Team Disaster: Origins Of Infamy
Summary: From the day they met to the day they made history, snippets in the lives of Konoha's infamous Team Disaster, their nearest and dearest and the devastation and chaos they cause.
Fire, Water, Wind
Part 6
Minato didn't feel comfortable leaving their Daimyo's care in Haku-kun's and Zabuza-san's protection, but the Water Daimyo had hired more ninja and they were going to escort him back home anyway, while Madara-kun had apparently convinced the two to ditch Gato and Kiri and just come to Konoha with them. The meeting was ruined, anyway, and the Daimyo have decided to convene again at a better political time when Akatsuki wasn't attacking the strongest hidden village on its own turf, which was really only a dozen or so miles away. But despite however uncomfortable and unhappy he was to leave their clients, he would never forgive himself if he didn't return to Konoha now, when they were needed most, when it was under attack and Team Disaster would be a great line of defense. Not when Menma and Kushina were there.
"Thank you for allowing us this concession, Daimyo-dono," Madara said respectfully, bowing deeply with his head facing the ground in utter respect, and the Daimyo surprised them all by giving back a shallow bow of his own.
"Of course, Madara-kun. We would never make you stay when Konohagakure, your home, your people, need you so. I expect news from you, though, when everything settles. You must survive, after all."
"Of course, Daimyo-dono." The man nodded and left to finish packing, leaving his attendants, daughter and adviser to say their goodbyes as they see fit.
Kyoko-himesama and her handmaid, who seem to have gotten rather close to Madara-kun over the last week, came with somber looks on their faces, the Daimyo's daughter once again surprising them all when she bowed respectfully to the Uchiha heir. "Thank you for your kindness and protection, Madara-sama. Please excuse me if I have caused you any inconvenience in your time as my bodyguard."
"Nonsense, Kyoko-himesama," Madara-kun replied, waving off the formalities in a way a person of his status should not do with a princess. "I thought we became somewhat friends." The girl smiled and Madara-kun returned it. "I'm sorry you didn't get a chance with Gengetsu."
"Don't be so sure," the noble lady grinned in a not at all ladylike manner. "Playing damsel in distress until the last moment when you knee someone in the groin hard enough to make them topple over definitely catches attention. He promised to write. He definitely kissed my hand in a way that has nothing to do with treatment of nobility."
Madara-kun shared her grin and the two said their goodbyes quietly with a promise extracted from Madara-kun to come visit the court more often since they obviously didn't know each other well enough if they were missing out on a friendship like this. Team Disaster was left to stare in incredulity as the Daimyo's daughter left with a wave, leaving only her handmaid behind. The poor girl blushed beat red every time she tried looking Madara-kun in the eyes. Minato felt almost bad for her. The girl had obviously had a crush on him even before she saw the usual Uchiha good looks. He'd like to give her some time to figure out what she'd want to say but they were in a hurry.
Madara-kun had sent Izumi-san to deliver a message to Tsunade-sama almost three days ago, on the night of the attempted attack on Kyoko-himesama, and the ninneko had only now returned with these news, beaten up and tired and shaken enough to scare Madara-kun with a message that chilled all four Konoha nin to the bone.
As much as he would love to give young love a chance, Konoha needed them more.
"Hi-kun- I mean, Uchiha-san- Uhm,, no, um, it's Uchiha-sama! Uchiha-sama, I, um, must confess that I ... In the short time we've known each other ... I mean ... You are Ryukyu-sama's son, so you probably will come to the capitol again ... And I- I ... If you would let me, I would wait for you!" The girl had ended up pressing her eyes tightly closed and bracing herself as though for a blow. Minato took note that Madara-kun looked flabbergasted by the not so subtle offer even if the most important thing was not openly said and Minato had to wonder what the response would be, for a single moment forgetting about the urgency of the situation back home in the face of such drama-
When Tobirama-kun spoke up, voice gruff and unmovable, unrelenting, eyes sharper than usual. "He has someone already waiting for him." Minato was unashamed to say he gawked. Hell, Mito-chan and Izumi-san, who had yet not left and refused to leave anytime soon by the looks of it, gawked. Kyoko-himesama's handmaid looked like she wanted to burst into fire or to have the earth swallow her as she hastily said her apologies for assuming and of course someone as handsome as Uchiha-sama would have someone waiting for him, please excuse her, she had to attend to Kyoko-himesama.
Madara-kun seemed to be red in the cheeks as he looked inquisitively at Tobirama-kun, who only lifted his chin as though daring Madara-kun to oppose the- the claim. Minato forgot far too often that his youngest student took more after his Hatake mother than his Senju father, despite the looks and the brains he had so obviously inherited from his mother's clan.
