MAKING THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE – DON'T DIE MINATO
The Medical Building
The days have passed and Hashirama has recovered, producing this medical building upon returning to full health. The medical building is not something he constructed without thinking, it is spacious enough for Tsunade and her assistant Biwako to be relaxed. It has enough storage around for the tools required, in a procedure as complicated as this you could come across all sorts of different emergencies, of course Hashirama understood that when he created it.
Though the walls are made of wood they are not rough, they are perfectly smooth. Hanging from the ceiling are two electronically powered lights, these were installed by some engineers shortly after the 1st Hokage created the building. Those from the distant past were sceptical about the use of these electronic lights but they were not disappointed, the technology in the world had evidently come a long way since they were alive last.
There is a terminal feeling in the room, Tsunade compares the sensation to having an invisible hand, squeezing tightly around her throat. When she stands up her legs hurt, when she lies down her back hurt, when she leans against the wall her shoulders hurt. This feeling can be easily summed up in one word. What Tsunade feels is fear. If this operation goes wrong that will spell the end for the people of the hidden leaf village.
The 5th Hokage looks on as Naruto and his family talk with one another, discussing their past, discussing the present and discussing the future. She smiles at the last one, to discuss their future together means that they truly believe this operation is going to be a success. This is a double-edged sword though she realises, while they expect the operation to be a success, it also holds true that they may not be ready for failure.
Naruto looks away from Himawari and calls to Tsunade. "Grandma Tsunade, I think I'm ready now".
Tsunade is leaning against a wall while he says this, she closes her eyes for a moment and takes a deep breath. This is the moment of truth. She pushes herself forward from the wooden surface, "Of course Naruto, if you guys have said everything you want to say, then now is the time to leave".
Boruto is the first to react, rising from his chair he walks towards the door and waves to his father. "See you in a short while old man" he shouts.
"See ya" Naruto waves once in reply. 'That kid, is that all you have to say to your father… Thank you, I'll see you later Boruto'.
Throwing her arms around her father, Himawari sniffles once or twice. While she does her best to hide her sadness from Naruto he would have to be an idiot not to notice it.
"I love you dad" she whispers to him as she tightly holds him.
Naruto reciprocates the hug; he has not had much of a chance to get to know his daughter but in the short time they had spent together he has come to know one thing. That is that he loves her unconditionally, no matter how old she is, no matter what time she is from.
"I love you too" he smiles as the two separate.
Himawari offers him one last smile before she follows Boruto out of the door.
That leaves only Hinata, Naruto's wife who he has yet to marry. Though the two have known each other for several years they have never become family, they have just been thrust into the future and told that they are family. It is an awkward situation for the two of them.
Hinata rises to her feet and smiles to her children's father. "Good luck Naruto" she says before turning to leave.
Before she can leave though, however, a hand grabs onto her own. That hand belongs to Naruto. She takes a moment to react, to realise what has happened before she turns to face him. "Naruto…".
"I can't tell you what it is" Naruto begins, "But there is something wrong with Boruto".
"Something wrong with him?" Hinata looks at Naruto with confusion.
"If the worst happens, promise me you will keep an eye on him". Naruto thinks back to that energy he felt flood from Boruto's body, the energy he had to deal with constantly that nobody else knew about. He cannot betray his son's confidence in him, if he dies there is only one thing he can depend on and that is that Boruto will confide in his mother too.
"I'll keep both eyes on him Naruto. Himawari too, I promise".
Smiling, Naruto leans gently back onto the stretcher he has rested on for the last part of his life. "Well, I have always had a good feeling about those eyes of yours".
"This eye has been passed down through the Hyuuga clan for years" Hinata nods in reply, "It's my duty to use it, to look after my children".
"That's not what I mean" the 7th Hokage shakes his head.
Hinata stares wide-eyed at the man she would have married.
"Hinata, it's not the Byakugan. I just… I've always thought you had nice eyes".
A moment of silence passes, the only sound to be heard is the sound of Hinata biting her bottom lip.
"… please survive, Naruto".
"It will take more than an operation to kill me Hinata" he smiles as she leaves.
With that only Tsunade and Naruto remain in the room. The 5th Hokage and the 7th Hokage.
"You're making everyone worry so much" Tsunade sighs as she approaches Naruto with a needle in her hand.
