Chapter Twenty-six

To the casual observer, Konoha looked like it had seen much much better days, to put it lightly. A more fitting description would be that there was barely a village left to be hidden in the leaves at all. Over half the buildings were in ruin or about to give out on its own weight, the presence of casualties was confirmed but not the quantity, and even the Hokage Monument suffered damage on all four heads and was crumbling piece by piece before everyone's eyes, creating a severe landslide risk if it continued like this.

But despite all this, the residents were celebrating. Even the guests who showed up simply to watch the exams were celebrating. Their beloved Yondaime Hokage had somehow miraculously risen from the dead and saved their asses once again from a threat to their lives. And it didn't look like the shinigami was going to be recalling him now that the job was done. He was here to stay. To protect Konoha.

The only thing that would have made this even better in their eyes was if he held up Naruto's decapitated head for all to see then used it like a hacky sack.

If there was anyone who wasn't swept up in the festivities, it was the Suna nin who had been there for the finals and the Konoha nin who knew that there was more to this than there appeared. It was natural for the Suna nin, after all it wasn't their kage that came back, and the kazekage was so far nowhere to be seen. Same with the guards he had brought with him. For the Konoha nin, these were the ones who were more skeptical than others by natural, and so they simply could not entertain the possibility that the Yondaime's return was what it looked like. Or that this was even the Yondaime at all.

For all they knew, it could have been any enemy, even Naruto himself, posing as the Yondaime. And apparently despite how stupid the idea should be, if the enemy did intend to harm Konoha, the populous was certainly giving them the chance to now with their guard completely dropped.

What was worse was right now if anyone did anything to apprehend the Yondaime, fake or not, they'd be the ones seen as the monsters. Unless they succeeded in proving they were right of course. So for now, there was nothing any of the skeptics could do.

While the people were out celebrating, Namikaze himself had insisted on a meeting with the councils to go over a few things. And the council was predictably more than eager for a meeting like this one. This could be a meeting where everything would go the the way they'd want it to.

"Yondaime-sama let me be the first to say that we cannot express our pleasure enough at seeing you back here with us." Koharu said, deciding that now would be a good time to be a kiss-ass.

Namikaze smiled while seated in the hokage chair, a position that no one would even think to contest him being in right now. At the moment he looked like how people remembered him, blonde hair and blue eyes. No one would have ever guessed he was hiding any features. "I'm glad to be back. Now, I know you all want to get your excitement out of your system, some more than others, and you all have questions for me, but I have a few things to say that will hopefully make you all feel a little better."

'Not likely.' Shikaku thought. Unlike their children, Shikaku, Inoichi, and Chouza had to remain in Konoha to maintain appearances and better provide the escapees a chance to escape. If these three clan heads were noticed absent at this meeting, that would raise an alarm very quickly and the Konoha hunter nin would have been on their asses just as quickly. At least this way Namikaze was distracted from immediate action, and hopefully wouldn't notice the absence of Kurama Unkai. He was taking a big chance himself by not being here with them, having escaped with the rest of his clan, but thankfully the missing Kurama clan wasn't going to be as noticed as the missing Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi clan heads would have been.

Namikaze cleared his throat as everyone gave him their full attention. "I wish I could say that I came back to life by some kind of divine right or way to thwart the shinigami. Sadly that is not true, and from what I've been told from Sarutobi-sama you all already knew that, because some people like the former daimyo and the kyuubi brat have big mouths."

The civilians all sported smug expressions to hear the Yondaime validate their own opinions of Naruto. The clan heads and elder advisers didn't have to since they were already aware of Namikaze's opinion of the boy he sired solely to abuse.

"However, the people outside this room and outside Konoha need to believe that I have come back from the dead." Namikaze continued. "I don't have to remind you all that there are barbaric forces out there that want nothing more than to see Konoha destroyed until not even the ashes remain. While the peace we currently have has been nice, it has only postponed the problem rather than solved it."

Danzou was grinning on the inside at where this was going. A person like him would have no problem being asked to accomplish what he knew Minato was getting at.

"To our enemies, this peace is nothing but a lulling tactic, a means to catch us off guard so they can destroy us all, down to the last innocent baby. Today was the biggest show of evidence I could ever use for that argument."

'Oh gag me you self-serving marauder.' Inoichi rued.

"This problem will not go away by trying to achieve peace. No, the only solution is to strike our enemies first and eradicate them. Only then when there are no enemies left will Konoha, your children, and your children's children truly be safe from what's outside our walls."

He had to pause to allow some cheers of praise and gratitude and some applause as well. The Anti-Namikaze faction made a show of participating to keep up their act, but in all honesty they were disgusted to see just how eager this governing body was to go to war.

