Disclaimer: Sadly I make no money off of this. Fan fiction just doesn't pay the bills like you would think.
Chapter 14 – The Moments That Take Our Breath Away
September 22
Inoichi sat uncomfortably on a small vinyl chair in Konoha Generals maternity ward, his bare legs sticking to the cheap upholstery made him regret his choice of shorts for the occasion. In the surrounding area were numerous well wishers; all shinobi and all as equally uncomfortable as he was. Good or bad circumstances, as a rule, shinobi hated hospitals. Across from him Choza stood leaning against the wall, his chunky friend refused to ever sit in the cheap furniture. Though Inoichi knew he was probably to blame for this odd quirk, he could mostly care less. The Akamichi smiled at him broadly. "Who do you think will be a father first? You or Shikaku?"He asked, goofy smile never fading. Ever since his son Choji's birth it had been plastered across his face and no amount of teasing had been able to dim it, and Inoichi had tried – frequently.
"It'll be Inoichi, just because that would piss of Yoshino. She's been in there all day, Iku only got there 2 hours ago, so if she manages to push out the fruit of your loins before my wife it will somehow manage to be my fault, and I will be punished accordingly. So we can all count on Iku to deliver first. Everything in my life has to be troublesome," Shikaku answered before Inoichi could even open his mouth. "Why did they have to put them both in the same room? Sweet Kami, why?"
"What are you even doing down here?" Inoichi asked the grumbling man. "I thought Yoshino said your presence was required in the delivery room?"
"It was, until I pointed out that she was squeezing the life out of my hand. She wasn't even having contractions, so I said it would be nice if she knocked it off since if she continued to do so I wouldn't even be able to form hand seals, which would effectively cut off our source of income. Since she'll be on maternity leave for however long I need my hands to do my job correctly. Now my presence is forbidden."
"You're such a pussy sensei!" a loud cocky voice called out from across the lobby. Laughing, Inoichi turned toward the shouting to see Sarutobi Asuma walking toward them, the rest of Shikaku's team smirking behind him. "Stand up for yourself man. If you want to be in that delivery room you go up there and be in that delivery room, and don't let that woman tell you what to do. Stop being a wimp."
"Asuma," Kurenai scolded. "You shouldn't talk to sensei like that. Show him some respect."
"Kurenai-san we are no longer genin," Ebisu reminded her. "According to the shinobi handbook we are no longer required to refer to our team leader as sensei. Page 59 clearly states that the title of sempai is completely acceptable at this point in our shinobi careers. Though as we progress in rank we should be able to use the less formal –"
"Would you just shut it?" Asuma bellowed ignorant to the fact that his teammate was offering him support, albeit in his own odd way. "Keep that shit to yourself would you? It's boring and nobody wants to hear it."
"Well I don't think anyone wants to hear you either," Kurenai responded to his outburst, then turned to Shikaku. "We're here for you Sensei, but Ebisu and I will be sitting over by the soda machine, as far away from this baka as we can get. Please forgive us and let us know of any changes in the baby's status."
With that she and Ebisu walked over to take their seats by the soda machine, leaving Inoichi to wonder what was going on. In all his past interactions with Shikaku's team the pretty little kunoichi had always taken the Sarutobi's side, sometimes even when Ebisu was clearly in the right, often blushing in the process. Asuma offered a small smile to his "sempai" and told them he'd be over talking with Inoichi's team if they needed anything.
"What the hell's going on there?" Inoichi asked when the boy was out of earshot.
"Ugh, just teenage hormones rearing their ugly heads. So troublesome. I caught Asuma and Kurenai making out at the practice field two weeks ago. Everything seemed fine, until Kurenai saw him flirting with Kato Suzume. She went ape shit and accused him of using her. He said she was crazy and jealous and now things are like what you just saw. Petty arguing and childish infighting. Ebisu eats the shit up because he knows Asuma gets pissed that Kurenai spends more time talking to him now," Shikaku explained to the Yamanaka, who truth be told, was probably the biggest gossip in Konoha.
