For those who are asking for updates on this story (and all the others) I wanted to keep you updated on whats been going on...

I've actually put all my stories on pause because of several reasons, however the main reason would be that I'm working on publishing a fictional novel so that has taken all my attention!

But never fear! I will be coming back to them soon!

Please be patient with me!

Also, no, none of the stories are up for adoption at this time. I may consider it down the road, but not right now!

THANK YOU to all my readers!

I do appreciate you!

So this chapter is not as long as my previous ones but its still something right?

I know I updated! Crazy right? I just had sudden inspiration today to write!

I didn't have my beta reader available anytime soon so if there are spelling or grammar mistakes, sorry XD

As always! Please Review! I do love reading them!

CHAPTER 23: The Plan and The Process

Although Naruto knew Shikaku's plan, his mind kept flashing to his father. That normally bright blonde hair was covered in thick, sticky blood. His face was swollen from the beatings and his skin was raw from the chakra suppressing restrains that bound him were chaffing his wrists and ankles. He had been stripped of everything save for the navy- blue pants that he normally wore, which by the color was hardly recognizable from the sweat and blood that stained them.

Naruto couldn't tell if his father was conscious or not, and Shikaku had warned him not to speak with the Hokage until the time came. The allies feared that the man behind the abduction would come to know that Minato had contact with them if Naruto spoke with him too much, and just as well, they feared that the brave Hokage might do something rash in order to keep Naruto away.

Naruto shook his head once more when he heard a voice calling his name. It was Yamato. The two Konoha shinobi, along with Gaara, B and few other shinobi from both Kumo and Suna had been traveling at top speed in order to reach the rendezvous point in the time allowed. They had gotten off the island hours ago via a boat, but they had still awhile before they would reach the headquarters of the shinobi forces.

"Naruto!" Yamato called the blonde to a stop when he was finally pulled from his thoughts.

Naruto glanced around and noticed that aside from Gaara, the other shinobi were having a hard time keeping up with him. His blue eyes flicked to the green orbs of the red head who gave him the smallest of smiles in return.

"Not everyone has your stamina, Naruto," Gaara stated.

"Ah, you're right," the blonde replied as he sat himself down in the small flat area they had come to.

"Give us five minutes and we'll be fine," one of the Kumo shinobi smiled and gave him a small wave of his hand in reassurance.

Naruto gave one small curt nod in reply but said nothing more.

"Naruto."

The blonde glanced over and saw B waving him over. He stood, following his fellow Jinchuuriki, with Yamato following close behind as he always did.

A little ways off from the group B stopped, turned and held out a fist to the younger.

And once again Naruto found himself in a mindscape facing the large eight-tailed beast with B sitting on its head. It was the beast that spoke, "You'll need to be care with your new connection to Kurama."

"Why is that?" Naruto replied glancing to the fox in which he was referring to that was sitting up behind him. Kurama held the same suspicious look on his face the mimicked the blonde host in which he inhabited.

"It's new, and not very stable at that. My connection with B is years old, but yours- only hours so when you link with him- use his chakra so to speak, it won't last long, minutes if you are lucky. The length will increase over time, but for now you'll need to be careful when you use it."

"I see," Naruto nodded, "Will practicing help? Or will it only come from time?"

"Only time, the connection will have to settles as ours did," Gyuuki explained.

"He is right," Kurama admitted causing the blonde to turn towards him, "until the connection is completely settled our allotted time will be minimal."

Naruto nodded at the fox, "then we will just have to be picky about when we fight."

"There is one other thing," Gyuuki called.

"Which is?" Naruto asked.

"Now that there is no seal to be broken, this man- Pein- will not have to use the extraction process to take Kurama. Part of the Rinnegan's power is to be able to remove chakra from its host. If he is able to do that with Kurama's chakra then his soul will follow. Do you understand?"

"I do," Naruto nodded, "I made a promise to Kurama and I will not break it. Pein will not have him."

"Good," Gyuuki nodded.

"I believe it is time for us to leave soon," Naruto smiled.

