Oh, I know. It's crazy how fast I've been updating, comparatively speaking. I'll try to keep up the pace, the next chapter's already started.
Thank you to all who reviewed! Last I checked we had 80+ reviews for chapter 11. You all are absolutely awesome. I'm editing "If Only" and taking out a lot, but I'll put it into a "Deleted Scenes" story so people can access it if they choose. I'll take any requests for one-shots from the story, and they don't have to include Naruto. If, say, you wanted to see Raidon's first day at the Academy, I'd put that in there too. Just let me know!
Poll results: Well, Kushina won, pretty handily. There were good arguments on both sides. Just remember, when I use Kushina that this is my version, aka Meara. She has naturally blond hair and uses a combination of Areah Broah and chakra in her jutsus. She's also a skilled medic-nin. This isn't the Kushina from the manga.
I will listen to anything you have to say, as long as you are polite about it. Please, point out things that don't make sense, or grammatical errors (ie: 'life a hellish life' in the last chapter), or even certain personal preferences. One reader mentioned the use of 'the clone' as being weird. That's okay. I am secure enough in my writing to handle some CC and advice. Just be polite and not insulting.
One more thing. Hawk Wing and I'm Not telling, if you two are able to resume being my betas, that would be awesome. If anyone else is interested, let me know via review or PM and I'll let you know if I need you. Thanks, all!
Chapter 11
There was more fighting going on.
He could hear it in the distance, and feel it in the ground. It made him sick. Was it too much to ask for a little peace and quiet?
He should not want quiet, he knew. He should want noise.
All he wanted was rest.
He knew how angry she'd be with him for wanting to give up. She would yell and rage and throw pillows at him.
His heart ached. How he missed her.
The fighting was coming closer now, as were the two new ones. There was something familiar about them, but he couldn't remember it. They didn't matter anyway.
He wondered, if he gave up, would he miss her as much?
"Narutoooooooo!"
He snapped his head up. Naruto. There was a body flying across the sky, one with blond hair. Like his. One of the new ones.
Naruto.
His son.
Naruto.
Naruto.
Namikaze Minato whipped out one of his kunais and threw it at his son. He timed it perfectly so that the kunai's trajectory intersected Naruto's at a time when they would be within one foot of each other.
He waited, waited for the right time. Almost . . . now!
Minato activated the seal and for the first time in so many years, performed Hiraishin.
He felt a rush of joy as the chakra flowed through him. A smile flickered on his face and something in him lightened. He replaced the joy with determination, thinking of why he was doing this. The purpose in his life.
His son.
He had timed it perfectly, ending the jutsu within a foot of Naruto. He wrapped an arm around Naruto's waist—marveling at how large he was. Sarutobi had said Naruto was twelve. How long had it been since then? How old was he now?
Naruto 'oofed' as Minato's slammed into him. Instantly, he felt the man's other arm flex and throw something. Another instant later, they were on the ground. His ribs jerked painfully, but Minato put him down gently.
"Stay here," he ordered, looking into Naruto's blue eyes. "I'll take care of you."
Naruto gaped as Minato spun around. He whipped out a kunai and started a complicated parrying, dodging, attacking pattern with the arm that had followed him. The arm fell back after a couple of minutes of the dizzying dance. Naruto wasn't sure if the arm noticed, but Minato had stuck seal on it, on the wrist behind its hand, right where it couldn't pull it off. The hand realized it had been tagged and tried to twist around to get the seal off, but it couldn't reach the seal.
Meanwhile, Minato gathered a Rasengan in his hand. A second later, he activated the seal and the jutsu tore through the arm, reducing it to slivers of flesh and a lot of blood. Minato relaxed, the immediate threat to himself and his son dealt with.
He spun around and ran back to Naruto. There would be more things coming, and where was Orochimaru's other arm?
"Get up," he commanded. "We need to leave."
Minato tugged Naruto up, eyes alert and moving, feet sensitive to anything running through the ground. He started moving—any direction, it didn't matter. As long as they were always moving, they'd be safe. Nothing would hurt Naruto.
Nothing.
"Wait, wait!" Naruto said, digging his heels in. "You're going the wrong way."
