Sunnyshore City, Sinnoh was well known for its bustling city life. Everyone had a place to be, and if not, a place they will soon be. Being the largest city in the whole region, it had no choice, but to be.
One of the residents, a rather tall man with blonde hair that spiked every which way and bangs that framed his lightly tanned face, stood in the back of a building labeled Sunnyshore Gym. He, along with a yellow fox-like creature with fur that seemed to spike the same way its owner's own hair had, seemed to be in a fight with a young boy and a little yellow mouse-like creature.
"Pikachu," the boy called out to the mouse, "Volt tackle!"
In response, the small creature began charging electricity from the two red circles on its cheeks. The bright electricity covered the entirety of the mouse's body. "Pika!" Pikachu yelled over and over as it charged towards the fox, gaining more and more speed with every step.
Just before the Pikachu collided head on into the other creature, the man called out, "Jolteon, dodge." in a deep voice that could make any girl within hearing range swoon instantly. The fox moved out of the way swiftly without noise.
He analyzed the boy with ocean blue eyes, watching his every move closely. The boy's honey brown eyes stared back in determination. Then calmly, he said, "Use thunder."
At the same time, the boy grinned, eyes a light in excitement, "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"
Both attacks clashed in a large explosion, the sky turning dark over the field they stood upon.
"What's happening?!" a bluenette girl shrieked from left of the field, holding her head with wide blue eyes.
The man glanced upwards, eyes dimming in worry. A gust of wind from seemingly nowhere began to blow, increasing in strength moment by moment. "Seems like a storm," he ran a hand through his blonde locks with a sigh, "a pretty big one at that." He rolled his wrist, gesturing towards the building. "Everyone, get in." he said with an authoritative voice, "Now."
Following his order, the bluenette girl quickly grabbed the brown bunny and blue penguin-like creature in her arms and bolted towards the doors. She laughed a little, trying to calm her nerves. "No need to worry!" she exclaimed nervously, "Just a storm!"
A tall, tan teen followed after her, but stopped just short of the double doors. "Ash," he addressed the boy, "Come on. I promised your mother I'd keep you safe."
With a sigh, the boy, now named Ash, nodded. "Alright Brock, we're coming. Right Pikachu?"
"Pika!" With that the boy and his mouse turned around. They begin running before they stopped to ask, "Volkner, you comin'?"
He shook his head, blonde locks sticking to his face, "Not right now." He stood still for a moment, staring into the sky. "I have to make sure the backup generator is going to work." He along with Jolteon ran towards the back of the building. Once there, he opened a small trap door attached to the back of his gym and climbed in. His hand fumbled for the light switch against the wall, each step he took a cautious one as he continued down the old wooden steps.
Finally, his right hand brushed against the switch. Took long enough. He quickly flicked it before walking towards the large machine in the back of the dimly lit room. Upon arriving, he checked to see if the gauges were set to the right place and if everything was working smoothly. He flicked a quick switch before turning off the light and going back out into storm.
"Jolteon, return!" he called as a red beam encased the fox and sucked it into the red and white ball in his hand. "Rest up," he said softly to the ball before placing it on his belt loop with five other identical balls.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning came striking down in front of him causing him to flinch back. This isn't good… He sprinted as fast as his long legs would allow, but it was no use. Within moments, a large bolt of electricity hurled itself towards him. Almost instantly, he felt a shock that stretched through each and every one of his limbs down to his veins, burning wild like a fire, yet felt just as freezing as ice.
Before he could react any further, his world began to sway side to side, then fade slowly into a deep, suddenly very welcome black. The last thing he remembered was incoherent shouts, rain hitting the roof of the gym, and arms catching him before he fell face first against the hard, muddied ground.
" You're late!" a boy with silver hair huffed, glaring at a slightly taller ravenette boy with arms crossed over his chest.
"I told you, an old lady needed help crossing the street. Being the nice person that I am, unlike somebody," he glared accusingly at the silverette, "I decided to help her." He continued, "Then I had to rescue a cat from a tree for a little girl. She was so happy, she said I could be her Onii-chan!" His eyes sparkled as he waved his arms around, a large grin present on his face.
The brunette girl, who had been (unsuccessfully) trying to get the boys to stop arguing with each other, began to giggle a little at her friend's antics.
A man with sunshine blonde hair, that seemed to spike every which way, laughed. "Alright you two, knock it off."
"He started it!" they both cried, continuing to glare at each other in annoyance.
