The Mission: ONE SHOT
As the sun set on the village of Konoha ninja and civilians alike went about their business. Minato Namikaze, hero of the last Great War and leader of the village, sat in one of the many offices located inside the Hokage Tower. Joining Minato was his wife Kushina Namikaze, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Fuguku Uchiha, and one of the instructor's from the ninja academy named Iruka. These ninja sat at an arc shaped desk that was littered with scrolls and documents arranged by their difficulty. Each scroll held a mission with that missions difficulty stamped on it; the difficulties ranged, in order of greatest to least, S, A, B, C, D, E. These missions would then be distributed to the ninja's whose skill and rank corresponded to that missions difficulty. Distributing these missions had always been an easy task, a way for the Hokage to relax and interact with the shinobi under his command; however, to Minato Namikaze, it was anything but relaxing.
Today had marked the 5th day that Minato had gone without sleep, and his tiredness showed with his sluggish actions and heavy bags under his eyes. Every time he had attempted sleep something had happened, either an emergency meeting had been called or one of the other villages decided to do something that warranted his attention. Despite this Minato gave no signs of slowing down, he knew what he was getting into when he took this job, and it wouldn't be right to force his responsibilities on someone else just because things had gotten a bit tough. Despite everything that had happened he was still willing and able to lead this village as Hokage, and lead it he would.
"Lord Hokage" A voice addressed Minato through a small speaker located under the desk. "The first team is here to pick up their assignments."
"What?" Minato sleepily questioned before coming to his senses. "Er…yes, good. Send them in immediately."
"As you wish Lord Hokage"
Immediately 4 shinobi, 3 young Genin and 1 Jonin, entered the room. As the shinobi walked to the desk and bowed their heads toward the ninja sitting at the desk, Minato took note of how young, and inexperienced these Genin appeared.
"They just keep getting younger and younger" Minato thought wearingly. "I better just give them a D ranked mission to be safe and see how they do."
"Lord Hokage" The Jonin respectfully stated as he took a position between Minato and his team. "Team 15, also known as Team Kazan, respectfully request a mission."
Minato forced down a yawn, and blinked several times to try and stay awake as he reached down and picked up a scroll with an appropriate mission. "Ah yes Team Kazan" Minato fought back another yawn as he extended the scroll for the Jonin to take. "Here is your next assignment".
Minato could have sworn he saw the color drain from Kazan's face as he looked at the scroll, but then again he already looked pretty pale when he walked in. Besides going so long without sleep did have a way of working things on the mind anyway so it could just be his imagination as well.
"L-lord Hokage." Kazan slightly sputtered before calming himself. "With all due respect sir, I think there is some sort of mistake, this mission is-"
"What exactly is wrong with the mission Kuzan?" Minato cut him off, too tired to even notice that he used the wrong name. This wasn't his first time giving out missions to over-eager Genin teams. He also knew how some Jonin squad leaders could get angry when given a mission they deemed "unworthy" for their team. Not that he could blame him, D ranked missions were the main reason most Jonin decided against taking on a Genin team in the first place. Still someone had to do them.
"Sir this mission" Kazan paused to choose his next words carefully "My team shouldn't be doing it."
"Why do I have to deal with a troublesome Jonin today of all days?" Minato thought as he looked over at the 3 Genin standing behind Kazan; their face shining in anticipation. "Huh, at least his team doesn't seem to mind."
"Listen Ku-Kazan" Minato said this time correcting himself as he refocused his attention to the team leader. "Complete this mission successfully and I'll see about giving your team something more exiting next time, ok?"
"But sir" Kazan began
"Dismissed" Minato said with an authoritarian voice, he really wasn't in the mood for arguments today.
