Chapter Twelve
Hiashi Hyūga grew up with the bedtime story of how his family line was directly descended from Lord Hamura. His father and grandfather frequently used the relation as justification for treating clan outsiders as beneath them. As he walked alone through the chill of the desert night, Hiashi shivered at the implications of recent events and how the bedtime story he'd been told as a child was anything but a story. Before the Fourth Shinobi War, Hinata had encountered Lord Hamura's spirit and was now carrying his chakra.
In early summer, he'd gone on a journey to the cave where his father and grandfather had visited in the past, now curious as to how much of the legend was true. Toneri at that time had warned of a coming cataclysm and proposed that Hiashi have Hinata go with Toneri to keep her safe and the survival of Hyūga Clan guaranteed. Hiashi had flatly refused. And now the past comes back to bite you!
A scan of his Byakugan indicated that Sasuke Uchiha was following him from a distance. Had he been worried about being observed, he would have dispatched the young man quickly and continued on his journey. However, time was of the essence, and Hiashi couldn't be sure if he'd need Sasuke as his backup in the coming moments.
"I didn't expect you to come to me directly, Lord Hyūga," the ghostly figure spoke as Hiashi approached the cave indicated in his father's old journals. Despite his lack of eyes, Toneri emitted an aura of pure strength, perhaps rivaling Naruto. This is ridiculous, he could break you in half with a snap of his fingers! Hiashi felt a deep ache in his back where his father had heel-stomped and nearly crushed his spine in their last duel almost twenty years ago at the unpleasant thought.
"Toneri, this is madness!"
"No, Lord Hyūga, four great shinobi wars and several hundred years of continuous warfare using the chakra gifted by our ancestors, that is madness. The celestial decree has been given; what is your answer?" The man looked unnervingly calm, and his archaic robes with black swirls around the collar only reinforced the lineage of power the other man possessed. But he has none of the wisdom of his elders; he can't be older than Naruto or Hinata.
"Toneri, killing everyone won't fix any of it! Look how far we have come since the end of the Fourth War – even before the war!" Hiashi pleaded.
"And it's only a matter of time before diplomacy gives way to jealousy, and your precious union will turn to dust!" Toneri shook his fist, scolding like Hiashi's cynical father had. "There are threats beyond your comprehension and beyond this world that will turn you blood to ice. If you want your daughter, much less the Hyūga Clan to survive, you'll have her surrender to me!"
"I don't think she'll believe your sincerity any more than I do!" Hiashi crossed his arms, discretely making ready for a fight.
"She won't need to believe me," Toneri smirked. "I have your other daughter, and the baby Hinata cares for so much. She'll make an excellent mother to the future."
"Hanabi, Akane!" Hiashi gasped. Hanabi or Akane's life being threatened would be one of the few circumstances in which Hinata would surrender herself. At the threat of the world ending if she does?! "This doesn't concern the other girls! Let them go!"
"My hand has been forced, Hiashi," Toneri taunted, shaking his head side to side. "I've asked politely; now, I'm ready to huff, puff, and blow this house down."
"You've angered powerful people with your callous actions! Don't think for a moment they'll let you get away!"
"If you mean that bit of arm candy she carries around," Toneri came on self-assured, "He will be of no concern!" Toneri chuckled. "For that matter, neither will you!" There was a flash of green, the sensation of flying through the air, and then nothing.
The breaking of glass alerted Hanabi to an intruder before her Byakugan did. When she looked out, her toes froze. There were at least a hundred, maybe more puppets surging through the Hyūga Compound like fire ants. Holy shit! Despite her apparent worry, she maintained her appearance as Hinata for the moment.
"HANABI!" Konohamaru burst through the door from the nursery. He'd dropped his transformation disguise and blood streamed from his lip and a cut just above his right eye. In his arms, he cradled a now crying Akane. "Take Akane and go! Get to the Hokage's Mansion!"
"Konohamaru!?" she struggled to collect her thoughts and he thrust the toddler into her arms.
"They attacked the nursery first! They're after her! Go! I'll hold them off!" he yelled.
Horrid realization ran down Hanabi's back. Hinata would surrender herself willingly if someone had Akane! "Konohamaru!" She shouted as a flittering of movement came from the door.
