[Chapter Size: 2100 Words.]
Third Person POV
Konoha, Year 42.
...
...
The next morning in Konoha, the same strange atmosphere seemed to hang in the village air as Minato sighed, making his breakfast alone, since Mikoto wasn't there.
"It's so strange to have breakfast without her here..." he murmured, not holding it back, since Mikoto being around in the mornings had become a common sight he was used to.
And as he sipped his coffee, he noticed someone approaching and heard a knock at the door. He knew it was an Anbu squad member sent directly from the Hokage.
He opened the door.
"Minato Namikaze, the Hokage demands your presence in the office within the next ten minutes," the ninja stated, ending the sentence and vanishing. Minato simply closed the door with a sigh.
'Okay... They're not going to give me a break,' he grumbled in his mind. It was past time to face those old men head-on.
As soon as he finished his coffee, he went straight to the Hokage building, entering the office immediately. The Hokage was seated in his chair, with no ninja guarding him on the ceiling at that moment, though all the Anbu were on the roof, seemingly waiting for any sign of a possible fight.
If it happened.
Still, the Hokage was not entirely alone. There was a man near the window with a cane, looking out over the village while ignoring Minato entering through the door.
It was Danzou, who seemed to be there to confront Minato — perhaps one last time. At least that was what he hoped.
'These guys aren't even trying to hide it...' Minato sighed calmly, not denying what was happening there.
The question was: what was the Hokage's plan? Trying to capture a ninja with a space-time ninjutsu who can simply teleport anywhere he has placed his seal?
The old man has many flaws and is weak in some decisions, but he is certainly the most merciful of the elders. And for him to come to the point of wanting to eliminate Minato meant he saw no other option left.
Not that Minato cared about that — the old man had his good sides, but the negative ones outweighed them. After the Second War, he started making mistake after mistake, weakening the village.
Minato stepped up in front of the Hokage, stopping there. Facing him calmly, showing nothing but a gaze as if nothing at all was happening.
"You're here, boy," the Hokage remarked.
"Yes, Hokage-sama. About your urgent request... What's the situation?" Minato asked calmly, as he saw Danzou looking at him for the first time.
He could feel the malice and anger directed at him, but Danzou said nothing, letting the Hokage lead.
The Hokage, keeping a calm tone and neutral expression, continued:
"We're having trouble again in the southwest. Citizens from some villages were found dead and we haven't been able to find any trace of the enemy who did it. Whoever is behind this moves very well. We sent several teams, but no one managed to identify anything."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"However, the only person who managed to find any trace was you. That's why we want you to leave with your team. We're sending more reinforcements and preparing the entry this time through the Land of Wind, since we received a response from the Kazekage authorizing our teams to join the teams from the Sand Village to follow the trail." he informed, and Minato showed no sign of surprise.
'I see... So it's not just Leaf Village ninjas involved in this, but even Suna's ninjas, possibly even including the Kazekage himself, which could increase the chances of them trying to take me down.' he thought immediately.
'Things are getting interesting...' Minato couldn't help but mentally commend.
But it probably wasn't hard to negotiate this with Suna, since the Sand Village likely harbored a lot of resentment toward him, after he invaded their village and shifted the war in Konoha's favor mid-way through, thanks to his invasion and rescue of the antidote.
Not to mention he escaped unscathed after fighting against Shukaku, the Kazekage, and other elite Suna ninjas.
Sunagakure probably didn't think twice when they received Konoha's request to set up the ambush.
Minato could assume they'd try to eliminate him with powerful forces — it would be pretty bad to see the village lose strength at this moment.
Besides, Minato couldn't even question the mission. He had already been involved with this case some time ago, unable to find the entry point in Suna back then, but this time he had authorization.
Though, ironically, they were confirming they hadn't discovered anything, while at the same time trying to destroy his reputation — when not even the village itself managed to solve the case.
"How much time do I have?" Minato asked.
"I'd like you to depart in a few hours, early in the afternoon. All the teams will already be ready. You have a few hours to prepare," the Hokage said.
Minato nodded. "Alright, I'll do that, Hokage-sama," he said, taking his leave, beginning to walk away after the Hokage dismissed him.
Minato headed out while the Hokage and Danzou remained silent, seeming cautious of his supposed ability to hear even through barriers — as had happened during the Kage summit, according to what Minato had reported to the clan leaders.
They seemed to wait until he was far enough away to feel safe, both merely observing until he was out of sight, though still keeping a watchful eye.
"What do you think?" the Hokage spoke for the first time, smoking in his chair.
"He accepted a very easy mission. But I don't doubt he's beginning to suspect we're sending him to be eliminated," Danzou said with a narrowed look. He believed Minato couldn't hear them from that far.
"I hope so, Danzou. I hope the trap works. We only have one chance. Worse yet, with those jutsus of his, he can go anywhere, and we have no idea how many seals he has scattered around," the Hokage said seriously.
