Meetings, But Not Really (1/2).

After the meeting with the two leaders ended, Ichigo was told that someone would come to him and bring him to a training ground where he would have his lessons. Ichigo left the office and started going back to the single bed apartment he was given.

In this week, Ichigo had learned a lot about this world, first of all though, the fact that the spoken and written language of this world was Japanese was such a relief that he actually smiled for a moment.

But back to that never, he learned the basic history of this world, about the Moon creating Sage who also introduced the concept of chakra, the main power holders of this world being shinobis or ninjas, just thinking about that reminded him of Yoruichi and Soi-fon.

Both of them were very stealthy if they wanted and their division also consisted only of ninjas. If he went with Soi-fon's example, that meant these people were strong, they were prideful but most importantly, they were cautious, or paranoid, same thing of you asked him, but if he had learned anything over time, it was that being cautious was a good thing, especially when you lived an interesting life like his.

He also learned that there was a recent war in this world known as the Third Shinobi World War. He learned about Minato and his exploits in this war and his feared moniker of Yellow Flash. It was from here that he learned about the land of Lightning and their shinobis and why he was suddenly thinking about Yoruichi and Soi-fon.

Thinking about how the people living in the land of lightning had dark skin tones and how the ninjas of the Village hidden in Clouds were best known for their lightning techniques, his hopes of finding Yoruichi were unconsciously lit. He didn't want that hope only to be disappointed afterwards and kept reminding himself that it shouldn't be possible but that little hope never died.

He really wanted to meet someone he knew, he wanted to vent his feeling, he wanted to cry, he wanted to shout, he wanted to just let go, but he knew that if he showed any weakness, others could very easily take advantage of him. After all it had already happened a lot of times.

So who else better than Yoruichi, someone who was not only a close friend and comrade but also his mentor, for a while. Even though he wouldn't admit it, especially in front of anyone he knew, she was also his first crush. The crush didn't last long due to the threat of Aizen and Orihime's kidnapping but it was there. After that, there really wasn't enough time to think about these things and it naturally went away with time.

As he was thinking about his friends and family he reached his little apartment.

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Minato on the other hand called for a meeting with all the clan heads and the council. He finally had enough presence of mind to actually attend the meeting. Before this, he was too worried about Naruto and especially about Kushina.

All the running around, doing everything he could to calm the masses, assess the damage done by the Kyuubi rampaging in the middle of the Village, appointing qualified people for the repairs, making arrangements for Ichigo, stopping the rumors from spreading and worst of all, The Paperwork. He had to eventually ask for Sandaime-sama's help on that one.

Now with the funeral for Biwako-san done, Kushina in the capable hands of Tsunade and Naruto with Jiraiya, things were starting to calm down and he finally had the time to tell the council and the clan heads about the incident.

Everyone was quickly gathered and seated and Minato started the meeting with,

"Before everything else, my sincere gratitude and condolences to Sandaime-sama for Biwako-san. Due to her, Kushina was able to successfully give birth and I was able to react quickly because of her. Thank you Sandaime-sama and I'm sorry for your loss."

After Minato said this, the clan leaders and the council members also gave their condolences to him. Hiruzen had a sad smile on his face and he only nodded, refraining from saying anything.

"Now, on to the topic of Kyuubi and what happened on the site. You must be wondering how any accidents occurred even with me being there personally together with the best anbu guarding the premise."

There was a murmur of agreement from everyone so Minato continued.

"First of all, the place where Kushina was giving birth was only known to a select few people, the nurses and Biwako-san were transported there personally by me using the Flying Thunder God, even they didn't know where they were."

The Aburame clan head, Shibi spoke, "You mean to say that there was an information leak or possibly a ...."

"Yes, possibly a traitor among those who knew."

This time the Nara clan head, Shikaku spoke up, "Or those who knew told someone else from the Village and the information spread from there."

Minato shook his head,

"Not likely, the information was an S-ranked secret and everyone who was told about it was qualified to know the secret because it involved the jinchuriki of the Village. The Shinobi under me are not stupid enough to share S-ranked secrets with those not qualified, hence the possibility that there is a traitor among those who are."

Everyone seemed to agree with it so Minato moved on to the next topic.

