"Thanks everyone for coming to the Hidden Leaf Chuunin selection exam! We will now start the main tournament matches between the eight participants who made it through the preliminaries. Be sure to stay and watch until the end!" Orochimaru exclaimed once he got everyone's attention.
"Alright guys, this is the final test." The proctor said to the genin. "This arena is different, but the rules are the same. Now, the first fight, Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga. Those two stay here while the rest of you go to the waiting room."
Ko and the rest of the genin went up to the waiting area looking down at Naruto and Neji waiting for their match to begin. Ko looked down at the two wondering how the match would end. Neji was an excellent student and strong while the rumors she heard about Naruto weren't that good; but she knew he had some tricks up his sleeve. She heard a lot about him from her father since he was sent there almost every day due to his pranks. As soon as the proctor started the match, Naruto vowed that Neji would lose; while Neji activated his Byakugan causing Naruto to show his legendary clones drawing kunai. Ko walked forward towards the railing and sat down setting her legs in between the bars letting them dangle. The sword on her back started to feel uncomfortable so she rested it on her lap.
"Why are you sitting?" Niko questioned.
"It's going to be a while until my match starts. Better to sit and relax instead of standing until my legs hurt." Ko replied as she glanced up at her teammate looking at the bandages that were wrapped around her arms. She trained very hard in the past month causing some injury to her limbs.
Naruto's clones charged towards Neji but he easily defeated them with only taijutsu. Once the clones disappeared, Neji started to mock Naruto about being Hokage.
"Ugh why the chit chat? This is a battle." Ko complained as she rested her head on the bars.
Naruto responded by creating even more clones attacking Neji once more but he ran through the crowd of Naruto's attempting to attack the original. Neji ran at the Naruto towards the back of the group hitting his pressure point causing blood to come out of Naruto's mouth. Neji gloated on how he found the original but was dumbfounded when Naruto disappeared. Two Narutos' snuck up behind Neji.
"Heh, the one weakness to the Byakugan, that blind-spot of theirs." Ko thought as she watched Naruto punch Neji.
Unfortunately, Naruto's attempt was thwarted when Neji revealed a technique he kept up his sleeve which made an orb of chakra appear around him as he twisted around which sent both Narutos' away.
"Neji had improved greatly since graduation," Ko thought with a smirk.
Neji got into a stance then rushed towards Naruto hitting his chakra points over and over again, sending him to the ground. Everyone thought Naruto would stay down, but he slowly rose to his feet surprising everyone.
"I told you, I'm not good at giving up." He said weakly.
The two opponents started to talk again about the preliminaries when Neji almost killed his friend Hinata. Neji then removed his headband revealing the curse of the Hyuga Clan shocking Naruto.
"This match is getting pretty boring with all this talking." Ko commented catching a few glances but then their eyes went back to the match.
Everyone watched as Neji ran towards Naruto slamming his hand on the blonde's chest making him fly back and slide across the ground.
"Heh, damn loser." Neji said as he turned away from Naruto already claiming victory but he stopped when he heard Naruto getting to his feet.
"D..don't run away." Naruto stammered as he gained his balance.
Naruto pressed his hands together forming a hand sign summoning his chakra. To everyone's surprise, he managed to summon the Nine Tailed Beast's chakra which also started to heal him in the process. Naruto jumped into the air throwing shuriken towards Neji but they were easily deflected and thrown back at him. Naruto's speed improved since he managed to get behind Neji so quickly. The sound of metal on metal filled the air as they threw shuriken and kunai at each other.
Naruto landed on the ground rushing towards Neji attempting to punch him once more. Neji used his Kaiten to deflect his punch. As they collided, smoke filled the arena making it impossible to see what had happened. Once the smoke cleared, everyone saw two craters in the ground. Neji was the first to emerge from the hole in the ground while Naruto remained still. Suddenly, the ground began to shake under Neji and Naruto emerged from the hole upper cutting Neji sending him to the ground. Neji attempted to move but that was it, his chakra was dangerously low making it impossible to move.