"Hanabi, go!" he turned as he pulled a kunai.
Hanabi sprinted, barely touching ground as she carried Akane, and almost flying down stairs to the ground level. The sounds of battle echoed throughout the compound. Her mind wandered back almost five years ago to the Konoha Crush, being in the eye of the hurricane of battle. "Hello, Hinata," a ghostly white figure greeted her as she reached the exit to the main courtyard.
"Leave her alone, freak!" Hanabi dropped her transformation. "She doesn't want you, and never will!"
The man, or whatever he was smirked, "Ah, the protective younger sister." His smile spread unnerving Hanabi to her core. He held up a glowing sphere of green. "I thought the baby would be enough, but you and the baby!" Hanabi's eyes grew wide as his intentions sank in. MOVE! Hanabi went to move her legs, to sprint with all her might toward the gate, but her legs refused to move. The pasty white man approached with the glowing green orb. Like a switch being flipped, the muscles in her legs gave out, and she collapsed into waiting sets of arms as everything went black as she screamed, "KONOHAMARU!" The last thing she heard was Akane wailing into the night.
Konohamaru fought off almost a dozen puppet that spilled in behind in pursuit of Akane and Hanabi as he made a fighting retreat from the nursery, to the family's living room, out into the hallway, and down the stairs to the lower level. Each time he cut one down, another would appear from nowhere. Goddammit, they're like a swarm of locusts!
He took a square hit in the jaw as he threw one of the puppets down the stairs. He tasted the metallic, salty flavor of blood in his mouth. He swung his kunai, cutting the thing's head off, and another gave him a quick kick into his left flank. Konohamaru felt the earth slip out from under him as he fell into nothingness. OHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT! He rolled best as he could, but the impact of stairs on his back, ribs, neck, and shoulders stung as he tumbled down to the base of the steps.
As he came to a stop, the world around him swirled from the amount of pain he was in, and his vision was becoming doubled. He was punch drunk, easily nursing a concussion from the fall. The approaching horde snapped him back to concentration. If they get past you nothing is protecting Hanabi. Until now, he'd refrained from using major chakra techniques inside the house. In the past, he set off a Rasengen or two indoors. The concussive blast had a tendency to blow out windows, walls, and shower splinters everywhere. He got to his feet, almost stumbling as the horde approached
Hanabi and Akane are clear; do it! "RASENGAN!" He concentrated the swirl of chakra in his hand and charged forward. The blast wave had the desired effect, sending the puppets now funneled by the stairway up, back, and out through the structure of the house. Nevertheless, he felt the unmistakable sting of flying splinters hitting him.
"KONOHAMARU!" Hanabi's voice jolted him back into focus, and he stormed his way out toward the exit, ignoring lightning shoot up his leg to his low back as he half-ran, half-limped. As he reached the courtyard, two of the puppets were dragging an unconscious Hanabi away but the arms, and another clutched a screaming Akane.
Standing among them was the pale white figure that had to be Toneri. "HANDS OFF MY GIRLS, ASSHOLE!" Konohamaru charged forward but the impact of an invisible wall stopped him cold. The invisible force lifted him from his feet.
Toneri stared with empty, malevolent eye sockets, "You will send a fine message to that idiot friend of yours!" Konohamaru didn't even have a chance to blink as he flew back through the air and felt a shattering impact of hitting something solid. Then everything went cold and quiet.
Akemi carefully removed her gloves and washed her hands as she finished the pelvic exam with her patient. Normally, this would be strictly a procedure for the hospital, but the small shrine to Anari Okami she'd had added to the compound doubled as an exam site in situations where discretion was required.
"What can you tell me?" Temari Nara asked, her voice suggested an extreme degree of stress beyond the discomfort of the invasive exam. Poor girl.
"On prelim eval, everything seems right anatomically," she channeled her chakra into her hands until they glowed aquamarine. "Time to see if there are issues beyond the purely physical." Temari gave a concerned look but nodded. Akemi was no stranger to the reluctance of an expectant or infertile couples learning if there were issues or not. A young Minato and Kushina had been devastated by being unable to conceive despite being told there was nothing physically wrong for months. Akemi had discovered the fertility issue caused by Nine-Tails' negative chakra, and had provided a work around. Discrete and effective.
