Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto.
Chapter 11 Flashback
Stones rained down on me as I jumped through the many trees around me. I had gotten separated close to a few minutes ago. I was put at the back of the squad again. So when we were ambushed by the rogue Iwa squad I was the first to be hit. The massive pillar of stone hit me dead on my ribs and launched me away from the group.
The shinobi who faced me was trying to go for a death shot with every swing of his fists or sweep of his legs. The ferocity he had brought to me was very surprising. He wasn't going to take me lightly. Never again. He was going all out from the beginning. He must have known who I was. I could barely evaded the shots that seemed to leave craters in their wake.
I kept leaping further and further away as I (shamelessly) ran away. It was all I could manage after being ran ragged by Orochimaru's (torture) training. Bringing out my kunai, I jumped down and threw the kunai blindly behind me and I instantly pushed chakra to my eyes. The world opened up for a few precious seconds before it went back to normal but it was more than enough.
The shinobi had been forced to the ground. While he recovered from his fall, I began to pepper his direction with as many shuriken as I could throw while I made my retreat. After expending my small arsenal of at least 50 shuriken, none had hit their mark. The iwa chunin sped through hand seals and the earth moved all around me. Spikes began to erupt everywhere around me. I was trapped.
Desperation coursed through me and I began to look for where he had disappeared too. Flashing my (almost useless) byakugan, I jumped up into the air as his hands erupted underneath me. Only my instincts allowed me to redirect the strikes that he threw at me. I was thinking of anything that I could do with my chakra reserves. I was currently only near 40 percent. Enough for one Hakke Kusho or two of my new jutsu if I kept the chakra use to it's minimum.
I began to think that playing the waiting game wouldn't work to my favor. I had hoped that Orochimaru would come after he disposed of his opponents. As this fight went on, it became clear that wasn't going to happen any time soon. It has been at least a good ten minutes from the start of the attack. I had to end this quickly.
The iwa shinobi leapt forward and I dropped my guard and let him hit me. He dug his fist into my stomach and that when I grabbed him with both of my arms. The look of panic in his eyes lasted no more than a second as he began trying to free himself from my grip. I twisted my body back and lifted him off the ground and I threw him against his earth spikes.
Those few precious seconds were all I need. "Boar, Ram, Snake, Horse, Dragon"
"Raiton: Jibashi" (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder)
The lightning chakra began to gather from my hands and I slapped my hands on the ground and watched as the lightning ripped through the earth as it ripped it's way to the shinobi. Screams exploded from the man. His body convulsed and shook violently. I continued pumping more chakra into my hands until he stopped screaming. He fell to the floor, no life in his eyes. Smoke came out if his clothes and hair. I grinned as wide as I could before I tried moving toward him to see if he was really dead.
I didn't make it far before I felt my legs begin to shake. "Crap. I over did it. I used to much chakra and it seems my body can't handle producing that much lightning jutsu running through my muscles." I kept walking as shakily as I could. A few feet from his body and it reeked of burnt hair and flesh. I wanted to throw up, but I had to make sure he was dead.
My legs were shaking more and more as I struggled on to the body. I saw him there lying lifelessly. I knew I had won. As much as I wanted for the sweet, sweet darkness to overtake me I had orders and I had to complete them. I began to scavenge his body taking any shuriken he had and I allowed myself a few minutes of rest before I tried to make my way back to where we had faced the ambush.
I looked around and realized I was hopelessly lost. I began to panic. I tried looking all around to see any indication of where I had came from and I realized that everything looked the same. Spikes were in every direction. Kunai and shuuriken were embedded everywhere and there was nothing but tree's surrounding the small clearing we had made for battle.
That's when it hit me. I felt all of the negative emotions melted away and relief filled my heart. I flushed as much chakra as I could into my eyes and the beautiful world opened up to reveal the way. 2 or 3 kilometers west from me were shinobi still flushed in battle. I vaulted over the spikes and made my way to my team.
My mind and body were reacting at faster than my normal pace. My legs were still not feeling like they usually did. Every step felt like I was walking with my legs asleep. My leaps increased in power and speed. I thought that maybe I was being delusional for having overtaxed myself but I couldn't be to sure. My chakra use had dropped me more than I had expected to use but it wasn't abnormal for that to happen.
