'Normal Speech'
'Thoughts'
'Bijuu/Summons/Gamer/Techniques'
'Bijuu/Summons/Thoughts/Techniques'
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, The Gamer, or any series for that matter. If I did the last thing I would do is write fanfiction for your amusement. I am also way too lazy to come up with new creative and funny disclaimers to post on every chapter, so I'll be copying this one and pasting it on every chapter. I've got better things to do with my time, like reading fanfiction, write fanfiction, eat, do work, work out, read fanfiction...you get the idea.
(P.S. Did you guys know I like fanfiction?)
Chapter 20
I furrowed my brows in thought as I walked along a dirt path sandwiched by rows of trees on either side.
"She didn't have a mental block…" Kushina stated in thought. "But we didn't find any other seal on her either, so what caused her to force Kakashi to kill her?"
Minato paused in thought, "Maybe we're thinking about this incorrectly. What if she had a seal but it was removed after she died? There are plenty of seals that have such a function, the Hyuga being such an example."
The red-haired woman paused in thought before agreeing with a nod. "Certainly, if that was the case, then it would make sense why we couldn't find one anywhere on her."
"But then that just begs the question." Minato began, his gaze serious, "Who had the skill to place such a thing on her?"
"It doesn't really make sense…"
I thought to myself as I continued on my way.
"If Kirigakure had someone who was skilled enough in Fuuinjutsu to place such a cursed seal on Rin, why did they so willingly give up the Uzumaki scrolls at that time?"
That was what was bugging me.
The conclusion Minato and Kushina had come to a few weeks ago had been that Rin had been implanted with a cursed seal that prevented her from saying anything and would only disappear when she died.
Problem was, there was no one in Kiri with that skill because if there was, they wouldn't have had such a difficult time deciphering the Uzumaki seal scrolls.
Furthermore, when Kakashi has rammed his lightning blade through Rin's heart.
"Dammit, he removed it."
"Even after all the trouble we went through to get it."
That was what the Kirigakure Anbu had said at that time.
What could it have been referring to?
Her heart?
"Doubtful."
Therefore, it must have been something important enough for their plan that they would get upset over its loss.
Such as, for example, a cursed seal that would control Rin to some extent.
"So that means…"
Rin willingly let herself get stabbed in the heart in order to remove the seal that had been controlling her and preventing her from taking her own life.
But that wasn't all.
"Kirigakure may have been played…"
There was someone skilled enough and powerful enough to manipulate Kirigakure into turning a foreign ninja into the Three-tailed Jinchuuriki while also simultaneously placing a highly complex cursed seal on the victim.
"The question is who?"
That was what had been bothering me since. The thought that there was such an individual out in the shadows was quite frightening and set me on edge.
However, this was also merely conjectured.
For all I knew, I was overthinking things and Kiri had simply found some wandering seal master and paid him/her to do the job.
"Still though…"
I shook my head.
Even if I was right, what could I even do?
As my senses came back to me, I paused as I finally noticed an abnormally large amount of chakra signatures gathered around the Hokage's Building.
"Is the Third making an announcement?"
"Hey, Kakashi!"
I perked up at the mention of the name and looked ahead to see Kakashi sitting on a bench with a book in hand. Running towards him from my opposite direction was a boy with shiny black bowl-cut hair and bushy eyebrows. He wore a sleeveless jumpsuit with a scarf around his neck.
"I must have been really out of it if I hadn't noticed that they were in front of me earlier…"
"Hey, Kakashi! Did you hear?!" The boy said before he paused in front of Kakashi and took the book he was reading. "How A Shinobi Should Die? What is this?"
"Give it back." Kakashi replied before snatching the book back from the boy's hands. "What's going on?"
"Oh Yeah!" The spandex wearing individual said, standing ramrod straight. "The Fourth Hokage was just announced!"
"Ahh, so that's what the fuss is about…"
At the mention of a new Hokage, Kakashi looked up from his book.
"Don't be surprised!" The boy continued, before he paused, gripping his fists in excitement. "The Fourth Hokage will be Minato Sensei!"
Kakashi's eyes widened.
I could sense a whirlwind of emotions going through him at that statement.
"Man, your sensei is amazing Kakashi!" Guy said with his eyes sparkling.
At that moment, I stopped in front of them. "Isn't that great Kakashi?"
They both paused as they turned their heads towards me.
"…Yoru."
Guy looked between Kakashi and me before whispering to the one that was on the bench, "Who is he, Kakashi? A friend of yours?"
"He's-"
"Something like that." I said as I stepped forward, "My name is Yorudan, no surname. Most people just call me Yoru." Saying so, I stuck out my right hand.
Guy blinked before smiling, "Nice to meet you Yoru!" He said, vigorously shaking my hand before he stopped and took a step back before pointing his thumb to himself. "My name is Might Guy! Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of prey and Kakashi's eternal rival!"
"…I see." I replied while lowering my arm and looking at Kakashi. "I didn't expect that you'd go out of your way to make friends."
Kakashi looked at me for a moment before replying, "Thank you."
I tilted my head.
