Fugaku listens as the medic tells him about Okami's collapse. He had no idea she was working herself to death. Fugaku thanks the medic for telling him and goes into the room where Okami is resting and a nervous looking medic trying to keep Okami in her bed.
"Okami sama," says Fugaku, well aware of what it sounds like he said.
"Chief Fugaku!" says Okami, halting her attempt to free herself from forced rest. "What are you doing here?"
"Please do not kill yourself trying to save my daughter!" begs Fugaku, bowing. "Sasuke should be dead, I know, and I am grateful to you for trying to save her, but your daughter needs you. Don't kill yourself, please."
"Chief…" the medic stares at Fugaku in disbelief.
Okami sighs. "I promised I would keep her alive until Naruto and Jiraiya bring back Tsunade. They are not back yet, so I must-"
"NO!" says Fugaku. "Not if it kills you! It would not be right for you to die to save a child who should have died two weeks ago. Karin would hate you for it, and there would be no joy in Sasuke's recovery if was accomplished by the death of another!"
"Chief Fugaku, are you saying I should just let your daughter die?" snaps Okami.
"I don't want her to die," says Fugaku. "But if the price of saving her is another life, then I am not willing to pay it!"
Okami stares at Fugaku, then she lies back down and closes her eyes. "Then don't blame me if your kid dies."
Jiraiya runs towards the North border of town, through the crowded streets. The roofs in this town are not strong enough to run across. Jiraiya is pushing his way through a crowd of shoppers when vines snake up from the ground and trap him in place. Jiraiya struggles against the vines, trying to break free.
The ground in front of Jiraiya begins to tremble as something resembling a venus flytrap rises from the dirt. The top of the strange plant creature opens up enough to reveal a face that is half white and half black. "Well," the creature says, "It looks like my next meal has arrived." Another vine snakes out and wraps around a terrified boy, who is clinging to his mother. The vine drags the boy towards the plant being, who eats the child in a few seconds. "Mm, what a nice, crunchy appetizer!" it says. The boy's mother screams in terror, only to be snapped in half by another vine and dragged into the ground. "I'll save you for later," says the plant creature.
"ARRGH!" with a yell, Jiraiya snaps the vines and then bites his thumb. "Summoning Jutsu!"
Civilians run away, screaming in terror.
With a puff, Gamaken appears, filling up the open space between the buildings. "Jiraiya," says Gamaken. "Why have you summoned me here? There is not much room to move and I am so clumsy I might knock down these buildings."
"Then we will grab this monster and hop out of town," says Jiraiya. "Jump whichever way is the shortest!" Jiraiya grabs the vines snaking out of the plant creature and yanks them hard, pulling the plant creature towards him. "GO!"
Gamaken leaps through the air, away from the North side of town. Jiraiya frowns. He will have to go all the way through town again to get to the place where Tsunade is meeting the masked man. Jiraiya tries not to worry about Tsunade. He needs to stop this plant monster.
The plant monster breaks free of Jiraiya's grasp and lands on the ground in a crouch.
Jiraiya strikes a pose. "I am the Mighty Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku, Jiraiya!" he announces. "Defender of the helpless and wooer of women! Who are you, fiend?"
"We are Zetsu," says the plant monster, in what sounds suspiciously like two voices. "And we will not let you escape until Tsunade joins us or dies."
Green branches rise from the ground and wrap around Jiraiya and Gamaken. The branches squeeze tightly, and Gamaken vanishes with a poof. Jiraiya forms his hair into a shield, stopping the vines from crushing him. Jiraiya starts making hand signs under his hair. Then he parts his hair shield long enough to spit fire all over the vines closest to him, burning them away.
The ground shatters from the force of Tsunade's punch. The masked man leaps into the air and launches a fireball at Tsunade. Tsunade dodges out of the way, running behind the masked man, appearing behind him before the fireball has dispersed. She punches the Masked Man into the ground, only for him to vanish in a puff of smoke. A log clatters to the ground in his place. Tsunade lands on the ground in a half-crouch, ready to spring into action.
