When Jiraiya finished his assignment in the village and headed for the Hokage Tower to wait for Minato, he found the Fourth Hokage already sitting at his desk, rapidly scribbling away on several pieces of paper, each spread across the writing surface without a regard for whatever already laid underneath.

Minato looked up from his pen and smiled - a genuine smile, for the first time in what seemed like ages. "Ah, I take it you're finished then, sensei?"

Jiraiya just grumbled in a way that sounded vaguely affirming, before throwing himself down into one of the small oak chairs in front of Minato's desk and rubbing his bloodshot eyes.

"I really, really need to get some sleep," he mumbled to himself, and Minato just murmured in agreement.

After a few more moments of nothing but the sound of a pen scratching away, Jiraiya looked back up at his prized student, observing the man as he worked.

Much to his surprise, the subtle smile from before had refused to budge from the man's face, and it sat pleasantly on his features as he worked...

...and was that a hum Jiraiya was hearing?

"My, my," the Toad Sage smirked, "Someone's in a good mood."

Minato jumped slightly, his pen hovering over the next line on the paper he was currently working through. "Oh?" His smile turned sheepish, and he leaned back in his chair, the joints creaking as he did so. "I didn't think I could honestly feel any emotion other than tiredness at this point." He yawned. "Is tiredness even an emotion?"

"Meh, not my particular area of expertise," Jiraiya shrugged, before he leaned forward onto his palms, elbows propped up on the desk in front of him. "Soooo, spill it. What's got you so happy?" He waggled his eyebrows. "Did you, heh, acquire some 'compensation' for your services this afternoon?"

Minato didn't even bother to humor the man with a response other than an abject sigh. "Come now, sensei. That's just inappropriate. And in regards to your second question, I wouldn't say that I am the one deserving of any credit. That man - Naruto - was the one that did all of the work."

Jiraiya hummed, all business once again. "That's a good point. And I have to say, what he was doing looked an awful lot like something you would've come up with, Minato."

The smile vanished from Minato's face, replaced by a slight scowl. "I know. That's because it was. I have no idea how he did it, but he broke into my study and took the jutsu formula for... something I've been working on. But when I went there earlier, there was no sign that the cabinet I kept it in had been opened. The seals I had placed on everything were still intact." He narrowed his eyes. "And to top it all off, he had both the understanding of the jutsu itself and how to work it - enough to pull it off almost effortlessly."

He ran his fingers through his hair, picking out bits of debris as they combed it back. "I could really go for a shower, too, now that I think of it," he muttered to himself, before clearing his throat and folding his hands together across his desk, crumpled paper making way as he leaned his body weight onto them. "The fact that he knew it is cause for alarm in itself, but..." Minato shook his head. "This has got to be premeditated. It's got to be."

Jiraiya shrugged, then smiled. "Well, you'll get the answers as soon as the Torture and Interrogation creeps beat it out of him. I'm sure they're having a field day right now. Man's brain's got to be like raiding a vault."

Minato paused and pursed his lips, the small grimace betraying his otherwise airtight composure.

To a lesser shinobi, it would have gone unnoticed. But this was Jiraiya - one of the only people that had spent enough time around the blond to grow accustomed to his small physical quirks. "Wait, Minato..." he narrowed his eyes. "They are at T&I, are they not?"

Minato sighed, admitting defeat. "No, they're not, sensei."

Jiraiya sputtered in poorly-veiled anger, his eyes wide and disbelieving. "What?! Min-Minato, what the hell were you thin...king..."

As his eyes fixed on Minato's, Jiraiya saw something that he knew all too well; a gleam in his student's eye.

That look.

He had it immediately prior to tweaking the Hiraishin for the final time, when it finally sent him careening across the village in a blast of bright yellow light on its inaugural test run. He had it just before he leapt into battle during the Third Great Shinobi War, which sent him into the history books with the terrifying moniker of the "Yellow Flash." He had it for the many days leading up to his complicated, and ultimately flawless marriage proposal.

It was the Fourth's thinking face.

The kind of face that would stop anyone dead in their tracks, for no reason other than an inherent desire to not interrupt whatever slew of complex planning was going on within that blond-framed head of his. It wasn't Minato's proficiency with the Hiraishin that was so deadly, nor was it the reason - the true reason - he was awarded with a foreboding call sign of his own: one that would send enemy ninja running at just the hint of a gold crop of hair on the horizon.

No. It was all in his wit. And Jiraiya could see the gears moving within the Fourth Hokage's head; twisting, turning, revolving around one another like a well lubricated clock.

Jiraiya paused, a small smile burgeoning across his face. "Oh, I see now. You planned all of this from the start, didn't you?"

