Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Chapter 55: Not All That Different Afterall
Situational awareness was incredibly important in his line of work. It was the first real lesson taught in the academy. Humans have two ears, two eyes, two nostrils, and only one mouth. To him, the reason is very clear. Humans - particularly shinobi - must rely on their eyes, ears, and nose more than their mouths. Being cognizant of your environment could be the difference between being alive and not being alive. It was that simple. It was the first lesson. It was an important lesson. It boggled his mind how many shinobi, not just people, forgot that lesson.
He set his expression into a hardline. Fugaku sent chakra through his legs. He pushed the oblivious blond out of the way just as the building crumbled and landed right on top of him. He covered his head as the concrete and rebar swallowed him whole.
Inoichi covered his eyes. He was on his backside. He looked on in shock as the building collapsed in the spot he should have been, the spot he had been. The blond shot to his feet.
"Over here! Now!" He shouted over the sound of the settling debris. He began to pick the boulder off of the pile.
"Damn it, Uchiha!" Inoichi cursed as his desperation grew. He had spaced out for a second. The lack of sleep, caffeine crash, and chakra over-expenditure were all starting to catch up with him. The handful of soldier pills he had on an empty stomach certainly did not help matters in that regard either. He was right in the middle of crashing. It was no excuse. He was a jonin. He should have been paying attention.
He saw more hands come out and help him clear the rubble. They worked quickly. Choza carried two to three rocks by himself. They saw a dusty hand first. They continued to pull away. An arm was revealed. Then another arm. Ionichi let out a breath when they found his head. He was bleeding. He placed the slug on Fugaku's torso. The small collective of shinobi waited with bated breath for the slug to give any indication of anything.
"Come on, Uchiha. You're not going to let a chunk of concrete be your demise are you?" Ionichi asked rhetorically in a harsh tone. He felt Choza pat him on the shoulder. He supposed the gesture was supposed to be reassuring but in the moment Inoichi was annoyed by it. It could very easily be misconstrued as a pat on the back for killing yet another Uchiha.
"He's alive," the slug announced.
"You heard her!" Inoichi ordered the excavation to continue. They worked to clear the rest of the rubble from around him. The Yamanaka grabbed his legs as Choza grabbed his arms. They laid him flat on the ground. More shinobi placed their personal Katsuyus on his frame. He had three working on him at once.
He was a mess of dust and blood. He could only take Katsuyu's word for it because from where he stood, Fugaku looked more like dirt than man.
Inoichi took a step back. He watched with crossed arms as the summon worked. He refrained from tapping his foot on the ground in impatience. His mistake did not warrant pressuring the summon to speed up the process.
He kept his teal eyes trained on Fugaku's face.
They did not bother to hide their approach. The east wall of the compound had been obliterated into tiny pieces. The entirety of the Main and Branch houses had been shaken to their foundations. There was no time to evacuate. They were here.
Hizashi looked at the three attackers, three Uchiha, past his outheld hand. He, being the most capable in combat left in the compound from either house, had offered to buy them time. Shinji, a member of the Main house, had taken the responsibility upon himself. He, along with his son, five-year-old Daiki, and the others had already left.
At least that was what he thought. Hizashi kept himself between the Uchiha and the Hyuga Matriarch. She was rooted in place, frozen by fear. She was originally with the evacuation group but they had to leave her and Hinata behind. Neji, his son, refused to go without Hinata who had involuntarily decided to freeze in response to the danger, just like her mother. He could not fault the matriarch. She was not a kunoichi. He could not realistically expect her to withstand the overwhelming bloodlust that was coming off the Uchiha. It was almost enough to topple him over. Hinata was young. It was not her fault. She only had a month of academy under her belt. Nothing she learned could have prepared her to deal with this.
Hizashi's eyes briefly scanned the grounds. It was littered with craters caused by his jutsu. The craters along with the Uchiha's high-powered jutsu had caused instability around them. It would not be safe to remain in the compound much longer.
"Remember, don't hurt the females." The leader amongst the three, a man he recognized from the academy, told the other two.
"And the kid?" The thin-faced Uchiha's eyes darted over to the direction Neji was.
Hizashi's blood ran cold.
"Kill him." The leader spoke again.
Hizashi controlled himself as one of the assailants moved to run right past him and directly to Neji. Blue chakra surrounded his fists. He jumped in the air to intercept him. His twin lion fist enveloped the Uchiha with a thin face. He crumpled to the ground.
Hizashi looked over his shoulder at his son for a fraction of a second. Neji was holding a determined stance. The veins of his Kekkei Genkai bulged around his eye sockets. He turned back to the remaining two Uchiha with pride in his eyes.
'Forgive me, Neji.'
He would be fine. Neji would not suffer the same fate he did. He was going to make sure of it. He started to spin as the Uchiha launched a coordinated attack.
A bubble of blood burst from his mouth. His eyes widened as he looked at the tip of a blood-coated nail that had impaled him. It happened so fast. Almost as fast as how the Hokage moved. Maybe that was why he was able to anticipate it. He had made it in time. A slow grin broke out on his face.
Minato himself had been too late. He was simply too far. It took two kunai throws to get to them. Maybe he could have cleared it if he had gotten around to adding seals to the kunai Joben had made for him. Maybe he could have saved him.
Minato looked at his friend with remorse on his face. It was bad. The nail had gone straight through his shoulder and chest like it was nothing. His armor had poised next to no resistance. Maybe it slowed down the Kyuubi a fraction. He knew it was a long shot but he could not leave him to die without giving him a chance. Minato placed Katsuyu on the left side of the samurai's body, where he was still whole.
Minato flashed. He used more of his precious chakra. He pinpointed the location of the seal. The world stabilized again. He looked at Rin grimly. She got up on her feet quickly when she registered his face.
"Rin, I need you to come with me."
Rin nodded without hesitation. She grabbed her kit. Minato slung a couple more of the idle slugs on his body. Joben would need all the help he could get. Minato clasped Rin's shoulder. The world blended again.
Rin stumbled as everything around her lurched. She vaguely registered the sensation of her stomach dropping. She never got used to traveling like this. Her brown eyes opened wide when she saw the situation. Minato placed the slugs on Joben's chest. They went to work immediately.
"Do your best," he told Rin as he vanished once again. Rin looked at the fox in stupefied shock. A singular claw nail was almost as big as she was in her entirety. She was so close to the bloodthirsty beast. She narrowed her eyes and looked closer as the shock began to recede.