The man sighed. "I don't care who started it." His hand slipped through his hair, pushing his bangs away from his face, "We have a mission today."
Almost immediately, the three children stood straight, eyes staring at him attentively. It's almost scary, he mused, how quick they can go from simple children who constantly bicker with one another, to serious killing machines. "What is our mission, Minato-sensei?" the girl asked.
"Nothing too hard. We only have to bring this scroll," he pulled out a small scroll from inside his flak jacket, "To the land of Roses"
The three nodded in unison. "Sounds easy enough," said the ravenette as he moved up the pair of orange goggles he wore and wiped his eyes.
"Obito," Minato smiled as he lightly chastised the boy, "I appreciate your faith in our team, but don't get too cocky." He walked over and ruffled the boy's hair. In turn, Obito swatted his hand away, a small pout residing on his lips. The blonde chuckled, enjoying the childish gesture for a couple moments longer before turning towards the large gates that loomed over them. "Alright, Team, let's head out."
Moments passed in unsettling silence as the four walked out their village and into the forest. They jumped onto the branches in means of faster travel. The silence continued to grow longer before the only girl of the group began to speak. "Sensei?"
He stopped on a branch ahead before turning around to answer, "Hm?"
"Where exactly is the land of Roses?"
"Well Rin-"
"Who are we supposed to give this scroll to anyway? Is it important?" his Uchiha student cut off, asking questions of his own.
"We are-"
"Of course it is important you Moron! Why else would they send us for this mission?" the Hatake interjected, arms crossed over his chest.
"No one asked you Bakashi!"
"Now, Now, calm down." the two boy's ignored their Sensei's attempt to quiet them. They were way too into their argument to even hear him, having even stopped running to continue their argument. Sighing, Minato and Rin slid to a stop, a branch ahead of the other two. "Boys," he tried again, gaining the same result once more. His right eye twitched, this is getting annoying. He was about to raise his voice, when he noticed something. The more the boys argued, the closer their faces became, and by the looks of things, neither seemed to notice. A smirk slid onto his face, scaring the young girl. Slowly he crept forward, eyes locked onto the bickering duo. Here goes nothing… He quickly placed his hands on the back of their heads and before the could react, he pushed them both forward. Instantly, both the goggled boy and the silverette were in a liplock, the only thing separating them was the fabric of Kakashi's mask.
Both boy's stood frozen in surprise. It wasn't until Kakashi pushed Obito off of him and turned towards his sensei glaring, that the two broke apart. It didn't seem to have too much of an effect due to the blush that began crawling its way up his skin, peeking just past his mask. Obito, on the other hand, blinked stupidly, his mouth opening and closing like a fish underwater, still not quite over the shock of his first kiss being taken away so suddenly, and by Kakashi no less.
"W-why did you just do that, Sensei?" Rin asked, her honey brown eyes widened the size of large saucers.
Minato shrugged, eyes twinkling in mischief. "Maybe if they were listening to me instead of flirting I would never have done that, Rin."
"Flirting?!" both boys eyed their Sensei as if he grew another head, their faces beginning to grow warmer.
A sense of victory washed over the blonde. Finally, he thought, I have their full attention. "Okay you three," he ignored the bouts of protests, "Let's go on a little further." He added a moment later, "Because somebody," he looked both of his male students in the eye, secretly enjoying the guilt-ridden expressions present on their faces, "had to make us wait." Turning around, Minato once again led his students further into the dense forest.
The journey was silent, Kakashi and Obito still too embarrassed to say a word and Rin was biting her lip, looking back and forth between her male friends. And Minato? Well he was enjoying the very rare peace and quiet he had gained. This, however, did not last long as he sensed an unfamiliar chakra not too far from where they were heading.
"Seven," the teacher addressed his team, stopping them in their tracks, "possible enemy- no three enemies coming our way. Be prepared for anything." He reached into his back pocket, putting his hand on the hilt of his hiraishin kunai. "Continue on as normal, but don't lower your guard."
Three consecutive nods was all he needed as confirmation. They were ready. He closed his eyes for a second, sensing from what direction these shinobi, nukenin or not, were coming from. So one's heading towards us from the east and another from the west then where is the oth- from behind?! Minato had just barely turned around in time, his long, navy blue sleeve gaining a short gash, the kunai of his enemy nearly missing his skin. He quickly jumped back, blue eyes scanning for his students. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he's been holding. They're all accounted for and seeming to be holding their own too. That's good. He turned back to his own opponent, eyes hardening at the sight of the gleaming metal plate carved with two oddly shaped clouds. So it's Kumogakure, huh? He grit his teeth, still not able to fully forgive the village for a stunt the tried to pull a little over ten years ago.