The day continued on after that, several teams of differing skill sets came in and out. A few of them came in alone for elite missions, but the vast majority were fresh Genin teams. Several of whom had tried to object to the missions given; however, Minato quickly dismissed them all until there was nobody left to give missions to for the day. It had taken 5 hours to hand out the missions to the proper teams, and by the time Minato had gotten up all he wanted to do was fall back down. Despite this, he steadied himself quickly and silently walked to his office as best he could without stirring suspicion from the remaining ninja present.
"After all" Minato reasoned. "Their's no reason for me to worry any of them. I can easily function until some of the crisis's plaguing the nation settle."
As he walked inside his main office he bit back a groan upon seeing the massive stack of paperwork waiting for him.
"Let's just get this over with." Minato said as he took off the top paper on the stack, a paper with the word IMPORTANT stamped on the top.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Meanwhile back in the Mission Distribution room
Kushina and the other ninja remained seated at the arc shaped desk, and silently waited until they were convinced Minato had actually left.
Kushina was the first to speak, immediately catching everyone's attention. "You see what I mean?" Kushina stated, her voice filled with worry. "He's been dealing with crisis after crisis for the last several days, there's no way he can function like this."
"When did you say was the last time he slept?" Iruka asked while looking at Kushina.
"At least 5 days" Kushina replied. "He shuts himself in his office during the day unless he's in a meeting, and at night he can't even make it home without some ANBU telling him to come back because of the situation with the Hidden Cloud." Kushina shook her head. "He wouldn't even be taking a break to eat anything if I didn't bring him his meals and threaten to shove them down his throat." Kushina let out a sigh. "He shouldn't be in this condition it isn't safe for either him or the village, we have to do something."
"It's definitely dangerous" Fuguku agreed. "If the leader of the village cannot perform his duties then the village is in peril, we must amend the situation before a mistake is made." Fuguku turned toward Hiruzen. "One that we cannot catch in time."
"Indeed" Hiruzen said nodding his head, before blowing some smoke out of his pipe. "It is fortunate we had stationed shinobi to intercept the squads that arrived for missions today. If we hadn't been notified about Minato's condition beforehand, the results would have been disastrous."
Kushina turned to look at Hiruzen with a hopeful expression. "So you'll agree to do what I requested Lord Third." Kushina said excitingly.
The old ninja sighed, he was truly becoming too old for his. "Very well Lady Kushina, I will take over the duties of Hokage for a week in order for Lord Fourth to get the rest he requires."
"Thank you Lord Third, you have no idea how relieved I am ya know" Kushina stated excitingly, not even caring about her verbal tic.
"Do not thank me yet so hastily Lady Kushina," Hiruzen said while shaking his head toward the red head. "I have merely agreed to take over for Lord Fourth; however, this is not a Coup de tat. There are procedures that must be followed." Hiruzen looked Kushina in the eyes. "Until Lord Fourth approaches me and officially requests I take over for the allotted time, there's nothing I can do."
Kushina's back bent almost 90 degree's as she gave a deep bow. "I understand completely Lord Third, I will not fail. Minato will request a leave of absence, even if I have to drag him to you kicking and screaming." Hiruzen almost laughed at the seriousness in her voice, he felt as if he had traveled back in time to the days of his tenure as Hokage and had just given her team a difficult assignment.
"Some things never change." Hiruzen thought with a hint of pride as he decided to play along by answering her in a voice fit for a Hokage. "Very well Lady Kushina, I shall remain in this room until such time that Lord Fourth returns and makes his request. I wish you luck in your mission, dismissed."
Kushina quickly stood straight and left the room without sparing the other ninja in the room a glance, she had a mission to complete.
Kushina strode across the hallway in determination, only stopping for a moment when she reached the door to Minato's office. Neither ANBU nor ninja tried to stop her as she opened the massive door and walked in without missing a beat, only to find Minato holding a single piece of paper close to his face, his eyes squinting as if trying hard to read an ancient language.
Minato, being too focused on trying to read the paper in front of him, failed to notice Kushina walk in. He squinted his eyes even harder in an attempt to read the foul document in front of him.However, despite his best efforts, Minato's eyes were simply too tired to read the words properly.
