Chapter 27 – Catching Up Volume IV
1.
Kushina rubbed her eyes and tried her best not to break down in tears as she gazed lovingly at her innocent little boy. Minato had just left the two of them for an impromptu meeting with the village elders he'd just called to explain his plan for saving the village. She hoped with all her might that all those ancient ninja had some super secret tricks hidden up their long flowing sleeves, and that faced with the possibility of the loss of their much loved hokage they would feel the need to throw secrecy to the wind and whip them out to save the village. She was pretty sure that it wouldn't happen though. Secretive though they may be, every member of the village council had great love for the Village Hidden in the Leaves. While they might bicker and fight amongst themselves like old biddy's in a henhouse all hostilities would be put aside for the good of their beloved Konoha. If they'd had any tricks in their arsenal that could save the Leaf they would have been pulled out by now. Any said tricks would have been used in a continual one-upmanship with the complete intention of being able to say they'd been the one to rescue the village and rub it in the other's faces. Her only real hope was that the council would refuse his request outright, and that was really no hope at all.
As she lost herself in dissecting the plan over and over again, searching for any reason why it wouldn't work, scrutinizing every detail for an excuse to strike his awful jutsu from the books, and futilely longing for proof of its absolute failure, Naruto captured her pinky finger in his plum little fist; dragging her out of her head and back into his life. He smiled up at her through brilliant blue eyes, gurgling his happiness at her touch, he sparkled like sunshine, and Kushina lost it.
Crumpling to the floor like a ragdoll she began to howl hysterically in anguish. Sobs wracked her small frame as she uncharacteristically wept for hours. Tears fell to the floor beneath her in droves; enough to soak the rug below her where the salty wet drops landed. Life was so unfair, just as she'd finally gotten the family, friends, home… just the plain existence that she'd always dreamed of Kami had decided to take it back. Fate was a cruel mistress indeed.
2.
Since being the informant with the knowledge that revealed an Uchiha as the mastermind behind that Amegakure attack and subsequent release of the Kyubi, Hayate had found himself in the very unenviable position of being super unpopular with much of the city. It seemed to him that while many people were eager to jump on the bandwagon to string little Uchiha Itachi up by his neck in the town square, very few wanted to even consider, let alone name, any of the elder sharingan users as the culprit. In his opinion, which in the current atmosphere very few people wanted to hear, it was due to a few certain things that nobody wanted to acknowledge.
First, Uchiha Itachi was not a well liked child. He was weird, very dull, distant, and anti-social; none of which did him any favors in the public opinion polls. On top of this already damning personality foible, his clan (mostly his arrogant father but certainly his pretentious clan members as well) had been heralding him as the second coming, bestowing unwarranted titles such as the "only elite ninja," the "next great Hokage," "Konoha's Great Hope," "Savior of the Village," and Hayate's personal favorite, "The Leaf's Champion," which was not only embarrassing for a little boy of six but completely damaging to his prospects for making friends. People did not want to believe the hype, and if they did secretly believe it they certainly didn't want him attending school with their own children and showing them up with his champion skills. So when he was accused of summoning the fox-demon the people of Konoha had been anxious to knock the boy down a few pegs, and they wanted it to be him; rallying behind Danzo and his cries for justice, the people of Konoha tried to punish him for their own jealousy.
The other reason Itachi was being stretched across the coals was that nobody wanted the transgressor to be a member of the much ballyhooed police force. It was fine to imagine that a six year old had the power to open a portal to a hell dimension and call forth the most powerful demon residing within, (Sure thing boss, I'll get just get that nine-tailed demon fox right now, no problem) but not a soul wanted to accept that someone responsible for their safety on the daily would wish them harm. On top of that, Itachi had been effortlessly captured and subdued (on account of him being injured, knocked out, and devoid of any chakra); taking on an adult Uchiha capable of feats such as those Itachi had been charged with would be no easy task.
