Author's Notes: Beta'd by Dark Hope Assassin whom I love very, very, very, very...*three hours later*...very, very, very much.
A series of warnings rang in Minato´s ear as he trudged up the stairs to the Hokage's observatory.
"Kid, you're nuts," Jiraiya had declared.
"And here I hoped Jiraiya's influence would end with you." Tsunade had shaken her head sadly.
Kushina…Kushina had not said anything actually. She had simply fallen from her chair in the throes of hysterical laughter. She had not even kissed him goodbye, so focused she was on trying to breathe.
Minato huffed. So what if he was a newly instated jounin? And a seventeen-year-old brat, a voice that sounded oddly like Jiraiya's reminded him. Minato froze at the voice and turned to the wall to dash his forehead against it. He really was spending too much time in Jiraiya's company if his voice was following him everywhere now. When he looked up, he found one chuunin staring at him in fear. Minato grinned widely and brushed past him.
He could handle the responsibility of a genin team. Hell, those kids would love him! All of the Academy students would want to be his subordinates! But he'd only pick three and those three would be his legacy, becoming renowned throughout the continent for their strength of moral character, sharp intelligence and a pack of A-rank and higher jutsu that would propel them to Kage level.
All right, so maybe his expectations were a little…unrealistic. But he was certain his kids would be brilliant. They'd get it from him, of course.
Again he had to smack his head. Kushina's incredible over-confidence was getting to him.
He slipped through the door at the top of the stairs, quietly shutting it behind him. Some of the jounin assembled turned to look at him. Of those, several did a double-take.
"Aren't you Jiraiya-sama's student?" Sawa, the jounin closest to him, asked.
"Yes." Minato beamed. As insane as Jiraiya was, he was proud to be the older man's apprentice.
"How old are you?"
Minato had a witty retort on the tip of his tongue, but Sarutobi cleared his throat.
"Now that we're all here," the Hokage said, "let's begin."
The crystal orb before him projected an image onto its surface. A classroom solidified, several students milling around. They all looked younger than usual. Minato quickly counted them.
"We've had to drop the graduation age due to the war," explained Sarutobi.
The image slowly scrolled around the room, before focusing on a child a head smaller than all the others in the room.
"This year's number one rookie. Hatake Kakashi."
"The White Fang's son?" A man near the front of the group spoke up.
The Hokage nodded.
"How old is he?"A woman Minato did not know was frowning in question.
"Five."
"That's too young, Hokage-sama!" Sawa exclaimed. There were murmurs of agreement.
Minato was silent.
"Nevertheless," Sarutobi laced his fingers together, "he's the best of the class."
"I'll take him," Minato declared suddenly, drawing every eye in the room to him.
"Him alone?" Sarutobi fixed his calm gaze on him. Minato nodded.
"There are an odd number of students. If I take him, the rest can be grouped in the typical three-man teams."
At his words, some of the jounin present turned back to the orb. A couple moved their lips as they counted.
Sarutobi smiled. "You are right. Fine, you will be Hatake Kakashi's sensei. Now, moving on. Team One is composed of…"
The Hokage's words faded to white noise. So he wouldn't have a team. He would have one boy.
As the class was called to order and the students were sorted into teams, Minato observed the way Kakashi kept to himself and the look of stunned doubt on his face as he wasn't named for a team. As the teacher dismissed the class for lunch, the jounin streamed out of the room. Minato lingered. The child pictured in the orb hadn't stood from his desk.
"Do you feel you have something to prove, Minato?" Sarutobi's voice was not challenging, merely curious.
"No," answered Minato after a pause. "But we both certainly can."
He walked quickly to the Academy and managed to beat the other jounin there. He walked through the hall calmly and slid open the classroom's door. The teacher and students turned to look at him. Some of the children shifted expectantly in their seats.
"Hatake Kakashi?"
Kakashi's body snapped to attention.
Minato continued in a voice that carried easily. "Come with me."
Turning away from the door, he didn't bother to verify if Kakashi was following. Before long, he discerned the sound of near-silent steps behind him. He led the child outside and to the rooftop Jiraiya had taken him to when he and Ume and Masashi were assigned to the white-haired man's team. Once there, he leaned casually against the rail, gesturing for Kakashi to sit.
Minato looked at his new five-year-old student curiously, noting the serious, silent way he carried himself, the bright glint of curiosity in his black eyes and the baby fat still lining his face and hands. Like his father, the bottom half of his face was obscured by a mask.
For a moment, he debated doing to Kakashi everything he'd endured at Jiraiya's hands, but he didn't feel like torturing his new student. "I assume you have several questions."
Kakashi's glance fell to the floor, before looking the blond man in front of him. "Why don't I have a team?"
There was a different question hidden in his tone.
"There were an odd number of students," Minato answered honestly. "One was going to be singled out or there would be a team with four students. I decided to take you on alone. Which is both good and bad."
Kakashi's brow knitted in thought.
