Minato stared at him with large eyes. Oh fuck no, this wasn't happening. Where the hell was Jiraiya and what the hell was going on? And why, why, was he constantly stuck with the thrice damned clan?! Was it some sort of divine punishment? Had he done something to piss off the higher powers? If so he was regretting whatever offence he had committed.
6.
He stared at the Uchiha and absently noted a few details he had missed earlier. The man was young, probably his early twenties, like most ninja taking on a genin team, or in this case, a student. He had the telltale onyx eyes and dark brown hair of his clan, and a barely visible scar at his left cheek. It looked as if someone had pressed the tip of a kunai into his cheek and made an almost diamond shaped wound. He was leaning against the wall with a detached air to him, staring back with one eyebrow raised and waiting for a reaction from the blond boy.
"I thought all Uchiha are police officers?" Minato blurted out, conveniently forgetting the chunin who had carried him when they arrived in Konoha. The man, Yashino he said his name was, scoffed.
"That's what people like to believe. Konoha doesn't need a police force that huge, so the rest of us hold ranks within the ordinary force," he explained and pushed himself from the wall.
"I need a smoke, so…. Mind if we take this outside? The teachers get twitchy when someone tries to smoke in here. Claims we are a bad influence. Personally I don't see what the problem is. We are training little children to become killers, and they still worry about having a bad influence on you."
He beckoned Minato to follow, and he did, slightly taken back by the attitude. He wasn't sure what to make of the unknown Uchiha, but he didn't seem bad. He seemed more or less laid back.
"Hm, you really are a quiet one. I would have thought you wanted to know more than what my clan do?" he asked and Minato saw him glance at him. As soon as they were out of the doors, the Uchiha pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one. He let out a sigh when he took a drag and looked up to the sky. Minato thought he looked somewhat at peace like that.
"That's not healthy," he commented, gaining laugh from the man.
"Sure it isn't, brat, but I don't think I'll live long enough for it to be an issue. Besides, almost every accomplished ninja has some sort of habit. Seeing some of the more eccentric ones I prefer my nicotine any day."
Minato figure he had a point. He knew very well some of the more extreme quirks ninja could develop. He was silently relieved there was no Gai in this time, or he was sure to be the chosen 'genius' to challenge. Smoking wasn't really that bad. It didn't annoy the hell out of everyone around, at least unless it was someone with extreme aversion to tobacco. It didn't cause people to look weirdly at him, he didn't get pummeled by angry females for peeping and he didn't fall into a drunken sleep at work. All in all, it was pretty harmless to anyone but the user…
"I like sweets", he admitted freely and sat down at a bench beside the street they were walking down. He thought about it for a moment and regarded his new sensei. The man seemed to be regarding him in turn.
"'Like' or 'addicted to sugar'?" Yashino asked thoughtfully. Minato widened his eyes for a moment, but it was enough for the seasoned jonin to see. He snorted.
"Surprised? You have awoken the interest of a lot of people. You're a genius of the ninja arts and in a village like ours that counts for something. You've been kept an eye on since you were only a few months into your Academy carrier. Your file says you sleep about five hours each night, goes training for an absurd amount of hours every day and compensates by taking small naps during the day and eat an equally absurd amount of sweets."
Minato frowned before he nodded. As much as he disliked it, it made sense that they had observed him.
"That is why they have given me an Uchiha sensei," he mumbled to himself, but the man heard him and nodded.
"Yes. By 'they' I take it you know who assigned the teams. The Uchiha clan has a history of producing young but excellent ninja, so they figured we could train someone without the sharingan equally well, considering your aptitude for the ninja arts."
Minato hummed at that information and while he wasn't pleased by constantly getting involved in a clan he rather have nothing to do with, it was a coincident. Something else struck him though, something more irritating. Without knowing it, he had already become a piece in the political game inside the village.