The masked man appears, aiming a barrage of punches at Tsunade, who flips backwards to avoid the onslaught. The Masked Man darts forward, aiming a solid punch to Tsunade's gut. Tsunade slams his hand into the ground, diverting the force of his blow. With a poof, the Masked Man vanishes. Tsunade senses someone behind her and turns, kicking aiming a roundhouse kick at where the Masked Man's face will be if he is behind her. The Masked Man raises both arms and blocks the kick. He slides back several paces, his feet churning up the ground in his wake. But then he digs in his heels and pushes Tsunade back, throwing her slightly off balance.
The Masked Man whips out a kunai and slashes at Tsunade. Tsunade dodges to the side, avoiding the kunai. If she lets herself get cut it's over.
Minoru is crying. The little brat never stops, unless he can see his mother. Tobirama is thoroughly sick of the crying. Hashirama asked him to watch the baby, and when Hashirama says 'please watch the baby' he means 'watch the baby or you are dead, boy'. So Tobirama is watching the baby.
Well, at the moment he is rocking Minoru's crib in hopes he will go to sleep.
"At least my kids were quiet," Tobirama grumbles. Dammit, this isn't working. Tobirama picks up Minaru and rocks him. "Come on, stop crying, Uncle Tobirama's here. Shh. Shh."
Minoru finally stops crying.
And then Tobirama sees something in the bottom of the crib that surprises him. He reaches a hand down and picks up a blue flower from the place where Minoru was lying. Minoru was lying on a bed of flowers.
It's not the first time Tobirama has seen something like this. The first time he saw something like this was the day his father discovered Hashirama's wood style. It was on that day, when Batsuma finally acknowledged Hashirama's talent, that he and his brother were sent to the training fields to learn to fight. That was the day they became warriors. Tobirama went because Hashirama was too scared to go alone.
Even back then, Tobirama felt like the older brother.
"I'm glad you weren't born back then," says Tobirama, smiling down at Minoru, who inherited the wood style kekkei genkai from Tenzou.
Charred pieces of wood and vine fall to the ground around Jiraiya. He looks around him, unable to sense Zetsu's chakra. Zetsu is nowhere to be seen. Jiraiya hears the slightest noise behind him and dodges fast. Something rips open his left shoulder, leaving a shallow but painful gash.
Jiraiya curses. It is too early in the fight to be getting injured.
Next thing he knows, Jiraiya is hanging in the air in a wooden cage suspended between two poles.
"It looks tasty," says Zetsu, in a deep voice.
"All that hair looks stringy!" says Zetsu in a high pitched whiny voice. "We'll have to shave it off!"
"The hair is the best part, moron," says the deep Zetsu voice. "It's like candy floss."
"But it gets stuck in our teeth!"
"Wuss."
"OI!" yells Jiraiya. "I am not your food!"
"Yes you are!" say both voices at once.
"Now, shall we fry him or bake him?" asks the deep voice.
"I want to roast him with potatoes," says the whiny voice. "And are we gonna take out the giblets?"
"We'll feed them to the cat."
"We ate the cat."
Jiraiya decides enough is enough. He weaves some hand-signs and casts a fire jutsu at one side of the cage, burning through it. This Zetsu guy isn't taking me seriously at all, Jiraiya thinks. If he were, I'd probably be dead. What is he up to?
Tsunade prepares to counterattack, but the Masked man presses his advantage further. He throws the kunai, and as Tsunade dodges out of the way, the Masked Man hurls a volley of shuriken at her. Tsunade barely manages to dodge.
The Masked Man leaps forward and slashes Tsunade, catching her forearms as she tries to leap backwards out of the way. Blood flies up out of the wounds.
Blood.
...blood.
Tsunade screams in terror.
The Masked Man kicks Tsunade across the grass.
Tsunade kneels on the ground, staring at the blood on her arms in horror, unable to move.
The Masked Man strides towards her. He pulls back his fist and swings it forward again, right at Tsunade's face. She cannot move. Blood, so much blood
Orange.
Naruto is standing between the Masked Man and Tsunade, the Masked man's fist hits Naruto's forehead protector. Naruto glares at the Masked Man.
"Only Rain should wear a mask like that," he says. "And you aren't Rain, 'tebayo."