Preparing Before the Summit

Minato’s POV

Everyone we needed was present in the room.At the moment, we were dealing with two equally delicate situations, both demanding careful handling. The council had already been informed about Genma and Sen’s condition—there was no way to keep something like soul displacement a secret, not when it involved experimental fuinjutsu and two high-ranking shinobi.

Kushina had finished developing a revised seal, one designed specifically to reverse the damage. If everything went according to plan, we would activate it today.At the same time, the political front was heating up.Iwa and Kumo had formally requested talks regarding the jinchūriki kidnapping incident. Kumo had not been directly involved, but they were using the situation as an excuse—perhaps a warning—to establish future protocols in case any village attempted to abduct a jinchūriki again. It was a thinly veiled power play, but one we couldn’t afford to ignore.

Suna and Konoha were already on stable, friendly terms, so Suna’s participation was expected. Taki and Kusa would also be pulled into the discussion, given that the incident had unfolded dangerously close to their borders. What had started as a covert operation had now spiraled into an international concern.

Before the fuinjutsu accident, Genma and Sen were meant to accompany diplomatic teams. Both of them were ideal for such missions—experienced, sharp, and capable of defending themselves if negotiations went south. But for now, all of that was secondary. First, we had to untangle their souls and return them to their rightful bodies. Only then could we decide who would represent Konoha at the talks.

Around the room stood some of the strongest pillars of the village.

Sakumo leaned against the wall, arms crossed, his expression unreadable but attentive. Shikaku stood near the table, already several steps ahead of everyone else, mentally mapping out contingencies. Tsunade sat with her arms folded, sharp eyes watching for any sign of instability in the plan. Dan stood beside her, calm but focused, while Jiraiya—unusually quiet—rested against a pillar, his gaze thoughtful rather than playful for once.

“Kushina and I will oversee the seal activation personally,” I said, breaking the silence. “Jiraiya-sensei will be present as well. If something goes wrong—chakra backlash, instability, or soul resistance—we’ll need immediate support.”

Tsunade nodded. “I’ll be on standby. If their bodies react badly once the souls return, they’ll need medical intervention immediately.”

Dan shifted slightly and looked at me.

“How much time do we have before we need to finalize the diplomatic teams, Hokage-sama?”

“Approximately two weeks,” I replied. “Each Kage will be allowed to bring up to ten representatives. The meeting point will be a neutral settlement near Taki’s border—close enough to the original incident site to satisfy Iwa, but far enough to avoid provoking anyone.”

Shikaku exhaled slowly. “A neutral ground filled with S-rank shinobi from multiple villages,” he muttered. “That’s asking for trouble.”

“It is,” I agreed. “Which is why we’re preparing for the worst.”

I rested a hand on the scroll case at my side. “I’ll have marked locations prepared. If negotiations collapse or violence breaks out, I can extract our people instantly using Hiraishin. I’ve already begun storing chakra in advance—enough to move entire teams if necessary.”

Jiraiya let out a low whistle. “That many powerful shinobi in one place… something’s bound to happen.”

“I know,” I said quietly. “Which is why we cannot afford any loose ends.”

We had also prepared ourselves for the shinobi the other villages were likely to bring with them.

The Raikage—A—would almost certainly arrive with his inner circle. His brother, Killer B, was a given. Alongside him would be Darui, Samui, and Yugito. Kumo never traveled light when it came to matters involving jinchūriki. They also possessed exceptionally skilled medical-nin, one of whom—C—appeared in more than a few bingo books. His sensory and genjutsu capabilities alone made him a serious concern.

Iwa was no less troubling.

The Tsuchikage would likely bring Kurotsuchi and Roshi with him, along with several elite shinobi from their infamous bomber division. Veterans hardened by warfare and destruction—many of them S-rank in everything but official classification. If tensions flared, restraint would be difficult for men and women who specialized in obliteration.

All things considered, if something went wrong, it would not remain contained for long. A single misstep could spiral into a catastrophe no one wanted.

That was precisely why we had chosen our delegation so carefully.

