12 Bold Choices

Almost immediately, Minato snapped from his panicked daze and leaped to his feet, pulling out one of his signature three-pronged Kunai. His eyes only showed focus and determination, no longer the scared, surprised it was before.

He only gulped when the Kyuubi growled. They echoed off the walls and he could feel the oppressing air that surrounded the beast. He wondered where he was. Could he be inside the seal itself? Was that even possible?

Maybe it was. The seal was created by who was considered one of the best seal masters to ever exist. The thought had sent a shiver down his spine. He was actually looking at the real Beast. This was no illusion.

It was at this point that Minato had noticed his wife standing right in front of the seal that was on the golden gate, staring at it intently.

"Kushina!" He shouted before he could even think.

The loud yell carried quickly over the barren room and she turned to her worried husband. "Minato?"

He didn't hear her confused voice, reaching her as fast as his title implied and grabbed her by the arm.

"Where are we?" He questioned, gazing at the gate for any sign if movement. He wished she hadn't come so close because he was beginning to feel a bit nauseas being so close to the Demon. A gate that he wasn't even sure was secure was the only the only thing between them and certain death.

That thought alone…

"I don't know." Kushina answers after a bit of silence. She hadn't reacted much to Minato's presence and he was beginning to get worried because of that. On top of that, she didn't know where they were either.

"I woke up in this place and now my stomach isn't hurting anymore." She continued, slowly rubbing the large bar on the gate.

"I have a theory. I think." He added, with uncertainty. "We might be inside the seal. Like inside with the Nine-Tails."

"I thought that too but this has to be somewhere else." She looked very insisted on what she said and Minato rose an eyebrow. When she turned to see why he had gone quiet, she saw the confused look and continued to speak her thoughts. "This is not what the inside of the seal is supposed to look like."

Now Minato was even more confused and looked up at the large bars keeping the Nine-Tails back. "I don't get it, Kushina. Can you explain?"

She nodded. "When one becomes a Jinchuriki, whether they have talked with their Tailed Beast or not, eventually they go into their mental state within the seal. Inside it is a physical manifestation of the seal as we see here." She rose her hand briefly, gesturing to the large cage before them.

Minato nodded at the information, picking up on it quite easily from the very detailed and organized explanation given by his wife. He briefly went into thought. If this was true would that be the reason a Jinchuriki and its Tailed Beast could actually talk regularly and even become synchronized. It was very interesting.

The thought of a Jinchuriki of the Hidden Cloud popped into his mind.

"So, what you're trying to say is that this isn't the mindscape that you've accompanied with the Nine Tails?"

She nodded again and turned to him. "Yea, pretty much. I don't know why it changed though. It should never do that."

"I suppose we should be grateful it's still intact rather than why it changed like this, at least for now." He told her. His face had softened and he slowly walked to her before wrapping her in a tight hug. He felt her stiffen in his arm before she relaxed and wrapped her arms around him. "I thought I lost you."

"It's ok, Minato." She assured, placing her head on his chest.

They had stayed like that for a small bit but it seemed too fast for Minato-something he never thought he would say considering his title. Moments ago, his wife was dead. It may have been short lived but it scared the daylights out of him and he knew he couldn't fathom a world without her.

A snarl broke them out of their hug and they turned to the source simultaneously. The wide, sharp grin of the Nine-Tails caused them to freeze as his eyes locked onto their forms. For a second, neither could think or even move and Minato felt a heavy feeling in his chest. It felt strange.

Minato tensed when the Nine-Tails long arm began to slowly reach out towards the gate. He would've seen Kushina's eyes lock onto the seal if he had been looking at her, but his gaze remained forward.

His eyes widened and his body rocketed forward on pure instinct. One second he had grabbed Kushina and launched back as far away as he could and the next second the large gates swung open in a flash, almost smacking into the duo. Minato's quick movements had saved them but that wasn't what he was thinking about as he tried to stumble to his feet from the tumble of limbs that he and Kushina had turned into.

"The seal… is broken," Kushina muttered, voice trembling in fear as the Nine-Tails giant arm went through the opening from the open gate. Minato felt a pant in his heart and the wild beating that had thumbed in his head like drums had now gone numb. He had never heard Kushina make any kind of sound like fear. She would look an enemy of any kind in the face without the least bit of apprehension.

But this was the Nine-Tails. A Bijuu. One unlike any others. Somehow, Minato steeled himself and began to clear his mind. He knew that if the seal was broken than his wife would be dead but clearly she was still alive. He didn't know what it meant besides that the seal was still intact and that meant he had a chance to save her.

