disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, sadly.
title: Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō
pairing: Minato/Kushina
summary: Before Namikaze Minato became the legendary Yellow Flash and Yondaime Hokage, he still had to win over the most rambunctious kunoichi of Konoha with the pretty red hair, Uzumaki Kushina.
notes: Possible rating change in the future.

{ 木ノ葉の黄色い閃光 | Konoha's Yellow Flash }

Chapter 1 –Prologue ; Unwinding the Red Thread

When Minato first met Uzumaki Kushina, it was in the middle of spring, she had been sent to Konoha all the way from Uzushio, who were in the middle of a war with Kiri.

"Settle down everyone. We have a new transfer student today."

The first thing he noticed about her was her bright-red hair which did a wonderful job in standing out and grabbing his attention, contrasting quite nicely against the dull colors of the classroom.

"I'm Uzumaki Kushina! "I'm going to be the village's first female Hokage 'ttebane!"

Tuning out the loud teases his classmates were making toward the redhead, Minato had his eyes focused on Kushina, not missing the way she clenched her fists.

"I want to become a great Hokage who will be admired by everyone in the village too!"

He didn't know he had made him stand up and declare his similar goal to her; it was purely out of impulse. Whatever it was, it seemed that the new girl, with her blank stare, was disinterested. As he sat down he couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed, especially when he saw the corners of her mouth twitch downward.

-x-

Minato could only frown when he learned that Uzumaki Kushina was going around calling him weak and a flake. Strangely, Minato didn't feel angry or hurt by this, in fact, he found himself smiling.

-x-

"Tomato! From today, your name is going to be Tomato!"

A full month had not even passed and Kushina was already being picked on by Toru and his little entourage.

"You have a fat, round face with red hair, just like a tomato!"
"Haha I hate tomatoes!"
"As if a tomato no one likes can ever become Hokage!"

Huffing, Minato decided he had heard enough, and maybe he could get on Kushina's good side by shutting Toru up as well as embarrassing him if he told the whole class one of his biggest secrets. Set on his plan, he turned around, only to be met with quite a surprise. Toru was on the ground, thoroughly getting beat up by no other than Kushina. Unable to control himself, Minato found himself silently laughing.

"I don't like my hair either, 'ttebane!"

Minato was momentarily confused, she didn't like her hair? He thought it was rather lovely, and yet she seemed to agree with the majority of the class that it was ugly. He just didn't understand.

"What are you looking at?!"

When Kushina made eye contact with him, calling him out, he was baffled and immediately turned around before she could see his face getting red, but couldn't stop himself from taking a peek from the corner of his eye.

When Kushina was summoned to the Hokage Tower, she narrowed her eyes in suspicion when she saw Lady Mito there as well. She wasn't prepared for the news the Sandaime told her about her village. It wasn't until she felt Lady Mito's arms around her that she finally comprehended what she had just heard. Her village, her family, they were all gone, and she didn't know how to respond. I should've known, she told herself, I should've known something was going wrong when Mother's letters became shorter and messier. It had been a whole month since the last one.

That had been 2 hours ago, now she was on top of the Hokage Monument, able to look over the whole village from her place, her mind swarming with thoughts. She remembered the day when her father told her she was to be sent to Konoha. She remembered yelling at him, "Why?! I should be here, fighting for the village with everyone!" But then, her father shook his head at her, reminding her she wasn't even a genin yet. This was all for her safety, it was the job of the parents to look after their child, the future of the village. Before she could protest that her older brother was out on the battlefield, fighting and could die at any time, she remembered he was already a jounin, it was his job to fight for and protect the village, notto be protected like her.

Kushina remembered her mother holding her down and telling her that once this war was all over, they could all be together again. It was only a week later when it finally happened. Her father had returned home and ordered Kushina to pack her belongings. Another line of defense had been broken; Kiri was gaining the upper hand. At the time, Kushina didn't question why she was the only one being sent to Konoha while her friends and the civilians were being sent to Wave Country.

When Kushina was brought to Konoha, she was escorted to the Hokage where she was told of the true reason of why she was brought here, to become the next Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi, she felt utterly betrayed by her own parents. She now knew why they had such pained faces when they said their goodbyes. Liars, liars, liars!

Kushina clenched her fists. That had been 3 years ago, she had recently graduated the academy and became a genin. Her goal was to finally become a genin and begin moving up the ranks, prove to her father that she could fight. Despite the constant teasing in class, she always worked hard and did the best she could. However, it was all taken away from her the moment the Sandaime had told her she was going to become the Kyuubi's host in the future, when the current host, Uzumaki Mito, would no longer be able to contain it.

She remembered when she was first introduced to Uzumaki Mito, when she was told that Lady Mito was also an Uzumaki from her village, Kushina was momentarily in a state of disbelief. Kushina looked down to see the replicated face of the Shodai Hokage's on the rock she was resting on. She had heard stories about the legendary founder of Konohagakure no Sato, but she never knew he had a wife who was an Uzumaki.

Kushina sighed, realizing the sun was beginning to set. She had so much pent up frustration but being both mentally and physically exhausted, she got up, her feet already moving toward her residence in Konoha.

Minato was furious.

