Chapter 28
Keigo wasn't angry, he was furious.
Kakashi had signed up Naruto's team for the chunin test after only a few months as a genin.
That's why Keigo was yelling at Kakashi.
"He's just a kid" Keigo yelled at Kakashi. "He's too young to take the chunin exam" Keigo couldn't look Kakashi in the face, the anger in his body was too much.
His little Naruto wasn't ready for such a test and Keigo wouldn't stand by and watch as his little brother risked losing his life.
"Kei, at their age we had already fought on the front lines in the war" Kakashi tried to reason with his furious consort.
It was true, at Naruto's age Keigo had already fought against the fox demon while Kakashi had been fighting on the front lines with his team since he was ten. But times had changed, they were no longer in an active war zone and they had raised the graduation age for a reason and now Kakashi wanted to ruin everything.
"Asuma and Kurenai's squads will also participate" Kakashi added, perhaps trying to make the situation better.
"However, that doesn't mean it's okay for children to fight for their lives in an exam" Keigo bit back "especially not my kid"
Kakashi could see that the fight in Keigo was dying so he reached over and cupped his face in his hands, gently stroking his cheeks with his thumbs. From this close he could see the tears Keigo was holding back in his eyes proving that the anger was only to cover the deep concern the redhead felt for his brother.
"I know, but he's ready, he's no longer the kid whose wounds you have to kiss away"
Keigo knew deep down that Naruto was ready but he didn't know if he was ready to see him grow up.
Team seven had passed the first two tests of the chunin exam but Keigo didn't have time to celebrate with them, he was busy looking for traces of the slimy snake that had infiltrated their village.
Orochimaru had set foot in Konoha and Keigo would never rest until he was captured.
His father had been busier than usual but had found time to send him after someone who knew their enemy well and who had been called back to the land of fire to help them.
Jiraiya hadn't been back to the village since before the end of the war and was finally returning.
Keigo was in the woods near the onsen when angry screams came from the establishments. Curious, he decided to approach. In front of the entrance door, massaging the forming bump on his head, was the one who had been sent to look for, the Toad Sage, Jiraiya.
Keigo cleared his throat to announce his presence and the head of white hair shot up to look at him before standing up.
"Too long, huh, old man?" Keigo waved.
"It can't be, isn't it the little habanero?" Jiraiya smiled "hell if you grew up tadpole, weren't you twelve?"
"No Jiraya the last time we saw each other I was nine, now I'm twenty-three" Keigo replied with a huff.
Fourteen years had passed, longer than Naruto had been alive.
Keigo vividly remembered that when he was nine years old he looked up to try to find Jiraiya's face, he had always thought that a person like him should belong to a story, like some unattainable hero. Now at twenty-three they were the same height, Keigo a man and Jiraiya seemed less like a myth to him.
Now he understood the sacrifices the man had made, things he himself had been through and there.
The two stared at each other for a long time, cataloging the changes in each other, the new scars, the tiredness their eyes brought.
"You look just like your father" Jiraiya was the first to break the silence.
"Same as the old man? Maybe you're the one who's getting old, I'm a thousand times better" Keigo replied with a laugh.
"But here's Kushina's character, you've always been a spitfire like her"
A curtain of silence fell between the two, both immersed in the memories they had of Kushina.
It had been centuries since anyone had said how much Keigo's character was like that of his mother, now it seemed that no one remembered that she had once walked that earth with a smile that lit up even the darkest corner.
"Well just wait until you meet Naruto then, hope you like the color orange"
Chaos had suddenly broken out at the chunin exam finals, one moment the crowd was shouting encouragement for the fights and the next they were all asleep and Sound's shinobi had invaded the arena.
The village was officially under attack.
Keigo and Kakashi who had been together until then separated, Kakashi to check on his students and Keigo towards the hokage office in search of his father.
Obviously the main objective would be the elimination of the leader and Keigo had no time to waste to go and help his father. He knew the ANBU guard would be there but he couldn't fully trust it.
Keigo ran so fast that only a flash of red chakra remained of his passage.
