Chapter 275: A Hair's Breadth, Kyosuke's Choice
"BOOM!"
A fire dragon roared through the night sky, smashing into a tall building and setting the surrounding debris ablaze.
"Damn it! Over there! The enemy is over there!"
"Quick! Surround them! Don't let them escape this time!"
"Where's the sensor team?!"
"Where the hell are the Hyuga?!"
Hearing the distant shouts, Dark Owl sped off in the opposite direction, disappearing into the shadows.
The entire village is in chaos. I wonder how "Madara" is doing... I should go and see. I can't put all my faith in that unknown entity.
Besides, "that person" will most likely go to support Minato Namikaze. I'll take them both out at the same time!
She decided to go and reinforce Obito, to lie in wait for Kyosuke.
Using the cover of night and the intelligence provided by the White Zetsu clones, she managed to evade most of the Konoha shinobi. Those she couldn't avoid, she dealt with quickly and silently. She was soon outside the village walls.
As she neared Kushina's hidden delivery location, she suddenly stopped. Someone else was moving at high speed nearby.
At the sight of the figure, her breathing became ragged. "Hyu-ga... Sa-o-ri!!!" she hissed, her voice filled with a venomous hatred.
"Ahhh!!!"
"Minato... it hurts..."
"You can do it, Kushina! Just a little more!" Minato said, his voice strained as he struggled to maintain the Nine-Tails' seal, a pained smile on his face.
With a final, agonizing push, a loud, clear cry filled the room. The Child of Destiny had been born.
"He's... he's here... Minato, let me see Naruto..." Kushina gasped, her body weak but her spirit strong as she used the last of her strength to suppress the Nine-Tails.
Minato was about to reply when a heavy thud came from behind him. He spun around and saw a man in a black cloak and an orange, spiral-patterned mask, holding the newborn Naruto in one hand.
The Anbu guards lay dead on the floor.
How... how did he find this place? Minato thought, his mind reeling. He remembered Kyosuke's words from a few days ago, and the object he had given him.
"Whoever you are, please, calm down," he said, his eyes fixed on the kunai that was now inches from his son's face.
"Heh. You're the one who needs to calm down, Minato Namikaze," the masked man said, holding Naruto up. "Have you made your choice? Him, or her?"
Kyosuke was right. He's after the Nine-Tails.
"Minato... save... save Naruto," Kushina whispered.
Seeing the touching scene before him, Obito's heart filled with a burning, all-consuming hatred.
It's always the same. You can't save anyone. Not Rin... not me.
"Does it hurt...? Good!!!"
He threw Naruto into the air, and in the next instant, both he and Minato vanished.
Minato reappeared, catching his son, and was about to counterattack when he saw the exploding tags attached to the blanket. He tore it off and, in a flash of yellow light, was gone.
"Got her," Obito sneered, reaching for the struggling Kushina. But then, an object on the bed, engraved with the kanji for "Kyo," caught his eye.
Just as the spatial vortex began to form, a figure appeared out of thin air. Before he could react, a powerful blow sent him crashing through the wall of the house.
"BOOM!"
The house exploded in a massive fireball. Minato, holding his son, watched in horror. But then, a flash of violet-red light appeared in the center of the inferno, and he let out a sigh of relief.
It was Kyosuke.
After a fierce internal struggle, he had decided to save Minato and Kushina, even if it meant revealing his reawakened Mangekyo. No matter what happened in the future, he could not stand by and watch Minato die, not after he had defied the Third Hokage's orders and helped him during the Chunin Exams.
He had fabricated a story about a secret organization hunting the Tailed Beasts, and had given Minato a kunai with his Flying Thunder God marker on it. And now, at the last possible second, it had saved Kushina's life.
"Take her and go," Kyosuke said, his eyes fixed on the silent figure of Obito. "I'll handle this."
"...Thank you," Minato said. He placed a hand on Kushina's shoulder and, with his son in his arms, vanished.
A simple "thank you" isn't going to cut it... sigh. I'm too sentimental, Kyosuke thought with a wry smile. He turned to face his former friend.
Now... what am I going to do with him?
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