Minato shook his head, not looking at Naruto. Panic was starting to set in. "No right way, no wrong way. Just move, move. Always move!"
"This way is safe—"
"No way is safe!" Minato hissed. "No way! They'll find you unless you move! Move!"
Naruto stopped, refusing to move any more. Minato twisted and finally looked at Naruto. He was intending to get his point across, but lost his train of thought at the sight of his son. "So big," he murmured. "Big and strong. How old are you? How long? Where is she? Here, too? We have to find her! Find her! Save her!"
"No! No, look at me!" Naruto demanded. "Kyuubi's here!"
"Kyuubi?" Minato wondered. "Kyuubi-Hideharu? How? How? Last time I saw him . . ."
Minato trailed off and his eyes became vacant, distant. Naruto waited a moment for him to snap out of it, to start rambling again, but he didn't. Emotions flashed through his eyes, fear, anger, sadness, but Minato just kept staring. Naruto stepped forward and grabbed Minato's chin, forcing the man to look him in the eye and return to reality.
"Kyuubi is that way," Naruto enunciated, pointing in the direction he knew the fox was. "We need to save him."
Minato blinked. "From what?"
"Orochimaru's other arm," Naruto answered.
"Oh." Minato pulled out another kunai and prepared to throw it, but glanced at Naruto. "No, no. I can't leave you."
Naruto bit back a sarcastic, somewhat bitter reply and started running. "Come on, then."
Kyuubi writhed on the ground. He forced an arm up, stabbing the kunai he had into Orochimaru's arm. That was his last weapon and the arm looked like an extremely odd, floating porcupine.
"Why won't you die?" he demanded. "And what the hell is wrong with me?"
He started to pull himself in the direction that Naruto had gone. He wasn't sure what had happened to the kit, but if he couldn't get out, neither could Kyuubi. The blond was also the only connection to Minato.
Kyuubi rolled out of the way as the hand made another attack, but convulsed as whatever was wrong with him got worse.
Sasuke glared at the strings. No matter how hard he tugged, nothing happened. He considered the strings again.
Maybe if he just tried suppressing Kyuubi's chakra in the strand, the fox would be forced to return. Sasuke reached out and wrapped the string around his hand, pushing at it the same way he had months ago in Orochimaru's lair.
Kyuubi had mentioned Uchiha Madara then, too.
Sasuke paused, thinking on it. He'd found out the truth during his fight with Itachi. Madara had founded Konoha, with the First Hokage, then gone on to found Akatsuki and hide behind it. He'd somehow survived far beyond his natural lifespan, manipulating the organization and through it, many political events in the world.
Of course, he had no idea what had happened after the fight with Itachi. Sasuke thought he'd finally beaten his brother and passed out. But according to information he'd gleaned since waking up in Konoha, he had been found alone and nearly dead in the Uchiha base, Itachi nowhere to be found.
Sasuke pushed all those thoughts aside. He could find out the truth when he left the Village. He pushed on the chakra, forcing it down.
Kyuubi gasped and collapsed. All his strength had gone out from him. Orochimaru's arm, nearly dead, was stronger than he was at the moment and taking advantage of it. It was raised above him, poised for the killing blow. Kyuubi struggled to move, but he could barely find the energy to breath.
"Oh, no," he groaned. "No way. This is not happening! Not again!"
Orochimaru's arm floated above him, then started to come down for the final blow, but a hail of shuriken flashed between it and the prone form on the ground. The flurry of weapons was followed by a single, yellow-sealed kunai, which was followed by a tall blond man in a white cloak.
"Minato!" Kyuubi shouted, quite startled.
Minato grabbed one of the kunais in the arm and dragged it the length of the appendage, slicing it open. The arm flailed in the air for a minute, but quickly fell to the ground, flopping like a fish out of water.
"Kyuubi!" Naruto called. "Have you figured out what's wrong with you yet?"
The fox shook his head and glanced between the two nearly-identical blonds. "You found him!"
"Actually, he found me," Naruto corrected. He scrambled up to Kyuubi's side. "Can you get up? We can finally get out of here!"
Kyuubi shook his head again. "No, as much as I hate it, I'll need your help."
