An Orchestrated Coup [Exemplary]

[Minato Namikaze]

The duo had made their way to the northern district of the village, the section of the village that had been attacked the previous night. The charred and broken buildings, the little amounts of blood that had been splattered on the streets, and the memorial flowers that had been left by the mourning people had all served as reminders of their failure. Whether they wanted to accept it or not, they had tried their best but their best hadn't been enough. That is the truth of the situation.

Minato clenched his fists as they came to a stop in one of the trees that lined the perimeter of the Makhel's housing estate. The building style was familiar to the two, sliding walls, tiled roofing that raised to a point. It was architecture that a lot of the clans within The Leaf Village used. 

Their eyes watched, like an eagle stalking its prey, as the few guards that still patrolled the Makhel estate made their rounds. First, they would walk around the outside of the building, then they would take position at the front gate for a few minutes, and then repeat that process. It was odd to them but the Makhel didn't come from the same world as they, themselves, did. So the difference was to be expected.

As the guards moved from their statue-like positions at the front gate, and around the corner of the housing estate, Minato and Kakashi made their move. They dropped down and dashed towards their destination. After leaping over the gate, with ease, they made their way inside the building. They were met with a surprising amount of darkness, considering the time of day and the amount of sunlight outside.

'This is... odd.' The silver haired man whispered, he didn't want to alert anyone to their presence within the building.

'Yeah. It's completely different on the inside.' The golden haired shinobi nodded.

The inside was almost completely dark. As if someone had set up a genjutsu trap or some sort of 'magic spell', a term that he'd only just recently heard one of the villagers use. Upon further inspection, he did notice candles that were mounted to the walls, but they weren't lit up, and he wasn't about to light one either.

While the darkness limited their vision, it also aided their infiltration. They would be able to move around quickly and quietly, without having to worry about someone seeing them from down the hallway. Not that their seemed to be anyone in the building, at the moment.

The duo decided not to linger at the entrance, each of them taking one side of the hallway, they made their way through each of the rooms, before coming to a stop at the end of the passage. They looked at each other and shook their heads. They had found nothing.

The sound of footsteps and the faint illumination of the corridor to the right of the duo jolted them into action, taking cover in a nearby room as someone roamed past. They each let out a light sigh of relief as the light disappeared around another corner.

'So there are more people here...' Kakashi muttered, Minato nodding in reply before closing his eyes and placing his index finger on the ground. His sensory abilities had returned. He could see the chakra of the two guards that patrolled the perimeter, and the one that was roaming the halls. There was also one more, below them, that seemed larger than all the others. 

'There's one more person here. Below us.' The golden haired man whispered as he wondered where everyone was.

'Don't you think that it's a little strange that there's so little people here?' his silver haired companion responded.

Minato nodded. it was, indeed, a little strange that there were so few people here. All but three guards, two of which were outside, and one other person left behind to guard the estate did seem odd. However, the rest of the clan could be out paying their respects with the rest of the village. Minato sighed as the two of them headed out of the room and back to the split path that lay before them. At this point, the silence had started to become a little too deafening for them.

'Which way, Minato?' Kakashi asked as his companion pointed to the right corridor.

'That way is the direction of the fourth person. They are below us, so there's probably an underground passage way down that hall.' He spoke softly, taking the lead as the duo tread lightly through the building, making sure to stay incognito. 

The only thing going through Minato's mind right now was the hope that their suspicions about the Makhel family were true...

And that they weren't making a horrible mistake.