Chapter Twenty Four: Regrets

Every move Minato made never failed to surprise Itachi. Or maybe he had gotten so used to seeing how the Sandaime did things that any decision that was contrary to what Hiruzen would have done was surprising. Different. Refreshing.

An incident like the Hyuuga compound break-in would have been brushed underneath the rug under Hiruzen's rule, existing as nothing more than faded whispers among the higher ranking shinobis. However with Minato at the helm, the matter wasn't so quickly brushed aside and forgotten. In fact, it was practically the talk of the town that Minato was meeting with the Raikage.

Minato was still young, barely in his early thirties, and completely capable of protecting himself. If it was possible, his reputation had grown more fearsome in the years that followed the end of the Third Great Ninja War.

Even if that was the case, Itachi had his reservations about Minato bringing along only three shinobis. From an outsider's perspective, the three of them seemed to serve as Minato's guards, but the reality was that the three of them were only there to help transport the prisoners.

Was this Minato's way of showing the Raikage that he didn't feel threatened by Kumo?

Rin's voice floated lightly from the back of the group. "Six chakra signatures ahead. One of them is abnormally large, I'm assuming Killer B is part of the group."

From the front of the group, Minato signaled to her that he had gotten her message. He handed off the Kumo prisoner he had been ushering to Yamato, before he broke away from the group by darting ahead. Itachi and Yamato exchanged confused glances.

"Don't worry about him," Rin reassured them. "Our job is to escort the prisoners to the meet up point."


Six to one. After seeing the Hokage emerge into the clearing alone, Ay felt like it was another slap to the face. As if the first one hadn't been enough, Minato had been so bold to show up alone.

Ay brought along five men, thinking that Konoha would show up with a similar amount, if not more. In the end, he was the one who had made a fool of himself.

Six to one. Ay had shown that he was so unconfident about the abilities of himself, of his own shinobis, that he needed five of his best shinobis to defeat one man. When going against a man who was once hailed to have taken down an entire battlefield of shinobis during the Third Great Ninja War, six to one was reasonable. Except as the Raikage, Ay was supposed to be the strongest of the village, to be the strength of all of his shinobis combined.

Logically, just Ay himself should have been enough to take down the Hokage.

"Hokage," Ay greeted through gritted teeth. Other leaders of the village might, but Ay didn't believe in putting up a fake pretense. He would let the Hokage know exactly how displeased he was.

Minato tipped his head in acknowledgement. "Raikage. It's nice to meet you."

"Where are they?"

Minato jerked his head over his shoulder. "They should be arriving soon. In the meantime, care to enlighten me why you sent your men to kidnap a member of the Hyuuga clan?"

"That's none of your business."

"Oh? But it is," Minato insisted. "You sent your people to encroach upon my territory. Not only that, you were after one of Konoha's oldest kekkei genkais. For what? To steal our powers?"

Ay scoffed. "For someone who hasn't been officially enacted as Hokage, you make bold accusations."

"And for someone who broke the peace treaty first, you certainly act like you're not in the wrong at all."

Peace treaty? Everyone knew that the peace treaty the Five Great Nations signed upon the conclusion of the Third Great Ninja War was merely a matter of formality. None of the nations actually abided by the treaty; all of the bloodshed between the countries simply happened unofficially. They were simply skirmishes between enemies; neither side affiliated with any village in particular.

The new Hokage probably was unaware of the unspoken rule. His actions three days ago, and today were more than enough to sow the seeds of another war. Since Minato was new, Ay tolerated him more than he would with anyone else.

However, Minato was rapidly approaching Ay's limits.

"Don't be so naive, Hokage. No one wants another war. If you know what is good for your village, then I suggest you return my men and allow this matter to drop. Of course in return for your hospitality, please accept my peace offering."

Killer B dropped a bag of cash in the middle of the clearing. The amount was much less than the Hokage had demanded in his threat, but this was the most that the Raikage was willing to give.

It was already such a generous amount. What more did Minato want? Overlooking Minato's actions was already the best gift that Konoha could receive from Kumo. A decade ago, among the Five Great Nations, Iwa and Konoha were hailed to be the strongest of the two. By virtue of Suna and Kiri's poor location for economic trade, Kumo was ranked third. Even so, their nation's prowess was still completely lacking compared to the powerhouses known as Iwa and Konoha.

