A/N: Merry Christmas! I'm sorry this chapter came out so late but... I'm trying... *cries* To everyone who reviewed, thank you so much. I hope you continue to support me and my... kinda cliché, weird, not very up-to-standard story... *cries* Why am I crying on Christmas? *bawls* Oh yeah... Um... As you can see, I've changed the fight between the Sandaime and Orochimaru a bit. It's... Um... Sorry... :(
etErnal: *too busy playing Project Diva*
EI: Fine...
7:08pm: etErnal: I'm back... to edit... Hi.
Chapter 22: Ghosts don't have feet
Minato hopped from rooftop to rooftop, eventually reaching the purple barrier. He landed silently behind the Anbu, at the same time masking and suppressing his chakra to keep them from detecting him. Trees spun themselves through every branch or trunk available, creating an effective visual blockade. He sat, assessing the situation, before deeming himself useless here and vanished. None of the Anbu noticed that he was ever there.
The blond found himself amidst the confusion on the ground once again. He crouched, spun and lashed out at the back of an enemy ninja's knee, the kunoichi crumpling to the ground as a kunai sailed over Minato's head. He got up and tilted his body to the left as a punch sailed past his head. The blond responded in kind with a kunai to the head and the assailant dropped dead. He stepped over the man's dead body and took out another Suna shinobi with a slash to the neck, cleanly severing his head.
Kakashi found this all to be incredibly annoying as they swarmed through the village gates and hurled themselves at them. He wouldn't have minded if they were all hot babes, but no. They were all trained ninja. What had he done to anger the gods? He was tiring. Slowly, but surely his strength was being sapped away by the enemy's sheer numbers. A group of about ten ninja pounced on him. He made quick work of them as always, but didn't notice an eleventh dart at him from behind. The ninja was at least A-ranked, his chakra suppressed below the levels that Kakashi could sense. 'A ninja never leaves his back exposed,' Kakashi lamented as he twisted away in vain, knowing that if it didn't strike his heart from the back, it might still hit something debilitating.
A strong arm wrapped around his waist, and he was pulled away at speeds he never knew ninja were capable of. He was dropped unceremoniously at the side of a building and a lifeless thud told him that his adversary was dead. He looked up to a white porcelain face, markings covering it in graceful patterns that could only suggest that the animal it depicted was a fox. "K-Kushina-sama?" Kakashi finally managed to choke out, but the Anbu was gone.
Sarutobi panted, sweat sliding down his back, tracing the length of his spine. Orochimaru stood across from him, his smirk set in place, almost defiant in nature. "When did you become this monster, Orochimaru," Sarutobi asked of his former student, feeling fatigue settle deep into his old bones. The crazed man that his student had become simply laughed, a laugh of madness.
"Minato... I'm sorry. I'll might have to use that... If this goes on any longer, I guess I'll see you in the afterlife," Sarutobi gave a wan smile. He'd used up all his tricks and there seemed to be no other way to defeat the black haired maniac before him. He really was getting old. Fingering the Hiraishin kunai one last time, he braced himself for the forbidden jutsu he might have to execute. He looked to Enma, incapacitated and on the floor, bound by snakes, then back to Orochimaru. He charged at his student, reluctant to use Shiki Fuujin. If this failed, as he suspected it would, he would pull out all the stops and sacrifice his life.
Orochimaru's smirk widened as the sound of a blade slicing through the air reached his ears. The Sandaime had obviously missed the faint whine of the steel parting air as he ran at Orochimaru. Enma grasped at the air in vain, trying desperately to stop the oncoming blade from reaching his summoner. The monkey king's eyes widened with strain as he made one last desperate grab for the blade. He missed.
Orochimaru's grin turned into a scowl as the blade was deflected and batted away, buurying itself up to the hilt in a wizened tree to right of the Sandaime. An Anbu had appeared in a flash of yellow light, tattoo displayed proudly on his left shoulder. Orochimaru's scowl soured into an expression of pain as the kunai buried itself in his shoulder, the Sandaime jumping away and addressing the Anbu.
"Genma?" Sarutobi guessed. "What are you doing?" The Anbu shook his head, eyes still trained on Orochimaru.
