Chapter 4: Growing Threat

"Mom! Dad! It's time to get up! Guess what day it is!"

Minato groaned as he slowly opened his eyes due to the racket he heard just outside his bedroom. To his annoyance, he found that it was still dark meaning that it was very early in the morning. He rolled over and placed the pillow over his head, hoping that his son would eventually give up and go back to bed.

"He's not going to stop" Kushina whispered. "He's probably the most persistent child I've ever seen and the fact that it's his birthday will only spur him on."

"I already knew this was going to be a long day but this is ridiculous," Minato moaned, as he rolled himself out of bed and walked over to the door. He had planned on reprimanding his son, telling him that he can't just demand that his parents wake up at such an unreasonable hour. However, once he opened the door and saw Naruto's beaming face he knew that it was useless, how could he say no to that? Kushina seemed to have realised this too, as she was already behind her husband.

"Well, I suppose we should go see if you have any presents waiting for you" Kushina said excitedly, which brought a giddy reaction from her son. She then chuckled, both at Naruto and her husband who was shaking his head in disbelief.

"Don't worry, it's not like you've got anything too stressful to do today anyway, it's just a birthday party."

She then kissed him on the cheek and walked Naruto into the living room where a frankly ridiculous number of presents awaited him. Minato yawned again and ruefully looked back towards his bed. No matter what Kushina said, he knew that the upcoming day would still be stressful.

Why do children always have to scream? That's what Minato was asking himself as Naruto's party got into full swing and a countless number of children ran around his house and garden making a racket. He'd bravely decided that Kushina could deal with the children's activities while he made the food and made sure to take his time preparing everything.

"Hey! That's not fair! You're cheating!"

Even without hearing his voice, Minato would have easily guessed that Naruto would be the one shouting above everyone else. The fact that he was accusing somebody else of cheating, combined with his tone of voice, gave him a pretty good idea of who he was shouting at.

"Hey, shut up! Just because it's your birthday doesn't mean I'll just let you win!"

Minato actually laughed as he heard them bickering. He wasn't sure where this little rivalry between his son and Fugaku's had started, maybe they both watched their father's clashing heads too often? Whatever the reason, Minato actually found comfort in the fact that there was at least one child willing to disagree with his son, all of the other children seemed too willing to do as he says just because he's the Hokage's child. He knew full well that most of them weren't really his friends but he would let Naruto figure that out on his own, it's all a part of growing up.

"Minato, can I have a word?"

Fugaku stepped into the kitchen with a sullen expression on his face. It seemed that nothing, not even the simple joy of a child's birthday party, could cheer him up.

"What would this be regarding?" Minato replied, keeping the meeting as formal as he could in the circumstances.

"You know full well," Fugaku growled, his Sharingan flashing briefly before retracting.

"Fugaku, I do not like repeating myself" Minato sighed. "I understand the historical significance of your clan, believe me I do, however that does not mean that I should be forced to give more powers to you. While the Uchiha and the Senju may have been the founders of the village, there are so many clans here now that we cannot prioritise any. How do you think the Hyuga would react to hearing that the Uchiha have been given a role in governing the village? It cannot work I have explained this already."

"This is ridiculous!" Fugaku said. "Why is it that the systems of this village are always used against us? The lineage of the Hokage has avoided us for four generations now and it is beyond frustrating! Maybe Madara had it right all that time ago."

"Madara Uchiha was a warmongering fool and nothing more" Minato replied quickly. "Your clan was right to turn your back on him and his ideals. Also, I believe that your view is flawed. Rather than looking to work against you, the system is put in place for the benefit of everyone. The title of Hokage goes to the most deserving and if one of the Uchiha proves themselves, then they will achieve it and the same goes to every other clan."

"That's why the position has stayed with the Senju then is it?"

"While that may have been true for the previous generations, I am not of the Senju clan as many have suggested" Minato responded.

"All this lies, you are trying to drive us out" Fugaku spat. "You speak well Minato yet you cannot cover up the facts. You are trying to limit the police force and you have driven our clan to the outskirts of the village."

"You made that move of your own free will" Minato said, becoming frustrated by the constant questioning.

"We were forced into it, being constantly tracked by ANBU means that you need your allies closer" Fugaku shot back, getting in Minato's face.

"That's your own paranoia talking, I have never ordered ANBU to follow you or anyone else in your clan" Minato said.

