The God War Part 2

Kaori is Sakumo's wife. They were married about two years earlier.

(-)

"Where are your shoes?" Sakumo asked as the stepped outside of the Hokage Tower.

Minato looked back at him as if he was stupid, a look Sakumo rarely earned. "Only shinobi wear shoes on missions."

Sakumo bit back a sharp retort when he remembered the boy's father's lack of footwear. "Why doesn't everyone wear shoes?"

Minato turned around but continued to walk backwards. "Takigakure is the Village Hidden by a Waterfall. Waterfalls make a lot of mist," Minato gestured with his hands, "So the ground is always wet. Shoes always be wet because shoes always touch the ground."

"What if someone steps on something sharp?"

"I don't know," Minato turned on his heel and continued to walk forwards. Sakumo felt more than a little uncomfortable as Minato led him back to his own house, not on the same path as he brought them originally, but on a shorter, more direct route.

"How good are you at sensing, gaki?"

"I don't know."

"How far can you sense?"

"I don't know."

The man could not figure out what Minato so he moved on with the questions. "How did you learn how to use the pressure point in someone's wrist?"

"I don't know."

"Okay, how did you learn your clan's signs?"

"To-san got his hands burned really bad. He talked when Ka-san signed."

"You must be a genius, gaki."

"I don't know what a genius is." The boy stepped aside so Sakumo could open the door to the house.

Sakumo just stared at him. Minato shifted uncomfortably, jolting Sakumo out of his bewildered trance so he could open the door and lead Minato inside. The boy brushed his feet off before stepping into the house.

"Kaori? Can you make up a bed in the living room? An acquaintance asked me to watch his kid."

"The Hokage is letting you watch a kid but not do any missions?" A woman asked from the room over. Minato caught a glimpse of dark hair opening the door of a small closet. "Have you eaten dinner, kid?" She asked. Sakumo gestured for him to follow her voice. Minato walked into the room and the woman glanced over her shoulder. "Who let him wear that? Does he have any other clothes?"

"He doesn't have anything else," Sakumo supplied. "I'll have to get him some clothes tomorrow so he doesn't stand out as much with that style. Have you eaten dinner, Minato-kun?"

"No."

"Our dinner is still warm, you can have the rest." Kaori turned around with a stack of blankets in her arms.

"He's adorable!" She squealed and would have crushed Minato in a hug if was a second slower at dashing into the adjacent room and slipping underneath the table. "And quick."

"Don't do that, Kaori! You scare the hell out of me, not to mention whoever you're attacking!"

"Where did he go, anyways? Not even some of the Chuunin can move that fast."

"He went into the kitchen."

"Go put these on the couch; I'll make it up later. Kids shouldn't be missing meals." She bustled into the kitchen and spooned rice into a bowl and set it on a place at the table, pulling out the chair so Minato could climb up. A second later, she picked up a plate with four yakitori and placed it in front of Minato. "It's not much, I wasn't expecting a guest. If you're still hungry, I can make more, just say something."

She left him alone in the kitchen as he ate quickly but politely.

"He's not from Konoha." She told Sakumo quietly. "Where's he from?"

"I can't tell you."

"Family name?"

"I really can't tell you that."

"Village?"

"No."

"Age?"

"I'm not sure. Four? Maybe three. Except for a lack of general knowledge due to his age, he's as smart as I am."

"He too coordinated for a four-year-old. Is he some sort of prodigy? Who is he?"

"Please, Kaori, stop asking, I can't tell you what I don't know."

She snatched the blankets from his hands and started to lay them over the couch neatly. "I have to leave early to help some kids at the academy. Do I have to come back at lunch to make sure you're taking care of him?"

"I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Okay." She hurried back into the kitchen and found Minato with his head on the table, staring at the half-empty bowl of rice and the three remaining yakitori. "You need to eat more than that, Minato-kun."

"I'm not hungry."

"Too bad. You're too thin and you're going to get sick if you don't eat."

"I'm not hungry."

"I heard you the first time. Finish the rice and you're done."

He looked up at her, trying to determine if she meant what she said. She crossed her arms and stared him down. Under her scrutiny, he finished most of the rice before pushing it away.

"Good enough now wash up. You can use the kitchen sink since Sakumo in in the bathroom." She swung a chair in front of the sink and scraped the little bit of rice into the trashcan, covering the yakitori to put in the fridge.

Instead of washing, Minato watched her carefully.

"Is something wrong?"

"Are you scared?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ka-san only tells me what to do when she's scared or sad and she always tells me why."

Kaori reached over to ruffle the boy's hair, but he dodged her hand and put the table between them. "I'm not scared or upset, Minato-kun. I have to order the children who are training to be shinobi to do things, otherwise they don't do it. I didn't realize I didn't have to do that to you."

"Do they like getting bossed around?"

"I don't know."

"That's not right. If they're trying to be shinobi, why do they gotta be told what to do? Are they lazy?"

"They're not lazy; they just don't like to behave."

Minato gave her another confused look before taking off his jacket to reveal the ripped and bloodstained t-shirt with the mostly-healed shuriken wounds.

Kaori held back a gasp. "Kid, you're a mess!"

"I'm fine."

Kaori opened her mouth to argue, but Sakumo cut her off. "I'll handle it, Kaori."

She left in a huff. Minato started to rinse the smears of blood off his arms. "Were you in a fight, gaki?"

"No."

"Then how did you get hit by shuriken?"

