Invictus

by Raging Smurf

When I died, I never thought I'd get a second chance at life, let alone another chance as the protagonist of an anime. Getting another chance in a world with Snake pedos, heart thieves, and peepers with doomsday capabilities wasn't a part of the memo. But I ain't selling my life cheap, that's for damn sure. Male OC NarutoInsert. Chapters 1-4 prologue.

38. Twilight of the Thunder God Pt 2

Part two is here and it covers the stuff not covered in part one. You think part one had all the action, think again.

I've written arguably the most graphic non-experiment POV of Orochimaru I've seen in a very long time.

Several POV shifts will occur. Multiple perspectives are needed because of all the shit going down.

(Again: Something happens, keep reading.).

(Warning: Graphic Shit Ahead).

Anyway, here it is.

---

I have to get out of here.

Orochimaru raced away as fast he could, an emotion that he hadn't experienced in a long time plaguing him.

Fear.

His chakra reserves were dangerously low, lower than they had been in decades.

Since Hanzo.

He had been 'killed' four times by a 13 year old boy in the course of his hunt.

He had failed to mark Sasuke.

He had been guided by hatred when he marked Naruto, wanting to hear his screams of agony for almost getting him killed.

But it wasn't over yet.

Sasuke was yelling and chasing after him, being reckless in wanting revenge.

Kabuto was trusted with knowing to withdraw when he needed to in his fight with the two females.

Based on how effective the three of them were in fighting him, Kabuto would need to be wary of the two.

Hatake was a very good teacher.

The Hyuga heiress was fast and agile, managing to close one of his tenketsu.

Sasuke was unsurprisingly better than any genin and most chunin, which was expected from the younger brother of Itachi.

But the blonde Uzumaki had him realizing something when she used a Rasengan, and Naruto tore his chest out with one.

Namikaze was their father.

It all made sense. The Yondaime was so sickeningly honourable, just like Jiraiya, that he wouldn't seal the Kyuubi in anyone but his own child.

Hatake was her Jonin Sensei, obviously training his Sensei's son as well, judging by the Chidori that nearly disemboweled him.

The little things came together, the pining looks Namikaze gave to the hyperactive, red haired seal mistress, the reciprocation from her, it all came together as he was racing through the trees, knowing the noise Sasuke was making would attract the ANBU, who still weren't here after the extended battle between him and Naruto.

"What did you do to him?!" The raven haired boy roared, blurring through hand seals and sending a fire jutsu flying at him.

Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu.

The ball of fire was very impressive for one his age, but wasn't on the level of Itachi or the elites.

Orochimaru avoided the flames by using a Kawarimi, seeing the tree behind where he had been get scorched down to the center, leaving it completely blackened.

Sasuke flung several kunai at him, embedding them into the tree behind him.

Orochimaru didn't expect it to have ninja wire connected, an oversight he chalked up to fatigue.

Sasuke yanked on the wire, wrapping it around him, and pulsed lightning chakra into it.

Fire and lightning? Better than I expected. Orochimaru thought as he felt his body spasm from the electricity.

Sasuke dropped the wire and blitzed towards him with a Shunshin, albeit less effective than Naruto's.

Orochimaru drew his sword from his throat and extended it out at Sasuke, not having the patience to test him further, especially with his chakra lower than he was comfortable with.

Sasuke's gorgeous eyes tracked the tip of his blade and avoided it, twisting to the side so the blade didn't pierce through his shoulder, instead cutting a gash across his arm.

The blade had some poison still left on it, but most of it had been used on Naruto. But whether he was resistant as an Uzumaki, or the less likely situation that he was immune to his preferred poisons, Naruto hadn't slowed down from his poison noticeably.

He just needed to keep retreating until Sasuke passed out.

Sasuke yelled in fury as he smashed his kunai into the Kusanagi, the metal sparking and screeching.

"I will kill you!" Sasuke raged, being pushed back as Orochimaru pushed down.

"You're friend could not kill me," Orochimaru looked into Sasuke's Sharingan, seeing two tomoe in each, "What hope do you have?"

Sasuke growled and shoved as hard as he could, flipping over him to avoid a stab and landed behind him.

Sasuke started slashing with his kunai, Orochimaru dodging most of the swings and deflecting the last one, knocking the kunai from Sasuke's hand.

"You are but a mote of dust compared to what Itachi was at your age." He backed away, knowing such a thing would be a vulnerable subject.

Sasuke's eyes widened for a moment, before he howled in fury and started attacking him ferociously with a series of punches and kicks.

Orochimaru blocked a punch with his forearm, shifted to avoid a kick, caught the next punch, and drove a kick into Sasuke's face.

Sasuke staggered back and Orochimaru flipped over him, catching his foot on Sasuke's head and sticking the sole of his foot to the boys hair with chakra.

He was still a few feet off the ground when he flipped his body harder and flung Sasuke by his hair away from him, his scream of pain being cut off when he hit a tree.

Orochimaru looked at the boy, a tuft of his hair still stuck to his sandal.

Orochimaru dropped the chakra feed to the limb and turned to leave, not being able to mark him and have enough chakra to shed if he needed to.

"If you wish to be strong enough to kill Itachi," He said, needing to wiggle bait in front of the boy, "seek me out and I shall make you great. The life of Rin is at stake if you are not strong enough to protect her."

Sasuke was obviously close to them if he growled at him with such vitriol when the three fought him.

Sasuke looked up and spat at his feet.

To hell with risk. Orochimaru thought, wanting Sasuke marked. If I get killed by the ANBU, Kabuto can pull me from an underling's curse mark. The look on the old monkey's face when he hears that I'm dead, but came back, will be worth it.

Orochimaru stretched his neck out and shot towards Sasuke, who was still dazed from the hit, the poison now taking effect, and from what he offered.

As he bared his fangs and shot towards Sasuke, he heard a deafening roar, the high pitched screeching of lightning, and a hair raising level of Killing Intent.

He twisted his head around as his neck was stretched and saw something that filled him with a fear that brought back images of years long passed.

Constant explosions. A blur of movement. Rain coming down in an endless torrent. A modulated voice coming through a breathing mask, mockingly giving the name 'Sannin' for surviving, but feeling like a stiff wind was all that separated me from hitting the ground in exhaustion.

Naruto was screaming at the top of his lungs, teeth elongated and whisker marks deeper, covered in a red chakra cloak that took the form of a fox, one tail trailing behind him.

Orochimaru barely avoided the blade of lightning in the Jinchuriki's hand from decapitating him, his would be killer crashing into him anyway.

He couldn't even see the boy move. His entire body was crackling with lightning and his limbs were spasming as he felt an ironclad grip grab ahold of his temples.

Orochimaru clawed at the two hands that were trying to crush his head, gritting his teeth in pain.

The caustic chakra of the Kyuubi was burning him, and whatever Naruto was doing with the lightning was causing his entire body to shake.

Orochimaru started driving punches into Naruto's chest, desperately trying to get him to let go.

He felt Naruto's ribs break, but they healed right as he drove another punch into his chest.

Die! Die! Die! Orochimaru was screaming in his mind, feeling his skull begin to crack from the pressure as he kept punching with a primal desperation.

He was wrong, so very wrong.

Naruto was the Jinchuriki, not his sister.

He could feel the mark begin to burn away from Naruto's flesh, the chakra cloak fluctuating like the seal was being disrupted by the mark.

He wasn't going to have either Sasuke or Naruto. He was too weakened to mark Sasuke or the girl now.

He could only try and escape.

He felt his teeth break and his left eye popped out of its socket in a spurt of blood, his skull cracking more.

His hands were beginning to fracture as he kept trying to punch Naruto, who had blood flowing from his mouth from the constant fracturing and healing of his ribs.

Orochimaru refused to get killed a fifth time. He would not stand for it.

The last thing Orochimaru saw before the sickening sound of his own head caving in drowned out all other sensation was the unnatural shift of colour in Naruto's eyes.

Going from yellow and slanted, to red, and finally to a familiar violet in a constant shift.

His skull gave in to the pressure of the fury of the Uzumaki Jinchuriki and his head exploded in a blast of blood, bone, hair, and brain matter.

---

Rin POV:

Sasuke had raced after Orochimaru once Naruto had got up from being thrown into the tree following his shout of warning on who was pursuing them.

Rin caught a glance of Naruto charging at Orochimaru and the two clashing, but turned to the new threat.

Kabuto was evidently a traitor and was helping Orochimaru.

She ran at him, Rasengan in hand, and tried to drive it into his chest.

He dodged the hit by a few inches and his fingers tapped her elbow, pain shooting up her arm.

She groaned in pain and was kicked to the side, Hinata taking her place and trapping Kabuto in a taijutsu fight.

Rin hissed as she got up and flexed her arm, not seeing any damage to her sleeve. No blood at all.

She made several Kage bunshin and ordered them to attack Kabuto, her tanto now laced with wind chakra.

Kabuto was being much more conservative in fighting Hinata, dodging her attacks or using a kunai.

Rin caught a flash of chakra from his off hand as he tapped one of her bunshin attacking him as the punch came in, the clone popping.

Rin got the feedback and it felt the same as when her elbow was hit.

He was using some kind of chakra technique to cause internal damage.

Kabuto avoided Hinata's hits and made a quick hand seal, sinking into the ground.

"Scatter!" Rin shouted to Hinata, the girl understanding the message and switching with a bunshin several meters away.

Rin disregarded how the feedback would feel and blurred through hand seals and tore her hand downward and let out a shout of anger.

Futon: Beast Tearing Gale Palm.

A claw of wind chakra tore across the ground and left a corridor of ground torn to shreds where Kabuto had sunk into the earth.

Rin tried to hear for movement under her, trying to tell whether Kabuto survived it.

She screamed when she felt her leg give out as something grabbed her ankle and cut something in it.

She fell over and saw Kabuto's hand on her leg, the older boy rising from the earth.

She kicked at him with her good leg and he grunted in pain, letting her go.

He ignored her and ran towards Hinata, who had been surprised by the intensity of the futon jutsu.

Kabuto clashed with Hinata, his chakra technique in use and was hurting her arms, based on the tightness in her expressions.

Rin put weight on her ankle and tried to stand, growling as it was wobbling horribly.

She saw Hinata's guard break and Kabuto drove a hit into her side, her friend screaming and falling down.

She pulled a shuriken and pulsed chakra into her hands, flinging it.

Kabuto didn't turn around.

Shuriken Kage bunshin no Jutsu.