A decade later, everything had changed. In the aftermath of the war, Iwa had been hit the hardest. Within a few years, they slipped from being one of the two strongest nations to being overtaken by Kumo and Suna. The ongoing civil war in Kiri was the only reason why Kiri had yet to surpass Iwa.

Now Kumo had risen to have taken Iwa's place as one of the two strongest nations – Ay even dared to say that Kumo had grown even stronger than Konoha. While Konoha never experienced a collapse like Iwa did, under the old man's leadership, Konoha's growth had stagnated substantially. It seemed like the village was content in remaining where they were at, while Kumo sought out aggressive growth and advancement.

"If you think a measly amount of cash is enough to bribe me to back down, then you're wrong."

The corner of Ay's lips curled up into a smirk. "Then you're looking for a fight. If that's what you want, then I'll be happy to deliver!"

Lightning energy cackled all around him as he activated his lightning armor. With the aid of the enhanced speed, Ay darted forward, fingers curled and ready to land a punch. A punch that was backed with copious amounts of rage, frustration, adrenaline, and pure hatred. One that was strong enough to knock even the strongest men off of their feet, powerful enough to create a dent in everyone's cheekbone structure.

Ay looked forward to punching the arrogance right out of Minato.

Except his knuckles made contact with air.

Halting his steps, Ay spun on the heels of his feet to see that the Hokage had teleported himself onto one of the branches of a nearby tree. A three pronged kunai dangled from his index finger. Aided by a wind jutsu, Minato threw the kunai with deadly accuracy right at Ay's feet. The last thing that Ay saw was the sharp tip burying itself into the dirt before he threw up his arms to block Minato's kick.

The kick felt like nothing to him. When Ay swung his arm to counterattack, Minato was already out of his range.

Ay narrowed his eyes, letting out a grunt of frustration.

The rumors of Minato's speed were no joke. Except, Ay hadn't anticipated that Minato was faster than him. Ay had grown up under the tutelage of the Third Raikage, the only person in the village who Ay acknowledged to be faster than him.

For the next few minutes, the two of them danced around each other. Minato zipped all over the clearing. One moment he was in front of Ay, landing another weak hit, and then the next, he was completely out of Ay's reach. Although Ay could console himself that he was still physically stronger than Minato even if the blonde was faster, as the seconds ticked by, his levels of frustration grew. Using absolutely no other jutsus other than his teleportation, it was clear that Minato was simply toying with him.

The fact that Minato probably didn't even view him as a real threat pissed him off.

Ay upped his lightning armor to grade two. The armor was much stronger than the base version and it afforded him a substantial boost in speed at the cost of draining his chakra much faster. By now, Minato's custom kunai was littered all over the clearing. Burning the locations of all of the kunai into his mind, Ay began to analyze where Minato would appear next based on the patterns of his appearance.

That one.

Right as Minato flickered out of existence, Ay rushed forward towards that kunai. His fist was charged with chakra, ready to land that finishing blow on that pesky Hokage–

The chakra in his fist was released. The impact with air sent a forceful shockwave rippling through the atmosphere, knocking his men off of their balance. When Ay spotted the appearance of Killer B's tentacles, he knew that he had lost that gamble.

His brother retracted his tentacle. A three pronged kunai was noticeably lodged into the flesh…the kunai that was meant to be buried into Ay's backside.

Minato had appeared behind him. How? Ay made sure that he didn't leave his back vulnerable to any of Minato's kunais.

When Minato's feet touched the ground, Ay rushed towards the man. All strategies and tactics were shedded from his mind as anger began to cloud his judgment. It was one thing for Ay to be hurt, but hurting his brother?

Ay wouldn't allow it.

A split second before Ay's fist made contact with Minato, he disappeared from his line of sight. When Ay looked up again, Minato was standing behind Killer B. A kuani was pressed against his brother's throat. However, in return, one of B's short blades was pointed right at Minato's abdomen.

Minato smiled. "Nice reaction."

