My first story posted! It's short and I wrote it all in one sitting while studying for med school exams. Please R&R. It's the only way I'll be motivated to write more!!!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Reflections of Minato Namikaze:

As I think back on all the years I have known Uzumaki Kushina, I wonder how such a tomboyish, in-your-face girl grew up to be such a wonderfully strong and confident woman.

I remember that Orochimaru had once commented on her mediocrity and lack of real talent. I had gulped at this sudden expression of cruelty from the comrade of Jiraiya-sensei, a respected Sannin. Worried about her absence from training, I had found Kushina crying out back on training ground three, where we all first met and tried to steal one of two bells from Jiraiya-sensei.

Both Hyuuga Hikuto and myself managed to obtain a bell, but was very close between Hikuto and Kushina. When I found her, Kushina had some scratches and dirt on her legs, and she was crying softly into her hands. Though I felt incredibly sad, I could not help but notice that she had a beauty that no one else had noticed because of her rambunctious behavior.

Her magenta hair fell down elegantly in cascades over her face, like a waterfall of silk. She seemed to emanate serenity and innocence, like a shy doe pawing at the ground. I stood shocked, not knowing what to do or say, having never seen her in such a state before.

She suddenly looked up, aware of my presence, and wiped her nose noisily on her sleeve. I couldn't help but smile at this. "Are you alright?" I asked. She quietly nodded and pretended to smile back at me. masking her misery.

She got up and walked past me. For a moment, we faced in opposite directions, and had one of those quintessential "Konoha-esque" shinobi moments, where the wind blows for a few seconds and some leaves flutter by in the breeze.

It's as if the leaves fall to give emphasis on the importance of this very moment, their dramatic descent in the changing winds foreshadowing a major event about to take place. Somehow, I knew she was imagining my expression when she looked up, because I was thinking of her expression when she was sitting at the training ground stump, crying.

Then, suddenly, she spoke.

"Minato, your fly is open."

She quietly walked away, leaving me mortified as I checked my pants to make sure all was still concealed. 'Whew!' I thought. 'At least I wasn't wearing my Yellow Flash boxers today.'

I turned around to get a glimpse of her walking away, and I saw that she was looking back at my hilarity with silent amusement. Her tear-streaked face shone in the sunlight as she inwardly laughed at my gullibility. I remembered the scent of the air so clearly when she walked past – it smelled like vanilla and perhaps honey. Enamored, I looked up at the cloudless, azure sky and I became lost in my own thoughts. Now it was my turn to sit at the stump and organize myself.

'Uzumaki Kushina…' I pondered. 'She is the number one unpredictable ninja…"

~End~