Naruto x Digimon

Alive - Team Minato's Digidestined

Chapter 052

Originally Written: Monday, April 3, 2023 836AM to 239PM

. . . . .

Rin fumed, openly pacing in her little hidey-hole within Konoha's Hospital. "What do you mean my bodyguard ditched Konoha, and that's why we haven't heard from him?" She hissed at Obito.

"It's just as I said. You know that commotion a few weeks ago where people started talking about him betraying Konoha? The Third grabbed Jiraiya to help capture him but all he left behind was a couple of shadow clones." He read over the letter he received. It was a scrawl of messy handwriting from Jiraiya summarizing a series of events that he learned.

"How did that happen?" Rin muttered. "We did everything perfectly." She hissed.

"...We really suck at the 'underneath the underneath' thing." Obito looked up at her. "Uncle F. grilled me at the station. Working with Kabuto and Kiisu was fine. Orochimaru? Not so much. Auntie Nonou? Might as well have told everyone what we were up to. To take the heat off, he gave me leave. The Third is looking for me, but Uncle F. is taking the brunt instead like a champ."

" How?" Rin dropped her head in her hands. Lunamon circled around her, pressing her paws against her shins, trying to calm her down.

"Well, the only ability anyone knows of that can create plants is Wood Release." Obito continued. "There's no currently alive or known individuals who can use it though. So someone had to recreate the ability. The only way that could be done is with a…" He trailed off, looking at her expectantly.

"Medical procedure." Rin's shoulders slumped. "The only people who would know that much about medicine would be Tsunade and Orochimaru. Darnit!" She ran her ink covered hands down her face. She looked at him.

He opened his arms. She climbed into his lap.

"If Orochimaru thought that we would realize that, I think we'd be dead by now." He ran a hand down her back. "But, I didn't do a good enough job hiding that I can stand again well either, and that's also something only someone with their medical experience can do."

"So now he's really onto us." She buried her head in the crook of his shoulder. She thought of the three pronged kunai hidden in her weapons pouch.

"Bakakashi freaked when the dogs got sick. So did we." Obito shook his head, Sharingan swirling.

When he learned that this was most likely the same illness that killed his Grandmother, Tsunade had to knock him unconscious. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. No one had listened to him. Yet, thinking about it, he wouldn't have listened to himself either. Until the physical symptoms showed up, Pakkun and the other dogs seemed okay. Just tired from their mission like any summon or nin-animal would be. So he tried to rein in his anger after the sedatives wore off and he woke up. There was nothing anyone could do until Kakashi and his team returned. Tsunade needed a sample of the poison, and the vines in Konoha weren't making it yet. In the meantime, she'd treat the symptoms and make them as comfortable as possible.

So they waited.

Since the vines in Konoha weren't mature yet, it was strange then that villagers started to become sick. Shinobi and civilians. Elderly and children. Their symptoms were exactly the same. Nearly unnoticeable weariness and fatigue. Rin and Lunamon were called on to help at the hospital. Obito was forced to stay in the background with Coronamon. He trained. And the vines spread through Konoha. He prayed for Kakashi's safe return.

Fugaku called him in for a meeting. He never personally met the Uchiha clan elders. Grandma usually handled them to protect him from their stern and harsh words. So it was a surprise that now he was seated in front of them.

"This illness is not just in Konoha." Fugaku started, seated at the head of the table. "It is also affecting Konoha's allies in Suna. In addition, a third of Suna has sunk into the desert sands. In the sinkhole, Suna's forces discovered vines much like the ones here. They've slowed and significantly delayed the village's recovery. In Kumo, their island turtle Genbu is infected, and is unknowingly spreading this infection to their villagers through no fault of its own."

"What care do we have of Kumo ninja?" An Uchiha asked.

Obito had to agree, though it was a harsh statement.

"Initially, I thought the same." Fugaku admitted, "However, under permission of the Fourth, Lord Jiraiya called the clan heads for a meeting a few days ago. He revealed that his student, and Kage of Amegakure, Nagato Uzumaki, revealed troubling news. Ame was attacked by a group of creatures calling themselves 'Judgment'. This group of five individuals was so strong that the Ame ninja joined forces with the Iwa and Kumo ninjas also caught up in the scuffle." Fugaku waited for the statement to settle in.

"Nagato's Ame….Worked together with Kumo and Iwa?" An elder asked.

Fugaku nodded. "Yes. They were barely able to push the force back, let alone capture or defeat any of them. Ame is laying the groundwork to enter a temporary alliance with Iwa as a result."

Chaos broke out among everyone at the clan meeting. Obito looked around. He sucked his teeth. Ame would never work with either of those countries, not unless whatever attacked them utterly decimated them. An uneasy feeling settled within his gut.