The Will of Fire

Chapter 6: Of Cold Sorrow and Broken Desires.

Disclaimer: Well, since no amount of negotiating will convince Kishimoto (not even a lifetime supply of miso ramen!), and I need him alive so that the series can continue, I find myself forced to admit that Naruto does not belong to me. Which sucks.

AN: Right, time to see what comes from Minato accepting Kumo's 'peace offering'. And, for those of you who remember the teaser from a while back, you'll finally get to see what's happening to everybody's favorite Hyuuga heiress. Read and enjoy, but don't forget to leave a review! )

Kakashi looked about him warily, observing the unusual darkness of the air about him. It looked like it was going be one of those nights. As a shinobi, a fighter accustomed to night patrols and other such activities, he had often noticed that the night often had a texture all of its own, a sort of darkness that didn't come from the usual absence of light. There were some nights when, despite the lack of moonshine, the air seemed to be light and silvery. And then there were nights like tonight where, despite the moon's best efforts, the darkness seemed thick and dense, and shadows lurked at every corner.

It didn't bother him much, but there was still something about it that tickled at his shinobi instincts, insisting that not all was well.

It was very annoying.

He sighed softly and shifted his weight slightly, adjusting the ANBU mask that covered his face. He was an the commander of an entire ANBU platoon, and because of that, it had been quite some time since he had performed a task as mundane as guard duty. But, since the arrival of the emissary from Kumo not three days ago, the Yondaime had ordered the number of ANBU on active patrol through the village to be doubled, and guards posted at erratic intervals throughout the city.

Kakashi smirked under his mask. It was one thing to for a shinobi to seek peace, but it was quite another for said shinobi to lower his guard while doing so.

He glanced lazily to his left, checking his subordinates' position. With the help of his Sharingan, he could see the clever Genjutsu that masked the presence of Rei, one of his best masters of illusion. From what little he could see of her, she was alert and on the lookout for the slightest hint of trouble. Good to see that she had such dedication, despite the incredibly boring job she had been assigned. But as for Takumaru...

Kakashi groaned a little under his breath. Just goes to show that you should never assign guard duty to a Nara. The Chuunin had only recently joined ANBU, due almost entirely to the nagging efforts of his soon-to-be-wife, Toriyaka Maya. He showed a surprising amount of skill, especially considering the fact that he had been acting as a mere clerk until a month or two ago, and he had the Nara gift for strategy and clear thinking. Were it not for the infamous Nara laziness...

Nara Takumaru was fast asleep, not fifty meters from the house Kakashi was crouched on top of.

Mumbling an obscenity or two, Kakashi reached down to his pouch and pulled out a small rubber ball. With casual skill, he flicked his wrist and sent the ball hurtling towards the dozing Nara, feeling more than a little satisfied when the small sphere smote the lazy one right between his eyes.

Or, rather, didn't.

Just before the ball hit, Takumaru's hand flashed over and around, seizing the ball without even opening his eyes. With a muted flash of darkened steel, a kunai was out and held at the ready, the Nara assuming a crouched stance. Kakashi quirked an eyebrow in interest; looks like the boy wasn't as unperceptive as he thought.

Takumaru opened his eyes finally, looking out through the eyeholes in his unadorned white mask, the lack of symbols or decoration representing his status as a fresh recruit in the Konoha Black Ops. He stared at the small ball in his hand and look up at his commander, whose mask betrayed no emotion whatsoever.

Kakashi smirked as the Nara met his gaze, but moved his left hand in a vertical slashing motion, a silent command for the Nara to be alert and continue his duties. Takumaru confirmed it by opening and closing his right fist, and then turned away, resuming his task as if the whole thing had never happened.

