"Are you ready, human?" asked the golden fox, her nine tails lashing behind her.
"Ready," said the Fourth Hokage, drawing his chakra up to a visible glow.
"Ready," said an unexpected voice.
"Kushina?! You just gave birth!" said Minato, who might have been the Hokage responsible for everyone's lives, but was also a husband and father.
"Women in Rice Country do it and go back to planting an hour later," said Kushina Uzumaki, drawing her twin sabers. "You'll need me in this!"
"But -" began Minato.
"He comes!" warned the Ninetails, expanding to huge size in order to fight the oncoming giant.
The fight, as it occurred, was in full sight of the assembled Konohagakure ninja. Even the civilians saw the battle occur, though without the details of being up-close to the fighting.
The Hokage, his wife, and the fox-kami known as Inari fought the thirty-foot high being known as Madara.
At first, the battle was in the favor of the defending forces trying to keep the giant away from their village.
Madara apparently realized that and did something. When he spoke, his voice echoed across the city. "Fools! I have achieved immortality. I will BE a god and rule over all, it is my destiny. Uchiha Clan! I call upon you, and the power of your eyes. By the ties of blood and your loyalty to me, by the hatred burning in your hearts, I CLAIM YOU!"
Minato, Inari, and Kushina were not alone in pausing and glancing backwards towards the village on hearing what seemed like a thousand voices raised in screaming.
Streamers of light shot forth, mostly from the Uchiha sector, swarming into Madara's outstretched arms as he doubled in size.
Kakashi went to one knee, clutching at his Sharingan eye.
Itachi screamed in pain as he covered his baby brother.
"Now," thundered the voice of Madara Uchiha, "it is time for the Senju Clan and its philosophies to perish from this land."
"Foolish mortal," said Inari, increasing her size with Minato and his wife standing atop her head. "The powers of the gods are not so easily wielded, nor their position usurped. I am Inari, and you shall not pass!"
"You saw the events of yesterday, many of you have questions," said the Third Hokage. "I will answer as best I can."
"The Fourth and that woman?" asked Nara.
"The Fourth and his wife," said the Third. "They are, unfortunately, dead. They managed to stop Madara alongside Inari."
"Inari? Was that truly -" the jonin named Kakashi made a vague gesture.
"You saw her," said Hiashi. "I used the Byakugan as well. That was no genjutsu."
"I hit my limit early on in the battle," admitted Kakashi.
"The god Inari, the fox-deity, was badly injured in the battle," said the Third. "In order to have the time to heal, she was sealed inside the child of the Fourth."
THAT went off like a bomb, startling everyone to stillness.
"The child of the Fourth Hokage?" asked Tsume Inuzuka.
"This should all be kept as secret as possible," said the Third Hokage. "If it gets out, then there may be so many assassins sent after the child that even all our ANBU will not be sufficient to protect him."
"I see," said Hiashi. "Not only because we have the goddess on our side. Some will see the child only as a weapon. Some will only see the child of the Fourth, who has made many enemies during the War and even before that. Some will try to kidnap the child to make their own weapon."
"There are many problems currently that must gain our attention," said the Third. "My own reassumption of the Hokage post will be contested by some on the Council. The Uchiha Clan is down to those few able to resist Madara's claim - Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke Uchiha, and Mikoto Uchiha. Even though Madara never got past the outer walls, rebuilding from the damage done just by his approach will take time. As will training new ninja to rebuild our numbers from the losses of the attack."
The Third Hokage frowned. "Before she was sealed, there was one suggestion that Inari gave while I witnessed. When things are slightly more settled, she desired that we open a program for those ninja who had lost their villages or gone missing-nin due to persecution within their own lands. A program whereby they could find a home here."
"Inari being the protector of warriors, that is understandable, but could such people be trusted?" pointed out Hiashi. "Having gone missing-nin once, what is to keep them from doing so again? Or even simply having donned missing-nin status as a ploy to infiltrate our village?"
"I simply ask each of you to think on the matter, and to prepare your ideas," said the Third. "Getting such a thing through the Council would be a major battle in itself, and will take some time to accomplish."
Six years before 'today':
Akuru held up his hand, making the quick series of hand signals to the rest of the 'ambassadors' from Cloud.
They moved out from the Hyuuga compound, their prize struggling in the blanket wrapped around her.
"You guys not going nowhere," said a young boy's voice as an alarm gong began ringing behind them.
Akuru used his spare hand to throw a handful of kunai towards the child's voice. They didn't have time for interruptions.
"Kawarimi no jutsu, step two!" called out the boy's voice.
"Eh?" asked Akuru out loud as the weight under one arm abruptly changed. When he glanced and discovered a takeout box from some restaurant named "Ichiraku" - he simply dropped it and looked around for the target.
