I. A RUDE AWAKENING

Chapter 1: His Lucky Day!

"Minato-kun, dinner's ready!" A feminine voice called out to the young boy who, up until then, had been holed up in his room for quite a while. The woman who had demanded the young blonde's presence at the dinner table was Namikaze Asami, his paternal aunt and legal guardian, a 29 year old woman with a medium build, light blue eyes and shoulder-length hair which were almost as fair as her skin. "Coming, auntie!" The boy responded, well aware that if there was one thing to rival his beloved aunt's beauty, it was her volatile temper.

Sure enough, the minute Minato made it out of his room, he had to cope with his aunt's lethal exasperated expression. "Sheesh, what were you even doing there all this time?!" The woman exclaimed as she placed two plates of egg and salmon donburi on the dinner table, her gaze remaining fixed on the young boy before her.

"Scribbling."

"Scribbling?! You're working on that map of yours aren't you? Geez Minato, you're nine years old. You need hobbies that suit a boy your age."

"Sorry auntie, I lost track of time. Next time, I'll help you set the table, I promise." Minato responded with a soft voice and a pleasant, genuine smile as he innocently ruffled the back of his head.

"Ah, well. You don't listen anyway, so there's no point." Asami sighed as her fuse stopped short of exploding. In spite of her temper, she loved Minato as if he was her own son. But, as much as she was appreciative of his talent for taking everything in stride, it could also get frustrating at times. And, having a fierce disposition that's the polar opposite of her nephew, she also had a hard time relating to him.

Minato took her change in temper as a cue to sit on the table. However, before he could even take a step, Asami's inner roulette wheel which dictated her mood went back to "angry" again. She had remembered something from earlier.

"Wait a minute!" She placed her right hand on the table so fast that it even made Minato wince. This time though, the latter had a faint idea what she was mad at him for. He had been secretly hoping she wouldn't bring it up, but he was not surprised she did as he had made no effort to conceal it.

"You weren't wearing these clothes when you went to the Academy today. You left your laundry in the bathroom and it smelled of rotten fish" Asami pointed at the white and blue attire Minato was wearing with a spoon she was holding as she interrogated him. "What happened?"

A weak chuckle was all Minato could let out as he desperately tried to avert his aunt's gaze. There was no point in lying. He was busted. All he could do was come clean and do some damage control afterwards.

"W-Well, y'see, there are these guys that I told you abo-"

"I knew it!" The blond got interrupted before he could stammer a proper response to her inquiry. "Those kids are bullying you again aren't they?! For God's sake Minato, will you at least try to stand up for yourself?!"

"They're already genin, auntie. I can't possibl-"

"Enough making excuses, Minato!" The boy's voice gradually became more resigned as the quarrel went on. "I don't know much about ninjutsu, but I know you're ahead of your peers. I mentioned you to some of the regulars who are shinobi and apparently you're not even supposed to know how to perform Kage Bunshin at your age. One of them refused to believe me when I said that you already could do two nature transformations. I didn't even know that was such a big deal!" The regulars Asami was talking about were the clients who bought fish at their market. The Namikaze were not a shinobi clan - they were a family of fishmongers. As far as Asami knew, they had never produced a shinobi throughout the generations. Due to unfortunate circumstances, she and Minato were the last surviving Namikaze.

"That's it!" The furious blonde went on with her tirade, her fist balling up. "Give me the names of the boys who did this to you. I'll settle this myself!'

Minato went from staring at the ground to panicking, his hands moving erratically as a sign of protest against his aunt's decision. "Please calm down, auntie Asami! There's no need to go that far. I am not bothered by them."

"It's not just about that, Minato." Asami sighed, a telltale sign she was starting to cool down again. As she sluggishly sat on the dining table seat, Minato couldn't help but wonder how cold their dinner must have gotten by now. "Your scores in written exams are at 100 percent. You could have graduated the Academy by now. It feels to me like you're willingly wasting your potential by trying to suppress your talent. How are you gonna be a shinobi respected by the village if you don't make use of your skills? What are you afraid of?" Asami queried, her tone a more motherly one this time. Minato lowered his head in response. At the time, he didn't have the necessary self-esteem to answer his aunt's question.

"Ah well, there's no need to continue this any further. I'm sorry for yelling at you, Minato-kun." Asami broke the silence, a bit concerned that she may have put too much pressure on her beloved nephew. "Sit down and let's dig in." The blue-eyed boy sat on the seat almost reluctantly. It was no doubt that her aunt's scolding had weighed on him a lot, but he wouldn't come to understand the gravity of her words until later.