Hayate had said as much, despite Yoga's suggestion that he keep his antagonistic ideas to himself, they were getting enough trouble as it was, and Iruka's advice, which had basically been the same but had been packaged with more smiles. Now he was the town pariah just as much as Kakashi, Obito, and Itachi themselves, except they had the benefit of being safely locked behind bars and he had to endure the daily taunts in person, as well as the frequent physical abuse, just the other day he'd taken a tomato to the back of the head. He could not wait to hear the tribunal results, now that Anko had woken up he would be exonerated and things could go back to normal.
3.
Sarutobi Hiruzen caught Jiraiya's eye from across the room and saw his own grief mirrored in his student's eyes. Konoha's third hokage had never experienced it but he'd heard that for a teacher, losing a student never got easier, no matter how many you lost or how old the pupil became. He himself had taught Konoha's Sannin; living legends, and the key word there being "living." While Orochimaru's defection and betrayal had hurt in more ways than he dared to count, the boy was still alive, which made it an entirely different kind of pain. Jiraiya had already lost two students, now he was being asked to say goodbye to a third, it hardly seemed fair.
Kushina hadn't made it to the meeting, instead choosing to spend the time with her son, and Hiruzen couldn't fault her for it. Nobody, least of all Kushina, would want to think about the tragedy that would befall Konoha in the next few days. His heart broke for her, Minato, and little Naruto and as the Hokage left the room he wished he could change things.
Over at the opposite table, without Minato there to see, Jiraiya's head hit the table, his face was hidden behind his crossed arms; no one would see his tears but not a person in the room could miss the convulsions in his body as he pain broke out in the only way it possibly could. At that moment something in him snapped and Hiruzen finally decided on something he had been considering for the past few days but up until now had been too selfish to commit to. It was time for him to join Konoha's other Hokage's, and he resolved to say his last goodbyes to Homura and Koharu, if he was lucky maybe he would get to see her fan dance one more time before he left.
4.
For what had to be the millionth time tonight, Tsubaki cursed her rotten luck. When Inoichi sensei had asked their team which one of them wanted the most important mission of the night she had of course immediately volunteered whilst Ibiki and Genma had appeared to slink back a step and hide in the shadows. Sensei had bestowed upon her the most important yet worst mission ever. So while her good-for-nothing bastard teammates would be out with practically every ninja in Konoha providing distractions for the demon fox so Hokage-sama could kill it with his jutsu, she was back in the caves beneath the hokage-monument guarding the lives of Konoha's most important resource.
Tsubaki knew how critical her mission was, and she truly believed from the bottom of her heart that what she guarded was precious. She, like every other Konoha ninja, had heard the old proverbs enough to know them by heart, "The potential possibilities of any child are the most intriguing and stimulating of all creation," "It is easier to build strong children than repair a broken man," and "Old men can make war but it is children who will make history," and she knew them well enough to know she'd been given a great responsibility. She just really wished she'd gotten a different one, or that she'd been given a little more help.
Shin, Lee, Neji, Sai, and Kin were all old enough to be getting around on their own and they were far more mobile than she would have liked. And yet she preferred corralling the walking, toddling, and crawling bundles of joy to quieting down and changing the younger more foul smelling ones. Fat little Chouji was continuously farting and giggling wildly about it, while Kiba kept smiling innocently than howling like a loud ass dog, which continued to send the other two into tears. Shino and Sakura had to be the biggest babies in the baby world. Every noise, big or small, set off the water works. Tsubaki knew this was to be the most important night in Konoha's history and her roll was important, if parents didn't believe their children would be safe they couldn't concentrate while out in the field, so she treated her charges with the respect they deserved and did her best not to wish she'd shut her mouth when sensei had asked for volunteers.
A/N: And so concludes the catching up portion of the story. The next update will be a return to the regularly scheduled story, something I'm anxious to get back to. Thanks for having the patience to stick with me and thank you for all the reviews you sent my way. As I said I'd update faster for reviews I've kept my word and here it is. It's a joy to write a story people seem to be enjoying, thank you for reading.