In the form of a wordless agreement, Minato removed the kunai at his throat at the same time his brother retracted the short blade. Teleporting across the clearing, Minato landed back in the same spot where he had first appeared. He was joined by his three member squad. A man with the most nondescript features that the Raikage had seen, one that he would have mistaken as a civilian if he had passed him in the street. A boy already with graying hair and prominent wrinkles around his eyes; however, his height made Ay think that he was still a kid. And then a young woman, who didn't even carry around a sword like the other two did.

The Hokage's squad consisted of a civilian looking guy, a kid who had yet to reach his growth spurt, and a woman who didn't even possess a proper weapon.

What an insult.

Then again, the fact that Minato had spent ten minutes completely toying with Ay was already the biggest insult. The greatest insult of all? His brother had to intervene to save him. As if to rub salt onto his wound, Minato treated B like a real opponent.

Who was Ay in Minato's eyes? Nothing more than a nuisance.

"If you tell me what I want to know, I'll release your men and pretend like nothing ever happened. Of course, that's on the condition that you don't try any more underhanded tricks. You've seen a fraction of what Konoha is capable of. I suggest that you don't try to find out the full extent of our strength."

Under his breath, Ay grumbled in frustration.

"Our men met someone from Kiri named Ao. He possesses the Byakugan. I wanted to get a hold of the powers of that eye myself," Ay grounded out, still in complete disbelief how he ended up in this state. He couldn't recall the last time he had to admit defeat, probably because it had never happened before.

Damn Minato. Ay swore to remember this forever.

"Thank you for the information," Minato said, tipping his head out of mock respect. Maybe the act was genuine, but now that his head was clouded with all of the ways that the younger man had disrespected him, Ay couldn't help but to perceive every act as an insult.

"This is your only warning. Don't try anything else."

As Minato turned to leave, he stopped to throw one final glance over his shoulder.

"I came here today to represent a new Konoha. From here on out, Konoha will no longer tolerate any harmful acts against the village."

With that parting threat, Minato teleported out of sight, leaving behind a furious Ay who punched the ground in a fit of anger.


Kushina woke up in the middle of the night, emitting a sound akin to that of a strangled gasp. Eyes wide and chest heaving heavily as she tried to catch her breath, Kushina placed a hand on her racing heart in an attempt to calm it down. Minato's arms reached across her shoulders, pulling her quietly into his embrace. Her fingers latched onto the front of his shirt, balling up the fabric tightly in her fist. Ear pressed against his chest, the sound of Minato's rhythmic heartbeat lulled her into a sense of relaxation. At some point, Kushina's hold on Minato's shirt loosened.

Only when Minato felt Kushina relaxing into his hold did he speak up. "What's wrong?"

"I dreamed about sensei and his son again." Upon her confession, an onslaught of tears overcame her. Kushina tipped her head back in an attempt to keep them at bay, but the urge to cry was too strong. A drop slipped down her right cheek. Another followed. Before she knew it, Kushina was reduced to a sobbing mess.

Minato rocked her gently. "Shh Kushina, it's okay. Sensei wouldn't want to see you cry over him."

"I know," Kushina responded in between her uncontrollable sniffles. "It's just one of those nights. I know that I haven't done anything wrong and Sensei wouldn't blame me for it, but the guilt just won't go away. I just can't help but to think if I agreed to his request, if things would be different right now–"

"There's no use contemplating 'what-ifs,' Kushina. You'll only drive yourself insane thinking about it. Unfortunately, we can't go back in time to change things."

"Minato," Kushina whispered softly. "I wish I had agreed."

Minato patted her lightly on the back. "I know, but you had your reasons to not agree. If Sensei was still here right now, he wouldn't blame you for the decision you made."

"He wouldn't?"

"He wouldn't," Minato affirmed. "Go to sleep, Kushina. We'll go visit his grave in the morning and you can ask him yourself."

Kushina nodded reluctantly. Slowly closing her eyes, like she was afraid of what she would see when she did, Kushina laid quietly against Minato's chest. Minato held her tightly, battling his own weariness to remain awake.

Only when Kushina had fallen asleep did Minato allow his own eyes to slip shut.


Kushina knelt down in front of Sakumo Hatake's grave, brushing away the stray leaves on the base of his headstone with her bare hand. Minato crouched down beside her, absently pulling the overgrown weeds around Sakumo's grave while Kushina spoke to her sensei.