As she sensed through Temari's chakra, she did not notice anything that would make pregnancy difficult or impossible, none of the classic issues at least. She lingered over the area, joining chakra with Temari. Grey waves of sadness, concern, reluctance, and deception radiated from the young woman's chakra. "Well?" Temari asked, becoming impatient.
Akemi withdrew her hands and drew down the exam gown to cover Temari. "Let's sit you up," she aided the girl to a seated position. "Temari, I have good news and bad."
"Bad news first, please."
"Get dressed first. You and I need to talk." Temari walked behind the changing screen and changed from the exam gown back into her black mission gear. "Take a seat," Akemi gestured back to the exam table.
"So, what is this?" Akemi sighed as she sat.
"You're hiding something damn negative, something you're keeping buried. What is it?"
"What makes you say that?" Temari balked.
"For one, you did ask me to do this discretely and not at the hospital. For two, your husband isn't here, and for three, I can sense you hiding something dark, foreboding. What is it?" Akemi asked in her most motherly tone.
Temari chewed her lip, and nodded. "Akemi, I lost my mom in childbirth."
"I remember," she nodded, "It was a tragedy for your family and your village."
"When I had my miscarriage during the war, I didn't know I was pregnant."
"You didn't kill your child, Temari," Akemi reassured
"What is to say I don't get put in the same situation, have to choose between the baby and my life, or Shikamaru's, or someone else's?" Temari closed her eyes and shook her head. "Hell, what if Shikamaru has to decide between me or a baby?"
Akemi felt for the girl. Childbirth was a stressful event, and it carried considerable risk at times. "Temari, the night Naruto was born I put my own life and Hinata's life at risk to save Kushina and the village. Had I miscarried, it could have had serious repercussions for my clan and my place in the clan." She stared Temari in her teal eyes, "Being a mother is always a risk that we have to make a decision that kills us or our baby." Akemi crossed her arms, "But that isn't all of it, is it?"
"Akemi…. I'm the oldest child in my family." Akemi simply nodded for Temari to continue, "If… if Gaara does not produce an heir, and he shows little interest in romance, then my child would be the next heir presumptive to be Kazekage."
"And you're the wife of the heir of the Nara Clan," Akemi nodded, "No pressure to produce, right?"
Temari shook her head and chuckled, "Admittedly, my mother-in-law has outright told me she wants a grandchild."
"And do you?" Akemi asked.
"Yes, I do… it's just…"
"Yes?"
"Well, I am assuming we'll all survive what is coming…"
"Temari, I lived through an aggressive form of breast cancer which I'm damn lucky did not spread further. Tsunade told me even a few weeks' delay might have been the difference between life and death for me. Life has few certainties, Temari. Let's assume we get our tomorrows as a gift." Akemi took several deep breaths, "Sorry if I got a bit heated."
"It's fine," Temari answered.
"You and your husband have talked about it then? He's on board?" she asked.
"Yes," Temari said.
"Has… has he been checked out?" Akemi asked with reluctance.
"What do you mean?" Temari raised an eyebrow.
"Has he been to a fertility specialist of any type?"
"Should he have?" Temari asked, confused.
"Temari, we don't know what caused the miscarriage. It could have been trauma, could have been any number of things. What I can tell you is a third of fertility issues are with the woman, a third with the male, and the last third are both."
"Akemi, I don't know if we need that level of help yet; I haven't even stopped birth control."
"I see. Am I to assume what you told me about your line of succession is the reason you asked for secrecy?" Akemi rubbed her chin.
"Part of it," Temari nodded. "I haven't told Shikamaru or my in-laws yet."
"Do you plan to?"
"Lady Akemi, Shikamaru's stay in Suna for my recovery was fraught with peril," Temari sighed. "There were several security threats to his life that he doesn't know about."
"Why the secrecy?"
"I want to keep him safe, namely," Temari crossed her arms in front of her. "There are high-ranking members of Sunan nobility who object to the possibility of a child of mixed-heritage in the line of succession for the royal family."
