Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
No beta, guys. I apologize in advance for any grammatical or spelling errors.
Chapter 5: Reluctance
"It's not enough," Shikamaru snapped, the strands of his patience having worn thin with the weight of recent events. "It's not enough, Naruto. We wont be able to get all of the civilians to safety in time."
Naruto paled, massaging her temples in hopes of relieving her oncoming headache and pushing her emotions away from the topic at hand. "I don't get it - why not? If we get over there now, we'll be able to evacuate the entire village before-"
The Nara growled lowly in frustration. "There aren't any more shinobi to spare, Naruto, you know that! Stop indulging yourself in these fantasies - we can't save everyone!"
The blonde recoiled, the flash of hurt that sparked in her eyes causing Shikamaru to take a calming breathe. "I'm sorry, Naru. We... we just can't avoid or deflect every attack. Taking a few hits is just something we have to do, and you need to accept that."
She screwed her eyes shut, giving a jerky and reluctant nod in response. She knew he was right. She knew that they had no time to evacuate everyone before Zetsu and Madara attacked. She knew they couldnt help, but it didn't make knowing that they were going to die, and that she was simply going to let them die, any easier.
This war was tearing everyone apart.
"You did what!?," she seethed, voice afire with anger and tinged with betrayal. Her blue eyes darkened like black clouds before a storm, raging and turning with quiet fury. And she was furious - the man had completely stepped over the barrier of his concern. (His interest should not have been invested in her personal attachments whatsoever, and the sheer amount of gall he has is simply appalling.) Her words were barely a whisper themselves, serving to accentuate the absolute distaste she held with his actions, a mix of aggression and defensiveness seeping into her coiled stance. "I have a mission, Sarutobi. I can't be hindered by--"
"Please calm yourself, Mirai-chan." Hiruzen chided, but his tone only served to to send another shocking bold of cold fury into her veins, fists clenched and shaking with emotion.
"No! You forget who I am, Hiruzen. You have no right to make these choices without consulting me first, just as I have done with you!"
Hiruzen's eyes darkened with frustration at her interruption, lips setting firmly into a grim line. "And you forget your place, Mirai. As of now I am Hokage. My word us law, and as such, you will follow it," he commanded. Though, 'commanded' wasn't exactly the right word for it in reality, he knew. She had the power to defy him - that was no question - and if were to she pushed into doing it, he didn't doubt she would hesitate to leavethe village - but fortunately for him, he knew that she was loyal, and the idea of defecting would never surface in her mind unless it was given reason to.
And a reason to leave was something he - under no circumstance - planned to give her. Such a thing was much too costly.
"You will be under Minato's care for the foreseeable future. As I have already informed him of the change, you'll be moving in within the week," his tone softened, a sort of understanding swimming within his heavy gaze, "I am aware of your feelings towards to matter, child, I truly am - but you must make peace with your past."
Past!? What past? She had no past with him - and it was her intention to make sure she wouldn't make one.
The blonde grit her teeth, any and all words dying on her lips because this was unfair. This was unfair, and unjust, and in her eyes, there was absolutely no reason for the change - but as it was she had no choice, because damn her, she was nothing if not loyal.
She only hoped that loyalty would not turn it's back on her.
The large wooden doors closed with a slam behind her, echoing hollowly - and the sound resonated deeply with the emptiness and anger in her heart - while her steps fell gradually heavier as she left.
This was not supposed to be part of her plan.
They were not supposed to be part of her life.
Minato had wisely kept his distance, watching with confusion - and no small amount of discomfort - as the small blonde paced in agitation and quiet anger. She'd been at it for quite a while too, tiny legs stomping in a rather impressive show of emotion as compared to the suppressed quakes of fear he'd seen only a week prior.
Surprisingly enough, the blonde seemed to be so deep within her own thoughts that she appeared to be completely unaware of his presence - a shocking thing to consider, seeing how she was so starkly aware of him during their last meeting.
Minato sighed, his back pressing the rough bark of the tree uncomfortably as he leaned against it.
Her behavior was strange to say the least, especially in those moments where she really looked at him, cobalt eyes piercing as she studied his blonde hair, all the while tugging on a lock of her own, before dragging down to his face, eyeing every feature with impenetrable concentration until her blue eyes met his own.
A flash of recognition would spark in those cobalt depths, followed by some sort of longing and hope, before they lapsed into tortured despair and pain-- Then, she would catch herself and tear her gaze away, lowering her head and muttering swiftly under her breath.
