The Girl from Whirlpool

Chapter Nine: Call of Duty


The day everything changed came just a few months later. Minato awoke in a camp that was alive with activity and talk, and he watched this all with mild consternation as took his shower and brushed his teeth. Something was clearly in the air that morning, but Minato was slightly more preoccupied with his face.

"Can I borrow a razor?" he asked Shikaku.

"No," said Shikaku at once.

"I need to shave."

"You don't need to bloody shave. You're blond. No one can see your weak-ass beard."

Minato scratched his cheek. "I can feel it though."

"There's barely anything there," Shikaku said dismissively. "If you want to scratch that fluff off your chin, get your own razor. Or use a kunai."

And so Minato arrived in the breakfast tent with a face cut to hell, courtesy one a kunai that had been slightly on the rusty side. Thankfully, before anyone could comment, a strange hush fell over the tent. Minato looked up to see Danzou and one of his captains had entered. Normally they ate separately, so the only reason they were be here now was to make an announcement.

Minato wondered if the time had come at last...

"As some of you might already know," the captain began, and several people including Minato moved to sit on the tables to see him better, "Kiri's outpost on the First Island has received reinforcements that put their number at double what it was before."

Minato's spoon fell into his bowl with a clack.

"Well, shit," Shikaku sighed quietly to himself.

"We have also received word from our spies that the reinforcements belong to General Akuze, who you'll most likely know as one of the seven swordsman, second only to the Mizukage in skill and one of the best military strategists alive. He is also at the outpost and its suspected that they may be preparing to launch one massive offensive against this very camp. With their numbers and a strategist like Akuze leading them, it's very possible that we will be overwhelmed within a week."

"I think I want to go home," Shikaku whispered, and he didn't look as if he was joking. Plenty of people around them were looking grim.

"The situation is very dire," Danzou began, taking over from his captain. "But we may prevail if we act quickly and decisively. Frontal assaults against the outpost on the island have failed in the past and with their numbers today it would be next to impossible to drive them out by force. However, with the new arrivals, the outpost will be seeing a lot of strange, new faces and we have been presented with an opportunity to place one of our own among them who is unlikely to be detected. We have decided that in order to save this camp and our village and strike a devastating blow to Kiri, we will assassinate General Akuze."

Minato remained quite still as everyone around him shifted uncomfortably. Everyone knew what was coming, or at least they thought they did. Minato had a better idea of what was really going on.

"While we fortify this camp and call for reinforcements, we need someone to infiltrate the Kiri base. This may be asking a lot, perhaps even asking the impossible, but we need someone of exceptional skill and talent and discretion to take down Akuze." Danzou's eye drifted over the faces of his subordinates as he spoke, as if looking for his assassin. "This person must also understand the risks. Even once Akuze is down, escape is unlikely. But if this brave man succeeds this could turn the tide of this war for good."

Danzou's gaze lingered on Minato for far too long to be a coincidence.

"I would like you all to think about this," the commander went on. "And any volunteers may come to my quarters tonight and-"

Minato stood. "I'll do it."

All eyes turned on him. Danzou looked back at him slowly. "There may be no coming back from this mission, Namikaze," he said. "Do you understand that?"

"Yes, sir, and I wish to volunteer," Minato said.

Danzou smiled, but as usual, there was something unpleasant about it. "Indeed? How noble of you... how like Sarutobi, you are."

He swept out with his captain, and after an awkward lull, people resumed their breakfast. But now the mood was dismal and everyone kept shooting furtive, worried looks at Minato.

Shikaku grabbed his hand. "I need to talk to you."

"Sure." Minato crammed the rest of his toast into his mouth as Shikaku dragged him from the tent and round to back to a secluded spot between two stacks of crates. There, he turned to Minato and folded his arms.

"You can't do this," he said. "This is a suicide mission."

"Yes, I know," Minato said.

Shikaku's foot bounced impatiently. "I mean, it's a suicide mission, Minato. Danzou may be only too happy to send you off with bad info and malfunctioning weapons to make sure you definitely die, but the rest of us don't actually want to see you dead. Shit, the guy probably set this whole thing up just to try and get rid of you."

"He did."

"What?" Shikaku's foot went still. "'He did' what?"

"Danzou is trying to kill me, you were right," Minato said simply. "But then Akuze is trying to kill everyone, so I'll take my chances."

