16

Paths to War

The day was getting slightly lighter as they headed north towards Stone Country. The clouds seemed to whiten the further away from Konoha they got and the sun even graced them with a few rays as they ran and jumped from tree to tree.

It was silent, mostly, since they were running right from whatever they had been doing before the attack, the attack itself and was trying to deal with everything that had happened during a scant few hours. Minato felt his skin crawl, mostly because he felt dirty and was certain he alerted anything with a nose in miles around them to his presence.

It was midday when Sakumo stopped and let himself drop to the forest floor, before standing up and waiting for the rest of the team to join him. Minato stood a little to the back and tried to ignore the wrinkling the Inuzukas did with their noses. It was obvious that they found his somewhat peculiar odor less than pleasing. There were three of them, and three dogs, and they tried to get as far away from Minato as possible without being too indiscreet about it. The Hyuuga simply stood there, staring at a point somewhere over Sakumo's shoulder. It had to be a very interesting spot, because he didn't even look away when one of the dogs brushed up against his legs and stuck a cold, wet nose into his hand. He did, however, absently scratch the dog beneath an ear.

"Well, I want to know if anyone needs a rest before we get going again. I'm just back from a mission so I need to rest up and there is no reason to rush to enemy territory when we might rest while we're still deep in Fire Country."

Minato stepped forwards.

"I arrived from a mission when the first explosion went off," he said and then grimaced.

"And I need a bath. I never thought the smell would linger in the clothes like this."

There was a snort of laughter from the only male Inuzuka there.

"It's the ANBU's headache now," he remarked, mirth lacing his voice. Sakumo too looked as if he wanted to snicker at the ANBU's misfortune, but had the good grace to keep it back.

"That sounds like good idea, yes," he agreed barely containing the smile threatening to cross his lips. Minato sighed. He was bound to be hearing this in the future. He could hear him in his mind. '… and then it was that time when Namikaze Minato and Uchiha Fugaku went through the sewer…'. Oh, yes, he was looking forwards to that.

"If you don't mind me asking, why didn't you go for backup?" the Hyuuga suddenly asked and Minato blinked.

"Honestly? We acted in the spur of the moment… we took a chance and came out on top, or at least with the information we wanted…" he furrowed his brow a little, trying to think back to what he'd been thinking as they ran upside down, hearts racing, senses on high alert and adrenaline coursing through them. Sakumo hummed, but they seemed to accept the answer.

"If no one took chances we'd get nowhere. Anyway, there's a small river not far from here. We'll set up camp there and see to it that all our members are presentable for our duty," he said, humor seeping through the words. Minato refused to roll his eyes as he followed the team leader back up in the trees. They were little more than dark blurs in the trees, the thought of some rest and finally getting rid of the smell spurring them on.

They spent the rest of the day going over what they had of supplies. All of them had more or less been sent off in what they stood in the moment the Hokage announced it, and while he probably was angry as a… well, he was angrier than Minato could remember him being, past or present, and he had a feeling the rest of the team shared his feelings when wanting to scramble to do his orders as fast as possible.

The Sandaime Hokage could be really scary when he wanted to be, he mused and packed the rest of his shuriken back in his pouch. It was luck he hadn't needed that many of his weapons on his last missions. Come think of it, he hadn't even handed over the information he'd gathered. Not that he thought a marriage contract between a lady in Earth Country and one of the Wind – daimyo's distant cousins had anything to do with the attack on Konoha. No, he was more concerned with the current mission.

"You look as if someone kicked your puppy into a fire, kid. Lighten up a little," Sakumo said and Minato looked up to see him squatting down in front of the blanket he'd sorted his weapons and utensils on. He had repacked most of them, leaving only the stacks with exploding tags and smoke bombs left. He had a couple of flash bombs as well, and roughly three handfuls of makibishi, not that it would help all that much if they happened into some serious combat. He peered at the man with some irritation. Sometimes this body was a serious handicap, and putting his age together he was almost thirty, goddamnit. He was permitted to look serious!

