Suzu: So here we are. After years and milestones, I hope you enjoy this last chapter.

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- Vainglory -

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Chapter 27: Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

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"Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are."

Macchiavelli

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"No."

A round of frustrated stares met blue eyes, as bright as they were blank. Utterly unreadable.

"Come again, Boss?" Noya's finger diligently dug into his ears. "Fuckin' ear gunk. I swear I heard you say—"

"No," Minato confirmed. "I finish this my way."

This elicited a harangued sputter from Noya. "F-Finish?" He was not the only one. Other protests were metered out. "Your way?" squawked Shikaku. In any other situation, the near-hysterical pitch would elicit merriment from the rest of Akatsuki. As it was, the group inwardly exchanged metaphorical 'the fuck's with each other in perfect camaraderie.

The wind was howling again. Kushina stood a ways apart, wreathed in shadow and lost in thought. She felt the chill of the night scatter her thoughts, making them difficult to sift through. She closed her eyes against the moon and stars.

She knew little but this: the evolution of the shinobi world would happen, with or without them. Minato was choosing the foundation he would build, for that future. Did he take the fruit of Danzou's experiments on his own village? Or shun it? A great leader could ride on the coattails of Danzou's legacy, or he could forge his own. There were no right answers, nor navigation guides for these gray areas.

A scraping voice metered the final protest.

"Fool." Danzou's coughs had settled. Distended vessels contrasted against his sheet-white face, as the man spoke, as if in a dreamlike daze. "A Hokage needs to be the strongest. Take the eyes. Only then can you play by your naïve rules."

"There are no qualifications for being naïve," Minato countered. "Anyone can live this way."

"True that," muttered Noya, peevish. "All the dum-dums of the world, Boss."

Minato stepped onto the roof ledge, before he turned to look back at the group. "Tend to Danzou's pain if you can." He motioned to Shikaku's small packet of first aid in his waist pouch. "He was once Hokage, after all. You need to treat him well."

Shikaku frowned. "Minato, you don't mean…?"

"Any successor will need alliances. Connections with the status quo powers," Minato continued cryptically. "You can't rebuild Konoha without them."

"Who in their right mind would work with those old fogeys taking over Ame?" Noya said, indignant. "You're gonna become Hokage, Boss? This village is blowing up! Look at giant, ugly octopus! Konoha's a goner! Who wants to be the boss of a smoking wreck?"

"We'll rebuild it."

Kushina moved to stand beside Minato on the roof's ledge. The night air blew back her hair, and for a second, wholly irrationally, she thought she smelled the sea. And home—once. Loneliness seized her. What must it feel like, for the man beside her? She reached out her hand and put it on the blond's shoulder.

"Hey," she whispered. "I'll fight with you. To protect this village."

She didn't say: your village. There was an unspoken question in the air. Several, actually.

They both looked out to the scene below. The night sky featured a huge, eerie moon, winking stars, and below it, twisting dark shapes, soldiers running about, almost aimlessly. What was not destroyed by the previous explosions were now subject to routine military vandalism, as the Kumo invasion took to the streets to uncover any resisters left. The bridges, the parks, the store fronts, were bright with crackling, localized lightning—and then darkened, forever.

Kushina took Minato's hand and trailed it to her abdomen, to the seal mark.

"This… this is yours to use."

Minato said nothing. Just moved her hand back toward his own torso, where he laid it, above his heart. Three soft words, nearly unheard: "And this, yours." Kushina felt her eyes sting and her grin break. It was as if he'd read her thoughts, smelled the same sea air. Perhaps they had each other, had always had each other. But how long would that last? As if he felt this thought too, Minato brought Kushina's hand up to his lips and pressed his mouth to the burnt callouses.

"Ugh, gross." Noya made a face, but both he and Shikaku were smiling feebly. "Shige will be back soon, so take another troublemaker with you, Minato," Shikaku said, wry resignation in his voice. "Preferably that bossy female."

"Better hurry," added Noya. "That ugly octopus looks crazy." Kushina looked to where Noya pointed to the streets a block away, where Kumo soldiers were beginning to trickle past the overhang. "Shiitake and I will take care of the ants," he sniffed.

"Damn, I wish I had a soldier pill right now," Shikaku grumbled.

There was a slight pause, before Noya guffawed. "A pill pusher all along." The Ame native grinned. "Now I know why I thought Shikaku was shady."

"Did you just—?" shock was written all over the Nara's face.

"Shikaku?" The grin widened. "Yeah. Shady Shikaku."

"Over a mushroom, I'll take it." A light cough. "Finally."

They all chuckled, and Kushina knew she would miss this terribly. Her new family. Any choice that meant prioritizing the new with the old would cut deep. Kushina didn't have a choice, but Minato did.

As she and Minato jumped to where the Hachibi was, she asked:

"Minato? Do you want to be Hokage?"

He smiled blankly, but didn't answer.