"Ah, it is."

Back in reality, Yamato, along with the other shinobi had been waiting patiently for both men to awaken and once they did they set back out for headquarters.

~O~

He was in pain. A lot of pain.

Although the sensation wasn't new to the Hokage, it was the thought that the pain he was going through was in vain. If Naruto kept to his word-which he almost always did, he would come right into Pein's trap. His son's words kept playing over and over in his mind. Minato kept trying desperately to contact someone but he couldn't contact Inochi or anyone else. He would have to wait until they contacted him, which is if they even could. Naruto could do it, although he wasn't sure how, then surely Inochi could to.

All Minato could do now was pray to the gods that Inochi, Shikaku and Jiraiya, as well as the other Kages would keep Naruto as far away from the Ame as they could. They had to keep him safe, not only for Minato's sake, or Naruto himself, but for the whole shinobi world. He was the Kyuubi's host and had to be kept hidden. But did they even know about Naruto's plan? Did they know that Naruto had contacted him? Did they know that Naruto knew about his current situation? The Hokage part of his mind was running thousands of scenarios and questions through his mind. He tried to focus on the ones that had decent out comes but those where few and far between, so he just kept praying that Naruto would stay safe.

Minato internally groaned at the memory of they last time he saw he son. The fear, hate, resentment that fill those blue eyes were as fresh in his mind as the day it happened. Although Naruto wanted to save him, did he really forgive him? Did he know just how much it pained him to send him away? Did he understand?

He must understand. He must know the real reason, because he accomplished the task of taming the Kyuubi…

Taming wouldn't be the word I would use…

What did his son mean? They are working together now? Minato couldn't understand how the Kyuubi would want to work with someone else, let alone be tamed.

Naruto was also able to talk to Kushina. He was able to see his mom one last time.

At that thought Minato started to feel content, like he had finally gotten something right in this world, but that feeling was gone when the slam of a door caught his attention. They were back.

There were just two of them this time, one male and one female. Both were dressed in the same Akatsuki attire. He hadn't seen the female before. In any other situation, Minato would have thought the young girl was stunning. She had beautiful amber colored eyes, straight blue hair, and even a labret piercing. The other was the same male that Minato had concluded to be the main man behind this whole operation. Pein. The way his orange hair spiked out in all directions and the way he carried himself reminded Minato so much of Naruto that it hurt.

Minato closed his eyes and let his head fall back down, but only for a moment before his head was yanked up by a fist that had grabbed his hair. He was forced to look Pein in the eyes. He had the same blue eyes that Naruto had, although they were darker than his sons and filled with more pain.

"Have you had a change of heart, Hokage?" Pein asked.

Minato didn't reply, but he wasn't sure whether it was because he didn't want to or if it was because his throat was so dry from screaming.

"It doesn't look that way," the girl said as she stood behind the other.

Minato flicked his gaze to hers. Her eyes were filled with the same pain he found in the male's. He flicked his gaze back to the man who was holding his head up by the hair.

"Well, then we might have to do some convincing," the man never showed any emotion while he sent Minato through the pains of torture. He wasn't doing it out of pleasure as some abductors did, but rather out of duty.

The girl nodded and went back to the door they had come through. She disappeared, but five other males appeared. The same ones that had tortured him earlier and they too never seem to get any enjoyment out of the pain that they inflicted. It was just a job to them, and not one they enjoyed.

Minato sucked in a breath as the first punch landed on his stomach. If he wasn't tied to a chair he would have collapsed in pain. They weren't just punching him at random, they were aiming for the spots that would cause the most damage and the most pain, but they would never go to the point of death. They wanted him alive.

Minato lifted his head and spat blood at the man who had punched him.

"He still has some fight left in him," one of the men commented, but he didn't look to see who, "Guess we need to fix that."

The women who was there earlier had returned with a syringe full of amber colored liquid.

"Ah, Konan. Is that what I asked for?" the spiky haired one asked walking over to her.

