The most dangerous men in Kumo loomed over her and Hanako immediately regretted ever making this plan. Killer Bee looked incredulous behind his sunglasses, and his brother—the flippin' Raikage—regarded her with open distrust.
"What is the meaning of this?" He demanded, massive arms crossed over his chest. His cloak and hat lay discarded on the floor, leaving him standing in the Kage's box shirtless and unimpressed. A muscle jumped in his jaw. He could kill her so easily, and he wouldn't even need his brother's help.
Swallowing thickly, Hanako bowed her head. "Forgive the impudence, Raikage-sama, but time is of the essence. Konoha is currently being invaded by an allied army of Oto and Suna ninja and the Hokage's life is in danger. I need to speak with Gyuuki-sama now, before I am needed elsewhere."
Oh, he did not like that. "Suna? I thought you were allies? And who the hell is Oto?"
She did not have time for this, but—"Oto is a village in the Land of Rice Paddies, founded by Orochimaru. Suna is our ally, but Orochimaru stole the Kazekage's face and instigated this invasion. He is currently engaged in combat with the Hokage. Please, may I speak with Gyuuki-sama?"
A looked like he might speak again, but his brother cut him off, bouncing in what she assumed was excitement, but, given her memories of him from Before, that could just be a permanent quirk.
"Yo, you know his name! More people should, for shame!"
Oh, God, the rapping. She'd forgotten about the rapping.
"Yes," she agreed. "They should." Then, before she could be side tracked any further. "Shukaku and Kurama are both in the village. Their jinchuriki are teenaged boys on opposite sides of this conflict. It is expected that at least one will lose control and enter a full transformation. Is there any way for Gryuuki-sama to prevent that?"
Both men stilled and A's scowl deepened. "How do you know all that?"
"Replying to Raikage-sama," she really didn't have time to be so formal, but pissing him off was a bad idea. "I am close friends with both jinchuriki, and a fuinjutsu mastery candidate. Shukaku's seal is weak and poorly done, leaving his host's mind unstable due to constant exposure to his chakra. He's done a good job of restraining himself, but all of this excitement coupled with Kurama's host's...exuberance...will likely prove too much for him. He'll try, though."
She hoped. Canon Gaara hadn't, but her Gaara wasn't as angsty.
Plus, her Sasuke wasn't as mean and desperate to prove himself. And her Naruto had a modicum of tact. So, hopefully, things would be...more okay than they were in canon?
Then again, the universe had already proven that some things couldn't—or wouldn't—be changed. Better to send in the big guns.
"So, what?" A's expression was sour. "You want Bee to go out and wrangle two untrained jinchurki into submission? While there's an invasion on?"
Well, yeah. That's literally what she said.
"Easy, bro," Bee interjected, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder. "I wanna go!"
Oh, thank God. Some of the tension left her body. "Then, Gyuuki-sama has agreed to help?"
The tall man smiled down at her, the expression oddly akin to Guy's own brilliant grin. "Don't sweat it! These invaders will regret it!"
She returned his grin with one of her own. "Thank you!"
"Wait a second," the Raikage's raised hand was somehow more intimidating than his scowl. "What are you going to be doing while my brother's out teen taming?"
She let her anxiety show on her face, brows scrunching as the tell tale sounds of combat escalated around them. "I intend to aid my Kage, sir." Nothing should change if she saved Sarutobi's life, right? Could she save his life? Heck, she didn't even know if she could get past the barrier already sealing him in with his deranged ex-student.
Still, she had to try. The old man had made so many mistakes, but he deserved a chance to atone for them, right?
Her odds of giving him that were slim, though...
A huffed and looked like he was about leap off into the fray.
"Wait!"
Both brothers looked at her in surprise—she would, too, if she could. Luckily, it seemed her mouth was still ahead of her brain.
"I could really use some help! Orochimaru might have already summoned them, and I don't know if I'll be of any use on my own."
"Who's them?"
"The First and Second Hokages."
A's eyebrows rose nearly clean off his face. Beside him, Killer Bee crossed his arms.
"That's not cool," he said with a huff. "What kind of fool would use the dead like a tool?"
Hanako bowed her head again. "It is a forbidden jutsu developed by the Second Hokage, himself. It was mainly a 'what if' kind of thing, as far as I understand it—more about theory than practice—but Orochimaru's used it. Please, I don't know if my Kage can survive a fight against them."