"Whew, I'm glad I never had that problem. The only girl Ibiki's ever been interested in is Shizune, and she's not even in the village. Genma's interested in everything in a skirt, and out sweet little Tsubaki has no trouble telling him he's a pig when he makes passes at her," Inoichi mused on the workings of his own team.
"Well isn't that great for you? Fucker," Shikaku mumbled jealously.
"Are you both really going to stay down here while your wives suffer to bring the greatest joy you'll ever know into the world?" Choza inquired.
"Oh man, are you ever gonna quit with the sappy bullshit?" Inoichi shot out. "And yes I am going to sit down here the entire time. My crazy wife is terrified that she won't look her best during child birth and has denied me entry to the room. I won't be seeing my son until she's had time to compose herself."
Shikaku snickered before announcing he was going back up in a few minutes. Even if the harpy upstairs said she didn't want him around, Shikaku and his friends knew she would never forgive her husband if he missed the birth of their child.
Inoichi tried to recline in the awful chair in an attempt to make it tolerable to sit in which caused the cheaply made seat to bend and buckle; unceremoniously dropping him to the floor. While normally he could have caught himself before smacking into the ground, the distracting thought of his wife delivering his son all alone monopolized his thoughts and he'd already hit the ground before he realized what was going on.
"Nice one sempai!" his own student Genma shouted to him from across the room.
"Shut your trap and get over here to help me up!"
"Awww… man," the chunin grumbled as he made his way over to the now grumpy jonin. "Sorry sempai."
Pulling his sensei to his feet, the teenage lothario took the time to notice the beautiful Kurenai sitting idle over by the soda machine and turned to walk over to her. The cocky grin on his face told Inoichi all he needed to know about his former student's intentions and he decided to take action.
"No," Inoichi said forcefully.
"What?" Genma feigned innocence. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Bullshit. Don't feed me that garbage, and stay away from her. We don't need any trouble with Shikaku's team."
"Really sempai, I was just going to say hello, that's all. Just keeping the lines of communication open with my fellow shinobi."
"Oh? Tell me then, why is it that you only seem interested in communicating with the kunoichi? And why is it that when I see you 'communicating' there never seems to be any talking going on? Have you developed a new form of exchanging information in which you use your tongue to tap out a message?"
"Yeah, and it's very covert sempai. It's perfect for spying missions where you have to be extremely quiet, no words at all. But I'm not that good at it yet, so I've always got to practice."
"Well why don't you go practice with Choza. I'm sure he'd like a lesson in this new conversational experience."
Choza smiled at the gawking teenager, and then puckered his lips making kissy faces at the boy.
"Hehe… I don't think so sempai, I'm not a teacher and I'm still training. I only practice with people who already know the code. I can't help it if they all seem to be kunoichi; women must be faster learners."
Inoichi shook his head, "Whatever baka, stay away from Kurenai, we don't need that trouble. And stop messing around with everything that has breasts. You're already getting a reputation for yourself and if it keeps up none of the kunoichi are going to want anything to do with you."
"That's what civilians are for sempai," the boy smirked and winked at the jonin as he headed in Kurenai's direction.
"He is something else Inoichi, something else," Choza observed happily.
"He's a pain in the ass, that's what he is. 5 to 1 he meets up with her later and at some point in the near future I wind up breaking up a fight between him and Asuma. Sometimes I just want to smack him around."
"If I remember correctly that didn't work real well when Koharu-sensei tried it on you."
"Choza!" Inoichi cried indignantly. "I was never as bad as he is. That boy's dick is going to fall right off if he doesn't straighten himself out. He's already messing around with more women then I have in my entire life and he's only 16." Sighing Inoichi stood to stretch out his muscles and wondered how much longer it would take. While maybe he didn't show it as much as Choza, he was excited to be a father. As his wife's pregnancy progressed he found himself daydreaming frequently about taking his son camping and fishing, passing down the family jutsu, hunting and skinning deer (though he'd be sure to keep that last one from Shikaku), and cheering on their favorite soccer teams. Now the time was nigh, in just a short time he was actually going to be someone's daddy, and thought thrilled him to no end. Choza's idiotic grin must have be contagious, Inoichi thought, because it had now made its way on his own face, and he wished he could see Shikaku's to find out if he too now suffered from the ailment. Alas, the shadow user was up in the delivery room anxiously waiting for his own little bundle of joy. Shit, that was it; he couldn't hang out with Choza anymore. If Genma, Ibiki, or Tsubaki ever heard him spouting nonsense about bundles of joy and the like he would never live it down. Inoichi-sensei had the reputation of a hard ass to keep up after all.
