Namikaze Minato - 002
Who: Namikaze Minato, Uchiha Itachi
Where: Espoir
Style: Third
Status: Closed. Backdated to March 14th, directly right after this log
In contrast to the fleeting yellow light that marked their arrival, the location itself was dark. The ground was bare, what little grass there was dead and dried - a sickly yellow brown - that would crack and dust with a breeze. Naked trees grew in snarls, branches seeming to reach out, choking the life out of anything they could reach - they made no distinction between the tree beside them or the tree they belonged to - all in competition of reaching what meager light shone through the ceiling of the forest, where the tangle of angled branches and rot was thickest.
It was a haunting, unnerving sight to look anywhere beyond the small clearing they were standing in - a thorn braided circle - to look for escape; there was none, which was precisely why the Hokage had chosen this spot.
There was no mistaking the reason for this change of scene, and Minato made sure to reflect his intentions in the fact that he left Itachi paralyzed - frozen in midst a lunge - because it would strain the Uchiha's body to maintain that posture, even though the blond's seal was reinforcing it. The Hokage flashed through several seals, a pulse of chakra rippling through the clearing as it coalesced into an invisible barrier that would obscure them from normal sight. Then he stood maybe three scant steps away from the missing-nin, entirely inscrutable as he assessed Itachi through hard blue eyes.
Something about the young man reminded Minato of Kakashi. But what little similarities there were, they were buried under so many layers of misdirection that the Yondaime could barely make heads or tails of it. He understood Kakashi's concerns, even Sasuke's, but Itachi seemed a contradiction. Minato had not missed how the elder Uchiha had frozen upon the revelation of his sibling's death, or how his eyes had strained against the paralysis seal to fixate on Sasuke, despite having greater, more threatening concerns right in front of him.
It went without saying that Minato trusted Kakashi implicitly. But the blond hadn't been wrong when he'd said his silver-haired subordinate was too invested, and the Yondaime was duty-bound to be impartial and to make an account for everything - even the little things that seemingly did not matter in the great scheme of things. So he played on the clues Itachi had unwittingly revealed, and hoped they would lead to something concrete, whether in the Uchiha's favor or not.
"Do not misunderstand, Uchiha Itachi," Minato began, voice deep and foreboding, as a Hokage ruling his judgement ought to be. "I might have sent Kakashi to heal Sasuke for now, but your brother will not be left unaccountable for his crimes against Konoha. Come noon three days from now, he will be executed, after his interrogation."
Where: Espoir
Style: Third
Status: Closed. Backdated to March 14th, directly right after this log
In contrast to the fleeting yellow light that marked their arrival, the location itself was dark. The ground was bare, what little grass there was dead and dried - a sickly yellow brown - that would crack and dust with a breeze. Naked trees grew in snarls, branches seeming to reach out, choking the life out of anything they could reach - they made no distinction between the tree beside them or the tree they belonged to - all in competition of reaching what meager light shone through the ceiling of the forest, where the tangle of angled branches and rot was thickest.
It was a haunting, unnerving sight to look anywhere beyond the small clearing they were standing in - a thorn braided circle - to look for escape; there was none, which was precisely why the Hokage had chosen this spot.
There was no mistaking the reason for this change of scene, and Minato made sure to reflect his intentions in the fact that he left Itachi paralyzed - frozen in midst a lunge - because it would strain the Uchiha's body to maintain that posture, even though the blond's seal was reinforcing it. The Hokage flashed through several seals, a pulse of chakra rippling through the clearing as it coalesced into an invisible barrier that would obscure them from normal sight. Then he stood maybe three scant steps away from the missing-nin, entirely inscrutable as he assessed Itachi through hard blue eyes.
Something about the young man reminded Minato of Kakashi. But what little similarities there were, they were buried under so many layers of misdirection that the Yondaime could barely make heads or tails of it. He understood Kakashi's concerns, even Sasuke's, but Itachi seemed a contradiction. Minato had not missed how the elder Uchiha had frozen upon the revelation of his sibling's death, or how his eyes had strained against the paralysis seal to fixate on Sasuke, despite having greater, more threatening concerns right in front of him.
It went without saying that Minato trusted Kakashi implicitly. But the blond hadn't been wrong when he'd said his silver-haired subordinate was too invested, and the Yondaime was duty-bound to be impartial and to make an account for everything - even the little things that seemingly did not matter in the great scheme of things. So he played on the clues Itachi had unwittingly revealed, and hoped they would lead to something concrete, whether in the Uchiha's favor or not.
"Do not misunderstand, Uchiha Itachi," Minato began, voice deep and foreboding, as a Hokage ruling his judgement ought to be. "I might have sent Kakashi to heal Sasuke for now, but your brother will not be left unaccountable for his crimes against Konoha. Come noon three days from now, he will be executed, after his interrogation."