He seemed to be in a trance of some kind. He was not moving. She tilted her head up to find the reason why. It was Itachi. He was controlling the fox. Her eyes widened. She gently moved the hysterical Kushina away from Joben's chest. She had all but a quarter of a minute to see - through the three slugs - where to focus her efforts.
She brought her hands together and began to heal his injuries with the Kyuubi still attached to him. If she could stabilize him enough this way when the nail was pulled out she could close the rest. It was slim but there was a chance.
She ignored the broken utterances coming out of Kushina. She had a job to do and she was going to do it. She, and by extension Joben, could not afford the slightest of distractions.
He had just reacted. He saw the other end of the fox. Her movements were still sluggish from her ordeal. She would never make it out in time. He moved to be her shield. It was the least he could do. Kushina stared at him with a slack jaw. She was crying. She hoovered behind Rin. She held his face. She had enough sense in her mind not to obstruct Rin's work.
Joben looked down at her in confusion. There were chains coming out of her. He looked back. The Kyuubi was temporarily immobilized. She really was amazing. He turned to look at her violet eyes. His dimpled smile made another appearance. His teeth were smeared with blood.
"Jo-ben," she said his name in between sobs. "Why?"
'Because I love you'. That was what he wanted to say but the only sound that came out of his throat was wet raspy breathing. She sobbed louder.
Rin pressed her face into a firm line. She pumped her chakra into him as fast as she could. Katsuyu's silence was telling.
His feet landed on the ground softly. The air was thick and it was dark. He blinked as his eyes adjusted. His blond hair was like a beacon in the sea of black. He spotted him asleep on the floor. Minato ignored the surprised utterances of the occupants of the house. His white cloak rustled as he moved with long, even strides. He only had one thing on his mind. He needed to get to his son. He needed Naruto.
He recognized Mikoto. She stood up hastily. Others were standing too. Mikoto's eyes searched his face wildly. She was incredibly rattled.
"Hokage-sama?" She asked him in a state of shock. He supposed they wanted answers of some kind. But he did not have time for that now.
"I'm taking Naruto." He said tersely. "Thank you for taking such good care of him." His eyes registered the bandage on his knee.
"Why?" Mikoto asked him with hesitation. "What's happening?"
"It will all be over soon," Minato assured her. He reached for his son. He was asleep. It would be easier that way. Minato put a quick genjutsu on him to ensure he would stay that way a little longer. He lifted him up against his shoulder. He supported Naruto's head with the back of his hand.
Something about the act did not sit right with her. Mikoto did not know what overcame her. She grabbed his forearm.
"Minato, you can't." She pleaded with him.
"It's the only way." He clenched his jaw. "I need to go."
Any and all additional words died in her throat. She saw the torment in his eyes. She did not need to make it harder than it already was. She let go of his arm. He was gone. It was as if he were never here. Only the absence of Naruto proved that he was in fact here, even if it was for less than thirty seconds. Her heart broke for him and for her friend.
"Okaasan?" She turned mutely as Sasuke rubbed his eyes. "Where is Naruto?" Sasuke asked as he looked around for the blond.
"With his Otosan," Mikoto said sadly. She hugged the confused Sasuke close to her. She cried silently into his hair.
Something was wrong. She wiped the sweat from her brow with her forearm. Sakura groaned loudly.
"I need a medic," she said in between pants. She could feel it. Something was not right.
A set of frantic footsteps left the room. She stubbornly remained on her feet. She felt like she was dying and she had some experience with what that felt like. Only now she was completely unable to do anything. She was exposed, and vulnerable. She was dependent on someone else to find out what was wrong.
Her water had broken not even an hour ago. Things were progressing too quickly. She should not be at this stage yet for another several hours at the earliest and that was being aggressive. At the rate this was going, the baby would be giving Minato a run for his money when it came to speeding through things. She should have been thankful that it was not shaping up to be a nineteen-hour torture-fest that was her labor with Naruto, she would have been if it were not for the fact that something was very wrong.
Sakura clenched her teeth to keep from screaming out in pain. The contractions were so much worse than the ones she experienced the first time she gave birth. Or maybe she was misremembering just how awful this whole ordeal was. It did not help that she had an audience. It only made the already uncomfortable experience all the more uncomfortable.
'You'll be fine, Flower-chan.'
She could not help but disagree. Tsunade just a few days ago had said everything was fine. But she knew her body. This was not fine. Something had changed when she used her chakra and had only gotten progressively worse as time went on. The kicks were in a different place. She just needed someone to examine her and tell her what was going on. She did not want platitudes. She wanted a status report. She wanted accuracy. She wanted the truth.
Sakura walked towards the window. She stopped twice in the short distance. She looked at the light sky made dark still by the smoke. It was only the work of the barrier team that kept the fire away from the hospital. There were simply too many sick people to move in such a short amount of time.
Sakura rubbed the back of her neck. Her mind was the first to revolt against her and now her body was following suit. It just felt like after the first domino everything had been going wrong. She ignored Owl's eyes on her. She could not help but wonder why it was taking so long to find a medic.
Was the hospital really that backed up? How many were injured? What was happening outside? She was left to the devices of her mind to fill in the blanks and she had a very active imagination.
The air in the room shifted. Her left arm started to tingle from her shoulder down to her elbow. She knew that numbing sensation all too well. The seal pulsed. She turned her head. Two faces came into focus.
"Minato!" She made to move towards them but a contraction stopped her. She clenched her stomach. She squeezed her eyes together. He rushed to her. His cloak was filthy.
"Sakura," he looked at her with a deep sadness in his eyes. "I guess it's time huh?"
"Yeah," she breathed heavily. "He couldn't wait."
"He?" Minato asked with slight surprise on his face. The emotions swimming in his eyes were too many to try to read.
"Akemi-hime let it slip. She can't keep a secret to save her life." She looked at him. "What are you doing here?" Her heart told her she was not going to like the answer. Especially not with Naruto in his arms. At least she knew for a fact now that both were safe.
"Sakura," He looked at her with remorse and regret. Her stomach sank to the floor. She could feel her heart pulsing in her chest.
"Please don't say it," she whispered as she suddenly felt like her knees could not support her anymore.
Minato snaked an arm around her waist. He kept her up. "I need to seal the Kyuubi in Naruto."
Sakura's heart froze. Denial was her knee-jerk reaction.
