Happy pride!!! Fem hokage or time travel Percy Jackson please? Otherwise dealers choice thank you
a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Naruto does not speak much as they make their way to Oto. Orochimaru doesn't push, content to observe. It will take the rest of his people time to make their way back from Konoha, but he's more concerned about getting her out than he is about damaging his relationship with his former village. Any results from this chunin exam are going to be suspect at best, anyway, considering all the interference, so he doesn't have any real reason to stick around as a foreign kage.
They get to the gates of Oto and she just stops.
He backtracks and stands in front of her, waiting. Eventually he prompts, "Naruto?"
He assumes this is when the anger comes, when she snaps and lashes out because she certainly deserves it. Considerate of her to do it outside of his village rather than in it, really. He imagines any fight between them, even a non-deadly one, is going to come with significant property damage.
Except her blue eyes fill and she takes in a ragged gasp and then he has a thirteen year old girl falling to pieces in front of him. "I'm loyal," she pleads. "I'm not - I wouldn't hurt them! I've never hurt them! I know what I am, but," she cuts herself off, crying harder.
Oh.
Anko and Kabuto had raged at the unfairness of their prosecution. But perhaps the greatest tragedy here is that Naruto believes she is at least partly deserving of the betrayal.
"It's alright," he says softly, gathering Naruto into his arms like she's half her age, like he once soothed Kabuto's nightmares. Unfortunately, this is not something she can wake from. "You've done nothing wrong."
Minato is a fool.
