Minato had been talking to Itachi when they felt the chakra. They had felt the chakra from the forest of death, the place where all the geniuses were. It wasn't just any chakra either. They had first felt Orochimaru's and then the Kyuubi's chakra. They had left at once.
Minato looked around the place, anyone could tell that there had been a battle here. He saw something orange out the corner of his eye, and a feeling of death hit him. When he moved closer, he found that it was indeed his son's precious jacket. The jacket he hardly took off to sleep at night, was left in a bush.
"Hokage-sama" Itachi called out to him. Minato turned around and found what Itachi was looking at. It was chains. The chains were moving in a circle protesting whoever was inside. At a closer look, he could see there were two different types of chains. The first one he knew, having seen Kushina using them and knowing they were more for protection than anything. The other chain type was thinner and instead of glowing golden, they glowed red.
When they moved closer to the shield the red chains shot out at them. The chain barely touched his hand, but it had been enough to give him third-degree burn on said hand. The chain didn't follow them but instead returned to its previous place.
Suddenly the chains stopped spinning and one of them moved aside, just enough that someone could look out from inside. Frighten green eyes looked out from the shell of chains. His eyes met with the only female member of team 7.
He stood perfectly still watching her watching him, before turning to Itachi. They had to wait a couple of minutes before the chains began to disappear. Minato let his eyes look her over.
There Sakura sat holding onto both her teammates like her life depended on it. Her eyes were red and anyone could tell she had been crying. Her clothes were a mess and there was drained blood in places, she even had bruised that had already turned black and blue.
The guilt shot through him before he could blink. It was a miracle that she had even survived an encounter with Orochimaru. The fact that she was still wake should have been impossible.
"Ho-Hokage-sama"
She began to cry all over again in pure relief. He was in front of her only a second later holding her close as her body shook. It had taken her less than a minute to move away from the hug and the tears had all but stopped.
Sakura had always been like this, even when she had only been 5. When she finally broke down it was never for long. Shortly after she would be smiling and laughing. Everyone believes her smiles and thought her life was perfect. It always amazed him what a good actor she was.
He simply watched as she turned back to her teammates looking them over for letting out a sign.
"He was after Sasuke-san"
Minato switched his eyes over to Itachi-san for a second, taking note of the way his mulches tighten.
"He wanted to bite his neck… That was when the… chains showed up?"
She seemed so unsure of what to call it. For a brief moment he considered if it had been Naruto's chains, but just as quickly dismissed it. Only female Uzumaki was able to use the chains. He stopped that tail of thoughts for another time when no threat was looming over Konoha and right now that was Orochimaru wasn't hanging over his head.
"Can you lift Naruto-san onto my back or is that against the rules?"
Sakura was already onto the next thing. She might not be as strong as Naruto or Sasuke was, but she outsmarted them both combined. Minato knew her only friend was the Nara-hire and that was only because of the challenge he posted in shogi.
"Orochimaru won't be back for a couple of days, I would say that the second part will finish before he makes a new move… We will continue on Hokage-sama have a good day"
And she left just like that, Minato stood back with Itachi merely watching her limping away.
"Sakura Haruno vs Ino Yamanaka"
Sakura looked over at the blond girl, sizing her up slowly. Ino looked smug and confident, Sakura just felt tired. Tired of sound nins, Orochimaru, of every move she was her muscles would scream in pain and the boys' underappreciation on being rescued by a girl. All she wanted to do was sleep and the only way to do that was getting rid of Ino, so that was what she would do.
She went down and stood before the blond robotic, not listening to her taunting. Nothing could scare her after having to face off against Orochimaru, most certainly not a spoiled brat. The moment they began, she sends the other girl flying through the wall and knocked the girl out cold, totally anticlimax but she just wanted her bed. The man was just standing there gaping at her before looking at the blond.
"Can I go now?"
While she was claimed the winner, she went back to her team yawing. She could hear the teams talking but didn´t care for their though either. Once there she stumbled along the wall and fell asleep, feeling safe with her teacher there.
Minato had kept a watch on the girl ever since the forest. He supposed it made sense that she would be a long lost Uzumaki, the hair color should have at least given him a hint. Just the thought of the upcoming political mess was giving him a headage, why hadn´t she been born inside of fire? Why did it have to be Kumu? Maybe they never had to know.
This was just an idea to a story, not sure if I someday will make it into one, but for now, it is just a one-short