Author's Note: My first fic outside Digimon. We'll see how it turns out to be.
Just so everyone is aware of when this is taking place:
For everyone who's seen Naruto's Shippuden episode 119 you must know that at this point Minato, Rin, Kakashi and Obito where on a mission to take down Kannabi's Bridge which was located somewhere in Kusagakure (the village hidden in the grass). So the story start after Minato has killed a weird looking Stone Village ninja.
For those who've never seen this episode you can either watch it here: .com/watch/617-Naruto_Shippuuden_Episode_119/ or keep reading. The main plot of the episode takes place during the Third Great Shinobi World War that was between of Konohagakure (the village hidden in the leaves) and Iwagakure (the village hidden in the rocks)that it's been suggested to have started because of the missing of The Third Kazekage which is that Hokage of Sunagakure (the village hidden in the sand). Konoha and Iwagakure eventually began fighting across Kusagakure (the village hidden in the grass). At this point Minato, Rin, Kakashi and Obito are on a sabotage mission to take down Kannabi's Bridge, which is located somewhere in Kusagakure. Minato told his team that he'll make diversion for them. This story starts when traveling through a forest of weird fungus like trees the group encounter an Iwagakure. Kakashi tried to take him down by using a new jutsu but was eventually defeated Minato, who rescued Kakashi and then killed the Iwakagure ninja.
A few things to take notice:
Kakashi's dad is not dead as of yet.
Obito does not die.
Kushina is one of the leaders of the ANBU.
Also;
I'm sorry about the No Title thing for now, but I've been cracking my brain over how to name this story, but nothing comes to mind. I'll be getting an idea as the story progress, like I did with The Ground Below Her, so just bare with me. Any kind of suggestion is welcomed!
Let Go of Yesterday
1. Prologue
There was a loud metal hitting wood sound that made some birds fly away from their nest.
Rin looked up from Kakashi's shoulder momentary but turned her attention back to her job. She was trying her best to keep her touch gentle but the looks on Kakashi's face made it clear that the wound was deep.
"Kakashi's wound is serious…" Minato Namikaze said landing on his feet expertly looking at his team in concern. "Well retreat and regroup."
"I'm all right!" Kakashi said stubbornly looking over his shoulder at his Sensei.
"No you are not!" Obito Uchiha said looking down at this team mate. "All because you ignored Sensei's warnings and charged ahead!"
"I don't need to listen to that." Kakashi said looking at Obito boredly. "Not from the 'Uchiha Elite' who was whining in fear back there!"
Obito was a little surprised at this. He wondered how Kakashi had managed to see his tears while he was fighting. He tensed up and thought of a quickl reply. "I-I got something in my eye and started tearing up, that's all!"
"Do you know the 25th rule of Shinobi Conduct? The rule says a ninja must not show tears!"
Obito tensed up again and was about to shot a reply when Rin cut him off. "Hey… Stop it, you two…"
"That's enough, both of you!" Their Sensei's deep voice stopped them from biting their heads off. The three of them looked up at Minato's frowned brow. Now that he was sure he had their attention he continued. "Kakashi, rules and regulations are indeed important. But that isn't everything. Didn't I teach you…? There are times when the situation requires impromptu responses against the enemy."
Kakashi looked down ashamed.
"There, you see?" Obito pointed at him, glad that their Sensei supported his argument.
"Obito, you too!" Minato looked at him sternly. Obito turned around. "There's no way dust can get into your eyes when you have goggles on. If you are going to advocate self-control don't just mouth the words. Act strong too." Obito looked down ashamed. "And another thing…Kakashi you shouldn't use that jutsu anymore. From what I could see, your focal point concentrated attack undoubtedly has power and speed, but it makes you move too fast to ascertain the opponent's counterattack. It's still an imperfect jutsu."
Kakashi's eyes shot opened at this.
"Before we part I'll tell you one more thing." Minato frowned, clearly not proud of his team. "For a ninja, the most important thing is team work."
Obito's, Rin's and Kakashi's eyes shot opened at this and looked down at the ground, ashamed of their actions in their own way.
