Minato was a fast man. In today's world, the rumor that he's the fastest may not be wrong.
Just before, the masked man attempted to pull him into an unknown area with his bizarre power. He managed to escape in time through the use of the Flying Thunder God, and the masked man followed.
Now, the two of them faced each other in the remote area outside the village. Minato was frustrated that he couldn't aid the village at the dire time... but then again, this masked man was the cause of all of this.
So he engaged the enemy in a combat, thinking that to resolve the ongoing "nine tails issue", the masked man must be dealt with.
Eventually, Minato was perplexed.
The figure in front of him, the masked Uchiha of an unknown identity, was a force to be reckoned with.
The problem lied in the unique Mangekyo Sharingan abilities of the masked Uchiha.
'Somehow, his body turns invulnerable to physical attacks. It is given that he materializes right before he attacks me, but...'
The best way to catch the masked man off guard is to maximize the use of the Flying Thunder God technique. So Minato threw his tri-pronged kunai, only to see it be consumed in a vortex that suddenly manifested mid-air, one that teleported his kunai into an unknown area. Minato could no longer sense the kunai.
'Not only is he able to teleport his body, but also an object a couple of distances away from him... through his Mangekyo Sharingans.'
Minato assumed that one eye handled short-distance teleportation, while the other handled long-distance teleportation. What just occurred was an example of long-distance teleportation.
'If so...!'
"..."
Minato and the masked Uchiha began to dash toward each other.
Minato threw one tri-pronged kunai.
Masked Uchiha's left sharingan spun wildly. A vortex appeared right in front of the tri-pronged kunai, and it looked like it was about to consume the kunai.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone technique."
With a puff, the masked man saw numerous tri-pronged kunais flying at him. The vortex he summoned only managed to take one away, and the rest were still intact.
'But still...'
The masked man—Uchiha Obito—thought to himself,
'I'm faster, Minato-sensei!'
Time seemed to slow down as Minato formed a rasengan on his right palm.
Numerous tri-pronged kunais went through the masked man without harming him. He reached his hand out toward Minato, and just before it was about to reach,
"Rasengan!"
Minato suddenly appeared right above the masked man, crushing him down with rasengan—
"...Now, that was close."
However, rasengan didn't connect to the masked man's flesh.
There was a dark-blue-colored, armor-like manifestation that blocked rasengan, around the masked man.
"Susanoo."
Minato quickly teleported back just in time, dodging a dark-blue arm that was swung. Crashing into a tree, it obliterated it into powder from sheer force.
"That is..."
Minato furrowed his brows, never having seen a technique like this from Uchiha.
The more he fought this man, the more he realized how strong he was.
"The legendary Susanoo..."
Unlike many mysteries of Uchiha Madara, one skill of his was known due to how large it was.
Susanoo. The fabled ability that is said to have rivalled Senju Hashirama's Sage Art Wood Release: True Thousand Hands.
"...Are you Uchiha Madara?"
Therefore, Minato naturally came to ask such a question.
Of course, the masked man didn't answer; Minato didn't intend him to answer either.
Instead, he willed the dark-blue construct around him to act.
Holding its dark-blue arm out, a long sword manifested.
The long sword was swung vertically.
Minato's instinct forewarned of the danger, and he quickly used the Flying Thunder God to teleport out.
As the sword landed on the ground, it was split in two.
'A technique as huge and potent as that must have a high chakra cost. As long as I can stall the fight out until—'
Minato clicked his tongue.
'Can't do. Nine tails is still in the village, and Kushina...'
It was at that moment that the masked man stopped his movement.
"...What?"
The Susanoo that surrounded him ceased the movement as well. The masked man turned his head to face the side, where the village stood.
Noticing that the masked man was in a state of shock, Minato too turned his gaze to the village.
"...?"
Nine tails was nowhere to be seen.
Minato's eyes widened.
'Did Hokage-sama manage to seal the nine tails?'
Something didn't feel right.
Hiruzen has aged. His strength isn't what it used to be.
So how?
There is no way that the nine tails under the control of the masked man would, somehow, voluntarily leave Konoha without further destruction. Its disappearance meant that someone had dealt with it.
The masked man felt a chill down his spine.
"Looks like it's my time to go."
He released Susanoo.
A vortex rose centering him, and began to suck him in.
It was at that moment that a thin laser of green energy pierced through the forehead of the masked man, who was being sucked into the vortex, but the masked man didn't seem to be injured by it. It wasn't that the laser pierced him, but that it phased through him.
"...!"
It was enough to draw the masked man's surprise, however.
Just before he disappeared from the area, he got a silhouette of a man, the one whom he had been warned of beforehand.
The masked man's sharingans peered into the lone dark-blue eye that didn't look back into them.
The masked man then disappeared.
"Looks like I'm a bit late."
Minato turned to witness the familiar person whom he hadn't seen for the past 3 years.
"...Akashi?"
He blinked his eyes, before quickly raising his guard up.
"What are you doing here?!"
Minato immediately tried to sense the Flying Thunder God seal that he left on Akashi when they met in Yugakure three years ago, only to freeze when he couldn't sense it.
On the other hand, Akashi didn't even bother to explain the reason why he was here. He didn't care about Minato's cautiousness at all.
Akashi's eye, fixated on the spot where the masked man had disappeared, looked sharper than ever. Quickly reading the scene, he concluded that there was no information of worth on the site.
"So that's Uchiha Madara?"
Akashi frowned. Combining what his shadow clone saw and what he just witnessed, he was able to approximate the skill level of the masked man.
Frankly speaking, the masked man's skill didn't look to be at the level of the 'Ghost of the Uchiha.' The fact that he went even in the aspect of taijutsu against Minato, who was more of a ninjutsu and fuinjutsu specialist...