"Does this mean we can finally be rid of the demon brat Yondaime-sama?" One of the civilians asked with a hopeful smile on her face.

"In time my faithful adviser. We have to find him first, and bring him to me alive. If anyone in this village has the right to end his life, it is undoubtedly me."

The civilians had mixed feelings about this. They had to admit he had a point, since for years they had believed he had died because of Naruto and if they were going to keep that image up then Namikaze killing the boy would be the most fitting conclusion to it. It would look weird if he didn't want to execute the Uzumaki. But on a personal level, they wanted to take a part in killing him themselves, and wouldn't reject the opportunity to be the one allowed to deliver the fatal blow.

"You are correct Yondaime-sama." Homura said. "But surely locating the boy won't be a problem for someone of your caliber."

Namikaze smiled like a predator. "I already have that in progress. Rest assured we will see him dead very soon. In the meantime, we have other priorities. The village needs to recover from this invasion, buildings repaired and the injured healed. Including my predecessor who took a terrible hit from Orochimaru before I could save him."

"He fought bravely." Danzou said solemnly, making others nod. Though he only said this to make himself look good. Frankly he couldn't have cared less what Sarutobi had done in that fight.

"That he did, though without good care he won't live much longer to enjoy it. Anyway, Konoha has to remain strong and vigilant. The damage we have taken is rather extensive, and with my return here it's inevitable that some of my old enemies will make attempts to take me down once and for all, and likely take down Konoha with me. We have to prepare for this, so our citizens don't suffer more than they already have."

"What do we do about the hostages?" Inoichi asked.

Namikaze raised an eyebrow. "Hostages? What hostages?"

"The ninja from Oto that were captured in the invasion and attacked our ninja. One of which is supposedly his second-in-command."

Namikaze shrugged. "I see no reason to keep any hostages. Orochimaru was their leader and they can die with him as far as I'm concerned."

"A wise choice for our esteemed leader." Homura said with a nod.

"Shouldn't we interrogate a few first? See if they know anything about what Orochimaru was up to that might be have been dangerous to us?" Shikaku asked. "I find it hard to believe the man wouldn't have a contingency plan set up in case he died. I mean he managed to escape Konoha once before but also did unspeakable matters to others while still a shinobi of the village. It would be unwise to pass up this chance to learn what else he's been up to."

"Bah, what threat could any lingering plans of his be to us? We have the Yondaime to defend us from any and all threats." Koharu argued, getting a lot of agreement with that.

"With all due respect, the Yondaime is only one man and cannot do everything." Shikaku calmly countered. "His hiraishin, while impressive, requires careful preparation to use optimally and has been a subject of interest to many people since the last war. We can assume that no one has figured out how to recreate it since they have not used it against us yet, something I'm sure we can all agree our enemies would do once they could perform the jutsu."

"That is a legit point." Namikaze conceded. "But what are you getting at?"

"Our enemies might not be able to perform the hiraishin, but we cannot ignore the possibility that they have learned to defend against it. The hiraishin only works within a specific range, and if Minato has to wait until the enemy shows up to set up the seals then he can at best only realistically use the jutsu against a portion of the group rather than all of it under most circumstances."

Tsume slammed her fist on her portion of the table. "How dare you! Minato-kun is-"

"Hold on Tsume, Shikaku is not wrong." Namikaze cut in, silencing the Inuzuka head. "The reason I couldn't wipe out every Iwa nin I faced was because they had arrived sooner than I thought. I had to act fast in setting up the seals, and as such some managed to stay out of my range. The others only survived because they were rational enough to know not to get within my range, and they didn't want to take the chance that said range wasn't stationary. We can't count on them reacting the same way a second time."

"But surely the hiraishin isn't your only jutsu that can take down everyone you want." Tsume stated.

Namikaze smiled. "And you're right. While the hiraishin is indeed powerful, and as Shikaku here mentioned, not invincible, I never once said that was my only option. I've been perfecting my skills in my absence and developing new ones. I have more options than I did thirteen years ago. But even still, I don't intend to be the only one defending this village. I would be appalled if Konoha had gotten so weak in my absence that it can't defend itself without me."

"I can assure you that our ninja are as strong as ever, but I would like to add there's still room for improvement." Danzou claimed.

'Yeah and we all know what your definition of improvement would be.' Chouza thought bitterly.

"Our training regimes are a must if we are to drive off the oncoming threats to us." Namikaze continued. "Any day now, any number of people or demons will be at our doorsteps wanting to wipe us off the face of the earth simply because we are Konoha. We must be ready to defend ourselves, but we have to rebuild at the same time. Considering this division in priorities that must be settled simultaneously, I am open to suggestions on how to best accomplish this. Though I do have two ideas myself."