Sound shinobi in his path were eliminated without a thought, tunnel vision only making him see his goal, the hokage tower.
When he reached the roof of the administration building, Keigo saw that the fighting was in full force. ANBU was fighting at full strength but they were outnumbered one to four and his father was fighting Orochimaru himself.
Keigo stopped to observe the situation before jumping into the fray. His father was fighting strangely, he was too static, he wasn't jumping around like usual trying to tire out his opponent, but rather he was trying to push Orochimaru towards a specific point.
His eyes wandered around the roof looking for anything to suggest his father's plan. Keigo was about to throw in the towel when a partially hidden seal target caught his attention.
Now that he knew what to look for he saw three more, for a total of four, placed to mark off an area.
His father wanted to seal Orochimaru.
Keigo had no idea when his father had time to set that trap, but he was a genius.
A genius who needed someone with enough chakra to provide for the sealing.
And Keigo realized that it was his role, his father had already foreseen that he would come to him and had thought of everything.
He waited until his father finally pushed Orochimaru inside the seals to jump onto the roof.
He landed behind the slimy serpent with his hands on one of the seals, already pumping his chakra inside.
Lines of red chakra formed on the roof connecting the four seals and causing strings of chakra to shoot out from them which immobilized Orochimaru.
"Well done Keigo, now you can finish the job" Keigo couldn't see his father from where he was kneeling but he heard him perfectly even over the sounds of fighting.
He knew that now he had to try to push as much chakra as possible so that the sealing could be accomplished.
An aura of red began to surround him as the closing of the seals began, Orochimaru slowly beginning to sink into the chakra grid.
Keigo, despite his large chakra reserves, was starting to run out, his hands were shaking and sweat was pouring down his forehead.
"Today I won't be the only one to see my end" Orochimaru screamed.He must have been desperate, Keigo thought.
Shortly after, only the sign of the sealing grid on the roof remained of Orochimaru.
Keigo stood up from his position, his legs were numb from the amount of time he had spent on his knees, his breathing was labored and he staggered from exhaustion.
When he looked up at his father he saw his expression of pride fade into one of pure terror as his eyes moved behind him.
Keigo didn't have time to turn around before he was pushed to the ground and a hot spray wet his cheek.
He saw a Sound shinobi fall from the edge of the roof, obviously in his exhausted state he hadn't felt the presence behind him and his father had saved him.
His father had his back to him and Keigo was reaching for him when his knees collapsed and he fell dead weight onto his side.
Keigo's blood ran cold and he froze for a moment. He didn't even breathe.
There was a static sound in his ears as he slowly stumbled towards his father's still form.
He fell to his side, his hands shaking as he reached for the body.
A red stain was spreading across his father's stomach.
"Dad" Keigo whispered.
His fingers hovered under his nose, he was still breathing.
The numbness that had settled over Keigo suddenly lifted. Fear and desperation took control of his body as he screamed frantic for a doctor.
"DAD" Keigo shouted, gripping the fabric of his father's cloak in his fists.
"Dad, you have to wake up please, you need to wake up" he cried.
His tears were falling onto his father face. He just seemed to be asleep.
Keigo kept the unconscious body close to his, bracing it with all the strength he had.
"I'm glad you're all right Keigo" the faint voice of his father came. He didn't know how he had heard the faint voice over the sound of his sobs but he had.
"A doctor is coming, you have to hold on just a little longer" Keigo begged.
"It's okay, I knew this moment would come" Minato said.
A wet cough escaped his lips, bathing them in red.
"No,no,no, the village needs you, Naruto needs you, I need you" Keigo cried in despair.
A cold hand was placed weakly on his cheek, wiping away some tears.
"My little Keigo.... I leave everything to you, okay?"
"Please, I need you, you can't leave me alone"
Keigo could feel his father's breathing becoming more and more labored.
"I love you, remember that" His father's breath hitched and the cold hand slipped from his cheek to land on the floor.
Keigo's screams of loss were so loud that they could be heard throughout the village.
Minato Namikaze was dead.