The days passed rather uneventfully. Those days turned to weeks and those weeks soon turned to uneventful months. The only difference being that Konohagakure went through a scenery change. The verdant green leaves which concealed the village took an auburn color, signifying the end of their natural lifespan. It was only logical that The Village Hidden in the Leaves seemed most vulnerable during Fall.

Minato was still regularly attending the Academy. He'd woken up at his usual time in his room, which was very tidy and organized to be inhabited by a nine year old boy, and had made the bed as he always did. From his own space, he could hear a muffled sizzling sound coming from the kitchen. That meant Asami was making breakfast. Both her and Minato had matching schedules - Asami had to wake up early to open up shop, while Minato had to be on time for class.

"Good morning, aunt Asami."

"Oh, good morning Minato-kun. You slept well?" Asami greeted back.

"Yeah.", her query met by Minato's rather dull response. She wouldn't hold it against him though - it was seven in the morning. She didn't feel that giddy either.

"Well, let's dig in. We don't want to be late now do we?", Asami spoke cheerfully prompting Minato to respond with a smile - "Yeah!"

Having finished breakfast, they both left the apartment complex together. Asami's shop and the Academy were in the same direction. As they walked, Minato took note of the surrounding scenery. The Five Great Nations were embroiled on a major war that spared no one. With everyone, from exceptional Genin to Jonin-level ninja drafted in that war, the village was left looking barren, a situation that perfectly matched the dreary atmosphere of the season. He could tell that was bothering Asami too. Asides from having to worry about her nephew, her shop and her only way of financial support, was struggling. At the rate things were going, she felt that financial ruin was inevitable.

"Well, this is my stop." Asami spoke, causing Minato's train of thought to screech to a halt. Behind her was a small building with the kanji for "Namikaze" imprinted in the front.

As she stood facing her blue-eyed nephew, she brushed the yellow hair covering his forehead, leaning in and planting a kiss on it. Minato found that embarrasing everytime, but he knew if he'd make a fuss about it, she would only do it more often to spite him.

"Be careful out there. And do your best!" Asami advised. Minato smiled warmly in response.

"Yeah!" He left his parting words as he bolted at an impressive speed towards the Academy.

"Long time no see!" Minato's fast pace was disturbed by a voice too familliar for his liking. "Oi, Meburi, look who it is. It's our friend, the fish boy!" As he turned his head, Minato saw two boys who dwarfed him in stature. The first one who'd initiated the verbal bullying session was Renma Namanaka, a 14 year old boy with spiky, brown hair and an unsettling combination of sanpaku eyes and a smug, cheshire grin that seemed to be constantly plastered on his face. The other person was Meburi Fujiwase, Renma's teammate and partner-in-crime, a boy of similar stature to the latter, characterized by round, brown eyes and long, straight silver hair extending up to his forehead. They were both wearing combat gear and Konohagakure headbands.

The two boys used to bully Minato relentlessly, especially Renma. However, fortunately for the blond, their duties as genin began to get in their way. The primary point of focus for their bullying was Minato's status as the son of a fishmonger. Both Renma and Meburi were sons of Konoha shinobi themselves, so they reasoned that Minato, as the member of a non-shinobi family, had no place trying to insert himself into the shinobi world.

"Oh, don't run away. We just want to catch up, that's all." Meburi uttered smugly, taking a few steps in Minato's direction as he did so. Minato had no intention of running, however. He knew that if he did, they'd chase him around and make an unnecessary mess.

"What do you guys want?!" a dash of spite was detected in Minato's tone. As remarkably forbearing as he was, Minato did often wonder how well he would fare against them if he decided to roll his sleeves.

"Like I said, we just want to catch up. Right, Renma?" Meburi was now towering above Minato. As he finished his sentence, the young blond felt Meburi's hand slinking around his shoulders. "Yeah, we're friends right?" Renma went on, maintaing that same sarcastic tone as he approached Minato.

The blue-eyed Namikaze understood very well that he was gonna get beaten. And he was fine with it. So long as he could make class in time, he could take it. Fortunately for him, however, he was saved by a distant, adult voice.

"Oi, you two. What are you doing there?" It was Renma's and Meburi's jonin sensei standing along with their third teammate, a girl whom Minato hadn't clashed with. "We're gonna get late for our mission. Come on!"

"Damn!" Meburi groaned, as he removed his arm from Minato's shoulder. "This is your lucky day, fish boy. We'll see you around." Renma followed after. Minato watched them go, having maintained his composure yet again.

By the end of the day, Renma's parting words would pan out to be incorrect - it wasn't Minato's lucky day. It was one of the worst days of his life.

