Chương 26: Interlude 10

Konohagakure Minato Namikaze, Fourth Hokage There was a distinct sense of relief as he stamped the last page on the desk and set it in the 'completed' pile. Working through all the paperwork required to administrate the entirety of a Great Ninja Village was not particularly difficult work, but it always took a great deal of time. Even with the great benefit of Shadow Clones, the morning stacks took nearly thirty minutes for him to work through.

Of course, once he had worked through it, the rest of his day was more or less free.

"It didn't take long for you to figure out the trick of it." An aged voice called from the doorway, making him huff, smile, and crack open his eyes. It wasn't a surprise- had felt the approach from the moment he had entered the building. The aged visage of his predecessor Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, stood in the doorway. Dressed in loose white robes and wooden sandals, hands folded behind his back and lips tugged into a little grin, the old man was a welcome sight to Minato's eyes.

"It took me a few minutes- on the first day." Minato replied sheepishly, standing up from the chair and doing a little stretch. He walked around, past the sub-desk where one of his clones was still at work, covered in a transformation to look like a nondescript secretary. Shadow clones, an advanced variant of the regular clone technique invented by the Second Hokage.

Unlike a normal clone, which generated an illusionary image that had to be manually directed, the shadow clone produced a proper, physical and mental copy of the user by dividing chakra equally among all active 'selves'. Once the shadow clone was dispersed, both the remaining chakra and the memories returned to the user. According to the story, Lord Second invented it after witnessing the Second Tsuchikage's Fission technique, but it was too dangerous for young and inexperienced ninja to utilize.

Lord Third would refine the technique into the much less costly Clone technique, and implement it as standard in the academy curriculum, whereupon it was stolen and copied by other Ninja Villages. The old historical records were fascinating things to read through, he enjoyed it a great deal. It had bothered him a bit, back as a working ninja, that the Hokage's secretaries were always at work but he never saw them in the village proper.

The solution had been obvious the moment he actually sat down in the chair himself, looked at the employee logs, and saw that no such secretaries had ever been employed.

"First day?" Hiruzen replied with a tone halfway between amusement and irritation.

"It took me a few years to realize I could do that."

"Haha- The desks gave me a good hint." He waved off, leaning back against the front of the desk.

"Not sure how fast I would've figured it out on my own."

"A week at worst." Hiruzen chuckled with a shake of his head, walking over to look out the window, then back at him.

"Three months as Hokage and the village had never looked better- the hat suits you, Minato."

"Does the village actually look better, or is it just because you don't have to worry about it anymore?" Minato teased back, walking over to join him at the large window overlooking the village proper. Konohagakure, Village Hidden in the Leaves, a sprawling mix of dense urban structure, wide streets, and well groomed parks in all directions until ending against the dense forests of Fire Country that surrounded them for miles on all sides.

Rounded buildings, tiled rooftops, hanging signs covered in painted kanji advertising any number of local products, all filling his view. A semicircle of roads leading out from this office in all directions except behind him- where the rocky cliff face of the Hokage Monument proudly displayed the faces of the village leaders. His face was a new addition to the structure- and he was still certain that they messed up his hair deliberately. Kushina wouldn't stop teasing him about it. Oop.

"Gaku's team is back." He announced, feeling their signatures enter the outermost extent of his sensing-jutsu.

"Oh? From that escort mission down in Tea Country, correct?" Hiruzen asked, tilting his head as he reached into his coat pocket and got out his pipe.

"That's good to hear- maybe my son has cooled his head off."

"Is there an argument?" Minato asked, turning to face his predecessor. Hiruzen huffed as he snapped his fingers, a tiny flame sparking between them and used to light the kizami in the bulbous end.

"He's getting to that age where he knows everything." The old man huffed, gently drawing from the pipe before releasing the breath.

"That tanegashima he got a few years ago- he's got it in his head that he's going to build an entire fighting style around it. Slapped his hands over his ears when I started listing all the reasons he'd be better off leaving it on its display stand."

"... The firework powder-based pellet-accelerator, right?" Minato asked for clarity.

"The same. The best idea he's gotten so far is using it to light a cloud of powder. Stomped away all irritated when I pointed out that a striker in his teeth would leave both his hands free and achieve the exact same result."

"Hm." He mused.

"... He might be onto something-""Not you too!" Hiruzen growled through his teeth, making Minato laugh and raise his hands apologetically. He decided against going through the benefits and drawbacks, and the brief immediate thoughts about how to make up for those drawbacks. It was a hobby, but his predecessor might just smack him on the head if he said it all aloud.

"Despite that- I imagine you're enjoying your retirement, huh?" Minato changed the topic, making Hiruzen laugh and puff.

