Tag-Team Part 6
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Minato barely made it out of sight and under the remnants of a porch before the tears burning his eyes leaked out. "Leave me alone," he growled as Jiraiya sat down beside him.
"Not a chance, gaki," the older man responded, laying a gentle hand on the boy's back.
"Please," Minato tried.
"I've know you long enough to see when you need to talk to someone. Your normal confidant just beat you over the head for being quite the hypocrite."
"I don't want to talk to you."
"That hurts," Jiraiya whined comically.
Against his will, Minato smiled slightly.
"Now, what's the problem?"
"Do you remember my clan's civil wars?"
"I don't think I'll ever forget them."
"Do you remember what I did in them?"
"That's top secret stuff, Minato, but they told me everything when I became your sensei."
"Full disclosure?" Minato asked.
"Yes, Jonin Senseis have to know everything about their students, for obvious reasons," Jiraiya answered. "But we've already had this conversation; you gave permission for me to know."
"That means you also know that the clan destroyed every record of what happened including the memories of everyone involved, excepting me and the Sandaime."
"I know."
"I stole the summary of the wars and the lists of who participated and what they did."
"I know."
"What?"
"Sakumo-san guessed you did something like that after the destruction order which consequently disowned you. Your clan never tried to track down the scrolls, even though they knew."
"Kushina read them. I hid them under my bed and locked everyone but her out of the room. She hates reading so I didn't think she would touch them."
"I told her to read them."
"Why would you do something like that?" Minato demanded, jerking away from him.
"She asked why you avoided talking about your past. I just told her where to look for answers."
"You had no right—"
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't but I don't regret it the slightest."
Minato glared at him, his hands trembling in anger.
"I won't try and guess why you never told her anything about the wars, but its secrets like that which destroy friendships and teams. You're one team no one wants to see fall apart."
"You had no right to interfere."
"It's been done and I wouldn't change it if I could. Now, you know better than to allow personal issues on a mission. You and Kushina are supposed to be on guard so go do it. Set up camp while you're at it."
Minato turned on his heel and walked away angrily.
After a few minutes, Jiraiya followed and found the camp almost fully made. Kushina knelt in front of a shallow pit, piling wood to make a fire. Minato lay out two sleeping bags almost four feet away from the fire while a third one lay on the opposite side of the fire. Jiraiya lay down on the isolated sleeping bag.
"No fires on missions above a B-rank," he reminded Kushina. Minato threw a scroll at him in answer.
"Jiji said it was okay as long as we used that," Kushina answered impatiently.
Jiraiya opened the scroll. Two concentric circles with the Kanji for fire in the center, directly below it and slightly smaller was the Kanji for heat, all of which lay boldly on the page. The solid, smooth lines connecting the two circles made it seem as though the seal continuously spun.
A second later, Kushina snatched it out of his hand and held it over the firewood. The Sannin protested until the fire lit with a muffled sound, instantly incinerating the scroll, but leaving the ink hovering above the flames. Wincing at the impossible amount of heat washing over him, Jiraiya dragged himself further away from the fire, immediately noting the lack of smoke and the barely perceptible light.
"How did you make a seal like that? There are too many variables to make anything effective."
"We call it an absolute seal. Everything in its area is completely under the seal's domain and all variables are excluded," Minato explained.
"How did you make something like that work?"
"Not telling," Kushina snapped. "Then you'll try it and probably die like we almost did. This is the only design that works and we quit experimenting with them when it nearly killed us for the third time."
"You know what: I don't want to know anymore," Jiraiya gave up and lay down on his sleeping bag. "Enjoy your watch, I'm sleeping until the rest of your unofficial team finishes their job." To avoid waking Jiraiya, Minato and Kushina switched to signing to each other.
Why did you ask Jiraiya about my past? Minato asked immediately.
Kushina hesitated before answering, I just wanted to know. You talk about when you were little, your parents, what your clan was like, even how you used to avoid the Academy but you never told me anything about what happened. I knew your parents were assassinated, I knew everything you felt and thought about it, but I still don't know what happened or why. Even I can tell you still haven't come to terms with any of what happened with your clan and I didn't want you to feel alone when you finally wanted to talk about it.
So you went behind my back instead of asking me directly? Minato pulled his knees to his chest.
I did ask you. You wouldn't answer.
Were you ever going to tell me you knew?
Were you ever going to tell me what happened? Kushina crawled over to kneel behind Minato and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, resting her head on his. I think you would have eventually, but not for years and I was too curious to wait.
I wasn't going to ever tell you, Minato replied honestly.
Normally I'm the one who's really dense in situations like this, but I think that title goes to you right now. "No matter what you have said or done, I'm not going to think any worse of you," Kushina promised aloud. "Cross my heart," she hugged him tighter as silent tears dripped onto her arms. Minato allowed himself to relax against her. I only read the scroll on the first war. She confessed. When I realized exactly what I was reading, I stopped.
Minato turned around and hugged her back tightly. "Thank you," he breathed.
