Pre-Chapter A/N:Another chapter on time? Guess my lock-in is going pretty well. If you haven't already, I recommend turning on notifications for my stuff so you can see when new stuff drops right as it drops. Next four chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio.
If he had thought that they would not stick out like sore thumbs from the moment they stepped into the village, then he was sorely mistaken. He had put some effort in removing the more obviously shinobi elements of his outfit to make himself less noticeable but all that was useless because of the woman at his side. She wore her armour proudly. The blood red structure of plated steel and chakra metal stood out like a sore thumb. The headband on her head gleamed in the sunlight as it helped hold her wild hair back from falling over her eyes.
She made for quite a sight, and the villagers were looking for sure. They went in and moved to the house that the man had signified he would be living in in his retirement documents. Iwa kept a close eye on their shinobi, retired or not and so they knew some things about the man already. Two children, neither of whom had demonstrated potential to be a shinobi when the recruitment squad had made a visit. They would be young adults now. Minato knocked on the door, knuckles creating a banging sound as they rapped against the thick wood of the door.
There were some sounds he couldn't quite place from within the house as someone shouted that they were on their way, so he looked at the house itself. It was one of the larger ones in the village. Two storeys, made of stone with hard wood for the door and the windows. It sported a nice garden out in front that was tended to by someone with one hell of a green thumb. The flowers were in full bloom despite the weather. Roses, camellias, tulips, lilies, and many more. All inexplicably made to grow together by a deft hand.
He had been lost looking at the flowers clearly because it was not until the door had begun to open that he registered that whoever was behind it had finally reached it. It was an older man who smiled upon seeing Minato and began to speak only for the words to get stuck in his throat as he caught sight of Uzume behind him. Minato could see the moment the man decided he didn't want anything to do with them as the door suddenly shifted movement directions, beginning to close rather than open— much faster this time. Not fast enough though as Minato slammed a hand on it to stop it short and smiled at the man behind it even as he pushed with all his might. It wouldn't give, of course. He had decided that he would not be moved and so he would not be moved.
The man forced and heaved but there was no motion from the door. He smiled softly as he pushed it open despite the man's struggles. Sometimes, he forgot how strong he had become after following Sensei's training regimen for years on end. Of course, Kushina was somehow still stronger, Sensei was just a non-starter, and Mikoto never let anything become a question of pure strength.
"Ichimaru-san, we just want to speak," he said as he forced the door open further.
"Die, you Konoha scum!" the man screamed out, spit flying everywhere. Minato tracked the little drops of body fluid as they went in all directions and sighed as one went for his chest. There was no way to avoid it without letting him close the door on them. Minato watched as the spit landed right on his shirt. He'd quite liked that shirt. He turned to give Uzume a look, like are you not going to do anything about this? In response, the woman said nothing. Just kept her focus on the man behind the door. She was not going to intervene he could tell already. Another test from her. How fun.
He pushed the door completely open with one final heave and stepped into the house. He chanced a quick look around even knowing the man was sure to attack. There was no one else in the living room or kitchen— both of them joined together with no separation other than a couch that sat in the middle of the space, and around the room in various strategic spots were flowers of all kinds.
The man rose from where he had been pushed with speed that sure must have been something noteworthy in his prime. Now it was just pathetic. Minato caught the punch and then began to squeeze. The man showed his mental strength in not screaming, and so Minato kept applying the pressure until he felt something give in his grip.
"If you would please calm down and listen to us, I will heal your hand and prevent you from losing use of it for the rest of your undoubtedly long life," he said, and the man seemed to not find that offer very appealing as he lashed out with a punch at his head. Minato watched it approach and leaned backwards to avoid it. It soared past where his head had just been and as Minato prepared to numb the arm with a quick application of the gentle fist, he heard a crack from the man's twisting form. He fell to the ground not a second later screaming.
"Ahh, my back!" Minato ignored the laughter that came into the house from behind him as he stepped to the man. The man was their only lead on the eternal lightning rod, after all.
"Stay still," he ordered as he squatted next to the man and began to heal him.
"I'm home, Dad," a voice sounded out from the back of the house. Minato said nothing as the footsteps got closer and closer and then the man walked into the living room. He was a young adult, well into his twenties most likely. His movements were smooth, showing a grace uncommon among civilians but it made sense considering his father had been a shinobi. It was not unheard of for parents to train their children despite them having a complete lack of potential for the shinobi arts.
"What the hell are you doing?" The man's voice had turned harsh on spotting him.
