This was a hard chapter to write. I've been writing it and rewriting it so many times I lost caunt. It's taken time too, because my father turned fifty last saturday. Large party and everything. Lots of annoying family memebers milling around and some of my cousins braught their children. I swear I am not good with children. I get all bothered when I don't understand what they are saying, and baby language is hopeless no matter what language they are trying to speak. It doesnt help that my family is rather international and only in my closest family we speak four different native languages. English is not one of them, though.... I got confused after the second day they were here and tried to sneak away, but it is only so far you can go on crutches. Especially when eveyrone thinks I need to be mothered because of it. Oh well, i had some fun writing this chapter anyway. I feel honestly sorry for any boy labeled 'pretty boy', having gaind that title myself when I was younger. Both of my brothers got it too, so i suppose it is a family thing, but my youngest brother got the worst of it. He's blond and blue eyed, after our mother, while the rest of us takes after our darker father. My mother refused to cut his hair before he was twelve years old, so he had waist long, thin blond hair. Very girly, and had to play angel every year before Christmas=P. Everytime I picture Inoichi as a boy, I picture my youngest brother with thicker hair. God, he's so much fun to tease too....

"…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.

7.

Minato watched with interest as the sister of his heart, and mother in another life, pummeled Inoichi in a spar. The man was great with his clan's techniques, his observations skills were practically unsurpassed by anyone Minato had met bar the ever stoic Uchiha Itachi, and he had the workings of a true interrogator and information gatherer, but a taijutsu expert he was not. Kushina, on the other hand, was mostly oblivious, much like he had been before he was forced to gather information or die trying, but she had a mean right hook…. And a bone breaking kick. He tilted his head to the side as Inoichi stumbled up and waved his hands in surrender. Kushina grinned widely in victory and whirled around to face Minato, who was sitting in the shade and eating strawberry flavored pocky.

"See that?! I smashed the pretty boy!!" she exclaimed exuberantly and Minato smirked as he saw Inoichi's fingers twitch. If she wasn't careful, she'd find her body doing very embarrassing things soon. Instead of answering, he tilted his head and suppressed another smirk as thunderclouds gathered over her head.

"Aren't you like going to say something?" she demanded, and Inoichi shook his head in exasperation. Minato enjoyed baiting her, but she didn't seem to understand that.

"You still have a bad balance," Minato said when he had finished chewing. Inoichi couldn't help the small snicker escaping him when Kushina gawked at Minato as if he had just revealed the most well protected secret in all of the elemental countries. Minato had, of course, told her that before, and promised to keep her 'weakness' a secret, but seeing as she didn't do anything to correct it, he decided it was time to reveal it.

"You said you'd keep it a secret!" Kushina accused angrily and Minato gazed at her with blank eyes.

"I said I would keep it a secret if you tried to correct it. You haven't so I am telling. If Inoichi was an enemy and a little more experienced, he could have exploited it and won, even with the same skills as Inoichi currently has."

He took another bite and watched as the red headed girl and the blond 'pretty boy' thought about it. Inoichi let out a sigh.

"Yeah, well, I am terrible at this. Do you know what I can do to improve my taijutsu?"

Minato was about to say no, but kept his tongue. Had the Inoichi he knew been better at taijutsu than this boy was? Certainly, but he had decades of experience to fall back on. Though, to live that long he would have had to survive his genin days. He rubbed the back of his head and smiled sheepishly.

"You know Inoichi, perhaps you should try to be more…. Underhanded. Brute force and direct attacks don't seem to be your thing. You aren't as strong as most others our age, but you are fast, so you could use that to your advantage. You'll just have to learn to execute the forms faster."

To advice someone on these things was something he would never get used to. On techniques and forms and knowledge it was fine, but to advice someone on how to make it work for them was new and just because he knew the stuff didn't mean he could say; do this and that and it'll work out wonderfully. Inoichi, on the other hand, seemed to find this reasonable and nodded in agreement. Kushina grumbled something about boys scheming together, but Minato gave her a long, hard stare.

