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It should be noted that Minato's generation haven't yet become official members of the Konoha council, even though most of them are now clan heads. The ceremony to pick the Hokage's successor is also a sort of passing of the torch, so once the Yondaime is determined, the council will change accordingly. Also note that if Naruto, anyone from Dark country or his allies talk about 'ryu', they don't mean Fire country ryu but Dark country's own (used also by Suna and Kiri, soon to be used by Uzushio and River).
I'd also like to remind you all, my dear readers, that Torune Uzumaki signed a blood contract with the Shodaime about keeping the Kyuubi in Konoha under the condition that Konoha doesn't start any wars or abuse the power of the Kyuubi (that's the summary of their deal), but if Uzushio was to take back the Kyuubi without Konoha voiding the blood contract, then whoever was Kage Uzushio would die a horrible, painful death and his remaining lifespan would be transferred to whoever was Kage of Konoha, which in this case is Hiruzen Sarutobi. Is this information relevant to the chapter and if so how?
Read to find out.
I also wrote the names of some of the jutsus in Japanese and not translated to English, simply because they sound cooler that way :D
Warning: this chapter contains depictions of death, pain and human suffering. This chapter is dark. There are parts that might not sit well with some of you. This is just fair warning. Don't like, don't read.
Enjoy…
CHAPTER 27
08:58AM
Minato Namikaze was a smart man.
A 'prodigy' for that matter.
His mind might have solely been on him discovering the truth about Konoha and the reality of how much his life had revolved around a lie, but he wasn't so blind to his environment as to not notice other things.
His roommate, Tsume Inuzuka, had been performing D rank missions, specifically the dirty, demeaning, humiliating D rank missions, since he came back to the village a week prior. She would return to their shared apartment, wearing either a long face or gnashing her teeth angrily, ranting and raving about how terrible her day had been, how condescending the D rank mission contractors had been to her, and how utterly frustrated she was for even doing them for a meagre ten ryu per five jobs.
Minato would ask her, as he sat drew her a nice, hot bath, giving her his complete attention and using his cool blue eyes to sooth her frayed nerves, why she bothered collecting D ranks; the world was fresh out of the Third Great war and so, no matter which village or country on the continent, there was an abundance of high rank, well-paying missions.
Quite frankly, jounin don't collect D ranks unless they were supervising genin teams.
Supervising, not participating.
She would give a vague answer and turn to him in the bath tub, her eyes wide and a light sweet smile twitching on the corner of her lips, and ask him how his day went.
Minato wasn't stupid.
Tsume was being punished for something.
Something that she had done a week ago.
Minato could put two and two together.
The fourth day of the Inuzuka returning to their apartment late in the evening at sunset, sopping wet and stinking of cat piss, her ears drooped sadly and her shoulders sagged in resignation, Minato Namikaze resolved to himself that Tsume's intentions were real.
She was a true friend.
The dead eyed Namikaze entered the crowd of people milling before the Hokage's tower and his looked around, his hollow gaze sweeping from person to person, holding back the urge to just touch the ground and track Tsume from there. He finally caught sight of his roommate and a ghost of a smile slide up his face.
It quickly cleaned off once he saw who the woman was standing with.
His friends.
Minato's head twitched and his right hand gripped the top of the handle of Raijin no Ken.
The Yellow Flash walked up to her, suppressing his presence little by little as he came closer. Shikaku Nara turned around, the sleepy man's eyes brightened once he saw his blonde friend approaching and Inoichi Yamanaka raised a hand, ready to wave. Minato's eyes didn't meet theirs, only grabbing Tsume by her wrist and dragging her along away, pushing through the crowd a little bit away from their friends.
The dog woman, affronted by the hand that had grabbed her wrist, turned to the person to chew him out but halted when she realized who it was. A wide, bright grin cracked on her face and her sharp canines glinted teasingly. "Sup." Her expression dimmed when he didn't return her smile, meeting her light brown eyes with an empty look.
Tsume's eyes widened when she saw the small red splotches on her roommates face and his shirt.
She gasped, her nose instinctively sniffing. "Blood-"
The Namikaze pulled out a palm sized scroll from inside his open jounin flak jacket and pushed it into the hand he was holding. "Take this and go back to the apartment." He told her in a dull, though strong voice, looking down at her with an expressionless face and churning blue orbs. He pushed a tri-pronged kunai into the same hand as the scroll, on top of the sealing scroll, and added as the woman opened her mouth to object. "Tell no one where you're going and open the scroll once you get back. Make sure you're alone, understand?"
The woman frowned and her eyebrows furrowed, concerned. "What's going on, Minato?" her eyes flicked over his unkept form and saw that the bottom of his feet was red with blood, some of his black shirt was speckled with blood and the side zip of his casually open vest was now fully undone. Not his blood, from what her nose told her. "Why're you covered in blood?" her eyes widened in surprise and she looked frantically around, realizing that their friends weren't near them, though she could see the tall Akimichi, Nara and Yamanaka spot them, bringing the others over to them. "Are we under attack?"