Everyone listened in.

"First, like I said originally, we need to keep up the public idea that I have come back to life. Stay vague on how, and give no absolute answer if asked. Just keep everyone outside this room believing that. That idea will hopefully boost the morale of our civilians enough to help them rebuild the town quicker, and give our ninja enough security to train better."

"Our enemies however will be less willing to take that at face value." Shibi noted.

Namikaze nodded. "Yes, but this explanation must be the only one that can get to them by any means. I had to do a lot of work in secrecy these past thirteen years, I cannot let them become aware of that. There's still some work that has to be done, which brings me to my second idea. I want Root reactivated."

Everyone was surprised to hear this, including Danzou.

"After thinking about it, I get the feeling that Danzou had the right idea when he created the group. A cluster of ninja that can perform off-the-record jobs and not be tracked back to us would be beneficial in strengthening Konoha and finding other threats. And having greater emotional control will ensure more efficiency and greatly decrease the likelihood of anyone going traitor for stupid personal reasons. Something I'm sure we all agree we've had enough of already, right?"

"Absolutely." Hiashi said while many others nodded. Seeing what has happened to his family, he knew for sure that everyone anticipated yet another Hyuuga turning traitor on his watch. It made him the laughing stock of the clan heads, at least in his eyes, and he did not like that.

'I think I'm going to celebrate tonight.' Danzou said, letting himself smile but making sure it wasn't too smug and satisfied.

Namikaze then raised a finger. "However, while Danzou had the right idea, he did do a few things wrong."

Danzou lost his smile quickly and soon scowled at the Yondaime. "What do you mean Hokage-sama?"

"Having some missions not include a paper trail is a good idea, however it is the hokage's responsibility to decide what missions will and won't be like that. Deciding for the hokage, like you had done, is essentially a form of sabotage and a power grab. You may advise me on which missions should be more discreet than others, but you are never ever to decide for me. Right now we have to be united against a common enemy, not fighting among ourselves out of some notion that someone here is better qualified than me to lead."

'In other words, we're supposed to follow you without question, trust you whenever you don't tell us something, and believe everyone outside the walls is potentially an enemy.' Shikaku thought. 'Exactly what I predicted from the start.'

"Another problem with Root is that the members should not be completely devoid of emotion." Namikaze continued. "Emotional control can be helpful on missions, but a complete lack of them can be detrimental. The ninja will lack creativity or the ability to handle the unpredictability of human behavior, which will make success harder to achieve. So while Root can be reinstated, the training methods must be adjusted to avoid complete emotional suppression and they will never take a mission without my approval."

Danzou frowned slightly. He has trained many Root shinobi to be the perfect tools for Konoha, and for Namikaze to come in and say differently... it rubbed him the wrong way. "Yondaime-sama, I handled Root the way I did for a reason. It worked best that way."

Namikaze faced the war hawk with firm eyes, matching his hard look with his own. "Are you saying in front of everyone here that you intend to go around my authority and behave as if you were the hokage instead of me?"

Danzou kept frowning, knowing all eyes were on him and what answer he was required to give. "No, I do not."

Namikaze grinned. "Good, because while you can advise me on which missions should apply to Root, the decision is mine. There's a reason that the advisers are not the hokage, the hokage is allowed to decline their advice if he feels doing so is better than following it. If the hokage had no authority to say no, then what's the difference between the adviser and the hokage?"

'Worst part is I have to agree. If I were hokage I would not appreciate my advisers telling me I couldn't refuse them.' Danzou thought. 'Luckily I have plans set in place so that when I am in charge no adviser will be permitted to do anything without my say. I didn't spend years trying to get the job only to end up as someone else's puppet.'

Taking silence as submission, Namikaze returned his attention to his council. "Alright, that's what I had so far to make clear. Before we end this, is there anything I need to be told that could help Konoha get on it's feet faster?"

"Hokage-sama, would you consider taking on the last Uchiha as an apprentice?" Homura asked, envisioning Sasuke becoming as strong if not stronger than the Yondaime.

Namikaze looked to be giving the idea some thought before he spoke. "Actually I think it would be more appropriate to let others who want such an opportunity have a chance to, for lack of a better term, persuade me to give it to them. That would be a better show of character and leadership than simply saying yes to the first option available on a whim."

"But surely the boy is the most deserving of the prestige of being your apprentice. He is the sole survivor of his clan's tragedy and deserves revenge for what has happened." Koharu claimed on her teammate's behalf.