A glimpse of yellow and he was off, chasing a boy about the same age as their target through the village. The boy was unexpectedly fast and agile for that age though, and also made use of small gaps in fences and hedges to good use.
Akuru made another set of hand signs, indicating his allies should attempt to flank as he readied more kunai, this set with wires.
Another flash of blonde and the boy was heading for a particular house Akuru could see an open window and immediately used his kunai to block the boy off of it. Despite himself, he felt a little impressed. At apparently four years of age, the boy should be clumsy and not nearly so fast. There were adult genin Akuru knew of who wouldn't have led him on such a chase.
The boy changed direction abruptly, but made his first big mistake in not allowing for the mass of his burden - especially as the blanket came away to reveal the tied-up and gagged little girl.
Akuru threw more kunai, this time with chakra threads trailing them. He'd capture the boy AND the girl. Any child with this much promise should either enrich his own village or be simply killed to deny Konohagakure that skill.
The boy put the girl down after the first kunai cut into his arm. That was expected. What Akuru did NOT expect was for the boy to shimmer and change. It looked different from a henge jutsu though.
The woman that stood up was wearing odd clothes that looked like something a priestess would wear to a ceremony. Blonde hair in two long pigtails, framing a face with startlingly blue eyes. The woman also had four ears, two triangular ones above her temples, and two human-looking ones in the usual spots. Behind her, a golden fox's tail waved.
The woman drew two curved shortswords in a swift motion that bespoke considerable amounts of training.
Eyes twinkling with amusement, the woman smiled. "Shall we dance?"
Akuru made a quick gesture and the flankers leapt forward, against the four of them this woman/child would quickly be cut down and their mission could continue.
The twin swords moved so swiftly that they were briefly only visible as silver tracery in the moonlight.
His men went down with sprays of blood trailing them, indicating that if this was an illusion - that there was certainly something underneath it.
The image of the fox-woman staggered suddenly despite no blow being struck against her, faded, and became the boy again.
Well, if he couldn't capture the girl easily, there really was only one out. Akuru was quite aware of the bay of hounds nearby from one direction, the rustling of leaves and flashes of cloak from another, and the noise of the Hyuga compound settling down from alarm to more quiet yet frantic activity. The next spray of kunai he sent had explosive tags and was followed quickly by a poison gas grenade.
The boy was gathering up the girl again and running off. He bore injuries this time as he exited the cloud, and was slowing, so he should be an easy target.
Akuru moved forward, only to realize a moment later that Konoha's ANBU had indeed arrived.
When the Hyuuga clan found the scene, they found the ambassador on the ground. Two of his men were dead, two more had serious injuries.
They later received a messenger from the Inuzuka compound that their missing girl was there along with her rescuer.
Four years before 'today':
Hiashi wasn't too sure about this. Not that he would ever let uncertainty show. As clan head of a prestigious clan, he had to be stoic and implacable.
His little girl wearing a miko costume, except for the little headband with the foxears and a clip-on fox tail, was the part challenging his 'stoic and implacable' manner.
His was not the only home with a little Inari shrine. When the fox-deity's involvement had begun circulating, there were many who put up a little shrine to honor the deity and her involvement. Some had tiny effigies of the Fourth and his wife as well, though those were uncommon and generally thought of as being in poor taste.
Nor was his home the only one where people tended to just nod at the boy showing up, instead of eyeing the boy and keeping him at a distance. As if not sure what the boy was and whether they should chase him off or not. Where the boy was welcome, he tended to show up more often. Where he showed up frequently and there was an Inari shrine, things happened.
The boy showed up when one of the Inuzuka dogs was expecting a litter, and visited to just sit there and watch. That dog tolerated the odd boy through her pregnancy, and when she delivered - everyone agreed that the litter was exceptionally strong and healthy seeming. Or when the Nara had one of their deer get sick and the boy just somehow wandered in, and the deer got better quickly. Or when the boy had turned up napping atop one of the wooden barrels used for the preparation of a local beer, and when that barrel was tapped - it proved to have a special kick to it.
Some looked at events like that and muttered darkly about black sorcery. Some looked at events like those and claimed the boy was a lucky mascot. Some knew the truth and came to their own conclusion.
A flash of orange-red and Hiashi looked out of the corner of his eye to see the 'Foxkeh' form of Naruto, that uber-kawaii not-quite-a-fox form with the big blue eyes, watching Hinata from a roof.
Which brought him back to what was making him uncomfortable. Hinata quite obviously liked the little boy who contained the fox-deity. Though perhaps 'liked' was the wrong word.
What to do?
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(Posted Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:36)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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