The last few leaps gave me enough view in front of me to that there were multiple bodies strewn all over the floor. It was clear on who or what had died. There was simply too much blood. That's one of things I made a big mental note of in this world. There was too much blood. I guess that they had to censor it for it to make it as a show.
I stayed hidden in the canopy of the tree's as I watched a battle. I couldn't who was who until I saw a peak of the pale face. He was facing two ninja. In my first action of what some would call a real shinobi move, I readied two kunai and pushed my chakra into them. I launched them as hard as I could and they flew from my hands and that's when I noticed they were emitting small amount of electricity. They flew in a straight path right into the back of Orochimaru.
I had mistimed the throw. My heart sank. Orochimaru fell straight down like a rock. The shuuriken had punched through Orochimaru and hit the shinobi he had been fighting.
I'm ashamed to admit it but I froze. I was responsible for the death of one of the strongest ninja in the entire world. Someone who would become a terrible monster in his scientific pursuit. I might have saved the shinobi world countless lives but my heart had shattered. I felt an immense pain in my chest. I couldn't breathe.
Break
I sat there staring at the bodies of Orochimaru and the two he had been fighting. Pools of blood began to form from the bodies. My heart had been pounding harder and harder for every second that passed. MY hands shakily moved to hold on to the branch. I couldn't even breathe still. That's when he heard that sinister chuckle. "Kukukuku, we can't have you breaking down every time you kill a shinobi now. Come on, we need to search and dispose of the bodies."
Relief hit me like a wave hits the shore. He was alive and well. The tension building in his chest dissipated. I felt a smile slowly crawl on my face. The fast pounding in my chest, the adrenaline running through my veins was intense. The heightened sense were all responding to any little sound and smell. This was the battle high some shinobi lost themselves in. He could see why some people lost themselves in this feeling. It felt like I could take on the world. My body again moved to where orochimaru was and began to search on of the bodies there. That's where I found a small scroll. "Master, I found something!" He looked over and I tossed him over the scroll. He snatched it out of the air and he opened it. A grin flashed over Orochimaru's face and he began to give a laugh. "Good job, Hiro-kun. We found our new mission. " Orochimaru began to explain that the scroll contained a handful of locations of other scouts cells like the one that had attacked us. He summoned a snake and told it to deliver a message to the main forces. Orochimaru now set his sights to destroying the scouts before they could report back to the main invasion group. It fell to me and him to take out the positions.
Break
Body's laid strewn out over the small meadow they battle had taken place. They were in the second to last outpost before they would have to stop. Hiro was exhausted, while his chakra levels were near half, his small body still ached. He hadn't experienced the quick blitzkrieg attacks he and his master had been doing on the outpost. His mind was still focused on the job, his heart was still beating faster than a jack rabbits. There was no time to rest either, they had to keep moving, lest the other outposts had found out and sent for help from the larger battle group. There was something very important Hito had learned very quickly. While the thrill of battle had initially in thrilled him with a sort of bloodlust, he knew that when the battle would be over he would be extremely sick. He had seen a lot of limbs separated from their bodies, and there was no possible way he would be okay afterward. He now knew why war changed people, why Kakashi was as gone mentally as a kid. No child should ever have to experience this thing, genius or not. The next thing that began to shock him was that he began to find battle thrilling in the first place. Being in the constant presence of Orochimaru would no doubt have adverse effects.
"Let's go. We've rested long enough." Orochimaru rang out from behind him. Hiro grabbed the small pack of food he had been eating on the floor and threw it into the fire Orochimaru had made to burn the evidence. Hiro finally pushed himself up from the floor shakily. He grabbed the ninja tools he still had left and walked over to his master. "Where are we going now?" "Two kilometers north from here. Seems to be the biggest area according to the scroll. It might inhabit a small town so we must be stealthy for this one. Do you have enough chakra to activate your eyes?" Hiro packed his tools away and replied with a quick yes.