"No. Absolutely not." She shook her head. She looked down at Naruto's sleeping face in front of her. "No," he could ask her anything else and she would say yes. Anything but this.
"Sakura, it's the only way. We don't have much time. I need your okay before I do this." He pleaded with her to understand.
"You don't have it." She shot back stubbornly. Her jade eyes blazed with defiance. "Seal it in me. I was supposed to be the container. Use me instead." Her voice completely lost its edge towards the end. She was begging him.
"We can't wait that long. We have minutes - if that - not hours." His voice broke.
She could see the call weighed heavily on him. He never would have brought it up if there was another way. She knew that for a fact.
'It's okay,' she told herself. 'It's not the end of the world. We'll be here to help him through it.'
"Who's doing the sealing?" She searched his eyes. Hers closed when she recognized the look in his. "Minato, no," her head moved side to side quickly.
"Sakura, please," he begged her.
"Tsunade can help, Jiraiya is here. Rin, Shizune, Kushina, a Hyuga! Take Ox. Take Owl. Anyone in the hospital." Her voice broke as tears streamed down her eyes. "I don't care who. Take your pick!"
Minato regarded her with sadness in his eyes. "Sakura, Jiraiya is out of chakra, Rin is busy keeping Joben alive. Kushina should be in the hospital recovering. Tsunade is healing the whole village. Ox and Owl do not know Fūinjutsu. There's no one. There's no time. It has to be this way."
Her throat constricted. It was painful to even swallow air, much less anything else. She squeezed her eyes together as another contraction hit. She bit her tongue. She leaned against his shoulder. She could hear his heart beating. He was so calm. It was unbelievable. She turned to face Naruto. She took in his sleeping face. He looked so peaceful and worry-free. He was completely oblivious to the fact that his parents were about to do something that could completely change the trajectory of his life. He was completely oblivious to the sacrifice he was being forced to make.
He held her close. Sakura rested her hand on the back of Naruto's head. She could not believe what she was allowing to be done to her son. And she was going to lose her husband in the process. He did not have to live with the consequences of their decision.
"No," she sobbed. She brushed the hair from his small forehead. She did not want to believe it. "This can't be happening. Nothing's changed." She was heartbroken.
"You gave me six years with him. You gave me two children, You gave me a beautiful life." Minato held her steady as she shook. "He will have you. He will have his brother. He will have the village behind him. So much is different." He pressed his cheek against her damp forehead. "He'll have everything."
"He won't have you." She wailed. She doubled over as a contraction hit. He kept her on her feet. "I never wanted to do this without you." She whispered.
"I know," he swallowed thickly. "I'm sorry."
He could hear the clock ticking loudly in his ears. It was ticking down the amount of time they had. The amount of seconds of breath he had left. He wanted to spend every single last one of them with her but the fox was his destiny. His dying because of the Kyuubi seemed like his fate. The beast was to be his demise, his undoing. No matter how much they worked, she worked, to fight it.
"He won't be alone," Minato answered the silent question on her face.
She was probably picturing it in her head. Naruto waking up from his sleep with nothing but his body next to him. That would not happen. He would make sure that did not happen. It was the one memory he would happily take from Naruto. Just like how he was taking the possibility of all the rest with him.
"They'll bring him back to you," Minato promised her.
She breathed deeply. She did not have the strength to ask who 'they' was. She thought not for the first time how things would have been different if she was not pregnant. Even if it was as small of a change as her being the one to carry her son back.
"Please Sakura," he begged yet again.
"I love you." She said in a broken manner. The look in his eyes destroyed her.
He closed his eyes. He felt the baby kick him rapidly three times in a row. He exhaled slowly. He cherished the moment that he held his family. He burned this moment into his memory.
"I love you." He swallowed. He blinked back the tears. "You'll be alright. You'll be fine. All of you will."
Tears leaked down her face. "I didn't mean it like this." She hated how he was using her words to convince her. She had only said that so he would not feel guilty for leaving. "That was different, Minato. This is different. I need you."
"I need you too." He inhaled deeply. The scent of her shampoo brought him comfort. "I'm sorry I couldn't give you a girl. I'm sorry we never went on our honeymoon. I'm sorry I couldn't keep my word."
She shook her head. "Minato, please," her voice broke off into a sob. Her breathing was dangerously close to becoming more like hyperventilation. She turned her face into his shoulder. Her fingers were losing circulation from how tight she held him.
He buried his face in her hair. She was tearing him up from the inside.
"I want you to be happy. I don't want you to be alone. I want you to move on."
She shook her head against him. His flak jacket became damp from her tears.
"No, never."
What she felt for him she could not for another. She only had one heart and it was his completely. She did not want it back. She had nothing left to give. She could not put it into words. Her anguish was too great and her composure was completely gone. He was the articulate one. All she could do was hold him and cry. He was it for her. There was no going back. No one could possibly compare and she did not care to find out.
"You can and you will." It was only the second time he said those words to her in that order, in that tone. Only this time, the words burned like acid in his throat and on his tongue. But he pushed through. The only thing worse than not growing old with her was the thought of her growing old all alone.
"Just wait a respectable mourning period. A month should be good enough." He laughed. It sounded broken even to his own ears.
She made a pained sound. It was not a snort nor a laugh. It was halfway between a sigh and a sob. She did not want to talk about this anymore.
She still could not bring herself to look at him. She inhaled deeply through her running nose. She could faintly smell the familiar scent she was used to, under the layers of sweat, dirt, and blood. She wanted to engrain the way he smelled in every single one of her cells. If only she could.
"What do you want to name him?" She asked from against his shoulder. Her insides crumbled.
"Manato," he answered with decisiveness.
"Okay." She pressed her lips against the back of Naruto's head before kissing her husband.
It was far too short. A contraction had her screaming. Minato helped her to the bed. Sakura looked at his anguished face.
"I'll be okay." She comforted him. She dried her tears. She did not want his last memory of her to be of her crying. "We'll be okay."
"This is not forever, Sakura." He used his hand to clear away the pink hair from the sides of her face.
"It's not for forever," she whispered as she leaned into his touch. She clung on desperately to that sentiment. It filled her with a modicum of composure and reassurance.
"I'll be waiting for you." His eyes glistened with unshed tears. "As many lifetimes it takes for the next time we meet." He was willing to wait as long as it took for him to earn enough good karma for their reunion. "Just don't be in a hurry to follow after me."
