The next morning found Sasuke looking more than a little angry as his scowled at his breakfast. A breakfast he couldn't see thanks to the bandage wrapped tightly around his eyes. Both he and Itachi had been placed on extended medical leave. Itachi was carefully manoeuvring his way through his food while Sasuke continued to scowl at his own.

Naruto had made a large pretence of showing shock when Minato had 'woken' him up just an hour earlier. Minato was standing a few feet away, quietly talking to Fugaku who hadn't even had time to dress into his proper uniform.

With a sigh Naruto picked up Sasuke's toast and shoved it towards the petulant Uchiha who only scowled further. "Just let me help you, teme." Naruto grumbled distantly while Sasuke wondered at the name.

Sasuke snatched the toast from his hand and took a forceful bite. "I don't need help eating breakfast. What I do need, is the name of the person who dared to break into my house and why." Sasuke growled, looking far more like the avenger Naruto was familiar with. "Did they leave any evidence?" Naruto asked innocently, eyebrows pulling together to further feign concern. He moved Sasuke's glass of milk closer to his hand when it appeared that Sasuke was more likely to knock it over than to actually manage to find it.

"No. Other than the fact that they were using some high end seals. I know you can buy seals from the Uzumaki so it was either someone with a lot of money or it was someone really good at seals." Sasuke frowned, head tilting downwards. "Luckily Itachi woke up before anything could happen." Sasuke mentally shuddered at the thought of an intruder sneaking around Shi's room. The youngest Uchiha had been sound asleep through the entire ordeal, only waking up when the bright flash had been activated. "They didn't have a lot of chakra, so it's possible that it was someone with a lot of money." Sasuke added, remembering the hazy figure that had been standing in the passageway, and how much chakra they'd had. Certainly not as much as Naruto had and Naruto was only half Uzumaki.

Minato turned away from Fugaku, the latter leaving the room while the former moved closer to the table. "Naruto-kun, I'm sending you to the Uzumaki compound. I need you to give this report to your mother. I'd go myself but I'm already scheduled to be by the Academy in an hour and I need to check in with the office." Minato tossed a scroll towards him and he caught it, wondering if he should read the words in the scroll. Probably not. Better to lay low after the failed Uchiha infiltration. Security would be heightened for a week or two at the very least.

The Academy? It had to be something important for him not to reschedule. Come to think of it, Shi-chan had absolutely insisted on going to the Academy, despite what had happened to her brothers.

Naruto stood and bowed to his father. "Understood." He turned to Sasuke, taking a moment to watch as the temporarily blinded Uchiha tried to eat an egg, missed and smeared it across his cheek instead. "See you later Sasuke." He received an annoyed grunt in reply.

Going to the Uzumaki compound could prove to be problematic. It was the heart of the biggest sensing clan in the village. If he reacted to anything oddly it would raise suspicions. Luckily, he was more experienced than he looked. Still, he'd already messed up once. He couldn't afford to do so again.

Running across rooftops, Naruto wondered just how different the Uzumaki clan would be. His experience with them since returning to the present was rather limited. Perhaps he'd see Haruto, get to see a bit more of the clan customs and such.

He dropped down at the compound entrance and waved at the guards. They knew who he was, yet they weren't sure if they should let him in or not. "Yo, I'm here to see my mother. I have a report from the Hokage." He held up the report. They waved him through and he carried on towards the main hall. He couldn't use his sensing to find his mother. He didn't want it to be known that he was an adept sensor. He wanted to make it look like he was trying to find his mother the long way.

"Hello?" he called as he entered the main hall, noting the low lighting and the somewhat empty hallway. He moved further in when he didn't immediately see anyone. He could sense a few people further in. Looking around as he walked, he was pleased to see that mostly, the compound hadn't changed other than to take on a more aged appearance.

Closer to the chakra signatures he could tell that they were underground, and somewhat hazy, which was weird. It meant he couldn't make out who owned the chakra or not. They had to be low enough to be under the village's barrier. Which meant they'd made a hole in the barrier. That wasn't very smart. Naruto frowned. Why would the Uzumaki do something so stupid?

