha…" mumbled the Sannin.
"Sorry...but she needed the best care, and that's what you provide. I know you've seen her arm." said the Hokage, getting Tsunade to sigh.
"Yes, I have. Diagnostics say that it has multiple fractures, is completely broken in three places, and there are many torn muscles. It...will take some time before just that is healed, even with me here. I also noticed that it was...cold, and that there were a large amount of cuts, so I authorized a blood transfusion using a bit we have from Mito. Hopefully, when everything is said and done, there will be no problems with it."
He bowed his head. "You've done so much for us, Tsunade...I can't thank you enough. And what about Haku? Do you happen to know his status after we dropped them off?"
"Not at the moment, no. All I remember is that I saw him being taken to...somewhere...before I had to see the extent of the damage on your daughter. You'd have to track him down at the desk, but you might want to wait until tomorrow. He's probably still out from whatever caused him to go unconscious."
"We'll do that. Will...will Anza be able to have visitors tomorrow, as well?"
She gave a light shrug. "If you want to look at and talk to a sleeping person in what seems to be a coma, yes, she can have visitors."
Minato frowned. "Another one? That can't be good...alright, we'll stop bothering you and let you work."
"Thank you. I'll let you know if and when anything changes, like last time." The Sannin went back in, and they saw her start healing the broken arm before turning to leave.
"Don't worry sensei, Kushina, Anza will pull through. She's a tough girl, a little chakra deprivation and a injured arm won't keep her down for long." tried the silver haired cyclops, getting the parents to sigh.
"That's not what we're worried about, Kakashi. If a fall of at least sixty-feet into a raging river couldn't kill her, then now that she has chakra she has no chance of death. What we're worried about is after." said the redhead.
"I know...I'm just...trying to find a silver lining in all of this."
"There is. We have a chance to make things right now."
"But what if...that's not possible?" His valid question got the woman to remain silent as they walked through the halls...until they heard the fastest steps they ever heard in the hospital, and a blur of black practically slammed into one of the doors. "Wait...isn't that Haruka?"
"Not here!" The Uchiha moved to the next one. "Not here! C'mon, where is she?!" Two more blurs in the shades of her fellow apprentices ran up to her, and held her by the arms.
"Slow down for a second, Haruka!" yelled Noboru.
"No! I have to find mom!" She pulled herself free rather easily, and kept going down the line of doors, jumping up to the windows to look inside. "No...no...no...no! She has to be here somewhere, this is the last floor, dang it!" Akira and his best friend did the same thing again, and understanding that they weren't going away, simply dragged them along, with no signs of stopping. As they inched closer to the family, Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"Alright, that's enough." He approached them, and grabbed the little girl by the collar...big mistake.
"Grr...ok, that's it! Let me go!" Like last time, she broke free, and socked him in the stomach, making him double over. She blinked at the downed boy for a few seconds before realization and horror spread across her face. "Oh! I'm so...so sorry, Sasuke! I...I didn't mean to hit you! I thought you were a doctor or another nurse!"
Sasuke, stood back up, wincing a bit from the blow. "It's fine, you didn't really hurt me, only caught me off guard, but next time look before you punch."
"Okay…" Seeing that she wasn't putting up a fight anymore, the duo let go of her.
"Phew! I thought she'd never stop until she busted down the door to whatever room sensei is in!" said the darker-haired one as the rest of the group came up to them.
"How did you guys know Anza was in the hospital? It's only been an hour since we came back, and we haven't left this place yet." asked Minato.
"Are you kidding? Her return is breaking news! The people we passed on the streets are gossiping about it! Everyone knows!"
The blonde pinched his nose. "Great...that means that we're going to be swarmed by reporters soon...we need to get back to the house, quickly."
"Wait! I haven't seen mom yet!" exclaimed Haruka, and seeing the worry in her eyes, Minato put a hand on her head.
"I know you want to see if she's okay, but right now no one is allowed into her room. Her arm is really messed up, and Tsunade is doing her best to fix her. If you were to barge in right now, all you'd do is distract her from her job. You want Anza to be all healed up as quickly as possible, don't you?"
"Yes...but...she needs me…"
"I don't doubt that, but you're going to have to be patient until tomorrow, okay? Can you do that for me?"
The small kunoichi-in-training slumped her shoulders in defeat. "Okay grandpa...I will…but as soon as I learn when the visiting hours are, nothing is going to stop me from getting here!"