Kakashi continued, "If it wasn't for you, I would have broken my promise to Obito and lost someone close to me. For that, you have my thanks."
"Ahh, that…"
The Hokage had allowed Kakashi to know that Rin was safe and alive just so that he wouldn't completely breakdown with the false belief that he had killed her. However, any mention of her being a Jinchuuriki was kept hidden from him as per the Hokage's order. All he knew was that she was in a coma due to some sort of mental trauma and that she was being taken care of at a secure area.
I looked at Kakashi for a moment then at his book before turning to Guy who was looking at the both of us in confusion. "You said your name was Might Guy was it?"
Guy immediately nodded, "That's right!"
"I see…I know of you."
At that, he rubbed his nose bashfully. "I didn't know my reputation had made it this far."
I continued, "Your father was Might Duy, the Eternal Genin."
He stopped at that as his mood became despondent.
Kakashi narrowed his eyes at me, "Yoru-"
"Why are you sad?" I asked causing Guy to perk up. "Your father was a man powerful enough to kill 4 of the 7 Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist while also causing the remaining ones to flee, however, this came at the cost of his life." I glanced at Guy more seriously, "He sacrificed himself to save you did he not?"
Guy's expression brightened before he nodded.
"And? How have you been honoring the life he gave up for you?"
"Of course I've been training harder ever since!" Guy began as he gripped his fists, his eyes ablaze with passion. "Father believed that one must have confidence in themselves in order to achieve anything. He believed that one's true youth only ended when one turned their back on their beliefs and joy!" He pumped his fists up to the air, "I believe that with more training, I'll become strong, strong enough to protect what I love! This is why my youth will never fade!"
He then turned his flaming eyes towards me before yelling, "Yosh! I can feel the scalding passion of Youth burning powerfully within me! I won't even able to calm down unless I run 1000 laps around the village on my hands! Then do 10000 push-ups, on my thumbs! Then do 100000 kicks, with my legs! Yoooosh!" With that, he dashed down the path, licking up dust along the way.
I looked at Kakashi who was staring in the direction Guy had vanished to. "If you want to truly honor Obito, then stop dwelling on your failures and sorrows. If you want to prevent that sort of situation from occurring again, then simply strive to improve yourself. Your friend has the right idea even if he is a bit…excitable."
Kakashi didn't reply as he continued to look to the distance.
"Well, that's all I can really be bothered to do." I thought as I began to walk away.
Whether or not he took my words to heart was really not my concern.
"It's not like I care about him and Rin or anything…"
-Yoru: Gamer-
A couple of months had passed after the announcement of Minato's ascendency to Hokage. He had already been ushered into the job in front of the whole village about a month ago and had been met with overwhelming support and love from the village.
He was a handsome, powerful, and charismatic individual with an impressive track record to say the least. His name sent fear tingling down the spines of his enemies, but to his allies, he was the most dependable individual.
And at this moment, I was standing right in front of him, Kakashi by my side, as he looked at us with a slightly worried look hidden behind his impressive facade. We were in the Hokage office alone with him as he gazed at both of us seriously.
"My wife is pregnant."
"…heh."
"I know, I was the one who told you that a week ago."
And it had been hilarious.
"I knew they couldn't help but go at it after that gooey display. I bet they still did it the same night I made fun of them for it…"
Minato glared at me before sighing in worry. "In any case, I would like the both of you to watch over her during the duration of her pregnancy just in case anything goes wrong. Kakashi-" he began as he turned towards the person in question, "You'll be watching her from the shadows. Think of it as pre-training before I allow you to join ANBU."
Kakashi nodded his head.
That said, The Fourth Hokage turned his gaze towards me, "You're already intimately familiar with how ANBU works, so I'll have you be with her in the light and follow her everywhere she goes." He then smirked, "And you must oblige her every request."
I froze, "You…"
He nodded in satisfaction before leaning back in his chair, "Well that's all for now. Make sure my wife and our child stay safe for 10 months and be by their sides at all times appropriate. It shouldn't be a problem, right?" He said that last part while looking at me.
My eye twitched. "So petty…"
He smiled once more, "In that case, you're dismissed."
With that, I left the room with a sour expression. Kakashi followed beside me before giving me a slight look of pity before going his own way.
I sighed. "I don't deserve this…"
Minato's POV
I watched in pleasure as Yoru left the room dejectedly before my face turned serious as I gazed at the new pieces of information on my desk.
"This is what the Third meant when he said it would be my problem." I thought with a sigh before flipping through the report. "Over the past few months, the 5 Great Villages have complained that some of their more prominent Kekkei Genkai users have gone missing without a trail…Hiruko."
From what I gathered about him from my Teacher, Orochimaru, and Tsunade, he had been a frail and weak individual with no aptitude for being a shinobi. Because of his desire to fight side by side and be like the Sannin, he began to delve into forbidden experiments in order to fix his disabilities.
The Chimera Technique.
It was truly a terrifying technique, though the conditions and requirements to perfect it were quite stringent. However, if the conditions could be fulfilled, the user of the technique would be more than troublesome to defeat.