Minato made a displeased noise in his throat and bent down so that his face was near hers.
Tsume gulped at the seriousness in his eyes and how stronger his grip on her wrist had gotten.
The man narrowed his eyes and glared at her, his blue eyes glowing with deadly light.
The dog part of her mind whimpered and shuffled back, tucking her tail between her legs and flattening her ears to her head, though she couldn't move back, for Minato's hold on her was too strong.
He said only one word, a low bark that chilled Tsume's soul.
"Go."
He released her wrist and Tsume ran.
The Hokage stepped up onto the assembled stage, walked to the podium and called for the attention of the people of Konoha.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, Sandaime Hokage, beamed widely to his people and said in a loud voice as a hush hastily ran over the crowd not too long after he had walked onto the stage. "Let me not waste any of our time with a speech and skip ahead to the good part; I'm sure we all want to party." He chuckled warmly at the round of cheers from the sea of people before him.
In the crowd, Mikoto reached for the back of Minato's flak jacket but the blonde walked out as Hiruzen Sarutobi began calling the names of the Hokage candidates.
"Shimura Danzo." The one eyed man took his time ambling up the stage with a stoic look, still feeling the effects of Minato's savage beating from all those months ago. He was in his usual kimono, covering his right side and the bandage over his limbs and his eyes were devoid of even a speck of dirt. Two plain looking men stood at the bottom of the stage from where the one eyed man had ascended, watching him with fake smiles plastered on their faces.
No one saw the brief flash of blue in the man's coal black eyes as he took his place behind the Third Hokage.
"Orochimaru of the Sannin." The pale, snake man smirked sharply and stepped out of the crowd, wearing a long sleeved dark green shirt and black pants with white tape around a small section of his right thigh, no visible kunai or shuriken in sight but with what they could all identify as the Kusanagi, Grass cutter long sword, strapped to his hip.
"Minato Namikaze." The blonde man already had a foot on the bottom step before his name was even called. The Sandaime frowned at the blonde's shabby appearance, sniffing and hiding his displeasure with a large smile, despite Minato not reciprocating and standing behind him with the other candidates. His eyes sparked when he saw that the Yellow Flash also had a sword strapped to his hip, though he couldn't get a good look to identify it.
A round of applause followed each candidate as they walked onto the stage.
Orochimaru looked at the youngest candidate, belittling Minato with their condescending eyes.
Minato lowered his face, his spikey blonde hair throwing a shadow over his upper face.
Everyone he wanted was either on the stage or near it; Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo Shimura, the Konoha council and the Konoha Elders/Advisors.
Anyone that got in his way or blocked his path-shinobi or civilian-would be cut down.
His eyes flicked up when the Sandaime raised his voice amid the applause. "Now, my successor, the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, would be," he turned around with a flourish and motioned with his right hand, saying in a booming voice. "Minato Namikaze!"
The cocky smirk on Orochimaru's face disappeared.
Danzo looked unfazed.
A silent, twisted grin crawled up Minato's face.
The Hokage turned to the side and held out his right hand for a handshake, Minato walked up to the smiling man with quick, clipped steps.
Instead of holding out his own hand to grasp Hiruzen's own, Minato pulled his right hand down to his left side, grasped the handle of the Nidaimes lost blade and Tsunade, standing at the bottom of the stage, cried out in horror.
"Sensei-"
Sssshing!
Raijin no Ken was coated in whistling yellow lightning and elongated to twice its length in case its prospective target opened his eyes and tried to dodge it.
Hiruzen didn't.
Veteran shinobi like the Sandaime and the Sannin had trained many years to be able to detect killer intent, which was a sure way of determining the place, time and strength of a particular attack; everyone that intended to kill or maim had killer intent. It could be weaponized, like how the Ghost used his unique chakra to make his killer intent induce horror and hesitation in his victims, and killer intent could also be used as a way of predicting telegraphed intentions for the targets death.
Against that popular notion of killer intent, Minato had trained himself long and hard to suppress his only until the very, very last second.
This suppression, unknowingly channelling the Assassination Techniques of Dark country, had saved his skin on many occasions in Chill and while he was researching the two-faced nature of his home village.
Hiruzen Sarutobi only detected the younger ninjas killer intent after the blade had bit into his arm, swiped upwards and exited his shoulder, a mere quarter of a second due to the lightning coating Raijin no Ken and also on the refined speed Minato was known for.
The Nidaimes sword, now Minato's blade, cut through the man's right elbow, diagonally carving through his chest and leaving from his left clavicle, burning a path of hot, crackling destruction at the path its holder had created.
The top half of the Sandaime fell onto the ground with a wet plop and Minato had already turned around as the Konoha council, as well as the people of the village, began screaming, fleeing in all directions.
The older man had already bled out long before he realized the attack, roaring in agony and gnashing his teeth as he looked down, seeing his split open ribcage and his sluggishly beating heart.
He panted raggedly, his arms unable to move to cover his fatal wound and his head unable to look away from what he was seeing.
He went into shock.
His own heart.
It stopped.
