An Imperial Influence

[Minato Namikaze]

Fluorescent hums and muffled voices caught the former kage's ears as he began to regain consciousness. He felt as though he'd been hit by a mountain, but this was to be expected after using his chakra so irresponsibly. Blurred silhouettes in front of fluorescent lights stood by his bed as the voices began to clear up.

'We don't need to worry about it right now.' Tsunade's spoke as as the silhouettes began to take a proper form.

'But we need to-'

'Making sure Minato is okay is my first priority right now. We'll get the information after he wakes up.' She interrupted. 

'Information?' Minato's dry voice cut in, surprising both Tsunade and the man that was talking to her.

'We'll talk later, Lady Tsunade.' Galan spoke before giving a bow. His tone conveyed irritation, but he still had a lot of respect for the Morikage. The elven man turned to Minato, giving the man a bow as well. Minato smiled and returned the gesture as best he could.

'It seems that trouble likes to find you,' Galan stated as he turned his attention from the blonde to the two beds across the room. 'but I'm glad you're on our side. Having to fight you seems rather unhealthy.' he finished with a faint smile, before exiting the room. Minato gave a pained chuckle as Tsunade sat down by his bed, examining a chart.

'Minato-sensei!' Kakashi exclaimed as both he and Kito dashed into the room.

'Asuma sent you?' Tsunade questioned, looking up from her chart. Kakashi and Kito nodded in unison.

'Is that Minato-sensei's chart?' Kakashi questioned. Tsunade shook her head and then pointed towards two other beds just across from them. Kakashi's eyes widened at the appearance of the two jailers that he had sensed prior to his prison break.

'Where have you two been?' Minato coughed as he sat up in the hospital bed. His hands and forearms were bandaged and, upon moving them, felt numb.

'Sorry, Minato-Sensei, we were taken by surprise.' Kakashi explained as Minato gave him a reassuring smile. 'Those two over there are responsible.' he finished, pointing at the shinobi's most recent opponents. 

Minato nodded and then looked down at his right arm, it was bandaged and numb, not a good sign. Holding onto his rasenshuriken for too long seemed to have some serious repercussions. He'd need to make sure that he didn't do it again. 

'Well, whatever you did to them, they aren't getting up any time soon.' The woman spoke.

'Wind style combined with the rasengan...' Minato mumbled, catching the attention of the three other shinobi in the room.

'That would explain it.' Tsunade sighed. “Wind Style: Rasenshuriken, though somewhat limited, is still quite powerful here.' 

Minato, initially surprised by her words, found himself feeling delighted. He had died, which meant she was talking about Naruto. He knew his son could do it. Though, if he was anything like Kushina, Jiraiya-sensei probably had to find ways to keep him focused during training. At that moment, as if a cold breeze had blown through the room, Minato chills rush down his spine at the thought of Jiraiya's influence on his child. But the was nothing he could do about it now.

'So, what did you discover?' Tsunade queried as she crossed her legs and sat back in her chair besides the bed ridden blonde.

'Well the Empire is behind it,' he spoke, Tsunade sighing in response. 'and they are blackmailing the Miu family into helping them.' he finished with a sigh. He was still rather tired but, on top of that, there was always a problem that needed dealing with. It was like some sort of endless cycle that he couldn't escape. 

'And you two? Did you find out anything?' Tsunade asked, shifting her focus from Minato to his two squad mates. Kakashi looked at the genin, giving him the opportunity to relay any information he'd gathered before being kidnapped, but he seemed deep in thought. 

'Well,' the silver haired shinobi began, clearing his throat. 'They've acquired some sort of highly advanced weapon. It can attack from outside of sensing range and that was how they got Kito and Myself.' he explained before taking a pause so that the Kage could take note of the Important details.

'Go on.'

'They've been studying us for some time. They learned basic sealing techniques and then tried to improve on them.' the man continued. 'They've lined prisons with the seal, making it rather difficult to sense anything outside of the cells or to escape from them.'

'Is that all?' The woman asked, resting her chin on her palm, Kakashi nodded as she leaned back and let out another loud sigh. 'Okay then. We should let Minato sleep. He'll be better in the morning.' 

Kakashi nodded, turning to the dark haired boy and ushered him out of the room.