Minato looked down at this team. Maybe he had been a little too hard on them. He hadn't meant it to sound so stern, but this was a war and they couldn't afford any more mistakes. He smiled at them reassuringly and bent down to pick his bag. "We should get going before that Iwagakure ninja's team shows up."
Kakashi pulled himself up but stopped midways looking at his right and tensing up.
"What is it?" Obito asked not sure of his team mate reaction.
"Someone's approaching at high speed toward us." Kakashi replied in his emotionless voice.
Minato smiled at his student but he, quickly, tensed up too. "Quick dodged down before they see us. We can't afford another fight with Kakashi's arm in these conditions."
There was a big explosion making some of trees bark fly toward their direction. "Dodge!" Minato yelled jumping down on his students, covering them with his body.
"Where are you?" they heard a sin song voice call.
"Is it them?" Obito whispered Minato, voicing his Sensei's thoughts.
"I don't think so, but just stay calmed. I'll-" there was another big explosion making Minato bend down his head even more.
Rin looked at her Sensei in worry. What if it was the Iwagakure army? Minato seemed to read her thoughts and smiled at her. "Don't worry Rin. I don't think the whole Iwagakure army would come after just us." Unluckily for Rin, that didn't comforted her much.
A few minutes passed since the last explosion and everything seemed to be calmed. Minato looked at his team and nodded, letting them know that he would go and investigate. He rose from his sitting position behind a big trees' branch and looked around cautiously. He couldn't afford to be spotted right now.
"Tch…!"
"You are in no condition to fight us. You should just give up already!"
"Ha…and give lose to pleasure to see your face when I do this!"
"You bitch! How did you do that with your wounds?"
"Good night."
Minato looked around to see the owners of the voices. All he could see from the distance he was standing on, was a girl with a white coat and waist length red hair holding a few shuriken in her hands. He couldn't see anything from his current spot, so he cautiously moved from behind the trees branch closer to the girl. He looked forward and saw a few Iwagakure ninja laying on the ground before her, with their backs completely soaked from blood.
Minato looked down at his team and motion for them to stay put. He climbed up the tree branch trying his best to not make a sound but a few shuriken were thrown his way. He dodged them easily, pointing out that girl's wounds were preventing her from using her full strength, but he still had to be careful. He ran forward as fast as he could, making the girl throw more shuriken his way, being able to leave a cut in his left cheek but appeared behind the girl's back in a instant. She was about to turn around and stab him with her kunai but he was faster, burying his on her neck.
"Stay still." He ordered in a whisper.
The girl grinned at this. "What are you waiting for? An invitation?" she replied sarcastically.
Minato frowned and was about to stab her in the throat when he noticed her half scattered porcelain mask. He could see the upper left part of her face. He pulled his Kunai from her throat, allowing her to turn around to stab him instead but, he grabbed her arm before she could even lay hands on him. He thank his luck that she was so badly injured otherwise he would have a hard time dealing with her.
The girl moaned in pain loudly and clenched her stomach falling to her knees making the mask fall off. She spit some blood. Gravity took the best of her and nex thing Minato knew, she was on the ground unconcious.
Minato knew she had fainted. He quickly bent down to look at her wounds. They were worse than he thought. "Rin!" he called for his student. "Quickly I need you here!"
Rin stood up from her position behind the tree branch and looked to where her Sensei was kneeling holding a girl in his arms. She hurried her way over.
Kakashi stood up and jumped toward where Rin was heading too, looking down at the girl.
"Sensei, who is she?" Obito asked arriving at the scene last. He winced seeing the girl's wounds.
Rin took out her medical kit and checked her pulse making sure that it was still stable.
"She's from the ANBU (1)." Kakashi said taking the mask in his hands. "You should know that by know Obito."
Obito drew back slightly. "How am I supposed to know that? She isn't even wearing a hitai-ate (2)!"
"Exactly." Kakashi said looking at him boredly. "They are an elite group inside the village. They wear porcelain masks instead, and judging by her coat's color she must be a squad leader."
Minato looked over at his student rather impressed. He couldn't expect less from Sakumo Hatake's son. Obito was about to shot a reply but was cut off by Minato.
