[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]
Third Person POV
Konoha, Year 42.
...
...
Minato, with his team, quickly advanced through the forests of the Land of Fire, heading southwest. The group was not only composed of his own team, but two other teams were accompanying them — all made up of Konoha shinobi, used directly by the Hokage as Minato could tell by the absence of Danzou's tongue seals.
Minato was certain that other teams had gone ahead as well, ones directly belonging to Root, since he had noticed some movements in the village since yesterday, heading out and moving in the direction of this location as far as his haki could sense.
After a few hours of travel, they finally reached the target village, where groups of shinobi were waiting for them.
As he had predicted, there were two ambush teams from Root already at the site.
Minato approached the leaders. He handed over the Hokage's scroll and asked about the situation.
After a brief conversation, he learned he wouldn't be leading the mission, as that responsibility had been assigned to another, but he was granted authorization to lead the investigation of the teams in the village.
Thus they approached the location.
Upon arriving at the village, everything looked identical to the first village Minato had visited some time ago.
But this time, with some care, it was clear that there hadn't been just one person doing all the work. It was evident that an entire group had attacked the village.
Not only that, but there were also much more visible signs indicating the path the enemy had taken, which could even be easily identified by other teams with a good eye. A member of the Hyuuga clan would've been able to detect it.
But it was obvious: that village had been used to set a trap for him. Which was a horrible thing — they sacrificed an entire village to lure him here.
Even Minato couldn't believe that Konoha would go as far as to do this kind of thing. The village's darkness was being shown in its worst form, and this was Danzou's modus operandi.
Some bodies were left on the ground, marked by needles and even cuts made by puppets, but Minato quickly followed the small trail that had been left behind. Without needing much investigation, he informed the teams. Quickly, everyone prepared to move out.
Minato lost command at that moment, as another leader, one from Root, took over the advance through the forest following the trail.
They wanted to choose the desert as the battlefield for their ambush — no trees where Minato could better hide using his kunai with seals. A more open field posed more of a disadvantage for him.
Minato didn't stop looking at the five ambush teams surrounding him. Even with masks hiding their eyes and expressions, he could feel the malice from all the Root shinobi directed at him.
The other Konoha shinobi seemed a bit less malicious, but even so, they appeared to know that their secret mission was to take him down. He could feel the caution and even the indifference among them, directed straight at Minato.
Minato knew some of them and could feel the regret and fear in the air. There was nothing to be done — they were following the mission.
So, he simply continued with the mission as they finally reached the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind. The trail indicated that the enemy had entered exactly through the position where they stood.
A meeting was held while a scout ninja went into the Land of Wind in search of Suna's team. He returned later, informing them that a group of five other teams would be waiting on the other side.
"Great. Now let's move out," the leader said, as they began to advance, crossing the border, through another stretch of forest, until they finally came upon the desert, with the vegetation completely vanishing.
There, five more groups awaited, all directly from Suna — that meant 60 shinobi.
The five Konoha teams paused to hand over the mission scroll. Suna's leader didn't seem very comfortable.
"Alright, let's proceed!" the Suna ninja said, and the teams quickly advanced into the desert. There were ten teams and one hundred and twenty shinobi.
119 against 1.
Minato was flattered as they followed the — essentially artificial — trail made to lead them to the place where he would be ambushed and attacked.
'How ironic…' he thought, vanishing with the group of shinobi.
In Konoha, Tsuna paced heavily in her room, while Mikoto lay on her cot, currently resting within the Senju clan.
"How long are you going to keep doing that?" the girl said, slightly irritated, while her eyes were blindfolded, healing from her wounds.
"How can I just stand still? The village set a trap to kill Minato," Tsuna grumbled.
"Even so, Minato went, and he didn't show any fear when he came here to talk about it. Trust him," Mikoto said, still lying down and looking toward the ceiling — if she could even see it — but that position felt comfortable to her.
"I know... but I'm worried," the blonde girl murmured, letting her shoulders drop.
"There's not much we can do, Tsuna. Minato is strong. There's no one in the village who can defeat him. Not even a thousand shinobi could hold him. You should know that better than anyone." Mikoto insisted.
"I know... but I'm still worried. Either way, he'll be back soon. We'll have to fight the village too," she said, still looking quite tense.
"Speak for yourself… I won't be able to do anything..." Mikoto said. Tonight would finally be the execution of Minato's plan against Konoha's leadership. And she couldn't participate, which was frustrating in her current condition.
But she accepted it. She needed to replace her eyes soon, and Minato didn't leave her out because he didn't need her tonight.
