Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.


Chapter 2

On My Title as Hokage

The Fourth Kazekage sat unnervingly still in his chair, a look of deep contemplation having overtook his features. No matter the effort given toward focusing on another subject, Rasa simply could not take his thoughts off of the still tense situation with his daughter and the letter he had sent one week prior concerning it. With the threat to the citizens growing ever more present after the abnormally large outburst from a week prior, the Lord Fourth was under a great deal of pressure to deal with the situation as promptly and quietly as possible. Advice that was very hypocritically given to him by the village council. Who so happened to be the very ones responsible for putting him, the village, and most importantly his daughter in their current predicament. A plight which, should his plan work, would be nothing more than a bad memory in the village's mind.


One week prior...

"B-but, Kazekage-sama! What do you mean, 'You are fired'? I don't understand." One of several men sitting around a rather large stone table abruptly stood to his feet, having been clearly taken aback by what his leader has just told him.

Silence suddenly reigned in the rather large conference room of Suna's Hokage Tower. Never once had a single member of the villages elders seen this behavior from the Kazekage in the past; even from Rasa's predecessors for those who had been in office back then. Council members they may be, but even their stubborn hides could tell when they shouldn't jump in front of the metaphorical train.

The Lord Fourth responded sharply, his voice full of malice toward the aging man. "I needn't repeat myself Tsukinu. However, I will tell you why I am doing this. But first," without the slightest movement in his body, Rasa shifted his line of sight to the others. Five separate glance swiftly followed, each one directed at a different council member. Those on the receiving end tensed in fear of what they knew was next. "Murinu, Takahana, Garimi, Shinaru, and Mori. You five, have all committed an atrocious felony. The facts of which I shall not disclose to those here not privy to the details out of respect for all the years you have faithfully served this village. That aside, what you did still stands."

he paused briefly to reach into his haori and grab a parchment of paper. He began reading it off. "For criminal offenses of insubordination, unlawful human sacrificing, murder in the 1st degree, as well as the indirect endangerment of thousands of people, I, the Fourth Kazekage, hereby condemn the aforementioned people to life in exile." His gaze drifted keenly from the paper to the council. "As I have already announced those of you whom are charged, I shall not repeat myself. You have two days to comply or face removal by force. That is all."

Saying no more, the Lord Fourth turned and walked out of the conference room and back to his office.

With the clap of the large oak door against its stop signally the absence of the Kazekage, a dark aura expanded through the room emanating from one of the accused, the short brunette named Takahana. She seethed through gritted teeth at a councilman opposite her. "You bastards! What have done?"

This may have seemed like an odd question, but the lone female council member knew for a fact that this had something to do with the members, maybe even the entire council, with the exception of her and Tsukinu (she knew him to be clean for a fact). She had done nothing wrong, so when the Kazekage had accused her and the others of treason, it stunned her.

Those present who were still in office collectively grinned. Their smiles reeked of exuberant malice, which made Takahana inwardly shudder. "Oh, that's simple Takahana." All eyes turned to the youngest of the still active village advisers; a middle aged man by the name of Monogai Kazejissen. The well known Kazejissen clan head dawned a look of hysteria. "We framed you; set you up; put you on the pedestal to get hanged. Hehehehe!" With each added description the deranged man salivated and cackled with elevated intensity until he was too mad to continue.

"Tch. Frickin' lunatic." Another clan head called Jintopa Kajime spat out in disgust of his colleague, effectively voicing the thoughts of the others present. "Well, since we're not getting anything out of him anytime soon, I might as well explain the rest of what I'm sure most of you are aware of. But before that, one of these things does not belong." A quick nudge of the head told everyone what he meant. All eyes turned to the lone-wolf of the room, with cold stares – only one being the exception.

Mori sighed dejectedly. "Must we kill the poor boy?" The man's voice was clam and quiet, showing as much disinterest in his own statement as his expressionless face. The whole picture made it seem as though he had really just said it out of courtesy for the life about to be taken.

Jintopa scoffed at Mori's soft attitude concerning the man's disposal. He always was the compassionate one of the council. Though by their standards that wasn't really saying much. The whole lot of them had always been among the most ruthless shinobi of their time; characteristics which seemed to have carried on to present day. Although to the majorities' credit, they hid their bloodlustful natures masterfully, even to the ever watchful eye of Rasa. "Ever the thoughtful one, eh Mori? But yes, he must die. After all, it has been far too long since I've smelt a good deal of fresh blood. Oh, I and I almost forgot, he knows too much."

Jintopa's comment was met with a roomful of chuckles, with the lone exception of Takahana who merely grimaced, being unable to stomach her former colleagues' taste for death and blood. At twenty, Takahana was the youngest of the people in the room, and as such had not been apart of the council for long. This usually resulted in her being out of the loop concerning most secret matters which inevitably went on within the rest of the group."Tch, damn these bloodthirsty monsters. Even when they're enemies you can always expect them to come together when it means killing someone. Well, I refuse to be apart of this anymore. But, I must wonder, what does he mean by 'knows too much'?" Knowing she was unable to assist the doomed man, and prevent his demise, young woman shunshined out of the room, her thoughts on the secret actions of Suna long corrupt council.

Smirks emanated from around the room, as those present registered the absence of the only moral council member to ever exist in Suna. "Shall we make chase?" Garimi, who had been thus far silent spoke. His tone was dripping with anticipation, as if waiting for a 'yes' to justify his desires.

"No, Garimi. While Takahana was not apart of our plans and is not one of us, she is no longer a threat either. After all, what village would listen to the pleas of one who's been banished." Jintopa said smugly, effectively reigning in the restless dark green haired man across from him.

Garimi grumbled to himself, before a new thought suddenly brought his mood back up to par, making him smile wickedly. "Fine, but I get fist whack at fresh blood." He said devilishly, as he pointed to the extremely terrified man who now hung like a goose from the hand of Shinaru, after a failed attempt at escaping death.