"Winner! Naruto Uzumaki!"
Everyone cheered for Naruto as he ran around the arena blowing kisses at his fans enjoying the praise. Neji was carried away on a stretcher while Naruto was still gloating. He finally was told to walk up to the waiting area as they got ready for the next match, Niko vs Shikamaru.
Niko and Shikamaru both were reluctant to start the match but thanks to their teammates, they made it to the battle ground. All the confidence Niko gained over the month crumbled when it came to her standing face to face with her opponent while Shikarmaru didn't want to fight, especially a girl.
"Niko! Don't forget the training!" Ko shouted from the fighters area making Niko perk up responding to the encouragement. She looked over at Ko giving her a smile then returned her attention to the Nara.
Before the proctor could start the match, Niko had already begun to run towards Shikamaru weaving hand signs. She put her fingers to her mouth spewing a wave of fire towards Shikamaru making him jump out of the way setting the tree behind him aflame instead. She dashed to the right where Shikamaru landed swinging her fists at him which he dodged. After a few swings, Shikamaru started to return the punches landing a few hits then back flipped away from her. By the time he landed, Niko sucked in a breath to shoot a few fire balls from her mouth towards him. As they collided on the ground, smoke erupted the arena.
As the smoke was still in the air, a black shadow emerged from it heading towards Niko. She jumped back from it seeing if there was a weakness to his shadow. Once she got far enough from it, she noticed it starting to diminish in width the further it went until finally it had reached its limit. She used a kunai to mark the spot the shadow had stopped once it started to recede. Shikamaru knelt down on the ground forming some kind of seal and closed his eyes but Niko rushed towards him interrupting his thoughts.
"Looks like there is a weakness after all to your clan's jutsu." Niko said with a smile as she slashed her kunai towards him which he merely dodged trying to put some distance between them. "How long are you going to keep running away?" She questioned as she swung her kunai once more as Shikamaru pulled out a smoke bomb from his kunai pouch.
Niko jumped back covering her eyes as multiple kunai emerged from the smoke which Niko tried to block but some landed a hit on her abdomen and left shoulder. Soon, she realized the faint shadow coming towards her using the walls shadow to extend further.
"Niko!" Ko shouted. "Look up!"
Everyone looked up seeing a kunai attached to a parachute coming towards Niko. The shadow of the kunai met with Shikamaru's jutsu which allowed it to extend further but Niko managed to keep out of its range. Niko started to weave more hand signs until her body started to copy Shikamaru's which astonished everyone.
"W-what?" She questioned looked at the ground not seeing his shadow in front of her.
"I'll show you what's behind you." Shikamaru said turning his head which she mimicked.
Everyone looked behind Niko seeing that the shadow emerged from the crater Naruto had dug during his match. Shikamaru started to walk forward making her move with him. As they faced each other, Shikamaru raised his arm which made Niko shut her eyes in distress awaiting his next attack.
"I forfeit!" Shikamaru announced making Niko, along with everyone else, look at him in shock.
"Winner. Niko Rinha!"
"W-why? You had me. You're such an idiot! All you had to do was put a kunai up to my throat and you'd win."
"I was almost out of chakra, there was a possibility of you breaking out of my jutsu within a couple seconds and I didn't want to take that risk." He responded as the jutsu dissipated.
"Tsk, idiot. Then you would've lost anyway, should've just let the match keep going." Niko said before going back up to the participant balcony.
Once the battlefield was cleared, they called for Sasuke's match but he still hadn't arrived. They announced that his match had been pushed back.
"Finally, it's my match." Ko said as she got up, put her sword on her back, and jumped down onto the ground followed by Kane. They walked to the middle of the arena facing each other waiting for the match to begin. Kane gave her what she thinks was a smile; it was hard to tell because of the mask.
"Let the third match begin!" The proctor shouted.