"You gonna fight, Pretty boy?" The Kumo-nin mocked, a cocky smile present on his lips, "Or are you just gonna let your brats do all the work? You might as well just hand over that scroll right now, you pansy." Minato remained silent, trying his best to remain calm despite the words flowing past the other man's lips. "Aw… am I getting to you?" The man snickered making the muscles in his arms twitch excessively. His golden eyes watched Minato like a hawk would watch its prey. "Well?" he continued to taunt, "I'm ready to play."
Minato threw one of his hiraishin kunai at the man, narrowly missing his chiseled jaw. "If you want to fight, then stop running that mouth of yours." The once warm and inviting eyes he held became cold and distant. His blonde hair swayed softly in the wind as his jaw clenched and fist tightened by his side. There was no way he would allow any of these men to cause this mission to be unsuccessful. This mission would determine whether the war goes on longer or not and he would rather die than see anymore comrades fall than he already had.
"Oh?" The man smirked, "Seems like you missed. Doesn't matter though. I wouldn't mind taking you back to my place and-"
"Did I really miss though?" The blonde piped up from behind the man, cutting him off, the kunai he threw a few moments before now held tightly against the man's neck.
"How did you…?" the opposing nin began, golden eyes widening. He hadn't seen the leaf jounin move.
Minato moved the kunai closer to the man's neck, drawing a small stream of crimson liquid. Slowly, he leant towards the larger man's ear, asking innocently, "Have you ever heard of the Yellow Flash?"
The man shivered. The feeling of helplessness and the other nin's breath against his ear doing wonders to his body. "Of course I have." He said, eyes darkening to a dark mustard yellow, "Why do you ask Sunshine?"
Minato's nose wrinkled at the odd nickname. Was this guy seriously flirting with him? "Because-" a sudden pained yelp coming from his left grabbed his attention. That sounded like- His head whipped over to the location of the sound and his eyes widened in horror. Falling from a tree not too far from him was the bloodied body of Kakashi. Shit! He cursed himself, I should have been paying attention to them instead of focusing solely on this bastard. Taking the kunai he held against the man's neck, Minato once again threw it. This time, however, he aimed it towards the ground, right below his falling student. He teleported downward to the location of his kunai, the only sound in his ears was the horrified shrieks of "Kakashi" croaked from his other two students' throats.
As he landed soundlessly on the ground, he lifted his arms up in the air. Please be alright… he prayed, please… A sudden weight in his arms cut off all previous thoughts. Kakashi…
"S-Sensei…?" the boy rasped, vision blurring, "They w-want-"
"Shh…" his sensei whispered, jumping as far away from the enemy shinobi as possible. "Keep up your strength. It'll all be okay." He pulled the boy closer to his body subconsciously, trying to keep him warm. Obito… Rin… please stay safe. I'll be back as soon as I can.
An hour into his escape, clouds began to overtake the previously clear blue skies. Great… groaned the blonde male, sapphire orbs burning in annoyance, just what I need at the moment. He continued dashing upon the trees, until he spotted a cave a couple kilometers to his left. Perfect. Jumping from the trees, Minato made his way with his unconscious student towards safety. However, just before he could enter the opening, a large, bolt of lightning struck out, heading straight out towards him. Shit! For once in his life, Minato was frozen to the spot, not able to move his feet from the ground. Minato was scared, not for himself, but Kakashi. The boy was already out, no doubt in unbearable pain. Heck, Minato hadn't even a chance to check him over yet! This was bad. Very, very bad. Quick as the bolt coming his way, Minato threw Kakashi into the safety of the cave, wincing at the thud of his student's body. The moment Kakashi's small body hit the cave floor, the bolt struck the Namikaze, knocking him off his feet.
"Sensei!" he faintly heard two voice yell together, their voices mingling into one. "Sensei, you okay?"
He felt the pain of hitting hard ground slowly fade as his surroundings blurred into a mass of colors above him. "...Rin… 'Bito..." he whispered hoarsely, his voice beginning to give out, "take… Kash… run..." The last thing he could catch before the spinning and blurring stopped in favor of cold, quickly approaching blackness, were two spinning red orbs upon the blurred features of a certain ravenette boy.