Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and the characters in this story. etc etc.
I don't know what it is about Minato Namikaze but I'm currently infatuated with him and a certain clan-killing Uchiha prodigy. So I decided to try my hands at a multi-chapter about how he became the legend that he is today (in the anime/manga so to speak). This focuses primarily on one of my fave pairings MinatoxMikoto. For some weird reason this pairing makes sense to me so yeah go figure. Although I am taking some creative licenses I do intend to stick to the events of the anime so in many ways this is a tragic story. I plan on writing some angst along the road so I will warn you that the ratings might get higher as the story goes on. Who knows I might even try my hands at a lemon.
Because I don't know the names of Minato's and Mikoto's parents I just made them up. But I promise to try to keep the characters as consistent as possible. I've decided to only include characters who I feel are relevant to the story however some characters from the show (cuz I don't read the manga...yea sue me) might cameo in the story. I'm going to try to avoid creating many new characters. Oh and by the way funfact most of my Original Character's names correspond with their personalities. So sit back and enjoy. And don't forget to tell me how great of a writer I am....XD
Hokage Origins: Yondaime
Chapter One Humble Beginnings
A pair of brilliant blue eyes followed the progress of the hands on the clock. Even though those eyes had stared at nothing else for the past one hour they never wavered from the clock's face in the slightest. A frustrated sigh escaped the blue-eyed child as he laid the mass of untidy blonde hair that was his head on the counter in front of him never taking his eyes off that clock as if staring at it would make time speed up.
Getting impatient the child got up and walked over to the wall on which the clock was hung staring accusingly at the wretched device. A sound from the storage room behind the counter caught his attention as he finally turned those sky-blue orbs away from the annoying little wall-clock. He smiled at the sight of his father nursing a bump to the back of his head as he backed away from the storage room. His father kept on forgetting that he was much too tall to pass through the storage-room's doorway without ducking first. No matter how many times he saw it it never got old.
He watched as his father, muttering curses beneath his breath, ducked into the storage room still clutching his head in pain. As he watched his father's back disappear into the clutter of the storage room a mischievous smile began to play on the blonde's lips. He returned his attention back to the wall-clock listening for any signs to signal his fathers return. When he was satisfied that his father wouldn't be resurfacing any time soon the child swept the room with his eyes looking for something.
Now where did he put that—ah there it is. The boy thought to himself as he spotted his query; a brown stool at the other end of the store. Glancing back towards the storage room entrance to make sure his father wouldn't return anytime soon the blonde boy walked over to get the stool. As he moved the stool from its place by the wall he couldn't help being thankful for his size; as a smaller child would have found moving the stool particularly difficult.
He positioned the stool on the wall directly beneath the wall-clock grinning from ear to ear at his ingenious plan. He carefully climbed onto the stool and reached out for the wall-clock. But just as he was about to touch the infernal device the store's door opened and a customer walked in.
"Minato see to the customer will you," came the voice of his father from within the storage room. "I'm a little occupied at the moment." At this the blonde child jumped from his place on top of the stool landing a few inches away from the two figures standing in front of the counter.
"Boo!" The child said as he fell causing the two newcomers to jump slightly. He chuckled at his little prank as he hurried to return to the counter.
"Minato you little…"the lady paused as she looked him over again. "My, my you've grown haven't you?" She said immediately forgiving the blue-eyed boy for giving her a start.
"Yep, soon I'll be as tall as dad." Minato said grinning from ear to ear. At the sight of that radiant smile Emiko Uchiha felt her heart melt with an overwhelming flow of kindness and she instinctively reached out and ruffled the boy's hair fondly.
He might have been only 5 but Emiko could already tell that he was going to be quite the ladies' man when he grew up. The young girls his age seemed to have already taken notice as he was often being followed by a crowd of giggling girls tripping over themselves to get his attention. But she knew that it would be a while before the carefree little prankster would finally notice this. When he wasn't running around at full speed he was off playing some innocent prank on random people. It didn't matter if you were the most stuck-up Hyuuga in Konoha, once Minato smiled at you you were caught in his charm. She was yet to meet anyone that could resist the little devil. Quite frankly she didn't think there was anyone alive or dead capable of resisting that innocent charm of his.