Minato's lip turned upwards slightly, his eyebrows narrowed. "Yes, I did." His thumbs danced with one another across the desk as he began to ponder how to put his plans into words, before he sighed and leaned back into his chair slightly.

But Jiraiya beat him to it. "Well then," the man began, throwing an arm over the back of his chair, "Where did you send them?"

"Oh, I didn't send them anywhere. They sent themselves."

Jiraiya raised his eyebrow. He sensed where this was going, but neglected to say anything in favor of his student explaining things himself.

Nodding, Minato continued. "You see, I had a sneaking suspicion that the events that occurred in the Mist in regards to their Mizukage and Kushina were linked somehow. Rumors have been circulating for some time, you know."

"What, of Yagura's jinchuuriki status?" Jiraiya scoffed. "Of course. That's old hat. Have you forgotten already that I was the one that got ahold of that information?"

"Not at all," Minato stated calmly. "However, the fact that the Mizukage is a jinchuuriki, just as Kushina is, set off quite a few alarm bells."

"Hmm," Jiraiya nodded, listening intently. "So what did you do?"

Minato smiled again. "Don't tell me that you'd seriously think I would allow a chuunin into the most secure room in the Leaf Hospital just because of an international crisis. We have systems in place for that. Chains of command. To come to the Hokage first?"

"It's ridiculous," Jiraiya grinned, liking where this was going. The man always loved puzzles - they were challenges. And he loved challenges. His relentless tail-chasing was indicative enough. "So you sent him in. Interesting. I take it you were already made aware of the Mizukage's situation by that point?"

"Of course," Minato nodded. "The scroll came in from your spy network just this morning. I swiped it before you could see it." When Jiraiya frowned, Minato raised a hand in a placating manner. "I didn't do it just to spite you, sensei. I wanted a genuine reaction out of both you and Lord Third for it to be convincing enough."

The Toad Sage snorted. "Please. The way... Naruto holds himself, a cabbage could fall on his head in the boonies of Wind Country and he wouldn't question it at all."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Minato murmured, his chin resting gently on his arm, eyes foggy and unfocused in thought.

A brief silence overtook the Hokage's office, the soft ticking of the wall clock echoing across the room.

"Okay," Jiraiya began again, after realizing that if he didn't speak up soon Minato might remain silent in contemplation for the rest of the evening, "So you sent in a chuunin to act it out."

"Not exactly," Minato admitted. "I sent a clone henged as a Hidden Mist ambassador to the front gates with the scroll when I knew that Naruto would be undergoing questioning." He smiled sheepishly. "I wanted the chuunin on station's reaction to be genuine as well."

Jiraiya nodded, impressed. "Okay. Very interesting. Damn, and it's only been thirty minutes since I left the hospital room." His eyes flickered then, as if he remembered something. "But why Yagura? Why did you send information about him in particular into the room?"

"Two reasons," the Fourth began, shifting slightly in his seat. "One, I wanted to see what Naruto's reaction would be to the news. Two, I was secretly hoping that he would escape to try and fix the situation the same way he helped Kushina. And I was fully aware of the fact he was cooperating only because he was doing the same thing I was: collecting information." The twinkle returned to Minato's eye. "Sure enough, he was gone just as soon as you were."

"He was able to get out of the suppression seals?!" Jiraiya gaped, eyes bulging. "I put no less than half a dozen of those things on him! He shouldn't have been able to take a full breath, let alone escape!"

"He shunshined away," Minato stated, raising an eyebrow. "If that doesn't tell you enough about his strength..."

The Sannin slumped back into his seat. "N-no wonder he almost got me. Those kind of reserves..."

"It was like he didn't even feel it."

"Kami..."

"Indeed," Minato agreed, running a hand through his hair. "Regardless, that wasn't the most surprising thing to me." His eyes glanced at his kunai pouch, which was sitting nonchalantly on his desk. "I approached him and his son, after they'd left the village, and offered them a kunai as a sign of good faith."

Jiraiya nodded. "I'm assuming you tagged them already?"

"Oh, absolutely," Minato smiled. "That was one of the first things I did. So the kunai wasn't necessary in the slightest. Granted, it's much easier to transport to a kunai than an independent marking seal, but either way I could have gotten to them in an instant." His eyes narrowed. "It was just another test."

"Interesting. Did Naruto accept?"

Minato's eyes opened slightly wider. "Surprisingly, he did."

"Even more interesting."

"That wasn't the truly surprising part," Minato admitted. "No. What was truly shocking to me was how heartfelt his acceptance of it was. He treated the kunai like a great gift."

The white-haired man smirked. "So he doesn't think it was just a ploy?"

"Honestly?" the Fourth sighed, "I have no idea. My suspicions are that he is much sharper than he's lead on, but I could be wrong."