"We'll see each other again," tears dripped down to her neck. She inhaled deeply through her mouth. "I won't rush. We'll be fine." She was reassuring herself every bit as she reassured him.
"Goodbye, Sakura." His voice broke. Tears broke free from his beautiful cobalt eyes. She brushed them away with a steady hand. He kissed her palm. Her scar pricked. She closed her eyes when she felt his lips on her forehead. Her insides shook. His eyes said everything that he could not physically bring himself to say. Their intensity dried up her throat.
"I love you."
"Goodbye, Minato." She tried to smile but it ended up resembling a broken grimace making it all the more sadder. It would have been better if she simply cried. "I love you too." She used the side of her hand to wipe away the residual tears. She sniffled.
He pressed a hand on her stomach. "Goodbye, Manato. I love you". She held back a cry as he kissed her stomach.
Tears stun in his eyes as teleported back to the Kyuubi it was not before he heard a howl of pain escape Sakura's throat. He had left his heart behind with her otherwise it would have shattered in his chest.
She curled into the smallest ball she could form. Sakura wrapped her arms around her. The gesture brought her next to no comfort. How could it? It was as if she could feel her soul being torn away from his. She was hurting so badly. It was indescribable how she was feeling. She thought she knew emotional pain, she thought last night was bad, but it was nothing compared to what she was feeling right now.
Thinking that Minato wanted to leave her was nothing compared to this. The thought of him dying, living with the fact that he was dead was a fate worse than death. If he had just left her, her sons would still have their father in their lives. They would have his love and his presence in their life. Now, that was taken from them.
Naruto would forget what he sounded like. Naruto would forget his voice. Naruto would forget his face. Naruto would forget nearly everything. Minato would just be nothing more than a memory. And poor Manato would have not even that. He would have a hollow shell for a mother and a traumatized brother.
If he had just left her, she would at least see him still. Their lives were forever linked because of the children they shared. She would have made peace with seeing him in passing. Asking how he was. Maybe they could even figure out how to be friends.
If he had just left her, there still would have been hope because he was alive. Now all her hope was gone. He would be gone.
She fisted her hands against her eyes. She was beside herself. She needed to be sedated. It was insane. She had just said goodbye to the love of her life. Her son, sons, were about to lose their father. And there was not a damned thing she could do to stop it. She sobbed until there was nothing left in her anymore.
How stupid and insensitive she had been to Tsume? How easy was it for her to say that the woman would be fine? Sakura felt as if her whole world was imploding on itself. He was going to sacrifice himself for their family, for the village, for her. He was doing all that for her and she could not even grant him his wish. She had just gotten him back. They were just finding their way back to each other and now he was about to be gone for the unforeseeable future.
How was she ever going to be fine again? How was she going to do this on her own? When her world only existed in large part because of him.
She looked past the medic as silent tears continued to freefall from her eyes. His brown orbs stared into her unfocused ones. He saw the devastation. There was nothing he could do on that front so he focused on what he could do. He could give her some answers.
He brought his glowing hands to her stomach. His forehead became overrun with lines. They instantly aged him ten years. There was genuine concern on his face.
"Haruno-sama," Sakura's green irises rose to meet his. She repeatedly pinched the skin of the inside of her wrist to force herself to focus. She had to try to be present for Manato. She was the only parent he would have. She recognized the medic. It was Tanaka Ryo. The field medic she had been so jealous of.
"Haruno-sama, the baby -"
Sakura shut her eyes as she felt a warm substance splatter across the right side of her face. Her heart raced when her pink lashes parted from each other. She could hear her breath. Fear pricked at her.
He never finished his sentence. A kunai lodged in his head, it had entered through his temple. He slid down the wall, loudly. Squeaking the whole way down. Sakura heard two more bodies drop. Sakura turned her head. Her wide jade eyes took in the situation. She sat up as quickly as she could. Ox and Owl could not protect her. She was here. And Sakura was all on her own.
'Sakura!' Akemi's alarmed voice called out the warning too late.
The hairs on the back of Sakura's neck stood on end. She had taken down two ANBU so quickly that she had no hope. She would be dead before she even had a chance to utter a sound.
She could not let that happen. Naruto would not be an orphan. That was one thing that could not happen again. She had to put up a fight. Sakura tried to put as much distance between herself and Spider. She pressed up against the headboard of the cot. Adrenaline muted the pain of the contractions.
Her magenta mask stared back at her eerily. Sakura snarled as Spider reached a hand for her stomach.
"Don't you dare touch me!" She screamed. Maybe someone would hear and come help her.
'Sakura!' Akemi's desperation fueled her own. There was nothing she could do for her. The price for using her light release was too steep, she could not pay it. Not after Minato's sacrifice.
Spider laughed. "Don't worry Sakura. I'm not going to hurt you."
Sakura glared at her. The metal headboard creaked. "What do you want? Why are you doing this?" Sakura shielded her stomach protectively with one arm from the ANBU.
"Isn't it obvious? You stole my life. So I'm taking everything from you." Spider cooed. "Is my niece or nephew ready to come out?" She clapped her hands. "I really want to meet them."
"Stay back!" Sakura ordered her. She curled her legs towards herself as much as she could. Her hand tightened around the bar.
"You're really in no position to be making demands," Spider said offhandedly, completely unbothered by Sakura's visceral reaction to the mere fact that she was in her presence. "Let me just see what we are dealing with -" she reached her gloved hand forward through what remained of her singed cloak.
Sakura pulled the metal bar from the frame. She swung it down on Spider's mask with everything she could muster. A contraction hit at the worst time, it affected her aim and her concentration. She heard a loud crack bounce off the walls. Her heart stopped. The mask cracked into two asymmetric parts. They fell to the floor loudly. The metal tube was bent out of shape. Sakura's eyes widened. The mask had to be reinforced with chakra. The blow should still have killed her. She should have aimed elsewhere. Anywhere else.
"You bitch," Spider spat out blood. It landed on the fabric of Sakura's red dress. "I think you broke something." She touched her gloved fingers to her brow. She felt her face gingerly. Blood trickled down from the left side of Spider's forehead. An unsightly bruise was beginning to develop right at the bone behind her left eyebrow.
Sakura inhaled sharply. It was one thing to know, it was completely different to witness. She stared at the blue eyes of Spider. They were her father's eyes, their father's eyes. She had more than just his eyes. She had his cheekbones and his chin. She even had his hair.