"Don't you want to know what's going on?" Choza asked him again. "What if something happens? Don't you want to be there?"
Inoichi raised his eyes menacingly to glare at his overweight companion. "Do you have to keep saying shit like that? It's not that I don't want to be in there. I'm not wanted. Not allowed. Iku's afraid if I see her during labor I'll be so repulsed by her appearance and the grossness of the delivery that I won't ever sleep with her again and I'll stop loving her. She doesn't want me in there. No matter how much I might want to be."
"Don't you want to prove her wrong?" Choza asked.
"Huh? What?" Inoichi was often a little dense.
"Prove her wrong you dumbass. Let her know you love her, regardless of how terrible she looks at the moment or how gross it is in there. Go on up there and let her see you're here for her, and you care for more about her then her pretty face. You and I both know that's not what snagged the young Casanova, Yamanaka Inoichi, but maybe Iku doesn't."
"You're right. I should go up."
"Damn right you should, besides someone should be there to protect Shikaku from Yoshino when Iku manages to deliver first."
Inoichi stood to begin making his way up to the forbidden delivery room, deciding to pick up a drink on the way. Surmising that Shikaku could probably use one too, he walked over to the soda machine where Genma was slyly slipping a small piece of paper, which no doubt carried the digits to Yuhi Kurenai's phone number, into his flack vest.
"Give it back," Inoichi ordered the teenager.
"What are you talking about?" the youth answered feigning ignorance.
"Don't play stupid with me. Give it back."
"What's the matter sensei? Why are you insulting poor Kurenai? She's a very nice girl, and I know how protective you are of me and the rest of the team but there is no reason to act like she isn't good enough for me," he said while flashing his lady killing smile in her direction.
"This is exactly why you are going to give that phone number back," Inoichi said to Genma, and then turned toward Kurenai. "No offense has been intended Kurenai, but I am ordering him to return your phone number because you can do a lot better than my skirt chasing friend over here. You deserve someone who will treat you right young lady, and this cad is not the one for the job."
Kurenai glanced nervously back and forth between the jonin and his former student, feeling like maybe she'd involved herself in something she shouldn't have. The two men glared at one another for what felt like hours before Genma grudgingly stuck his hand in his vest and returned he piece of paper in question.
Smiling confidently at the pretty young kunoichi he winked as he told her, "Don't worry sweetheart, I've memorized it, and I'll definitely be giving you a call later."
Inoichi growled as his ex-student walked away; his cocky strut only serving to further anger the fuming Yamanaka. That little bastard was going to start problems, he was sure of it. So far the self proclaimed "stud" had managed not to piss off anyone, but Inoichi knew from experience that sooner or later the philanderer would wind up in hot water. Inoichi knew firsthand what the end of a jilted lover's fist felt like when it smashed into an unsuspecting face. He could only hope the idiot didn't have that stupid senbon in his mouth when it happened. Removing sharp objects from someone's brain wasn't always an easy task, not to mention it might mess up that pretty face he was so proud of.
Pushing all that nonsense to the back of his mind, Inoichi grabbed his Coke's from the vending machine, silently wishing they had been Pepsi's, and climbed the stairs to the maternity ward. Quickly discerning the proper room from the caustic remarks being screamed at Shikaku, he made his way into hostile territory.
"It's about time you made it up here, you good-for-nothing waste of a pretty face. Your poor wife's up here suffering through the worst pain of her life and your lounging around downstairs sipping on soda and chatting away with your friends," Yoshino's sweet voice assaulted him as he offered Shikaku the drink.