A small whimper escaped from the soon to be dead man. Fear of instant death had kept him silent for this long; however, it was clear to him now that there was no escape. So with as much breath as he could muster, the man let out a blood curdling yell. The others, simply stood there waiting for him to finish, smug looks having donned their faces.

After the yell died down, Shinaru laughed at the man. "Nice, scream you got there. Shame that no body could hear, what with us putting silencing seals on the walls of this room."

A look a pure dread stretched across the victims face. That had been his last resort – since he knew no ninjutsu that could help him in this situation – and it had just fallen flat on its face. Finally resigned to his fate, the man, by the name of Shinta Genmaru, took out a kunai, and before anybody could act, plunged it into his own heart, instantly ending his own life.

"Ah damn it!" Garimi cursed. "That's cheating, you can't just end your own life like that! What about the other people who want to do it for you! Freaking jerk."

As Garimi was fuming to himself as the others turned to Jintopa.

"While it is a shame that we won't be able to have our fun, it is time to put things into action. You four that have been exiled will proceed as planned and head to the Land of Lightning. Don't bother contacting us until you're there. The six of us who remain will monitor things from here and send updates, so you can be aware of what's going on. As for Takahana, we will leave that situation be. Despite her obvious suspicion of us, I know that there is no proof. And besides, our little show here today should be enough to make her rethink any attempts of acting out against us. If none of you have any questions then that will be all. Dismissed."

The group nodded in affirmation and those who had been banished left the room, with Shinaru dragging Garimi behind him. As they left Jintopa smiled to himself. "Gentlemen, the next couple decades are going to be very interesting, very interesting indeed."


Rasa couldn't be sure what truly transpired after he left the council room a week prior, but if the foreboding feeling that he had received courtesy of his gut was any indication than he figured he could settle for blissful ignorance, at least for the time being. Pulling himself from his own head, the Lord Fourth went back to running his pen over endless pieces of paper.

The Kazekage's office remained uncomfortably quiet whilst Rasa went on with his duties. For many minutes only the occasional chirping of dessert birds and bustling of wind against the glass could be heard by Suna's leader. Which to most, may sound rather maddening, however, Rasa found he quite liked peace and quiet. It made his tedious work seem almost relaxing, in an odd sort of way. The silence however was short-lived as the door to his office burst asunder revealing a rather petite girl with bright white hair, and semi-standard Sunagakure shinobi attire on, the lone exceptions being that her top had been made into a very small crop top and her pants were now booty shorts.

"Kazekage-sama! Important news!" The girl shot forward from the door straight towards Rasa and his desk, which just so happened to still be full of documents, both signed and unsigned. The sudden action by his visitor made Rasa flinch. Much to his relief however, she stopped an inch before the enormous stacks of work. Though the sheer force of her little speed burst caused the paper mountains to tilt causing Rasa to once again sweat bullets... nothing happened. Both parties sighed in relief at the averted crisis.

With that panic fest over the Lord Fourth relaxed back into his seat before addressing his intruder as he normally would. "Hello, Akari. What news do you speak of?" Truth be told, Rasa already knew what was contained inside the envelope, however he knew from experience that one cannot simply assume such things. And beside, he always enjoyed listening to the ramblings of the scantly clad girl in front of him.

Akari beamed at her Kazekage's question. She always did love speaking to the man, even though sometimes it was hard to tell how much he was paying attention to what she said, and how much of that focus was directed at her body. Not that she cared mind you. These meeting were the only reason she actually wore her current outfit (the intense desert heat aside), so for her that simply meant it wasn't in vain, a fact she very much enjoyed.

"Well, Kazekage-sama. You know how you asked me to report immediately to you as soon as I received that special letter you told me about?" Rasa nodded, his suspicions now being confirmed. Having been given the sign to continue, Akari did so. "Well, here it is! Safe and sound." Before the man could blink a letter was placed in front of his face. One thank you later, the auburn haired man held what he had been waiting for since the week previous.

Moments passed as the parchment lay motionless in Rasa grasp, unopened. He looked up to Akari, then back down to the paper. Twice more he repeated this, before his face hardened with a look of resolve. Taking a kunai from his desk he split open the latch on the letter's casing. Putting the envelope aside the Kazekage read the note.

To the Kazekage of Sunagakure,

It has come to my attention through your letter that you are in need of assistance, and are in a situation with which not only your village, but your family are at risk. To tell your former enemy of your hardships is a sign of great humility as well as great desperation. For this reason I have decided that, for the betterment of your village, and with hope of a lasting peace, I will assist you in your troubled times.

Honorably yours,

Minato Namikaze - Hokage of Konohagakure

P.S. Please insert your chakra into the seal on the back of this letter.

Rasa stared blankly at the parchment in his hands for a moment. He accepted... Suddenly a huge grin spread across the man's face. He couldn't believe it, he accepted! Inside his mind the Kazekage was having a party to celebrate this wonderful news. To think that he was so much closer to his goals was almost too good to believe. And then the other side of reality hit. True, Namikaze-san had accepted, however, what if he had done so in the hopes that his own guard would be lowered enough for an assassination attempt? Besides, what reason could the Hokage have to help him? Aside from gaining an absurd amount of extra military might, which they didn't and hadn't ever needed. Last Rasa had heard, the blonde Hokage had slaughtered half of Iwa's forces in the third war. Any normal man would say to only trust the fact that he isn't trustworthy, but for some reason the conflicted Kazekage felt that he could trust the man, despite the only ever contact with him being the letter he just received. Besides, it was either trust him with Suna's secrets or let his village die, and one of those was not acceptable.

Finally deciding to get a second opinion on the matter, Rasa once again turned to Akari. He inwardly smiled to himself. This girl had been like a personal council to the tragedy stricken man. Always being there when he needed some advice, or a good peep show (though he would never admit that to anyone). She reminded him in a lot of ways of his late wife. Wise, beautiful, youthful, kind, and not afraid to tell you the truth no matter how much it hurt. She had even stepped in as his children's surrogate mother, helping him and his brother in law to take care of the three, especially Gaara who required breast milk to survive and grow – all it had taken was a medically induced lactation to start the process. One key difference had always stuck out in his mind though, unlike Karura, who had always been more concealed in her enthusiasm, Akari freely shared with the world how good she was feeling, often time to the point of annoyance.