I tapped the desk in thought.
"A friend of the Sannin. No wonder that name had sounded familiar to me at that time. Jiraiya had mentioned him once or twice, usually when he had been drunk.."
I closed my eyes.
The 4 other Great Villages were not outwardly making any moves, but the tension from the 3rd Great War was still there and they were definitely not calm. The Villages has been sending blames and threats to each other in response to this mess to the point where there were suggestions to hold a Kage Summit.
However, that wasn't the worst part.
"He used to be one of our own…"
Regardless of whether Hiruko was now a missing-nin or not, the other Villages would still shift the blame to Konoha if it ever came to light that he had been responsible for this mess and had been a former ninja of the leaf.
I narrowed my eyes. "And there's the other issue…"
Rin.
Her situation had already caused the other Villages to be on edge with even our ally Suna shuffling uncomfortably. Having both the strongest Tailed beast in addition to the Three-Tails did not fare well with them.
It was good that we had been able to set the narrative before Kiri had, however, the other villages probably still saw this as a power grab regardless of the message we sent.
Combine this with the fact that one of our missing-nin was kidnapping Kekkei Genkai users for power, it was plainly obvious what kind of issue we were in.
I couldn't help but sigh. "I can't believe Hiruzen left me with such a problem…"
Luckily, the Third had already begun working on a plan for Hiruko.
As long as Orochimaru could find a weakness within the technique, then we wouldn't have too much of an issue dealing with the enemy ahead.
I wasn't the most keen on letting him work on something like this, but he was the most qualified for the job. Besides, whenever Yoru was mentioned, he always became much more manageable.
I didn't want to dwell on why that was, so I opted not to think about it.
"Now then…"
I looked at the large piles of paper on my desk.
"Those aren't going to finish themselves are they?"
Yoru's POV
Day 1
I sat down across from Kushina in her home, eyes literally glowing, as I idly pet Mito's head as she sat down next to me in glee.
Fun fact: The 'weak points' that I saw through my Deconstructive Analysis also seemed to act as areas of pleasure if stimulated gently.
Kushina looked at me intently before looking down and gripping her fists as if struggling to find the words to say.
Finally, she took a breath.
"Yoru." She began as she looked back up to me. "Before you begin to watch over me, I feel like as your teacher, I am obligated to tell you this."
I continued scratching Mito's hair as her body swayed drowsily in comfort before I replied. "…Ok."
Kushina's eye twitched, "Would it be too much to ask for you to show some more expression? Can't you tell how hard this is for me to say?"
I tilted my head. "You're the one making this difficult. You should know by now that regardless of what you have to tell me, I wouldn't think of you any differently."
Her eyes widened before she smiled and coughed gently into her fist. She then looked at me seriously, "Do you know what happened to all the Tailed Beasts during the First Hokage's era?"
"Ahh, this is what that's about…"
I nodded, "The First distributed the tailed beasts to the Five Hidden Villages as a sign of trust and peace." Why he thought that still eludes me to this day but I continued nonetheless, "Suna already had the One-tails: Iwa gained the Four- And Five-Tails; Kumo gained the Two- and Eight-Tails; Kiri gained the Three- and Six-Tails; and finally, we gained the Nine-tails."
Kushina nodded, "That's right. The Nine-Tails was a special Bijuu and could only be contained within an individual with a strong life force, so the First Hokage's wife, Mito Uzumaki, fostered it."
The Mito I was petting perked up slightly at the mention of her name through half-lidded eyes before she slumped down on the side of my chest.
Kushina looked at that with a smile. "She was a powerful woman and someone I respected a lot, so I named my daughter after her." Saying so, she continued on seriously, "Of course Mito's life, like all others, was finite and as she aged, so to did the seal containing the Nine-tails. In order to prevent it from escaping and wreaking havoc, she had to pass on Nine-tails to another vessel and that vessel was me." Kushina completed while looking at me intently.
After staring at her for a while and feeling her anxiety increase, I simply replied, "I know-"
"I know it's a lot to take in and if you want to stay away from me I understand but please know that I still-" she paused her rant and blinked before looking at me, "Hah?"
So I replied, "I know you have the Nine-tails."
She paused at that, looking at me with wide eyes, "But how? And when?"
"Unlike a General sensor, my ability to sense chakra is much more precise. When I first met you at the Ramen Store, my teacher could sense that you had too much chakra, but I could sense both that and the fact that you were hiding another well of chakra. One that was much, much greater and darker than your own." It wasn't the whole truth. I'd always known about her having the Nine-tails, but it was true that my Energy Resonance was of a higher caliber in terms of quality that other sensory abilities. I had a shorter range but I could sense energy more distinctly.
Even the Ninetail's chakra couldn't escape my detection, though the seal holding its chakra in place was very strong and I could only sense it when I was very close to Kushina.
Kushina slumped back to her chair and stayed silent for a moment before asking, "How come you never said anything?"
"I figured you'd tell me when you were ready and I never found it to be something worth noting." I stated before continuing, "…Besides, the Nine-tails doesn't change the fact that you're my hot-tempered, beautiful, compassionate teacher."