For a moment, the only sounds came from the fighting out in the village. Then, A heaved a big, shoulder rolling sigh. He bopped a fist against his brother's chest.
"Go take care of your kohai," he said with a grin. "I'm going to fight the God of Shinobi."
Oh, Lord, what had she done? Canon was rolling in its grave and she'd put it there.
Killer Bee vanished in a display of speed, leaving her alone with his markedly less cool, more terrifying brother. He quirked a brow at her before he, too, vanished. She took a long steadying breath, knowing full well the barrier would stop him—unless it didn't, but she didn't have time to consider that possibility. She wasn't a Nara, for all she was trained by one. She couldn't think up a million moves on the spot and improvise with other people's lives on the line. She was a plan ahead kind of girl.
Not that that mattered anymore. Stupid mouth, getting ahead of brain.
Heart rate sufficiently lowered from 'arrest imminent' to 'seek medical attention immediately', she leapt after the Raikage, joining him and several battle worn Anbu beside the glistening blue barrier held up by the Sound Four.
He looked down at her over crossed arms. "I don't suppose you have a plan for this?"
She did, actually. The most obvious course of action was to take out one of Orochimaru's four lackies. The swiftest, however...
She lowered her mask, biting into her thumb with a sharp tooth. "Summoning Jutsu!"
She normally didn't announce her techniques—most people didn't, in fact—but it was only polite to let your allies know what you were doing.
The smoke cleared, revealing Momiji. The little dog looked up at her mistress with determined brown eyes. Hanako turned to the looming Kage.
"This is Momiji. She can reverse summon us inside the barrier."
"Hatake," one of the Anbu hissed behind a mask she didn't recognize. "What are you doing?"
He had a point, actually. What was she doing? She didn't have to interfere with the fight. She knew how it would end, after all. How everything would end. Why get involved?
She leveled a glare on the Anbu, daring him to stop her. "Saving my Kage!"
Because people deserved second chances.
With a puff of smoke, she, A, and Momiji had travelled all of three feet, the humming barrier now behind them. The gathered Anbu all let out exclamations of surprise, some of them demanding she take them in, too.
Not a bad idea. She and Momiji shared a glance, the dog nodding and poofing back outside, gathering allies for the fight.
And what a fight it was. Hashirama and Tobirama had already been summoned, as she suspected. It was weird seeing Sarutobi without his Kage robes—even weirder watching him fight people she knew were dead.
She shuddered.
The dead should stay dead. Forever. Preferably far away from her, somewhere she'd never ever see them.
Eugh.
The reanimated brothers didn't look dead, exactly, but she knew they were, and that was enough.
"What's this?" Orochimaru hissed, his grotesque tongue hanging from his mouth. "Uninvited guests?"
Hanako shuddered again, overcome by the memory of being swallowed whole. Beside her, the Raikage cracked his knuckles, then his neck.
"This should be fun," he said with a bloodthirsty grin, ignoring the Sannin in favor of jumping between Hashirama and Sarutobi. The First Hokage's expression remained unchanged, jumping back as he narrowly avoided a punch which shattered the roof tiles he'd just been standing on. Sarutobi didn't even acknowledge his fellow Kage, instead redoubling his efforts against his dead sensei.
Hanako remained where she was near the barrier, eyes locked on Orochimaru. He smiled, the expression too manic, too wide, to mean anything good.
"Well," he began, voice practically purring he was so pleased. "This is an interesting turn of events. How kind of you to come to me, little Hanako-chan~."
Her lip curled instinctively. God, he was creepy.
"Now, now, don't make that face," he chided, tutting like a mom scolding her children. "It might get stuck like that."
Gag.
She wasn't a match for him, she knew that, but with potential back up from the Anbu outside the barrier she might be able to waylay him for a little while. She couldn't use her threads to restrain him, he'd already seen that technique and escaped it. While she'd rather not have a salivating old man staring at her as intensely as he was, it was better than him interfering with the Kage fight—which was going rather well, actually; A landed a solid hit to Hashirama's chest and she almost winced in sympathy.
She pressed a hand to her chest, channeling chakra through the fabric she'd so painstakingly woven and activating her seal. Orochimaru's lurid grin widened as her hand disappeared inside her body, the signature sting no longer registering on her pain scale. She wrapped her fingers around a scroll, the prewritten seal a welcome weight in her palm.
