Chapter 11

Touma smiled with great delight as the body in his arms regained its movement. Finally, he had achieved his life's goal. After the years of research and searching for the perfect jutsu, he was able to recover what he had lost. Of course, all choices come with consequences, but he felt that losing his daughter was only a minor inconvenience when it came to the resurrection of his wife. It was only fitting anyway, seeing as his daughter was the prime reason for her mother's death.

"Yumeko?" Touma looked down at the body as he could hear the light breathing. "Honey, please say something."

The body's eyes opened and looked at the male sheepishly, as if it had woken up from a long slumber. Recovering its strength, its hand reached up and caressed the male's cheek softly. "Hello darling." Sitting up more, the eyesight switched its focus from Touma to Nozomi.

Nozomi nearly tripped over her feet as she stepped back, nearly traumatized. Her mother had actually risen from the grave? She had always thought her father was mentally insane after hearing that he wanted to bring back her mother, but he had actually succeeded. The proof was literally in front of her, staring her down. No sooner had she been stared down, the focus was gone.

"Holy shit." Hidan leaned for in his seated position. He whistled lowly as he stared in disbelief. In the beginning, he thought this whole ordeal was a suicide mission, but now? Shit, anything was possible. Someone had actually come back to life without the help of his god or the stolen use of organs.

Yumeko stood to her feet, feeling out her new body. How was she here? The last thing she remembered was being in Konoha and pushing her daughter to safety before everything suddenly went dark. Now, she found herself in a huge crater in her husband's arms, however she didn't feel like herself. This short, sandy blond hair was nothing like her long, mousy brown locks. Her skin was less aged and she never wore clothes like these - makeshift shorts, t-shirt, and a black cloak? What happened to the yellow sundress she had on when she died? The most noticeable thing that caught her attention was the bandage on her left wrist that was slowly getting soaked with blood. The injury was still aching as well.

"Darling… what did you do?" Yumeko turned to look at Touma. She looked around at the two unfamiliar people in the crater before noticing a limp body by the wall. The woman froze in shock for a moment before taking a step towards the body. No… There was no way… The step morphed into a full out run, however it only took a couple of steps for Yumeko to fall to the ground. She hadn't gotten used to being in control of a body yet so she still felt weak. Pushing herself up, she tried again. Before she could reach the body, Kakuzu reached over and grabbed the woman's arm, stopping her in her place.

Yumeko pulled against the male, trying to get out of his grasp. "Let go of me! My son! That's my son!" She cried, tears rushing to her eyes as she noticed the familiar sandy blond strands on the lifeless body. "Hideki!" Glaring up at the male that held her captive, she began beating on his chest with her free arm. "Unhand me, you brute!"

Touma tried to stand, but the pain in his chest merely intensified, causing him to cry out in agony. "Let my wife go!"

"He's dead so there's no point in approaching him." Kakuzu told the woman, unfazed by her constant beating. "Your husband revived you from the dead with the help of your son, at the cost of your daughter's life. You're currently in her body."

Yumeko's movements began to slow as she looked up at the male in shock. All the information he told her seemed to fly over her head as the only thing she could register was that her beloved son was now dead. This was all too much. He was lying! That had to be it; that had to be the only solution! Snapping out of her frozen state, she glared at the male. "You're wrong! My daughter is not dead! She's standing right over there!" Looking back, she pointed at the area between Touma and Hidan. Everyone turned their heads to see nothing.

"And everyone says that I'm the crazy one." Hidan brooded as he put his scythe on his back. This whole experience seemed like a mess to him. Ever since he had met Kakuzu, his luck just seemed to keep running out.

Nozomi, however, stared at her mother in awe. She really did notice her when she first woke up. Her other fear was realized too, at that moment. No one could see her. The looks on the males' faces as they looked in her direction were ones of confusion and questioning. Why did she even hope they could see her?

Touma, finding the strength to stand, looked to his wife with a sad smile. "Yumeko, Nozomi is gone. She sacrificed herself so you could live because it was her fault that you passed away."

"That's bullshit." Hidan called. "You sacrificed her because you blamed her for your wife's death." Touma glared at the male as the latter merely shrugged. They could honestly just hurry this along for all he cared. The sooner Kakuzu finished this, the sooner he could begin his ritual and thank Lord Jashin for the feast.