The shuriken turned into over a dozen, Kabuto ducking under them, his glasses glinting as he looked at her.

He grabbed Hinata and pulled her up, the girl yelping in pain.

"Give up." He pointed a kunai at Hinata's throat, the girl looking frightened.

Rin was about to have a bunshin try something from behind, but Hinata winked, stomped on Kabuto's foot, a faint flash of blue appearing from her foot, and twisted her head to the left.

Kabuto yelled in pain and fell backwards, the kunai cutting into the shoulder of Hinata's jacket as her head shifted.

Rin charged at Kabuto to help Hinata, but the sound of a blood curdling scream caused all three of them to pause.

They turned and looked at where Sasuke and Naruto were fighting Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was running away, with Sasuke standing over Naruto, who was flailing on the ground, clutching his neck and screaming.

Sasuke then stood up and ran towards Orochimaru, yelling.

Rin felt her hatred rise up, the only object that could be an outlet for it was the four eyed traitor in front of her.

She screamed and dashed towards Kabuto, her ankle now healed.

She smashed her fist towards his head, wanting to turn it into paste. He ducked under it and backed away, wary of her.

Naruto was still screaming and she couldn't get the sound out of her head.

"Help Naruto." She said to Hinata, who's hands were glowing green as she pressed them to her side to help heal whatever Kabuto did.

Hinata ran as fast as her partially healed injury could allow, Kabuto trying to stop her. Rin dropped a kunai into her hand and flung it, coating it in wind chakra.

Kabuto pulled back to avoid the projectile screeching towards him, Hinata getting away.

"You can't beat me," He said, the leg Hinata stomped on was being treated gingerly as he circled her slowly, "Orochimaru-sama has what he wants."

"You'll have to kill me if you want to get away, traitor!" She snarled, a wind blade taking shape.

Kabuto smirked. "That can be arranged, Rin."

She charged at him as fast as she could, blurring by the scar in the ground left from her jutsu.

Her wind blade screeched against Kabuto's kunai, the two seemingly equal in physical strength, despite the difference in age and height.

Rin pulled her blade back and slash and stabbed swiftly, trying to hit an opening.

Kabuto knocked one aside, dodged one by shifting to the side, and ducked under the other, driving his kunai up towards her ribs.

She twisted and knocked the kunai away, kicking Kabuto in the chest from the opening.

He staggered back from the kick, breathing a little heavier.

She pressed him again and flung an exploded tag at him, the kunai whistling.

Kabuto switched with a large rock, the rock exploding in bits, and rushed towards her from the side, cutting through the bunshin that rushed him.

He had a look of determination on his face as he drove his kunai towards her chest.

She blocked his stab by short checking his forearm with her own, kicking at his leg.

He shifted his legs and grappled with her, her wind blade twisted aside and away from his head.

She strained to get an advantage, desperate to end this fight to help Naruto.

Kabuto was the first to break their grapple and dropped down, aiming a punch at her stomach.

She blocked it with her left arm and backed up, throwing several punches to his ribs and an axe kick to his head, hearing the thump of her foot striking his forearm to stop the kick to his head.

He gritted his teeth and countered with several quick attacks of his own, a kick breaking through and hitting her in the chest. She staggered back from the impact and wasn't able to avoid his chakra strike, the hit managing to jab her in the thigh.

She hissed and blindly swung her tanto at him, but he grabbed her arm and threw her to the ground a few feet away, backing away from her.

"You're pretty good for a kid." Kabuto said, adjusting his glasses, "Is this village really worth fighting for?"

She pulled herself to her feet and gave him a look of contempt.

Her grip tightened on her blade, not answering.

"They'll turn on you the moment they have the chance," Kabuto continued, looking at her with understanding, "They hate you because of something that their kage did to you."

She gasped in shock, realizing what he was saying.

"How do you know that?" She demanded, her rage causing her chakra to react with volatility.

That was when she remembered that it was Orochimaru that tried to kill Naruto.

"I'll kill you for trying to take them from me." She growled, refusing to let it get to her.

"You can't kill me," Kabuto laughed, his hand glowing with chakra, "Even with the Kyuubi sealed in you."

If he honestly thought continuously mentioning that was going to get to her, he was a bigger idiot than she thought.

Rin made a hand seal and spawned several bunshin, half of them charging at Kabuto.

Kabuto scoffed as she charged right alongside her bunshin, a Rasengan in her left hand.

She grinned viciously as her bunshin popped right in front of him, the smoke screen obscuring his vision at the ideal moment.

He backed away and blindly jabbed at her, but she ignored it.

Her Rasengan struck him in the gut and sent him flying back, bouncing across the grass and landing in a heap.

She tried to cheer and rush to Hinata and Naruto, but she started coughing and hacking.

She fell onto all fours and saw the ground stained with blood from her coughing.

Kabuto must have hit me. She thought, trying to not start coughing harder.

The armour she wore was supposed to stop hits like that. Unless Kabuto's technique was still able to slip through.

She laid there for a moment, trying to crawl to Naruto as she felt the pain in her chest slowly fade.

Fox, She tried to open up the connection to the Kyuubi. Is Naruto ok? Please, talk to me.

She thought she'd been struck in the head from how painful the backlash was from the fox when it spoke.

"Something is wrong!" The fox shouted, making her head pound, "I can't feel my half in him."

Rin couldn't even think of what that meant, but she saw Kabuto a distance away, coughing up blood and looking far worse than her.

She caught him by surprise, probably being why she was able to hurt him. But how the hell could he be getting up after that?

She managed to stand up and move towards Naruto, when she was driven back to her knees when Naruto screamed louder.

Hinata had been removing the sword from his chest and was trying to knit the wound back together, but Naruto sat straight up and kicked her away, the crack of her forearm being heard by Rin.

Rin saw images swimming through her mind, things she'd never experienced.

She couldn't breathe, feeling like she was being crushed under the weight of the world.

Her whole body had a phantom pain from the memory, the smell of blood hitting her.

She thought she was going to pass out from the overwhelming feel of it, but it vanished when Naruto was engulfed by a blast of purple chakra.

He stood up and drunkenly swayed, before a red chakra cloak appeared around him in the shape of a fox.

Rin was assaulted by a nauseating level of Killing Intent, coming from her brother.

She was struggling to breathe from the pressure of it, never feeling anything like this before.

Naruto looked between her and Hinata, his eyes blood red and slanted.

Just like the Kyuubi.

She screamed his name, but he didn't seem to either hear or understand, because he turned and shot towards where Sasuke had chased after Orochimaru, an after image in his wake.

Rin rushed towards Hinata, who was moaning as she cradled her broken arm, her breathing coming in rapid gasps.

"Hinata," Rin knelt by her friend, putting her hand on her shoulder, "How bad is it?"

Hinata's eyes were active, tears streaming down.

"It's b-broken." She choked out, rocking back and forth.

Hinata then gasped and looked over Rin's shoulder.

"Behind us." She said frantically, trying to stand up, but sitting back down from jostling her arm.

Rin wheeled around and prepared to fight Kabuto again, but what she saw shocked her.

The team from Kumo was about a hundred or so yards away, looking worse for wear.

Their clothes were a mess and the red haired girl had a bandage stained red around her arm, while the two boys had minor cuts all across their arms.

"Oh you got to be shitting me." Rin growled to herself, realizing she was the only one on her team that was here and able to fight.

She made a dozen Kage bunshin and had them guard Hinata, another half dozen being made for personal use.

Kabuto was about 50 yards away from her and was now standing, a massive hole in his shirt where her Rasengan struck him.

He looked to have healed the damage mostly, meaning he was an extremely skilled Iryo-nin. She thought mostly healed because he was spitting out blood tinged spit periodically while looking at her, clutching his side.

"Hey, guys!" She shouted to the Kumo genin, "Help me kill this asshole and I'll give you whatever scroll you want!"

The leader of the group, a boy that looked about 14 and had bandages wrapped around his fingers, pointing to him being a taijutsu specialist, stepped forward and looked to be considering it.

She realized things were not looking up for her when Kabuto smirked at her, glasses flashing in the fading sunlight, and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Hinata!" Rin shouted at the injured girl, gesturing towards her eyes.

Hinata stretched her vision to look for him, but she shook her head, meaning he was already gone.

Rin slowly turned back to the Kumo genin, realizing she had just painted an enticing target on their backs from offering a scroll.

Hinata was injured, her dominant arm being broken. The Hyuga focused on taijutsu, which involved a functioning arm.

The three adjusted their stance and took a fighting position, ready to fight her.

I didn't come all this way to lose to a punch of Kumo bastards. She growled internally, pulling out most of her tags, which thankfully weren't hit by Kabuto or Orochimaru.

It was difficult to keep premade tags intact, especially in a taijutsu fight.

She tossed them to her bunshin and ordered them to scatter and wait for her signal in her and Naruto's language.

She then turned towards the three new opponents, her knife resting to the side.

"You think you can get my scrolls?!" She shouted in challenge, baring her teeth and hitting her gut to taunt them.

The older one laughed and adopted an unknown taijutsu stance.

"You're just a cute little girl in over her head." He grinned, "You're not as scary as our Sensei."

Rin spiked chakra into her blade and returned a grin, her's having more bite to it.

"You're about to find out I'm a whole lot scarier than you are."

She pulsed chakra into her legs and Shunshined straight at them, the fight commencing.

---

Sasuke POV:

Sasuke had the image of the Sannin, Orochimaru, get his head crushed by Naruto burned in his mind, the boy collapsing to his knees on the ground in front of him after Orochimaru's headless corpse stumbled forward a step and collapsed in a heap.

Sasuke's vision was swimming as he fought to stay conscious, suspecting poison on the blade as to why he was feeling this way.

His Sharingan picked up the chakra outline of Naruto almost vanish when the fox shaped chakra cloak vanished into nothingness.

Naruto gasped for air and looked at Sasuke, but his eyes had a faraway look to them, flickering between blue and violet.

Sasuke fought to try and get up to stop Naruto from falling forward, but his body refused to respond.

As he looked at Naruto, he saw a figure behind Naruto rise from the ground, sword in hand.

Orochimaru.

Sasuke wasn't able to yell in time, everything going in slow motion.

He saw the glint of the setting sun strike the steel, bathing it in an orange light.

He saw Orochimaru lunge forward, looking mere minutes from death.

He heard the sound of steel parting flesh as Orochimaru struck.

Naruto gasped as a blade stabbed clean through his chest from behind, blood flowing out.