He smiled. "I knew that was going to be your answer. Well, come on then. Our business here today is done." The mercs nodded, and he teleported them all back to the house, completely avoiding any reporters that could be outside the hospital.
-the next day-
When Fu started to stir in her bright green bed, she expected to hear the alarm clock to go off at any moment, as on rather important days, her next-door neighbor had a habit of sneaking in and setting it, even after she traumatized him with the rapid increase of hot water while he was still in the shower. But it never happened, and that woke her up just as well. 'Okay, something's wrong. When Anza was being treated last time, he made sure to wake me up before he got in the shower. That means I have to go check on him…' She reluctantly threw the covers off and stood up, stretched a little bit to get the rigidity out of her back, and left the bedroom in her pajamas. Taking a right, she was at Sasuke's closed door in no time. 'Closed? Fifty-fifty chance that he's awake, then...nah, he's always awake by this time. Hasn't missed a single day except for that one time he got sick...actually, nevermind, he worked through that too...okay, back to what I was doing.' The teenage genin opened the door just a crack, and she spotted the Uchiha sitting up on the bed, head in his hands. "Heeeey…"
"Hey Fu. What are you doing in here?"
She took that as an invitation to come in, and sat with him on his bed. "Weeelll...I'm just so used to you waking me up when things like Anza being in the hospital happen that I expected you to do the same thing today, but nope. So I wanted to see what you were doing...and it seems like you're entering depression."
He chuckled. "No, not yet. Just got caught up in thinking."
"About what?"
"Anza's future."
"What are you talking about? She's back home, where she belongs! Everything's on the up and up now! You don't need to think about that!"
"On the contrary, I think I do...yesterday, all of Konoha learned that she was back, and that was after she blew up a part of the Academy and took two of our own shinobi hostage. Sure, she returned them as soon as we showed up, but the people...are not going to be happy about that one bit. Then take in account that she's tried to kill Minato, the goddamn Hokage, twice, her mother, all of her friends, and even you once, and successfully killed an Anbu in cold blood before fleeing the village. That last one alone is technically a life sentence. Everything...isn't looking good for her, at least in the sense of what the people might want."
"When you put it like that...yeah, it doesn't…" She moved her hand to be on top of his. "...but we'll clear that bridge when we get there. That's all we can do."
The raven-haired boy sighed. "Yeah...I guess you're right. We've got to worry about her getting out of that coma first. Shall we go downstairs, then?"
"Yes, I need some breakfast. Hey, do you think-"
"No, I'm not going to cook you anything. Not unless Kushina asks me to help her prepare something for everyone."
"...one day I will get you to do that."
"Oh? How?"
"I have a few ideas…"
Sasuke shook his head as he stood up, with a smirk on his face. "Well, good luck with that." He left his room, and the girl trailed after him.
-later-
"So...Haku's in there, too? What did he do to end up in the hospital? He's usually the one who avoids most injuries." asked Akira while everyone was waiting for Sasuke to finish up his shower.
"Chakra exhaustion. He did a jutsu with Anza called...Ragnarok, I think, and it was huge. If I hadn't put up a shield, we'd all be dead." answered Kushina.
"Ragnarok? I...have no idea what that is, but I do remember her saying that she was always working around the clock trying to figure out new collaborations with him, so it must be one of them."
Haruka nodded. "It is, one of the first ones they created together, in fact. I wasn't allowed to see how it worked though, only the aftermath...she said it was too dangerous for anyone to be near it when they cast it, even Fluffy. It must have been awesome to see…"
"It was...interesting...to say the least. Who knew lava could freeze and become thousands of tiny, deadly blades?" mumbled Mito.
"Aw man...I want to see that…"
"No...you don't."
"I mean from a safe distance, of course. I'm not dumb! I know that nearly all their combos are lethal!" A dried and dressed Sasuke entered the living room, ending all current conversations.
"Ahh...nothing like a good shower to get rid of the stress of yesterday...we ready to go?"
"I believe so." said the tachi-wielder, and everyone got up...except for the eldest Uzumaki.
"Mom? Aren't you coming with?" asked Mito, getting Kushina to shake her head.
"No, I decided to just go there later when Minato gets out of work. Don't want him to be alone while he sees Anza so...out of it, you know?"
"Oh. I...guess we'll see you when we get back, then."
She put on a smile. "Sounds good." The group of six took their leave, and settled on a brisk pace on their way to the hospital. Haku and Anza weren't going anywhere fast.
"I just realized something...you never told us if you knew why sensei went absolutely bonkers and decided to fight anyone that showed up at the valley." said Noboru.
