[Chapter Size: 2100 Words.]
Third Person POV
Konoha, Year 42.
...
...
"You're saying you need three weeks off?" The Third Hokage raised an eyebrow at Minato's request, seated before his desk in the Hokage's office.
"Exactly. I'm forming a new summoning contract, so I'd like to ask for a month off so I can go train," he said.
"Does it have to be now?" The Hokage looked at him seriously.
"Yes. The type of summoning I'm intending to contract is a special kind. I can't miss this opportunity because I'll only get this one chance," Minato said.
"It's a bit of a last-minute request... But at the sa ti, I can't deny it's true that you haven't taken any vacation in the past year and have continued working on ANBU teams..." he said, seeming to ponder for a mont.
Minato knew he was going to accept. After all, he still wanted Minato on the ANBU team, and denying this could risk Minato simply leaving ANBU — and that was what the elders wanted to avoid while still keeping Minato under their watch.
"Very well. We'll accept your request," he said in the end, without hesitation.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama. It's a contract to beco stronger," Minato replied.
"Very well, I hope so, after all, you becoming stronger ans a stronger Leaf Village..." the Hokage murmured, and Minato left.
"Are you sure about letting him disappear for a month?" Danzo appeared beside the Hokage the next mont.
"We have no choice, Danzo. Did you want him to leave ANBU?" Hiruzen comnted in a neutral tone.
"Still, letting him leave the village now..." he said.
"There are still six months until the attack plan begins. The boy is not a threat, as far as we can tell. And we put him in ANBU precisely to keep him away from the Uzumaki country's battles. So you worry too much." The Hokage said.
"I always think of the village, Hiruzen," Danzo replied. "And I think this is a mistake." Danzo muttered, walking away, while the Hokage only sighed.
Minato found a way to notify all his team mbers that he would be taking this leave.
He had been a bit surprised by Hiruzen agreeing so easily, but it should have been expected. After all the work he had done in the past year, it was clear they were keeping close tabs on him due to the knowledge he had acquired from other nations through that scroll, because of the investigation into the Wind and Water countries, above the Uzumaki Country. Planning a large-scale attack.
Either way, Minato returned ho and found Mikoto training. He explained the situation to her and how he would proceed with his plans.
"I see... so you'll be leaving soon?" she comnted, and he nodded.
"That's right. I'm waiting for Guren to summon in the next few days through our summoning contract. I also plan to head straight to Mount Myōboku after dealing with Guren."
"Do you know anything about Jiraiya-sensei?" Mikoto asked.
"No... he hasn't even contacted the toads, but that doesn't matter." He replied.
"I see," she murmured.
"Anyway, we can't count on Jiraiya-sensei's support. It would also be too much to ask him to go against the village. I don't want to involve him in this against his will. It would put him between the village... and his students, that shouldn't be an easy situation..." Minato said, understanding the gravity.
In any case, Minato stayed with Mikoto for the next few days. While also assisting Kushina, he asked her to try improving her adamantine chains, since that was her main bloodline power and could even suppress the Kyuubi itself.
But Minato didn't want to initiate contact with the Kyuubi just yet, since that would draw attention with his chakra being released. And the last thing he needed now was the village leadership putting Kushina into confinent.
Either way, it was on a day when he was training his taijutsu with Mikoto that he felt sothing pulling him, causing him to stop the training imdiately.
"I'm being summoned by Guren. Goodbye, Mikoto. See you in a few weeks," he said.
"Alright. Good luck," Mikoto said, as Minato burst into smoke, disappearing from the spot.
He reappeared suddenly in the middle of the water, feeling the pressure of the sea around him, as he quickly looked forward and saw Guren with water on his fin, placing a type of seaweed into Minato's mouth.
"What is this?" Minato murmured, feeling the effects of the sea on his fruit.
It wasn't that the water of this world affected him like it would in the world of One Piece, but it still limited him a bit, and he felt restricted with his fruit. Still, he didn't sink, he could swim and even use his fruit powers, within limits.
Guren appeared in front of him with seaweed and offered it for Minato to put in his mouth, and the blond couldn't even react properly before Guren simply made him swallow it, which had a bitter taste, but at the sa ti, didn't help at all. He didn't understand why the fish did that.
Minato quickly began forming small hand seals. He started blowing, transforming chakra into oxygen, while forming a bubble in front of his mouth and nose.
Guren watched that, a bit surprised, but nodded as if saying Minato did a good job. Minato hadn't asked what the fish clan would be like, but he also didn't expect to co to the middle of the ocean. So seeing himself summoned underwater was certainly not sothing Minato had expected.
Minato then looked forward and saw a huge structure at the bottom of the sea—this was where Guren lived—while at the sa ti there was a tower of rocks behind the place that rose upward and seed to have no end. He quickly began sensing the area around him with his Haki, feeling the other fish—very similar to Guren.
He saw Guren himself point at him and call him to follow. As he moved forward, Minato quickly paddled with his hands and feet, trying to keep up with him.
Seeing that he was too slow, he began glowing with light before darting in a straight line toward Guren. Even with his fruit being limited, he could still move in small bursts, but fast enough in that mont to follow his companion.
