Minato shaded his eyes and squinted up at the cloudless sky. There wasn't any wind today, leaving the air very still and warm. Minato had been waiting for a day like today. Over the course of the week, he had Kakashi help him clear the backyard, so they had a clear surface for fuinjutsu. Then he had waited for a day like today when the weather wouldn't disturb the array.

Minato's first goal was to remove the parasitic chakra from Kakashi. He was hoping to use a seal to draw it out. Once he detached it would likely disperse on its own, either into the surrounding area or return the original. If it returned to the original, they would have to wait and see what happens next.

Minato called for Kakashi and the two gathered their supplies and set to work. The array was large and complicated. Minato was hoping to contain the parasite into the seal if he could and that is what had expanded the array. He looked over next to him and watched Kakashi focus on his brush work. It was hard to remember that Kakashi was older than him. It felt wrong to think that way, especially at times like these. Kakashi so focused at his task, eager to learn and to do everything as well as Minato.

"What are you thinking about?" Minato asked as he dipped his brush into the ink Kushina had made.

"I was calculating the cost for all these scrolls. We could have bought an Inuzuka puppy instead," Kakashi lamented and looked up at him with a pout.

Minato barked out a surprised laugh. Kakashi's humor was a refreshing change. It always caught Minato off guard. Kakashi smiled up at him, clearly pleased with himself. Minato grinned back, "I don't think a puppy would help with any of our problems."

"You don't know that. It could turn out to be a really smart puppy," Kakakshi argued. He wasn't sure why Kakashi was arguing for a puppy when he had no intentions of staying.

Minato shook his head in amusement, "is this some sort of 'Daddy can I have a puppy' joke?"

Kakashi scoffed, "way to make it weird, Sensei. How long is this going to take?"

Minato surveyed the work they did. There were only three more spokes to finish. The fuinjutsu was a starburst design, a common design for containment. They needed to pull the assassin out of Kakashi, but also capture the chakra as well. The two seal types clashed against each other and frankly Minato wasn't sure it was going to work. He may have chosen the wrong structure for the array. He would feel better if he had Kushina's feedback, but she was still holding to her beliefs.

"Another 20 minutes then I'll have you strip off your shirt. I'll need to draw on you, but then we should be ready to start." Kakashi hummed in response and stood beside him. Minato looked down and with a sly grin. "Should I be in the market for a puppy for you?"

Kakashi gave a breathy laugh that caused Minato's heart to flutter. It had been a while since Kakashi had been in a lighthearted mood. "I have 8 dogs already, Sensei."

Minato blinked, "8? But I thought you only had the two."

"My pack grows," Kakashi gave a shrug.

That wasn't the only thing that grows from what Minato could tell. "So, you said. You even have students as I recall. It must be why you are so good at teaching Rin-chan. Even Obito-kun has been paying attention to what you say." Minato wasn't being subtle about fishing for information, but sometimes if you get a person in the right mood they are more willing to fudge the line.

Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck and Minato noticed his ears reddening. Was Kakashi embarrassed? "I was a pretty terrible teacher to them. I guess I had expected too much. I thought they would at least try on their own, but they needed a lot more than I knew or wanted to give them at the time. I still wouldn't trust myself with a genin team."

Minato got back down on his knees and reached for a brush trying to keep the conversation causal. "But your team seemed to have done well. You said they helped you defeat a umm….goddess?" Just saying that felt weird, like believing in a myth.

Kakashi giggled and Minato's eyes bugged. God, how long has it been since he last heard that giggle? Certainly, before he became a genin. "You believe that story, Sensei?"

It was a farfetched story. "Well, it is difficult to believe, but I had promised not to dismiss what you say anymore. Besides, you taught my son, right?"

Kakashi's face softened with an affectionate glow. It was a good look on him. "Yes, he was kind of an idiot, though."

"Wait. My son?" Minato blinked.

Kakashi nodded his head. "Yes, a real knucklehead, that one. He actually asked me what chakra was." Kakashi shook his head and released a suffering sigh. "It's not that he had never been told, he just never bothered to listen. From what I hear he often played hooky from school, and he was known for defacing public property," Kakashi seemed to be taking a certain amount of joy in telling him what a hellion Minato's future son was.

Minato couldn't help but wonder how he was going to handle such a child. A bead of sweat tickled the side of his face. "But he turns out alright, surely?"

"He grows up to be an idiot, but he's the good kind of idiot." What did that even mean?! What was a good kind of idiot? "Don't worry, Sensei you'll manage just fine."