"You know Minato wants to use his powers against the four nations. His battle isn't today, Mikoto. And I'm going to stay to protect you from any attackers." Tsuna decided, with a confident tone, sitting beside the Uchiha girl.
"I know. What worries me is Kushina and Hanabi," Mikoto murmured.
"Minato said he would bring Hanabi to a safe place. As for Kushina, he predicts they'll try to kidnap her. But she'll be fine. According to Minato, she can take care of herself now. No one will kidnap her again, you saw her skills on Mount Myoboku," Tsuna said.
Mikoto nodded, before Tsuna simply began pacing back and forth again.
Meanwhile, in the underground of the Senju clan, Tsunade stood with her arms crossed, staring at a cross-legged clone of Minato in front of her.
"So you marked the girl and her grandfather?" Tsunade asked.
"Yes," Minato replied. "I placed enough chakra for this clone to withstand anything until the end of the day. I intend to pull them out once things heat up."
"Don't you think they might also go after others you know?" she couldn't help but ask.
"I don't think the village would take hostages from an orphanage. As for the Might family, I spoke with Duy. I told him to stay alert, since they might target him, but I believe he won't be important enough to be taken hostage. I'm only worried about my fiancée. With the Hyuuga clan showing up, they've been getting pulled into the Hokage's cause from what I've noticed — based on their movements and how they were watching Hanabi, especially how they looked at me when I went to see her today."
"Let's hope it works out, kid. But you seem more worried about the village than your original body, right in the middle of an ambush with five teams, from what you said."
"Maybe more. Sunagakure will be joining them too. But that doesn't matter." The clone spoke with a maturity that felt strange to Tsunade.
"I'm fine with it. I've revealed a lot over the years, but I never showed the full extent of my power. Either people didn't survive or couldn't really understand how my ability worked. But starting today, that's going to change. I won't hold back anymore — I'll show skills that surpass even my space-time jutsus." Minato said.
Even though he hadn't mastered techniques as grand as a Conqueror's Haki, he had countless other abilities that could get him out of any kind of situation.
And he was more powerful than the Hokage, though it seemed the Hokage didn't know that.
Tsunade simply nodded, saying nothing, while Minato formed a seal with his hands and some scrolls beside him began to vanish. They began to appear in all the locations of the clans Minato trusted, to prepare their members for tonight.
"So it will be tonight..." Tsuna murmured. "I almost feel ashamed... Only my brother and I are taking part in this." She didn't let it sound sad. The Senju clan had deteriorated to the point where only two members were fighting.
Meanwhile, all the clans Minato trusted began receiving their scrolls, as each of the leaders observed the contents, nodding and secretly gathering their men.
They began to prepare discreetly.
They would have the entire afternoon for that.
At the same time, the Hokage was walking through the village. At that moment, he sighed, heading toward the gate of one of the clans — the Nara Clan — where he appeared without any warning, wanting to speak with the leader.
He would corner them, claiming to know their plan and saying he wasn't seeking conflict, but rather a peaceful resolution. He stated that, as sad as it was, the village had decided on the end of the Uzumaki, and that everything, in the end, aimed to preserve peace.
Even though they had sacrificed people outside the Land of Fire, Konoha couldn't do much. Uzushiogakure wasn't exactly Konoha's responsibility. It wasn't worth entering another war over ideals that, according to him, no longer applied to the good of the village — protecting a place outside Konoha's domain and an independent village.
The Hokage planned to do this to weaken the entire group, removing Minato and at least cornering some of the clans. He was certain this would significantly weaken any possible civil war, lowering the dissatisfaction with the village leadership, calming all tempers, and maintaining Konoha's stability. That was his hope.
Danzou, on the other hand, didn't think that way.
The old man was in his base, looking over a railing at the floor below.
"I want you to look for any suspicious movement in the village. Investigate each clan throughout the afternoon. I want to know who's raising shinobi to fight against the village."
"And also be ready to eliminate anyone who raises their weapons — no matter who it is. For now, monitor. Bring me information if anything happens tonight, we'll eliminate everyone." Danzou said, as most of the anbu began to vanish from there.
One group remained still.
"I want you ready to capture the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki. The Hokage has already authorized her entry into the Senju clan and to pass through the sentries," he informed, while the group nodded and disappeared as well.
They would study a way to act, to capture the jinchūriki and also kill the Uchiha in the Senju clan.
"Show yourself." Danzou said finally, as a ninja appeared at his side.
"I want you to go find the Hyuuga. They participated in the reconnaissance mission using the Byakugan. We'll have all the information we need from that." He said, and the ninja vanished.
Danzou was left alone in that place, while his eyes gleamed, determined to eliminate all threats against Konoha.
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