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Minato
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When Minato is assigned as a jōnin leader for the first (and last) time, he is no older than eighteen. He is young, too young perhaps—many would like to say, but he has always believed that people should be counted in years of experience rather than age.
His team, as it turns out, is not perfect right from the start (and will never be), but Minato believes with a conviction they can become so. Not in a year, not even in five, but they can do it. He will push them from behind, because they are his team, after all.
And well, he has always been one to get attached easily. Kushina always tells him that, and Minato would agree with her if only she weren't the same way. He thinks of war looming in the distance and shinobi with their lives cut short, and he gets attached either way. Even if they may not seem so, they get attached to one another and they get attached to him too.
Kakashi and Obito and Rin.
They are his Team 7. They are his friends. They are his family.
Minato, though so young, feels like their parent. And the worst pain for a parent is to lose their child.
In the Third Shinobi War, Minato earns the title of the feared Yellow Flash. The fastest man alive.
Soon, Obito dies, pinned under a boulder, far away from a home he will never see again. Minato does not come fast enough.
In Konoha, they bury an empty casket.
Rin is killed—kills herself—at the hand of her other teammate, far away from a home she will never see again. Minato does not come fast enough.
In Konoha, they bury another empty casket.
As for Kakashi… It seems he has died alongside them.
If Minato would allow himself to dwell on it, he would die too. His precious team is now nothing more than a fleeting dream, and Minato realizes perhaps he was indeed too young, first in age, but also in experience.
He is only twenty-four when he becomes the Yondaime Hokage. It had been his dream for as long as he can remember, but Minato fears this time – how can he protect his village, if he couldn't protect his team? When he accepts, he thinks of creating a better future for Kushina and their child, Naruto, for Kakashi who has been living among ghosts for a while now, and for all the souls for which he is now responsible.
On that fateful night, he is not fast enough to protect Kushina, his wife, his lover, but together they protect their child.
Minato dies young, too young perhaps, just as he was too young to protect his team and too young to protect his family.
His dreams – dreams for Naruto –, though young themselves, he hopes with all his being will become true. Minato dies entrusting his dreams to Naruto, and Naruto—in his heart— he entrusts to Kakashi.