"What are you trying to say?"

"Excuse me Minato? You have a visitor."

Kushina stood at the door with her arms folded and a concerned expression on her face. Minato knew what she was thinking, if she hadn't turned up at that moment how far would the argument have escalated?

"My apologies Lord Hokage for interrupting you today but I was unsure whether you wanted to delay today's meeting or not."

Even though it was impossible to see the person's face under their ANBU mask, the distinctive hair and voice let Minato knew who he was looking at.

"It's fine, I had meant to delay our weekly meeting until tomorrow but now that you're here, we may as well go to my home office."

Minato led the masked ANBU through the house and noted the long and lingering look that Fugaku gave him. In contrast, Kushina appeared to be slightly concerned yet annoyed somehow which is something only she could pull off.

Minato's home office was actually rather similar to his main office with the only difference being that it was slightly smaller and even messier. He spent most of his time in there studying seals and jutsu with the consequence being that he had open scrolls all over the place. Knowing that Kushina would only allow him to be away for the party for only a few minutes, he didn't even bother trying to tidy up a little.

"We may not be in my office but this is still an official meeting, so the same rules still apply Shisui."

"Oh right of course, please forgive me."

Shisui slowly slid the mask of his face and revealed himself to Minato. Like many Uchiha who had fully mastered it, Shisui often had his Sharingan active and usually kept it that way for long periods of time. However, unlike the majority of Uchiha, Shisui's hair was short and spiked up as opposed to the more usual longer hair that his fellow clansmen sported. He really did stand out amongst his brethren, which was one of the reasons that Minato had promoted him to the ANBU and gave him some of the more important missions.

"So, has Danzo been doing anything substantial this week?" Minato asked, looking to get straight to the point.

"Nothing out of the ordinary as far as I can tell" Shisui replied. "He's very careful though, it seems as if he exaggerates his movements and often he turns around to face my direction when he speaks."

"He used to do the same thing with Kakashi, which means that he's probably noticed your surveillance" Minato said. "Still, that's not necessarily a bad thing. If he knows he's being followed, then he can't do anything unsavoury, which means that I have less to worry about. Keep up the good work Shisui!"

Shisui merely gave a faint smile before reaching for his mask again. This was the reason that Minato insisted on the rule; it was far easier to read people by looking at their face rather than listening to their voice.

"What's wrong Shisui? You don't seem like yourself, is it about what happened in the Grass Country? If you need more time off I completely understand."

Minato was referring to an event that happened only a couple of months before where Shisui's team was ambushed and he was the only one to make it back alive. What made it worse was that his two teammates were both childhood friends and Shisui saw the whole thing. He'd never really expressed his emotions or asked for much time off for it and Minato figured that the emotional strain of keeping it all in may finally be getting to him.

"No, it's nothing like that" Shisui said. "Just a few clan issues that's all, I never imagined the amount of pressure I'd have being in the ANBU."

"Fugaku does seem to have high expectations" Minato commented, but judging by Shisui's reaction he knew that wasn't the type of pressure he was talking about. Not wanting to push him any further for now, Minato looked to change the subject.

"Say, what are your opinions on Itachi Uchiha? After the events of a couple of months ago and Kakashi stepping down recently, I need to make a couple of promotions and I've been eyeing him closely."

As expected, the mention of Itachi brought a small smile to the young Uchiha's face.

"He's a good kid with a very good head, despite his age he has priorities sorted" Shisui replied. "You obviously know about his talents, his mastery of the Sharingan is definitely above what I could do at his age and even among our clan he is unrivalled in genjutsu."

"Sounds like ANBU material then."

"Maybe" Shisui said cautiously. "However, I would wait a little before promoting him, let him enjoy his childhood a little more before putting him through such rigours."

Minato understood Shisui's concern; after all he had been in the same position as Itachi not so long ago so he understood the stress.

"I'll take it into consideration" Minato noted, as he got up from the desk he had been leaning against. "Now, I best get back to this party or Kushina could very well kill the both of us."

"Of course, I'll get back to my duties" Shisui said, as he put his mask on and made a seal. "I'll see you this time next week."

With that, Shisui disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving Minato alone to ponder what he had heard. Before he could even begin to decide how to act upon the information, Kushina burst in.