"Minato Namikaze" Kushina calmly stated, catching her husband off guard.
"Kushina?" Minato said, before shaking his head slightly. "I'm sorry dear, I didn't hear you come in. Is there something wrong?"
"What were you just doing?" Kushina demanded in a calm tone, as if she had just caught her 7 year old trying to steal cookies.
"Paperwork" Minato replied lamely as he rose a single eye brow; however, he quickly wished he hadn't when he saw Kushina's face suddenly contort in anger.
"Oh really" Kushina said, her irritation beginning to leak through her features. "And how much of your paperwork did you do?"
"None yet." Minato stated as his eyes halfway closed and he moved one of his hands under his chin to try and keep his head propped up. "I've been trying to read that document since we finished distributing missions. All I can make out is the heading. Everything else is just too blurry for me to read right now. I'm thinking about just letting Kakashi read it to me when he gets here." Minato finished, as another yawn threatened to escape his lips.
"Well my clearance level is as high as it gets." Kushina stated as she took a step forward. "Let me see this important document of yours."
"Hmmm" Minato stated, considering her offer carefully. He technically wasn't supposed to give anyone access to any documents without first giving them a classification level. The only exceptions being certain captains of the ANBU Black Ops or higher.
"Still I haven't see Kakashi all day, and this paperwork needs to get done." Minato thought, weighing his options before coming to a decision. "Ok" Minato stated simply, handing the document to Kushina.
"Important" Kushina stated in a louder voice, as she began reading the document. "Dear parent(s)/ guardian(s), we respectfully ask your permission to take Naruto Namikaze on a school sponsored trip to training ground 4. Training ground 4 is one of the many training grounds our shinobi use to train, and better hone their skills. The training ground is located on the East side of the village, passed the outer wall. The grounds are patrolled by both regular shinobi forces and ANBU, and is considered the safest training grounds operated by the Hidden Leaf Village. We believe that by allowing our students to see the training grounds, where they can observe ninja in their training, will serve as both a learning and motivational experience that will undoubtedly aid them as they take their first steps on the Shinobi Path. Please sign and return this form to class J-35 before March 6th in order to allow your child to attend this experience. Signed by Chunin Ru Zao. Konoha Ninja Academy, Division of Higher Learning." Kushina finished as she glared at Minato, whose face held a confused expression.
"Congratulations Minato" Kushina said sarcastically "You almost asked an elite ANBU for his opinion on letting our 7 year old son go on a school trip."
"Should we sign it?" Minato asked dumbly, too tired to even comprehend what his wife was trying to say.
"Listen dear" Kushina eased her glare and spoke in a more compassionate voice as she took another step closer to Minato's desk. "You're overworked and under too much stress." You've been so busy that you haven't even had time to sleep for nearly a week." Kushina said taking her hand and touching the side of Minato's face. "All of this is taking a toll on your mind and body, you should be home resting right now."
Minato stood up from his chair, but didn't try to take Kushina's hand off his cheek. Instead he met Kushina's worried eyes with his tired blue ones. "Listen dear" Minato began in a voice that surprisingly didn't betray his weariness. "I know you're worried about me, and I'll admit that I haven't been able to get as much sleep as I want to." Minato said finally taking Kushina's hand off his cheek, and instead holding it tenderly in his hand." But I'm the Hokage, the leader of entire village. Everyone relies on me, they count on me to do my job and keep them safe. If I just walk away when I get a little tired, what kind of example would I be setting for the villagers and ninja under me? I can't put them in danger because I'm not here, or let them think it's alright to stop working over something as trivial as a little lost sleep." Minato finished this time placing his other hand slightly under her chin. "I'm sorry dear, but I just can't do it."
"This isn't good." Kushina thought, as she felt her resolve beginning to crumble away. Minato always had that effect on her, all he had to do was look at her like he was doing now and she'd be lost in those eyes of his forever. She shook her head and attempted to shore up her resolve, she knew she had to end this quickly or it was over.
