Chapter 46: Back to Konoha

Kakashi was leaning against the wall facing the double door of the operating table. He was reading his usual Icha Icha book as he would usually do outside missions and in public. Had one been attentive, they would have noticed that he had been stuck on the same page for the last six hours. Yugao was sitting down next to him, polishing her sword, her kunais and her shurikens. Nobody knew how many times she did that, not even her. She didn’t care, she didn’t even think about it. It was just her way to distract herself.

It was a miracle they had returned alive. Yugao had suffered many nasty cuts and nearly got decapitated. Twice. Kakashi had to use his sharingan and was almost out of chakra despite the fight being so short when he landed in the Botib. Jiraiya got his arm patched up quickly when they all went to the infirmary. It was only then ‘Yu’ and ‘Ka’ of team Yukari noticed the absence of their ‘Ri’. Jirayia just shook his head with a pained expression and their answer had been less than good to that. Especially Yugao’s. The verbal fight that broke out was put to a stop when a huge toad popped into the infirmary and vomited Riku on the ground. The shock of the humans passed quickly and the woman was the first to act. She put as many healing tags as she had in her BoS on Riku’s body or what was left of it, while Kakashi, who reacted a tad later, unsealed a crate. They put their teammate in it and sealed it and him inside his own Bos. They didn’t know if he could be saved but he was still alive for the time being. Kakashi quickly went back to the main room to activate the time seal, like Riku taught him and returned to the infirmary to help Yugao with their wounds. They spend two days in the Botib to be operational or a bit less than a minute in the real world. Once fit to travel, they went back in all haste to Konoha. Jiraiya went to warn Tsunade of her disciple’s situation while Kakashi and Yugao went to the third basement of the hospital.  When the former warned the nurse at the desk that they had a code black, all hell broke loose. She quickly sent word to another nurse who immediately went to the last operating room available and made preparations for any surgery that would be needed. Unfortunately for Kakashi and Yugao it wasn’t one of the rooms with a Time Seal in it, the one which did were already in use. As such they had to suffer the last six hours with uncertainty.

Tsunade, Shizune and even Karin had gone inside and there has been no words ever since.

“He’s going to pull through.” Hiruzen said as he came through the door of the floor’s entrance to stand next to his former Anbu.

“He will.” Yugao confirmed with determination but sadness replaced it quickly. “But I don't think he will be a shinobi ever again.”

“His wounds were bad Sandaime-sama. I’m surprised he held on long enough for us to put him inside a seal.”

“If there is one thing that I learned over the years is that the word “impossible” is only a suggestion or a choice for Riku, never a fact. And he likes proving people wrong.”

“I hope you’re right, Sandaime-sama. I hope so.” replied the cyclops.

Fifteen minutes later Shizune got out of the operating room covered in Riku’s blood.

“He’s going to make it.” she announced.

Kakashi let out the breath he was holding and Yugao silently cried tears of relief as she rested her head back against the wall facing the ceiling and her eyes closed. She had already lost Hayate, she wasn’t ready to lose the one she had come to see, cared for and cherished as a little brother over the years.

“How bad is it?” Hiruzen asked.

“I can’t tell you in detail but… bad.” she answered in a sorrowful tone. “His career as a shinobi is over.”

“Can’t he use prosthetics?” Inquired Yugao. “Elder Koharu-”

“Received a prototype that Riku made. So far only he is able to make them. The seals needed for them are complex and while Karin may be able to draw them based on pure knowledge and theory, she doesn’t have the chakra control refined enough for it.”

“I see.”

“You should all go home and rest. There is nothing more you can do for him.”

With that said she went back inside the operating room and watched Tsunade and Karin sitting side by side looking at their patient. It was as if they were dead on the inside. Especially Tsunade. She found out she had a son a bit more than a month ago and she nearly lost him today.

“Tsunade-sama, Karin-chan, you need to rest. Riku won’t go anywhere but his own room.”