Hiruzen's eyes rolled up into the back of his head
The soulless shinobi hopped off the stage, landing on the ground with a firm thud, and blindly slashed his sword sideways, cutting off a woman's head. On the stage, ANBU were futilely trying to revive their Hokage.
Torune Uzumakis remaining lifespan-a good hundred years or so-wasn't enough to keep the Third Hokage alive from such a wound.
The civilians were running about screaming in terror as Minato looked about for where the Konoha council had fled to; his eyes trained on two civilians and he blurred over to them, as the ninjas of the village overcame their shock and pelted towards him in a flurry of limbs and chakra, forcing their legs to run towards the Sandaime's assassin.
Traitor.
Minato mercilessly stabbed his blade down, cutting into the lower back of a civilian man that had made the mistake of tripping on his feet; he tore the sword out and cut off his lightning affinity chakra from the sword, returning it back to its normal length and stainless steel colour. He bent under a kick to the back of his head, slashed upwards and cut off the attackers arm, catching the arm from the air with his free hand, as the attacker went down on his knees, screaming, and used the severed limb to backhand the kneeling man clear across his face, smacking the downed man's head into the ground and still using the arm, now apparently fractured at the upper arm, to bat aside a flurry of shuriken honed at him by another faceless shinobi.
Minato dropped the arm and blurred towards the four Konoha civilian councilmembers.
The shinobi council, and whoever wished to die, would come to him.
Blood spattered across the blonde man's face as he cut his way through two of the civilian councilmembers, bathing his lower face in blood.
The dead eyed man spun on his heel and smashed a roundhouse kick to a Kunoichi that attempted to use the cover a genjutsu to wrap ninja wire around him.
He realized, with a hum and a brief sweeping look, that the person he had just concussed was Kureanai Yuuhi, slamming the now ragdoll of a teenager into Yugao Uzuki as the latter tried to catch her in her arms. Anko Mitarashi vengefully barrelled to Minato as Yugao tried to keep the aspiring genjutsu from falling asleep with a concussion.
Minato had already cast the remorse from his mind as soon as it made to emerge.
He had other things to worry about.
Like killing the council…and whoever got in his way.
He crossed the sword over his torso and blocked a tanto strike from a familiar looking teenager.
Kakashi, baring his teeth under his mask and his sharingan eyes spinning, trying to find Minato's, cried out as his older brother figure and his teacher smashed his knee into his stomach, grabbed his head, cracked his knee into his forehead, swept his feet out from under him and was about to slice off his head while Kakashi was trying to collect himself, trying to understand how one moment he was on his feet and the next he was on his back and his teacher was about to decapitate him.
His ears rang as blood poured freely out of it, effects of Minato's knee to his forehead.
"Epic Entrance!"
The sword honing for Kakashi's neck was kicked Minato's back and the emotionless blonde, flowing with the momentum of the strike to his hand, rolled back and lifted his head to look at who had dared to interrupt him.
Gai bounced on the balls of his feet, narrowing his eyes as the Minato got back to his feet. The kick had been strong but Minato's hold on the blade handle was stronger.
It throbbed a little.
The Namikaze frowned, hard and sheathed the blade in a smooth motion, clenching his fists and cracking them chillingly.
He silently motioned to Gai.
Come on.
"Leave it to me!" Gai yelled heroically, though Hiashi and Hizashi swept in with him towards Minato, coming in from before and behind their target.
The Yellow Flash lowered himself into his fighting stance, the Flying Hummingbird, and his head shifted aside from a brazen straight punch, he slapped the attack aside and slapped down a knee to his side, slipping under a palm strike to his chest from Hiashi and lifting a foot as Hizashi made to block the tenketsu of his feet.
Clever.
Take out the legs of the fastest man in Konoha.
Hizashi's mistake was not being fast enough to do it.
Gai came down on him with an axe kick, and Minato surged away from a palm strike to the centre of his back, wise enough to know not to block a Hyuuga strike. Konoha's foremost taijutsu master made to spin and drive his elbow into Minato's head, though blonde slipped around the attack as a poke to his other legs made to trip him, and drove the base of his palm into Gai's chin.
Crack!
A broken jaw didn't seem enough to drop the taijutsu master, so Minato smashed the sole of his right foot into Gai's gut and shoved him in the way of a palm strike to the middle of his back, courtesy of a shocked Hiashi.
Minato was on a warpath.
His cerulean eyes, though devoid of emotion-not to talk of common human empathy-, looked absolutely insane as a Rasengan spiralled in his left palm and he pushed them to Hizashi.
"Rasengan."
"Kaitan!"
The Hyuuga defensive clan jutsu clashed brightly against the ball of blue energy in Minato's palm, creating a spark of light that very nearly blinded Fugaku and Hiashi, who were bull rushing back to Minato. The clang of both chakra abilities, strongly negating each other, created light from the contact and thus the light, saturated in the chakra of both men, served to negatively affect the two doujutsu users, whose eyes could see the chakra in the air at their high level.