The Jounin grinned a little and turned away from Takumaru, his mind wandering a bit. His thoughts meandered from topic to topic, idly examining old memories and pondering possible scenarios. More than once, his mind's eye showed him mental images, scenes from his favorite reading material. Since the topic of those books were... mature in nature, Kakashi found himself glad he was wearing his mask. After all, it would severely damage his reputation should his subordinates catch a glimpse of Hatake Kakashi, Copy Ninja and ANBU commander, with a slight nosebleed and a healthy blush.

He suppressed a chuckle out of instict, a silent testament to the rigorous stealth training he had undergone as part of the ANBU, and then tensed suddenly.

There had been a slight flicker of movement in the shadows of the street.

Using his peripheral vision, he watched for any further movement, remaining absolutely motionless.

There it was again. Definite movement at the mouth of a small alley, approximately sixteen meters from his current position. His mind quickly diagnosed the situation, and he scowled. The positioning of his forces in this area made it impossible for his two nearest subordinates to see that alley. Furthermore, the angle was poor; long-range fighting was impractical, if still technically possible.

His most practical option was an entrapment formation, with himself as point.

He hated entrapment formations.

Smothering a frustrated sigh, he raised his hand to his transceiver, his index finger pressing the transmit button on the tiny device.

"Scales, Shadow, status."

There was a hint of static as Rei made her reply. "It's 'Chameleon', Commander. Ready for anything." Kakashi grinned under his mask. If there was one quirk he had that irked his subordinates, other than his choice of reading material, it was his habit of taking their shinobi codenames, which were along the lines of Bear, Monkey, Hare, and other such wildlife, and turning them into whatever he pleased. Takumaru, who'd been assigned the codename 'Panther', had been given the prestigious title of 'Shadow'. As for 'Chameleon', well, from that to 'Scales' was but a step.

Just another of the many perks of being the boss.

Takumaru was late responding. Kakashi could see the Nara, so he knew nothing had happened to him. "Kid's probably daydreaming again."

"Shadow, come in."

A pause, then a second crackle of static. "Shadow here. Ready for a nap."

There was the sound of a indignant huff from Rei. "A nap? This is the ANBU, Panther. We don't do naps."

"Everybody has to sleep sometime, Chameleon-san."

"Sleep on your own time, newbie. We're in the middle of a job here, in case you were too lazy to notice. So wake the hell up and focus, or your ass is mine. Get it?"

There was a moment of silence. But, smart though the Nara was, he just didn't know when to call it quits. "So sorry, senpai. I would never have said that if I knew it was your time of the month."

Kakashi sighed. Enough was enough. Pressing the transmit button once more, he quickly interrupted Rei's enraged retort. "Cut the chatter, you two. Don't argue in front of our guest."

His subordinates went quiet. Kakashi had used code in that last transmission. Not only had he commanded radio silence, but he had implied the presence of an unknown intruder. A nearby intruder at that, hence the usage of the words 'in front'. The fact that it also made for a handy reprimand was merely a coincidence.

Now that Kakashi had their attention, it was time to get down to business.

In a swirl of air, his two subordinates were crouched beside him on the rooftop, eyes focused on their leader. He nodded in the direction of the alleyway and then began a series of small gestures, part of a secret ANBU sign language designed for use in situations that required stealth. They nodded and then vanished as quickly as they had come, executing their parts of the plan he had selected.

Strategic Entrapment Tactic number fourteen, designed for use in urban situations. Kakashi would confront the intruder directly, with Takumaru providing mid-range backup from the roof of the neighboring building, and Rei would watch from an elevated position some forty meters away, acting as a spotter and sentry.

Hopefully, it wasn't just a lot of fuss over nothing.

He tapped the transmit button once and heard two clicks in response, signifying the readiness of his team. Then, with a quick Shunshin, he was at the mouth of the alley, a kunai held in readiness. His eyes had the alleys layout memorized within a fraction of a second, and he stared directly at the movement that had drawn his attention.

It was an middle-aged man, with ragged brown hair and dissheveled clothing, passed out drunk on the pavement.

So much for enemy infiltration.

