3 Prelude III

A Week Later

It took a few days until Anthony woke up from his exhausted and severely injured state, it took him another four whole days until the hospital would allow him to start moving around. Anthony was walking through a hallway with the help of a nurse, who's nametag read Janice, when he heard a doctor talking about a poor child that was born and was orphaned when the mother died. This information was not sitting well with Anthony, for some reason he just couldn't get the picture of his wife slowly dying as she gives birth to their child. He shook his head a few times and then walked to the nurse's station to see when he would be released. One of the nurses who heard him telling his story about his pregnant wife took pity on him and explained that he would be able to check out in a few more days if the doctor okayed him and the latest his injuries would keep him the hospital was two more weeks. He nodded and was helped back to his room and then left to rest and think about what was happening in Konoha.

He didn't have to wait too long as the doctor who had been taking care of him and checked up on his condition. He went through a quick checklist and questioned Anthony about some of his symptoms or if there were any pains that he has noticed, which Anthony shook his head to each. The doctor smiled and said, "That's all I have then, you seem well enough to check out of the hospital tonight. I would rather you spend the night here and then set out in the morning, is that alright with you?" Anthony scrunched up his face, but nodded his head, "Thank you and now I'll just file some of this paperwork and get your release papers ready for tomorrow. Take it easy."

The next morning Anthony woke up early and got himself dressed in an ANBU uniform he pulled from a seal on his arm. He still had some stitches so it took him the better part of an hour to carefully maneuver the fabrics over his tender flesh and sore bones. He resealed armor and decided to see how he felt using chakra, as he meditated and allowed his chakra to saturate the air around him he was glad to feel no pain. He relaxed and allowed the air around him to return to normal and walked out to check out of the hospital.

The process was quickly finished, with the nurses already having his paperwork ready, he signed the paperwork and payed for his visit in a matter of minutes. It took him maybe a total of ten minutes from the time he left his room and exiting the hospital completely. His face turned serious as the doors were shut behind him and he searched for the familiar pull from his Hiraishin markers. He felt the many pulls all at once and sorted through until he found the quickest path and flashed to multiple different markers in rapid succession to preserve more chakra instead of making one large jump all the way back to Konoha.

Not even a minute later he flashed in front of the East gates of the village and walked towards the chunin guarding it, it took them a few moments before they allowed him entry. He flashed to ANBU Headquarters and dropped off his report on the commander's desk, since it was too early for anyone, minus a few guards, to be inside. He then flashed to the Hokage's office and smiled when he noticed his father who seemed to have just nodded off, his smile turned into a grin as he held a hand seal, whispered, "Water Style: Wakey Wakey Jutsu" and spit out a small glob of water that landed on his father instantly waking him up.

Hiruzen instantly jumped up and almost fell when he slipped getting into his defensive stance, he was confused however when he heard five pairs of snickering coming from around the room. He looked around and noticed a sole figure in front of his desk as the snickering faded away he said, "I thought you were supposed to protect me from attacks not laugh at me or certainly not be the one to do it!"

This resulted in the ANBU standing on the other side of his desk to chuckle and remove his mask showing his father it was him. Before he got to say anything though Anthony was tackled to the ground by the teary eyed older man, he groaned and nearly screamed and fainted the instant he hit the floor with his father on top of him. He managed to stay conscious as his father got off and helped him get off the ground.

It didn't take long for Hiruzen to shake off the surprise of his son coming back to the village alive and for the most part safe, his smile slipped from his face. Anthony noticed the change in his mood and quickly voiced his concern, "What happened dad? I didn't notice anything wrong with the village on my way here."

Hiruzen sighed again wishing that he could be anywhere other than here having to tell his son what needed to be said. His face creased with fresh worry and sorrow as he thought about how his son would take the news. With a final sigh, he looked into his sons face, the young man's face usually so full of life and warmth, was now full of worry and concern. "Son…" At that Anthony stiffened even if only slightly, but Hiruzen caught it, "…I need to say that a squad I sent out to find you was unable to find you so you were reported dead." At this Anthony's eyes went wide, whether from pure confusion or with surprise Hiruzen couldn't tell, "This information was not well received from me and your wife." This time the Sarutobi head could see the realization dawning on his son's face, and the denial trying to convince himself he was wrong. "The stress pushed her into giving birth before schedule, she gave birth with the help of Tsunade. She was unable to save…"

Anthony fell down to his knees and started to weep for his 'losses', Hiruzen allowed his son to let out tears and placed a comforting arm on his son's shoulder. Anthony wept like this for the better part of an hour before he looked up at his father, the eyes that looked up at his father were not the usual bright self. The eyes now looking at the hokage were the maroon of the sharingan, but gone was the simple three tomoe pattern. This was Anthony's mangekyo sharingan, now there were six tomoe inside of three interconnected ovals. (Think of sasuke's sharingan minus tri pronged windmill and six tomoe in the outsides parts of the ovals. I will add a picture of what the eyes look like.) Hiruzen took a step back in shock and as he did he took in the rest of his sons features, the boy's shoulders no longer sagged, they were tense, he had blood dripping from his eyes, and his face was emotionless. Though what worried Hiruzen most was the horribly hollow look in the eyes of his son as they returned their normal blue and gold color, but gone was any hint of warmth. It was because of this that he forgot to tell Anthony of his son's survival and just listened as his son talked to him with those hollow eyes, "I will need multiple missions that will allow me to leave the villages sight for a while or just something to get me out of the village."