He drew a calm breath as the beast fully emerged from its cage. He was ready and fully prepared to fight only to receive a shock that left both him and Kushina stunned with wide eyes. The Nine-Tails fell over on its stomach in what seemed to be exhaustion. Before the could react, it spoke.

"H-how are you two…" he stuttered in exhaustion. "W-what's going o-on?"

"How am I not dead?" Desperation for answers clear on her face, she turned to Minato. "Minato what's going on?"

"I don't know." He answered truthfully before turning away, not wanting to see her face like that simply because he was not used to it. He steeled himself and began taking careful steps toward the downed beast who hadn't moved since he collapsed. "But I'll find out. First we need to contain him and then we'll question it. It's the only way to get any information."

She seemed relieved that at least someone had an idea of what to do next. She followed her husband as he began to restrain the beast. Well tried. When he neared the beast in lashed out violently and sent them both flying a couple meters back harshly into the ground.

It roared loudly and it's dark chakra flared before it unleashed its power all around itself and began to heal.

"Don't touch me!" It roared. "This is some type of Genjutsu, isn't it?!"

Minato felt Kushina tense so violently that he had to wonder why but he got his answer when the bijuu opened its large mouth and chakra began to gather in a tight dense ball. His eyes widened and the small pool of water around their ankles began to thrash wildly.

Minato's kunai flashed out and struck the ground tens of meters away seconds before the nine-tails tilted it's heads toward them and fired the large ball of chakra. Once again, Minato launched his body at Kushina and was able to grab her and teleport to his Kunai just as the chakra hit the ground, causing an explosion that rocked the mindscape and sent the two flying to the ground even when they were safely away from behind hit.

Minato grimaced and looked over to Kushina, briefly scanning her for injuries. No way we're they fighting the actual nine-tails right now and surviving.

"Minato look out!" At Kushina's call, Minato's head snapped up and he saw a massive tail coming down unto him. This time he used the body flicker to back away from harm and the tail smashed into the ground before him, blocking his vision with dust and water.

He skidded to a halt and looked around briefly for his wife and found her hunched over with a straining look of concentration on her face. Before he could even think, gold chains shot out of her back and began to latch onto and hook around the nine-tails, restraining it. Minato looked on in awe as the bijuu tried to thrash around and stop the chains but to no avail.

After some time if finally realized it would not escape and released another roar that sent the water thrashing about once more and this time, even produced cracks in the walls that surrounded them.

Minato could only look at the struggling beast not knowing what to feel. The power it possessed was off the charts and now he knew why it was called the demon fox. He only hoped that it wouldn't be able to break out of those restraints, because other than using the Flying Thunder God to evade its attacks he had no answer to its unbelievable power. At least not yet.

"Minato I'm sending you out of here!"

Minato reacted well before he could even tell. "What are you talking about?! I'm not leaving here on your own Kushina! That's suicide!"

She closed her eyes in resignment. "I'm sorry, Minato."

"Kushina wai—"

He blacked out.

XxX

Obito was very, very annoyed at the moment.

He was sitting up on another forsaken hospital bed, foot hanging over the edge and swinging around absentmindedly as he tried to keep himself from getting up and breaking out. During war time, weekly checkups for cuts, bruises, or most importantly diseases were a must for any active Shinobi-especially the disease.

Cleanliness was not on the list of necessities during a war and that very easily led to a pandemic that killed as many as a battlefield would. Sometimes more. It was for that reason that regular checkups could not be skipped under any circumstances and if ones were injured-especially if it was fresh.

He knew all of that, which was why he had initially went to the hospital. It was supposed to be a quick in and out and it was going to be, until something else changed that entirely.

He had yet to even begin treatment on the Hashirama Cells he had gained and well it was kinda his fault, he hated to admit. He had been sitting in the hospital room for so long that he had gotten bored and had started thinking. He guesssed if he was going to be waiting a while that he could go ahead and start the treatment, but that required him to use Kamui once more.

He could use Kamui once every twenty minutes with no problems like his eyes bleeding and his vision deteriorating, at least not too much. But it hadn't been twenty minutes since he last used Kamui to store that small vile and as soon as he used it again to get the vile from his dimension… and then everything started going downhill from there.

He had felt an intense pain that was even worse than when he had first used Kamui. He had doubled over, screaming loudly as it had felt like a screwdriver was being driven and twisted in his ear. Blood ran down his eyes, but unlike other times it seemed never ending.