"Now on to the next topic of how it happened. The place was attacked by a man wearing a full body black robe and a white mask with black markings with only one eyehole. The only thing visible through the hole was a Sharingan."

The moment he stopped talking, the room erupted with noise. The Uchiha clan head, Fugaku, had a dark face and his sharingan activated responding to his anger. Minato let it continue for a few seconds before silencing everyone.

"SILENCE!! Before you start pointing fingers, remember that we just went through a bloody war. Fugaku-san, how many Uchiha did Konoha lose in this war?"

"The total number of dead Uchiha with active sharingan amounts to 31. With ALL of them being CONFIRMED dead. With the only eyes not personally retrieved or destroyed by an Uchiha being those of Obito Uchiha, one of his eyes was given to Hatake Kakashi and the other crushed by a boulder."

The Uchiha head spoke the words, 'confirmed' and 'Hatake Kakashi' with a visible snarl. He really didn't like someone outside the clan having the Sharingan.

"And those with inactive sharingan?"

"Three of them, missing, not confirmed dead."

Suddenly, Shimura Danzo, a village elder, spoke up,

"Or it could be one of the Uchiha in the village that orchestrated this entire thing while wearing the mask."

At this point Fugaku's sharingan was spinning rapidly and morphed into a completely different shape.

"Are you accusing the Uchiha clan of treason? Danzo?"

"I didn't say that. All I'm saying is that one of you could have gone rouge and attacked the village with the Kyuubi, like one of you has already done in the past."

"We, The Uchiha are one of the founding clans of this village and we have always given it our all to protect it. You cannot blame the whole clan for the actions of one that has already passed."

Seeing the situation getting worse, Minato quickly added,

"Fugaku-san, the assailant also had the next stage of Sharingan. His eyes morphed into a three sided kunai, with each side connected to the previous.", saying this, Minato showed everyone the picture he drew of the eye. After which he continued speaking,

"He was able to pass through solid objects and my attacks, the only reason I was able to defeat him was because of Flying Thunder God. After he was defeated, he vanished into a swirl that originated from his eye and I was not able to Flash to him even though I had tagged him."

Hearing this, Hiruzen asked the Uchiha clad head, "Fugaku, do you know anyone else besides you who has unlocked the next stage of Sharingan?"

"The only known and recorded Mangekyou users in the Uchiha clan are Madara Uchiha, my father, whose eyes I destroyed personally and me. You have just seen mine. My father had a hexagon as his Mangekyou and no one in the clan knows about Madara's."

Hearing this, Danzo scoffed and said, "As I just said, one of you has gone rouge like Madara."

"The man claimed to be Madara.", Minato quickly said to stop them from going off topic.

Fugaku frowned, before saying, "Madara was last seen by the First Hokage during their fight and the First Hokage confirmed his death. Are you saying that you believe the claims of a madman?"

"I believe that the man was not an Uchiha. If he was, why did he not use both his eyes? Was he that arrogant, to believe that he could go against the Hokage with only one eye." Shikaku stated.

"I agree with Shikaku. The eye could be implant and after getting the implant, he could have gotten high on the power and decided to imitate Madara, who was known to be the strongest shinobi besides First Hokage." Inoichi said, backing Shikaku.

"It could be anything, but for now let us move on. A wanted poster has been posted inside the village but we will refrain from adding the entry to the Bingo Book." Minato added.

"For the next month the village will be under lock down, I have already received permission from the Daimyo, no-one is allowed to enter or leave the village. I want the Uchiha and the Hyuuga clans to send their shinobis to the border of the village. For the next month there will be a team of either or both patrolling the border 24/7. They will be paid standard C-rank amount. Understood?" declared Minato.

It was clear to both clan leaders that it was an order and not a request from their Hokage. So, both replied in tandem, "Hai!"

"The Aburame and Inuzuka clans will sift through the village for any disturbance. If found stop it with extreme prejudice. The Yamanaka and Nara clans will work on containing any stupid rumors from spreading through the village. I don't want any more unrest in the village. Once again, if anyone is found disturbing the peace of the village stop them with extreme prejudice. Understood?"

All of the council members responded with the resounding yes.

"Now on to the last topic of the meeting." sighed Minato, he didn't like doing this. Everyone inside the room was older than him, it felt wrong commanding them, but he was the Hokage, it was his duty now to take command.