"Yes, the venom of a platypus," Konan nodded handing it to him. He waved his hand in Minato's direction giving silent orders to the large one who had punched him. He grabbed his hair and harshly pulled his head back so that he was looking directly at Pein.

"Hokage-sama," the man started as he walked over to him from where the women had entered the room, "do you know what platypus venom does to a human?" When Minato didn't respond, he continued, "it is not lethal to humans, but it does cause the most excruciating pain. It also causes hyperalgesia."

Minato's eyes widened slightly at Pein's explanation.

"Ah, it seems you know what that means?" Pein asked but didn't wait for answer, "I believe its definition is an increased sensitivity to pain."

Minato held his tongue. He had gone through more pain training being the Hokage, than anyone else. He was certain he could handle this, but he couldn't have even imagined the kind of pain they were about to inflict on him. Pein took the last few strides that separated him at the Hokage and pushed the needle into his upper arm. Minato let out a loud grunt of pain, even in the injection it self was agonizing.

Within minutes, Minato felt the affects of the injection searing through his body. The rawness the restraints had caused felt like he was being burned, all the cuts and open wounds on his body felt as though he was being stabbed over and over again. He also felt himself retch up what was left in his stomach. Minato suddenly felt cold and hot at the same time. Sweat was running down his face, but chills were covering his body. His head spun and his consciousness was fading fast, but Pein knew this and wasn't going to let Minato dive into the bottomless pit to avoid the pain.

Pein grabbed Minato by the shoulders and sent his knee into the man's stomach. Minato had never felt a worse pain in his life and this pain had pulled him back from the edge of darkness that was threatening to take over. Such a simple attack sent so much pain.

"Now we can't have you sleeping, Hokage," Pein called out, "I'll asked you again. Where is the rest of the Jinchuurikis? Where can I find them?"

"Go…to hell," Minato barely spat out, coughing up blood as he did.

"Hm, well I hate to do this to you, Hokage, but you are leaving me with no choice," Pein's voice was laced with anger. Minato wasn't sure how long he had been detained for but apparently it was longer than Pein thought it was going to be necessary and he was getting impatient.

Minato closed his eyes in order to find something peaceful to think about, but the pain was blocking out everything that would possibly come to mind. Suddenly Minato felt an excruciating pain on his arm causing him to cry out. Pein had pushed a chakra infused kunai in to the injection site which was already painful from the injection it self.

"Hokage, I will allow this to stop, if you just give me the location of the Jinchuurikis," Pein whispered into his ear.

Minato was about to reply when the darkness finally took him.

~O~

"Will you sit down? You are making me dizzy with all of your pacing," Tsunade complained as she watched the large, white haired sage pace back and forth in front of her.

"Shut up, Tsunade," Jiraiya grunted in reply.

Tsunade sighed and pushed off the chair she was sitting on in the headquarters. It was silent and she couldn't take sitting around anymore. She needed something to do.

"Where are you going?" Jiraiya glanced up and saw she was walking out.

"I don't even know," Tsunade shook her head reaching the door, "Maybe to find some…"

"If you say sake I'm going to hit you," Naruto stood in the door way as she opened it.

"Naruto!" Jiraiya called pushing past Tsunade, "When did you get here?"

"Just now," Naruto nodded and glanced past his sensei, "lets get started."

Jiraiya nodded and led the rest of the envoy into the room. The Kages aside from Mei and Minato, along with Jiraiya, Naruto, Gaara, B, Inochi, Shikaku, and the rest of the shinobi that had accompanied the young blonde to the HQ stood around the table that sat in front of the large orb which watched over the rest of the forces.

"Shikaku lets go over your plan one last time," Jiraiya nodded towards the elder Nara.

"Right, this plan is based on the idea that Pein is trying to get the location of the Jinchuurikis out of Minato while waiting for Naruto to come to him. Our best bet it going to be to separate the six bodies as quick as possible and to take them out when they do so," Nara explained, "Now, from the intel that the Kazekage and Jiraiya have given us on their encounter with the six bodies, we are more aware of what their abilities are."

"Which are?" Naruto asked.

