xiv. The Arrival To the Future
A/N: Because I failed to update for weeks now, I got ya all two chapters in one go. Hope you like it ;) -dee
Crashing with a deafening thud, the warp that spat them finally ceased. The huge lump against his chest was breathing against him. As he took a mouthful of air, blood oozed out upon exhaling. He broke several bones on his landing. He wished he at least avoided the impact on the lithe body on his arms.
Wincing, he managed to check, "R…rin?"
There was no response but further examination, he was able to tell that the young lady, though a little wounded, is no way in life threatening condition. That's good enough. Rin must be just unconscious due to their impact.
Ignoring his own condition, he willed himself to sit up. Thousands of bones and muscles screaming at him in return, willing him back to not move at all. But he has to check, he has to see.
His eyes quickly roamed around, from left to right. Nowhere. His heart squeezed in frightening pain. NO! He did not just lost the other two teammates. His eyes pricked, emotions welling up as his tears beginning to form. He would not forgive himself if he doesn't find the other two safe.
He arranged Rin on the side, laying her on the ground as he thought of searching nearby. They should be nearby. "Rin, wait here. I'll just find Kakashi and Obito, Okay?"
Minato wasn't expecting a reply as he turned and stood up. But he realized he didn't have to move away from Rin at all as he saw Obito with bloody face and a broken arm trying to help another heavily injured Kakashi on his other arm.
"Minato sensei, is Rin okay?" Obito kneeled down before Rin after making sure Kakashi was sitting properly on his own.
Minato let himself to relax. He watched as Obito fusses over Rin, overlooking his own injuries. While Kakashi on the other hand had a massive cut on his left leg, his eyes fluttering, obviously fighting his consciousness not to faint.
"It's alright now, Kakashi…" Minato kneeled down to the silver haired youngest jonin. As he placed his hand over the young man's shoulder, the young man instantly went limp, succumbing to the exhaustion he gained. "Silly boy, acting tough like this." Minato muttered, arranging the well-torn mask knowing that Kakashi would hate to find out that the mask has been halfway torn off his face.
"Minato sensei," Obito looked around, "Where are we?"
Minato was ashamed at himself that he was not able to entertain this crucial question when he should have. He can't blame himself, he was worrying over his team and he was not about to think about anything else until he makes sure everybody's fine. Now that he could tell that even though they were all injured, they were all strong shinobi, they'll live through it.
He now looked around and was able to see the unrecognizable terrain of massive warzone. He could tell, there were thousands of clues that could lead to the fact that this place is undeniably a warzone. There were no trees around, no animals –it was just an enormous zone that has experienced a great amount of destruction.
It was no wonder. Minato had lived his life knowing that the war would never cease between the five nations and the place they are in now is just another solid proof that the war exists.
He couldn't tell where they are but he could also tell that they are way, way far from home. He doesn't have to use his Sage Mode to know that. And even if he wanted to, at his condition now, he wouldn't be able to. Using his Flying Raijin to escape the enemy's attack had consumed all his chakra that at the moment, he's merely trying to stay conscious himself. As the sensei, he should never let his guard down.
But there's something that doesn't add up.
"Sensei, have a look at this." Obito handed Minato a forehead protector he found lying on the ground right next to Rin.
Minato took the forehead protector Obito found and inspected it. It was of something he hasn't seen before. He stared at the Kanji character carved on it and he doesn't know what to say. He doesn't recognized what village this forehead protector is from. 'Shinobi', it was what carved on the forehead protector.
"Shinobi?" Obito reads, "What village is that, sensei?"
"I don't know, Obito." Minato replied, "I never heard of it."
Obito fell into a deep thought but groaned when he couldn't think of any village that could have worn the forehead protector. He then decided to impatiently drop the pondering, "So, hey, sensei… Did you not use your Flying Raijin?"
"Yes, I did." Minato replied and he knew where the question is coming from. He is obviously wondering himself.