"Minato..." His friend frowned at him in concern. "When did you-"

"Do you remember the prostitute that tried to kill me?" Minato asked, as if any of them would ever forget as long as they lived. "We never got to question her, but she was obviously an assassin meant for me. She didn't choose me at random."

"I know everyone else thinks you're the centre of the universe, but don't you start thinking that," Shikaku joked, though he didn't seem to disagree.

"The only people who knew I was going to be there that night were you and our friends," Minato reminded him. "Daisuke was the one who suggested the prostitute, right? Daisuke was the one who asked for her? Daisuke, the suck-up, who would lick Danzou's boots if the opportunity presented itself?"

Shikaku scowled. "You're suggesting Daisuke is a traitor?"

"No, I think he's perfectly loyal – to the commander at least. But the kunoichi was almost definitely sent by Danzou, and Danzou has been trying to manipulate me into taking a mission like this for a long time."

"And you're just going to let yourself be manipulated?" Shikaku demanded. "Put your foot down – say no! Ask for a transfer before he really does get you killed!"

"Danzou may want me dead, but he's right too!" Minato argued. "Killing Akuze would be the greatest turnabout for this war in ten years! This is worth the risk!"

"No, it's not, Minato, you dumb ass! It's a trap!" Shikaku shouted. "You won't get within a mile of Akuze before his guards have you drawn and quartered – and even if you got to Akuze yourself, he's one of the fucking swordsman! He'll have your head off faster than you can blink! Minato, you're not god! You're no match for someone like that!"

"Someone's got to try!"

"You're throwing your life away!"

"If I can't make a difference then I'm better off dead anyway!"

Shikaku stepped away from him, looking strange. "I'm going to find Yoshino. I'll get her to contact the village and get you transferred back there. I don't think you're fit enough to be out here anymore."

"Do what you like." Minato shrugged and left him.

Even if the order for a transfer came before the mission, Danzou would block it. He wouldn't want to waste this opportunity to send a rival into the clutches of an extremely powerful enemy. Shikaku could try to raise a fuss in the village if he liked, but in the mean time, Minato went to his bunk to begin arranging his weapons and scrolls. If he was going to take on a heavily fortified outpost and one of the seven swordsmen, he would need to plan this carefully.

His bunkmates came and went. Most clapped his shoulders and offered half-hearted support and good-luck, as if they felt they were wasting their breath on someone who was already dead. A few, like Shikaku, seemed convinced he'd misheard the commander and that if they pointed out this was a suicide mission enough times, he might change his mind.

Minato remained resolute, and when the time came he made his way to Danzou's quarters to be briefed.

The commander and his captains showed him maps and layouts and made him memorise the Kiri salute and some 'typical' Kiri nin behaviour, as well as a made-up name and rank in case he was questioned. Given that Danzou had an interest in seeing him fail, Minato wasn't sure how much stock he could place in this information, so he decided not to rely on it too much. He accepted the clothes they gave him – taken from a Kiri nin's corpse similar in size to himself – and was told that how he chose to assassinate the general was up to him.

He was effectively on his own.

As he headed back to his bunk to gather his supplies, he found his path blocked by Yoshi.

"I heard you're taking that suicide mission," she began, biting her lip nervously. "Is it... is it true?"

He shrugged. "I'm going on the mission, yeah," he said. There was nothing officially suicidal about it though, so he refused to say it.

"Couldn't... someone else go?" she asked.

"It has to be someone," he said. "It might as well be me."

"Yes, but you're – I mean-" She swallowed hard. "I don't want you to die, Minato."

He smiled patiently. "Thanks, Yoshi."

"I wanted to tell you, so badly, but now there's no time," she whispered. "Stupid, stupid... I shouldn't have waited this long...!"

"Waited for what?" he asked.

"To tell you I-I love you!"

"Oh," he said. "Ok."

They stood awkwardly, neither able to look directly at the other.

"Um," he began. "Do you want to be my girlfriend or something?"

"You're going on a suicide mission!"

"Yeah, you're right. Sorry." He scuffed his foot against the earth. "Maybe after then?"

She looked at him dubiously, her eyes wide and wet. It made him feel a little uncomfortable. "Do you really think you're coming back from this?"

He shrugged again. No one else seemed to like his odds, so why should he?