Nozomi frowned as she could see the obvious conflict in her mother's face. She could feel anger stirring up inside of her. Hidan-san was right. She never wanted to die. Her father did this to her. She could die later. Somehow, she had to find a way out of this. "I'm not dead." She spoke. Since her mother saw her, maybe she could hear her as well? "I'm not dead! I want my body back!" She yelled at her mother.

Suddenly, Yumeko dropped to her knees as she grabbed her head, yelling in pain. Kakuzu let go of her arm as she started shaking. Something was invading her mind and it felt as if someone was stabbing at her skull with a kunai. Touma tried to rush to his wife's side, however he could barely move. Looking at his hands, he noticed his body was starting to age at a rapid pace. There was something very wrong going on.

"I-I can't control myself." Yumeko grunted through the pain. This pain was nothing like she had ever felt before. Her vision was getting blurry as she tried to will herself to stay in this reality.

Kakuzu looked down at the woman in front of him with no remorse. "Everyone isn't meant to be immortal. You aren't supposed to be here."

Nozomi could feel herself starting to merge back with her body. It was working! She tried to continue envisioning herself back in her body. Just as she told Kakuzu-san before, she didn't want to die. She wanted to keep living. She could have a second chance at this, so she couldn't let it slip by.

"Her spirit isn't stable. The jutsu is becoming undone." Touma murmured to himself. He pushed himself to appear by his wife, standing as a barrier between himself and Kakuzu. The tall male jumped back, seeing as he didn't need to encounter a dying situation. Touma glared at the male as he could feel his life energy being sucked out of his body. "You did this."

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow as the elder male's anger was centered onto him. He did no such thing. The male was a weak shinobi who clearly could not execute his jutsu properly. The cons outweighed the pros and now, he was suffering the consequences.

Touma, on the other hand, couldn't let the jutsu fade. He just got his wife back; he couldn't stand to see her leave him again. Taking out a scroll from his back pouch and unraveling it, he nicked his thumb and brushed a stroke of blood across the seal inside the scroll. Forming a few hand signs, he performed his signature jutsu. "Ninja Art: Ten Thousand Sword Technique." A big cloud of smoke appeared and once it started to dissipate, thousands of swords pointed towards Kakuzu, a ring of swords surrounding Touma's body. When he became a Kiri ninja, Touma excelled in sword fighting. At one point, he was considered for promotion into the group known as the Seven Swordsman of the Mist. Old age wasn't going to hinder his technique. Kakuzu narrowed his eyes as the swords were hurled at him, another fight beginning.

"Mom, please. You have to leave." Nozomi pleaded with her mother amongst the chaos. She was at the woman's side as she tried to get back into her body. She had to save Kakuzu. Her father was strong - one of the strongest in the village. She knew this was her father's most prized technique and she didn't want anything to happen to Kakuzu, not after all that he's done for her.

The battlefield started to fade away and soon, it was only her and her mother in the dark abyss. Nozomi stood in front of her mother, looking up at the woman she missed so greatly. She looked the same as when she had passed away sixteen years ago. If she could turn back time, maybe she could've watched her step more. Maybe if she hadn't been such a hindrance, her mother would have still been here today.

"My little Mimi. You've grown so much." Yumeko looked down at her baby girl. Her youngest wasn't so young anymore - she was now an adult. "I wish I could've seen you and Hideki together."

Nozomi teared up as her mother used the affectionate nickname she gave her such a long time ago. Why did this have to be so bittersweet? "I know. I don't want to leave you, but I have to help Kakuzu-san."

"This 'Kakuzu-san' seems very dear to you. You must like him a lot." Yumeko mused, poking at her daughter's cheeks as they blushed in embarrassment. "I know I'm not supposed to be here. Perhaps I was becoming too greedy because I could see my husband again, but I've never been the one to be places where I am not needed."

Nozomi swatted her mother's hand away from her cheek before giving the older female a hug. Tears spilled onto her cheeks and soaked her mother's dress. "I'm so sorry, Mom. This was all my fault." Nothing about this situation felt right to her. She was the cause of this mess, so she had to be the one to fix it. She felt especially sorry to her mother for getting caught up in all of this as all she wanted was for her to be able to rest in peace. Although Yumeko was hugging her daughter back, Nozomi could feel the pressure of the hug getting lighter and lighter. "No! I'm not ready for you to go yet!"

