The next day, Jiraiya took Minato out for a walk around the village to get those sweet dumplings that he talked about earlier.
It would be useless if Minato went to his office to work because the sannin used the Hiding in a Toad Jutsu (The user summons a special Diving Toad from Mount Myōboku and hides inside its stomach) and fed the toad all of Minato’s files that were in is office, and the only way that Minato would be able to retrieve them, is to take one day off. So with no other choice, Minato joined Jiraiya.
It was a nice afternoon, the sun was shining, the weather was perfect, and the wind blew some leaves around with laughing children trying to catch them. Minato just looked around and smiled at everything that he saw was pleasant, then started to whistle happily. Jiraiya looked at him and chuckled.
“You seem very bright this morning, Minato. I’m surprised that you went along with me, considering what I did. I thought you would have reacted like a child who has broken his favorite toy.”
Jiraiya pauses and then chuckles again.
“It seems that Kushina really took all that stress out of your mind.”
The Sannin then starts to laugh hysterically.
Minato stops whistling, and looks to his side so that Jiraiya won’t see him blush.
“Ha ha ha, at least I know that my student is all grown up now,” says Jiraiya, patting Minato on the shoulder.
“I was wondering how you managed to put me in that immobilizing jutsu without me being able to stop it,” asks Minato, quickly changing the subject.
Jiraiya begins to giggle.
“Of course, it isn’t easy to sneak up on the Yellow Flash. So, I got some stuff from Mount Myōboku and Kushina slipped it into your tea this morning, uh, I mean, I slipped it into your tea this morning. Don’t know what it was, but it was effective,” replies Jiraiya.
Shocked, Minato wonders how he let that happen. Kushina was right, how can he be a Hokage when simple things like dressing up and spiked drinks could kill him?
But who was he to blame? It was Jiraiya’s fault. He was Minato’s sensei and yet didn’t warn him the slightest bit about getting poisoned.
Although, he probably didn’t teach him so that he could use it as an advantage such as yesterday.
“It definitely left an impression when I woke up,” says Minato, patting his head that attained a bruise after yesterdays fall.
“Yes, Shima did mention that you’d feel a bit dizzy after waking up if you’d taken it and fell asleep.”
NOTE: Shima, admired as the Mother of the Toad Way, is an elder toad from Mount Myōboku. As the heirs of the Great Toad Sage, she and her husband are known as the “Two Great Sage Toads”.
“You know sensei, I can have you arrested for potentially harming the Hokage and for robbery,” jokes Minato.
“Yes, you can. But, I am Jiraiya… The Toad Sage!” Exclaims Jiraiya, who summons a medium-sized toad, then takes on a heroic pose, causing people to stare at the two.
“Did you really have to send for him?” Questions Minato, slightly embarrassed by his sensei.
“I had to make a point,” states Jiraiya proudly after the toad poofs off back to Mt. Myōboku. But not before the toad could call him a baka, to which Jiraiya pretends not to hear.
The Hokage and sannin finally make it to the dumpling shop and order some food and tea. Once they received the food, Jiraiya started to feast, while Minato ate casually, ignoring his cup of tea.
“You’re not touching your tea, Minato. What’s wrong?” Asks Jiraiya teasingly while gulping down some dumplings.
“I, uh, am not thirsty at the moment, and it’s kind of hot outside,” excuses Minato calmly, who right now isn’t drinking anything with Jiraiya around.
“Don’t worry, it’s not spiked. You’re out of your office so there’s no need to knock you out again,” says Jiraiya, laughing. He gulps down more dumplings and tea in delight.
Minato still didn’t touch the cup.
Suddenly, Jiraiya stops laughing, points his naked dumpling skewer at Minato and looks at him seriously.
“Minato, I didn’t take you here for no reason. Concerning the missing nin, I needed to talk to you privately about new information without any possibility of Danzo’s men listening in. I’ve asked Kakashi for help, so surrounding us are his ANBU Black Ops team.”
“I’ve noticed,” replies the curious Minato, finishing a dumpling.
“But why do we need them? What’s going on? Why are Danzo’s men involved?” He begins to ask.
Jiraiya orders another cup of tea and a few more dumplings. He then proceeds to devour the food with joy, swallowing with satisfaction.
“Have you noticed anything about the men found dead? Any similarities?” Questions Jiraiya, taking some photographs out from the inside of his kimono.
“No, I didn’t have the chance to,” replies Minato, sounding a bit annoyed.
“What do you mean didn’t have the chance to? Only today did I take your precious files from you. Before that, you worked in your office for days non stop. Or… was the Fourth slacking off?” says Jiraiya jokingly.
