When his mouth finally remembered that it could talk, the only thing Nawaki could say was: "That's impossible."
Because it was impossible. He had seen the chidori go straight through his mother's heart and out the other side, leaving an almost perfect circle. He'd seen Sasuke carelessly sling her body over his shoulder, and the pain in Naruto's eyes as they left. No one could repair that much damage to the heart, not unless they were a jinchuriki or had a yin seal activated. He was sure that his mother hadn't had the seal activated, and she had never once talked about jinchuriki. Logic told Nawaki that his mother was dead, but…
He believed Tsunade. He knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't help it. He had been so angry and miserable, and now he had a tiny bit of hope. He clung to it as hard as he could.
"Is she alive?" he whispered. Tsunade stared back at him, looking confused. "IS SHE ALIVE?"
"There's no need to yell brat." Tsunade scowled. "Sakura's alive. She's in a coma, but she's alive."
"How?" Nawaki asked, at loss for any other words.
Tusnade opened her mouth, but there was a cough from behind her. She turned around to where Sasuke was glaring up at her.
"If you don't mind, I'll take it from here. As you can see, I'm defending the village. So if you wouldn't mind putting your prejudice aside…" he gestured towards his bleeding stomach.
Tsunade harrumphed, but she knelt down and applied healing chakra to Sasuke's wound. Nawaki watched the two of them, wondering if he should stop her. Now that he knew his mother was alive, and it was clear that Obito had misled him, did he want to kill Sasuke anymore? He still didn't know.
Sasuke stared up at him coolly, one brow raised expectantly. Nawaki stared back at him blankly.
"Do you want to listen to my explanation or are you going to be idiotic and attack me again?"
Nawaki felt himself flush, but kept his face as expressionless as he could.
"Start talking." he said coldly.
One corner of Sasuke's mouth curled upwards for a second, but then his expression sobered.
"I see that neither Sakura nor Obito informed you of this. I know that Naruto didn't because of the rule, but since the other two were missing-nin…" he frowned. "I can understand why Sakura wouldn't want you to know, but Obito…" Sasuke shook his head angrily. "I don't know what that man was thinking, or why he wanted you to kill me so badly, but it doesn't matter. I can tell you the truth here Nawaki, but I doubt you'll like it."
"Tell me." Nawaki said immediately.
Sasuke stared up at him, before closing his eyes for a second. When he opened them, his sharingan was deactivated. Nawaki kept his ready; he still didn't trust Sasuke one bit.
"How much to you know about the Fourth Shinobi World War?"
Nawaki wanted to scream at him to just tell him how his mother had survived, but he knew that keeping his mouth shut would be smarter. Sasuke had the information, he didn't. So he needed to cooperate.
"I know that it was between the Allied Shinobi Forces and the
Akatsuki. Mom was a medic in the third division, a pretty high up one I think. Then later on, after Itachi defeated Kabuto, and everyone was fighting Obito and Madara, she healed the entire alliance. Naruto and Kakashi convinced Obito to switch sides at the last minute, but Madara betrayed him anyway and took control of the Ten-tails. Naruto and the shinobi defeated it, and Obito and Kakashi sealed Madara away in another dimension." Nawaki frowned. That was all that the Academy taught him, but he remembered Konohamaru telling him more. He racked his brains for every word Konohamaru had said. "After that, Naruto and the other seal masters split the Ten-tails up. They sealed the Seven-tails into one shinobi, and the rest into another. But the Ten-tails was too strong, so Konohamaru volunteered to become the Two-tails host. It wasn't supposed to be permanent but… something happened and Konohamaru became stuck with the Two-tails. You and Naruto decided to keep the identities of the jinchuriki a secret. That's all I know."
Sasuke nodded slowly, brows pinched in thought.
"We passed a law." he said "That all the shinobi who knew about the identities weren't allowed to reveal them to anyone, not even their own children. We kept the names out of the Academy history books, and we only planned to put them in once they were dead. We tried so hard to make it as easy as possible, and for the most part, we succeeded." He locked eyes with Nawaki "Since you already know Konohamaru is the Two-Tails, I might as well tell you that Hinata is the Seven-Tails. At first, people were wary of her, but you've met Hinata. Eventually, they had to accept that she wasn't going to lose control and destroy the village anytime soon."
Nawaki nodded. It made sense that Hinata would be a jinchuriki. She was calm and kind, but had a steel core. Perfect for a jinchuriki.
"Who's the Ten-tails?" he asked, surprised by how curious he was about all this. Already thoughts of his mother had been pushed to the side slightly.
Sasuke's face became scarily calm.