"What do they want with me?" he asked with narrowed eyes. He couldn't believe they did this without expecting some sort of result from it. He doubted the Advisors and the Hokage wanted him to have tight bonds with the one clan they never fully trusted in the village, so what was their game? What did they want to achieve by assigning him one of them as a sensei? The Uchiha's smiled widened.
"My, you truly are a sharp kid. Most wouldn't have seen the politics in this, but for now it is just like I said. You have potential to be one of the greatest ninja from Konoha of all time, but the only ones with experience of training children as young as you, is my clan. By handing you over to me they are ensuring your training and making a show of trusting us."
Minato leaned back and pulled a stick of pocky from his pocket at the same time as Yashino lit another cigarette. They remained silent for a while, enjoying their respective addictions, before Minato raised another question.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Eh, according to the profile I was given you are too smart for your own good. If I didn't come out and tell you, you wouldn't trust me until I did. Eventually you would have found out on your own, and mistrusted me even more. That is hardly productive when I am supposed to teach you."
"….I understand, but aren't your clan involved in this as much as the other higher ups? And why the Uchiha clan? It might as well have been the Hyuga clan?"
Yashino blew out a cloud of smoke and watched it disappear into the air with a far off expression.
"Probably, to the first of your questions at least. Personally I couldn't care less. It is for the clan Elders and the Head of the clan to plot political games. As for why the Uchiha clan, well, like I said, we know how to handle cases like yours, and while the Hyugas often produce prodigal ninja too, they are all centered on their own special way of fighting. Without the byakugan shitload of help that would be."
Minato had a feeling there was something the man wasn't saying, but he didn't press it. So far the man had been open and answered honestly enough and he didn't want to get on his bad side. Though, he could tell his new sensei had decent respect for the Hyuga clan. He had always imagined the two clans of arrogant jerks to get along like two packs of rivaling wolves would, but that didn't seem to be the case. Perhaps it was because both held a bloodline limit affecting their eyes and that caused some mutual respect.
"So…. What are we going to do now?" Minato asked and looked at this Yashino sensei and wondered just how he was supposed to be tested to pass the actual exam. The man smirked. It was a smirk he had seen when Kakashi had tested them as well.
"Heh, how proficient are you with Fire Techniques?" Yashino asked and flicked the rest of his cigarette somewhere out of sight. Minato wasn't sure of he should berate him for it or just ignore it. He had a feeling this guy was like the other Uchiha he had known in that he could be irritating without even trying.
"I know a couple," he answered and got up from the bench. The Uchiha's smile widened into a grin.
"Great. We'll head over to one of the training grounds around the compound and you'll show me the ones you know. If you pass my standards I'll take you on as my student. If not, you'll have to spend another year in the Academy."
Minato vaguely remembered having heard that every jonin taking on a team had their own way of testing their potential students. It made sense that the Uchiha's test would be to do a decent Fire Technique. From what he had heard from Sasuke, to master a C – rank or higher Fire Technique was a rite of passage within the clan. Upon mastering it, they were no longer be considered children but full members of the clan and ninja in their own right even if they hadn't yet passed the Academy. It irked him slightly that he had to be measured to the standards of a clan who where all predisposed to Fire, when the test happened to be to do a Fire Technique. It wasn't exactly fair, but then again, little in the life of a ninja was.
Yashino led him to a secluded training area outside of the Uchiha compound. There was a small lake, and Minato concluded that was why they were there. Fire tended to burn things, unless those things were wet, and could cause major destruction if it got out of hand. The man stopped at the shore and stood a moment and just tilted his head to the side before frowning at the opposite bank. Minato could tell why he was frowning. There were several chakra signatures there, partly masked, but still enough for him to sense. It appeared as if the clan was more interested than he had thought. He shrugged and smirked with a small gleam of mischief in his eyes.
He made the correct set of seals and breathed out, putting as much chakra as needed in the technique to make it large enough to be impressive. The stream of hot chakra erupted into a large fireball, heading for the shore where he felt the chakra. Yashino had a large grin on his face, his eyes filled with mirth as the fireball flew harmlessly over the water and came dangerously close to the shore before it was gone.