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The perimeter was cleared of Kumo shinobi, since even they couldn't survive an indiscriminate attack from a tailed beast on rampage. This was good, because Minato didn't want to waste any chakra on a wind jutsu to scatter people. He didn't have much chakra left. A long, drawn out battle against many moving pieces would not be to their advantage.

What's more, Kushina was by his side.

Once upon a time, Minato had thought it was a strength, to care for others. That was what he had been taught. If everyone in the village was his family, then he would be so much stronger for it. Now, he felt the honest weight of that truth: to care, was also a weakness. To care, was a sudden, horrid fear that clutched at his heart and threatened organ failure, should something happen to a wholly separate human being. It was illogical and dangerous to his survival. It was also, ironically, what gave survival meaning.

It was like a broken mantra, in his head. But he was through dissecting its logic: Kushina must survive. Akatsuki must survive. Konoha must survive. Even if he did not.

"There it is," Kushina breathed. "Don't get too close yet."

Despite the difference in appearance, the sheer presence of the hachibi was uncannily like that of the kyuubi. Minato sucked in a breath. From half a block away, the shockwaves blasted white heat from the hachibi's bullish mawl, into his and Kushina's faces.

"Holy shit," the redhead swore. "Is my breath that bad, when I'm transformed? Tell me it's not that bad, Minato."

"Can't say I stayed put long enough to check."

The chit chat was a measure of bravado. Still, Minato found himself humoring Kushina also as a way to calm himself. He understood now, Jiraiya-sensei's penchant for jokes. The world had many small moments, and one soldered them together as the only possible shield, when facing death.

"I'll immobilize the hachibi," she said. "Do you have any energy left for a Hiraishin?"

"Yes."

It was not a lie, exactly. But it was an omission. He told himself there was a difference. Minato had one more in him. But it was a stretch, for him to have any chakra reserves for moving a beast that size, even once. It also required the tailed beast to be very still. Which was where Kushina came in.

"You ready?" he said once he'd assumed position, kunai in hand.

"Ready."

Minato watched as golden chakra chains flew from Kushina's body, reminiscent of a scattered meteor shower in the inky sky. The chains descended to their endpoint like falling golden stars, clasping the gargantuan bull-octopus in a tight hold.

The hachibi reared, its tentacles seizing against the chains. One tentacle, two, three—they caught against the fastening.

Then, the eighth limb—

It swung like the force of a crumbling building, against the two small figures below, slicing through the night air as it pinpointed its captor, who held the golden ropes taut.

"Watch out!" someone called.

A brief yellow flash blurred in the inky night.

And then came a dreadful moment of silence.

Minato's limbs screamed, and every cell protested as he dug into the very abyss of his chakra. Kushina's grey eyes reflected a storm brewing in the gaping beast's mouth. She pulled one of his arms around her, and seemed to tremble at his labored breath at her ear. They both huddled, frozen for an instant that seemed to stretch on.

A cry rang out over the roofs.

"Hey! Ugly Octopus! Over here!"

Minato barely mustered the concentration to turn to watch the shower of rocks that followed the insult. The loose stones didn't hit the hachibi with any accuracy, nor power. But it presented a diversion. As someone would say: classic gang tactic.

He saw the fear flash through Kushina's grey eyes. Her mouth opened to a silent scream, before the real scream.

"GET OUT OF THERE, YOU FOOL!"

He again turned to look where she looked.

All he caught was the top of an apartment building, as it was blown completely to bits by the black, crackling orb issued from hachibi's mouth.

"No."

The one word became a growl.

Minato had a fleeting thought—that if he'd taken Danzou up on his offer—maybe he could have stopped this. But until when? The next time? Only peace, only no more deaths, could stop the cycle. Kushina's seal was no more a cage for the kyuubi than it was for all humankind. They were all bound to this cycle. Death. Grieving. Vengeance. Death.

'You are vain.'

He had thought like that, once.

But now.

Now, it presented a choice.

A choice to give up.

Or to continue seeking that which gave survival meaning.

He clutched her bristling form, hoping against hope to get through to her. Words tumbled from his lips, as he felt his entire face chap, against the waves of chakra that steamed off of her skin. "Kushina, don't! Noya wouldn't want you to—"

A blunt force struck across his temple.

Minato saw golden irises replace grey.

Then, blissfully, he saw no more.

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When he came to, he was standing.

Which was odd, because Minato was sure he'd been rendered unconscious. However, that would require him to be laying down or otherwise propped up. Perhaps he'd died, quite possibly, from chakra exhaustion. But his impaired vision and aching muscles seemed to confirm that he was alive, even as it confirmed that his body couldn't hold up much longer. As further evidence, several heads blurred together in his line of sight. They all seemed to peer curiously at him, as if his sweat-damp face was very interesting. But who…

Minato blinked his good eye.

Then, against all logic, he blinked both eyes.

But how?