Kakashi sighed and stowed the kunai in his hip-pouch, motioning Takumaru down from his perch on the rooftop above him. The Nara jumped down with his usual grace, landing a few feet away from the drunk. Kakashi moved to join him, his nose wrinkled in disgust. The inebriated individual had had a bit more than one too many, judging by the smell of booze.

He frowned slightly. His insticts, which he had long ago learned to trust whole-heartedly, screamed that there was something off, some detail that wasn't right. But he had no idea what it was. Crouching next to the drunken man, he gave him a quick once over, scouting for irregularities in the man's position, breathing, eye-movement, something that would clue him in. But he could sense nothing. He reached down and checked the man's pulse. Normal.

Looks like he had been wrong.

Kakashi sighed and turned away, giving Rei the 'all clear' signal. But, even as he tensed his legs, preparing to jump away, he heard a stifled gasp over the radio and then a burst of static. Kakashi's eyes widened and he turned back to Takumaru, just in time to see the Chuunin slump to his knees, a kunai imbedded in his torso.

Enemies.

Kakashi went from shock to cold calculation in an instant, leaping away from the enclosing walls of the alley and getting to the high ground. Perched atop a telephone pole, he saw a blur of movement racing across a nearby rooftop, and another a block or so away. They were both heading the same direction, and from the looks of things, they were in a hurry.

He growled. There was no time to help his comrades but he couldn't simply leave them.

He formed a quick seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" There was a burst of white cloud, and a pair of shadow clones stood by him. He gave them a quick nod and they dissapeared in a blur of movement. They would retrieve his teammates and get them to safety.

Leaving him free to hunt.

Then the ANBU commander vanished in a burst of speed, racing off after the two unknown intruders. As he ran, he raised his hand once more to the radio, speaking in the crisp tone of command he adopted in these sort of situations. "This is Tiger to all units in area B12. Two hostiles entering your immediate vicinity. Intercept and eliminate."

"This is Scar. I want those men captured alive. Avoid fatal injuries. Shock 'em and drop 'em, boys."

"Tiger, this is Lynx, requesting confirmation of primary objective."

Kakashi smirked. He'd let Scar, better known as Morino Ibiki, have his way this time. After all, it'd give the ANBU Interrogation Squad something to do on a rainy day, and it would satisfy Kakashi's own curiosity as to exactly what these individuals were after. "Objective confirmed, Lynx. Make capture your first priority." He heard Ibiki's dark chuckle over the radio and grinned.

Redoubling his speed, he closed the gap on them slowly, bringing his skills in pursuit and tracking into play. There was no way these two were going to get away from him, not while they were in his village, on his territory.

It was only a matter of time...

Suddenly, his body stiffened as a rush of information crowded into his brain. He staggered to a halt, shocked at the unexpected mental activity. Images flashed through his mind at a lightning pace, transitioning smoothly from one to another. He saw his wounded subordanite, Takumaru, lying at his feet. Next the Nara was on his shoulder. Then there was a flash of pain, and then nothing.

His eyes widened in sudden understanding.

His Kage Bunshin had been destroyed.

How?!

Turning around with a snarl, he sprinted back the way he had come, landing at the rooftop where he had left Takumaru.

But the Nara wasn't alone.

He saw a shadowy figure bending low over the prostrate form of his subordinate. He saw moonlight glinting off a kunai, its edge wickedly bright in the pale light. The kunai was lifted into the air.

And then it fell.

And Kakashi burst into action.

With speed he didn't know he possessed, he was there, barreling the unknown assailaint over with sheer weight and momentum. The man hit the rooftop and rolled quickly to his feet with surprising skill.

The skill of a trained shinobi.

Kakashi faced off with his assailant, crouching protectively in front of Takumaru, shielding his fallen comrade with his own body. The unknown shinobi merely stood there, his face hidden in shadow.

"You are under arrest for the attempted murder of a Konoha shinobi," barked Kakashi, his voice sharp with anger.