Unfortunately for the Nara, he was sitting far too close to his beast of a wife and as he took it from Inoichi's hand she slapped it to the floor.
"Absolutely not! If I can't have any soda right now, neither can you. From the beginning you said we'd do this together, and right now that involves us suffering together."
Quickly wiping the shock from his face Shikaku took his wife's hand gently in his own. "You're right baby, I'm sorry. I forgot how hard this is on you. How could I even think of having a soda when you aren't even allowed to have a glass of water? It doesn't matter how dry my mouth is, yours is probably worse, and you're right. We're in this together. I won't have any drinks, hell, I won't even have any food, until you can too baby. You know what I won't even go to the bathroom until you can. I'm here for you and that is all that matters."
Inoichi did his best not to laugh as the master strategist killed his wife with kindness. Yoshino could definitely be a shrew, but underneath that hard exterior was a gentle, kind, and good woman. Shikaku had seen it right away (Inoichi and Choza had taken much much longer to notice), and fallen for her hard, simply managing to find ways around the hard mask she built.
"Sumimasen, honey. Have the soda. There's no use in both of us suffering." Inoichi heard Yoshino fall in to her husband's carefully worded trap as he pushed aside the curtain hiding his wife from sight.
Her light blond hair was matted to her head with sweat from the exertion of labor and her skin was flushed a bright pink, while a sweaty sheen glistened on her nose and cheeks. A mixture of horror and relief flooded her beautiful green eyes as she looked at him, than she cried out in pain as another contraction wracked her tiny body.
Immediately at her side Inoichi took her small hand in his own and looked her right in her tear stricken eyes. "Iku, I don't think you have ever looked more beautiful to me then you do right now."
What surprised him most was that he meant exactly what he'd said. She was about to bring his child into the world and as sappy and Choza-like as it was, he could think of nothing that could make her more gorgeous then she was right at this exact moment.
Hours later Inoichi was starting to have enough of this. Antsy and irritable, he couldn't wait for it to be over, and he wasn't even one of the people in pain. Yoshino was getting nastier by the minute and Iku looked about ready to expire. Their shared doctor (who could have known they would go into labor on the same day when Yoshino had recommended her OBGYN to Iku?), entered the room and began an examination of both women.
"Look ladies, this has been a long and trying day. You've been at this all day long and I know both of you are tired. So to speed this to its natural conclusion I'm going to perform a medical jutsu on you if it's okay with you."
"Its fine with me," Iku replied softly, too tired to muster up any kind of volume.
Yoshino on the other hand seemed to have no such issue. "Are you kidding me? Do you mean to tell me that this could have been over with hours ago and you let us sit here twiddling our thumbs in agonizing pain? What kind of sadist are you?" she raged.
"Yoshino, stop it!" Shikaku said authoritatively. "He's going to do it now, and your yelling is only postponing it further. Iku shouldn't have to suffer longer just because you have a big mouth."
Crises averted the man performed the miracle jutsu on first Yoshino and then Iku. At 11:46 PM the doctor announced the Nara's had a little boy. Dark haired and quiet, at first Inoichi thought the little guy was dead. The nurse had had to give him a smack just for him to manage a few pitiful cries before going back to sleep. Shikaku beamed as he held his son and Inoichi announced, "I guess now we're all going to be able to take the new Ino-Shika-Cho boys camping together!"
Twenty minutes later, at 12:06 AM of the next day, the doctor handed Inoichi his very own bundle of joy, and looking down he could honestly say that his little girl was everything he'd ever wanted.
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October 10
Fall had come quickly to Konoha this year and many, if not most, of Fire Country's trees were long since barren of their usually lush green foliage. The few trees managing to maintain their leaves were now painted in brilliant reds, vivid yellows, and bright oranges, which were beautifully showcased during the day when the sun's golden rays illuminated their natural elegance. At night however, in the deep dark of Konoha's Forest of Death, the desolate branches of the naked tree legion clawed their way up into the night sky in a terrifying visage that could steal the bravery from men's hearts. Beneath the derelict branches a nervous and panicky Obito watched Uchiha Madara finish preparation for his devastating plan, and hoped beyond hope that his own plan would prove to be the superior.