Naruto laughs croakily, "Sorry about that".
She looks at him, all this time he has maintained that he believes in her and that is probably true. Something had changed though, perhaps it is saying goodbye to his family, the strangeness he mentioned about Boruto, the sadness of his daughter, the emotional moment he shared with his wife. Whatever it is that has changed, there is something new in his eyes, something that wasn't there before. Naruto is afraid too.
"When you wake up again, this strength… this strength had better be worth it".
"Wait and see Grandma Tsunade…".
"Wait and see…".
Tsunade nods to the entrance, Biwako emerging a few seconds later with a metallic container. The metallic container consisted of a metallic frame with a clear glass body. Through that glass one could spy an arm, a fully grown human arm floating in a yellow bubbling liquid. Naruto isn't very knowledgeable about these things but guesses the yellow stuff is to help preserve the arm until the operation.
"Don't be afraid" Tsunade calmly whispers as she pushes her needle into Naruto's good arm, "You will be back with us shortly".
As the legendary 7th Hokage falls asleep, Tsunade once more takes a deep breath as she looks towards Biwako.
"Right then, let's begin".
Outside the Medical Building
Hinata turns to Boruto, ironically the man who has seen the most of Naruto's life, the one who knows him the best of the trio in many respects. "Will he be OK?" she asks while leaning towards him subconsciously.
"He will be fine" Boruto frowns, "I've know that old man all my life".
"He's annoying and he's hard to please but he will definitely not die".
"He's survived the abuse from having the nine tails sealed within him. He survived against Pain, against Obito, Madara and even Kaguya. After that he even managed to survive living with Himawari and for 18 years".
"He's not going to die to something so easy like an operation".
Himawari smiles. Raising herself and Boruto should be trivial compared to all those battles but she appreciates what Boruto said about the two of them being difficult. It was on the day that Naruto was supposed to become Hokage that the two of them bickering caused him to miss out on the ceremony. So often Boruto took to painting the Hokage monument for attention, if nothing else it's surprising their father didn't die of embarrassment.
"That's right" Hinata's daughter continues, "Dad's survived a lot tougher than this when he was with you in the past. Right mom?".
Hinata smiles hearing the opinion of her more experienced children, "I suppose he has hasn't he".
At that moment, the trio hear a terrifying noise. A woman's cry, a plea, a wail. Looking the opposite direction from the medical building, Himawari is quick to notice who this woman is. It's her grandmother, Uzumaki Kushina.
Kushina stumbles towards them, carrying Minato in her arms. Her dishevelled appearance, particularly her red eyes show that she has been shedding tears. Her clothing dampened from sweat shows that she has rushed herself to get here, despite being a talented shinobi she is out of breath. There is such a thing as trying too hard, even for those who seem to be invulnerable.
Boruto runs over to his grandmother, taking Minato from her and beginning his walk towards the medical building. Though it is a few seconds before he realises the situation, "There's no room in the medical building, dad's operation has started". His lack of options gives him only one choice, he lays Minato down gently on the grassiest part of the floor. Hoping that is a sign that it is the softest part of the floor as well.
"What happened?" Boruto asks as he looks towards his grandmother.
"He was attacked" she gets out despite her shortness of breath, "An enemy captain… he has been… poisoned".
"Poisoned?" Boruto practically shouts in shock, "I thought the enemy had called off all attacks".
"It doesn't matter" Himawari kneels down opposite Boruto and looks into his eyes. "You need to calm down, go and get Mitsuki, poison is his specialty".
"I can't…" Boruto starts.
"What do you mean you can't?" Kushina shouts towards Boruto. While she is not angry with him the situation is urgent and the possibility of losing her husband, is of course getting to her.
"Mitsuki left the village to train with Lord 6th".
"With Kakashi" Kushina whispers, "Then how will Minato…".
"Then go and find Lord 1st" Himawari keeps her eyes firmly locked onto her brothers, "He is the best healer we have".
It is important to draw a distinction between Tsunade and Hashirama here, while Tsunade may be the best person to help Naruto that is because of her understanding of the human body, her experiences with operations, she is the best doctor. Unlike Tsunade, Hashirama has not performed operations to the same level and has rarely treated the inside of someone's body, despite that his manipulation of medical chakra is the best in the villages history, never has anyone been able to compare to it.