Half a minute later, blinking away the blips of light from their vision, they saw the ball of chakra in Minato's hand shredding apart the Hyuuga defence and Hizashi was only quick enough to move to his right, though the Rasengan took a chunk of his left thigh in process.
The jutsu Minato had perfected and mastered was truly something to fear.
Minato grabbed Hizashi by the scruff of his shirt and yanked him up, punching him back to the ground and effectively breaking the Hyuugas nose.
The Yellow Flash, quick to get back to what he was doing, flicked his wrists and six tri-pronged kunai appeared in his hands. He threw them to his sides, just as his body froze.
"Hiden art: Shadow Imitation technique!"
Shikaku, grinding his teeth and visibly struggling against Minato's vast store of chakra from breaking out from the shadow bind.
Minato's empty blue eyes then glanced to the side, noticing that Shikaku's shadow was split into seven parts, one to hold him in place and six to successfully capture the six kunai he had thrown away. Those Hirashin seal tags couldn't be used while they were bound to Shikaku's shadow.
"Minato, this is madness!" the Nara clan head bellowed. His father, and the fathers' of the other clan heads', were back with the Sandaime. Inoichi was powering through a long set of hand seals and Chouza as well. "I have you restrained! Stop this at once!"
"…You choose to die for Konoha." Minato mumbled under his breath and, ever so slowly, a demented smirk crawled onto his face. "You will die for Konoha."
"There's nowhere to go-" Shikaku's hands jerked and closed into a fist, as Minato's own did. The Namikaze flexed his hand and the Nara, almost afraid to think of what his friend had up his sleeve, begged for the blonde to not resist. "Don't-"
Inoichi finished his string of seals, calling. "Hiden art: Mind-Body Switch technique!"
Minato timed it just right.
He focused chakra to his core.
The blonde was gone in a yellow flash and the shadow bind came undone at the absence of the Nara's primary target.
Inoichi's soul soundlessly impacted on the bare ground, about to leap back into his body, though one of the recently released tri-pronged kunai briefly flashed yellow as Minato reappeared once again, throwing his arm out and sending the Hirashin kunai out to Inoichi's body. The Yamanaka's soul raced back, entering as Chouza used the back of his enlarged bear paw to block the kunai, chuckling as the short blade bounced off.
Minato, as Shikaku made to bind him again and before the kunai could fall, clapped his hands together into the ram hand seal.
"Katsu."
BOOOOOOOOM!
The heat enveloped Chouza's arm, furiously surging up and covering his whole bloated form as he used his body to shade his Yamanaka friend.
The Akimichi didn't honestly believe that the six Hirashin kunai Shikaku had captured in his shadow were the only ones Minato had in his arsenal, none of them did.
The six was merely a diversion.
To lull them into a false sense of control.
Minato was a smart man, Chouza remembered as the fire covered his whole body, holding Inoichi before him and protecting him from the flames. Shikaku, and any ninja in a half mile radius, had been blown off his feet by the explosion. Chouza had successfully prevented Inoichi from roasting to death, though the shockwave of being closest to the blast zone didn't spare the Yamanaka either, jarring the mind walker's body and dislocating more than a few bones.
Being closest to the blast from the powerful exploding seal Minato had specially made for his Akimichi friend, the clothes on Chouza's torso and his body effectively became charred.
Any other person would have been disintegrated.
The ground around the big boned shinobi was now ash, and the stage before the Hokage tower was on fire, forcing medics and the shinobi council to flee.
Minato wasn't done.
The Namikaze whipped out Raijin no Ken and pointed the blade at Chouza's smouldering back.
"Lightning release: Lightning dragon."
The chakra creation thundered out of the tip of the now bright yellow, whistling sword and rammed its tri-horned head into Chouza's bloated form, both electrocuting the Akimichi and the Yamanaka, as well as tossing them to only kami knows where.
The short winged, snake-bodied dragon bellowed, loud enough to shake the ground, and scampered on the ground on its short, stumpy legs and snapped at Anko and Yoshino, driving tendrils of electricity into their bodies.
Chouza and Inoichi, wherever they were, would be lucky if they were dead.
Anko and Yoshino were smashed back by the tail of the lightning dragon.
It wasn't likely they would survive from that many volts of electricity, not especially when it came from Minato's Raijin no Ken.
Minato sheathed his sword once again and ran with his head lowered to where the shinobi council were gathered, waiting for him.
The first person he brought down was Shimura Danzo; the war hawk cracked his cane into the ground, catching it in his hand and swung the now revealed short blade at the end of the stick, though Minato swatted the blade aside with a hit from a Hirashin kunai and tunnelled a blow into Danzo's chest.
Thin smoke wafted out of the older man's mouth and nose as soon as the punch hit home in the centre of Danzo's chest, curious enough, though Minato didn't dwell on this for long.
Minato faced his attention on the shinobi council.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Comfortably perched on the roof of a nearby café and merrily munching on a muffin, Naruto laughed with muted glee at the chaos laid out before him, caused by the vengeful blonde slaughtering the council.
