Ok ! Here's the new chapter ! The next one will take longer (sorry, don't know when it'll be yet), I'm not finished writing it yet. And I'm not sure where all this is going, isn't it exciting?

Enjoy!

Chapter 4

Then all happened in the blink of an eye. As Naruto was moving to strike, Tobi shifted to avoid the blow. Minato felt the other blond gathering his chakra in that particular way. He took an instant decision and molded his own chakra to match the blonde's and stick to him. In a flash the three men were gone.

Shit!

Just as Naruto's punch sent Tobi flying off, he turned his body to face the man who had somehow managed to get close to them.

"-What do you think you're doing? I was clear, I don't want anyone intervening in this fi…" Naruto stopped himself. Was he seeing right? He recognized the man in front of him. How could he not? Minato Namikaze, Fourth Hokage, Yellow Flash… His father. His dead father. He realized that the man before him was his father, not some twisted reincarnation or some chakra manifestation, but the real, in the flesh Yondaime.

The man looked around him. His face was serious as he took in the devastated surroundings.

"-What happened he-?

-You can't be here." Cut Naruto's voice.

Naruto internally flinched as his remark earned him a very cold stare. In front of him was the Hokage, the Yellow Flash, not his loving father. Just as he was going to explain himself further Tobi spoke.

"-My, my. Look who's joined us. The Fourth Hokage, what an honor. Long time no see.

-Shut up, Tobi.

-Why, Naruto. No need to be so touchy. After all, you were the one to bring him out. I suspected he let a part of him inside you. Aren't you happy to see your-

-Enough! Don't say a word." Oddly enough Tobi seemed to obey him. Naruto noted that the man seemed to be enjoying this way too much for his comfort. "You," addressing Minato, "you cannot be here.

-And you cannot be in Konoha.

-That's not what I meant. You cannot be here. You shouldn't have followed us. This doesn't concern you." At this Tobi chuckled.

"-The moment you stepped into Konoha's territory I was involved. What do you want with Konoha?"

Naruto sighed. This whole thing was a mess. And a pretty big one at that. He had a hard time understanding what was happening. He had a few theories but nothing concrete yet. He shook himself. He could think about that later. Right now he had to defeat Tobi before he could capture him or escape once again.

"-Ok, look. I don't have time for this right now. Just know that I don't want to hurt or even involve anyone from Konoha, you included. So here's what I propose: we don't touch your men, you don't get in our hair, and we can talk when this is all over." His father seemed to think it over for a few seconds.

"-I accept." Naruto was relieved but he knew that his father would come back on his decision as soon as he thought he had enough information to take control of the situation. After all he was Hokage and had to think of Konoha first.

Great. Now there's that. At least he agreed to give us some time. Now for the fun part: bringing him back while making sure the other bastard doesn't escape and goes mess things up even further over there. Aaaand protect Konoha's men. Awesome.

A plan started to form in Naruto's head.

Minato, after agreeing to the deal, reflected on what had just happened. The young blond had started to speak with anger. He had then hesitated and stopped talking before starting to speak again with an authority that had surprised Minato. He had been vicious when addressing the other man, Tobi. Obviously there was bad blood between the two. Minato was still preoccupied: what had happened to Kakashi? He needed answers. And he needed to know how this Naruto had managed to use the Hiraishin. If he could indeed use the technique and considering the number of teleportation seals in Konoha, the blond represented a serious security threat. He needed to go back to Konoha. He needed to capture the blond and get answers. If he didn't like them, he would have to have the blond killed, for Konoha' safety. He molded his chakra but frowned when he realized he couldn't feel any of his seals. Something twisted inside him. Even while fighting Tobi – who was apparently trying to reach Minato – Naruto seemed to have felt it, for he said:

"-It won't work." Minato's frown deepened. He didn't like that at all.

Minato saw the masked man disappear in a swirl and reappear just next to him.

"-Son of a !"

A flash. Naruto was in front of him, between Tobi and himself. Blood splattered Minato. Tobi's hand was still holding the kunai embedded in Naruto's shoulder and meant for Minato's throat. Naruto's elbow was touching Minato. They were standing on grass. Tobi started to disappear again.

