Chapter 5: Fate of the Clan

"Okay, so you have your lunch?"

"Yes."

"And you know where to go when you get in there?"

"Of course I do!"

"Oh, is that a good shirt for you to wear? Maybe we should find something else."

"Mom!"

"Kushina, I think it'll be fine."

Minato had to practically pick up his wife, who was kneeling in front of Naruto and messing with his shirt and brushing his hair. Despite her apparent positivity, he could tell that Kushina was obviously very nervous about her son starting at the academy. He could think of several reasons why, ranging from her own experience at the academy to the fact that Naruto hadn't been spent much time out of her sight ever since he had been born. Still, like every mother she had to let go.

"Can we go now Dad?" Naruto pleaded, basically dragging him out of the door. "I don't want to be late."

Minato sighed, gave his wife a reassuring hug and peck on the cheek and walked out the door with his son. Minato had left the house with only his Konoha uniform, purposely leaving his Hokage cloak at home. The reason for this was clear; he didn't want Naruto to stand out any more than he already did. In truth, he was hoping that his time at the academy would be the making of his son. Throughout his whole life so far he had been the privileged son of the Hokage, never had to suffer any kind of hardship and had near enough everything his heart desired. Of course this was intentional, both Minato and Kushina had difficult childhoods for various reasons and they were both determined that Naruto's would be different, with the fact that he was the Kyuubi Jinchuriki partially contributing as well. However, while this meant that he was never really unhappy, it had created it's own problems. Even though he was often a sweet and kind child, he also had an air of superiority about him that Minato didn't like and it could sometimes translate in to rather spoilt behaviour. That's why he had hope the academy would be the making of him; he would finally be on the same level as the other children doing the same work and being judged by the same standard.

"So, what's my teachers name again?" Naruto asked.

"Iruka, although you'll have to call him Sensei" Minato responded. "Remember, in that classroom his word is law and you have to do exactly as he says all right?"

"I know, I know" Naruto said blandly, not really paying attention. "I just can't wait to show everyone what I can do!"

"It's not wrong to want to prove yourself, but you have to remember that there's other people there Naruto" Minato said, but he could tell that he was being ignored.

"I suppose he'll just have to learn this himself" Minato thought, as they turned around the corner. A large crowd had already gathered at the door; a common sight on the first day of term. Deciding not to get too close to the entrance, Minato pulled Naruto aside.

"Can't believe we're here already" he sighed, lightly ruffling his son's hair. "Seems like only yesterday we were changing diapers and protecting you from nightmares. You grew up without me even noticing."

"Come on Dad, this is embarrassing" Naruto moaned, blushing slightly.

"Well, as your father I'm allowed to embarrass you every once in a while right?" Minato chuckled. "Okay then, you get on in there and make me the proudest father in the village."

"Will do!" Naruto said, giving a thumbs up before running off. Minato watched him barge past all of the other students and run towards the door. One of the boys wouldn't let him past and predictably an argument seemed to break out. Even more predictably, the boy in question was Sasuke Uchiha. Minato sighed and went to go and break up the fight, but before he could he noticed that an older boy was already in between them.

"Should have known Itachi would be here, wouldn't miss a day as big as this."

Still, despite the joyous occasion Minato noticed that Itachi seemed to be depressed, his face in a constant state of frowning. He had been this way for a while and it was no surprise. The friction between the Uchiha clan and the village had been increasing over the past few months and this had clearly taken its toll on the young boy. Seeing how the feud had hurt both him and Shisui only strengthened Minato's resolve to finally find that elusive compromise that would end the tension.

"Lord Hokage, your presence is requested at once."

Minato turned around to face the hooded ANBU, who was kneeling before him.

"What's this about?" Minato asked, sensing urgency and a small amount of panic in his voice.

"There's been a horrible incident down by the river," he stammered. "Please, just hurry I can't bear to say it."

"Oh my god, that's him right?"

"I didn't know he was going to be in our academy class!"

"Yes! We get to train with the son of the Hokage!"

Naruto had come to expect these types of reactions from his peers, being the son of the leader of the village attracted attention. However, despite the fact that he often acted as if he was annoyed by it, in truth he loved all of the focus he got from everyone else and he learned how to exploit it for all it was worth.