"Keep your libido at reasonable levels during the mission," Jiraiya grunted, opening one eye to see their reactions to his statement.
Both looked at him, not understanding his insinuation.
"Get a dictionary. Are you sure you're a genius, Minato-kun?"
Kushina pulled a dictionary out of one of her storage seals.
"Do you take the entire village with you?" Minato asked in surprise.
"You'll never know," She smirked, flipping through the book to find the word. "EHH?" She shrieked as she read the definition. "He is so going to pay for that comment! I'm telling Tsunade-san!"
Minato jerked the book out of her hands to see for himself. His face turned tomato red while he snapped the book shut and shoved it back at Kushina. Noting his embarrassment, Kushina leaned forward with a devious grin and kissed him on the cheek. If possible, Minato reddened even further while Jiraiya ogled them.
"I thought you said you were going to sleep!" Kushina smirked.
Jiraiya grumbled unintelligibly while Minato's face flamed even brighter as the temperature began to drop from the lack of sunlight.
"Hey Minato, who's doing the first patrol?" Kushina asked as if nothing happened.
"I'll do it," he volunteered, slightly faster than what could be considered natural and shot to his feet.
Kushina shrugged and flopped backwards, sprawling across both of their sleeping bags. "Wake me in an hour."
Minato walked around the barrier, automatically spreading his senses to detect possible threats and actively trying to shut out the previous conversation from his memory. A familiar chakra signature drew his attention, successfully distracting him from his previous thoughts. Minato instantly hid himself as the silver-haired man stepped into view at the end of the street.
As he strode towards the barrier, Minato circled around behind him and, with a speed to rival the Hiraishin, appeared behind the man, ready to break his neck. "Name, rank, and village?" Minato demanded in a low voice.
"Hatake Sakumo, Jonin of Konohagakure. Yours?"
"Lightning. No rank or village."
"You're quite small for someone with so much fame."
"You're quite slow for someone with your reputation," Minato rebutted as he released the older man.
Before Sakumo could turn around, Minato had already pulled out his cloak and put it on, completely obscuring his true identity.
"You're a child!" Sakumo exclaimed as he looked down at Minato's stature.
"Why are you here?"
"I have a message for a man by the name of Jiraiya."
"I will deliver it," Minato stated.
"I'm afraid that's not possible, no matter how familiar you seem."
"Familiar? I don't believe we've met before now."
"I'm sure we have, without your cloak and hood."
"I think I would remember meeting The White Fang."
Sakumo took a sudden step forward as though we was about to lunge for Minato. The boy remained still for a second longer. When Sakumo's hand twitched, Minato replaced himself with a handful of roof tiles, which shattered as four kunai passed through them and their flight adjusted to fly towards Sakumo. The older man's hands flashed together as he muttered the technique under his breath and lightning erupted around Minato, intending to trap him. Minato let off a flash seal at his feet and cut away the lightning entrapping him. From a distance, it would have appeared lightning countered lightning, closer, and it would have appeared as though Minato used fire, but Sakumo was too close to be fooled as the wind ripped through his jutsu.
"Impressive for a kid," Sakumo commented as they backed away from each other. "You talk as if you're faking your speech pattern."
Minato flinched as the genius began to pick apart his disguise. "Then what do I really sound like?"
With a quick shunshin, Sakumo appeared behind Minato and attempted to knock him out from behind, but Minato grabbed his wrist and attempted to throw him off the roof. Sakumo stood his ground with the help of chakra and the two engaged in a flurry of untraceable blows. After ten seconds, both recoiled, nursing a collection of bruises on Sakumo's part, and a number of deep cuts on Minato's part.
He pressed his hand over the worst of them, stumbling away.
Frowning, Sakumo pursued him.
"Henge!" Minato said emotionlessly and transformed into himself.
Sakumo tensed.
"Just because he is on a mission, does not mean I don't know where he is," Minato said without expression. "Henge!" Minato transformed into Sakumo's late wife, Kaori. "Just because I have not met you, does not mean I don't know who you are."
Sakumo took a step backwards, towards Jiraiya.
"Henge!" Minato transformed into Sakumo's son. "I don't think I need to say anything for this one. Deliver your message. Do not look around and leave immediately." Minato pointed behind Sakumo. The man turned around and slowly walked in the direction Minato pointed. As soon as the man's back was turned, Minato vanished with his Hiraishin and reappeared beside Kushina. She woke immediately and helped Minato erase all traces of their camp without waking Jiraiya. She did not question why until they perched on top of the isolation barrier and Minato hid them with a clever, but flimsy Genjutsu.
Kushina started as Sakumo appeared between two buildings and immediately caught sight of Jiraiya sleeping. Sakumo cleared his throat to wake the Sannin. "You're sleeping while Lightning is in close proximity to you?" Sakumo asked as Jiraiya sat up, grumbling.
"We have somewhat of an agreement," Jiraiya answered warily. "What does Sensei want now? A brat shouldn't make you so tense."
"I just met Lightning, who threatened my family. Hokage-sama told me to deliver these and await orders."