In those short moments, Minato would pretend he hadn't noticed the way she looked at him as if he were a ghost. In those moments he wouldn't make any indication that he knew of her inner turmoil - whether it was because somewhere, deep in his soul, he was afraid of what she saw in him or because he wanted to spare her from any added suffering, he didn't know.
Either way, she was in some sort of pain, and Minato just couldn't fathom why or how he was a cause for it.
(And for some reason beyond his knowledge, it hurt him as well.)
But, emotional anomalies aside, the girl was under his care now, and Minato was not one to shirk his duty. Unfortunately, this particular assignment required a certain amount of caution due to the crucial fact that Mirai was a child and wasn't emotionally stable. She was uncomfortable with being in his general vicinity (a problem he had to rectify immediately because the guilt of causing a child to be so afraid of him was eating him alive) so, he decided it would be best to start with getting her better acquainted with his team as a whole.
Which, of course, brought them to where they were now. It was still rather early in the morning, the sun having risen just high enough to be seen from the ground. There wasn't much of a breeze - barely a whisper of wind, in fact - but the air still held a slight chill, not quite cold enough to be uncomfortable.
He and Mirai were on Team Seven's assigned training grounds, and the pair had been waiting for his team to show up. (Once again, he had made it a point to pretend he didn't notice the way that the little blonde had scanned the surrounding area, wistfulness evident in her peircing gaze as she paced and muttered anxiously.)
It wasn't long before Rin showed up, breaking the tense silence that had settled between the matching blondes with her cheerful and exuberant greetings. Obito had, astonishingly, showed up not long after, still late, but somehow earlier than usual.
And now Minato could only wonder what had happened to Kakashi - because Kakashi was never late.
And once again, Minato found himself worried.
Did something terrible happen? Kakashi wasn't one to break the rules - he, in fact, abhorred the mere idea of doing so. He was, much like Minato, not one to shirk his duties but his dislike for it was excessive to the point where whenever he witnessed anyone so much as mention going against any of the shinobi laws, he was there to verbally castrate them before threatening their career, (and then some).
After almost an hour of listening to the quiet chatter between Obito and Rin, and pure silence on Mirai's part, Kakashi finally showed.
--Thickly coated in bright orange slime and glittering with red and gold sparkles.He was panting from exertion, obviously the result of running long distances at high speeds (because Kakashi had a good amount of stamina, and only a long chase would tire him to such an extent). His hand were propped on his knees while a long string of creative curses flowed freely from his mouth in low growls.
It was only when Minato's dumbfounded gaze landed on Kakash's bare forehead, did he register Mirai's loud cackling.
Because printed boldly on the silver-haired boy's bare forehead, in thick, black marker, was 'Closet Pervert'.
And Mirai was absolutely roaring with laughter.
"Mirai," the boy growled, onyx positively burning a hole in the girl with the heat of his glare. The blonde was impervious to his anger, tears of mirth streaming from her eyes as she collapsed onto the ground in a heap of giggles.
"You-" The boy cut himself off, opting instead to lunge at the blonde, pinning her further onto the ground and straddling her waist, his slime coated fingers pulling roughly on her hair.
Mira yelped loudly, "Hey, wait, Kakashi- ow-! Wait, I'm sorry - OW, Kakashi, STOP PULLING MY HAIR--"
The Hatake pinched her cheeks, "Shut up, Mirai - you can't pull shit like this and get away with it!"
"Chu desgherved ish - agh!"
Recovering from his shock, Minato quickly pulled his student off of the blonde, plastering on his best scolding face, "Alright, just what is going on here?"
Kakashi's glare held strong, his arm whipping out to point rudely with his index finger, "She assaulted me on my way here!"
"You deserved it!," Mirai shot back as she rubbed her cheeks, both sides splotched red from the harsh pulling, "You were being such an asshole-"
Minato choked, "Mirai, watch your language!"
She crossed her arms petulantly in an attempt to remove the scolded puppy expression that had flashed across her face. With a huff, the blonde whipped her head to the side.
"And you, Kakashi! Is that any way to greet the newest addition to our team?"
Now it was Kakashi's turn to choke, "What!? This little brat is our new member?"
Said 'brat' stuck her tongue at him, to which he responded by flipping her off.
Minato slapped the offending hand away, "Kakashi, she's five!"