Because of his screaming, doctors and nurses alike began rushing down the hall and even when in intense pain he could hear them clearly. He muted his screams by biting his lips hard and was able to raise his head up to peer around the room with a single open eye. He saw the vile had fallen on the ground and went to pick it up. He managed to grab ahold of it just as the door to the room slammed open and doctors and nurses began to grab ahold of him, all very surprised by his heavily bleeding eyes and now bleeding lip.

After being poked and prodded and examined which had flowed by very fast since he nearly passed out because of the immense pain that wouldn't stop, he had woken up fully to his eye being wrapped up all the way up to around his forehead and the cut on his bottom lip bandaged up.

That was what had brought him to his current predicament of being face to face with the frowning face of the leader of the Uchiha Clan.

Their was a long silence ever since he got into the room, and at some point Obito was growing a bit anxious as the Uchiha just frowned at him, not uttering a single word. Obito had to wonder what the older man was thinking but he didn't have to wait much longer.

After a small bit the older Uchiha sighed tiresomely, ducking his head as it shook side to side slowly. "Must you always find a way to get on my nerves?"

"What are you here for?" Obito asked, crossing his arms.

Fugaku glared with a snort. "The Mangekyō; is no longer a secret to only me. From this little… whatever this is," he had struggled to find the right word it seemed. "The elders have knowledge of your secret."

For his credit, Obito didn't visibly react but he couldn't help from reacting at all. His heart felt as if it dropped to his stomach and he gulped inaudibly. That was not good. This would compromise keeping a low profile if he was watched so carefully like he suspected he would be now. Perhaps he was already being watched.

Obito's eyes darted around the room but he could not sense anyone beyond the Uchiha before him. He supposed he was ok for now. There were not a lot of ninja that could hide their presence from him after all.

"What do you suppose we do about that?" Obito asked, slowly. He let his body relax and bent over slightly.

It was Fugaku's turn to fold his arms. "That depends on you. I get the feeling you know that they will be coming after you with the intension to bring you back into the Clan."

Surprisingly, Obito still hadn't showed any emotion and Fugaku eyes narrowed so minutely that Obito somehow missed it.

"I have a request of you," he said. "If you can buy me at least a week and hold off those elders then I'll begin training Itachi immediately."

The elder Uchiha hummed after a bit of staring. He stared. Obito didn't know what it meant or what was going through his mind but he got a creeping sense that it would not be something good.

"Of course," he nodded. "I could do that, but I would like a request of my own."

"That depends on what you want." Obito interrupted, speaking quickly. He wanted the elder Uchiha to know his intentions right off the bat. He would not agree with just anything.

Obito watched in slight confusion as Fugaku slowly closed his eyes. He felt a slight pulse of chakra come from the elder Uchiha but would get a surprise when the Chief of Police opened his eyes to reveal his own unique pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan.

This time Obito could not hide his shock as his mouth gaped open like a fish. With a single eye, his own sharingan activated to confirm what he was seeing was true but it was. When did this happen? Originally, Fugaku never had the Mangekyō… or it wasn't known that he had it.

"W-when…"

"Obito I will agree to your request if you explain in detail about the powers your Mangekyō gives you. If not," the way his eyes hardened as if facing a threat made Obito heart began to beat fiercely and actually apprehensive. "I will be forced to say you are a threat to not only yourself but to Konoha and kill you on the spot."

The ultimatum given, they both looked into the others eyes with a tense silence. So tense that anyone who walked into the room could suffocate from the massive pressure the two were giving out, clashing with one another.

This was actually troublesome for Obito. Revealing the secrets of his Doujutsu could have drastic affects on not only the fate of the Uchiha but of the Leaf as a whole and most importantly him. He could not save the world if he died this early but haven't his weaknesses out like that would not end well. But what could he do. He was very likely to lose if he actually fought Fugaku the way he is now. No, it is almost certain.

Obito deactivated his Sharingan and lowered his head, conceiting. "I agree to your terms, Fugaku." He raised his head back up, looking the man in the face for any sign of deceit. "But, I'll need assurance you'll hold your end of the deal."

Obito felt his muscles relax when the other man deactivated his Mangekyō Sharingan and nodded diplomatically. "Of course. I have no reason to deceive you in any way."

So they talked about everything for almost an entire hour.

XxX

"Finally," muttered Kakashi as he looked at a brightly lite, high end restaurant labeled "Daishi's Dashi." It was in the middle of the busiest part of the entire village and was rightfully just as busy seeing as the entire place was almost full of customers.