"Temari, keeping secrets in the name of keeping family safe rarely has the desired effect," Akemi warned.
"I'm not keeping a secret… I just haven't figured out how to tell him, 'Oh by the way, your baby is going to be born with a massive target on its head!'"
"I take it that was some of your motivation for wanting to stay in Konoha?"
"It's the one place I've felt safe, truly safe," Temari groaned. "It's the one place where I felt like I had family."
"I can understand the connection…" Akemi's words were cut off by the sound of glass breaking and various shouts filling the air. "Oh no!" Both ladies scrambled out of the shrine into the courtyard only to find it overrun by dozens, maybe hundreds, of the puppets from the abduction attempt over a week ago.
"More of these bozos!" Temari uncased her fan, spread it open, and raked it through the air. The wind currents were incredible; hurricane force wind cut through the puppets like a scythe cutting grain. "You may want to hit the deck!" Temari shouted as a wave of attackers closed. Akemi dropped flat on the ground in time to avoid being blown around in the tornado Temari was building. Hellacious wind roared, almost causing Akemi to scream as she clutched at the dirt, trying not to be blow around like a leaf.
"AAHHHH!" Temari roared as the wind around them died and pieces of puppet rained down. As Akemi looked up, she saw the girl clutching her right arm.
"Temari!" Akemi raced to the girl's side as fast as lightning. "Where is it hurting?"
"It's just…" she gasped, "sore!" She took several deep breaths and let out a pain laugh, "It only hurts, when I'm beating the crap out of people!" She moved the arm around.
"Occupational hazard, I'm sure," Akemi focused a medical jutsu on the girl's shoulder. "Better?"
"Better," Temari sighed with relief.
"LADY AKEMI!" a female voice called out from the central courtyard ahead. Akemi ran in the direction of the voice. She didn't need to find the speaker. The fountain Hinata had erected in memorial to Hizashi Hyūga lay shattered in a mass of marble and stone. In the center of the soaked mass was bloody spatter and the limp form of Konohamaru. OH MY GOD!
"KONOHAMARU!" Akemi moved to his side so fast, she may have outrun Lord Fourth if he'd been present. Even before gravity took full hold, she knew it was bad. Blood was leaking from his ears and nose, and water from the broken fountain was now running red. Despite the gruesome scene, Akemi went to work, not acknowledging the possibility that he was already dead. For several dreaded seconds, she assessed the boy. He was still alive, but he wouldn't able to hold on, and she couldn't get him to the hospital fast enough.
Salvation came in the form of a kunai marked with Lord Fourth's Flying Thunder God mark. Akemi whipped out her cellphone and dialed Kushina. The phone rang only once, "Akemi?!" Kushina's breathless voice suggested she'd faced something major as well.
"Kushina! They took Hanabi and Akane!"
"Goddammit!" a loud bang came from the other side of the line.
Akemi felt the world spinning as Konohamaru's breathing became even more labored and his pulse was becoming erratic. "Kushina… I need either Hinata or Sakura here right now!"
"Akemi?" Kushina's hollow voice sounded like she was in shock.
Dammit pull it together! "It's Konohamaru! He's badly injured, and I can't stabilize him! He's going to die if I don't have assistance now!"
Minato appeared in a flash. "SON!" he shouted as he dropped to his knees beside Konohamaru.
"Minato, can you get us to the hospital?"
"Akane, Hanabi?" he asked.
"I'm on it!" Temari whipped her fan and jumped aboard is it took to the sky.
"On three," Minato took Konohamaru's hand and placed another over Akemi's shoulder, "One, two, three!" They vanished in a bright flash and reappeared in the courtyard of Konoha Hospital.
"Lord Fourth, Lady Akemi?" a passing orderly froze in shock.
"Get the trauma team out here with a backboard and a c-collar!" Akemi barked. "I have a severe spinal case with a probably skull fracture!" The courtyard turned into a frantic beehive in less than few seconds.
"CLEAR!" Hinata placed the defibrillator paddles on Yoshi Tamura's chest and pressed the shock button. His chest bounced, and she eyed the monitor, looking for the man's heart rhythm. Activating her Byakugan, she split her attention between the monitor and looking at the man's heart. Where the fuck is it! Hinata eyed his arteries, looking for the blockage. SHIT! As feared, it was his left descending coronary artery – the widow-maker. "Nurse Ise, I need tissue plasminogen activating factor, now!" The nurse ran off.