"Uh, hey I hope I didn't scare your friend off," the young boy said nervously scratching the back of his hair as he glanced around the store a questioning look on his face. "I could have sworn that I saw two of you. Where did the other one go?" He asked still looking around. At this Emiko snapped out of her musings and turned to join him in his search.
"Kami-sama where has that child gone?" She said before drawing a deep breath and calling out. "Mikoto? Mikoto where are you?"
"Oh so there was someone with you." The boy said as he helped her search for the missing child. "Thought I had imagined it or something." Just then something on the ground caught his eye. When he turned to look at it he saw a small doll beside the cluttered work table at one corner of the store. He walked over to it.
"I think she's still in here." He announced as he bent to pick the doll up. Just as he was about to pick the doll a small hand appeared from beneath the table and slapped his hand out of the way. Minato yelped in surprise as he watched the tiny hand pull the doll beneath the work table.
He turned around to tell Emiko of his discovery but apparently the woman had already taken off into the streets screaming for her daughter. In one swift move Minato was on his belly and soon found himself staring at a small crouched figure hiding within the shadows beneath the table.
"Hey little girl. Sorry if I scared you." Minato said gently as he reached out to the crouched figure. "Don't be scared come out here your mommy's looking for you." When the child didn't budge he managed a small nervous smile as he tried to think of something to say to get the girl out of hiding.
Just then he remembered the dangos he and his father had bought for lunch that afternoon. Minato never ate much so he knew there would be some leftovers in the lunchbox. He got up and went to fetch the dangos from the lunchbox on top of the counter.
He returned to the table and stretched an arm out offering the tasty treat to the crouching figure careful to not let it touch the floor. Personally he didn't mind if his food fell on the floor before he ate it, but he knew that girls were a lot more sensitive about this type of thing so he decided to do his best to not offend the cowering child.
"Hey you want some dangos?" He said shaking the treat tantalizingly. "I'll let you have them if you come out."
"Can I have them without coming out?" The girl asked. He could tell that she wanted the sweet and even though he wasn't one to tease little kids he made up his mind that she wasn't getting it until she came out.
"Why don't you want to come out?" Minato asked crouching now.
"Because I'm hiding from my mommy." The child squealed mischievously. Minato smiled a little at this. Although he still couldn't see her face he could tell that this little girl was adorable, and a little mischievous to like him.
"Ok, here you go." Minato said offering the treat to the girl but careful to make sure that he didn't stretch his hands too far towards her. He didn't want her snatching the dango and retreating back into the shadows before he could reach her.
The child watched him for a little while as if expecting something to happen when nothing happened she got on her knees and crawled out to reach for the dangos. Minato gasped in awe as the girl's face came into light. For the second time that evening he thought his eye were deceiving him and blinked twice to make sure. At the same time forgetting to grab the girl like he had planned.
After blinking several times he decided that his eyes really weren't deceiving him and the girl kneeling before him greedily munching dangos was very real. Emiko Uchiha had once been the prettiest woman in Minato's mind that was until he saw little Mikoto. Despite the fact that she was a toddler Mikoto seemed to have already surpassed her own mother's beauty.
Like her mother Mikoto had soft, pale skin large onyx orbs and the trademark dark hair of the Uchiha. Her features were soft and delicate and gave her the appearance of a beautiful china doll. But there was something about her that seemed to separate her from her mother and the rest of the Uchiha. It was her hair. The ink-black hue of her long delicate locks not only framed her face beautifully but they contrasted with her pale skin so perfectly adding to her doll-like beauty.
Minato could only watch in silent awe as the young girl finished the last of the dangos and turned to glance at him expectantly. They both remained like that for what seemed like hours, with him crouching and her kneeling down in front of him, their eyes drinking in the other's face. Until finally she spoke.
"You have very…strange eyes." The girl said leaning forward to better inspect them.
"How come my eyes are so strange?" He asked slightly taken aback. As far as he knew there was nothing wrong with his eyes.
"Well everyone in my family has dark eyes." She said politely smiling at him.
"Well, I'm not from your family." Minato said feeling a little foolish now that he realized that he had been staring at her. His mother would have been so ashamed if she had been there.