"Well, you can't all be my friend" Naruto said, as he addressed the crowd of students that had gathered around his desk. "I mean, I don't have that much time on my hands being son of the Hokage and all. We'll just see-"

While he was still talking, Naruto noticed that several of the kids that had surrounded him had run off to somewhere else. Suddenly, another crowd had gathered around the door, apparently very excited.

"You're of the Uchiha clan? They're the elite of the village!"

Sasuke managed to stumble his way through the crowd and find his way to a desk. Several people, most of them girls, followed and sat around him. Unlike Naruto, he didn't seem very used to the attention and was a little overwhelmed. However, Naruto felt absolutely no sympathy for him.

"Damn Sasuke" he thought, as he glared over at the young Uchiha. "Trying to steal my spotlight, this is supposed to be my day to shine!"

"All right everyone settle down, it's time for you to take your seats."

Naruto's first impression of Iruka was that he was friendly at least. He had quite a calm face and didn't see the need to yell at the students when he walked in. However, the deep scar across his nose made Naruto wary. His Dad had told him that war wounds are a testimony to someone's bravery, if they had been injured and made in out alive than they had guts. Iruka had obviously seen battle and that was something he could respect.

"So, looks like everyone is here" Iruka said, after checking the names in the class. "Now, as it's our first class I need to get an understanding of what skill level each of you is at. That means you have to give me a bit of a demonstration of what you can do."

Nervous chatter began at once, several of the students gasped and one even started to cry. Naruto knew that the majority of them wouldn't have done a single day of training in their life, after all not everyone who enters the academy comes from a well respected clan and most rely on the academy to teach the basics first.

Iruka lead the rather terrified class outside to the playground. Once they'd reached a slightly more private area, Iruka turned around to address them.

"Now, what we'll be doing is having small one on one fights to see what you are capable of" Iruka explained. "Of course, I won't be allowing any weapons to be used just in case and each of you can give in at any time, although I'd appreciate some effort."

"What if we don't even know any taijutsu?" a pink haired girl asked towards the back, as she nervously played with her hair.

"Well, I'm not expecting you all to be competent, after all this is your first stage of formal training" Iruka replied softly. "I just know that some will be on a higher level than others and I see this as a good way to test you all. If you feel that the battle has become too tough for you, you are free to give in at any time. Now, lets get started shall we?"

Iruka pulled out a scroll and started reading the various names on the list.

"Let's see, how about we start with Shikamaru Nara and Kiba Inuzuka?"

Kiba was the first to make an appearance from the crowd. He walked over to Iruka smugly, his relaxed attitude giving off an aura of confidence. In contrast, Shikamaru pretended that he hadn't heard what Iruka had said, choosing to hide towards the back of the group.

"Get out there Shikamaru!" a blonde haired girl yelled, as she pushed him through the crowd and on to the floor in front of the entire class. Shikamaru lazily wiped off his clothes and let out a groan.

"Stupid Ino" he said under his breath. "Way too much of a loudmouth for her own good, needs to learn to stay out of my business."

"Come on Shikamaru, let's see what you've got," Iruka said, as he picked the youngster up off the ground.

"Yeah Shikamaru, maybe you'll be able to last about 5 seconds against me" Kiba laughed, as he took off the grey coat he had been wearing.

"Fine whatever can we just get this over with?" Shikamaru moaned, as he walked over to the opposite end of the ground.

"Ready?" Iruka said, as he lifted his arm up. "Go!"

Kiba immediately launched himself towards Shikamaru, using both his hands and feet on the ground to propel himself forwards in a similar way to a canine.

"I give up, you said we could do that at any time right?" Shikamaru said, before Kiba could even get close to him.

"Well, I suppose" Iruka muttered, not hiding the disappointment in his voice. "Why didn't you at least try?"

"There's no point, I've played with Kiba before and he's both faster and stronger than me" Shikamaru commented, already walking back to the class. "I don't even know any ninjutsu yet, so all it would have accomplished would be me getting beat up."

Iruka could only chuckle at Shikamaru's well thought out explanation, as well as Kiba's subsequent angry outburst.

"Next up then" Iruka began, skimming through his class list once more. "Is Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha."