Instantly, Kane drew his sword lunging towards Ko who quickly drew hers to block his attack. His sword bared down on hers making her struggle against his strength trying to hold her own but his strength was starting to strain her. Her arms wavered knowing she was about to give in at any moment so she transferred chakra into her arms giving her more leverage. Kane suddenly took his weight off the sword making Ko lose her balance and swung it to her right side; she barely avoided it by bending backwards. He swiftly kicked her aiming for her neck but she raised her shoulder up letting her bicep take the hit.
Ko rolled on the ground feeling immense pain in her right shoulder from the force of the kick. "Dammit, I think it's broken." She thought as she got to her feet.
In a flash, Kane was next to Ko bringing his arm back about to punch her but she was able to catch it. She wasn't prepared for his foot to hit her side which sent her back towards the proctor. Ko regained her composure readying herself for the next attack. As Kane ran towards her, she pulled out several shuriken with her good arm pouring chakra into them before throwing them towards her opponent. The shuriken then multiplied creating a wall of shuriken. Kane stopped in his tracks readying his sword to deflect her weapons with ease.
"What? How did you do that?" Ko questioned with surprise. Something felt off about this match, her opponent was not a genin. No genin would be this skilled, she couldn't pull off that move even if she wanted to. He didn't even looked much older than her.
Ko headed straight for Kane as she readied her sword while he prepared for her next attack. Their weapons collided making a ringing sound spread throughout the stadium. Ko still struggled against the other's strength even though she put chakra in her arms to withstand him. She had no idea how he'd be able to have such strength; he was barely taller than her and was fairly skinny from what she could tell.
Ko pulled back her sword trying to swing for Kane's stomach but he jumped back before she could land a hit. He lunged forward attempting to stab Ko but she stepped to the right only receiving a cut on her arm. Ko ran towards her opponent who swung his sword at her legs but she was able to jump and kick off the wall behind him holding her good arm in the air ready to strike from above.
Kane stepped aside swinging his sword towards Ko who could barely move while in the air, so she created a clone to pull her out of the way taking the hit for her. Kane ran towards Ko as she got to her feet and swung at her once again landing a hit on Ko's back making her grunt in pain. By the time Ko turned around, Kane was already gone. She looked around seeing him on the other side of the arena weaving hand signs. Before she knew it, water started to pour out from Kane's mouth instantly flooding the arena.
Ko started to swim up to the surface but felt a tug on her leg. She looked down seeing a wire wrapped around her ankle attached to part of the tree Niko had burned previously. Her lungs were already screaming for air as she attempted to get her leg free. She wasn't prepared and didn't have enough air in her lungs to be able to stay under for much longer. She frantically looked around for her sword that she had dropped seeing it at the bottom on the other side of the arena. Ko didn't know how much longer her lungs would last; it felt as if someone were squeezing them and burned them from the inside.
"I can't drown, I'm not dying this way."
It was impossible, she couldn't hold on anymore. Her lungs screamed for oxygen and Ko unconsciously opened her mouth attempting to take a breath but only received water; she was suffocating. Ko summoned chakra to her hand making the chakra around it look like a blade and cut the wire. It was strong but she managed to cut it after a couple attempts. She tried to gasp for air once she made it to the surface but she ingested more and more water. She didn't know how, but she swam over to the wall punching it making a hole so she'd be able to grab onto it. She started coughing up water violently then started to hyperventilate as she tried to breathe properly.
Ko hoisted herself out of the water summoning chakra to her feet to stand on the water. Her chest still felt like it was closing in on her but she had to ignore it and push through to finish this match. Her pride was not the only thing at stake; her Father was watching, she couldn't disappoint him.
"Fire style: Great Fireball Justu!"
Flames erupted from Ko's mouth blasting through the air heading towards Kane who made no signs of moving. The ball of fire disappeared once it collided with one of the walls completely missing Kane who suddenly disappeared, water taking his place. Ko gasped when he appeared above her kicking her back into the water.
Orochimaru had his attention on Hanzo who he knew was an imposter from the moment he accepted their invitation to attend the exams. Hanzo wasn't watching the fight, instead he looked around the arena most likely about to start the attack. Orochimaru looked around seeing his everyone was prepared for the attack, but his attention was back on the fight when the proctor yelled for the match to stop. The arena was filled with water with Kane standing on it but Ko was nowhere to be seen.