"Right, you weren't here for that information," Shikaku thought out loud and grabbed for a piece of paper then handing it to Naruto, "There are a total of six bodies, each has a specific ability as far as we can tell. This contains the information we have gathered on the Rinnegan."

Naruto nodded and began reading over the contents of that paper while Shikaku continued on his explanation.

"Now that Naruto can contact Minato, we are going to give the Hokage as specific location in which to give Pein, in hopes that Pein will send out some of the bodies if not all of them to that location, while Naruto, along with Jiraiya, the Kazekage and…

"I'm going with Naruto," Gaara called out interrupting the Nara.

"You will not." Rasa looked over to his son aghast.

"I am," Gaara replied with the same monotone.

Rasa gave a loud sigh, "Gaara you are the Ichibi's host, which means you need to stay safe."

"And that is different from Naruto how?" Gaara asked.

"Because he is going to get his father and as far as I know, I am not in any danger so that leaves you with no excuse," Rasa reasoned.

"With all due respect, Kazekage, if it were the other way around, I would do the same for you that Gaara wants to do for my father," Naruto interrupted.

"I don't know if having two Jinchuurikis go to retrieve Minato would be the best idea," Tsunade shook her head, "I am in agreement with the Kazekage on this."

"Then how 'bout three?" B called.

"No!" the Raikage yelled thrusting a fist into the table, "Absolutely not!"

"Calm down, Raikage!" Onoki yelled over the larger man.

"I will not calm down!" A retorted.

"STOP!" Naruto yelled causing everyone to turn their attention to the young blonde, "I'd like B to go with me. He is the only one who can help me with my connection to Kurama."

There was silence in the room for once.

It was Jiraiya who broke it, "Who is Kurama?"

Naruto smiled and placed a hand on his stomach, "it is his name."

"The Kyuubi?" Shikaku clarified.

Naruto smiled, "Yes."

"I see," Shikaku nodded.

"I need people I can fully trust to go with me Nara-san," Naruto explained.

"Right," Shikaku sighed, "Then B, Gaara, Jiraiya and the Kazekage will go with Naruto."

"Sorry to interrupt, but I need to go with Naruto, it was a direct order from the Hokage," a voiced called from behind Naruto.

"And who are you?" Shikaku asked.

"My name is Yamato, and I am a Mokuton user. I can hold the Kyuubi at bay if the need arises," the young man explained.

"I see, and staying near Naruto was a direct order from Minato-sama?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes, it was."

"Then we can go against Minato's orders," Jiraiya shook his head, "He will come with us. Plus a Mokuton user might come in handy."

"Alright then, the rest will go the location we have set along with a portion of our forces in order to take down the rest or all of the Peins if necessary," Shikaku finished.

"I just have one question," Naruto stated, "What happens if Pein doesn't take the bait?"

"Then you will contact us and we will come to you," Shikaku smirked, "Worst case, you, Gaara and B will need to high-tail it out of there, is that clear?"

Naruto nodded, but Shikaku wasn't sure if Naruto agreed or not. He would just have to wait and see.

~O~

The smell of anomia brought him out the unconsciousness and back in the world of pain that they had inflicted on him. He didn't know how long he was out but it could not have been for very long. All the wounds that had inflicted on him were still very fresh and Minato cried out once again as he felt the pain in his arm be reestablished.

"Ah, Hokage, you are with us again," Pein nodded approvingly towards the blonde as he pulled the small blue bottle away from the blonde, "Good."

Minato was struggling to keep it together with the amount of pain that was being forced upon him, but he knew he couldn't spill on detail to this man or the entire efforts of the allied shinobi forces would be for naught.

"Now, Hokage, if you would be so gracious as to inform me of the location of the Ichibi and the Hachibi. I am certain that you know," Pein asked politely as if they were having a conversation over dinner.

"Fuck you," Minato spat.