There were several paraffin burners in the corners, which illuminated the indoor space. In the flickering orange light, he saw a small, red-haired girl first. She hovered near like a moth to a flame, reaching out her small hands as if in concern, but cautious, like he could scorch her.

"Karin?"

She broke out in a wobbly smile. Minato thought her eyes looked wet. She must be relieved. In fact, Minato knew so. Her unsteady chakra streamed about her, as if in happy agitation.

Wait.

"Shikaku?" Minato called to the tall, raven-haired figure standing by. "What's this?" He turned again, to the corner of the room, where Chouza was sitting, his body newly thin, almost like a rail. And next to him was a ragged-looking Inoichi, who also, for some reason, appeared guilty.

"What's going on?" Minato demanded.

"Take this," said a new voice.

Minato turned and found himself staring into spinning red eyes. The rest of the figure was equally surprising. Dark hair. Dark eyes. Petite, but built like a kunoichi. Pale, Uchiha features. Everything was more familiar than they had any right to be. "You're…!" Minato trailed off, because he wasn't sure it was good policy, to call a clone a clone. But she seemed to understand him, her face pinching as she held out something to him.

"I'm one of the originals, actually," the woman said. "The name's Uchiha Yuki."

In her extended palm was a red pill. It looked all too familiar: a soldier pill. It was a small, innocuous thing, nestled in her palm. As Minato continued to stare, the woman called Yuki seemed to note his discomposure.

"Don't worry. It's a normal soldier pill. You can trust me. I'm Kushina's… ally."

"We're all allies, here," said Shikaku tiredly, as he rubbed his neck. He sported a few new cuts and a nasty blooming bruise along his collarbone. "And if anyone has energy left to fight, we'd better spend it on fighting Kumo, rather than each other."

"Take the soldier pill," Yuki urged. "You're almost out of chakra, right? You'll need it, then, to keep using your Sharingan."

Minato looked around the room at the various figures. They now all looked uneasy. "Where's Kushina?" he asked.

"Take the pill, Minato-nii-san."

Minato looked down at the child who'd spoken. Karin's voice was small. "And save Kushina-nee-san. You can do it now, with your eye."

His gaze met the collecting dust of the room's floor—he felt suddenly disoriented. How many people had died for him? And now, represented in this cursed eye, how many more? A savage feeling gripped him, and his hand seemed to move of its own accord to the eye socket that he'd thought had been burned for good.

"Stop," a gravelly voice rang out.

Another familiar figure, but one Minato knew from farther back, and yet, knew less well, if he'd ever known the man at all. Morino Ibiki stood at the doorway. Next to him was a blood-soaked man. Underneath the fresh red stains was the familiar pallor of Hozuki Shigetsu.

"Fireman duties involved more than putting out fires," snapped Shige, grinding his teeth. "You owe me, Minato. So don't go ruining this for all of us."

"You're the ones who owe me an explanation," Minato replied in what he hoped was a mild way. But just his voice seemed to freeze everyone around the room.

"What happened?"

"Danzou was about to die," said Shikaku. "Then these guys showed up right after you and Kushina left, and we came up with a plan."

"Everyone agreed?"

The unspoken question hung in the air.

Everyone?

"Yes, Noya was in on it too," Shikaku whispered. "It was all a bit touch and go, but when we went to get you, he went off script when the hachibi fired that bomb."

Minato scanned around the room, a drumming in his chest. "Sorry for using mind capture jutsu on you," Inoichi shook his head, and Minato finally understood the guilty look. "But Shikaku told us you were half-dead, Minato."

"We had no choice but to pull your from the battle," echoed Chouza.

No choice? Really?

"Don't falter, Yellow Flash." Ibiki intoned. "People have sacrificed for you. The Sandaime died protecting you. He thought you would carry on this village's legacy."

Was it obvious, to save him? Did everyone in the world get this treatment? Was there some sign on his forehead, which had also prompted the Sandaime to die for him?

"Hurry," Karin stepped forward. She had taken the pill from Yuki's hand, and, her wrist trembling, pried opened his numb fingers and put the pill in his loose fist. Minato watched her, only faintly registering.

'Don't you have any goals? Dreams?'

'To be a great hokage.'

'You have a wonderful village here to help you. I know you'll do great things.'

'I'll try.'

"Where's Danzou?" he whispered.

Shikaku frowned. "Minato, he's dead—"

"Room down the hall," said Ibiki.

Shige cut in front of Minato's path to the door, stopping and staring, as if sizing him up. "He's next to some of your kunai that we picked up for you. The corpse ain't moving anytime soon. You should eat the soldier pill now. Don't waste it, our sacrifices." The pale man pointed to his own pale pupils. "Don't waste that either... Boss."

Minato swallowed the small red pill. His chakra returned, but accompanying the renewal was a brand new sensation in his left eye. Like a powerful pulse, the eye shifted in its socket, and the world shifted with it.