Naruto looked at Sasuke as blood ran from his mouth.

"S-sasuke." He gasped, the light in his eyes beginning to fade.

Sasuke saw everything with an unforgiving clarity. The Bloodline he was so proud of was taunting and torturing him by burning this into his mind in slow motion.

His best friend.

Orochimaru pulled the blade out and swung horizontally, Naruto's face going slack.

Sasuke watched in horror as Naruto's head slid off his shoulders, eyes empty.

A spurt of blood struck him in the face as Naruto's body pitched forward.

Sasuke didn't see Orochimaru run, he didn't feel him run. The forest didn't exist, the sun was not fading into night.

All there was, was death.

He realized the screaming he was hearing was coming from him.

He wasn't in the forest. He wasn't sitting on the ground.

He was home. His tousan and kaasan were dead in front of him, Itachi standing above them.

"It's your fault." Itachi voice said. "It's your fault."

Sasuke didn't realize when, but Itachi's voice eventually shifted to sound like his own.

"It's my fault." He wept, feeling hot tears run down his face, "It's my fault."

He wasn't fast enough. He wasn't strong enough. He let his rage blind him and he got hit by Orochimaru.

He killed his best friend.

Sasuke lost the battle and fell forward, everything going black.

---

Anko was frantically racing through the forest, a stitch in her chest forming.

Orochimaru was in the forest. The corpses of the Kusa nin were found with their skin stripped off, something Orochimaru had done before.

He had to have been the Kusa nin Naruto was worried about.

The ANBU on standby had been struggling to get through the traps that she had no fucking clue who placed in the forest, but she was the most capable of wading through it all from how well acquainted she was with the Forest of Death.

Orochimaru had to have been the one to place the traps. He had to have expected the ANBU to ambush him.

The ANBU had trailed behind her as she took a commanding lead, avoiding the explosives and traps.

I'm not letting you fucking get away! She shouted in her mind, feeling Killing Intent from a distance away.

She would never be free until he was dead. He had betrayed her and taken everything from her. No more would she wallow in self hatred for being taken in and fooled by him.

She saw him, looking weak and slow.

Whatever did this to you, I hope it fucking hurt.

She pulled out a kunai and charged at him, her entire will power going into this very moment.

Just as she was almost within arm's reach, he turned and she saw a look she would never have thought possible on his face.

Fear.

He sloppily avoided her stab and kicked at her back, knocking her forward.

She recovered almost immediately and got a closer look at her traitorous Sensei.

Orochimaru was favouring one leg, sweat covering his body. He appeared to have multiple partially healed injuries and he looked like he was close to suffering from chakra exhaustion.

"Anko." He managed to gasp through his heavy breathing.

"Whoever made you this weak, I'll buy them a drink every day for life." She charged at him, but he made a hand seal before she got to him.

She felt like a brand was placed on her neck and she fell to the ground, writhing on the ground.

"You look just like Naruto did." Orochimaru gasped, stepping over her.

Almost crying out from the pain of her mark being activated, Anko gritted her teeth and pushed herself to a kneeling position.

"What did you do to him?" She managed to growl out, knowing he was lying.

"He wouldn't accept my gift," Orochimaru said, leaning on his sword like a cane, "So I gave it to him anyway."

Anko felt her rage hit the roof. A boy she had trained and seen as a pseudo little brother had been marked by this monster.

"I'll kill you before I let you corrupt him."

"I would not have marked him if I was aware he was a Jinchuriki. I dare say I saved this village by correcting my mistake." Orochimaru replied, a lilt indicating irony in it.

What does he mean? Anko thought, not following.

She then noticed his sword was coated in blood.

"No," She said to herself, horrorstruck, "You're lying."

"Such a shame when a Jinchuriki let's anger get to their heads." Orochimaru stressed the word, "Especially when their seal starts failing." He then took his sword from the ground.

The traitor turned to her and tilted his head in curiousity, just as he had when something perplexed him when she was his student.

"Tell my former Sensei I'm curious how he managed to set up traps similar to the ones that the Uzukage did in Uzu to attempt to trap me here." Orochimaru said simply, sinking into the tree and vanishing.

Anko couldn't muster the strength to even get up. Her chakra network was aching and her mind was conjuring up images of Naruto dead on the ground, eyes vacant.

He's lying. She tried to assure herself, groaning as she managed to sit with her back against a tree, trying to get the pain to subside.

She'd be no good if she couldn't run without falling flat on her face, so she'd wait until her legs would stop twitching.

---

Naruto POV:

I didn't understand what the hell just happened. I was screaming bloody murder as I was marked by Orochimaru, that fucking hurt, then the next thing I know, I'm seeing several blurred images, sensations, and screaming.

The most coherent was when I saw what I was doing to Orochimaru, squeezing his head with all my might.

The look of terror in his eyes, or eye, since the other popped out from me squeezing, was one of the most pleasant things I'd ever seen.

He looked like he realized he was going to die.

But then, everything blacked out again, my thoughts barely functioning as my knees hit the ground, two images overlapping in my sight.

I saw the ground, caked with the contents of Orochimaru's head, the other being nighttime, the scent of blood and feeling of Killing Intent in the air.

Is this like what happened with Ino all over again? I wondered, thinking that Orochimaru marking me had screwed with my mind.

It looked like it could have been the ground after Kurama was let out, judging by the amount of blood on the ground.

But I couldn't be sure.

I then felt a blade go through my chest, Sasuke's eyes widening.

I was so out of it, I didn't even register the pain.

The blade came out and a heard it whistle through the air, everything going black.

...

I felt that I was unconscious, but it was off. My mind felt completely clear now, thankfully, but my chakra sensing was rapidly fading. That wasn't normal for when I was passed out or unconscious.

I focused my sensing on the area around me, the feeling I got back had my mind freezing.

Something was very wrong.

My head wasn't connected to my body.

HE CUT MY FUCKING HEAD OFF! I screamed, panicking at realizing why my sensing was fading.

Blood was leaking from either my head or neck, killing me slowly. I don't know where 'The Self' resides in regards to being either the brain or the main chakra network that was 80% in the body, but I was freaking out as I was dying.

I tried to do what I did with the mist, pushing my chakra out to make a tendril of water and pull my head back on, but my chakra wasn't strong enough.

I will not die.

The seal on my gut was collapsing, I could feel it. Kurama's chakra was leaking out of it and dissipating seconds after it fell out, meaning this half was dying alongside me.

If anyone is listening, whoever gave me another chance, I'm not ready to go. I don't care if you say it's time. I will defy you until the end, even as you drag my soul to whatever afterlife I deserve.

I focused every inch of my will and grabbed at the fading Bijuu chakra and reached towards my head with it.

My head rolled to within range of my neck. The water in my blood on the ground getting completely overwhelmed with the last of my chakra, pulling it in place.

I am the master of my Fate.

I felt the tendons and arteries fuse together from Kurama's chakra, a spark of light dancing in my 'vision'.

I am the captain of my soul.

Something cracked from my exertion and my vision was consumed in white, my eyes flying open, the sky above me flickering between evening and night.

I tried to gasp for air, not being able to breathe or think straight again.

My ears were ringing in a deafening roar, my vision spinning.

I couldn't feel my body from the neck down and my vision started fading again.

My last coherent thought I had before feeling myself fall into my mindscape was a plea.

Help me.

---

I was in my mindscape and the oxygen deprivation was no longer inhibiting my thoughts, but I was met by a grim sight.

My mindscape was rumbling and the bars were starting to crumble.

I rushed towards the bars and started shouting for Kurama.

I needed his chakra to fuse my spinal column back together so I'd start breathing.

"Fox!" I shouted, hitting the bars to make noise.

I couldn't rip the seal tag off the bars without Kurama's consciousness being in this half. Kurama's chakra would automatically be caustic if he wasn't in here to thin its emotional potency, making it risky.

If he got here, I could have him stretch the already breaking seal to heal me, and Minato can come waltzing in to fix the seal.

It could work.

I could survive.

"Fox!" I roared, hitting the bars harder, "I'm not going to fucking die yet!"

CLANG.

"I'm going to live on!"

CLANG.

"I'm going to survive this!"

CLANG.

"I'm going to have grandchildren to spoil!"

"I WILL NOT LEAVE THEM!!!" A primal roar from me and the sound of a bar shattering under my fist was drowned out by me being blasted back from a backlash of chakra.

Kurama rushed towards the bars, the ground rumbling harder.

"What the hell happened?!" Kurama shouted, "Why couldn't I feel you?"

"Talk later!" I shouted, pointing to the environment. "I'm dying."

Kurama looked at me with complete shock on his face.

"Shit." Was all he managed to say, a chunk of the ceiling falling next to me.

"Blast your chakra through the seal and it should jumpstart my healing to fuse my spine together." I shouted pleadingly.

"The seal will break."

"It's already breaking!" I screamed, almost crying in despair.

"I don't wanna die." I moaned as I hugged myself and fell to my knees, remembering the ceiling of my home, the rattling gasp that was my last breath.

Kurama exhaled and rose to his full height.

"You are absolutely insane, but I'll do it."

I felt my hope rise and I looked up at him.

"Pull on the seal tag, but do NOT remove it." Kurama instructed, "It will stretch the seal enough where the tightenings wont shatter and kill us both."

I jumped up and ran straight to it, not hesitating to grab a corner and pulling.

I felt a flood of chakra shoot out for a couple seconds, my mindscape no longer deteriorating.

A vision that I didn't recognize got drilled into my head, an image of a young girl with Rin's face and eyes, no whisker marks, and my hair was looking up at me.

What is this? I thought in the couple seconds it lasted.

"I love you, Kushina-chan." I heard in my own voice, not making sense at all.

This was my mom, but I wasn't alive when she was 11 or 12 by the looks of it.

"I know you miss your grandfather, but it was his time." 'I' said again, putting an aged hand on her shoulder.

"I want to see you every day, 'ttebane," Kushina cried, grabbing ahold of me in a hug, "I miss home. I'm gonna miss you."

I realized this was Mito that I was seeing through the eyes of, saying her final goodbye.

"You will never be alone." 'I' shooshed her, running my fingers through her hair, just as I did with Rin when she was upset, "I want you to think of me everytime you feel the seal. It will be my chakra that painted it. I will always be a part of you."

I felt myself start to tear up at what I was seeing.

The last of Kushina's family was holding her just a short time before Kurama was sealed into her.

"Just pulse some of your chakra and you'll feel an echo of mine." I whispered softly, kissing her forehead.