"-As if I'd let you." A golden hand sprouted from Naruto's belly and held the masked man, stopping his disappearance. Tobi tssk-ed, obviously annoyed. Naruto slowly reached for the kunai, pulling it out.

"-That hurt, you bastard."

To Minato's utter astonishment he could see the flesh of the blonde's shoulder melting back together, healing. Who was he?

"-Hokage-sama!

-Hold your position!"

The blonde – Naruto – moved slightly then disappeared with the other – Tobi – the golden hand still attached to the both of them. Minato and his men were now alone in the clearing. He asked them what they had found out but the whole thing had happened too quickly for them to find anything new. After a few minutes of silence, Naruto reappeared, alone. He immediately lifted his hands, palms up. One of the capture team surrounded him. Minato approached him and studied him with cold eyes. He could see that the young man had dropped his Sage mode. Minato's eyes widened slightly and very briefly when he saw the man's face, so similar to his own.

"-I need your help." Naruto spoke quietly but firmly. The request surprised Minato.

"-What do you want?

-First, I want your men to stand down. As I said, I'm not here to hurt them or Konoha. Quite the contrary." Minato didn't answer nor granted his request. Naruto sighed. "Look, I get it. This whole thing looks shady. And you're right." His voice was calm. "But if you love Konoha you need to listen to me," his tone became strong and authoritative, "this man is bad news. And he wants to harm Konoha. More than anything. I am not about to let that happen. He's done too much. I've done too much. He needs to be stopped. I need to fight him here. And I will, whether you want it or not, I will." His tone was final as he said this, his eyes serious and deadly, never leaving Minato's. "It would be a pain in the ass but I could fight him and your men at the same time. However, I would really prefer not to. As I mentioned, I need your help. You can help me finish this without another unnecessary bloodbath.

-Bloodbath? What makes you think you could fight my men and come on top? I have no intention of believing you and I certainly won't stand back if you engage my men." Minato's eyes were also deadly serious. Yet, for all he said, something inside him wanted to believe this man. He didn't let it show.

"-This is troublesome. We don't have all day. My clones are holding him off but they won't last long and I need time. I'm being honest here. I need help. Like I said I could fight your men. I don't want to. And I don't want to fight you. I'm not crazy, I'm not about to engage the Yellow Flash when I can't afford to give it 100%, I happen to like being alive. But I will if you give me no choice. With or without your help I'm gonna bring that son of a bitch here and rip him to pieces." He finished his sentence in a snarl. "If your men stand in the way, I will hurt them. Not kill them. But I won't have a few ANBU keep me from saving my precious people. Am I making myself clear?" The ANBU flinched. Minato almost did. His eyes narrowed. This tone. That was the tone of someone decided to do everything in his power to defend his people. This was the tone of someone used to commanding and used to being obeyed. Minato knew that tone well. It was the tone he had heard the Sandaime use during the war. It was the tone he himself used during the war and after that. And because he knew that tone, he knew the man in front of him would do exactly what he just said, whether Minato wanted him to or not. Minato closed his eyes for one second.

"-What do you need?"

"-Raikage-sama!

-Namikaze? What are you doing here?"

To the surprise of the sensors and of the Raikage, Naruto had just appeared among them. Or rather, one of his clones.

"-I need your help. The Boss is preparing something but he needs us to buy him time.

-What do you need me to do? Do you need the sensors?

-No, you", the clone turned to face the sensors, "stay here, it's too dangerous and I don't want anyone caught in the crossfire. Raikage, you were with us when Kak…" The clone hesitated and faltered. The Raikage understood then that the Copy-Nin, the ninja of one thousand jutsus, was no more. The clone continued speaking. "When we discussed Tobi's Sharingan. You know how to fight it and I need your speed. I can't use the Hiraishin when I'm a clone, only the Boss can use it. I need you as back up, we can't risk being dispelled before the Boss wants us to.

-Hm. I'm listening."

"-What do you need?

-Thank you." Naruto didn't move: Minato still hadn't motioned for his men to stand down. "I need to put up a barrier. We need to make sure he can't come closer to the village." That had Minato relaxing slightly. But only just. "I need the material to create a blood seal. A big one. I need at least four shinobi who can help maintain a barrier up but more would be good too. It would help to have a second team to relieve them. I don't know how long the fight will last." Naruto's instructions were unwavering and commanding, his voice sharp but not harsh. Minato was impressed. This man was a leader. Minato motioned to his men to stand down. "Is Jiraya in the village?