Yoshi sighed, her shoulders sagging. "I don't want you to go, but if I can't change your mind at least let me give you something."

This all seemed very familiar. The last time a girl had not wanted him to leave on a dangerous mission, she'd given him a good luck charm. Minato was just wandering what the hell had happened to that thing when Yoshi quietly leaned in and pressed her mouth against his.

So this was what a kiss felt like? Sort of wet and soft and... kind of gross.

Who'd invented this crap?

Minato eased back as quickly as could still be conceivably polite. He smiled at Yoshi, who was really a very nice, pretty girl with fashionably long, blonde hair – and he'd always liked long hair on girls. But it was strange how her kiss had startled him into remembering another girl... a girl whose face he could barely remember.

"What are you thinking about?" Yoshi asked.

He did not say he'd been thinking about Kushina, and some long-forgotten warning about meeting exciting new girls. "About my mission," he said.

"Oh," she looked away, even more deflated than before. Perhaps he really should have been thinking about her instead?

"This is kind of a bad time," he admitted softly. "Maybe we can talk when I get back?"

Tears rose fast in her eyes as she began to step away from him. "Right," she said, sounding angry. "But we both know that's not happening. It's ok. I get it. You don't like me."

"Yoshi – no – I like you, it's just-"

"It's just you'd rather rush off on your little suicide mission than take a minute to talk to me. I get it, Minato. You're just another guy who'd rather die than make time for me! I don't know why I ever thought you were different." She turned and stomped away.

Minato was left speechless. He wandered back to his bunk and dumped his new set of clothes on the bed roll as he grabbed his old rucksack and began rummaging through it. Yoshi was quite gone from his thoughts; he simply was not capable of worrying about the possibility of a love life on the dawn of what was likely to be the last mission of his life, period. Conversely, what did worry him was finding that charm – in fact, he was growing increasingly frustrated that he'd misplaced it. He took the bag and held it over his bed and shoot it with such ferocity that even some of the lining began to fall out.

Something plopped onto the bed by his knee.

"Ah!" he cried and snatched it up, holding it to one of the lamps to make sure it was unharmed.

Aside from some unnamed black gunk that was stuck to the back, the little amulet was just as he'd left it. Now he remembered why he'd put it away – he'd ripped it off so hard after one partocularly devastating mission that the flimsy little clasp at the back had broken and he'd nearly lost it. But now more than ever he decided he needed a little good luck on his side, so he tied the amulet around his neck and knotted it at the back so that the only way to take it off would be to cut it off. He had never considered himself superstitious, but in this instance he could not explain why he felt so much easier with this thing around his neck than without it.

He quickly changed the rest of his clothes, donning the dull ochre vest and a jade green yukata that many Kiri nin wore. His Konoha forehead protector was exchanged for one bearing the Kiri symbol, and with this the transformation was complete. He strapped his supplies around his leg and made his way to the eastern side of the camp where his journey would begin.

A crowd of his comrades were already waiting there to wish him farewell. A few were crying. None of them really believed they would see him again, and Shikaku was notable for his absence. The guy was probably still wrangling with central command, but it was too late. There would be no turning back now.

"Take care, Minato."

"We'll buy you drinks when you get back."

"Give that Akuze guy one for us."

And then Minato set off across the delta, heading into the night and the heart of the Water Isles where hundreds of enemies awaited him.


The seven swordsmen were famous throughout all the shinobi nations as being a handful of the most formidable fighters in the world. They were also a very unknown quantity. Born out of the violent blood trials so many of Kiri's children were submitted to, half of them were mad, wild rogues who answered to no one. The ones who stayed behind, who pledged allegiance to the village that had brutalised them, were perhaps the most insane of all. Akuze was certainly not known to be an even-tempered leader, and Minato wasn't sure what to expect if or when he finally had his target in his sights.

To conserve chakra, he swam the channel between the shore and the First Island, then stayed low between the craggy cliffs to dry off and recover. He needed every ounce of strength. Every advantage he could ensure. He jammed one of his marked kunai into the cliff face, knowing that if things got tough, this would be his only escape, though he wouldn't hold his breath for his technique's effectiveness. It still took several seconds to activate and that was already several seconds too long.

Silently, Minato set off towards the island's outpost, mindful of avoiding the patrolling sentries in the forest. There seemed to be many more of them than he remembered but slipping past them unseen was easy enough if he kept his wits about him.

