Minato looked towards the hallway and saw Kushina standing near the corner. Her face showed concern and confusion as she saw Minato sitting down with a Biju in their living room.
"Don't worry, Kushina. Everything's fine."
"Hey Kushina. How's little Naruto doing?"
Kushina could barely register what was happening. She wanted to scream, but she knew Naruto would wake up. She could only do her best to respond.
"G-Good! He's crawling into everything now, but he's a happy baby."
"That's good. I'm glad you're enjoying being a mother."
Kushina couldn't feel any bad intentions coming from the beast, so her guard steadily dropped.
"Why are you in our house anyway?"
Minato felt cold sweat drip down his back at the flip in Kushina's attitude. He didn't want to offend the wolf, but soon saw the wolf chuckling quite a bit.
"Sorry. I had to meet him here so I didn't have to deal with prying ears."
"I see. Well, what are you guys talking about that's so important?"
Minato heaved a sigh as he had to inform his wife about what he just learned.
******
"I knew that creep was a snake! Orochimaru even more so!"
"K-Kushina. Your volume."
Kushina covered her mouth, but everyone could tell how much she despised Danzo. Orochimaru just gave her a creepy vibe.
"Well, how you deal with them is up to you and your husband. I hope you verify for yourselves first or you'll let a disaster come for you again."
They both nodded their heads as Akumu gave them much to think about. Kushina let out a short gasp and decided to ask a question.
"So you're called Akumu, right?"
"Yes."
"Do you know if the other Tailed Beasts have names?".
"Most likely, but it's probably better if you ask them yourself. They're not meant to be weapons, you know? They have life after all."
Akumu tilted his head to the side as he answered this question. Kushina felt shock as she never thought to just....talk to the Kyuubi.
[Don't give them funny ideas, mutt!]
Akumu heard a baleful voice ring in his ear, but he ignored it.
"You should probably ask him questions like what he likes and such. I bet the answers would surprise you."
[I don't need people to know more about me!]
{Shut up, you stubborn loner!}
The voice no longer responded as Akumu continued to give his ideas.
"Minato, you should expand on the Rasengan more as well."
Minato was surprised that Akumu knew his move, but was also intrigued by what ideas he had for it.
"I'm not sure where to go from here with the technique. I feel that it's already as good as it gets."
"What about adding a nature to it?"
Minato shook his head.
"I've tried, but it doesn't stabilize enough with one hand."
Akumu tilted his head once again, ignoring the glint in Kushina's eyes towards his fur as he thought of Minato's problem.
"Use another hand to stabilize it then."
"Another hand?"
Minato thought about Akumu's words and felt they held some truth in them.
"You should also make sure Naruto gets to learn his family techniques. You'll probably need to force him to learn Fuinjutsu, so prepare for that."
"Ugh! I hope he's not like me."
"He probably will be exactly like you, sans the hair."
Kushina let out a sigh as Minato laughed at the idea of a boy version of Kushina.
"Ah! I have another question!"
"Yes?"
"Where are your eyes?"
"I don't have any?"
"Eh?! Then how do you see?!"
"Through feeling with chakra in the air. I'm a Yin beast, so it's pretty easy. Wolf senses also help too."
Kushina folded her arms and nodded her head. Akumu held in his laughter at how much Kushina reminded him of Naruto in the future.
"Akumu, why did you tell us all of this? What do you gain from it?"
Minato asked a question this time, bringing Kushina's attention to the answer of this question as well. Akumu smiled as he answered.
"Two reasons. One, I actually like Konoha quite a bit. You could say that this place held a lot of significant memories for me. I want to see the village at its best. The second reason is that my....host lives here as well."
The two were surpised Akumu had host.
"There's another Jinchuuriki in the village?!"
"Who is it?"
Kushina and Minato both wanted to know the answer to the questions, but Akumu raised his paw in the air.
"One at a time. First, yes. There is another Jinchuuriki in the village. As for your second question."
Akumu turned towards Minato.
"I can answer that question instead of the previous one. I'm just letting you know you'll only get this answer."
