Chapter 5: Blood on the Snow

Snow was rare in the Land of Fire. Even in the coldest months of winter, it rarely fell and even more rarely did it stick around for a while. In Minato's lifetime he could only recall five or six instances where snow lasted more than a few days. And now, in the depths of war, there was one more stretch when the snow lasted.

For two weeks conditions had been perfect for snow. And it ended up snowing a lot. Nearly a full foot of snow had fallen so far and the snow drifts could be nearly three feet deep in places. The way it changed the landscape was interesting, even beautiful, but he really could've done without it.

The cold weather forced him to swap out his usual ninja sandals for closed-toe boots. He wore a heavy dull tan cape for extra warmth and gloves on his hands to keep his fingers from getting numb. And to top it all off he had a dark blue scarf wrapped around his neck and lower part of his face to protect it from icy windburn.

Clenching his jaw in determination, he bounded through the trees at the head of a squad of other jounin ninja. Their mission was to investigate a possible intrusion on the border and run some war patrols in the area for a week or so before returning to the village for a day or two of rest. And then he'd get a new mission and it would start all over again.

It was the relentless grind of war, and Minato hated it. He was sick of all the death and the endless missions where it was kill or be killed. War had taken Obito away and countless others, and he was beyond tired of it. He was just about ready to do anything to make it stop.

In fact, he had a plan in mind. It was a variation on his Hiraishin no Jutsu. He was working on a way to shrink and modify the seals that the jutsu employed so that they were small enough to fit around a kunai handle. The idea he had was to turn those seal-wrapped kunai into homing beacons, turning his instantaneous teleporting jutsu into something he could use offensively. Once he got it right, it would turn him into a killing machine, but if it put an end to the war it would be worth all the blood.

Glancing over his shoulder, he briefly eyed his squad-mates. He didn't know any of them particularly well. The main reason that they'd been paired with him was because they were fast, hopefully fast enough to keep up with him as, even without his Hiraishin, he was one of the fastest ninja in all of Konoha. They seemed competent enough and barring some catastrophe they should do alright.

Readjusting the scarf around his face, he picked up the pace a little. The sooner they got near the border, the sooner they could get started, and the sooner their patrol would be over. And then they could go home and maybe enjoy the snow (if it was still around) instead of cursing it…


Kushina remained upright by sheer force of will. The three chuunin that she'd been teamed with for this particular mission—one of which happened to originally be from Uzu—were all dead. Three of the enemy squad were dead too. That just left her and the enemy leader.

Just great…

It was supposed to have been a quick, simple escort mission to get some supplies to a military outpost near the border. The risk was fairly low for a wartime mission, that was why she was the only jounin, and the chuunin she'd been working with were newly promoted. But no mission was routine, as this lovely fiasco had proven.

They'd been ambushed by an Iwa squad that had slipped past the border and one chuunin had died instantly. She sent the wagons ahead and had her shaken teammates engage the enemy with the aim to at least maim their opponents. Thankfully they'd done more than maim them, but at a steep price.

Let's go!

Clasping her hands in the initial seal, she gathered her mostly depleted reserves and started running through the sequence. Her side ached, as did her left leg and right shoulder. A kunai had been stabbed into her leg, a shuriken was still lodged in the back of her shoulder where she couldn't quite reach it, and her side had been grazed by a razor sharp spike of earth generated by a Doton jutsu. The snow around her boots was slushy with mud and blood.

Her opponent started his own sequences of seals, flashing through them with devastating speed. He wasn't much better off than she was. There was a nasty gash on his head that let blood dribble into his eyes and he'd hurt his ankle, minorly impairing his mobility. She thought that he might also have a few broken ribs, but he bore pain well so it was hard to tell.

He finished his seals first and more teeth of stone erupted from the ground.

She lunged up and back still forming her seals with her gloved fingers while she dodged the earthen spikes that tried to skewer her. Every movement was difficult and sent surges of agony racing through her as her abused body protested her careless treatment of it. But she persevered and finished her sequence with a triumphant yell.

Earlier one of her now-dead chuunin had used a fiery Katon jutsu which had melted patches of snow as a side-effect. Now she used the puddles to her advantage. The chakra that she'd spent the last minute molding with her hand seals rushed into that water and shaped it into her attack.

A serpentine dragon formed entirely of water coalesced behind her, drawing some slush and un-melted snow into itself to add to its destructive mass. It roared with the sound of rushing water, baring water-formed teeth as it rose higher and higher. And then at her mental command it lunged forward, snaking around the spikes of earth to slam into the lame Iwa-nin and either crush him or drown him…or both.

Her devastating Suiton attack hit its mark and when the foaming water cleared her foe lay broken like a drowned rag doll.

"Eat that you bastard!" she wheezed and flashed the corpse a rude hand gesture.

