Video Post - Back from Belly of the Beast

[wind_upon_waves]

[The screen is still, blades of grass visible on the sides, as if the Hitomi has been tossed onto the ground. Broken light streaming through the treetops obscures anything beyond the grass, until even that is shadowed by a sudden drop of red. A shaking hand appears and feebly wipes it away, leaving a viridian smear.

Minato's face suddenly appears,

Comments

[youthfulpassion]

[For a moment, Gai can only stare in shock at the smeared screen, replaying the message--once, twice, three times--to try and make some kind of sense out of it, to make sure this isn't a trick. This.... he had spoken to Minato not long ago at all, hadn't he? He had seemed well enough, if.... troubled, from the recent false relationships that had been forced upon them. He had needed more time, he said.... More time. To recover. To reorient himself. To resolve his feelings, and restore himself to a condition fit to lead the village again.]

[Gai had accepted that. He had believed him. Others were still struggling with their own issues about it, after all.... It wasn't so unusual a request, and he had been grateful at least that Minato was still in the village, if ostensibly unavailable. And so he had thrown himself into helping to keep the village running and together as best he could, hoped that Minato took up his rightful place once again, that he would return to them....]

[But not like this. Not like this! How had this happened? Had

Private to Gai

[ura_no_ura]

[ Oh dear.

Have a rather pissed off Kakashi.

At himself, more than anyone else. There's something a little off about him, though. He looks a little flushed above his mask, and his eye seems a little glazed. ]

Was no one watching him?

Re: Private to Gai

[youthfulpassion]

[Gai may be just a little bit frantic as he runs out the door, not to mention quite frankly bewildered. This completely contradicts what he'd thought had been going on this month.]

I contacted him before! I had wanted to check in with him to help organize the people who were still here. And he answered! Yondaime-sama answered his Hitomi and said that he just needed some time alone to sort through his feelings, and he would be coming back to work shortly.... He had only seemed distressed, so I gave him the time he asked for.

[Just like he had given Kakashi what time he had asked for. It hadn't seemed as though it would do any harm, beyond putting a little more strain on the village--but then again, Gai had never been afraid of hard work, so....]

Re: Private to Gai

[ura_no_ura]

[ Kakashi frowns, because this doesn't sound at all like the teacher he's known for half his life. This isn't the Hokage he's served under, either. For Minato to allow emotions to get in the way of fulfilling his duty-- ]

No. That doesn't sound right. He wouldn't do that.

[ Pain.

It is flaring up and down his side, and his world is spinning when he stands, and everything is all cold and hot at once, but Kakashi is starting to move as well. He'd gotten sick about a week ago.

But it's nothing he can't deal with.

Even if everything hurts and his head is splitting and the ground keeps shifting under his feet.

He can deal with that later. ]

You didn't talk to him in person?

[ura_no_ura]

Sen--

[ This.

What is this?

Kakashi is watching his teacher bleeding and wounded and falling down and what the hell even happened? He is asking Am I back? like he was even gone to begin with. And maybe he had gone and Kakashi just didn't know because he wasn't there to see him go, and wasn't there to protect him, and now his teacher is injured and Kakashi isn't even there. ]

Where are you?

[ All he knows is this: the adrenaline rushing through him, and the need to get up and start moving towards him. Wherever he is.

And he doesn't know if he's ready for this. Doesn't know if it's safe yet.

But somewhere, his teacher is out there hurting, and Kakashi needs to get to him. ]

[wind_upon_waves]

[Kakashi. It's Kakashi. Kakashi who is home. Konoha.

Minato rolls over painfully, gasping as he squints against the painfully bright light.]

I'm home? [It's not an answer to Kakashi's question. Not really.]

Private to Minato

[ura_no_ura]

[ Switches to a secure channel. ]

Sensei, you need to tell me your location so we can come retrieve you. Do you recognize anything?

[ He wants to know what happened, but that can wait till later. ]

Re: Private to Kakashi

[wind_upon_waves]

[Minato tries to observe his surroundings, and he notes lots of things but he can't piece them together to make any sense like he should be able to. It's bright. Cool. Green. Peaceful. No screaming, no enemies, no inhuman grotesqueness. Wind, grass, trees. A very big tree.]

That place...the one with the big tree. [Minato murmurs, his eyes closing tiredly.]

[ground_breaker]

Hokage-sama?

[Sakura is instantly concerned. She hadn't seen him around and part of her had been relieved--what must he have thought of her?--but he'd been gone for a long time and he returns now in this condition and Sakura is concerned.]

Hokage-sama, how badly are you injured?

[Because he's obviously hurt.]

Where are you?

Filtered to Konoha

[ura_no_ura]

[ Kakashi is moving very quickly. The trees are a blur in his screen. ]

Sakura, I need you to have Iruka take Akira into the stronghold and activate the traps, and then meet us out by where you woke up when you first arrived. It appears Yondaime-sama is there, for some reason.

Gai and I are en route.

Filtered to Konoha

[ground_breaker]

[Sakura is already gathering up her supplies.]

I will, Kakashi-sensei.

[savour_the_pain]

No, you're fucking dead and god has decided you are beyond salvation.

Welcome to hell, heathen fucker.

I am Hidan, messenger of death and I will be your guide to the afterlife.

You may see illusions of people you knew previously but it's all a trick to test your worth. You may not be completely beyond redemption.

So you should listen to me, seriously. Where the hell are you?

[wind_upon_waves]

[The messenger of death has quite the vulgar mouth. And Minato remembers the heralds of the Shingami as more...short and burly. And ugly. With a smell so putrid that it dwarfs the scent of blood.

Therefore, Minato thinks this is not the messenger of death, but a hallucination--one that seems vaguely familiar, but leaves a bad taste.

So Minato groans and promptly ignores him.]

[ooc: XD sorry Hidan]

reaction;

[callmelegion]

[ What kind of group of people would allow this to happen to its Hokage?

The infamy and disregard for life of the larger shinobi villages never ceases to amaze.

Although while he seemed an amicable enough man -- for a dictator -- Nagato supposes there really was no other fate for anyone who would put a demon in his own offspring.

These Konoha ninja are puzzling: they act like pleasant enough individuals, but on some level, they seem to merely lack a moral compass.

They feel if they perform a behaviour, it is justifiable.

So it is no surprise that they place monsters in newborns, or abandon their Hokage to die.

It is only unfortunate that such practices endure from generation to generation, with no end to the evil in sight. ]