Beads of sweat rained down Hinata's back as the man's heart rhythm began going into V-fib. "Goddammit!" She began charging the paddles as the monitor buzzed, "CLEAR!" The shock steadied the rhythm, but she knew it wouldn't last. If she couldn't clear the blockage, he was going to die. Hinata caught a view of Mrs. Tamura with a hand over her mouth, staring on with tears leaking. Get her focused, otherwise we'll have another casualty! "Mrs. Tamaru? Mrs. Tamura!" Hinata shouted to get the woman to focus, "Is you husband taking any medication?"
"I- I don't know!" the woman cried, near hysteric. You would be too if it was Naruto having a widow-maker heart attack!
"Keiko," Hinata stepped from the patient and held Keiko by the shoulders. "I know you're scared, but I need to know this. Is he on anything that thins his blood: warfarin, coumadin, heparin, hell, a daily aspirin?"
"N-no, I don't think so," the woman composed herself despite tears running.
"Has he had any recent trauma – a fall, head injury, anything like that?" Hinata pressed. The medication she was about to administer had the potential to save his life or kill him within minutes depending on the answer.
"No, nothing I know of," she replied.
"Doctor Hyūga, it's ready," Nurse Ise prepared to inject into the IV in the man's arm.
Hinata paused for a moment to assess things in her head. If Keiko is wrong, he could start bleeding internally with no real way to counteract it. She again stared at the clot blocking blood flow to the man's heart. If you don't dissolve the clot, it's going to kill him anyhow, and there is no other safe way of doing it! Quit doubting yourself! "Do it, quickly," she ordered. Nurse Ise did as ordered.
"HINATA, I NEED YOUR OVER HERE! I HAVE INCOMING WOUNDED!" Mom's familiar voice froze Hinata, and she turned to see the busted and bloody mass that was Konohamaru being wheeled in. Oh no! Panic alarms went off in her head – if Konohamaru was that serious, she couldn't fathom what else had happened.
"Doctor Hyūga?" Nurse Ise asked.
"Get the ER attending down here and bring him up to speed on what we've done," she turned to Mrs. Tamura, "Keiko, they're going to monitor him for now and admit him. He's probably not going to leave the hospital for a few days."
"T-thank you!" she said. Don't thank me yet!
Hinata ran to join Mom, the trauma team, and Lord Minato. Upon reaching the operating room, her initial first impression got significantly worse. Blood was spilling from his ears, and his shaggy mop of hair was a sticky mass of black and crimson. Mom had secured his neck with a rigid collar, and she had him on a backboard. "Mom, bring me up to speed!"
"He took significant blunt trauma, and I have suspect spinal trauma, but I need you to confirm!"
Hinata activated her Byakugan, and her bladder constricted. Konohamaru had fractured his fourth and fifth vertebra in his neck as well as his sixth and seventh thoracic vertebra. He had broken ribs and lacerations on his kidneys and liver. My god! This is my fault! Had I just come quietly!
"GODDAMMIT STOP THINKING LIKE THAT!" Nine-Tails chided. "IF YOU HAD SURRENDERED THAT PASTY BASTARD WOULD HAVE DROPPED THE MOON IN A HEARTBEAT! QUITE KIDDING YOURSELF AND GET TO WORK!"
"Hinata!" Mom's voice broke her out of her near trance.
"We have spinal fractures with neurologic compression at C4, C5, T6, and T7. He also has multiple rib fractures and lacerations on both kidneys and his liver."
"Great," mom huffed, "we can add that to a skull fracture with an expanding subdural hematoma." Mom added. "We'll be probably dealing with rhabdomyolysis due the severity of other blunt trauma he'd taken.
"Akemi, Hinata?" Lord Fourth's haunted voice, shook.
"Minato, get your son and try and rescue Hanabi and Akane! I've got this!" Mom shouted, and Lord Minato took off running.
"Mom?" Hinata's blood froze. He took Hanabi and Akane!