Pein let out an exasperated sigh again and waved a hand to one of his companions. The blonde looked up and found the smallest of the six had stepped out in front of him with a kunai in hand. Before he could even register the scene in front of him, he felt an unimaginable pain in his stomach as the little orange haired kid shoved the kunai into his abdomen. Somewhere between the pain, Minato had momentarily thought that the kid was smart and stabbed him in a place were it would not cause immediately death but rather just an immense amount of pain.

When the kid pulled the kunai back out, it cause an even more intense pain to shoot through the blonde Hokage. Minato screamed at the pain, but when he looked up the expression on their faces was lax, an almost bored look.

Minato dropped his head once more, but felt it suddenly yanked back up by his hair. Pein looked down upon him, "This would be so much easier for both you and I if you would just divulge the information."

Minato didn't respond to temptations that were being spoken by the man.

"Although, even without your help, I have reports that your son is already on the move," Pein smiled.

"No," Minato's eyes widened, as he croaked, "No."

"Oh, yes," Pein nodded, "Everything is going according to plan. We will have the Kyuubi soon enough, with or without your help. However, your cooperation would be appreciated in locating the last two Jinchuurikis, but even if not I'm sure your son is not as strong willed as you and will break much faster under the same circumstances. It is your choice. I will let you think on it and be back soon, Hokage."

And then just a quick as they came, they were gone and Minato was alone again.

And he pleaded to the gods to allow the darkness to take him once again.

~O~

"The first thing we must do is contact Minato," Shikaku glanced towards the Hokage's son, "You've done it once before, can you do it again?"

"I believe so," Naruto nodded.

"Good, once you've established contact you need to tell Minato to give them the location of the Tanzaku Gai."

"Tanzaku Gai?" Tsunade repeated, "the gambling town?"

"I was sure that you have heard of it Tsunade," Jiraiya whispered under his breath.

Tsunade just punched him in reply.

Shikaku shook his head and turned back to Naruto, "Tanzaku Gai is where the Allied Shinobi forces as well as the rest of us will intercept them, do you understand?"

"Yes," Naruto nodded, "How much of the plan do I need to reveal to Tou-san?"

"Enough where he knows the idea of things but not enough to put the plan at risk," Shikaku explained.

Naruto nodded in response, "And when do I need to contact him?"

"When we are in position," Shikaku answered, "I will give you the signal about when to contact him."

"Alright," Naruto nodded.

Shikaku glanced out the large window that over looked the large rocky terrain underneath them, "it is getting late, we won't head out till the morning."

Jiraiya pointed down at the large map in front of them, "It should take you about three days to reach Tanzaku Gai, and the forces should be there before then. We will travel together for the first couple of days but then we must split."

"You are right," Shikaku nodded and pointed the boarder between the Land of Iron and the Land of Fire, "This is where we are most likely going to have to split."

"It looks like we are going to have to travel through the front lines though," Jiraiya noted.

"Yes we are, but after that we will be in the fire country which should be an easier travel," Shikaku agreed.

"Well for you," the Raikage remarked.

"We are going through the front lines?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, we are," Shikaku nodded and pointed to the board of the Land of Lighting and the Frost country, "Most of the battles have been located along here."

"Nara-san, do you know if…?" Naruto asked but trailed off.

"I have seen no reports of my son's death or the death of those he went to the academy with, if that is what you are asking, Naruto," Shikaku replied understanding where Naruto was going with his question, "Also, call me Shikaku, Nara-san makes me sound old."

"Alright, Shikaku," Naruto nodded pleased with the relieving information.

"Good, now get some sleep," Shikaku nodded towards the door that he had entered through, "We have a long journey ahead of us tomorrow."

Naruto nodded and headed out the door with Gaara trailing right behind him.

~O~

"Naruto, I know you are worried," a voice called out in the dark.

"Is it that obvious, Gaara?" Naruto replied.

"No, but I know you," Gaara shrugged.

It was pitch black in the tiny room that barely held two cots for the two boys. For obvious reasons, neither one of them could hardly sleep.

"Yeah," Naruto rolled over so he was facing the red head, even though he couldn't see him.

"We will get to him in time I promise," Gaara said rolling over as well after he heard Naruto do the same.