"There you are!" she exclaimed. "You're being summoned outside, Naruto wants to blow out his birthday candles and is insisting that you light them."

"Of course he is" Minato chuckled, as he walked over to the door. "Can't forget my duties now can I?"

Minato was up before first light for the second morning in a row, although this time he was far more alert. He'd received an urgent notice from the Cypher Corps that an important message had just arrived and they were struggling to even open it. It was an annoying interruption to his much-needed sleep but he had to admit that he was intrigued.

The Cypher Corps room was one of Minato's favourite in the entire village. The actual room itself didn't seem very exciting; it was slightly cramped with one large table in the middle and a bunch of scrolls on shelves all around the room. It may seem nerdy to some but all of the different seals scattered about the place is what fascinated him so much.

"This is it," a blonde haired woman declared, as she carried a brown scroll over to the table. "It's completely unlike anything we have ever seen before, the formulae reads like gibberish frankly."

Minato's interest piqued once he laid eyes on the seal. It was not because he couldn't understand it, in fact he recognised it straight away.

"It's from Kumogakure" Minato declared. "It's quite a complex seal, very few Shinobi outside of that village know it."

"You're one of them?" the woman asked, although she knew the answer.

"Yes and it's likely that the Raikage knows that, this was obviously meant for my eyes only" Minato said, picking up the scroll. "Still, I'd rather open this here so you can all see how it's done for the future."

Minato slowly made ten separate hand signs for the benefit of those in the room before he placed his hand on top of the scroll. Instantly, a cloud of white smoke appeared and the scroll popped open. Minato was quick to pick it up and read it to himself and then contents were certainly worth protecting.

"How fast can you set up a video feed?" Minato asked the group at large.

"A couple of hours" an elderly man in the corner informed him. "We'll probably need to get some medics in as well to control the feed as they have the best chakra control. Where do you need it to go to?"

"The Land of Lightning" Minato replied. "Seems that the Raikage is looking to shake things up."

"That definitely doesn't seem right, especially when you consider how out of the blue it is. What do you think his motive is?"

Minato had only been back in his office for a couple of minutes when Jiraiya had suddenly burst in. After a minute or two of catching up, they'd began discussing the events that had just taken place.

"It's quite confusing and I'm sure that was his intention" Minato sighed. "However, I can't really deny what he's said; he's offered to sign the peace treaty. I never imagined he would actually do it, I only offered it to him because I had done the same for other lands and didn't want to give him an excuse to start a war."

"Was there anything else he said during your conversation with him?"

"It was actually quite short despite all of that setup," Minato admitted. "Apart from confirming his intention to sign the treaty, his only other contribution was that it would be signed here and one of his subordinates would represent him."

"He doesn't want to sign it himself? That's very strange, you'd expect the opposite when you consider the consequences of a peace treaty."

"Well, he claimed that he wants to sign it here because this is where the treaty with Suna was signed and it would make more of a statement" Minato explained. "He added that he didn't want to leave his village right now because he doesn't trust the Mizukage, he believes leaving the village unprotected would encourage an attack."

"That does sound like him now that you mention it" Jiraiya said. "Maybe he does want to sign a treaty, make a statement to other lands that he has Konoha on his side?"

"I highly doubt that, he despises both me and the village," Minato pointed out. "Whatever the case, we need to take precautions while they're here. I'll have the ANBU track them every second they're in the village just to be sure. One thing's for certain, I definitely won't be letting my guard down just because we have a peace agreement now, for all we know that's entire reason behind this."

"I wouldn't expect anything less" Jiraiya beamed.

"So, what have you come back for? I'm sure that even you don't have the intelligence to know this was coming."

"Well, one reason was to see my godson now that he's turned three" Jiraiya said, still with the smile on his face. "The second was to pass on some rather disturbing news I just received."

"Something to do with Orochimaru?" Minato asked, although he knew that it couldn't be anything else.

"Yeah, the first thing is that I got some confirmation that he is with the rogue from Suna" Jiraiya replied. "However, it now seems that there's more than just two of them. There's at least four, all confirmed to have gone rogue from various lands while I have unconfirmed reports of two others although there's no telling where they are from. What's more concerning is that they've all been spotted wearing headbands with a slash across the village symbol."

"Sounds like some kind of group identifier then" Minato groaned. "That certainly is a problem, the last thing we need is a bunch of S Rank criminals getting together. What about the Masked Man? Or Madara Uchiha? Do you have anything on those guys?"