"There was nothing you could have done, Hinata!" Mom didn't give her time for recrimination, "If we don't get him stable now, he's dead or paralyzed for life!"
First rule of emergency medicine, treat the most serious case that still can be saved first; don't waste time on something you can't fix! "How are we doing this?"
Mom's hands glowed aquamarine with a healing jutsu, "I'll start at the top," she placed her hands on Konohamaru's bloody scalp, "and you start with his back, and we'll work our way to each other." Mom's voice was calm and controlled in contrast to her scrubs soaked in blood and sweat.
"I've never done a real spinal case, Mom," Hinata's stomach contents threatened to come up.
"Just do what you trained to do," Mom nodded, blood dripping from her nose as she entered a near meditative state to work on Konohamaru's broken skull and bleeding brain.
Ideally, Hinata would have rolled the boy to his side, but there wasn't time. Hinata charged her healing jutsu and placed her hands over Konohamaru's chest with as much force as she dared. Hang on little brother! Hinata focused her chakra around the damaged vertebra, trying to force bone back to the proper shape and take the pressure off the spinal cord and spinal nerves. Dammit come on! Hinata tempered desperation with the need to be delicate. If she forced it, she could cause him even more serious injury.
Sweat rained down Hinata's armpits and glued her shirt to her back. Come on, boy, I held your brother's heart together once, I'm not letting you die like this! The thoracic vertebra and the surrounding tissue reformed back into place. One small step for local mankind! The chakra signature around the spinal cord and nerve roots left Hinata less optimistic. The nerve tissue was seriously damaged, and they would have no idea how bad it was until after he regained consciousness – if he ever did. Stop thinking like that!
Mom looked exhausted from the effort taken to heal the head injuries, but nevertheless, she persisted. "Hinata," she groaned, "if you'd be as so kind as to tend to his broken neck!"
Hinata moved up the table and place her fingers delicately around the boy's neck, repeating the process. As she worked, she again found extensive damage to his spinal cord. "It's done," she signed, as bone and tissue reformed. "Mom…"
"I know sweetheart," Mom staggered to the sink to wash her hands as a relief team took over, "He's got a long, difficult road ahead." Mom turned to the approaching doctor, "Admit to the Critical Care Unit, send word to both his parents, please.
Minato ran along rooftops of Konoha beside Naruto in a panicked sprint, kicking himself for not marking Akane with a Thunder God Mark. She'd hated teleportation so much the one time they'd tried it, he'd refrained from marking her. And now, you can't get to her, much less find her. Bitter acid ran up his throat at his predicament.
"LORD FOURTH, NARUTO!" a distant female shout focused Minato's attention. Temari glided by on her fan like a witch in he night, "This way!"
"GO! GO! GO!" Naruto shouted as they vaulted the barrier and were making for the tree line westerly. Despite his panicked thoughts of his daughter and Hanabi, Minato's mind flashed back to Konohamaru, covered in blood, bruises, and with a breathing tube down his throat. Having been almost broken in half once before, Minato's back ached at the thought of what his boy was enduring. Or what his biological parents will say when they see him.
As they followed Temari, another figure came into sight. Sai flew on the back of one of his beast renderings in the form of a massive eagle. They were catching up as they moved through the trees, now encrusted with a fine powder of fresh snow. Just a little closer! Minato grabbed a mark kunai and eyed his target, a puppet riding what looked like a large bird of prey. Stick the bastard, save the girls, and find this Toneri and beat the shit out of him! Simple!
Minato got ready throw when a bright light bathed the group from overhead. "Ah, fuck!" What looked like a massive ball of flame was coming down on their position. "SCATTER!" Sai and Temari peeled away right, and Naruto and he peeled away right. The airburst hit with a deafening roar as the group narrowly avoided being smashed into the resulting crater. When his senses returned, the target had fled from sight. "DAMMITT!"
"I've got their heading!" Naruto shouted. Minato turned to his son, his eyes now glowing pale blue. "Whatever those puppets are, I can see their chakra signature, or…"
"Or what?" Minato demanded of his son.