The unknown Anbu sped towards Orochimaru, his kunai drawn and severed Orochimaru's head clean from his shoulders. The body then melted into mud and Sarutobi threw an exploding tag as the man reappeared, the paper slicing through the air just as a blade would, and detonating on Orochimaru's arm. The dark haired outlaw grunted before melting away again, this time reappearing behind the Anbu.
The blond bent backwards as Kusanagi cut through the air above his head, and he snapped back up to counter Orochimaru with a vicious head-butt, his forehead impacting bruisingly with the Sannin's. Sarutobi took the opportunity to nail Orochimaru in the back with his well known Bojutsu skills while the Anbu launched a few shuriken, which quickly became a few dozen.
The Sannin danced through the hail of shuriken, weaving and dodging to avoid the projectiles, and in too precarious a situation to avoid a spinning kick and subsequent blow from the staff. The dark haired man flipped away, seamlessly recovering from the blows. He melted away into mud again.
Orochimaru re-emerged from the bough of a tree, slightly incensed at the Anbu's presence. he had thought that the barrier would have been enough to keep them out. Apparently not this one. He gripped Kusanagi in one hand and swiftly closed the gap between himself and the Anbu's back. He was flustered now, as the Anbu moved away at speeds he only remembered witnessing during the Third Shinobi war, and grabbed his wrist with a calloused hand. The Sannin could feel fatigue beginning to take hold of him. He could feel his chakra being sapped away at an alarming pace now. He melted away again, leaving the Anbu to look at his muddied hand.
The Sannin materialised back at the base of a tree, hidden away from the two ninja. He felt incredibly weak. Completely drained of all energy. Making a handseal, he sent a discreet distress call to the Sound Four and Kabuto. This was not a battle he could win, and he would bide his time.
Sarutobi watched as the Anbu touched his finger to the ground before pointing in a random direction. They sped towards a seemingly random tree in time to witness Orochimaru, one arm slung over Kabuto. A harsh breeze blew through the forest as the barrier shattered. And then the duo were gone with the wind. The Anbu sped through the crumbling rooftop forest, coming to a stop right in the centre of it all. An Anbu, Kitsune, had the Sandaime over one shoulder, his footsteps even and purposeful as he made his way towards them. The forest chipped away and sloughed off as he walked. The Anbu snapped into battle ready positions, weapons drawn and chakra spiking, but the unknown Anbu simply deposited their leader on the roof tiles and vanished in a flash and a crackle of lightning.
Minato reappeared on the rooftops and watched as his predecessor was rushed to the hospital, despite the man's insisting that he was fine. Minato smiled before leaving to help clean up the last dregs of the invading forces.
Kakashi was rounding up the last of the enemy's forces to send to Ibiki when he saw a white flash of porcelain. He instinctively grabbed its owner's arm, his instincts telling him that the person had actully allowed himself or herself to be caught. Warm blue eyes peered out from the slits in the mask and Kakashi's grip slipped, his arm falling to his side in a sudden wave of tiredness.
"Mi-Minato... Ghost..." Kakashi spluttered. The same blue eyes sparked with amusement as Kakashi stared at him with wide eyes. Ninja were fast disappearing from the streets as they reported in, leaving the two of them alone, on the deserted walkway.
"I... Who are you? Kitsune died during the Kyuubi attack and no one else has taken up that mask," Kakashi interrogated, eyes narrowing. The unknown Anbu's shoulders started to shake, before bubbling over into a laugh of relief. Kakashi started to relax, against his wishes as he watched the impostor laugh for a good five minutes.
"Remove your mask. Please," Kakashi asked, his voice trembling and softer than he would have liked. At those words the mask slipped off of the man's face and clattered to the floor, the cursed accessory remaining intact even after the fall. It spun for a short while before falling completely still. "Yo, Kakashi. Sorry I'm late. I died and had to fight through nine levels of hell to get back. Lucky I made it, huh?" Minato grinned at his former student.
"S-sensei..." Kakashi gripped the fabric of the Anbu uniform Minato had on, his legs losing all feeling and he fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face. "I'm sorry, sensei, I'm so sorry," he mumbled over and over like a mantra, his fingers sinking into the fabric of Minato's pants as if the man would disappear again if he let go.