"Don't your Flying Raijin only works between places you have marked and where you have placed your chakra signatures?" Obito analyses rather smartly. Contrary to what people knew of Obito, the young man could be such a smartass if he puts his mind into it. "Or something like that…"
Minato nodded. He then allowed his senses to clear up and let himself absorbed any evidence of what brought them in this place upon using his Flying Raijin. Now that he did, he was able to feel his own chakra masking the whole place. His chakra is rather thick with something else mixed into it that he couldn't decipher himself. He clearly could say that he has been here before but he does not remember at all.
It wasn't only that, there were also a good few chakras he could recognize. They were faint but it was there nonetheless. It was the more confusing for Minato. He still couldn't tell what makes it look this way. Why his Flying Raijin brought them out here, he doesn't know.
At least, now they are safe away from that quite awfully strong shinobi from Rain Village who has strange repetitive circular patterned eyes they encountered at the border of Rain Village and Konoha.
This much is enough for Minato.
"Minato sensei, Kakashi is awake…!"
Minato turned and saw Kakashi groaning eyes he tried to open his eyes. Beside him was Rin practicing her healing jutsu on Kakashi's leg injury. "Are you okay, Kakashi?"
"Sen…sei…" Kakashi tried to sit up, both Minato and Rin helped him place his back against the tree. "You're fine… everybody's fine… wait, where's Obito?"
Minato smiled, "Obito is fine. He's asleep."
"Is he okay?"
"He's fine. He exhausted himself. He used too much of his sharingan." Minato explained and moved a bit to the right to let Kakashi see Obito noisily sleeping with his bum up in the air. Such a way to sleep, alright.
The sigh of relief was obvious but was hidden right away as Kakashi snorted, "Such show-off. It wasn't that long ago he awakened his sharingan and now he's overusing it. He's going to go blind before he knows it."
Rin laughs, "It always sounds nice whenever you worry over Obito, Kakashi-kun."
"I'm not worrying over that twat!" Kakashi quickly responded but it only gained him all-knowing looks from both Rin and Minato who preferred not to comment. "So, Minato sensei, where are we?"
"I don't know, Kakashi." Minato honestly said.
Kakashi nodded, understanding that even their sensei doesn't know where they could be at the moment. He was not able to ponder longer when he could feel several chakras approaching them. He could also tell that Rin and Minato had tensed, showing that they have sense them as well.
In a split second, Kakashi found himself behind a different tree with Rin beside him, several kunais pinned on the tree he previously leaned on. Clearly Minato had used his Flying Raijin again to transport him and Rin out of danger. Another second and Obito was there beside them, still fast asleep.
"Stay here." Minato instructed, marked Kunais shifting between his fingers. It was a stance of his that shows he is ready of battle.
Kakashi who has only woken up a short while ago realized that it was still difficult for him to follow what's happening at the clearing. Whether their sensei is battling safely or not. There was certainly a clash happening and Kakashi was not able to control himself from standing up.
With shaky legs, he walked over to the clearing and found three dead young bodies and an older man standing before Minato. He looked worriedly towards Minato who was completely exhausted due to the fact that Minato himself hasn't recovered fully. Constantly using the Flying Raijin is taking its tool quite quickly.
"This can't be…" The unknown man muttered, eyes looking back and forth between the young dead bodies and Minato. "You… can't be… can't believe… you… can't be…"
"Wh…what…" Minato managed to respond. "What do you mean…?" The look of confusion crossed his face as his face fell on the young bodies not far from him.
"You bastard…!" The unknown man ran towards Minato, aiming for an attack.
Minato was barely able to replicate the unknown man's advances, his chakra was almost fading as he could feel his bones cracking each time the man hits him. He scarcely dodge the man's long arm thrust with his last strength, can't even use his Flying Raijin anymore.
When the man repeated the same Wind technique again on his hand, Minato found himself unable to will his muscles to move anymore. He only felt himself flying to the side as he could see Kakashi pushing him away, blinding light enlightens the surrounding as a powerful thrust embedded towards the opponent's chest.