Kushina sniffed.

"Okay." She whispered, letting go of me, "Where will it be?"

"Just lift your shirt up a little." I said, "Just up to your stomach, no higher." 'I' explained.

The memory slowly faded away where I couldn't hear anything else except for a garbled mess, something in my peripheral vision catching my attention.

I saw a blur of a familiar golden colour smash into me and carry me away from the seal, the memory completely vanishing.

---

Rin avoided another lightning charged fist from the older Kumo genin, having learned her lesson after getting shocked.

The gash she got from the one boy who kept flirting with her as they fought was already mostly closed up, her sleeve still getting stained red.

She was pissed at how well the three worked together, especially the two around her age.

Hinata had managed to stabilize the fracture in her arm and was trying to run and evade attacks, occasionally flinging kunai at them when she had an opening.

They were fairly even on strength wise, her chakra and stamina carrying her through.

The fight with Orochimaru and Kabuto may have cut into her reserves some, but not enough to make a decisive difference with three low chunin level Shinobi that didn't know how she fought.

She switched with another clone as another lightning coated fist came towards her.

"Just leave me alone!" She shouted, flinging a shuriken at the sword wielding boy.

The boy deflected it and sighed in exasperation.

"Just accept the offer of giving us a scroll," He explained, "And you'll be honoured with having me as company for dinner."

"Eat dick." She growled, a kunai in her off hand, "Flirt with your girlfriend instead." She looked at the red haired girl that kept giving her looks of anger throughout the fight, trying to actually hurt her.

"This pervert is not my boyfriend." She spat the last word.

"Karui, Omoi," The older of the three scolded them, "She's trying to distract you." He was glancing at Hinata as he said this, the girl walking slowly around the four of them, her arm tucked against her chest.

Rin's bunshin had finally gotten the seals placed in their proper alignment, Hinata using her Byakugan and signaling when they had been.

Showtime. Rin thought, planning on doing the same thing she did to Naruto in the spar where she caught him off guard with the lightning seal working.

She made a hand seal and made two more bunshin, each flanking her.

"You're just wasting chakra," Omoi scoffed, holding his blade in a defensive position, "Kaito just has to touch them and they're dead."

All of her bunshin were popping the moment they touched Kaito from the unique way he channeled lightning chakra in his hands and across his body.

She ordered the bunshin to attack the other two and she herself blitzed Kaito, drawing her tanto and forming a visible wind blade.

Lightning was weak against wind.

Kaito backed away as she slashed at him, bobbing and weaving under and to the side of her attacks.

He stopped and grabbed her kunai as she stabbed towards him with it. His wraps on his hands got cut as he grabbed it, but he didn't seem to care. He pulsed lightning through the metal and Rin dropped it before it could hit her too much, but her hand still went numb.

Kaito wasn't able to press an advantage because Hinata made her presence known and threw a well placed kunai at him, even more impressive that it was her left arm.

Kaito shifted to avoid it and wasn't able to dodge the kick Rin sent to his chest with as much force as she could muster.

He made an 'oof' sound as he was sent flying back.

Rin went through hand seals, slower since her fingers were twitching from the lightning.

Futon: Daitoppa.

She blew a blast of wind chakra from her mouth and sent Kaito flying back, landing right where she wanted him.

She made a hand seal and activated the area effect gravity seal.

Kaito fell back to the ground as the seal activated, his teeth gritting as he was stuck on his stomach.

Karui and Omoi had been harassed by her bunshin, the constructs avoiding up close combat to delay them helping Kaito.

"Leave and I'll let him go." Rin promised, shaking her hand to get feeling in it.

"We need a scroll, my golden sunflower." Omoi bowed, glancing between the two clones, "You know, it'd be really hot if you started making out with one of your bunshin. I could pretend it was your twin or something."

Rin almost retched at the image that appeared in her mind. It wasn't her kissing a hypothetical identical twin, but her actual twin that got burned in her mind.

I'm aiming for your balls, pervert. She promised, her eyes going down to his crotch.

Omoi probably mistook it for something else and started snickering giddily.

"You sure you don't want to have dinner?" He asked, puffing his chest out, "I know I'm irresistible." He flexed is above average muscles from wielding a sword.

She decided she wanted the pervert to hurt. She wasn't strong enough to beat some sense into Naruto when he made perverted jokes, nor could she do it to Kakashi.

I need to get to Sasuke and Naruto.

"You are pretty cute," She sauntered towards him, mimicking the way Anko would sway her hips around Kakashi sometimes, "And you've got a really big sword."

She saw Karui look shocked and Omoi's eyes bugged out.

Rin made it more convincing by dropping her blade as she kept walking towards him.

"Omoi, she's trying to trick you " Karui warned.

But Omoi wasn't listening.

He lowered his sword and was practically drooling as his eyes roved her form, looking up and down.

"I'm not really experienced with big swords," Rin said huskily, just a few feet from him, "But I think you can help me learn." Her eyes shined brightly.

She was going to kill Anko for being so good at it that she could mimic it perfectly without trying.

A small trickle of blood went down Omoi's nose and he nodded slowly, looking blissful.

Rin's eyes hardened and she rushed towards him, closing the short distance between them as his weapon was out of position.

She grabbed his sword arm with her left, grabbed the back of his neck with her right, pulled down, and drove her knee into his groin.

He squeaked in pain and collapsed to the ground, clutching his balls.

Karui rushed towards her and tried to punch her in the face, but Rin tilted her head to the right and countered with a punch of her own, the hit being blocked by Karui.

"You're a bitch and a slut!" Karui shouted, aiming a kick at her midsection.

Rin growled at being called those two things and blocked the kick, pushing the leg away and sending two quick jabs with her left and a strong right cross.

Karui stopped the two, but the stronger punch smashed into her chin and she was sent reeling.

Rin did a scissor kick and knocked the air from Karui's lungs, sending her to the ground.

Rin made two bunshin and had them stand over the two genin, while she went to Hinata.

Hinata was starting to look ill from the fractured arm, her normally pale complexion starting to look a shade of green.

"Hinata," Rin looked to her friend, "Do you see anything else around us?"

Hinata narrowed her eyes and looked around, her eyes shutting off a second later.

"Team 10 is near us." Hinata pointed with her good hand, "Someone else is with them. She has bright chakra."

Rin didn't know what she meant by that, but she didn't care because she saw some familiar faces arrive.

Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji looked tired and dirty, but fine, a girl with a very specific shade of red hair trailing behind them.

"Rin," Shikamaru rushed to the front, "Have you seen the Jinchuriki?" He asked frantically, his eyes wide in panic.

"No," Rin replied, her eyes on the red haired girl, who was looking at her strangely, "Why?"

"I felt his chakra," Ino cut in, shivering visibly, "We almost ran into that team and we heard him screaming about 'Mother' wanting Uzumaki's blood."

"He said that to Naruto yesterday." Hinata gasped, her eyes wide in fear.

Rin felt her blood chill.

Naruto wouldn't be in any shape to fight Gaara, if he was even still alive.

Don't think that. She shouted in her mind, refusing to believe it possible. He promised to never leave her, and she was holding him to that.

"We have to find Naruto." Rin said frantically, looking at the others and realizing they didn't know about Orochimaru.

"The missing nin Orochimaru attacked him and us," Rin explained quickly, hearing them gasp in shock, "Orochimaru ran and Sasuke chased after him."

"We can't win against him." Shikamaru gave her a sad look, filling her with rage.

She lunged forward and grabbed ahold of him, shaking him violently.

"I am not losing him!" She shouted in his face, feeling her teeth elongate, "I won't abandon my brother to that monster."

Shikamaru glared back at her and ignored the Killing Intent from just an inch away from his face.

"I didn't say leave him, Rin." He growled back, grabbing ahold of her shoulders too, "I don't care if we can't win, I'm not abandoning a friend."

Rin blinked and paused, her anger fading.

"I'm sorry." She looked down, letting go of Shikamaru, "I thought you were..." She trailed off.

"No," Shikamaru shook his head, "This'll be hard, but we might be able to make a big enough noise to get the Jinchuriki to do the work for us and get him to distract Orochimaru if we have to."

Kami bless you and your amazing brain, Shika. Rin thought at what Shikamaru said.

"Then let's go." Rin said with fire in her voice, ready to fight the snake bastard if she needed to.

"Ino, Hinata," Shikamaru took charge, looking at the two girls, "You two will be taking point. Scope out where Naruto is. You know his chakra." He then glanced at Hinata's broken arm, "Ino, you'll need to be ready to treat Sasuke and Naruto. You up to it?"

"Yes." Ino said with no hesitation, her eyes filled with determination.

Rin couldn't believe the fangirl had transformed into the true kunoichi that stood in front of her.

"Choji, same regular thing with us two," Shikamaru looked at the Akamichi, "Karin," He looked at the red haired Kusa kunoichi, "Stay back and out of the way."

'I'm a medical ninja." Karin said, her bright red eyes flashing behind her glasses, "I can help my cousin."

Cousin?

Shikamaru nodded and moved forward.

"Alright guys, we've got two friends to save. Move out!" He shouted, darting forward into the tress, the sun setting behind them.

None of them even thought twice of the Kumo nin on the ground that heard the entire conversation.

---

I hit the ground and a pair of strong hands set me down, rushing back to the seal and repairing it.

The chunks of stone that symbolized the damaged parts of the seal faded away and reappeared in their normal place as the repairs were done.

I felt that my mindscape was how it should be, my body now stable and the seal intact.

Thank God and whatever the hell else.

I stared at the back of the man who caused all of this with his choice, his legs shifting as he turned after fixing everything.

Namikaze Minato and I had the exact same shade of eyes, the same cheekbones, and my hair spiked out similar to his but not as much.

The white cloak with flame patterns and the Kanji for 4 on the back was draped around his shoulders, his flak jacket underneath.

"Tousan." I whispered softly, the man shuddering as I said that one word.

I could see his eyes shining with emotion.

"Naruto." He walked towards me, his arms out.

"I'll give you some privacy." Kurama said as quietly as he could, his consciousness likely going to Rin's mindscape.

The day I thought of it years ago, I wasn't going to do it. But now, I was in as bad of a mood as I could have been after getting the French aristocrat treatment by a pedophile with a sword.

I walked towards Minato and took advantage of his outstretched arms.

I punched him in the face.

He staggered back and looked at me with dumbfounded shock.

I fixed it by rushing towards him and hugging him.

Minato hesitated for a moment, but returned the hug.

