I DO NOT OWN DREAMING OF SUNSHINE OR NARUTO

I am merely making use of their characters, settings, and themes to tell a different story.

If anyone would like to use my own work as a base/inspiration for a fic, you are more than welcome to do so, just credit me in the beginning and maybe send me the link so that I can read it too, I'm always looking for more DOS recursive.

Well, I think that covers all of my bases, so with that out of the way, on to the fic!

Chapter 6: Recovery and Rescue

Before their group departed from the field, it was decided to have Kakashi accompany Kushina back to their home where she and baby Naruto would be best protected. While the seals there may not have been powerful enough to withstand an escaped bijuu - thus why Kushina hadn't simply given birth there - they were more than enough to protect them from infiltrators and the like.

Naruto (it was so strange, seeing his newborn child that wasn't even a day old yet alongside a version of his son that looked to be about the same age as himself) and Sasuke decided to follow his clones and help in the worst of the disaster zones. Apparently, Senjutsu - considered one of the rarest and most dangerous types of chakra transformations - was one of his son's specialties. While certainly not one of his own specialties, Minato was at least proficient in the art, thus it didn't take long for him to realize that the men meant to use the incredibly sensing capabilities the state offered to aid in search and rescue. With Naruto's abilities, locating and retrieving survivors would be made far easier, so Minato was quick to agree. With the other three having left to carry out their roles, now only Shikako remained. Surprisingly - or, perhaps not - she asked to accompany him.

Now, despite being reasonable sure that they were who they claimed to be, Minato was still wary of letting a foreign kage out of his sight- even after his display of power through the making of so many clones, Minato somehow felt safer allowing Naruto to wander essentially unsupervised than he did Shikako, especially with the village in such a state. Given this, Minato gladly agreed to allow her to accompany him, feeling much more secure knowing he would be able to keep a closer eye on her.

Of course, with Naruto and Sasuke aiding in search and rescue and Kakashi accompanying Kushina that left Minato and Shikako to deal with their prisoner. He was about to suggest that they simply make a stop at T&I to deposit the man before heading back out to coordinate relief efforts, when Shikako began to walk forward. Curious, he allowed her to approach the man, wondering if she had been thinking along the same lines as him. He needn't wonder long, as once she was within reach Shikako simply tapped her finger on the back of the man's head, causing him to vanish. What with the evening having been as long, tiring, and stressful as it was, Minato must have been concealing his emotions much less skillfully than usual, because as soon as Shikako turned back to him and took in his expression, she hurriedly began to explain herself.

"Oh! Um - don't worry, he's still alive and everything, I just - I thought this would be easier than risking him waking up and possibly escaping from T&I or having to stop and take the time to prepare a cell with modified security seals capable of holding him. With the nature of his favored technique being space-time manipulation, those modifications could take a while, especially without knowing its limitations. He's essentially in stasis until I let him out."

Minato was flabbergasted at the casual way she said this.

"Is - is this common in your village?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah! I created storage seals capable of holding live prisoners in stasis after a particularly horrible one managed to escape one too many times. We still needed him alive for continued questioning, but he was clearly more than capable of escaping so after the third time I was fed up enough to dedicate a few days to creating a seal just for him. Smug bastard didn't think we could hold him - the look on his face when he figured out why he was losing time was glorious." She said as an unholy vindictive glee shone in her eyes.

Minato shivered, both from the bloodthirsty look in Shikako's eyes and how casually she mentioned developing a revolutionary seal. From the way she said it, he wasn't sure if it was one only she was capable of using or something that the entirety of her T&I used. Even if it was only the former, the fact that she had accomplished something that countless seal masters had tried and failed to achieve for centuries was astonishing. Deciding that her reasons for sealing the prisoner instead of just dropping him off at T&I or taking the time to personalize a cell for him were valid, Minato chose to accept this as the best course of action and began to make his way towards the worst of the damage.

At some point before they reached the populated areas of the village, Shikako removed her hat and robes, stashing them in what he believed to be a personal pocket dimension she used for storage. Of course, seeing this Minato found himself once more full of questions. This time he decided to ask something more open in hopes of gaining a broader understanding of her abilities.

"So, do you specialize in storage type seals?"

She considered his question for a moment before replying.

"No, not really. I use and have designed or personalized a number of storage seals, but that was mostly because they were best suited to fulfill whatever function I needed at the time. Back home I'm actually most known for my talent with explosive seals. They're the ones I've been studying and using the longest. They were actually the first seal I learned to place just by touch." She says, sounding fond and nostalgic as she voices the last part.

Minato hums in acknowledgement while considering the implications behind possessing such an in depth understanding of explosive seals that she is able to place them not only by touch, but - if the fact that she seems to be known for them is anything to go by - in battle as well. Despite also being able to place hirashin by touch, such a seal requires no formulaic alterations. He could be wrong, but he has a sneaking suspicion that along with being able to place explosions with a touch, Shikako is also able to alter things such as the heat, radius, and time until detonation on the fly. Quite frankly, the thought is terrifying.

When they begin to approach the village, he finds it to be roughly as chaotic as he had expected, though certainly not as bad as it could have been. By this point, the KMP had thankfully managed to evacuate most of the civilians to the shelters, so at the very least they didn't have hordes of civilians running about and preventing search and rescue crews from reaching those in need. There were of course a few stragglers, but from what he could tell it appeared that most of those courageous enough to remain behind even after the KMP had evacuated civilians to the shelters were partaking in rescue efforts of their own - likely looking for a friend, relative, or pet who they had seen trapped or crushed by the rubble.

The next few hours pass in a blur as he moves to establish a central command near the portion of the village that had been destroyed. By the time midday has come he has seen three field hospitals, two morgues, and multiple reunification centers erected around the disaster site as well as directed teams of trackers and medical shinobi in order to optimize their abilities, and through it all Shikako's help had been invaluable.

Though it pains him to be thankful for anything like the blasphemous act against god that was the seal Shikako described, he found himself thankful, nonetheless. Even excluding the invaluable aid she provided in the aftermath, had Shikako and her team not been subject to that seal, Minato is certain that he and many more of his men would have perished in order to reseal the Kyuubi.

It is only as sunset approaches that he finally feels comfortable enough to delegate the search and rescue command center to another so he can return to the Hokage tower to sort through the bureaucratic elements that urgently need to be addressed, not to mention he needs to call a meeting of the council so the clans can report on their condition in the aftermath of the attack, and so he can inform them about some of the circumstances surrounding the Kyuubi's escape, rampage, and subsequent capture and resealing. He's reasonably sure that the Nara have been receiving quite a few assessing looks after how Shikako subdued the Kyuubi. Afterall, the Nara had always been regarded as a clan of strategist who specializes in precision strikes, as far as he knew the power Shikako displayed last night was unheard of among the Nara.

Minato lets out an exhausted sigh, causing Shikako to pat him on his shoulder in sympathy.

Afterall, as a Hokage herself she would know how much paperwork and politicking is left to be done.

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