Madara meant to call forth the Kyuubi no Yoko and rein down destruction on Konoha. With the combined power of himself and Obito he would open a portal to the hell dimension that held it captive and free the nine tailed demon fox. Using his own sharingan he could control the uncontrollable and call fire down from the heavens to level the great Fire Nation in the name of his justice. Quiet in the darkness of the night Obito and Itachi tried vainly to keep faith in their own counter attack, even though being so close and feeling astutely the raw power of the Uchiha patriarch was dampening their resolve.
"Are you ready boys? We're about to make Konoha history," Madara cackled as he ignited the giant bonfire that would serve as the Kyuubi's doorway to the mortal realm.
Obito smiled evilly, even though it hurt his heart to do so, nodding concurrently with Itachi at the villainous Uchiha, they continued with the farcical charade. It was imperative to their plan that the lunatic believe they were fully vested in his own, and as equally full of hatred for Konoha as he was. It had been a difficult task, but one Obito believed they had managed to pull off. They'd spent the past three months cursing the Hokage, insulting every ninja he knew (including his savior Tsunade-hime), and blaspheming even the Uchiha clan itself. Obito had called upon his own abandonment by the clan for the bas of his scorn, while Itachi attributed his to the stolen eye fiasco. Now he could only pray it would be enough. Madara had to believe in their uncompromising loyalty or their plan wouldn't work. If his faith in them wavered he would be on edge; much more likely to notice anything out of the ordinary. He had to trust them completely for their betrayal to have any chance of succeeding. If he thought for even a second that either Obito or Itachi were not completely zealous in their commitment to the task he could and would take over their bodies and perform the ritual on his own. If that happened they were doomed.
"Soon my boys, soon. In just a few hours we will lay waste to this cursed village. The corruption that plagues this city will be burned away in the cleansing inferno I bring upon it. And from the ashes we will emerge to build a better Konoha, a new visage, one with an Uchiha clan to be proud of. And you two, without whom this would not be possible will be my right and left hands. Harbingers of a new world; greatness will be ours."
If the man wasn't a raving psychopath his speech probably could have been inspiring, and Obito could understand how his ancient ancestors could have been roused to battle, energized to fight at his side. Before he'd gone insane Obito could believe the maniac would have been a great leader, one worthy of the history books his name was in. But that as long ago, archaic history, and this was now. Today he was nothing but a deranged psycho who wanted to destroy everything Obito loved and cared about. Today that man was going to die, or else he and Itachi would, along with everyone else who called the village hidden in the leaves home. But that wasn't going to happen, he couldn't let it.
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Madara smiled brightly at the two young men before him. The best the Uchiha clan had to offer, while they were certainly not up to the caliber of Izuna*, they were still young and held unlimited amounts of potential. They would serve him well. He had spent the last three months poisoning them against Konoha, its pitiful ideals, and all they held dear. It had been difficult in the beginning, but with the proper prodding they'd come around and now he couldn't be prouder. He'd taken on the role of an overzealous father, but what could he say? For all intents and purposes, after tonight he would be their father.
To show his appreciation for their devotion he had arranged a surprise. Sitting not too far away, deep in the Forest of Death sat an army one thousand samurai strong; tasked to help in the decimation of Konoha's people. Those not swept away in the Kyuubi's tide of destruction would be scrubbed from the earth by his minions. Two groups of five hundred, each led by his go-to-guys, they would be unstoppable for the disoriented confused people left remaining in the wake of the demon fox. Madara couldn't wait to see their faces when he gifted them each with their own command. After successfully summoning the fox, he'd show them just how much he believed them to be worth.
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Kushina lay in bed panting heavily. Her contractions were getting closer and closer together, signaling that soon her baby would be entering the world. Minato paced the bedroom excitedly, his great enthusiasm leaving him unable to sit still for more than a second. Though she knew he was ridiculously worried something would go wrong (he'd refused to take her to the hospital for fear that the move would hurt her or the baby, instead demanding their bed chamber turned into a delivery room), she had also never seen him so happy.