Nothing would ever be the same.

The room down the hall was dark, but Minato's new eye was effortless in identifying the shapes around the room, including a body on a run down, altar-like table.

His body was broken. This was a small price to pay. Although the tips of his fingers were burnt with demon scars, and the sinews of his body newly restrung, ligaments repaired but creaking, the human of chakra sizzling in uneven spurts, Minato's heart was full.

And as he let the familiar edges of his jutsu tug him forward, Minato looked down at the steady weight in his arms, lifeless, just a shell of its former self.

So it was true. The Yondaime was dead.

"Thank you."

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Nervous eyes followed him as he silently reentered the room where they'd all gathered in the abandoned building. The Hozuki spoke first.

"You deserved revenge. That old man paid compensation," said Shige, as if it all made sense in his head. "Now you go and play hero out there. Our men will help you clean up."

Minato passed a hand over his face, skimming his new eye. "I can't play the hero anymore. But I can try to clean up."

"Might as well get a move on," nodded Shikaku. "We'll come with you, this time, Minato. I don't want to see another Akatsuki member die, but maybe it's better if we all go down together."

I have to end it quickly, then.

Just as Minato was about to flash away, Ibiki grabbed on to his clenched hand.

"Take me," said the scarred jounin.

Minato paused. "Why?" Though he had a feeling he already knew.

"I have something to tell you."

They flashed.

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It was to the crumbled rooftop where Noya had diverted the hachibi's blast. The Ame man's remains had been scattered to the wind. Minato paused in a moment of silence, before scanning the dark horizon where he heard—and saw, so much more clearly than before—the fight between two titans. The hachibi. And the kyuubi.

He could also see now, clearly in the dark, the chakra of Kumo soldiers and—interestingly, a mix of Suna stragglers, their puppet strings glowing in the dark. They seemed to ebb and flow like a tide, unsure of whether to gravitate or run from the collision of the tailed beasts that used to be their jinchuuriki allies.

"So, how does your message help me?"

Ibiki smiled, a rare sign of respect. Respect for Minato's intellect, and something more. Minato recognized the look from so many months ago. It felt like decades. "The kyuubi's seal is unstable," said Ibiki. "That girl Kushina told me hers was wearing away. It's the truth."

"I believe you," Minato murmured.

"I have no reason to lie. Not anymore." Ibiki's gnarled fingers held up a small scroll. The same one Minato had been looking for, from Kushina, on that dance floor so long ago. "This scroll can stabilize a tailed beast seal, but it comes with two imperfect choices."

Numbly, Minato listened as the pieces fell into place. Ibiki's explanation was haunting and concise. It felt like an interrogation, even if Minato was the one receiving information.

The scroll presented a choice. One choice was to seal the kyuubi's power, with the host's consciousness intact, but no longer possessing the jinchuuriki power. The other was to seal the host, creating a puppet-like jinchuuriki who could be deployed like a mindless tailed beast weapon, fully subservient to the seal contractor.

"That girl wants me to use this for you. If you lost against Danzou, I was going to seal her kyuubi power forever, so that it wouldn't go to him. If you won—"

"Don't say more."

Minato allowed himself a sigh. Kushina, insane to the core. Once, he had once asked for her help in building nations. Building peace. But to even contemplate that to access the kyuubi's power, he'd pay with her.

'Do you want to be Hokage?'

'I have your back, Minato. Always.'

He swallowed. Hard.

'Balance', Jiraiya-sensei had said. 'When one village gets a tailed beast, you get one too.'

Minato willed himself to stare straight ahead. At the earthshaking magnitude of the tailed beasts' fight. At the devastating lines of chakra that crackled like lightning, captured in his new eye. The world that had looked new moments ago, now looked old. Old and tired. Like tipping the scales, upsetting the balance, was just one move in an endless cycle of those powerful enough to become hegemons.

She's more than that to me, Sensei.

"Kushina promised me Konoha," said Ibiki, following Minato's distant gaze. "She promised that she's stay in Konoha and guard it, for the rest of her life, even if it costs her life. After seeing her fight, I now know, she means it. Do you know why she'd go to such lengths?"

"I'm lucky," breathed Minato. "And an idiot."

"You're a lucky idiot who will live. And live to correct his mistakes." Ibiki paused. "Everyone makes mistakes, Minato."

Then he added: "But not everyone loves Konoha like you do."

Minato stayed silent.

"This belongs to you." Ibiki slipped the scroll into Minato's hand. "This device will seal a tailed beast. I was only holding on to it for safekeeping. I think it's safe, with you. I think Konoha's safe, with you."

Minato had long honed in on one particular detail. "Any tailed beast?"

"Yes."

'We work together, or we fail together.'

'We are all given our roles to play, Minato.'

And, as Kushina had said:

'Our aim is the entire world.'

Interestingly, Minato's new eye wasn't waterproof.

"Can I..." he said, more to himself than anyone else. "... Make one more mistake?"