"We'll either eliminate him, or destroy his reputation and brand him a rogue traitor. If he still manages to escape, there's no way that boy survives in the world. He has enemies in every nation. I doubt he'll last long, even with his teleportation jutsu," Danzou said with a stern look.
"So it's true... The Uchiha girl is living with the Senju?" the Hokage asked, and Danzou nodded.
"Yes. She didn't sleep at Minato's apartment last night. It seems he's already noticed our possible move. That's why we need to be even more alert. It's an all-or-nothing game." Danzou said.
"Maybe this isn't the way..." the Hokage seemed to regret, while Danzou looked at him.
"Are you serious, Hiruzen?!" Danzou immediately growled at his friend. "You've got to be kidding me! We've come this far, we're not going to let that boy live. We'll stop his civil war. That could destroy Konoha, and you know it," he said.
"I know... But we're going to lose either way. I'm afraid that, in the end, all four nations will turn against us. And did you get information to obtain the Uzumaki technique?" the Hokage asked.
"Yes, we did. A few days ago, we got the necessary intel on how to enter Uzushiogakure. We'll begin the operation a little before the international responses. But first, we need to see the result of this mission to eliminate the threat," Danzou said, and the Hokage simply nodded.
Meanwhile, Minato walked through the village that morning, sighing as his gaze wandered again to the places around him, lost in his own thoughts.
He was heading toward the Senju clan, but given the caution he had seen from the two elders, he kept walking away to listen in a little on their conversation, as they felt more comfortable and secure.
Minato could still perfectly hear everything they were saying inside that room.
He kept walking, letting his body move forward on its own as his mind shut down. He closed his eyes, focusing on the village, while his Haki field quickly began to sweep through everything. He headed to a corner of the village, while his consciousness began to explore that location.
Entering underground, there he found the secret Root base, which he had been monitoring over the past year, though he had taken his eyes off it in recent days.
Now, he was scanning all areas, able to see young ninjas being trained cruelly and harshly, other adult ninjas also fighting and simulating approaches and strategic formations.
There were experiment rooms, where Minato could see Orochimaru himself working on a few things — even Nawaki's arm was there.
In the other room, he could also see open corpses being studied. Red hair — they were Uzumakis. The whole group was there, being studied. They were all already dead.
'Danzou, you could've stayed hidden all this time... But I swear you'll die much sooner than you expect. I won't even bother trying to incriminate you first. I'll kill you first and then show the evidence against you. Whether the village wants to accept it or not doesn't matter.'
'What matters is eliminating you for good. Because if I wait to kill you after trying to incriminate you, the Hokage will do everything to save you,' Minato thought calmly, already decided: the next time he returned to the village, he would start with Danzou's death.
Minato made his way to a well-kept orphanage, finding an elderly woman with white strands in her hair standing in the yard with the children. Minato decided to stop by once more to see Madame Gorete and the children — his old orphanage.
He didn't know how things would unfold afterward, but he wanted to leave behind a good memory for these people.
As he began to approach the gate, the woman finally noticed him. He smiled at her, and she returned the smile, walking toward him. It had been over a month since they last saw each other, so the woman immediately scolded him for it, hugging him.
Minato stayed for an hour with her, talking and even answering a few questions from the children after they found out he was there.
Then, he continued through the village and found Inoichi Yamanaka, Shikaku Nara, and Chouza Akimichi eating at a barbecue restaurant — all of them quickly greeted him upon seeing him. Minato spent about half an hour with them, chatting.
After that, he walked a bit further through the village and reached the Might family's house. Might Guy was growing strong and training hard. He had good equipment now, although he still trained in an extremely intense way. His father was always by his side. Minato talked with them for a bit and greeted Guy's mother — who was still alive, after having been saved many years ago.
Minato went to what would become the Namikaze clan's home, which was almost finished. He sighed, looking at the roof and the completed structure. Only the outer part still needed work.
He gave a sorrowful sigh to that place that he might never even get to use. The Namikaze clan might have to wait.
He returned to the center of the village, passing by the Hatake compound and chatting with his swordmaster. He found him sitting down.
He didn't say he was going on a mission, just kept the conversation light, although Sakumo seemed to sense it.
When Minato eventually said he'd be heading out on a mission, Sakumo looked at him with an understanding only the two of them could share as men. Sakumo had confidence that Minato would make it through whatever the village tried to throw at him, and with that, he too needed to prepare for what would come next.
Minato met Hanabi from the Hyuuga clan, spoke with her, and even gave her a farewell kiss.
The girl, who was extremely shy, was kissed so directly that even other Hyuuga members at the gate looked over in surprise. The girl ran back inside her house.
Minato laughed and then headed toward the Senju compound, where he would have a final conversation with Nawaki, Tsunade, and none other than Kushina, Tsuna, and Mikoto, who were there as well.
He would soon leave the village for his mission. He just wanted to see his companions one last time.
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