"You made us both Jinchuriki." I mumbled into his chest, explaining my anger.

"I'm so sorry that you two had to be burdened with this," He whispered, running his hand through my hair, "I couldn't force it on anyone else's child."

I pushed him away from me.

"Do you understand the hell you put us through," I demanded, raising my voice, "The entire village blamed us for the attack. They saw us as the Kyuubi."

Minato tried to speak, but I shouted him down.

"A fourth of Konoha's Shinobi died that night," I screamed, remembering the near vacant look in Hiruzen and Kakashi's eyes when they described the events that followed, "They were still finding corpses in November... with Hyuga helping!"

"I -." Minato tried to say, but I couldn't stop now.

"The other villages saw weakness and Kumo kidnapped Hiashi's daughter, my friend!" I shouted, knowing Hiashi was a friend of Minato's.

I started yelling everything I could think of in the moment that happened because of that night.

Because he died.

Our parentage kept secret.

Kakashi's despair.

Hiruzen aging horribly.

The hatred of the villagers.

The Hyuga incident.

Orochimaru's betrayal.

Me almost dying.

And now this.

"Orochimaru killed me, Dad," I fell to my knees, sobbing openly, "I would have died if I wasn't different. He took my head off."

Minato had tears streaming from his eyes just as I was, the two of us holding on to each other like a life raft.

"I wasn't fast enough," He wept, shaking as he held me, "I couldn't save Obito. I couldn't save Rin. I couldn't save Kushina. I was only fast enough to kill so many people. I couldn't even save one life."

I managed to stop my shaking as we both held each other, my mind starting to clear.

My entire conversation I had planned out was in flames. I had planned on talking with him, not bringing up any of the shit that happened after his death, but I was still in shock from almost being killed and needed someone to hurt.

And what's a better punching bag than a dead man?

But I needed to let it go. I let all my built up hatred, despair, and anguish over the last several months out in these last ten minutes.

And now I needed to fix it.

"You saved mom," I hiccuped, looking up at him, "From Kumo, when you were twelve."

Minato laughed wetly, coughing some.

"Yeah, I guess I did."

I straightened my back and looked into his blue eyes with my own matching pair.

"I'm hurting, Dad," I said softly, "And you were the first thing in arm's reach." My tone was apologetic.

"Isn't that what dads are supposed to do?" He asked quietly, looking down, "Love their children, even when they're hated by them more than anything?"

"I shouldn't have thrown that at you," I said sadly, still on my knees, "I know you did everything you could think of in the moment. I don't blame you for anything, I just needed to yell at something."

Minato knew what happened when a Jinchuriki had their bijuu extracted. He laid Kushina, the woman he loved and had given him two children, on a bed so he could go off and fight Obito and the Kyuubi. Nobody would be thinking the most clearly when their wife is in the process of dying and their village is being trashed by a Tailed Beast.

Minato let go of me and stood up, still not looking recovered completely from what I said.

We looked at each other for minute, not speaking at all.

"How long do we have?" I eventually asked, quietly, gesturing to him. I needed to ask a few questions.

"An hour." Minato replied, "I put a sizable portion of chakra in here in case the seal started to break and needed repaired. Speaking of which, why was it modified?" He turned to look at the tightenings on the bars that were added by Jiraiya.

"You sealed the Yin half in me," I explained, seeing him nod his understanding, "I have more Yin chakra than most Uzumaki." I explained how my head was all screwed up from the hypersensitivity to intense Yin chakra from the Kyuubi necessitated the tightenings.

I did not say why it started.

"Evidently, I'm like Uzumaki Ashina." I manifested a chakra blade in my hand, my mindscape responding to my command.

Minato stared at the blade in wonder, leaning closer to inspect it.

"Fascinating," He murmured, tilting his head, "Kushina could manifest chains, but I never saw this done. She was never taught how to do it."

I clenched my fist and it disappeared, my eyes looking up at Minato in question.

At my look of curiosity, Minato explained.

"She said her grandfather and great grandfather could make blades and personal, small barriers with it, but she was too young for her to learn it when she came to Konoha."

"Did she ever say what Ashina was like?" I asked, wanting to know more after Orochimaru mentioned him rather fondly, if you could call it that, "I've only heard stuff from the Sandaime."

Minato took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Your mother loved him more than any of her elders. She was closer to him than she was to her father's father, who died when she was 11."

Being closer to a great grandfather over your grandfather, kind of surprising, but Ashina sounded like a special man.

He started giving some more information about him that Kushina told him.

Ashina was one of the oldest active Shinobi in Uzu, still making seals for enjoyment in his nineties. He would make jokes and had really dark songs made about seal mishaps to bring some levity to the complex business of the dangerous work.

But above all things, he loved his clan and was constantly going out of his way to be kind to them, especially the children, encouraging them to be strong and kind like him.

"But something she wasn't happy about was what was found out years later," Minato smiled now, the first real on I'd seen from him, "You know that he tutored the Nidaime in Fuinjutsu when he was a teenager, right?"

I nodded, wanting him to continue.

"Well, Jiraiya was and is a pervert," Minato explained, chuckling at the memory of his Sensei, "And that was encouraged by the Sandaime." He gave me a sympathetic look at the mention of Hiruzen.

"I am aware of the old man's perversion." I said clinically, "I defeated him and took the forbidden scroll by Henging as a naked girl in front of him and he passed out."

Minato started laughing at what I just said, taking it as a joke.

"Wait," His eyes widened, realizing I wasn't smiling, "You're serious?"

I nodded.

He laughed even harder.

After he managed to stop shaking from laughter, he went on.

"The Sandaime turned out to become a pervert from the Nidaime being one," Minato explained, "This was said to Jiraiya in confidence, but he of course told me to try and say that it was tradition for the Hokage to be a pervert." He frowned at the last part.

"How was Senju Tobirama a pervert?" I asked, "He was probably the most uptight and professional out of the four of you." I pointed out.

"He wasn't just a pervert, Naruto," Minato said quietly, "Hiruzen said he was a manwhore."

What?

"A manwhore?" I deadpanned, not believing it.

"Since you asked, I'll repeat what Jiraiya blessed me with when I asked the exact same thing when I was made Hokage," He said the word sarcastically, clearing his throat, "Why do you think Kage bunshin are the only ones that have a memory feedback?"

The Shadow Clone jutsu was unique in giving back memories. But that's because they are non-aligned chakra. No nature transformation to them like Earth or Water.

Tobirama probably thought of it after he had designed it to fight Uchiha. I personally would think it'd be hilarious if I designed an effective weapon or technique against my enemies that I could use for other things, especially with how prideful the Uchiha were.

"Haha, you got killed by a sentient sex doll!" I could imagine a white haired, blue armour wearing Tobirama shout that at an Uchiha he resurrected to piss them off.

"No," I said to myself, repulsed by the thought, "He did not make that part of the Jutsu to have sex with women while he was doing other stuff."

"He was a pragmatist." Minato pointed out, giving me a small grin, "Relieve some stress while getting work done is a smart thing to do."

"Don't tell me you and kaasan did that." I moaned, running my fingers through my hair.

Minato's face twisted into a look of disgust.

"Of course not," Minato sputtered, looking affronted, "Your mother would have killed me if I even joked about that."

"You sure she didn't try to kill you when you two screwed anyway?"I raised a brow.

"What?" Minato asked nervously, looking away from me.

"The fox saw and heard you two," I said quietly, feeling embarrassed as I looked at him, "He thinks it's funny to recite what you two were saying and doing every day." I stressed.

Minato groaned to himself and ran his fingers through his hair similar to how I did.

"I know you don't want to hear this about her," Minato said embarrassedly, "But Kushina, and Uzumaki in general, have a lot of energy to burn off constantly."

"I know that firsthand, Dad." I deadpanned, not wanting him to give me his version of the birds and the bees, "Kakashi didn't need to explain sex to me and he looked more embarrassed than you."

"Oh, thank Kami," Minato said to himself, "I thought it was going to be awkward."

I realized we'd gotten off topic.

"Why was kaasan mad at Tobirama being a pervert?" I asked, getting back on topic.

"That wasn't she was mad at, it was what that comment led to."

"Hiruzen made a passing comment that he loved listening to conversations between Ashina and Tobirama," Minato's face tightened, "Specifically about very adult things, including what Ashina called 'The Pervert's Creed'."

The Pervert's Creed? I thought, wondering what the hell that was.

Minato went on and recited the Creed.

I was laughing my ass off at the overdramatic words used.

"Wielder of the Flame of Lechers?" I wheezed, trying to not fall over from laughing.

"Jiraiya thought it was funny when Kushina looked horrified when she found out it wasn't Tobirama that came up with that stupid 'Creed'." Minato grumbled under his breath.

"Ashina did?" I asked, laughing even louder.

Ashina was a pervert. That's freaking amazing.

"Ashina, Tobirama, Jiji, Jiraiya," I was giggling as I thought of it, "It skipped you though."

"No, it ended with me." Minato said fiercely, "I protected Kakashi from my Sensei's perversions."

"You did a shit job then," I shrugged my shoulders, snickering at the panic on his face, "His favourite book series is Icha Icha."

"No." Minato moaned to himself, looking down.

His eyes then shot to mine in fear.

"Naruto," He said weakly, a pleading look on his face, "Please don't tell me you're like them."

I grinned in triumph and started cackling. I chose the worst thing to say to him.

"I entered the hot springs and got an up close view of several kunoichi. I got straddled by an Inuzuka girl, got punched and kicked by them, and escaped without my pants on." I saw Minato start to shake.

"Funnier still, Fugaku's youngest son and Shikaku's son helped me."

"No," Minato was shaking his head, "That's not true. That's impossible!"

"Search your feelings, you know it to be true." I reached out to my father.

I had enough fun torturing him and clarified what happened.

The look of relief on his face when I explained that it was a complete accident and that I would have rather it didn't happen was telling.

"I thought you were worse than Jiraiya." He breathed out in relief, looking at me again.

"I do like girls, alot," I admitted, "But I'm not a pervert like Jiraiya." I then put my hands on my hips.

"I'm a Super Pervert!"

Minato realized I was mimicking Jiraiya and rolled his eyes.

"You're overdramatic."

"Yes, I am." I put my hands down, admitting it.

The jokes and sarcasm I was doing was to get my mind off of what just happened with Orochimaru, but I knew I was going to need to talk with someone about it.