The Uchiha's cheeks only got redder and they all flinched when Akatane-sama burst out into deep belly laughs, coming over and harshly patting the boy on the shoulder. "Well, nephew mine, it would seem that there will be more than shinobi-related things for you to fill me in on once you come to visit. Do try to convince Ryu-chan to come as well. I have indeed missed her so. Until next time, Mada-kun."
"Don't call me that, Setsuna-jiisan," Madara-kun seemed to mutter out as a learned response, not even completely aware of it as he continued staring incredulously at the Senju, who was now staring back at him just as incredulously, like the rest of their team. The Uchiha scowled. "What? There's no way Kira-sama didn't tell you! She was the first one outside of the Uchiha to learn about it!"
"We should probably talk about all of that later," Minato said almost on autopilot, recognizing a bicker-fest in the making during a time sensitive mission. That, at least, seemed to snap all of them out of their stupor, for which he was grateful for. He shook his head and focused on the problem at hand. "We need to go back to Konoha and help."
According to Izumi-san, Konoha had been attacked while she was waiting for Tsunade-sama to write a response just the morning after they sent their report about the attempted attack and set up to Wind's Daimyo. It was swift, out of the blue and relentless. Ero-sensei, Tsunade-sama, Ryukyu-sama, Kira-sama, Kushina, Mikoto-san, Sakumo, Fugaku and numerous other jonin and chuunin had tried to defend the village and evacuate the villagers, with the help of stronger younger ninja like Hashirama-kun, Izuna-kun, Touka-chan and Hikaku-kun, who could survive rougher battles to the death have all been fighting since then and only a few of them were left standing. Izumi-san had been injured in the first attack and had only a few hours ago been deemed well enough to come get her Uchiha and his teammates.
Katsuyu and Gamabunta and various other boss summons were in play but the man attacking Konoha, the Leader of the Akatsuki, apparently, was much too powerful. Minato wasn't sure why Ryukyu-sama wasn't summoning her infamous kyuchiyose, but she probably has a damn good reason.
Whatever it was, it didn't matter at the moment.
Team Disaster was needed.
"Ready?" He asked his students and they each nodded gravely, Madara-kun shifting Izumi-san to his shoulder so he can better prepare for the fight they are about to enter.
They were tired, he knew. Fighting four Akatsuki, two pseudo Jinchuriki and whoever else had come at them had taken a toll on them. The resonance had unsettled Mito-chan, Madara-kun had been forced to fight Mangekyo Sharingan with the regular Sharingan for a while after another fight beforehand and Tobirama-kun had spent most of the fight in Sage Mode. He himself was also tired but they were shinobi and they were endure, preserve. They can still fight. They can still protect their loved ones and Minato kind of doubted it that any one of them would allow this attack to go unpunished.
"Let's go then."
"Hai!"
00000
Kira was at the last dredges of strength, leaning against a piece of debris as she carefully cradles her pierced-through-by-one-of-those-strange-chakra-suppressing-black-rods best friend protectively and looks on helplessly watches as their children fight for them when reality shatters in a flash of yellow light and four presences appeared rather near her. The Lady Senju couldn't nor would hold in her laugh of utter relief when she saw who it was.
The past couple of days were a disaster. Konoha had been under siege and it had only been a siege because of Hashirama and Izuna joining in the fight with their seriously overpowered jutsu when even the two Sannin had not been enough. As soon as the boys and their cousins took over the main battle ground, Tsunade-sama had returned to healing their shinobi so Konoha could continue to fight while Izuna's Kaminari and Hashirama's Senpo Mokuton: Shin Susenju kept the Akatsuki leader back.
Pein, as he had introduced himself, had a problem with the current world order and planned on changing it in such a way that his organization controlled the world, achieving peace through war, or some such ideal. Kira had honestly not cared because she was a grieving single mother and widow and only had two out of four sons remaining. War cut down children like grass and she would not lose her Hashirama and Tobirama. Ryukyu had agreed, of course, and would have obliterated Pein had he not pinned her with three strange black rods that blocked her chakra and disabled her to summon Ryujin-sama.
It said a lot about how Ryukyu was handling her losses and this situation if she was willing to involve Ryujin-sama in what may as well be war when she had always sworn she would never summon him to a battlefield unless circumstances were end-of-the-world dire.
They might as well be.