The silver haired man must have seen the slight narrowing of his eyes, because he snorted in amusement.

"You sure are a piece of work, eh? Brighten up, you're young. No one your age should have a look like yours. I know! I'm a daddy!"

"Your son is two years old, old man. I am eleven; I've been a ninja since I was seven. I am entitled to worry about an attack on my village and being sent on a mission so soon afterwards," Minato deadpanned. Coffee colored eyes blinked at him in surprise for a moment.

"Old man?" Sakumo repeated almost in shock. Behind him one of the Inuzuka shinobi, Minato would guess he was about twenty, gave him the thumbs up and a grin. Minato smiled succinctly.

"Are we going to stay for the night… 'old man'?" the Inuzuka called over with a wolfish grin. Watching the rest of the team throw themselves on the new nickname Minato couldn't help but chuckle at them. He was reminded of the time he had spent in the future, after Danzou's takeover, when his friends and he had roamed the wide forests and joked around when they had the time. It wasn't so different, he surmised. For the past two years he had avoided taking missions where he'd be teamed up with large groups if he could help it; it reminded him too much of the past… future… something, and with the death his latest sensei he had gotten a feeling of caution when dealing with people. It was kind of… nice, experiencing the camaraderie again.

He finished up and went over to the fire where Sakumo had the offending Inuzuka in a headlock and was rubbing his scalp pretty hard. Minato still felt it was refreshing to see the legends act like people. All you ever learned in history lessons were the dry and static facts about their accomplishments. Not exactly telling anyone what kind of people they were. Even Orochimaru had been admired in Minato's first round at the Academy as Naruto, before they came to the part of the Snake sannin's betrayal of course. Then he was despised, but people still said he was an amazing ninja… and of course he was! The talent, skills and determination made him a genius ninja, but a terrible human.

Minato wondered how far one had to go to lose that difference between the time they acted as ninja; silent, unseen killers and the time they acted as people; as brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers and friends and all which made them human. Ponder philosophical questions was maybe not the best time killer on a mission, but it worked. The nature of the questions was something else. He wondered what his current teammates would say if he told them the nature of his thoughts. He could imagine some shrugs and a few disbelieving looks before he was told that was something everyone had to consider from time to time.

"You killed him," Sakumo hissed at the Hyuga who dipped his head apologetically.

"He didn't give me much of a choice," he answered in his defense, which truthfully was a good one. Their captain rolled his eyes.

"I asked you not to kill them," he said and waved a hand around the clearing. A team of four Rock ninja had intercepted them, or they had intercepted the Rock ninja. Maybe it was a coincident because everyone had been a little surprised at seeing the other ninja there.

It was seemingly no reason for any of them to be there. Minato narrowed his eyes at the ninja at his feet. He would bleed to death within an hour or so if no one did anything with his wound. It was as the Hyuga said; they hadn't been given much of a choice. Minato rather liked living, thank you very much, even if his life was as bizarre as it was.

On the other side of the clearing one of the Inuzuka dogs was giving off what had to be a dog's equivalent of a shit eating grin. He was sprawled out across the back of a female ninja, his weight pinning her securely to the ground and his occasional growl keeping her from doing something supremely stupid. Like trying to move.

She was bleeding at the ankles and Minato knew she would never work as a kunoichi again with those injuries, even if she escaped them alive. The dog had bit the sinews straight off, like some slave traders did with their slaves to keep them from running. Like some predators did with their prey. Perhaps it would be kinder to kill her. As it was she would be limp for the rest of her living days.

One of the Inuzuka's he was teamed with was squatting down in front of the last member of the Rock team, ignoring his cousin who was leaning on a tree, being tended to by what Minato had been informed was his sister. The Rock ninja was tied to a tree and eyed the Leaf ninja with obvious anger and disgust. Minato couldn't quite tell why he was disgusted with them. As far as he knew Leaf hadn't done anything to disgust Rock yet. He should know, in the future it was the then Minato who had razed Rock's pride to the ground and figuratively stomped on it. At least he got the credit. He doubted the man had done it all alone.