The shinobi tilted his head to the side, mocking him. "Oh? By whose authority?"

"The Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure."

There was a dark chuckle from his faceless enemy. "The Hokage, you say? Impressive. But..." his voice trailed off as he flashed suddenly into combat readiness, his kunai held at the ready. Kakashi growled and tensed his body in preparation for the combat to come.

Then the pain hit him.

He bit down a scream as a blade sink into his back, setting his nerves afire in a wash of pain. In a flash, he was five meters away, the unconscious Takumaru in tow. He saw his assailant. Or, rather, both of them.

From his position, they looked exactly the same.

Bunshin! His mind screamed at him, but it was far too late. He saw the shinobi he had been speaking to fade into the air as if it had never been, leaving nothing more than a small cloud that was quickly blown away in the breeze, and he suddenly know what manner of shinobi he was up against. That had been no illusion. That jutsu was...

Kumo Bunshin no Jutsu.

The shinobi stared at Kakashi, chuckling slightly. "So sorry, but I don't recognize his authority. There's only one Kage that I serve. The Yondaime Raikage of Kumogakure."

Kakashi growled and reached behind his back, ripping the kunai out of his spine with brutal force. He threw it with savage force and unerring aim, but the shinobi dodged it with ease. But the move brought his face into the light.

It was the face of the drunkard he and his team had found.

In a flash of inspiration, Kakashi knew what it was that had set his insticts off. It had been in front of him all the time. The man's pulse. It had been regular; far too regular for that of some drunken idiot with liberal amount of alcohol poisoning his system.

How could he have been so blind?!

But there was no time for thought. He felt a cold chill spreading through his body, originating from the stab wound in his back. Poison. Already he could feel his muscles relaxing, going limp. A groan escaped from his lips as his legs buckled under him and he collapsed, trying to force his body into movement. He couldn't die here. Not from such a stupid blunder. If Obito ever found out that his rival, the great Hatake Kakashi, had fallen prey to his own overconfidence...

He'd never hear the end of it.

The Kumo shinobi chuckled darkly as he eyed Kakashi. "Looks like the poison's already taking effect," he said with a smirk. "I'd finish you now, but I have a mission to complete. Besides... You'll be dead soon enough. But, before I go..." The Kumo shinobi's body was enveloped by a sudden cloud, before suddenly reappearing next to Kakashi. Reaching down, he snatched the transciever from around Kakashi's neck and dropped it onto the rooftop, smashing it under his heel. "There. Now this little bird can't sing. Tell your friends in the afterlife that Hideki Kazuki sends his regards."

Then there was another sudden wisp of cloud, and the shinobi was gone.

And Kakashi was dying.

No.

He couldn't die yet.

He couldn't fail.

Not again.

Gritting his teeth, he willed his body to move, overpowering the poison through sheer force of will. His arm made its way slowly, so slowly, to the kunai pouch at his hip. Wanting to scream from the effort, he pulled out a three-pronged kunai, seized it as firmly as he could with his dwindling strength, and shoved it into the ground at his side.

For a long moment, nothing happened.

Then there was a burst of golden light, and Namikaze Minato, the Yellow Flash and Yondaime Hokage of Konoha, was at his side.

It took the blond Hokage all of ten milliseconds to scan the entire area and diagnose the situation. Then he was bending over Kakashi, his hand covered in the forest green light of a diagnostic jutsu. As he examined Kakashi's body, he spoke to his student, his voice full of concern and barely suppressed fury.

"Kakashi... What happened?"

By now the gray-haired Copy Ninja was having considerable trouble breathing, but he managed to gasp out the barest essentials. "Attacked... Kumo-nin... Poison..."

Minato bared his teeth in righteous anger at Kakashi's implication. It was Kumo that had done this to his student. Kumo that had betrayed the trust he had extended to them, the chance he had offered them. Those ungrateful traitors had tried to take his last student away, one of the few precious people he had left.

