Chapter Text
Umino Iruka had never run so fast in his life. The power of the Hero Water pumped through his veins, propelling the sixteen-year-old so quickly that his feet barely touched the branches. The trees were blurs of brown and green around him and even the added weight of little Fū strapped to his chest did little to slow him. By his side, the ANBU Monkey kept pace with ease, despite the fact that he held a ten-year-old piggy back style on his back and Iruka was fairly certain that he’d not partook in the Water like Iruka had.
The reason for their flight was behind them – a handful of Rock-nin just as determined as to catch as they were to flee – that had been hunting them for the last day and a half. Their group had started out with seven; four ANBU, Iruka, and the two children. He and Monkey were the only ninja remaining. By his side Monkey’s hand flew out in the sign for stop and Iruka skidded to a halt, chest heaving.
The Hero Water had spiked Iruka’s chakra amount ten-fold, but the young Waterfall-nin was only a Chūnin, and it had also brought him closer to death. Iruka fought the urge to vomit as his heart beat so rapidly that for one inane moment he thought it was going to explode right out of his chest.
“Monkey-san?” Iruka asked, glancing over his shoulder nervously, unsure why that had stopped. The ANBU shook his head, sliding Shibuki from his back. The last heir of the Mikami clan clutched at the ANBU’s vest with a tight grip, skin pale as paper and teary eyes wide and frightened. Shibuki, the son of their current leader, and Fū, the container for the Shichibi, were the reason for their frantic flight from their now destroyed village. It was imperative that Rock not get their hands on another jinchūriki; with three the country would be unstoppable. As for Shibuki…well, Iruka could hardly fault Lord Hisen for wanting his only child to survive. To get him to safety had been the last order their leader had given before disappearing back into the battleground that had become the Village Hidden in the Waterfall.
“Take him,” Monkey said, voice sounding as winded as Iruka felt despite the fact that his chest barely rose, “they’re getting too close.”
Iruka wanted to object – only death awaited the ANBU if he went to fight now, but it was also not his place, so Iruka bit back his worry and jumped to the nearby tree branch. Getting Shibuki balanced on his back with a toddler sleeping on his front was difficult, and Iruka grit his teeth against the wave of weariness he felt when he stood with the additional weight.
“Go,” Monkey said, pulling his tantō free, “Fire is not far now, a border patrol is bound to find you with a fight happening so close.” The ANBU pushed at him when Iruka hesitated. “Go, Iruka-kun. That’s an order.”
“….goodbye, Monkey-san. Thank you for all your hard work.” The Chūnin muttered unhappily before sprinting off once more. A handful of minutes later and the sounds of battle erupted behind him, making Iruka wince. He pushed more chakra in his legs, determined to put as much space between them and the fight as possible.
“I’m scared, Iruka-san.” Shibuki whimpered, his hands squeezing tightly around Iruka’s neck. He wanted to sooth the little Beta, but at the moment Iruka was finding it too hard to breathe, much less offer comfort.
They’d made it maybe four miles before Iruka felt a chakra signature flare warningly in front of him, and the Chūnin slowed to a stop, dropping from the tree and holding both his hands up in surrender. Moments later, a squad of Leaf ANBU dropped down around him.
“State your rank and purpose.” One of the ANBU demanded, his tantō already drawn. His features were hidden behind a dog mask and his hair concealed by black cloth cap, and he bore a black armband that must mean he was the captain. Like all ANBU, their scents were completely hidden and even though Iruka had encountered it before, it always was disorienting.
“Umino Iruka. Chū-Chūnin. Waterfall’s fallen,” Iruka said quickly, breath coming in such harsh pants that he could hardly get the words out, “there’s a squad of Rock-nin in pursuit. One of our ANBU is fighting alone, please – help him, he’s gonna die!” Dog’s fingers twitched slightly, the only sign of surprise at the news, before making a gesture to his squad. It was solely in Fire-sign and Iruka couldn’t read it to his dismay. Shibuki was crying into Iruka’s shoulder, driven beyond fear by the ANBUs hostile presences. “Please,” the Omega tried again, voice aching when no one moved, “please. I’ve got children, we’re all that made it out – please.”
“We can’t interfere,” Dog said and Iruka fought back tears of his own. This was it, they were going to die here. He understood, Fire didn’t want to start a war with Earth, but it seemed so cruel, “unless you make it to the border.” Iruka’s head snapped up, eyes hopeful. “You’re less than two miles off. Run.”
Iruka didn’t need to be told twice. He erupted into motion, strength bolstered by the promise of safety, and Shibuki let out a scream at the sudden motion. Iruka ran harder than he ever had, heart pounding his ears and vision narrowing. The Leaf ANBU kept pace around him in the trees, while Dog ran with Iruka.
