Naruto God of The Shinobi

CHAPTER 34

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Chapter Thirty-Four

Returning to the village, Naruto found the invaders had retreated, the battlefield that had surrounded Konoha now contained only the bodies of those that had fallen. The walls of the village, were still vigilantly manned however, in case this was simply a lull in the fighting.

Smoke still rose from some residences, the result of attacks that had over shot the fortifications that surrounded the village. Most of the fires still seemed to have been put out.

Naruto silently walked through his house within the Namikaze compound, after having changed into some fresh clothes, wondering what he should take with him to Amegakure when he went to stay with Konan. There wasn't much he truly valued in this home. A few gifts from Minato, Kushina and Kōji, perhaps some books that he was in the middle of reading but not much more.

He had time to decide, Konan was most likely expecting him tomorrow or the day after but it paid to be prepared. A quick detour before he arrived to take care of this 'Zetsu' character and then he would be spending some time with his daughter.

Much like with Minato, Konan was the leader of a village of shinobi, she was also a grown woman, and so Naruto realised that her time might be split. Still, he had time with his daughter that he had to make up for.

Idly, Naruto reminded himself that he needed to take Shukaku before he left, the One-Tail was sealed within a large scroll held within the lower levels of the Hokage Tower. It was most likely a quick prison that his son had created with the limited time he had, as it was easy for Naruto to sense Shukaku's chakra leaking from it. He highly suspected it would be shifted to a far more secure container soon, most likely once Minato had finished meeting with his council regarding the state of the village.

A sudden flash of yellow and burst of chakra alerted Naruto to another presence that was suddenly within his house. He tensed, and was prepared to whirl around and deliver a solid strike to the face of whoever was stupid enough to attempt to sneak upon him, only to relax as he recognised the chakra signature of his son. He turned to greet his son with a small smile, ready to greet him the news that he had found his sister but was greeted in turn by the expression that he knew Minato wore only when he was acting within his capacity as Hokage.

Just beneath that, hidden in the way his son's eyes stared into his own, Naruto saw a small amount of worry.

"Tou-san, did you take Kōji and hide him away from the fighting?" No greeting, only a tone that demanded an answer. Naruto frowned and shook his head, watching as the worry he had seen grew and slowly began to morph into fear.

"Is something wrong, Minato?" Naruto questioned, concerned with what he saw.

"Kōji is missing," the Yondaime admitted after only a moment. "He never reported to the academy."

Naruto's frown deepened and his body tensed slightly.

"I brought him to the bunkers for the civilians, I wanted to take him with me, but he said that the genin needed to report to the academy for assignment," he told his son, whose look of worry only grew more pronounced.

"I've had shinobi sweep the city," Minato's hand brushed through his hair, a sign of his unease. "They haven't found anything, and there isn't any sign of a battle further than a hundred or so metres from the walls of the village." Here, Naruto saw his son shoot him a look. "Barring, of course, the battle you had between yourself and people wearing Akatsuki robes." The elder male blinked in surprise.

"You know of them?" He asked, momentarily side tracked. Minato gave a stiff nod.

"Jiraiya has tried to keep me informed about their movements, there hasn't been such a large gathering of S-ranked shinobi before, barring the formation of Hidden Villages, and especially not in an organised fashion." Naruto pondered the information before discarding it in the end, it would be useless either today, or tomorrow, he will have dealt with the remnants of the group by then. He met Minato's eyes.