Namikaze shrugged. "Then you have no reason to fear him trying to prove it to me. Unless you're afraid he can't live up to the hype."

"Oh he can. We know he can."

"Then he can prove it himself." Namikaze answered.

"Wait, we just had the chuunin exams. Are you suggesting we host another tournament just to give someone an apprenticeship?" Inoichi asked.

Namikaze looked at the Yamanaka head. "Is there a problem with that? From what I heard, none of our genin made it to the finals. None of them and worse we were hosting the exams here. We've probably lost a lot of business from that alone."

"There is a problem. Throwing a tournament so soon afterwards could be taken as an attempt to get around the International Chuunin Exams Rules. Especially if that's exactly what you're intending to do. Correct me if I'm wrong."

Namikaze shrugged apathetically. "It'll only be a problem if anyone finds out, which they won't, and if by some chance they do we can claim field promotions or have me silence their complaints."

Many nodded, civilian and ninja alike, but Inoichi frowned. 'In other words, it's okay to break the law as long as you can get away with it or bully the person who catches you.' As much as he wanted to call out the hokage on this, he knew doing so was a bad idea.

"Alright, let's give it a week or so, maybe two weeks, enough time to get Konoha back on it's feet and hopefully keep away anyone with their eyes on us. Also this will give the kids who wish to compete time to prepare for it." Namikaze said, and got many nods of support. "Anything else?"

There were no answers.

"Alright, I believe we can conclude this. Go home to your families and assist in the rebuilding in any way you can." Namikaze said before standing up, then he looked at Tsume and Hiashi. "Oh, I almost forgot, if my former teammates would like to have a little team reunion later on that would be nice."

Tsume smiled. "I'd enjoy that."

"I have to see what the extent of damage to my property and clan was first, and make sure nothing was stolen." Hiashi answered. "But after that I wouldn't mind catching up again. Would two hours suffice?"

Namikaze nodded. "No problem. That'll give me time to see how dusty my old place has gotten over the years. Heh, maybe the first D-rank mission I assign should be for someone to clean it up."

There were some laughs at that, but soon everyone left the room.

"This is bad." Chouza said to his old teammates when the meeting was over and the three were gathered at the damaged but still standing Nara estate.

"A better understatement couldn't be made even if we tried." Shikaku added. "The only good thing here is we managed to get our kids out of here along with some trustworthy people to watch over them. Including my wife. But it's only a matter of time until that bastard learns all three of our kids are gone. He's going to put two and two together."

Inoichi sighed. "Sadly that is true. Dealing with Namikaze would be so much easier if he was cocky and impulsive. Unfortunately despite how arrogant and overconfident he may be, Namikaze is not stupid."

Shikaku nodded. "A stupid enemy we could deal with."

"Not only that, but he's obviously opportunistic." Chouza added. "I wouldn't believe for a second that this invasion was a coincidence. Even if I hadn't been told ahead of time by Haku that it was going to happen. Those things that were supposedly invading us, did they ever actually do anything?"

Inoichi shook his head. "No, they didn't. Not that I saw anyway. They at best spooked people and kept the ninja occupied. The chain of explosions did the most damage, but people wouldn't have noticed that the white beings weren't the cause in the chaos."

"So as expected, the Yondaime set up this invasion and endangered people here just to give himself an excuse to make a public appearance." Chouza thought out loud. "But what we don't know is why now? Why not later? Like right after he got his big weapon ready."

"Maybe he has." Inoichi grimly suggested.

Shikaku shook his head. "No, remember he needs the kyuubi for that and that means he needs Naruto. If he had gotten Naruto already he'd be showing off the boy to the cheering public. Besides that girl with the fox summons has assured us Naruto is still safe. So Namikaze's plans for world domination are not done just yet."

"Which brings me back to my point. Why come back here now?" Chouza asked again.

"From what we can gather thanks to our kids and the fox summons Naruto hasn't been sitting around doing nothing. He's been a lot more proactive in standing up to Namikaze than we have been. If I had to come up with an answer, I'd say the most understandable one is that the kid is forcing the Yondaime to play his hand early." Shikaku theorized.

Inoichi leaned back in his chair to get more comfortable. "I sure hope that boy is doing well, and can get our kids to safety soon."

"Kiba!" Tsume called as soon as she got home, or rather where her home had been, accompanied by her partner Kuromaru. Now there were just the remains of walls and crushed furniture. But many Inuzuka were digging for anything salvageable and to make sure no dogs got hurt in the explosions. Her son was among them.

"Yeah Mom?" He asked when he got to her, Akamaru atop his head.