Kushina's eyes began to glisten before I suddenly found chakra chains wrapped around my body. Without warning, I was pulled into her hug as she rubbed her cheek against mine vigorously. I could feel the tears streaming down her face and decided not to complain about how unnecessary this all was.
After a while, she let go of me and smiled while wiping her cheeks, "Thank you."
"…You're welcome." I replied before thinking to myself, "This seems to be the best time to bring that up…"
I looked to Kushina's stomach before asking, "When you were pregnant with Mito, you and Minato went to a secure place in order to give birth to her. I'm assuming that giving birth affects the seal holding the Nine-tails in place does it not?"
Kushina placed me down and chuckled before nodding, "That's right. We went to a secret area that has a powerful barrier that will prevent anyone from coming in. The seal keeping the Ninetails at bay has to be managed as it weakens while I'm giving birth. If it isn't, the Nine-tails could escape."
I nodded my head in agreement, "If that is the case, I want to suggest that you increase the amount of security protecting you this time around while you're giving birth."
Kushina furrowed her brows, "I suppose that won't be a problem, but may I ask why?"
I thought back to the image I had seen in that alternate reality.
The Ninetails going free.
The destruction.
The sadness.
"…I have a bad premonition and I would prefer it doesn't come true." I looked at her deeply, "Promise me that you'll take as much precaution as possible. The worst that could happen is that I'm simply wrong and I made you worry for nothing. I just can't shake this feeling…"
Kushina placed her hands on my shoulders before nodding with a smile, "I suppose there's no harm in that, but that's 10 months away." She said before her smile became less amiable, "Now then, what was that you said about me being hot-tempered?"
"…I truly believed you'd ignore that in the moment."
She chuckled darkly before setting her legs in the table, "I'm sure my husband let you know that I wanted my every desire followed without question."
My eyes widened. "You both schemed me…"
With a heh, she wiggled her toes, "That's right and now, I want a foot rub."
"And suddenly all the wonderful feelings vanished…"
All this time, Mito had been peacefully sleeping on the couch.
Day 35
"Ahh! Isn't the air just so amazing out here?" Kushina said as we walked around the village.
I simply nodded in reply as I looked around at the hubbub of activity going around in the village. Stalls were set up as people tried to garner attention from the passerby's in order to sell their goods.
"Oh! Over there Yoru!" Kushina exclaimed happily as she ran towards the stall of Ichiraku's Ramen store.
I sighed and followed her in.
"Welcome!" The owner said with a smile on his face, "What can I get you?"
Kushina looked at the menu happily before stating, "Let's see…I'll have 5 bowls-"
"1." I said, cutting her off. "She'll only have one bowl."
She narrowed her eyes at me, "What do you think you are doing?"
"Making sure you eat healthy so that your child is born healthy. No more than one bowl per day."
She furrowed her brows before giving a tsk, "Fine, make it one bowl of beef ramen-"
"With extra vegetables." I concluded. "This is for your own good and that of your child."
She twitched her eyes, "With extra vegetables…"
Teuchi looked between the both of us and simply shrugged before turning his gaze towards me. "And you?"
Figuring that it would be rude to come into his store and not order anything, I simply ordered the same thing Kushina had. "Beef with extra vegetables."
Didn't really matter what I put into my body but I didn't want to tempt Kushina by picking anything else.
After obtaining and eating our food, we paid and left the store and continued our trek down the busy afternoon road.
"I only got to have one bowl…" Kushina complained with her head down.
I inwardly rolled my eyes.
"My cabbages!"
I blinked and looked ahead only to see a cart of cabagges rolling down the street at high velocities. The owner of the cabbage cart could not keep up with the cart and pointed at it with tearful eyes, "Someone, please stop my cabbages!"
The people on the road screamed and parted on other sides of the road as the cart traveled down towards us.
Kushina watched the spectacle oddly while I simply sighed.
"You two! Watch out!" The cabbage man said as the cart approached us.
As it headed closer to us, I lightly tapped my foot on the ground, causing a wall of earth to erupt in front of us. The cabbage cart crashed into the earthen wall, worsen splinters and cabbages sent frying everywhere from the impact.
Only after lowering the wall did I see the cabbage man crawling forward with his hands on his head in despair, "M-My Cabbages…"
I took out a few ten thousand Ryo and gave it to him. "…That should cover most of it including the cart."
The man blinked and shakily took the money before looking up at me with tear-filled eyes, "T-thank you!"
"Yoru." Kushina said, looking at me, "I wanted some of those cabbages…"
I ignored her.
Day 70
"Yoruuuuu! I want a sandwich!"
Kushina wined on the living room couch as I massaged her shoulders.
I furrowed my brows, "…I'm afraid to ask, but what do you want on it this time?"
She licked her lips with a smile. "Let's see…I want a tuna sandwich."
I blinked. "That's actually normal-"
"Hmm, then I want peanut butter and jelly on it as well."
"Aaand I spoke too soon."
"Also, Also! I want spinach! I need to be healthy for my baby you know!"