"Lord 1st can only delay his death though" Hinata puts her hand in front of her mouth, scared to speak the truth in such horrible circumstances.
"If that's the best we can do then that's what we must do" Boruto declares as he runs into the village with his Byakugan activated. He makes it his personal mission; he has to find Senju Hashirama as quickly as possible.
"What are we going to do?" Kushina looks between Hinata and Himawari.
"The six paths power" Himawari starts, "When my father had the six paths power, he had a miraculous healing power, he lost it after his battle with Sasuke but…".
"Perhaps he could save grandpa".
"It could be days before Naruto gets that power back" Kushina replies.
A hand shoots up and grabs Kushina's wrist, it is the hand of Minato. "If that's how long it takes then so be it".
"I will… I will hold on for a week if I need to".
A tear falls from Kushina's eye at the obvious pain her husband is feeling. "Minato…" she whispers.
"This is my village, my family… I'm… I'm not willing to let it die so easily".
In a Nearby Mountain Range
As the captain continues to flee he chuckles to himself. 'I was lucky there. Those guys were stronger, stronger than anybody else I've faced in this world'. His thoughts do not occupy him for long though, he is distracted by the weapon that appears before his face. It is a kunai.
As the kunai strikes the ground before the captain, in a flash two people arrive at that kunai. First is Senju Tobirama, the 2nd Hokage and the creator of the flying thunder god technique. Second is Uzumaki Mito, not only is she the wife of the 1st Hokage but she is a master of seals, a cornerstone who helped the village even through the majority of the 3rd Hokage's life.
Arriving, Mito quickly weaves a series of signs before spitting a fireball towards the captain.
He snorts. "Laughable". With a swing of his arm he knocks the fireball away, it takes so little effort that Mito finally understands, she understands that it is miracle that the people of this world have survived as long as they have.
The fireball is not a simple attack though, it is a disguise, for behind it Tobirama closely follows. He uses it to hide his run as he arrives right before the enemy captain and thrusts his kunai towards the bronze cloaked man.
The captain only smiles though, tapping Tobirama's arm exactly at the pivot between its upper and lower halves. As the 2nd Hokage's attack misses, it provides a new opening for the captain. The white haired Hokage rolls forward to regain his footing but the captain throws his poisoned knife forwards.
SHUNK!
Tobirama turns around wide eyed to see that the knife has reached his target, it is not him. The target is Mito.
The knife is lodged firmly in the chest, of Uzumaki Mito.
"MITO" he shouts before teleporting to her side and pulling the knife from her chest.
The red-haired woman takes quick successive breaths, "Tell Hashirama I…".
"Don't say it" Tobirama warns her firmly as he places her head down on the ground. It is not comfortable but he hasn't got time to find a more comfortable spot for her, "I'm going to beat this guy OK, then I'll get the antidote for you and for Minato".
Saying that, the captain starts to cackle, his finger pointing towards Tobirama in a mocking gesture.
"What's so funny?".
"There is no antidote to that poison" the captain smiles, "There is no hope of survival once you have been struck by it".
The 2nd Hokage tightens his grip on his kunai. 'This isn't how it was supposed to go'.
'Time after time, my brother was a hero, he always saved everyone, he always looked after the people he cared about, ever since our brothers died, he gained that sort of power'.
'But for me, I fail, every time, I fail to protect the people I care about'.
"Tell him I love hi…".
"DON'T SAY IT" Tobirama shouts this time, as if refusing to believe that his sister-in-law will die.
"So Tobirama is your name huh" the captain mocks him, "Why don't you let me explain why you cannot defeat me".
"Why I can't defeat you…".
"It's because you don't use your anger. You refuse to give into your hatred. You will always hold back from rage, the negative emotions that can enhance your power, you don't use them".
As Tobirama further tightens his grip on his kunai the captain continues.
"Go ahead, unleash that anger on me".
To the great surprise of the captain though, Tobirama's grip on his weapon loosens, his posture becomes more open and his body language more relaxed.
"You don't understand something about the people of this world it seems".
"We have suffered for so long. We have seen the deaths of 8 Hokages".
"But we did that to change the way we act. No longer do we act out of hatred for our killers, we act out of our love for the fallen".
"I'm going to beat you" Tobirama resolutely declares, "And I'm going to do it my way".