"I've already told you how to fix your balance, and you still won't do it, so don't be so snarky. If you don't want him to win your next spar, you could just do what I told you."

"Everyone can't act like cats, like you do. Have you ever not landed perfectly?" Kushina said and rolled her eyes at him. Minato shook his head dismissively.

"Of course. It isn't as if I miraculously woke up with the balance of a shinobi," he answered grudgingly. He didn't like to be reminded of his current training regime, since it was tough. Tough meaning he hardly had time to do anything else. Yashino sensei had said he wouldn't go easy on him, and he had meant it. It had taken him two whole months to produce chakra strings the Uchiha accepted as passing, and they were so thin they were damn near invisible. Up to that point Minato hadn't known why he was learning how to do this, other than that it could be useful in some situations and honed his chakra control, but Yashino did have a plan. A rather sinister one.

Chakra extending from a ninja's body was like an extension of their senses. A ninja in control of his or her chakra would always sense where that chakra was if it was in some way connected to them. They couldn't listen to or see what was going on around the pure chakra extending from and connected their body, but they knew whereit was, and that was why Yashino wanted his student to know the trick.

It was a common trick to use wires attached to shurikens to manipulate them, but only the Uchiha with their sharingan could truly use that to its full extend, since only the sharingan could keep up with the speed of the thrown weapons. Minato had attached his chakra strings to the shurikens, and no matter how fast they spun, he always knew where they were and could manipulate their directions in the air. The chakra strings attached to them worked mostly like wire would, possibly capture an opponent if that was the objective. Minato had had the great privilege of testing it out on a 'victim'.

The Fire daimyo's wife wasn't his wife yet, simply his fiancée, which was where the problem of Tora the cat began. The man had no idea what he started when he bound the ring to a small kitten with a red ribbon and handed it to his chosen bride. It wasn't the same cat, thank god, or Minato would have killed the unnatural creature, but it had to be a relative. It acted in the exact same way, and so the legend of the undying demon cat and bane of all Konoha genin was born.

While that had little to do with Yashino's idea, elemental manipulation had everything to do with it. He wanted, and that was where Minato was at this point, Minato to change the 'normal' chakra in the chakra strings with elemental chakra. Any enemy caught in a trap like that would most likely suffer some extensive damage. The ordinary chakra strings couldn't do much but steer the shurikens and capture and enemy, but elemental chakra strings was something else entirely, and the extensive training had begun. Minato had hardly been doing anything but eat, sleep a few hours and go through the whole wind element training again for what felt like months now (it actually was, but he didn't like to admit that), and yesterday he had finally gotten a break trough. He had cut the waterfall.

He had found himself relieved when the chakra paper had split in two before it burned. It had proven Yashino's theory to some extent, but to Minato it was more important to know he had the same affinity as before. It made him wonder if it had been his father's affinity too, or if it was something he had changed when he arrived in this body. It had taken him longer, naturally, to master the affinity this time around, even if he knew what to do, but it was to be expected. He couldn't produce hundreds, or at least tens of Shadow Clones to help him out. Not that he needed to figure out how to do it, he just needed his body to act along his thoughts. Of course, Yashino and everyone else were impressed with how little time he used to figure it out. He was frustrated with how long it took. Yashino had laughed it off as the impatience all children have when they are trying to accomplish something.

His success with the wind manipulation was his reason for watching Inoichi and Kushina spar. Yashino had given him few days off. According to him it was to relax. Personally, Minato thought it had more to do with his sister, Akane, staying at the hospital awaiting the labor. He didn't say that, however, and was happy with a few days to do with as he pleased. He wanted to learn a new technique, and as fun as it had been to constantly work on his chakra manipulation, in one form or another, he still preferred to learn techniques. Yashino had told him about one and given him the hand seals needed, in case Minato got bored and wanted something to do. It was another C – ranked genjutsu he remembered falling for once, the Sly Mind Affect Technique. It caused the victim to wander around, believing he, she or they were heading for their intended destination while in reality walking around in circles. He was tempted to try it out on his unsuspecting friends, but he needed to try it out a few times more before attempting it on another human.