"Yes!" Naruto thought, as he made his way forward and listened to the screams behind him. He knew that they weren't all for him but it didn't matter. He intended to show everyone just how superior he was and he couldn't think of a better way to do that than beating up Sasuke in front of everyone.

"Come on Sasuke!" Naruto yelled out, as he watched his opponent calmly step forward. "Why are you taking so long? You scared I'll beat you as bad as last time?"

"No, I'm just not a huge show off like you" Sasuke replied. "Besides, I've learned a few things from my brother since last time."

"Yeah? Well I haven't just been sitting around my Dad showed me some cool stuff as well" Naruto smirked.

"Ready? Go!"

Surprisingly, Sasuke was the one to make the first move. At a speed that made Kiba look slow by comparison, Sasuke moved towards Naruto. However, he was up to the challenge and was able to block Sasuke's taijutsu barrage of punches and kicks. Not wanting to be outdone, Naruto made an attempt to counter with a kick of his own. Although, this time he wasn't quick enough and merely left himself open to Sasuke's counter, which knocked him to the ground.

"Way to go Sasuke!" someone yelled out which was followed by cheers from the class. Annoyed, Naruto got back on his feet dramatically.

"So, you're a little quicker it doesn't matter" he said spitefully. "I have more to show as well, it's just that I didn't want to embarrass you."

Sasuke seemed rather unmoved by Naruto's claims, which just increased the sense of frustration he was feeling.

"Bunshin no Jutsu!"

In the blink of an eye, there were suddenly three identical copies of Naruto surrounding Sasuke. Once again screams of delight echoed around them but this time the sound was much sweeter to Naruto's ears. Iruka looked completely gobsmacked, a small bead of sweat dripping from his brow.

"What you going to do now Sasuke?" all three Naruto's taunted. "There's going to be three of us coming towards you and you won't know which one is me. I've got this won already."

"Well why don't you just finish me off then?" Sasuke asked, still unconcerned about the events that had taken place.

"You asked for it!" the Naruto's yelled in response before diving in at their opponent. Knowing that there was no chance that Sasuke could possibly counter him, Naruto simply pulled his arm back ready to strike. At first, it appeared that Sasuke had given up, as he made no attempt to defend himself; he only looked around at the clones.

"You're the real one!" Sasuke declared, quickly moving to dodge Naruto's attack and send a powerful kick to his torso. Naruto was helpless to defend himself and took the full force of the blow. He landed hard on the ground and struggled to even stand up again afterwards.

"Ok, I've seen enough" Iruka said, stepping forwards between the two of them. "I have to say, that was very impressive boys, and you're both much further long than I could have ever anticipated. So, we've only got one thing left to do."

Iruka helped Naruto up and walked him over to Sasuke, who was breathing heavily.

"After every battle between fellow Konoha Shinobi, you must link hands in a sign of respect and an acknowledgement that you are still allies" Iruka explained. Sasuke immediately offered his hand but Naruto was reluctant. He felt both ashamed of himself and angry at Sasuke for embarrassing him like that.

"Come on Naruto, no one likes a sore loser" Kiba called out, to the agreement of the majority of the class. Rolling his eyes, Naruto quickly touched Sasuke's hand before pulling it away again.

"Well, I guess that's good enough for now" Iruka sighed. "Naruto, are you able to walk by yourself?"

"Yes" Naruto mumbled.

"All right, well you and Sasuke can both re-join the class before the next fight," Iruka said.

As the two boys walked back over, Sasuke was mobbed by the entire class, who gave him congratulations and patted him on the back. Naruto meanwhile stood to the side by himself, looking on as everyone else practically ignored him.

"Hey" he whispered, unable to even make the required amount of noise. "What about me?"

When a man has seen war, there aren't many things that can force him to recoil in disgust. Minato had seen more than his fare share of battle and killed more enemies than he cared to remember. However, as he stood at the bottom of the cliff that morning, he found that he could barely look at the sight in front of him.

"There was this note," one of the ANBU that had gathered muttered, handing over a slip of paper.

"His eyes" Minato said, as he looked down at the body. "I can't believe that someone would be capable of taking his eyes."

