"Minato before we set off, we have to stop for supplies, ok?" Kaiyto said. "Yeah yeah yeah make it quick though old man." Minato replied. As they were walking to the village Kaiyto decided to start a conversation. "Minato, your birthdays coming up so I thought I would get you something special, I might as well give it to you now because we are going on a big mission and you will probably get to use it so here ya go.". Kaiyto held up a long wrapped object in his hands and gave it to Minato. Minato began to unwrap it and was amazed at what he saw. "WOW this is cool and all but I've never used a sword before." Minato said. "Well I will teach how to use it , but it require a lot of training and hard work, if you're willing to let me teach you of course." Kaiyto explained to Minato. "HECK YEAH, it would be awesome if you could teach me sensei!". Minato said with a gleam. Minato then sheathed the sword and put it in his belt. Minato was pumped now, he was ready to take on any danger. " I bet Haka would think I'm pretty cool with this sword." Minato thought to himself. Minato and Kaiyto finally arrived at the Leaf Village, as they entered through the gate they were stopped by a couple of Minato's friends. "MINATOOOOOO!" Haka yelled, running up to him with Inoka (Ino and Choji's daughter). "Where have you been for five days?!" "Oh heyyyyy Haka." Minato said slyly. "I've just been doing some training ya know getting stronger, check out my new sword!" Minato unsheathed his sword and showed it to the girls. The girls were unimpressed. "LLLLAAAMMMMMMMEEEE." Haka said. "Momochi's sword is ten times better than that!" Inoka said. "Yeah, his sword is black! And its super sharp!" Haka replied. "I DON'T CARE ABOUT MOMOCHI'S SWORD!" Minato yelled. He realized that he yelled a little bit too loud, and everyone around him was starring at him, his face became bright red and he tried to save himself by changing the subject. "Soooo what did you want Haka?" Minato said. "OHHH yeah, Kakashi Sensei wanted me to come get you and bring you to his office, he needs you to do something." Haka answered. "Oh ok well...errr...Kaiyto, you go do your shopping while I go see Kakashi, I wont be too long." Kaiyto pulled Minato close to him and whispered in his ear. "Don't say anything to Kakashi about us leaving the village, you're only a Genin and I don't think he would let you go on a mission like this at your age, got it?" Minato nodded and walked away with Haka and Inoka. "Sooo hows your medical training Haka?" Minato asked, trying to be cool. "Its fine...Lady Shizune says I'm one of the best medical ninja she's seen in a long time!" Haka said trying to one up Inoka. "HEY, she did not say that Haka, you lair!" Inoka said frustrated. "YES SHE DID TOO INOKA, you're just jealous because you're not as good of a medical ninja as me!" Haka retorted. "UGHH HAKA YOU ARE SUCH A..." Before Inoka could say anything further Minato cut her off, annoyed with the fighting. "SHUT UP you two, you're giving me a headache..." Minato said aggravated. "DON'T INTERRUPT MINATO NOBODY ASKED FOR YOUR OPINION!" The two girls yelled. "You guys are impossible...but forget it, we're already at the Hokage office." Minato managed to say before getting hit by Haka for interrrupting. They walked up the stairs and opened the door to the Hokage office, Minato began feeling depressed because the office brought back memories of memories he had with his father as a child. Like the time Minato almost jumped out the window, or when he almost ate a kunai knife, and his dad stopped him, but that made him determined to find his father, no matter what. "Hey Minato, girls, I have a little...uh...errand I need you to do, it's..."YOU CALLED US HERE JUST FOR AN ERRAND!" Minato said annoyed. "Why are you so upset Minato? Did you have a hot date or something?" Kakashi said sarcastically. "HA! Like Minato would get a date..." Inoka said. "SHUT UP INOKA, I COULD GET A DATE WHENEVER I WANT..." Minato said even more annoyed. "Then why don't you Minato? Oh wait thats right you always get turned down!" Inoka said trying to prove Minato wrong. "ALRIGHT YOU TWO." Kakashi managed to say. "As I was saying, I need you to run an errand and get a special medicinal herb found at the Valley of the End, its the rare Gobo root, the medical core think it holds special properties that prevent you from being burnt when you come into contact with fire. This is a D ranked mission. Now go!" Kakashi then went back to his new Make-Out Tactics book. Minato, Haka and Inoka then left the Hokage office and headed towards the Valley of the End. "Ok so this is lame...an errand...like this is an actual mission." Haka said twirling her hair. "Yeah I know right? Me and Kaiyto would be almost there by now..." Minato mumbled. "Where are you going with Kaiyto?" Haka asked eagerly. "Oh...uh...ummm...I can't say..." Minato said frantically. "COME ONE MINATO, WE'VE BEEN FRIENDS SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE ACADEMY YOU CAN TELL ME" Haka yelled demandingly. "Ok ok ok, but promise not to tell ANYONE. Not even Momochi or Inoka". (At the time Inoka was going ahead so she could be the first to the Valley) "Ok I promise, now tell me!" Minato