Naruto tried to drag Kyuubi to his feet, but he had broken ribs and the redhead was a large, fully grown man, well in the body of one. He needed help. "Hey, hey!" he called to Minato.
"We need to move!" he cried. "They're coming. Up! Up! We need—we—ah . . ."
The Hokage trailed off as his eyes landed on Kyuubi's hunched over form. Naruto was still shouting at him, using anything from 'Yondaime' to 'Blondie' to get his attention, but Minato was unresponsive again.
"Try calling him 'Dad,'" Kyuubi suggested. "We can't get going until he snaps out of it and nothing seems to be working. I'd rather not have him impaled by something."
Naruto frowned slightly. "Let me try something else first." He flipped a rock up with his foot, caught it with his hand and chucked it at the dazed Hokage. Minato instinctively snatched it out of the air, tensing. Kyuubi rolled his eyes and muttered darkly about Naruto's brilliant decision making and utter emotion repression.
"We need to get going," Naruto shouted at the Hokage. "Before something finds us, remember?"
Minato nodded, his head bobbing up and down frantically. Naruto kept talking. "I need your help," he said. "Kyuubi needs your help."
"Help?" Minato questioned. He got the idea in a minute and rushed forward, throwing Kyuubi's other arm over his shoulders. He started to lead them off to the left, but Naruto stopped him.
"No, no, we need to go this way!" He pulled the other two along the right path, toward the exit point.
Minato was confused. "Why? What? Why this way? This way could be wrong!"
Naruto shook his head. "No, trust me, it's not. We can get out."
"Out?" the elder blond wondered. "Out of where? Out of danger? No, no, no, we're always in danger here. Always. No escaping. Always and forever."
Sasuke frowned at the two strings. Repressing the chakra didn't work either. He stepped back from the problem and felt a sudden pain on his chin. Sasuke reached up to rub it, but—
Then he was staring into the enraged face of the Hokage and he didn't have time to adjust and put her under a genjutsu before her fist smashed into his face again.
She must have seen through Ino's 'coma.'
The Hokage pressed two fingers to a pressure point on his neck before he had recovered from the mental trip and the punch. Sasuke had just enough time to swear before he blacked out.
Kyuubi's heart sank as Minato continued to ramble. Clearly, the man hadn't lost his humanity so much as his mind. Such could be the problem with struggling eternally; Kyuubi had seen it before. He seemed only to be sane when dealing with Naruto, which did not bode well. The kit didn't like to be pressured and Minato's mental health was dependent almost entirely on him at the moment. Then there was the issue with Madara, and if Orochimaru could somehow resurrect himself through his chakra in either Kabuto or Sasuke, and Akatsuki's continued threat, how the elders would react to Minato's return, and how the village would react to Naruto's heritage, and where the rest of Naruto's family had been all these years.
Kyuubi's head started to hurt, and it wasn't just from his complete lack of energy and chakra. This was going to be an extremely difficult time for every one, and he wasn't sure what was going to happen with the other three Hokages. The trio stumbled across the plains of the Shinigami's stomach, moving as quickly as they could with Kyuubi's dead weight.
"Oh, no," Minato breathed. "Oh, no. We're in trouble. Big trouble! Double—no, triple trouble! Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad!"
Naruto shot a glance to his father. What the hell was the man going on about now? "Hey, what kind of trouble?"
"All kinds!" Minato muttered. "We're all going to die!"
"Don't be pessimistic," Naruto ordered. "Okay. What, exactly is after us?"
Minato scrunched up his face. "Well, everything! You mean at this moment?"
". . . yes. What is going on right now?" Naruto asked.
"Bugs," Minato answered decisively.
Naruto waited for him to elaborate, but the man didn't, just let his eyes skitter over the ground.
"What kind of bugs, Minato?" Kyuubi asked.
"Biting ones," he replied. "Crawl all over you, biting your skin. Ugh. I hate bugs. Nasty. They taste bad, too. Very crunchy. Hard on the teeth."
"How big are these . . . bugs?" Kyuubi wondered.
Minato suddenly froze and looked over his shoulder, eyes wide. "That big! Run!"