Minato had spoken to Shisui Uchiha just the day before, another routine report in his office. He'd admittedly seemed down and a little stressed but then again he'd been that way for a while. Should he have seen this coming? Had he been neglectful of his duties towards his subordinates? Was this all his fault?

"Stay back, this is an investigation being conducted by the ANBU."

Minato looked over to see four Shinobi being blocked by members of the ANBU and they seemed incredibly upset about being denied access.

"It's fine, let them through" Minato shouted over. "They are members of the Police Force after all, investigating things like this is their job."

Fugaku was the first to make his way through and immediately inspected the body. He then glanced at the note in Minato's hand and appeared to piece everything together from there.

"So it's true," he stammered, physically shaking as he spoke. "You damn fool Shisui, at a time like this too!"

"It's worse than you think" Minato said. "His eyes have been stolen Fugaku and by the looks of it they were taken quite violently."

Fugaku opened up the eyelids that Minato had closed just a few seconds before and swore under his breath as he confirmed what he had been told.

"So, the notes clearly a fake then?" he asked.

"Well, it's quite convincing I'll give it that" Minato commented, as he flipped it open again. "I've read enough of his reports to know that this definitely Shisui's hand writing but copying it isn't such as impressive feat, especially for someone with the Sharingan."

"Is that an accusation?" Fugaku spat.

"Of course not, I merely raised it as a possibility" Minato responded calmly. "I'm sure the same thought must have passed over your mind. An Uchiha would benefit more from Shisui's eyes than any normal Shinobi and the Sharingan would make copying handwriting very easy. Of course, there's many other scenario's to consider as well."

"We'll keep it in mind during our investigation then" Fugaku muttered. "We'd also like to request that the ANBU run a separate inquiry into this as well."

"Of course" Minato replied, just before Fugaku began walking away. He studied the man for just a moment, noting how agitated he seemed. Of course, he had lost a fellow clansman so it was only natural that he might feel slightly upset. However, that just wasn't the vibe he was getting from him, there was a different reason for his mood.

"I suppose you should take his body to be examined" Minato told the nearby ANBU. "It probably won't do much good though, it's obvious that it is the fall what killed him and I highly doubt that whoever stole these eyes would have been foolish enough to leave behind any evidence. Report back to me once the autopsy has been completed, in the meantime I have to go and report to the elders about this."

Unsurprisingly, it didn't take long to gather the three elders to discuss the events. Minato had noticed that they seemed to be attracted to disaster and the more negative events. When it came to a time when they needed to discuss improvement to the village, they were nowhere to be found. It was actually rather unsettling how fascinated they were by despair.

"A rather unfortunate loss, his power was very useful" Danzo said, as he scratched his bandaged eye. "Obviously, what is more concerning is that one of our own is the one who did it. I would say it was almost certainly the Uchiha."

"You're too quick to jump to that conclusion," Minato snapped. "While it is certainly possible, there is no proof of it at all."

"Proof, careful operators will never leave behind solid evidence" Danzo replied. "Sometimes you just have to play the odds Minato as the consequences could be dire."

"That's a ridiculous notion and one that I will never agree to" Minato growled. "We do not convict people based on circumstantial evidence."

"Whatever you say Lord Hokage" Danzo said sarcastically. "Either way, it is clear that we must conduct our own private investigation given that the Uchiha could be personally involved."

Before Minato could respond, a puff of white smoke appeared just in front of the desk they were sat at. The smoke soon cleared to reveal Itachi, who had placed his ANBU mask to the side and was kneeling before them.

"Lord Danzo, honourable elders I come with grave news" Itachi began, apparently not noticing that Minato was sat there. "The situation is just as we feared."

Koharu and Homura nervously exchanged glances with each other, as Minato glared at the elders in both confusion and anger.

"You've been handing out missions to the ANBU behind my back?" Minato asked.

"Itachi, how about you-"

"No Koharu" Danzo said, interrupting his one time teammate. "I think that the Hokage needs to hear what Itachi has to say."

Itachi didn't look up once as he spoke, he merely continued to stare at the ground.

"The clan intended to move by the end of the month, my father had it all planned out" he said. "He wanted to take all of the key vantage points in the village before making his primary attack by marching on the Hokage's office. If all went well, he would be Hokage before the night was through."