"It's not really an easy topic to bring up," Jiraiya said. "Most people either laugh at the mention of him or are too scared about the prospect of him still being alive. Of the few serious leads I have, none of them pointed to Madara being among the living and I got nothing on who else that guy could be. It's strange isn't it, given how few people have dojutsu."

"That's it" Minato said, as a conversation from months ago suddenly came flooding back to him. "I know what A wants. Sorry Jiraiya Sensei but I have to go."

Minato practically jumped up from his seat and headed passed a dumbfounded Jiraiya and towards the door.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"To see Hiashi and Fugaku," Minato responded. "There's something we need to discuss."

Getting the two clan leaders in one room at the same time was more difficult than Minato had imagined. Despite the fact that he was the Hokage, neither of them seemed very willing to be ordered around by Minato and as such it took a number of hours before he could finally meet them both in the Hyuga compound.

"It's strange, I always imagined that this place would be slightly bigger" Fugaku sneered, as he looked around the compound.

"They say quality over quantity and I know that we definitely have the former" Hiashi hit back. "Whether the same can be said for your lodgings remains to be seen."

"We don't have time for this" Minato interjected before Fugaku could reply. "Now, I have reason to suspect that, when the treaty is signed with the Land of Lightning, they may target both of your clans while they are in the village."

"Why would they do that?" Hiashi asked.

"A has always been jealous of this village" Minato explained. "Seeing Itachi defeat his own candidate so easily in the Chunin Exams will only have increased this jealousy. He wants the power of this village and the bloodline limits found in the eyes of your clans would be the greatest prize for him."

"Sound like some baseless accusations to me" Fugaku muttered, not bothering to keep his voice down. "Could this just be an excuse for you to attack before a treaty can be signed?"

"I've not made any accusations yet, I'm just stating that there is a chance it could happen" Minato replied calmly. "All I am asking is that, during the one night that the Kumo Shinobi are staying here, you can set up guards for your compounds. Do you want to unnecessarily risk your dojutsu falling in to enemy hands?"

"Of course not" Hiashi scoffed. "Although, any branch family members cannot have their Byakugan stolen so that means guards will only need to be set up for the main household, in particular my daughter Hinata."

Minato had to literally bite his tongue in order to stop himself from speaking out against Hiashi and the Hyuga's vile practice of placing curse marks on their branch members. What worried Minato more was Hiashi's lack of concern for the branch members, including his own brother and young nephew.

"If we do this at night, who will be watching them during the day?" Fugaku asked. "There aren't any ANBU free and everyone else will want to be a part of the celebrations surely?"

"I will watch them myself" Minato responded, while taking a mental note to later investigate into how Fugaku knew about the ANBU schedule. "I will speak to you later to confirm details."

Several weeks passed with most of the time spent on preparing the village for the arrival of the Kumo representatives and the signing of the treaty. Despite his reservations of their motives, Minato knew that this was still an official agreement and the villagers had every right to celebrate.

"Dad, do I have to wear this?" Naruto moaned, as he fidgeted in the new shirt Kushina had just forced on him.

"Sorry, I'm afraid you do" Minato replied to his son's horror. "I'll tell you what though, if you can go the whole day without mentioning how much you don't like it again, you can burn it tomorrow. How about that?"

Naruto appeared to be happy with the arrangement and quickly shook Minato's hand in agreement.

"If only every negotiation could go this smoothly," Minato thought, as Kushina entered the room again.

"I've just got word, they've now met their guard and are only 10 minutes away from the village," she informed him. "So we best get outside, it's not going to look good if they get here and the entire village greets them apart from us."

The parade for the Kumo Shinobi's arrival was much more grand and exciting when compared to the greeting given to the Kazekage 18 months before, with almost every person in the village lining the streets, with banners hung up and a party atmosphere in the air. It wasn't too surprising though, Suna was not as much as a threat as Kumo in terms of warfare and the deal with the Land of Wind had been expected for a long time so the initial excitement had worn off.

"Listen to those cheers" Kushina said, as she grabbed Naruto to stop him from running off. "It's amazing to think that it could all be for nothing."

"Could being the operative word" Minato reminded her. "All measures we take today are strictly precautionary, we don't know what they are planning yet so it's best not to presume anything for now."