"That would be because we don't truly understand it either. She told us, but it...just doesn't make sense with everything we know about her…" said Mito.
"Well, can you tell us?"
"In a bit. We're going to see Haku, he might be able to clear things up on their side."
He huffed, but relented. "Fine…" After a few minutes, they made it to the surprisingly clear entrance and made their way inside, stopping at the desk.
"Can I help you?" asked the man sitting on the other side.
The blonde stepped up. "Yes. We would like to know what room a patient is staying in so we could go see them. They just checked in yesterday, you see."
"Do you have a name?"
"Uh...his name would be Haku. He's a man, but looks and sounds like a woman."
The receptionist got to work on his computer, and lightly nodded after a while. "Ah, yes, Haku. He's currently staying in room 106, on this floor. Take the hallway to your right, and you'll find him eventually."
She smiled. "Thank you." Mito led them through the large building, and once they found the right door, she opened it, revealing a neatly covered bed with no patient on it. That would be because Haku was looking out the window, sitting on a chair that was seemingly moved to it's new position. "Hello Haku."
He didn't change his gaze to look at her. "Hello Mito. I figured at least one of your team were going to visit me, but I didn't think it would be so soon."
She glanced at the three apprentices for a second before taking a step inside. "Nice view?"
"No, I'm just watching the people go by. It's a little game I like to play, trying to figure out somebody by only how they look and how they walk."
"Ah. So...how's your stay been so far?"
"Quite good. The staff are...pleasent, and the care is exceptional despite me being an illegal mercenary-nin that has just tried to kill the Hokage. You would think that someone would take it upon themselves to poison me in my sleep, but obviously that never happened. Maybe you're village is too lax when it comes to people like me?"
"No, that's just how the people here are. They heal the patients, not kill them. That duty falls onto the higher ups."
"I see...well, I should stop being rude and turn around. I'm sure you didn't come here for idle chit-chat." He got up, and as he turned to spin the chair around, he spotted his three teammates. "Haruka? Noboru? Akira? Is that you?"
The tiny ball of energy tackled him, giving him a hug. "Yes! It's us! Why wouldn't it be?"
"Hm...so things aren't what they seem...but I'm glad to see that all of you are okay." He hugged her back. "Anza and I were worried."
"Worried about what?" asked the flame-colored one.
"Everything. You see...we heard that all of you were being held up in prison."
The little Uchiha let go of him, and all three of them went wide-eyed. "What?!"
"It's true. Your teacher...did not take that well. Remember what I told you before we took that job in the Land of Sound? Where we first met these people?"
Akira nodded. "Yeah...I think so...didn't you say that if anything were to happen to Haruka, it wouldn't be good?"
"Yes. I don't think you need my help in finding out the rest." He turned to three Konoha shinobi. "Before you ask me the question I think you're going to ask me, answer one of mine first: was Daku summoned?"
"The chimera? Yeah. Almost killed Gamahiro before he could go back home." said Fu, getting him to nod.
"Sounds like him...and after beating Anza, as I know you did, what happened to him?"
"Minato sent him to the toads to keep an eye on him."
He sighed. "Good, at least he's not dead...alright, I'm done. Ask me what you will."
"Okay...well, the main reason we're here is because of that little rumor you heard, and we want to find out the truth behind it. Not one of our shinobi should have said that they were locked up, because they never were, so who told you such a blatant lie, and why would Anza believe it?" asked Mito.
"Truth be told...I don't know either. After we cleared a bandit camp, he showed up as we were walking away."
"So who's 'he'?"
"...someone who shouldn't...no, can't...be alive...Madara Uchiha."
"No...you're lying…" said Sasuke, and Haku shook his head.
"That's what he called himself. We didn't get anytime to see if he was being truthful, however, as then a second, dual-colored man joined him, and upon seeing him, Anza got ready to defend herself. That never came to pass, as instead, they told her what I've told you...that the students she loved so much were suffering here at the hands of her father. At first, she didn't believe them, then the strange one did...something...and then she lost all sense of reason as she went into a rage I never saw her in before...so calm that a leaf wouldn't move off the top of her head, but I knew better...she was so far beyond anger that she couldn't feel it anymore. Then...we attacked Konoha, and you know the rest."
"Do you think she was being controlled somehow?"