Yashino was a strange person, Minato mused. His sensei could be smiling and lazing about one minute, and the next was all work and no nonsense. He could smoke and watch the sky with a far off expression, and then turn around and ask him to attack him with everything he got. Minato had a feeling the frequent times he was spacing out was the real reason the jonin was taking on a student instead of taking higher ranking missions. He never asked what Yashino saw in the blue sky, or why he always turned to watch it when he went off to wherever his mind was, and in turn Yashino never asked him why wanted to train every hour of the day.

They always had lunch with Yashino's sister, who scolded him for pushing a young child too much and too far too early. When she had done that and was satisfied with his properly chastised expression, she would tell Minato he had to eat, and he had to tell his sensei off when he got tired. Her brother had no sense whatsoever and tended to be absolutely reckless, in her mind, and she would not be happy with them if Minato needed to be hospitalized after training with her brother. She was a very…. Consuming woman, but Yashino didn't seem to mind. He smiled and agreed with her, and only spoke against her tirades when she started to repeat herself.

Minato liked them, they were nice people, and not at all as he imagined they would be. They were normal, actually. Well, as normal as ninja could be, and treated him like an extension of their family. He knew their neighbors and had had dinner with their elderly mother. He was told their parents had been quite old when they decided to have children, and their father had died during some skirmish when Yashino was a few months old. The mother, she was old enough to remember the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage, and even Madara, and told the most interesting stories from the First Great Ninja War. She had fought in that, and had been a child during the founding of Konoha. Minato learnt a lot he hadn't previously known about both the Senju clan and the Uchiha clan. He was pretty sure they both had plenty of skeletons in their closets, but refused to take sides.

According to her, Madara had had a brother who he killed for reasons the clan kept a secret, but that was what led him to eventually fight Senju Hashirama in the Valley of the End. The clan spoke against his ways and forsworn his dreams of grandeur. Their reasons to ally with the Senju clan had been to stop the bloodshed, not to find reasons for more, but the Senju and to some extent to other clans were hard pressed to believe that, and the tension between them had started. Minato couldn't see what the problem was, until he remembered that the third Hokage had been the star pupil of both the Shodaime and the Nidaime. Both his mentors had distrusted the Uchiha clan, so it was natural for him and his Advisors to be wary around them as well. The Uchiha on the other hand, had just let the problem stay the way it was and didn't try to act on it one way or another. It was a sort of stand still.

He refocused on Kushina, who had been talking about her useless kunoichi class. Apparently girls had specialized classes for their entire extra curriculum as kunoichi. From what Kushina said, it sounded as if it was boring, tedious and utterly meaningless. He sighed. She was most likely overly dramatic in her descriptions. There had to be some merit to it, or the Academy wouldn't have it in their curriculum.

"….and we have to do a tea ceremony! I mean, how am I going to train to do that? Tsume has a dozen cousins she can badger into have mock tea parties with her, even if it is pointless, but I don't! And why do we have to do something so, so….!"

"Kushina, you'll give me a headache," Minato said resigned.

"We can arrange to have a tea ceremony at my place, if you want to, and we'll invite Inoichi and his parents to come too, and maybe sensei will come if I ask him. Kaero would think it funny anyway. That way you get to try it out and maybe Mrs. Yamanaka would give you some guidance?"

He wasn't keen on the idea himself; he really didn't have the time. His sensei was harsh with him, but when he lived up to his expectations he would reward him with either a technique or teach him new ways of using some he already knew. Yashino had showed him just why the Uchiha clan was a feared one, no matter who the individual you were facing was. They really were amazing ninja, there was no denying that. Inoichi palmed his face.

"You just have to go and give my mum a chance to dress us up formally, don't you? She is still saying how she wished she'd gotten a girl, so she could do all this things with her. She'll love to help out, I promise you that."

Minato turned to him, in hopes of getting one less problem on his shoulders, however small it might be.

"Would you ask her for me please? Or do you think we should write invitations?"