Spider looked at her shocked expression. "I'm sorry for calling you a name. I lost my temper." She smiled disarmingly. She was beautiful. Even with the blood and the bruising. "Hello, baby sister." Spider grinned at her. "My name is Sarina. Nice to meet you."
Sakura clung to the metal for dear life. It was all she had to protect herself. She could not completely rule out Spider - Sarina - poisoning her. She could not rule out anything at this point.
"Sakura," she said her name as if she were speaking to a child. "How about this, you give me the bar and I promise not to touch the baby?"
Sakura eyed her suspiciously. She kept the weapon close.
"I really can't talk to you when you get like this. You're not being reasonable," Sarina said with a sigh.
Sakura let out a scream. Her face contorted in pain. The bar crumpled in her hands, completely unusable.
Sarina looked at the clock. "Ten minutes apart. You're getting pretty close." She moved. "I would have been here sooner but I had to make sure our little chat wouldn't be interrupted." She said in a sing-song voice. "Minato was here for a while, what did you guys talk about?" Sarina was smiling from ear to ear. "Did you talk about me?"
"Go to hell," Sakura said in between pants.
"So I take it that it wasn't a very fun chat?" Sarina asked in a patronizing tone. "That's okay," she said in a very consoling voice. "I have something that will take your mind off of it."
Sakura felt Sarina fist her hand in her hair. She pulled Sakura up by it. The Haruno grunted weakly.
"I wanted to show you something." Sarina's grin was predatory.
The familiar sensation of being teleported overcame her. She would have fallen to her hands and knees if Sarina had not been holding her up by her hair. Sakura groaned. Her lips pulled back as another wave of pain hit her. It was impossible to stand upright. She doubled over. She sank to the ground.
"Look, Sakura. Look at your home." Sarina forced her to look up by pulling her hair. Her roots screamed in pain as Sakura compiled.
Sakura's pink locks obscured her vision. She blinked back the tears. The village was smoldering. The fire was gone but the smoke was heavy and thick in the blue sky.
"Why?" Sakura repeated brokenly. She was defeated. Sarina had won. Minato was going to die. She was at her mercy. Naruto would be an orphan once again and there was nothing she could do to stop it. It was all painfully clear now.
Sarina sighed deeply. "I already answered that, Little Bug." She said in a woeful tone. "But you are going through a lot right now so I suppose I could stand to be more patient."
Sakura winced as Sarina pulled her hair tighter at the crown of her head.
"You made me work for this. I don't mind. It made this all the more sweeter." The smugness in Sarina's voice made Sakura clench her teeth even tighter.
"At first, I just planned on killing Minato. Nothing personal. I actually really like him for you," Sarina said thoughtfully. "He proved that he was a hard one to kill but it was actually a blessing in disguise because later I found out you were pregnant!"
Sakura grunted as Sarina's hand tangled further into her locks.
"It was too good of an opportunity to pass up! It was almost as if the stars were all aligning for me the first time in my life." Sarina beamed as her blue eyes took in the pain on her sister's face. Sakura was listening to every word.
"So I decided on a new way to bring you down a couple of notches. You were getting obnoxious with how happy you were. I thought it would be fun to give you a first-hand look at what it is like to be abandoned while pregnant. So you could understand what my mother went through. The life that your existence condemned her to." Sarina clicked her tongue. "You certainly didn't like sharing Minato very much. Didn't your mommy and our daddy teach you to share?" She asked her in a mocking tone.
Sakura ignored the kunai that was pressed against her neck. She stayed still.
"You really should work on your impulse control and decision-making skills, Little Bug. They leave a lot to be desired." Sarina tutted. "You really put poor Minato through the wringer back there. I barely had to do anything to stir up conflict. You were so good at doing that all on your own."
Sakura closed her eyes. Her hands shook as she struggled to remain in control of her actions.
"But I got a little too complacent watching you burn everything around you, a little cocky. As it turns out Minato did not cooperate the way I wanted him to either, not fully anyway. I didn't want to force him to leave, there's no satisfaction in that. He decided to stay with you." Sarina sighed dramatically. "That really stung, I'll admit." She looked down at Sakura's head. "He's a good man you got there, baby sister. Real shame what's going to happen to him." She grinned with no remorse.
Sakura stubbornly blinked back the tears. She was not going to give Sarina the satisfaction she so desperately craved.
"He brought this on himself by choosing to stay." She concluded with a sigh. "Any questions?"
"Why Spi -" Sakura caught herself. "Why Sarina?" She repeated the question. The kunai poked hard enough to draw blood.
"Why what, Sakura?" Sarina shot back. Her patience was beginning to wane.
"Why involve the village? The Kyuubi when all you wanted was to hurt me?" Sakura asked her tightly.
"It was not just about hurting you. It was about tearing you down completely. This way I take away your husband and your closest friend. What does she call herself? Your big sister? Your onee-chan? Didn't you tell her you already have one?" Sarina smiled at her. A shiver went down Sakura's spine. "I'm a little hurt by that if I'm being honest." She was not. Sarina gave Sakura the impression that she was not hurt or honest.
"I didn't choose my circumstances any more than you did." Sakura knew it was a long shot but she had to try to appeal to her sense of reason. The woman had executed a plan flawlessly. She could not have done that if she was batshit crazy.
Sarina laughed bitterly. The kunai dug deeper. Sakura kept her eyes looking at the village down below.
"You were chosen. It's easy for you to say that. You had everything while I had nothing."
Sakura hissed in pain as yet another contraction arrived. She breathed shallowly and often.
"I was the default option. He didn't know about you." Sakura said through clenched teeth. She was running out of time.
Sarina scoffed. "It would have changed nothing if he knew. He had my whole life to find me."
Sakura narrowed her eyes. "He didn't have a choice. He didn't just leave you behind. He left everything behind."
Sarina stared down at her sister. It was a trick. It had to be a trick. Sakura was desperate. She would say anything to catch Sarina off guard. Despite her reservations, she was curious.
"What do you mean by that?" She said in a low voice.
Sakura smirked. "You didn't know? You went through all this trouble -" she was cut off by a pained scream. She panted. Sakura pinched her face together. She forced herself to continue. "He along with my mother and I were thrown forward in time soon after I was born. Twenty-two years forward."
