There's so much fighting in this chapter. Battles are always interesting to write. Also, Ookami means wolf I didn't realize that it was being autocorrected until now. When I reach chapter 25 or 26 I will go back and fix up chapters 16-26 before posting 27. The poll was changed to be for the next Naruto fic and several characters were put down for consideration. This poll will be kept up until December! So that means that this is a Hayate/OC fic! I hope you all vote on the poll for the next fic and when December arrives, or when I start that next fic, you'll know who it'll be with.
22
The smell of blood hit the three genin's noses as they rushed towards the stands and jumped up. They easily sailed over the railing and landed with ease. A kunai sent flying from Yuzuki stopped a suna nin from attacking Ino. The blonde gave her a nod of thanks before they rushed towards Hayate and Genma, who were in a fight with oto nin. Hayate turned and noticed the three coming towards them.
He moved as a juken put his opponent down and a kunai got Genma's. Both men seemed surprised but noticed that the three preteens were keeping an eye on the area around them. He was a bit relieved to see that they were unharmed. They did seem worried about a fight, but that was to be expected.
"We're awaiting orders," Yuzuki informed him.
"Right, most genin are to help with evacuating the city," He told them before looking at the blonde and bug user, "Ino, Shino, will you two do that?"
"Understood," Ino and Shino agreed, and Ino seemed to realize something, "What about Yuzuki?"
"She's good at genjutsu, and she can see the chakra system," He explained, "We'll have her find other shinobi within the crowd and send them your way."
The three broke off. Ino sent her cousin a worried look before getting a reassuring smile. Yuzuki took in a deep breath and activated her byakugan, she needed to quickly find all the shinobi in the large arena and disrupt the genjutsu surrounding them. She was quick as she found the first ones, Daichi and Eiji with an unknown girl. She broke the genjutsu on them and they looked around in confusion.
"Genin are to help evacuate the civilians to safety," She explained, "Any jonin or chuunin will be happy to point the way to you, be safe."
They nodded in understanding and they helped their female teammate out of the arena. Yuzuki didn't pay them any mind as she ducked a kunai and drew her tachi. She grimaced as a warm liquid hit her face. She easily pulled her sword free and began to search for her next shinobi. He was easily found and left to join the battle, the jonin didn't even need to be told what he had to do.
Ten shinobi and five kunoichi later found her starting to worry about how many troops suna and oto had. She had already dodged ten kunai in the five minutes it took her to find another kunoichi. She narrowed her eyes and cut down another oto nin that was in her way. She was fairly sure that Kakashi and the man in green spandex were keeping count of how many they took down. It was ridiculous, but it was harmless.
"Aren't you Genma's kid?" The kunoichi asked.
"Chuunin and jonin are to join the battle and genin are to help evacuate the civilians," She replied in a robotic manner, "Pardon me."
She let out a huff as she used juken on the heart of a charging suna nin. The kunoichi seemed taken aback by the twelve-year old taking down people easily ten years her senior. Her mouth hung open for a few seconds before she shook her head. She was a jonin, she shouldn't be that surprised by a genin genius.
"I'll watch your back while you wake up more of our comrades," The woman informed her.
"Thank you," Yuzuki said with a tiny smile.
The woman nodded and jumped up to gain the attention of a few suna nin. She would act as a distraction to pull the attention away from the preteen that was waking the other ninja up. It also allowed her to view the area around them with ease.
Genma watched as more nin went towards the newly awakened kunoichi and he wiped his face. He was sweating heavily, and he looked towards Hayate to see the man was doing the same. There had been more enemies than either had expected. He was sure that his kid had just left a trail while waking up the few jonin and chuunin she could find amongst the civilians. If it didn't seem like favoritism he would recommend her for promotion.
"She works fast under pressure," Genma said before tossing a senbon into another man's eye.
"It works in our favor," Hayate agreed before cutting a man down with ease, "Remind me to buy her some dango."
"The good kind with strawberries in it are her favorite," Genma informed him, "And I will hold you to that."
A wind attack came towards them and they jumped from the spot. They met up with Kakashi and Might Gai. The four easily took out the wind user before turning to see four more jonin and a chuunin join their ranks. Hayate looked around to see where the Yamanaka was and noticed she was freeing another shinobi. She had sweat going down her blood covered face. He felt the need to make this up to her, dango wasn't going to cut it.