"What did we walk all the way over here for?" He heard Rin ask and would've saw her face twisted in confusion if he had been turned around.

"You'll see." He said. "Just follow me. We don't have much time before we set out on our mission early in the morning tomorrow." Team Minato was set to leave for Kannabi Bridge by first daybreak and the warm colors and the lowered sun in the sky showed just how late into the evening they were in. They only had a couple of hours left.

Quietly, he walked into the large building with Rin following and was immediately greeted with a very pleasant smell of delicious food. He hadn't eaten the entire day and knew that when Rin had heard the way his stomach churned around but he ignored it. He would deal with it later.

Keen eyes searched every single face in view until he found the three he was looking for. They were on the other side of the room. He walked over quickly but carefully, not wanting to put any attention on himself by causing a scene.

When he reached the table, all eyes were on him. He saw exactly who he was looking for. Genma, Ebisu, but most importantly Guy. Said green spandex wearing Ninja jumped up at the sight of him, landing on the table loudly and did exactly the opposite of what Kakashi wanted.

Drawing attention.

Rin behind him winced and looked around awkwardly at all the eyes on them but Guy didn't even seem to notice them.

"Kakashi, my dear rival," he shouted enthusiastically, giving a thumbs up while grinning. "I have not seen you in days! What have you been?! Our daily competitions have been compromised!"

"Must you be so loud," Genma sighed but decided to mind his own business while Ebisu glared, glancing over at him. He most likely thinking how embarrassing this was.

"Guy," Kakashi spoke with all seriousness, ignoring the eyes on them and Guy's usual enthusiasm. "I need you to do me a favor. Seriously."

Head cocked to the side in curiosity, Guy asked, "What's going on my dear rival?"

"I need to get in the Uchiha District for very important business." He explained. "I need you to go in and distract the guards that are guarding the entrance."

"What do you guys need to do that for?" Kakashi turned his head to see Genma staring at him with an expecting look.

"I do not approve!" Ebisu stated, brushing his glasses up his nose. "That is unbecoming of a Ninja of your rank, Kakashi! Are you letting that fool Obito change you?!"

"It's nothing like that." Rin interrupted with a small smile, hands out in a surrender type fashion. "And Guy you should really get off the table; people are staring."

"Of course," he said with a thumbs up and preformed a front flip of the table. He turned to Kakashi. "Now what was it, Kakashi?"

Ebisu stood up from the table and it rattled when his palms slammed on it. "I will not let my teammate get involved in your schemes, Kakashi!"

Genma sighed lowly and grabbed his teammates wrist with a pointed look. "Let him talk. You haven't even given him a chance to explain. And sit down; you're causing a scene."

All of the young Shinobi glanced over around them to see the peering, curious eyes of almost every other people in the room staring at them. Kakashi even felt a bit awkward.

"Tch, fine," the Genin grumbled, taking a seat and a second later Genma removed his own hand before sending Kakashi an expecting look.

It was Kakashi's turn to sigh. He wished it would've taken so long just to grab one person. He almost considered grabbing Guy and using the Body Flicker to escape but it seemed a bit rude. And he knew Rin would not agree.

"It's about Obito." Kakashi started before being immediately interrupted by Genma who he shit a small glare at. He couldn't explain if he couldn't talk after all.

"Obito?" Genma asked confusingly. "I thought he was in a hospital or something."

"How do you know about that?" Rin asked with a small tilt of her head. They were barely allowed to know and they were his teammates.

"It was a rumor going around that he had awakened his Sharingan and somehow got in the hospital with some injuries related on it." The next words the Shinobi said was directly to Kakashi as he must of seen the look in his eyes and knew what he was about to ask. "I don't know who started the rumor but I can tell where I heard it. It was from the inside of a Dango Shop. Specifically, the one downtown. Near the Forest of Death."

That didn't really help but it was something the Hatake supposed. He gave a nod before continuing to explain. He wasn't interrupted this time. "Well, from what you said Genma, Obito is in the hospital and we wanted more information on the Sharingan because it seemed to be actually hurting him."

"Seriously?" Genma asked with a raised eyebrow. He hadn't heard of a Sharingan that hurt the individual baring it. But the Uchiha are very secretive when it comes to the occular power.

"Yea," Kakashi nodded.

"Then of course I'll come, Kakashi," Guy nearly yelled, getting very close into his personal space. Kakashi tried to inch back but Guy was very persistent at the moment. "Obito is a precious comrade of mine! His pain shall not go without resolve!"

"Good, great," he muttered, head leaned away from Guy. "Can you back up now?"