"How do you know that?"

"Because they want you, they will not kill him until they get you," Gaara explained, "He is worth more as a hostage to them than a corpse."

"Why does you bluntness always calm my nerves?" Naruto shook his head and laid on his back.

"I don't know, but I am glad that it does," Gaara smiled to himself.

"Me too," Naruto chuckled.

~O~

Three days later, Naruto found himself at the location where the two groups were going to split at the boarder of the Iron and Fire. They had safely traveled through the front lines, but Naruto was only able to see a few of his comrades. One was Sakura because Jiraiya had made some lewd comment about them traveling together which forced Tsunade to beat him then refuse to aid him in any sort of way. Luckily they were close to a medical unit which Sakura happened to be stationed at. This also, at Naruto's annoyance, cost them another day of travel. Naruto was also able to see Kakashi, Shikamaru and Sasuke when they laid over at one of the commander's location, but everyone else was out in the field. Although, Naruto desperately wanted to go out and fight along side his comrades he knew that saving his father and keeping himself safe was the first priority.

While on the road, Naruto had question Shikaku about the forces, to which the Nara explained that he had only pulled half the forces from the front lines to invade Ame while the other half continued to fight in order to ward off an suspicion of an invasion. He wanted the enemy to think that all the forces were still fighting on the front lines. Even Minato was only somewhat aware of the split to keep the information as quiet as possible. So the same forces that invaded Ame would be at the rendezvous point at Tanzaku Gai

Naruto, along with Jiraiya, Gaara, B, Yamato and the Kazekage (who encouraged him to call him Rasa rather than Kazekage all the time), headed southwest towards Ame while the Kages and the other Shinobi from HQ head straight south towards Tanzaku Gai.

They kept up a decent pace and since most of their group were high level, they were able to easily keep up with Naruto's pace and stamina and they were able to reach the out skirts of Ame with in the day.

Once they reached their desired location, Naruto contacted Shikaku to inform him and received the same report that they had also safely reached their location.

The Nara then gave Naruto to go ahead to contact Minato when he was ready.

Naruto gave him the response that he would contact him again after he spoke with his father.

Once their camp was set up and Yamato was on watch, Naruto sat down cross-legged in front of the small fire.

Kurama, can you help me?

Sure, why not?

With the combined forces of Naruto and Kurama, they were able to stretch out their chakra and locate Minato. After a few minutes they found him, but the sight of Minato knock Naruto out of his concentration.

"Dear god…" Naruto breathed out as his eyes flew open.

Naruto, try to hold it together!

I'm sorry…

"Are you alright?" Gaara asked.

Naruto blinked a few times before trying to respond.

"How bad is it?" Rasa asked him.

"Horrible," Naruto replied.

"I figured as much," Rasa shook his head.

"Thanks for the warning," Naruto muttered.

"You needed to see for yourself," Rasa explained, "How is he though? Alive?"

"Yes he is alive for now," Naruto shook his head, "But with all the blood, I am surprised that he hasn't bled out."

Rasa let out a loud sigh, "Then we better hurry before he does."

Naruto nodded and went back to concentrating.

Keep it together, kit.

I will.

Naruto pulled his thoughts together and stretched out his chakra once more as Kurama did the same and found Minato once more. The blonde Hokage was almost unrecognizable. He was bloodied and beaten. His face was swollen. His hair was matted the blood and other substances that Naruto couldn't pinpoint. They had Minato hung from the ceiling with long chains the bound around his wrists and Naruto could tell from the seals, that all of his father's chakra was gone and the minimal amount was sealed away. The younger blonde sucked in a breath at the scene before him, but just as Kurama instructed he held it together to accomplish his task.

Tou-san… Naruto called softly in his mind.

But their was no movement.

Tou-san. Naruto called a little harder.

Still nothing.

Tou-san! Naruto yelled.

Then Minato started to stir, "Nar…" Then he let out a small cry of pain.

This caused Naruto to wince both in is mind and in is physical body.