The outpost was a different matter.

His camp had about six people on watch duty at any given time, but this place had no less than thirty. With high walls and five watch towers, Minato couldn't see a way in that didn't involve crossing directly into the line of sight of the guards, for the forest around the outpost had been cleared and the ground flattened. There was no way of crossing this barren zone undetected, and no doubt they had a barrier or two that would detect a stranger trying to sneak inside.

Minato stayed at the edge of the tree-line to assess the situation and memorise the general layout of the outpost. The maps Danzou had given him to memorise were roughly accurate, but there were far more people here than anticipated. They'd said three hundred, max. Minato would guess in truth it was roughly twice that.

No good. Minato sighed and headed back out into the forest. He would have to do this the tedious way if he wanted into that compound.

A sentry was easy enough to come by. He picked one wandering noisily through the bracken, bored and sulky and young. He wasn't taking his job seriously and that would be his downfall. Minato dropped down from the tree above and knocked the sentry to the ground. In seconds, he'd broken his neck and upon the dead boy's chest he placed a mark.

This would have to be enough. Minato dragged the body as close to the compound as he dared and then retreated back to the furthest edges of the island to wait. This was a patient game he had to play. Eventually his superiors or comrades would notice the sentry was missing and come looking, although depending on their competency, that could be in just a few hours or a few days. But once they did, it was only natural that they would retrieve the body and bring it straight into the heart of their little outpost.

And then Minato would have a direct ticket inside.

He didn't have to wait long. Just a few hours and a couple a snack-bars later, he detected movement around his corpse bait, and sat up to concentrate. It was just one person – perhaps the person who'd come to take over the sentry's shift – standing over the body, and examining it. This one quickly left, but a few minutes later three more bodies appeared. Then, as Minato had hoped, they picked up the body and began to move it.

The alarm would be going out now that there was an enemy on the island. More sentries would be sent out and they would almost certainly tighten security around the outpost. They would not, however, be looking within their camp for their foe, which was exactly where Minato hoped to be before this forest was swarming with Kiri nin.

He tracked the progress of the corpse carefully, as it passed through the gates into the compound and was taken inside some kind of one-room shack. There were multiple people in there, milling around, probably discussing the body and what had caused the death. Minato's foot began to tap a little impatiently. Was it just him, or did those swishing sounds in the forest sound like footsteps coming closer?

Come on, people, he willed silently. I haven't got all day.

Most of the people in the room disappeared from the scope of his tag's senses. Had they left? All he could detect now was one person... perhaps a doctor or a surgeon that had been left to deal with the body? Should he wait to see if this last person left or assume this was about as alone as this body would get for quite some time?

He ran out of time.

"...tracks lead this way."

"You sure?"

"Pretty fresh."

Minato huddled down a little tighter behind his tree. He'd been followed. Perhaps these were just two sentries who'd stumbled across his tracks, or they had been sent out especially to look for him. Either way, Minato was out of options. If he tried to move away, he risked being seen. He needed to be inside that outpost now.

And so he activated the jutsu and felt the now-familiar rush as his body was jerked noiselessly a mile and a half in a fraction of a millisecond. It was always disorientating. Minato swung dizzily for a moment before the overpowering smell hit him. He gagged. But he wasn't alone in this room he'd landed in, and the second he caught movement out the corner of his eye he dove for cover, hands still pressed over his mouth and nose to keep from breathing in that putrid stench.

"...Ah... now it's gone... how curious..."

Minato didn't move, let alone breathe. There was too much of a chance that he would throw up if he took another lungful of that rusty, decaying smell, and that wouldn't look good on a mission report. Instead his eyes darted around, trying to identify exactly where he'd appeared and how to get out.

"Ayato... the mark's disappeared... did you get the photograph? Ayato, you stupid boy..."

Footsteps faded out of the room and away down a corridor. Minato, assured he was alone, sprang up.

It was an abattoir. There was no other way to describe this room full of bodies – human bodies – sliced open on tables and hanging from hooks. More than a few wore Konoha uniforms, and Minato tried not to look too closely. He didn't want to recognise anyone here.

