The God War Part 9
That evening
(-)
"The papers for your acceptance into the village as a shinobi clan are nearly finished," the Sandaime reported, signing off on a stack of papers as the trio, slightly annoyed by the lack of greeting, stood in front of his desk. "I must make clear that every member of your clan is required to participate in the shinobi forces, including the children."
Kotone's arms tensed around Minato, who entertained himself by playing with a chunk of Kotone's hair, oblivious to the proceedings. "What roll could a child play in the shinobi forces?" Masao demanded icily.
"There are many rolls perfectly suited for children. D-ranked missions are especially common, but any child displaying a natural talent in one of the shinobi military branches, such as interrogation, infiltration, and—" the Sandaime paused, looking up from his papers to see their reactions. "Sensing."
Visibly, the parents made no reaction. "So what do you want?" Kotone asked evenly.
"You may or may not notice this, but the village is much weaker than normal. We have recently finished a war and see another in the future. Our ranks must be filled as soon as possible. Our own young are being recruited also."
"In comparison to your young, Minato may be considered highly intelligent, but he has barely turned five, and has no training or experience," Kotone gritted out the argument.
He Sandaime stiffened at how quickly she picked up his intentions. "My former teammate has set up a program specifically designed to quickly train young children in the shinobi arts and make them assets rather than liabilities."
"ROOT," Masao answered.
The Sandaime's eyes narrowed. "How do you know that name?"
"I am a very good shinobi, Hokage-san, and just because I specialize in medicine doesn't mean I lack ability everywhere else. I am a Jōnin after all. Maybe you weren't listening when I first told you, but my clan split because my brother was attempting to use infants as warriors. I consented to allow my son to join your Academy and eventually your forces, not drafted into the exact same program I left behind." Masao leaned forward and placed his hands on the man's desk. "I have been nothing but straight and honest with you. You would do anything for your family just as I will do anything for mine. My adult clan mates will follow your orders, fill the places which need to be filled. You will not touch our children. Understood?"
"Are you threatening me?" The Sandaime stood up slowly.
"Do I need to?" Masao retorted.
"I understand—" the Sandaime began in a placating tone.
"No, you don't understand," Masao interrupted. "You have a village loyal to you, a united family, and all the esteem a leader is due. How much betrayal have you actually faced?"
"Masao." Kotone interrupted firmly. She grabbed his wrist as he clamped his mouth closed after a moment of deliberation and placed one arm around her shoulders. She turned her gaze towards the Sandaime. "May we please settle this without provoking property damage?"
Reseating himself, the Sandaime continued. "Your opinion on this matter has been noted." A long silence followed as he closed a folder and placed it to the side, opening a second to begin writing.
"Five minutes forty-one seconds."
"I beg your pardon?"
"That is how long it took me to break your cipher," Kotone explained.
Raising an eyebrow, the Hokage closed the folder.
"If you don't believe me, I quote, 'Your request of mentorship to Namikaze Minato is denied. Due to the lack of history Konoha has in relation to the Namikaze clan, I find it unwise to force them into a position they find disagreeable.' Should I continue?"
Holding up a finger, the Sandaime began. "I am not so idealistic to think the other half of your clan is not planning a second attack. How are you planning to defend against it? None of you have utilized the training grounds open to you, nor has your security detail noticed any significant amounts of chakra emitting from your current residence to indicate indoor training."
"Genjutsu," Masao responded simply.
"The Sharringan can see through any illusion," the Hokage retorted.
Masao glanced over at Minato, who curled against his mother's chest, clinging to her shirt, with his eyes screwed shut. "Mina-chan, can you point to the person with more chakra in their eyes than normal?"
Minato held up two fingers.
"The one with the chakra shaped like a normal eye, not filling their eyes completely," Masao clarified.
Minato pointed to the corner behind the Sandaime without looking.
Masao held up what appeared to be two fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Two," the Sandaime answered, irritated.
"Ask your Uchiha to confirm it."
After a brief second, the Sandaime repeated his answer.
"Kai," Masao responded and the Genjutsu fell to reveal four digits. "The key to fooling the Sharringan is power."
"What do you mean?" A voice asked from the edge of the room. The Sandaime sent an annoyed glance towards the speaker but gestured for Masao to answer the question.
"If the Genjutsu uses more chakra than the Sharringan, it is rendered no more powerful than a normal eye. From the Uchiha I've treated at the hospital, I've noticed that the eye is connected directly to the chakra system and has access to all of the body's chakra, which for an adult Uchiha is unusually high, making nearly every Genjutsu, which typically uses little chakra, easily dismissed."