Tou-san, can you hear me?

"Yes."

When they ask you again where the Jinchuurikis are, you need to tell them the Tanzaku Gai. Please, do you understand.

"No, Naruto…"

Tou-san, please. Trust me. If not me, then trust Shikaku.

"Shikaku?"

Yes, it is his plan. Please tou-san.

"Alright."

Thank you.

"Naru…to…"

Tou-san…

"Are you…safe…?"

Yes I am safe. You will be soon, I promise.

"Stay away, please."

I can't do that. You are the most important person to me, Tou-san. I can't leave you like this, you know that.

"Please, Naruto, you must stay away… Stay… safe…"

Tou-san!

Naruto was suddenly kicked back to the real world.

What the hell was that!?

I'm not sure. It was either our connection weakening or we were kicked out Minato's mind some how.

"Is it done?" Jiraiya asked when Naruto came to.

"Yes, Tou-san knows what to do," Naruto nodded.

"Then you must inform Shikaku to be on the watch for Pein," Rasa commented.

"Ah, I will contact him," Naruto nodded.

Later that evening after the plan was mapped out, Naruto would continuously check on Minato every half hour or so to see if the men who did this would come to Minato and once they did, he was to contact Shikaku at once, so they had an idea of when Pein would be coming.

~O~

Naruto was safe. That was all the mattered to him anymore. No matter what was to come, as long as his son was safe, Minato was sure that he could endure almost anything. After communicating with his son for just a few brief moments, his resolve was reestablished. Pein could do his worst, but Minato was confident that he would be reunited with his son soon. All he had to do was trust in Shikaku and his plan.

It must have been hours, Minato was certain of that, but in this solid room, he could never be certain on time. He wasn't even sure the amount of time, days, weeks that he had been here. Finally Pein had returned, but Minato didn't move when he heard the door creek open, nor when the foot stepped shuffled to a stop in front of him. He knew he shouldn't give the location away immediately but he needed to make it look real.

Minato only looked up when his head was forced back by the yanking of his hair that happened every time, but this time the pain shot through him like a bullet, making him cry out in agony. Pein was standing there along with the blue-hair women he called Konan. It would obvious they were there for another round. Minato tried to remain as normal as he could, and it seemed they didn't catch anything amiss.

"So, Hokage, my patience it wearing thin," Pein spat out in an exasperating tone of anger, "I need the location of the Jinchuurikis."

He glanced down at the blade that Pein had pulled out, it was laced with chakra that he understood, but what the orange-haired man planned to do with it, he wasn't entirely sure. Minato swallowed hard at the thought. Pein lifted the blade of the kunai up to his throat.

"Give me the location of the Jinchuurikis or I will get it out of your son with similar methods, then I will extract the beast and he will be join you in death," Pein spat.

Minato could tell he was out of patience with him as the blade was pressed against his throat a little hard causing blood to trickle down and a harsh pain shooting through his body.

"W-w-wait…" Minato croaked.

"Oh have you changed your mind?" Pein asked pulling the blade back.

"Leave…m-m-my son alone, and I'll t-t-tell you," Minato rasped out.

"I can't guarantee to leave him alone since he is the Kyuubi's host but I will give you my word that he wont be harmed until it is time for the extraction," Pein nodded.

Minato swallowed hard once more, "alright."

"Good, now tell me," Pein smiled.

"Tanzuka Gai," Minato dropped his head as he replied.

"Tanzuka Gai?" Pein repeated, "Of course, you hid them in plain sight. A place near to your home with a lot of people. Very good. Konan, see that our guest is placed in a more appropriate place until we deal with him permanently."

"What," Minato whispered.

"Oh, Hokage, even if we let you go, with that venom, you would have died within days, and even if you didn't I'm sure the other Kages would have executed you for revealing sensitive information," Pein nodded, "This way I am doing you a favor. Don't worry I will let you see your son after I retrieve him from Tanzuka Gai."

Minato sank inwardly before whispering just loudly enough for Pein and Konan to catch, "I'm sorry, my son."