Minato's Academy life was as normal as it could get. He had a circle of good friends and, word was he also had some fangirls too. That was no surprise. Minato was a good looking boy and would grow up to be one of the most handsome shinobi of his time. However, Minato never indulged them. The only girl he had eyes for was Kushina Uzumaki, dubbed the "Red Hot Habanero" due to her combination of red hair and a choleric temperament that got her in trouble quite frequently. Sadly, most of Minato's attempts to become friends with her failed, which hurt the boy's self-esteem and led him to keep a distance from her.

As he sat at his desk waiting for the class' teacher to arrive, Minato watched as his crush talked to her friend, Mikoto. Having alienated most of the class due to her erratic attitude and her status as a foreigner, Kushina, in stark contrast to Minato, didn't have many friends and would rarely talk to anyone. Mikoto, however, was a different story. She was a raven-haired girl from the Uchiha clan and a very kind spirit. She was also an adept shinobi, consistently holding the top scores in shurikenjutsu, with Minato as the runner-up. In fact, the blond Namikaze had improved his shurikenjutsu from watching her do it in practice.

After a while, Mikoto finished her conversation with Kushina and went to her seat, prompting the young red-haired kunoichi to turn her head, meeting Minato's enamored gaze. The boy immediately steered his eyes elsewhere, his cheeks getting crimson red from the embarrasment. At that moment, the class' door slid open. Their Academy teacher entered, ready to begin with the class.

"See you tomorrow, Minato!"

"Take care, Kaiba!"

Minato greeted back one of his Academy friends, Kaiba Shiranui, who was waving at him as he got picked up by his father. Minato usually went home by himself as Asami didn't close the shop until late. A small distance away, he saw Kushina looking at the other children who were being picked up by their parents. She had what he could only describe as a thousand yard stare, a facial expression not fitting for an 8 year old girl. Since Minato was not a foreigner himself, he couldn't imagine how lonely and ostracized she must have been feeling. He pondered approaching her for a while, but then opted against it, deciding that she would repel his efforts once again if he tried.

The coal-black clouds had gathered in the grey sky like a bad omen, warning of a heavy rain. Looking up, Minato took that as a cue to pick up his pace. As he leapt in a nearby tree, an explosion rattled the murder of crows in the vicinity, 'causing them to smear the sky in an even more ominous darkness, their croaks making the scenery even more hopeless than it already was. "That's Asami's shop.." the Namikaze thought to himself, anxiety taking over his brain.

In those moments, Minato's head went through twenty different scenarios, all worse than the previous one, as he ran as fast as he could towards Asami's location. His heart began beating like crazy, his chest tightened and although he was in peak physical condition, the air in his lungs began to get more scarce.

After making it to a distance where Asami's shop was visible, one of his worst fears was proven. The shop was up in flames. The store front was incinerated, with only the kanji for "kaze" remaining readable. The boy could also make a large concentration of people in the area, some of them he could tell were Uchiha from the Konoha Police. They were gesturing away from the burning store in an attempt to keep the civilians safe.

"Damn, if only we'd been here a bit sooner." Minato heard one of them say as he sped up past him and towards the burning building, the tears which had welled into his eyes dispersing into the air. In an instant, he felt a strong grip on his right shoulder, pulling him back from going into the burning wreckage.

"Oi, kid, you can't be here!" The shinobi spoke. He held back as he saw Minato's pained expression. "M-My...aunt..." is all the boy could muster as the Konoha Police shinobi forcefully carried him to safety. He too empathized with Minato at that moment, as his tone became softer.

"I'm sorry kid. There's nothing we could do."

The second he heard those words, Minato's eyes welled up even more. He wanted to wail, but his chest was tightening to the point that he physically couldn't.

"Hey, you okay, kid.."

"We gotta take him to a doctor."

Those echoey voices is what the blue-eyed blonde heard as he began to lose consciousness.

What began as a normal day was what would mark Minato's rude awakening - the turning point which would make him into Konohagakure's legendary shinobi, The Yellow Flash.

Author's note: I mulled over writing something like this after reading Itachi Shinden. So yeah, this is gonna adhere as much to the Naruto canon as possible, but I'm gonna also make references to the novels as they go into much more detail when it comes to certain side characters. Obviously, some of the characters are gonna have to be OC, since we don't know much about Minato's childhood. The first few chapters will detail Minato's graduation to Genin and then after that come the Chuunin Exams, which I'm really excited about since I have some crazy stuff planned.

Hope anyone who reads this enjoys it too.