Not long after the group of two began to race across the lands scouting as they went along. When they made it to the outskirts of the small town the sun had fully set shifting the sky to a starry black. The town was dead silent. Nothing moved outside, there was almost an absence of life that was really disturbing. There looked to be no battle or anything of that nature. There were still a few doors open with only the darkness inhabiting the homes. "What do you see?" Orochimaru whispered. Without uttering the words, hiro activated his byakugan. The world changed and there he saw the villagers. They were being held hostage in the small central tower. "10 villagers, all women and children, tied up on the floor. 5 shinobi guarding behind the windows and doors. 1 shinobi with the biggest chakra levels in standing near a bloody table."
"Nothing else?" "No. The village is empty." Without uttering any more words, Orochimaru began to speed through hand seals and sucked in an enormous amount of air. "Futon: Daitoppa!" (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough.) A massive amount of chakra was released in an instant. The entire town was completely decimated. The building were ripped apart in the hellish winds produced by the jutsu. The tower crumbled in on itself burying everyone inside under tons of rubble. There were no survivors. Hiro stared in absolute shock. He was shaking. He couldn't believe what had just happened. He couldn't believe that Orochimaru would do something like that. He knew what the man was capable of but actually seeing it was something else entirely.
Hiro had been disillusioning himself of Orochimaru. He had been beginning to think there might be more to the snake sannin but this. There was nothing he could do to describe it. They were supposed to be helping people not murdering innocent people. Almost as if Orochimaru had read his mind, he spoke up. "There was no hope for them. They had most likely been tortured slowly and taken by the male shinobi until they were of no use. They would have died slowly and in pain. I did them a favor and accomplished the parameters of our excursion here. " Orochimaru's voice was stern but soft at the same time. He put his hand on Hiro's back and gave him a pat on the back. There was some truth to his words, hiro remembered what happened in his own world during times of war. No one was left innocent, but he still had the gut feeling that they should have had a chance. They had done nothing wrong. They had just happened to live there.
Again, Orochimaru's voice rang out from the darkness. His eye's glowing in the black of the night. "The weak have no place in this world, Hiro-kun. Only the strong have the power to live in this world and only the strongest of us can change it." No more words were spoken on the way to the encampment. Orochimaru had tried to stop them halfway to their objective, to give them a night's rest but Hiro had refused outright. He just wanted to get there. He knew that stopping would only prolong the inevitable.
They had finally reached the camp by sunrise and all of the forces were gathered silently waiting. There wasn't any signs of tents or fire's. There were only the masked men standing. Waiting for their designated leader to give an order. "Sir, there's been developments in your absence. The council and the Fire Daimyo voted in a new Hokage. Minato-san was elected." The shinobi pulled out a scroll and gave it to a seething Orochimaru. After a few minutes of silent reading, orochimaru burned the scroll in his hands. With an angry quiver in his voice Orochimaru ordered everyone to make there way to Konohagakure. Danzo had recalled his forces after the failed attempt to put Orochimaru as the next Hokage.
Orochimaru motioned Hiro over to him. "You are to join the main forces and help the medical section." Orochimaru handed him a map and began to leave. "Take off your Ne uniform. You're going as a regular genin." There was no argument, there was nothing but reading the map and making his way to the forces. He had his orders and Orochimaru clearly had his. Hiro felt nervous that he wouldn't have his sensei with him to protect him but there shouldn't be any thing happening other than guarding or caring for the medical patients that come into the area. Hiro was relieved that everything was actually going as what was foretold. Minato was hokage, The Leaf was going to engage the enemy in one final battle to end the war.
Hiro was tired so he decided to simply rest until noon before he would go to where the rest of the main forces were. At least he wasn't anywhere near the frontlines, that was a big relief for him. He wouldn't see any active combat for a while, he hoped. Though he would have to directly see the results of what would happen to those who would be sent. That thought began to make him feel nausea. He didn't want to see that amount of blood after what orochimaru had done in their escape in Iwa. This time, it would be far larger and it would also be his fellow shinobi. That scared him more. What if someone he had seen or come to know died? What if history had already changed enough to where his presence alone affects the outcomes drastically. He had already changed what happened with how they got the information in the first place. He had already taken Anko's position as Orochimaru's apprentice.
Hiro had enough of his thoughts and pushed himself up after a few hours. With some of his energy and chakra back, he moved in the direction of the forces.
