A day in the office: ONE SHOT
It was midday in the village of Konoha as both ninja and civilians went about their business. It was during this time that Minato Namikaze, hero of the last great ninja war and leader of the village, sat in one of the many offices located inside the Hokage building. Joining Minato was his wife Kushina Namikaze, Hiruzen Sarutobi – third hokage and former leader of the village-, Fuguku Uchiha, and one of the teachers from the ninja academy named Iruka. These ninja sat at an arc shaped desk, with multiple scrolls and documents laid about the desk each one containing the letter E, D, C, B, A, or S. Each scroll held a mission that had been ranked based on difficulty, and would be distributed to ninja's according to their skill and rank. The distribution of missions was always a simple task, a way for the Hokage to relax and interact with the various shinobi under his command; however, to Minato Namikaze, who had been awake for the last 5 days, it was anything but relaxing.
"Lord Hokage" A voice addressing 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"
As soon as the speaker cut off 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, and too tired to notice that he used the wrong name. Minato had done this many times, and knew how some Jonin could get angry when given a mission they deemed to "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.
"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 the Kazan,
"Listen Kuzan" Minato said, refocusing 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 autoreactive 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 were shinobi who came in by themselves for elite missions, but the vast majority were Genin teams. Several of the teams 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 he felt like he was going to fall back down. Despite this, Minato steadied himself quickly and silently walked to his office as best he could without stirring suspicion from the remaining ninja.
"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 were settled."]
As Minato 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 of the top paper on the stack marked IMPORTANT.
Meanwhile Kushina and the other ninja remained seated at the arc shaped desk, and silently waited until they were convinced that Minato had walked out of hearing range.
As the seconds ticked by Kushina spoke first, catching the attention of the other assembled ninja. "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."
"How long did you say he has gone without sleeping?" Iruka asked while looking at Kushina.
"At least 5 days" Kushina replied. "He shuts himself in his office during the day unless he 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 his 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. He shouldn't be this condition it isn't safe for 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 properly then the village cannot survive, 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. "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, not even caring that she just used 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, but this is not a Coup de tat. There are regulations that must be followed." Hiruzen looked Kushina directly in the eyes. "Until Lord Fourth approaches me and officially requests I take over for the allotted time, there is 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 back kicking and screaming to make him do it." The determination in her voice made the Old Hokage remember the days when he would give a young Kushina her team's mission's in this very room.
"Some things never change." Hiruzen thought with a hint of pride before he answered her in a voice that left no doubt of who he was. "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 moved with purpose across the hallways, towards Minato's office. Neither ANBU nor regular ninja tried to stop her as she made her way to the doors to Minato's office. Without missing a beat, Kushina opened the door and walked in without knocking only to find Minato holding a single piece of paper close to his face, and squinting his eyes as if trying hard to read the paper's contents.
Minato, being too focused on trying to read to notice Kushina walk in, squinted his eyes harder to try and read the foul document in front of him marked IMPORTANT. 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 as if questioning his eyes. "I'm sorry dear, I didn't hear you come in. Is there something wrong?"
"What were you just doing?" Kushina said more as a demand than a question yet kept her voice calm.
"Paperwork" Minato replied lamely as he rose a single eye brow; however, he quickly wished he could take it back as Kushina suddenly looked a lot angrier.
"Oh really" Kushina said, her irritation beginning to leak through her features over her husband's answer. "And how much of your paperwork have you already done?"
"None yet." Minato stated as he moved one of his hands under his chin to try and keep his head propped up as he talked. "I've been trying to read that document since we finished distributing missions. I've tried to read it several times, but all I can make out is the heading. Everything else is just too blurry for me to read right now. I'm thinking about giving it to one of my ANBU to see if they can read it properly. High." 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 first; well unless they were a captain of the ANBU black ops or higher that is.
"Still I haven't see Kakashi all day, and this paperwork needs to get done quickly." 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 safely observe various ninja in their training, shall 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 and glared at Minato who had a confused expression on his face.
"Congratulations Minato" Kushina said sarcastically "You almost asked an elite ANBU for his opinion on letting your son go on a school trip that will take him half a minute away from the village."
"Should we sign it?" Minato asked, slightly embarrassed that the important document he had been trying to figure out for the last 20 minutes was nothing more than a permission slip.
"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 in at least 5 days." 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 shot his wife a determined look that said he didn't have any intention of doing what she wanted without a fight. "Listen dear" Minato began in a voice that didn't betray how tired he felt at the moment. "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 finally took Kushina's hand off his cheek and held it tenderly in his as he starred directly into hers." 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 or let them think it's alright to stop doing their work over something as trivial as a little lost sleep. I'm sorry dear, but I just can't do it."
"This isn't good." Kushina thought, as she felt her resolve crumble away piece by piece. Minato always had that effect on her, all he had to do was look at her like he was doing now and she would slowly get lost in his eyes like a fish in the ocean. Kushina shook her head slightly to clear her head, she had to end this quickly before her resolve crumbled completely.
"Dear everyone knows that you're likely the best Hokage we've had since Lord First. Even Lord Third would be the first to admit that if asked, 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 for a second. "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 Minato talked in such a soft yet caring voice, the more he looked at her like he had the day he saved her the day she was kidnapped, the more she felt herself being washed away in those ocean eyes of his; it almost made her want to give up right 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.