"You can't be…" The opponent's eyes widening, coughing out blood, body's trembling. "Kakashi of Konoha…" With this the opponent dropped dead on the ground the soonest that Kakashi took his blood covered arm.
If Kakashi had a moment to be shocked of what he heard, it was easily forgotten the moment his consciousness left him, dropping right next to the enemy's body.
Minato ran towards Kakashi, Rin was right next to him quickly. "How many times do I have to tell you not to use such an imperfect jutsu…" He mumbled, feeling sorry that Kakashi had resorted into using the Raikiri that was forbidden for him to use until they find a way to perfect it without damaging Kakashi at all. It was reckless but it was all to save Minato.
Placing Kakashi right next to the slumbering Obito and made sure Rin can handle them, Minato returned to the enemies they have defeated. He briefly noticed the forehead protector the enemies were wearing but he has to make sure. One by one, Minato inspected them and the same as the ones they have found from the battlefield they arrived in yesterday, the forehead protector has only one character inscribed on it, 'Shinobi'.
'Shinobi'. Just what does it mean? What village does it belong to? And why does it look like these people knew him and even knew Kakashi? If he hasn't hallucinated the reactions the unknown group has paid him before they engaged into fighting, he could swear they knew him.
It's too late though, they're dead. All to protect his own team. Nobody's dying under his watch.
"Here," Rin smiled at Obito, giving the latter his share of grilled fish.
Obito widely smiled, "Thanks, Rin!" He devoured and mockingly looked over Kakashi aiming to have the latter jealous of him because Rin clearly cares for him more than him. Yet, upon seeing Kakashi's own share of fish being bigger and looking yummier, he shrieked instead, "Hey, Rin! Why Kakashi gets the bigger fish?!"
Rin laughs, "He's younger that's why he needs more food to grow faster. Don't you think?"
"He doesn't need more food! If he grows even bigger, his ego grows bigger too. We don't need more of that!" Obito argued, completely isn't liking the idea.
Rin only smiled at Obito, ignoring the exaggerated reaction from the boy. She only stood up and sat beside Kakashi to eat her own share there.
"Hey!" Obito yelled and ran towards the two and forcedly taken the spot between Rin and Kakashi. In there, he devoured his food, ignoring Kakashi eyeing him passively possibly thinking what the hell is wrong with him now.
Looking at this, Minato was thankful that Obito is back in shape after forcibly using his newly awakened sharingan a few days ago. Kakashi in the other hand is still suffering from both his injured legs and his even worse limb injuries for using his raikiri. But Kakashi is strong. Minato has every confidence in him that he'll recover quickly and when that time comes, he will be able to recover himself and transport everyone with him back to Konoha with his Flying Raijin.
Minato's eyes fell on his own reflection through the clear river. He could clearly see how exhausted he is, how helpless he truly is. It has been about four days since they've found themselves in this unfamiliar place. His chakra has never been the same since, that he's unable to rely on his chakra to properly enter his Sage Mode. He's become weak.
It must be because of a jutsu he used to escape that Rain Shinobi's attack on them that he had almost completely emptied his chakra out of his body.
He sighs. If they stay longer out here, he doesn't want to imagine how worried Kushina might become and nobody wants to get caught up with an extremely worried Kushina. Selective few people knew that Kushina is a jinchuriki and when a jinchuriki gets upset, tailed beasts' chakra tends to sip out of them –and it gets absolutely scary from there.
Aside from being a jinchuriki, Kushina alone has a monstrous amount of chakra control that it could break Minato's bones in just a swift if she wanted to. Minato certainly does not want to face that at all.
He missed his wife, obviously. If only he could enter his Sage Mode now, feeling for Kushina's chakra would at least make him feel a whole lot better.
Once again, he forlornly looks at the water. Looking closely, he was able to see the tiny vibrations on the water surface making continuous rings that made him stop from his thoughts about his wife. Someone else, or rather, a team of Hunters were surrounding them. That much he can tell.