I stopped rubbing her shoulders and sighed. "Is that it?"
She put on a thoughtful expression before brightening, "Oh! How could I forget? Make sure you put on lots of pickles in it!"
My lips twisted in distaste at the thought of making such an abomination, but I had no choice but to nod in agreement. "…Fine, I'll go make your food."
She giggled in glee so I left to fulfill her twisted desires and headed towards the kitchen. With a few searches around the area, I was able to find all the ingredients that I needed.
With the bread, spinach, peanut butter, jelly, tuna, and most importantly pickles, I had everything set for what was not even close to the most disgusting thing I've had to make for her.
I actually had a list in the deepest recesses of my scarred mind.
I looked at all the ingredients and carefully combined them together in between the bread buns before I held the sandwich in between the palms of both of my hands.
With a little bit of heat generated to both hands, I cooked the bread through and placed it on a plate.
My nose crinkled at the nauseating smell of my creation.
"Good thing my Cooking can make this thing palatable…"
With that, I brought the plate over to Kushina, who was waiting eagerly and placed it down in front of her.
"Ohh! I can't wait!" She said heartedly before immediately reaching in and grabbing the sandwich. With a single large bite, half of it disappeared as Kushina closed her eyes and slowly chewed on the sustenance.
After a while, she swallowed and hummed in thought, "…Hey Yoru?"
"…Yes?"
She turned to look at me seriously, "I don't know, but this one doesn't taste authentic."
I raised a brow. "Authentic? What do you even mean?"
"Well you know…" she said while gesturing with her hands, "It doesn't taste fresh enough. Kind of like it's been processed."
"That's how most food is though…"
"And that's the problem!" She complained. "I can't have my baby eating this kind of junk!"
I sighed, "Then what do you want me to do about it? Go around and get all those ingredients from scratch-"
I immediately regretted it as soon as those words came out of my mouth.
Kushina beamed, "Yes!"
"Pickles are literally processed to become what they are and take days to finish. What do you want time to do about that?" I said, in an effort to dissuade her.
She stopped to think for a moment before sighing. "I suppose there's nothing to be done then…"
Just as I sighed in relief-
"Just don't add them in then!" She completed.
I froze.
"I hate my life…"
"Well? Go on now, I'll be waiting!"
My eyelids twitched so I promptly left the house and took a sigh before looking up to the barely rising sun.
It was only around 6:00 in the morning hence the reason why Mito hadn't been around us earlier as she had been nicely tucked into sleep.
The joys of being her age…
"Well when I was her age, I was undergoing grueling and cruel training to become a killer so…"
I shook my head from those thoughts and went on to complete Kushina's insane requests. Minato was off doing Hokage business and I could sense Kakashi near the house as he stood guard over it in order to watch Kushina.
With that, I made my way over to a nearby lake after hopping across the village and stood at its bank. My Energy Resonance easily picked up the weak energy signatures of the fish below so with a flick of my wrist, I impaled a tuna.
After collecting my prize and putting it inside my Inventory, I went over to the market area of Konoha and picked up some fresh berries before placing them in my personal pocket dimension as well. I didn't stop at that and also bought whole wheat grain, peanuts, and spinach.
With that, I went back to Kushina's place and entered the door before quickly moving to the kitchen.
"Oh! Yoru you're back!" Kushina yelled front the living room. "I'll be waiting here for my sandwich!"
I ignored her and focused on the matter at hand.
Kushina already had yeast so it was easy to activate it with some water generated from the molecules in the air. With that in addition to a little sugar and dough, I let it activate for a moment before I moved on to my next activity.
"This will be tricky…" I thought as I looked at the whole grain and thought for a moment before getting a large container and placing a sufficient amount of whole wheat grain inside.
After covering it up, I placed my hand on top of the container and really concentrated my chakra. I formed a very small swirling ball of energy within the container to grind up the whole wheat grain into fine flour for my usage.
Next, I took some of the flour and put it in the activated yeast and mixed it with my Rasengan once more until it had the consistency I desired. With that, I let it sit to the side.
"I wonder how Minato would feel if he found out that I was using his famous jutsu for cooking…"
The thought amused me greatly.
While the dough was left to rise, I took out the tuna fish I had in my inventory and cleaned it up before filleting it into little pieces. After turning on the stove with the pan on top of it, I placed my fish inside and heard the amazing sizzle that I had been expecting. With some seasoning and olive oil, the smell was incredible.
I sighed. "I'm going to have to ruin this delicious dish…"
I decided that I would save some more Mito who had normal taste buds.
With that, I used the same process for the peanuts that I used for the flour in addition to a little bit of oil and honey for flavor.
"Peanut butter complete…"
I checked on the fish and flipped it to its side before focusing on my Jam.
I crushed the strawberries and added them to a pan with sugar and lemon juice. I cooked it, transferred it to a covered jar, and began to process it in water.
I checked back on my tuna and seeing as it was well done, I put it in my inventory for freshness.
It took me approximately 2 hours to have everything prepared from having the bread dough rise and cooking it to finishing up making my jelly.