He saw daylight through an open door. Perhaps it was open to let fresh air in, but in through the same door came the insects and flies. Minato heard them buzzing around the corpses he fled past, and he didn't once open his mouth to suck in a breath until he was outside, standing around the back of a group of one-storey wooden shacks. He breathed deeply, eyes clenched shut as he tried to compose himself. He'd always known Kiri nin were barbarians, but that this was a monstrosity that had not yet been reported.

Minato lingered in this quiet little alley between the shacks until he could lift his head and resume a more nonchalant facade. His fingers squeezed the amulet around his neck for good luck before he stepped out into the busy courtyard, hoping to high heaven that no one would take one look at him and take him for what he actually was.

Unfortunately, here was the thing about Minato: he was not just conventionally handsome, he was beautiful. The mark of a successful spy was his ordinariness; having a bland, unmemorable face was key to slipping right through the heart of enemy territory without ever standing out or being noticed.

So unbeknownst to Minato, the moment he stepped out into the open, he was clocked by several pairs of eyes.

His first impression was that this was not even remotely like his own camp. There were three times as many people, for a start, and there was a cramped dirty smell in the air that always accompanied too much overcrowding in too little a space. But the people themselves were different too. The most prominent activity in this compound was one enormous ring of chanting individuals preoccupied with two sparring partners in their midst. At least, he thought they might be sparring. It could have just been a spontaneous brawl.

A woman was watching him. She looked away when he met her gaze, but it was enough to put him on edge. She had only been checking out his pretty face, and wondering why she'd never noticed him before, nevertheless Minato took it as a sign to get moving; he was already attracting attention and rousing suspicion.

Where was General Akuze? If he was anything like Danzou, he would be wiling away most of his time in the biggest tent or shack with every other high ranked shinobi. Minato began to casually move in the direction of the most likely clump of buildings on the other side of the compound.

He passed a group of Kiri chunin gathered around a barrel of water.

"...picked off one of our guys this morning," a woman said. "They're getting desperate, those Konoha bastards."

"Probably heard Akuze is coming for them. I'd be nervous if I were them."

"Screw them, I'm nervous," said the woman. "I don't like that guy. Too many teeth. He killed his assistant last night just because she dropped a book while he was sleeping; woke him up, you see."

"I don't care as long as he helps us win this war," said her friend. "And don't be so open about your criticism. If he'll kill someone for waking him up, he'd happily kill any of us for complaining... and you don't know who's listening."

They both looked around suspiciously, eyes landing on Minato who quickly began to move on. At least he'd confirmed Akuze was here at all. It had actually crossed his mind that Danzou might have made the whole thing up in an effort to reach for an excuse – any excuse – to send him off on a fool's errand from which he might not return.

So just where was this general, anyway?

"Oi, you!"

Minato jerked to face the man pointing at him. It looked like a jonin.

"What are you loitering for?" he demanded. "Haven't you got work to do?"

"I'm looking for General Akuze," Minato answered with perfect honesty. He left out the part about why.

"Akuze? He's over by the armoury, but I wouldn't bother. If you waste his time, he'll probably kill you."

"Thanks," Minato said, and he guessed that large building over there with all the weapons and armament stacked along its walls was probably the armoury. He was aware of the jonin's eyes on his back as he crossed towards it. If the man thought he was untrustworthy, he clearly wasn't too concerned about stopping him from seeing the general. From the sound of him, the man was about as good to his friends as he was to his foes.

Minato knew him the moment he rounded the corner and saw him.

Akuze stood at least two heads taller than everyone else around him, and looked distinctly... odd. Though it was fairly common for some Kiri nin to possess a few physical aberrations, the general took it to the extreme. His skin was the same pale, watery green as she marshes and his hair was long and white and streaked with... was that samphire? And if this didn't tip him off, the enormous sword strapped to his back certainly did. Minato took one look at that weapon and swallowed. Anyone who could swing that around with any sort of proficiency was a force to be reckoned with.

The general was berating someone. Some minor detail had not met his expectations and hell was being paid, and Minato noticed how everyone nearby was keeping several sword lengths away from him. This was not looking good. Although Minato had been winging it since the moment he'd arrived on the island, he had been hoping that the actual assassination could be quick if he could just slip casually past the general and slide a kunai into one of his vital points before he noticed an extra member of his entourage, but Minato could see that approaching Akuze now would be quite obvious. Only assassins and lunatics went near that man, obviously.

