The Yellow Flash and The Village of Mokugakure

[Minato Namikaze]

It was unusual for a forest of this size to be so quiet. The fact that the sounds of animals was so rare at this point in time unnerved Minato somewhat. He wasn’t quite sure what was going on, just a few minutes ago he and Izanami were traveling through the forest and all sorts of animal calls and screams could be heard. Now there was nothing, not even the sound of birds calling out to their mates through the sharp silence that seemed to cover the forest. Minato grabbed Izanami’s shoulder as they both came to a short, abrupt, stop.

‘What is it?’ Izanami barked with a tone of annoyance and paranoia. He was clearly too focused on keeping his guard up and getting his mission done to notice anything else other than himself and Minato. Minato shook his head and then looked around for a moment before returning his attention to Izanami.

‘Don’t you think that something about this Forest seems strange?’ Minato asked as his words carried a truth that the man had failed to realize sooner. It was true that there was something wrong with the situation they were in. The forest was never this quiet, not even at night. The faint sounds of an animal being killed, or the chirping birds that never seemed to shut their beaks. It was all very strange.

‘You’re right. Something is wrong here.’ Izanami agreed with Minato. In fact, he was kind of ashamed he hadn’t noticed sooner. The Uchiha were supposed to some of the strongest ninja around. He was rather disappointed in himself for not seeing it sooner. Minato gripped Izanami’s shoulder tightly as he began infusing and building up chakra. Minato looked at his companion and frowned, Izanami nodded in agreement. They weren’t sure about their new theory, but they were going to find out soon enough.

‘Release!’ Minato exclaimed as he surged chakra throughout his and Izanami’s body, disrupting the normal chakra flow of both men. Minato watched as five men began to fade into the scene around the two of them. Of course, they’d been trapped in a genjutsu at some point. Minato felt embarrassed, but this wasn’t the time to show it, there was a fight heading his way, and he needed to be ready for it. Minato let out a large, calming, sigh as he grasped the handle of his Kunai with his right hand.

‘This isn’t a good situation for you two.’ One of the Ninja grinned as he crouched low to the ground, Shuriken in between each of his fingers. Minato was already thinking ahead, He needed to get Izanami past them and then give him time to get back to the Village. Minato reached into the pouch, that he had strapped to his backside and pulled out a second kunai and placed it in his left hand.

‘Come now, you don’t think that a measly two Kunai will be able to defeat us. Do you?’ The man snarled as they began to close in on the pair. Minato tossed the kunai he had in his left hand at one of the ninja in front of him. The men laughed as it was easily deflected up onto a tree branch. Their condescending laughs irritated Minato greatly. He was used to fighting cocky enemies, but their lack of respect for the people they preyed on was extremely infuriating. Minato grinned as he held his index and middle finger straight up, curling his thumb and remaining two fingers into the palm of his hands. Minato dropped his second Kunai in the ground, the group of men surrounding them watching as it fell to the ground. The kunai was the starting signal, as soon as it hit the ground the fight would start.

Minato instinctively reached out and grabbed Izanami’s shoulder as the men launched a barrage of shuriken and kunai at them. The two of them disappeared in a flash of yellow light. the men looked around, their faces filled with confusion, anger and annoyance. Minato looked down at the group, who were sure to find them in a few seconds, he didn’t have much time.

‘Go to the village, I’ll distract them.’ Minato ordered as he stood up, the branch swayed slightly with his movements. Minato saw the look in Izanami’s eyes as he looked down at the crouching man, he knew it all to well. He didn’t have a chance at killing all of them, but he could provide enough of a distraction. Give Izanami enough time to get away. Besides, He is the fourth Hokage after all. Minato turned away from his friends and stretched out his left arm, grabbing the kunai that had been embedded into the tree.

‘Have some faith in the fourth Hokage!’ Minato stated as he pulled the Kunai from the tree and faced his right palm upwards, as if he was grasping something in his hand. ‘Now go, I’ll hold them off.’ Minato finished as he disappeared, a flash of yellow light in his place.

‘RASENGAN!’ Minato exclaimed as he reappeared above the kunai he had previously dropped into the ground. Grabbing the handle of the Kunai that had been planted in the ground as he spun in mid air, Minato yanked it from the ground. After spinning himself to face the ground, he thrust the Rasengan into the dirt below himself. The air and shoc kwaves produced by this had knocked his opponents backwards a few feet. Minato had to move quickly, otherwise he would lose his edge. He quickly tossed both of his Kunai into the ground beside two of the men as they began to steady themselves. He concentrated for a moment before teleporting to the two men. With a look of surprise and slight fear, they watched as minato re-appeared in front of them and, without a single ounce of hesitation, placed his hands on the ground and thrust himself into a handstand. They were given no time to react as the souls of Minato’s sandals slammed into the bottom of their chins, knocking them up into the air.