When he learned that Kushina was missing, most likely kidnapped, he was in an initial state of disbelief. He stormed to the Hokage Tower, fully determined to ask-no demand, that he be put on the rescue mission.

When Jiraiya was leaving the Hokage Tower, he caught sight of his star pupil. Knowing exactly what the cause of his determined expression was, he told Minato that he received a mission and Minato was to follow. Before Jiraiya could even continue he was interrupted by a, "Sensei, I'm sorry but I'm a little busy right now!"

Sighing, Jiraiya grabbed the collar of Minato's jacket before he could run off. "I requested that the Hokage put you on the rescue team for Kushina, but if you're really that busy I guess I could just find someone else."

"What?! Why didn't you say so! When do we leave?"

"Right now, Mizuki and Keitarou-san will be coming along as well."

-x-

Despite the situation, Jiraiya couldn't help but be slightly amused with how much Minato seemed to care for someone, a girl, who Jiraiya didn't even expect the blond to know very well. Jiraiya was slightly impressed at how the Uzumaki girl seemed to have unintentionally drawn the attention of his student. With the way Minato always seemed to brush away the affections he received from the majority of the female population, he had growing suspicions that he preferred the other sex.

When he caught the sight of red a couple feet away, Minato quickly recognized it as strands of Kushina's deep red hair. Clenching it in his fist, he sped up, ignoring his sensei's protests, leaving the older shinobi behind with the forest around him blurring.

He was getting closer and closer to the border and the realization that Kushina may have indeed been kidnapped and already taken across the border began to dawn on him, drawing fear.

When he saw figures up ahead, recognizing the red in the middle, he felt a great wave of relief wash over him. Making sure his chakra was masked completely, Minato moved swiftly, taking down the first two shinobi by surprise before returning to the shadows, adrenaline pumping into his veins.

The third and last shinobi removed himself from Kushina, moving to the bushes, trying to find his attacker. He could only let out a choked response when Minato appeared from the shadows, stabbing his throat with a freshly bloodied kunai.

Making sure there were no more Kumo ninja in the vicinity, Minato revealed himself, directly in front of Kushina's path. However, the latter was still walking, as if in a trance. "Are you all right?" He called out her, which she heard, abruptly stopping and looking up. Her eyes were squinted, trying but unable to make out who he was in the darkness. However things seemed to be in her favor, parting the clouds, letting moonlight flicker into the shadow and momentarily giving Kushina the seconds of light to recognize her savior.

"I came to save you," he said, smiling.

When she finally recognized who it was, that voice and blond hair, the corners of her mouth lifted up into a sincere, yet weak, smile.

Minato felt butterflies being unleashed in his stomach. That was the first smile the fiery redhead had given him since he first met her. That moment was short though as his eyes widened when he saw her smile disappear, the corners of her mouth falling along with the rest of her body.

Fortunately, Minato was unnaturally fast, catching her right before she landed. Making sure she was secure in his arms, ignoring her light protests, he leapt off the ground and into the trees, fully intent on taking her back to the safety of their village.

It wasn't until they were half way to their destination that Minato decided to momentarily stop on top of a tree to catch his breath. The adrenaline rush he had before was gone and he was feeling the effects of exhaustion. When he glanced down at the redhead he saw her eyes fully locked on something. A very subtle dust of pink lined his cheeks when he followed her gaze, only to be met with the red strands he didn't even realized were still locked in his hands. "Ah..your hair is beautiful so I was able to recognize it right away," he explained, blush gone, replaced with his trademark sunny smile.

"Why? You've always ignored me."

"Because I know you're strong, but the situation is different this time, and.."

"..And?"

"I didn't want to lose you," he said, a blush brighter than the one he had before dusting his cheeks, though his smile never faltered.

"Even if I'm an outsider?"

"Why do you say that? You live in Konoha, don't you? You're one of us, not an outsider."

His smile only widened when he saw her blushing, never in a million years did he think he would ever be able to make the self-proclaimed future Hokage, Uzumaki Kushina, blush.

-x-

Kushina cursed when she felt her cheeks heating up and saw that his smile was widening. Still, she couldn't take her eyes off his face, her whole perspective on the blonde seemed to be changing. No longer did he seem like a weak, flaky boy. He was beginning to look like a true ninja in her eyes.

Kushina really couldn't stop her ignorant shell from breaking since.

A/N: Hm, yeah. I just had a desire to write another MinaKush fic after watcing the Korean dub version of the Road to Ninja movie. I hate dubs but I'm pretty impatient, couldn't wait another few weeks for the better quality and sub. I haven't been able to fully edit this chapter, only skim through it quickly, so I'll most likely go back and fix errors later.

After the movie, the MinaKush phase just came back full-force, all week I've just been flailing all over them. I went back to the old episodes with them in it and the tears came back. Kishi really deserves a round of applause for their love story.

ANYWHO, please leave a review and tell me what you think! This story will be canon, along with little twists of mine of course. I have most of this story outlined but I'm not sure what I will ultimately do with the ending. For now, it'll be a surprise whether I follow through with Kishi's idea or the opposite.

LASTLY, if any of you have any good SasuSaku or MinaKush fics, possibly NaruSaku, let me know either through review or by PM, I'd love to read them all.