Minato bent down to be level with the silver haired man and hugged him back. "I'm sorry I couldn't be here for Naruto, and for you. I hope you've been well," Minato started off, feeling slightly awkward with a grown man in his arms, said man burying his face in his shoulder as he nodded. "I don't have much time, and I know it's selfish but please... look after Naruto for me," Minato finished. Kakashi nodded and Minato pulled away from the embrace. "It's nice to know you've grown to be such a strong shinobi... I'm sure we'll meet again," Minato cast him one last smile and vanished without a trace.
"No! Sensei! Wait!" Kakashi grasped at the air, but his sensei was already gone, all that was left was the Kitsune mask lying silently and serenely on the road. Kakashi picked it up and trudged back to the Hokage Tower, stowing the mask away in its forgotten corner before heading to the debrief. He heard everything without listening, was dismissed with the rest of them and collapsed on his bed the moment he reached home. He could still feel his sensei's warmth as he had embraced him longingly, but even now, the memory was fading, becoming more dream-like. A dream within a dream of broken dreams.
Haku rushed over to the door to the hospital. She had a heard a muffled thud and a very familiar chakra signature not too long ago. Yanking open the doors, a young blond collapsed inwards, the brunette catching him before he hit his head against the hardwood that was the floor. "Naruto!" she ran a quick diagnosis of him before treating him on the spot with iryou-ninjutsu. She then gingerly carried him up to an room in the infirmary, shaking her head at how he could have gotten himself hurt so badly. And why on earth was he decked out in an Anbu uniform a few sizes too big for him?
Minato woke up to a white ceiling and snapped into an upright position. Suddenly, everything flooded back to him. Somehow, after his transformation back into 'Naruto', all the injuries he'd suffered came back full force, hitting him like a tidal wave and forcing him to his knees. He barely had enough energy to drag himself to the hospital, using the buildings as crutches on those ravaged, deserted roads.
He sat back down on the bed and glanced around at the many injured parties sprawled across the floor wherever there was space. Relinquishing his bed, he gingerly carried a little girl, who was previously slumped against the wall from her location on the floor, bridal style, and deposited her on the bed that he had vacated. He quietly snuck out of the hospital room, wincing as he noticed that his clothes had been switched out for a hospital gown. The Kyuubi had healed all of his existing injuries and he felt no need to stay in the hospital.
As Minato turned the corner, he bumped into Kakashi. Quite literally. Minato fell to the floor, his butt complaining as it connected with the cold hard tiles. Minato looked up and gave a sheepish grin saying, "Hey, sensei... I was just..." Minato turned his brain inside out to find an excuse.
"Trying to escape the hospital," Kakashi finished for him.
"Ehehe... Yeah... you caught me, sensei... But there are so many people injured and I'm fine, see?" Minato submitted himself for inspection by Kakashi.
"That's for the doctor to decide, Naruto," the silver haired man shrugged and dragged him back to the room he had just exited. Minato pouted childishly as he subjected himself to the man-handling. Kakashi left soon after dropping him off. Minato caught himself about to stick his tongue out at his sensei's back for good measure.
"Well, this is boring," Minato mumbled to himself. The prankster in him began to scheme and soon, he was out of the building, fully clothed in his ninja attire, and a few nurses chasing after him. They ran through a corridor where paintballs and chicken feathers flew through the air, quickly dissuading a good number of them. Gai chased after him, screaming about the un-youthfulness of running away from medical treatment. That was taken care of with a few mice and a vacuum cleaner. After escaping the building, he could still hear frustrated screams and shrieks of those who had attempted to haul him back. He was about to leave when Haku exited, a smile adorning her face as she walked up to him.
"Uh... Hi, Haku-chan..." Minato shrank away from her eerie 'Smile of Death'.
"You really should be resting, Naruto," Haku's smile was still in place, widening if it were even possible.
"But it's so boring," Minato found himself whining. The argument sounded weak even to his ears.
"I told you to rest, dattebane!" Haku's eyes blazed as she jabbed at a pressure point.
Minato's eyes widened and he flopped to the ground, unable to move. He felt himself be picked up bridal style and before he lost consciousness, all he could think of was, 'Kushina!'
A/N: Sorry... I... I suck... *cries* This was too short, I know, but I don't have the time. I'm going for camp tomorrow so... *cries* I'll try harder... I'm in the crying mood right now... :'(
etErnal: STOP CRYING! *pinches bridge of nose* Che. Can we continue the Crackfic now?!
EI: Yep! XD