"Unfortunately, the Ten-tails jinchuriki was a very different story. Since there were so many capable seal masters, as well as a ton of Kyubi chakra available, Hinata survived the sealing of the Seven-tails. But with the remaining Biju, it was a lot harder. There were no new-born children that they could use, and so they needed someone with huge chakra reserves. Gaara was considered, but after everything he had gone through as a child, Naruto decided not to burden him again. Luckily, there was one young woman with enough chakra to survive the sealing. Unlike Hinata, she wasn't calm or composed. She frequently lashed out when angry, especially at Naruto. Obviously, the villagers didn't like that their Hokage was being hurt by the same monster that had killed their brethren, even though Naruto himself didn't mind. There was a lot of animosity towards her in the village, which helped the Ten-tails influence her. Unlike the other Biju, the Ten-tails was not rational enough to cooperate with us. All it wanted was to destroy its host, and it became a constant battle between the two of them, which wasn't helped by the villagers' anger. Eventually, she snapped."
"What happened?" Nawaki asked.
Sasuke smiled sadlyup at him, and suddenly Nawaki understood. It all connected in his head, but, like he had become so used to doing, he pushed it down and ignored it, convinced himself that he was jumping to conclusions. He would wait until Sasuke said her name.
"Nawaki, Sakura was the Ten-tails jinchuriki."
So that was that then.
Nawaki proceeded to completely freak out.
"That's ridiculous and impossible. You almost had me for a minute, but you completely ruined it at the end. Tell me the real reason why my mother survived, not some bullshit you made up just now."
"He's telling the truth, brat." Tsunade said, her voice gentle despite the insult.
Nawaki shook his head furiously.
"No, no, that's not possible. I was by her side for seven years, and she never once mentioned the Ten-tails. I'm her son why wouldn't she tell me?"
"Because it was everything she was running from." Sasuke interrupted. "It was building up for a long time, and her one night stand with me was the last straw I suppose. She snapped and ran. Maybe she found out she was pregnant, but I doubt it. You weren't old enough for her to sense."
"She can't be a jinchuriki. That's ridiculous… She's Sakura!"
"Why is it ridiculous?" Sasuke asked calmly "She had enough chakra in her Yin seal to survive the sealing, although it was a close call. Naruto didn't want to put it in her at first, but it's not like everyone was stepping up to volunteer, and she was the best they had at the time. Perhaps I would have been better, but I wasn't there at the time. She's the Ten-tails jinchuriki. It's the main reason why she left the village, and why we needed to get her back. We handled the loss as best we could for twelve years, but the other villages were getting more and more paranoid. They didn't trust us anymore, and if we didn't get her back, they would probably have gone to war against us. That's why I did what I had to. I couldn't let her escape again, and I couldn't let the Ten-tails take over. You saw what happened to her when we fought. That was the Ten-tails influence." He held up his arms, which were covered in a range of complex seals. "Naruto spent weeks preparing these seals and drawing them onto my skin. When I stuck my hand through her heart, I absorbed most of the Ten-tails chakra. There were enough traces left for her to survive the journey home, but she's currently in a coma. The doctors don't know when she'll recover."
"I…" Nawaki finally admitted defeat. Sasuke had trapped him in a corner, and he had no choice but to accept the fact that his mother was a jinchuriki. A former jinchuriki now, thanks to Sasuke. Although it still seemed ridiculous to him, there was no actual proof that Sasuke was wrong. The more Nawaki thought about it, the more sense it made.
"I see." he said slowly. "So… what happens now?"
!
After a minute, Hisa realised that Naruto was still gripping her elbow. She turned away from Hinata and stared at him. He stared back patiently, until she finally gathered her thoughts.
"Dad!" Hisa gasped "Dad, Obito killed Kawa! He also killed…" She bit her lip and glanced in the direction of her brother's corpse. Naruto kept his eyes on her, but Hinata turned. She let out an agonized scream when she saw her son.
"Hinata," Naruto said, still scarily calm. "Go. Get Obito and go."
Hinata didn't argue. She took off across the field, a desperate look on her face as she raced towards her son.
"He's dead." Hisa said quietly. "That bastard killed Obito and because I didn't get the Mangekyo, he kept fighting. Then I managed to kill him, but he sacrificed his sharingan to stay alive. He was going to torture me, but then Kawa-" a mixture of a cough and a sob escaped her. "-Kawa fought him, and he killed Kawa too. Then I… I don't know. I got the Mangekyo and I flipped. I didn't recognize Mom, or you. I don't know what's happening to me…" Another sob "I think I'm going crazy. I just can't handle how easy it was for him to kill them off. I-"
"Hisa." Naruto interrupted, his voice slightly gentler than it had been before, "Hisa, just calm down. You're fine. I've got you, and you're ok. It's going to be alright. You fought great, but I need you to get behind that boulder. I'm going to go all out against Obito, so get to cover, ok? I'm going to end this."
Normally, she would argue, she would want to stand and fight by his side. But right now, she didn't think that she was strong enough, both mentally and physically. Naruto let go of her arm, and it flopped to her side. She gave her father a weak smile, before turning and running over to the boulder. She refused to look at Obito. Whatever rage had taken over her before, she didn't want to trigger it again.
!
Naruto watched Obito closely. He stared interestedly at Hisa as she ran. Only when she was behind the boulder and blocked from his view did he turn to Naruto. He never lost the smug grin on his face.