Ibiki's eyes narrowed.

"With this scroll." A smile began to break on Minato's face, slow and sure. "I can't say for sure it's in Konoha's best interest, but I'll make up for it."

"It's your scroll now," Ibiki murmured, his own features relaxing, as if in wonder. "You know what it does. That Whirlpool girl said she'd protect Konoha for life. I don't think she'll break her promise, not if your life's part of the bargain."

Minato nodded.

"Besides," Ibiki coughed. "I think your girlfriend's the type that will clobber you if you do something selfish."

"Oh, it's selfish," Minato laughed. "But I can't help it. I could be a hero, or a demon. Or neither... But I am definitely human, and I want to see her face one last time, before I leave."

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[Eight years later, from previous segment]

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[Page 180.]

The perpetuation of the man into myth was a common endeavor among shinobi culture. However, one figure has proceeded to this status uncommonly fast—appropriate, some would add, given his shinobi title, the Yellow Flash. This made researching the truth increasingly difficult in the post-war years.

As mentioned in previous chapters, the Yellow Flash was heralded as demon by most, but was made into a symbol for peace by the old Konoha guard. But peel away the veil, and sources begin to clam up.

Namikaze Minato was and still is, for many, a pseudo-mythological figure, of whose memory has faded despite less than a decade passing after his disappearance from the public shinobi records. First hand accounts are plentiful, but only as retold by acquaintances of acquaintances, and thereby unsubstantiated. It is still difficult to find those willing to speak of the man behind the title, Namikaze Minato, rather than the moniker and legend he built for himself, the Yellow Flash. Some interviews conducted by the author have been omitted after it was ascertained that the interviewee in fact never knew the man behind the legend, despite claims otherwise. [Endnote 45]

Some scholars contend that there was a pact among the shinobi villages to actively scrub his information from the record. Whether this was done to hide a piece of embarrassing military history, or to shield against later investigations into war crimes, is unknown.

Apparently, Namikaze was responsible for single-handedly destroying platoons of Iwa soldiers in the Third Shinobi War, even before his exploits preceding the Flash War propelled him into the realm of myth. However, no verified records corroborate this information, and Iwa's Office of Shinobi Registration has declined to provide lists of active status shinobi in the years encompassing when Namikaze Minato could have been in active duty.

Other villages' records are similarly marked as classified. Ninety-eight percent of the government documents pertaining to the Flash War are not due to be declassified within our lifetime. Their indefinite confidential status is curious, given that most documents earning this status do so because of their posing an ongoing threat to national security. However, the Flash War ended eight years ago. All appearances point to villages obliging their post-war commitment to smaller stockpiles of military technology.

This chapter and book thus concludes with a call for further research on the Flash War. The literature on the Yellow Flash is particularly thin, and Namikaze Minato non-existent beyond rumors. The newest propositions challenge what people traditionally believed about the Flash War.

Recent claims have tried to show that the Yellow Flash was never one person, but rather several, or no one at all. The Yellow Flash, rather than a Konoha missing nin, was a moniker given to more powerful individuals who had succeeded on covert tactical missions of particular importance.

The author feels compelled to weigh in explicitly on the subject: the accuracy of these claims that the man Namikaze Minato never existed, are dubious at best. However, the only way to combat these claims are to mine more deeply into the origins and development of the Flash War—and then, piece by piece—reconstruct the man behind it all.

[…]

[Endnote 45: Those who have suggested richer source material have mysteriously discontinued contact after the author pressed further. Of particular interest were rumors of the White Fang's celebrated heir, Hatake Kakashi, corresponding with Namikaze Minato for a brief time at the Siege of Konoha. Hatake-san has repeatedly stated that he is unavailable for an interview, and denied that his indefinite unavailability is linked to his highly-ranked political position.]

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Publication by Kasanari Akemi, Ph.D.

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[Five-years later]

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The line across the horizon was the armistice. But it could be breached, with the right artillery. And Otagakure's new general was prepared to breach it.

A harried courier ran into the cave and thrust a scroll at the general.

"A letter sir! From Akatsuki!"

The general's face purpled as he tugged at his collar.

"They say he has a goddamn thug army, boss," said the courier, weakly.

"Says who?"

"Kirigakure's general. The one our allies tangled with last month. Goddamn thug army. H-His exact words."

"Well, let's see what it says. Don't tell any of the others yet."

The scroll was simple, but in its furled state, it came with a small yellow seal. They unfurled the scroll together.

There was nothing but a strange symbol, in black ink.

"What does this mean?"

Most nations' leaders already knew:

A yellow demon will come pay you a visit.

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[Fifteen-years later]

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Kakashi's Konoha was a land of prosperity. The sky spread out from the Hokage cliffs, while lush green forests turned to flaming orange, red, and golds in the autumn seasons. The bounty of agricultural harvests brought stability to civilian and shinobi populations alike. Konohagakure's villagers frequently squabbled over who would skim the excess of wealth. They were all, at least, a far cry above subsistence level.