He had no idea how one did these things, aside from what he had picked up here and there. When Yashino's mother had invited him to dine with her and her children, she had given him a written invitation, even when Yashino could have simply asked him to come. Maybe it was better if they did that, it seemed more formal. Though, Kushina was rarely one for formalities. Inoichi looked at him oddly too.

"I swear you spend too much time with that uptight clan," he muttered and shook his head, but his voice was amused. Minato let out a small sigh.

"Will you ask her then?" he pressed and rose. He had a technique to learn and the day didn't get any younger. Inoichi waved disarmingly.

"Yeah yeah, no need for the sour expression, you know," he huffed and Minato dipped his head. He wasn't in the best of moods when he had to look after Kushina and Kaero as well. They were only children, after all, and they needed someone to help them out when Kinuto wasn't around. He was a well liked guy and an efficient shinobi, making him easy to get along with and a sought after team member. Sufficient to say he was often chosen as a member of a team when a team leader got to choose his or her members. This left Minato to look after the two youngest Uzumaki cousins, even if he, in the eyes of everyone else, was a year younger than Kushina. Since he actually felt years older than her, he took it on himself to keep an eye on his mother in a past life.

"Sorry, sorry. I got something I've got to do, and you guys should be back at the Academy in five minutes. The break is over," he reminded them and saw their dawning horror. They sometimes had lunch with him outside of the Academy if he, by some miracle, wasn't training or doing the standard boring D – ranked missions all genin were assigned. They usually ended up in the fields behind the Academy and they always ran late. Minato watched them as Kushina wide eyed dragged a lightly ruffled Inoichi with her by his hand. The blond wondered if his friend might gain a dislodged shoulder from the abrupt departure.

"See you later," Kushina called, and he didn't doubt he would. She'd come barreling into his apartment that evening with her homework, Kaero silently padding after her with a resigned look in his eyes, pop down their books on his kitchen table and do their assignment there, even if they didn't need his help. They just wanted the company, and it was fine with him. He welcomed it, actually and he didn't mind doze off with them around. It was when they left he would dream, and wake up silently swearing he wouldn't let Konoha be destroyed a second time, come hell and high water.

Shaking his head to get rid of the thoughts he wandered off to get somewhere further away from the Academy and the possibilities of someone getting accidently caught in his techniques and set to work.

It was another five days before he saw Kushina again. Kinuto came back home and occupied both his cousins' time. Minato thought they were happy to have him back for a while, they certainly were loud enough next door. He didn't drop by, even when he knew they would be welcoming him. He didn't spend much time in his apartment at all, but was mostly to find on a training ground, or with Inoichi.

Yashino had given him his strangest training regime to date, and he needed the Yamanaka's knowledge of flowers to do it. The Uchiha wanted him to study butterflies. He had already studied cats. That was after Yashino found his balance and awareness lacking. Minato was told to observe cats and learn from them. Nothing else, not even what to learn from them, but figured it out when he started to understand them. They were very graceful animals, not at all like dogs, and more importantly, foxes. Canine animals didn't have the same elegance to them, or the same sharp eyes regarding everything around them. They didn't have the same silent paws or the same sneaky way of approaching a pray. A fox would pounce on its pray from up close, a pack of wolves run it down and latch themselves on it, a dog would act much the same way, hyenas were scavengers that held no grace whatsoever, but cats were silent hunters and they were always sneaky when approaching their chosen prey.

As much as he could understand why he had spent the better part of two weeks doing nothing but following cats around, he still didn't understand what butterflies had to do with anything. He knew his sensei had a butterfly embroidered on the shoulder of all his shirts, but he didn't know why. He had asked once, and the blank look he got in return was enough to keep him from asking again. He wondered if Yashino was planning on telling him, since he set him to study butterflies, but he didn't have to like it.

At the moment he was seated in the backyard of the Yamanaka residence, staring at a bush with several sharp orange butterflies fluttering over it. The name of the specie was Julia, but apart from the strong color he didn't see anything special about it. It was a butterfly, pretty and calm, but useless for a ninja. Minato groaned and huffed exasperated. It was a complete waste of time. He'd been sitting like this for hours, ever since Inoichi left for the Academy, and now it was past lunchtime. He still was no closer to understand why he was watching butterflies. Mr. Yamanaka had been watching him for a while too, and heard his huff of aggravation.