"And why hasn't he been caught yet?" the general was bellowing at a comparatively small man.

"We're combing the island, sir," the man replied, looking remarkably calm for a voice that trembled so. "If one of Konoha's people are trespassing, we'll find them. But so much time has passed... it was likely a scout who has long since gone."

Ah. They were talking about him. Minato sidled forward and joined the back of the crowd who were looking on. A few people glanced at him but most took no notice.

"The body was found less than a mile away from this outpost, far outside his patrol area! Whoever did it wanted us to find that body. Why?!"

The man's mouth worked. "I-I don't know-"

"How do you know whoever did this has left the island?" Akuze demanded. "Hm?"

Minato oozed forward through the crowd, slowly and casually enough to not even alert the people he was squeezing past.

"We've increased patrols... they haven't reported anything yet," the man stammered to his general.

"And have you checked our defences? Have you made perfectly sure that no one has infiltrated this camp?"

"Th-The barriers have not been violated," said the man. "If anyone had attempted to enter this outpost illegally we would know about it."

"I have been here all of two days and I could tell you ten different weaknesses in your defences here," Akuze spat. "Don't tell me it's impossible for a rat to penetrate this place when its riddled with holes!"

Minato had now situated himself at the front of the crowd directly behind the general. The kunai was in his hand, hidden by his volumous green sleeves. He just needed to take a deep breath and go for the plunge. This mission might prove to be far easier than everyone back in his camp had insisted.

"I-I assure you, this camp is secure, sir."

"Then – what – is – this-!"

One second, Minato had been lifting his kunai, ready to close the gap and end his mission. The next, he was staring down the length of a sword longer than his body, its tip barely an inch from the end of his nose. He stopped dead, hand frozen in mid-air.

"What a lot of fuss for such a small rat," Akuze said, looking him straight in the eye. That was when Minato noticed his mouth was full of many rows of sharp, pointed teeth like a shark, and his eyes had the queer, squashed pupils of a toad. "Who might you be?"

"No one of consequence," Minato said, looking around at all the nin who were taking out their weapons. He was badly outnumbered here. With the element of surprise gone, he had lost every advantage he had desperately needed to succeed,

"I'll give you credit for getting past the wards," Akuze said. "But I'm insulted Konoha would send a babe to try and take me out. I think I'll send them a message... slowly... piece by piece... finger by finger."

Minato acted swiftly. He threw down a smoke bomb and lunged forward blindly. But maybe those frog eyes gave Akuze unnatural sight, since he had no trouble reaching through the smoke to catch Minato's arm and swing him away, straight into the wall of the armoury. Stunned, he had only enough time to grab one of the katana he'd fallen on and scramble up the wall and onto the roof before the giant sword sliced an enormous gash out of the building where he'd landed.

The man was relentless. No sooner had Minato's foot touched down on the slates of the roof than he had to spin to avoid another sledgehammer blow. And it looked like the rest of the Kiri nin in this outpost were not content to sit back and let their superior fight one-on-one. Minato rapidly fired off a wind jutsu to deflect a rain of senbon and blocked a well-aimed kunai with the scabbard of his katana, all the while he slashed the chakra charged blade of his sword at the general to keep him at bay.

This was crazy. He'd taken on one of the seven swordsmen and a whole outpost of nin who couldn't be defeated with the combined force of his entire camp. In desperation, Minato slashed apart his own sash and threw his yukata at Akuze to block his line of vision. He moved in fast, hoping that if he could just ram a sword through his heart and get it over with, he could activate Hiraishin and get the hell out of there.

Minato had to halt and immediately wheel back as the general's body exploded outwards, inflating to such an incredible size his clothes ripped and spines rose, jabbed threateningly outwards, weeping poison. The man was a goddamn pufferfish! Minato threw a kunai, hoping he might pop like one too, but the blade, even charged with chakra, just bounced harmlessly off the general's pebbled green skin.

What the hell did I get myself into? Minato thought wildly, diving off the roof to run between the shacks to gain some distance and some time to think. Hapless nin charged forward to confront him, but Minato cleanly cut them away. He had no problem with those who stayed well out of his way, but those who insisted on interfering met with a short, sharp death.

Minato's flight was brought to another abrupt halt as the earth turned to impossibly sticky glue. Someone had quite the clever little jutsu. He fired a razor-sharp wind jutsu at the culprit and before the man had even hit the ground, Minato had cut himself free of his own shoes to keep running.

