Back to the Beginning (Naruto Fanfic)

Chapter 36

Minato was sitting at his desk looking over maps of the surrounding lands when Obito ran into his office.

"Minato-sensei!" Obito was breathing frantically as he entered the office.

Looking up in surprise at the sudden noise, Minato looked at Obito's heavy breathing, and could see that he had something important to tell him. "What is it, Obito?"

Obito took a deep breath to calm down before speaking. "There was another village attack, and it seems to be done the same way as all the other village attacks."

"What?" Minato immediately began digging for the other reports that had come in about all the other attacks, looking for the similarities. "Were there any survivors?"

"Yeah. Actually, there were no casualties. There were some with serious injuries, but everyone survived."

That's just like the other villages too. The villages were completely destroyed, but no one perished in the attack. Minato was deep in thought as he tried to think of what the meaning of all these attacks could be. "Obito, were there any reports on who the villagers said did this?"

Obito nodded. "Yeah, though they don't really help at all."

"Go ahead and tell me anyway." Minato gestured to Obito to continue his report.

"Well, it isn't very helpful, but all that we were able to get from them was that they saw red flames followed by a glimpse of red eyes."

"Thank you Obito. You may leave now."

Obito was about to walk out of the room but stopped and turned back towards Minato, a somber look on his face. "Minato-sensei, is Naruto..." Obito stopped when he saw Minato deflate, turning his eyes away. "Nevermind." Without waiting for an answer, Obito left the office, leaving Minato to process the new information.

Minato rested his head against his hand as he thought of the information Obito had brought him. These village attacks are getting closer and closer to the Leaf. Every report has been the same, the village gets destroyed but no one dies, and the only thing they saw was fire and red eyes. Minato took a deep breath as he tried to organize his thoughts. I'm sure it's Naruto. It has to be.

It had been a couple of months since they had gone to check out Madara's hideout and Naruto was captured. When he became Hokage, Minato had sent out different squads to try and track him down, but no one was ever able to find anything. What did Madara do to him? I know he wouldn't just attack an innocent village for no reason. And it seems he is making his way here.

Once Minato decided what to do, he called in his personal ANBU. "I want all of you to gather as many shinobi as you can and work on getting all of the villagers to safety. I have a feeling we're going to be next."

"Yes sir!" The ANBU members all nodded at once before scattering into opposite directions to begin the evacuations.

Minato was gathering his things and getting ready to leave when he heard another knock on his door. "Come in."

"I heard that you are evacuating the villagers, Lord Fourth Hokage." Danzo was standing just inside the doorway. His face showed no emotion as he looked Minato in his eyes. "Do you think that is really necessary?"

Minato didn't trust Danzo, so he didn't want to give him information that he didn't need to know. "Yes, I do Lord Danzo."

"I do not think that we should be worrying the villagers unnecessarily. We don't want them to panic. Why not just let them stay in the comfort of their own homes."

"Frankly, that isn't your decision to make Lord Danzo. I appreciate you sharing your opinion on the matter, but I have already made my choice." The interval between attacks has only been a couple of weeks at most. If we follow that rule, then the next attack could happen at any time. Minato continued to look at Danzo with conviction in his eyes. He was not going to let him get his way, no matter what.