"You know, the butterfly Yashino – san has on his shirt is a butterfly called Mourning Cloak," he said thoughtfully and Minato turned quickly to look at him.

"Why does it have such a name?" he asked the man and the older Yamanaka smiled bitter sweetly.

"Why indeed. A butterfly is beautiful, don't you think? The colors and the silky wings make them beautiful to us, but they die quickly, just like a human may do. They are a symbol of how quickly our happiness may disappear; just like beauty it is quick to fade."

Minato looked back at the butterflies, but this time he wondered if that was why his sensei had asked him to study them. To understand that everything, even happiness, was something fleeting and indefinable. He rose silently and thanked Mr. Yamanaka before he left the garden. He had a teacher to hunt down.

Yashino was, for all it was worth, more observant of him than any sensei he had previously had. Considering that they had consisted of someone intent on reading a pornographic book, the other writing said books and the last being a toad, that didn't say much. On the other hand, if he didn't want to be found he was close to impossible to find. He could spend days doing nothing but hover over Minato's shoulders, and then suddenly disappear for several days without any kind of explanation. This time, however, Minato knew where to find him.

Konoha Hospital hadn't changed much over the years, or rather; it wouldn't change much over the years. It was the same large white building with a park surrounding it. Flowing white curtains in the windows and complaining ninja in the hallways. Nurses were patiently trying to explain just why their wounds or other injuries were severe enough to warrant a stay in the most dreaded building in Konoha. It was weird; really, how even the most seasoned ninja would cower in front of the hospital and come up with the craziest reason as to why they didn't need to go there, even when they were about to faint from blood loss. The echoes of 'he's missing again!' and 'when the hell did he get away?!' told him that it was the same whatever time they were in. Minato snickered a little. He hadn't seen her yet, but he knew Tsunade was around somewhere, so the renegade patients would face the wrath of the one of the most renowned female ninja of all time after escaping. The fact that even her anger wasn't enough to keep the ninja in their beds was proof of their common dislike of being holed up in the building.

Minato was fairly certain he would find his cryptic sensei here, probably keeping his sister company and getting to know his new nephew. Akane had given birth to a healthy baby boy two days prior, and Yashino wasted no time in letting everyone know. He was ridiculously happy with the little baby and said he was sure the tyke would grow up to be amazing. Minato wasn't sure what to say. All the child did when he visited yesterday was to sleep in his crib. He was pink, with a tuft of dark hair in his head, and with small fisted hands. Really, Minato understood the importance of a new child and the hope everyone placed in the children, but the baby didn't seem any different to him. It was like all the other children in the ward, but at least the boy hadn't been wailing when Minato was there.

He navigated the corridors to find the right room, knocked and entered. He was met with four identical set of obsidian eyes, and wondered not for the first time if the Uchiha had some sort of supreme eye gen which overruled any other eye color or shape. They were as good as identical all of them. It was actually a better way to recognize them than the fan they bore on their clothes. It gave them away ASAP.

"Yashino sensei, Akane, good day," he greeted them before he tilted his head to look at the two others. Of course he recognized their older mother, Shion. The last person was unknown to him. It was a boy, with dark hair pulled into a ponytail at the nape of his neck, and a rather rigid stance. He looked stressed, but not more than a few years older than Minato. He tried to figure out where he had seen a similar face, but drew a blank and decided not to think about it.

"How are you, Shion – san?" he asked politely and closed the door behind him. The woman smiled brightly at him, while the boy gave him an apperceive look. Yashino just smirked all knowingly and didn't say anything.

"Never better, child. I have finally gotten a grandchild, a little boy to spoil rotten and tell all my stories to."

Minato nodded in agreement and walked over to the bed where Akane rested. She was propped against no less than three pillows and was holding her son with pure adoration on her face.

"Have you decided how to name him?" Minato asked curiously and looked down into the face of the baby. His eyes were still baby blue, but he didn't doubt how they would look in a few weeks when they would change to the black of the Uchiha clan. Akane smiled at him.