“The Botib.” spoke up Karin. “The infirmary inside his Botib can do. We might use the Time seal.”

“To what? Speed up his recovery? What is there to recover from at a fast speed? He’s stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He has no legs, no eyes, no left arm, no reproductive organs...” Tsunade said in anger. She was ready to cry at any moment.

“I don’t know! It’s not like we’re out of options! Maybe I can create a better healing tag?! Or… or… increased my chakra’s healing abilities?! Or…”

Karin broke down in tears not knowing what to do or say anymore. She was out of ideas, the ones she had wouldn’t work. Deep inside she blamed herself for not having succeeded in using her healing kekkei genkai through her chains. Because of it Riku had to bite her to heal but with him unconscious he couldn’t. So they had to heal him the old fashioned way. Stopping the bleeding had been a pain, there were so many wounds that they had to use shadow clones and chakra pills to take care of all of them at the same time. Repairing his organs while doing so had on top of that been the rotten cherry on a cake of shit. There was only so much space around an operating table and they didn’t have enough.

Shizune wanted to give her apprentice a comforting hug but the blood on her forbade it.

“Karin-chan. You need to go and rest.”

“I can’t! He-”

“Is resting too. Ino and Hinata need to know, don’t you think?”

“I…”

She tried to protest but she had no excuses. Biting her lower lip hard enough to nearly draw blood, she nodded and exited the room.

“Tsuna-

“Stop it. I don’t want to hear it.”

“You had four shadow clones active. That’s thirty hours of mental fatigue in total Tsunade-sama.”

“I’m not leaving his side. Sensei can take back the hat for a bit.”

“Then don’t leave his side but rest. We’ll put another bed in his room for you.”

Seeing as her sensei didn’t move one bit, Shizune played a card she swore to never use.

“Sensei, he wouldn’t want you to stay here like that. You know that.”

Tsunade turned her head to look at her with murder in her eyes. After a moment her features softened and she turned back towards Riku. She knew that if Shizune had played that card then she was probably right to do so. Taking a deep but shaky breath, she began to cry.

“I can’t lose him, Shizune. I already lost too much, I can’t lose more. Not… Not when He just entered my life properly.”

“And you won’t, Tsunade-sama. Riku is alive. Perhaps not in the best of condition but he’s alive and not endangered anymore. Now come. Let’s put him inside his room and find you a bed.”

Tsunade nodded slowly and both transported Riku into a recovery room. Shizune had the nurse add a second bed next to his and her master simply laid down on it looking at her son. In a matter of minutes she fell asleep.

At the same time, back in the Hokage office. Hiruzen was sitting behind his former desk. In front of him were two members of Team Yukari and his own student Jiraiya. None of them wanted to go and rest until they made their report of the mission. Having heard everything, the Sandaime Hokage took a deep puff of smoke to process it all.

“Why didn’t you use the bracelet on the spot?” he asked Jiraiya.

“I didn’t know what it did. I’m not saying that I thought it was nefarious, but I was in sage mode and I didn’t know how whatever it did would react with nature chakra.”

“Why didn’t Riku use his?”

“It was on his left wrist. It got destroyed at the same time as his arm.” Yugao replied.

“Hm… That made the reverse summoning jutsu impossible for him to do too.”

He dismissed Team Yukari but also the Anbu in the ceiling, leaving only Jiraiya and himself in the office.

“I’m not going to lie to you, Jiraiya. You’re in deep shit. If Tsunade doesn’t kill you for your recklessness it will be a miracle.”

“I…”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t need help because clearly you did. Team Yukari, outside of Anbu and that’s not even sure, is the best team of the village. She sent you the best to pull your ass out of danger and the most promising shinobi since Minato suffered from it. Your excuse for not using the Hiraishin on the spot has merit with me but it won’t hold with her.”

“I know she’s attached to the kid but…”

“He’s her son.”

The blunt revelation felt, to Jiraiya like a smack from Gamabunta, the toad boss summoned with a height of 17m.