told her to come close, and he whispered in her ear about what Kaiyto and Minato were doing after the "mission was done. "Minato thats too dangerous, I don't want you to get hurt!" Haka said concerned grabbing onto Minato's arm. "I'll be fine, Kaiyto is an amazing ninja, and I'm not some little Academy student anymore, I'm a ninja, I can do this, and if anyone is going to find MY dad, its gonna be ME" Minato said stubbornly. Haka admired his bravery but she was still concerned for him, she didn't want anything to happen to him. Because secretly, she had feelings for Minato, but she certainly didn't want to admit it to anyone, especially Inoka, because she would never hear the end of it. "Ok Minato, you go but, promise me, that you'll come back safe" Haka said with a smile. "I promise i will Haka," Minato said looking off into the distance. "Now lets catch up with Inoka before she gets herself lost." "Ok lets go!" Minato and Haka both started to go full speed to catch up with Inoka, and in a few minutes they caught up with her, and she was already at the Valley of the End. They were both out of breath and decided to take a break before looking for the herb. "Where have you two been!" Inoka shouted. "Were you two making out or something?" Inoka said to get on Haka's nerves. "NO OF COURSE NOT!" Haka said blushing. "YOU JUST WANTED TO BE FIRST SO YOU RAN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!" "Whatever, lets just start looking for the Gobo." Inoka said walking towards the river. "Kakashi could've at least told us where to look for it, jeez it'll take us weeks to find it at this rate..." Minato said pessimistically. "Hey I think I found it!" Haka shouted from the bottom of the waterfall. "Ok be right there!" Minato shouted back. Right as he and Inoka were going to go down the waterfall they heard a loud scream. Haka was in danger! "HAKA ARE YOU OK?!" Minato shouted down and saw three ninja standing over still body. "I think Haka is in trouble!" Inoka said frantically. "Lets go!" Minato jumped off the top of the waterfall and dove into the river below and swam was fast as he could to Haka, Inoka followed behind him. "Hahaha, what a pathetic little girl, now we have the Gobo herb for the Chikage!" (NOTE TO READERS: Chikage is the Japanese word for Blood Shadow) The ninja holding the Gobo said menacingly. "Yeah the he will be proud to know that WE got the herb before anyone else!" The ninja standing next to the first said. "Hey look you guys, two more brats are coming, lets have some fun with them!" The last one said. "HAKA! You guys are gonna pay for hurting Haka!" Minato shouted. "HA! Like you could even touch us, we are the great Bokodo brothers! No one has defeated us before!" The first one said. They all started walking slowly towards Minato cracking their knuckles and reaching for Kunai out of their pockets. "Inoka! Go tend to Haka! I'll take care of these guys!" Minato said determined to win the fight yet to come. "Got it! Good luck Minato" Inoka leaped over the three enemies. The enemies had headbands with the symbol of death on it and were pretty tough looking guys. The first enemy used an Earth Style jutsu, called the Groundhog Technique Decapitation. Minato dodged that move and countered by throwing kunai at them. But the first one used an Earth Wall and blocked them. "Haha throwing basic kunai at us? How pathetic! Something like that wont hurt us!" The second one said. "Fire style Fireball Jutsu!" A huge ball of fire came flying towards Minato but he dove into the water to dodge the attack, but something he didn't expect happened. "Haha, trying to escape into the water! Good tactic, but not good enough! Water Style, Water Vortex Jutsu!" The third one said. A giant vortex occurred in the water, sucking Minato into it. Then Minato disappeared! "EY! What happend? Why did he just poof like that?" The third one proclaimed. BAM! The third ememy was out cold on the ground. "That brat! I'll get you!" Before Minato could do anything else he was grabbed by the second enemy. "HA! There's no escape! Fire Style! Fireball Jutsu!" A big fireball, hit Minato and he yelled in pain, but then poof, he was gone. "RASENGAN!" BOOM! The second one flung across the river into a tree knocked out cold by the impact. "What the?! What kind of jutsu was that?!" The first one yelled. "MULTI SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" Then at least fifty Minatos appeared around the first goon. "What IS this!?" The first guys said panicking. "I am Minato Uzumaki, The son of Naruto Uzumaki! Now give us that Gobo root!" Minato said feeling brave. "Like I'd give it to you! You little rat!" The guy said. "Ok then, you asked for it...RASENGAN BARRAGE!" Right then all fifty of the Minatos made Rasengans in their hands and leaped on the enemy ninja, and then he was finished. After he released all the Shadow Clones, he grabbed the herb and darted towards Haka and Inoka. Haka was still out cold. "Inoka, is she alright?" Minato asked huffing and puffing, sweat beading down his head. "I don't know, I've never seen anything like this before, shes breathing and her hearts beating, but shes cold..." Inoka said using her healing jutsu on