He paused to look around, unsure of if he should carry on in this room, or walk around the compound until he happened upon someone who could help him locate his mother. He was about to turn around and do just that, when one of the chakra signatures moved away from the others and moved closer to the surface. As they re-entered the barrier, he felt his mother's familiar signature wash over him. He frowned but continued to pretend to leave.

"Naruto-kun?" his mother called to him as she shunshined into the main hallway, a few meters behind the blond. "Kaa-chan?" Naruto turned to his mom with a look of surprise. He wasn't acting either. He hadn't expected the shunshin. He walked towards her with a smile. "I have a report from Tou-chan." He held out the scroll and Kushina took it, her chakra showing her confusion. Perhaps she hadn't heard about the infiltration. Naruto waited, not sure if was meant to get a reply or not, as his mother read through the report. Her chakra grew grimmer as she did so, with a hint of concern. "I'm sorry Naruto-kun. I appear to be rather unable to assist in this matter. You'll have to tell your father to rule out Uzumaki sales. We don't sell flash seals. At least not one that could blind a Sharingan. We don't even know how to make something like that." Kushina rolled up the scroll, her features worried.

Naruto kept his emotions carefully in check. He allowed worry to creep in, as that would be a natural response. "Then we're dealing with a sealing master. How many of those are there outside of the compound?" he asked, moving a hand to his chin thoughtfully.

"Not sure. Anyone can study sealing. It's just that the Uzumaki are the best at it so not many other people bother. It's also a time consuming craft to learn." Kushina was stumped. He could feel it in her chakra. "At this point, we're going to have to wait and see. As much as it pains me to admit it, without any other further evidence we're out of options. They didn't use a weapon so we can't identify the craftsmanship, and they didn't use any jutsu other than seals. We don't even know if it was an outside attack or a traitor from the inside. Without knowing what the person was after, it's even less likely that we'll catch them. They could have been going after Shi-chan. She's young enough to be manipulated for her Sharingan and her family has already proven to be immensely proficient Sharingan users." Kushina rolled up the report and tucked it away. "I'll look through the records of known Uzumaki seals and see if perhaps there are any on invisibility or flashes."

"Could one of the weaker flash seals have been modified?" Naruto proposed the question as though he too was trying to solve the mystery.

"No. I imagine the base seal would have been completely different. Anything powerful enough to blind a Sharingan would have been pure chakra since the Sharingan sees the chakra pathways. Therefore it's entirely plausible that the flash was nothing more than an outburst of chakra." Kushina muttered. She seemed distant. "You should get back to your father. I'm sure Fugaku-sama is anxious enough as it is. Any information at this point would be most welcome."

Naruto watched his mother shunshin from the room, no doubt going back to where she had come from. How did she know about the Sharingan? Madara had stressed absolute privacy on all Sharingan related information. Coincidence? Or had the current Uchiha been a little more generous with their information?

Naruto didn't linger knowing it would appear suspicious to his mother. If she was even still looking out for his chakra. Perhaps he was looking in the wrong places. Perhaps this traitor wasn't a traitor at all? There was a possibility that this was an outside source, an infiltrator.

As he exited the main hall, he sensed a familiar chakra signature walking towards him. He turned towards Tatsumaki as he rounded the corner. "Shouldn't you be at the Academy?" Naruto asked, knowing full well that yes, the boy should. "I overslept." Tatsumaki replied innocently, adding a grin and everything. "I was just about to dash off when I saw you." Naruto sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Alright I'll walk you there and maybe I can explain to Iruka-sensei." He had no idea as to what he was going to say though. Naruto paused for a moment, thinking that perhaps not explaining anything was better than even trying, before shrugging and lifting Tatsumaki up onto his back, ignoring the boy's squawk of surprise. "Let's make sure we don't even have to explain anything." Naruto grinned, focusing his charka towards his feet where he'd have better access to the village seal matrix and then immediately seeking out the Academy.