"More than you might be thinking, just the other day-" Their conversation continued aimlessly in that style for a few minutes, topics coming up and then being cast aside on whim. Iwa had asked for a cessation of hostilities months ago, at the end of last year. That allowed Konoha to propose similar truces with Suna, Kusa, and Tani. Kiri refused to ever officially declare an end to any wars they started, but by all accounts they were pulling out now that it looked like Konoha might focus on them more directly.

Kumo had refused to back down entirely, but temporary suspension of hostilities on both sides had been accepted. That was most ninja 'truces' if Minato was being realistic, but Kumo was entirely too proud to accept something like that so soon. They wanted at least one last show of strength before they'd be willing to sign a longer term truce. Something public but ultimately inconsequential would be ideal, but for the moment that front had returned to an uneasy facedown.

Which sounded bad, but it was better than active brawling. Eventually, a long-anticipated knock came at the door.

"Team Nine, here for the post-mission debriefing." Gaku's was weary but not overly stressed, good signs overall.

"Come in!" Minato called out, walking around to return to his chair. Hiruzen simply smiled and stayed by the window, simply staring out at the village with a light expression on his face. Gaku Inuzuka walked in, arm and leg in improvised braces but otherwise unbothered, a small grin on his bearded face and glint in his eyes. He was accompanied by Chairomaru, the immense shaggy ninken trotting in with a wagging tail.

The genin followed after- Asuma, Kurenai, Raido, all of them probably skilled enough to be Chunin already. Gaku had expressed his desire to wait till after the war ended to submit them for the Chunin Exams, something Minato was more than fine with allowing.

"We've returned, Lord Fourth." Gaku announced.

"I would salute, but this thing on my arm gets in the way."

"It feels strange to hear you call me that." Minato shook his head at his old friend.

"Hah! Well I can't exactly call you runt anymore, can I?" Gaku let out a bark of laughter, reaching into his vest to withdraw two scrolls.

"Written reports for the mission and the emergency mission- all of them are inside." He explained, setting the scrolls on the table before tapping in thought. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Three taps, point eight seconds apart. Sensitive information to pass along. Gaku turned to his team.

"Hey- why don't you kids head over to that barbeque place while I give the verbal report? I'll catch up afterwards."

"Are you sure?" Kurenai asked with a tilt of her head. Asuma and Raido blinked, glancing between their sensei and him. Minato shrugged indulgently in turn. Gaku waved her off.

"Yeah, I'll cover the bill after and everything. It's gonna take a few minutes for the barbeque to cook and I'm looking forwards to that Eel they got there."

"Eel- gross." Raido shook his head.

"If it's alright with Lord Hokage..?" Minato waved them off.

"The verbal is just a formality anyways, I'll read over your written reports regardless." The genin shortly left the room, chattering and sighing about the upcoming meal. Minato nodded his head, his bodyguard emerging from the shadows in a puff of smoke and walking over to the doorway to place a seal on and make a few handseals. Hiruzen's older son, a long time member of the ANBU with the creative codename of 'monkey'. A barrier jutsu shortly enveloped the room.

Gaku nodded, reaching into his jacket to pull out a copy of Icha-Icha. Minato knew that he probably wasn't just going to show off an older edition of Jiraiya-sensei's works, but he still felt a deadpan expression come over his face. Gaku huffed amusedly, fingers flipping through the pages until reaching a storage seal in the center. Dharma-style sealing, the kind used over in Suna, which used a lot of sharp angles and dualities. Minato wasn't as familiar with it as he'd like to be.

Gaku tapped the seal, which unsealed a scroll. The book was pushed to the side, and the scroll was unfurled.

'Deliver to Hokage. Critical Intelligence within. Knowledge of this intelligence will be denied if inquired about.' Was written on the front- followed by another storage seal.

"Did you already check the contents?" Minato asked sharply.

"I did. You need to see it, and I need to have the Yamanaka seal the memories of it after this." Gaku's expression had dropped all pretenses of amusement or levity. Hiruzen was silent, but paying incredibly close attention to the proceedings. Minato nodded, tapping his finger on the storage seal and allowing a professional looking pamphlet to fill his hands. On the pamphlet was a sketch of a masked face, followed by a bingo-book style entry listing characteristics. Subject 'Tobi'.

Will claim to be Madara Uchiha, this is a lie. Bears a mutated sharingan. Capable of fire and wood release. Capable of rapid regeneration and replacement of limbs- see second profile. Uses three highly dangerous ninjutsu.'

'The first renders himself intangible- he must make himself tangible again to attack.'