"Good, really good," he muttered and Minato felt his eyes on him again, this time in contemplation.
"You said you knew a couple. What is the other one?" Yashino asked and eyed him as if he was an especially interesting specie he hadn't seen before. Minato could see him study him with those dark eyes and felt as if it was all the man could do not to stalk around him in circles like a predator to watch him from every direction. Like an overly zealous cat. The mental image made him smile. Not wanting the man to know what he thought of him, he instead made the hand seals and blew out several smaller fireballs over the water.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Immortal Technique," Yashino mumbled with satisfaction and glittering eyes.
"Brilliant, absolutely brilliant," he continued, staring at the blond with unnerving unblinking eyes. Minato stared back, face blank and a sent silent plea to the Gods for his sensei not to be mentally retarded. He felt he had dealt with enough disturbed people during his past lifetime and didn't feel like trying to set another one on the straight and narrow. This one had seemed so normal too!
"Uh…. I don't know how to hide shurikens in them yet," he said, and tried to force himself to appear calm and collected. The Uchiha smiled, this time wide and unguarded.
"Great, that will be some of the first we'll work on then. Do you prefer shuriken over kunai? Close, mid ranged or long distant battle?" Yashino asked and fell back on the ground and let out another content sigh. Minato sat down beside him and had to admit it felt pretty good just sitting there and watch the sun reflect on the water.
"I don't have preference for either of them, but I tend to avoid close combat. I am too small to do any real damage with taijutsu if my opponent is grown up or at least a few years over the normal graduation age, so I have to make it count if I get up close and personal. That's why I usually work with genjutsu and if that won't work, shuriken and mid to long range ninjutsu."
"Yeah, I was told about the stunt you pulled at the exam…. Something like that could probably kill if you hit the right spot, or maim an opponent seriously. Do you know what your elemental affinity is yet?"
Minato looked at him from the corner of his eyes. Was he really going to explain that sort of thing to him this early? He started to wonder if the man already had something in mind with all the questions he asked.
"No, we aren't tested for that at the Academy; then again, I am not even supposed to know what that is."
The Uchiha chuckled and folded his arms behind his head to get a more comfortable position.
"You aren't, but it isn't stopping you from knowing about it, is it? I have a theory, you see, but I don't know if it is right. They say our affinity is something we are born with, but I think if we start early enough you can develop a secondary affinity almost as strong as your primary affinity. Many in my clan have fire as a secondary affinity and not a primary affinity, but it is there. We start training with fire techniques really early, considering it is our rite of passage. I am thinking you might have done the same, by training with elemental techniques as young as you are."
He was silent for a moment, before he turned slightly to look at his new student.
"That is, if fire wasn't your affinity to begin with…. Lots of people in Konoha have that as their primary affinity. Not surprising I guess, since we live in Fire Country."
Minato hummed and leaned back on his hands looking up at the blue sky. He wondered if his affinity was still wind. He had become rather fond of the unpredictable element. It was even more so than fire, as unstable as fire could be, wind was always shifting, always changing from the mild breeze to the fierce storms and everything in between.
"I am not from Fire Country. I was born in Whirlpool. Isn't that in my file as well?"
The Uchiha blinked before he smirked.
"I forgot it was. I never met many of the Wirlpool ninja. I heard they were more into trade than the traditional ninja arts. Most of them were said to be damn good guards of caravans and ships. I heard rumors claiming that was part of why the Water Country wanted them out of the way. It has never been verified but it is said that some the Water country supplies or even leads some of the pirates along their coast."
Minato let his eyes drop from the sky to Yashino and gave him a thoughtful look.
"I never knew that. My mother never told me much about what went on around us. I think she tried to protect me in her own way, and I never knew my father."
There, that should help him explain any and all ignorance of his origin.
"Eh, I never did either. My sister is a few years older than me, though, so she has a few memories of our father."
Minato heard the fondness in his voice and smiled a small smile of his own.