Naruto was careful to make it look like an ordinary shunshin as he disappeared from the Uzumaki compound and reappeared directly in front of Iruka-sensei who immediately back away, kunai in hand.

"Sorry about that Iruka-sensei." Naruto stated nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "My aim is a bit off. I was going for the classroom door."

"N-Naruto?" Iruka quickly put the kunai away, looking more than a little shocked.

"Tatsu-kun was late for class." Naruto added with a grin. "So I thought I'd give him a hand, ya know, make an honest student out of him." To which Iruka snorted. "Honest student, honestly Naruto-kun you're the last one to talk."

Tatsumaki hopped away from Naruto's back, his grin so large Naruto was sure he was going to split his cheeks. "That was so cool! When do I learn how to do that?!" Naruto left the boy to run to his friends to tell them all about it. Shi on the other hand, gave Naruto a narrowed gaze look "Twice in one morning, Naruto-baka. You're really trying to ruin my day." Naruto was starting to think that girl was psychotic.

Iruka shook his head and sighed. "You're just going to make my job harder doing things like that." But there was a smile on his face so Naruto just grinned. "I'll stay and help out. Knock a few heads together if I need to." Naruto offered.

In truth he didn't really have anything else to do for the immediate moment. His father had mentioned he was coming to the Academy, so he could relay the message from his mother when he arrived. Iruka studied him for a moment, his gaze thoughtful. A memory came to mind, and Naruto wondered if he should say something.

"You know Iruka-sensei, you always did look out for me the best you could." Naruto smiled distantly. "I know that I failed the Academy graduation test and that it caused you a heck load of anxiety because of it. But don't worry. When I say I'm going to help you out, I don't mean that you'll have an extra headache on your hands. I've grown up a bit since the Academy." Iruka looked startled for a moment, his gaze moving towards Naruto and out of his thoughts. Then he relaxed a moment later with a soft smile tugging at his lips and a slight blush deepening the colour on his cheeks. "Am I that readable, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto just grinned wider. He couldn't very well tell Iruka that it wasn't that he was that readable, it was more like Naruto was just that good of a sensor. Better to let him make his own deductions. "Well I guess you can tag along. They're going to be a handful either way. We're trying something new today." Iruka sighed wearily. Naruto's curiosity peaked full force and he couldn't help but wonder what the Academy was trying. Perhaps that was why his father was coming. "We've been working on it for months so the kids will be really excited."

"What are we doing?" Naruto asked looking towards the students, who sure enough, looked ready to bounce off the walls. Shi-chan was with Tatsu-kun, the two seeming to be comparing something.

"We've been given special permission to try out the Uzumaki taijutsu training grounds." Iruka stated with a proud grin. "First time ever that it'll be open to those outside of the clan for a few decades."

The Uzumaki taijutsu training grounds huh. Naruto was quite familiar with it as he had built it himself. He was rather smug about that achievement. It was similar to the testing grounds Mito's father had taken him to all those years ago. Only this was meant to be more of an obstacle course, rather than a test. He'd even included a multitude of monitoring seals that would increase the difficulty of the course as a person trained so that they could continue to use the course. It was a 'live' sealing array so to speak. It changed and evolved as the participant did, really pushing them to their limits. Just before being sent back to the present, Naruto was the proud holder of the course record. He was a little confused as to why it had been closed off to the other clans, but things had changed in the last 50 odd years. So really he couldn't say why until he got there.

"Awesome! Sounds exciting indeed. Can't say I blame the kids." Naruto grinned. This might be fun. Maybe he could also give it a try. See if he could beat his old score. Probably not just yet.

The taijutsu training ground wasn't situated in the clan compound. It was right next to training ground 7. It was fairly large, with a small arena built around it. It used to be a source of healthy competition during the early formation of the village. A bonding experience so to speak.

"Alright class, line up. The Hokage should be here any moment." Iruka addressed the gleeful students and they immediately moved into two straight lines. Naruto couldn't help the nervous sweatdrop at the thought of disobeying Iruka-sensei.