"Well, well, well… what do you know! Rock ninja all away up here? I must say it is a pleasant surprise! Whatever would you be doing?" the Inuzuka said cheerfully, too cheerfully as he smiled sweetly at his captive. Stony silence met his declaration. Not that Minato had expected the man to talk anyway. As ninja they were trained not to, even if these guys weren't more than unlucky chunin.

Unlucky because they had run into a team of mostly jounin. He was the only chunin on the team, and still not sure why he was there.

"Cousin dearest, you are scaring the poor man. Relax a little; I am sure they have a perfectly good reason to be traipsing around Stone Country. After all, it is soooclose to Lightening territory. Cloud would be delighted to know we are all taking such interest in their neighbor," the Inuzuka woman spoke in a soothing voice, as if trying to placate a petulant child.

Sakumo gave them a look that suggested they got on with it quickly, or he would deal with it.

In the end they didn't get anything from the man. Minato had watched with a blank face. He never was a fan of torturing people for information. It was one of the reasons he really respected the Yamanaka clan. The way they managed to extract information without inflicting physical pain. Of course, it left their victims feeling utterly violated. A proverb claimed a man could be enslaved in any way, but he was no real slave as long as his thoughts were free. The Yamanakas didn't care what the proverb said, or maybe they hadn't heard it.

The bodies of a random Rock team were effectively done with and they left the area irritated but not really worried.

There are some facts about dead bodies that just are facts. Such as the corps cools off after eight hours, more or less regardless of the temperature around it… as long as the conditions around the body are normal, that is. After twelve hours, the corps is cool to touch, and after twenty four hours it is cool the entire way through. Well, that you wouldn't know unless you cut it open and checked, but still.

There are also other ways to get an idea as to how long someone's been dead. After two to four hours the muscles and the neck and jaw would be stiff, and the rest of the body would stiffen in the next eight to twelve hours. The body would go limp again, after about thirty six to seventy two hours. Not exactly a good measure, but it gave an idea.

You could always look at the coloration on the corps. Red to violet spots on the skin. Someone a little more versed in the course of decay would maybe inform that it is caused by gravity. When the body dies the blood would sink to the lowest part of the body, the veins would pop and the blood seep into the muscles and such around them. Visible after half an hour and would become gradually more visible for the next fourteen hours. The corpse would, after some time, be blown up by gasses and after a month the hair and the nails would loosen. After that long the body would also, depending on where it was, have decayed and may be eaten by everything from animals to maggots.

Minato knew these things quite well. He also knew that no self respecting ninja would leave his kill for all to see unless it was an assassination of a non – ninja or requested in the mission that the body was left intact… as intact as a dead body can be, that is.

It was because of that the body they had found confused them all to no end. It was clearly a ninja; the uniform and the forehead protector and the weapons declared him as such. He had a kunai lodged in the back of his neck, which would explain his rather less than stellar health condition, but it didn't explain why the body was left in the middle of a field.

A field, which by the way, should have been tended to by a farmer and not be the overgrown mess it currently was. Minato grimaced as Sakumo moved the body only to find it infected with small white worms. The ninja had been dead for a long time, they could all see that. The eyes had already been picked by some bird; they were usually the first the birds went after because of their softness. The hair wasn't loose, which gave them some idea as to long he'd been dead, but not much. Being succumbed to the weather and wildlife had corroded the body more than it would if it had been indoors.

"That's… plain disgusting," the Inuzuka woman said with her nose wrinkled. It was they who had noticed the body in the first place, or their dogs had. Minato never was sure if they had the same sense of smell as their dogs, of if their dogs informed them of what they sensed.

"Take a look around and see if you find anything. If not we'll just get rid of the body and be on our way," Sakumo said and rose from his position on the ground. He didn't look as disturbed as the Hyuuga, who had the misfortune of seeing the body with his eyes activated. The stoic man peered at Sakumo closely before he spoke.

"If I die, make sure to burn my body," he implored and the silver haired team leader nodded absently to the request.

