Chereads / In Naruto without Godmode / Chapter 85 - Chapter 85: Stars and Sons, Pt. 2

Chapter 85 - Chapter 85: Stars and Sons, Pt. 2

The battle against the Root Anbu--well, battle is not exactly the best word--the embarrassment against the Root Anbu showed Kannin that he still had a number of weaknesses, among them his speed, perception, and chakra manipulation. Kannin's fighting style during the war heavily relied on having Koseki in his hands, which unintentionally acted as a focus for his chakra manipulation, and when he was caught without it, he was slow and clumsy.

He had hoped that the Flying Raijin formula on Kiyo would save him, but the sealing array they put out completely isolated him from it, probably something based on a contract seal. He had also completely failed to sense the Anbu, which made a little sense given they're supposed to be the elite stealth team in Konoha, nonetheless, Kannin felt as though he should've sensed them.

Sage Mode promised to ameliorate both problems, but it had its own drawbacks, Flying Raijin should cover the rest. The far off goal of the Kekkei Tota, which seemed to get further away every time he looked, seemed a little frivolous now; however, he had more pressing matters to attend to: he had missed his date with Warai, and the training session with Kakashi.

Sheathing Koseki, he resolved himself to making up for his absence the next day--for now, he was still too exhausted to do much else today, and even though the sun wasn't even halfway to the horizon from its zenith, Kannin jumped onto the bed which was still too small for him, and fell asleep dreaming of a bigger bed.

-

When Minato returned to his office, he shook his head thinking about Kannin,

'The kid attracts trouble, doesn't he?' he thought, thumbing through the mission report Kakashi turned in the day before, 'but really, to make such a breakthrough in Sage Mode in those conditions--the kid's a monster. Giving him a team will probably just hold him back in all likelihood.'

Sitting down, and putting the report away, he sent a summons for Danzo and waited for him to show up. A few minutes later, he heard a knock on his door, and said,

"Come in!"

To which the middle-aged figure of Shimura Danzo, with his right eye covered in bandages and chin covered in an X shaped scar walked in.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Hokage?" Danzo asked, as if nothing had happened

"You know why, Danzo," Minato said with little of his typical friendliness, "the business with Uzumaki Kannin. I know you think you do important work for the village, skulking in the shadows and scraping together a secret club of Anbu, but trust me, I'm not impressed."

"Well," Danzo calmly replied, "I truly have no clue what you're talking ab-"

"What you did was grossly extralegal, unnecessary, subversive, and," Minato took a breath, "personally offensive. If I hear even the faintest whisper that you are looking at him, his family, his friends, I'll end you. No discussion. I don't care if you have the elders behind you and I don't care if it ruins me. If I go, you go too."

Danzo grumbled at the admonishment and said, "I don't appreciate your tone, Minato. What I do might not be the most palatable, but its for the village, in ways you could never understand. I'll be taking my leave now."

As Danzo left the office, Minato mumbled to himself, rubbing his forehead,

'Was putting him in a prison seal really for the good of the village?'

He sighed and hung up his hat for the day, teleporting back home, where Kushina was making soup for dinner.

"Hey honey"

"You're back already?" Kushina inquired, turning around from the stove

"Yeah," Minato sighed, "Kannin woke up. After that, I didn't feel like doing much more."

"He woke up?" Kushina asked, "Is he alright?"

"Yeah," Minato sighed, "a day or two's rest and he'll be better than ever. In the meantime, what's for dinner?"

"Well I made a little soup from what we had around," Kushina said, turning back to the pot, "That sound alright?"

Minato forced himself to smile, despite the fact that her soups never seemed to work out into what most would call 'food' or 'edible,' for fear of her wrath.

"That sounds great, honey," he said, the smile on his face twitching slightly

Choking through the sludge that came out of the pot, Minato trudged himself through dinner, all the while noticing his wife was uncharacteristically silent the whole way through.

"Is something wrong, Kushina?"

Kushina, her head which had been staring at her bowl for the last 10 minutes was now staring at the ceiling. She left her spoon drop into her bowl with a clink before sighing and saying,

"Minato," she said rubbing her forehead, "I think I'm pregnant."

Silence followed. Minato had trouble comprehending the seemingly simple statement. Minato had been a hardened jonin for years, and always had a solid grip on reality, but the prospect of being a dad shattered it a little.

"Y-y-you're sure?" He stuttered, "Like 'pregnant' pregnant?"

"Honey," Kushina chuckled, "is there any other type of pregnant?"

Minato's initial awe was soon replaced with a sort of ecstasy as he ran around the table to bear hug his wife with his signature foolish smile on his face.

"I can't believe it!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, "I can't believe it! When did you find out?"

"Well," Kushina began, peeling Minato off of her to get a breath, "I went to visit Kannin yesterday and he was still out so I decided to get a quick checkup...and the nurse said I might be expecting."

"When will you know for sure?"

"I was going to take a test before you got back," she said, "but you got back early so I guess I'll do it later..."

-

Danzo, on the other hand, left Minato's office in quite a sullen mood. First, Kannin managed to escape his own clutches, then the grasp of his Root shinobi, and finally he tattled to Minato, putting Danzo's position in the village at risk.

Danzo wasn't truly in danger of being knocked down or demoted or anything, just a reputation hit--and even though he didn't care too much for his reputation, it still stung a little. Kannin was a very promising prospect: his performance in the war was exemplary in many ways, especially his role in neutralizing Killer B. Danzo had to admit his methods were a bit forceful, but they were all within reason given Kannin's potential.

Returning to his own office, he grumbled and began writing a few letters.