"Truly, that is quite the fascinating technique," Orochimaru drawled, golden eyes locked on her glowing chest. "I've found no other like it—and I've looked quite diligently."
Hanako smirked, glad she'd removed her mask so he see the full brunt of her disdain. "Oh, really? Jiraiya has."
The smile fell from his face. "What?"
"Oh, he didn't tell you?" She smiled as sweetly as she could manage while fearing for her life. "He met my grandmother in Kiri."
Hashirama's Mokuton erupted on the other side of the enclosed space and A's delighted cackle lifted her spirits—just a little bit. She was a bit too busy dodging sudden onset trees to fully enjoy it. She clung to a writhing branch as it strove to contain her, her chakra perilously thin as she fought to ration it, desperately clinging to every last drop. Finally, the wood stopped sprouting and she found herself crouching sideways, looking up at Orochimaru as he hung upside down.
"In Kiri?" The snake summoner repeated, drawing out the word like it held the answers to all the world's questions. "And what, pray tell, is a child from Kiri doing so far from home?"
She sneered. "This is my home, you slimeball!"
"Was," he corrected with a leer. "There's not much left of it now, is there?"
She growled, her chest vibrating with the chakra enhanced sound. Orochimaru laughed.
"Oh, I'd forgotten how quaint dog summoners could be. It's been so long since I got my hands on one." Something hi his gaze changed and Hanako braced for danger. "Let's see what good those summoning traits do you, hmm?"
Sure enough, he launched himself at her, using gravity to amplify his momentum. She leapt to the side, eyes burning as his impact sent dust and splinters up into the air. She scanned the cloud of debris, desperate to catch sight of the Sannin.
"Oya? What's this?"
She froze, the breath on her face too warm to be an illusion. Her eyes were the only things that moved, turning to meet Orochimaru's golden gaze a mere two inches from her face.
How?
The expression he made was the most graphic expression of extasy she'd ever seen on a person's face. The word 'orgasmic' finally had an associated image.
"Ah, what a wonderful surprise. Perhaps Sasuke won't be necessary, after all."
What? He was still after Sasuke?
Before that thought had time to register, Orochimaru opened his too wide mouth, revealing a pair of fangs that sprang to the fore on hinges. He was so close, there was no way she could avoid him. She leaned back, activating her seal on instinct, raising her left arm between them in a futile attempt at defense.
His teeth buried themselves into her wrist, piercing right through the black sleeve of her shirt. She hissed in pain, a burning sensation already travelling up her arm.
No!
No, this couldn't be happening!
Absolutely not!
Her chakra was still swimming in her clothing and she pulled at the silk threads with a wild abandon, tightening until—!
Thud.
Her severed arm bounced off the branch below her, disappearing into the shadows of Hashirama's impromptu forest. She panted from fear and exertion, clutching the stump below her elbow in an unconscious attempt to staunch the flow of blood.
Orochimaru's golden eyes held hers, something like disappointment shining in them.
"Hmm," he said with a frown. "So the seal was what colored them. How...tame. They're still functional, I assume."
She stumbled back, frantically trying to regulate her chakra and maintain her grip on the tree. He chuckled at her expense.
"Really, now, did you think that would be enough? Tsk, tsk, tsk. I expected more from Konoha's precious genius."
She took another step back, narrowly avoiding a fall. She didn't dare take her eyes off him. What was she thinking, challenging a Sannin? Had she really thought knowing the future would give her some sort of advantage? Over Orochimaru? All those years of standing over everyone, passing off her memories as some sort of intellect had clouded her mind. What hubris. What pure, disgusting arrogance. She was an eleven year old girl. What the hell could she possibly hope to accomplish in a world where people could literally destroy the moon?
Such vanity.
Orochimaru continued his lazy approach, ignorant of her internal strife. For every two steps he took toward her, she stumbled one back. He was getting closer, and there was nothing she could do about it. She was going to die. Again. Would she be reborn into another anime? Maybe Bleach or Yu Yu Hakusho? Somewhere she could blend into a sea of faces and never involve herself in the plot ever, ever, ever again?
Padre nuestro que estás en el cielo, santificado sea tu Nombre. Venga a nosotros tu Reino. Hágase tu voluntad—.
Something tore through the knot of trees beside them, a body crashing into the tree they stood on. Hanako lost her footing, and she fell.