"Minato sensei…" Kakashi whispered, a hand already on his kunai.
He wasn't so surprised to find Kakashi despite being so young, was able to sense the ANBU surrounding him. Kakashi didn't become a jonin at age ten for nothing.
Yet, Minato is not about to let Kakashi fight against an entire ANBU squad in his current state, let alone Rin and Obito. They were not strong enough to take on ANBU squad.
SUNA ANBU. Minato thought to himself, breathing raggedly after having to use his flying raijin consecutively to where his kunais have been placed before they settled in earlier. It was to pin point the destination of the ANBU who has failed miserably in concealing their chakras against Minato.
"There's no point of concealing yourselves." Minato addressed, "Each five of you." He added.
There were rustles on the trees and not a moment later, one landed from the tree and faced Minato with a Kunai out, saying, "Name yourself, intruder."
"You're an ANBU from SUNA Village," Minato ignored, thus saying instead, "I do not owe you my name."
The ANBU growled under his ANBU mask, gripping his kunai even tighter now. "Your insolence will be your death." The ANBU spat, "I never thought Konoha will be the first one to break the alliance!"
Minato's brows crossed in confusion and before he could further ask, the kunai was thrust towards him. He dodged a hair away. "What alliance?"
"Truly, you are a team of rogue ninjas!" One of the five ANBUs jumped in, successfully pushing Minato backwards. "Shinobi who refuses to change their forehead protector after leaving their village land is considered a traitor to the alliance. And there's only one thing sets for a traitor. Death."
The rest of the ANBU jumped in and Minato was caught between the five. Yet, before the five ANBU could move, it only took Minato a couple hand seals to complete the jutsu he already performed even before the ANBU revealed themselves. It was an offensive Uzumaki sealing technique he learned through Kushina's ancestry that takes a good amount of chakra from the user that it was not for everybody to perform.
He was not meaning to use this technique at all, he simply planted the preparations as a precautions earlier if it turns out there was no talking this one out.
Being called traitors and threatened that there was only death coming for him and his team are not something he should be reluctant about. He will not let his team die around him.
They need to keep moving. Sooner or later, SUNA village will find out their squad of ANBU has gone missing and they will send a backup. It was not by chance these ANBU were here. Possibly the team from two days ago were from SUNA and these ANBU were the retrieval squad.
For Minato, it wasn't the first time he has resorted into killing another village's shinobi. After all, they were in the middle of war for longer than he could remember. Konoha, just like the other great nations, looks after its own.
Kill or be killed.
Several days have passed, Minato has gone tired of trying not to cross path with these shinobi. He tried to keep away from them, all for the reason that he doesn't want to have his young team members to engage in a battle when they haven't fully recovered yet. Though, there was nothing Minato couldn't handle himself but being cautious wouldn't hurt.
He wouldn't say they haven't encountered a few of shinobis from other village for that course of time. They actually did and Minato was left with no choice but to counter attack.
What puzzled him the most was that the recent ANBU they fought were a mix of ANBUs from SUNA and KIRI all the same time. It clearly made Minato confused more than anything. He pretty much have a huge knowledge regarding the ANBU forces of the other villages, for he himself was sent to exterminate other village's ANBU who tried to infiltrate Konoha from the past. He absolutely can tell the ANBUs from earlier today were from SUNA and KIRI.
Since when the Sand and Mist Village worked together?
But then, after thinking harder now, Minato settled on the thought that it was possible for two villages to work together if they could take on another village in return. An enemy of my enemy is my friend, so they say. At this point, it was clear that this joint ANBU from Sand and Mist are after Konoha.
It was a month after that Minato and his team have fully recovered that they decided to get closer to the border of Konoha despite the nagging feeling down their gut that indeed, something doesn't seem right here.
They have scouted the Konoha border for days on end and have seen that several Konoha shinobi cells have been changing their forehead protector right after they left the border. Minato wondered, yet, he does not have an answer to this. Maybe it was a sort of an infiltration strategy Konoha has come up with that he doesn't know about.