But as the truest, most delicate of jewels were refined only by fire and strain, so was the bloom of a peaceful village borne through its dedicated shinobi and leaders.

That was in part why, on this spring day, the fanfare about the Nanadaime wracked the entire village, with news (and gossip) traveling as far as to the northernmost reaches of Kumo, the westernmost tips of Suna, and the easternmost edges of Kiri. Their respective continents and daimyo were also eager to hear the choice. Would it be a man who would uphold the peace? Or break the balance?

"He's late again," said a raven-haired man with a sharp goatee. His name was Nara Shikaku, and he'd just arrived from quite a distance. "How troublesome for everyone."

"At least you don't have to put up with this all the time," grumbled a blond man. He was the famous Yamanaka Inoichi, chief of the Konoha Intelligence Department, a new entity that included the Codes and Interrogations Divisions. "You're a special invite," mumbled Inoichi.

"How's the farm life treating you?" asked an impressively girthed man with warm, twinkling eyes. His name was Akimichi Chouza. "You should visit your wife and kid more often, even if you're on vacation."

Shikaku shuddered. "Yoshino should come visit me. But nooo, she says Shikamaru needs to attend the best schools, and that's only in the city."

"Shikamaru could go to Ame's schools," Chouza pointed out.

"And be bored to death by Yahiko's curriculum? No thanks."

Swinging double doors quieted the banter around the council table. A large hat attached to a man walked into the room. The other people could see the tuft of silver hair that refused to settle well under the large brim of the Hokage's hat, and fared even worse after removal. The masked Hatake Kakashi shuffled a stack of papers in front of him, as he trudged to the table with an apologetic look. Presumably apologetic. It was hard to tell, with the face cover.

"Ran late doing groceries," came the greeting for his comrades. "Had to pick up some curry seafood udon noodles for the Uchiha clan's charity fundraiser, but all of the marts were out."

"They're all slave drivers," scoffed Shikaku, and, more quietly: "Where the heck do they sell that anyway?"

"So, got all the documents ready?" asked Inoichi.

Kakashi laid out the dossier. Stamped across the top of the folder was the name:

Uzumaki Naruto.

Rank: special jounin.

Chouza beamed. "We're debating a candidate for Nanadaime today, right?"

"Don't you mean the only candidate?" Shikaku drawled.

"Kumo seems to think so." Inoichi held up a piece of paper, which seemed to have some oily crumb marks on the edges. "I got an effusive letter from the Kasanari siblings, saying that the Raikage and B approve. Well, so I heard. B's still on his music tour, After Eight Tales. Solid rap album, actually. Really evocative narrative."

"I don't wanna hear about Kumo or their octopus rap albums," sighed Shikaku. "Seriously, who cares if we get their approval?"

"Well, we also have Suna's blessing," the Rokudaime eye-smiled. "They say their son is due to succeed any day now."

Shikaku made a humming sound. "That guy with the weird purple face tattoos?"

"No, younger brother," said Inoichi. "Red hair? Looks like he hasn't slept in ages." The Nara slapped a fist to his palm.

"At least that'll be a potential ally for our candidate," said Chouza. "Naruto and him really got along at the chuunin exams."

"Yeah, though it was lucky the Godaime didn't kill the Kazekage's son after his sand got her boy Naruto."

Everyone at the table collectively shuddered. The village's retired Fifth Hokage—who rarely came to routine meetings anymore, and certainly wasn't invited to attend a meeting debating her own son's candidacy—struck fear into the shinobi of all the continent's nations. There were rumors that she was the one singlehandedly responsible for the long period of peace after the Flash War. Although there were other theories, too.

"What does Whirlpool think of Naruto?"

"Their representative said she was for it," recalled Kakashi. "Karin was very prompt. As for Lady Tsunade, she still hasn't made an official statement, but I think she's on board, and will help stir support in Whirlpool. She's not very mobile from her wheelchair, but she does get a huge audience at that big hospital of hers."

"And the alliance of smaller villages?"

"Ame's the spokesvillage this year, right?" Chouza asked.

"Yeah, and Nagato was very happy to hear Naruto's the prime candidate. Although Bato's worried about the timing."

"The rumors flaring up again?" Shikaku snorted. "No one reads into that rubbish."

"Tons of people do, actually," Inoichi lamented. "The Konoha Intelligence Department gets funneled all the mail from Communications, and I get piles of it on my desk. I keep saying we need to train our Communications newbies to sift out garbage better. Shigetsu just sent me a long letter actually asking me to thank him for the Akatsuki publicity campaigns he runs. Also, he blamed me for not telling him sooner about Naruto," grumbled Inoichi. "How was I supposed to know he didn't get the memo?"

"You're the mind reader."