For Konoha, we would bring Kakashi, Obito, Junpei, Tenzo, Raido, Shikaku, Genma, Sen, and Kawarama. Every name on that list had been debated, weighed, and agreed upon. They were our first choices—people who could negotiate, observe, react, and fight if it came to that.

Genma and Sen’s situation, however, remained uncertain. If they were not fully recovered or stable in time, Shizune and Itama would replace them without hesitation. This mission required clarity of mind and full control over one’s body—there could be no compromises.

Jiraiya-sensei, Choza Akimichi, and Tsunade would remain on standby at the Fire Country border with their own teams. If extraction, reinforcement, or medical intervention became necessary, they would be ready to move immediately.

“In the meantime,” I continued, “Nawaki will act as Hokage in my absence.”

The mission itself was expected to last two to three days—assuming talks concluded without incident. That assumption, however, was fragile at best.

There was still one unresolved variable.

“Kiri remains silent,” I said, frowning slightly. “They’ve shown little interest so far and haven’t sent any response.”Shikaku’s eyes narrowed. “That could change.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “And if it does, we’ll have to adapt quickly.”Silence settled over the room once more. Everyone understood what was at stake.

Too many powerful shinobi. Too many old grudges.All balanced on a thin line of diplomacy.

“Jiraiya-sensei and I will keep an eye on the situation,” I said, looking around the room one last time. “Kushina will personally check the seal array on them before activation. I only hope this goes as smoothly as we expect.”

With that, the meeting concluded.

Chairs shifted, quiet murmurs followed, and one by one everyone filed out. Jiraiya-sensei and I walked together down the corridor toward my office. We still had nearly an hour before the seal activation, and neither of us was particularly eager to spend it pacing.

“Let’s eat first,” Jiraiya suggested casually. “No point facing a fuinjutsu mess on an empty stomach.”

I nodded. Kushina was already with Sen and Genma, explaining what to expect and—knowing her—probably scolding them at the same time for nearly breaking the natural order of things.

As we walked, Jiraiya’s expression grew more thoughtful.“I’ve looked over the seal, Minato,” he said at last. “It’s a good one. Too good, actually. What they stumbled into by accident… soul transfer is no small thing.”

“I know,” I replied quietly.

He stopped walking and turned to face me. “This kind of jutsu is dangerous. Extremely dangerous. It should never be used lightly—if at all. In the wrong hands, it would be catastrophic. It’s the kind of thing that belongs in the forbidden section, sealed away and forgotten.”

I agreed with him completely.

This technique wasn’t something that existed in the world as we knew it—or at least, it wasn’t supposed to. No records. No precedent. And yet here it was, born not of malice, but curiosity, intellect, and a terrible coincidence involving natural chakra.

A forbidden jutsu that should not exist.

“If someone ever refined this intentionally…” I said, trailing off.

Jiraiya grimaced. “Yeah. Best not to finish that thought.”Then, almost immediately, his expression shifted into a crooked grin.

“Well,” he said lightly, “looks like creating forbidden jutsu runs in the blood, Minato. Tobirama made half the ones we still argue about today. And now Sen—along with her equally brilliant, equally reckless friends—has joined that legacy. Even if it was by accident.”

He laughed, loud and unapologetic.

I couldn’t help it—I let out a small chuckle too.

It was absurd. Terrifying. And faintly amusing all at once.Still, the humor faded quickly when I thought of Sen and Genma. No matter how composed they tried to appear, the truth was simple: they were shaken. Being trapped in each other’s bodies—even temporarily—had left deeper marks than chakra exhaustion alone.

“It’s a good thing nothing worse happened,” I said quietly. “But they’re still traumatized. Anyone would be.”

Jiraiya nodded, his tone more serious now. “Yeah. Let’s just hope today puts an end to it.”

I glanced toward the window, toward the village stretching peacefully below.

For everyone’s sake, I hoped he was right.

▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎ Sen’s POV

It has been almost a week since the mishap happened.This entire time has been chaotic—mentally and physically. I didn’t recognize myself some days. I became so violent, so short-tempered, that even Kakashi and Junpei were shocked. That day when Genma decided to wander around shirtless while he was in my body… I completely lost it.Poor Obito still can’t properly look me in the eyes.