As far as Kushina was concerned, when Minato smiled the world smiled with him. Her husband's good mood could light up a room the way sun lit the day. And with the way he was smiling right now she was pretty sure he could replace the sun and nobody would notice except to say it had gotten brighter out. The happiness Minato brought to the room was so infectious she herself could barely keep a smile off her face, despite the gut wrenching pain periodically shooting through her body.
Very soon their son would be joining the world and nothing would ever be the same.
XoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoX
The full moon was now directly overhead and the time for starting the ritual was nigh. Itachi and Obito took their positions flanking Madara to the east and west, while the proud architect of Konoha's demise stood front and center, directly in front of the now roaring blaze beginning the koumajutsu*.
"Kijo Kitsune, kokako karamiau motte watashitachi*," Madara began to chant, his voice becoming louder and rising to a fevered pitch with each repetition of the incantation. Chakra crackled in the air and Itachi struggled to keep hold of the wriggling fox in his arms.
The sacrificial animal was scratching and clawing to get away. Even managing to bite Itachi in its attempt to escape, as if the beast knew its fate was to be thrown into the flames to burn to ash. Itachi tried futilely to calm it. After all, if everything went as planned the squirming little critter in his arms would be free to go at the end of the night. Until then, it too had a part to play, and Itachi prayed to the Will of Fire that the small animal was good at its roll. Everything he knew depended on it.
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Minato watched Kushina's face screw up in pain as she struggled to push their baby out into the world. The doctor said it would be soon but he was finding it more and more difficult to believe the man as the minutes ticked by endlessly with no visit from his child. The waiting was making him more and more anxious and worried. The longer this labor went on the greater the chance grew that Kushina wouldn't make through to the end. Women from Whirlpool country were notorious for dying in childbirth and Minato refused to believe his wife would become part of the statistics, it was unallowable. If he had to make a deal with the shinigami himself, he'd see she made it through.
"Breathe baby, breathe," he coached her. "It'll be over soon. Just hang in their sweetie. You can do this."
Grabbing his hand heartily, Kushina squeezed it reassuringly. "I know. I'm going to be fine. You're here with me and nothing can hurt me when Konoha's Hokage stands beside me."
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Obito watched as Madara's eyes bled from black to red, and the mangekyo began its spiral to oblivion. Soon his part in the plan would begin and he had to be convincing. As Madara's eyes spun increasingly faster, Obito could feel the buildup of intense chakra pressure forming in the air just above the fire and he strained to feel if there was anything similar occurring behind the ancient Uchiha leader. Unfortunately he felt nothing. Something was wrong, and they couldn't afford for anything to be wrong. Yet there was nothing he could do about it, if he moved Madara would know and their end would be that much quicker. Digging deep into his heart Obito found and latched onto trust. They still had time and Obito put his trust in the fact that they would make it. They just couldn't fail, could they? Not when so much was on the line. Konoha couldn't' afford it.
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Crouching our in the woods about 40 feet away from the plotting Uchiha's, Kakashi counted to ten and tried to get his breathing under control. He should have already begun his task; it was time consuming and required a great deal of concentration. This wasn't something he could just do at the drop of a hat. Maybe Obito could, but Kakashi's body wasn't built to contain a sharingan, let alone one with the power of the mangekyo, and its use took a great toll on his anatomy. Before he could begin though, he needed to calm himself down. There was no way he could perform such a complicated jutsu with his heart racing the way it was. Unfortunately adrenaline was gushing through his veins and it was just too hard for him to relax.
According to their plan Kakashi should have been able to sneak up on the Uchiha's through the rear section of the Forest of Death. A dangerous task no doubt; but nothing the great Hatake Kakashi couldn't handle. Ordinarily that would have been true, regrettably tonight had not been ordinary. Upon entering the forest's rear gate, he'd noticed something was wrong. Much of the tall thin grass and the dry dead leaves littering the forest floor had been trampled and crushed, and the air was heavy with the stink of sweat. Protocol dictated that he alert the Hokage before proceeding, but he was already breaking protocol by even being in the forest, which was off limits to everyone but ANBU, and he had no time to waste. He was on a strict schedule and the Land of Fire could not afford for him to be late.
