April 27, Konoha Year 41, beneath the Royal Tower, Rōran.
Minato moved through the passage in short bursts that were almost instantaneous. Before each use of the "Space-Time Body Flicker Technique," he tilted his head slightly, using the cheek guards hanging beside his face to "aim" at the very edge of his field of vision...
Though each jump covered little distance, his landing points were precise, silent... There was not even a "process" to speak of.
After scouting around a corner, Minato signaled behind him, and another blond figure immediately followed...
It was Naruto, now wearing a cloak to conceal his brightly colored clothes.
The two continued deeper underground, heading for the dungeon the Akaseki Squad had visited earlier, where Kakashi had been imprisoned.
Unfortunately, once they reached it, Minato discovered that the dungeon was empty.
It seemed that although An Lushan had been lying, he had not been so careless as to leave his prisoner in the same place...
Just then, a patrolling soldier walked down the passage with a puppet in tow, yawning.
Whoosh-
Crash-
A golden flash streaked past, and the puppet fell to the floor in pieces. At the same time, several sealing formulas struck its separate parts, instantly stopping their twitching and leaving them lying still on the ground.
Meanwhile, Minato appeared behind the soldier and pressed a kunai to his neck.
"Hel..." The soldier jumped in fright.
But the cold, hard touch against his neck made him swallow his cry for help.
"Where is the Konoha ninja who was imprisoned here?" Minato asked gently.
"Konoha ninja? Oh! You mean... that white-haired impostor? Anshe took him away first thing this morning..." the soldier hastily explained.
Beside them, Naruto finally breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that Kakashi-sensei was indeed alive.
"Took him away? Where