Since then, Genma hasn’t roamed around half-naked, and the days have become… slightly more manageable. Slightly.We both agreed on one thing: once we return to our own bodies, we are never talking about this again. Not the details. Not the mornings. Not the awkwardness. Nothing.Shishou has created a new seal array. This time, Minato-sama will support the activation with sage chakra to stabilize the process and force our souls back into their rightful bodies.

That is why she is the true fuinjutsu mistress.This whole situation left us in a strange state. Genma doesn’t have the same level of chakra control I do, so using my body has been difficult for him. On the other hand, I had no idea what to do with his comparatively rougher chakra flow. It felt heavier. Less refined. Shishou helped us calm down. We have been meditating every day under her guidance, stabilizing our chakra and our minds.

Still, I won’t pretend this week hasn’t been exhausting.In the afternoon, we were escorted to a secured room inside T&I for the seal activation. The room was heavily reinforced with barrier seals layered into the walls and floor. Genma and I stood inside the activation chamber, while everyone else watched from the adjacent room through a thick glass window.

The matrix drawn on the floor was flawless. Precise. Beautiful.

This time, I—in Genma’s body—would activate it. It only required a steady push of normal chakra into the core formula. No reckless adjustments. No experimentation.Minato-sama, Shishou, Kakashi, Junpei, Shikaku-san, and Inoichi-san stood on the other side of the glass.

I could feel their eyes on us.

“Take a deep breath, Sen,” Genma said calmly—from my body. “You can do it.”

Hearing my own voice say my name was still unsettling.I nodded slowly and inhaled. Then I placed my palm over the activation point and pushed my chakra into the seal.The array flared to life instantly.

This time, we didn’t black out. Everything had been stabilized by Shishou’s modifications and Minato-sama’s sage chakra feeding into the outer matrix.

Still… it hurt.

It felt like being mildly electrocuted from the inside out. A sharp, buzzing surge ran through my nerves. My vision blurred. There was a strange pressure behind my eyes, like something was being pulled through a narrow passage.I staggered and grabbed the wall, clutching my head before I could fall.

“Damn, it hurts—” Genma’s voice cut through the ringing in my ears.

But this time… it was his voice.

Not mine.

The dizziness settled gradually. The pressure faded.I looked down at my hands.

My hands.

My chakra felt… familiar. Smooth. Precise. Entirely my own.

Across from me, Genma was flexing his fingers, staring at them as if he had just returned from the dead.

“It worked,” he muttered.

I exhaled shakily.

It was a success.

I sensed them entering the room before I even saw them. Genma said something—probably a joke—but I was too focused on my chakra sensing to respond.

There it was.

The faint remnants of Minato-sama’s and Jiraiya-sama’s sage chakra still lingered in the air, woven into the outer layers of the seal array. It felt vast. Ancient. Powerful. Even the residue of it was overwhelming.

But my own chakra… felt right.

It was good to be back.

“Sen—”

Shishou rushed toward me and pulled me into a tight embrace. I hugged her back without hesitation. Being in my own body again, feeling my own heartbeat, my own balance—it was grounding. Familiar. Safe.

“Thank the Sage,” Minato-san said with visible relief. “You both are back where you belong.”

Kakashi and Junpei looked just as relieved. The tension that had been hanging over everyone for a week finally dissolved. The room felt lighter, almost warm with collective happiness.

After the final checks, Genma stretched and muttered something about needing a drink with Raido “before he loses his sanity again.” His words, not mine. Then he left for his place.

I returned to my apartment, with Kakashi and Junpei following close behind.

The moment I stepped inside, I felt giddy. Almost childish. I walked straight to the mirror and just… stared at myself for a long time. My face. My body. My balance. I flexed my fingers, rolled my shoulders, adjusted my posture. Everything responded exactly the way it should.

Kakashi went into the kitchen and started making tea like nothing extraordinary had just happened. Junpei leaned against the wall, watching me with an amused but soft expression.

I fixed my hair the way I liked it, enjoying the simple act more than I should have. Then I changed into my comfortable pajamas—my own clothes, fitting the way they were supposed to.