-No, why?

-I need a seal master.

-I am a seal master.

-I know." Naruto seemed to hesitate briefly. "Are you willing to work with me?

-What kind of Hokage would I be if I gave you my men but not myself?

-Good.

-Hm. Anything else?

-No, that's about all I need."

Minato nodded and sent his men to fetch all that was required, both objects and people. He then turned back to the blonde, whose face was a mask of concentration.

"-Naruto, right?

-Yes. I would spend time on niceties but we don't have time." Minato noted that he hadn't been given a family name but said nothing. "Ok, so, the barrier. This is going to be a pain in the ass. We need it to be bound by blood.

-For solidity?

-Yes. I'm going to bind it with your men's blood.

-What?

-Relax. I'm not going to bleed them dry. I'm going to use their blood for several reasons. First because for what I have in mind, the more persons it's bound to, the more grounded it will be. Second, having it bound to the men outside of it makes it impossible for him to kill them and so to destroy the barrier, which wouldn't be the case if I was the blood pillar. And third, because you wouldn't trust me otherwise."

Minato had to admit that Naruto was spot on.

"-Hm. What about the stability? More blood pillars will make it unstable.

-Yes. We'll need to put a stability matrix on it but that's not the hard part nor why I need you.

-Then why do you need me?

-I need the Hiraishin." Minato's eyes narrowed. Was this a plan to obtain the seal of the Hiraishin? Naruto seemed to read his thoughts. "No. I'm not interested in the Hiraishin per say, I don't need it, as I'm sure you've noticed. But I need a component of the seal. Tobi is a crazy bastard but a damn good one and a dangerous one. The bastard can jump dimensions. I need the barrier to keep him in. Like really in. It would be pointless to have him out of the barrier by simply jumping into another dimension and then back here. The Hiraishin allows you to move trough space. I want to reverse that component to block him and maintaining him in space, here.

-Why do you need me for that? You seem to be using the Hiraishin just fine, which we will definitely talk about, by the way.

-Ah, I was kind of expecting that. Yes, I can use the Hiraishin. But I'm merely using it. You created it. Well, the Nidaime did, but he's not here so you are the one person who knows best how it works. More importantly, you know the seal in and out I assume so if we don't want this to explode in our faces, which I know I don't, we need your knowledge. Mine is incomplete."

Minato didn't say anything but studied Naruto intently. This man just admitted to using the Hiraishin. That alone would grant him a single trip to the interrogation room. Yet, he seemed completely unfazed by that. A masked shinobi brought them the calligraphy material necessary for sealing. Naruto immediately sat down on the ground and open a blank scroll, already making calculations about the seal.

"-How long before the pillars are here?

-They're here." Naruto raised his head. Twelve men were before him, some of them in ANBU uniform. "Twelve. Good. What's your time limit on a level 4 contingency?" After receiving twelve answers, he dispatched them and went back to his calculations. Apparently he was going to create the blood pillars part as well as the stability matrix. Minato plopped down in front of him and started to work on the reversal of the space component of the Hiraishin.

"-How long do we have?

-Not long. My clones are good and I have help but they won't be able to hold him off for long. Especially once he realizes I'm not there."After some time and a few pointed questions to those who would be the blood pillars, Naruto asked him, "Do you want in?

-Hm?

-Do you want to be in? I'm not sure I fully trust you but I would understand if you wanted to be inside. Once the barrier's up, there will be no going in or out.

-What would you prefer?

-Well, fighting with or against the Yellow Flash would be awesome but honestly, I would prefer you out. I don't want to risk him using you against me. And I don't want to have to worry about someone else. Plus I'm not sure your men would appreciate you being trapped with two unknown inside a barrier.

-Hm. Why did you really need Jiraya? You knew I was a seal master so why ask for him?

-Nothing escapes you, uh? Well, I guess I should have seen that coming. You are the Yondaime after all. I would have liked to have Jiraya power up the barrier. His Sage mode would have helped greatly.

-Wouldn't twelve blood pillars be enough?