Every time they have succeeded on getting closer to the border, they ended up getting pushed back by the fact that they might get discovered and be considered a threat especially when they have also seen a suspiciously vast amount of other villages' shinobi freely entering Konoha.
Just what the hell is going on?
It seemed liked Konoha is not the village they have known all their lives anymore.
Playing it safe, Minato held back in transporting themselves with his Flying Thunder God technique. It scares him that his fear might really be true. Konoha is no longer safe. He doesn't know how it happened and how long has it been like that but he's not about to bring his team back there in times like this. And most especially, he will not dare leave his team alone even for a second. It's not gonna happen. They'll stick together until they figure this one out.
Hope Kushina is alright. Minato thought. Yet, there's fear coursing inside of him, increasing each time whenever he tries to transport himself next to Kushina who bears his jutsu marker on her flesh. But then he failed each time. Just what does that mean?
"Why are we not coming back home, Minato sensei?" Obito asked the moment he realized that they were not heading to Konoha at all.
Minato stopped on his course and looked around, noting the surrounding safe away from the four-man cell of SUNA village they scouted earlier. "We'll be home soon, Obito-kun. Just hang on there." Minato assured. "Everyone." He added, facing the other two members of his team, Kakashi and Rin.
The latter two nodded, picking up their pace even though the farther they get away from Konoha burdens their hearts even more. Just when are they coming home?
Minato has been sleepless. Even though the young Kakashi proposes himself to be on the watch for tonight, he just couldn't get himself fall asleep. There were millions of questions swimming in his head that he doesn't have any way of figuring it out. He trusts his young team but he knew well enough they were all too young for a discussion as this.
"I told you, I'll be on the watch tonight. Why are you not sleeping, sensei?" Kakashi murmured, passively jerking his head to the side to stare at Minato.
"I have," Minato lied but with the look Kakashi is giving is already a proof that he is not fooling anybody here. "I'm just thinking of things, Kakashi-kun."
"I know what you're thinking, Minato sensei." Kakashi replied, "This place is not the same at all."
Minato eyed the silver haired jonin. Truly, it never ceases to amaze how quick-witted Kakashi is –for such a very young man. "Why do you think so, Kakashi-kun?"
"It seems like we are in some sort of a genjutsu…an illusion…of a different world, different nation…it seemed all like a dream." Kakashi elaborated, "You know what I mean, Minato sensei. We don't belong here."
Minato nodded, understanding what Kakashi meant. "You know this is not a genjutsu. We tried countless times dispelling if we are indeed after a genjutsu. As far as I know, a sharigan user such as Obito has all what it takes to dispel a genjutsu. Though I believe you when you say this place is not the same… Kakashi, I don't think we are even supposed to be here at all."
Kakashi did not reply for he couldn't just think of anything to say… it clearly scares him that they might actually be right.
The two fell into deep thoughts when all of the sudden they were surrounded by several ANBUs. By the looks of it, they were from SUNA mixing with… Minato couldn't think straight because some of the ANBUs were wearing the coats exclusively for Konoha.
What is this? Minato wanted to ask but his attention were already diverted to the Suna ANBU who had captured Rin and Obito, Konoha ANBU separating them from Minato and Kakashi.
"Rin! Obito!" Kakashi called out, chakra already pooling on the pads of his feet, ready to charge any given time.
"Kakashi, wait," Minato warned, holding a hand in front of Kakashi. He watches the change of postures between the masked ANBU in front of them.
"This can't be…" One Konoha ANBU in a snail mask muttered. "A genjutsu…. DISPEL!" It added but gasped when nothing changed. "What is this trick?"
"A reanimation jutsu…." One Konoha ANBU added, "But Kakashi-san…this can't be…."
"Don't let your guard down!" One Suna ANBU scowled. "We don't know what's going on but don't forget this four-man cell is in our Bingo Book. We are ordered to attack when needed."
"B…but—" A Konoha ANBU tried to argue but was interrupted.