A loud crash caught all of their attention, apparently a giant snake had been summoned and was rampaging through the village. Hayate and Genma made matching looks of disbelief and slight worry. The Hokage was trapped within a purple barrier doing his own battle against Orochimaru. Genma reacted to an oto nin running their way, they hadn't sensed them at first. A yellow blur, well more like a flash, went past the nin and they fell. The scarf that was on their head was removed showing a young woman.
"What the hell was that?" Gai asked as he kicked a nin down.
"That was probably Yuzuki," Genma answered, "She probably saw him and figured it would be faster to get to the other side of the arena that way."
"You taught her the Hiraishin?" Kakashi asked, his tone accusatory.
"You taught the Uchiha the Chidori?" Genma turned on him.
Gai looked between the two and, as much as he adored his best friend and rival, couldn't help but agree with Genma. Sasuke was one of those people that could possibly turn that attack against a comrade and not care. Hayate stayed quiet and watched to see where that blur had gone. Yuzuki appeared and landed hard on one of the seats. She was breathing heavily and when she stood he could see her legs shaking.
This was costing her serious chakra to wake up all the shinobi in the area. He watched as she took down an enemy with her sword, her form was strong enough that she could still fight while exhausted. She was being overtaken by suna, she ducked an attack from one man and used the senbon in her mouth to take him out. She hit him in the eye, what was with her and Genma hitting them in the eyes? The other nin went down due to her tanto.
"Kid, you going to be all right?" The kunoichi from earlier asked as she took a stance against her back and helped fight off the enemy nin.
"I'm starting to run a bit low on chakra, but there's so many shinobi still stuck under the genjutsu," Yuzuki answered, "Thank you, for having my back."
"Of course, you're a comrade," The woman said as she stabbed a kunai into the throat of a man and kicked his body towards a woman, "The names Ibe Mai."
"You probably heard my name during my match, but it Yamanaka Yuzuki," Yuzuki introduced herself with a tiny smile.
"Look alive," Mai warned, and she watched the twelve-year-old cut a man down without even looking.
Right, the byakugan. She was using it more than she had in quite a long time. It was tiring her out, so she deactivated it to save her chakra. She could still sense the higher level shinobi, but finding the genin around civilians was a bit difficult to manage.
"She made a friend," Genma sounded amused at that.
Hayate rolled his eyes and noted the suna jonin instructor moving around and taking down konoha nins. He felt his jaw clench as the man's dark eyes turned towards Yuzuki and Mai. He moved quickly and hit the man in the arm with his sword. The man seemed surprised that he would attack him on his own. Genma had a feeling that it was personal, but he wouldn't step in until the other man's life was in danger.
Sakura looked around at all the death and destruction around her with wide eyes. She ducked at a jonin from Konoha took down a man from oto. She felt the blood splattering on her face. That was all she could smell; all she could feel. Her body began to tremble and a slight hit to her head caught her attention.
"All genin are to leave the arena and help evacuate the civilians," Yuzuki informed her as Mai happily threw a man at another konoha nin, "You'll be out of the heat of battle and safer, Sakura."
"Why are you still here?" Sakura asked as the girl tossed a senbon in a direction the pinkette couldn't see.
"I was given orders to help break out the shinobi in the arena, you're a genjutsu type as well right?" Yuzuki asked.
"Y-yeah," Sakura nodded.
"Then join our group and help me get some more comrades out to fight," She ordered, "We need all the genjutsu users we can get."
Sakura blinked at that before nodding. She was getting a chance to do something, she didn't even care that it was an order from the taller girl. Mai smirked at the two rivals, it was starting to look like another Kakashi and Gai pairing. One would always have a disadvantage but would pull through in the end and become a splendid shinobi, the other would be as well if not a bit stronger.
"Right, some of the shinobi are in civvies," Yuzuki said, "You'll have to sense them apart from the civilians surrounding them."
Civvies? If Sakura didn't know any better she'd think that was a slur used towards the civilians. She moved towards a nearby shinobi and started to release the genjutsu on the man. She remembered what Yuzuki had told her and informed the man that if he was a genin to help evacuate civilians and if he was a higher rank to join the fight. They had made it around the arena by the time Kakashi had pinpointed the pinkettes position.