Minato laughed nervously and went back to focusing on the array. He didn't want to know about the future anymore.

Kakashi seemed much to trust the array a lot more than Minato did. He looked so calm just sitting in the middle of the scrolls. Dread pulled at Minato's stomach. This was an untested array and if something went wrong it would go really wrong. He mentally went over the array again and reminded himself how to deactivate it. If nothing else, Minato could physically drag Kakashi out of the center of the array since it was localized. Still, he sent off a quick plea to the heavens, please let this work. He didn't want to accidentally kill his student.

"Are you ready, Kashi-kun?" he asked with far more confidence than he felt.

Kakashi smiled at Minato, "Mah, more ready than you are, Sensei." Minato's mouth tugged up despite the sour churning inside of him. Kakashi was being playful in an obvious attempt to calm Minato down. Minato took a deep breath and focused on his next steps. This had to be done right.

Ox Monkey Ram Boar

The ink vibrated against the confines of the scrolls. The vibration could be felt under Minato's feet.

Ram Serpent Rat Monkey

The ink dislodged itself from the scrolls and hovered briefly. It didn't move as if holding it's breath. Waiting for the moment.

Dog Horse Ram Bird

As if cued the ink out to the ends of the scrolls and then up forming a darkened the screen. The ink melted into the air creating a sheer curtain. Minato swallowed thickly and took a step forward to peer inside.

Kakashi wasn't moving. He sat there as if meditated while steam wafted off of him, knotting and twisting around. It seemed that the array was working. Minato focused on the churning chakra waiting for it to take the form of the assassin.

Kakashi tilted his head back eyeing the steam coming off of him. Once the assassin is detached all Kakashi would need to do is walk out of the array and they should have it captured. Minato mentally tried to remind Kakashi. This was going to be okay. Things were working as they should.

Kakashi's barely got to his feet when he lunged off to the side and Minato's entire view was blocked by a rock wall erupting from the ground. "Kakashi!" Minato yelled. He ran around to the other side to see what was going on.

The sight of the water depths of a dragon's roaring mouth greeted him. He was already funneling wind chakra to his hand when it crashed into the ground and water lapped at the sides of the barrier. None of the water escaped and Minato understood that mean that all that water was created with chakra. Shit.

Minato ran through the hand signs to deactivate the seal. As he did so there was a deafening noise from a flock of birds. Lightning seemed to bounce off the barrier walls.

The barrier disappeared with a snap and the water rushed past his feet. In front of Minato, Kakashi was prone staring up as the assassin's hand and arm was covered in lightning. Sparking with wild white bolts. Minato was going to be too late. He was too far away. Too slow. He couldn't save Kakashi.

Gold chains whipped past Minato and wrapped around the arm of the assassin poised at Kakashi's small chest. They tightened around the assassin's body and face, exposing one eye and part of his mouth. The assassin screamed in rage and but didn't look away from Kakashi. The lightening sputtered out and the chains collapsed to the ground around Kakashi. Minato turned towards the house and saw Kushina hunched over and panting. She retracted the chains and went to Kakashi while Minato was still trying to catch up with what had happened.

Why hadn't Kakashi left the barrier like they had planned? Why had he stayed there? Was he unable to leave? OH. Minato suddenly realized he created a massive oversite. The seal was designed to both collect chakra and keep that chakra in one point. Kakashi was the source of all that chakra, so he wouldn't have been able to escape. Minato should have thought of that. He basically locked Kakashi in the barrier with the parasite.

Minato jogged over to them. Kushina had yanked Kakashi's mask down as he hacked something up, probably water. His mouth was busted pretty bad and on the same side his cheek had a bloody scrap across it. She beat on his back as if it was helping, but Minato knew from experience it wasn't. But it was Kushina's way to show she cared.

"Kakashi, are you okay?"

Kushina jerked up and practically bared her teeth at him, "What the hell, Minato! Are you trying to kill him?"

Minato heart clenched around the thorn of the accusation, "you know I wasn't." Kakashi was soaked, so Minato turned around and hurried inside to get a towel. An earth release: Mud wall from Kumo, a water release: water dragon bullet from Mist, and a lightning release he wasn't familiar with it, where had this guy come from? Minato pulled a blue towel from the closet. None of those attacks helped Minato narrow down the origin of the assassin at all, unless Kakashi wasn't joking about the moon goddess thing. It may be far-fetched but Kakashi wasn't the most creative person around. It was strange for him to come up some fantastical story like that. Before Minato left the bathroom, he grabbed the first aid kit.

