Hi! So this was just sitting there all this time, one cut and paste away from being finished. I only noticed cuz I've being going through a bunch of my fics, trying to get motivated to write. (it's not really working, this doensn't count since it was basically done) Don't expect anything after this, I've been pretty brain dead with inspiration for Naruto for the longest time now. :(

Standard disclaimer goes here.

Chapter Four

Over the next few days, Minato saw Sakura the most of her team. This was mostly because she was insistent on keeping a medical eye on him. She'd even questioned Orochimaru in depth about the jutsu that had been used, getting him to break it down in medical terms. He hardly saw Sasuke, and Sai lingered around Sakura a lot. Minato felt a little uncomfortable around Sai, after he'd gone into great length on why Sakura and Karin were so interested in Sasuke.

His theories seemed taken straight from a textbook, and were rather… unsettling. Especially with that smile of his.

Karin had also vanished off his radar, no doubt lurking around for opportunities to ogle Sasuke. Yamato was still 'stalking' Orochimaru, though he took time out every now and then to catch up with Sakura and Sai (apparently he was another addition to their Team Seven as well). Izumo and Kotetsu had been sent back to Konoha.

Right now, Minato was sitting atop a rock that wasn't far from the entrance to Orochimaru's hideout. With Izumo and Kotetsu's 'storytelling' interrupted now that they were gone, he'd asked Sakura questions, and she'd filled in a lot that the other two had left unanswered. She wasn't as graphic as Orochimaru had been, but she didn't spare him.

So now he properly knew that he'd lost his students (bar Kakashi) one by one, become Hokage, then a father, and in that same night, lost his life sealing the kyuubi into his son. And Kushina… well, she'd died alongside him. Sakura told him how Naruto's life had been hard, how he'd been shunned by the village. The fact that despite everything, he never gave up, and now, he had the village's respect.

He also learned that Orochimaru had abandoned the village after his questionable, (and apparently highly illegal and unethical) research came to light. And the invasion that Kotetsu had started to tell him about? That was Orochimaru attacking. The Sandaime had died at that point, apparently. And then Tsunade taking over, Sakura training with her, Sasuke abandoning the village, Naruto leaving to train with Jiraiya-sensei, and Kakashi being rotated back into ANBU for a bit.

Minato had been devastated to learn of his sensei's death, not even Sakura's comforting hand on his back had helped. He'd left then, determined to grieve on his own, and now here he was, staring out at Grass country, finally taking deep breaths and calming himself. So many people were gone… He had no idea how many more he'd hear about as he 'caught up' on history.

But his sensei… He was one of those people you just expected to be around forever, no matter how impossible that was. It was different with others, Rin, Obito, even Kushina. Jiraiya-sensei had been larger than life, and even though he might never fully understand why, that was just the way Minato felt, alright? His sensei was just always there.

He took in a deep, shaky breath, trying to calm himself. Closing his eyes, Minato concentrated on his meditation techniques, even breathing, and relaxing his muscles. Everything he'd learned was so overwhelming, and he had the feeling that it wasn't all over yet. There was still a few more years to catch up on, and the look on Sakura's face had him thinking it was going to be just as bad as everything else, if not worse.

Sakura… He felt he was getting to know her pretty well with all the time they were spending together, even if it was just for monitoring his health, and for 'history' lessons. As well as anyone could over only three days. She was fascinating, talking so calmly one minute, then unleashing her temper on Sai's blundering the next. Sakura'd explained all about Root and Danzou, but Minato still couldn't help but still feel weird about Sai…

During this time, Minato had been thinking, and he knew he was going to return to Konoha with Sakura, Sai, and Sasuke when they left. In fact, he'd already packed the few things he had (a spare change of clothes, a couple of kunai, and a book, all of which Karin had given him, courtesy of Orochimaru, apparently) and was just waiting for when they were ready to go. Which was apparently early the next morning.

"Hey."

A voice interrupted his thoughts, and Minato turned to see Sakura standing nearby. "Hey," he inelegantly replied.