"Naruto Uzumaki finally decides to stop letting his subordinates die and fights me himself. I have to say, I'm surprised it took you this long. Being Hokage mellowed you out, it seems."
Naruto's gaze never wavered, and he made his face as calm as possible.
"Shut up."
A cloak of Kyubi chakra flared around him, and in a flash he was behind Obito. He kicked Obito in the back as hard as he could, and the man went flying. Naruto didn't give him a chance to recover. Before Obito could even hit the ground, Naruto jumped over to him and punched him in the stomach. Obito crashed into the ground and kept going, causing the earth around him to crack.
Naruto punched Obito again and again, not giving him a chance to recover. Eventually, he had to stop and catch his breath. He stared down at the unmoving form below him, breathing heavily. He was furious, and he didn't care anymore if Obito knew. Pretending not to have emotions was Sasuke's speciality anyway. He stared down at Obito, waiting for him to move. A minute passed, then another, and just when Naruto was convinced he was dead, Obito smirked.
The smirk turned into a chuckle, which turned into a full-blown laugh. Naruto had barely time to take a breath before Obito's razor sharp knuckles caught him in the stomach. He felt himself be pushed upwards and off Obito, and he felt blood come out of his mouth, but he didn't feel any pain. He tried to stand, but suddenly his arm gave way, and he collapsed on the ground. He raised his head just in time to see Obito climb out and dust himself off.
"I'm quite disappointed really." Obito said nonchalantly "If all it takes to immobilize you is a bit of Asura Path poison, you have no right to call yourself Hokage." He smirked. "Every time you hit me, you also hit a poisoned needle. Of course, the chakra coat blocked the first few, but you just kept at it. When you start fighting out of anger, you don't want to stop, do you?"
Naruto growled, but he still couldn't move. He could feel Kurama's chakra flowing through his body, destroying the poison as quickly as it could, but he had no idea how long it would take. Already, he could feel pins and needles in the tips of his fingers, but his arm wouldn't move.
Casually, oh so casually, Obito made his way over to the boulder Hisa was hiding behind. Naruto watched desperately as he paused, then quickly darted behind the boulder. There was a cry, a crunching sound, and the sound of a kunai hitting metal, before Obito emerged. One hand pinned both of Hisa's arms while the other had become a knife that was being held to her throat. Her eyes frantically scanned the area until they landed on Naruto. He tried to give her a reassuring smile, but his face muscles still wouldn't work.
Hurry up, he mentally begged Kurama. The fox snorted back.
"What did you do to him?" Hisa gasped. "You bastard! What did you do to him?"
"Calm yourself child." Obito said patronisingly "It's just some poison. I've no doubt that it'll be gone in a few minutes, but then again, it could be fatal. It all depends on the strength of the Kyubi chak- oof!"
Naruto watched as Obito doubled over, clutching his privates. Hisa used the distraction to grab his arm and push it away before he could slit her throat. She kicked off his knee and flipped over his head, keeping a grip on his arm. With a cry, she flipped him over her head and into a boulder.
Naruto found that his facial muscles were working again, as he was grinning. That's my girl.
She ran over to him.
"Dad! Are you ok? Say something!"
Naruto tried, but all he could do was smile. His throat felt too dry, and his vocal chords weren't working. Through sheer strength of will, he managed to give her a thumbs-up with his right hand. She grinned back, relieved.
Suddenly, her eyes went wide, and an unseen force pulled her backwards, straight into Obito's hand. He didn't waste any time, slashing both her legs, before dumping her on the ground. She immediately tried to stand, and her legs crumpled beneath her.
"I've cut your Achilles tendon in each leg." Obito stated coldly, before delivering a vicious kick to her ribs. Naruto found that he could move his right arm again and slowly began to inch his way forward.
"Before I take my leave, I want you to learn some Mangekyo Sharingan techniques." Obito stated, his voice devoid of emotion.
Hisa glared up at him, her eyes watering in pain.
"Are you still going on about that? What the hell is wrong with you? None of this makes any sense!"
He kicked her again, and Naruto heard a crack. He forced his left hand to move as well, and steadily pushed himself along the ground towards Hisa and Obito.
"Perhaps not to one as ignorant as you, but rest assured I have my reasons. Now then, I think you should learn Amaterasu first. I've been training Nawaki, but he doesn't seem to have that ability. I'm sure you can learn it quickly enough."
"Fuck off!" Hisa snarled up at him.
Obito placed his foot on her ribcage and pushed down. Hisa thrashed about for a full minute before finally screaming.
That was it for Naruto. He felt his blood begin to boil, the way it had when Pein had hurt Hinata. The Kyubi chakra surged through his system in one powerful swoop, destroying any traces of the poison.
That's going to hurt
you later on. Kurama warned, but Naruto was past caring. He extended his senses and found a Sage Mode clone that was gathering natural chakra. He quickly released it, letting the chakra come back into his body and merge with the Kyubi chakra. He sprang back up and raced towards Obito, his eyes promising death.
Obito gave Hisa one final kick before turning to face him, smug smirk still on his face.