Naruto and Kyuubi followed Minato's gaze and saw several dog-sized beetles scampering across the ground after them. Minato was in the process of transferring Kyuubi entirely to Naruto, insisting that they run, run, run.
"I will hold them off," Minato said. "You two just get going."
"We're not leaving without you," Kyuubi said, staring at the 'bugs' coming after them.
"I'll catch up, but neither of you can fight properly! This won't take a moment, just go!" Minato ordered.
Naruto nodded and started to drag Kyuubi, who was starting to get some strength back. Minato faced the approaching beetles and his face hardened.
Nothing was hurting Naruto.
A fireball exploded behind Naruto and Kyuubi. Holy crap! That's the biggest fire jutsu I've ever seen!
"Keep going!" Minato shouted over his shoulder. "There are more coming!"
"Just throw up a wall to keep them back and get over here, idiot!" Kyuubi roared.
Minato scowled at him. "What? You think this is earth? I can't use earth jutsus here, any more than I can use water or wind!"
"Why is that?" Naruto asked.
"I'll explain later," Kyuubi answered. He was starting to stumble along. Whatever had a hold on him was weakening. He wished it would just give up. And preferably die in the process.
Naruto scowled at Kyuubi, the same as Minato. "You have a lot of explaining to do," he grunted. "When we get out of here."
Minato had apparently decided that the beetles were being held at bay enough for the moment, and ran back to join the other two. "Okay, do either of you have a plan?"
"Yeah, get up that hill and get out," Naruto answered, pointing.
"Okay, then, both of you grab onto me," Minato said, reaching for another kunai. "I'm not the fastest man in history for nothing."
"So, you have met Naruto," Sarutobi said. The two Hokages were standing to one side of the chamber, while Kagami raged and stormed around the two Narutos, promising to arrange all kinds of interesting, painful deaths for them and the original. It was very fascinating. The other gods seemed rather bored by it, but Sarutobi was quite worried that she would really hurt Naruto when he came out. She hadn't hurt his clones in any way because they'd disappear and the original Naruto would be warned of her wrath. No having that.
The First Hokage nodded. "He is an interesting boy. He told me he stole the Hokage's scroll and learned a forbidden jutsu when he was in the Academy."
Sarutobi nodded. "Hm-mm. The stunt earned him his hitae-ate."
"I'm just wondering," he said. "The Hokage's library is still in the Hokage's manor, right?"
Sarutobi nodded again, wincing as she came within an inch of Naruto's clone's face. The clone itself flinched and grimaced. "Yes, why do you ask, sensei?"
"You don't have to call me that," the other chuckled. "Heck, you probably know more than me now."
"I doubt that," Sarutobi said. "Although I am certainly older than you."
"Yes, well, you also certainly look it," the First teased. "Now, I can't help but question how an admittedly loud twelve year old got past you, Saru. Any response?"
Sarutobi's cheeks tinged pink for an instant. "When he comes out, ask him to show you his 'Sexy Jutsu.' You'll see how he got past me."
Ta-da! There you go! We finally meet him! A thousand yays! I know, he's pretty unbalanced, but he had to be. Nobody could come out of that after sixteen years and be normal. A bunch of you guessed right in your reviews. He did save Naruto!
Some things to notice: 1) Minato assumed that Kushina would be with Naruto. 2) Kyuubi said "Not again!" when Orochimaru's arm was about to kill him.
What do these mean? I don't know! (Well, I do) But you tell me! Give me guesses.
I know Sasuke may seem somewhat weak, but I'm guessing that switching from the mindscape to reality would disorient anyone, enough for a Sannin and Hokage to get a blow in. Plus, remember he's still 'healing.' As for how it ties in with the manga--spoiler assume that Konoha ninjas found him sprawled on the ground, but Itachi gone. Sasuke assumes that means Itachi could still be alive and is therefore still searching for more power.
Finally, if you read the manga and don't base yourself entirely off the anime, in the first chapter, Naruto is trying to steal the Scroll of Sealing, but Sarutobi catches him. Naruto performs his sexy jutsu and Sarutobi passes out on the ground with a nosebleed. That's what the last comment was.