"What? No, I don't believe it" Minato gasped. "A coup d'état? Why? Since when?"

"It's embarrassing how little you know," Danzo growled. "We planted Itachi as a spy in the clan months ago and he's been feeding us information ever since. We knew that, being such an Uchiha lover, you would never allow this so we took matters into our own hands."

"You had no right" Minato spat. "We can deal with that later, right now we have to concentrate on this mess. We have until the end of the month, we should open negotiations immediately."

"Actually, that's no longer true" Itachi interrupted. "That was the original plan, however it is no longer viable after Shisui's death. He was supposed to use his genjutsu in order to force you to give up power, I believe that his suicide was in order to foil these plans."

"So, what is the plan now?" Danzo enquired.

"Father seems to have become paranoid, he thinks that the village organised Shisui's death" Itachi sighed. "It looks like his plan has changed from using genjutsu to all out force. He's been talking about gathering the clan and using a full frontal attack and judging by the way he's talking he wants to do it as soon as possible."

"That's madness!" Minato exclaimed. "What's he thinking? A civil war would weaken our defences considerably, it's basically inviting an attack."

"All the more reason for us to make the first move, wouldn't you say?" Danzo said slyly. "The Uchiha currently have no idea that we know of their plans, if you take some of your ANBU and storm the clan I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult for you to erase this problem."

"That is completely out of the question, that's a disgusting suggestion even from you" Minato snapped. "Itachi, can you buy us some time? Even if it's just a few days?"

"I'll try my best of course but my relationship with the clan is not ideal" Itachi admitted. "Still, with Shisui gone it's likely that I am now the clan's trump card so I may be able to at least delay any action."

"That's all I can ask" Minato said, as he got up and walked over to the boy who he had to remind himself was only 13. They then shook hands, as was customary whenever Minato finished a meeting, before Itachi disappeared once again.

It was late by the time Minato stepped into his house and embraced the warmth of his family home, instantly guarding him from the uncharacteristically cold night.

"What's going on in here then?" Minato asked, walking into the front room to see Kushina wiping Naruto's face with a wet cloth.

"Let's just say that the first day didn't go exactly as planned" Kushina responded. "Apparently Sasuke was the one that did this while they were sparring."

"I see" Minato said, realising what must have happened. "I'm guessing your face isn't the only thing hurting, is it buddy?"

Naruto just looked away, acting as if his father hadn't spoken to him. Kushina, sensing another father-son bonding moment on the horizon, got up and headed for the door to the next room.

"I'll leave you to it" she whispered, giving her husband a wink.

Minato walked over and sat on the seat that Kushina had just vacated and unsurprisingly Naruto continued his refusal to look at him.

"You're late" he said in a slightly angry tone.

"Sorry, I had to see Kakashi about something" Minato replied. "So, first day not go to plan?"

"I don't want to talk about it" Naruto snapped, returning to his state of brooding.

"I probably wouldn't want to talk either if I got my ass kicked in front of everyone" Minato chuckled. "It's okay you know, there's no shame in getting beat, there's always going to be someone out there that's better than you."

"Try telling that to Sasuke" Naruto moaned. "He gets in a couple of lucky shots and now he's suddenly the most popular guy ever."

"So, that's what it's all really about" Minato said. "Look, I know it doesn't seem this way now but being popular with everyone isn't the be all and end all of life. Most of those kids wouldn't really be your friends anyway. The best thing is finding a small group of people that really care about you and you aren't going to find that by showing off. Being kind, funny, smart are all more important and is the type of things that people will truly respect."

Naruto pretended that he still wasn't listening but the intense concentration spread across his face betrayed him. Minato's smiled as he stared down at his son but this soon turned to a frown as a rushing feeling came over him.

"Naruto, I have to go" Minato said quickly. "Tell your mother I'll be back soon."

The icy cold of the wind felt painful against his exposed skin, although he couldn't tell if that was the reason that his hands felt numb or whether it was because the numb feeling he felt inside had spread to his extremities.

"After all this time, years of my life spent serving this village has cumulated with this" Itachi thought, as he stood in the shade created by the moonlight.