"I'm too little."

Sakumo paused before deciding not to ask him to elaborate. "Can I look to make sure they're healing right?"

Minato stiffened but nodded and pulled the tank top off. Sakumo soaked a towel and wiped the dried blood away. Two shuriken barely missed his spine, landing deep in the muscles of his middle back. Sakumo nearly whistled in surprise. Another shuriken cut a tendon to his arm and a fourth shuriken lodged in his shoulder dangerously close to a major vein. Yet, the boy carried himself easily and showed no sign of pain. Sakumo gently rinsed all the blood off the kid's back, careful not to agitate the wounds. Without a shirt, Minato looked smaller than ever, his bones protruding slightly further than what could be considered healthy.

Pulling a pair of shorts and a shirt from a younger clan mate out of his pocket, he held them out for the boy. "Why don't you change into these, you'll be more comfortable."

"I'm fine," Minato assured him, jumping backwards off the chair and reaching for his own shirt.

"'Fine' means everything is completely okay. Right now, that's not true. Your clothes are covered with blood and dirt; you have multiple wounds, which should make it nearly impossible for you to move properly."

"To-san healed them."

"He didn't finish healing them."

"They'll be better."

Sakumo took a deep breath to force back his frustration, thinking back to how his father persuaded him to cooperate. "How did your clothes get all dirty?"

"I'm wearing them."

"Do they normally get that muddy?"

"No."

"They why are they so muddy right now?"

"Ka-san wasn't there to ask me to change."

"Why does she make you change?"

"She doesn't want mud on the chairs."

"Do you change when she asks?"

"We don't have any chairs so she doesn't make me change." Minato could not hold back a smirk any longer. Sakumo's jaw dropped when he realized the boy successfully reasoned his way out of compliance. Minato snatched the clothes out of his loose hand and race out in a streak of yellow. As the bathroom door closed behind the boy, he started to laugh loudly. Sakumo sincerely hoped the boy's father would return soon, and hoped the kid was just being difficult for him as a stranger, not genuinely uncooperative.

When Sakumo managed to get over his shock, he put the chair back under the table and walked into the living room where Minato sat in front of the couch-turned-bed, wearing the overlarge, but clean, clothes, and kneeling seiza-style, his palms facing upwards and resting on his thighs, back perfectly straight and face tilted upwards. In an instant, Sakumo recognized it as meditation, but he seeing the kid genuinely meditating nearly knocked Sakumo flat on his back. Few children ever tried meditation, and Sakumo never before encountered a child willingly practicing it, much less one able to sit still and be successful at it. Curious to see how long the boy could maintain the stillness, Sakumo retrieved a book from his room where Kaori already slept, and took a seat in the chair a few feet away. After an hour, Sakumo began to check the clock with increasing frequency. Not even he could meditate for as long as the boy, nor did he see a reason to.

Unable to read any longer, Sakumo moved to the floor and spread out the late paperwork, which nearly suspended him multiple times, determined to know exactly how long the boy could meditate. By the time he finished, the boy's fingers began to twitch.

Sakumo expected him to stand up or at least open his eyes, but instead, he began to manipulate his chakra with instinctive dexterity. Convinced the boy could not be anything but a surprise, Sakumo began to write down his observations on a blank report meant for his mission tally. His eyes grew even wider when he noticed the boy's chakra becoming visible across his skin, encasing him in an armor similar to the rumored speed-enhancing technique from Kumo. Sakumo shot to his feet as Minato seemed to lose control and it started to lash back at him. The older man tried to get out before any damage could occur, but the boy's chakra was faster and an instant later, paralyzed him, filling the room with bright yellow light. After a full minute of panic, Sakumo realized the chakra was not harming him, only circulating through him with a comforting warmth. He started to relax when the boy cursed; the same curse his father used, and the chakra shot back into the boy, making him cry out in pain and clasp his hands against his chest. Minato opened his eyes to look at his singed hands. The sudden loss of the warm chakra brought Sakumo to his knees with a heavy thump, feeling sick.

"You not meant be here!" Minato cried and ran forward talking a mile a second, pressing his small fingers to Sakumo's temples, forcibly stabilizing his chakra system. "Please don't tell To-san, please don't get mad."

"What were you doing?" Sakumo demanded, harsher than he intended, but noticing how the boy's language sounded much closer to his age.

Minato recoiled at his tone. "No, no, no!"

"What was that?" Sakumo demanded.

"Chakra, chakra!"

"What do you mean? Only shinobi can use chakra, not civilian toddlers!"

Minato pulled his hands away, "I don't know! I don't know!" Minato backed away, trembling, shielding his face with his arms.

"Why not?"

"I don't know." Minato backed away until he curled into the corner of the couch. No matter what questions Sakumo asked, he would not speak anymore, nor look up at him.

"I'll see you in the morning," Sakumo gave up and left the room.

(-.-)

The sun only began to peek over the horizon when he managed a few fitful minutes of sleep, after spending most of the night trying to figure out the enigma the boy presented and listening to him tossing the entire night. Kaori woke up, dressed, and left for her job at the Academy with nothing but a quiet 'good morning.'

Figuring he would not be able to sleep any longer, Sakumo rolled off his bed and reluctantly put on civilian clothes. A quiet knock on the door interrupted him before he could start making a breakfast. He checked on Minato who was sprawled across the couch, a leg and an arm hanging off the edge. Sakumo carefully opened the door, wary.