"Sure."

Sakumo stared at the Hyuga and raised an eyebrow in question as to why he was making this request.

"I do not want to be… devoured by… maggots," the stiff explanation was given after a staring match Minato quietly admired. He didn't know anyone could outstare the white eyes. He glanced at the forehead protector. Hidden Haze had a problem if they left their ninja lying around dead like this.

Any traces of battle or strife were long gone from the scene and the only tracks they found were from foxes who'd fed on the dead body. No one seemed particularly worried about it, though, and it was a good token for them anyhow. It meant they might be getting closer to finding the hidden village.

After two weeks of searching and nothing to report home about but more unexplained dead bodies, which were steadily more decayed indicating that they had been killed at the same time, Minato felt ready to either scream his head off in frustration or declare the mission a flop and go home.

They had run back and forth across Stone Country, which wasn't that large, and still not seen hair nor hide of anything remotely related to a hidden village, if you didn't count the dead bodies they stumbled upon every now and again. Not that they had been numerous, and they had been spread out.

"Oi! Captain, are we staying for the night?" the oldest of the Inuzuka's asked. His name was Akio. He was a second cousin of Tsume, or something like that. He had seemed to be confused himself when he tried to explain it. Minato had never met the man before, and had asked more out of politeness, like the good little genius he was, than of any real interest.

Their resting place was like many of the others they had had for the past week. Stone, Minato decided, was borderline desert, with waste areas of wasteland. It wasn't the dry, sandy desert of Wind Country either. No, this was the colder and shadier kind of desert. The kind which is found in high areas of the world, which would be natural since it was just before entering Lightening Country with its mountains. Their village was, like the others, aptly named.

No, Stone Country was not the place Minato would have expected them to spend two weeks searching for some decrepit hidden village with no major ninja to their name and no real power to speak of. The only noteworthy thing they had ever done was to commit certain suicide by attacking Konoha. Now, if they could only find the place…

"Captain?" the Inuzuka tried again when no response was forthcoming. Sakumo seemed to be deep in his own thoughts, staring at a map of Stone Country. When he looked up his eyes were narrowed.

"Tell me something. How many bodies have we found so far?" he asked and the team exchanged looks.

"Ten," the female Inuzuka, Junko, answered curious as to what their captain were thinking.

"They were all killed at approximately the same time, but didn't stick together. I can only guess that they either were forced to part, or they didn't have the option to go together in the first place, which leads me to believe the fled something, or somewhere."

"Fleeing? From what? It's not like we knew what they were planning before they attacked us and I've heard nothing of Hidden Haze being to interest of us before," Akio said and squatted down on a stone. Minato looked at the map Sakumo had and saw that he had marked the places they found the bodies. He glanced up at him.

"You think the village is somewhere between the bodies," he said and Sakumo nodded though something in his eyes didn't sit well with Minato. There was something… he didn't know, but from Sakumo's face he thought the silver haired man might have an idea he wouldn't share with them quite yet.

"So, back to the dreary highland it is," Junko sighed.

Sometimes their occupation sucked.

Five more days past by before the found Hidden Haze Village. What was left of it. Minato had seen some pretty disturbing things in his life as Naruto; civil wars always ended up the worst on the civilians, but he had never seen total eradication before. A look at his current captain told him what he wanted to know, that Sakumo had started to suspect this long ago.

The village was situated in a small valley with natural hot springs, creating a permanent haze over the area. It might have been thicker and denser when the village was there; enforced with chakra like the Hidden Mist strengthened the mist covering their village.

The village, or what was left of it, was completely destroyed. There was nothing left aside from a few structures sticking up from the ground. No smoke, no bodies, no personal items, not nothing beside the few walls and wooden beams left.

"This is weird," Akio muttered and sniffed the air.

"It smells of burnt soil," he grimaced and his cousins agreed in low murmurs as they looked around. It was eerily quiet. This high up sounds should have carried well in the thinner air, but it was nothing for them to hear but the sounds they made themselves.