"I've decided. He'll be named Uchiha Obito and one day he'll be a true ninja, don't you think?"

Minato had never heard of anyone named Uchiha Obito, but he was only eight when the clan was wiped off the face of the Earth, so for all he knew there might have been a ninja named Uchiha Obito walking around Konoha.

"The name is nice. How did you come up with that?" he asked curiously and reached out a finger for the baby to hold. The infant wrapped a hand around his finger in a surprisingly tight grip and didn't seem to be planning on letting him lose anytime soon. He tugged slightly on his finger, but the baby kept his firm grip without letting up. It was Yashino who answered after having snickered lightly. He quit fast enough, probably due to the venomous glare Akane sent him.

"She's always liked that name. She named her doll Obito when we were children," Yashino admitted but then chuckled.

"It is either that she likes the name a lot, or she didn't bother finding another one."

"Yashino, don't antagonize your sister," Shion said softly from her chair and Yashino immediately shut up. He might be a powerful ninja and all, but when it came to the women in his family he was totally whipped. Perhaps that was why he was so exhilarated he'd gotten a nephew instead of a niece. He dipped his head instead and shifted his gaze to the sky outside, once again lost in whatever memory he pictured. Minato shook his head. Now he had to wait until he got back down to earth before he could get any answers.

"Minato, I would like you to meet someone," Shion said and nodded towards the boy at her side. Minato trotted over and waited for her to continue her introduction.

"This is the great grandson of my cousin, Uchiha Fugako. He is the heir of the clan," she explained, and Minato raised an eyebrow. This was Sasuke's father, he realized. He had to be, or Itachi wouldn't have been the clan heir. Unless this boy had a brother and died…. Nah, the similarities between this boy and Itachi was too uncanny to be anything but that of father and son.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," he said politely and smiled at the other boy. Fugako didn't answer at first, but seemed to assess him or something before he nodded and gave a small smile in return.

"I have heard you are a decent shinobi," he said and Minato blinked unbelievingly. Well, he wasn't sure he should take that as praise or an insult. For an eight year old genin he was damn good, and he knew it. If Fugako knew it or not he didn't give any token of it. Behind them Yashino snorted.

"Don't be cocky, Fugako. Minato could very well swipe the floor with you, even if you are two years older."

Minato could see several emotions flicker in the dark eyes of the young Uchiha, and tilted his head a little. He wondered if he should prove his sensei's statement or just let it slide.

"I see Yashino has trained you well then," Fugako settled on. Minato wanted to bang his head against something hard for a moment, or maybe try to bang Fugako's head against the wall would work better. He wondered what was worse; the Hyuuga branch house with their obsession with fate, or the Uchiha with their obsession with their clan. Maybe obsession ran in the eye technique clans. He had only met one rin'negan user, but he was obsessed with peace. So much so he was willing to destroy the world to obtain it…. Shion chuckled upon seeing Minato's chagrined expression. He was better at hiding his feelings now, but he still showed them when he got rattled enough, and Fugako managed to rattle his being to the core.

"Minato is a very gifted boy, Fugako. You should know yourself how rarely individuals like him appear," she said soothingly and Yashino backed her up with a nod.

"Which brings us up to this, why are you here, Minato? I thought you were studying butterflies."

At this Fuagko gave his clansman a very confused look, but Yashino didn't seem to notice, or he didn't care. Most likely the latter. Minato shrugged.

"I figured out which butterfly you have on your shoulder, sensei," he said simply and Yashino frowned. He suddenly looked weary and a little wary. His eyes went to the sky, but only for a moment before he sighed.

"I see. Then you should pack to leave the village for a week. We'll be leaving tomorrow morning."

Minato couldn't help his surprise. He hadn't been outside of the village since he arrived when he was five, unless he counted the training grounds, and had no idea what Yashino was planning. That wasn't something new with his sensei; he hardly ever told what he was thinking or planning, but to leave the village was huge. Especially for a genin. He had done countless D – ranked missions already, so could it be….