From his position, he could see the every house in the Uchiha compound. He could see his Aunts and Uncles, his cousins and fellow clansmen going about their nightly routine. People who had cared for him, encouraged him and been there for him since he was a child, innocently eating their dinner and talking.

"No, they are not innocent" Itachi told himself. "Sasuke is still out, now is the time to make my move, I don't want him to catch me before I'm done."

Itachi activated his Sharingan and made his way towards the nearest house, which he knew contained his elderly Aunt and Uncle. He stretched his arm out to grab his short katana when suddenly a figure appeared to block his path.

"You know, when Minato Sensei told me why he wanted me to follow you, I couldn't believe it. How could you Itachi?"

"Kakashi, your tracking skills are as excellent as ever I didn't even notice you" Itachi replied. "Still, you shouldn't interfere with something that you know absolutely nothing about. This is something that I must do and I cannot afford any disruptions."

Itachi threw a handful of Shiruken, which were predictably blocked. Kakashi drew a kunai and engaged Itachi in a kenjutsu battle, with the sounds of clashing metal echoing through the night.

"Shit! I can't afford this" Itachi said to himself, as he jumped back to create some distance. "If the clan realise what's going on this will be next to impossible. However, if I waste too much chakra in order to deal with Kakashi quickly then I will be at a huge disadvantage."

Deciding that it was best to deal with Kakashi quickly, Itachi activated his Mangekyo Sharingan.

"I'm sorry Kakashi but I need to get you out of the way" Itachi said, as he focused his gaze on the eyes of his Senpai.

Kakashi hurriedly launched a single kunai at Itachi, who simply moved his head to the side to avoid it.

"I am truly sorry for this Kakashi" Itachi sighed, as he prepared to activate his jutsu.

Although, not for the first time that day events took an unexpected turn. He felt the pressing of cool metal against his neck and could feel the heat of compressed chakra against the opposite ear.

"Just try it and I'll give you something to be sorry about" Minato rasped from behind him.

"Lord Hokage!" Itachi exclaimed realising that the chakra he felt was the famous Rasengan.

"It was you wasn't it!" Minato accused. "You were the one who took Shisui's eyes and you were the one that ended his life."

"You're partly right" Itachi admitted, as he realised that his mission was now doomed to failure. 'Although, there is still so much that you have wrong."

"Well, how about you enlighten me?" Minato growled, as he pressed the kunai further into Itachi's neck. "I've had enough of being lied to about this clan so it's finally time for some honesty. After that, we'll see where we stand."

"Well, this is certainly an unexpected turn of events. I had no idea that you could possibly fail this badly, Itachi."

"Shut your mouth you bastard, you've already manipulated him enough."

After Itachi had revealed the truth about the ANBU's surveillance of the Uchiha over the last few years and his orders to assassinate the clan, it didn't take long for Minato to realise the source of the problem. Luckily enough, Danzo was still in his office at that late hour and the Hokage had brought Itachi and Kakashi with him to confront the elder.

"You've blown it Minato, just as I knew you would" Danzo spat. "The Uchiha are like a virus, they will bring this village down from the inside it was my duty to act where you would not. The fact they are willing to take power through force should be enough to convince you."

"Don't try that crap with me, I can see through you" Minato shot back. ""You're the one that created this entire situation, the one drove the clan to consider a coup as their only option. What I can't understand is why? Why would a man who professes to love the village want to slaughter some of its inhabitants?"

"I see that explaining things to you is pointless" Danzo sighed. "Fortunately, I have a backup plan that I can now finally use."

Suddenly, Danzo ignited with jet-black flames that caused him to scream in agony. The heat emanating from it was extraordinary and caused Minato to jump back in fear. He quickly glanced around to see Itachi, whose bleeding eye made it evident that he had cast the jutsu.

"Itachi, why?"

"He has Shisui's eye" Itachi explained, as he panted from the exhaustion of using the jutsu. "Judging by the colour of the chakra in his eye, he was about to cast Kotoamatsukami on you so I had to act."

As he finished his explanation, Itachi's expression changed to one of shock. Minato spun around to find that Danzo had somehow completely disappeared.

"So the rumours were true," Itachi gasped.

"What rumours were those?" Kakashi asked, as he scanned around the room.

