Chapter 99 :  The Will of Fire (2)

Walking through the beautiful village of Kirigakure no Sato was a spectacular experience. Well, walking through the village in the shadows would be the correct statement, but it was still beautiful.

Minato knew that once they hit Mizu no Kuni, the Mizukage would be safe. No one would attack her in her own borders, and the Kiri ANBU that met her there were more than efficient to safeguard their powerful and beautiful leader.

That said, though, Ro-Han knew just how important this woman really was. They didn't look at the auburn-haired woman as a foreigner, as a potential enemy. They looked at Terumi Mei as a high-profile target that needed to be safe at all times.

She was a lover of the godslayer, and if anything happened to her… even Nezumi-Two didn't want to think what his son would do. With the power at their fingertips, anything was possible. Total and utter extinction was not far out of their reach, and the previous Hokage knew that his son could wipe an entire village off the face of the planet if he was angry enough.

Plus, Nezumi-Two had accepted Mei as his son's love interest, or, one of them, at least. The very thought still made him blush slightly. With that acceptance, came the desire to protect. He remembered how it felt to want to keep someone out of danger again, something he only ever truly felt to this degree when Kushina was pregnant with their child.

The Mizukage was someone extremely important to Naruto, and his son had experienced far too much suffering and loneliness for him not to have this woman by his side. He was starved of love, and Mei and Anko were the perfect cure.

Civilians and shinobi alike brightened the moment they saw their beautiful leader, elated that no harm had come to her in Konoha. Like she had thought, word of the invasion of Konoha had spread, and her people were worried sick. The people of Kiri, hell, of all Mizu no Kuni, knew that Konoha would not harm their Kage.

Their savior, the Bringer of Hope, one of the legendary demons of the resistance was there, and everyone knew how fond their Mizukage and the Kamikage were of each other. Rumors – more like love stories of war – floated around, most of them untrue.

Fantasies of the older, beautiful woman falling in love with a much younger shinobi from another village were the most told. The whole "forbidden love" thing really got the people going, and it didn't help that the newest Make Out series of romance – more like smut – novels had been exactly that. Jiraiya had, very unsubtly, written about them and their time together when they first met.

The old pervert just changed the names, and added a lot of adult material. She and Naruto hadn't done half the stuff he wrote about, but it didn't matter, the people ate it up.

Even now, just walking in secret from the shadows, Nezumi-Two could hear small parts of conversations about "the monster would never let harm befall his princess" and "the Bringer of Hope loves Mizukage-sama too much to let her get hurt". It was the strangest thing he had ever experienced.

Oh, the fact that everyone knew his son loved Mei was slightly surprising, and the fact they didn't hate her for loving a Konoha-born ninja was something that wouldn't have happened in his time, but the oddest thing of all was how much the people of Kiri adored his son.

It was absurd.

There may be a treaty between them, but treaties never lasted, and true peace and understanding between nations was unheard of. Yet, here he was, listening to the whispers of their savior, once again watching over Mizu like the angel they thought he was.

It was enough to bring a small tear to his eye. His son was doing it. Naruto was slowly bringing peace to the world on a scale he had never been able to. True, he had forced, almost singlehandedly, the other nations to a ceasefire, all but ending the Fourth War, but that hadn't been true peace.

It was strained, and the consequences of his actions were still causing problems.

He shook the thoughts of his failure form his mind, allowing himself to bask in the love another nation felt for his son. Jiraiya was right, he would teach the Child of Prophecy, but he was wrong about one thing. He was not the one, Naruto was. He did not doubt that for a second. His son would change the world in more than one way, and he was sure that it would be fantastic.

Catching the signal from Ookami, the entire team stopped, watching as the Mizukage turned to them, going through a well-known Konoha shinobi code with her hands.

It wasn't ANBU code – that was highly classified. What she was signing was common among Konoha shinobi, taught at the academy. It was mostly used between genin and chunin, but every shinobi knew it. No doubt Naruto taught it to her. The fact that she knew it didn't seem to surprise Ookami, so Nezumi-Two decided it was okay.