“How do you think she will react?”

“H-her son? But… How? Why didn’t… She never said anything about it. And the kid, I thought he’s been in the village since his birth? Who was the father? I can’t imagine Tsunade… Not after Dan.”

“We can thank Danzo for that. He used one of Tsunade’s ovum which only Kami knows how he got it in the first place and fertilized it with Minato’s seed.”

“Minato?!”

“He had one of his agents carry the baby to term.” finished Hiruzen as he pulled the folder of Project Hokage from the desk middle drawer and tossed it to his student.

The toad sage caught the folder with his only arm and laid it on the desk. With his hand he opened it and began to read it. Turning page after page in silence until he reached the end and closed it.

“You should have-” the tall man began with a frown and disgust on his face.

“I know, Jiraiya. I know. There is not a day since he’s dead that I don’t regret my sentimentality. Everyday a new pile of shit is found out from his files. There are thirty years to examine and in a single month only one year has been done. Even Koharu and Homura are appalled at the length of his depravity. Regardless of what Danzo did, Tsunade has accepted him as her son. Hear my advice, stay in the village for a while but make yourself scarce.”

“Will he live?” Jiraiya asked as he stood up. Suddenly he felt like he had aged twenty years.

“He will. His life as a shinobi however is over from what Shizune told me.”

“You don’t sound convinced.”

“Because I am not. For the past five years I saw him make the impossible possible. I saw him succeed in things that everyone thought couldn't be done and made it a fact of a life. I’m hopeful that if anyone could come back from such debilitating wounds it’s him.”

Jiraiya nodded silently then left the office, this time through the door. Not long after his departure Shizune came knocking on the door.

“How is she?” Hiruzen asked.

“Considering? Alright. She’s asleep in a bed next to him. She used four shadow clones during the operation and is completely tired because of the mental fatigue. She’s not leaving the village if that’s what you’re worried about Sandaime-sama but I don’t think she will be very useful as a Hokage until Riku wakes up.”

“Hopefully sometime soon.”

“Hopefully.”

She left the office and Hiruzen stood up from his chair. He looked at the village outside the window like he did so many times before over the years. With Riku incapacitated Konoha had lost his best candidate for the role of Hokage after Tsunade leaving only Kakashi as a successor but not one of the same caliber. Riku’s idea of bringing back Minato seemed really appealing right now to the tired old man.

‘Should I talk to Tsunade about it? Should I even consider it in the first place?’

He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. The day was ending and those questions were for the Hiruzen of tomorrow.

On the other side of the village, three 18 year old girls had gathered at one of them’s apartments. All had their mood down the drain and one of them was held down by golden chains.

“Let me go!”

“No! There is no point. He’s resting”

“I don’t care! I want to see him!”

“They won’t even let you in that wing of the hospital!”

“Then I’ll-”

“Ino, enough.” Hinata said with authority and went to hug her blonde girlfriend. “The only thing we can do is wait. Don’t think you’re the only one that wants to go to him. We all want to but can’t. We all need each other right now. Karin spent six hours saving his life. She needs us more and we can actually do something about it.”

Her words soothe Ino down. The blonde wasn’t happy about it one bit but agreed that comforting Karin and as a result Hinata and herself was the only thing she could do. She just hoped that the guy she fell in love with all those years ago would recover despite the odds not in his favor.

It took four days for Riku to wake up and Tsunade rarely left his side. He wasn’t in critical condition, his wounds were all healed. He wasn’t in pain either. She just couldn’t bring herself to leave until he told her with his own mouth that he was fine.

“Can someone turn on the light?” he said with a tired voice.

Immediately Tsunade took his lone hand in hers.

“Sensei?” he called out.

“I’m here.” she replied, squeezing his hand.

“I… It’s not the light isn’t it?” he said weakly realizing that with Tsunade holding his hand even in the dark he would be able to see her in a hospital room.