"It's not charka, at least not entirely! I can follow it to its source!" The blood vessels around Naruto's eyes protruded abnormally large, even for a Byakugan user." Naruto began heaving, and his eyes teared from the strain of what he was doing, "Gotcha!" He collapsed, clutching his eyes.
"Son!" Minato dropped to his knees beside him.
"I know where they went, but I can't tell what it is… not super far from here!" Naruto heaved.
"Naruto!" Sai approached with Temari.
"Sai, Sasuke is about forty clicks west of here, carrying a wounded Hiashi this way. See if you can get them," Naruto said. "Ah god!" Naruto clamped his eyes closed.
"Son, you can see that far?" Minato gasped. Naruto had only ever pushed things out to ten kilometers, fearful of what his unusual Byakugan could do. As he steadied his son, he tossed Sai a kunai with a Thunder God Seal. The young man nodded understanding.
"Dad, I can't explain it, but we need to regroup!"
"Shouldn't we continue pursuit?" Temari asked.
"We're going to need all the help we can get, Temari," Naruto groaned. "Something about Toneri's power is beyond chakra. If we try and take him down without planning and reinforcements, we'll only add to our losses!"
Minato stared off into the night, tempted to continue chase. However, he remembered his blood-soaked adoptive son. He remembered Kushina. Minato looked down at Naruto. Hinata appeared via Flying Thunder God at that moment. "Naruto, Minato!" she ran to them. The formal outfit she'd worn to the Hokage's office was soaked in blood. "Hanabi? Akane?"
"Gone," Naruto huffed, "but I know where they went." Sai took off, likely to get Sasuke and Hiashi.
"Hinata, Konhamaru?" Minato asked as he helped Naruto to his feet.
"He'll live, but it's complicated." She replied.
"All right, enough chat," Temari broke in abrasively. "We regroup, we ride out with our posse as fast as we can!" Now I know why Shikamaru calls her a troublesome woman – and why he married her. Strong like Kushina!
Kakashi arrived in the wreckage of the Hokage's office just past midnight on December first. Cold tuffs of snow were falling, and the night sky in the background sparked green, white, and gold like fairy dust falling in the distance. It'd be beautiful if it wasn't fragments of the moon falling toward Earth! "Kushina!" he ran to the Fifth Hokage.
"Kakashi!" her knees gave out, and he raced to catch her. "What happened?"
"They took Hanabi…" she cried, "… they took my baby!"
Kakashi's hands balled into tight fists. He would find the man who did this, carve out his liver, and feed it back to him as he died. "Kushina, it's going to be all right, we're going to get her back!"
Bright light nearly blinded him as Hinata, Naruto, Minato, Sasuke, Sakura, Temari, Sai, Ino, and Shikamaru appeared. Naruto, Hinata, Minato, Temari and Sai looked like hell. Their clothing sported the signs of recent combat, and Hinata was coated in splotches of blood. "I take it, we didn't get them?" Kushina sighed wearily. Naruto shook his head. "Konohamaru?" she eyed Hinata desperately.
"Out of danger for now, but not out of the woods," Hinata answered.
"Shit," Kushina deflated as she spoke, separating from Kakashi's embrace, and staggering back to the Hokage's chair. "Do we have any idea where they went?"
"Mom, I know where they went," Naruto spoke with his gusto intact. "It has to be where Toneri is; it's unmistakable!"
"Kushina, I'll get the team outfitted and we'll leave immediately!"
"No!" Kushina said flat, without affect, "You're staying here." She fumbled on the desk for stationary and a pen and scribbled frantically.
"Kushina, what are you…"
"I'm going," she got up from the chair, straightened herself, and put on her Hokage's jacket that hung on the back of the chair.
"Kushina?" Minato spoke with fresh concern.
"I'm declaring an emergency," she withdrew the Hokage's seal from the desk drawer where she kept it and tossed it to Kakashi.
He caught it midair, and it sank into his hand like a lead weight. "You can't be serious! Kushina, you're the Hokage! I'll go!"
"I'm Akane's MOTHER!" she roared, red hair flailing in her wake. "I'm Hanabi's sensei!" she huffed with her shoulders rising and falling. "And I am emotionally compromised as a result!" Her scowl could have cut glass. "If you so much as try and shirk this responsibility," she heaved with unholy anger in her face, "my resignation is on the desk, and your promotion to Hokage will become PERMANENT!"