'The second allows for teleportation into a sub-dimension, both himself and others, and long range teleportation using the sub-dimension as a medium.'

'The third allows for seemingly arbitrary overwriting of events so long as they occur within a ten-minute window- utilized primarily in a defensive manner to negate accumulated harm. Accumulated harm extends even to actual death. Suspected to cause long-term damage. Suspected to be predicated around a genjutsu-framework. No evidence of offensive use.' Minato calmly turned to the other side of the pamphlet.

He had already pulled his emotions away from his decision-making, setting them aside while he took in the information.

'Subject 'Zetsu'. Composed of two individuals, Black and White. Distinctive appearance unreliable- capable of merging with hosts and blending into their body. Personalities entirely separate.'

'White has the ability to produce unlimited physical clones- these clones can merge into substance, flora, and individuals. If merged into an individual, the clone will parasitize and blend into their chakra network, indistinguishable with normal sensory techniques. Chakra can be transferred between clones seemingly arbitrarily. Capable of extreme regeneration- all clones are equally viable as 'originals'. Body parts can be grafted onto injured subjects to heal and enhance them- see front of pamphlet.

Capable of wood-release.'

'Black is a singular entity- only one exists at a time. Capable of parasitizing and possessing other subjects- whereupon he gains access to all of their abilities. Is a sensor, tentative estimates of range 'kilometers'. Potentially indestructible- extreme durability, regeneration, and arbitrary shapeshifting.'

'Both are capable of cannibalizing subjects, absorbing their chakra and memories in the process.'

'Tobi and Zetsu are strongly suspected to be targeting the Tailed Beasts in general and Kyuubi in specific- Reasons unknown. Analysis predicts attack on Konoha as soon as the seal is weakest, birth from a post-war baby boom an ideal timeframe for attack.'

'Recommended course of action- preparation.' He gently turned the pamphlet over again, then held it out for Hiruzen to take. His predecessor took the report in hand and began to read it himself. Minato immediately reached for a blank page and began to write a letter of requested recall. After a minute, Hiruzen set the pamphlet down and took a very long draw of his pipe. His face was deeply crevassed with new stress and decorated with a grim scowl.

Letter written, Minato performed a handful of seals and laid his hand on the table.

"Summoning Jutsu." A puff of smoke later, and a little red toad with horn-like eyebrow ridges appeared on his desk.

"Ah- Hello Lord Namikaze, what can this clumsy one do for you?"

"Hello Gamaken- can you deliver a letter to Jiraiya for me?" Minato asked, holding the letter in question up for the toad to take.

"Ah- yes I can do that, although I am ungraceful." The toad took the letter in hand, performing a tiny formal bow, then disappearing in a puff of smoke. Minato leaned back in the chair, staring at the pamphlet.

"Is it even trustworthy?" Gaku asked with a grunt.

"This came from the Braggart."

"It doesn't matter. We'll have to follow up on it regardless." Minato shook his head. Braggart Ryoma, Suna puppeteer, known for disposable units, broad skillset, and considerable focus on mindgames.

"Well, it's an issue we can delay at least." Hiruzen grumbled, puffing on his pipe.

"So long as you and Kushina restrain yourselves, we'll have time to work on countermeasures." Minato stayed quiet, staring at the pages and deliberately not at his predecessor. Hiruzen picked up on his.

"... She's already pregnant, isn't she?" He grumbled with no small amount of dread and despair.

"We wanted to wait a bit to announce it." Minato shook his head, mind already racing with potential answers for the ridiculous array of jutsu listed in the emergency document.

"Jinchuriki have an expected ten-month pregnancy, that gives us nine months to be ready."

"... Nine months. Nine months to prepare for that." Gaku repeated with a shaky, heavy tone. He harshly tapped the pamphlet on the table as he did.

"... I'm glad I'm not going to remember this, because otherwise I might go insane."

"It's an advantage." Minato countered.

"We have a most-likely time for them to strike, and can prepare for it now. The only question is how exactly we're going to go about preparing…" He trailed off, churning through potential answers before pulling himself back.

"I'll need Sensei here to help." Minato declared, tapping the table in thought.

"One I might be able to handle- not both. Easiest option to cut this off at the stem will be to rework Kyuubi's seal entirely, and I need a second opinion before I touch anything there."

"... Only you, Minato." Gaku sighed with a shake of his head.

"Hm?" Minato furrowed his brows, to which Gaku waved him off.

"It's not important- I'm not sure what I can do to help here, but if you need anything I'll be willing." Minato nodded distractedly, mind still turning over the information in the pamphlet and working through potential solutions. Nine months. Nine months to prepare for those two profiles.