-They will be strong all right but no. I'm trying to build in another failsafe but…" Naruto lifted his eyes from his calculations. Minato felt it and did the same. Naruto's gaze was serious. "I'm not going to lie to you: there is a risk of the barrier shattering if I touch it for too long.

-Why?

-Let's just say that my chakra is special." He closed his eyes for a few seconds. "We need to hurry. One of my clones got dispersed." They both worked some more. When both had finished their calculations, they mixed both parts of the seal, Naruto adding a few strokes and tweaking others here and there. Minato watched him, interested. He was good with seals, really good. But the man took into account aspects he didn't even considered before he saw the other blonde incorporate them into the seal. He frowned. After a few more minutes and a curse when another of his clones got dispersed, Naruto called those who would be the blood pillars. He had them put one hand on the scroll the seal was drawn on and had Minato activate it. Swirls of ink spread out onto the shinobi's arms and hands.

"-All right. Four of you will put the barrier up. The second team will stay with them so that they can replace them easily should anything happen. The third team, stand by. I'm going to leave and retrieve Tobi. You have to put the barrier up as soon as we're back. Do not miss, am I clear?" After glancing briefly at Minato, who nodded, the twelve shinobi nodded and scattered around the clearing. Naruto turned to Minato. His face was serious. "Now, this guy is a manipulator. He's good. He's really good. He'll try to trick you into fighting and releasing the barrier. Do not let him get to you. Whatever you hear, don't listen.

-So he's a liar?

-He's really good at presenting only a part of the truth." Naruto directed himself to the center of the clearing. "Do not break the barrier." And he was gone.

Naruto flashed back on the battlefield, some distance away from the fight. He could see his two last clones and the Raikage fighting against Tobi and stalling. He shook his head to try and regain some kind of concentration. What he had just lived had been surreal. For some reason he managed to land himself in the past, apparently. How this was even possible he didn't know and would probably never know. But the craziest part was seeing his father. His father. Alive. And pissed. Naruto was half tempted to smirk. His father, for all his loving words to his son, was a scary man to piss off. Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage, was something to behold. The emotional rollercoaster of facing his father and facing the Yondaime Hokage had almost thrown him off his game. Even more so so soon after Kakashi's death. But war had made Naruto grow up. After his initial surprise and bewilderment the iron bars of control had slammed onto his emotions and snap him into commander mode. Ordering Konoha's men around hadn't been that difficult. After all, he had been doing that for quite some time, now. But negotiating with the Yondaime and working with him on the barrier had come very close to shatter Naruto' self-control. He had been seating next to his father! And talking with him! Granted, the man didn't know him and didn't trust him but still. Naruto knew his father was a good seal master, and he was proud to be following the same road; but he had still been surprise when his father had manage to modify the Hiraishin so rapidly. Naruto could use the Hiraishin almost instinctively now but he hadn't lied: he didn't know the seal. In a sense, Naruto had surpassed the Yellow Flash: he didn't need the seal. He simply molded his chakra and voilà! Nevertheless, he had still put some seals around the battlefield to help him and gain time; he couldn't afford not to use every resource available to him.

Naruto didn't know how to feel about seeing his father. More precisely he didn't know what to make of it or what to do about it. Should he talk to him?

"Kit…"

"I know, Kurama. I know. We don't have time for this."

"Exactly. You need to focus on Tobi. You'll be inside and the Yondaime will be outside the barrier. You can't afford to pay attention to anything else."

"I know. Especially since the barrier won't hold him entirely."

"Well at least, he won't be able to jump dimensions. He can only jump inside the barrier. Still you'll have to be careful not to get caught from behind."

"I know. Well, ready?"

"Let's do this, Kit!"

Naruto jumped to reach the fight. The Raikage was panting and he was bleeding from several wounds.

"-Ready?" came the rough voice of the man.

"-Yes.

-Good luck."

Naruto used a kawarimi to exchange place with one of his clone just as it was reaching for Tobi. He tried to grab the man with his hand but went right through his body. As soon as his hand left Tobi's body, though, a golden hand shot from his belly and effectively touched the man. Both disappeared, leaving the Raikage alone on the battlefield, the smoke of the dispersed clones dissipating in the air.

Isn't it all super exciting? What will happen next? Even I don't know yet! :D