Updated: May 30 2014
11. Defeat
It was the worst week in Minato's life.
He was among the remaining soldiers on the border post. Everyone else had been sent to the front lines to fight, well knowing that their numbers were less than the Rain's. Minato had stayed to heal, Shikaku and Kousuke were staying to wait for him to heal, and a few others – Inoichi, Chouza and Hizashi – were keeping guard over the camp under the command of the general, who, in spite of the little activity around the camp, had his hands full with reports, planning back-ups and preparing to take in the casualties.
He had so little time for anything else that Minato was surprised to be called to his office along with Shikaku and Kousuke. Besides, he had, fourteen days after the attempted murder of him, nearly healed and was on the verge of losing his mind.
"Well, if you say so," general Hiromu said seriously after asking Minato how he felt, and Minato had stated his frustration. "I have a mission for you three. Thanks to the amount of Shinobi the Rain's in possession of, they've sent ambush teams to stop our reinforcements. I need you to get rid of them as soon as possible. Don't hesitate; kill them immediately. We have no time to lose."
On that note, the three turned and set off to prepare for the mission. Kousuke's dog trotted alongside them while they hurried back to the dorm tent to gather their weapons.
They ran out on the paths the Konoha reinforcements normally used to get to the Rain, and Kousuke and his dog managed to smell out the first ambush team. They sneaked their way behind the ambush, which only consisted of three shinobi, eliminated one each and continued on to the next, which was just as small as the previous.
Eventually, Kousuke could smell four more ambush teams, and he could smell a Konoha team about to crash into one of them. Minato quickly placed a finger to the ground to check numbers against numbers. Apart from the three larger ambush teams waiting a little longer East to their position, there were around forty in the last ambush … and the Konoha team consisted of – he counted – three, five, seven -
Minato made a sudden movement, as though he was shaking off a fly. He recognised some of those chakras; they came to him like he had forgotten them, and suddenly recalled how they were … and a laughter, a laughter he hadn't heard in so long that it had faded, was audible in the back of his mind -
"Minato?" Shikaku said and looked down to where he was crouching.
"Move ahead and help the reinforcement team," Minato said and pulled out a piece of paper and a Hiraishin kunai. He began scribbling a short message on it. "I'll take care of the other ambushes, they're fewer. I'll send this -" he held up the kunai he was about to seal the message onto, "- after you. As soon as you're there, make sure they continue to the border. Go!"
Shikaku and Kousuke set off without questions; their mission was, after all, to be done as quickly as possible. To get to the battlefield would take a few days, and the reinforcements had no time to lose. With a last check to find their exact position – the team and the ambush had now clashed – Minato got up, activated chakra to his palm and threw the kunai over the tree tops, and saw it disappear quickly. He then turned to take care of the other ambushes.
As Minato reached the first ambush team, he could feel the kunai soaring through the air. When he had defeated the ambush, the feeling disappeared, and he knew the kunai must have landed.
Some time went without a sign. He found the second ambush team and defeated them too. When he was dealing with the third, he felt a weird sign, as though something warm brushed against his palms; it was chakra, different than his own, being inserted into the kunai where the seal was placed.
He smiled when the last man fell and placed a finger to the ground. He concentrated, calculated the distance between the reinforcement team and the ambush team … Shikaku and Kousuke had taken a detour around the ambush and was standing with the team from Konoha … He waited, a few seconds passed -
He felt a new sign, stronger this time. Forty kunai had been thrown in the air. With a hand seal ready, Minato counted the seconds it would take for the kunai to hit the enemy.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
He disappeared and found himself a few meters above the ground, a copy of the kunai in his hand and about to crash into a bitter-looking, bearded man. Before the man could even express his surprise of the sight of him, he was on the ground, bleeding; only a few could blink before all forty had their throats cut and lay on the ground.
He straightened and look behind him. Shikaku and Kouskuke came running.
"They left seconds ago," Shikaku said. "We have to hurry back to camp for the general's orders."
They left, Minato frustrated and disappointed; he knew he could fight, his wounds were nearly healed and he had regained his strength. And there was one thing he found hard to describe … It was some kind of longing. He wanted to see the owners of those chakras himself, not just feeling their presence and knowing that he had been so close to seeing her, his childhood best friend, for the first time in many years.
Fifteen minutes later, they were back on the camp. And the news they heard were shocking.
"Konoha lost," the general said exhaustively as they walked to the emergency tent. "No survivors. Only -"
They entered the emergency tent's ward, where two tired people were sitting.
It was Tsunade and Orochimaru. Except from looking exhausted, they seemed fine. But Minato, who could add two and two, started to feel terror rising in his stomach. No survivors, except from those two … But that meant -
"The Rain pushed them too far into the country for the reinforcement teams to make it in time," the general said. "I've sent message birds to them to explain and called them back."
"Don't worry, kid," Tsunade said when she saw Minato's expression. She turned in her seat, much to the medic-nin's annoyance; she was giving her a probably unnecessary check-up. "Jiraiya's fine. He stayed behind to take care of a couple of kids."