She hated having to kill people. It was nasty and mean and she'd much rather take them prisoner and let someone else decide what to do with them. But this was war and unless otherwise stated all enemies were to be killed or at least severely maimed on sight. So she killed.

Sucking in a ragged breath she turned and started to limp towards the military outpost. There should be medic-nin there. They'd patch her up and then send her back to the village. And then she could curl up in her apartment for a few weeks without worrying about working. It would be like a vacation…just that she'd feel like crap most of the time.

Every step was a study in pain. Every breath made her head swim with agony. Every twitch of her shoulder made her clench her teeth against whimpers of discomfort. It was going to be a long, long walk.

Tiny snowflakes began to drift down from the grey heavens and add to the thick layer of snow already present. Snow was supposed to be rare here, but with all the snow this winter it was hard to tell. She wished that it didn't decide to snow so much this year; it made it so much harder to walk.

Sticky, heavy snow clung to her boots and sucked down her feet with each step. The crunchy top crust of snow threatened to trip her constantly. And even though it wasn't particularly windy, it was so damn cold.

…Keep moving… Damn it's cold… Keep moving… Damn it's cold…

Weariness seeped in with the cold. Gray edged in at the corners of her vision. But she ignored it and pressed on. She really was sick of the cold.

Dots danced before her eyes and suddenly she found herself half-slumped against a tree trunk. Kushina rubbed irritably at her eyes and pushed off the tree to continue. And then promptly tripped over a hidden root and crashed into the snow.

Ow… Cold… Damn it…

She tried to push herself up to continue, but white-hot lances of pain stabbed inward from her side wound and she crumpled again. After a few more failed attempts she poked at her side and hissed. Her fingers came back covered in blood.

"Shit," she wheezed. "Guess 'm bleedin' to death."

Sucking in a deep breath, she lurched upright and clung to the tree trunk while she fought the need to black out. Once the world stopped spinning she pressed on, pressing against the slash in her side in a belated attempt to prevent her demise. Laying down and dying was not something that she was going to do if she could help it.

Keep going, Kushina… Keep going…

…So cold…


Minato sprinted through the trees, pausing every half-mile to stretch out his senses for intruders or anomalies. It was a tedious, unpleasant task, one made harder by the cold and the fact that in less than twenty-four hours he'd be free to return to the village. Pulling his cloak tighter against the wind, he pushed on, intent on finishing up his patrol.

He had plans for his free time back in the village. He'd been meaning to do it for weeks now, but scheduling problems had prevented it from working out. Either he was just getting back from a mission or just leaving for one, or she was. But this time he had a feeling that it would work out. He intended to treat Kushina to lunch (or dinner, it didn't really matter which).

They'd eaten together plenty of times before. Thankfully the only time he'd ever had to pay for what she ate was the "favor date" years ago. All the times after that she'd just shown up where he was eating or had already been there before he arrived, and she paid for her own meal. But this time he would once again willingly bankrupt himself, and gladly this time.

Even though she'd demanded nothing in return for taking care of him after he'd had his little breakdown at the bar after Obito's death, he felt the need to do something for her in return. She'd not only taken care of him then, but he later learned that she helped out Kakashi and Rin too. And ever since his student's tragic death a few months before, she'd continued to offer him and his remaining students support.

After a hard mission, or just a bad day, he'd find himself on her doorstep. If she was home (and until recently she usually was), he'd spend some time with her, lounging on the floor by her bed while she would poke him or mess up his hair and tell him stories of her childhood in Uzu. He admired her ability to talk about people that she'd lost on a land that she'd never see again with a smile on her face. She was a comforting distraction and he didn't want to think what dealing with Obito's death would've been like without her.

So to show his appreciation, he'd buy her a meal, whatever she liked. He thought of other things, like flowers, but none of them really seemed to fit. It was hard to imagine her appreciating flowers or chocolates like other women would. But he knew that she liked food and paying for all the ramen that she could eat would make her day. As soon as he decided on that course of action, he saved as much of his paychecks as he could in preparation.

I can't wait for this patrol to be over. Aside from those faint trails we found a few days ago that led nowhere, nothing has happened. …I hope Kushina-san is in town when I get back. I—

"Hold on there, Minato-taichou!"

Minato hit the brakes and came to a stop several trees beyond the rendezvous point. Several points along the patrol routes were set up ahead of time for the team to meet up and compare notes. He'd just overshot the second-to-last one and he wouldn't have realized it if a teammate hadn't yelled at him. Sheepishly he backtracked to perch on a branch near the jounin who'd called out to him.

"Sorry, Taichi," he muttered, embarrassed. "The snow really throws me off sometimes." It was a pale excuse, and he had no doubts that his older teammate would see straight through it.

"I'm sure," Taichi snorted. "So did you see anything?"