He gave Yachino a sharp look and the man smirked faintly.

"So you figured it out on your own. Yes, we'll be doing C – ranked missions from now on. No more catching that infuriating cat or babysitting Mrs. Aiko's triplets."

"Are you sure?" Minato asked and was honestly curious what his sensei thought about his skills. The Uchiha hummed and the faint, sad smile he had seen a few times before reappeared.

"Sure… Yeah, I am. You are an outstanding student, Minato. I told myself we'd do C – ranked missions once you found the name of my butterfly. All you have to do now…. is to understand," he said, and his voice was uncharacteristically grave. There was a hard glint in his eyes, one that wasn't softened by the usual mirth and laziness overshadowing the emotions he hid. Minato had a feeling he wouldn't like whatever it was Yashino had planned for him.

Fugako looked startled. He had graduated a year before Minato and was just now starting to take C – ranked missions with his team. That the blond who was younger than him was ready to do them now, either spoke of Yashino's rashness, or of Minato's skill.

Minato couldn't help the small smile on his face. He was pretty sure nothing, absolutely nothing, was worse than the triplets. If there ever was something like a curse it was having more than one baby at the time. He had helped out at the orphanage as well, at Yashino's insistence, and he could honestly say it was the scariest thing he had done. Children were downright frightening, and the way they could easily manipulate the most hardened ninja with watery eyes and quivering lips were nothing short of impressive. He wasn't sure, but he thought it might have been Yashino's way of giving him a lesson in precaution when indulging in certain acts, even if he was only eight years old.

"Meet me at the North Gate at sunrise," Yashino said, and with that he gave a brief smile to his sister and mother, completely ignoring the children and left the room to do god only knew what. Minato glanced over at Akane, who shook her head gently.

"Don't mind him. He's always ranting about how boring this village is. He'll be happy to get outside a little," she said happily, and Minato frowned inwardly. The way she said it, it sounded as if Yashino wasn't allowed to leave the village just like that. Of course, no ninja was allowed to just leave, but they had some freedom in their movements. He reflected on what he knew of his strange sensei, but there was nothing there to warrant him to be under house arrest or something similar. Fugako hadn't said anything, but his lips thinned and he huffed under his breath.

"Is there something I should be aware of?" Minato asked them carefully. The Uchihas looked at each other, each of them thoughtful before Shion bent her head a little. Fugako looked at Minato with an unreadable expression before he leant against the chair Shion was sitting in and decided to speak.

"It isn't as if it is a secret, you know, but I understand why they wouldn't tell you. Yashino is an ANBU member, always has been, and for the longest time he headed the assassination squad."

Minato nodded at this. It certainly explained some things, like why his sensei always wanted him to have close to perfect awareness of everything around him. Balance, observation, silence and secrecy were needed to be a good assassin, and being one he obviously trained Minato to be one too. It made sense. Though, something didn't add up here….

"He's still ANBU? I didn't think ANBU members could take on students unless it is some sort of mission?" he asked thoughtfully. He was sure there were a lot of people watching him, studying him, laying plans concerning him, but he didn't think they'd pull out the Captain of the assassination squad just to streamline him into ANBU. Something else was going on there that he didn't know. Akane nodded seriously at him.

"That is so, but after one mission, Yashino asked the Hokageif he could retire from the ANBU. He got into a huge quarrel with the elders of the clan over it too, and it ended with him getting a sort of leave. He's still part of ANBU but at the same time he isn't. When the Hokage asked him to take on a student he acknowledged Yashino's desire to leave and the Elders can't argue it because he is still listed as ANBU on leave."

Minato glanced over at Shion, who was one of the Elders of the Uchiha clan with a tilted head and a question in his eyes. Shion gave a small, sad smile mixed with pride.

"Do you know Yashino was only fifteen when he joined ANBU? He's been there since, that is eight years in the shadow corps and I think that is enough for anyone. Whatever happened at that last mission broke whatever will he had to remain there. He refused to let us know what happened, and the clan head agreed to let him keep it a secret. Probably because the mission was classified and the Hokage would have his head if he tried to pry classified information from his ANBU."