"Dear, everyone knows that you're the best Hokage we've had since Lord First." Kushina began, her tone softening significantly. "Even Lord Third would be the first to admit that, but if you keep going like you're going now; it's only a matter of time before you make a mistake that puts either you or the village in danger."
"I won't let that happen." Minato assured her in a calming voice, his eyes never leaving hers. "Besides, I'll have you, Lord Third, Fuguku, and several other people with me to make sure something like that never happens."
Kushina slightly bit her lip, she wasn't supposed to be this indecisive. She was the infamous Red Hot-Blooded Habanero of the Hidden Leaf for kami's sake! But the more she heard Minato's soft, caring voice and he looked at her with those dark blue eyes that, while tired, still brimmed with determination, it almost made her want to give up right then and there. To let him protect the village like he wanted, to be the inspiration to the future generations like he dreamed, to fix this rotten world so their son didn't have to grow up in a world knee deep in blood like they had to do.
"He has people to help him." Kushina thought as Minato began slowly caressing her chin. "As long as they do their jobs then everything would be alright. Everything would be alright."
Kushina's eyes widened at her treacherous thoughts and violently shook them out of her head. Minato quickly took notice of this, and all signs of sleep deprivation left his body, as his expression shifted from one of peaceful resistance and determination to one of worry for his wife.
"I can't lose my cool. Minato means well, but he's too tired; he'll make a mistake" Kushina repeated in her mind as she attempted to re-assure herself. "He'll make a mistake we can't catch, something that will put the village in danger. Himself in danger…Naruto in danger." Her eyes widened even further as she remembered the first Genin team to walk in that morning. They had all looked so young, barely 5 years older than Naruto was. She could easily imagine their son on that squad, going on the mission Minato assigned to them only a few hours ago. She closed her eyes as hard as she could, shaking her head even harder than before as she tried to stop the images of what would've happened to that squad from filling her head. She had to make him understand, she had to make him see reason; she couldn't afford to fail.
Minato felt his worry growing as he watched Kushina suddenly shut her eyes and began shaking her head violently; thus forcing his hand off her chin. Moving quickly, he sidestepped his desk and moved next to Kushina, who now stood deathly still with her head down and eyes firmly shut. Minato tenderly grabbed her shoulders, which jolted her out of whatever trance she had as she looked at him with fearful eyes.
"Kushina, honey." Minato said unsure of what to say. "What's wr-"
"You have to take a break Minato!" Kushina screamed, startling Minato who took a step back in shock
"Honey, please try and understand." Minato implored, his worry for Kushina still weighing heavily on him. "I can't just put the people of this village in danger beca-"
"You already are!" Kushina screamed again. Her fearful eyes having been replaced by ones that held a fiery determination. Minato was about to respond when he caught sight of something shimmer in the corner of Kushina's fiery eyes, something that made his response die in his throat.
"Tears?" Minato mentally questioned, as if his eyes were playing tricks on him.
He stood in shock as he tried to process what had just happened. Kushina was a very strong willed, person, and it wasn't uncommon to see her angry, happy, excited, or any other number of things at any given time….except one. She never cried. He didn't know if it was due to her strong willed personality, or perhaps her time acting like a tomboy in the academy. Whatever the reason may be, Kushina never cried. In fact the last time, and only time, that he'd seen Kushina cry was the first time she held Naruto at the hospital. So to see Kushina this close to tears did more than anything else to scare and worry him.
"Kushina whatever I said I'm sorry" Minato pleaded trying to find a way to make everything better. "Just tell me what I did wrong and I'll fix it. I promise."
"No Minato, you don't understand." Kushina responded no longer screaming, but the shining bits of moisture in the corner of her eyes still remained. "You did make a mistake, earlier today. While handing out the missions to all the teams. Several mistakes."