They'd regret that.

He'd make sure of that personally.

Then he saw the results of the diagnostic jutsu and he nearly bit his tongue in horror. The poison was incredibly fast acting, eating away through the musles and tissues of Kakashi's back and spreading its nefarious way through his lymphatic and circulatory systems. If he didn't get his student to a healer now, it would be too late.

He moved quickly, crossing his hands in a quick seal. There was a puff of smoke as a Kage Bunshin appeared next to him, its eyes filled with the same rage and fear that he himself was feeling. The clone gathered up the two fallen men and dissapeared in a blinding flash of yellow light. He stood there for a moment longer, wishing that he could've gone with them, if only to make sure that their treatment went well.

No. First, he'd hunt down and destroy the son of a bitch that had dared to step foot in his village, attack his men. Minato's eyes glowed with a golden light, and then he was gone, vanished in a flash of light.

Hiashi faced off against the masked intruder, his pale eyes narrowed in cold, calculating fury. This pathetic commoner had dared enter this place, the Hyuuga clan compound. That was a crime in and of itself. But to compound that error by snatching away his heir while she slumbered?

This cretin had an obvious death wish.

Hiashi's eyes stared hard at the motionless shinobi. His all-seeing eyes could see through the man's feeble attempts to hide his heir from his sight; he could see Hinata, barely four years of age, either unconscious or drugged, her body covered in the rough sackcloth this unknown shinobi used to cover her.

No, not an unknown shinobi.

The emissary from Kumogakure.

This man, the very man that Hyuuga Hiashi had met with in peace talks, treaty negotiations, traditional tea ceremonies, and the various other activities he had participated in to build up the rocky relationship between the two hidden villages, must have planned this all along. The entire time, this fool of a shinobi had smiled and nodded, putting up an elaborate act for the sake of his Konoha audience. And all the while he had been plotting this unspeakable act of idiocy. No, not idiocy. Heresy.

This fool would suffer dearly.

Hiashi crouched low to the ground, preparing to destroy the man in an instant. Chakra swirled along his palms, pouring out through his tenketsu as he prepared his Jyuuken. After all, the Hyuuga Taijutsu style was the greatest in Konoha, just as their Byakugan surpassed all other bloodlines, even that of those Uchiha upstarts. This Kumo-nin didn't stand a chance.

But he would never get the chance to strike.

Suddenly, his Byakugan was blinded by a sudden flash of bright yellow light. Instinctively, his Byakugan faded, its vision too powerful to stand the sudden glare. He heard a sudden sound, a muffled thump, and then a gasp of shock.

Hiashi opened his eyes, blinking away the spots from his vision. When he could see clearly, his Hyuuga stoicism was put to the test.

The shinobi was stll there, but his burden was gone, and the bag that had covered the Hyuuga heiress lay empty on the cold ground. But that wasn't what shook the Hyuuga the most.

No, it was the sight of the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato, standing some eight meters behind the Kumo shinobi, his eyes tinged with gold as he focused his fury on the baffled ninja. The Hokage's chakra was flaring, its power and potency easily surpassing that of any shinobi Hiashi had ever met. Hiashi had seen this sight before, or at least this same scenario...

But the Kumo shinobi's face was contorted in a rictus of primal terror, the sheer strength of the Hokage shocking him to his core.

Minato gently lay Hinata on the ground and ran a kindly hand over her forehead. Hiashi frowned as he noticed a look of concern flash over the Hokage's fair features. But it was gone as quickly as it had come, and Minato was rising to his feet, his black cloak flapping in the chakra-induced storm that surrounded his limber frame.

"Shinobi of Kumogakure..." stated Minato coldly as the enemy turned to face him. "For attempted murder of a Konoha Shinobi, as well as kidnapping the heir to the Hyuuga clan, your life is now forfeit."