Hiruzen caught only the last part, but he understood what his son was trying to get at. He would do no such thing, why would he give his son multiple difficult missions that he would probably only wind up dead performing in his current state. He shook his head and looked down at his eldest son and said, "You are in no condition for such missions now and me and the ANBU commander have been speaking, he has recommended you take his position as he retires and returns to the normal ninja ranks. He has already served well for his six-year term as the commander and I agree with his decision of you being his replacement. This will allow you to stay out of the villager's sight and keep you busy, but you will remain in the village unless you are desperately needed to perform a mission yourself upon my request. Will you do this?"

He caught the quick twitch of annoyance pass through his son's features before they were schooled and Anthony placed his mask back on his face and nodded his head in acceptance. "If that is your wish hokage-sama."

Hiruzen grimaced at the cold tone his son was speaking with, but nodded his head. "Very well report in to Dragon and be ready to take over his position in the upcoming weeks. A quick nod and a quick flash was his only response.

Fifteen Years Later

The time passed quickly for Anthony he accustomed himself easily to the paperwork part of his job and even made time so that he could sneak in a few of the harder missions. He never really left the office other than to go to a council meeting or for missions. He spoke to no one a personal level anymore, he would not even talk to his father about anything more than his reports every so often.

He was sitting in the council chambers waiting for the other members to arrive, when a young azure blue eyed blonde haired teen walked in and took a seat at the clan head section of chambers. His eyes narrowed behind his mask as he noticed where the boy was sitting, the Namikaze clan head seat, as he studied the boy who seemed no more than his mid-teens and judging by how clean his flak jacket was a newly named chunin. His eyes narrowed even farther as he noticed the Namikaze main family symbol emblazoned on the boy's shirt sleeves, he would have to discuss this with his father. On the inside, he was seething at the audacity of someone to claim that position when the last member had passed away even he wasn't technically supposed to where that symbol as he was only a married in member of the head family. His wife and son would have been the only ones to bear that symbol truly. He did not allow his internal reaction to pass through to his exterior though and sat still in his seat in the shadows.

It took only fifteen more minutes until the room finished filling up with the remaining members of the council, the villager half of the council were spending their time talking about the economy and current news on trade and other gossip. He was more interested with the shinobi side especially clan heads as he took a mental roll call, 'Namikaze clan head I don't know his name yet, but the boy is present. Kagami Uchiha is present and it seems he brought his daughter Mikoto. Daiki Hyuuga and his two sons are present. Mito Senju is here along with her granddaughter Tsunade. Oh, my little Kushina-chan made chunin and Mito let her be the Uzumaki clan head? It seems that dad hasn't let anyone take up the Sarutobi spot yet, he should just let Kono take the spot until he retires from being hokage. Young Sakumo has finally been allowed to attend on his own. Old man Tazu brought his granddaughter Tsume to a meeting I guess she will replace him instead of his son then. Kazama Kuruma is here for the Kuruma clan and seems he brought his wife with him.' As he finished the remainder of his private roll call Hiruzen walked into the room and started the meeting.

"Hello again council members and welcome to Konoha's council to all of those this is the first meeting. Allow me to introduce to new clan heads Kushina Uzumaki chunin and now with the blessing of Mito Senju head of the Uzumaki clan." Kushina stood and bowed to those in the council chamber and then she sat back down. "As well as Minato Namikaze chunin and as the last remaining main branch Namikaze will take over as clan head." Minato stood and was about to bow when a screeching was heard from the corner and all heads turned to the noise. Hiruzen's eyes grew wide as realization of what he had just done occurred to him.

All eyes rested on Anthony as he stared down at the now named Minato, before saying, "Pleasure to meet you Namikaze-san, and please pardon my interruption and what I am about to say is in no way meant to be taken as an attack on your personality. Hokage-sama how is this chunin a member of the Namikaze main house, I was told that they had all passed away."

Hiruzen cleared his throat and said, "Yes, I understand that you might be confused on these facts as the last main branch member passed away giving birth to Minato-kun here. So, as you can tell he is the sole heir to the clan head position."

Many of the older generation who knew who Anthony held their breath as the masked shinobi looked over the blonde teen again, before saying, "Well boy I am sorry for bringing up your past as I did. I also apologize for anything insulting I said towards you." He slightly bowed and only a few heard the emotion that had tinted his words.

The rest of the meeting went smoothly and ended only a few short hours later. Hiruzen entered his office and sighed as he turned to be face to face with his son, well face to mask anyhow. "Who is raising and teaching him."

There was no clarification needed for Hiruzen he easily knew they were speaking about Minato. "My student Jiraiya took him on with his genin team a few years ago and will be taking him on as his apprentice now that Minato is a chunin." He caught the brief flickering of pain that passed through his son's form. "Do you want to talk to him or tell him about yourself?" Hiruzen asked with little hope.

Anthony stared at his father for a moment before answering, "I don't think I could tell him at this point dad. I have done far too little for him and was probably a major cause of his pain. I don't want to create anymore for him." Anyone would have been able to hear the sadness coming from the man's voice. "I think I will just help him from the background, see you around dad. Oh, and we should talk more I miss just talking to you even if I act like I haven't." After saying his piece, he flashed away leaving Hiruzen alone in his office.

Hiruzen was left alone smiling with a few tears falling down his face. He walked to his desk and whispered, "That makes two of us son and I'm glad you're opening back up."