"I got good news for you. The Yondaime is going to host a new tournament shortly where you can have a chance to become a chuunin."

Kiba immediately perked. "Hell yeah! Nothing's keeping me out of that! I'm assuming being a teammate short won't disqualify me?"

Tsume shook her head. "No, this isn't some team test, just a trial of individual skills to see how strong our genin are without traitors getting in the way."

Kiba frowned. Even though he hadn't been in the chuunin exams, he had heard from Sakura that Naruto and Hinata had snuck into the forest and made it impossible for any Konoha team to advance. Granted the way Sakura put it, she'd have you believe they were there solely to ruin Sasuke's chances, but the fact that Team 9 and 10 didn't advance either contradicted that. Either way it didn't matter to Kiba. He had his own reasons to dislike the two, including but not limited to their assault on his genitals months ago.

"And there's an extra prize to the one who wins the whole thing." Tsume continued. "The winner gets to be the Yondaime's apprentice."

Kiba's eyes widened and Akamaru barked. "If I had that I'd become the strongest chuunin in the whole village."

"So I can count on you to train your ass off to make sure you win the champion title of this?" Tsume asked.

Kiba pumped a fist. "Like never before."

The Inuzuka head smirked. "Good. However, when you do win, I want you to do one thing. I want you to decline the apprenticeship."

Kiba blinked and slightly dropped his jaw. Akamaru barked again in surprise, and even Kuromaru looked confused by this. "What? Why the hell would I do that?"

"Because the hokage is going to have enough to work on over the next few months already. Dealing with foreign enemies, rebuilding the village, and killing traitors. Having an apprentice is simply going to be a distraction. You'll be helping your village more by declining."

Kiba frowned. "You're telling me to bust my ass to get a prize... only to throw it away once I get it? No way! When I earn it I'm keeping it!"

"If he wins the prize Tsume, why not let him enjoy it?" Kuromaru added in agreement.

Tsume frowned. "Don't argue with me on this. I know Minato-kun and his time is better spent on being hokage, not being a teacher."

Kiba lightly growled. "Are you saying that teaching me is a waste of time?"

"For him it is. You already have the clan and that genjutsu user as your senseis. You don't need a third, and he doesn't need a distraction. So win the tournament Kiba and turn down the apprenticeship. I'm sure you can get another prize in it's place."

"I don't want another prize. I want-"

"You'll turn it down, unless you want to be a disobedient pup just like Hana." Tsume threatened. "By the way, where is your sister?"

Kiba shrugged. "No idea, haven't seen her yet. Why do you care if she's a 'disobedient pup'?"

"Because she has a duty to her clan even if she thinks she's too good to be part of the pack, and if her apartment still stands we need a place to sleep."

"Alright, I'll go find her. But I'm not declining the apprenticeship." Kiba stated.

Tsume gave him a dark look that promised nothing good. "If you don't want your fun parts ripped off a second time, you will. Now go find your sister."

Kabuto sat chained in a cell, having been captured during the invasion. He had been caught by surprise, a chunk of rubble from one of the exploding buildings in town had hit him in the head and given him a mild concussion. His enhanced healing kicked in but unfortunately by the time he was back to normal he had already been cuffed and suppressed by the Anbu.

If there was one thing he was enjoying about this, it was seeing for himself just how much Ibiki deserved his reputation.

"You could gouge out my eyes Morino and still never get anything useful out of me." He said with a satisfied grin.

"I have something on you already." Ibiki said, opening a folder and looking at the contents. "Yakushi Kabuto, if that is your real name. You participated in the chuunin exams and told the other genin that this was your seventh attempt at it. You're lucky that the ones you admitted this to were still green, but I'm no rookie. We have no records showing you being nominated for the exams that many times. At your age the only way you could have taken the exams that many times is by infiltration, and given the Oto hitai-ate on your person we can safely say how and why. You've been sneaking into each village over the years gathering intel for Orochimaru."

"Bravo, you proved you have common sense." Kabuto said sarcastically.

Ibiki closed the file. "To what end? What were you gathering intel for?"

Kabuto laughed. "I already told you the hard way isn't going to get you what you want. What makes you think the easy way will work instead?"

"Sometimes captives like to gloat when I lead them to it. You seem like the kind of person who's not above that."

"Well, there is one bit of information I might be willing to offer, just to show you how doomed Konoha is." Kabuto claimed. "Those things that did the majority of the fighting, where do you think those came from? You think that Orochimaru created those? They were supplied to him."

Ibiki raised an eyebrow. "Supplied by who?"