Then he saw it, she was in the water surrounded by sharks all heading towards her. The proctor knew this was something a genin could not possibly perform. He had tried to stop the match going out to save the Hokage's daughter but Kane got in the way kicking the man across the arena.
"That was uncalled for, why did he try to stop the match? Your daughter is about to be killed." Hanzo commented looking directly at Orochimaru.
The Hokage's blood boiled with anger at his comment not bothering to look at the man but kept his eyes on his daughter who had activated her Subete Miru to evade the sharks. Within moments, the battle had begun as soon as snakes had wrapped themselves around Hanzo. The Rain shinobi all went to Kane's side watching Ko evade another shark attack but couldn't avoid the next resulting in a bite to her side.
Blood filled the water making the sharks frenzy even more as Ko tried to get to the surface for air that she desperately needed and to tend to her wound. Thankfully, many Anbu joined her in the arena lifting her out of the water quickly taking her to a safe area away from the battle. Orochimaru knew she was going to be a target and wanted her out of sight and protected by his personal Anbu team, Falcon. His subordinates got into action surrounding the three Rain 'genin' while others evacuated the spectators.
"Who are you really?" An Anbu questioned as he drew a kunai.
Kane simply smiled taking off his mask to reveal sharp shark like teeth. The three then were surrounded by smoke releasing their jutsu revealing a woman with blue hair set in place by an origami flower, a puppet hunched over revealing a scorpion tail, and a tall blue man with shark like teeth. Thanks to Jiarya's skills in information gathering, they knew these three as Konan, Sasori, and Kisame of the Akatsuki.
More members of the organization revealed themselves throughout the audience engaging in battle. Orochimaru had prepared for this day since his daughter had been taken. He knew they were going to show up sooner or later so he had to prepare. He had made sure his shinobi were in top shape and strong in order to take on these powerful enemies. As the Hanzo disguise disappeared, Orochimaru found himself face to face with the leader of the Akatsuki, Pein, or from how he knew him, Yahiko. He didn't look the same or even the chakra wasn't the same but it had to be him, along with the other orphan, Konan.
Jiraiya came to Orochimaru's side gritting his teeth not wanting to fight his former students, but it was what he had to do in order to protect his village and friends. Pein had only put his hands out to the side summoning three more people who looked exactly like him along with the metal rods in their bodies.
"What is this?" Jiraiya questioned as they blocked the enemy's attack.
"It's the Rinnegan, we must kill all the puppet bodies he's controlling right now. This is not Yahiko, Nagato possesses those eyes not him." Orochimaru replied as he backed away from another attack.
As the battle continued, Ko was taken into the underground shelter where most citizens were evacuated; the others were hidden inside the Hokage mountain. A medic quickly went to Ko's side instantly starting to heal her injuries.
"Hurry, I have to get back out there." Ko said looking at the medic healing her then activated her eyes wanting to see what was happening but she couldn't see above ground.
"Lord Hokage has ordered us to get you to safety and keep you hidden." An Anbu explained.
"No, I have to help!" She protested attempting to get up but was pushed down.
"You are to stay here, these people are after you." Another answered blocking the door.
"I don't care, I can help!" Her red eyes glared at the Anbu mask desperate to help defend her village.
"If you are taken this will all be for nothing. Lord Hokage has been planning for this for a while. Trust that he has everything under control."
"Father knew about this. Is that why he was so protective of me?" Ko thought as she looked down at her injury which was still being healed.
"For how long?" She questioned looking back up at the Anbu.
The Anbu looked at one another before looking back down at Ko. "About a decade," someone answered making Ko's eyes widened. "He knew they would attack during a special event such as the chuunin exams, especially when you are participating. He's been planning ever since you were a child."
Ko was about to respond until the ground started to quake making a little dirt come down from the ceiling.