Break
Death and blood surround Hiro. There was a massive amount of bodies strewn everywhere. The manga and show had made it seem like Minato had completely slaughtered iwa. They had been wrong. There were hundreds dead on the Konohagakure side of the battle. Though it was in the thousands for Iwa before they had been forced to retreat back to their country. Word would travel fast about their resounding victory it would only be a matter of weeks before the war ended. Then he would be allowed to go home. Well not his home, he had no home anymore. He would go where Danzo and Orochimaru situated him too. There would be a chance that he would be going to Sunagakure with his father there. He didn't know what would happen, but it didn't matter. Nothing would be the same for him anymore. He would try and cherish everything he had. Seeing so many shinobi cut down before him the last few days had definitely changed him. He knew it had. He knew he was getting used to seeing and smelling death. To him in the past that wouldn't have been a good thing, but now, it made it easier to deal with everything around him.
He had been lucky that he hadn't seen much battle other than the first days him and Orochimaru had taken out the spy posts. He had been relegated to stay with the medics and bring supplies back and forth to the shinobi that needed him. Of course their small group of genin had been targeted and they had been forced to fight or flee. He hadn't much of a choice but to flee and hold off a few attacks before other konoha shinobi had rushed to their aid. He had a few minor bruises but he had escaped death yet again. He didn't know if he was lucky or not, being able to live in this world might in itself be a curse, but that was another matter for another time.
He currently found himself looking at some of the few shinobis that were still in the medical tents. The low amount of healers here was beginning to take its toll. Throughout the enter time here, he had also been made to clean wounds and do minor stitches and apply gauze and other minor things of that nature. They had ran him and other genin with quick medical training to better help. The smell of death was one that was prevalent in the camp. It overrode the stench of the blood. Kusa shinobi were nowhere to be found. He didn't know whether they would attack them or help but for the week he had been here already there hadn't been any signs. Though the main battle had only lasted a day, there were small groups of Iwa shinobi that would try and attack at night. The battle had begun after The entire field had been laced with fuinjutsu marks of minato. The starting attack was to throw hundreds upon hundreds of exploding tags to confuse the Iwa shinobi that had been marching forward.
That had always been the problem with marching in as an army. The groups were too big, to slow to respond effectively, so the ambush had taken them in storm. Explosions rocked the fields for a good five minutes before any clashes with blades and metal happened. By that time, Minato had already killed at least a hundred. Flashing yellow appeared all over the battlefield, with only dead shinobi leaving any evidence of his presence there. That first day, hiro and the other genin were made to run supplies for their own allies before they would even be allowed to go anywhere near the battle. That had only lasted a few hours before they were rerouted to work the medic tents helping save a few shinobis.
Needless to say the medical camp was chaos. With shinobi being brought in by the dozen every few minutes or so really began to change the mindset of all of the young people. Hiro could see the hate beginning to root deep into the genin he worked with. The hate and anger was evident. Everyone wishing they could go and battle the damn enemies doing this to their fellow shinobis. By sunset the Iwa shinobi had retreated back. Minato had taken a cell force to chase them back into their own lands. The praises that were sung for our new hokage were at the highest that could be said. Many shinobi there revered the man as a god. Their protector, and most importantly their savior. Minato hadn't stopped at battling the shinobi he began to run the injured from the battlefield to the medics with his Hirashin. The man cared deeply for konoha, that much was evident from the way he overexerted himself for the sake of his own shinobi.
Hiro's admiration for minato had skyrocketed. Whenever minato would show up in the camp the moods would swing up, the morale went up higher. The man was the definition of what a leader should be. By the end of the week everything was ready to march back to the village. Hiro couldn't help but feel nervous. He knew that Orochimaru took a turn for the worst when he wasn't made hokage. The final 'betrayal' in his own mind. That's when orochimaru began to focus more on his more illegal endeavours. Hiro's nervousness began to skyrocket the more and more he walked to konoha. They had barely left the country of Kusagakure, and he felt sick to his stomach. What if Orochimaru experimented on him like he would have with Anko? Would he be able to fight off the man? Would he survive the twisted experiments of a mad man? His recent dreams of being an ANBU might have been shattered with seeing how much blood was shed. He didn't know if he could handle that strain of constantly being on guard. He knew he could barely handle it now without completely breaking down.