Minato continued, "You'll have personalized attention so you´ll see marked improvement quickly. Unfortunately, tasks that are usually divided amongst a team will depend on you alone. It will be difficult. We are at war so we may be assigned missions of higher ranks. I will treat you as I would any ninja, which means you need to understand that your actions have consequences. Do you feel up to it?"
The child paused for a moment. He squared his tiny shoulders. "Yes."
The man smiled. "Then Kakashi, my name is Namikaze Minato and I'll be your jounin instructor…if you pass a final test."
oOo
As he did not have a genin team, Minato figured the bell test would only prove a way for him to measure Kakashi's one-on-one fighting ability. Instead, he designed a different test.
"There is a kunai identical to this one in the Hokage's office." Minato held up one of his specially designed kunai. "Your test consists of sneaking into the Hokage Tower and retrieving it. This is an infiltration mission so it is of the utmost importance that you are not seen. Every shinobi in that Tower is an enemy. Short of destroying the Tower or attacking the shinobi, you can do anything you can think of to find it. Any questions?"
"How long do I have?" Kakashi's posture was straight, feet well-placed for excellent balance. Sakumo must have trained him since he could walk. Minato entertained himself with the thought of Kakashi teething on a shuriken.
"Until noon." Minato twirled the kunai. "If you fail to get the kunai or you are seen, I'll tie you to one of the posts behind me and force you to watch as I eat my lunch in front of you."
At the mention of food, Kakashi's stomach growled. Two small hands immediately clamped over it.
Minato chuckled to himself. "Now, time's wasting. Ready? …Start!"
Kakashi immediately took off in the direction of the Hokage Tower. Minato plopped down ungracefully on the ground, drawing a book out of his bag. The timer was already running. Hokage-sama already knew about the test and had promised to walk in and out of his office during periodic intervals. There would also be a few seconds between guard changes that a careful observation would reveal. Kakashi would succeed or fail and he had little to worry about. Throwing the book over his face, he settled down for a nap.
About an hour before the timer rang, Minato awoke upon hearing the crunch of the underbrush. Standing quickly, book flashing out of view, he saw Kakashi troop out of the trees. His little body quivered in annoyance. In his hand, he held Minato's kunai. Minato was surprised to hear the plants continue to rustle behind Kakashi. To his surprise, a second tiny body dove out of the greenery, dressed, funnily enough, completely in green.
"Who's your friend, Kakashi?" Minato asked, hiding a smile at Kakashi's suffering look and the grinning, green-clad, energetic five-year-old next to him.
"Maito Gai!" the boy enthused. His smile would have been blinding if he wasn't missing his front teeth. "I was helping my New Best Friend!" He pronounced the last three words like an official title.
"Really?"
Kakashi sighed at his teacher's questioning look. "He helped me stage a distraction to sneak into the office."
"I kicked an ANBU!" Gai crowed proudly. Minato choked.
"Well, it seems you pass." The corners of Minato's lips twitched. A bubble of laughter threatened to overcome him.
"—and I outran him to set off an explosive tag my New Best—pass what?"Gai's short hair, cut into a bowl shape around his head, whipped back and forth as its owner turned from Kakashi to Minato.
"Kakashi's genin exam," explained Minato. "Since he retrieved the kunai, he passed the test and is now my subordinate and can perform shinobi missions."
"WHAT?!" Gai exploded. "YOU'RE A GENIN?!"
In answer, Kakashi pointed to his forehead protector.
Gai's eyes widened comically. His hands spasmed open and shut as he gaped.
"YOU!" he cried out forcefully. Minato and Kakashi blinked at the pudgy finger aimed directly between Kakashi's eyes. Minato was going to lose control of his laughter any moment now. The masked child went cross-eyed trying to keep the accusing finger in view. "You are not my New Best Friend! You are now my Eternal Rival!"
Kakashi blinked again. Minato had to duck behind a tree.
Gai was still yelling. "YOU MAY HAVE BEAT ME TODAY, RIVAL, BUT I WILL BE A GENIN TOO! IF NOT I'LL—I'LL—um—I'LL RUN 100 LAPS AROUND THE ACADEMY!"
Kakashi stared. Minato was turning blue.
Without further ado, Gai posed heroically—looking oddly constipated—and ran off with a yell of, "Just wait, my Eternal Rival!"
Minato had to duck behind a tree again.
Forcing himself to inhale, he finally managed to swallow his laughter. His chest and stomach burned from the effort.
"Tomorrow. 8 am. Here. First training session." Minato couldn't speak full sentences. Kakashi eyed him strangely, but nodded and walked away.
Minato walked back to his apartment, looking forward to the privacy of his home. As he reached for the doorknob, the door slammed open and Kushina was standing in front of him, holding a towel like an enemy.
"How is it that you have green towels and no orange ones?" She held the slightly ragged article with her fingertips as if it had insulted her. "I don't even know you anymore. You are no longer my best friend!"
If he didn't breathe in the next minute, Minato was going to die.