Humour and deflection could take the edge off, but it was still a terrible sensation that wasn't pleasant. But at least it wouldn't break me. I already died once, almost doing it again wasn't as bad.

"Can you tell me some about you and Rin?" Minato asked, "It's been twenty minutes now."

One third through. I thought, nodding and sitting down.

I spent a sizable portion of the remaining time telling him about Rin and me, how she acted just like mom from what Kakashi said.

I went on with our friends, avoiding any mention of the Uchiha massacre. I didn't want him to blame himself some more. I felt bad about lashing out in anger the way I did.

"How is Kakashi?" Minato asked quietly, knowing him and Kushina dying would be traumatic on him.

"He was a mess," I was honest, comparing the emptiness in his eye compared to what it was now. Even his chakra was brighter now, "But we pulled him back from the edge. Gai was the friend that helped pull him back from the edge, and Rin and I gave him purpose in pushing on."

"You'd be proud of him." I whispered.

Minato smiled in relief, one less burden on his shoulders.

"Does he have anyone waiting at home, a girlfriend?" Minato asked with a tilt of his head.

"Yes, but they call each other 'Fuck buddies'," I used air quotes, scowling at the term, "They get along fine and are good friends, but I think they're scared of commitment." I finished with a shake of my head.

Anybody would be scared of the emotional intimacy of a relationship if they lost everyone and everything they cared about. Some scars didn't heal well.

Minato nodded his understanding, looking at me with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"What about you? You got a girl that you like?"

"The better question," I scoffed, "Is if there's any girl that doesn't want a piece of me that isn't named Uzumaki Rin."

I explained how I had Hinata and Ino, who were friends and didn't flirt with me constantly, and multiple civilian girls that did try and get my attention.

"Jiraiya would write a story about that," Minato chuckled, winking at me when I scowled at him, "Two clan heiress' seeking to compete for the passion of a strong, smart, and gorgeous boy."

"Quit stroking your ego, old man." I grumbled, knowing he chose that description because he was smart and I looked like him.

"I'm just being a good dad," He held his hands up in a placating way, "Jiraiya would be worse."

He then explained that Jiraiya was our godfather, which I acted a little aggravated, but not much.

"I understand why he wasn't there," I said with a hint of irritation, "But I'll still make my opinion known."

Minato nodded sadly, expecting it.

"How long do we have left?" I asked, not knowing how long we'd been.

"15 or 20 minutes," Minato said after a moment, looking around, "It would have been much shorter if you had been using more than just one tail of chakra."

The seal would have been worse off if I did what canon Naruto did and was using six tails.

"Okay, this is going to be important," I looked at my father with as serious a look as I could muster, "I'm not wanting to talk to the husband of Kushina, and mine and Rin's father. I want to talk to Namikaze Minato, the Yellow Flash, the man who fought The Yondaime Raikage and a Jinchuriki, the one who shattered Iwa, the Hokage I will succeed and surpass." I said the last part with a conviction that burned in my very soul.

Minato's entire demeanor changed. He went from being a soft, kindly faced man into something else, someone with ice in his veins and his face carved from the hardest stone.

"What do you want to know?" The S-rank nin with a Flee on Sight order on his Bingo book entry asked.

"Tell me what you know of the bastard that unleashed the Kyuubi and took you and kaasan from us." My eyes could probably have been cut from a glacier from how cold my look was, "The one that killed thousands of people."

"And tell me about the Hiraishin."

Minato explained everything that happened about the fight with Obito, including his vulnerability to the Hiraishin and that his phasing ability could not be active while he wanted to attack.

After he explained the fight and 'Madara's' weakness's, he went on to the Hiraishin.

"What are your affinities?" He asked in a serious tone, all business, just as I wanted.

"Water and a secondary for lightning." I replied.

"Natural or worked on it?"

"Natural."

"Then you can never use my marker on your own without killing yourself." Minato said simply, going on to explain.

"I'm assuming you're skilled with seals if you're wanting to know about the Hiraishin, so I won't waste time asking where you're at on skill level," He continued, "The Hiraishin is just like other types of Fuinjutsu that is unique to each user's chakra, blood, and affinity. You're closely related, so a small portion of the marker can be recycled. What is Rin's affinity?"

"Wind."

"Then she might be able to use a slightly larger part of my sealing formula," Minato exhaled, "She has my blood and affinity, so she doesn't have to start from scratch."

"I've already been reading the Nidaime's notes," I said irritably, "But they make no damn sense and I can't get the stupid journey to stabilize when I send a bunshin through whatever anchor I make."

I'd been mixing Tobirama's marker and Minato's to see what the hell it did. Tobirama's on its own wasn't better than Minato's, the newer one working a little better where I could get a flash of memory from the clone.

But mixing the two in a bastardized, unbalanced form had worked the best, a fraction of the puff of smoke coming out at point B.

"Water's the hardest," Minato admitted, "Probably why the Uzumaki clan didn't have anyone to get it to work at all."

So I'm fucked.

"Kushina had notes from her clan and helped me with it, so I'll do what I can." Minato assured me, going into an in-depth dissection of how he built up the Hiraishin.

The next 15 minutes progressed my own ideas on how to get it to work more than I would have done so with a couple years of study and research.

Namikaze Minato and Senju Tobirama were geniuses to have made this to work.

My mindscape allowed for some seal schematics that I made appear for Minato to have a look at, each portion being divided and critiqued.

"I never would have thought I needed to think of how a summoning jutsu worked as the basis for the idea," I murmured, "Instead of a cluster of linked storage scrolls."

"I thought of it the same way when I first started trying to replicate it," Minato admitted, shrugging his shoulders, "Your mother is the reason I'm known as this good of a seal user."

Minato was arguably the best alive at the time, only my mother perhaps edging out in proficiency.

I remembered everything he pointed out that was wrong with my ideas and plans, saying which ones were right, and what needed to be tweaked.

I went to ask something else, but I saw a flicker around his outline, growing larger.

"My time is up," He smiled softly, looking at me with the love a father has for his son, "There is a portion of your mother's chakra here that is like mine."

I wasn't mentally ready for it, so I'd wait.

"Remember what I said on the Hiraishin. You're so much better than I was at 13. You'll have it completed within a couple years at most now."

The light grew a little brighter.

"There is a portion of chakra in Rin's seal as well," Minato added, "It's linked to this so this conversation will be remembered by the other."

Similar to a shadow clone.

I walked towards my father and spoke to him one final time.

"I'm proud to be your son. I don't care if you sealed the Kyuubi in us, you saved Rin, and that's all that matters to me."

I saw a tear fall from his eye as he smiled.

"And I'm proud to be your father." He closed his eyes and began to fade.

"Goodbye, Touchan." I whispered, the man disappearing from my mindscape, leaving me on my own.

"Fox," I asked quietly, trying to get his attention, "You there?"

No answer.

I took a deep breath, gazed around the now normal room where it had been a collapsing ruin, and broke the connection.

---

I opened my eyes and saw it was closer to nighttime than sunset, the fading light barely piercing through the trees in faint, orange rays.

I sat up and immediately felt dizzy, the world spinning.

I laid back down on my back and assessed what was going on.

I was weak, incomparably so, probably from the volume of blood I lost and my chakra being almost exhausted. I then sniffed the air and fought the bile rising up my throat.

The area stank of blood, mine specifically, and I was covered in a mix of the contents of the cunt's cranium and my own blood, the foul mix sticking in my hair as well.

I felt around with my hand and I brushed across some hair.

If that's Orochimaru's dome piece, I'm so done with life.

The mop of hair moved and I heard a moan, definitely not Orochimaru.

I tilted my head to the right and saw a sight that had me shudder in relief.

Sasuke.

And he wasn't marked.

"Sasuke." I mumbled, touching his hair to try and wake him up.

He may have passed out from shock or he might have been poisoned by Orochimaru, I don't know.

"No, 'Tachi, let me sleep." He mumbled, shifting some.

He was dreaming. A pleasant dream.

"Sasuke." I nudged him, eliciting a groan.

"Sasuke." I used practically all the strength in my fingers and pulled on his hair.

"Gah." He finally woke up, shot up and flailed around, his eyes looking wild as they darted around.

He looked around like he was looking for an enemy, before he slowly turned to look down at me.

"Hi." I said quietly.

"Kai!" He shouted, making a hand seal, swaying afterwards like it was exhausting.

He crawled away from me, his eyes wide.

"I saw you die," He kept looking at me like he was going insane, "I saw your head fall off."

"Genjutsu." I mumbled, lying to protect him.

I was just laying on my back and trying to not fall asleep, expecting something to bite us in the ass.

"My Sharingan didn't see it." Sasuke whispered to himself.

"They shut off as the snake stabbed me." I mumbled again, "I coughed up blood on you."

Sasuke touched at his face, the severed artery had covered him in blood, now stuck in his own hair and face. Even his eyes weren't spared, having blood around them.

"You mean you're okay?" Sasuke asked weakly, crawling back towards me.

"I feel like death, but I'll live." I whispered, feeling light-headed.

Sasuke sighed in relief, his face just a foot from mine.

"Thank Kami." He muttered, laying down on his back next to me, twitching every now and then, "Fuck today."

I just smiled a bloody smile at that.

"Yep. Fuck today."

This whole ordeal was a shitshow, but we made it out alive. I nearly killed the traitor, saved Sasuke, and judging by the lack of a hickey burning my neck, Kurama's chakra came through and burned the damn thing off.

"Now would be the time for us to be swarmed by other teams." I muttered, hearing Sasuke shift.

"Don't tempt it." He groaned, his hand shaking some.

Seconds later, I heard rustling in the trees, the sound of people.

Sasuke stopped moving as he heard it too.

"Fuck you." He said simply, not moving.

"Fuck me." I agreed, completely done with today.

"Naruto! Sasuke!" I heard the voice of an angel shout our names.

I felt someone drop to their knees and loom over me. Golden blonde hair, eyes like the most beautiful of amethysts, and a round face with whisker marks was above me.

Rin.

Everything was okay.

"Hi," I said weakly, smiling shakily, "You look tired."

Rin started shaking and pulled me into a hug, sobbing.

"Careful," I wheezed, trying to breathe, "Ribs. Hurt."

She let me go and set me down gently, realizing she was hurting me.

"What happened?" She asked the two of us, looking at Sasuke with almost as much of concern, "Where's Orochimaru?" She then saw the empty, splattered corpse next to us.

"He got away," I mumbled, "But I popped his head." I closed my eyes again, trying to conserve my strength.