"You're lying." Sarina accused emphatically. She tightened her grip on Sakura's hair. She pulled it back so that Sakura was forced to throw her head back. She looked into Sakura's green eyes. She only saw honestly in them.
"It's true. Daddy just didn't leave you. Daddy left everything. He was forced to." Sakura blinked slowly. She was beginning to see the cracks in Sarina's face. The emotion was starting to bleed through.
"No, you're lying. You're trying to trick me." Sarina denied the words even as the doubt began to creep up in her. She thought back to Minato telling her about meeting Sakura for the first time. He had told her that Sakura was a refugee. She knew at the time it was a lie.
"Madara didn't mention it?" She asked with feigned surprise.
A low growl ripped through Sarina's throat. Sakura saw the desire to kick her teeth in flash across Sarina's face.
"Shut up!" Sarina shouted. She took a moment to collect herself.
"Sarina," she grunted. "Our father was a terrible partner and husband. But he was a great dad. A really great dad. I know that if he knew - if he had an opportunity - he never would have abandoned you. It's just not in his nature." She was sweating profusely now. Her face grew more flushed. The dried blood was starting to feel tight every time her facial muscles moved.
Sarina shook her head rapidly. "No. I don't believe that." There was considerably less conviction in her tone.
"I need to lie down," Sakura said in a voice strained with pain.
"No," Sarina said firmly. "You will watch your husband die." She roughly pulled Sakura's hair - and thus her head - in the direction of the Kyuubi who was just off to the left. Sarina could still make out the details of his features.
"I can't," Sakura's voice broke. "The baby is coming." She warned her. Her hand moved to the bottom of her stomach. The other kept her balanced on the ground.
"You will, you will watch. Your baby will know what it is like to be abandoned. What it is like to grow up without a father's love." She pulled Sakura's hair. The pinkette grunted but she did not get up on her feet.
"He won't." Sakura smiled joylessly. "His father loves him. His father knew about him. His father talked to him. His father dreamed about him. His father would never have left him if he could have helped it. I'll make sure he knows that. He will never feel like what you felt."
Sarina's blue eyes blazed. Sakura stared up at them. Sarina's eyes may have been her father's but she never saw that expression in them before in her life.
"I'm in control here. Think twice before you try to make me angry."
"You're not going to kill me," Sakura said firmly.
Sarina narrowed her eyes. "I would not be so sure."
Sakura scoffed. "You could have killed me ten different ways before today. You could have killed me at any point prior to now. You want me alive. You want me to suffer. You want to prolong it. You want me to have to live with all of this pain and loss."
The wind wiped both of their hair up. Light pink with dark pink tresses danced in the air.
"You're obsessed with me." Sakura continued. She gritted her teeth as another contraction hit. They were practically on top of each other now. She was running out of time.
"That's not true," Sarina said adamantly.
"Isn't it? Isn't that why you named your only daughter after me? Haruno Sakura is a nice name." She smirked.
Sarina's grip on the kunai slacked. Sakura did not hesitate. She tore it from Sarina's hand. She held it in her hand. Sarina tightened the hold around Sakura's hair.
"You're not going anywhere." Sarina hissed.
It was funny that despite everything and all her accomplishments she found herself in the same exact position she was eighteen years ago. Logically, she knew she had come so far since then. But at the moment it was not all that different. There were more similarities than differences. Her skills and strength did not matter at all. She was still reacting. She was still powerless to change so much. She was still holding out hope that someone would find her and come to save her.
There was no Rock Lee ready to throw himself in front of Spider. There was no Uchiha Sasuke ready to rip Spider limb from limb in retribution for hurting her. But there was Haurno Sakura. With her head bowed, trapped in the hands of an enemy. Sakura looked at the kunai. She saw her eyes being reflected back at her. They looked so dead. So defeated. The eyes in the kunai had given up.
She pushed away the thoughts. She ignored the voices.
Her hand tightened around the hilt. She inhaled deeply. With one swift motion, she cut her locks and freed herself from Sarina's grasp. She caught herself with her hands. Pink fluttered in the breeze. Her long locks fell to the ground. She spared them one brief sad glance.
'I'm sorry Minato, Hime.'
Sakura's emerald eyes raised to meet Sarina's cool ones. She pointed a kunai at Sarina. "Don't come closer." She warned her.
"What are you going to do with one kunai?" Sarina taunted her.
"It's not what I'm going to do. It's what you're going to do." Sakura winced. She pressed a hand to her side.
Sarina stared at her with untrusting features. "What am I going to do?"
Sakura stared at her with the utmost seriousness. "Manato, the baby, is in breech. You're going to cut him out of me."
Sarina stared at her with a slack face. She could not believe her ears.
Kushina stared at the sleeping Naruto in Minato's arms. "I would not wish this on my worst enemy, Minato." She pleaded with him.
"Neither would I, Kushina." He admitted grimly. He stared at the stunned fox. His hand caressed the side of Naruto's face. "I'm sorry, Naruto." His eyes were soft, much like his tone which was barely above a whisper. "I love you." He pressed his lips against Naruto's temple. He gently lowered Naruto to the ground.
"Then how can you do this to your son, your own son?" She looked at him exasperated.
The display has done nothing to appease the righteous anger she felt. They had pulled Joben from the nail. Rin and the slugs were healing him. She was not hopeful. She could not help him now but she could stop Minato. She could still save Naruto.
"He will be fine. He will overcome it." Minato's jaw ached from being clenched so much. He looked back at Itachi. He could not hold the Kyuubi forever.
"I won't let you." She got up on her feet. She stood protectively over Naruto. She even went as far as to stretch her arms out.
"Sakura is not in her right state of mind. She's in labor, dattebane! You can probably get her to agree with anything right now!" Kushina argued emphatically.
"Kushina, the decision has been made." Minato reminded her firmly. "All I ask is for you to be there for them. They will need you."
"They need you too, Minato." Kushina matched his tone. "Remember what you told me when I asked for the mission to find the girls? You said you would not be able to look them in the eye if anything happened to them. It's the same for me, Minato. How do you expect me to look the three of them in the eye?" Tears streamed down her face. "Naruto looks just like you, for Kami's sake." She brought a hand to her chest. "Don't do this to her, dattebane."
Minato kept his eyes on the fox. Her face was seared into his mind. She was smiling at him. He would never see her again. Her voice rang in his ears. She was welcoming him home. He did not trust himself to speak. He cleared his throat and gathered himself. He spared Kushina one look over his shoulder.