She always began with a slew of apologies, then would ask for Sensei's forgiveness. Only after she received a sign of Sakumo forgiving her would Kushina move on to update Sakumo on her life. These days, most of her updates were centered around Naruto and the things he had learned to do since Kushina had last visited.

Every time Kushina ended on the promise of bringing Naruto around next time to visit him, but she never did. Bringing Naruto would mean having to explain who Sakumo was to their son, which would inevitably lead down the path of Naruto asking questions about what had happened to Sensei. Even though it had been well over a decade by this point, Minato still didn't think Kushina was ready to talk about Sakumo without experiencing a breakdown in the middle of it.

Minato understood and he never pushed her to do so. However, constantly seeing his wife wrapped up in grief and guilt didn't alleviate his worries about the state of her mental health. Luckily, they had Naruto; their eternally cheerful and innocent son never failed to brighten their moods whenever they experienced a rough day.

"I don't understand why that old man never carved Kakashi's name onto the memorial stone," Kushina was saying. "You'll do that when you become officially appointed as Hokage, won't you Minato?"

Kushina's tone left no room for argument, and Minato didn't intend to. This was one of the things that the couple agreed on. The entire ordeal of how Konoha had handled Kakashi's situation was one that weighed on his mind for the better part of the previous decade. Back then, Minato didn't have much authority; he had barely been granted clearance to attend Konoha's top secret meetings. Even when he spoke up on Kakashi's behalf, the older members of the council were quick to shut down his proposition.

The decision didn't sit well with him. It never did, but what could have he done? Recklessly go on a rescue mission without knowing any details about Kakashi's whereabouts?

Even though his mind told him no, that was what his heart wanted. It took every fiber of his being to ignore his heart's calling and obediently remained stationed at the western front of the battlefield.

"Yeah," Minato whispered. "You raised your son to be very brave. I couldn't imagine what it was like for him to be ten years old, alone in deep enemy territory. Kakashi's information about Kannabi Bridge was one of the main reasons we were able to decimate Iwa's supply line. Without him, the war would have dragged on for much longer. I'm sorry that he wasn't able to return home safely."

"The old council is just prejudiced against the Hatake clan," Kushina said. Minato could already tell this was the beginning of one of her many rants. "They pinned the blame of the start of the war onto you, but anyone with brains would know that mission was setting you up for failure. And then they didn't want to give you a proper burial; I had to fight tooth and nail to get you a spot in Konoha's cemetery."

"Not even that," Kushina continued, fingers curling up into a tight fist. "They had to drag Kakashi into it! Just because his last name was Hatake, they didn't believe he was worthy of a place on the memorial stone despite everything that he had done for Konoha. I can't believe those old geezers. They're dead now. Recently, a missing nin infiltrated the village and killed them off. I can't say that they didn't deserve to die…I guess it was just karma catching up to them. Sorry for ranting again, Sensei."

A ridiculous theory came to Minato's mind. The attack was targeted. His prime suspect, Okami, was rumored to be affiliated with Konoha. Kakashi was labeled missing in action when he was thirteen years old. Hardly a year after his status was updated to missing in action, rumors of a missing nin who went by the name of Okami began to float around.

Was it possible that Kakashi was actually Okami? That would explain why the four Konoha elders were targeted.

But that didn't explain how Kakashi could have possibly survived Iwa's imprisonment. As far as Minato was aware, Danzo had even sent one of his men to finish him off. Every single odd had been stacked against him. The chances of survival were slim, practically none.

His theory was completely preposterous.

Maybe the stress had started getting to him.

"Sorry that things had to end up that way, Sakumo san. Although it's many years too late, you can be rest assured that Kakashi will receive the proper respect that he deserves. He's done so much for the village."

"I'm sorry too," Kushina added on. "Before you left for your final mission, you asked me if I could take in Kakashi. I'm sorry that I said no." Kushina choked up. "Maybe if I had agreed, things would be different now. At the very least, I shouldn't have let Danzo take him."

"We were sixteen, Kushina," Minato said, sounding almost like a broken record at this point. "We weren't ready to take in a child."