“Keep going,” the ANBU urged, “you’re not far. Run, make yourself move. You can make it.”
The Chūnin nodded determinedly, even as his knees began to buckle with each step. He burst through the tree line in a blur, the forest cut back to provide a large open space where the stones that signaled the border between the lands of Lakes and Fire were located. Iruka let out a sob of relief at the sight of the tall border-markers, but it quickly cut off into a sound of fear as the shouts of the Rock-nin echoed behind him.
He felt his heart ache at the thought of Monkey, but fear propelled him even closer to the border. Within feet of it his strength failed him, Iruka stumbling to his knees with a cry of disbelief, but a strong hand on his arm yanked him back up.
“Monkey-san!” Iruka cried out, but the relief he felt died quickly at the sight of the blood-covered figure. The Waterfall ANBU was cut to pieces, an arm missing and his chakra signature almost completely gone.
“Move.” Monkey snarled, practically dragging the failing Chūnin the last few feet to safety. Monkey’s body jerked, a kunai striking him high in the shoulder, far too close to his neck to be anything but a fatal wound. The ANBU dropped, pushing Iruka across the border roughly. Iruka spun, Shibuki falling from his back as he yanked on Monkey’s vest, pulling his body across the border with the very last of his strength. The Rock-nin came to a stop at the very edges of the border, throwing curses and demands at the Leaf-nin, but the Leaf ANBU formed a solid line at the borders’ edge, blocking the panting Waterfall-nin from their pursuers’ line of sight.
Iruka ignored them all, crawling on all fours to where Monkey was laying on his back, chest heaving and what little skin that could be seen deathly pale, greying. One of the Leaf ANBUs, one wearing some sort of cat mask and clearly the squad’s healer, was hovering over him, her hands glowing green. Iruka felt what little hopes he felt for his fellow ninja dissipate as she leaned back on her heels, head shaking once in a negative motion.
Dog crouched down next to them, hands held deceptive loose as they hung between his knees, even as the rest of his body was still tense. Iruka reached out a shaking hand, unsure if it was trembling due to grief or exhaustion, and gently stroked the dying man’s hair. A warm little body pressed against his side and Iruka wrapped his free arm around Shibuki, the boy sobbing openly.
Dog was asking him something, but Iruka’s hearing seemed to be failing him. He blinked hard and shook his head to try and clear the strange, empty feeling it had. “ –ening? Do you claim sanctuary?”
“Yes.” Iruka managed to get out, his voice sounding totally alien and unlike it ever had been before, “yes, please.”
Monkey was struggling in front of him, each breath seemingly a battle, and a gloved hand pawed uselessly at his mask. Cat reached out, lifting the mask free. The sound Iruka made at the sight of Monkey’s all too familiar face was thick with grief and denial. Umino Kaito, Iruka’s best friend and older cousin. Kaito’s hand reached out weakly and Iruka grasped it on instinct, bringing the bloody appendage to his lips to press a kiss to it.
Kaito and Iruka had always looked startling alike, enough so that without his scar the two could almost be twins. Iruka had always figured that it was because their mother had been identical twins; not enough genetic diversity to generate radically different faces. To see someone so close to his own image moments from death was unsettling.
“Wanted to tell you,” Kaito gasped out, the hand in Iruka’s trembling with the effort, “‘begged Hisen-sama to let me tell you.”
“It’s okay.” Iruka soothed, letting go of Shibuki to reach out and stroke his cousin’s hair once more. He let out a painful sounding laugh. “He probably knew that I’d storm ANBU and drag your cocky ass right out.”
Kaito gave him a weak smile. “Brat.” The hand in his own squeezed weakly. “It was my choice.”
Iruka nodded, unsure of what else to do. Waterfall’s ninja numbers were falling rapidly, the Hidden Village facing the real threat of dying out, and ninja who may never have normally been considered or even made it into their tiny ANBU were recruited to try and make up for it. It wasn’t that Kaito wasn’t good, because he was; he was one of the few ninja who’d become Jōnin in the village. He was just young, only a year older than Iruka.
Another raspy breath. “Fū-chan?”
Iruka shifted, gently pulling the binds of the wrap across his chest down so that Kaito could see the sleeping child. They’d put the tiny Alpha into a forced sleep, too afraid of what would happen if she became frightened and the Shichibi was released. Kaito smiled, fingers brushing over her sleeping face.
“She’s not hurt.” Iruka said quietly, “Shibuki-sama is okay, too.”
Kaito nodded, eyes glassy. “‘m tired, Iruka-chan.”