"We should move. Judging by her wounds I must say that she must have had a difficult fight with the enemy. We are in no condition to fight them and we can't afford getting ambushed. We must move to a safer place. Rin how are her wounds?"
"The ones in her stomach are the deepest ones but I manage to stop the bleeding. Other than that, just a few broken ribs and a few scratches in her arms and legs. Her pulse is stable."
Minato nodded looking over at his options. "We'll move forward toward the edge of the forest near an open field. Rin I must request you to try and treat her wounds as much as you can. I'll stay with you guys until tomorrow evening. Once she wakes up, you are required to move and complete your mission. Any questions?"
Obito raised his hand. "Yes, Obito?"
"Do we just leave her there?" he asked.
Minato sighed. "We have no other option Konohagakure's military forces are weak right now. We are counting on you to destroy the bridge at all cost. I'll join you guys as soon as I can."
"But-"
"Don't worry Obito. I'm sure that by tomorrow someone from the ANBU will come looking for her." Minato cut him off taking the girl in his arms and standing up. "Let's go we don't have much time left."
Rin, Kakashi and Obito nodded following their Sensei.
Minato was sitting on a rock looking over at the full moon above him. It was quite a peaceful night and he was thankful that they had managed to rush over without encountering the enemy. He looked over his shoulder toward his team who were sleeping at the foot of the rock. They had collapsed after dinner. It was clear that they were still too young for such responsibility, even Kakashi who was now a Jounin, but they were under direct orders from Third and Konoha needed them. He just hoped that tomorrow everything would go smoothly. He heard soft moaning and turned his head the other way were the girl was sleeping on his sleeping bag. He couldn't see her face since she was turned to her side, her back facing him.
Minato got up slowly and approached her carefully, knowing well that she would shot him if he wasn't careful around her. When he got to her side he was received by the feeling of a kunai on his neck. He smirked at the thought.
"Don't you have any other way of immobilizing your enemy?" he asked teasingly.
The girl just looked at him with the coldest stare he had ever seen. "Who are you?" she asked sitting up slowly. "Why did you help me?"
"You're welcome. Are you feeling better? How are your wounds feeling?"
"Just answer my question!" the girl threatened burying the kunai deeper on his neck.
Minato lowered his gaze to hers. "I'm Minato Namikaze a Jounin from Konoha."
The girl looked at him for a few minutes but lost her drip on her kunai letting herself fall back down on the sleeping bag. Minato glared at her.
"Why didn't you attack me?"
The girl snorted. "I know what your mission is. There's no point of killing one of my comrades."
Minato looked at her skeptically. "Why would-?"
"The third sent you this." Kushina interrupted him, giving him a sealed parchment with the Third Hokage's insignia.
Minato took it, reading its contents and his face dropping a little. 'What?' "Are you sure about this?" he looked up at the girl.
She just shrugged her shoulders. "I'm just a messenger." She said.
Minato fell back slightly, sitting on the grass. He sighed. Suddenly the parchment began burning up. He looked back at the girl.
"Hey I never caught you name." he said suddenly.
The girl looked at him skeptically. "Humph, like I would tell you, of all people, my name."
Minato glared at the girl. "You owe me. If it wasn't for us you would be dead by now." He didn't mean to sound so arrogant, but this girl was getting on his nerves.
The girl just glared at him. "Kushina." She said simply.
Minato glanced at her. "What?" he asked.
Glare. "My name is Kushina. Kushina Uzumaki."
Minato looked at her strangely. "What?" Kushina asked, glaring at him once again.
"No-Nothing. It's just that I always thought you'd be-"
"Older?" Kushina asked looking at him.
Minato only nodded wondering if his thoughts were that obvious. "Don't worry I get that a lot."
Minato smiled and sat beside her. "How old are you?" he found himself asking, regretting the rudeness of his question, knowing perfectly well that women didn't like to be asked about their age.
Kushina glanced at him, smiling softly and turned her gaze up toward the moon again. "I'll turn 18 in July."
Minato gaped at her. "What? Seriously?"
