Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any means. That right is reserved for Masashi Kishimoto and/or associated entities.


April 5th

The gold of the sun, the redness of roses.

The colors of springtime.

It's something Minato thought about, attempting to draw a breath, as Kushina slowly strided to him. Her steps were silent as the fresh air twirled around them. The smell of oak hanging densely in the air; Kushina's beautiful red hair flailing slightly in the wind.

The leaves were fresh on the ground, a vibrant green in comparison to the crumpled, faded orange they were previously. Winter had already ended, the gentleness of spring almost smiling upon them as the sun wasn't overbearing as it was during the summers in the Land of Fire. With said winter's end, nature's gift was promised in the trees and flowers blooming all around them in a beautiful spring of April 5th.

Unfettered emotions torrented in Minato, as his wife slowly drawled closer. He never expected to escape the Shinigami's stomach, yet he did. And the result was that he could breathe the spring air, almost waiting to breathe the color of spring that he considered Kushina to be. As she did him.

Kushina reached him on the bridge he was at, overlooking the stream. In a moment of pure joy, their lips made contact. Minato couldn't believe it, but he was here... with the love of his life. The colors of spring dancing around them.

When she laughed in her kiss, Minato couldn't help but giggle himself. After the torture that he had to deal with, he could finally relax. The void of the Shinigami had him rot with the Yin half of the Kyuubi, and he could finally escape the harshness of death to it's springtime in the Pure Land. With Kushina.

Yet when their lips parted, Minato couldn't help but find... shame on her lips. Shame in her expression, as she looked down pensively. Perhaps she didn't expect him to be here? It would make sense, since he fully separated them with his sealing.

Maybe... it had to do with Naruto. As he thought that, he felt a pang in his heart. Almost as if a needle stuck itself through it. He had damned their baby to being a Jinchūriki, and she fully knew the hostilities their son would have to go through.

Naruto was born, the death of summer and the middle of fall. Come springtime, the reunion of two soulmates. With birth, Naruto lived, Minato and Kushina died. Split apart from each other, Naruto lived, Minato rotted in the Shinigami's stomach, and Kushina in the afterlife.

But Minato was sure he didn't have to worry. He was with Kushina now, as if they were at the peak of their youth. Naruto would be fine, and he was about to say that in specific...

Yet he couldn't draw a breath. He felt like he was choking, as Kushina stared in confusion at Minato's plight. Minato's eyes started to water, as he tried desperately to take a breath, to speak, to live!

And that... was when it hit him. This wasn't the Pure Land. He looked at Kushina, who started to wither away as the colors of spring he so desperately loved faded in a burning rage that he hated to see on Kushina. The illusion had taken its bow as Kushina withered out of existence, the spring day of April 5th fading away as if it never happened.

Because it didn't.

Minato had finally realized the hell he brought himself saving the village. In his overzealous efforts to save his son and the village and Kushina and everyone else, he never properly thought about his actions. He may have thought he was doing the right thing, but it was clear he never actually knew if he was.

It was his punishment for his actions. The punishment of leaving his work to his son, the colors of spring embodied. The Will of Fire, embodied. Minato knew what he did, and his heart broke again with what happened on the fading spring day of April 5th. The one that never existed; the one fabricated by the Shinigami for his eternal torture.

Never-ending.

And he still couldn't breathe.


This was a test. Kudos to whoever recognizes what I based this off of, and I can only hope you all liked it.

I'm not a writer by any means, but this was my first attempt at something in the Naruto-verse. I have longer stories planned in a better format for those, so let me know what you think.