Pein, or whatever his true name might be, was abnormally powerful and, worse of all, seemed to possess a doujutsu that only the Uchiha had known of and even they had thought it to be more Kekkei Mora than Kekkei Genkai, more legend than fact. The Rinnegan came with some seriously overpowered abilities and this Pein had had who knows how many years to master them all. His fighting style had changed drastically since the last time Jiraiya-sama had seen him - though he had called him by a different name - since he had been the man's student. He was an orphan from the Second Shinobi World and he and his friends had dreamed of peace. Jiraiya-sama sure as hell seemed rather incredulous by how he had turned out to be like this.
The fighting had tired and worn them out thoroughly and they were starting to falter. Touka and Hikaku had no more energy nor strength to fight, too injured, too drained even with pills and healing by Katsuyu-sama. Jiraiya-sama was pinned down like Ryukyu, only he had managed to do quite a bit of damage, even destroying one of those bodies with which Pein fought so only five remained.
Except, correction, there came another one. Bugger.
But Kira found she wasn't even all that annoyed - maybe she didn't have the strength to be? She'd fought as much as she could before she was placed on protecting the pinned ones from any stray attacks - because it won't matter. Not now. Not when her Tobirama had come to help his anija and his friends were there to fight with him, too.
She got worried, though, when she noticed that they were battle-worn as well, that they had fought recently enough that their clothing was still dirty and rumpled, hair messy and sooth on their faces. They were uninjured, of course, though that could easily be as much that they were incredible iryo-nin as skill in battle. And Kira wasn't much of a sensor but they felt strong and energized enough to continue fighting. But she was a mother and she still worried.
"Kaa-san!" Tobirama spotted her first and all four of Team Disaster ran over to her and the pinned, by now unconscious and rather sickly looking Ryukyu. Madara was by his mother's side in a second, scanning her with a knowing worry that honestly unsettled the white haired woman. Why would Madara know anything about these rods? Why does Mito look like she was also familiar with them!?
"Don't touch it," the Uchiha and Uzumaki said together when Minato-kun went to try and yank the things out and that confirmed Kira's unhappy suspicions. They knew. Somehow, at some point, these two had encountered these things and they knew.
"Mito, make a Kage Bunshin and pull it out the same way you had done with Madara," Tobirama instructed but Madara stopped the kunoichi before she could even bring her hands together.
"As much as it pains me to leave my Kaa-chan like this, we can't risk Mito falling unconscious due to the backlash now. None of us has the time needed for recovery from that and there are more immediate dangers and things to worry about. Kaa-chan is strong. She'll last a little bit longer. She can wait. We need to stop that fucker before everything and everyone of the village is destroyed."
None of them looked happy by that decision but Team Disaster never argued, one of the many reasons they were scarily competent and deserving of the reputation they garnered. "We need a plan," Minato-kun said gravely and Kira watched them practically huddle as they discussed strategy. It felt like somewhat of a privilege to have front row seats to watching these legends in the making in action. Or preparation for action, anyway. "Madara-kun, Mito-chan, what can you tell us since you're familiar with this guy?"
"We're not," Mito refuted immediately, scowling when Kira and Minato-kun gave her skeptical looks. "Look, some months ago, some strange bird like thing had scooped Madara right off the ground out of nowhere and carted him off to Amegakure. I followed and with Kurama-san's immense help, we saved him from those same rods but it had created such imbalance in my chakra system that it practically knocked me out instantly and we only got away because Madara managed to use Hiraishin despite his chakra having been pinned previously for a questionable number of hours. Cats from Sora-Ku brought us back to their city for protection." The cat on Madara's shoulder nodded to confirm this. "Tobirama already knows this story since he met up with us in Sora-Ku once he returned from his little stint with the snow leopards in the animal realm. We don't actually know anything about that guy expect that he feels like an Uzumaki and considers himself and is considered by others in Ame as a god."
"Now I can see why," Madara mutters to himself, gaining his teammates and Kira's attention. "That seems to be the Rinnegan from what I am seeing." He pointed casually to where Pein seemed to be trying to pin Izuna down but the younger Uchiha was deftly stepping out of the way with the ease of anyone who can predict movements like all the Sharingan users are capable of. Kagami, an older cousin of Ryukyu's boys, seemed to be helping him in staying unpinned. Kira didn't need to feel for Madara's chakra to recognize the same type of rage an overprotective Ryukyu radiates whenever a loved one is being put in danger by a foolish enemy. "The doujutsu is revered to have the power of a god, as far as records about it can say. The Sage of Six Paths sure as hell has been called a god for having them. Seeing as this guy seems to have put each of the Rinnegan's Paths into six separate bodies, we need to find the Naraka Path and destroy it. The King of Hell, no matter how little there is written about it, is most definitely the most dangerous one since it can extract souls and make more minions for him. We can't let that sit get close to Mito, their doubtless target."