"You don't have particularly high chakra reserves; how did you make a Genjutsu so powerful without completely exhausting yourself?"
"While I have no problem answering any questions you may have on my abilities; I will not do so in front of others."
Kotone's arms tightened around Minato
"I am within my rights to order disclosure."
"With all due respect, Hokage-san, I'm not young enough to be able to forget the years when my clan were scattered nomads who carried messages between the various groups of monks across the elemental nations. Villages never properly formed until after the First Shinobi War in which I met your Shodaime Hokage." Masao relaxed into his chair. "I'm not the nine-year-old boy who spent time as a hostage to foster a non-aggression treaty. My loyalty and respect for you goes only as far as it is reciprocated. I have the ability to cut off the negotiations should I chose to notice the evidence of lack of faith on your part."
His eyes flickered between Masao and the door, weighing the words and masking his thoughts with a perfectly neutral expression. "Then I will respect your wishes," the Hokage gritted out, capitulating more then he wanted. "In order to best place you in my forces, I need to know everything I possibly can about you and every individual in your clan." With a small movement of his hand, the ANBU left and a blond man entered. "This is Yamanaka Kurou. He will be using his clan's unique jutsu to search your mind. This procedure is standard for even our own shinobi, but it will be much more extensive for you."
"I do not advise this," Masao responded evenly, placing himself between his family and the others.
"All shinobi are required to submit to a Yamanaka mind scan."
"Including Minato?"
"No, he is neither old enough, nor a shinobi," Kurou answered.
Kotone looked up to Masao for an answer.
"I know my mind better than anyone could. Your goal is to ascertain my loyalty, the credibility of information I have already provided, my personality, abilities, and a very limited collection of information I have not yet had the chance to provide. Beyond that, I expect you to respect my privacy and the privacy of everyone else, understood?"
Kurou glared at Masao. "I understand your expectations. Have a seat."
Masao sat down in the chair directly in front of the Hokage's desk and closed his eyes while Kurou did the same and placed a hand on his forehead. Beads of sweat dampened the collars of both men. After nearly an hour elapsed, Kurou opened his eyes and pulled away as Masao slumped forward, breathing heavily.
As the Yamanaka turned towards her, she gently laid a sleeping Minato in Masao's lap and sat down in a second chair. She felt increasingly violated as the Yamanaka sifted through nearly every thought she ever formed. The second he finished, she shot to her feet and left the room in a rush.
"We will be leaving now," Masao gritted out in a tone leaving no room for argument.
In a quick Shunshin, Masao found herself back in their room, Kotone crouched in the corner of the room.
"I-I'm going to go take a bath right now," she stammered out and turned to leave the room in a hurry. Masao caught her hand.
"I'm sorry, I wouldn't have let you come if I'd known—"
"It's not your fault," she told him firmly. "You can't work miracles." Absently, she noticed Minato rush out of the room as someone walked by the door. The second the door clicked shut behind the boy she burst into tears, burying her face in Masao's shoulder. "He knows everything. He went through every single memory since I was a child! I couldn't stop him; I couldn't even fight him!"
Masao wrapped an arm around her and rubbed the tense knot between her shoulders, laying his head on hers.
She calmed down quickly, but refused to pull away from Masao. "Before he died, you said I could talk to you, ask you whatever I wanted and you would respond honestly. Is that still true?"
"Of course," Masao murmured, brushing her hair away from her tear-streaked face.
"Before Minato was born, you knew your father was going insane, didn't you?"
"Yes," Masao responded. When he gave no inclination of pushing her away, Kotone continued.
"You knew what would happen when his insanity fixated on someone, right?"
"No, but I knew it wouldn't be good for them."
"Of everyone in the clan, why did he focus on me?"
"I don't know."
"Why did you protect me?"
Masao hesitated. "I wasn't going to. I told myself you were a kunoichi, perfectly capable of taking care of herself. I'd seen you in action; you were my partner on missions."
"But why did you?"
"He was going to kill you. I don't know why, but it didn't matter how good you were, you didn't have a chance at defending yourself, not against him, not against a madman."
"You didn't object when he demanded you marry me. Why?"
Masao held her tighter. "I'd seen that look in his eye only once before. I was nine, and those eyes were directed at the nin holding me hostage, even though. When those eyes looked at me, I knew I couldn't save you or myself if he attacked."
"He still tried to kill me," Kotone mumbled, her hand shifting to the center of her torso where her shirt hid a thick scar.
"It wasn't a lethal strike; it was just a message, telling me if I didn't follow through, he would kill us both anyways."