"Yeah, I have the Uzumaki cousins. I consider them my family now, like a very annoying sister, an adoring younger brother and a bit of a reclusive older brother," he said and chuckled as he imagined the affronted looks he'd get if they ever heard him describe them like that. Yashino glanced over at him and nodded with a smirk.
"I am going to be an uncle in half a year or so. In fact, my sister said she is going to make me his or her godfather."
Minato raised an eyebrow at that tidbit of information. The man was really trying to get to know him, and in turn he opened up for him to see some of who and what he was. An even trade Minato thought intrigued. It certainly was more than Kakashi had given out. He had preferred for them to get to know him by themselves. Perhaps because he felt his past was better left buried and forgotten. Minato wasn't sure, but if he could, he'd see what he could do about it. Gai sure had droned on and on about his departed and dearly missed eternal rival when he got in the mood. If Minato was lucky he could make it so the latter never discovered the 'youthfulness' of green spandex. A brief glimpse of a man in orange spandex in his minds eye made him shudder. While the color was better.... well, spandex was out, period.
The word godfather reminded him of Jiraiya. He hadn't actually known that before he had read the large book with all of Jiraiya's collected observations. He had learnt a lot of how the nature worked from that, and gained some useful or just personally satisfying information. He found it weird his father wasn't mentioned to be his father in the text, but he guessed Jiriaya had meant for him to read the book and didn't want to give away too much information. He tended to be like that. Just give enough information to make you think and then wait for you to come to your own conclusions. Kuuybi had revealed the grand secret before he had time to consider it, and just because the demon never tried to sugarcoat anything he trusted it to be true.
"So what will you teach me?" he asked ant directed his attention to his sensei. The Uchiha was still relaxing in the grass, but Minato wasn't fooled. If anything or anyone was to come unexpected on them, the jonin would be up and ready in less than a second.
"I've been thinking. We'll definitely work on your taijutsu and endurance. Even if it will be useless in battle for a few years to come, you'll be able to use it against people your own age and a little older, and bandits. The sort of scum most likely to appear on missions we'll take when the time is right. Other than that, I have an idea. What do you know about chakra manipulation beside the elemental manipulation?"
Minato wondered if Yashino had an idea which would lead him to start training to form the Rasengan, but shrugged in response.
"I know it is possible to do shape manipulation, but I don't know how."
"Hmmm…. Have you heard of the Sand's Puppeteer Corps? It is a group of ninja from Suna who uses puppets to fight. They control those puppets with strings made of chakra."
Minato couldn't see what that had to do with anything, but didn't comment. He waited for his sensei to explain what he was thinking, and was a bit worried when he saw the grin forming.
"Every day from now on, when we have finished the physical training, we'll work on your chakra manipulation until you can form perfect chakra strings."
"Uh, sensei, I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but I don't want to be a puppeteer," he said carefully. Uchiha Yashino smirked with a pleased look to him.
"I don't want you to be one either. You see, it'll be a shame to let your chakra control go to waste, and good chakra control is something which can't be copied. I want you to surpass the Uchiha clan, and to do that you'll need a technique we can't copy. Yes, we'll see how it is done, but our ability to use the information will be restricted by our own chakra control."
To say Minato was shocked was an understatement. He was utterly speechless and left with nothing but confusion. Yashino stretched on the ground and watched him with a neutral expression.
"I don't want to train a great ninja. I want to train an exceptional ninja. I want you to surpass me, to surpass the clan I am bound by and become a legacy overshadowing even the Uchiha clan. If you can't do it you'll forever be marked as the genius trained by the Uchiha clan, but if you can rise above us, above any label the word bestowed upon you, you'll shine in your own right."
The man laughed lightly.
"I'll admit it is selfish reasons, but all the same it is my reason. What is your reason, Minato, to want to walk this path in life? To want to willingly soak your hands in blood, sell your soul for your village and kill your heart for your sanity?"