"Where are you going?!"

Akuze slammed into the ground before him, landing so hard he might have caused a crater. Minato raised his sword in defence. Although the general had deflated now, he was still larger than any opponent Minato had ever faced, and the way he handled that sword like it was no heavier than a toothpick was alarming. Still, his swings were – in Minato's eyes – slow and easily predicted. He ducked beneath each slash easily and though he couldn't get close enough to land a hit himself, he knew that the legendary sword was no danger as long as he kept an eye on it. And at least when he was fighting in such close range with the general, no one else would dare attack him for fear of hitting their rather bad-tempered, murderous leader.

"You have a familiar face," Akuze said, forcing Minato to cartwheel out of the path of his sword. "What relation are you to Namikaze Midoriko?"

Minato slashed at the air, releasing a gust of wind that should have cut a normal person in half, but the general seemed to have toughened up his skin for this fight – it washed over him like a weak puff of air.

Akuze barely noticed. "Are you her brother? Her nephew? Her son perhaps?"

Minato did not have conversations with people he intended to kill. With steely calm, he was working out a plan... one final move that would decide who lived here today and who died. He just needed to find the right position.

"You're a shy one, aren't you?" Akuze sneered.

"I have nothing to say to you," Minato rebuked.

"You sound just like her too. You are that stuck-up bitch's son, aren't you? What are you here for? Revenge?" The general laughed. "How fitting that I get to kill the mother and the child."

Minato stumbled. He hesitated. In that brief, split-second, Akuze spat a glob of ice-cold water at him and hit him square in the chest. Minato fell. The water closed around him, turning rapidly to ice and fixing him to the ground. Only his left arm remained free, and all he held in this hand was a kunai.

"Ah, gotcha." Akuze straightened, swinging his sword up and onto his shoulder in triumph. "Did you actually believe that? Kid, I never met your mother in my life, but I reckon there isn't a nin over the age of twenty who didn't rip her page out of the bingo book and paste it onto their bedroom wall. You have her eyes... and her sexy mouth."

It was no use struggling against the ice. Minato lifted his hand and threw the kunai as hard as he could.

Akuze sidestepped it lazily, letting it hit the wall of the building a few metres behind him. "That was your last, best shot and you missed? That's pretty sad. Seems that talent isn't hereditary, after all."

He moved to stand above Minato, lifting his sword, execution style. "Now... give a message to that coward Danzou for me..."

But as he swung down with enough force to sever Minato's head from his body, Minato disappeared.

Witnesses in the final moments of that fight would agree that it was too fast to be any mere body flicker technique. One moment the blond boy was pinned to the ground, about to die, the next he was standing beside the kunai in the wall behind Akuze. Then, quite simply, he reached out and touched Akuze in the middle of his naked back.

Then he disappeared again, this time for good.

Akuze roared angrily for the compound to be searched for the boy – to leave no rock or crate unturned. The brat couldn't have gone far, he raged. And when he was found he was to be kept alive so Akuze could have the personal pleasure of killing him, for no one had gotten away from him before.

But soon the bravest of his underlings began to point out that there was something on his back. A mark. One which bore an uncanny resemblance to the mark the dead sentry had been found with. No amount of scrubbing or chakra cleansing could remove it, and when no sign of Minato could be found anywhere, the coroner who had been charged with investigating the sentry's body was called in for answers. However, the man had few. It might have been a tracking jutsu, he suggested. Or perhaps a doom jutsu? One which would, after a certain period of time, kill whoever bore it.

General Akuze did not like this one bit, and when he retired to bed that night he demanded no less than twenty guards surround his shack, just in case the assassin returned to finish the job. He lay down with his sword in easy reach and assured himself that no green Konoha brat stood a chance against twenty of his best men.

At midnight he awoke to a slight weight on top of him, and when he opened his eyes, he saw his blond assassin above him. How had he gotten in? Why hadn't he heard him? Why... was his bed full of blood?

He screamed out to his guards, but by the time they entered he was dead.

The guards, when later pressed for details as to how one of the most powerful men in the world had been silently murdered in his bed, could only shrug and say they saw a yellow flash and nothing more.