"How much longer until she can travel? We must evacuate her and the citizens before this place is destroyed."
"A few more moments, her side was the most injured along with her broken humerus." The medic replied.
"I thought we were already in the shelter?"
"No, this wasn't designed for long term and major assaults. Lord Hokage had made tunnels under the village to properly evacuate the citizens safely. They won't be in the way and we can hide you without the enemy attacking us while we get you out of here."
As the Anbu escorted Ko through the tunnels, the battle was still brewing. The Akatsuki had lost some members thanks to his spies, Jiraiya and Itachi. Knowing their identities and abilities gave the village the upper hand in the battle. Pein, Konan, Zetsu, and Itachi were the only members left. Itachi quickly attacked his three allies revealing himself as a double agent and fought along the Leaf's side.
The villagers had been taken to safety letting every available shinobi fight the Akatsuki giving them the upper hand. As the number of Anbu diminished, Ko blended in with the crowd and headed for the battlefield.
Five shinobi were cornered by Konan's origami. They were in a circle formation all looking at the floating paper then back to Konan who stood before them. Just before she could send out her attack, a small figure had appeared behind Konan and before she could react, a hand grabbed an invisible force above her head yanking it out instantly killing the blue haired woman. Her body fell to the ground with a thud revealing Ko behind her with a shocked expression just like everyone else's.
"Th-that actually worked?" Ko gasped as her glowing red eyes looked up at her Father who was close by.
He didn't have time to question her, Zetsu appeared behind his daughter attempting to grab her but Ko quickly wove signs releasing a fire jutsu on him making him retreat. She quickly jumped away landing on Orochimaru's side getting into a fighting position.
"What have you done!" Pein yelled with fury as his Rinnegan eyes glared at the young Himura. Shinobi jumped in front of the two then proceeded to attack the leader. Pein held his own against them as Zetsu was still nowhere to be seen. Jiraiya and Tsunade appeared joining their comrade.
"Ko, stay back!" Orochimaru ordered.
"I can fight too, didn't you see what I just did?" She argued not wanting to retreat like a helpless child.
"Yes but he has a body with the same ability. If our theory is correct, he stole that body from a Himura."
Begrudgingly, Ko obeyed and watched from the side lines keeping up her guard. She watched the battlefield seeing the many corpses around her which made her start to feel guilty.
"All this was because of me, they want me not anyone else...why do they even want me and my clan dead? I have to end this but how? I can probably use that attack again but his life force is strange. It says zero; is he already dead? Yes he must be, then where is the puppet master?" She thought trying to look around once more to find the person controlling the dead bodies.
She ventured towards the exit of the village curious to find the puppet master. As she got closer, she could see something appear in her vision, a man hiding in a cave ten miles from the village. Before she could leave the village, Jiraiya appeared in front of her causing her to stop.
"I hope you're evacuating like the rest of the villagers," he said towering over her.
"No, I'm going after the real enemy."
"Oh no you don't, you let us handle the Akatsuki. You are going to the shelter."
"What? No! I can fight! Didn't you see me take down that blue haired lady?" She protested ignoring the pain shown in Jiraiya's eyes after losing a former student. "I can help! With my abilities, they'll be defeated."
"Ko they are after you, if given the chance, you can be killed. What if I can't protect you? These people have tons of experience fighting and are S ranked criminals for a reason. A genin like yourself doesn't stand a chance; you got lucky. We've lost many good shinobi to these people, what makes you think you can easily defeat them when others couldn't?" He started to weave hand signs summoning a medium sized frog. He picked up Ko placing her on its back then turned to the frog. "Take her to safety, make sure she doesn't get involved."
The frog nodded hopping away with Ko as Orochimaru and Tsunade caught up following their teammate. The Sanin followed Ko's direction finding the true leader, Nagato. As the Sanin faced Nagato, the rest of the shinobi fight the remaining two Pein puppets. Ko could only watch her Father's figure disappear from her sight making her worry. She could see the fighting between the Leaf shinobi and the Pain puppets noting that despite the number difference, her village was still having trouble.