"Sakura, I'm going to give you a mission," Kakashi told her, "Wake up Naruto and Shikamaru and go after the three suna genin, this will be an A-rank mission."
"Good luck, Sakura," Yuzuki told her before turning to Mai, "Ready?"
"Let's go take some more of those bastards down," Mai grinned.
Yuzuki gave her a look at that before letting out a slight sigh. The two women moved in unison and kicked a man in the face. He dropped due to the double points of injury to his skull. It didn't help that one of the kunoichi used chakra to enhance her hits. They quickly made their way through the enemy nin and rejoined a few of the konoha nin they had helped wake up.
Hayate and the suna jonin were fighting. He wasn't going to let the man get a hold of his sword, and the other man wasn't letting him get close. He used kawarimi to get out of the way of a wind attack and appeared behind him, landing a kick to his face. The man went flying and he charged with his sword, getting him in the shoulder. He had a flashback to his death, and he released the katana before jumping away from a wind blade. He landed and then had to look out for two forms running in front of him. He spared a glance to see his student and Ibe Mai, a jonin who could be just as crazy as Anko and was a few years younger than him.
"Yuzuki," Mai called.
"Right!" Yuzuki nodded.
She grabbed onto the older woman and easily launched her towards an oto kunoichi. Hayate knew the other woman was dead just from the kunai that protruded from her head. He didn't even want to know how they were able to get to be on such wavelengths with one another. He had more important things to focus on.
"Yuzuki," He called out and the girl appeared next to him, "Can I borrow your tanto?"
"Yeah, go for it," She handed it over to him before catching a kunai and returning it to the sender, "Be careful, Hayate."
She sent him a meaningful look at that, and his expression softened. He then returned his focus towards the suna jonin that was breathing heavily and holding onto his shoulder. He was annoyed when his katana was tossed to the side as if it was trash, but pushed it down and got ready to hit the man in a more vulnerable area. He would hit him in the stomach, where it would be difficult to survive. The two rushed at one another and he took a hit to his shoulder and simply stabbed the man.
He stared ahead as the suna jonin tensed up before stepping back. He seemed to think about something before using a hand sign and getting out of the arena. Hayate took the victory, he had revenged his own death. It was a weird feeling, but he was happy.
"Who the hell summons a giant frog in the middle of a village?" Yuzuki yelled out as the shadow of said frog reached them.
"Who the hell can summon a giant ookami?" Genma turned on her.
"You're a genius, Genma," She informed him with a grin.
She gauged how much chakra she had left. With having Sakura help her with the shinobi trapped in the genjutsu, and stopping her use of the byakugan, she had chakra to spare to call on Yosuke. She needed another helper to take down enemies. She bit her thumb with the sharpest teeth she had, and quickly performed the hand signs to summon her favorite summons. She blinked when a large Ookami, that wasn't Yosuke and it was too small to be Lupa-hime, appeared before her.
"So, you're the runt," The Ookami sniffed before reacting to an oto nin trying to stab it.
She, at least Yuzuki thought it was a she, bit the nin in two. She hadn't been expecting that of all things. She thought her and Mai were violent when taking down their enemies, but that was a whole new level. The Ookami shook her head in a proud manner before looking down at the dirty blonde with bright yellow eyes.
"Cute," The Ookami huffed, "I am Makoto, I was sent with a tiny pup for you but that should wait until the enemy has been taken care of."
"Right, Makoto-chan," Yuzuki smiled.
If Ookami could blush she was sure the large wolf would've done so. She got a tail hit to the head and she noted that this one had two tails. Her mind began to run the possibilities that her summons might be demons. Maybe Lupa had more than one and hid it, that would be a smart thing to do incase someone summoned her and then tried to seal her inside a person.
The fighting seemed to increase within the village as reinforcements arrived in the form of clan head and returning ANBU operatives. The Oto and Suna nins were surprised by the sudden morale shown to them and one received a punch to the face that sent him flying from a girl that barely reached his shoulder. Makoto finished off another man by tossing him like a chew toy. Few nin wanted to face the large glistening fangs that had saliva dripping from them.