"Take care of her. Take care of them for me."
Kushina swallowed the lump in her throat. It went down painfully. She would not get him to budge. The look in his eyes told her as much. She brought her hand to her heart.
"I will." She nodded firmly.
Minato nodded back. There was slightly less tension in his shoulders. He formed the first of the seals. Kushina watched with tears in her eyes as he started to bring his hands together. She crouched to be on the ground next to Naruto. She put a hand across the boy's chest as she forced herself to watch it all. She knew one day Sakura would want the details. She would give them to her. It was all she could do for her.
Before his fingertips came together, she felt a pull. The beast bellowed.
Mikoto was startled from her light sleep by the sounds of shouting. She grabbed Sasuke's shoulder firmly. He lifted his head from her lap. Mikoto looked into the dark eyes of Hazuki. Both women wore the same grim expressions. They were here.
Inzumi curled her hands into fists. She secured her hip pouch. She did not even stop to put on her shoes. She shot out of the makeshift shelter so fast that her mother did not even call out her name until she was halfway to the door. Her heart was beating frantically in her chest. She shot out of the doors like a bat out of hell.
It was chaos. It was her fellow shinobi, they were at the gates. They were overwhelming the guards. She did not have time to acknowledge the conflict she felt. Right now the Konoha shinobi were the aggressors. Everyone inside behind her was vulnerable. They would be slaughtered.
She armed herself with a kunai. Her dark eyes looked at the angry faces. She recognized their expressions. They were looking at them as one looked at a cockroach with disgust and unease. They saw them as subhuman. She covered her head on instinct as the guard on the roof intercepted a fireblast with one of his own. Glass rained down to the ground.
Inzumi narrowed her eyes. Any conflict she felt before was gone. They were willing to set fire to a structure that contained the defenseless and meek. It went against everything they were taught. It went against Konoha's way. She stood shoulder to shoulder with the four guards. They would not be enough but they would put up a fight.
"For Konoha," she told herself with a determined expression.
The first shinobi broke through the barrier. They moved.
Kakashi halted in his tracks. The beast roared off into the distance. It came from the direction he was headed. Kakashi's fingers twitched. His visible eye narrowed. He set his jaw and turned around. He sent an apology to his sensei. He had made a call. Naruto was still his priority.
He ran as fast as humanly possible to the Senju Compound. Kakashi looked at the melee in front of him. It was a handful of Konoha shinobi fighting against the Uchiha. Kakashi looked at the slug on his shoulder.
"Katsuyu-sama, we need backup right now." He told her calmly.
"Understood, Kakashi-kun. I will relay the message right away." The white and blue slug assured him.
Kakashi hoped that they had people close by. They needed to get the situation under control before more lives were senselessly lost. He jumped into the fray. He pulled apart two shinobi that were going at it. He sent them both flying in the opposite direction.
"Enough!"
The fighting momentarily stopped. The faces looked at him with varying expressions. He did not have the luxury of unpacking every single one.
"Go home." He narrowed his eye at the aggressors, the Konoha shinobi.
One stepped forward, he was an Akimichi. "Are you standing with the traitors now, Kakashi?"
Kakashi shook his head slowly. "No," he looked at the weary faces of the Uchiha behind him. "There are no traitors here to look at." He said firmly.
"It is precisely this weakness, softness that caused this problem! They've been allowed to go unchecked for too long!" A Hyuga snarled. His Kekkei Genkai was out on full display.
He looked at the faces. They were not here to talk. They had one thing in mind, now that most of the rogue Uchiha were either arrested or dead.
"I won't let you hurt anyone inside," Kakashi said grimly. He could not let them get to Naruto or anyone else. This was his line in the sand.
"Unfortunate," A Yamanaka sneered. "You made the wrong choice, Kakashi."
Kakashi sighed. "No, I haven't." His hand glowed with his signature jutsu. The Chidori came to life. "But that doesn't make any of this easier." His words were drowned out by the sound of the birds chirping.
All hell broke loose.
The Uchiha Clan, the clan that Danzo had an ax to grind with, was being prosecuted. She herself along with Homura had fanned the flames - so to speak - every now and then in keeping the animosity alive. The Uchiha were capable, they were powerful, they were strong. They could control the strongest of the tail beasts. They were problematic. Their necks did not bend. They had rebellion and freedom baked into their upbringing due to their culture. The only way to ensure peace was to keep their doors pressed firmly against the Uchiha's throats.
It was a political tactic to keep the Uchiha at a level where they were constantly simmering and stewing. That way it would not take much effort to set them off and to have yet another instance or example to point to when they needed to remind everyone why they were a problem. It was entrapment plain and simple with a little fear-mongering sprinkled in. It was ironic that the Konoha Military Police Force, the enforcement branch of the rule of law of Konoha, did not see it. They played right into their hands.
Having the Uchiha be scapegoated was not what she had a problem with. What bothered her to her core was what was happening in front of her eyes. It was a travesty of monumental proportions.
Koharu could not believe what she was witnessing. Konoha shinobi fighting and killing Konoha shinobi. It was not one clan, one fraction, one organization, one group. It was widespread. It was on an individual level. The citizens were angry, hurt, confused, and scared.
Their strategy had worked too well or rather, not well enough. There were enough sympathizers to still stand with the Uchiha despite everything. Their numbers were great enough that a simple eradication plan could never work now. There would be too many fingers pointing. There would be too many eyes. The groundwork they had spent decades laying down - all the way up to the First - was being upheaved right in front of her eyes.
Instead of uniting the rest of Konoha against the clan, there was conflict and disharmony. There was divide and chaos. Everything had failed. First, Konoha was burning now she was bleeding out in the streets. It was pure chaos. She did not see a way forward from here. The attack pulled everything to the surface and shined a magnification glass on it. Konoha was divided. Konoha was weak. Konoha was defeated. It was rotten from the core. They were just now seeing that from the outside.
Koharu did not realize she was crying until a gust of wind hit her face and left her shivering. Her home was disseminated. Her shinobi were untamed and wild. Her civilians were petrified. Her Hokage was fighting a literal monster armed with nothing more than a couple of kunai.
Konoha was done.
Tsume frowned deeply. She was exhausted but what choice did she have? The work was not done yet. She exchanged a heavy look with Mai. The blonde did not have to say anything. Her face said it all.
