Plans Part 3
Two weeks later
Itachi just turned 2
(-)
"Still no chance of telling me if I'm going to die today?" Minato said as he slung a small bag over his shoulder.
"Not at all, Namikaze," Kushina responded, leaning against the wall and watching him slyly.
"If you don't hurry up, one of those kids might just do your job for you. I've lost count of how many kunai I've had to block and how many jutsu I've had to step in the way of so the kids didn't kill each other. Believe me, it's not fun to be hit by one of the Uchiha's Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu, even if it's the size of a toddler."
"Jutsu aren't supposed to have pleasant results."
"If you say so," Minato shrugged. "Love you," he said as he pressed his hands together in a seal.
"Love you too," Kushina responded and he vanished before the words died on her lips to reappear in front of the Academy.
"Minato-sensei!" The children's voices cried in excitement. Minato smiled at them.
"What are we learning today?"
"Can you show us a cool jutsu?"
"Will you help me practice after school?"
"Can shinobi see in the dark?"
"Can I be your girlfriend?"
"Wait, what?" Minato glanced down at the group of girls the voice came from. "I'm married!"
"Dozens of legitimate questions and that is the one you chose to answer?" One of the Academy teachers smirked at him.
Choosing to ignore the jibe, Minato addressed all the students. "Everyone into the classroom and I can start answering questions!"
The children rushed into the Academy, competing for the best seats.
"You make my job easier, but I don't like the idea of traumatizing these kids before they set foot in the field."
"I don't like it either, Fujioka-san, but under the circumstances, this is the most effective course of action." Minato hurried inside after the children. "Everybody find a seat!" He called out, taking his place at the front of the room. The children rushed to obey. "From now on, it's going to be almost entirely practical! It's less than a week until you take the graduation test, so if you haven't learned the material for the written test already, you're going to fail. Everyone head towards the training grounds now!"
The kids rushed out. Minato waited until the last one left before turning to follow and finding his path blocked.
"Hi, Fugaku!" Minato smiled widely at his old Genin teammate.
"Mission roster said you were in the village." Fugaku said frantically as he grabbed Minato's arm.
"Only for a few more weeks. What happened? Why are you so shaken up?"
"Except for a handful of the elderly, there are no Uchiha even stationed in the village. The Sharringan is desperately needed on every front of the war. All of the other clan children are either Genin or Academy age so it's not a problem, they spend the entire day at the Academy and only need to go home to sleep, but Itachi is too young for the Academy, and too young to stay home alone."
"Both you and Mikoto have been called out onto the field, haven't you?"
"Mikoto's been out on the field for over a year. I've been in charge of village security but now they're short on people, could you…?" Fugaku gestured helplessly towards the toddler hiding his face in the crook of his knee.
"He can stay with me, but in a few weeks, I'm going to be leaving too."
"That's fine, I should be back by then. If worst comes to worst, he can stay alone at you house, your security is plenty good, your house is child-proof and you can use your Hiraishin to check on him. Everyone knows you check on Kushina all the time."
Minato stared at Fugaku, at a loss for words.
"Please, Minato, he doesn't need much, but no one in my clan is capable of taking care of a toddler, and he's too much of a target to leave with a civilian family, not to mention they won't know how to take care of a shinobi child."
Minato glanced on at the little boy fixated on his kunai pouch. "There's a place where shinobi children stay, most of the Academy lives there." Minato extracted his arm from Fugaku's grasp.
"They don't have the space or the security."
"I don't like this idea, Fugaku," Minato said as he crouched down to Itachi's height.
"The only other option is to take him onto the field with me and everyone knows what happens to kids after that, especially if I—"
"Don't go down that road, Fugaku, it's not a place you want to be."
"So will you?"
"Of course."
"Thank you!"
"Hurry and go, you're late for mission departures."
Fugaku crouched and placed his hands on Itachi's shoulders. "You're going to stay at Minato's house until Kaa-san or I get back, okay? You might be alone a lot, so be good, can you do that for me?"
Itachi's bottom lip trembled but he nodded.
"Bye-bye, Itachi-chan."
"Bye-bye," the boy chorused.
Fugaku gave the boy a quick hug before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.
"You Otou-san's friend."
"Yes I am. I have a class to teach right now, do you want to come help me?"
Itachi nodded eagerly.
"Good!"
Minato poked the boy's forehead, making the child giggle. "You my friend too!"
"Yes I am. Ready for a ride?"
"Ride!"
Minato set the child on his shoulders and raced towards the training grounds, Itachi screaming in delight on his shoulders. "Minato-sensei! Minato-sensei!" The Academy children cried as Minato appeared in their midst.
"Everyone find a partner! We're going to be practicing dodging today!" Minato placed Itachi on the lower branches of a tree overlooking the field. "One partner is going to stand on the white line and the other is going to stand in front of one of the targets on the throwing range. The person standing on the white line is going to receive twenty kunai and forty shuriken. They're going to throw the weapons at the person in front of the targets. Any questions?"
"Won't we hurt our partners?" A girl asked.
"The kunai and shuriken are dulled, they won't puncture the skin, but they will leave bruises. The person standing in front of the target is trying to dodge the throws without moving out of the box marked around the target. Do not aim for the head, neck, or groin, otherwise you can cause your future comrades injury. Any other questions?" Minato waited a moment. "Good, no crying if you get hit because you'll get hit a lot. In three hours, we'll break for lunch and you will switch positions. If I catch anyone wearing armor of any sort or deflecting the kunai and shuriken, you'll be doing this drill until the sun sets, but I'll be the one throwing and you won't be able to dodge anything. Cheating while training gets you killed. To those throwing, push your partners, but don't give them something they can't handle. If you give them too little or too much, you'll be the ones responsible for their deaths. Any questions? Begin!"
The students obeyed and started the drill. Minato watched carefully, occasionally catching a bad shot before it could do any damage. After an hour, Itachi leapt out of the tree and ran up to Minato. "I want do too!"
Minato caught a shuriken before it could catch Itachi in the side of the head. "Sorry, kid, not here, I'll show you a few things afterwards, okay?"
Itachi looked up at him, pleading. Smiling, Minato picked the boy up and tossed him in the air. Squealing with delight, Itachi drew the attention of the entire class. Minato swung him down and set him gently on his feet. Itachi beamed up at him. A shadow blocked the sun from shining on the boy's face. Horror settled over Minato as he felt someone appear at his back. The Jōnin spun around and blocked the first attack. One of the girls screamed as a second assailant thrust a kunai into his side.
Without thinking, Minato reacted. Suddenly, he no longer stood in the center of the academy training grounds but abandoned in the front lines of the war, enemy ninja coming from every direction. He swung a Rasengan at one of his assailants. Someone intercepted it, knocking his hand sharply to the side. A lock of red hair fell out of the cloth obscuring the ninja's identity. Minato froze, the real situation sinking in. Kushina grabbed his outstretched arm and twisted it behind his back, forcing him to face the students. Her arm snaked around his neck, preparing to break it as he struggled. Almost all of the children screamed. Kushina's arm tightened.
Before everything turned black, he watched in horror as Itachi's Sharringan swirled to life.