You will never know how much I hate my computer right now.

I had such a high demand for a next chapter that I wrote one a couple of weeks back but just as I was uploading it my damn computer crashed so I had to re-write it. This is the second draft and it's shorter than the next one but I felt that you all deserved an update so I belched this out quickly. Please excuse the quality of writing, it won't be as good as the original copy but unfortunately that one is floating somewhere out in cyberspace.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I hope that you'll do the same again!

On with the show!

Chapter 2

"Bolt."

The voice was heard only by the world around it, as the yellow flash careered through the forest, miles and leagues lined with trees, hills, lakes, mountains, succumbing to its rapid progress. Minato felt his muscles burn but didn't recognise the pain or stop to regain lost breath. He felt the trees whisper to him, and he knew instinctively he would be there soon, very soon.

His soul felt heavy and his heart numb, as if his spirit had wandered from his body and was watching everything from a different point of view. He didn't want to think about anything, the blankness he had grown accustomed to was more welcome than the lead weight at the pit of his stomach making him feel desperately sick with himself. He couldn't escape the question. 'What have I done?'

The gates shot up to meet him as Minato terminated the Bolt jutsu and hid stealthily in the nearest tree. He knew there was no way he could get through Konoha gate without being noticed and there was an even bigger problem; the current Hokage.

The fact was, Minato hadn't a clue who was leader now and the chances were that the current leader was someone he had never heard of or never fought before, thus at an immediate disadvantage because all Konoha ninja were well educated in Hokage history, and no doubt heard about the well known Justus each used. And, to make matters worse, if he showed his face to anyone he would probably have Konoha's entire ninja force on his back treating him as an imposter or trespasser. He couldn't use transformation Justus as he hadn't seen anyone from Konoha in...However many years it had been, meaning his transformation would be thoroughly inaccurate or the person he would be imitating could be dead.

He didn't want to cause a ruckus, the quieter he could be about his arrival the less people would expect intruders. If he came any closer to Konoha's walls there was about a 45% chance he'd get seen, even if he did use the Bolt, it was too high a risk to take. A summoning jutsu was out of the question too. So, unless he came up with a master plan, there was a slug's chance in a hot spring of getting in undetected without inside help. Minato groaned softly. The truth was that he didn't have a clue about Konoha's current state, his friends, his enemies, for all he knew, they could have been taken over by sand ninja by now. A new pang of fear struck him and he wondered longingly where Naruto's loyalties lay. He didn't even know what his son's attitude was like and was suddenly apprehensive. What if he was the opposite of the character in Jiraya's book?

Kushina's smile was radiant in his mind. She had been so desperate to call her son after that main character, in the only non-pervy book the toad-sanin had ever written. Minato felt tears pricking his eyes for the woman he loved, for the son he hadn't met and for the parents his Naruto never had.

Minato suddenly realized his mistake. He had let his son see him.

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Tsunande yawned tiredly but kept up her brisk pace. She was nearly out of chakra after healing Naruto and the others' many wounds. It had amazed her how resilient the boy was, he'd woken up very quickly, even by his standards, though he still looked like raw hamburger.

The poor kid had looked totally heartbroken at not being able to bring Sasuke back, the moment he laid eyes on Sakura the room seemed to ice over. It was an unfortunate turn of events, loosing the last Uchiha left in Konoha to Orochimaru, but at the same time it felt like the niggling feeling in the back of her mind had finally been relinquished. She'd read all the top secret scrolls documenting the destruction of Sasuke's clan and she realised that the boy had no idea of his elder brother's intentions, nor the goings on of Konoha's governing body. Tsunade could feel that the board was to be its own destruction, not that she particularly cared, they were all old cantankerous bastards anyway. The worst part was definitely Naruto's new found depressive side, or perhaps it wasn't as new as she thought, especially with the villagers treating him like the crap on their heels. At least he hadn't lost his determination, at least he had the courage to try and smile, even if the smile was quite obviously put on, even if the chances of Sasuke coming back were a million to one. He would go on smiling. Tsunade flicked her hair out of her eyes and stopped to stare at the sun. As long as the people in this village and his bright grin were still there, Konoha would still be worth protecting.