Then he'd come upon an enormous force of samurai wearing the symbol of Amegakure, camping out awaiting a signal for attack. Kakashi had tried to make it through the camp undetected; going around would have taken too much time and ended his night with his home burning in a big conflagration. He'd gotten through three quarters of the giant mass of men when someone spotted him and raised an alarm. Sprinting for the trees Kakashi was much faster than any of the men chasing him and could have escaped with ease, but he didn't want them following him to his destination and alerting Madara to his presence. As loud as they were he feared they may have already given him away.
Instead of rushing on and losing them in the forest, Kakashi doubled back and engaged the five soldiers on his trail in combat. They were poorly trained and he could have killed them all easily but feared another party would just be sent in their stead. In lieu of that thought he killed only one then used a genjutsu to disguise the body as his own, and sent a transformed clone back with them to camp. Once there it would disappear into the crowd and release itself. While that problem had been eliminated for the time being, he now had to deal with the current one. Frenzied and distracted, as well as behind schedule and drained of important chakra, Kakashi hoped he'd be able to pull this off.
He had to collect himself. It should be easy; he was always telling Anko it was anyway; even providing her with numerous strategies for switching off her emotions. He was now noticing she'd been right when she told him they were useless and not worth the energy he'd expended telling her about them.
Between Rin's departure, Minato-sensei's ascension to Hokage, and Obito's current obsession with Itachi, Kakashi had found himself growing remarkably close to the only person he seemed to be spending any time with, Anko. At first gland it would seem odd, even to him, the model student and the crazy snake girl? Friends? Come on. But they had more in common then he'd thought. Before she'd become the crazy snake girl Anko had been Orochimaru's model student, they both spent countless hours training while always aspiring to be the best, and neither truly enjoyed being around large groups of people, both in fact were mostly anti-social. On top of that, she never minced her words, what she said was exactly what she meant. Anko was the most honest person Kakashi had ever met in his life, and her friendship had come to mean more to him than he'd thought possible.
While they had gotten off to a rocky start, they'd managed to bond one night when Anko managed to do a convincing henge of an old lady, who Kakashi thought actually looked more like an old man, and purchased two bottles of sake from a civilian liquor store. She would be in a heap of trouble is she'd been found out, but nobody noticed and once it was in her possession she had convinced Kakashi they should test their alcohol endurance by each drinking a bottle. Rationalizing that they might need to imbibe alcoholic drinks some day on an undercover mission she'd been able to persuade him that it would be training. Neither one of them had been able to drink more than half of a bottle, and at the quarter of a bottle mark they had both gotten loose lips; turning into a couple of sad sacks.
Anko confessed to him her confusion, hurt, and anger at Orochimaru for abandoning her, while Kakashi confessed the same about his father's suicide. She'd cried at the admission that she'd believed she wasn't good enough for him to take along, and her fear that if she had been she might have been foolish enough to go. He'd held her through the sobs and assured her that the Mitarashi Anko he knew would never desert or betray Konoha; she was a Leaf shinobi to the core. And when his own tears began to fall as he discussed the discovery of his dead father, she'd hugged him closely until she decided he was wallowing, at which point she had slapped him in the face and told him not to be a pussy. Even though she was a new friend, Kakashi didn't think he'd ever had a better one.
Unfortunately, this new found closeness made it extremely difficult for him to sneak away unnoticed when Obito told him he had some crazy dangerous secret he needed to share. In fact he'd had to convince her to train with Kamizuki Izumo while he snuck away, claiming the genin needed help for his chunin exam. He'd failed to mention the boy was infatuated with her, which he knew she was going to be pissed about, but Izumo had promised him he'd keep her occupied for at least two hours, which had given him enough time for Obito's meeting. He could still remember Obito demanding he keep their mission secret from her.