As though summoned, Minato arrived in a flash of yellow and Naruto was pleased at the reminder that his father had learned and built upon Tobirama's technique. "Yo, tou-chan." Naruto waved. "Kaa-chan told me to tell you that there aren't any Uzumaki flash seals sold to the public strong enough to blind a Sharingan. She's going to look into the seal directory and see if there's anything on invisibility and flash seals." Naruto didn't even give the poor man time to greet Iruka.

"Ah. Thank you Naruto-kun." He didn't miss a beat and Naruto silently commended the Fifth Hokage. Minato smiled warmly and asked, "Are you joining us today?" Naruto nodded, "Sounded fun."

"Alright Iruka-sensei, the marker has been set up, so if you could all please hold hands." Minato turned to the chunin instructor who bowed slightly in greeting.

"Okay class, remember how we practiced." Iruka watched as the students nodded and grasped the hand of their peers. Iruka smiled and took hold of the hand of the child in front before offering his hand to the Hokage with a deep blush. Minato chuckled. "Yosh. Alright Naruto-kun you take my other hand." Naruto nodded and gripped his father's hand tightly. He'd seen the damage that Tobirama sustained getting this jutsu wrong. Minato had taken the jutsu far if he was able to transport this many.

The activation came without warning. A slight jolt that was felt all the way to his chakra core and suddenly they were standing in front of the Uzumaki training grounds. Naruto let out an explosive breath with a laugh. "That's the weirdest feeling." Minato chuckled again. "Oh yeah. I almost gave the technique a skip because of it."

All of the students were handling the jump with varying degrees of nausea or laughter and Naruto couldn't help the amusement at their predicament. Tatsumaki seemed to have recovered the fastest and ran over to Naruto, looking as though he was about to explode with happiness. "That was soooooooooo cool! Better than your jump, Naruto-Nii."

"Mah, I thought my jump didn't have as many draw backs." Naruto scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"Eh?! But your jump was just a shunshin." Tatsumaki argued. Naruto pretended to consider the argument before slumping his shoulders in defeat. "I guess you're right, Tatsu-kun." The boy would maybe understand that it wasn't just a shunshin. One day. Maybe. Better to leave it for now before his father grew suspicious.

Iruka looked pale but he did his best to put on a stern face so that the students would fall into line without too much trouble. "Alright class, we're going to do this exercise for most of the day. There will be an Uzumaki seal mater helping us today so I want all of you on your best behaviour."

"Hai sensei." The learners chorused while Minato walked over to afore mentioned sealing master, who happened to be Haruto.

The blond Uzumaki greeted the Hokage with a short bow, quietly going over the logistics for the day before Minato nodded and opened a door that lead to the seating part of the training ground. Naruto caught a glimpse of a still blind folded Itachi before Shi squealed and rushed over to her brother. Naruto shook his head with a smile. He felt sorry for any suitor that Shi may have in the future given her over protective brothers. Was Sasuke here as well? Stretching out his senses he concluded that no, he wasn't.

"Alright class, let's move towards the seats. You'll be going in one at a time so let's all be patient and work on having a good time." Iruka ushered the learners towards the door and Naruto followed, content to watch. However, Minato grabbed his jacket sleeve as he passed. "Hold on Naruto-kun, you'll be the one demonstrating. Help to show the students what to expect."

"Hai?" Naruto wondered what the plan had been before he'd decided to join the Academy field trip for the day. Itachi maybe, who was now temporarily blinded? He walked over to Haruto who greeted him politely. "Naruto-san. Good to see you again. I look forward to your participation today, as someone who completed the Trials." The reminder made Naruto sigh. He still had to see what was happening inside the Clan.

"Hai hai. I'm glad there weren't any lasting repercussions for Tatsu-kun." Naruto nodded his head as he grinned.

"Shall we begin?" Haruto asked. Naruto shrugged. He was ready to go when everyone else was.