She came over to sit next to him, silent for a moment before she asked, "How're you doing? I know it was a bit of a shock, but you honestly took it better than Naruto did when he found out. He blamed Shishou and ran off, refusing to talk to anyone, until Iruka-sensei and Shikamaru talked to him."

Sakura had talked about Naruto quite a bit, and Minato had gathered that he was a lot like his mother. He was looking forward to meeting him.

"Sorry about that," he said. "I just… It was unexpected, that's all."

Sakura smiled understandingly at him. "I get it," she said. "He was your sensei, and to you, no doubt he was larger than life, you probably thought in the back of your mind that he'd never die. That's a bit how I feel about shishou…"

Minato nodded. "I guess that's it," he said, then took in a long, shaky breath. "I'm twenty, you know? I'm a jounin, I've done six months in ANBU, and I've been studying politics for a long time, though I wonder now how many of those policies are redundant. The point is, Jiraiya-sensei hasn't been my teacher for a long time, but that doesn't matter. He'll always be sensei to me."

"Same for me with shishou," Sakura said. "And maybe with Kakashi a little. I mean, he was only my sensei for barely six months, and favoured the boys over me in teaching, especially Sasuke-kun… Probably why I had no issues with… er, never mind."

They were silent a moment, Sakura stewing in mild embarrassment, then she cleared her throat and asked, "So, are you coming back to the village with us tomorrow?"

Minato sighed. "Yeah, I am," he told her.

Sakura smiled brilliantly, and he stared at her, wide eyed at how he felt lighter at the sight. "Alright then!" she said happily. "Do you… want me to tell you more about what happened? It's… not going to be pretty, especially once we get to the war."

Minato sighed in resignation. "No, I don't that doubt I should probably know before I get back," he said. "Alright, hit me with it, Haruno!"

Sakura mocked glared at him for calling her by her surname, then got stuck into it.

…

A little over an hour later, and Minato sat stunned, absolutely horrified…

OoOoO

The following day was gloomy and overcast, a perfect reflection of Minato's dark mood. He was stewing still over everything he'd learned had happened about Obito, Rin, Madara, and all the rest. He still couldn't believe that the 'mystery man' who'd attacked at Naruto's birth, and caused his and Kushina's deaths, was his cheerful Uchiha student. Obito was the last person he'd ever thought would become a nukenin and try to destroy the shinobi world.

What kind of surreal world was this when someone as bright and carefree as Obito sunk so low into the dark depths, where he plotted the world's end? A genjutsu to trick people into thinking they were living in a better world? Of course, it hadn't been Obito's idea, but he'd gone along with it. All because Rin had… Minato stopped himself there, remembering times others had gone off the rails after losing loved ones. (if not to the extremes Obito had)

He could understand Obito's grief, but could not condone his actions.

Sighing, he looked over to where Sakura and Karin were arguing. It was time to leave at last, and Karin had decided that she needed to assert her 'dominance' to Sakura where Sasuke was concerned. Sasuke had a look on his face that said that he'd had quite enough of being here in the vicinity of Karin, and even Orochimaru looked annoyed at Karin's behaviour. Yamato also looked annoyed, and a hair away from throttling someone (Minato saw his occasional glance over to Orochimaru, so he knew who he was considering for that). Sai seemed entirely unaffected by the whole thing.

"Enough!" Sasuke finally snapped, and both women stopped their bickering. "We're leaving now."

Without waiting for anyone else, the Uchiha took off. "Well, now you've done it, Haruno!" Karin snapped. "You've driven Sasuke away!"

"Away from you," Sakura muttered, but before Karin could respond, she continued, "Sai, Minato-san. Time to go I guess. See you, Yamato-taichou! Er, Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru barely grunted in acknowledgement, before returning indoors, a waving Yamato following him in. Karin gave a huff and glared at Sakura's retreating form before she also went inside, grumbling under her breath the whole while. Minato exchanged a glance with Sai, then the two of them were off after Sakura and Sasuke.

Thanks for reading!