A moment passed and Rasa found himself staring at his companion, who had by this point tilted her head in curiosity over what he could be thinking about. Shooing his thoughts away Rasa refocused himself, causing Akari to do the same. "Akari, what do you think I should do about this?"

The girl in question smiled happily whilst rocking back and forth on her toes. "Hmm, I wonder..." She said mockingly. This caused Rasa to glare at her for avoiding the question. She giggled and stopped swaying briefly, "Well," She said in mock exasperation. "if I have to answer, I would say that you should do what he said in the post-script and channel some chakra into that seal." And with that she returned to rocking back and forth, all the while humming to herself. As though what she had just said was the most obvious thing in the world.

Rasa deadpanned. "I read that out loud again, didn't I?"

The girl nodded happily.

He sighed in annoyance. "Alright, I suppose your right. I just hope it doesn't back fire this time." His statement caused Akari to frown at him, making him smile in return.

Taking the letter in hand, he flipped it around to discover a complex sealing matrix, which he assumed had been placed by the Hokage himself. With only a thought of what the intricate pattern of ink did the Lord Fourth Kazekage channeled his chakra into the seal and waited.


Minato Namikaze was reviewing a piece of paperwork concerning the development of the Konoha police force and its limitations when a knock sounded at the door. "Come in." Without straying his attention from the uniquely important matter on his desk, he invited the guest in. A second later Kushina entered with Naruto in her arms as usual. Just behind her a man and woman duo followed closely.

"Minato dear, you have a couple of guests. And very important ones if I do say so myself." Kushina informed her work engrossed husband, catching his attention once again. The Hokage looked up from his work to find a very pleasing sight. A smile donned his face as he greeted his visitors.

"Welcome back, Jiraiya, Tsunade. Nice to see you again."

The two nodded in recognition to the blonde while Kushina left to go back to her work and playing with her red-headed son. The large oak doors closed behind her leaving the trio alone to chat. Tsunade crossed her arms in annoyance. "Alright Minato, where's the girl so I can heal her and get out of this damned hell hole. I don't want to be here any longer than I have to be." Her words made the two men groan inwardly. She never changed, no matter how old she got.

A resigned sigh escaped Minato lips. "I guess things will never change uh. She's in the hospital, special room 2-11. I assume Jiraiya has already filled you in on the general situation, but I'm sure you'll need specifics before you can get to work. For any medical information you require speak to a nurse by the name of Unohana. She's an Anbu medic so you should have any problems with giving her orders."

"Good, if that's all I'll be going now." Tsunade then turned to leave and was almost out the door before Minato stopped her. "There is one thing you should be aware of before you go." The older of the two blondes paused in her stride. The only sign of her listening being the slight turn in her head so that her ear faced the man. Minato took that as his sign to continue and proceeded. "When you arrive at her room, you'll most likely find a boy there – that is if he is keeping to his usual schedule. If you could just allow him to sit in with you for as long he wants. I promise he will cause no harm so long as you don't do anything to provoke him."

"Oh, and what exactly provokes him?" A tinge of curiosity could be heard in her tone, but none seemed to care.

Minato smirked. "Just make sure to tell why you're there before you enter the room."

"Duly noted." she responded shortly.

"I'm counting on you Tsunade. You are her last chance, and if you fail then she will surely die." Minato quickly said. However, the female blonde said nothing and disappeared.

The toad sage, who up to that point had been completely silent, audibly smirked. "Well, that went better than I had expected, don't you think? Honestly, I half expected her to punch your desk in half just for calling her back to the village."

His student chuckled. "Yeah, I just wish I could be there when she decides to ignore my advice concerning Kakashi. Oh, I'd pay to see that."

"Heh. And this why I didn't take the job when the old man commissioned me for it. Damned paperwork. Never gives ya time for anything else." Jiraiya crossed his arms smugly. Obviously proud of the fact that he would never be tied down like his favorite student most certainly was at the current time.

Minato raised an eyebrow. "And by that, you mean 'research' correct?"

A shit eating grin spread across the sage's features as he laughed heartily. "You know me too well Minato!"

"Mmm. Yes, well you might want to hurry and catch up to Tsunade before you miss the show that is going to unfold. And I know how much you would hate that."

Jiraiya immediately stopped laughing. A look of urgency made its way onto his face before he shunshined out of the office, on a crash course straight for the hospital's private sector.

With the distractions gone and away, Minato returned his focus back to the Uchiha document. Clan matters truly were troublesome things to deal with. Ultimately deciding he needed a second opinion on the matter, the Lord Fourth opened his mouth to call his smart and lovely wife when he suddenly felt the pull of his Hirashin seal which was supposed to be in Sunagakure with the Kazekage activated. Minato sighed, trying to decide which route to take. Stay and close a matter of utmost importance for the village, or leave and solve the problems of a completely different village. Another couple of seconds passed and the seal continued to 'buzz' as he sometimes dubbed it. With a sigh, the blonde slapped the paper down on his desk, before mentally reaching out to the signaling seal. A moment later, the Hokage's office was empty.


Rasa and Akari had been waiting mere seconds since the auburn haired man channeled his chakra in the odd sealing matrix as instructed in the post-script of the Hokage's letter. To be honest, neither was expecting much to happen, both from having no knowledge of how the Fourth Hokage worked and having next to no knowledge of Fuinjutsu. So when a six foot tall, blonde man suddenly appeared right next to Akari, the two Sunagakure residents were shocked witless.

Rasa and Akari both recoiled back at the appearance of the blonde intruder, the former instantly going to his feet, while both took a defensive position. With an outstretched arm, Rasa ordered the unknown man to identify himself. The Kazekage already had a fair enough idea of who he was, especially if the rumors of Konoha's Yellow Flash were anything to go. Nevertheless, the gold sand from his personal gourd was ready to be commanded in an instant should he need it. "State your name, and purpose here."