Up in the stands Minato watched carefully. He'd been glad to see Naruto and not really because it was his son. Selfishly he wanted to see what the course would reveal about his son's abilities. It was hard to fool the sensing seals at the entrance. As each participant walked in, their chakra was automatically scanned and the level of the course set based on the information this scan provided. It was a good opportunity to see if what Naruto had been displaying was luck, or skill.

The entrance to the course opened and Naruto waited a moment, listening to Haruto-san.

"Alright class, Naruto-kun is going to go first to give you all a demonstration of how the course works." Iruka instructed loudly enough for all the excited children to hear. "If you see that screen over there, there's a list of the current top ten performers that have ever taken this course." Iruka pointed towards a screen where the first name displayed was Uzumaki Naruto, the Shodai Hokage. Underneath that was Senju Hashirama, the Nidaime Hoakge. High standards to work up towards indeed. The letters of names were shimmering slightly, displayed in the same blue hue of chakra showing that this entire course relied on chakra.

Naruto stepped forward and a blue chakra barrier activated, washing over the Namikaze for a moment before disappearing again. A screen opposite Naruto displayed two words and a number that made his heart freeze.

Uzumaki Naruto – 1st

Was it too much to hope that no longer having Kurama influence his chakra would have made enough of a difference that the scanners didn't recognise him as the same person.

Minato watched as Naruto's face paled, his eyes growing wide and panicked. He noted the screen, his own mind racing at the implications. They had seconds, mere seconds to act before the course activated. Minato sprang to his feet and rushed towards the railing that separated the seats from the course grounds "Get out Naruto!" he yelled, his own voice sounding frantic.

Naruto spun on his heel and tried to do just that but a barrier warped into place, forcing Minato to let go of the railing. The slight buzz told him that touching the barrier wouldn't be a good idea.

"Tou-chan!" Naruto yelled, his breathing beginning to speed. "I can't do this!" He wasn't exaggerating. He knew exactly what was about to happen. He'd adjusted the settings for his course runs. The barrier was so that those watching didn't get hurt from flying debris. The only way to shut it off was to complete the course and what used to be a slightly workout for him, was now a death trap. He hadn't had time to train his body and his chakra reserves to his previous level. There was no way this was going to end well. The course didn't have a failsafe when it was him, because foolishly that's exactly how he'd designed it. It wouldn't shut off even if his heart stopped beating.

Worst case scenario, he was a decomposing corpse in a training field that would never be available to anyone else again. Best case scenario, he made it out of here alive. Miraculously.

His best hope to do that was to spam high charka cost manoeuvres to get to the other side of the course and hit the off switch before getting beaten to hell and back by the actual course. Seemed doable if he considered his high chakra reserves. How much chakra would he need to move as fast if not faster than the course?

Naruto closed his eyes and focused on his breathing. He could do this. He just had to be fast. There were students watching after all, and they didn't know what was going on. They didn't know there was a problem.

Minato watched as Naruto grew calm, his eyes becoming determined. Had he come up with a plan? He moved to Iruka and said as quietly as he could "Keep the kids calm for now. Tell them Naruto's on a much higher setting. Really emphasise that they won't have the same experience."

Iruka nodded, having also gauged the seriousness of the situation.

Minato moved towards Haruto who was trying to get the system override working. His eyes were clenched shut in concentration, both palms on the sealing array that controlled the course. It was glowing a feint turquoise but otherwise, nothing moved. "I've managed to delay the start but I'm not able to turn it off. Short of destroying the entire course, there's nothing we can do." Haruto admitted, his tone conveying his concern.

The floor of the course shifted and Naruto immediately sprang into action, moving towards the other end of the course with a burst of speed that could only be aided by chakra. The course was largely run on earth style manipulations. A column of earth sprang at Naruto's right and he avoided it by jumping up, only to be slammed by a column coming from his left. Minato heard the snap of the bone in Naruto's arm breaking and winced. Naruto didn't even cry out and Minato wondered how much more the boy would be able to take.