"What do you mean?" He asked genuinely curious. All he wanted to do right now was hug his wife to make her feel better; however, he knew that he'd only make the situation worse if he tried that right now.
"When the first team came in, Team Kazan." Kushina said, her breath slightly hitched. "The mission you gave them, do you remember what it was?" Kushina questioned, neither the fire nor tears leaving her eyes as she did so.
"Team Kazan" Minato loudly thought, his mind going back over the event. "Yeah, I gave them a D ranked mission to paint a fence on the West Side of the village." His eyes widened as Kushina appeared even more upset.
"No you didn't." Kushina replied darkly
"What?" Minato asked as his eyes widened, he was sure he had given them that mission.
"You gave them an A-ranked mission, to infiltrate and destroy a camp of rouge ninja's terrorizing a village just outside of the Land of Fire." Kushina said, as she watched Minato's face lose all of its color.
"I didn't." Minato said more to himself than anyone else, still in shock over what he just heard. "I'm sure I gave them a D-ranked mission."
"They weren't the only ones." Kushina said shaking her head. "You spent half the day giving Genin teams missions out of there league. Almost every single mission you gave out was wrong."
Color rushed back into Minato's face as the full implications of his actions hit him like a train. "I have to call them back." Minato said to himself. "I have to re-call all of the teams I sent out within the last 9 hours. If I hurry I can get them all back in time before any of them get hurt."
"Minato" Kushina called, but he was already too deep inside his own thoughts to hear her as he turned around and made a beeline toward the door.
"I can get border teams to stop any of the teams from leaving the country. I'll order the ANBU to find the rest and bring them back to the village" Minato hastily thought as he quickly moved to the doors of his office, his tired mind only made him move faster as it began showing him visions of the corpses of the teams he sent out.
"I sent out 33 teams today" Minato recalled. "24 of them were composed of Genin. I'll look over the remaining scrolls and see what missions were given. Then I'll know all the missions that were handed out today, see who received them and make sure they get brought back safety. I'll deploy any veteran shinobi I can to the destinations of those missions just in case we miss someone. We can st—"His thoughts were cut off, as he felt something stop his movements. He looked to see what it was, only to find Kushina's hand grabbing his arm.
"Kushina, I have to go." Minato said quickly. "If I gave out the wrong missions then people are about to die because of it. I have to stop it before it's too late."
"It's alright dear." Kushina said, her eyes drying but still retaining their fury. "I've already taken care of it."
"You've already taken care of it?" Minato asked, temporally halting his attempt to escape.
"I knew you weren't acting right, and told Lord Third, Fuguku, and Iruka about it. We had ANBU stationed at all the entrances and they stopped all of the teams leaving the building. They checked their missions." Kushina said loosening her grip on Minato's arm. "And took any of the scrolls they deemed inappropriate. Most of the Genin teams, including Kazan's, had their scrolls taken away and were told to return early tomorrow for their real missions."
"Are you sure?" Minato asked, his body only slightly relaxing at the news.
"I put Kakashi in charge of the mission." Kushina explained. "You trained him yourself, you know he wouldn't let any of the teams get away. By now he's probably gotten all of the scrolls back in their rightful places and is busy reading that stupid book of his."
Kushina felt Minato's shoulder's sag slightly as his body relaxed and he released a weary breath.
"I can't believe I did that." Minato said, horrified at what could've happened.
"I told you dear." Kushina said in a calming voice while giving Minato a hug as she laid her head against his chest. "You're just tired, you've been working so hard lately. It was only a matter of time before something like this happened."
"It's still something that shouldn't have ever happened to begin with." Minato stated darkly, but still placed one of this hands behind Kushina's back; drawing her even closer to him.
"It would have happened to anyone." Kushina assured. "Why should you be any different?"
"Because I'm the Hokage."
"But you're also human like the rest of us. Nobody blames you for what happened, but we all agree you need to get some rest."