With everything set up before me, I sliced up a couple of bread pieces and spread on some peanut butter and jelly before placing it in my inventory.
"Mito should be awake at any minute…"
Next, I did the same process once more, but in addition, I added the cooked tuna, and spinach.
"Yoooooruuuuu! Are you done yet?! I'm huungryyyy!"
I took a deep calming breath and walked out of the kitchen to the living room where Kushina was waiting for me expectantly once more.
As soon as I placed the dish down, she grabbed and devoured it in a few seconds before sighing in contentment. "Ahh that was good…" she then yawned and laid down on the couch before waving me off, "I'm tired now so you can go do something else." And with that, she drifted off to sleep.
I looked at Kushina's smooth neck…
My fingers twitched…
I took a breath and closed my eyes before shaking my head. "I'll literally die if I tried…"
"Hmm, Yoru~?" Mito stated as she appeared in the living room while rubbing her sleepy eyes. "Mommy's still sleeping?"
"Ignore her." I said before walking towards her, picking her up, and sitting her down on the dining room table.
At her confused look, I took out the Peanut butter sandwich I had saved for her and placed it in front of her. "Eat up, I made it all from scratch."
Mito blinked before smiling widely, "Thank you for the food!"
I rubbed her head before moving away and watching her eat my sandwich from a distance. Every bite she took caused her feet to swing subconsciously and her expression to brighten up with glee.
"She's too cute…"
Day 140
I was sitting down next to Kushina massaging her legs in the living room.
I sighed to myself, "I hope something happens soon that takes me away from this torture…"
"That feels so good Yoru!" The redhead said in glee as she leaned back into the chair with her eyes closed.
"God help me…"
I felt a high-level chakra signature approach Kakashi who was outside the house before it promptly vanished. No sooner did Kakashi immediately move to the front door of the house and walk in with more emotion that I'd seen on him in years.
"Hmm?" Kushina stated as she peeled open her eyes and stood up slightly before asking the white-haired Jonin, "Kakashi, what's wrong?"
He quivered slightly before saying. "Rin…She's awake."
The atmosphere froze.
Kushina's eyes widened and she quickly stood up from the chair. "We have to go there immediately!"
Internally, I thanked that deity that had answered my prayers. Now I could just stay here while they all went over to where Rin was kept. I could wait here until Mito came back from the academy and if I was lucky, they would stay there the entire day and I'd have the house all to my-
Kushina looked at me "Yoru!"
I felt a disturbing premonition, "…Yes?"
She grabbed my arm, "You are coming with us. Let's go!"
The force of her grip prevented me from doing anything against her and I was essentially kidnapped as she dragged me across the village. In no time, we arrived at the Hospital where Rin was being kept before checking in with the nurses and making our way up to her room.
Rin had been moved to the normal hospital some time ago after the then Third Hokage had made sure there had been no leaks as to the identity of the Three-Tails. Of course, the only individuals who had been allowed to interact with her had been Kazemona herself who came by regularly to check on her mental state and Tsunade who checked on her physical health to make sure her muscles weren't being atrophied too quickly.
There was no need to mention Minato who came by occasionally to check on her seal.
Kushina was too busy ordering me around to do so.
Eventually, we stopped in front of a secluded room on the topmost level of the hospital.
As Kakashi looked at the door with misty eyes, Kushina placed her arm around his shoulder in comfort, "We'll go in together."
"Why do I have to be dragged into this?"
My things went unanswered as Kakashi nodded and pushed open the door.
There in the room was the Fourth Hokage himself along with Kazemona (Who was visibly more than half-way through her pregnancy) and Tsunade all huddled around Rin's bed.
The girl in question perked up at the sound of the opening door and looked towards us and smiled, "I'm back."
Kakashi stood there stock still as he gazed at her visage, his eyes slowly becoming misty in the process. "Rin…"
He slowly walked up to the side of her bed and kneeled down before tears began to pour freely down his face. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…" he muttered multiple times as he clenched his fists.
Rin leaned to his side and wrapped her arms around Kakashi's neck before bringing him in closer to her. "This was something I decided on myself so please don't cry."
That didn't stop the tears from streaming down his face as they stood there in silence.
"Well, I'm going to go before I ruin the mood." Kazemona stated as she supported herself and began to move out of the room.
Her hand was suddenly grabbed by Rin. "Thank you for everything you did for me. If it wasn't for you…"
"I was simply doing my job…" Kazemona said before she smiled, "But you're welcome."
With a smile, Rin let go, allowing Kazemona to exit the room. She gave me a gentle pat on the head and nodded to Kushina before leaving the premises.
"I was able to prevent her muscles from deteriorating too much and by stimulating her motor nerve activity over these past months, I prevented her from forgetting how to walk." Tsunade began to explain to quietly Minato as she watched Rin. "She'll probably still need a week or two to regain complete fine motor control, but she otherwise should be alright."
Minato nodded in appreciated, "Thank you for your continued help Lady Tsunade."
She lightly smiled, "Of course, it's my duty after all." She then glanced at Rin once more. "If there's nothing else, I will take my leave."