The Kumo shinobi seemed frozen in terror for a moment, but choked down his fear and forced himself to move. Seizing a wickedly serrated kunai from his hip pouch, he rushed towards the blonde Hokage, clearly intent on retrieving Hinata and making off with her once again.

But Minato was having none of it.

Hiashi watched in awe as the Hokage's eyes seemed to shine with a golden light. But that was only the beginning. In one smooth motion, Minato brought one of his signiature triple-pronged kunai to bear with his right hand, while his left hand made a strange flicking motion, as if he was beckoning the shinobi to come to him. For a split second, nothing happened.

Then Hiashi activated his Byakugan, completely at a loss.

The Kumo shinobi had seemed to freeze in midair. Not, he wasn't frozen; he was still moving, but at a snail's pace. It was almost as if time had slowed down around him. But that couldn't be... could it?

But there was no time to answer that question. In a flash, Minato moved, appearing behind the shinobi in a blaze of golden fury, his kunai held out in an attack position.

Then time flowed once more.

A shower of blood rained down around the enemy shinobi as his left arm fell to the ground, his lifeblood gushing from the stump in torrents as he screamed his pain out to the uncaring night. Clutching the ruin of what had once been his arm, he fell to the ground and writhed with pain. And Hiashi watched in mingled awe and fear as Minato turned about and seized the shinobi by the neck, raising him into the air with one hand.

"Now, traitor," spoke Minato with a menacing air, "you will tell me what you are doing here and what you hoped to gain." The Kumo shinobi clenched his teeth against the pain and spat at the Hokage, blood mixed in with his saliva.

"H-hah! As if I'd betray my mission, Yellow Flash!" Minato raised an eyebrow, staring impassively at the shinobi as bloody spittle trickled down his left cheek.

Then, bringing his right hand to bear, he looked down at it, which prompted the Kumo shinobi to look as well. Then the wind began to swirl around his hand as chakra summoned it closer, twisted it about, forming itself into a small, hand-held typhoon called...

"Rasengan!" Minato shouted the word into the night as he brought the orb to bear against the Kumo shinobi, grinding it against the stump of what used to be the man's arm. The shinobi screamed in pain as the winds tore at his flesh, ripping the remnants of the limb to shreds and covering the two shinobi in blood.

"Stop! Stop! Kami, make it stop!" The man screamed over and over. But Minato didn't. He continued to grind his way through the man's flesh, one excruciatingly slow inch at a time. Hiashi had to steel his nerves and force himself to watch. But even the legendary Hyuuga poker face was failing him, and he couldn't help but show some of the horror he was feeling. This... this man in front of him... So powerful, so cruel... What had happened to the cheerful and fun-loving Hokage he knew and loathed? He had always wondered how the blonde had become Hokage, for despite his admittedly immense power, the Hyuuga clan head had never seen him in combat. And now...

He was scared shitless.

Finally, the shinobi broke, promising to tell Minato anything, everything, if only the pain would stop. Minato dispelled the Rasengan with ease and stared the Kumo shinobi dead in the eyes. Gasping for breath and fighting to remain conscious, the man began to speak. His words were hesitant and gasped out inbetween shallow, pain-filled breaths of air, but he kept talking, too fearful of this blone demon before him to do otherwise.

Hiashi got angrier and angrier the more the cretin spoke. Kumogakure had begun this war in an attempt to take advantage of Konoha's apparent weakness after the attack of the Kyuubi. With the death of Sarutobi, the third and greatest Hokage of Konoha, and the loss of approximately half of Konoha's elite shinobi forces, they had planned to overthrow the Fourth and take Konoha's bloodlines as their own. But as the war progressed, the Raikage had learned a hard lesson: what the Konoha shinobi lacked in quantity, they more than made up for in quality. Kumo had also learned that Konoha's newest Hokage was not as weak as they had hoped. If anything, he was stronger than Iwa had reported. Time and time again they launched their attacks, and time and time again were sent home in bitter defeat and far fewer numbers than they started with.

