Part I: Episode 7
"Shut up Hiruzen!" Orochimaru barked as the fox's chakra suddenly surged towards Orochimaru. The Sannin gritted his teeth at first, but was soon screaming in pain as the sheer amount of chakra rushed into him. Tsunade and Jiraiya watched, horror-stricken, as their old teammate began bleeding first out of his nose and then through his ears.
Blood streaked from his eyes like tears as his usually yellow eyes turned red and fox-like. His teeth grew longer as did his nails. His skin looked as if it were literally cracking from the sheer amount of chakra he was absorbing. The fox gave one last roar before it was gone. Orochimaru collapsed to the ground and Tsunade ran towards him.
"No! If you touch me, your hands will burn even more Tsunade." Orochimaru snapped as he slowly, painfully stood up. Even now, the Kyubi's chakra rose off him like steam and Hiruzen could feel its heat from several meters away.
"We must...hurry...to the village..." Orochimaru managed between pained winces. He took one step and faltered and without thinking Tsunade and Jiraiya caught him. Both Sannin winced and groaned at the contact, and even the frogs on Jiraiya's shoulders were forced to vanish at the touch.
"What are you-"
"Shut up Orochimaru, we don't have time for you to limp your way to the village. You'll die before you even get close. Now come on!" Jiraiya barked before he and Tsunade disappeared with Orochimaru. Hiruzen looked the spot where they once stood.
He had just watched Orochimaru defend Konoha. More importantly than that, however, he watched Orochimaru spare a life. At the cost of his own. Hiruzen laughed. He couldn't help it. His bones were aching, his muscles were sore, and much of his chakra was gone. A good portion of his village was destroyed and one of his prized pupils was on death's door and all Hiruzen could do was laugh. Orochimaru wasn't a lost cause! Orochimaru could do good! It was too wonderful for the old man. Hiruzen fell onto the ground, forcing himself to calm down.
He had done too much today. He was tired. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and laid back on the destroyed battlefield that would most certainly go down in world history. All traces of worry about his village's future gone.
"Move!" Tsunade shouted to the crowds of people that stood between her and Jiraiya and Orochimaru and the Hokage Monument. Orochimaru had told them the plan during the journey, although they didn't have much time. Orochimaru was beginning to bleed more and more and Tsunade was positive nothing she could ever do would erase the burn scars on her and Jiraiya's arms.
Orochimaru was communicating mostly through pain induced moans by the time the Sannin reached the Hokage Monument and it was all his former teammates could do to not drop him.
"Orochimaru, we're at the Monument! You have to get up!" Tsunade screamed. Orochimaru groaned and slowly managed to stand up. He fell forward and just managed to catch himself on the giant mountain that held the faces of Konoha's four Hokage. Orochimaru puked up blood. He looked up although he could barely see even the rock that was only arms distance away.
You truly are mad, human, the Kyubi said inside his head. The voice echoed painfully as Orochimaru began performing handseals.
Why are you doing this, Orochimaru? You wanted my power for your own from the beginning, and now you have it. Just give into it. Lose yourself in the power you always dreamed of. The fox said soothingly, although Orochimaru ignored him.
Finally, the hand seals were done.
"Knowledge of Ten Thousand Things: Release!" Orochimaru managed to say as he placed his palms on the Hokage monument. If absorbing all the chakra was painful, expelling was twice as much. Orochimaru blacked out twice during the process, only to be awakened by the pain. He screamed and cursed as his body seemed to light up on fire. Red scripts began to appear all over the Hokage Monument, traveling up the mountain at an incredible pace.
And then, it was gone. The lights. The pain. Everything. Orochimaru stood staring at the rock for a few seconds until all there was, was darkness.
-Two Weeks Later-
"Hokage-sama, how are you feeling?" The young woman asked as soon as Orochimaru had opened his eyes. He scanned the room and noticed that it was in the Hokage's Mansion. He looked at the woman and instantly recognized her as Tsunade's apprentice although her name escaped him.
"I'm fine," Orochimaru said as he sat up. The pain was almost unbearable, as if his muscles were on fire.
"Hokage-same, please don't move. It's not safe yet, the Kyubi's chakra-"
"Don't bother, Shizune," a voice said from the door way. Orochimaru didn't have to turn to know it was Tsunade. "He may not look it, but he's just as stubborn as the old man and that good-for-nothing pervert." Tsunade continued. Orochimaru turned to look at Tsunade, despite the pain. Her arms were heavily bandaged and the purple diamond that usually decorated her forehead was gone.
"How long have I been asleep?" Orochimaru asked, his tone serious.
"Well you've been floating in and out of consciousness for the past few weeks, although not long enough for you to remember anything. We had to bring you here since I doubt any of the doctors around here know how to fix you. Hell, I barely know how to fix you. What the hell did you do to yourself Orochimaru?" Tsunade asked, her voice rising slightly.
"I absorbed the Kyubi's chakr-"
"Not that you idiot!" Tsunade snapped, much to Orochimaru's surprise. The blonde dismissed Shizune before sitting down on Orochimaru's sick bed. She sighed and Orochimaru said nothing. He knew what this was about and figured it was probably best to let Tsunade speak first.
"What you've done to yourself, Orochimaru. It isn't natural. And more than that, it makes it incredibly difficult to provide proper care. You have to stop. Because if you keep this up and something goes wrong, not even I will be able to help you." Tsunade's eyes were downcast and her voice was so low, Orochimaru had to struggle to hear her at times. He sighed.
"I can show you how," Orochimaru said after a few seconds of silence. Tsunade looked up at him, although he stared out the window.