Kushina shook her head again, more violently this time, enough that Minato easily noticed. 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 thought, trying 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." Kushina's eyes widened as she suddenly remembered the first Genin team to walk in this morning. They all looked so young, barely a few years older than Naruto was. She could easily imagine Naruto on that squad, going on the mission Minato assigned to them only a few hours ago. Kushina closed her eyes as hard as she could, shaking her head harder than the last two times combined as she tried to clear the images of what would have happened to that squad if they hadn't stopped them. She had to make Minato understand, she had to make Minato see reason, she couldn't afford to fail.
Minato instantly felt the worry growing inside him as he watched Kushina close her eyes tightly, and a few seconds later began shaking her head so hard Minato feared it would pop off. Moving quickly, Minato sidestepped his desk and moved next to Kushina, who had stopped shaking her head but was now standing deathly still. Minato carefully grabbed Kushina's shoulders, and turned her to face him.
"Kushina, honey." Minato said unsure of what to say. "What's wr-"
"You have to take a break Minato!" Kushina practically screamed with her eyes still closed, and cutting off Minato mid-sentence.
"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, this time opening her eyes as she did so. Kushina's eyes held a fiery determination, not uncommon to the red-headed ninja when she was adamant about something; however, what caught Minato's eye was something shining in the corner of Kushina's eye as she looked at him.
"Tears?" Minato questioned only loud enough for him to hear. Minato stood momentarily shocked at what he seeing. Kushina was a very strong willed, independent person, something Minato had always loved about her. It wasn't uncommon to see Kushina angry, happy, excited, or any other number of things at any given time….except one. Kushina never cried. Minato 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 Minato had seen Kushina cry was the first time she had seen Naruto after giving birth. So to see Kushina this close to tears had the 4th Hokage inwardly berating himself for anything he might have said to hurt the woman he loved so dearly.
"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?" Minato asked genuinely curious. Minato just wanted to hug his wife and make everything better, and forget completely about everything else; however, Minato knew that he'd only make the situation worse if he tried that right now. He had known Kushina long enough to know that when Kushina had something to say, she was going to say it. Whether he liked it or not.
"When the first team came in, Team Kazan. The mission you gave them, do you remember what it was?" Kushina questioned, the fire never 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." Minato didn't know why but Kushina appeared to get 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 small 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 was 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 far too dangerous for their levels, and even gave some ninja C and D ranked missions. 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 can get hurt."
"Minato" Kushina said, but Minato 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, and can 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, visions of the corpses of the teams he sent out plaguing his imagination.
"I sent out 33 teams today, 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 can also send veteran shinobi to the destinations of those missions just in case we miss someone. We can st—" Minato's thoughts were cut off, as he felt something stopping his movements. He looked to see what it was, only to find Kushina had grabbed his arm and keeping him from leaving the room.
"Kushina, I have to go." Minato said quickly. "If what you said was true, several people are about to die because of what I did. 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 decided that we would station ANBU at all the entrances to stop all of the teams going out, and checking their scrolls." Kushina said loosening her grip on Minato's arm. "If the ANBU teams thought the mission was appropriate they let them go, but they took the scrolls of any teams who had mission deemed too difficult or inappropriate for their skill level. Most of the teams, including Kazan's, had their scrolls taken away and told to return early tomorrow for their real missions."
"Are you sure?" Minato asked, still afraid that he may have just gotten several children needlessly killed.
"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 know he's probably gotten all of the scrolls back in their rightful places, and is busy reading that stupid book of his."
As the seconds ticked by, Kushina began to wonder if Minato believed her; however, these thoughts were snuffed out when Minato's shoulder's sagged slightly, giving evidence of the massive weight that had been placed and lifted from his shoulders in the last few minutes. "I can't believe I did something like this." Minato said still horrified of what could have happened had the teams went on the missions assigned to them.
"I told you dear." Kushina said giving Minato a hug as she laid her head against his chest. "You're just tired, you've been working so hard it was only a matter of time before something like this happened."
"It's still something that shouldn't have 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 said re-assuredly. "Why should you be any different?"
"Because I'm the Hokage."
"Yes, but you're also just 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 as he placed his other arm around Kushina, and placed 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.
"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 will us plenty of time to enjoy ourselves while you're off work."
"I'd better go ask him right now. Don't want him remembering how big of a pain this job is, and start having 2nd thoughts." Minato stated as he gave Kushina a heartfelt kiss and walked out the door.
As Minato left, Kushina remained standing in the same place smiling to herself; however, whatever thoughts Kushina was having 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 intercepted all of the teams that had received missions today; however, one scroll was handed out that hasn't been accounted for. It seems that we may have missed a team, what course of action would you like us to take?"
"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. She had forgotten completely about the mission Minato had given him, when he came to give a status report on a captured Cloud ninja.
SCENE CHANGE
"Oh, thank goodness you're here!" A middle aged woman stated to the tall man as she moved around 1000 miles a second. "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. Thank you again for taking this mission. You shouldn't have any problems with them at all, their really nice kids. 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. "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 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 in a large black coat.. "My name is Ibiki Morino, and from this moment on" Ibiki looked both kids in the eyes as if looking into their very subconscious "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!