Guren led him to one of the houses that were caves. As he entered and climbed after passing through a curved tunnel, with Minato easily lighting the whole path, they entered a place where there was oxygen inside that part of the cave.
Minato burst the bubble from his mouth as soon as he left the water and looked at Guren, stunned.
"What was that, man?" he murmured, starting to spit out the taste of seaweed in his mouth.
"Sorry about that. I thought it would help, since the Elder said it helps with breathing," she said, seeming a bit confused.
"Maybe for a fish, but not for a human! You didn't even think of that, did you?" Minato muttered, unsatisfied. Obviously, that could have killed anyone else.
"I... I guess I was mistaken. Sorry for not warning you." Guren said, seeming embarrassed.
"I thought you guys had a bubble or sothing..." Minato murmured, before realizing he was just a fish. Makes sense... having an air bubble in the middle of the ocean doesn't seem all that necessary... "Forget it," he murmured in the end.
"Anyway, the test will begin soon. We'll just have to wait one hour, that's why I summoned you," Guren said.
Minato returned to the water right after that, with Guren guiding him and showing him his clan, while everyone watched the human teleporting and glowing to keep up with Guren the whole ti, as Minato still had a bubble over his mouth and nose to breathe.
Guren's clan was a bit strange, made of caves where the other fish lived. There were few young ones and many elderly fish, judging by the signs of aging and the tired look they had.
Guren seed very excited. The place was huge, there must have been at least five hundred fish like him, all with horns, while they appeared to be talking among themselves and pointing at Minato.
Minato didn't understand anything they were saying, not even when Guren tried to speak to him. Due to sound waves being limited underwater, he couldn't hear.
Either way, the mont ca when a fish with a white beard appeared atop a structure in the clan, emitting sounds Minato didn't understand. But Guren quickly looked at him and nodded, as if the event was beginning at that exact mont.
Minato nodded and soon followed Guren, who moved upward toward the pillar that extended from the sea floor to the surface, with many other fish accompanying the elder fish upward.
Minato wasn't in any region he had seen before. It seed very far from the Land of Fire, as he didn't recognize any of the topography as he scanned the area with his Haki.
Guren had said this place was quite remote, so much so that it took him four days to get there — and he was very fast in the sea.
Then they finally reached the surface, beneath the pillar, while Guren and many fish advanced. Minato ca right behind, feeling a bit out of place among a bunch of fish that stared at him curiously and gossiped about him being a human — unable to hear anything they said, not even his Haki helping much beyond sensing their feelings of curiosity.
"Well, as you can see, the waterfall is ahead. We'll begin this generation's test," the elder spoke in the common language. At once, all the fish nodded their heads above the water.
Minato looked for the first ti and saw a massive peak that reached above the clouds — it must have been a thousand ters high, with a large stream of water falling directly into the sea like a waterfall.
"This..." he murmured, feeling the strong connection this place had with natural energy — far more than he had seen in the place where Fukasaku would train him in sage mode.
"I'm going to get ready. Wish luck," Guren said, while noticing the tension coming from the other fish who were also getting prepared. The elder seed to be making a prayer with his two fins in front of the waterfall.
Suddenly, a sound erged above the clouds, and Minato looked up in surprise, seeing shadows like giant snakes up there.
"What is that?" he murmured quickly, trying to scan with his Haki, but unfortunately, he couldn't reach that far. The clouds were sohow blocking him from sensing exactly what was up there, while the waterfall kept pouring water from the clouds.
"They're the Guardians! They're here to witness the test!" Guren shouted to Minato. "They gave us permission to hold the test, and we're going to begin!" the fish said, while the elder didn't stop praying and returned to them.
"Go, go, begin!" he urged.
Imdiately, the fish began advancing toward the waterfall. They entered the water's flow and began diving, leaping against the current. They had to climb over a thousand ters. They would jump out and return to the waterfall, going higher and higher, trying to reach the clouds.
Minato saw the first fish start to lose balance and fall, or even so give up after growing tired. anwhile, Guren was already three hundred ters up, swimming quickly with eight other fish.
Several fish that Minato had seen in the fish clan also ca out of the water to watch the young ones undergoing the test, certainly rembering how they had failed—Guren had said that all fish who fail stay in the fish clan forever, while those who pass go to another place that no one among them knows.
Minato was completely lost in this test, but at the sa ti, he watched as Guren kept leaping, reaching ever greater heights — but he could also see the difficulty he was having. With every increase in altitude, three more fish fell.
"The waterfall is pushing them down..." Minato murmured, sensing there was a pressure there that prevented them from climbing, and it increased the closer they got to the clouds.
Another fish fell soon after, then three more. Now only one other was approaching six hundred ters, while at the seven-hundred-ter mark, the fish behind Guren gave in, starting to fall.
Only Guren remained now, as everyone else watched him rise, rise, with increasing difficulty. Minato could also see him using a technique similar to Geppo to assist himself.
And so he continued, reaching the nine-hundred-ter mark, when Minato could feel the strain and even the exclamations from the surrounding fish, watching Guren heading toward the clouds.
He simply entered them, passing the test.
anwhile, a thunderous sound ca from the other side.
"What's happening?" Minato murmured.
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