"You'll be okay." She said, I don't know to who, "Team 10 is right behind me."

Sure enough, I heard several people come out of the west part of the forest, the same as Rin did.

I heard Shikamaru say something and three more people joined Rin in being beside us.

I opened my eyes again and saw them.

Hinata, her arm bandaged and tucked to her chest, Ino, her hands glowing green, and Karin, looking at me with undisguised fear on her face.

"Hinata," Ino asked in a serious tone, one that almost surprised me, "Which one is more injured?"

Hinata's Byakugan activated and she looked between the two of us, back and forth.

Sasuke has something in his blood and," Her breath hitched, "Naruto has low chakra and a lot of internal bleeding that's healed."

"I'm fine," I said quietly, still not moving, "Blood's supposed to be inside, so no problem."

No one laughed.

"I got stabbed, give me a break." I groaned, seeing them all look unamused.

Ino frowned at me and moved over to Sasuke, running her hands over the cut.

"I can't siphon out whatever it is that's in your blood," She told Sasuke sadly, "I'm not good enough, but I can close the cut mostly."

Sasuke nodded and hissed as Ino went to work and began using what Iryo ability she had in getting the wound to close.

She eventually finished and leaned back, exhaling in exhaustion.

"I'm already tired and this didn't help." She said faintly, grabbing a canteen to take a drink.

Ino then turned to Hinata.

"Do you have any bandages and water," Ino asked the lavender eyed girl, "We need to clean the two of them up so they don't get an infection."

Bodily fluids had a habit of being unhygienic in the long term.

"Yes." Hinata replied, grabbing at a scroll in her pouch. She got up and set it down a few feet away, pressing her hand to it and opening it up.

She grabbed a container of water and antiseptic, along with a roll of bandages and came back to us.

Sasuke got washed up and cleaned first, his protests when his shirt came off was ignored.

"Quit being a baby, Sasuke," Rin chided him, shifting over towards him, "Budge over, Ino, I'll wash him and clean the cuts. You take care of Naruto." She then started cleaning Sasuke, who was frozen in fright.

Unlike Sasuke, I wasn't able to shift around to help them get my shirt off, requiring Ino to hold me up.

"Can you not sit up?" Ino asked irritably, huffing at the weight of my body and armour.

"More of my blood's... on the ground... than in my body." I said weakly, the position making it hard to breath.

I wasn't exaggerating as much as I would have preferred.

Everyone was aware of how drenched in blood the area was, but I don't think they realized it was mine until I said that.

The silence was an uncomfortable one.

"Oh." Ino eventually said, beginning to unclasp my chest piece.

She got a closer look at it and saw all the holes.

"Are these stabs?" Ino asked, horror-stricken.

I didn't answer.

Ino set it down gently, looking back at my chest.

"Hinata, how much will you be able to help with your arm?" Ino looked at Hinata's, cluing me into realizing Hinata was hurt.

"What happened?" I asked, looking towards her with Ino's help.

"You kicked me away from you after you were bitten." Hinata replied softly.

I looked at her arm, completely bandaged to be less mobile, and I felt a wave of disgust at myself.

"Don't do that," She scolded me, glaring at me with a stare only a Hyuga could pull off, "I had to get the sword out of your chest, even if I had to break my arm to save you."

I have no idea what would have happened if the sword hadn't been pulled out of my chest after Orochimaru bit me, it might have killed me.

"Thank you, Hinata." I said quietly, not looking at her.

That was when Karin stepped in to talk.

"Your chakra is low. I think I can do something to help. Do you heal faster when your chakra is high like me?" She looked at me with curiosity.

I took a moment to digest what she was saying, but it clicked a few seconds later.

"Rin and I heal fast, which you would too, being an Uzumaki." I replied.

I heard Rin shout "What!" and Sasuke growl under his breath about her yelling right in his ear.

"You're an Uzumaki?" She demanded, getting in her face and looking her up and down, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Pardon me for forgetting to say anything when we couldn't find Naruto-kun!" She snapped back, not backing away.

Oh God, they're the same. I moaned internally. It had to be the R-I-N in their names, not just being Uzumaki. I wasn't crazy, was I?

"Please, shut up," I said weakly, my head was pounding from their voices, "Too loud."

They both turned in unison towards me and looked embarrassed.

"Sorry." They said sheepishly.

I blinked to try and let them know it was okay.

"What was it you meant about helping me?" I asked Karin, already suspecting what it was.

Karin got closer to me and pulled up her sleeve, revealing a few bite marks on her arm.

"I know it's going to sound weird," She said, looking directly at my eyes, "But I need you to bite me."

Everyone listening, Shikamaru, Choji, and several of Rin's clones were busy guarding us, looked shocked.

"Yeah, that sounds weird." I said, voicing what everyone was thinking.

"It's an ability my kaasan had," Karin explained, "It could heal injuries and restore your energy."

"Your mom was an Uzumaki?" Rin asked curiously.

Karin nodded.

"I don't have that," Rin said quietly to herself, "Do I?"

Sasuke looked at Rin a little differently.

Rin whipped towards Sasuke and gave him a look promising murder.

"You even think about touching me, I'll cut your balls off." She warned him, her eyes blazing, "You are not biting me to test it out."

Sasuke didn't back away.

"My head's hurting," He rattled off, "my eyes hurt, I got thrown into a tree, and I was covered in blood. I'd almost risk it to stop hurting." He finished with a groan.

Rin growled and hoisted him up, sinking her teeth into his shoulder without any warning.

Sasuke shouted more in surprise than in pain, but he started hitting her to get her off of him, the two falling to the ground.

She held his arms down, but stopped biting him after a few seconds.

"Quit whining," She laughed, her eyes alight with a vicious look, "You still want to joke about biting me, Uke?"

Sasuke shook his head, his arms still restrained by Rin.

"Okay." She said simply, hopping off him.

"I hate you." Sasuke muttered to himself, getting up and looking at the bite, "You're an animal."

"I didn't even draw blood." Rin scoffed, going back to looking at the other girls and me.

"You have fangs for canines, Rin." Sasuke deadpanned, pointing at the indentions in his skin.

There was one speck of blood where one of her teeth sank in, but that was it.

"Pussy." I muttered, seeing what he was bitching about.

"You try getting bit." Sasuke glared at me, before he flinched and remembered what happened.

"I think getting impaled more times today than a 5 Ryo hooker on a weekend is bad enough." I muttered nonchalantly.

Every girl present scowled.

"Naruto!" Was what Hinata, Ino, and Rin said.

"I think chakra exhaustion is getting to your head." Sasuke rolled his eyes, wincing from the action.

His eyes looked bloodshot very badly.

I had no idea what the hell my blood would do to his eyes. The last thing he needed was an infection.

"Hinata," I began to ask her to look at Sasuke's eyes, but I was cut off by her putting her hand on my chest.

"Uzumaki Naruto," She glared at me, "I know you joke and act like a pervert when you're scared or hurting. So accept what Karin-san is offering, because you don't look scared."

"I'm fine." I said tightly, not wanting to bite Karin.

Hinata pressed her fingers against my ribs, specifically the area most recently stabbed by Orochimaru.

I jerked at the contact.

"Oh, God." I moaned in English, colours dancing in my vision from the pain.

Hinata didn't break eye contact, but I saw tears start to form in her eyes from hurting me.

"Please," Hinata begged me, "Quit acting strong and accept help."

I wouldn't have been able to survive to save Sasuke if Hinata hadn't pulled the sword out of my chest, Sasuke's chakra was what snapped me from the haze after I crushed Orochimaru's head.

Exhaling, I relented.

"Alright," I turned to Karin, "How much does it hurt?"

Someone biting you had to hurt, and my teeth were much sharper.

"Doesn't matter," She said quietly, scooting towards me, "You saved me and you're my family."

She put her arm up to my face, giving me an unflinching look.

I raised my hand up shakily and grabbed her hand to pull it a little closer.

I saw the scars on her arm, the individual teeth marks disgusting me, not by the sight of them, but what they symbolized.

Kusa could have found another way. Pay roaming Iryo-nin for their services. They should have done something other than this. Anything.

They scarred an innocent girl.

A child.

My blood.

My family.

I growled and sank my teeth into her arm, biting to break the skin.

I heard her groan in pain, but what happened next wasn't what I expected.

I felt a rush of chakra in my tenketsu that felt like Karin's and my eyes rolled back into my head.

I pitched forward and all the pain left me. I didn't realize how much my body hurt until it was healed.

My own chakra came back some, being stoked by hers.

But it was my sensing that had me out of it for probably one second that stretched out like a lifetime.

I could see.

I could feel.

I felt every single chakra signature in the forest, every trap still remaining, every tree, animal, and living thing.

But it was my friends and Rin that had me looking in rapture.

I could feel their chakra so intensely that I could see the outline of their bodies. I saw Rin's with as much intensity as I did when we were right next to each other before we were born. Hinata's was soft and burned with a pleasant warmth, Ino's was a whispering stream, Karin's was like a bright and roaring fire, Sasuke's crackled and was sharp, while Choji's was firm, unyielding, and Shikamaru's was slick and felt evasive and dark.

I could almost see them, it was so bright.

"Beautiful." I managed to say, my vision clearing.

Everyone was looking at me with concern.

"I'm alright," I assured them, blinking several times, "I feel better than I have in a long time."

My body felt a little tired, but I was mostly fine. I was pretty sure I could make my way to the tower if need be.

I put my hand on Ino's and gently took it from my shoulder, not needing her to hold me up.

I then noticed Karin was bleeding, a sizable bite in her arm, courtesy of me.

"Is there anything I can do?" I asked, reaching for her hand.

Karin shook her head and pulled her arm away, grabbing a bandage.

"It always scars," She said quietly, pressing some gauze on her arm, "The Iryo-nin can only make them more faint."

Tsunade could heal them. I thought to myself, gazing at the blood coming from where I bit her.

I'll pay in gold if I have to get the drunk to heal the scars.

I grabbed a canteen beside my shirt and took a swig, swishing it around and spat it out, trying to get the taste of Karin's blood out of my mouth.

"That was antiseptic, Naruto." Hinata pointed out softly, looking concerned.

"I don't like tasting blood." I muttered, wincing at the after taste of something that tasted much worse than rubbing alcohol.

Don't ask how I know that.

I glanced around, now that I wasn't fighting to stay awake and took in the surroundings.

Shikamaru had to have been the one to think of this formation. I recognized it as one he'd been running with me lending him several clones to order around to get the hang of making different orders on the fly.