"I asked you a question, bastard," he demanded, marching up towards him. Minato looked over and with a flex of his chakra— he did not need seals for such— used the kanashibari jutsu to stop the man in his tracks.
"What I am doing— is making it so your father can walk again. Now you don't seem to be all that bright, but you surely know what that headband on my associate's head signifies. You might not know who she is. But that does not matter. What matters is that you should know that you stand no chance against either of us. So I will release you, but you ought to stay quiet while I help your grandfather," he said, giving the man a look. When it seemed he had understood, Minato released the technique, returning his attention to the man beneath him.
He felt along the back for the problem before his fingers began to glow a soft blue from the activation of the mystic palm jutsu.
"Run, Shinsuke, run!" the old man managed to say as his voice finally returned to him. The pain had gone down a fair bit most likely.
"Nope. No one is going anywhere," Uzume finally spoke, stepping right next to the man who had just walked in and placing an arm around his shoulder.
"I know you know who I am, old man. No one worth his salt doesn't. So that means you know I am being fully serious and honest when I say this. If you don't answer our questions, I will feed your son his own cock," she threatened easily. Minato looked over at her, wondering what the fuck she was doing. She had seemed content to let him handle this by himself. Why would she intervene now? And why jump straight to threatening the man's son? Surely she remembered the lessons from the academy.
You never made a threat you couldn't carry out. And if this man said no, they'd have to kill his son— well, either that or cut off his…. Minato really hoped that wouldn't be happening. Kagame-san had carved out the squeamishness from he and his teammates at Sensei's behest, but he still didn't want to have to remove someone's penis and feed it to them. Minato felt the last bit of mending complete itself under his ministrations and he rose from on top of the man. The man turned, far less aggressive now.
He looked at Minato and it seemed like he was about to dare them to do their worst until his gaze washed over Uzume and her son. Minato looked at her as well, and was truly convinced that she would cut off the man's penis and feed it to him. It probably said a lot about her that that fact didn't surprise him all that much. Sensei had weird taste. Why couldn't he just choose the beautiful Yamanaka woman that had taken Minato, Kushina, and Mikoto out that one time?
The man clearly didn't like what he saw in Uzume's face as he stopped short of whatever he was about to say.
"Fine. I'll answer whatever you want. It's not like there's a village left to be loyal to," he said despondently. Uzume barked out a sharp, harsh laugh.
"You think we came here for information about Iwa? We know more about Iwa than even you do, Geezer," she said. The man just turned away from her to Minato, not rising to her taunts.
"So what do you want?" he asked.
"You were part of the group that killed the First Raikage, yes?" Minato asked, setting the stage for the rest of his questions.
"No," the man said.
Snap.
The sound had come so abruptly, cutting through the silence that stretched after his unexpected response. The screams of the man's son followed only shortly after. Minato sighed as he looked over. Uzume had snatched his right hand and broken his pinky. She maintained her hold on the man's arm even as he screamed and thrashed about in pain.
"Did I not say you should be honest?" she asked. Minato resisted the urge to point out that she hadn't. She had only asked him to answer her questions; she had made no express requests for honesty in his answers. An oversight as far as Minato was concerned.
"Fuck you. I was telling the truth. We didn't kill him. He fought the Tsuchikage and when Tsuchikage-sama was dead, he ran. We chased him but by the time we were able to catch up to him, he was already dead. We agreed to pretend that we had been the ones who killed him so we could cash in on the reward," the old man said.
"That one's been weighing on you for a while, eh?" Uzume asked, eyebrow arched. The man just nodded.
"What do you know about the eternal lightning rod then?" he asked.
"The eternal what-now?" Minato gave Uzume a sharp look to deter her from doing anything drastic. She didn't listen. She broke the whole arm while staring straight into Minato's eyes. Yup, it was decided now. He didn't like this woman one bit.
"I haven't heard of it— whatever it is, I swear." Minato believed him. But that didn't mean that he couldn't be useful.
"You looted the body, yes?" Minato asked.
"Yes I did."
"Where are his effects then?" he asked.
"We split them. I was one of the lower ranked ones so I only got to keep a stick he had in a holster by his waist," he said.
"A stick?" Minato asked.
"A wooden stick, carved all fancy like. But it didn't do anything. Wasn't even sharp enough to stab anyone with," he said.
"Show us this stick," Uzume demanded.
"Sure. I'll do whatever. Just leave my son alone," the man said, sounding defeated even as his son's whimpers echoed across the space.