"Some of the Root members claimed that Danzo had the cells of the First Hokage implanted in the arm that he kept covered up, of course I didn't believe them until now" Itachi explained. "The fact that he was able to perform that jutsu does give undeniable proof of those claims.

"Which jutsu was it?" Kakashi pressed for more information.

"Izanagi" Minato answered before Itachi could. "The ancient Uchiha technique that allows the user to make reality an illusion, including any injuries they sustain. Apparently the cells of the Senju are required in order for it to be successful. That Danzo, I can't believe he had a technique such as that up his sleeve. He's probably escaping the village as we speak."

"So, we should go after him right?" Kakashi asked. "After all, he moves very slowly so we should be able to catch him."

"Not very likely, Danzo knows this place better than anyone" Minato sighed. "Plus, based on what Itachi told us about communication via the curse marks he placed on the tongues, he probably has his Root operatives covering his escape. That old bastard managed to outmanoeuvre me, he's been deceiving me for years."

"So what do we do from here?" Itachi asked, confused for one of the first time in years.

"Well, just because it will be difficult it doesn't mean we shouldn't at least try to stop him" Minato responded. "After all, with the information he has on the village and his pathological need for power he will be a very dangerous enemy of the village. Kakashi, I want you to set up a pursuit squad at once and find him."

"Of course" Kakashi replied, before leaving at once.

"What will we do?" Itachi asked.

"We're going to go and talk to your father" Minato replied. "Hopefully, it's not too late to repair the damage that Danzo has done."

"I can't believe this. Itachi, you would betray the clan for this village."

"Don't blame Itachi for this Fugaku, it was a combination of things that has led us to this point not least of which was Danzo's plotting."

Minato and Fugaku sat face to face with each other in the latter's home. Itachi and his mother Mikoto nervously stood to the side watching.

"So, the great Fourth Hokage was deceived by an old fool" Fugaku muttered. "I bet that one hurts, doesn't it Minato?"

"You see Fugaku, this is exactly the type of behaviour that needs to stop" Minato sighed. "You need to understand, all I have ever wanted from the start was for us to work together and that can still happen."

"How can I trust you? Why should I trust you?"

"Enough of this Fugaku!" Minato yelled, knocking the table over between them. "Do you want to know where all of this talk has led to? Do you want to know what your mistrust and anger has led to? Your son was literally two minutes away from killing everyone he has ever loved and do you know why? It wasn't just because of Danzo, it was down to the position you forced him into. Who knows what will happen if you let this continue!"

"Mom, what's going on?"

Sasuke walked into the room while rubbing sleep from his eyes. He looked around the room, trying to understand what was happening.

"It's nothing Sasuke, come on let's go back to bed" Itachi said, taking his brother by the hand and leading him away.

"Do you want your son to be orphaned?" Minato continued. "If you continue down this path and really do try to attack, that's what is going to happen."

"All right, I get your point" Fugaku conceded. "I'm just tired Minato, tired of feeling persecuted and tired of all this pressure."

"Well, we can end all that if you would just be willing to work with me" Minato responded, as he offered a handshake. "So, what do you say?"

Fugaku eyed the hand suspiciously, as if he thought that Minato would attack him at any moment.

"I'm not saying that I'll agree to everything you suggest, nor am I happy with every policy of this village" Fugaku began, as he leaned forward slightly. "However, I am willing to negotiate with you Minato."

The two men then shook hands and began discussions over how they could finally move forward.

A/N: Firstly, the next chapter should be out by next week hopefully but after that releases might be a little more spaced out because I am going back to University.

Secondly, I know some people were looking forward to the conversation between Minato and A. Rest assured, that conversation will come up later so you won't be missing out on it.

Thirdly, I need your guys help with something. The next chapter will take place after the Academy graduation and will feature the formation of the Genin teams. I can't decide whether or not to mix up the teams or keep them as they are in canon. I have storylines for both so I'll leave it up to you guys. I have a poll up on my profile that I will leave up for the next two days so you can vote to either keep the teams the same or change them up. However, just so you know if the teams are mixed up I've already decided on the new one's so you won't be able to influence who is paired with whom. Anyway, hope you guys liked this chapter and you'll keep reading :)