"Try again, Haruto-san, please." Minato flicked his gaze toward the seal master, inwardly wondering what good he was if he wasn't able to help. As though sensing his inner thoughts, Haruto responded "Usually I'd be able to shut this down immediately, hell there shouldn't even be a barrier. But the Shodai made modifications for his run. I can't fix this. Only the Shodai can."

"But you're his son? Surely your chakra means something to the seal?" Minato knew enough about seals and chakra signatures to know that family had extremely similar chakra signatures. How did Naruto's chakra get confused for the Shodai's was anyone guess at this point but for now getting him out of there was the biggest priority. Haruto shook his head. "No. My father's chakra was something else entirely."

In the arena, Naruto closed his eyes and relied completely on his sensing. That was the only way he'd managed to make it through the mountainside course all those years ago. Keeping his body loose would allow him the ability to react almost immediately. He needed to move instinctually. That was the only way this was going to work.

Feeling the flow of the course was almost cheating, the barrier making it a little harder than it would have normally been but he could sense enough. Twisting his body to the left and ducking low to avoid three columns of earth almost caused him to pull several ligaments. He may have been using chakra to aid his movement but his body hadn't adjusted to the daring manipulations and as such, a long recovery period after this was highly probably.

Four pillars forced him to form a Rasengan to smash his way through. Luckily, this present version of himself had figured out how to do it without shadow clones. Ducking into a newly formed ditch meant he avoided a blast of flame, but he felt the heat scorching his skin. Too close.

The ditch shifted and he wasn't fast enough to duck out of it before he felt himself being flung into the air, where gusts of wind sliced into his skin, Naruto doing the best he could in covering his face.

When he landed, he landed running to avoid the spikes shooting at him for all directions. Faster, faster, FASTER! Not fast enough. A spike dug into his shoulder, knocking the air right out of him but he kept running. He had to.

Minato bit his bottom lip as Haruto once again tried to override the seal. Naruto was burning though chakra at an alarming rate, too full of adrenaline to really register the damage his body was taking. He himself had tried to get into the barrier using his mark on Naruto's jacket but it was useless. The barrier was solid. He pressed his palm to the ground, trying to see if he could go from underneath, but the barrier once again, prevented any interference. Naruto was on his own, trying to get to a small ledge high above the course floor, where the seal to deactivate the entire thing was located. The closer Naruto got, the more vicious the course became.

Right now the blond was jumping from one flying rock to the other, the ground shaking as each rock hit the ground. The barrier's purpose became somewhat positive as it prevented any of the debris from hitting the students.

A sudden wave of water crashed into Naruto, sending him several feet backwards and further away from the ledge. Minato was keeping careful track of his chakra. He was running out, fast. With the speed that the course was moving at, this would be over in minutes.

"Naruto!" Minato had to physically hold himself back, least he get too close to the barrier.

Naruto lay on the ground panting and exhausted, feeling the course take a moment to reabsorb the water that had just cracked several of his ribs. Whatever he did next, had to be enough to get him to the other end. He was out of chakra, out of time. The longer the course went the more difficult it was becoming.

Underneath him, the swirling chakra of the village reminded him that perhaps he could try one last thing. Taking a deep calming breath, he stilled his body, absorbing the senjutsu around him. He wouldn't have long. Ten seconds at most, and therefore he had to absorb enough to get to the switch.

With on large burst of speed that really would be a last resort, Naruto dashed towards the ledge. It was a last resort because the output of chakra far exceeded his chakra coil's capacity, straining them to an almost breaking point. If the burst was too much, he'd never manipulate chakra ever again.

For a moment, a tiny, uninterrupted moment, Naruto was faster than the course. His fingers grasped the ledge and he pulled himself up with a desperation only felt a handful of times in one's life before slamming his free hand onto the seal that would end this nightmare.

The active chakra in the course grounds froze before completely disabling, leaving nothing but the general chakra that ran through the village. Naruto felt his body relax as he let go of the ledge, his body falling the floor with a painful bone jarring thud. The barrier disintegrated and Naruto suddenly felt stupidly happy. He'd done it. He'd managed to survive his own foolish course. It had definitely been more challenging than any other time he'd done it. But he'd managed. Despite himself he began to laugh.