Minato nodded, helping the man up and he led them to another room off to the side. Minato noted the old Iwa shinobi uniform framed on the wall. The old kunai, shuriken, and senbon. It was a shrine to a shinobi career long passed. Also in the room was a lab set. Minato could see various liquids boiling and being cooled in differing conditions.
But none of those other things could compare to the centrepiece. It was a stick just like the man said. About the length of Minato's forearm.
"Here you go," the man said, gesturing at the stick. Uzume was already marching forward to retrieve it. The father and son duo reunited with the former wrapping the latter in a long hug. Uzume grabbed a hold of the stick and snatched it from the pedestal. Minato flinched as he heard the sound of a latch coming loose. Uzume was already moving. Shinobi instincts were the only thing that kept her safe. Her eyes burned blood red as she slammed her foot on the ground, using her strength to push herself up to the ceiling of the room and curving her body so she could raise her feet to the ceiling as well. The rain of kunai missed her by the barest of margins.
From the walls of the room came a hissing sound. To Minato's eyes, nothing was happening.
"Poison," Uzume hissed from her position above. Minato took her word for it. He reached for his rebreather before it clicked that he had taken off his gear. He forced himself to take another step or two to regain his footing. His legs seemed to be acting on their own accord. He heard the door snap shut but hadn't seen them leave. The poison was getting to him. Uzume landed on the ground with a rebreather on her face. She removed it, clearly holding her breath and forced it on his face.
"Leave me. Go after them," Minato said, running the calculations. There was no way to be certain that the Rod they'd been given was the real one. He could handle purging himself of the poison. Kagame's training had been something else in that regard. The right thing to do was prioritise going after the man and his son and making sure that they hadn't been had.
Uzume just scoffed instead. She pressed the rebreather against his face as her red eyes faded to their usual coal black. There was something in them that Minato had never expected to see in her gaze of all places. Softness.
Minato took all the breaths he could while getting to work. Trusting Uzume to be able to keep him safe for the time being, he placed his hand on his chest, beginning to run a diagnostic.
—
"Why did you let them go?" he asked when he had finished purging the poison and fully recovered— or at least mostly done so.
"Who do you think you're talking to?" she asked with one of her trademark scoffs.
"I caught the fool," she said.
"What? I know you stayed here with me," he pointed out.
"Shadow clones, idiot. Do you think I can't use my fiancé's favourite jutsu?" she asked.
"Sorry. Brain must be foggy from the poison," he said.
"Do you need any help?" he asked, offering his hands.
"Focus on yourself," she said, rising from his bedside. How was he just noticing that they had moved into a bedroom rather than the lab they had been in?
"The poison could pass through skin as well," he said, having figured out how he had been so easily affected.
"I know," she said, raising an eyebrow like she was silently asking who he thought she was to not have known something like that.
"Then you should know you have some of it in your body. I'm a fully trained medical nin. I can help."
"I don't care. Now get up and get moving," she said. He was far from happy, but he obeyed the orders regardless. Part of him also wanted to see what the poison would do to her long term. Something that fast-acting could be nasty when left to fester.
He pushed himself off the bed and followed her as she led him to another room. Minato stopped dead at the first sight that met him on entry. The old man was tied to the ceiling with both hands. His legs were left to dangle. His shirt had been removed and he could see from the blood flowing down his arms that there was a wound there.
Looking closer told him all his fingers had been removed. The man was still conscious though. From a biological standpoint at least. Minato doubted his mind was still in it.
When he had walked deep enough into the room, the door snapped shut behind him with a thud that was heavier than normal. He turned and was met with the sight of the son. He was pinned to the door by kunai stabbed into his wrists and in his mouth lay a piece of flesh that Minato was hesitant to name.
"I don't make a threat if I can't carry it out," she said when he turned to her in shock.
"The rod?" he asked.
"A fake," she said, snapping the piece of wood in two. She dropped it on the floor and it began to melt like it had been made of wax.
"Has he given a location?" he asked, looking over at the man with far less mercy now. Minato didn't feel much pity for people who made stupid decisions.
"He wouldn't know. From what I've been able to find, it was stolen months ago. He never even noticed the switch," she said with a scowl.
"Stolen?" he asked to be sure, feeling a sinking feeling in his chest. She nodded.
"So that means…"
"Someone else is after the tools," she completed.
A/N: And that's the chapter. I am altogether proud with how this has turned out. Next four chapters up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) (same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.