"I can't make any additional changes, anyway. As Hokage, I don't have the time." He said, a hint of wistfulness in his voice. Tsunade stared at him. Even though he had just woken up from what was basically a two-week coma, the man looked just as strong as when he went up against the fox. His skin was pale, but not sickly pale. In fact, it was almost like marble. Unblemished, smooth, and strong. Orochimaru blinked and looked down at Tsunade. Their eyes connected and just barely, Orochimaru's eyes softened. It was too much. Without thinking, Tsunade craned her neck and pecked Orochimaru on the lips.
"Well now that you're up, I'm going to check on my other patients." Tsunade said, quickly standing up. Orochimaru stared at her, his eyes in that analytic state they always seemed to be in.
"Other patients?" Orochimaru asked. His mind was still processing the kiss, but he found himself irritated that Tsunade had other patients, even if it was for the best.
"Yeah, the village got pretty banged up from that fox attack. Oh yeah, Danzo is pissed that you sealed its chakra into the Monument. You should've heard him go off at the meeting." At this Orochimaru smiled. It was his usual victory-over-Danzo smile, which caused Tsunade to laugh before exiting. Orochimaru experimented with standing again. This time, it wasn't so bad.
Even though there was still much rebuilding to be done, most of the village was inside the Namikaze household for Naruto's "unofficial official birthday". To Kushina's surprise, everyone seemed to forget about the tragedy and, at least for the night, decided to have fun. Couples danced, people drank, and there was laughter everywhere.
"Told you this would be a good idea," she whispered into Minato's ear. The blond sighed.
"Yeah I guess you were right. I guess I didn't expect people to be so open to a party, especially after everything that happened." Minato's face fell and Kushina could tell he felt guilty about not being able to stop the whole thing from happening to begin with. She wrapped her arms around her husband.
"You know, in Uzushiogakure, instead of funerals we had parties for our deceased." Minato looked at her quizzically, but her eyes said that she wasn't done. "It's to signify that while death is a horrible thing, instead of focusing on it, we should focus on life and appreciating those that we still have with us." Minato was silent for a while and with a kiss, Kushina left him to entertain another group of guests.
The evening went on without a hitch and before long the house was empty again, aside from Minato and Kushina who were tasked with cleaning all of the dishes. It was a comfortable silence until the two heard footsteps descending from the stairs. For a second, all Kushina saw was the masked man. She looked at Minato who nodded silently.
"Ah!" Kakashi yelped when the two jonin jumped from the kitchen. Kushina let out a sigh of relief, as did Minato.
"Kakashi, I didn't know you were still here. Why didn't you come downstairs for the party?" Kushina asked as she tried to get her racing heart under control.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you guys. And I didn't want to leave Naruto alone." The 14-year-old answered. Kushina let out a laugh as she walked up to Kakashi and wrapped her arms around him.
"Thank you, Kakashi. I appreciate you always looking out for him. It really is a relief to know that he always has you watching out for him." Kushina responded, holding Kakashi at length. Kushina could just barely see his face flush under his mask.
"Well since you're here, you mind helping us clean up a little bit?" Minato asked as he stood up from the wall he was leaning. Kakashi shook his head and followed the two into the kitchen. The room settled into a comfortable silence as the three jonin worked a system to get everything done without interfering with another's job. And within ten minutes, the kitchen was clean.
"You want some, Kakashi?" Kushina asked as she poured herself and Minato some wine. It was the last bottle and it was mostly gone already. Just enough for one more cup really.
"Um, it's okay. I'm underage anyway so-"
"Come on Kakashi, it'll be fine. Here, try it." Kushina said before pouring the last of the wine into a cup and handing it to the boy. Kakashi looked at the glass curiously before lowering his mask and taking a small sip.
"It's sweet," he said, surprised.
"Yup, Jiraiya bought it and he generally doesn't like his drinks bitter so you have him to thank for that." Minato said as he took a sip of his drink. The three fell back into their friendly silence.
"You know Kakashi, you have such a cute face. You shouldn't wear that mask all the time." Minato gave her a curious glance, but she ignored him. Instead she giggled as Kakashi turned red. The giggling stopped, however, when Kushina noticed a tear drip onto the table.
"S-Sorry, I think I got something in my eye," Kakashi said as he wiped his eye. Kushina sighed and looked at Minato, who motioned for her to handle it. In Kushina's own words, she needed the practice in being more motherly.
"What's wrong, Kakashi?" She asked gently as Kakashi furiously tried to wipe away the imaginary object in his eye. When he looked up at her, tears were flowing from both eyes.
"Nothing, it's just that...you guys are always treating me like family even though you have your own to worry about. S-Sorry, I'm ruining the celebration." Kakashi said, before rubbing his eyes eyes again. Kushina sighed and reached across the table to grab Kakashi's hands while Minato wrapped his arm around the boy's shoulder, the same we had the night after their mission in Kusagakure.
"Kakashi, we treat you like family because you are our family." Minato said softly. Kakashi sniffled as he looked up at his former sensei and then at a smiling Kushina.
"You've been a son to us since the day you were put on Minato's team, Kakashi. And the way you watch over Naruto is exactly how a big brother is supposed to watch after his baby brother. You've always been family, silly." Kakashi's lip trembled as he tried to hold back anymore tears from falling. Kushina stood up and walked over to Kakashi and hugged him tightly.
"Th-thank you guys...for everything." Kakashi cried. Minato laughed a bit as did Kushina.
"Of course, Kakashi." They said in perfect unison.
Author's Corner:
Well that last scene was way better in my head, but I guess it turned out pretty decent in writing too. Can I also brag about the parallelism between the beginning and the end of the Kyubi 'arc'? At least, I think it counts as parallelism. I don't know, I honestly never paid attention in English. I paid mostly through my essays XD But really, it's you guys I write for so thanks a bunch.
As usual, thanks for everything - the reviews, favourites, and follows, I appreciate it more than anything. You guys are the best.