Yumeko let go of her daughter and smiled as her spirit started fading. "Nozomi, my baby, don't ever blame this on yourself. If all of this happened again, I would have done the same thing. My love for you is that strong." She wiped the tears from her daughter's eyes and smiled as she completed faded away. "I love you, Mimi."

Hidan watched as the barrage of swords from Touma seemed never-ending. Kakuzu seemed to be having the time of his life out there and here he was, sitting on the sidelines like he was watching a game. This was so fucking boring. Even though Kakuzu said to not get involved, he was beginning to say fuck it as he stood up, reaching for his scythe. He didn't want to miss out on anymore fun.

Just as Hidan was about to join in on the fun, Touma fell to his knees. The male was overusing his chakra and because of his rapid aging, his body was feeling the effects tenfold. Coughing up blood, Touma didn't let up on his attacks as he wasn't finished. Kakuzu was going to pay for what he had done. He was going to get his family back. even if it meant he had to die now.

On the other hand, Kakuzu was merely dodging the swords. There were too many for him to get close to the male, however if he continued to evade them, eventually the male would run out. He determined that he would hold out until then. His attention was more focused on the female behind him, who was no longer cowering in pain, but rather lying limp on the ground once again.

He had more interaction with that girl than he did with any of his partners - aside from Hidan. From their initial interaction until now, she was at his side for the majority of the time. Through the traveling and side adventures, he had grown slightly closer to her. The female was left hand dominant so being stitched to his side was a high inconvenience for her, however she embraced it and tried her best not to get in his way. She inquired about his stitches and past, seeing him as a person before anything else. She even helped to stitch together his wound, even though the patterning of hers was extremely different from his own. Although she was somewhat of a nuisance, he could tolerate her. Now, he felt that his experience with her ended prematurely.

Touma was reaching the last moments of his strength. Some of his swords started dropping out of the air mid-jutsu and he cursed himself mentally. His body was barely skin and bones as he groaned in agony. The jutsu had failed him and now, it was taking his life with it. Amidst his breakdown, Nozomi was regaining conscious. Her eyes blinked open as she noticed the familiar crater environment. Looking down, she raised her hand to her face and wiggled her fingers. It worked! She was back in her body! Turning her head, she saw her father's back and immediately tried to will herself to get up, but she couldn't find the strength.

"Let's just end this now, shall we?" Touma looked at Kakuzu. The swords around him dropped to the ground as he formed a couple of hand signs, the combination unfamiliar to the Akatsuki member. "Water Style: Condensing Prison." Drawing water out of the air, Touma immobilized the male from his feet first before enclosing him in a box of water that was pulled out from moisture in the air. "I watched you from the beginning. There's more than one heart in your body, so we should test a new theory then. Let's kill them all at one time."

Hidan frowned as he watched Kakuzu become enclosed in a water prison. This wasn't like anything that he had seen before. Usually water style users had to be around water, but this man could simply pull it out of the air. Now, he was going to have to get involved. Hidan jumped down from where he was and prepared himself to kill the man, lifting his necklace to his lips.

Seeing Hidan begin to approach the scene, Touma smirked. It was too late. He formed a couple more hand signs and stared back at Kakuzu. "Now die!"

Before he could complete his jutsu, more blood sputter out of the male's mouth as he felt a searing pain in his chest. Looking down, his eyes widened as he saw the end of a blade sticking out of his chest - one of his own swords. Turning his head back, he glanced at the perpetrator, which was his own daughter. Nozomi's hands were still holding the hilt of the sword as she stared back at her father with angry tears in her eyes. She pushed the blade more though his chest and he doubled over to the ground, the water prison that encased Kakuzu collapsing.

"Y-You're still alive?" Touma muttered as he started choking on his own blood. Nozomi looked down at him as she shook from the adrenaline rush. Seeing his eyes start to gloss over, she relished in the feeling that she had killed her father. It was unsettling, but at the same time, she was relieved.

Nozomi frowned, her bangs covering her eyes as she stood up. "I hope you burn in hell." She mumbled to herself as he finally passed away. Tearing her gaze away from the deceased, she ran over to Kakuzu, who was soaked in water as he stood. The sky began to open up and the sun shined through the parted clouds. Finally, the battle was over.

Nozomi looked over the male, making sure that he was alright. Aside from the wound from Hideki's sword that was somewhat stitched up, there were no other abnormalities. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she was overjoyed. Wrapping her arms around the male's waist, she buried her head into his chest.

"Thank you, Kakuzu-san."