Chapter 2 – Home
Yuna was born in a time of war. Since her birth, the most important thing she had learned was to run. Run for her life. War had overshadowed all the lands. No matter where one lived, there was no sanctuary to be found. Everyone was a victim. If her mother had not hidden Yuna in the haystack, the child would have been another casualty of the Third Shinobi World War.
The man who had saved her, Namikaze Minato, was a jōnin from Konohagakure. He was a pillar of the village. While the renowned Yellow Flash, Konoha's almighty hero, was a shinobi to be feared on the battlefield, he was an ordinary man behind closed doors. He was a family man. Minato lived with his fiancée, Kushina, in a house not too far from the centre of the village. Kushina was a woman with a caring smile. Her personality resembled that long, passionate, scarlet hair of hers. She was a very positive person. Day by day, Minato and Kushina's strong compassion had an effect on the little one. Slowly, over time, Yuna could not help herself but begin to smile along with them. To Yuna, the loving couple's benevolence was her sun. It lightened up her path. And what was more, they gave her a place to return to.
The day Yuna was brought to Konoha, the Hokage put the little girl under surveillance. Foreign orphans were often rejected in the Land of Fire. This was especially the case as it was during the Third War when wartime orphans were often raised as spies. In order for Yuna to be able to stay in the village, the Hokage had no choice but to rigorously investigate to prove the four-year-old's innocence. With repeated confirmations and sincere pleas, Yuna was finally permitted to start her new life as the adoptive daughter of Namikaze Minato.
On the day Minato picked Yuna up from the orphanage, he held her hand and took her to this place called "home".
They walked through the lively streets of Konoha in silence. On the surface, everything seemed to be going in the right direction. Despite the masses of bandage used to wrap up her tiny body and the bruises and wounds that were hard to miss, there were certainly improvements since the last time they met. The blunette still had a dreary look on her. Minato frowned, deeply distressed as he looked at the child's angelic face. It was expressionless.
He remembered clearly the day when he discovered the child amongst a pile of dead bodies. She was staring right back at him with stone-cold eyes. As someone who had experienced many battles, he had encountered countless orphans in that situation either screaming or wailing desperately for salvation; but not one was like this girl. She was so calm, so still, so emotionless in front of death. Perplexed by the unusual behaviour of the young girl, he had held out his hands.
Time passed by. It had already been a month.
"Yuna-chan, be a good girl and put your coat on so you won't catch a cold!" Kushina said worriedly.
It was natural for people living in the Land of Fire to find that year's February cold. That wasn't the case for Yuna. She migrated from a country that had an average temperature of 5 degrees Celsius, so she had a much higher tolerance for cold weather than the villagers in Konoha.
Yuna turned to Kushina with no trace of feeling on her baby face. Minato observed her empty expression as he stood by the door.
"Yuna-chan, cheer up! You don't want that long face. It makes you look like a miserable adult," said Minato, half-amused.
She stood in silence, looking back with puzzled eyes, though she stayed blank and emotionless. There was only one thought that passed through her head.
I don't know how to smile.
There were times when she smiled. Being around the couple, she had learned to curve her lips upwards, like Minato and Kushina always did. She did not know how she was smiling, for she could not understand what smiling was for.
Putting their shoes on, the three of them headed out together as a family. With Kushina and Minato each taking one of Yuna's hands, they went out to Ramen Ichiraku for lunch.
Minato had just came back from Rōran. Queen Sara was safe. Although the country was no more, the queen led and protected her people. Minato had prepared three memory seal formulas before he had left the village and he only came back with two. The mission was a success, but he could not recall the details. He was not entirely sure what had happened, which meant he had learned something that he had needed to force himself to forget. If that was the case, he would keep it this way.
Two weeks prior, his old friend Teuchi had just opened a ramen stand. Teuchi had been talking about opening his own restaurant since they were in the academy. He knew he was not going to get anywhere as a shinobi since he only managed to pass Chūnin shortly before the start of the Third War. He had earned enough money, so Teuchi had decided to drop his shinobi career altogether and open a ramen shop. On the opening day, Jiraiya had pulled Minato aside to show him his mastery over Rasengan when he was lining up. Later, Minato was summoned to meet the Hokage to talk about the mission, and so he had not had a chance to visit the new shop yet. Being the ramen lover he was, it was not acceptable.
Although it was a Monday and there was still time until noon, it was still a new shop and it was bound to be busy at meal times. Minato would not live if he had missed it for a second time. He turned his head to look at Kushina for permission, and she gave a weak sigh, smiling. She had a feeling that he would put a Hiraishin formula somewhere on the ramen shop. Kushina knew how much Minato loved ramen, and that sometimes made her jealous; she also knew how good Teuchi's ramen tasted. She briefly talked about her visit to the shop with Yuna during his Rōran mission, and then Minato only went on and on about how they could leave him out on that! Although it was said in a joking manner, Kushina was sure he had really meant it to a certain degree. That was just how much he loved ramen.
Being an accomplished cook herself, Kushina had exquisite taste buds. Despite being only a part-time food critic, she was well-known for it. She did it when she was not on missions. For that, she recently wrote a special recommendation on a magazine as a present to the new shop. Only then, she didn't know Minato had marked the shop already, without having eaten there before. Minato smiled back. It was all good, they would definitely make it.
They stopped walking in the middle of the street. Minato knelt down to the height of the girl beside him and said, "We're going to take a shortcut. You might get dizzy the first time."
Yuna did not know what he was talking about.
"I'll take you in my arm, dear."
She kept staring at the man who was now her father. He picked her up from the ground.
"It'll be just fine."
When Kushina was wrapping his arm with her own, Minato gave the girl in his other arm a reassuring smile.
After that, they disappeared in a flash.
Info for readers:-
Ramen Ichiraku (ラーメン一楽)
I'm making the ramen chef Teuchi a former shinobi. He was in Minato's year in the academy. They stayed friends.
Rōran and Lost Tower
It happened as the movie played out. Minato forgot that he had met Naruto.
Minato and his Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God Technique) abuse
In my fic, Minato used Hiraishin when he got lazy. He wasn't called the Yellow Flash (Kiiroi Senkō) for nothing.