** I do not own Naruto or anything. This is my first published work so looking for constructive feedback. I began this project for me but decided I'd share with everyone in case others enjoyed it as well. Anyways I imagine it'll be a while before I finish this story (and I do plan on COMPLETING THIS) so I hope you all enjoy this journey with me.
Chapter 1
Pushing away from his desk the Yondaime Hokage let out a sigh as he stretched tired muscles. A small smile forming on his lips as he viewed his finished stack of paperwork. As boring and repetitive as paperwork was the blond man loved it. It kept him busy most of the time and it was something he was seemingly good at.
Being Hokage suited the man well. His paperwork was always neat and organized. The council, while first uncertain of his rule, now supported him in his ambitions for the village. He handled diplomats and royalty with ease. On countless occasions he had proven to be a more than capable ninja at protecting his people. If only he'd been able to save-
Giving his head a firm shake he pushed blond hair out of his face. Glancing at the clock to the right the Hokage was surprised to see it was almost the end of the day. Another two and half hours till his meeting was to take place. Quickly debating between more paperwork or tinkering with new inventions the man called out for his assistant.
A teenager with purple hair pulled into a high ponytail entered the room. She wore a fishnet bodysuit under a dark orange skirt topped off with a tan overcoat with purple lining. Combat boots covered her feet and most of her shin. Stopping in front of his desk she offered a slight bow.
"What can I do for you Hokage-sama?"
With a smile the blond began. "Anko, thank you for your hard work today. If you'd be so kind as to distribute and file this paperwork and bring me the start of tomorrow's work you may go home for the night."
"Thank you Hokage-sama. I'll bring you the next bit of work after I put these away. Can I get you anything else? Something to eat or drink perhaps?"
"Actually yes thank you. I would love some tea and onigiri." He said after a moment's thought.
Giving another shallow bow, she collected the large stack of papers and headed out the door. The soft click of the door sent the hokage back into silence. This time he had nothing to concentrate on and allowed his mind to wander.
First his thoughts turned to his recent assistant. Mitarashi Anko had had a hard life so far. Made an orphan by the Third War she'd struggled as many did in her circumstance but proved to have potential. Unfortunately for her, one of the legendary sannin,Orochimaru had seen her potential as well taking her in as his student.
That had made her one of the snake sannins first test experiments. Pushing her further than any person, let alone a child, should go. When the hokage had finally discovered what the man had been doing the damage had been done.
With a good support system and strong will Anko had come far in the past two years. Her eyes had been dull and haunted at first but a mischievous glint had returned. Not to mention her demeanor was slowly morphing from quiet and shy to boisterous and hauty. She was beginning to remind him of his late wife.
With a heavy sigh the blond pushed away from his desk, turning to look outside to watch the last shades of red and orange fade away in the horizon. The last reds were his favorite colour. Standing abruptly the man began to pace his office.
Searching his office for something to preoccupy his thoughts he wandered towards the bookshelf. Looking over the titles his eyes jumped over the single photo in the middle and picked up a scroll on a different shelf. Absentmindedly looking it over he felt his gaze drawn back to the photo on the shelf.
Placing the scroll back he gingerly picked up the object in question. Finally he allowed the memory of her laugh to fill his ears as he gazed at the photo with a soft sad smile. A smiling face beamed at him frozen in time. One hand rested on a round belly, the other the rope of the swing. Crimson hair captured by the wind.
"I can't believe it we're going to be parents dattebayo!" The redhead said with a twirl. "We have to get this place shipshape before the baby comes. I can already imagine her sneaking into your office to look through the scrolls."
The blond stared at his wife in bewilderment.
"We're having a girl? When did you find out?!"
Staring off dreamingly, hands clutched to her heart a smile danced on her lips.
"Oh I don't know for certain but I certainly hope we have a girl! It'll be wonderful. I'll teach her about her chakra chains and maybe you can teach her the Flash Step! Or maybe she will be good with seals! She'll be a strong, beautiful and smart kunoichi. We will have our hands full keeping the boys away." The last part she said with a wink.
Visibly paling at the thought the blond desperately hoped they had a boy so he wouldn't have to worry about fighting off teenage boys.
Putting the picture down the Yondaime turned from the shelf, walking into the adjoining bathroom. Turning on the water and splashing his face the blond studied his reflection. Dark circles carved half moons under his blue eyes. Wrinkles were beginning to form around the corner of his eyes and mouth. His shoulders hunched slightly carrying the burden that came with the title Kage. As much as he enjoyed his job it took its toll.