Iruka bit back a sob as he blinked back tears and gave the dying ANBU a small smile. “That’s okay. You can…you can sleep if you need to. You’re going to see everyone again, I’m jealous.”
Iruka marveled at his own words, in disbelief at how calm and collected they sounded when he felt like his world was falling apart around him. He had known that the rest of his clan would have died in Waterfall; the Umino’s had been a prominent clan in the village since its founding, they would have fought to the last. But the idea that they’d come so far, that both he and Kaito could have made it…
Next to him, Shibuki let out a wail and Iruka flinched, breath catching. “Please don’t die, Umino-san!”
Dog’s hand shot out, silencing the horrible sound. “Stop that,” the Leaf ANBU ordered harshly, “don’t let the last thing your friend see be your tears.”
Shibuki stared up at the ANBU, stunned, before nodding. He brought his hands up, wiping at his face, a determined look on his face. “G-Goodbye, Umino-san. Thank you for helping.”
Iruka doubted that Kaito could really hear anymore, but he curled an arm around the little boy regardless, proud of his attempt. “Good job, Shibuki-sama.”
In front of him, Kaito’s chest rose and fell once, and then went still. Iruka jerked, his hand gripping his cousin’s forearm tightly before he let out a sob, head dropping to his chest in defeat. He was the last now; the last Umino. He wasn’t aware he’d said it out loud, but he must of because Shibuki curled even tighter against his side, arms wrapping tight around Iruka’s middle.
“It’s okay, Iruka-kun. I’m the last now, too.”
Iruka nodded dumbly, blinking hard as the black tunnels to his vision grew. He wondered abstractly if he was going to die. The Hero Water often killed, especially when it was used in tandem with someone pushing themselves to the absolute brink, and Iruka’s chakra reserves were dangerously low.
“Shibuki-sama,” he managed as he began to sway, his voice sounding hollow and weak to his own ears, “take care of Fū-chan.”
He toppled backwards, breath escaping him in a woosh, but strong arms caught him. Iruka blinked up the face of Dog, managing a weak thanks even as he felt like he was going to fly apart. Cat was suddenly by his side, her hands glowing brightly as she pumped chakra into his system. He fought desperately against the growing darkness, afraid that if he passed out he may not awake again. He needed to tell them about Fū, they needed to know what she was if he died.
“Dog-san, Fū-chan, she’s – she’s…”
“Breathe through it,” Dog ordered, voice calm as he pushed a soldier pill into Iruka’s mouth. “Swallow. Swallow or you’re going to die.”
With the last bit of strength he had, Iruka did. Then, nothing.
Iruka awoke with a half-bitten back shout, hands scrambling for a kunai, only to fold over nearly in two, hands clutching his sides. Everything hurt. He shook, panting, and couldn’t have fought the hands that pressed him back against the bed if he tried. He blinked hard, then felt his eyes widen at the sight of the Hokage standing next to him. Iruka tried to rise again, to bow – or something – but the Leaf leader just pushed him back down with a shake of his head.
“Stay down,” he advised before helping Iruka drink a glass of water. The Chūnin drank greedily, unware of just how thirsty he was until the cool liquid had touched his lips. “Slowly now, that’s a boy. There, you can have another glass in a moment, when I’m sure that you won’t throw it back up.”
Iruka nodded, stunned he was still alive. A thought struck him and Iruka nearly vaulted from the bed once more. “The kids!”
“They’re fine.” Lord Saturobi said, pushing him back down once more, expression troubled. “They’re in the next room. I know that you’ve just been through a difficult ordeal, but can you tell me what’s happened?”
“It was early morning, before dawn. Rock-nin attacked from the west.” Iruka swallowed, blinking back tears. “We…we weren’t prepared. We’ve been on neutral terms with Earth country for a decade and…well, Waterfall’s strength wasn’t what it was used to. I was training with my father at the time; Hisen-sama appeared moments after the first explosions, with his son Mikami Shibuki and Ueda Fū, and four of our village ANBU.”
Iruka didn’t say that those four were the only four ANBU in the village. Their Corps had always been small, but it had shrunk considerably in recent years and the ANBU were mainly used for the protection of their village leader and Fū.
“He tasked me and the ANBU with getting Shibuki-sama and Fū-chan out of the village and away from the enemy hands. He was afraid of what would happen to his son since our village’s leadership is passed through hereditary. And Fū-chan…” Iruka’s voice pattered off, eyeing the two ANBU who stood silent guard of the door. “…it’s a matter of some secrecy, Hokage-sama.”
The Hokage didn’t even bat an eye, hands flying through seals as he cast a high-level silencing jutsu on the room. Iruka sent his chakra out to test it, wincing at the headache that earned him. Lord Saturobi looked amused. “Perhaps not the wisest course of action, Umino-san.”