Akari's whole body tensed under the pressure of the situation. Despite taking up a defensive position out of instinct, the white-haired girl was in no way confident about her chances in the current situation should a conflict break out. That wasn't to say she was weak by any means, but against a man who could so easily flash into the Kazekage's office, and had the confidence to do so was obviously outside of her skill range. The girl just hoped that he meant no harm, otherwise, this would turn into a really rotten day.

The blonde intruder immediately raised his hands in a submissive position, a sheepish look prominent on his features. Sometimes he really questioned his intelligence. Honestly, what had he expected to happen when he up and flashed into a Kage's office uninvited and without warning. To think anything but this would happen would be foolish. Though to be honest, Minato wasn't exactly sure what he expected of his little intrusion, a fact which made him wonder about things, mostly concerning his own common sense and ability to have any kind of forethought. But, that hardly mattered anymore, seeing as how there were two people mere feet away from killing him if he so much as breathed wrong.

"Sorry, sorry. I still haven't gotten over that little habit of mine to flash into places without telling people first. My sincerest apologies. Please allow me to properly introduce myself; Minato Namikaze, Hokage of Konohagakure of the Land of Fire, at your service." Minato then finished with a formal bow, akin to how a knight would do to those he was servicing.

Rasa and Akari both stared blankly at the Hokage. If they were being honest with themselves, neither had expected such an entrance from a Kage, not in a million years. To think such a man could be so normal and down to earth, even in such a tense and possibly life threatening atmosphere was humbling. The two promptly shook themselves back from "awe land" before their staring could be considered too strange. Despite having been looking directly at the man for the past minute, Rasa and Akari finally took a moment to really study the man. Rasa, being a man himself, simply smirked at the knowledge of his guess about who the man was being correct. Though he had to admit, he was acutely jealous of the slightly younger man and his Adonis-like beauty. Akari on the other hand, couldn't help but let her face light up red. Ashamed as she may be to react in such a way about a man she just laid eyes on for the first time and who could have been an enemy, the rainbow-eyed girl simply couldn't help but blush at the sight of such a...perfect human specimen.

The scantily clad young woman attempted to avert her eyes from the tastiest eye candy she had ever laid eyes on. However, she shortly found that her gaze had become land-locked on the blonde beauty before her. Each defining feature seemed to be intensified as she scanned over his body. From his unrealistically smooth appearing skin, to the deep, ocean blue eyes that one could just melt in, to the rock hard muscles just barely visible through the folds of his robe, and not to mention the ever noticeable bright, blonde hair, which seemed to radiate a sense of light and happiness to those of whom its owner wasn't trying to kill. All in all, Akari was left with one of two impressions, either this man was a god come to earth, or he blessed by one. Either way, the young woman felt as though her heart could burst out her chest at any moment.

Knowing they needed to get on with business, Rasa addressed his fellow Kage. "Ah, Minato-san. No need for formalities. I should have known that the seal would be one of your fabled Hirashin seals based on your reputation. However, to the matter at hand, I must thank you for coming to my aid. You are the only person I can think of with the skill to do this. Truthfully, I did not expect, you being a Kage yourself, to bother involving yourself with my village's affairs, but I am eternally grateful for your willingness in helping me and my people."

Having straightened from his bow whilst Rasa spoke, Minato once again dipped his body towards his fellow Kage, albeit less formally this time. Truthfully, he understood the man's situation and feelings regarding it to a certain degree. And while the circumstance surrounding Minato's child had been highly fortunate in terms of the extent to which incidents occurred, nevertheless the blonde would feel personally responsible if he didn't help, even if that meant a little bit of trouble.

A smile graced Minato face as he responded cordially. "My pleasure. We are, after all, allies on the words of you and my predecessor"

The Kazekage returned the gesture before motioning for Minato to have a seat in one of the chairs opposite his desk. With a nod Minato obliged, promptly escorting himself to the left seat, due to the right being occupied already by Akari, who had apparently gotten over her eye candy induced daze long enough to seat herself. Minato gave a quick look between the white-haired girl next to him and the Kazekage as he reclined into his chair as if the ask the question "Do you want her here?". Rasa gave a simple wave of his in an apathetic manner, telling Minato all he needed.

When the blonde Kage had settled, the two leaders began their discussion.

"I understand from your letter that you are having trouble with your bijuu, and the containment of it. And while I do not know the exact situation, I assume that you wish in my help to strengthen the sealing matrix on the hosts containment seal." Minato inquired with steely eyes, fully understanding that the time for lightheartedness had left the room.

Rasa nodded. "That is correct Hokage-dono. And while I had my reasons for not disclosing any more information than that in my letter, I feel it is only right, due to what I am about to ask of you, that I tell you the story behind why I require your urgent aid."

Minato listened attentively as his fellow Kage narrated to him (and some extent Akari), concerning the detail encompassing Suna's tailed beast crisis. From the council tricking him and his wife's death to the weekly bombardments, he left nothing out. The lone exception being his dismissal of half the council a week prior.

"I see," he said after a moment of silence. "I shall do what I can, but first, I must see the seal that you wish to have replaced. We will also require a secure location with which to conduct the process. While the one-tailed beast is nothing compared to its nine-tailed counterpart, it still wields a sizable amount of chakra. And to add on the fact that we're in a desert, I do not wish to take any chances by carrying out my task in a populated area."

Rasa nodded once again. With a commanding wave of his arm, he sent the Anbu present to prepare the necessary arrangements. A second later half of the chakra signatures in the room vanished. With that done, a smile once again donned the Kazekage's face as he stood to his feet. His action causing the two others present to do the same out of respect. "Well, let us not stay here in awkwardness while my Anbu ready the needed things, how about we head over to the location you will be using. By the time we get there everything should be set, so you may begin without pause as I imagine you shall wish to, being so busy with leading your own village."