After another few minutes of cheering the Head Shinobi of Kumogakure finally came in to view. He was flanked by two unremarkable Shinobi and in all honesty didn't seem too intimidating himself, although the bandages over his head and headband over his eye suggested that he had seen plenty of warfare and would most probably not be intimidated easily either.

"Lord Raikage sends his apologies," the Kumo Shinobi said as he reached Minato. "However, on behalf of the entire population of Kumogakure we are thrilled that peace has finally been achieved between our two nations."

"The feelings mutual" Minato responded as they shook hands. "Now, would you like to meet the elders and clan leaders of our village?"

After five minutes of hand shaking, Minato lead the Shinobi over to the stack of papers sat on the table before them.

"It's very impressive" the man commented as they walked. "Almost every clan has turned out for the historic day. However, I could not miss the fact that the Hyuga clan are absent. Such a shame that a historic clan such as them would miss an historic day like this."

Minato exchanged glances with the nearby Kushina before turning back to his guest.

"The Hyuga had other business to attend to today, I can only apologise" Minato said with as much sincerity as possible.

"That's fine, we didn't come for the sake of one clan," the Shinobi pointed out. "This is about our two villages and nothing more."

A cheer went up as he signed the paperwork that made the treaty between the two nations official. As the Head Shinobi waved to the crowd, Minato could feel his nerves and sense of dread increase, as he replayed the way the man had spoken his last line in his head.

"Just what are you really here for?"

"What a strange climate Konoha has. So very warm in the day yet freezing cold at night, it must be a nightmare living here."

The head Kumo Shinobi moved through the streets of the village quickly yet quietly having escaped the surveillance that had been placed on him. He had studied the map of the village extensively and knew every possible route he could take to reach the two compounds. Unfortunately, he had already tried to infiltrate the Uchiha compound but the amount of guards they had patrolling made it impossible.

"So, to the Hyuga compound it is. I wonder how well guarded they are here."

To his surprise, when he turned the corner, he found no one. Not a single member of the Hyuga or indeed any Konoha Shinobi was patrolling the compound that night.

"Seems like the Uchiha are just that paranoid then" he smirked to himself, as he quickly ran through the compound. "Now then, the child's bedroom should be this one at the end."

He slowly slid the door open and lightly walked inside. Luckily, the girl wasn't too light a sleeper and he was able to move unnoticed.

"So, it was the Byakugan in the end" he thought. "Lord Raikage wanted the Sharingan more but, oh well this will have to do. Now, I just have to-"

There was an incredible stinging pain in his back leg that forced him to the ground. It all happened in an instant and was as if he lost all movement in his leg. He tried to look back at his lifeless limb but instead his eye was drawn to several other figures in the room, in particular the long haired man wearing loose white robes.

"You'd think that if you wanted to steal a dojutsu, you would at least have an idea how it works" he spat. "The Byakugan can see 360 degrees and has a range that is far greater than this admittedly small compound. We could see what you were up to the entire time."

The sun rose over Kumogakure the next morning, basking the village in its warm glow. A watched it from his office window, imagining what would be happening in Konoha at that moment. Had everything gone to plan, and he had no reason to believe that it hadn't, they should only just be figuring out what happened, by which time his subordinate should have already gone. His only regret was that he couldn't see Minato's face at that very moment, when he realised that A had outsmarted him. Personally, he felt that worth risking war.

"Lord Raikage, a message for you" one of several Shinobi who worked under him informed him.

A grabbed the scroll, realising that it must be a copy of the Hokage's precious peace treaty. He went to open it but realised that it was marked with a seal.

"He seems to have a sense of humour" A laughed, realising that Minato had marked it with Kumo's own seal. "Darui, come over here and undo this seal."

An enthusiastic teenage boy slowly made his way over to the desk. He made the ten required seals and placed his hand on the scroll, which unsurprisingly caused smoke to appear. However, rather than opening the scroll it transformed in to a specially shaped kunai with a yellow seal wrapped around it.

"Huh? What's up with that?" Darui wondered.

"No!" A yelled, practically jumping up from the table. "It can't be!"

Just a second later, another hand suddenly appeared on the kunai. The hand was connected to Minato, who had the Head Kumo Shinobi by the scruff of his neck.

"A!" he said, his face and voice filled with anger. "How about we have a little chat?"