Minato's face furrowed. "Huh?"
"That's what I said," Orochimaru said, shaking his head. "He felt sorry for them. Said he was going to teach them a few tricks so they could take care of themselves."
Well, that was at least a better explanation to why Jiraiya hadn't returned.
"But … no survivors?" Shikaku said quietly, and Minato felt the terror returning. Kiraku … Kiraku had been sent out.
"No survivors," general Hiromu repeated and looked sadly at Shikaku. "I'm sorry."
It was only fitting that the rain started to fall to the ground.
Minato had enough time to think about what had happened since they returned to the camp at noon. He had been sitting on his usual watch post, all alone, watching as no one crossed the border. His head was filled with whizzing thoughts, but at the same time, it was empty. Kiraku was dead, and he was sure more he knew had suffered the same fate. He despised the small hope he had clung to that someone from Konoha, someone he knew, appeared between the trees and crossed the border. But no one did.
Hanzou, who had not too long ago tried to erase Minato from the map, had let Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru live on the condition that they started using a new title. The Legendary Sannin, he had called them. And one of them had stayed to train the enemy's kids; that wasn't very much like the Jiraiya Minato once knew. Maybe the term 'conscience' had finally caught up with him, but the timing was terrible.
A figure came walking towards him through the damp air, rain drops hanging from his long, black hair.
"I've come to relieve you," Hizashi said when he sat down next to Minato. "General Hiromu is in conversation with the other leaders at the moment. He told me the Hokage sent a message, and that they have new orders for us tomorrow. Looks like we're going back to Konoha soon."
Minato looked up.
"We're going home?" he asked and could not believe it.
"Yes," Hizashi smiled. He had been in Konoha until recently, but Minato, who had been at the border with a permanent job as the general's assassin, hadn't been home for five years.
"Go get some rest," Hizashi said. "You don't have to stay here."
"All right, see you later," Minato said and got up. The first thing he did was to take a long, cold shower, but when he returned to the dorm tent, he had to do something to make time pass. He didn't feel very sleepy, and was sure he wouldn't be able to sleep even if he tried. He put on a more comfortable attire; a pair of black sweat pants, a grey T-shirt and the grey jacket with the stripes down the arms. He decided to spend some time on his weapons – he hadn't even cleaned those he had used before he was knocked out for a week – but the rain was falling harder, so he couldn't clean them outside like he usually did.
He assumed he would find someone to keep him company in the lounge tent, so he put his weapons in a thick leather bag, tossed it over his shoulder, pulled the hood over his head and grabbed his swords with his free hand. He walked out on the misty camp and walked down to the lounge tent. The tent looked warm and light, and he entered, seeing people on couches and chairs around tables, eating hot soup in bowls the chef was handing out by the counter in the corner. Everyone were talking, but the atmosphere was heavier than usual. Minato noticed Kousuke sitting on his own by a table surrounded by two couches and two arm chairs near the counter, and walked towards him.
Suddenly, he stopped.
By the counter, where the chef was pacing around and pouring soup, he saw red hair.
He stood rooted to the spot for seconds, staring at the person by the end of the tent, heart beating at the thought of her turning around and seeing him. Only then did he realise that he had been waiting for this moment every day for five years.
And he hadn't expected it to happen on that day, and he was not prepared. What the hell was he supposed to say?
She was focused on a small food chart in front of her. Minato shook himself out of his paralysed state, took a deep breath and sat down next to Kousuke as planned, and suddenly found it hard not to smile.
"Hey, man," Kousuke said without looking up from the book he was reading (and which Minato recalled was one of his own). Kemaru, Kousuke's dog, was lying with his head in Kousuke's lap and about to fall asleep.
"Hey, how's it going?" Minato asked in his usual calm manner, emptied the bag over the table and took off his hood.
"Fine," Kousuke said and turned a page.
"Where's Shikaku?"
"Just met his father, they're out talking somewhere."
"I see," Minato said, although there wasn't much to understand. He glanced at the red-haired girl who stood no more than three meters away from him, and wondered when she was going to make up her mind, get her food and turn around. She had tied her hair up, and Minato wondered if it had always been that long; even in a high ponytail, it reached her to the middle of her back. She was talking to her team-mate, Rabi, about the food on the menu. Minato lingered for a moment before he pulled up his sleeves and started rubbing at the dark red stains on one of his swords.
"The food's not that bad," Rabi said and received a bowl of chicken soup with rice.
"I know, I know," the girl said impatiently. "But this is all we get to eat. Seriously, I could kill for some salt ramen."
Minato couldn't help it.
"Still fond of that salt ramen?" he said, and Kousuke looked up; the girl reacted after a moment, apparently not expecting anyone but Rabi to answer, but moved her gaze from the menu and turned. "Some things never change, I guess."
She could for a moment do nothing but stare. Minato chuckled warmly.
"It's been a while, Kushina."
Finally, he could fully appreciate why Inoichi had been after her.