Minato was honestly taken back by the abrupt frankness. None of his previous teachers had ever given him a speech like that. True, Kakashi had warned them of the consequences and where the heroes ended up, but he still hadn't tried to truly explain. He hadn't told them right out to what they would have to do to survive as a ninja. That was something they had discovered on their own.
"…. I saw my friends killed, my family killed, my world ended in red. I hate that color; I despise it, but… I am bound by it. I swore I would live, I would thrive and I wouldn't let their lives be in vain. I will fight to my dying breath for my new home, so that too won't be red and gone."
Yashino looked him in the eyes, and a glimmer of respect flickered in those dark eyes. Minato might be a child, but he didn't have the mind of a child, and his new sensei understood that. He would teach this strange boy to be a true ninja of Konoha, to stand tall when the world wanted to drag him down and to live with the unyielding will and power ninja of Fire Country were raised to be a part of. Minato knew, in that moment, that he would forever be entangled with the Uchiha clan. His new sensei wasn't about to let him go; he was going to surpass the clan with the feared bloodline limit and shine on his own. He didn't want to be shadowed by anyone or anything, be it a clan or a teacher.
"That is a nice goal. To live for those who have passed. You have seen death already, and come to terms with that. It makes things easier for us. We'll train for the next months, and then we'll start doing missions. I want you to have firm grip on the chakra manipulations I am thinking of before we take any higher ranking missions."
Minato was fully aware what kind of missions they would be doing to begin with. He had not missed those, but on the upside the dreaded Tora the cat couldn't be born yet and the fire daimyo's wife had to be young at this time. She had been in her fifties when he was a genin last time, so…. About twenty now?
"Right, and remember Minato, I won't go easy on you. Your actions will reflect on the Uchiha clan since I am your sensei, and as much as it irritates me at times, I won't let anyone shame my clan."
Minato looked severely at him and nodded once.
"…and I won't shame the village," he said truthfully. He looked up at the blue sky, and wondered if this was how every prodigy was treated, as a pawn to the opposing powers of Konoha. A tool and a weapon, not only in battle but in games played behind closed doors and shrouded in darkness.
You have to love political games and backstabbing. If nothing else, elections are great for entertainement. I intend to use that, considering the different political fractions in Konoha. So far I have found at least three; the Hokage, the Uchiha clan with the Police Force and Danzou with his ROOT movement. Who knows how that man is shrewed together. Personally I think he suffers from a case of paranoia, but that could be only me. As for the Advicors.... Well, I am not one of those who think they are the evil incarnate. I think they act in what they honestly thinks is the best interest of the village, but they aren't above using some.... creative tactics to get it their way. That means it is impossible to say who's side they are truly on, since all three fractions will act to govern Konoha in what they preserve as the best way. Yes, even the Uchiha clan. They wanted to rule Konoha, there was nothing about destroying it. They thought they had the right, and as history has proved, everyone in a conflict believe they have the right on their side. Misdirected, misled, plain old stupidity, religious conviction, whatever it is each side believe they have the right. As for a Council I am not sure Konoha has one. From what I am able to understand, the village was founded by the Senju and the Uchiha clan to stop the bloodshed between the two clans, and others joined in later, or was asked to join, whatever fancy you the most. From that I believe they acknowledge the elected Hokage as their supreme leader, and his word is more or less law, but I believe the Hokage would have to listen to what the clan's have to say, considering they make up most of his fighting forces. If many enough got to getter and agreed on one specific course of action, he would have to bend to their will to keep the peace and the village intact. That way, the clan's keep their inner structur led by one head and their council of elders, but have no power over the Hokage unless they all agree on something. It would explain why Konoha accepted to hand over the body of 'Hiashi' after the abducting incident. I can't see every clan in Konoha wanting a war where they'd lose lots of members if it could be solved with minimal cost of life. The Hyuga clan was therefor in no position to press the Hokage to retaliate, and he wanted peace since that was the better for the whole of Konoha. There, a run down on how I see the cloak and dagger politics of Konoha. Well, there are probably flaws in the theory, but I'll make do....