"W-Why?!"
"....."
Akumu didn't answer as the two stared at each other. Minato finally sighed after a few seconds and nodded his head. At least he would know one of the answers.
"I understand."
"Good. I'll tell you eventually. As for my host, it's Hii. Kaya's baby."
Both of their eyes grew wide, not eexpecting that answer.
"Kaya's baby?!!!"
Kushina slammed the table in surprise.
Akumu just nodded his head.
"T-Two baby Jinchuurikis..."
Kushina seemed shaken up by the news.
Minato looked at his wife and was going to move to console her.
"That means Naruto can have a true friend! Even with the child of my friend! That's amazing!!"
Minato stopped midway and just laughed lightly at his wife's positivity.
"Hahaha. I'm glad you're happy. Please take care of Hii from now on in my absence."
Akumu bowed to them, confusing the two.
"Sure, but aren't you going back to Hii?"
"I can't. I'd kill him."
The two were shocked once again as Akumu explained.
"As a Yin beast, I absorb Yang to grow and sustain myself. As of now, I believe I was suppressing Hii's growth by absorbing the Yang he needed to grow. I'll seperate from him for a while and watch him from the shadows. I'll go back when I think he's strong enough."
"I see. Where will you go?"
"Not far. The Forest of Death should be fine. I can just steal life from trees. No one should notice, but you should probably close it off just in case. Hii would get mad if I'm away too long."
Minato nodded his head and noted to remember to mark the Forest of Death as forbidden for now. Kushina was sad for Akumu and walked over to pet him.
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"It's ok! We'll look after Hii for you! I promise!"
"Thank you. I do want to mention something as well. Danzo most likely placed seals on individuals of his group. If you need help removing them, bring them to the me. I'll eat the seals."
Minato was surprised, but nodded his head. Fuinjutsu was formed from a mix of Yin and Yang chakra, depending on the seal.
If Akumu could eat Yang, then he could definitely eat seals.
"Then I'll look for you once we have a need for that ability."
"Perfect. I'll also look for one of Orochimaru's labs that might be in the Forest. I'm sure I'll find it eventually."
The two then realized Kushina had become very silent and looked over to her.
Her face was lax as she buried herself in Akumu's fur with pure joy.
"Minato! You have to feel this!! It's warm and cold at the same time,and it's so soft!!"
"......."
"H-Hahahaha. Sorry."
Minato bowed his head in apology for his wife while Akumu just sighed.
"Uuuuuaaaaahhhh!!!"
"Oh! Naruto! I was too loud!"
Kushina rushed out of the room to Naruto, leaving Minato with Akumu alone once again.
"Well, I think it's time I head out."
Akumu sat up and trotted over to Minato.
"I see. Thank you for the information."
"You're welcome. Oh! Almost forgot!"
Akumu looked at Minato with an air of seriousness.
"Let the Uchihas do more than just grunt work. They technically helped build this village. They should have a say in politics as all the other clans do.Talk to Fugaku to come to some sort of deal. It will benefit both of you to work together. I expect Danzo will give resistance to that idea, so ask him the question why the Uchiha corpses recovered don't have eyes when his group "finds" them."
Minato slowly nodded his head as he digested that information.
"Whether you believe it or not, I've done what I need to do. See you around and good luck."
Akumu extended his paw out to Minato. Minato was confused for a second, but soon shook Akumu's paw.
Akumu then trotted over to the light and pressed it, darkening the room. Minato quickly turned the light back on and found Akumu was gone.
Minato scratched his head as he went back to their room and saw Kushina consoling little Naruto. Minato smiled and decided to at least give a try to the information he'd just received.
He also realized Akumu's fur really was soft.
A couple of weeks later, Kushina excitedly told Minato that the Kyuubi actually had a name, Kurama. She had pestered him with all sorts of cute names before he finally caved in and told her his real one.
They had been talking ever since, leading her to actually receive an apology from Kurama. Well, as apologetic as he could get.