Haka. "We have to get her back to the village, I'll carry her, you take the Gobo and get to the village as fast as you can. It seems like other villages want this too." Minato grabbed Haka and lifted her up, holding her cold body in his arms. Inoka sprinted off as fast as she can, and Minato started leaping through the trees. "Gosh, I hope Haka is alright, and I hope that Inoka gets back to the village safe." Minato thought to himself. It was getting late, and Minato was debating whether or not he should camp for the night or try to get back to the village. He began to feel weak and tired, so he decided to jump to the ground and start a fire. He gathered some sticks and used a couple matches from his backpack to light it, then grabbed a blanket and a couple of extra clothes and wrapped it around Haka and put the clothes under her head for a pillow. She looked so lifeless in her state, Minato became paranoid and kept checking her pulse and breathing every few minutes. Minato couldn't sleep, he was so worried about her. He couldn't do it anymore, he put out the fire, grabbed his extra clothes from Haka and picked her up and leaped into the trees. It was a good thing too that he left, because something was following him, and it was gaining. The sun began to rise and the the fresh smell of dew filled the air, and the sound of birds chirping surrounded Minato. He saw a sign down on the road so he jumped down to it. The sign read LEAF VILLAGE AHEAD. Minato had a sigh of relief, he was almost home. When he thought he was safe he heard something rustling in the bushes. He froze in his steps, he turned around towards the noise, and then 4 kunai came flying at him he jumped out of the way and lay Haka on the ground and prepared for a fight, he reached for kunai in his tool pouch but then he realized he didn't need them, because it was only little Shiba Aburame. "Hey Shibi its only me!". Minato yelled. "Oh sorry brother! I thought you were an enemy!" Shibi said climbing out of the bushes. "Its alright but be careful next time! You wouldn't want to hurt one of your friends!" Minato said picking up Haka. "Whats that brother?" Shibi said pointing at Haka. "Its Haka, shes been hurt, I have to get her back to the village, and I think that you need to go home, your mom and dad will be worried that your out this early in the morning!" Minato said walking towards the village. "ITS OK I'LL GO HOME IN A LITTLE BIT!" Shibi said climbing back into his bush waiting for more enemies. Minato arrived at the gate, Inoka was waiting for him. "MINNATOOO!" Inoka shouted. "Did you bring the Gobo herb to Kakashi!?" Minato questioned. "Yeah yeah yeah, I brought it to him, but you have to bring Haka to the Hospital right away!" Minato ran as fast as he could with Haka in his arms and in a matter of minutes he was at the hospital, he brought her to Shizune, the leader of the Medical Core and told her Haka's symptoms. He felt bad because he couldn't stay until she woke up. He was already late to leave with Kaiyto. He didn't want to hold up the mission any longer. Minato decided to leave a card for Haka and some flowers and left as fast as he came. Minato's mission was finally about to begin. A few days later Haka woke up, and Inoka was sitting at her bedside. "Wha...What happened to me...and..and wheres Minato?!" Haka asked Inoka frantically. "There were these three ninja, and and they had these weird head bands! With the symbol for death on it! And Minato, he was AWESOME! This time he wasn't a dead-weight! He saved us, and got the herb from them! And he carried you all the way to the village!" Inoka was out off breath after saying that but she was amazed at Minato's bravery. "Wow." Haka was speechless, she couldn't believe Minato would do all that for her. And she couldn't believe that he carried her all the way from the Valley of the End to the village! "You need rest Haka, I'll leave you alone to sleep, I'll be back to give you your dinner though." Inoka got up from the bedside and walked towards the door, she opened it and looked back at Haka and smiled, then she left the room. Haka reached for the glass of water that was sitting on her bed stand and noticed a card with some flowers on it. They were her favorite flowers too, the White Lotus. She picked up the Lotuses and smelled them, they were so lovely and sweet smelling. She put them down and picked up the card and opened it. She knew right away who wrote the card. Minato of course, with his sloppy handwriting, it made her chuckle. She began to read the card. "Dear Haka, I'm sorry I couldn't be there until you woke up. I didn't want to keep Kaiyto Sensei waiting too long. I hope you understand. Love Minato. PS: I hope you like the flowers." Haka was happy that Minato took the time to write this card, and that he got her flowers. Haka began to feel really tired so she put down the card and lay her head down on her pillow and began to worry about Minato and his journey. The door opened, and she looked up expecting to see Haka, but it wasn't, it was a man wearing a cloak. She looked at his headband and it had the symbol of death on it. And before she could scream the man performed handsigns, and she was knocked out cold.