"I don't want to pry into those topics," the blond complained. "Imagine what the Godaime would do to me if I knew the details of her love life."

Everyone shuddered again.

Kakashi tapped the table to dispel the mood. "I called this group together because we've all guessed it, or known, long ago. If he's to be Nanadaime, then Naruto's full parentage must never go out to the public."

"You asked us to come all this way here, to say if we think this affects the hokage candidacy," sighed Shikaku. "You coulda just sent a pigeon or a crow or something. Actually," he frowned. "Don't do crows."

The topic of Naruto's father was a "scandal" of sorts for the first few years. But under his mother's time as Hokage, no one dared ask further. And Shikaku was a very good right hand man, spinning all sorts of elaborate half-truths about a tragic love story with a man with a short-lived ninja career, then a wanderer who'd been a one night stand. Kushina had caught the source of that latter rumor, and by then, Shikaku was more than happy to accept the vacation turnip farm (hideaway) gifted by Ame's new government.

"So you're saying the real reason Kushina went to live in Whirlpool the year after the war was to see someone?"

"See him."

"Why the council elders let her, is the better question," said Kakashi. "I would have given her clearance in a heartbeat, but I was a kid, still. I think it's that she'd kept her promise."

"Or Ibiki threatened to have 'em all investigated," sighed Inoichi.

"Hizashi told me he'd gentle-fist them." They all looked at the peacefully smiling Chouza. "What? He said gently."

Kakashi resolutely plowed on. "And now, finally, someone who has the Will of Fire and loves Konoha enough to be Hokage, is also the holder of Whirlpool's greatest gift."

"Greatest gift? The kyuubi?"

"None other."

"The new seal should hold?"

"Yes. Plus, Naruto grew up in very different circumstances," said Chouza. "He's got a tough but bright spirit."

Inoichi frowned. "But still, it's unheard of for the child of a criminal to take the post of Hokage. And you have to admit, the kid looks exactly like his father. Sooner or later, someone's gonna make the connection."

"That man's legacy is respected here," Kakashi replied. "He was Konoha's finest."

"Well, what happens to Konoha if other nations find out that Naruto's father is the head of the largest criminal organization in the world?" Inoichi said. "I'm not trying to question Naruto's credentials. It's just… image is still worth considering."

"Akatsuki may be a criminal league, but its leader is for peace, and the large nations recognize that."

"Rokudaime—!"

"Don't call me that," Kakashi smiled. "Call me Kakashi, when we're alone. Anyway, would it be so bad, to have rumors floating around about Naruto and Akatsuki?"

"Only if you don't anger the leader's wife," Shikaku snorted.

"I think the Godaime prefers the title, secret love tryst. Makes her feel young or somethin'."

"As insurance, Naruto's taken her name," Chouza added. "We can always deny his ties to the leader of Akatsuki."

Kakashi coughed. "So… gentlemen, are we decided?"

"Whatever happens, happens," Inoichi sighed. "We can't pretend that the Flash War never happened. It's killed so many."

"The Yellow Flash will be remembered," said Chouza.

Shikaku grinned. "But whether Namikaze Minato's legacy is good or bad, we trust history will tell the truth."

They all laughed, at that.

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- Vainglory -

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Epilogue

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[Twenty-seven years prior]

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A figure slouched by the cliffs. In his hand was a battered fishing rod. At his back, two small thatched huts, one old, one new, stood on the slope overlooking the tranquil waters. This season, the whirlpools subsided, as if sensing the swimming season was approaching its end.

A red-haired woman approached, her footsteps heavy beneath her swollen ankles. In her hand, she held a small note, which she'd taken off of a carrier bird. She had shuddered when she saw the black feathers, but it had been a sparrow.

"Fancy seeing you here in the flesh," she smiled. "According to today's newspaper, you're an urban legend now."

The man, who had one blue eye and one black, twisted his torso and smiled at her. A thin scar ran over his black-pupiled eye, which became crooked as he grinned. As she settled next to him, he leaned down and pressed his cheek against the woman's swelling stomach.

"Urban legend doesn't sound too bad. Is that cool, for a future dad?"

Kushina laughed, a clear, ringing sound. "I'm sure it is. Especially for young boys."

For a moment, only the sound of the breeze whistled through.

"How…?" Minato's eyes shone, but his question faded as he realized.

"Chiyo," his companion smiled, confirming. "She came by this morning to see to the plans for the new hospital. She said she's interested in the new research clinics."

"I should have said hi," Minato murmured.

"She knows you're supposed to lay low for this year." Kushina sat down, on the grass, watching the sea breeze play with the tops of the daisies in the meadow. "You know the hospital meet ups are publicity stunts with the new daimyo."

"You don't think your investors would appreciate a real celebrity showing up?"

She caught the slow smirk and poked him. "Your head's getting big."

"Gotta keep up with Naruto's." Minato cupped a hand along her abdomen.