"No," Minato sighed and pulled the scarf away from his mouth for a moment. "Did you see anything?"

"No."

There was a long pause, and then Taichi smirked. "So, who is she?"

Minato started. "Huh?"

"Who is she?" Taichi asked again, smirking wider.

"Who is who?" Minato frowned.

"That girl that you were daydreaming about."

Minato was quite taken aback, and wondered if Taichi had some Yamanaka blood in him…or had somehow picked up one of their mind-based jutsus. "How did you know that I was thinking about Kushina-san?"

"Young men always get distracted when they think about their pretty girlfriends," Taichi chuckled.

"G-girlfriend?!" Minato choked. "She's not my girlfriend!"

"Not yet, huh?" Taichi leaned back against the tree trunk and gave him a lazy smile. "Better make your move soon. If the war doesn't take her away, some other man will."

"She's not my girlfriend!" Minato insisted and loosened the scarf around his neck further. "We're colleagues and good friends. That's it."

Taichi shrugged carelessly. "Whatever you say."

Minato scowled and stared out into the snow-covered trees as he waited for the other two jounin on the team to arrive. The idea that he and Kushina-san were an item was ridiculous! They were friends, good friends, and he wasn't about to mess things up with some crazy idea of a romance with her. It would never work.

The second jounin arrived and had nothing to report. But when the third and final team member arrived, Minato knew something was up before the man even opened his mouth. The shinobi looked tense and ran right up to them at top speed.

"Midway through my route I thought I sensed some spiking chakra," he announced without preamble. "I deviated to investigate and found the remains of a battle. I need help searching it; it's spread over a fairly wide area."

"Right," Minato nodded sharply. "Let's go!"

Quietly they fell in behind their comrade as he led them to the battle site. Minato cursed silently the turn of events. Searching a battle site was almost guaranteed to turn up at least one dead body, probably more, and it was always a grim, depressing task. But at least it broke the monotony of the patrol.

The battle site started along one of the paths used to carry supplies to some of the border outposts, so it had probably been an ambush on a wagon convoy. The ninja escort had clearly fought back and taken the fight away from the path and into the denser trees closer towards the border. And while there was little sign that indicated that the civilian transport wagons had been harmed, it was clear early on that the ninjas involved had suffered casualties.

They found a Konoha chuunin first, mangled and barely recognizable. Following the trail of damage, they came across several other corpses. The count can to four Iwa-nin, probably high-level chuunin to low-level jounin, and three Konoha-nin, all chuunin and all young. Whoever rounded out the Konoha squad was missing.

"There's a trail here," Taichi muttered, tracing faint spots of blood in the snow with his eyes. "Looks like he trudged off this way, injured."

"I'll follow it," Minato decided. "The rest of you make sure that there are no signs of any surviving enemies and destroy the bodies after you pick them clean. We meet up at the outpost when we're done."

"Yes, sir!" they agreed with sharp nods.

Minato caught on to the blood trail and left his subordinates to their tasks. The lone survivor had either been wounded badly enough to prevent taking to the trees to escape, or was out of chakra, as the dribbles of blood ran through slogging footprints in the snow. The light snow which had been falling for nearly half an hour was slowly covering the trail, but it should last long enough for him to follow it to its conclusion.

Looks like he hurt his leg, he mused as he studied the tracks. One foot is definitely dragging. And at least one freely bleeding injury, maybe more. He jogged along the blood trail, careful not to lose it. The freshest signs of battle look to be about an hour old. Hopefully whoever this is can hold out against the cold and blood loss long enough… I'm not in the mood to find another corpse.

The trail started out fairly straight, leading in the direction of the outpost and medical help. But the further he followed it, the more erratic it became. It bounced from tree to tree and in several places it looked like someone had fallen. Ominously, some blood pooled in those places, showing about how long the victim spent laying there before moving on.

And then he found the end of the trail down on top of a frozen creek. A small figure lay sprawled there, covered by a winter cloak nearly identical to his own and a light dusting of snow. There was a lot of red and at first he thought it was all blood. But then he realized that most of it was hair—

"Kushina?!"

There was no response.

In half a heartbeat he was crouching down beside her, fumbling with his gloves and desperately searching for a pulse. Her skin was ice cold, but he did manage to feel a faint, fluttery pulse at her neck. His hands ghosted over her still form, finding a jagged puncture in her leg, a gash in her side, and a shuriken still lodged in her shoulder, along with miscellaneous cuts and bruises. He shook her and whispered her name over and over, but her eyelids barely flickered.

"Hold on, Kushina!" he murmured as he carefully cradled her cold, limp form against his chest. "I'll get you out of here; just hold on a little bit longer."

Gathering his chakra, he focused on the seal he'd set at the outpost, formed an awkward hand seal, and they vanished in a flare of yellow light…