Iruka nodded, embarrassed. Iruka almost wanted to ask about their chances of earning refuge status, before he gave out Fū’s secret that was, but the Chūnin didn’t want the Hokage to think he was trying to trick Fire into taking in a jinchūriki. While Fū’s status had never been met with anything but kindness and understanding by their village – her mere presence was supposed to have ensured their continuance as a shinobi village, once she’d been old enough to fight, that is – Iruka wasn’t naïve enough to assume every village was like his own.
“Fū-chan…she’s…she’s a jinchūriki, of the Shichibi. But she’s just a little girl,” Iruka pressed on quickly, “she’s no different than any other two-year-old, I swear. She’s not a threat or a monster or anything, she’s….she’s just a little girl.” He finished lamely.
The Hokage leaned back in his chair, eyes intense. “You’re quite fond of her.”
Iruka stared at his hands, which fidgeted endlessly against his sheets. “My mom was on the same Genin team with Fū-chan’s mother. Shortly after the Shichibi was sealed in her, Fū-chan was made an orphan. We were honored to take her in,” Iruka explained, stressing the word, “I’ve been told how some villages view jinchūriki, but Fū-chan isn’t a monster. She’s a little girl, who likes sweets and is scared of birds. She’s two, she’s not some kind of – she’s just a little kid, who’s been forced into something that she never had a say in. And I refuse to hold her responsible for that.”
He glanced up, expression fierce, but his temper faded at the amusement on Saturobi’s face. “Fū-chan is a very lucky girl indeed, to have a staunch defender such of yourself.” The smile muted itself. “Do you have any idea why Earth would attack your village?”
Iruka’s shoulders slumped. “Hisen-sama thought it was because they wanted Fū-chan. It was the only reason he could see. They never showed any interest in the Hero Water before, so...”
A heavy silence filled the small space, the older ninja smoking his pipe as Iruka stared mutely at his covered legs. It was hard to really grasp that his village was gone. That his family, that everyone was…Iruka wiped at his cheeks, embarrassed that he was crying in front of such a powerful and renowned ninja. A hand patted his shoulder consolingly.
“For whatever its worth, Umino-kun, I am sorry for your loss.”
Iruka nodded, taking a shaky breath. “…are we okay here?” He asked quietly, hands tightening on his sheets in fear of the response. “I’m only a Chūnin, and I have no blood line of anything of note, and Shibuki-sama was in our Academy, but…I know we don’t offer a lot to Leaf, outside of whatever worth Fū-chan brings.”
And whatever breeding Iruka and Fū could offer as an Omega and Alpha respectively, though Iruka was not brave enough to voice that thought. While the Umino and Ueda clans may not have any type of impressive bloodlines, they had both been old and (once) strong families. Iruka assumed that their dynamics were already known and considered in whatever decision was being made.
Still, the idea of using their dynamics or Fū’s status as a bargaining chips tasted bitter to himself, but the teenager didn’t know where they’d go if they weren’t accepted into Fire. The Hokage hummed softly. “The Council met earlier and they’ve agreed to instate you and the children as Fire-citizens.” Iruka’s head snapped up in hope. “They’ve even agreed to give you Chūnin status as a Leaf-nin, but only if you pass a two year probation period. During your probation, you’ll be restricted to the village and shadowed twenty-four seven by ANBU. Any actions considered hostile to the village will be met with your execution. Any attempts to contact anyone outside of the village will be met with your execution. Any signs of spying or attempts to leave will be met with your execution. Any unauthorized training or use of jutsu of any kind will be met with your execution. Are we clear on your limitations, Umino-kun?”
Iruka nodded fervently, even if the thought of what not training for two years would do to his ninja-career made him balk. “But, you said this morning…that was…well, before you knew about Fū-chan.”
The Hokage gave him a wain smile. “I doubt her jinchūriki status will be considered detrimental, Umino-san. One of my assistants would be in momentarily with the paperwork you need to sign. As it stands, I believe you have some visitors.”
One of the ANBU opened the door to his room and Iruka laughed as a black streak flew into the room.
“Iruka-san!” Shibuki cried out, his voice high pitched with relief. “Iruka-san you’re okay!”
“Hello, Shibuki-sama," Iruka greeted, reaching out to squeeze the worried boy’s hand. Fū was balanced on his hip, watching everyone around her with bright, curious ochre-eyes. “Hello, Fū-chan,” he cooed, reaching out to take the toddler as she reached for him. “I’m so glad to see the two of you.”
Saturobi watched them with a small smile on his face. “Welcome to the Leaf, Umino-kun.”