The seal was still there, but it lay dormant. Minato, Kushina, as well as their friends scattered across the continent, had worked with them to calm the kyuubi. Kushina was not supposed to transform too much. She had promised to take it easy, until she could rework the seal for good. Minato trusted her to do so.

After all, his new role would be to make sure she had no reason to transform.

Minato's fingers played over his wife's seal. "Will the kyuubi affect Naruto? You could seal it, for good."

"Not yet," Kushina whispered. "You gave me something to protect. More than one, actually."

"Spoken like a future Hokage."

"I wish we had more time, Minato." She moved close and put her hand in his. His fishing rod lay propped against a boulder, momentarily forgotten. "I intend to fill the vessel with love, properly, from the beginning, this time. Maybe the kyuubi doesn't need to wreck havoc when it comes out again."

"If the world is at peace."

"That's why we're here. Both of us." She squeezed his hand harder, and Minato reciprocated. It was hard to let go.

A kick.

Against Kushina's belly.

"Three of us," laughed Minato, and Kushina joined in.

They watched the waves collide against the cliff. Slowly, the water deepened in hue, to match the evening sky. The air became cool, with the faintest touch of frost, crisp and light on their fingertips. Once the autumn came and passed, and Naruto was born, Kushina would return to protect Konoha from inside its walls, and Minato would protect it from the outside.

"And if not us, then the next generation," Kushina whispered. "And the next, after that. It just has to start somewhere."

Minato closed his eyes, his face peaceful. "Yeah, I believe it."

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sic transit gloria mundi

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Suzu: Eek, I've tied up every big thread (I think?). Here's some major ones, in case the hint was too small:

Why Minato's not Hokage: number of reasons, both efficacious and moral. But most members of Akatsuki agree with his decision, having clued in to various things that would affect the infamous missing nin from being an effective, legitimate, Hokage.

Why Kushina is Hokage: see above, and see below re: goals.

Konoha: the clans are back. Uchiha run some sort of clone orphanage, and everyone picks up Kushina's weird love for curry seafood udon noodles. The old elders were cajoled (forced) out of Ame and back to Konoha, but Hizashi, Ibiki, et. al. got promotions and are keeping bad things in check. Oh, and Shikaku realized his turnip farmer dream. He's still technically employed as a council adviser, though.

Kumo: Minato sealed away the hachibi with the scroll from Ibiki. B's now a successful touring rap artist writing lyrics about his new life. It was previously hinted that B's identity as the hachibi was not something he and the Raikage were always happy about.

Ame: still under leadership of Yahiko, Nagato, Bato, etc. They play a hand in supporting Minato's Akatsuki endeavors.

Kiri: Shigetsu's a big general there, and still enjoys spreading rumors about Minato, which, luckily, helps Minato's peacekeeping efforts via Akatsuki.

Whirlpool: rebuilt as a hospital and medical research-centered economy. Tsunade, now handicapped after her fight with Orochimaru moved there, to take over her grandmother's legacy.

Suna: all babies grown and doing well. Presumably, the Suna forces made it back in time to stop Iwa from blowing up their country.

Orochimaru: one of those rogue forces still out there, who has successfully created a rogue state Otagakure. But his plans for war are often thwarted by Akatsuki.

My goal was to write about a Minato and Kushina who started their lives with very different visions, and then somehow swapped goals and roles later in life. Kushina—an angry girl who wanted to terrorize people, as much as she felt she herself was a monster—came to protect. Minato—someone who wanted respect and acceptance—came to understand other roles he could play, to achieve the end goal. This story was hopelessly complex, and I admit the prose and plot were difficult (or unclear, lol), especially for fanfiction. But I hope it was something different, which readers could amuse themselves with.

I don't know if I've reached my goal. But I do know that much of this process was great fun, for me. And at the end of the day, I hope those feelings translated a bit, to readers.

End rant, I swear:

I have never written, much less finished, any story of this length before, which spanned six years and various hiatuses. There's a small part of me that wants to curl into a ball. I will allow myself a dun-dun-dunnn, even if it never felt perfect, and was rough going at stages. I have so much respect for those who can consistently create amazing work, while juggling years of their real life. And tons of respect for readers who are there with their feedback, criticism, and encouragement. If anyone had to suffer through confusion here, I'm sorry. xD My next order of business, the fic, Triptych, which is re: the warring states, is a much easier read!

If anyone wants to write the unofficial sequel where Naruto goes off and tries to find Darth Vader, oops, Minato, let me know so I can stalk it. xD I jest, but seriously, I will stalk it.

Finally, thank you, everyone, and many blessings your way in the new year.

[Edit Note 5/2018: Vainglory may undergo revisions in the near future, not to change the original, but to go back to the original. The last third of the story was outlined to be a bit longer, with a few different character backstories. Undecided as to when/how revisions will happen, thus far! If you're just curious re: if your guesses from hints in the earlier chapters were on point, feel free to PM :)]