The two women and the ninken ran toward the direction in which the Uchiha compound was. Katsuyu had relayed the message to them which meant she spread it to everyone. They had no idea what they were walking into. They had no idea of knowing who saw things from their perspective. They had no way to know just who would be standing in their way.
Hell, she did not know what intentions Mai was taking in the situation with her. She might just have to fight her if they stood on opposite ends. She looked into the eye of Kuromaru. He was the only one she could definitely trust. He would follow her lead. He would stand by her. Even when she did not know what side she stood on.
Her eyes widened. The numbers were more than what she was accounting for. The battle was no longer contained in just the compound. They were fighting in the literal street. It was complete and utter madness. She did not know who to hit. She snarled. Her eyes caught movement. She moved without thinking. She grabbed the back of the neck of a chunnin, an Inuzuka. Kuromaru pinned his ninken. They should have both been back at the compound guarding the children and the elderly.
"What are you doing?" She asked him with narrowed eyes and flared nostrils.
"Clearing the Uchiha infestation before they overtake the village." He had the audacity to say to her. From the look in his eyes, she was convinced that he was convinced she was on his side.
"Go home," she gave him his best chance.
"No way!" He spat out. "They killed our own." She saw the pain in his eyes.
Tsume closed her own. "They are our own! They did not kill anyone. They are just as scared as the rest of us. They did not do this." She pointed to the structure.
"Blood for blood!" He snarled.
Tsume's face fell. She punched him in the gut. He did not see it coming. She threw his unconscious frame over her shoulder. She walked to the tree outside the compound. She tossed him to the ground. She reached into her hip pouch. She tied his hands and feet. An ANBU would get the idea. Kuromaru threw his unconscious ninken on top of him. The dog was tainted too now. He was loyal to his handler. She tied the ninken's mouth and legs.
She looked back at the Senju Compound. She knew what side she stood on. She ran back inside. She did not know who to hit but she would figure it out. She was a quick study.
Mai grunted as she avoided the trap set by her cousin. "You don't have to do this!" She yelled over the sounds of the battle.
"You always did think you were better than the rest of us!" His teal eyes narrowed in contempt. "Helping the enemy, does that make you feel edgy and different? Does it make you feel special?" He jeered.
"They lost their homes too! They are victims just like the rest of us." She grunted as she held back his jutsu from taking over her mind.
"They are nothing like us! They are a cancer!" He pumped more chakra.
Mai dug in her heels. "That's the thing, Koji. You've always been a hateful little asshole." She countered. The surge of her chakra overwhelmed him. He collapsed.
Mai stepped over him as she worked her way through the battles. She needed to put herself between the attackers and the building. She launched herself to the roof. It would give her the best vantage point. She brought her hands together. She targeted a group of three combat Konoha nin.
"Go to sleep." She ordered. They crumpled to the ground.
Mai panted. She was running low on chakra. She watched for any that broke through the line. She would handle them. She nodded to the Uchiha up on the roof with her. No one was getting into the building.
His blond brow furrowed and his existing frown deepened. "You shouldn't be up." His voice came out rougher than he intended. He supposed it was to mask his relief.
Fugaku grabbed his head. It did not take long for Fugaku to glare at him. He pressed his hand against his side. He was sore but in one piece now. He did not run the risk of dying at this moment in time.
"My family is there. My clan is there. I need to protect them." He tried to get to his feet. He collapsed in pain back down on the ground.
Inoichi's frown grew in size. "I'll go." He said firmly. "I'll keep them safe."
Fugaku looked at him with slight distrust. "Why would you do that?"
"Same reason you saved my life." He said flatly. The only reason Fugaku survived was he braced himself for the impact. Inoichi would not have known to do that.
Fugaku's jaw loosened. He regarded the determined blue eyes of the Yamanaka. He was in no condition, Fugaku knew that. Fugaku nodded at the Yamanaka.
Ionichi spared him one last glance before he ran towards the compound. His ponytail streaked behind him.
Ban grunted as he carried two unconscious shinobi toward the prison. His endurance was not what it used to be nor was his strength. His body protested for rest. He needed to eat. His lungs begged him to just catch his breath but he pushed through.
Everything was upside down. This was his second trip to the prison. It was filling up. The first level was completely at capacity both with Uchiha and with others. Even some civilians were caught trying to throw glass bottles filled with flammables and paper bombs over the walls of the Senju Compound.
The ANBU first had their hands full with evacuations and now they were on cleanup duty. Ban nodded at Parrot. Thankfully word had gotten out that he was not the enemy. Spider had a kill-on-sight order. His coworkers were eager to settle the score with her. She made them look so bad. She had broken every vow they took.
She betrayed the Hokage. It was inexcusable and unforgivable. He wanted a piece of her. She used him. She used him to hurt the family he had so loyally served. The only family he knew. She destroyed their joy. She took their happiness just as she had taken his freedom and purpose.
The bars slammed closed. He had to remind himself that he was on the opposite side this time. He was free to leave. Ban took a couple of steps backward before turning on his heel. He was not at hundred percent but he had to do something. He had to do his part.
Minato managed to get the earth wall up in place just in time. It did not stop the Kyubbi but it slowed him down long enough for Minato to Hiraishin them all out of his claw's range.
Itachi grabbed at his eyes. They were bleeding. Kushina looked at Minato. He was holding Naruto to him tightly. His knuckles were turning white.
"How much chakra do you have left?" He asked her without looking away from the Kyuubi. They were both measuring each other up. Neither expected the battle to last that long. There was wariness in the Kyyubi's eyes.
"Just enough to hold him back for a short time." She admitted through ragged breaths.
The green glow around Rin's hands started to wane as well. She passed another blood pill through Joben's slack mouth. He had lost consciousness long back.
Minato regarded Itachi. He could not ask him to cast another genjutsu on the Kyuubi. It was too much of a strain on the teen.
"How much do you have?" Kushina looked at him solemnly. He noticed that she kept her gaze away from Rin and Joben.
"Not enough." He ran a hand through his hair. "Just enough for the seal. That's about it."
Kushina looked at the sleeping face of Naruto.
"I'll keep him still. I won't let him hurt Naruto, dattebane."
Minato nodded his head. It was time. He stood at his full height. He maintained eye contact with the fox. He felt Naruto's breath against his neck. He pressed his palm on Naruto's back. This was the last time he would hold his son.
He was very cognizant of that fact.
A/N: This one was heavy. Hope you liked it. Until next time!