"What about the village?" Minato questioned, his voice becoming soothingly calm as he placed his other arm around Kushina, and his chin on her shoulder. "It will need its Hokage."
"I convinced Lord Third to take over all of your duties for a week to let you rest." Kushina stated slowly losing herself to Minato's hug. "All you have to do is officially request a leave of absence."
"A whole week huh?" Minato said while he slowly rocked Kushina back and forth. "It would be a shame to waste all that time sleeping, wouldn't it?" Minato slowly broke the hug to look at Kushina's face who reacted by giving a seductive smile.
"Oh, I don't know" Kushina said as she took her finger and started using it to draw circles on Minato's chest. "I'm sure we could find something else to do to pass the time if sleeping gets to boring for you." Kushina finished suggestively.
"What about Naruto?" Minato questioned.
"He'll be at the academy most of the day." Kushina stated before smiling. "Besides I have it on good authority that he'll be going on a school trip in the next few days. Which leaves us plenty of time to enjoy ourselves while you're off work." Kushina finished as Minato's tiredness returned, along with something more primal.
"I'd better go ask Hiruzen right now. I wouldn't want him to start having 2nd thoughts." Minato said before giving Kushina a heartfelt kiss and leaving the room.
As Minato left, Kushina remained standing in the same place smiling to herself; however, whatever thoughts she had were instantly broken as a ANBU Captain with a Dog Mask appeared next to her.
"Lady Kushina" The masked ANBU stated as he bowed. "We have a problem."
"What is it?" Kushina asked turning around to look at the masked ninja.
"We thought we had intercepted all of the teams that had received missions today, but one scroll was handed out that hasn't been accounted for."
"What mission was it?" Kushina asked in a very worried tone. If Kakashi and his team had missed one of the Genin teams and something bad happened to them, Minato would never forgive himself.
"Here is the description that we acquired" Kakashi stated handing her a scroll.
Kushina quickly opened the scroll, and scanned its contents causing her eyes to open in shock as she remembered who had been assigned the mission.
"It's no wonder Kakashi had failed to intercept him," Kushina thought. " he wasn't even scheduled to get a mission today and only came to give Minato a report on that captured Cloud ninja.
"Lady Kushina?" Dog questioned as Kushina silently looked at the scroll with an expression that bordered on fearful and amused.
SCENE CHANGE
Inside one of the houses within Konoha's housing district.
"Oh, thank goodness you're here!" A middle aged woman stated to the tall man as she moved around the room at a breakneck pace. "My sister in a nearby village is sick, so I might be gone a few more days than I thought but don't worry just add it to your fee." The woman quickly grabbed her bags and moved towards the door. "Everything is already set up, and there is a list of what time the kids need to be fed and put to sleep on the refrigerator along with any other information you might need." The woman laid her bags next to the door and turned toward her kitchen "Thank you again for taking this mission, and babysitting my darlings. You shouldn't have any problems with them at all, they're really nice kids." The woman said as she pointed to a nearby room. "They're both in the playroom right now if you want to go sit with them." The woman finished as she opened the door to leave, then picked up all of her bags. "Bye kid's momma loves you!" The woman yelled as she left the house leaving a trail of dust behind her.
As soon as the woman left the house, the tall man looked at the door for another second before he walked into the playroom where two 3 year old children sat on the floor rolling a ball; completely obvious to the stranger in the room. The man placed both of his arms behind his back, stood up straight, and spoke in an authoritative voice that caught both the infants' attention at once.
"Hello kids." The noise, causing both the toddlers to look at the strange man wearing a large black trench coat and bandana. "My name's Ibiki Morino, and from this moment on" Ibiki looked at both kids as if peering into their souls. "your worst enemy."
THE END
END CHPATER
AUTHOR's Notes
This is something I literally thought of and typed in a manner of hours while was down. It's purpose is to make Kushina and Minato have some interactions, and also to kill time. Still I hope you enjoy it, and please remember to Review.
Have a great day!
Guardian's Blade out!