"Something is odd about this place," the Hyuga said in a low voice. His eyes were focused on what was left of the village, but his brow was furrowed as if he didn't entirely understand what he was seeing.

"No, you don't say. The village attacking us is miraculously wiped from Earth's surface," Junko said dryly. The Hyuga gave her a baleful stare.

"That's not what I meant, even if it is… strange. The village has been buried. What we see is only the rooftops," he explained and Sakumo turned suddenly to look at him.

"Are you sure?" he asked and started to look around as he received a positive answer.

"Well, the area is volcanic," Akio said with a glance at the mountain tops around them. Minato squatted down and picked at the edge of the mass in front of them. The stone was different from what they stood on. More bubbly. It wasn't warm either.

"The lava is located only above the village," the Hyuga informed them blandly.

"If it had come from one of the mountains it would have left a trail. There is none," he elaborated when all he got in return was blank looks.

"That's… not possible. I don't know much about Haze ninja, but I don't think people in general is stupid enough to place their village just on top of an active volcano," Akio argued and the Hyuga shifted his stance a little. A Hyuga shrug, Minato had dubbed it after observing his teammate for almost a month.

"Possible or not, that's how it is."

"It must have been an attack. Remember the dead bodies. They had been deliberately hunted down and killed," Sakumo reminded them. He peered through the hazy air at the former village.

"I must say though, I don't know of any technique able to create lava, or do such wide spread damage."

That said something. Sakumo was old enough to have served under the Nidaime Hokage, who had some of the largest and most widespread water attacks in history. Years down the line he was still revered as the ultimate master over water.

"There is a bloodline in Mist, which allows the user to create ice," Minato offered when the team fell into an uncomfortable silence.

"A bloodline, eh? It is possible," Sakumo allowed. They remained silent for a while more, each pondering the consequences should there be an entire clan of lava wielding enemies out there. It wasn't a prospect any of them looked forward to. It was broken by a small whimper from one of the dogs.

"They don't like it here," Junko explained deftly.

"They claim it smells unnatural and… tainted. I can't say I disagree with them."

"The entire place is spooky if you ask me," Akio agreed with a pointed look at the dead village. Sakumo looked at it for a while longer before he shook his head.

"We better report back to the Hokage. Whatever happened here we are in over our heads. There isn't anything else we can do."

"We did find the village, though, so it isn't as if we failed the mission," Akio said with a nonchalant air. Junko snorted.

"While that is true, we do lack any real information," she quipped. Sakumo looked skywards, somewhat pleading.

"Give me patience," he pleaded softly. It was too soft for anyone but the two closest to him, the Hyuga and Minato, to hear, and they chuckled softly. The third Inuzuka, Katashi, was already trying to convince them the mission turned out on a neutral.

"What do you think?" Minato asked Sakumo, who responded with a despondent smile.

"It's neither here nor there what happened to the mission. Thing is we don't know anything and that is bad. To us, deception is a weapon and it has been wielded against Konoha. We don't know why, or even how, but it has. We don't have information to counter it with, so at the moment we are at the mercy of whoever is behind this."

He gave Minato a grim smirk.

"While we've been stumbling around Stone in search of Hidden Haze Village, somewhere there is someone who's laughing their heads off and congratulates themselves on their own ingenuity. We've played right into their hands…"

"You think Haze was played the same way?" the Hyuga asked quietly so not to involve the ever bickering Inuzukas.

"I don't know. It could be they've been in on it and this is just a ruse, or that they were fooled along and been as hamstrung as we've been."

They fell into silence as they started to run towards Fire Country and Konoha. Minato looked at the darkening sky and couldn't help but think that they were on the path of war.

Yeah, so... it took a while. Truthfully I have written the chapters, but not gotten around to post them. I'm a bit whimsical, and more than a little scatterbrained at times. As soon as something happens I am all into it, and everything else takes a back seat. Especially when my siblings are involved and I am very, very happy to say I'm an uncle now. My sister got twins=) A daunting warning to the rest of us siblings to never have children, I believe. She happily informed us it is genetical.