Jiraiya hummed in agreement, before rubbing his chin with his fingers absentmindedly. "Well then. What's your plan from here? Are you simply going to ambush them on their way to the Mist? Drag them back, kicking and screaming?"

Minato's lip turned upwards again, and he shook his head. "Sadly, no. I can tell when I've met my match, and that Naruto person is most certainly it. He may not be faster than me, but there is no way I could contain him - at least, not presently. Give me a week and a room full of blank scrolls and I could probably cook something up, but..."

"A week?" Jiraiya snorted. "Kid, I'd wager on two to three days."

"Regardless," the Fourth glided around the implicit compliment with practiced ease, leaping back into his previous line of thought, "The plan isn't to try and stop them. The plan is to gather more information."

The Sannin's eyes twinkled a little. "Oh?"

"I remember something interesting happening right after I arrived at your fight," Minato began, eyes narrowed and unfocused as he reeled in the memory.

Jiraiya interrupted him then - a sheepish, self-deprecating look on his face. "That reminds me, Minato; thanks for stopping that attack back there. I probably could've made it out, but it wouldn't've been pretty. You got me out in the nick of time." His mouth exploded into a massive smile. "I would expect nothing less from my star pupil!"

But the blond was not quite so enthusiastic. In fact, he looked exactly the same - just as thoughtful as before. Except now, his eyes were firmly locked on Jiraiya's. "I'll be honest, sensei. I didn't do anything. My Rasengan were completely powerless against... whatever that thing was. If it wasn't for Naruto's... bout of unconsciousness," he paused in an attempt to find the right phrase, "I don't think that either of us would be here to have this conversation."

Jiraiya paled slightly. If Minato hadn't been able to do anything...

...Naruto was an international liability. There was no beating around the bush about that anymore.

"I see," was all he muttered, eyes focused on the desk between them. Minato hmm'ed in response.

"Yes. As I said, he knows things he shouldn't. And for that reason, he needs to be stopped." He let out a sharp sigh, before pulling out a scroll from one of the desk's drawers. "I am glad they are going to the Mist, because that means I can divert one of our shinobi from his current mission to intercept and tail them."

Minato unraveled the scroll a few inches, reading the first lines to ensure he had gotten the right one, before he looked up and met Jiraiya in the eyes. "Do you remember after the fight, when I asked him if he was a jinchuuriki?"

"Vaguely," Jiraiya shrugged, but Minato knew the man was just being... troublesome, to borrow a phrase.

"It wasn't so much his response to the question that has me curious, but rather the expression on his face." Minato scrunched his eyebrows together in a way that Kushina would have probably cooed over and sighed. "And if he's anything like me..."

"He wears his emotions like a pair of glasses, yeah," Jiraiya teased, shrugging when Minato frowned at him. "What? It's true. And you know it, too."

"Be that as it may," the Fourth sighed again, "Something tells me that he is a jinchuuriki. The question, then, is of which tailed beast. To the best of my knowledge, all nine had been accounted for - at least, we know they've been sealed. The Hidden Stone's two jinchuuriki have been out on their own for quite some time, so there's a chance one of them may have gotten attacked, or... or died, or..."

He ran both his hands through his hair this time, tugging and pulling in exasperation, as he leaned forward and planted his chin on his desk in front of him. The paper crinkled under the pressure, but Minato didn't care. He was so... so confused, that much was obvious from the look on his face.

"Relax, Minato. No one ever said you had to do all the work."

"I-I know. But still, this is big. This could be what makes or breaks my period in office as Hokage." He looked up at Jiraiya with tired eyes. "I want to make sure I get this right." With another sigh, he leaned back up again, rubbing the exhaustion from his face. "Anyway, I want to be sure of which tailed beast he has within him, so we can decide where to go from here."

"Political bargaining chip?" Jiraiya asked, an eyebrow ever so slightly raised.

Minato frowned. "No... well, not exactly. Like I said before, this is all mostly just information gathering." He paused a moment, thinking to himself, before continuing. "If Naruto is a jinchuuriki," he murmured, back in thought, "That would explain how he was able to heal Kushina. Or, at least, it'd give me a starting point. Tailed beasts are still so unknown right now; anything's possible. The potential for a seal with that power built into it..." When he noticed Jiraiya's gaze still following his, he blinked and shook his head. "The only person I trust enough with this mission, and has the talent to pull it off, is currently on a mission in the Land of Water for clan business, so reassigning him shouldn't be too difficult. And we would get our answers."

Jiraiya hummed in acknowledgement as Minato unraveled the scroll completely, signing the bottom when his sweeping gaze reached it. "Interesting. Who exactly did you have in mind?"

Minato rolled the scroll back up and placed it across his desk for his sensei to grab. He narrowed his eyes.

"Sensei, have you heard of Hiashi Hyuuga?"