"I never got a individual name, but I do know that they work for a group called Akatsuki. Heh, you think Orochimaru or Iwa or Kumo are the only threats to your village? They aren't, the Akatsuki may be smaller, but they can shame all the threats you keep your eyes on. If you'll pardon the analogy, Akatsuki is the king cobra your overlooking because you're too busy fending off the pythons."

"Why should I believe you?" Ibiki asked, seeing that his captive was currently telling him more than he probably intended to at first. If he tread carefully, Ibiki would be able to pry even more out.

"I spent some time with Akatsuki in the past. It's how I made my way to Orochimaru, then decided I favored his goals more than theirs. Doesn't mean I think Akatsuki is any weaker, because they're not. This is the group that Uchiha Itachi is working with now after all."

"What do they want?" Ibiki asked.

A knock was heard at the door, causing both men to look towards it. Before Ibiki could respond, it opened and in strolled Namikaze.

"Yondaime-sama, this is certainly unexpected." Ibiki greeted. "What brings you here?"

"I heard that some of the enemy ninja had been captured and I had a feeling you'd be interrogating them. I thought I'd make things a little easier for you."

"There's no need, I already got some good information out of this one regarding a group called Akatsuki." Ibiki claimed.

Namikaze looked to Kabuto for a bit, then back to the scarred interrogator. "What exactly did he say?"

"That they gave Orochimaru the means to attack us and will be able to do more if we spend all our time and energy focusing on just the more obvious threats."

Namikaze looked back at Kabuto with a mildly unhappy expression. Then without warning he took out a short sword and sliced the white-haired boy's head clean off.

"Hokage-sama what are you doing?" Ibiki asked, shocked by this. "That boy still knew more that could have helped us."

Namikaze sheathed his sword. "He was clearly making up an imaginary threat to throw you off guard Ibiki. He was trying to deceive you into thinking there are threats where there are none."

Ibiki glared. "I've done this job long enough to know when someone is making stuff up Hokage-sama."

"Didn't this guy manage to get inside the chuunin exams multiple times without being caught? Sounds to me like he's a good liar."

"How do you know that?" Ibiki asked.

"Lots of people wanted to talk to me. Including people that work with you. One of them told me you were interrogating a captive that had done such a feat. Anyway, I said there was no point in having hostages and ordered each of the captives to be killed, regardless of any intel they might provide."

Ibiki was appalled. "You can't be serious! We can't just ignore this chance to learn about other problems that might arise later!"

Namikaze shrugged. "Any problems they might have been able to cause can't be any worse than what they already tried. Besides, if they wished to follow Orochimaru then they can die with him." He said before leaving the room.

"By that logic once you die everyone in Konoha should die with you too." Ibiki muttered under his breath.

"Does anyone have any idea what just happened today?" Temari asked when her team had some time alone.

"Not me. I mean, I could tell you that some white things came out of nowhere and someone who looked like the Yellow Flash killed them off, but there's no way that was really him." Kankuro claimed.

"Have either of you seen your father?" Baki asked the two siblings.

"No not since yesterday." Kankuro answered. "I thought he was in the kage booth and maybe trying to see who this hokage impersonator is."

"That's what I thought too. But no Suna nin has seen him. In fact, according to one of my colleagues, this new hokage was impersonating Kazekage-sama in the booth."

Temari jolted in place for a second. "You mean when Otou-sama was watching the exams that it wasn't really him?"

"It looks like that. Which means we don't know how long this impostor has been here, or who else they've posed as here." Baki stated.

"Who is this impostor? And what do they want?" Kankuro asked.

"I don't know. The only way we'll get any answers is to get to the source."

Temari frowned. "You mean fight the man that everyone thinks is the Yondaime Hokage? If we attack him and get caught it'll be seen as a declaration of war."

Baki nodded. "So no one should see us do it. And we need proof that this is a fake. Now, how do we do this?"

After leaving Ibiki Namikaze had another person in mind to speak to. This person was currently sequestered in a bunker hidden from everyone within the chuunin exam stadium. And naturally people had been more than happy to tell their returned Yellow Flash where this person was.

"Hello there Daimyo-sama." He said as he entered the bunker, door closing behind him since it was set to do so automatically. It wouldn't be much of a bunker if coming and going was as simple as a residence.

"Namikaze Minato, so it really is you." The daimyo greeted, standing before the commander of his nation's army. "I have to admit, when people here started saying you had come back to life I was rather skeptical. People can't just come back to life that easily after all."

"It seems you did after all." Namikaze remarked.

"Pardon?" The daimyo asked, confused.

"According to what the Sandaime told me, you came to Konoha not too long ago and confronted him on something. Threats were made, and in the end you 'died'. Yet now here you are, as alive as I am. Care to explain this?"