"When did you guys meet up?" I asked Rin and pointed at Ino and Karin.

Rin explained that Team 10 had showed up after she fought the Kumo nin, who came after she and Hinata fought Kabuto.

The pride I felt as Rin described, using expressive hand gestures, her hitting Kabuto with a Rasengan and how she and Hinata fought him to a standstill was visible on my face.

Kabuto was an A-rank, someone who could contend with Asuma, and a 'Canon' Kakashi.

And Rin and Hinata made him withdraw.

Rin then described the fight with the Kumo nin, how she protected Hinata while she stabilized a broken arm and jumped back into the fight, how she took them on and outsmarted them using seals.

I scooted towards her and hugged her.

"I'm so proud of you," I whispered, "So would kaasan and tousan."

I then reached for Hinata and pulled her into a one armed hug, hearing an 'eep' as I did.

"I'm proud of you too, Hinata," I smiled, seeing her eyes shine with happiness, "Your father has a kind and strong daughter, and Hanabi has a better older sibling than Rin does."

I smiled and then looked at Sasuke.

"You got through this too, Sasuke," I let Rin and Hinata go, reaching for Sasuke, "Come here."

Sasuke actually looked happy to take my place and Team 7 had a moment to themselves, a life threatening event bringing them closer in a way such events could do.

The Sannin were honed into what they were, for good or bad, by enduring hell together, leaning on one another and refusing to give in.

I looked to Ino and Karin, wanting to talk with my cousin and friend.

"How'd you find Team 10?" I asked Karin, the girl looking below my eyes.

"I used my sensing and found them." She stammered out, blushing some as she looked at me.

I looked down and realized I still had my shirt off.

Ino and Hinata got used to it somewhat from us training together, but Karin hadn't.

Curse my Uzumaki genes. I thought mockingly, resigned to another girl liking me.

I almost thought I was being punished for something, but ignored it.

Both Ino and Karin then went on to explain their parts of how they met up.

Team 10 had ambushed a team successfully and got a scroll, no complications, and had almost run afoul of the Sand siblings, but Ino had managed to use her sensing to skirt away from them.

All in all, a rough first day for half of the rookie Genin, but we pulled through.

It might have been worse if the Jonin Senseis didn't pool their training sessions. I thanked our luck for that.

After they finished explaining, I put my hands on the ground to get up.

"Careful, Naruto," Ino put her hand on my chest, her palm cold, "You might not be fully recovered."

"The only thing that I need is time for my chakra to come back." I replied, straightening up and standing.

Kurama was really coming through by the mere presence of his Yin half in my seal. It was stimulating my own chakra growth alongside what Karin had done. Give me a day or two and I'll be 100%.

"I need to talk with Shikamaru." I said, walking gingerly just in case.

Ino kept walking with me all the way, her hand still on my stomach.

"Your hands are cold." I muttered, still keeping a sedate pace towards Shikamaru.

"Sorry." Ino said, taking her hand off me, "My hands get cold when I use Iryo-ninjutsu."

That wasn't normally supposed to happen, but Ino had only been taking her training, including training with medical jutsu, seriously for the last 5 or 6 months. Hinata was better, but Ino wasn't terrible.

We were quiet as we got to Shikamaru, who turned to face us.

"You're looking better than I expected." Shikamaru drawled, but I could hear the shaking in his voice.

"Be honest, Shika," I requested seriously, "What did you expect?"

Shikamaru sighed and pressed his fingers below his eyes.

"I thought you and Sasuke would be dead before we got here."

I knew he probably wouldn't want to hear this, but he needed to.

"There's a difference between being a realist and a pessimist," I said simply, my tone becoming a somber one at the end, "And it's realistic to believe that two Genin weren't going to survive an S-rank criminal."

But then I gave the impact.

"But I'm not a regular genin, am I?"

Shikamaru smirked and his shoulders relaxed.

"No, you're not."

The three of us stood there for a moment, Shikamaru doing something with his shadow.

"Trying to test out nighttime shenanigans?" I asked, noticing him trying to stretch his shadow as it got progressively darker.

Shikamaru nodded absentmindedly, not looking at me.

I had another question for him, wanting to know what he thought.

"We're all tired and neither Sasuke or I will be helpful." I began, my thoughts drifting.

Sasuke would be a liability from the remnants of poison still needing to get flushed out of his system by drinking a bunch of water to help piss it out.

I would because I was up and about, but wasn't at my best.

Team 10 looked tired and ready to sleep.

And Hinata still hadn't gotten her arm fixed yet, Ino being the only one who could fuse the fracture back.

Out of all of us, Rin was the only one that would be capable of holding off a squad without risk of losing.

"We need to hunker down and find somewhere to sleep," I said to Shikamaru, the dark haired boy nodding, "Rin can make plenty of bunshin and put some traps down to shield us from other teams."

Shikamaru added his two cents. "The ground is too dangerous. Predators will smell blood and attack constantly. The trees are big enough for us to be up there. Except, we'd fall over in our sleep."

"I have tags that will stick us to the trees." I reached in my pocket and pulled them out.

I realized that they were junked when I felt them. They had blood smeared on them, trashing the ink on them.

Shikamaru eyed them with a rightful level of distrust.

"I can ask Rin to make some new ones." I threw the old ones to the ground, not caring about trying to salvage them.

Shikamaru shook his head and huffed.

"This has been nothing but troublesome." He scowled, "Troublesome redheads, troublesome blondes, and troublesome snakes."

"No argument there."

Shikamaru turned to Ino.

"I think Karin is struggling to bandage her arm, could you help her?" He asked his blonde teammate, looking passed us towards my cousin.

Ino nodded and left, the two of us now relatively alone.

Shikamaru gave me a serious look that didn't belong on a 13 year old's face.

"How bad was it?" He asked, no hint needed at what he was talking about.

"Terrifying." I said truthfully.

I continued on.

"You ever had a dream where you kept doing an action over and over again, but nothing happens? Like you throw a kunai at a target, but it doesn't do anything?"

Shikamaru looked at me strangely, shrugging after a moment.

"Sort of, but go ahead."

"That's how it felt." I said quietly, remembering how long it felt, "I killed him five times, Shika. He kept shedding like a snake and getting a new body."

I pointed towards where everyone was at.

"That corpse was the last one he shed." I took a deep breath, "I killed him with a water dragon, tore him to shreds and almost punched his jaw off, blew him up with lightning and got his guts all over me, drove a Rasengan through his heart, and I crushed his head." I finished explaining everything I did to Orochimaru, my voice faint, looking down at the ground.

Shikamaru looked at me with horror, not at what I did, but what Orochimaru had survived.

"How can anyone fight against that?" He asked, looking lost, "How can we ever fight that?"

He looked like what I said broke something in him.

"Is all our training for nothing," He asked, his eyes darting around like his thoughts were racing, "Are we going to die fighting an S-rank? We're kids. We can't do this. I can't do this. I'm gonna get everyone killed." He started breathing heavily, looking frantic.

"Shika," I said harshly, his eyes snapping towards mine, "Who. Do. You. See?"

Shikamaru blinked.

"I see you."

"Not Orochimaru?" I asked rhetorically.

Shikamaru shook his head.

"I fought an S-rank, Shika," I said clearly, looking into his calculating eyes, "And I made him run."

"That bastard may have refused to die, but the same goes for me." I continued with iron in my voice, "He stabbed me, broke my bones, made me taste and see my own blood, but I refused to give up. Do you know why?"

Shikamaru shook his head once more.

"If I gave up, my friends would die. Every ounce of sweat, every drop of blood, every cut, stab, broken bone, and second I fought was one more moment you guys and the village were safe," I said, my entire soul bared to Shikamaru, "I said that you guys meant more to me than everything else, and I meant it."

Shikamaru swallowed audibly.

"You really do care." He whispered, his mind now focused on something other than over thinking his own fears of failure.

"I don't plan on being a Chunin or a Jonin for my entire career, Shika," I put my hand on his shoulder, causing him to look back up, "I'm aiming for the top."

His eyes widened.

"Hokage."

I nodded.

"Hashirama had his brother," I said, still looking at him with conviction, "The Yondaime had your dad. And I want you," I stressed the word, "And maybe Sasuke."

Shikamaru blinked in surprise, his mouth opening slightly in shock.

Shikamaru wanted to have a normal career, a normal wife, normal life, and two kids. He didn't want anything special.

But he wasn't a normal person.

"That's why I fought the traitor," I got to the end of what I was saying, "Hashirama fought Madara and the Kyuubi, Tobirama built this village up and fought the Kinkaku Force, the Sandaime has served and guarded this village for over half a century and gave Konoha the Sannin, and the Yondaime fought Iwa and defeated the Kyuubi. I will not look at my predecessors and be found lacking when I stand in their company."

I let Shikamaru go and turned to leave, seeing the sun set more.

"Let's move to a more secure area." I said, not looking back.

That night was a tense one, but nothing compared to what the day had been, thankfully.

---

End Chapter:

Holy shit, that was hard to write. This and part one had the absolute most thought put into writing it. I think I pulled a muscle in my brain from writing it.

Be honest, how many people suspected Naruto was going to get his head cut off at some point? I had it mentioned more than once earlier on as more of Hiruzen and Kakashi thinking Naruto might be insane enough to try it on himself though.

If anybody knows where I got the inspiration for Orochimaru getting fucked up, hats off to you.

Naruto has a rocky start to his talk with Minato, but works through it and gets some much needed insight on the Hiraishin and a means to know how Obito fights.

More is revealed about Ashina, including the spark from whom the Flame Imperishable spawned.

I've read a couple stories that had Tobirama as a reason for why Hiruzen was a closet pervert. Hashirama taught his granddaughter how to gamble, Tobirama probably had his own vices. I find the idea of the Senju brothers being a gambler and a manwhore hilarious.

Stuff continues to spiral and the rookies get thrown into a maelstrom of uncertainty, but emerge from it triumphant.

One final thing: I think I will try to make the pairing Naru/Ino/Hina.(The jokes Jiraiya and Kakashi make will be hilarious). If I can pull it off, I'll go through with it. If not, I can walk it back into just a friendship with one. It'll depend on whether I can get Hinata and Ino to be friends. Should I or or should I not? The story will shift down another path if I do it and I'm being an indecisive little bitch about it. If you have a certain opinion on it, please explain your stance. I would appreciate the input more than anything, especially with something this important to the plot.

Anyway, I'm going to bed. Have a wonderful day.

Raging..