Walking back into the office and over to the window he watched the villagers begin turning in for the night. Looking at the shops he could see a few remnants of the festival three days past. The festival was always a headache and a nuisance but the people needed the day to celebrate and mourn those they lost. He on the other hand, would be more than happy to just forget. A knock on the door saved the blond from his thoughts.
"Come in."
Shuffling underneath a rather impressive stack of papers Anko carefully settled them on the desk. Running back out she returned with a tray of tea and onigiri.
"This begins the paperwork for the chunin exams. Since we are hosting this next term there's gonna be a lot of forms to go through. I figured this would be the perfect project for you to start on Hokage-sama." The purple haired girl said slapping her hand on top of the stack with an evil grin.
Letting out an impressed whistle the blond regarded his underling trying to gauge if she brought this to torment or help him. Often enough though it was a little of both. She knew he liked more difficult paperwork around this time of the day as a way keep his mind fully occupied.
"Thank you for your hard work today. That's all for tonight, I'll see you tomorrow."
With a final bow Anko bid the hokage goodnight and left. This time when the door shut he has a task to accomplish. Glancing at his new workload he peaked at the clock. Two hours till his meeting. Plenty of time to get this set finished. Picking up the top paper he began prepping for the exams that were to take place five months from then.
As the chime of the clock signalled midnight blue eyes glanced up in surprise.
Damn. Almost finished.
Shuffling through the last twenty or so forms he sat back in his chair with a sigh. Picking up his cup and finishing off the last bit of now cold tea the blond pushed away from the desk once more. Muscles and joints popped and stretched from lack of movement. Organizing the forms on his desk he didn't even glance up when the knock on the door came.
"Enter."
Silently stepping into the room ANBU Ferret stood next to the door at attention.
"How were patrols this evening?"
"Patrols went well Hokage-sama. A few pickpockets and a smuggler trying to steal pups from the Inuzuka compound. I turned the smuggler over to the police force."
"Inuzuka pups eh? Wonder which village is trying to acquire those." Blue eyes lit up mischievously as an idea formed.
With a flick of his left wrist an ANBU sporting a Bear mask appeared.
"Bear. Please take the smuggler to T.I.F and have his memory wiped. Then give him elephant-mandrill cubs to return with. That should get the idea through to the Mastermind. Once done there you can end your shift. Thank you for your hard work."
As the ninja disappeared in a swirl of leaves Minato gestured with his right hand for the other ANBU to appear. This one wore the mask of the Tiger
Having organized the papers properly the blond had turned around and leaned against the desk with his arms crossed.
"Sorry Tiger but you get the dull work tonight. Distribute this pile here to the necessary sectors before turning in for front gate duty."
The only show of displeasure at having a boring shift was the slight sag of Tiger's shoulders. He gave a nod of his head before also disappearing in a swirl of leaves.
A chuckle escaped the blond. "Well, we don't want to leave him waiting now do we?"
"No Sir." Ferret said as he opened the door for the Hokage.
Exiting his office with his guard close behind he closed the door and relocked the seal in place. Together the two men ventured down the halls of the quiet Hokage Tower. Turning down the stairs they descended into the more secure floors within the tower holding top secret files, forbidden scrolls and a few weapons special to Konoha. Exiting only three floors from the lowest level they walked into the dimly lit corridor. Turning down a hall hidden with seals they stopped at a door three down to the left.
Sensing around for any other signs of life the blond then began the long process of unlocking the seals placed on the door. Five minutes later the two men walked in the lightless room. Sensing their owner close the chakra lights inside began to cast away the shadows. Looking around the room the blond took in the large cluttered space.
Standing against one of the four walls was a long work desk with books, tools and blueprints scattered about. A book case took up the remainder of the wall next to it weighed down under books and scrolls. Along the other wall was a workbench and shelves stacked with various prototypes. Against the third wall lie one item. Candlelight flickered upon one and a half meters by one and a half meters reflective glass.
Glancing at the clock next to the door the blond saw there was about three minutes until it was time. Walking towards the mirror he ran his hand over the smooth surface, feeling the chakra flowing around it. Thinking back to the first time he'd used it caused a smile to tug at his lips.
In his attempts to recreate the Sandaimes seeing glass he had made something else. The old man hadn't left any notes on how he created the object so the Yondaime had been forced to make multiple attempts. It had been quite a thrill when the mirror first glowed three months ago and he found himself looking into a workshop of sorts. What nearly knocked him backwards though was when the Sandaime walked into said room.
Hoping he hadn't opened a window into the afterlife the blond studied the room and the older man closely thinking it was a one way viewer. When the Sandaime's face lit up when he turned in his direction though, the young man realized that was not true.