"Tou-chan!" He gasped between laughs, "Was that how you feel every time you perform the Hiraishin no Jutsu?" He couldn't deny how exhilarating it had been. He was utterly exhausted, unable to move more than a few inches, but he couldn't stop the grin on his face. The recovery time for this adventure was so worth the trouble he'd gone through.

Minato sighed and felt his entire body droop as the tension drained. His heart thundered painfully in his chest. He hadn't felt so useless in such a long time. That boy was going to give him a heart attack. The only other time something similar had happened was the day Naruto had been born. The entire village had lit up like a Christmas tree, Minato later learning that the village did that every time the Hokage left and came back. Sort of a greeting, an acknowledgement of their presence. It also served to let all the village occupants know. It had been implemented by the Shodai as a way to raise moral during the early stages of the village's formation where the Shodai was required to leave the village often in order to resolve conflicts brought on by those that weren't too happy about the village's existence.

Naruto felt the disturbance in the village's chakra a fraction of a second before the jutsu hit, coming from the village itself. How was that possible? The traitor? His heart thundered in his ears as he tried to force his body to move, to get out of the training ground. "Tou-chan! Invasion!" was all he could manage before the jutsu activated.

Naruto's laughter cut off suddenly so he could should his warning, his arms feebly trying to support his body weight so that he could stand. Something was wrong. Minato should've taken him to the hospital the moment the barrier went down. Minato rushed towards Naruto only to be blown backwards by a wind jutsu. The same jutsu launched Naruto into the air, the boy unable to do anything with his chakra exhaustion as a void seal suddenly opened in the training ground floor, a dark swirling mass of unknown origins.

Minato didn't wait for the jutsu to stop, twisting around and getting a kunai from his pouch. He threw the kunai as hard as he could towards Naruto's limp form. He reappeared next to Naruto just as the wind jutsu cut off and chakra wire shot out of the void, wrapping around Naruto's ankle.

Minato tried to grab Naruto's jacket, his hand, the waistband on his pants, ANYTHING! before Naruto was yanked towards the void in the floor. If Naruto was pulled in, there was nothing he could do. He had no idea where that seal led. He wasn't fast enough as all he'd managed was to brush Naruto's fingers, watching as Naruto disappeared into the seal, a hand reaching towards him.

Naruto sensed the chakra coming from the seal. He knew that being taken would not end well for him. He needed to get away.

But . . . . . He had nothing left.

He had no way of getting free. Not in his current state. All he could do was watch as his father failed to grasp hold of him, as his father grew further away from him, as the void swallowed his vision.

A hand grasped his, a chakra chain shooting past him, a sharp blade at the end. The chakra wire around his ankle was cut and he was yanked upwards so hard his shoulder dislocated. He found himself being carried away from the void seal fast enough to blue his vision. Who?

"Naruto? You okay?" They'd stopped, the void no longer open as Haruto placed a seal over it, forcing it to close before the enemy on the other side could come through.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, feeling nothing but pain, his world a dizzy blur of inconsistencies. "When did you get here?"

Distantly he felt Sasuke and Sakura's chakra, Menma's too. Minato landed next to Kakashi, features grim. "He's going into shock. We better get him to the hospital." Minato grasped Naruto's shoulder and Kakashi's arm, preparing to jump them to the emergency room. Haruto rushed over to them, eyes moving towards Naruto's ankle. "It seems I accidently cut Naruto as well. My deepest apologies Hokage-sama."

"Don't apologise, Haruto-san. Without your quick thinking and chakra chains I don't know what we would have done." It was the last thing Minato said to those around them before the world lurched and they were standing in the hospital. "Get me Tsunade!" Minato yelled as a flurry of activity greeted their arrival.

Naruto's brain finally gave out, the last thing he managed to comprehend was that the person on the other side of that void, had been none other than Uchiha Madara, and that his chakra hadn't been threatening at all.