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The poison was already working its way through. He felt it within minutes... the pulse slowing, his lungs tightening. His mind stayed sharp but his body began to fade. The poison has dulled his senses, it was interfering with his vision.
He knew this fight was over. Still, he refused to fall yet.
Eleven months earlier.
The Hokage's office still smelled faintly of smoke and blood. The war had reached its midpoint, and Hiruzen Sarutobi was dead. His death was announced to none outside the council. The village couldn't afford that kind of weakness right now.
Danzo sat where Hiruzen once did... not as Hokage, not yet, but close enough to taste it. He wore the same calm tone Hiruzen used when addressing the clans. Minato stood behind him, his right arm wrapped in cloth, the stump still throbbing from the wound he received a month ago.
"Let us not dwell on sentiment," Danzo said. "The war won't wait for mourning."
Across the room, the clan heads listened... Hiashi Hyuga with that unreadable stoicism, Shikaku Nara with narrowed eyes already calculating. Inoichi, Choza, Shibi. Men who had already fought in the second great ninja war, now watching one of their own attempt to climb into power.
Danzo continued. "Two issues must be addressed: the death of Hiruzen, and the disappearance of our Jinchuriki. The other villages don't know either yet, which means we hold a temporary advantage. This information alone could put konoha in extreme danger with pressure from other villages. Even after a month of capturing our jinchuriki and killing hokage... Kumo has not flaunted about it. So, other villages still assume that our hokage is alive and jinchuuriki is within konoha. That illusion will buy us time."
He let the room sit in silence for a moment.
Danzo continued, "Currently, minato, kato, our jinchuriki has commanded against kumo. Suna has yet to enter a full blown war but there are few skirmishes. Iwa is being handled by the sannin."
"It is time we change the strategy. The Uchiha clan and the Ino... Shika... Cho formation will deal with Kumo. They're suited to counter Kumo's speed with Genjutsu, precision and formation tactics. The Hyuga and Aburame will reinforce the western front... Suna is likely to move soon, and they'll bring puppets and poison. Their Byakugan and insect techniques can counter both. The sanin though they are not present in the meeting, they will continue to handle iwa."
He paused. "Minato will assist the Hyuga Aburame contingent."
That made a few heads turn. Everyone knew Minato's name was already spreading across the continent. The "Yellow Flash" had crippled Iwa's logistics line. A flee-on-sight order had been issued for him. He also fought against kumo and bought back the news of Hokage's death and jinchuriki's capture.
Shikaku's eyes flicked toward him. Minato said nothing. He understood the game. Danzo was cutting him out of the narrative.
"Should the war turn against us," Danzo added, "I will personally enter the battlefield."
That sealed it. A line meant to sound noble, but everyone knew it for what it was... ambition cloaked as duty.
Hiruzen was gone. The once-peerless Third had died. With this danzo wanted to stabilise his position. And Minato Namikaze... the prodigy, the people's darling... had shone too brightly, too quickly. Danzo feared him; Danzo resented him. That "Yellow Flash" title was not just fame. It was danger... to Danzo's lifelong mission of being the Hokage. He wanted to put minato away from the battlefield for a while and let people forget about it. He can still spread the news of minato running away for his life, leaving hiruzen to his death.
He had spent weeks ensuring the Sannin were occupied against iwa. Their presence would defer his authority. I shall slowly make the clans think I alone am suitable.
As Danzo was in his own thoughts. A konoha shinobi entered the office with a seemingly urgent news and everyone turned to see who entered, "Danzo-sama, Suna has intensified their attacks and reports confirm the sightings of chiyo."
Danzo without any delayed ordered, "Hiashi Hyuga, Shibi aburame and Minato take along 800 shinobi and make way to Hidden Valley Village." With that the meeting has ended.
Minato stood by the window, looking out over the rooftops of Konoha. The village seemed restless from up there, like it was close to collapse.
He decided to obey Danzo's orders. He didn't want a civil war inside the village or people choosing sides between Danzo and me. It would cripple morale. And the truth is, Danzo's orders are sound and make sense. As he joined the Hyuga and Aburame at the Suna border.
--
About two months had passed since the clash against kumo, yet the memory of it gnawed at Minato relentlessly. The FTG (Flying Thunder God) mark he had placed on Kushina during that frantic night still burned in his mind, a silent beacon deep within the Kumo territory. For weeks, the connection had been severed leaving him in agonizing uncertainty, though he believed she was sealed.
But now, He had suddenly sensed her faint chakra signature, which he could not sense till now, through the FTG mark on the far North-east, a subtle pulse hidden beneath the layers of Kumo's defenses. It wasn't much, just a whisper of life, but it was enough. Enough to drive him to the edge of sanity with the need to teleport to her side. Every instinct in his body screamed at him: Go. Now.
Yet the situation refused to grant him that luxury. The war with the Suna shinobi raged on around him, consuming the land with fire, dust, and blood. His kunai were coated in the sweat and exhaustion of his men, the cries of the wounded echoing across the battlefield. Each time he looked at the young genin and jonin under his command, he saw not just comrades, but lives entrusted to him... lives that depended on his strategy, his presence, and his protection.
Minato clenched his fists, the weight of impossible choices pressing down on his shoulders. To leave, even for a moment, might be to abandon them to chaos, to risk the fragile line they were holding against the Suna forces. But to stay meant enduring the unbearable torment of knowing Kushina's fate hung in the balance somewhere out there, just beyond his reach.
He ducked behind a jagged boulder, taking a moment to breathe. Dust choked the air, and the stench of blood clung to everything. His mind raced with calculations: If I split my chakra reserves, I might be able to teleport to her, but i would not be left with enough chakra to return… But the numbers didn't add up. The risk of leaving his troops without support was too great, and one misstep could mean the deaths of those who had already placed their trust in him.
A scream pierced through the distant chaos, snapping him out of his thoughts. One of his jonin had been cornered by a group of Suna nin. Without hesitation, Minato dashed forward, chakra flaring along his limbs, teleporting from point to point, rescuing, shielding, countering. His mind, though focused, never stopped racing. I will get to her. I will. But not like this... not while these lives are in my hands.
As he returned to the makeshift frontline, he paused for a moment, scanning the horizon. The FTG mark pulsed faintly in his mind, like a heartbeat across miles of rock and desert. It was Kushina, alive, waiting… unreachable for now. And yet, that pulse gave him a sliver of hope, a reason to endure the slaughter around him. One day soon, he promised himself, he would reach her.
For now, Minato turned back to the chaos, steeling himself. The war raged on, but so did his resolve. Every step he took, every enemy he felled, brought him closer to the day when he could finally teleport through the Kumo lines and reach Kushina's side.
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A/N: Finally, we are at Chapter 50. Yeh... with over 53K words and close to 4 months. There are many more chapters to come. Hope you have enjoyed and will continue stick around.
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