Something Precious

Chapter Twenty Nine

"A truce?" A's mistrust was not kept from his voice. Naruto nodded and caught his eyes.

"Don't be mistaken." now Naruto sounded more than slightly menacing. "This isn't over. You have stepped foot in my nation's land with a harmful intent, that hasn't slipped my mind." there was an unspoken threat in his tone and glare that promised hell next time they met.

"Besides, I did technically just save your brother so you owe me this on your honor."

"You also hurt my men." A pointed to the said men who all lay in declining degrees of consciousness.

Naruto shrugged. "They attacked first. And as I just pointed out you are on our nations soil so I would think twice about declining our offer."

A was silent as he contemplated this. His eyes flutter from Naruto to Killer B to Minato countless times before he let out a breath.

"Fine. But don't get too cocky, next time we meet - which will be soon - I won't hesitate to rip you to shreds."

"Well, we're on the same page there at least." a few more glares and A turned back to the bar. He motioned silently for his brother to follow. Killer B sent a strange glance at Naruto before obliging. The two blondes watching them go.

"What. The. Hell, Naruto." Minato growled, turning to the blonde. Naruto didn't relax and didn't look away from where the two Cloud nin had disappeared.

"It was best not to get into a full out battle and kill them right then. The big one is the Raikage's son and he is next in line for the position, we should be more careful about engaging. And the other one - Killer B - is a jinchuuriki don't underestimate him either. I heard that he is in full control of his tailed-beast making him even more dangerous. It would be a bad idea to go all out with them without any preparation and with three of our team members elsewhere." Naruto explained through excuses that Minato didn't want to hear. Still, there was a point to be made and he was beginning to see it.

The tension was broken when Kakashi bolted into sight and looked around apprehensively. His eyes fell on the scattered bodies of the clouds jounin, then they went to Naruto and Minato.

"You're kinda late Little Man." Naruto told him in a casually board way as if nothing serious had happened. He seemed good at that.

Minato also looked at the bodies then back to the Uzumaki, not being able to recall him using any jutsu in the times he had glaced his way. "Did you all that just using taijutsu?" he asked amazed. Naruto shugged it off.

"Well, I used shadow clones, and I took out that one with the help of a water jutsu." he pointed to the one who had his head smashed in. Minato nodded, impressed by Naruto's combat ability. He is probably a taijutsu master, he concluded. Then a thought dawned on him.

"Who were those shinobi from earlier, the ones with the masks? The looked like ANBU but they were dressed differently."

"They were from the Root. Most likely sent to keep an eye on me or to collect info on the Cloud nin, probably the former. That's why they didn't interfere when the fight started - they wanted to measure my abilities." Naruto explained. Minato's blue eyes widened.

"You mean Danzo's men?" Naruto nodded.

"Wait. . . how did you know they were there? Have they been following us this whole time?" Minato hadn't been able to sense anything while he patrolled during the long night hours.

"No, they only caught up to us two nights ago. But yeah, they're Danzo's men. If you concentrate now I'm sure you could sense them, they are just very good at concealing their chakra signatures. It's impossible unless you're looking for them."

Minato closed his eyes and focused. Sure enough there were three very faint, very well concealed signatures. He was utterly surprised Naruto knew they were there, Minato was very attuned to sensing chakra and even he had to bend all his concentration to pick them up.

He opened his eyes and examined Naruto. "They are were sent because of you?" he asked incredulously. Naruto shrugged.

"It's only a guess on Danzo's nature, like I said - they could also be here for the Cloud nin." though he didn't say, Minato picked up that he specifically meant the Eight-Tails.

"We should probably do something about that don't you think?" he didn't like the idea of being followed, and certainly not by men who report directly to Danzo.

Naruto just shrugged in answer. "I don't think it really matters. We should make a plan though if we do, they are very skilled and can hear everything we're saying right now." he informed which put both Minato and Kakashi on edge.

"That's not creepy at all. Why would someone from the Leaf want to spy on you or interfere with our mission?" Kakashi suppressed a shiver as he spoke. Now that he knew the silver-haired chunnin could feel their eyes on him. Guess who won't be sleeping tonight.

The expression on Naruto and Minato's faces when they finally took their eyes from the trees, surprised him. They were wearing identical looks of stern disappointment that made their similarities in appearance all the more prominent. They looked like twins.

"What?" he asked boredly. However, even though he would never admit it - the pair was very intimidating.

"Kakashi, where are Rin and Obito?" Minato demanded in a dangerous tone. Kakashi shrugged and looked away stubbornly.

Naruto put a firm hand on his head and turned it to face him. "Kakashi, why didn't you get them before you came here?" he asked in a stern tone.

"I didn't need them." Kakashi stated confidently. Naruto sighed showing his aggravation. He took his hand from the chunnin's head and stood only to look down on him.

"You can't decide that, your team is your strength and your arrogance is going to get either yourself or others killed." he scolded harshly. Kakashi pushed down the shame and guilt that he felt rush forward and try to settle in his stomach like a ton of rocks.

"Naruto is right Kakashi, however weak you perceive them to be, Rin and Obito could save you and the mission when you least expect it." Minato tried to persuade the stubborn kid to no avail. Naruto was again left trying to comprehend that this child in front of him would one day grow to be the man he had once called Sensei, they were so opposite.

He sighed and resigned to thinking it over at a later time, possibly during one of the countless sleepless nights he was sure to face.

"We should go meet up with the others and go over everything that just went down." Minato suggested. Naruto nodded and Kakashi made a sound of reluctant agreement.