Ebisu looked over to Rin. "Take him. We'll just tell Choza-sensei that it was urgent."

Rin bowed her head. "Sorry if we took him away from something important. We'll definitely make it up to guys."

"Come on, Rin! Let's get going!" Kakashi called out from a bit of a distance with Guy following. She nodded and left, waving behind her as she did.

XxX

Minato awoke suddenly with a gasp for air and shot out of his bed. His eyes darted around the room and he saw the stunned faces of nurses and doctors alike and that he was in a hospital bed.

"Wha-"

"Minato-sensei?" He turned to his left and saw both Obito who was wrapped up in bandages and Fugaku. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey!" A doctor interrupted quite loudly. "You guys can't be in here!"

He was ignored by both Uchiha as they walked up to the bed he was sitting up in. Fugaku crossed his arms and asked, "What the hell happened to you, Minato?"

Minato's gaze lowered to his lap and he wracked his brain for answers. "I-I don't know." Suddenly his eyes shot open wide and both Fugaku and Obito had to step back when he shot out of the bed and looked at them both as if he had just seen a ghost.

"Kushina! Where is Kushina?!"

"She's here too?" Obito muttered, now looking lost.

"Please don't get out of bed!" A doctor yelled to no avail as the Yellow Flash did just as his title implied and was gone out of the room before his question could even be answered.

'There's no way that the seal could be broken and the Nine-Tails hadn't broken out! What's going on?!' He thought, landing silently on a cold floor before looking around him.

He saw the stunned faces of the Hokage and Biwako as they stood over a lifeless Kushina on a large metal table that didn't look the least bit comfortable.

"Hokage-Sama, stop! Don't touch her!" He yelled desperately with his arm outstretched.

The Hokage paused right before touching Kushina but gave Minato a strange look. The room was quiet for a couple of seconds safe for Minato's tired pants.

Once he caught his breath he rose to his feet and practically ran to the Hokage. "You have to get out of here! It's too dangerous to be near her right now!"

"What are you talking about, Minato?" Biwako demanded looking almost as confused as her husband.

He whirled around to her after blocking off Hiruzen. "The Nine-Tails is out! The seal is broken!"

"What?!" They both demanded simultaneously.

"The seal that was keeping the Nine-Tails locked away not only changed but is completely open and if you touch Kushina you'll be transported inside the seal and you'll have to fight that beast." He explained quickly.

"Oh, Kami," Hiruzen sighed lowering his head. Minato never saw that man this way but he could actually see the stress on the Hokage's face. "We need to put the Village on high alert until further notice. We may even need to pull out of the war." He said grimly.

Minato grimaced. That would seriously put them at risk if their enemies thought that they were too weakened to

"We can't do that." Biwako said. "That would only give our enemies the impression that we're too weak to continue fighting in the war. That would only invite an invasion."

Hiruzen hummed. "Then what do you propose we do?"

"I propose we send Team Minato out immediately." Minato turned to her with all the surprise his face could muster. "We could deal with this problem ourselves. We're very close to cutting Iwagakure's supply chain off and that'll definitely take them out of the war, or at the very least slow them down."

"I refuse." Minato said. They both turned to him, surprised at the sudden statement. "Hokage-sama, you told me that I had a few days to sort out Obito's behavior and make sure that my team is ready, but with all of this going on now I don't think I am. Please find another team suitable enough."

They both only stared at his lowered head for a few moments before Hiruzen lowered his own and let out a disappointed sigh. "You put the life of a single person over thousands. I don't think you are the successor the Hidden Leaf needs."

Hiruzen walked around the table and was almost outside of the door before he paused. "For your sake and for the sake of the entire Leaf Village I hope your decision is the correct one." Saying that, he left without so much as a single sound.

That hurt. If felt like he had just disappointed his grandpa. The most important grandpa in his whole village.

"While my husband may have said that the decision is final I will be able to persuade him otherwise, but I can only promise a couple of hours." Biwako explained and she walked up to him and laid a hand on his shoulders. "Make the responsible decision Minato. I think that the rest will all fall together."

"Thank you, Biwako-san."

She nodded and left after her husband without another word. It took Minato a few seconds to turn to his wife but when he did he could take his eyes off her. He rubbed down her arm and grabbed her hand, hoping that he would get the similar feeling of getting inside her mindscape to no avail.

"I know I'm being selfish Kushina, and I know I don't need to be this way but-"

"Minato-Sensei," he froze and turned to the door behind him to see his student, Obito. "What's going in here?"

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