And then the Raikage had decided to settle for what he could get his hands on. He sent the emissary to Konoha, promising peace and conditional surrender, but the emissary's real purpose was to extract at least one excellent sample of the Hyuuga bloodline, known as the best in Konoha. The more pure and powerful the bloodline was, the better. And who possessed the most powerful Byakugan? The clan head, naturally. But Hiashi was far too strong a target for them to hope to take without a considerable fight, and they couldn't chance drawing any attention. So it had been decided that Hyuuga Hinata, the firstborn of the clan head, would be the perfect candidate.

As the man's words drew to a close, Hiashi found that he was furious beyond belief. He stepped forward to put an end to the man's life then and there, but was forced to stop as a literal explosion of killing intent burst from Minato, all focused at the Kumo shinobi. The blonde Hokage was a seething volcano of fury. In a blur of motion, his right hand was clamped on the Kumo shinobi's forehead, fingers digging into the man's skin. As the man cried aloud in pain, Minato bent close to the man and spoke.

"I told you once before that your life was forfeit. Your mission ended in failure, and your treachery was all for nothing. All that you have accomplished was to give me one more excellent reason to demolish Hidden Cloud and exterminate its inhabitants. Starting with you." The man whimpered in pain as Minato's grip tightened even further.

Then the screaming began.

To a normal bystander, it would have seemed as if nothing was happening. But Hiashi possessed the Byakugan, allowing him to see the movement and flow of chakra. And what he saw now filled him with a mix of terror and disgust.

Minato was literally destroying the man's brains from the inside out. Using the same principle he used in the Rasengan, he was invading the man's cranium with his chakra and spinning it about, creating a vortex out of brain matter and broken bone and blood.

As long as he lived, Hiashi would never forget that one, piercing scream that seemed to go on for an eternity as the shinobi's brain was liquefied from within. Many times in the future, he would close his eyes and see the blood pouring from the man's nose, eyes, mouth and ears. He would never again be able to see a blender without being reminded of the way the Kumo-nin's grey matter had battered itself against the walls of his skull, driven by the force of Minato's chakra.

What a terrible way to die.

Finally the scream ended, and the shinobi was dead. Minato dropped the corpse uncaringly to the ground, his eyes cold and impassive. Then he strode over to Hinata's limp form and looked down at her for a moment before reaching down. He picked her up gently and began walking over to Hiashi, looking down at the child in his arms with a soft smile beginning to creep over his lips.

Then he froze.

He suddenly looked at himself with wide eyes. His shinobi attire was covered in blood and gore, and Hinata's clothing where he had held her was now stained a dirty red. This child, this innocent little girl, was now tainted by blood.

The blood of the man he killed in cold blood.

He took a deep, shuddering breath, feeling strangely surreal. For a moment, he was in a different time, not more then a month or two ago. Instead of a pale girl in his arms, he saw a small blonde boy, asleep in a bed. He saw the corpses of deceased shinobi scattered about him, blood and gore strewn over the walls and floor of a house. He saw blood streaked across a boy's cheek.

The blood of shinobi.

Is this what he fought for? Is this what his students, friends and subordinates died to protect? A world filled with blood and death? Did Sarutobi sacrifice himself to preserve a village that could not even protect their young from the horrors of the shinobi way of life? What kind of a village, country, what kind of world allowed their children, the hope for a better and brighter tomorrow, to be exposed to this kind of horror, this kind of lifestyle?

Is this what Karada died for?

So that Naruto could grow up in a world in constant turmoil?

Is this the reason she sacrificed herself?

So their child could grow up in a world of weapons and warfare?

A world drenched in blood, both pure and foul?

The world suddenly snapped back into focus, and Minato once more found himself gazing down at Hinata, dirtied with the blood of his enemies. He turned slightly and glanced at the corpse of the fallen Kumo-nin, suddenly realizing why he did what he did.

He fought and killed for his children.

Who were his children?

Everyone in Konoha.