Many fought and died to protect their village; why couldn't she do the same? This was her home too and she couldn't just sit and watch. She quickly made a clone to take her place as she weaved hand signs disappearing into the earth heading to the battle. She could see one of the enemies summon animals while the other had an ability to push and pull objects at will.
She emerged from the ground to summon many large snakes to take out the summoned animals. She went back into the ground appearing behind the woman summoner kicking her side. She never saw it coming and flew into a boulder cracking it. Attention was now on Ko making many of the shinobi worry.
"What are you doing here?" A Jonin questioned. "Lord Hokage doesn't want you involved."
"I'm here to help, now take care of her summons." Ko said as she drew her sword. "I'll take care of her."
Reluctantly, they obeyed her orders but a couple only kept their distance not wanting to leave the girl alone. The woman was about to punch Ko but she already saw it and blocked. They engaged in taijutsu which Ko could easily do despite wielding a sword and her injured arm; they were able to heal it but not completely. Anko made her to prepare their team for such a situation, she made sure that we were ready for anything that might happen in a real battle.
With on slice of her sword, she cut off the woman's left arm who surprisingly didn't even flinch at the injury. She jumped back to tend to her wound as Ko saw the other one escape the shinobi. Ko was going to counter his advance but realized she couldn't. One arm went to grab her, when she went to jump, his other arm grabbed her right ankle crushing it causing her to scream. He held her upside down bringing her eyes to his.
As she stared into his eyes, the intensity of them sent shivers down her spine. She attempted to put him in a genjutsu but nothing was happening.
"Just like yours mine are also immune to genjutsu." He commented before punching her repeatedly like a punching bag.
She was knocked unconscious for a moment and thrown to the ground as the woman grabbed Ko's sword getting ready to stab the young girl but thankfully Kakashi was there to intervene killing the enemy with his lightning blade. He turned and looked down at Ko who started to regain consciousness. Pein grabbed Ko's broken ankle making her shout with pain dragging her further away from Kakashi and the other shinobi who joined him.
Pein bent down grabbing Ko's neck before she could crawl away raising her off the ground. They were surrounded by Anbu and Jonin but he had leverage. Whenever someone got close, he would squeeze Ko's neck even tighter. She looked around at the tense shinobi feeling guilty for getting into this situation but she had a plan. She reached up grabbing his arm looking like she was trying to escape but a small snake came out of her sleeve biting the man hard injecting poison into his blood stream.
The snake slithered more biting everywhere it could to distract him, only it made his grip tighter on her neck making it difficult to breath. Taking advantage of his distraction, the shinobi took on the offensive attacking him while others grabbed Ko creating a distance between her and Pein. Suddenly, everyone was pushed back with great force causing everyone including Ko to be pushed into trees breaking them in the process.
She felt herself become weightless and started to fly towards him making her shriek in surprise. She tried to move her body managing to slightly move to her left causing her right side to be impaled. Pain erupted from her side making her scream and look down seeing a metal rod sticking through her chest. She felt slight relief knowing if she hadn't moved, it would've been through her heart. She started to cough violently tasting blood in her mouth.
She looked directly at Pein who still held a stoic expression and was dropped landing on her back making the rod slide through her body. Footsteps made her freeze, there was nothing she could do. Her ankle was broken, and her lung was damaged, no quick healing could help her. A hand grabbed her hair pulling her up from the ground and was once again face to face with the man feeling his eyes piercing her soul.
With his free hand, he held up another rod aiming it at her heart. "You've survived this long but now it's time to die."
Ko closed her eyes waiting for impact but instead, she fell to the ground onto her stomach pushing the rod towards her back. She started to cough violently staining the grass with her blood and tried gasping for air but it was extremely difficult. Someone appeared at her side immediately picking her up and carrying her away from Pein. She looked up to see her Father looking straight ahead at the path with a worried expression. She started to cough again getting his attention making him stop in his tracks.