“No... It’s not. Riku… Your wounds…”

“I… remember losing my arm then… then my legs…”

“You did. That and more.”

His hand contracted and had Tsunade not channeled chakra into her own, he would have broken it.

“How… How bad?”

“Riku…”

“How bad?!” he asked in anger.

“Bad enough that you can’t be a shinobi anymore.”

“...”

The news left him speechless. She wished she could read his mind to know what he was thinking. That way she may find the right words of comfort he wanted and needed to hear. Her musings were interrupted when she felt his hand trying to escape her grip. For a second she hesitated, not wanting to let go but she ended up doing it. Riku touched the bandage covering his eyes then let his hand slide down over his nose then mouth where it rested. After a moment of reflection he extended his hand for Tsunade to take.

“I’m going to be Hokage, mom.”

“Riku…” She couldn’t say the words. That it was impossible for him anymore.

“Watch me.”

The conviction in his voice worried her. There was no way it could be possible, she knew that and more importantly Riku knew it too. She wondered if the news didn’t simply break his mind to the point of being in strong denial.

“And I’ll take your title of best medic in the world along the way. You’ll see.”

“Riku… That’s…”

A knock on the door interrupted her. Internally she was glad for it, relieved even for this interruption. Turning her head to see who it was, Riku was faster.

“Sandaime-sama.”

“Riku! Good morning.” the old Hokage greeted with a jovial tone.

“How did you…”

“The smell of tobacco, mom. Senses overcompensate when one is damaged. You know that.” Riku chidded her with an amused smile that didn’t fit his situation. “If you’re interested in a hand shake or a thumbs war, I’m your man but for anything else, I’m afraid I’m a bit out of commission for a while.” The dirty blonde said to Hiruzen who chuckled.

“I both came to visit you and to tell Tsunade to go back to work.”

“Sensei!” The woman began to protest but was cut short by her son.

“Go on, mom. You have your duties, the village is counting on you.”

“Riku, I-”

“You’re wasting your time here, mom. I appreciate your presence, love it even but now is not the time. Go.”

Tsunade nearly refused on the spot but Hiruzen’s hand on her shoulder and Riku’s easy going tone made her rethink it. Standing up from her chair she leaned forward to kiss her son on his forehead then whispered an ‘I love you’ in his ear.

“I’ll see you when I’ll see you, mom.” was Riku’s last words as she left the room.

Hiruzen sat down on Tsunade’s now vacant chair.

“What do you need?”

“What makes you think I need something, Sandaime-sama?”

“I’ve known you personally since you became a genin. I know you never give up no matter what. You still have your thought process and your chakra so as far as I know, your situation? Just an obstacle to overcome. A challenge to beat.”

Riku smiled from ear to ear hearing the man.

“If only she had that much faith in me.” the jonin said with a sad tone.

“She’s shocked. You’re the only family she has left. An unexpected family at that. She’s not thinking, she’s feeling. She’s too scared to hope.”

“But you’re not.”

“No. I know better. Now what do you need? What’s going through that brain of yours?”

“Well… Three things. First my book of seals.”

“It’s over there on the table.” said Hiruzen, standing up, getting the book and handing it to Riku before sitting back down.

“Thank you. The second thing I need is the relay of a message to my loved ones. That I’ll get better soon and as fast as I can.”

“That I can do too. Young Karin, Ino and Hinata, Hum?” the old man teased.

“What can I say? I’m roguishly handsome.” chuckled Riku.

“Knowing your parents, you are.”

“Last thing I need is…” He paused there and bit his thumb to draw blood and extended his hand for Hiruzen to take. “Your hand.”

Understanding what he wanted to do and because he was curious, Hiruzen used his left hand to hold Riku’s right. In unison as if they had practiced for it, they made a short hand seals sequence and Riku slammed his hand on his stomach. Writings appeared around it and a puff of smoke revealed a very small Katsuyu.

“Hello, Katsuyu-chan. I’m in need of your help.”