The blue eyed assassin chewed on the tasty treat in his hands, muffling his laughter with a mouthful, as Minato jammed his fingers into the eyes of a Hyuuga councilman, slapped a paper flash bang over the eyes of an Uchiha councilman and cracking his foot to send the sharingan holder back as the seal tag exploded with light over the Uchiha's face, just as Fugaku arrived to tear it off. Mikoto's father's eyes overloaded with light and chakra, popping loudly, and Fugaku, his son-in-law was once again blinded by the saturation of chakra in the light.
On her knees at Naruto's side, Bat held up a tray of sugary delights for her master, rolling her eyes when Naruto slapped his knee in amusement as he saw a grown man shove through a mother and child in his bid to get away from the ravenously stoic murderer, separating the parent and child in the ensuing bedlam.
Naruto ate a cupcake, a sweet tasting, pink and white pastry that almost turned his taste buds into putty, and pointed at the teary eyed mother as she frantically called for her child, then pointed to the fleeing man.
"Funny how chaos can bring out the best in us." He nodded his head and Komodo dragon threw down a kunai, nailing a woman in the top of her head and allowing mother and child to see each other, reuniting after one hopeless minute. The panicking citizens of the Leaf dared not stop their hasty escape, not wanting to find out whether it was Minato or some other invader that had killed the unknowing woman.
Bat cleared her throat and muttered. "Don't talk with your mouth full, Naruto-sensei."
Naruto's head fell back, his grisly jaws creaked open and peals of laughter flew out from his 'mouth', drowned out by the hysteria below him.
Any person that so dared to look in their general direction, even if it was to look for a friend or a member of their family, would be brought down by any member of Team Eleven or Twelve, eliminating a potential witness to their presence in Konoha.
The jounin painter in Naruto's entourage stood behind her Leader. She had a seamless paint illusion cover them to make it look like the roof was unoccupied, though killing any person that looked was a backup measure. The Kurama was busily painting on a canvass, slashing her hand here and there, dipping the tip of her brush on a palette for colours, mixing it with the poise and experience of a veteran artist.
Her Leader had commissioned a painting.
Umara had tried to insist on not being paid by her master for her art, for Naruto could demand anything and everything from her and she would readily provide without reluctance or hesitation, but the masked man didn't want hardwork to be rewarded with nothing.
Before finding the spot on the café and securing their position, Naruto had already signed a cheque of three hundred and fifty thousand ryu to Umara. The man wasn't skimming from Dark country's reserves, even though he had every right to and even if he did no person would oppose him. Naruto had a fair bit of money, as his monthly salary for being Leader as well as a weekly allowance for when he travelled out of the country on official business or just for a vacation-if he ever took one-, and so he had enough money saved up in his personal bank account to serve him long through his retirement. Then there was the joint account he had with Sueki, of which the paperwork for Kushina to join was already underway in Darkness National Bank, personally handled by Amara Chui-Inku, the Director of the Fourth Wealth Nation's Bank. He and his wife, and Kushina soon enough, regularly pooled ten percent of their monthly salaries into the joint account and the account was merely there for 'family matters'. Sueki was also receiving a monthly salary, as BLAK Commander and Director of Dark country side of Dark-Sand.
The people of the country were content with how they and their country were progressing, seeing as they had nice sums of money in their main account and in their emergency funds.
Three hundred a fifty ryu was dirty cheap for a piece of art, especially one that was made by an artist as famous as Umara Kurama. The woman had begged on her hands and knees, tears streaming out of her eyes and blubbering almost incoherently, for her Leader to not worry about payment, as Naruto had at first wanted to pay three million ryu for her work, which was adequate compensation for the amount of paint, chakra and plain expertise to be used for the moving artwork, but had bumped it down to a measly three hundred and fifty thousand ryu.
Naruto wasn't a fan of how his people wished to give him things for free, despite how long and hard they worked to achieve it. The Leader of Darkness was a firm believer of rewarding those that needed to be rewarded, like a delivery boy that delivered food before the thirty minute mark, or the baker that had crafted a new flavour-spending months doing so-. He understood that his people were grateful for what he had done and what he was planning to do for the years that he wished to remain Leader, but it had reached the stage where Naruto would force the money into their hands for whatever he or his wife buy.
The painting that Naruto had commissioned was a moving piece of art.
Splashes of emotional colours.
In the background to the top left was the Hokage's monument, with the faces of the Shodaime, Nidaime and Sandaime proudly overlooking the village, to the right of the monument were clusters of dark green trees and foliage.
The rest of the piece was utter anarchy.
The sea of humanity rushing on the ground, selfishly stampeding in their bid to escape the carnage, of which most was caused by their negligence and self-regard. Families were torn apart in the waves of the mob, young children were trampled underfoot, the elderly were shoved aside and pressed to the ground, their bones snapping agonizingly under the weight of the stronger cowards. When one tripped, they weren't helped up, not unless someone that dearly loved them was close enough to even help them back onto their feet. A few ninjas were keeping their head in the disorder, helping to direct the flow of traffic and help those that hadn't already been trampled to death, but the bulk of the Konoha Ninja Force had flown to Minato in a rage in order to avenge their assassinated Hokage.