The daimyo crossed his arms and frowned. "Considering that my source seems to be completely accurate, I refuse."

"If you want me to hurt you, go ahead and deny me one more time." Namikaze threatened, taking out his short sword again. "Are you even the real daimyo? Or one of the Uzumaki impersonating him?"

"Does it matter to you in the slightest?" The daimyo asked.

"If you want to live it will. So tell me, did the Sandaime kill the real daimyo that night, or did you send an impostor and come here for real? And in either case, why are you here now?"

The daimyo grinned. "Wouldn't you like to know? Why not have your interrogators do this instead? Oh right, it would look very bad if the hokage actually ordered his men to interrogate the daimyo himself. And even if you took that risk, you wouldn't want them to know what happened that you're asking me about anyway. You don't want it to look like the Uzumaki are actually ahead of you."

'Damn, he's right.' Namikaze rued. "Then I should just kill you now and get it over with."

"And how will you explain that? As much as the people love you, I don't think they're going to overlook you killing the daimyo. And if you blame the Uzumaki for my death then you're telling them all he was here and there was nothing you could do to stop him. The one thing they want you to do and you couldn't do it." He paused to roll his eyes. "Yeah, your popularity will really last long if you kill me. And that's not even going into the contingency plans I have set up for if I don't go home. You'll be surprised what the Uzumaki will do if I don't make it home alive."

'It looks like this is the real daimyo and he's been convinced to work with Kushina and her brat. That had to be an impostor that came here over a month ago. I don't know what made him come here for real when he could have sent another impostor, or if this is another impostor sent to keep up appearances, but he's right in that I can't just kill him off and get away with it. I need complete support from the citizens right now, not a reason for them to turn against me.'

"I'm not afraid of you Namikaze. And you will never have my support in your plan." The daimyo proclaimed.

Namikaze put away his sword. "Maybe you'll change your mind after spending some time here. Let's see if your precious Uzumaki care enough to get you out of trouble."

With that, the hokage departed the room and locked the door, putting a seal on it for good measure to alert him if anyone attempted to open it.

'Where are you Kushina?' He asked himself as he walked the hall. 'I know you wouldn't pass up the chance to be here, knowing I'd be here too. You'd try to ambush me like I did you in Uzushio, if no reason other than to get your brat back from me. So why haven't you shown yourself yet?'

"Hey sir." A gruff voice called to him. Namikaze turned around, but he didn't see anyone. "Down here."

The blonde man looked down and saw the eternally dour face of Pakkun the ninken. "Oh, Kakashi's summons right?"

"Yep, that's me. Kakashi wants to see you badly, but he knows you're busy with a lot today. So when can he expect you to have some time to chat with him?"

"Tomorrow morning would be best. I did have to do a lot of fighting today and it's been endless meeting after meeting. Even I get worn out. Tell him I'll see him tomorrow and to bring his student. I have something for the boy that he'll like."

"You got it." Pakkun said before leaving.

"Better head home and get something to eat before another person insists on telling me something." Namikaze said to himself. "I know, I'll have a toad get the food for me. Easier for me to get some alone time then."

Biting his thumb and doing the hand signs, Namikaze placed his palm on the floor and summoned a small toad.

What he got was a mangled corpse of a toad instead.

"What the hell?" He asked, completely stunned to see this. He didn't even know it was possible to summon the dead body of your summons. He repeated the jutsu and got another dead toad. Both of them looked like they had been attacked by some kind of predator. But there were no predators in Myoboku.

'Something is seriously wrong here. What are the odds that I would summon two dead toads in a row? Is something going on at Myoboku?' He asked himself, having not bothered to get the toads involved in his invasion plan since they would have been unnecessary.

Concerned, he decided to summon someone who might be able to explain this. He summoned Fusasaku since Bunta obviously wouldn't be able to fit in the building, and almost fumbled off his feet when he received the headless body of said toad elder.

'What the hell is going on here?' He asked himself, immediately sending the bodies back to prevent any chance of anyone else seeing them.

Troubled, he swiftly proceeded to his old house, which took damage in the explosions but remained standing enough to be presently livable. At least he'd have a place of his own to sleep, not that there was a chance that he'd be denied a place to sleep for the night. Once inside and secure, he tried again to summon some toads. And again all he was getting was mangled dead bodies.

At the fifth attempt since he got inside, he finally got a living toad. But it was not uninjured. This toad was grey and white but had a few cuts on it, like whatever had killed the other toads hadn't been able to finish the job on this one. The worst injury was a missing left arm, but the stump was wrapped up to prevent further bleeding.

"What happened at Myoboku?" Namikaze quickly asked.