"You're close to passing out," Makoto informed the genin.
"If I could take a break it'd be nice, but with the amount of attacks their doing it's impossible to get a breather," Yuzuki huffed, "I just need to increase my reserves even more after this."
"Good plan, runt," Makoto agreed.
She caught the genin when a jonin decided she was enough of a threat to take out. Hayate seemed to appear out of nowhere and take care of the man. He knelt near the summons and genin and watched as she caught her breath and wiped some blood from the corner of her mouth. She looked ready to drop and judging by her reaction time was starting to feel it.
"You going to be okay?" He asked her.
"I think so, I might sleep for a few days after this," She informed him before pulling him down as she released a kunai into a nin that was a few meters away, "Sorry about that."
He steadied her when she stumbled a bit as she stood up. He stood up as well and Makoto peered down at him before seemingly approving. She put her head down next to Yuzuki and mumbled something to her. The girl's cheeks turned a bright red before she physically closed the ookami's mouth. He wasn't even going to ask.
"I won't summon you again if you say that again," Yuzuki warned the ookami, who began to snicker.
"You should see your face," Makoto stated.
"Shut up."
Hayate snorted at the two as Genma reached them. They had a reprise from the fighting as the enemy retreated. Makoto dropped a small ball of grey fluff into Yuzuki's arms and the girl rushed to catch it. She then rushed to catch the scroll that was also dropped. Genma kept a keen eye out when the summons poofed into a cloud of smoke. He rushed forward as Yuzuki started to finally faint from pure exhaustion. He easily picked her up and carried her close as a familiar kunoichi appeared before them.
"Look at that, she finally ran out of juice," Mai said as she smiled at the genin, "She's a good kid, Genma be proud of her."
"Look at that, the whole village knows she's your kid," Hayate informed him with a sly smirk.
"And? She may not be his biologically, but he did a damn good job with her," Mai stepped up for the man before making a soft sound, "Put her on your back, we need to check on the hokage."
That was when they noticed that the barrier had finally fallen. Genma moved his kid to rest on his back and easily held onto her legs. He joined his fellow jonin on the roof of the building near the arena. Jiraiya was there and looking down at the body of his old teacher. A few of the shinobi around them were ones that Yuzuki had woken up before Sakura joined her. They spared the strange group a glance, some wondering when the kid had finally dropped, before turning back to the old man's body.
"Let's get him inside," Jiraiya said as a pair of chuunin moved to do just that and he moved towards Genma and Hayate, "So, this the kid I heard help gather the troops?"
"Yeah, kid woke quite a few of us up and told us to join the fight," A chuunin said his tone grave, "She was quite bossy about it."
Jiraiya shook his head at that, it sounded familiar. He watched as the two men were dismissed and several jonin were told to go out on patrol. They needed to round up any Oto and Suna nins that were still alive and take them into interrogation to figure out what the hell they were thinking. Genma took a route that brought them to the hospital.
"I don't know what blood is her's and what isn't," He informed a nurse as she rushed forward to take the girl from him.
"We're sure it's chakra exhaustion, but we'll check her over," She told him.
Genma stood there for a few seconds before heading after the woman. Hayate let an amused smile grace his face before a doctor noticed his shoulder and pulled him into a room to get his shoulder checked and fixed. He came out a half hour later and went to go find his friend and Yuzuki. He rolled his stiff shoulder slightly and looked around for the familiar head of brunette hair and senbon.
"Ah, Gekko-san," He looked around and saw that Ino was calling for him, "She's in this room."
He raised a brow at that and gave her a thankful smile before heading towards the room that was at the end of the hall. He knew that the hospital was going to be flooded with injured nin, and soon. No wonder Genma had taken her here first so she would be sure to get treatment for any injuries she had.
"She had a few cuts along her arms and one on her back, her shoulder was also dislocated," Genma informed him as he walked in, "How she didn't feel any of that I'll never know."
"All that matters is that she's alive," Ino huffed as she took a seat next to the other girls bed, "Hinata should be coming by later to visit her, but I don't think she'll wake up until tomorrow afternoon."
"Why's that?" Hayate asked.
"Her chakra was exhausted, but not completely gone," Genma explained, "She fought in that battle until she was sure that she was safe enough to drop."