He looked down. "I...don't know. She seemed to be the same as always, but…she had this look in her eyes that said everything was about to change. For better or worse, I don't know, but the current situation points to the latter." The ice user sighed, and he looked back at their faces. "If I'm not mistaken, I don't think there's anything more to discuss. If you want to know more about those men, you'd have to get it out of Anza."
"Not the easiest thing to do when she hates our guts and is still out through a loop...but thank you for your time, Haku." said the Namikaze.
"It's my pleasure. I'll be waiting here for someone to take me to prison." They said their goodbyes, and started their trek to their next stop...Anza. It wasn't that hard to find her, Mito could easily locate her by the chakras of Chomei, Son, and Isobu, and when they got to her room, the door opened, and a nurse walked out, stopping once she spotted them.
"Oh! You must be here to see how Anza's doing!"
The blonde twin nodded. "Yep. Has...she woken up at all?"
"No, sadly. I fear Tsunade is right about her being in a coma. I'm sorry, but there isn't more we can do until her arm is completely healed and the room is properly contained, because based on her record...she's a flight risk the moment she regains consciousness."
"Right...I understand…"
"Well, I have to go. Tsunade should be back in a minute, and if she starts to stir at all before then, let someone know."
"We will." The staff member left them with that, and the group went inside, where the missing-nin slept, with her chest barely moving as she breathed. Her left arm was in a temporary brace that reached all the way to the torn sleeve of her coat, probably to keep all the bones in the same place while Tsunade or any other medical-nin weren't there, but what all of them noticed the most...was how calm her face was. "She...looks so peaceful."
Sasuke nodded. "Yeah...nothing like how we last saw her..."
"So full of rage...I've only seen her that pissed twice. Once when we escaped from Taki, and the other when I told her I didn't want to be learn how to be a ninja. It...makes me angry to think that someone played with her mind like that. Whoever did that deserves to die." finished the amber-eyed kunoichi, and everyone nodded in agreement.
"D-do you think she can hear us?" asked Noboru after a second of silence, getting the Uchiha heir to shrug.
"I don't know. When I snuck in that one time, she seemed to hear it, as she woke up, but I think that was a coincidence. Why? You think that if you say something, you might be able to wake her up?"
"At this point...it can't hurt to try, right?" The budding sword-master went to his sensei's right side, and took a breath. 'Oh god, this is going to feel awkward...' "Hey Anza-sensei...it's been awhile, huh? You're still as pretty as ever, even while your entire left arm looks like it got put in the blender. Must be because of your parents. They are two good looking people...speaking of your parents...they are insanely worried about you. Seeing you like this...it's tearing them apart. It's tearing me apart, and I haven't even known you as long as they have! Sensei...you have to trust me on this, they do love you. Everytime they speak about you, everytime they watch the same Chunin Exams you took part in...I see a twinkle in their eyes. They are proud of you; proud of all your accomplishments...and most of all, they just want you back. But if you don't take my word for it, fine. I mean, who would? I'm just some guy from a far off village with barely any experience about the real world or with emotional speeches...but I hope you wake up, and not just from your nap." He moved back, and took a seat in one of the three chairs. "That didn't work, did it?"
Akira shook his head. "No. That means I wouldn't do any good, either…" Almost immediately, the eight year old took the spot that Noboru was just at, and grabbed ahold of Anza's hand.
"Mom...I know you can hear me...please, you've gotta wake up...you can't lay down when there is so much you still have to do! Isn't that one of the first things you taught us? S-so you have to set a good example, and this isn't one! You can't let one fight beat you! Wake up, and show that you're not out of the game yet!" Her grip tightened, and she couldn't stop her emotions from running wild. "Please...y-you have to w-wake up...you need to s-see that we're okay, and living just f-fine...grandpa never threw us in jail, I s-swear...you n-need to see the truth...please…" As Haruka began to sob, the rest of them realized...Anza may be there on that bed, but mentally...she was no where near them, as not even the tears of her daughter could make her move.
A.N.: And now Anza's back in Konoha...knocked out to next year, but she's back. Will she ever wake up? And if she does, how will she react to everyone around her?
EteDesp Jirachi of Frost: It's not as big a plot hole as you think. Remember, they were born on the same day as Kurama was forced to attack Konoha. Minato, as it's leader, would have to make sure that everything got repaired while at the same time had to deal with issues concerning the Uchiha, who were being blamed for the attack, the people killed in the attack got buried, the people who were hurt got compensated, and so on. During all this chaos in the office, it can't be too much to think that even he would forget something like that. After all, he's still just a human. Of course, Anza would still call bullshit...