"Even though, most people have dark eyes—except the Hyuugas they have pretty eyes—but I like yours better."
"Oh well thanks I got them from my dad." Minato said smiling nervously again rubbing the back of his head.
"You took your eyes from your dad?" Mikoto said horror stricken.
"No—I mean yes…but he still has eyes though." Minato said struggling to find the words to speak. Emiko, who had been watching them for sometime now, decided to step in and save the boy the trouble. Her Mikoto could be quite a handful sometimes.
"It's rude to stare Mikoto." Emiko said stepping forward and catching the girl before the squealing toddler to dash back underneath the table. The little girl dissolved into a fit of giggles as her mother mercilessly tickled her.
"Thank you Minato." Emiko said smiling at the boy as he finally rose to his feet.
"Oh it was nothing." He said grinning again as he made his way back behind the counter his eyes never leaving the squealing toddler. It seemed as if once those sky-blue orbs found a target they never lost sight of them as Minato was having a hard time staring at anything other than Mikoto.
"So what can I do for you?" He said watching the tiny girl gasp for air as her fit of laughter finally came to an end. Eight minutes later Emiko was walking out of the store holding a parcel in one hand while trying to balance her daughter in the other hand with much difficulty. Mikoto kept on leaning dangerously out of her mother's grasp as she craned her head trying to get a better view of the boy with the intriguing eyes.
"Mommy did you see that?" Minato heard Mikoto call as her mother carried her out of the store. "That boy had really pretty eyes…I like them—hey mommy his eyes look like that what was it again?" The young girl called out as she pointed at the sky trying to figure out the name of that thing hanging above their heads.
As Emiko walked down the street she couldn't hide the smile that spread across her lips. Knowing her daughter Minato had just become her latest obsession. But then again judging by the way he had been staring at Mikoto so had she. And she couldn't help but wonder if this was the beginning of something. She made a mental note to pay her old Amaya a visit before the end of the week.
Back at the store Minato was staring blankly at the door through which Emiko and Mikoto had just left as if expecting to return suddenly. He wondered what it was about the little doll-faced girl that intrigued him so. So distracted was he that he soon forgot his earlier plans to trick his father into closing the store 30 minutes early. It wasn't until his father finally emerged from the storage-room covered in dust and a couple of scratches that he finally snapped out of his reverie.
"Who was that?" The man asked reaching for a nearby rag to clean the dust clinging to his clothes.
"Oh that was just mom's friend Emiko Uchiha." The blonde said turning to frown at the clock.
Great I forgot to set the clock and now he's done with whatever he was doing so now I'll have to wait until closing time. The young boy thought somewhat grumpily. As his father started shaking the dust out of his spiky brown hair Minato couldn't help but watch him in amusement.
"Oh ok. So everything went well I presume?" The man said continuing his chore.
"Yea." Minato said taking the rag from his father to wipe the spots he had either missed or couldn't reach. "You know if organize the storage room like mom told you to you wouldn't have to battle your way through all that junk every time you wanted to get something."
"Nah, I can manage." The man said ruffling his son's hair in appreciation as the boy cleaned the last of the dust from his shoulders. "Besides a little dust never killed anybody." His father added flashing him a playful grin which Minato returned.
The older Namikaze gave a quick glance at the time before deciding that it was time to call it a day much to his son's delight. The child was so eager to leave that he finished his chores in half the normal time and even offered to help his father with his own chores to speed things up.
Twenty minutes later Minato was jogging down the street jumping up and down in excitement his father trying to keep up. Although his son was only 5 years old he was much taller than kids his age as a result he had longer legs which only helped him run faster. Hikaru Namikaze couldn't help but smile with pride as he watched his energetic son take off towards the training ground at top speed. Even at such a young age his son possessed the makings of a shinobi; he was particularly fast and was a young genius not to mention his innate taijutsu prowess. Furthermore his kind disposition and open-mindedness meant that he would be the type of shinobi that would stand high above his peers, a legend in the making a diamond in the rough.
Not bad for a kid from a long lineage of civilians…not bad at all. He will go far—if possible he may, no will, surpass the previous hokages. And I'm gonna help him get there.
You'll review right?....Right.