"All dead... all gone." The toad wheezed, in a mixture of trauma and exhaustion. "They came... we never saw it coming."

"Something invaded Myoboku?" Namikaze asked, barely able to accept he had heard this. "That's impossible. No one could figure out how to get past the defenses. Especially after Jiraiya-sensei helped to reinforce them."

"Mountains were torn down... many of us were crushed by the rocks." The toad continued. "They came... and attacked us. No toad was spared... they killed everyone they could reach. We were too surprised at first... to fight back."

'Myoboku doesn't have an organized militia, so unlike Konoha they don't have a plan of attack in the event something succeeds in getting past their defenses.' Namikaze thought, trying to ignore the irony of how while he was faking an invasion in one place, in another a real one was occurring. But despite ignoring that, one thing did come to him from that thought process. "What attacked?"

"They were..." The toad started, then paused to tremble as if suddenly cold. "They were foxes."

"KUSHINA!" Namikaze roared. "She and that lousy bastard of hers are in league with that damn Kyuubi! Somehow they got the fox summons to collaborate with them, and instead of being here like I expected them to be, they were off killing some of my support! Damn that ramen-loving bitch to hell!"

He stood there fuming for a bit, wanting to lash out at something or more specifically someone. Then he got an idea of who, and he grinned like a lion seeing a fat gazelle.

"Hope you enjoyed your little victory Kushina. Because I'm going to have one right here too." He said to himself before using Kamui to go into his pocket dimension to find his captive.

"Come on out Naruto! You can't hide from me in here!" He shouted, receiving nothing but an echo. Looking at the cubes that created the land of this dimension, he could see the food he had been placing in there to keep the boy alive. Yet they had been untouched, and were going bad. The stench made him gag a little.

"Starving yourself as well as hiding from me?" He called out again, certain that the reason he couldn't see the boy was because he was hiding like a coward or a fool. "You're only making it easier for me to kill you boy."

There was a long pause.

"Still won't show yourself? Alright, you had your chance. Now I'll make you show yourself."

Namikaze's sharingan started spinning and all the blocks and cubes in the pocket dimension started to phase into invisibility. Soon the only things in this prison that would have any substance to them would be the living things within, meaning Naruto would have absolutely nowhere to hide.

Block by block went away until it looked like Namikaze was floating in a dark ethereal sea. But there was no Naruto in sight, anywhere.

"What?" He asked, genuinely confused. He then tried looking for chakra signatures rather than by ordinary visual means, and still got absolutely nothing. "No, this can't be."

But it was. Naruto simply was not within his Kamui.

"How...? When...? Who...?" He started asking, then the rage came back. "KUSHINA!"

Night came, and the escapees from Konoha were taking a break.

"How long do you think it will be before they send someone after us?" Ino asked.

"It's hard to say." Yoshino answered, sitting next to the girl and her son. "He might try sending out hunter nin right away, but it would be hard to explain why he'd think people would desert Konoha during an invasion."

"The hokage will probably spin some tale, saying we were all in league with Orochimaru and helped him invade then took off in the fighting." Shikamaru grumbled. "Not too many people would doubt it."

"Not when it's Namikaze Minato saying it of course." Asuma added.

"Just in case, I can get Naruto's attention and he can help us get somewhere safe." Haku offered.

"You sure about that?" Shikamaru asked.

Haku nodded. "I've been assured that once we got out of Konoha and made it as far away as we could he'd get us to safety."

"It's worth a try."

Haku did the summoning jutsu and when the smoke cleared everyone in the group saw the former blonde dressed in orange, only now he had red hair, purple eyes, and fox ears with four fox tails. In his hands was a charred toad leg, looking like some bites had been taken out of it.

"Naruto?" Ino asked, surprised to see him look like this now.

"The name's Kuramamaru. Naruto is what the man we're all united against wanted me to be called." He corrected. "But it's good to see everyone again."

"It's good to see you too Kuramamaru." Yakumo greeted.

"Hi Yakumo. You been okay?"

The painter nodded. "Every day since you saved me."

"While it would be nice to chat Naru... I mean, Kuramamaru, we could use your help in further escaping Konoha." Yoshino told the fox boy.

Kuramamaru nodded. "Is everyone present and accounted for?"

Everyone confirmed that all who had left Konoha that afternoon were right there.

"Alright, now keep still."

Kuramamaru made multiple clones, one for each person and had one put a hand on each of them. He did a reverse summoning for himself and his clones, and each person disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Next thing they knew, they were in an open valley where many foxes were looking at them, along with a fox-featured Kushina and Hinata.

"Everyone, welcome to Shobikou."