"Why did you offer to help me escape to a different village?"
"I couldn't force you into a marriage and you were too young to safely carry the child he would demand."
"And I wouldn't leave so you had to find a different way."
Masao nodded.
"You tried to keep him away."
"Yes."
"But he still found me when you were gone on missions."
"I'm sorry."
"Why do you care? I've never done anything for you!"
"I just do."
Kotone looked up at him, unsure.
He gently wiped away the tears smeared across her cheeks. "Go clean up. I'll make sure Minato gets a bath so you can go to bed early." He kissed her forehead before leaving to track down his son. Instead of leaving to clean up, Kotone hid herself and followed Masao as he snatched up his son. "Bath time!" he announced, tossing the giggling boy in the air and tucking him under one arm.
Kotone stood in the doorway, hidden perfectly from both of them as Masao dropped Minato in the bathtub, fully clothed, immediately filling the tub with an extremely weakened water jutsu.
"To-san! It not work this way!" Minato giggled as Masao picked up a bar of soap.
"What am I doing wrong?"
"My clothes is wet!"
"Speak properly," Masao reminded him as the boy squirmed out of his clothing.
The second Minato draped his clothes over the edge of the tub Masao attacked his dampened hair with the bar of soap, grimacing as Minato mimicked him and scrubbed soapsuds into the adult's hair.
"This is your bath time, not mine!" Masao protested as Minato giggled harder. "Rinse out your hair."
Immediately, Minato crossed his arms stubbornly, placing his feet firmly on top of the water with chakra.
Masao sighed. "Why not?"
"My hair will get wet!"
"It will get clean."
"No!"
"Why not?"
"Face wet!"
"Sentences, Mina-chan."
"My face then get wet!"
"You wouldn't be a very good shinobi if you were afraid of getting your face wet!"
Minato contemplated Masao's words before releasing the chakra holding him above the water. With all the patience in the world, Masao titled the uncomfortable boy's head into the water, quickly scrubbed out the soap, and sat him back up. In short order, with significantly less rowdiness, the bath was over, Minato wrapped in a mostly-clean towel, and escorted back to their bedroom, dressed in his only other set of intact clothing, and laid in the center of the bed.
"Bedtime?" The boy asked, curling underneath the only threadbare blanket.
Masao nodded. "Go to sleep."
Minato closed his eyes theatrically.
"Good night," Masao said, casting a Genjutsu around the room to remove all noise and dampen the light as he left.
Kotone followed him back to the bathroom as he rinsed the soap off the walls, drained the tub before refilling it and scrubbing himself clean. He wrapped a towel around himself and drained the tub before refilling it with another water jutsu.
"You'll feel a bit better once you're clean," Masao said as he walked past to dress in their room. Kotone could not help but smile after him.
"Stop grinning like an idiot, little girl," one of the older women, Youko grumped at her. Kotone ignored her. "Masao asked me to make sure you were fine, are you?" The woman poked her sharply in the forehead when she did not respond immediately.
"I'll be fine," Kotone rubbed her forehead.
"Good, we don't need another insanity case on our hands, especially not now? Are you sure you're alright?" The Youko's tone softened as Kotone focused her bloodshot eyes. "You've been crying!"
"I'm fine now," Kotone assured her, forcing a small smile.
"If you're fine, I'm dead, come on, a nice bath will make you feel much better."
Gradually, Kotone felt better as Youko hovered over her.
An hour later, she could smile and laugh with the woman as she stood in front of the mirror, Youko's gentle fingers tied her hair back into an intricate braid. Youko tied off the braid and laid her hands on Kotone's shoulders, meeting her eyes in the mirror.
"It's not hard to figure out what happened when you visited the Hokage. Remember, Masao went through the exact same thing as you, probably worse. He needs to be taken care of too. Now go," Youko urged her.
Kotone did not hesitate before she left, slipping into their room as quietly as possible.
"Kotone?" Masao asked softly from beside Minato.
"It's me," she confirmed and followed the sound of his soft breathing, sitting beside his head, running her fingers through his damp hair. Minato clung to Masao's shirt, sleeping peacefully.
"Feeling better?" Masao asked, unmoving.
"Yes."
His breathing deepened and slowed, the genjutsu keeping the room dark and quiet faded. The lights from the hall gave the room just enough light to see by. Kotone gained a new appreciation for Masao's strength that often went unseen by most. Without disturbing the two, she lay down beside them, smiling at the peaceful moment, and pulled the ragged blanket over the three of them, drifting off to sleep. They would settle in just fine.