"Is it the summoning that exhausted her so much?" He asked.
"No, it was her last few opponents that were above her level," Genma answered, "She went up against three jonin, the fourth one that went after her was the one you took care of."
"If she doesn't get promoted, I'll wonder what kami she pissed off," Ino commented.
Genma didn't want to point out that she had a whole stadium of jonin and chuunin that would vouch for her. Didn't want to mention that Ino had a chance as well since she had followed orders and helped with the evacuation, something her father was sure to be proud of. He just wanted to go home and have dinner with his kid and best friend. Huh, he wondered when he started thinking of Yuzuki's house as home. He decided that it didn't matter, but he should probably stop paying for his apartment if he wasn't using it.
Two days later found all of Konohagakure outside and in the rain. The face of the Sandaime on the hokage mountain had a crack in it, and everyone couldn't help but think it had been an omen that came too late. The shinobi were standing on the roof in front of the reason why. The Sandaime's coffin was before them and they all looked ahead in respect.
Naruto was fresh out of the hospital and he looked around to see who was there and who wasn't. He saw Yuzuki near him standing behind Konohamaru, a gentle hand on his shoulder to help comfort him. Her arm was in a sling and bandaged up. A small ball of fluff was sitting on her good shoulder, he watched as it moved before bright silver eyes looked at him and a tiny tongue made itself known.
Konohamaru was crying and the man next to him knelt to bring him into a hug while Yuzuki kept a hand on his shoulder. Iruka seemed surprised that she was that worried about the small boy, but realized that he needed the silent understanding. Her face was unreadable, but her eyes help sympathy and understanding towards the small boy.
"Iruka-sensei," Naruto quietly called, "What are humans? Can life be this simple?"
"When a person dies it doesn't matter if it's the past, present, or future, they lose everything," Iruka told him as he understood what Naruto meant, "He died fighting in a mission, death caught him unaware because life is that simple…it's like a dream it's all the same even if you haven't reached your goal, but everyone knows the most important thing is to die for a cause."
"Ne, Yuzu-nee-chan," Konohamaru gently tugged on her black shirt, "Will you miss the old man?"
"I think everyone will miss him, so many of us knew him for so long that he became the village grandfather that everyone adored," She answered as she crouched next to him.
"Family, friends, lovers, and all the other villagers are important people and they found him just as important," Iruka added on, "From the day we're born to the day we die, we start to feel that love is the most important thing, and that kind of relationship requires time to develop and that's why it becomes important."
"Yeah, but death is still painful," Naruto said.
"The Hokage wouldn't think it's painful," Kakashi said, surprising them, "Because we both agree that people should not hurt for no reason, but it's no use even if you do understand."
"Right, but not knowing is better than knowing," Naruto said with a slight smile.
Everyone placed Chrysanthemum's on the hokage's coffin before a final goodbye was said to the man. Hayate appeared at Yuzuki's arm and began to lead her through the crowd. She reached forward and grabbed onto the back of his shirt. He blinked and looked down at her and noted her expression. They met up with Genma and he seemed to realize what her expression meant, it probably hit a bit close to home. He ruffled her hair, messing the longs locks up, and they began to head to his apartment.
Her home had been destroyed by a giant snake and then completely reduced to rubble by a giant toad.
Genma felt a small hand grab his and he looked down to see her staring at the ground. He sighed at that and realized that she was looking for a similar comfort that she had been able to give to Konohamaru. He held her hand back and a small thankful smile appeared on her face.
"You need more sleep," He informed her.
"Right," She softly agreed.
Hayate let out a soft breath at that and looked up toward the grey sky, there was some sun peeking through, but it was slowly being covered again. It was going to start raining again. He heard a snuffling sound and looked down at the ball of fluff that sat on Yuzuki's shoulder. An Inuzuka had looked at it and decided that it was a female wolf pup, which seemed to have a genetic mutation of two tails. He felt bad for the pup, he knew how the village was going to react to it.
"I'm thinking beef for dinner," Genma said.
"We had beef yesterday," He countered, "Why not pork with some vegetables."
"You drive a hard bargain, Hayate."
"Shut up Genma."
He watched as an amused smile appeared in Yuzuki's face and he couldn't help but think things were going to get better.