Kushina nodded. "Yeah, you're right. But Sensei? I just want to let you know that if you asked me now, I would have agreed in a heartbeat. Your son was a wonderful child. I'm sorry that he had to leave this world so soon."

The pair was so engrossed with speaking to Sakumo that they didn't notice another presence at Konoha's cemetery. Itachi was three rows behind them, a couple of gravestones to the right, with flowers in hand to pay his visits to his former comrade, Tenma. For Itachi, visits to Tenma's grave had grown to be extremely rare, so on his rare day off, Itachi wanted to make use of that time to pay his respects. Only, he hadn't anticipated this visit to turn into an inadvertent eavesdropping session on the new Hokage and his wife.

And of course, the topic of their conversation had to center around the source of all of Itachi's troubles.

Kakashi Hatake.

Itachi resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. Since Minato had begun integrating Danzo's Root operatives as part of the regular Anbu Black Ops, Itachi had quickly become one of his most trusted right-hand men. Although that trust was most likely in Itachi's abilities to carry out his assigned tasks, rather than Itachi's honesty.

No honest shinobi would conceal important information from their Hokage.

However his rise in status meant Itachi was often privy to some of the Hokage's movements, like the fact that finding Orochimaru, solving the mystery of the Konoha elders' deaths, and bolstering Konoha's secret after being infiltrated – twice – was at the top of Minato's priority.

And every time Itachi heard any mention of the Hokage looking for clues of the assassination case, guilt churned uncomfortably in his stomach. A bit of bile would always rise to his throat whenever Itachi had to look Minato in the eyes, but he would force himself to swallow it back down every time.

To be honest, Itachi wasn't even sure why he was holding out on the information. Kakashi had even said so himself; it didn't make a difference to him if Konoha was aware of his true identity. Confessing what he knew wouldn't change a single thing, other than the status of Itachi's loyalty to Konoha.

However, hearing Kakashi's story made Itachi falter and made him reassess his previous blinding loyalty to the village. Yet now seeing Minato and Kushina in front of Sakumo's graves, lamenting their regrets for not being able to take care of Kakashi, completely uprooted Itachi's beliefs once more.

Kakashi's story painted a looming and sinister dark shadow over the village, giving Itachi the impression that at any moment, Itachi could be the next victim that the shadow swallowed up. Yet Minato and Kushina's apologies were that light that shone upon the village, chasing away the blanket of darkness.

Itachi didn't know what he should believe in anymore.


"Recently, we have been getting an influx of refugees from Kiri that left to escape the civil war. I have assigned most of them to the neighboring towns scattered around the Land of the Myst, but if more come, then we won't have space for them," Konan reported. Of the core Akatsuki members, Kakuzu was the only one who wasn't present, which wasn't a strange occurrence. Kakuzu had no interest in attending meetings; he claimed his time was better used hunting down bounties.

The rest of them didn't complain. Without him, the organization wouldn't be thriving as financially as they were now.

"Ame is a long way to go to seek refuge," Yahiko pointed out. "Any particular reason why?"

Hideki, one of their newest members, was the one to speak up. "Anyone who leaves the village, civilian or not, the Mizukage will send Hunter nins to track them down and kill them. If you aren't loyal to the village, then you are dead. Maybe they believe that the Akatsuki will be able to provide them protection from Kiri?"

From the corner of the room, Okami scoffed. "Your Mizukage has quite an interesting way of managing a village. Why are Kiri citizens being killed in the first place?"

"Anyone with a kekkei genkai are the ones that are being targeted," Hideki explained. "I don't know the exact details, but there was an incident involving a clan with a strong kekkei genkai. It left a bad impression on the people of the village and anyone with a kekkei genkai now is seen to be a traitor of the village. Of course, there are people who don't agree with this practice, so those who could leave have left, and those who stayed…"

"Those who stayed?" Yahiko prompted.

"They formed a group of insurgents. From what I heard, they are a small group, but they are made up of some of the strongest shinobis of the village, including the legendary Seven Swordsmen of the Mist."

"What are their intentions?"

Hideki shook his head. "I'm not certain. Everything I know about them was through rumors. Their group is extremely secretive, no one knows exactly where they are located, how many of them there are, and who has joined. Even the Seven Swordsmen being part of the group is just a rumor."