We spent the entire evening talking.About nothing important. About everything important.We ate, we drank, we laughed. The stress that had consumed me for days slowly melted away. The panic, the awkwardness, the anger—it all felt distant now.It almost felt like a fever dream.

I had lived through it. I remembered every uncomfortable second of it. And yet, sitting there between Kakashi and Junpei with warm tea in my hands, it felt unreal.Like it had happened to someone else.

By the time night settled in, the apartment was quiet, peaceful.

And for the first time in a week, I felt completely like myself again.

▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎

It was the next day when I was assigned a new mission.

This one wasn’t with my ANBU team. It wasn’t a shadow operation or silent infiltration either. It was directly connected to the disaster at Taki’s border—the mission that had spiraled into something involving multiple S-rank shinobi and an almost fully unleashed bijuu.

Since that day, Konoha had been in continuous talks with the other villages.

Apparently, a summit like this hadn’t happened in decades—not since Hashirama’s era, when the first Kage had gathered to establish fragile peace. Now history was repeating itself.

Konoha, Suna, Iwa, Kumo, Taki, and Kusa had all confirmed their attendance. Kiri, however, still hadn’t responded. That silence was unsettling.

Precautions were being layered upon precautions.Hokage-sama was allowed to take only a ten-member team with him, including himself. No more. That was the agreement. However, a separate Konoha unit would remain on standby near the Fire border. Suna had also requested official passage through Fire Nation territory for their delegation, which had been granted after internal review.

This wasn’t just a meeting.

It was a controlled battlefield disguised as diplomacy.We gathered in a secured meeting room inside ANBU headquarters. For once, we stood there without our masks. At this point, formalities were meaningless. We all knew one another’s faces.

Minato-sama stood at the front, composed as always. Beside him were ANBU Commander Dan and Shikaku Nara, both carrying the weight of strategy in their eyes.Facing them stood the selected operatives: Kakashi, Obito, Junpei, Tenzo, Raido, Genma, Kawarama—and me.

No chatter. No jokes.

The atmosphere was tight.

Shikaku began outlining the protocols. Every movement, every formation shift, every signal system had been rehearsed and re-evaluated. The meeting ground would be filled with S-rank shinobi—some well-known, others barely documented in our bingo books. And then there were the Kage themselves.

Kage operated on an entirely different level.If something went wrong, the destruction wouldn’t remain local.

Minato-sama explained the division of roles.For the core Hokage platoon, Kakashi, Genma, and Kawarama were selected to remain in closest proximity to him. They had extensive experience in direct protection detail and rapid-response formations around the Hokage.The backup platoon would consist of Junpei, Obito, and Raido. They would operate at a slightly wider perimeter—close enough to intercept immediate threats but positioned to adapt quickly if any of the core members were compromised.

The remaining operatives would function as fluid support—ready to replace, reinforce, or intercept depending on how the situation evolved.

It was a layered shield.

And then Minato-sama looked at me.

“For a different reason,” he said calmly, “I want Sen to remain beside Shikaku-san and me as an assistant.”Several eyes shifted toward me.

I understood immediately.

Publicly, I already had a reputation as an assistant in certain diplomatic settings. It was believable. Harmless, even. No one would expect an assistant to be part of a combat contingency.

The real purpose was different.

I would observe.

Assistants from other villages would be present as well. If information could be gathered—through subtle conversation, through body language, through chakra fluctuations—it would be my responsibility to notice.It was clever.

The most dangerous shinobi in the room would not be the ones wearing swords or flak jackets.

They would be the ones standing quietly behind the Kage.To maintain the illusion, I would have to suppress my chakra network almost completely—reduce my presence to that of an ordinary civilian-level assistant. No detectable pressure. No ANBU edge.

That would be exhausting.

But necessary.

As Minato-sama finished outlining the final directives, I felt the weight of the mission settle in my chest.

This wasn’t a battlefield of steel and blood.

It was a battlefield of control.

And one wrong move—from any village—could turn it into the real thing.

▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎Hey guys,The next arc is going to take us outside Konoha—and things are about to get intense. 👀 It will involve several foreign S-rank shinobi, some from canon and some original characters created by me.

I’m really excited about this one and hope you all enjoy what’s coming next.

Don’t forget to vote ☆ 👇