It was amazing just how respected his son was in Ro-Han. He and Kakashi were like living legends within the ANBU corps, and he wouldn't doubt that they would disobey their Hokage if ordered by the original Nezumi. It was incredible.

Mei had requested that Nezumi-Two join her in her office. Looking to Ookami, in respect to the team leader, he was given permission to join the Mizukage.

Within minutes, Mei was sitting at her desk, with a professional looking Nezumi-Two standing at attention at the door, showing her the respect of someone of her status. Appearances were everything, and even though he could kill the woman in the blink of an eye very easily meant nothing when it came to politics.

"Relax, Nezumi-san." She stated. "Please, my office is secure. We are the only ones here, and I'd rather talk to you without the mask of your son." She said softly. Appearances aside, she didn't want to be on the bad side of Namikaze Minato for multiple reasons.

The first – and most obvious – reason was that he was terrifyingly powerful. It was said that he was just as strong as Sarutobi Hiruzen when the man was in his prime, and every nation that witnessed the third God of Shinobi's wrath still wept and feared his destructive techniques.

The Blitz had happened nearly fifteen years ago, and it was still the scariest thing the current era had experienced. And the fact that he could singlehandedly face the Kyuubi no Kitsune, even if he sacrificed his life for the village, was something that spoke of his ability. Facing a Bijuu, any one of them, was something no shinobi wished.

The second, and most important to the Kiri-born woman, was that the man before her was the father of the person she loved with all her heart. She knew she would be Naruto's for as long as he would let her. She never wanted to live without him, and even now, she missed him dearly. His very presence was soothing, his touch warming, and his love out of this world.

He was like a drug, and Mei knew she was addicted. She didn't want Naruto's father to hate or even dislike her. It was important, because Naruto was her family now. That thought actually made her blush, and her whole body felt hot. She… she had a family.

Shaking her head from her thoughts, she looked to the blond man who was now unmasked. Minato would be her family as well, and she wanted to know he was well respected, both as a shinobi and Naruto's father.

"Is this better, Mizukage-sama?" he asked politely.

Mei nodded, smiling at his manners. "Hai, Minato-san." She replied. "And please, call me Mei." She continued. "It would be embarrassing if my father spoke so formally to me." She teased.

What she didn't know was that Minato had the charisma of an angel, and he could very well turn the tides if he so wished. "Is there a reason you wished to speak to me in private, Mei-kun." He replied. That particular suffix was like an older teacher speaking to a very young student.

A tick mark appeared on her lovely face, and she smiled at him a little too sweetly. "Indeed I have." She answered shortly. She obviously did not like the suffix he added to her name. Good. "And it is very important that you are discreet." Her slightly annoyed face turned serious, and Minato could detect nervousness within her eyes.

"What is wrong, Mei-san?" he asked, dropping the innocent banter. If something made her so nervous, he would help in any way he could.

"I need you to take two of my operatives with you back to Konoha." She stated. Minato raised a brow. "I have an SS-ranked mission for Mitarashi Anko." She continued, causing Minato to look at her in confusion. "They will escort her here, in secret, of course.

There will be another Hokage soon, and this mission needs to begin before that happens. The utmost secrecy is critical, for what I am about to tell you will affect you, me, Anko, Naruto, and both our villages without a doubt."

Minato was now very alert, his "Hokage Mode" active. His son and his village were all he had left, and Mei was speaking as if something monumental was going to transpire. "What is going on, Mei?" He asked.

She looked out the window, a very nervous expression marring her face, as she gently laid a hand on her stomach. "Hopefully, nothing," she said in a whisper that screamed falsehood. Whatever it was she thought was going on, she hoped it did.

"But if I'm right… your son will no longer be invincible, for he will gain a weakness…" She said.

Minato's eyes widened when she told him what she thought was going on, and he couldn't determine if he was furious or the happiest person alive at the moment.

One thing was for sure, if this information got out…

Naruto's enemies would have a way to hurt him.

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