"What the-?! Minato? You're dead how can this be?"
Shaking off the initial shock the blond brought a hand to his chin as he regarded the older man. He was going to have to proceed very carefully in case this was the work of an enemy.
"I'm afraid you have it backwards Sandaime-sama. It was you who had your life taken away."
The Sandaime regarded the blond with a calculating eye.
"If that is so then pray tell how did I die?"
The blond contemplated what to say for a moment. It was no secret the way the Sandaime died, the events around his death though were a different matter.
"When the kyuubi jinchuuriki was kidnapped by Iwa they sealed the sanbi next to it in hope they would be able to destroy Konoha for good. Unfortunately for them they didn't realize how strong our jinchuuriki was nor the strength of will our shinobi have. We managed to stopped the tailed beasts outside of the village. You perished sealing the Kyuubi's chakra inside yourself using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal." Knowledge of what happened to the sanbi was a SS-rank secret.
The Sandaimes face stayed artfully emotionless as he processed what he said. "Intriguing. The way I know events to have happened is almost similar. Instead of me sealing the Kyuubi's chakra away though it was you."
After hours of discussion they concluded they were looking into alternate realities. Somehow Minato had made a connection to one of the Hiruzen's first seeing glass prototypes. It had been fascinating, if somewhat painful, to hear the differences between the two worlds. They discovered the largest difference came with the attack of Iwa. In the Third's world the Iwa had sealed the three tails into one of his students Nohara Rin who died at the hands of his other student Hatake Kakashi. Kushina had lived long enough to give birth only to have the Kyuubi break out destroying part of the village. The Yondaime of that world then sealed it away in the same fashion the third had in this world.
A heavy sigh left the blonds lips, earning him a curious stare from his guard. He just shook his head and offered a small smile.
"Don't mind me, just thinking how strange this has been. To have confirmation that alternate realities exist… what a discovery! Every decision we make leads to so many outcomes. Makes you wonder how many realities there are."
"It would certainly be an in fathomable amount. Makes you wonder though, are all of those Kakashi's just as lazy and late as ours?"
A laugh escaped the blond as an image of hundreds of identical white haired ninja poofed in with some excuse for his tardiness. The men fell into a comfortable silence as they waited for the sign there guest was ready to meet.
An hour passed before the blond began to worry slightly.
The Sandaime hasn't been late before. What could be holding him up?
An image of a large stack of paperwork and nagging clansmen or noblemen came to mind and he remembered it wasnt out of the ordinary for Kages to be late. Although an hour was later than usual.
As the clock chimed two the blond let out another sigh. He had started doodling out thoughts for a new seal idea when the clock signalled the time. Looking to Ferret who was leaning against the door reading he let out a small cough drawing the ANBU's attention.
"It's late. I imagine if he hasn't shown yet he won't be coming at all so we might as well leave and return our next scheduled time."
The two exit the room lost is their thoughts as the blond began weaving the signs to seal the room once more. As he was halfway through he faintly felt another chakra brush his senses. Pausing he felt out the feeling once more. Searching for the source of the chakra the blonds eyes snapped open as he quickly began undoing the seals he just placed. There friend was finally ready.
Pushing open the door the blond quickly assessed the mirror before signalling for his guard to take his standard position beside the mirror out of view. Placing his hand on the outer edges of the mirror he pushed his chakra through. The glass flickered as the connection grew stable. The once dark surface of the mirror was now glowing a dull green. The more stable the connection, the brighter the mirror became until finally an image began appearing on the surface
Taking a step back the blond smiled as the form of the Sandaime came into view.
"Hello old friend. You caught me in the nick of time I was about-"
"There is no time to explain I need your help. Our jinchuuriki. She's unstable. The seal is weakened and we can't stabilize it. I don't have the knowledge on the seal itself to make the change. I haven't heard from Jiraiya-san in a week and I doubt he could make it back in time to be of any real help. Please will you help us?"
Shock had momentarily taken hold of the younger hokage before he processed what had been said.
"How can I help? We haven't tested sending anything through the mirror yet. We've only talked about it hypothetically. How can I be of help from here?"
"I may have created a seal that would allow passage between worlds. If I talk you through it you should be able to come through. It will take a bit of time and we must hurry. Enemies lurk all around and I'm afraid we may be at war once more."
The blond glanced towards Ferret. Red eyes gleamed behind his mask. A slight nod of his head said everything the Sandaime said was true. Running through all possible consequences the young Hokage weighed his options. Turning back towards the Third, determination filled blue eyes.
"Tell me what to do."