The boy only snorted.
And Minato was at a loss, because he was totally missing something. Kakashi's behavior was entirely abnormal. Of course, he had the occasional spat with Obito, but never had it crossed the line and caused him to act so immaturely - Minato himself had never seen him behave in such a way, and he'd known the boy since he was six! Such behaviour, he knew, would be extremely irritating to the boy if he were to witness another person acting in such a way, so why was he doing so now?
Mirai, it seemed, brought out another person in Kakashi.
Breifly, he wondered if this is what the girl acted like on a normal day, when she wasn't under constant state of fear of him.
Minato held his silver haired student firmly by the collar to prevent him from once again tackling the blonde as she spat yet another snarky comment, "Alright, you two, cut it out."
He shifted his gaze to a snickering Obito, sending a piercing message with his eyes. The boy immediately quieted his laughter.
Once he had successfully diverted their attention, Kakashi grudgingly rinsed the orange slime from himself in the nearby river (it completely stained his clothing, and he couldn't remove all of the sparkles from his hair), and Minato began to run through introductions, only to be reminded that Obito and Rin had already introduced themselves, and Kakashi (by circumstances in which he still was unaware of) had previously met her - something which the boy didn't seem to be very happy about.
Minato scratched the back of his neck nervously. "It seems that you and I are the only ones who have yet to be formally introduced," he turned to the blonde, dipping his head slightly, "Namikaze Minato - I'm the sensei of Team Seven."
She plastered a grin on her face, the action stiff in a way that was almost imperceptible. "My name is Uzu-," she coughed. "I'm Mirai. It's a pleasure to officially meet you, Minato-sensei."
"You as well, Mirai-chan. Alrighty then, we have a bit of a late start today..."
Dim was the light that cast from the setting sun. It was red as blood in its hue, settling on the ash laden earth in a dull haze and reflecting harshly off of the dented metal that was strewn over the battlefield in so many forms.
That same metal was slick with a sickening mixture of fluid, unidentifiable in its nature. It dripped from ledges and limbs, from wounds and weapons, penetrating the polluted air even further with its stench and mixing with ash and dust, forming a toxic paste that clung to every surface it so much as grazed.
Her eyes glazed over each and every lifeless body. All of these people... all of these people were just trying to protect their homes, their loved ones, their lives. They wanted to live in peace, unbothered and happy, safe in the place which they call home. They just wanted to be free.
All of these people had banded together for a single cause; peace.
Or, at least some form of it.
They all wanted the same thing - to be free from Kaguya's clutches.
But nothing... nothing could stop her now. The shinobi were all but deceased.The weakest had gone early, slaughtered in droves within seconds of contact with the enemy. It wasn't long until they were wiped out, along with every last nin in the alliance.
Now, only a few of her comrades remained.
The civilians had finally clued into reality - as much as it pained her to use the term. They had finally begun to acknowledge the sacrifices that were made for them and...
And once the shinobi army was all but gone, the civilians had taken up what measly arms that they had and they just fought. They fought because they knew that though world was unable to be redeemed, they were unwilling to let it be taken without a fight.
They were unwilling to back down.
Their bravery and sacrifice was inevitably fruitless, but they died with the knowledge that they tried, and to them, that was enough...
"...-rai-chan? Mirai!"
"Huh?," she jolted, attention whipping to meet Minato's concerned orbs. Warm shadows cast over his features, slowly sharpening into darker shapes as the sun set below the treeline. The remaining rays of light created orange sparks of molten light in his cobalt eyes. He crouched lowly so as to meet her gaze and gently shook her shoulder.
"You seemed to be pretty deep in thought there." A crease formed between his brows, "You okay?"
It took every ounce of strength to refrain from flinching at the genuine concern in his electric blue eyes, and she nodded. Unable to continue meeting his gaze as she lied, she turned away in shame.
"I'm fine."
Chapter End~
I'm so sorry for the late update, guys. Life's been busy.
I was planning on making this chapter longer than the others since I haven't updated, but I'm kinda having a writer's block at the moment, so I figured you readers would probably prefer a short one over a forced and terribly written one.
As always, feedback is appreciated! It would help a great deal to know what factors I should polish up on in regards to my writing, so constructive criticism is more than welcome.
Again, sorry for the late update! I'm going to try to get chapter six out as soon as possible. More characters will be introduced soon, so stay tuned!
Ciao!