She was still mulling over what Naruto had told her in the hospital. She knew it was possible for her predecessor to be alive but somehow she had been sure that he'd died. If there was anyone who could get out the grip of a death god it would be Minato. It seemed fairly obvious that he wouldn't expose the fact he was alive, there were many reasons why he wouldn't do that. If he was alive and Naruto hadn't been delusional or someone hadn't been posing as the fourth, where was the Flash now? If he'd entered Konoha there was a fairly large chance she'd know of it by now, but then again, he wasn't called Hokage for no reason. If so, he'd probably be near Naruto at the hospital, where she had just come from but that again was unlikely as she probably would've caught that unusual, almost undetectable static aura the man had.

The predicament was a strange one. Who should she go to for advice in this confusing situation? But of course, who better than Jiraiya? The toad was Minato's sensei and Naruto's godfather, not to mention very close to her own heart, even if she didn't care to admit it and she knew that any news of Minato would be good news to Jiraiya. Yes, it was perfect, but then, how would she keep Jiraiya quiet? Oh, good news, there is such thing as porn in Konoha, and Tsunade knew better than most that men find it hard to talk when they're drooling. Fantastic! Now the only task was to find that pervert, and that was never difficult.

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Minato slid through the trees that circled the wall of Konoha. There was no easy way in; he'd been looking for about half a day now, formulating ways of overcoming the walls, analysing every little crack or dip in the structure of which there were none. Of course there was the odd illegal jutsu he could use, but his heart just didn't want to do it, he'd feel too wretched afterwards. In which case, there was only one real alternative, and it was a slimy alternative at that. A very slimy alternative.

He stood up slowly, then with all the speed he could muster he ran about an eighth of the way around the wall, which took him no time at all, until the sound of rushing water hit his ears. He landed on a branch that was perilously close to the wall but had just enough cover to keep him safe. The sun was setting which threw a cold shadow over the edge of the forest and highlighted the treetops a burning orange.

He squinted and gave his eyes a second to adjust whilst listening intently to the sound of rushing water. There. It was a drain, protected with iron bars about the width of two men's shoulders and the height of one. From what he remembered, that pipeline should lead to the river that ran through Konoha. All he'd need to do is to crawl up there, dispel any unwelcome jutsus and hope to hell that no-one found him out. He had the cover of sundown so he had at least one slight advantage. Well, here goes nothing.

He flashed through several hand signs and felt his body receive a wave of chakra which he directed to his feet. He shot forward and nearly crashed into the wall as a result. He stood about a meter away from the wall, wary of any hidden traps and he looked up to see if he had been noticed. There were three shinobi, none of which he recognised that were all standing facing Konoha's surrounding area. All of them seemed to not notice him. So far so good.

"Cross Lightning jutsu." He whispered, and placed his hands on the bars.

The metal of the grate shook, the bars twisted then became still again. Minato sighed and tried a second time, putting as much chakra as he though he could spare into it. The bars shook and began to heat up and go floppy. He let go snappily, the sudden heat making him jump. The bars slid downwards in a pile of metallic mush leaving the hole completely free. Minato used the mud the stream coming from in-between the bars produced and drew a dispelling jutsu on the wall with great haste, then crawled forwards into the hole.

Half of the tunnel was underwater so he hadn't a clue where or what he was crawling into. The space quickly became dark and slippery, earning him many a whack on the head from the pipe joints and scratches from whatever happened to be floating by at the time. There were a few moments of despair where he had to turn back because the pipe grew too small for him to clamber through. He wondered why he hadn't used a teleportation jutsu only to remind himself that he didn't know Konoha like he used to, at least in this tunnel he had some cover and a place to formulate a plan if anything should occur.

After finally turning a corner his eyes were hit with the light at the end of the tunnel. The water here was flowing quite rapidly, as a result of the river Minato thought. He sloshed through the slick pipeline on hands and knees, desperate to rid himself of this horrible wetness that had completely soaked his clothes. He reached the end of the pipe and peeked out. There was a body of water there alright, but it wasn't the one he'd been expecting.

It was a hot spring.

R&R please my pretties! see-no-evil