Grateful for his fellow leaders understanding of his situation Minato gave a half-bow and smile. Courtesies aside the two men began to leave when a question struck the blonde's thought processes. "I have no intention to be rude, however, it does strike me as curious concerning why you aren't escorting your daughter to the site yourself, instead of an Anbu. As the Kazekage, as with me here surely she would safer with us than even Anbu." Rasa stopped in his stride, making Minato wonder if he pried too much into things.

The red head looked over to Minato, a calm yet mournful expression adorning his features. "I do not mind you asking Hokage-dono. You have every right to ask such questions for what I am asking from you. You see, since the birth of my daughter, I have not once been able to hold her for fear of the Ichibi wreaking havoc on the entire village. The effects of which I have already described. Although I have no real proof of this, I feel as if the beast itself is angry with me for what I have done to it and my daughter, and is punishing me for that sin. Crazy I know, however, one cannot help but wonder."

Minato was readily surprised to hear what Rasa had to say. To think a tailed beast would do such a thing was unheard of, even more so if the man is accurate in his reasoning behind the incidents.

"Mmm. I see, thank you. So, shall we continue?"

A quick nod later and they continued on their trek to the sealing destination. They were, unfortunately, halted once again when Rasa noticed that they were short one person. He turned back to see Akari simply standing there, no doubt waiting for them to dismiss themselves before leaving to attend her own business, as was customary. He sighed, suddenly realizing that he had not instructed the girl to follow them. "Akari." She refocused her attention, apparently having been off in dreamland due to waiting too long.

"Yes, Kazekage-sama?"

"Are you coming or aren't you, we cannot wait all day."

Instantly, the white-haired youth lit up with exuberance. Enormously happy that she got to accompany her Kage on such an imperative and secretive mission such as this. In the blink of an eye, Akari appeared next to the two older men, ready and willing to go. Minato inwardly chuckled at this strange girl's excited attitude, whilst Rasa merely sighed. With all their members in tow, the group once again set off.


Tsunade grumbled to herself as she walked through the all too happy and cheerful village full of people who were enjoying life far too much for her liking. The near perfect weather, gentle breeze, and all around carefree nature of Konoha had her sick to her stomach just like every other occasion on which she happened to be here. This girl she was supposed to be healing was damn lucky that her situation was so critical and dire to the village, 'cause it was the only thing keep her within the walls of this god-forsaken village. And to make it all agonizingly worse, her ex-teammate just had to be joining her on her way to the hospital, no doubt to gloat the whole time. Humph, like she would ever let the pervert do what he wished so casually. A heated glare crossed her eyes as she shot her head in a one hundred and twenty degree turn, aiming the death gaze directly at Jiraiya.

The white-haired man felt an ominous presence in front to him and immediately pinned it as his blonde partner looking at him menacingly once again. He sighed dejectedly, not wishing to deal with her attitude problems again. Hatred of the village or not, it was annoying and – in his opinion – downright petty. He knew the look the blonde was giving him was due to him walking with her on the medic's way to the village hospital; more than that, however, he understood Tsunade was just upset over the near decade-long grudge match she had going on with the village as a whole, and therefore, was taking it out on the only person available...him.

Not bothering to look, or even shift his arms from their resting place behind his head, Jiraiya laxly addressed the woman walking in tandem with him. "You can stop looking at me like that Tsunade. Normally, I wouldn't mind being your rage doll in place of Konoha; however, I would very much like to enjoy my visit this time 'round. So, how 'bout you stop trying to kill me with your eyeballs and focus on the task at hand. Had you not been wasting time, we could have been there already."

Tsunade scoffed at the perverts words. Since when had Jiraiya of the sanin been the 'lazy wise man' type? But, as much as she didn't want to admit it, the stupid sage was right. She needed to get her act together and focus. The faster this current task was done the faster Konoha was no more than a distant memory. Nevertheless, she hated it when he was right – on the rare occasions he happened to be, that is.

"Fine, let's just go. Why are you even following me? This Rin girl may be your student's student but that doesn't mean you have to watch me work. Not that I'll even let you." Her words were cold, like ice, but Jiraiya seemed unfazed. Instead, he smirked knowingly. "Yeah, well I figure I could check up on her for a status update, before taking Kakashi out to train; you know as a distraction while you work." Tsunade was slightly taken aback from the good willed words, albeit without allowing her expressions to betray her. A simple 'I see' later, and the two were off towards the medical district.


Minato marveled at the sight before him. Street after street of the sand city was as barren as an old graveyard. No matter how extensively he scanned the village his search came up empty. The fourth Kazekage truly hadn't exaggerated when he reached out of help. This was just...sad. The image, however, only got worse when the passed on of the streets closer to the outer walls. Sand...everywhere. This being a village of the stuff aside. Meters high, there were sand dunes on every street, in front of every house, blocking access to anything and everything. As they neared the outer walls, the small hills continued to grow, many of them getting to be the size of, or bigger than, the houses they encompassed.

Rasa, attempting to make light conversation with his fellow Kage, turned to see Minato studying the ever increasing tragedy in his village. He sighed solemnly. "I see you've noticed the Ichibi's handy word, Hokage-dono."

The blonde leader started slightly at his fellow man's words, though it went unnoticed by either Rasa or Akari. Without taking his eyes off from down below he said. "Yeah." A pause drifted between them as if Minato was attempting to find the words to say. "You and your people have my word, on my title as Hokage, I shall relieve you of your burden. So that no one in this village must suffer from the beasts wrath again." Despite never turning towards the other two passengers on the Kazekage's flying sand cloud, Akari and Rasa both knew a look of unrivaled determination had adorned the man's face. Both sand residents gave a small smile.

Deciding that the atmosphere on the little sand cloud needed some lightening up, Rasa turned to Akari, who had thus far merely observed the other two in their discussions. "Akari, how has your clan been doing since last I asked? Still turning the sand in your compound into glass?" The white-haired girl paused for a second at the questions, as if trying to figure out why she had been asked such things at a time like this. However, she quickly shook it off and answered. "Much better Kazekage-sama. Around half the compound is back to normal, with the second half well on its way. Since there have been no recent attacks our progress has been able to continue without interruption. At the rate we were going when I left, we should have the compound done, and move on to the rest of the village by mid-afternoon."