Minato shook his head, "No, I'll be handling everything else from here, you may take your leave."
Tsunade nodded and left the room soon after.
After consoling Kakashi for a little while longer, Rin looked up at me beaming, "Yoru!" She opened her arms to invite me into her embrace.
While I was thinking about how to avoid this-
"Go on!" Kushina said as she shoved me forward, the force propelling me straight into Rin's open arms.
She quickly capitalized on the opportunity and wrapped her arm around my neck before quietly saying, "Thank you for saving my life… and giving me a new heart."
I think Kakashi flinched a little behind me.
"…I was simply-"
"Doing your job?" Rin finished with a smile. "Iso-kun told me that if it wasn't for you, even he wouldn't have been able to save me."
I paused at the strange name.
"Iso-kun?" I asked. I turned around to see that everyone else here was as confused as I was.
Rin nodded heartily, "I prefer not to call him this, but he's the Three-Tails."
Pin
Drop
Silence.
Kakashi looked at Rin in surprise, "Rin what are you-"
Minato cut him off with a sigh as he looked at Kakashi, "I suppose it's unfair to keep it from you. I'm sure you want to know why she did what she did, so I'll have her explain." He looked to Rin, "If you don't mind?"
Rin shook her head and released me before saying, "I don't really remember where I was taken to as I was blindfolded along the way, however, I only know that they sealed Iso-kun into me."
She paused for a moment and continued, "I knew that they had deliberately lowered their security after Kakashi easily tracked and broke me out of the place I had been kept in. From what I remember, the moment I got into Konoha, Iso-Kun would break free and most likely rampage across the village, causing a lot of destruction to us."
She then blinked and smiled, "Iso-Kun says that he wouldn't bother doing something so troublesome."
Kakashi's eyes were wide as he asked, "Then why did you jump in front of me? As long as Sensei and his wife were around, they could have easily prevented that."
Rin shook her head, "They placed a cursed seal on my heart that prevented me from telling you anything about it and also prevented me from taking my own life." She looked at him in remorse, "I apologize for forcing you to do that, I just didn't want Konoha to be destroyed…"
At Kakashi's silence, Kushina asked the question that had been most on my mind, "Wait, why do you call the Three-Tails 'Iso-kun'? Do all the Bijuu actually have names?"
Rin nodded, "His name is Isobu and he's actually quite nice. He never really meant to hurt anyone, however being forced into people for many years soured his mood. Also…" She began, pointing her finger at Kushina's stomach, "He says to tell his big brother he said 'hi'."
Kushina's eyes widened.
Minato slapped the side of his face.
Kakashi looked confused, "Big brother? What does that mean?"
"Don't worry about it." Minato said in exhaustion as he looked at Rin with a strained smile, "In any case, you are alright now, so get some rest. I'll be checking up on you periodically to make sure everything is alright."
Rin nodded readily before looking at Kushina, "Thank you so much for coming Kushina-san and congratulations!" She finished while focusing on Kushina's protruding stomach.
"Ahh! You're just so cute!" The redhead stated as she approached and embraced Rin for a moment. "Get some rest will you?"
Rin nodded, "I will, thank you!"
Kushina supplanted a kiss on her forehead before grabbing my arm and Minato's arm and dragging us out of the room. "You two catch up!" She said to Kakashi and Rin before she closed the door behind her.
With that, she took a breath before looking at Minato, "What do you think?"
"About the fact that the tailed beasts are highly intelligent creatures? About the fact that they have names? About the fact that they are related? Or about the fact that there's someone there with enough skill to place that kind of cursed tag on her?"
"…Yes." I replied.
They shot me a look before ignoring me.
Kushina sighed, "I never even considered the thought that the Ninetails was intelligent. It had always been explained to me as a monster…"
I blinked, "You never tried to talk to it? Not even once?"
She smiled sourly, "Well…I usually just went to yell at it whenever I was having a bad day and then I would leave soon after. I've never actually tried to communicate with it…"
I raised a brow.
Minato sighed, "In any case, Rin and the three tails seem to have a good relationship so I'm not worried in that end, however…" he looked at Kushina's stomach while scratching his chin, "I had no idea they could sense each other at close distance…are you planning on talking to it?"
Kushina's lips twitched, "With the type of seal that's been used on it and considering how long it's been with me, I'm not really sure it'll want to have a conversation…"
"…It's worth a try." I began. "The worst it could do is straight out ignore you…or roar at you…and curse you…and taunt-"
"I think I get the point." Kushina replied before sighing. "In any case, with Rin back we can rest a little easier."
"That's right." The Hokage replied before planting a kiss on Kushina and rubbing her stomach, "I'll be home soon but for now, I'll be a little bit busy. Say hi to Mito for me."
Kushina looked up at him brightly, "Of course."
Minato smiled and patted my head as he walked by before disappearing into the distance.
As she watched Minato disappear, she grabbed my arm. "When we get home I'm going to try talking to the fox. How hard could it be?"
Day 280
"Motherfu-!"
