Hi, if you were previously following me that other story (the one where Shirou becomes an Avenger), I'm sorry to say that I nuked that thing because I wasn't super happy with how it turned out. But that's then, and this is now. And let's stay in the now.

glhf


The threat was not over.

After Minato had sealed the Kyuubi back into Kushina, he had sought out Fugaku to let him in on some alarming information. A man claiming to be Madara Uchiha was the perpetrator of the attack on the village. And real or not, Minato claimed that the fight between them could have gone either way, which didn't bode well.

Fortunately, Minato placed a seal on Madara, which would let Minato attack him anytime he wished, and he wanted Fugaku to come with him.

"You can counter his genjutsu with your Sharingan. You're the best partner I could ask for in this situation," Minato said as he leaned against Naruto's crib.

Kushina was asleep there too, cradling Naruto to her chest. She still looked sickly from the ordeal with the Kyuubi, but the medic-nin had said she would be okay, and Minato didn't seem too concerned either.

Fugaku saw no reason to argue with the man, and just nodded. He still hadn't recovered all the chakra he wasted fighting Danzo, but if everything went to plan, Madara would be dead without the need for Fugaku to intervene.

Minato pushed off from Naruto's crib, and walked over to his kitchen. He rummaged through a drawer before pulling out a hand towel, and pressing his hand against it. With that done, he tossed it to Fugaku.

"Here, keep this on you during the mission. If we get separated, and I'm forced to flee for any reason, you'll be stuck."

Fugaku hummed as he inspected the seal. "Is Lord Third not coming with us?"

Of the casualties in the attack on Konoha, Hiruzen's wife was one of them. Only, it wasn't the Kyuubi that killed her, but Madara.

Minato let out an awkward chuckle as he checked over his stock of kunai. "I almost had to fight him to stop him from coming along, but our village was just attacked, and he's our next strongest shinobi, after me. Someone needs to stay back to ensure the village's safety."

"..."

"What?"

"Nothing, are you ready to go?"

"Yep, everything's in order. Put your back against mine in case there's anything waiting for us," Minato said with a casual ease, as if they were friends going for a night out, instead of going after the man that just attacked the village.

Fugaku did as he was told, and drew a kunai, holding it defensively in front of him. I'm at least in the top three.

If he blinked, he would have missed the transition from a cozy living room to the dark cavern that Madara must have resided in. The lack of commotion must have meant that Madara was asleep.

Fugaku felt Minato's body shift, likely in a move to kill the man, but stopped halfway. Fugaku could feel his body tense.

"Obito?" He heard Minato whisper.

He felt Minato's weight shift again, and Fugaku followed, launching himself to the left. Just in time to avoid a spear of wood that lodged itself into the cave walls. Fugaku landed, and spun around, facing the man who attacked Konoha.

It seems that a whisper was enough to awaken Madara, no, Obito. Fugaku remembered the name, he was one of Minato's students. He was said to have died late into the Third Shinobi War, but that must have been wrong, since the man in front of him was definitely Obito Uchiha.

"Why are you doing this? Why would you attack Konoha?" Minato shouted, his previous calm was gone.

"Why? Because you failed me sensei," Obito replied, his single Sharingan spun as the space around him began to swirl. "You weren't there for me, and you weren't there for Rin either."

"Wait!"

"And I will never forgive you." Minato ran through the space where Obito had occupied.

It was just the two shinobi now.

Fugaku looked for something to say, but found nothing. What was there to say after something like that? He instead chose to give Minato some space as he went to investigate the rest of the cave.

He found very little. No food scraps, no belongings, only the smudges from what he assumed was a campfire. Suddenly, the cave shook violently, prompting Fugaku to sprint back to where he saw Minato last.

The entire area was covered in dust and rubble. His Sharingan whirled to life as he surveyed the area, and took note of the sole chakra signature in the area.

"Minato, are you alright?"

The dust began to clear, and he saw Minato more clearly. He was crouched in the center of a large crater, at least as deep as he was tall, but spread out far wider. His hand was lodged in the ground, with faint traces of chakra radiating off of it in small wisps.

"Perfect," Minato replied as he looked up at Fugaku with his signature calm smile. "Let's head back for now."

Fugaku hesitated before answering, the look in Minato's eyes reminding him of why he wasn't chosen to be Hokage. "Yeah."

/-/

It had been a week since that night. Funerals had been held, and repairs were already underway. Fugaku had yet to hear from Minato since then, only seeing him during his public addresses.

Not that Fugaku cared, he had a family of his own to worry about. When he got back from that night, Itachi filled him in on everything he missed. Like how his wife and youngest son were almost crushed by a boulder. Luckily, Itachi managed to destroy it before anything bad could happen.