Kushina punched his arm playfully. "What's with that face? You are no older than I am Mr. Konoha's Yellow Flash."
Minato blushed slightly and looked down. Shaking his head a bit he looked back at her. "How are you wounds?" he asked her.
Kushina blinked a few times, trying her best to understand what exactly had he just asked her. "Oh! That…" she touched her stomach gently. "I think they are just fine. It doesn't hurt that bad."
Minato nodded reaching out to her, but his hand was slapped away. "What are you doing?" Kushina asked, looking at him.
Minato blinked. "Checking to see if you need new bandages." Kushina made a face. "What?" he asked her, when he saw her face cringed.
Kushina just glared at him and stood up, from her place on the floor. "What were you doing on such dangerous place?" she asked him instead.
Minato leaned back on his palms looking at the moon. "We were supposed to head toward Kannabi Bridge and destroy it; but we were ambushed by an Iwagakure shinobi and then you appeared." He looked back at her.
Kushina nodded turning her back at him and looking at the moon.
Minato was about to ask her what was she doing in such a place, since I didn't seem like she was just delivering a message from the Hokage, when he saw her tense up. "What's wrong?" he asked, standing up and walking over to her.
He was about to put a hand on her shoulder and she pushed him away from her and jumped a few steps away, avoinding some kunai that were thrown in her direction. Minato took his own kunai from his pocket and was about to throw it, when Kushina stopped him, catching a red kunai in mid air. He just looked at her in awe. There weren't many people skillful enough to stop such an attack.
"There's no need to be aggressive." She mocked looking over to some trees.
Minato saw how three shadows jumped down and walked over to them. 'ANBU? What are they doing here?' Minato thought as he saw three ninja with their rightful ANBU masks walking over to them.
They bowed respectfully at them, and straighten up.
"We have a message from Lord Hokage." One of them said.
Kushina turned her body, fully facing them now.
"…"
"Yes?" Kushina asked, clearly losing her patients at their silence.
The ANBU looked at each other. "We would like to discuss it in private actually." One of them said, looking over his shoulder toward the sleeping Obito, Rin and Kakashi.
Minato glanced at them hurriedly, and nodded walking away a few steps.
What appeared to be leader nodded the other two and motion for Kushina and Minato to follow him. They walked a few steps away and turned toward each other.
"Well first I have some bad news." He said looking over at Kushina. "I'm afraid to inform you that Kensua perished in the hands of the enemy."
Kushina's fists clenched tightly, trying to make her body stop from shaking. "I see." She said in a calm voice.
"This is the only thing that we were able to rescue from the body." The ANBU ninja said handling her a small medal.
"Thank you." She said. "I'll make sure his family gets it."
Minato looked at her sympathically. "What's the news from Lord Hokage?" he asked trying to change the subject.
"Yes," the ANBU ninja said. "Team Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki Senpai must return back to the village as soon as possible."
"What? Why?" they both asked at the same time.
The ANBU ninja shrugged his shoulders and handle Minato a sealed parchment. He opened it and read it, his face dropping.
"We'll leave in the morning then." He nodded politely at them.
The ANBU ninja bowed respectfully and disappeared, leaving Minato and Kushina standing there. Minato looked over his shoulder, wondering if any of his team members had woken up, but sighed in relief when he saw them still asleep. He turned around quickly when he heard Kushina fall on her knees.
"I know the 25th rule of Shinobi Conduct." She said whispered.
Minato kneeled down besides her.
"But just this once," she said covering her eyes with her hand. "Let me break such rule."
Author's Note: Ok I know it's weird for me write anything but Taiora, but I started watching Naruto Shippuden and I just totally fell in love with the Minato/Kushina couple! They are just so cute! So while watching Kakashi's tribute episode I had an idea about making my own Minato/Kushina fic.
(1) The ANBU is an organization of assassination squads that serves directly under the village's leader. ANBU are considered the elite, and they perform high-ranked and dangerous missions
(2) Hitai-ate: is the forehead protector they give the ninja that finally graduate from the Ninja Academy. They are usually ark blue and have a metal plate in the middle with their village's official symbol.