Kakashi didn't know what was more terrifying – Kushina, or the prospect of being Hokage in the midst of the worst crisis since the Fourth Shinobi War. "What will you do?"
"Shikamaru," Kushina barked, "you're in command this mission."
"Why me?" he asked.
Kushina wordlessly opened a drawer and tossed Shikamaru what looked like a watch. "Of this lot, you're the only one that hasn't been completely traumatized by the past few weeks, and you also know the most about the moon situation. You're the one most likely to make sane, rational decisions of us!"
"What's this?" Shikamaru eyed the watch as the device sank into his palm.
"The other Kage's have one; it's a countdown to Earth's destruction."
"Kushina," Sakura spoke up, "I suggest Ino stay behind instead of me." Everyone eyed her, "She is better at neurologic injury than I am. Konohamaru will need that going forward."
"Lord Hokage," Sasuke said grimly, "I should stay behind, too."
"Sasuke?" Sakura stared; green eyes painted with concern.
"He got in my head before; I don't think we should give him the opportunity again."
"All right, Temari…" Shikamru spoke up, only to have his words get cut off by Temari grabbing his collar.
"Listen, moon-boy, because I'm only going to say this one time!" Temari clutched her husband by his collar, "I'M GOING WITH YOU!" she roared. "I am your wife, and if we fail I want to go out at your side! If we succeed, we're having a nice long chat about having a family when we get back! IS THAT PERFECTLY CLEAR!"
"Yes, ma'am," Shikamaru squeaked. Under normal circumstances, it would be funny.
"Lord Minato," Kakashi interrupted.
"I have to go back to the hospital and stay with Konohamaru," he replied. "I'm happy to advise as best as we can, but the boy needs me now more than ever."
It's really on me to look after things this time. Kakashi remembered once that Minato told him he'd have a wife, kids, a head of grey hair, and he'd be in the Hokage's Chair someday. Looks like today is someday, at least for now. "Kushina, I'll try and keep the other Kages from blowing up the moon in the meantime."
"Don't hesitate if it looks like we failed," she said.
"Hinata, what about you?" he asked his former apprentice.
"If Toneri wants me so badly," her stare turned fierce as Kushina, "I'll give him more than he can stand as I cut his head off!" That's my girl, all grown up!
"I recommend you all leave now while the trail is still hot," Kakashi said.
"Everyone gear up, we leave in one hour," Shikamaru said. "We'll meet at the west gate." The group nodded and left, followed by Minato, Ino, and Sasuke going their separate ways.
Now alone, Kakashi sat at the chair behind the Hokage's desk. He tented his hands, as Kushina and Minato had for years. "Well, I guess there is no backing out now," he said to nobody. He stared at the photo of Team Minato, seeing his fallen comrades as he remembered them. Wish you were here my friends. Right now, I feel like I'm under the boulder!
Kakashi lifted the receiver of the desk phone and dialed his house, "Hello?" Shizune's heavenly voice came through.
"Honey, it's bad… I'm not going to be home tonight," he spoke, chest tightening in agony.
"Dear, where are you?"
"Hokage's office," he said. "I'm acting-Hokage for the time being."
"I'll be there in thirty minutes; I'm brining Sakumo!"
"Honey, is that wise? Things are going to be unpleasant around here. It's bad for the baby."
"Kakashi, your family needs you," she scolded before softening her tone, "and I think you need us right now."
Kakashi sat back in the chair, feeling the weight of duty to family and village sink on his shoulders. "I'll alert the staff to have quarters prepared for us; we have a long few days ahead."
"I'll be there shortly," she paused, "I love you!"
"I love you, too! See you in a bit" he said as he disconnected the call.
Author's notes: Hi everyone; hopefully this actually publishes. FFN has been having major glitches all week. If you have gotten here, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed. Things are going to heat up further next chapter as the group pursues Toneri. Hopefullly FFN will be working by then! In any case, stay healthy, stay safe, and I'll see you next chapter.
I will be posting this also to AO3 just to be safe. Take care everyone!