Rasa nodded in confirmation, happy at the rare slice of good news.

"Akari. That's a very beautiful name."

Akari and Rasa shifted their gazes to see Minato had stopped examining the village, which was now behind them, and begun listening to their conversation. Apparently ready to pass time in a different way.

It took a second for the words to register in her brain before Akari allowed a blush to grace her face at the blonde sex god's compliment. Okay, so she didn't know if she was a sex god or not, but a girl can have her fantasies.

"T-thank you, Hokage-sama. My mother gave me this name, as symbolism for my birthright."

Minato was about to continue the conversation when Rasa announced that they had arrived at their destination. The foreign Kage glanced around, taking in his new surroundings. Since he had been distracted soon after the group had left the village perimeter Minato was utterly lost on where he had been led to, and as far as his sight line could make out, it was nowhere Sunagakure, or...anywhere for that matter. For what seemed like miles only sandy hills and plains greeted the eyes. For a brief second the blonde wondered how anyone lived in a place like this, just looking at the endless wasteland made him depressed and dehydrated. However, his thoughts were redirected as he noticed his two companions standing next to what appeared to be an engraved stone made out of what Minato could only describe as gold sand. Knowing the tablet like object to be some form of flagstone for those wishing to enter wherever it was they were going, he merely waited aimlessly in other directions whilst Rasa and Akari gained access to their next destination.

Rasa smiled inwardly at the actions of the blonde leader. As a ninja and Kage, the man knew when something was made to be a secret, even in a situation as this, so he was very grateful for the silent gesture while he worked. As Rasa speed through an array of complex hand signs, he momentarily quandered whether or not Minato had seen the route used to get where they were at the moment, as the way to find the marker was in truth just as secret as the method used to unveil what lie beneath it. However, he filed that inquiry away for later.

Rasa finished his sequence of hand motions. The last of which triggered a reaction from the golden sandstone. Minato turned to watch, as before his very eyes the sandy earth split asunder to reveal a seemingly endless flight of stairs to who knows where.

With a cheeky, yet somehow serious smile on his face, Rasa turned to face Minato, his right hand in a guiding pose towards the sand stairs. "Shall we...Hokage-dono?"

A pause of silence passed between the two men – Akari was already skipping down the stairs. Though his outward demeanor showed a calm and calculating, his inner self was thinking "I have got to get one of those for Konoha." However, his future planning was cut short when he noticed that the auburn haired man in front of him was patiently waiting for his reply. "Of course. After you, Kazekage-dono."


Konoha Hospital. The 'get your free hospital bed here!' local for every hurt and injury a person could think of. Floor to ceiling, wall to wall, it seemed as though the medical building was always full of patients, citizen and shinobi alike. However, if one were to look a little closer, they would notice at least double the number of shinobi over civilians at any given time. This of course was to be expected, as a ninja's occupation had more than its fair share of risk ridden situations, which inevitably landed said ninja in one of two places, hell or the next best thing, a hospital bed courtesy of a Konoha medic nin. Though as fate would have it, the not-so-comfy healing beds occasional turned into a rest stop for hell. This, among other things was why Tsunade hated this damned place so much. So, as she and Jiraiya entered in through the automatic sliding doors, it came as no surprise to her when she felt the overwhelming urge to burn it down.

Despite having other things on his mind, Jiraiya took notice of his former teammate's discomfort at being in "hell's waiting room" as she called it. Something inside the toad sage was burdened by seeing her suffer silently like she did. He knew it was tough, having to face the memories which had been so clearly burned into her mind, infecting the way she felt and acted towards the village like a disease. However, just as one part of his mind said to give her sympathy, an equally loud voice always countered, saying that she deserved what she was feeling for living in the past and betraying Konoha like she did. You could almost say that half of him compared the blonde medic to their bastard of a former teammate Orochimaru. Despite the similarities, Tsunade wasn't going to attack the village or start up freakish experiments any time soon, and Jiraiya knew that. Nevertheless, the scarred man couldn't help but wonder.

All of his thoughts running through his head like clock work had prevented him from noticing the fact that it was now just him and a particular Anbu nurse walking down one of the hallways. Figuring that he had taken care of formalities subconsciously and left Tsunade behind to wait, the white-haired man simply continued on following the special nurse in front of him. A chuckle escaped his lips, "Oh this is going to be good."

Back with the Slug Princess, the blonde healer was currently and very impatiently sitting in the waiting room, whilst cursing a certain white-haired old pervert. "Stupid Jiraiya. Making me sit in here alone like some kind of display animal. He had better hope he gets back in the next two minutes, otherwise, he's a dead man walking. Again." With clenched teeth, the blonde attempted to consume her attention within her own mind; so long as it kept her focus off of the rest of the room she would be fine. A quick glance only reinforced that mindset before the lone female sanin promptly lost herself in thought. The rest of the room it seemed, was not keen at keeping to themselves. The shinobi presence in the room was largely conflicted between those who recognized her, and those who thought they did, but couldn't be sure as to who it was exactly that they were looking at. For the group that remembered (the entire medical staff), only stares of wonder and endearment could be seen. Most probably from the hope that the world's greatest medic had finally returned to Konoha. The other three-quarters of the room (the rest of the shinobi and civilians), would either give the occasional glance in attempted recognition or merely ignore the fact that she was even there. That was one reason Tsunade liked civilians so much; not a single one gave two shits about her unless she was saving their life.

The self allotted two minutes passed and – much to the luck of perverts – the medic nin who had escorted Jiraiya into a back part of the hospital came walking back into the commons area. "Tsunade-sama. She's ready to see you now." Tsunade, jostling herself from her inner world, gave a nod before following after, either uncaring, or unaware of the small, yet ever present, cheeky smile across the Anbu's face.