“I was looking into the profiles of the missing ones. Haven’t even touched the folders of the ones dead. That’s why they were on the floor by my desk,” says Minato, defending himself.
“How am I supposed to know anything about Hokage work? I prefer to do my own research, I’m working on a new book right now,” says Jiraiya with a wink, pulling out some of the completed portion of his new project, Icha Icha Paradise.
“Back to the subject. Can I see the pictures?” Asks Minato, ignoring the erotic novel.
Jiraiya hands Minato the photographs, then asks, “Now do you see anything?”
Minato looks at all the photographs thoroughly, not blinking an eye.
“Yes,” Minato replies. “There’s no blood, wounds, bruises, or any physical damage.”
“You’re right. They did an autopsy on all the men and found no sign of stroke, heart attack or anything that could’ve killed them internally. No aneurysms, internal bleeding, drowning, signs of shock. They were all healthy, and yet they all just… died,” added Jiraiya.
“How is that possible? Is there even a jutsu capable of doing that?” Asks the baffled Hokage. “Wait, is it only Leaf Ninja who’ve gone missing? No other villages’ ninja?”
“Just the Leaf,” says Jiraiya with a sigh.
“Why are we the only targets?”
“I have an idea. The other shinobi only know about the missing nin, and nothing about this peculiar jutsu, or whatever it is. So the only people who know about this information are you, me, and Kakashi’s team,” says Jiraiya. He then finishes his food and stands up. “Come on, let’s go."
After Jiraiya pays the bill, the two go to a small vacant house. Kakashi and his team appear, then scatter to make sure that they’re the only ones there, leaving Kakashi alone with Minato and Jiraiya.
“Before we start, we need to make sure that this stays confidential,” says Jiraiya. “Kuchiyose: Gamaguchi Shibari!”
NOTE: Kuchiyose: Gamaguchi Shibari or Summoning: Toad Mouth Bind, is peculiar technique of partial invocation that summons only an organ: the oesophagus of a great, fire-breathing toad from Mount Myōboku, sending the enemy into its stomach.
With them all inside the toads stomach, Minato asks, “Why couldn’t we discuss what we talked about in here earlier?”
“Because, I was hungry,” replies Jiraiya, rubbing his stomach satisfyingly.
Kakashi rolls his eyes.
“I asked you this earlier, what does Danzo’s men have anything to do with this?”
Before Jiraiya can reply, Kakashi begins to talk.
“Once Danzo finds out that there is a jutsu efficient enough to kill a victim with no scratch or evidence, he’s going to go through all lengths to get his hands on it. So we need to make this a secret from them as much as possible.”
“I never liked that man,” remarks Jiraiya. “Always giving the excuse that what he’s doing is for Konoha. Through all he’s done, I don't understand why Sarutobi-sensei still let him stay in the village.”
“During my reign as Hokage, I haven’t had any problems with him yet. But if you two say this much about him, I’ll be more alert,” replies Minato.
Jiraiya then summons the toad whom he’d fed Minato’s files to, and retrieves one of the folders containing the information of the missing nin. He hands the folder to Minato.
Minato opens the folder. Inside is information about a chunin, Takeshi Akamatsu. Takeshi, age 19, had an average body build, was tall, had brown eyes, and thick black spiky hair.
Minato can’t seem to shrug off the feeling that he’s seen him before. He gains a guilty feeling as well.
What kind of Hokage doesn’t know his own ninja?
Minato was always a quiet one; Kushina once thought that he looked unreliable and girly when she first saw him, so he hasn’t been very social all his life. And with being a jonin leader, then ultimately becoming the Hokage, he had no time to talk to others. A reason why the Third appointed him to be the next Hokage; he always put the village and others before himself.
“Takeshi Akamatsu, what’s so special about him that separates him from the others?” Asks Minato.
“Takeshi’s grandmother was an Uchiha, one who has awoken the Sharingan, very rare for a woman in the Uchiha clan. She left the clan and married into the Akamatsu family. Ever since then, she’s been an outcast from the Uchiha; an abomination. His family isn’t affiliated with the Uchiha family at all. One week before all the ninja went missing, it was rumored that he’s awoken the Sharingan as well,” says Kakashi. “I asked Obito’s family and other Uchiha about him, but they won’t tell me any more than what everyone else in the clan knows.”
“Takeshi was the very first one to go missing, then the others followed,” says Jiraiya.
“So what you two are implying is...?”
“Takeshi might be the poison to Konoha’s tea.”