"Ko, start healing yourself." He said desperately. She had never heard this tone from him making her worry; she knew this was bad. "I know you can't heal this kind of injury but its something until Tsunade gets here."
When she stopped coughing, she was taking in deep labored breaths attempting to get some air into her lungs but it felt like she was barely getting anything. Orochimaru was trying to stay calm but just looking at Ko, he knew she didn't have much time; her pale skin was starting to turn blue from lack of oxygen.
"Where's Tsunade?" He questioned her hoping she was close.
Ko activated her eyes quickly to locate Tsunade then turned them off to save chakra. "She's...close." Ko gasped. "I'm...sorry."
"Don't talk sweetie, you're going to be okay." His voice was softer but sounded strained.
Ko looked up at him seeing he was looking to his right probably looking for Tsunade but she could see the sadness in his eyes when he looked back at her. Ko knew how bad it was and regretted telling him that Tsunade was close; yes she was on her way but she had just come into Ko's vision. She was at least ten miles from them.
Orochimaru knelt down, picking her up again and ran towards the direction Tsunade was in. He couldn't wait any longer Ko needed help.
"Dad, I'm...sorry." She said again but weakly making him look down at her.
"Don't ever be sorry, I'm the one who should apologize. I was never there for you or even a good father." He turned his gaze from her looking as if he were somewhere else.
His words shocked her, she didn't understand why he was telling her lies. He was always there, even after he became Hokage he made sure to spend time with her. She would see him for at least one meal a day, maybe two if she was lucky. He had always trained her when he had time and encouraged her to make her into the person she is today. What she didn't know was that he wasn't talking about her exactly.
"I was barely there during your childhood, and when I did see you, it would not even be for a full day. You didn't even go outside until you were four or five...I neglected you when Kabuto was recruited...Sasuke also. I made you fight to the death with that prisoner... I've put you through so much." Ko started to cough again spewing even more blood onto his shirt making him run faster. He was talking nonsense. Who is Kabuto? And what did Sasuke have to do with anything?
"Dad...I can't." Ko gasped feeling it almost impossible to breathe.
"Don't say that, Tsunade will fix everything just wait a little longer."
"No," she said but it was almost too quiet to hear her so Orochimaru stopped attempting to do anything to help her.
He put his hand over hers giving her his chakra to help her heal the wound but when he looked at her, he could see she was losing consciousness. "Ko, stay awake." He said putting his other hand on her cheek slightly shaking her head. "Don't fall asleep!"
Tsunade was finally in his sight and was quickly at their side healing Ko right away.
"I love...you," Ko whispered before closing her eyes for the last time.
Orochimaru's eyes widened then looked over at Tsunade whose head hung low when she felt no pulse; she was dead.
"Do something!" He yelled at her even though he knew she couldn't bring back the dead. He looked down at Ko then gently picked up and hugged her lifeless body.
"Jiariya is handling Nagato, the rest of the shinobi are dealing with Pein but it's almost over." She sadly said watching her friend hug his dead daughter. "I'm sorry."
"After all these years...these years of planning to keep her safe and yet...she still died."
Tsunade walked put a hand on his shoulder then started to remove the rod from Ko's body which took some force. After a few minutes, a bright light covered the area blinding everyone in the village. Once it had passed, Orochimaru felt movement in his arms. He looked down seeing Ko open her eyes looking up at him. Joy overwhelmed him hugging her as tight as he could.
"I thought I lost you." He said with relief. "Thank you Jiraiya."
"What did Jiraiya have to do with this? She was dead."
"He did something to Nagato to make him revive everyone; a power which the Rennigan possesses. I've done my research Tsunade."
"I died?" Ko questioned breaking from her dad's hold.
"You're alive and that's all that matters." He said pulling her into another hug.
"You can let go now,"
"No, I belong by your side, my purpose is to protect you and I always will."
Last of the genjutsu, sorry guys, had some fun writing this ^-^
Let me know what you guys think please! This dream is how I imagine Orochimaru's life would've been like if he did become Hokage instead of Minato and I thought he and Ko needed some father daughter moments