Kakashi was getting up to his feet when Minato returned to the back. He tossed the towel across the boy's back. Kushina snatched and started to scrub Kakashi's head with a towel.

"You're going to catch a cold. I can't believe Minato locked you in there with the assassin," Kushina glared at him over Kakashi's flat hair.

"I wasn't supposed to end up trapped in there, Kushina-nee. Once the assassin detached, I should have been able to leave the array, but it didn't work like that," Kakashi defended him. He shouldn't be defending him. Minato screwed up.

"I should have realized that it would trap Kakashi in there considering he is the source of the chakra," Minato said, completely embarrassed by such a massive oversight.

Kushina huffed and turned her glare away from him. She ushered Kakashi back into the house and him sit at the dinning room table while she went to get a damp rag from the kitchen. Minato put the first aid kit on the table and pulled out the supplies he suspected Kushina would want. Minato turned when he felt eyes on him and found Kakashi staring at him. His expression was soft, almost empathetic.

"You know you are not to blame right?" Kakashi said quietly.

Minato was taken aback by the words, surprised how much they hurt him. He looked back down and fiddled with the kit. He wasn't sure what he was doing with it anymore, probably rearranging it at this point.

"I can handle some blame. It was my oversight. I should have thought of something so obvious." Anger struck at his chest like flint to steel, wanting to ignite his temper. He took in a deep breath to quell it.

"Sensei, you can't expect to notice everything. You are putting too much pressure on yourself. I knew the first time wasn't going to work. We were testing it."

Minato frowned and closed the box with a clack. Damn. He shouldn't have done that. They needed it open and now he was going to look like an idiot opening and closing boxes.

"Sensei?"

"What Kakashi." His tone was sharper than it had any right to be. He glanced over at the boy and tried to offer a smile in hopes of softening the atmosphere he was creating. Kakashi's expression didn't change.

"I'm fine, you're fine, we're fine."

Minato's smile dropped. He was certainly not fine, Kakashi was clearly not fine either. He hadn't been fine for a very long time.

"I trapped you in a box with a man after your blood, how is any of that fine?"

"I don't know, it was like a cage fight. Kind of fun, actually. Though the water was annoying-"

"Shut up," Minato snapped. Kakashi silenced himself immediately. Dammit, what was he doing? Kakashi was the victim in all this. Yet he was trying to comfort Minato. If that wasn't bad enough Minato kept reacting rudely to him. He ran his hand down his face trying to get it together. "Sorry, I'm just-" he wasn't sure how to finish. Just what?

Kakashi nodded as if he understood what Minato didn't, "I've been there. But really Sensei, it was too much to expect this to work perfectly."

"Kakashi, you trusted me, and I broke that."

Kakashi snorted and gave him a mischievous grin, "Seriously, after all the shit you have pulled recently this is what you think is going to break my trust in you?"

Offense pulled at Minato's bottom lip, "what does that even mean?"

"Maaa, nothing, nothing. Don't worry about it, Sensei. You'll understand when you are older."

Minato sputtered, not sure how to properly formulate a response to that. Behind him, like a donkey spooking a pony, Kushina laughed. He turned to see her doubled over and her cheeks already becoming red. "You-" Minato continued to sputter.

Kushina smashed the butt of her palm against her eye and wiped the tears away. She walked past him and pinched his cheek, "stop being an idiot, Minato, and get out of your head." She then bent down to clean up Kakashi busted lip, "Do you know what caused this?"

"Maa, I think I took a rock to the face."

"You're supposed to catch those with your hand so you can hurl them back," Kushina tsked. "Do better next time."

"Of course."

Minato didn't know how they could be so playful after his screw up, but it was a balm to his festering mind. He took a deep breath and for a moment allowed their banter to remind him that things were going to be okay. He just needed to get it right next time. He went to grab his scroll that had the draft of his fuinjutsu array when he heard Kakashi's bratty voice.

"Sensei, what are you doing?"

"MINATO! If you touch that scroll tonight, I am going to punt you to Kumo. Put it down." Kakashi was such a tattletale.

Lots of Minato and Kakashi in this one. Kushina still refused to help, but then things got dangerous, and like a mama bear swooped in and saved things. She may be mad, but that doesn't mean she's going to let him get killed off. Because Minato and Kushina are listening to Kakashi, they are getting the opportunity to see Kakashi's maturity shine through more. Before, he was constantly fighting to be heard and routinely ignored, but Kakashi never really got over his bratty nature either. So tattle tail Kakashi at your service.