‘Two down…’ Minato panted as he turned his hand stand into a cartwheel, returning to a standing position. He’d found that he required more chakra than usual to fight. This annoyed him greatly, apparently Omni liked to toy with people. But there was nothing he could do about it now, he needed to be very careful. He’d caught two of them off guard, but the other three had - by now - already regained their composure.

‘Three to-’ Minato began as a fist slammed itself into his cheek. The blow sent him flying across the forest floor and into a tree. He wasn’t going to sugar coat it, that hurt, and these guys are strong. Just another thing he had to watch out for. Minato rose to his feet slowly, his back ached from the collision with the tree. Without having time to react, another fist had impacted his body, but this time it was his stomach. Minato grabbed the man’s arm and swung him in a circle, wrapping his body around the same tree that he had been thrown into.

Minato looked around for his Kunai, a little disoriented from being slammed into the tree. An all too familiar flash of yellow light replaced him as he teleported back to his Kunai, grasping them in both hands and pulling them from the ground. Minato turned around to see a volley of shuriken and kunai flying straight towards him.

‘Shit, not enough time to teleport away. I’ll have to try and deflect them.’ Minato though desperately to himself as he raised his own two kunai and began intercepting the projectiles. But it wasn’t enough, there were just too many of them, there was no way he could possibly deflect them all. Minato could only deflect so many before the Kunai and shuriken overpowered him, embedding themselves into his forearms as he attempted to block the barrage with crossed arms.

His vision had begun to blur, he’d used a lot of chakra, and the ninja tool assault had caused him to bleed quite a lot. They also weren’t giving him a lot of time to prepare, as soon as the barrage had ended they had already started their charge towards him. Minato took a deep breath, letting out slowly as he - once again - calmed himself. At this point, the men were only a few feet away from him. Minato flicked his wrists as he let go of the kunai, throwing them behind the two men as they rushed him. The kunai spun in mid air as the shinobi pair’s kunai came within a foot of his body. Minato saw everything as if time had slowed down even his own movements were slowed. He was sure that it was the effect of adrenaline pumping through his body, something that he hadn’t felt for quite a long time.

‘This is it for you!’ One of the men screamed as they came within an inch of Minato’s chest. He grinned at them as he vanished again. The two men stumbled forwards as they lost their footing. They had expected to hit him, so they weren’t prepared to miss. Minato reappeared behind them, in the middle of both Kunai. Minato placed his hands on the first guys back as he used his upper body to swing both of his feet into the back of the second man’s head. Minato followed this up by rotating himself with his hands, into a sitting position on the man’s neck. He then threw himself into a backflip action as he stretched his hands out, placing them on the ground as he used his lower body to throw his opponent into a tree.

Minato crouched down and lifted the two Kunai from the ground. He had shuriken sticking out of his arms, dried blood on his white coat. It was going to be a nightmare trying to wash it all out and repair the clothing. Minato coughed as he began to laugh, the fact that he thought about washing his clothes right after a battle was funny to him. Minato stood slowly, placing both Kunai in the pouch strapped to his back. He’d used a lot of chakra, and his vision had become blurry and faded, he felt as though he was going to pass out.

‘Heh… Man, I wish I’d taken the opportunity to leave when I had the chance.’ Minato wheezed as he began turning towards the direction Izanami had been headed.

‘That’s right… You should have!’ Minato heard as he felt the cold steel pierce his abdomen. Minato looked at the man in confusion, he didn’t remember the man having a katana. Minato looked past the man and examined the area behind him, a discarded summoning scroll sat in the dirt. Unravelled, the sealing jutsu on the scroll had been undone. Minato grabbed hold of the top of the blade, his grip wasn’t exactly strong, but his actions made the last ninja hesitate with his own grip on the blade. Minato shook the sword free of the Shinobi’s hands and then sheepishly kicked him in the stomach. The man stumbled backwards, grinned, and then jumped up into the trees.

Minato stumbled forwards for a few seconds before he realized he had began to lose balance. The only thing he could think of was to not fall on his stomach. The pain pretty much dulled most of his other senses and, combined with the amount of blood loss, dropped him into a semi-conscious state. He could feel it, he was losing what little consciousness he had left. Minato smiled as he lay there, in his stained clothes. It had been short lived, but he’d been able to help someone, and that was all that mattered.

‘Hey! Over here!’ The voices seemed distant, but the blurred shadowy figures seemed so close to him. They were calling out to each other. But Minato didn’t have enough energy to respond to them. All he could do was lay in the dirt and grass.

‘Get HER over here now!’ The voice exclaimed frantically as Minato’s last moments of consciousness faded from him.