Yahiko let out a long sigh. "Their current predicament is pretty similar to the situation we were in about a decade ago. Suppressed by tyrannical leadership…we're not going to just sit idly by, right?"

Okami lifted his hand. "Don't be so hasty to intervene. We should do some surveillance before we decide if we want to become involved. Getting involved with the affairs of one of the Five Great Nations is on a different level than some civilian village. By doing so, we're basically declaring war, so we shouldn't be too hasty."

"What? Like what you did with Konoha?" Yahiko retorted, mostly out of jest, but a bit annoyed that Okami didn't bother informing the rest of them about his plans. Courtesy of Kakuzu's slip-up years ago, they knew that Konoha was one of Okami's targets, but the details still remained a mystery for them.

When they heard that Konoha's elders had been assassinated, none of them needed to ask to know that Okami had been behind it.

"We already offended the strongest of the Five Great Nations. What could Kiri do against us? They're too busy killing off their strongest shinobis to have a stable military."

Okami shrugged. "That's true. If you insist, then I have no problems with it."

"Don't listen to Yahiko," Nagato spoke up. "We'll go with your suggestion and complete some scouting first. Going head first into a situation without any information is foolish." At this, Nagato shot Yahiko a pointed look. He turned back to make eye contact with Okami. "What is the plan?"

"I'll be heading in that direction for some personal business, so I'll stop by to do some scouting. Konan, what is our reach in Kiri's territory?"

Konan shook her head. "Kiri is pretty isolated from the rest of the world, so our influence there is weak. When the civil war first broke out, I sent word for our people to retreat because it's too dangerous for them to stay. We have some informants in the areas surrounding Kiri, but I doubt they would know much since the village is pretty closed off."

"Then our best chance is to find one of those insurgents. Do you have any idea which one of the Seven Swordsmen is most likely to have joined the rebellion?"

Hideki's eyebrows knitted together in deep concentration. "All seven of them left the village. I don't know who would or wouldn't be part of the rebellion. I also know the host of the six tailed beast also left. Oh! And also Mei Terumi. She's famously known to be able to wield two separate kekkei genkais. She was one of the Mizukage's first targets in the purge of kekkei genkai users, but I heard she was so powerful that she fought an entire platoon of Hunter nins and managed to escape."

Okami nodded. "Thank you for the information. I'll be back shortly with some news. In the meantime Konan, don't forget about the task I have assigned."

"Of course. I've been working to narrow down the location. I believe Orochimaru may be hiding in one of the neighboring countries to the Land of Fire."


Usually, Jiraiya always left the village in a joyous mood, mostly because he couldn't stand being cooped up in the village all year long. He was the type of carefree soul that enjoyed getting out of the village, to travel to new places, and gather inspiration along the way.

No one needed to point out that one of his most frequented destinations was the Village of the Hot Springs.

That made him the perfect candidate for gathering information. After the conclusion of the Third Great Ninja War, his sensei had granted him permission to do whatever he wanted. Essentially, Jiraiya was semi-retired, except when emergency situations arose.

Of course, Jiraiya didn't believe in taking Hiruzen's kindness for granted. Over the years, he established and expanded his informant network to reach almost all corners of the world. Although it made sense why his protege had assigned him on this mission, Jiraiya thought he was probably better off not knowing. Instead of being able to relax on this trip, his mind was constantly operating in overdrive mode as a mixture of Minato's words and his own crazy theories was constantly on the forefront of his mind.

Kakashi Hatake as Okami? Minato had a point when he admitted that his theory was preposterous, but then again, Jiraiya also acknowledged that his student had a valid reason to make that connection.

After digging up archived mission files from the Hokage's file room, the two of them confirmed he indeed was one of the few people with the proper motive to assassinate all four Konoha elders. Combined with their vague memories of how the village once treated the young boy after his father had been condemned for starting the Third Great Ninja War, both of them could see why Kakashi wouldn't have returned to the village if he survived.

If he even was alive.

And that was precisely the point of Jiraiya's mission.

Confirm Okami's identity.


A/N: Hi again!

Thank you for reading. Until next time.

-MM