I covered Kushina's mouth as I sensed Mito's chakra signature at the door. "I don't think that's the kind of language you should be using when your daughter is close by."
She glared at me before taking a deep breath and grinding her teeth, "But this stupid fox is so infuriating! Every time I try to talk to him, it just ridicules and laughs at me then it starts to insult Mito Uzumaki (the First Hokage's wife) and then me and then my clan…ARG!" It sounded like there was much more she wanted to say, but she held her breath as Mito's footsteps approached.
"Mom, Yoru, I'm home!" Mito yelled excitedly as she approached us with a skip in her step.
I scratched her head while she gave me a hug before she moved on and embraced her mother.
Kushina gave her a motherly smile, "Welcome home, Mito. How was the academy today?"
Separating herself from her mother, Mito answered, "It was the same as usual. Basic drills and kunai accuracy tests, but…oh!" She suddenly exclaimed as if she remembered something, "Today the teacher in charge taught me about human vital points and how to best target them!"
"Oh?" Kushina said with a raised brow, "What did you learn then?"
Mito searched for a moment before pulling out a dull wooden Kunai and gripping it. "Well he said to hold it kind of like this…" and then she brought the point up to let mother's neck, "…And attack here."
Kushina shook her head slightly and gently grabbed Mito's arm before adjusting its positioning. She then shifted her legs a little to give me a more stable balance. "First you want to aim for the jugular where the blood travels up to the brain. As long as you can get a solid nick in, the enemy will spill blood all over."
Mito's eyes widened before she nodded excitedly.
Kushina smiled at her daughter's enthusiasm and continued, "Next, you want to push into your enemy slightly and get them off balance so that you can restrain them…"
Mito nodded once more.
Kushina began to fix Mito's flaws and explain to her efficient methods of killing while I just listened in interest. All the best ways to target the heart, throat, lungs, groin, and brain while also properly handling her weapon.
I idly wondered if this was what a normal family was like…
I looked outside at the afternoon sky and thought for a moment.
"It's been a little quiet as of late…I wonder if some new development will pop up…"
"Ahh before I forget." I heard Kushina say as she looked at Mito seriously. "Tomorrow there's supposed to be a solar eclipse and I might forget to remind you then so I'm doing it now. Whatever you do, don't look up at the sun alright?"
She rolled her eyes, "I know mom, I'm not dumb."
Kushina began to roughly pinch her daughter's cheeks causing. "Cheeky kid."
Mito girl to groaned and rubbed her cheeks in protest.
Suddenly, the door to the house was opened and Kakashi came in with an intensely serious look on his face. "Yoru, you need to come outside and look at this."
I blinked.
"Kakashi, what's wrong?" Kushina asked.
He shook his head, "I don't really know how to explain it…in any case, come outside!"
I furrowed my brows and looked to Kushina.
She nodded and grabbed her daughter's hand. "Let's take a look."
As soon as we went outside and looked at the direction Kakashi was looking at, I finally understood the urgency.
Up in the sky in the distance, a large image of a young white haired boy was being projected. It was the image of a boy with white-haired and red eyes dressed in an over-sized, high-collared coat wrapped with three leather straps and he had bandages on his up to his nose.
"My name is that of a ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village, Hiruko!"
The projection began.
I grimaced, "Did I jinx this…?"
Author's Note: stuff will pick back up next chapter.
Stat Update
Tier: 7-B+
Age: 10.2 - 10.99
Level: 93 - 96
HP: 342715- 399599
CP: 546480 - 633076
STR: 1325 - 1440
VIT: 1334 - 1451
DEX: 1331 - 1445
INT: 1020 - 1155
WIS: 1005 - 1140
ENGY: 1807 - 1968
Points: 235
Skill Update:
Cooking: lvl 165 - lvl 170
Deconstructive Analysis: lvl 21 - lvl 30
Gamer's Body: lvl 170 - lvl 180
ID Create: lvl 45 - lvl 49
ID Escape: lvl 45 - lvl 49
Kawarimi: lvl 90 - lvl 100 MAX
Lying: lvl 93 - lvl 95
Toxin Resistance: lvl 92 - lvl 94
Physical Conditioning: lvl 91 - lvl 96
Rasengan: lvl 45 - lvl 50 MAX [Unlocked: Big Ball Rasengan]
Shadow Clone Jutsu: lvl 400 - lvl 420
Shunshin: lvl 140 - lvl 155
Uzumaki Fuuinjutsu: lvl 92 - lvl 94
Rain Sennin: to be honest, it's not like Yoru is incapable of feeling love, it's just a bit difficult due to his mindset. If anything, he would most likely sleep around without trying to get too attached. I'm really not sure if I will pair him but I'll honestly try to let the story write himself and who knows, he might end up with someone or a few people.
Boblets: Context matters. When he first found Kakashi and Rin, they were in an encirclement of Kiri Anbu. Rin already had her heart ripped out and a clone wasn't going to help at that point. Do tell how he would have the time to focus on slaughtering them? Besides, if the character in the story is saying he is that strong and the author is telling you he is that strong and you still don't believe it...then I really don't know what else to say man lol.