The masked man specifically told Umara to leave Minato's fight out of the landscape, focus on making the calamity and catastrophe of the disaster beautiful and memorable.
Naruto wasn't going to display the moving painting in his office but it would be safely hung in his private library in his house in the Dark library, to commemorate this very day.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
With Tsume
Before the ceremony
Tsume Inuzuka flew through the door of her apartment, slammed it shut, snapped the locks twice and finally exhaled in relief, leaning her back against the wooden door and regaining composure.
The woman grabbed her hair and tugged madly, angry at herself for how quick she obeyed Minato's order and how she had not warned anybody as she ran through the streets.
Whatever it was that was happening, shouldn't others know?
A part of her mind, the dog part, reared up and said that it had been Minato that had instructed her.
If it was him, her friend, then his reason must have been for her good.
He wouldn't want harm to come to her.
Tsume plodded into the main room of the two bedroom apartment-living room and bedroom, with a bathroom-and she dropped the tri-pronged kunai onto the kitchen table as she proceeded to a chair, unrolling the scroll her roommate had pushed into her hand.
There were four arrows pointing inwards, forcing her attention to Minato's near illegible chicken scrawl.
Look here
Poof!
White chakra smoke burst in her face, making the woman drop the scroll and stumble back in her surprise, coughing. She fell down on her butt, hard, sitting down on the chair and wobbling precariously, teetering as if she was about to fall onto her back. Tsume coughed again, trying to lift her arms to wave away the smoke but unable to. The smoke left as soon as it came and her eyes bugged out when she looked down to find out why she couldn't use her arms.
The woman was bound by ropes and chains to the plain wooden chair, and these ropes and chains were weighed down by seals, preventing her from using her brute strength to break out.
Kuromaru wasn't in the apartment for that moment, as he was back in the Inuzuka compound to watch the reconstruction efforts. It was supposed to be her that would supervise her clan mates but the Sandaime's punishment took up all available time during the day.
The woman thrashed and snapped, biting the air and lowering her face, trying to grab onto a chain with her teeth and chew it with her sharp, strong teeth.
"Yaaaaarrrghhhh!" she shouted in frustration, only amounting to shaking the chair she was tied on more and teetering even more, stopping so that she didn't fall back and crack her head on the edge of the table. "Minato!"
She panted angrily.
"When I get my hands on you…"
Her eyes flicked to the table, where the lethally sharp tri-pronged kunai silently laid. Her expression brightened and she hopped on the chair, attempting to get closer to the table so as to snag the kunai in her mouth and saw her way out of her bonds. The extra weight of not only the metal chain and the ropes but also the weighted seals drawn on them made it hell for the naturally strong woman.
Tsume saw something move on the ground and she froze, sighing when she realized it was only that kami damned scroll that had tied her up. She was just about to ignore it until she saw a kitchen timer pop out from the same trap seal that had captured her.
It was counting back from thirty minutes.
Her eyebrows furrowed curiously, understanding that her bonds would come undone at the thirty minute mark, though she didn't understand Minato's reason for restraining her.
The small jolt of the kitchen time being unsealed rolled the scroll back, revealing three storage seals on the back.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
The dog woman closed her eyes, ready for the worst.
One minute passed and she didn't feel any pain, loss of her chakra or even a mild discomfort, so she cracked open her eyes and her jaw dropped at what she saw.
Three chests were now before her, two of which had fallen forward, throwing about gold and silver coins on the ground, too many to count. Bars of gold and pieces of sparkling, precious, expensive metals reflected the light coming in from the living room window. Jewellery, piles and piles of precious gems, luxurious stones and lavish clothes made of soft, watery silk though somehow still looked like they could hold somewhat well against a clear stab to the body. These clothes, about five battle kimonos, two T-shirts and a two black and white ninja pants, served to glitter more in the refracted light from the coins and the jewels, looking like they would fit her form perfectly.
The last chest was helpfully labelled 'Money'.
She didn't need to guess what was inside.
What Tsume didn't know, as she marvelled at the billions and billions in ryu of items formerly sealed into the scroll, was that this was all the gold and silver coins, jewellery and clothes-that could and would fit her-in his Vault.
In gratitude for Tsume being a true friend, Minato had scraped all the money and expensive items-not including weapons or any kind and summoning contracts-and gave it to her. All the money and jewellery he had encountered during his research for the truth was now hers.
Tsume was speechless, more so when the small piece of tape holding up the hand written note that said 'money' fell off the trunk, allowing the bound woman to read the words her roommate had written at the back.
I'm sorry for the inconvenience, Tsume. I hope you aren't hurt. I know this isn't enough to repay the help you have given me; I am eternally in your debt. This is what I can do for now.
You're a true friend, Tsume.
Thank you for being there for me.
Minutes later, Inuzuka Tsume jolted in surprise as screams rend through the air.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Minato was covered in blood.