Minato had long since tried to make sense of Akumu's advice for the Rasengan and finally decided to try to make it with a Shadow clone. The resulting jutsu ended up more stable then before, but still incomplete. This didn't diminish the fire in Minato's eyes as he realized the technique was still far from being complete.
This,however, also gave Akumu's other information more credibility, which gave Minato a headache.
******
"Haaa. So how do you propose we should proceed with this?"
Fugaku's eyes had already turned crimson unknowingly as he stared at the board with killing intent.
"We may be able to approach Orochimaru and come to an understanding, though if he leaves, we shouldn't stop him. As for Danzo, I'd rather kill him at this point for my defiled clansmen."
Hiashi slowly nodded at Fugaku's opinion.
"I also agree with that point. If he targets the Uchiha because of irrational fear and control, what stops him from coming after the Hyuga clan next?"
Shikaku heaved a sigh as he too felt Danzo's control was a bit too much. Nearly half of the village's Anbu were under Danzo's control. The number has lowered since Akumu had attacked any that had tried to secretly kill any Uchiha members or had been identified as a Root member, but a good amount still remained on his side.
"I think we should handle this with care. We should strip him of his power and abolish Root."
Shikaku gave his answer, but everyoneillooked over at Kaya whose expression had become dark. No one could tell what she was thinking.
"Mina, Hokage-sama?"
"Yes?"
Kaya lifted her face to Minato, killing intent covering it in abundance.
"You said Hii's name was added to the list of potential recruits for Root, correct?"
Minato's body was starting to sweat. He knew he had to tell her when this list was given to him for consideration. He really didn't want to, but he had no choice.
"Yes. That's correct."
"He,hehe,hehehehe."
Kaya's chakra started to make the sweat forming on everyone float up into the air as her anger continued to rise.
"That. Bastard. Had. The. Balls! To! Target! My! Family?!!!!"
Mist was starting to form in the room as Minato stood up.
"Please calm down, Kaya nee-san!"
The sweat that floated up fell down to the ground as Kaya started to breathe in deeply and exhale.
"....I'm of the position to kill him and move on."
Kaya responded with a chilling killing intent that sent shivers in the spines of everyone, except Fugaku, who nodded in agreement.
Minato nodded his head.
"I will at least inform 3rd Hokage of our decision, then we will first proceed to at least talk to Orochimaru. Afterwards, we'll move for Danzo to be removed from council. Any illegal moves he or Root makes after that will lead to us killing him otherwise."
Kaya gritted her teeth, but could only nod her head. Everyone else had no problem with the plan and began to go over the finer details of what would and could happen.
******
In the Headquarters of Root, Danzo stood in his main square, squeezing his cane in frustration.
'I've lost operatives to the Yamanakas before and they were never able to get past my mental seals. How could they have all failed this time?'
Danzo was becoming alarmingly concerned as the New 4th Hokage cracked down on Root, viciously looking for all activity that the organization had done.
Danzo had an easier time dealing with Hiruzen, but Minato gave him no quarter. He was now especially concerned with Danzo's appearance as he frequently asked what happened to his arm and eye. He couldn't let them know he had the 1st Hokages cells implanted. Even more so with the few Sharingan he managed to implant in his arm.
"Damn! That beast makes matters worse as well."
Danzo also got the reports from nearby operatives that a strange,eyeless, black wolf-llike creature would attack any lone operative of Root he placed in the village.
All the fail-safe seals he placed on his pawns were destroyed, but their lives were still intact! That meant the secrets they held were available to find!
Danzo knew many of his secrets were already compromised and only the most damning were left in the dark.
'I'll not hand over MY Konoha to people who can't see the good I do.'
Danzo thought suddenly of the many potential candidates he had found.
The one that truly shined to him was Hii.
Son of Kaya of the Storms, Grandchild of Di, the Stormblade and Riku, The Volcano.
He couldn't let him get away, but he knew Kaya wouldn't let him have him easily.
"I'll need to find some substitutes, just in case I can't get him."
Danzo held his hand on his chin as he began to formulate a plan. The shadows flickered and danced as the various Wills of Fire burned in numerous colors into the night.