"They have slaughtered many of us already. The Alliance will not permit anymore off this cell! We must capture them!" A Suna ANBU reminded that alerted the rest of the ANBU squad.
Whatever disagreements between the two parties of the ANBU dissolved just by the mention of the said Alliance.
That's when Rin gave a huge shriek after an ANBU pushed her on the ground and Minato did not waste any moment anymore but to use his Flying Thunder God technique to pick Rin out of the way.
And it all happened so fast that all he could see when he returned was Obito and Kakashi charging on the ANBU stubbornly. There was no turning back anymore that Minato thought finishing this battle is the only way out of this.
Obito and Kakashi were wonderful duo in fights. They might be arguing over trivial things but when they were fighting side by side, it was like watching a perfectly choreographed combo moves. Minato does not need to engage himself too much because after all the battles they have to fight recently, Kakashi and Obito can pretty much fend for themselves.
"Katon Gokakyu no jutsu!" Obito chanted and a great fireball erupted from his mouth, sending the remaining ANBU scramming away.
Yet, before they could escape Obito's fire release technique, Kakashi was already behind them waiting, a swift of skilled kunai handling put them to the ground –lifelessly blood-soaked.
Before any of them could celebrate their victory, Minato looked around in concentration. He then muttered, "More are coming… ten minutes from here."
"I'm ready." Obito replied.
Whereas, Kakashi stood straight, wiping his blood tainted hand onto his shirt. His concentration already fixed onto the incoming squad.
"No, not this time." Minato muttered, "These people are different…" He then shifted into his Sage Mode, his eyes widened realizing a certain person among all the powerful chakras coming to them, "…impossible… This is the fight we could not win. We have to go." He disappeared for a moment and returned with Rin on his arms. "Let's go…"
"Wait," Rin's eyes fixed on the scattered dead bodies on the ground and even though she knew they were enemies, she doesn't have the heart to just leave them like that. Besides, it helps concealing their identities too.
"Rin, we don't have time for this." Minato reminded.
But Rin for once was stubborn, "It won't take long."
Like a real Nohara, though a barely existing clan of Konoha, she has the ability to turn dead bodies into smaller organism, or insects or even flowers. That kept them safe as well because of this ability, she was able to cover up every battles they had, leaving no traces of them.
With the last body, Rin placed her unique seal on the body and watched as the body disintegrate into a green butterfly, flapping its wings up high and vanished through the vast woods.
"Rin, let's go!" Obito called her over.
Kakashi is already right next to Minato, waiting for them both. So, when they both ran towards Kakashi, Minato reached out for them but they did not disappear right away.
Instead, Minato found himself distracted by the certain chakra becoming closer and closer to them. The chakra was achingly familiar yet slightly different from what he thinks it could be.
But one thing for sure, the chakra reminds him of Kushina.
Yet, again, it's clearly not Kushina at all. Similar but not exactly and this gives him a thud in the chest because no matter what, this picked his interest that his feet don't want to move. He wanted to stay and see for himself who carries such familiar chakra.
"Minato sensei…." Obito called out.
Just a minute and I'll find out… Minato thought to himself, keeping his senses at the highest. Who could it be…?
"Minato sensei, we have to go." Kakashi tugged on Minato's shirt to get his attention. "Come on, Minato sensei…they're coming…"
Minato's eyes fell on both Obito and Kakashi's eyes and then towards Rin's confused ones. Right, if he doesn't move, he might be putting his team in danger. "Sorry, guys…let's go." He sighs and reached for his team mates.
Yet, before he could fully disappear away from that spot, he swore he had clearly felt the strong raw chakra of something he is so familiar with.
Kyuubi… He thought and contradicted the moment he realized it. It can't be the kyuubi…the kyuubi is with Kushina and clearly it wasn't Kushina at all.
"Naruto! Wait!"
And that was the last thing Minato heard and even though he desperately tried to look back and see the face of the person bearing the name 'Naruto', his transportation jutsu already took effect, dissolving them to nothingness.