Fugaku still remembered how his heart had swelled with pride for his eldest. He wasn't even a genin yet, and he was already so strong.

And so, Fugaku found himself wearing an apron and humming a tune to himself as he prepared breakfast for his family. His Sharingan were active, focusing on the multiple pans set on the stove, half of them cooking eggs, the other half cooking bacon. It had to be perfect.

His Sharingan spun, focusing on the whites of the eggs, waiting for them to reach the peak of coagulation. There! He was a flurry of movement as three sets of two sunny side up eggs were deposited onto plates.

The toaster dinged, and he was off. His internal clock told him that the bacon was still thirty seconds away from being done, so as long as he buttered the toast at a moderate pace, Fugaku would be able to serve the perfect plate of bacon to his family.

Minus Sasuke because he has no teeth.

The toast was deposited onto the plates with time to spare as Fugaku turned to face the stove once again. A knock came from the door, but this was more important.

"One second!" The bacon would actually be done in 3.46 seconds.

Another knock came, but Fugaku would not be denied. His internal clock hit zero, and the bacon was sent careening onto the plates, landing softly between the eggs and toast.

With that said and done, Fugaku finally went to the door, and opened it. Minato and Hiruzen were at his front door.

"Good morning Fugaku, sorry for interrupting, but it's urgent," Minato said. His usual calm demeanor was gone, for the first time, the invincible force before Fugaku looked uneasy.

Fugaku let the two Hokage into his house, taking note of Hiruzen's battle attire. "I understand the importance of the mission. Will you be okay this time?"

Minato paused as the temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees. "Don't worry about me, I will fix my mistake."

Itachi and Mikoto, carrying Sasuke, entered the room a second later, and immediately stopped as they took note of the guests.

"Father?" Itachi glanced towards his dad, looking more curious than worried.

"Something's come up," Fugaku sighed. "Eat without me. If everything goes to plan, I'll be back before my food gets cold."

Mikoto set Sasuke down in a nearby crib before going to envelop her husband in a hug. "Be safe out there," she whispered. "I know that you're strong, but I'm terrified of what kind of person would need all three of you to take down."

"It'll be okay," he said as he affectionately poked her forehead. "You said it yourself, it's the three of us against one person."

"He's right, Mikoto," Hiruzen said as he played with Sasuke. "Fugaku and I are just here to ensure that everything goes perfectly."

He left Sasuke's cribside at Minato's beckoning. "Back to back again," Minato said. "Oh, and Kushina told me to tell you that she wants you to meet Naruto at some point this week. She has a ton of freetime now, so just drop by whenever," he said to Mikoto.

The three got into formation, forming a very dangerous triangle. Fugaku's Sharingan spun to life, preparing for whatever danger he met on the other side.

"Be careful fa-." Itachi's goodbye was cut off as the world shifted.

Shit! Fugaku's eyes spun, the blood red ribcage of his Susanno taking form around the three. In the same instant, the world shattered, the heat from the explosion searing Fugaku's skin, and robbing his lungs of air.

The place they teleported to had been a small room saturated in chakra. If Fugaku hadn't recognized the explosive tags, all three of them would have been dead. His Susanno soon dissipated as he fell to his knees, gasping for air.

"He was ready for us," Minato rasped. "He must have cut the skin off his back, and left it here. And those seals, they cut off my connection to my Flying Thunder God markers."

"Stay on guard, there may be enemies waiting for us," Hiruzen said as he pushed himself to his feet.

They were in the middle of a massive dust cloud, too thick to see through.

"Are you two ready for battle?" Hiruzen started flipping through hand seals. "I'm going to blow this smokescreen away."

"Yeah," Fugaku and Minato said simultaneously.

Fugaku got to his feet, pushing his Sharingan to his evolved state. A great gust of wind soon swept through the air, blowing the dust away.

The three shinobi were in the middle of a deep crater, any signs of the room they were in likely reduced to atoms from the explosion.

He took note of four large chakra signatures surrounding the hole. Focusing in, he noticed a man carrying a sword the size of his body, a purple haired woman with wings, a red headed teenager with chakra threads leading towards a floating body, and a man that also had four other different chakra signatures on his person. They were all wearing the same clothes.

But there was no sign of Obito.

"Minato, we should go back," Hiruzen said.

"No." Minato's tone sent a shiver down Fugaku's spine. "They might have information on Obito."

"We're hurt, and the numbers aren't in our favor. And you expect us to hold back enough not to kill them?" Fugaku swore as he noticed a build up of chakra. "Dammit, prepare yourselves!"