Despite not really caring for more than just the sake of doing so, Tsunade couldn't help but notice how little the hospital had changed since her time there two years ago. You'd think that they would be able to update at least a couple of things, being a major village as it was. That simply went to show how little consideration was given to departments like this. No hidden village ever gave a crap about their medical department until it came to war, and by then it was always too late. The damage was done, and the body count went up, never to stop until some damned peace treaty was signed, all in the effort of saying the previous years of hatred, bloodshed, sorrow, and misery were all worthless and in vain. For a split moment Tsunade considered staying in the village, if only to assist in getting the med department in better shape, and in the drive to get more medic ninja trained during the academy years; however, the thought was quickly and thoroughly dismissed a moment later. She could just put a word in with the blonde brat before she left, hopefully for good this time.

Continuing on through the hospital, Tsunade notice them come to a door that hadn't been present last she was here. The first thought to come to mind was that at least they had done something with the place. Distracted by taking in the familiar environment Tsunade was a little surprised when the female Anbu abruptly stopped her mid step, just as she was about to go through the door in front of her. The very same door that had caught her interest. Now she really was curious as to what could be behind the double doors before her. Having been in the shinobi business for so long, she had a damn good idea – most likely a secret ward for S to SS-Class priority cases, such as a bijuu host in a coma... Tsunade was waiting for whatever the her Anbu escort was doing when a small object in the smaller woman's hand caught her eye. A key card? The blonde scoffed inwardly. There was no way that would ever keep anyone smarter than academy students out. Heck, they could just bust the walls down, if they wanted to, and here she was about to give the brat credit for doing something useful in his reign. That's when her gaze fell on something else. Upon the key card was a sealing matrix so complex that she doubted even Jiraiya could decode it. Well, she be damned, maybe Minato did something smart after all.

Uncaring of her temporary charge, the Anbu swiped the key card through a matching slider. Wasting no time, the doors were pushed open and the two entered the next hallway.

Tsunade gazed in slight awe of the new environment. The first thing of notice was definitely a feeling in the air, as if it was attempting to suffocate the life out of her. Sealing barrier and chakra repression seals? Minato was going all out on this. Though it did strike the slug princess as strange. For as useful as chakra repression seals were in a normal battle situation and prisons, their affect would only hinder the healing process due to the body's use for its energy in healing. By this point Tsunade was passed doubting the young Hokage's aptitude at making sensible decisions; however, that didn't mean it made any more sense. With a sigh, the blonde went back to assimilating what had originally awed her.

The secret area was leagues ahead of every other part of the hospital, with only the newest and latest innovations in the technological field of medicine. Passing a few of the rooms, she noticed electronic panels just underneath the room number. At first what they could be was lost on the older woman, until they happen to pass a room with a patient occupying it. The little black panel was now alight with bio information of all sorts. Name, age, medical condition, current physical condition, time since the last treatment had been administered, and how long it would be until the next one was needed. Every piece of data a medical nin could hope for, all before going into the room. A tinge of anger blossomed within the sanin's gut. Where was this technology in the other rooms?! Had it really cost that much, or was the council and higher ups just holding out on the medic field even more then she suspected? Tsunade soon filed away her thoughts for later, determined to get some answers out of someone. As a ninja, she understood perfectly the logic and reasoning for doing such a thing, but as a nurse, this was unacceptable, for any hospital.

The duo of females quickly came to the end of the hallway, a second set of double swinging doors blocking their path. Expecting another seal pass, Tsunade merely waited for the Anbu nurse to do the same as last time, so it came as a small surprise when instead the girl turned to the older woman and spoke.

"This is as far as I was instructed to take you Tsunade-sama. I do apologize; however, once through these doors, you only need to go straight down the hall. The girl's room is directly ahead. If you do not need anything else, I shall take my leave now, farewell." A bow later and she was gone.

Tsunade did as instructed and continued through the doors and down the hall. Continuing straight ahead towards the only door not attached to a side wall.


Inside a cave deep within the Land of Fire, two cloaked men gazed callously at each other. Unspoken words hung in the air between them, waited to be said, but neither were interested in saying anything. Several minutes of silence went by as they looked at each with disinterested eyes. Finally having enough of the second man's lingering presence, the other broke the apparent peace of the darkened space. "What is it that you want Madara? I did not expect your presence back here so quickly after our previous meeting." The man's words were strained and forced out from his mouth, emphasizing perfectly the pathetic state of his body.

Madara raised a brow behind his mask. It seemed that his savior's body was almost beyond even what the stored energy of the Gedo Mazo and the implanted cells of Hashirama could do to prolong one's life. About time, if you were to ask him. The dried up prune of a shell, that man called a body had been running on after burners for far too long. Always leaning over the masked man's shoulder to make sure nothing he did would negatively affect their plan, he had become a real nuisance to the free roaming sharingan bearer.

Figuring he had come here for a specific purpose, the one-eyed man answered. "I merely came to inform you that the plans in Kiri are going smoothly in your absence of them. Yagura is completely under the control of the Tsukuyomi's influence, and will be giving the order to decimate half his village and that clan along with it."

"I see."

Madara scoffed inwardly at his fellow conspirators callousness towards the whole thing. He was the one to tell him to manipulate the guy in the first place. Now its like he couldn't care less if everything went one way or the other! You'd almost think he no longer held the ambition to continue the plan if previous conversations and actions didn't state so clearly otherwise. With an indignant sigh, the masked man vanished in a swirling vortex, leaving his seated cohort alone.

"Zetsu."

Hearing his masters strained call, the yin-yang being separated himself from the wall from whence he had been listening to the entire conversation.

"Yes, Madara-sama?" White Zetsu was the one to speak, allowing his black counterpart to remain silent as usual.

"Follow him after I am gone, and make sure that he does not stray from the path that I have worked so tirelessly to set him upon. No matter what happens, I must be revived when the time comes. He is the only one capable of setting that into place now, so do not fail. Otherwise, everything I have worked so hard for will be for naught."

With a bow Zetsu responded appropriately and begun fazing back into the wall; however, before he was completely submerged his master addressed him again. "And Zetsu."