Soaked head to toe in the thick red liquid, save for most of his upper face; his crackling blade dripped profusely of the bodily fluid, gotten from other humans.
The Yellow Flash was panting for air, dragging in precious oxygen into his lungs to fuel his weakening body. His hollow eyes reflected the tormented souls of the lives he had ended that day.
How many was it?
He lost count after fifty three.
It was all a mash of sounds and colours, primarily screams of suffering and various shades or red.
Shibi Aburame was on the ground before him, curled up into a ball and sizzling with bright yellow electricity, one of the weaknesses of any insect, kakaichu or not. The bug user had been wise enough to not come in closer for real hand to hand with Minato, rather taking pot shots and supporting Shikaku and Anko as the duo returned. Using well placed Hirashin kunai, Minato reduced the gap between him and the chakra draining man and turned Shibi into a non-factor with a blast from Raijin no Ken.
"Huff…huff…huff…huff…"
Minato bent down and touched the ground with four of his fingers, standing back up and staggering over Shibi's shivering body, making his way to where he had sensed the last two council members were hiding, civilians for that matter that had used the pandemonium to flee him.
The body parts of the shinobi council were littered about the general vicinity.
Orochimaru smartly didn't engage him, staying back with Tsunade to heal those he had maimed, though were unfortunate enough to not die. Kohoru and Homura were somewhere around here, cold and lifeless.
The tortured sounds of the dying had dulled ever so slightly.
Minato turned around quickly and pointed his sword at the Hokage's tower.
Lightning dragon.
The short winged, short tailed beast of pure yellow electricity blasted out from the Nidaimes lost blade and crashed its horned head into the bottom corner of the tall building, unsettling it. The extension of Minato's lightning affinity chakra wound around the Hokage's tower, ripping off large chunks here and there with each step and each crack of lightning from its yellow body, and propped its short arms up on the top of the building, lifting its head up and opening its terrifying maw.
OOOOOUUUUUUUAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!
Anyone that wasn't dead, prayed for death.
Anyone that contemplated facing the traitor, slouched back cowardly.
The dragon looked down and opened its mouth again, firing down a beam of bright yellow electricity at the pale looking shadow clones surging towards its creator, taking out two, though Minato smoothly flowed under a haymaker, aimed to shatter his cheek and grabbed the assailant by her face, making sure to cover her eyes and use that grip to hold her off the ground.
"Minato, don't do this!"
The Namikaze scoffed at Mikoto's plea and made to stab Raijin no Ken clear through her stomach.
"I hope you're happy." He mumbled darkly, the tip of the un-electrified sword barely grazing the woman's flak jacket protected stomach, shedding off small crackles of yellow energy to her, slightly shaking her and tightening her muscles. The sharingan the Namikaze had covered with his hand spun to a stop and shifted back to her normal coal black orbs. "You were part of the problem all along."
"No, Minato-"
"You were part of those that played with my mind, turned me into a puppet." He grated quietly, the emptiness of the gaze cutting through her covered eyes and freezing her heart in terror, shuddering at his heavy tone. "I can finally see clearly."
Mikoto was now flailing in his hand, fighting the muscle paralysis his lightning was causing. "I've never-I've never-"
"Tell me the truth," Minato whispered, pressing the tip to her belly and squeezing the handle harder. "Did you ever care about me?"
"You know I did!" the Uchiha cried. She stopped her struggle and hug limp in his hold over her eyes. "I love you, Minato! I always have and I always will, no matter what happens. No matter what you do." The woman was no crying, guilt and regret overcoming her. "I'll-I'll always love you, Minato."
"…I loved you too…once…"
Mikoto gasped as she was thrown back into a memory of them in the academy.
A black haired girl with a missing front tooth approached a boy with radiantly blonde hair, sitting by himself on a bench, watching parents come and pick their children from school.
Mikoto sat down heavy next to him, making young Minato jump in surprise. The eight year old girl adjusted her red shorts and dusted off her white apron shirt, casually asking. "Who're you waiting for?"
Minato spared her a short look, looking back to the entrance gate of the academy. "…I don't know."
"Minato…I'm sorry…" the woman whispered hoarsely. "I…I never meant to hurt you."
"…It seems you did." The man said grimly, pushing a bit more and slicing through her vest. "You promised me…"
Minato sighed forlornly, staring at his classmate as she picked at her lunch. The fourth year students were going to take their graduation exams the next day and Minato was a bundle of nerves, meanwhile Mikoto couldn't look any cooler.
Their friends often wondered what could ever faze the Uchiha Princess.
"C-Can…" he stuttered and the black eyed girl looked up, discarding her frown at the bento tin her maid had put together for her that morning and smiling slightly at her friend.
"Hmm?"
"C-Can we…keep being friends…?"
The girl giggled.
A tear slid down Minato's right eye and he grit his teeth.
"Y-You promised…"
Mikoto had now taken to holding his hand, the one covering her eyes, and fully relaxed in his grip, not putting up any resistance anymore.
"I'm…I'm sorry, Minato…" If her death could atone for abandoning him when, then she wasn't going to stop him.