"Don't tell her Kakashi, it's too dangerous, she's been through enough."
Kakashi swore he wouldn't say a word; he knew with Anko he wouldn't have to.
Thinking of Anko and remembering the direness of their situation worked magic on Kakashi's nerves. The scarecrow was nothing if not calm under pressure. True to form he worked his best when the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. Kakashi's mangekyo sharingan began to swirl and the boy hoped he'd managed to do it in time.
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Kushina closed her eyes for a minute due to sheer exhaustion. She'd done it, she'd brought their son into the world and she was still around to see him. Smiling as she looked at Minato cradling their baby in his arms, his grin so big she thought it might swallow his face, she had never felt more content then she did right at this moment. Though just born, her son had a full head of blond hair just like his father's and the brightest blue eyes she'd ever seen. If it wasn't for the slope of his nose or the determined set of his lips, Kushina would have thought Minato was the boys' only parent, so much alike did they look.
"What should we name him?" she asked her beaming husband.
"Did you finish Jiraiya-sama's new book?"
"You want to name him Naruto?" she said, having indeed read the book and knowing full well his line of thought.
"It's a good name," he assured her. "If he's even half as brave as his namesake Konoha will never have to worry again."
"Okay then. Namikaze Naruto it is," she said proudly.
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Finally! Obito could faintly feel the chakra pull that signified Kakashi had started the other vortex. While this was great news, and the most important part of their plan, it was also the point at which things would get complicated for Obito. Currently he was working with Madara to make his gateway large enough for the Kyuubi to exit after Itachi performed the animal sacrifice. Now with Kakashi's opened he had to split his chakra and help them both. If he didn't put enough into helping Kakashi the gate would never be big enough to fit Madara, but if he put too much Madara's gate would suffer and the man would notice Obito wasn't giving enough. It was completely believable that his ability to help Madara would wane as the ritual continued, they had been at this for over an hour, but too steep of a drop would have Obito's head on a platter. He concentrated as hard as he could, letting nothing distract him, and slowly moved chakra from one opening to the other, silently praying Madara was too focused on his own task to notice the treachery taking place right behind his back.
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Something was up. Anko was not an idiot; in fact she'd frequently been hailed as a genius, something her teammates forgot all too often. Usually it pissed her off; today it made her smile wickedly. She'd known something was going on for weeks, even if they wouldn't tell her what it was, or even that there was an "it" at all. She was also aware that it was something big, and the involvement of Uchiha Itachi was a given. That boy was around far too much lately for it to be a coincidence.
Obito frequently disappeared and Kakashi had begun intensive training on some vortex creating jutsu; training non-stop on its creation, to the point that he was neglecting all other aspects of his workout. For someone usually so regimented and disciplined this was insanity and Anko noticed it right away. Taking all of this into consideration, and adding in that little stunt Kakashi had pulled, training Izumo indeed (the love struck baka had spent the entire two hours staring at her and she could have sworn his hands had lingered for a bit too long when he'd "accidentally" brushed against her backside), she was sure whatever they were doing was not sanctioned by the Hokage. There was little Kakashi could hide from her and she intended to find out what was going on. So when he'd slipped out of the house in the middle of the night, only a few hours after Obito had done the same, she'd known it was go time, and slipped out after him, a silent shadow in the night. She was part of this team too damn it and she'd be damned if anything was going to happen to those boys on her watch.
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*Izuna – Madara's brother, whose eyes he has
*Koumajutsu – demon invocation
* Kijo Kitsune, kokako karamiau motte watashitachi – I think this means "Demoness fox, Lone traveler become intertwined with us" however I don't speak Japanese so it's very possible I'm wrong
A/N: Sorry to leave you hanging without an explanation but the chapter was getting so long I thought it would be better to split it up.
Also, I am looking for a beta reader if anyone feels so inclined. I've never had one before but I can't deny that the people who use them all write better than me, plus I think it might help with motivation to keep churning out the chapters on time. So if you would like to help me out, or could recommend someone who might be interested please let me know. Thanks!!
Please review.