The venus flytrap like being paused, looking directly at his superior. "Hmm?"

The room suddenly erupted with pressure. With force enough to kill a normal human, and make even tougher shinobi fall weak, the sheer power was so thick that Zetsu could see it manifest in what looked like static air. The pressure caused Zetsu to curse inwardly as he felt like his entire body was being crushed by the likes of mere killing intent, the source of which was merely looking at him with expectant eyes, waiting to see if the spy's body would be crushed. "Damn it. This is some power. To think he is capable of producing this much of it, even in such a state. How scary." In a futile attempt to relieve the pressure to his quickly succumbing body, Zetsu released his own. However, it was easily crushed like a fist hitting a fly. Nothing more than a nuisance in the face of unbridled power. Much to his relief, Madara soon shut it off, allowing Zetsu to breath again.

"Don't allow him to know of my true plan."

Zetsu could hear the hanging 'or else' on attached to the end of it. "Very scary." he thought.

"Of course."

A grinned adorned Zetsu mixed face, before disappearing entirely.


Kushina Uzumaki was not having a very good time at the moment. All of twenty minutes ago she had been filing some visitor papers concerning the arrival of Tsunade to heal Rin-chan in the hospital, as well as the admittance forms for the latest promotions to chunin, when two Anbu had suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of her desk and inform her of Minato's sudden disappearance. Of course the first thing that came to her mind was he simply Hirashined away to do something right quick; however, when five minutes passed and he still hadn't returned via his usual methods, it became clear that matters much higher on the importance scale had called him away from the desk. Quite strange as it was when she had first been informed of it, Kushina had soon put two and two together to make a light bulb. With a quick search through good ol' memory lane, the red-headed mother promptly recalled her husband specifically telling her that he may disappear without prior notice sometime soon, and that when he did she was to take over until his return. This of course did not go over swimmingly, but in the end she had conceited. So now here she was, doing the job of a Kage too damn stupid to remember to make a clone in his absence. With form upon form of notices and bills to look over and either trash or sign, all while having to physically do it herself, because of some bull crap that shadow clones aren't as trustworthy as the real thing. Yeah right, the councilman just wanted to make her suffer for all the times she got mad at them for being the dumb as a rock, donkeys that they are. So, not only was Kushina not happy, the notoriously fierce Uzumaki woman was downright pissed off, and she didn't mind letting everyone know it.

Taking a momentary break in work, the Kushina looked over to watch her clone give Naruto his feeding of breast milk, silently thanking her ancestors for the Uzumaki's ability perfectly replicate the body's cell structure in the henge and shadow clone techniques, otherwise she would have been a lot busier. She truly was lucky to have a son like him. So, calm and peaceful, despite the raging beast that he held prisoner, he almost never cried unless it was for food or because he had a surprise for her and Minato in his pants. But even with food, he normally just frowned (somehow) until they noticed and Kushina feed him. His cheery and giggly attitude towards every situation in spite of his young age and inept ability to understand the world around constantly gave her hope for his future, that it would be bright, no matter what may happen because of the prisoner he kept at bay. On several occasions he had even been able to make her forget about her failure as a mother to protect him that night, and prevent him becoming the Nine-tails host. A situation that, while her logical knew was unavoidable, never ceased to harass her maternal side that so desperately wished otherwise.

Whilst the temporary Kage was still in thought an Anbu bearing the wolf mask suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, not bothering to bow as was customary when meeting with the village leader. The abrupt arrival of a new presence jolted the red head from her own reality and back into everyone else's. She glowered at the Anbu, all but daring him to say something stupid and time wasting. Of course being a member of the village's black ops, almost anything he had to say that justified his unannounced entry as well as lack of respect, even to a substitute was bound to be important in some shape or form, but Kushina was having a bad a day and he was a convenient genie pig to exert some direct pressure on. The Anbu member instantly stiffened from the wave of targeted killing intent, unsure of how to handle being made a walking target by his own leader. Kushina merely smirked inwardly, knowing he was probably sweating at the moment. "Heh. He must be a newer recruit, there's no way anyone that had been in the special forces for more than a year would even get worried over that much intent. Heck, I bet Minato and Sarutobi-san dish out several times that whenever they're in a bad mood. I would laugh but I rather not crush his confidence so soon."

On the other hand, the Anbu was currently having very contradictory feelings. "Damn! I can't believe she can so casually throw out killing intent like that, and so directly too! It was like every ounce of it was aimed at me. She truly does live up to the legends I've heard about her from back in her Anbu days. Back when she truly became the Red Death. No, I must focus. The news I carry is vital and must be received as soon as possible, I cannot afford to waste time thinking like this." Immediately straightening up (to the slight surprise of Kushina), Wolf did as he had set out to.

"Lady Kushina, I have important word from our scouts in Kirigakure! The annihilation plot of the all those with kekkei genkai has been put into action, by the decree of the Fourth Mizukage ,Yagura. Kirigakure is officially in a the middle of a civil war!"


A/N:

Alright, I'm just going to say this now. I really don't like how the scenes between Minato and Sunagakure turned out, for this chapter as well as three and four. It all just seems far too convenient to me in their interactions and the situation itself. So please remember that when you about to write, raging on how stupid those parts are, that I hate them too. I promise things get better later. I would have taken them out, but doing so would have resulted in all three chapters being several thousand words less then they currently are, which would result in you having to wait months before the next update comes out from my crushed confidence killing any will I have to write. So, let us all endure it together.

Also, please check out the poll on my page. So far only six people have voted, which is far from enough. If you want to see a specific paring, then go there.

Lastly, do you guys like my OC characters? I know there is a lot of them but I tried to make each as unique as possible.

P.S. I apologize for whatever gramatical errors may pop up in this chapter. Ever time I tried to go back through and edit it, fanfiction would freeze, effectively rewriting all of the errors back in that I had just corrected. After two hours I simply gave. Sorry, but a couple of misspelled words here and there aren't worth my entire afternoon.

Have a great week and until next time,

~Haki King