"What are we looking for?" Minato-kun asked by way of acknowledging what Madara had just said and Kira couldn't help but stare. Yes, she knew from watching them train or just interact with each other that they don't operate the same way as all other shinobi teams do but she had never thought her inquisitive, ever curious son would not ask more questions before accepting something so easily. No shinobi accepts so little information before throwing themselves headfirst into a battle like this!
"Something ugly that looks like a monster, probably guarded by one of those ginger, piercing-covered bodies. Best bet would probably be a Sage Mode attack." Tobirama and Minato-kun nodded, already understanding that was to be a mission for one of them. "We need to focus on what could get those rods out except biju coated Kongo Fusa. Mito is much better at fighting with us than being knocked out to let others who don't know how we fight get in the way."
"Anija's mokuton might do the trick," Tobirama suggested, pointing to where Hashirama seems to be holding up quite well against one of the Paths. "He could create wines and branches with similar properties in suppressing chakra with his Sage Mode. And since they're not connected to him, it won't disrupt his own chakra flow, allowing him to continue fighting unaffected. You take his place fighting those fucked up animals and explain what he needs to do."
"My chakra is still wobbly from the resonance," Mito said grimly, obviously dissatisfied. "If I fight, I'll likely go into stages five or six of the chakra cloak and I'm not sure how well either Kurama-san or I will return from that. Losing control in a fight like this would not be wise. I'll be your backup."
Minato-kun nodded, pointing to the injured Jiraiya-sama and numerous other bodies strewn about. "You can still heal. Fix them up and then stay close to Hashirama-kun or Izuna-kun until your chakra settles. I'll find this King of Hell and deal with it. Tobirama-kun," the blond turned to Kira's (now) youngest son and she just knew he'll be getting the most dangerous part to play in these plans of their's. "You, in your Sage Mode, are by far the fastest and the strongest sensor of us. I know it might be asking too much, but I would like for you to try and find the ... Original body? The source? I don't know what to call it, but you need to find the true face behind Pein. You need to find where he is hiding and end it."
Kira reeled. "No! I forbid it! He is too young, Minato-kun! That is not a mission you send a genin out on!"
"Then I guess it's a good thing he's dressed as an ANBU," the Namakize said ironically but before Kira could protest or eviscerate him for daring to make such a joke at such a serious moment, Tobirama himself spoke up.
"Kaa-san, you need to trust me when I say I can do this." The look in his red eyes was unnerving. No one that young should look so old, so tired, so war-ready, so world weary. But Akatsuki had had a hand in his little brothers' deaths, in his father's demise. Had, apparently, kidnapped Madara, her younger son's one true north. Had attacked Konoha, his home, his family. He won't b budging on this.
"Take Kaida-sama with you." The snow leopard matriarch adored her young summoner and would let nothing happen to him, even if it cost her her life.
That, at least, seemed to be a concession Tobirama was willing to make. "I'll see you soon." Then, in a flash of whitish blue, he was gone, off to finish his mission. Whether he already knew where to look or if he was just finding a quiet place to meditate so he can properly extend his senses at a safe location, Kira didn't know but she hoped he'll return to her soon, healthy and whole. She wouldn't survive losing him or Hashirama as well.
"Why hadn't Ryukyu-sama summoned Ryujin-sama?" Minato-kun asked, almost absentmindedly, and the remaining Senju-Hatake sighed.
"Her pact with him has been originally made so that she would never summon him to war, because a creature of his age, wisdom and experience does not deserve to be so needlessly and so cruelly dragged into human stupidity. Ryujin-sama isn't a normal summon, Minato-kun. I don't know the details, but he does not belong to our world, to our world problems." Madara quietly nodded to confirm her words. "She was going to, though. It was a matter of life and death, an end-of-the-world kind of trouble. That asshole must have known about her reputation because he ensured she had no way of doing it. As soon as it looked like she was going to do it, he pinned her with these," she pointed to the chakra rods grimly with a glare directed to each and single one of them. "And she could no longer fight, let alone summon Ryujin-sama. She tried, of course - to fight, I mean. But she eventually succumbed to chakra depletion or exhaustion or I don't even know. All I know is that I was placed on protecting-the-pinned-ones duty and have been at it for a few hours now. I'm not Hashirama. I'm not Izuna-kun, who can continue fighting with a few food pills and some healing. We're not going to last all that much longer. Or, we wouldn't have, but now you're here."
"We'll deal with it," Mito promised, pure conviction in her voice, so assured of her and her teammate's abilities and power that Kira found herself relaxing because she believed her. "Hold up just a bit longer, Kira-sama. We'll deal with this mess. Just you wait."
"I'll leave it to you, then."