The tip of his blade touched her bare stomach and he halted.
Minato's eyes widened when he realized something.
"Y-…You're pregnant…" the hand on her face had not sensed this due to Minato's emotional turmoil but, now that Raijin no Ken was an extension of his mind, the tip of the blade added to his touch sensor abilities. Aside from Mikoto's own chakra signature, Minato sensed another one insider, specifically in her gut and as small and unformed as a week old baby. The horror struck man looked up at Mikoto's face, his arm frozen, about to plunge the weapon onto her. "Fugaku…he got you…p-pregnant…"
The woman's hand went to her stomach and she gasped again. "I-I didn't know-"
"Y-You let him get you pregnant." Minato ground forcefully, gritting his teeth.
His head jerked, violently.
His brain snapped.
"M-My father," Mikoto whispered, holding her un-protruding belly and shaking like a leaf. "He was going to disown me…he was going to kick me out of the clan…unless I married Fugaku." The woman's hands dropped and she sobbed. "I had no choice."
Being the clan heads daughter, Mikoto had every claim to be clan head but her father did not want a female to lead the clan, and Fugaku had somehow weasled into his her father's attention, convincing him of his worthiness of being Mikoto's husband and the Uchiha clan head. She had proposed she marry Minato but her father's sights were already dead set on Fugaku.
Looking back on it, Mikoto wanted to choose being disowned.
She had broken her childhood friend's heart, knowingly, and she didn't put up that much of a fuss when he father forced her to marry Fugaku. Minato would have supported her all the way.
She was scum.
No.
She was lower than scum.
A lifetime of being with Minato, thrust out of the clan and disowned by her father, was better than any other person.
Mikoto loved Minato.
She didn't voice it, never until now.
"Minato…" the man's head lowered and his hair shadowed his face, blankly staring to her stomach, sensing the life growing inside of her that she was now just aware of. The Uchiha Kunoichi now understood why her body had been betraying her as of late; limbs slowing down, she was getting more winded and her emotions were getting more frayed. She reached up and held the hand to her face. She whispered solemnly. "Minato, I'm sorry. I love you."
The blonde killer gently lowered her back to the ground and withdrew his blade, sheathing it smoothly.
Mikoto now accepted that not telling him her feelings and not being more firm, more courageous, against her father and her clan, that she had led Minato on for years. She played with his heart and it hurt her now more than ever.
The pain was unbearable.
The woman clasped her hands together and wept quietly. "I'm sorry for hurting you." She closed her eyes and shook her head frantically, not wanting to look into the deep, empty abyss of Minato's eyes. "I never wanted to hurt you, Minato.
The heartbroken man looked down at her with a vacant expression, then turned around without a word.
"I'm sorry!"
Minato abandoned his search for the last two surviving council members and left Konoha.
As the Namikaze left through Konoha's northern gate, the seals registered his exit-
B-B-BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The bombs scattered all over the Hokage's Monument went off.
Another bomb went off, turning the Hokage's office to rubble and toppling the buildings unfortunate enough to be near it, taking with the lives of those inside the tower and those around it, scampering for shelter.
The last bomb blew open the gates before the Forest of Death, releasing the animals from inside.
Minato's cold, emotionless expression cracked and a wide grin etched itself on his face.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
After hours of running, Minato collapsed onto the ground in the last stretch of land bordering Fire country and Grass country. Raijin no Ken clattered somewhere in the ankle height grass.
He heard a soft crunch before him and he remained still, shaking ever so slightly.
"If you're here to kill me, go ahead. I don't care." He said quietly, sitting back on his knees though keeping his head bowed. "I've don't what I needed to do…I have no regrets."
A pair of feet entered his line of sight, the toes were painted black and the ninja sandals were light purple, lavender. His eyes slithered up her legs, disappearing into the low calf black cloak with red cloud designs, to her light brown eyes.
"Why would I kill you, Minato?"
Her magnificent paper wings flapped once and spread out wide, a single wing spanning about feet.
How was she able to come to him so silently?
The Angel of Ame smiled invisibly to the Yellow Flash, a look that seemed to make her pale face glow and the black piercings on her ears glint. She held out a hand to the fallen man, who stared at the offered appendage with narrowed eyes, and gently said.
"I am Konan of Amegakure, and I am here to make you an offer."
Authors note
Oooooooooh…
For those thinking I've forgotten that Minato used to be Obito's teacher, I haven't. I'm aware that even if Obito wears a mask, talks different and goes by another name (whether its Tobi or Madara Uchiha), Minato would recognize him. That is, if Minato ends up joining the Akatsuki…or not. You'll just have to wait and see ;)
Next chapter will be a time skip. We'll find out the aftermath of Minato's massacre and catch up what's going on (and what will happen) to Naruto and his country. It won't be a big tie skip, just a few months. Kisame and the Akatsuki will most likely feature in the next chapter too.
What did you think of this chapter?
How is the story progressing so far?
Drop a review, would you so kindly. Please stay safe, wherever you are in the world, and I will see you when I see you.
Foy.