These were the questions his mind would replay over and over in his mind. He couldn't help but have that sick feeling. On top of that his nerves were off wack. Every little noise put him on edge. His hands were always ready on a kunai. The feeling of constantly being aware of his surroundings began to run thin on him. He felt himself tiring and tiring. Getting only two-three hours of sleep. Hiro had been walking with the patients. He didn't want to walk with the rest of the genin. They had hounded him for days asking him of his battles and his apprenticeship to the great snake sannin. He knew that would drive him crazy.
"Don't worry, little one. The feeling will pass you after you get home." A voice spoke behind hiroaki. Hiro turned around shocked someone had managed to sneak up behind him. Hiro had readied his kunai ready for an enemy attack only to see the yellow haired Hokage. Minato only laughed and ruffled Hiro's hair. "I was wondering when you would notice me for the last twenty minutes." The man gave his light-hearted laugh again. "So what's bothering you?" Minato asked with concern in his voice.
"Nothing important, Hokage-sama." Hiro said with finality oozing of his voice. He didn't need to let anyone in on what was plaguing his thoughts. Minato just stared at Hiro for a few seconds before he responded with a light chuckle, " You're not going to tell me?". "No". Minato laughed again and ruffled the boy's hair again. "Well, as your Hokage, I order you to tell me what's bothering you." Hiro stayed quiet for what seemed like an eternity to him. He didn't know what to tell the man walking beside him. He knew he couldn't exactly tell him what was really bothering him but knew minato could probably tell if he lied to him. So hiro decided to partially tell the truth.
"I'm worried about what's going to happen with me and my future. I wanted to join the ANBU but now, i'm wondering if that's the route I want to take." Hiro said with a heavy voice. "Ah. You're Orochimaru's apprentice correct?" Hiro gave a small nod. Minato gave the boy a smile and stopped him from walking. "I know the pressures and expectation of being the apprentice to a Sannin. I know the feeling of wanting to live up to those same expectations and not wanting to let those people down. Except, do not let it get you down. Don't blindly follow the paths that people lay out for you. You are still so young and have your entire future ahead of you. Don't focus on that now because there will always be time for it later. Focus on creating bonds around you, to help you. With me, I don't think I could of handled all of the pressure by myself without my friends and close people. They are the ones that made me strong. Without them, I'm weak. I know the Hyuuga clan puts the constant pressure for their children to grow and be strong but remember, you are still a child." Minato reached into his pouch and pulled out a Hiraishin Kunai.
"Here. Take it. Keep it as a reminder to find what you want to fight for and protect. I do it for my close ones, my dreams and my village. Find what you want to do. Come to the hokage tower when you find the answer. I'll make sure you won't be put into any missions for a month." Minato gave him one final smile and walked away to talk to the injured being carted along. Hiro couldn't help but feel sadness in his heart. He knew that Minato would die soon and there was nothing he thought he could do to save the man. Hiro had the strong urge to try and warn him but they would probably lock him up and tear apart his mind in suspicion of him being a spy for Iwa. He didn't see anyway he could potentially tell him about without causing a lot of ruckus.
Hiro's thoughts shifted to what minato had said. Finding what he wanted to fight for. So far he had really only fought for his own self-preservation but what about the other people here he could help. Could he save the Uchiha Clan from their demise? Could he save itachi from the darkness he will have to endure? Would he be able to help Naruto so he doesn't have to live a lonely life? Could he help Gaara from falling into madness at such a young age? Only the last one seemed plausible to him. He was now his older half-brother whenever he would be born. Hiro held Minato's kunai in hand and continued walking back home.
A/N: Hello! The first thing I want to do is apologize to my faithful readers. I have been gone nearly two- three months. I have just been plagued with misfortunes and a heavy schedule. I was forced to get a summer job while i wanted fro classes to start again so that cut my time to write by a huge margin. Then school started and stopped me from writing as much as I wanted too. Then at the beginning of September, I had lost access to my google drive. I lost any of the story I had written, so i was forced to rewrite this entire chapter. Though I feel thankful that this edition of the chapter comes off far better than the original one I lost. Shifting to other things, I will most likely be forced to change my uploading schedule to once a month for both of my stories. Though that means that I will be able to better write and edit both of my stories instead of rushing out shotty work. Feel free to leave any thoughts or criticisms. Until next time. Out.