"Don't worry about the threats, Lightning won't follow through."
Sakumo glared as Jiraiya read the scrolls.
Minato flinched as Kushina pinched him. "Did you even threaten yourself?" She murmured into his ear.
"I had to; otherwise he would have known it was me!" Minato retorted under his breath.
"He's going to be so mad if he finds out it was you!"
"I hope he doesn't."
"Oi, gaki! Get down here, you just got another mission!"
Minato stiffened.
"You are in so much trouble!" Kushina hissed in his ear as she pulled on her cloak. In a heartbeat, Kushina appeared in front of Sakumo and Jiraiya while Minato appeared behind Sakumo.
Jiraiya smirked. "Hoods down, you two are going undercover to break up a smuggling ring that uses baby ninjas for their dirty work. Sakumo-san just brought the mission."
Kushina tossed back her hood, grinning mischievously. Sakumo's eyes narrowed. "Lightning is a part of Konoha?" He asked warily
"Yep!" Kushina answered cheerfully. "Jiji didn't want us giving away our real identities until we have more experience so we made up Lightning to get experience."
"Who all knows about your…persona?"
"Jiji, Jiraiya-sensei, and Biwako-sensei."
Sakumo turned around and glared at Minato, who scratched the back of his head nervously. "Sorry about threatening you. I'm not supposed to reveal my identity and you were about to figure it out."
"You threatened to kill yourself," Sakumo deadpanned.
"It worked. You're just mad I tricked you," Minato responded defensively.
"Sakumo-san, are you sure this is the scroll sensei gave you, unread and unaltered?" Jiraiya asked seriously holding up the A-ranked mission scroll.
"I have not read it and it has not left my possession."
"What's wrong with the mission?" Kushina asked, hopping over to stand beside Minato.
Jiraiya glanced over at them before refocusing on the scroll. Kushina nudged Minato with her elbow and he vanished for a brief second before reappearing with the scroll in his hands.
"What does it say?" Kushina asked, stepping slightly between Minato and the adults to make it difficult for them to snatch back.
"Patience, I still can't read very fast! It says we are supposed to infiltrate a criminal organizations… led by Jonin-level missing-nin disguised as unskilled and unsupervised Genin. How are we supposed to do this? Even a civilian can tell we have too much chakra for Genin, Kushina has almost as much as Hokage-sama. It would be more convincing to send actual Genin." Minato glanced between the adults.
Jiraiya pinched the bridge of his nose. "The two of you are literally the only Konoha shinobi capable of this mission."
"How so?" Kushina asked.
"First, you both look young for your age and with a little practice, you can appear even younger. Second, you are skilled enough to compete with Jonin if needed, at least until backup is able to arrive, you could probably hold me off for long enough to get away. Third, both of you are too hard-headed to be brainwashed or manipulated, but smart enough to appear so."
Minato and Kushina exchanged a panicked glance.
"Yes, I noticed you both putting up a very good I'm-a-gullible-child-who-will-do-anything-you-tell-me act and told the Hokage. There are a handful of deep cover seals to put your chakra at Genin level and dull your senses. Not to mention, the two of you have some sort of psychic connection and know your limits surprisingly well, even without experience."
"Jiji told us most of that when we made Jonin. If we are supposed to be Genin where's our third teammate?" Kushina asked.
"It will be Uchiha Fugaku. The Uchihas issued the mission and they want someone who knows what's going on. The question is: do the two of you trust him as backup?"
"Why wouldn't I trust him?" Minato asked, confused.
"You know full well that clan has a lot of bad blood in the village," Jiraiya snapped. "Fugaku is a good kid but he is set to be clan head in a few years. If he believed any differently from the rest of the clan, he would be passed over."
Minato opened his mouth to retort but shook his head instead. "Think what you want about him. He's a good teammate."
Kushina adopted a thickly sarcastic tone, "Besides, it's better to put an Uchiha on a team with the demon girl and a foreigner so the enemy is all in one place. I'm surprised they haven't forced us to live on the Uchiha compound yet—"
"Kushina!" Jiraiya snapped, appalled. "That's not how it is!"
"That's exactly how it is," Minato retorted sharply. "Why do you think the Uchiha insist that their own take missions they issue? Why do you think Kushina and I never accept missions where we have to work with other shinobi?"
"Is that the real reason you wanted this particular mission?"
The two suddenly shifted uncomfortably.
"You didn't beg the Sandaime for the mission to prove your worth to the other Jōnin, you asked for it to prove your loyalty."
Kushina crossed her arms defensively, but both appeared slightly abashed.
"I suppose trying to make you two tell me the entire story straight isn't going to work."
"Where is Fugaku-san now?"
"As soon as you report back to the village he will meet you for the mission," Sakumo answered before leaving without another word.
"My mission was to make sure you knew to return the target to Konoha for trial. I won't hinder your operations any longer," Jiraiya told them softly as he packed his camp. He followed Sakumo in silence.
"We'll have hell to sort out when this is over," Kushina commented softly to Minato. "Now all we can do is wait for the barrier to fall."