That was the reason for this constant bloodshed. Enemies attacked, and he would defend. It was his duty as Hokage to uncover every plot, foil every dastardly plan, to wade through an ocean of blood if it meant saving the life of one innocent. What he did was unforgiveable. But perhaps... He stared at the child in his arms and felt his lips twitch into a small smile.

Perhaps the innocents would one day forgive him. And even if they didn't, he'd fight on. So the children could mature, grow strong and wise and fair. And then he would pass on the torch, the Will of Fire that blazed so strongly within his generation, so that they could defend their children in turn. On that day, he would rest, and watch from afar as his children and his children's children fought to defend this world from those who would destroy all that was good in this world.

But until then... He'd fight to protect them. Just as he'd protected this small wisp of a girl in his arms. She was frail and weak now, but she would one day grow from this tiny sapling to a sturdy oak tree, able to weather the strongest attacks.

It was for this that he killed.

Namikaze Minato handed Hinata to a grateful, yet still somewhat frightened Hiashi, who bowed deeply in respect to him. The blonde smiled and looked up at the night sky, seeing the stars twinkling serenely. Somewhere among their celestial number, he felt as if the wizened face of Sarutobi was smiling down at him, nodding slightly in approval.

The Will of Fire would blaze even brighter from this point on.

Minato turned away and stode into the annals of legend, his blond hair flowing like a golden mane and his azure eyes sparkling. He was the Yondaime Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village.

And his village needed him.

AN: I was originally going to make this chapter longer, but this just felt like a good place to end the chapter. I could've thrown in a bunch of stuff about the aftermath of the whole affair, but frankly, I'm rather eager to get Naruto started in the Academy. So expect a short time skip (just a year or two). There's no information regarding this period in canon, so instead of coming up with a bunch of stuff, I'll just move past it and get to the academy. We'll be seeing bits of Naruto's first day, as well as how he interacts with his dad and the other kids in the Academy, as well as the different attitude his teachers may or may not have towards him. Towards the end of the chapter, I'll start addressing the Uchiha massacre period, which, by my reckoning, should occur before Naruto's group ends their first year at the Academy.

There's a few things I want to say. Firstly, concerning the multiple Kumo shinobi running around, I'd like to point out that, since Minato is still in charge, Kumo is going to be far more cautious then they were when they were dealing with Sarutobi. So, instead of just one guy going directly to the Hyuuga compound, they're using diversionary tactics to draw away the Konoha forces. The emissary, better known as the fake drunk guy, was supposed to sneak in while his comrades drew Kakashi and his group away. But the fool couldn't resist going after Takumaru, who appeared so helpless, and his destruction of the Kage Bunshin brought Kakashi running. And, no, he didn't know that was Kakashi, otherwise he would have knifed the Copy Ninja on the spot instead of letting the poison do the work.

Secondly, you'll note a different aspect of Minato's personality emerging in this chapter. The battle-hardened shinobi that will do anything for the sake of the mission. His ideals, once so bright and grand, have tarnished somewhat since Karada's death (which he still hasn't entirely gotten over, and may never fully recover from). But, of course, Konoha's number one unpredictable ninja has a knack for bringing out the best in people, so don't lose hope for Minato just yet.

And lastly, in the teaser, I made it look like Hinata had died. That wasn't what I had planned. I was originally planning to merely incapacitate her in some way, making it impossible for her to become a shinobi. From there, she would travel the road of a medic nin, staying at the hospital and doing what she could to heal those in need. It seemed fitting for her personality. But I just couldn't do it. I was too weak. One look at the duck butt hairdo and the pale eyes and I just lose all my determination. So she's going to emerge from this kidnapping just fine. Well, other than having an inferiority complex bigger than the Hokage Monument and being about as shy as Bigfoot.

That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll try to get another one out as soon as I can. Don't forget to leave a review; they help my muse concentrate. ;P

Jiraiya lives!

'Til next time,

Gaereth