Minato rather enjoyed Danzou's expression when he dropped the legendary sword at his commander's feet. He'd dragged it twenty miles just for this moment alone, to see Danzou struggle to hide his anger and disappointment behind the expected mask of pride and satisfaction. "You did well," he managed to force out, then absconded quite rapidly to his tent, probably to have a tantrum.

"Well?" repeated Shikaku incredulously, who seemed to have forgotten that he'd previously doubted Minato's sanity. "You damn well brought down one of the swordsmen in the middle of his own base! That's fantastic!"

"I got lucky," Minato said modestly.

"Whatever. Everyone to the beer tent!"

Even though Minato really wanted to do nothing more than crawl into bed and curl up for the rest of the week, he was not getting out of the celebrations so easily. It seemed that everyone wanted to buy him a beer that night and wouldn't let him out of their sight until he was so drunk he ended up climbing onto one of the tables and enacting the parts of the fight he remembered – and plenty of stuff he simply made up. Then he recalled dragging a once-more smitten Yoshi up with him, and kissing her in full view of everyone to raucous cheers and hoots, which was a much more pleasurable experience when your alcohol level was twice what was considered medically safe.

When he woke the next morning he was greeted by a splitting headache. Someone had made off with his shirt and written something unflattering about his penis upon his stomach in permanent marker. Yoshi was curled up in the crook of his arm blessed with a permanent moustache... but thankfully she was still clothed.

Mostly.

He didn't remember much of what had happened the previous night, except a lot of laughing and kissing and groping - of his backside - by many more hands than Yoshi's. If there were blanks in his memory, it was possibly because he'd passed out several times.

Right now he needed to wash the hangover out of his head, so he pushed himself up with a grunt and went in search of the shower stalls.

"You the man, Minato," someone said as he passed. They tried to high-five him, but Minato missed entirely and staggered on in search of cleanly salvation. Under the shower head, he brushed his teeth and washed his hair. He stole Shikaku's razor and managed to scrape off his persevering beard growth with almost no blood loss. As he washed, he noticed the lucky amulet still hanging around his neck. He smiled, despite his headache. Perhaps it had brought him luck, after all?

"Ahem?"

Minato glanced around and jumped. Yoshino – Shikaku's Yoshino, not his own Yoshi – was standing on the other side of the modesty screen. Although she was turned away and deliberately not looking at him, Minato still felt scandilised.

"What are you doing here? It's not the girl's hour yet," he said, diving for his towel.

"Actually it is," she said, looking at the sky. "But I don't want a shower, I need to talk to you."

Towel wrapped firmly around his waist, he went over to join her by the screen. Only then did she turn and face him. "What is it?" he asked.

"I just got word from the village," she informed him primly. "They want you to return there as soon as possible."

Minato's heart began to fall. "If this is because of what Shikaku said then-"

"No," Yoshino interrupted. "No, it's something else. They, ah... want you to claim a body."

"A body?" he repeated.

She consulted a note in her hand. "Someone called Ninomiya Mototsune... does that mean anything to you?"

Minato leant heavily on the screen. "Yeah," he said, feeling like air was suddenly a little too thin. "That's... that's my dad."


Dear Hokage-sama,

It is my great pleasure to inform you that the resistance along the Water Isles has been absolutely and incontrovertibly crushed and Kiri forces have been driven back into the water country. The victory has been hard-won, but I do not believe it could have been possible without General Akuze's sudden death and the subsequent fear and disorganisation this inspired in the Kiri forces. For this, we must thank our prodigy, who has exceeded expectations. Without him, this war may have been lost.

It is my impression that over the years he has become a formidable soldier, cunning in strategy and unflinching in execution. I do not believe anyone but this boy could have taken down Akuze, and now I hear reports of his growing legend in Kiri. He is being spoken of there as the 'Yellow Flash', and those who bear the mark of his jutsu are marked for death. It is more than we could have hoped for.

I still remain cautious of the plans you have for him; in my opinion he is growing arrogant and reckless and has begun to challenge authority in a way that may prove dangerous. But in all areas of consequence I believe he has proven himself to be a fit jonin, and I heartily endorse such a promotion in the near future. While our enemies spread his name and fear of his myth grows, I believe he will prove to be a valuable figurehead for this village.

As long as Namikaze lives he will be feared, and so will Konoha.

Yours loyally,

Shimura Danzou


TBC