Three years ago, Yagura specifically mentioned the name Uchiha Madara. He looked very certain of what he said. Credibility may be questionable, but then again, it is an intuition that came from a Kage-level shinobi; Akashi doubted that he was wrong.
Today, the person whom he saw for a brief moment looked like someone else. Yet, when Minato asked if he was Madara or not, the person didn't deny it.
It was as if he wanted to be 'seen' as Uchiha Madara, if anything. Coupled with a mask... clearly, that man is trying to hide his identity.
'Nevertheless,'
Akashi deduced,
'The fact that he has a connection with Uchiha Madara doesn't change.'
Akashi walked. Minato tensed.
Tapping the blonde by the shoulder, Akashi walked past him.
"Your wife is fine. I sealed the nine tails back in her. Congratulations on your boy as well."
"You... what...?"
Minato watched with his mouth gaping open as Akashi then disappeared, with the Flying Thunder God technique of all things.
No one but Minato now remained on the scene. He stood frozen for a moment before his eyes widened.
"The seal that I placed... I placed on the shadow clone... he must have studied off of that..."
The question is, how? Deciphering a seal, one as complex as the Flying Thunder God, was something that only the seal masters could do.
Minato spent years studying this jutsu from what the Second Hokage left, with the guidance and advice from the elites of the village.
Akashi was all by himself, with no proper education whatsoever.
Minato swallowed saliva upon the realization.
'He said that he saved Kushina too...'
Akashi was no longer at the same level as him. There already was a huge gap between the two of them.
__________
While the village has gone chaotic, two figures in Akatsuki's cloaks were found walking through a straight path.
On the left and right, there were numerous cells aligned together.
It was the deepest level of the Konoha Strict Correctional Facility. Due to the lack of light, the two walking—Juzo and Gai—had to rely on a torch that Juzo held to check the prisoners.
"Is this the one?"
"No."
Gai, with a stoic expression that held worry, looked at each prisoner intently.
Gai couldn't hold it in any longer. He cried,
"Dad!! It's me, Gai!! Where are you?!!"
"Oi, quit it! What if the ninjas above here us—"
"...Gai?"
Juzo stopped talking as a weak voice replied to Gai's cry.
They looked to the right, at one particular cell.
A malnourished man with outgrown hair and beard was on the sight.
It was hard to recognize who this man might be, but Gai knew from a glance.
"...Dad."
They found Maito Dai.
__________
"Relax, little boy. We aren't here to kill you."
Smiling in what appeared to be creepy to young children, Kisame said in his rough voice.
Ahead of him, there was one boy who dearly held his baby brother.
"We are only here to get—"
"Kisame!"
Hidan called Kisame's name out as a reminder, and Kisame shut his mouth.
"Oops, that was a close one."
"...Are you the one who released the nine tails?"
The boy then asked, cautiously.
"Would you believe us if we said no?"
"...Yes."
"Really?"
With a light of comprehension in his charcoal-black eyes, the boy nodded, which confused Kisame.
The boy then turned his eyes to the side, to where the red-haired woman, Mei, was investigating.
"I assume that the reason why you keep me awake instead of unconscious like those other children... is because you want information out of me."
Kisame and Hidan narrowed their eyes. This boy was sharp.
"If you're after the blood, there is no reason for us to be kept alive. If you're after a revenge of some sort, there is no reason for another one of you to interfere with the nine tails' rampage."
Mei was the one to stiffen as she heard that.
"...Hidan, Kisame, back off from him."
"What? Why?"
"This boy awakened sharingans already!!"
There was no other to explain how the boy managed to see what was happening miles away. Although sharingan isn't byakugan, there are numerous tricks that one can pull off with sharingans.
Hidan and Kisame immediately backed off and averted their eyes.
"Judging by your searching status, you aren't here to steal wealth either. Your matching outfits suggest that you are a part of an unknown, underground organization. The fact that you are in the Uchiha compound instead of the Hokage tower means that you are after something exclusive to the Uchiha clan..."
Unfazed, the boy continued to talk. The astute words that he spoke weren't something that could come out of a boy less than ten years old.
Mei couldn't help but ask,
"...Boy, what's your name?"
"Uchiha Itachi."
"Why do you draw our attention to you? If you are clever, you should also know that the best way to preserve you and your younger brothers' lives is to remain quiet."
"...I know you."
The boy, Itachi, answered.
"I saw in one of the reports that was in my father's office. You are Terumi Mei, and that shark-like man is Hoshigaki Kisame. You went rogue from Kirigakure three years ago... after contacting the 'worst criminal in history,' otherwise known as 'Red Blade' Akashi."
"And?"
"You were someone who spoke of changing the Bloody Mist. Someone like you siding with Red Blade drew my interest. I investigated the information about Red Blade and realized that whether he really is the worst criminal in history or not may be controversial. Today, I got to confirm that he isn't what the world claims him as."
Mei's inquiry wasn't resolved.
"...How come?"
"Because,"
Itachi looked at the center of the village, where the nine tails was no longer seen. Instead, the beast sat outside the walls in a remote area.
"There is no reason for an outsider like him, one hated by most of the people in this world, to fend off what is known as the strongest of all the tailed beasts, regardless of what purpose he may have here."
"...Alright. Then,"
Mei asked another,
"What do you hope to achieve by earning our attention like this?"
"...Is it the peace that you are after?"
Abruptly, Itachi answered the question with a question of his own. Mei frowned, but answered,
"No."
"Then... you concluded that there is a mastermind behind the current war, and that that mastermind is likely to be a Uchiha."
Mei found herself shocked.