She laughed a little, lightening the suddenly uncomfortable mood in the room.

"Yashino would let the Hokage know if they did, he never lets a chance go by to rile them up, especially since it was something he specifically didn't want to talk about," she laughed and even Fugako tilted his lips into a smirk. Shion chuckled at her daughter's correct assumptions of her brother's character.

Minato was thinking on something else entirely. If it was like this, he still didn't understand why Yashino should have some sort of house arrest placed on him. Shion simply smiled a little at the narrowed blue eyes and too serious expression on the eight year old.

"The elders weren't happy at all with Yashino," she said, and even if she was one of them, she didn't talk as if she was one of them at that moment. She sounded resentful actually. Fugaku shrugged and his expression was one of annoyance. Minato guessed he was having his own problems with the clan elders as the clan heir. He had never envied the friends he had who had to deal with that sort of thing.

"They placed some restrictions on him, which makes the missions with you the only times he can freely leave without causing an uproar," she explained. Minato raised an eyebrow at that. He shouldn't be happy for it, but it hopefully meant they would be taking a lot of missions outside of the village.

"So that's how it is…." He muttered and bit his lower lip musingly. It was most enlightening. It was interesting that even after that, Yashino still was loyal to the clan as a whole. He supposed it was like with someone angry at individuals in the village but still loyal to the village. No one got along with everyone after all. Though, when ninja fell out with their leaders, they usually either 'mysteriously' dropped dead, or turned traitors to their villages. Would the clan leaders consider Yashino a traitor in the end? Minato didn't know the answer to that.

"I have to go, I need to see my friends before I leave and let them know I'm not going to be home the next week," he said hastily, and nodded towards the remaining Uchiha in the room. He waved at the baby, and left them abruptly. He had things to do after all. He wanted to ask someone about Yashino, and try to figure out what happened on that mission to make him back out of ANBU when knowing it would cause troubles for him with the clan elders. Yashino wasn't stupid, and he usually acted as volatile as a fat housecat. Minato could count on one hand the times he had seen his eyes harden like they had at the hospital, and the steely undertone of his voice was just as rare. For him to stir up trouble, to bother to stir up trouble, it had to be significant.

He was momentarily drawn from his thoughts when he opened the door to his apartment to find Kushina sitting at the table, sitting Indian style on the chair and glaring daggers at a book. Her hair was a mess, further proof that she'd been pulling on it in frustration. He closed the door with a load enough click that it made her aware of his entrance. She looked up and a radiant smile transferred her scowl to a welcoming one.

"What are you doing here?" Minato asked and untied his forehead protector and weapons pouch to drop them on the kitchen counter. He walked past her and went to boil some water while waiting for her to speak up. Since she didn't immediately burst out with it he guessed she was either embarrassed or it was something personal. Or both.

"…Minato, you're really good at chakra manipulations, right?" she asked timidly. It was so wrong to hear her speak like that, and it made him wonder what this was all about.

"Depends on how you view it, but I'm good enough for now," he said diplomatically. He knew he was far above the level of ordinary genin, but he also knew he had a long way to go to do what his sensei wanted him to do. He hadn't even tried to convert the chakra strings into strings of wind elemental chakra. Sure, he had a basic grasp of the theory of how to do it, but as he knew all too well there was a large gap between theory and practice.

"Yeah right, keep telling yourself that. You are damn good at it, so tell me what I am doing wrong," she said impatiently. Minato raise his eyebrows at that, before pouring hot water in his cup.

"You want some?" he asked and got a pointed stare in return. He tried not to sound annoyed when he answered.

"I can't say what you are doing wrong unless you tell me what the problem is, Kushina. Why are you reading about chakra manipulations anyway? It isn't something Academy students usually bother with."

Her eyes narrowed. Good, she got angry, and would tell him what he wanted to know. At least, that was her usual act.

"Quit acting all superior. It isn't funny, and I can read whatever I want to."

"Yes, but you still haven't told me what's wrong," he agreed pleasingly. He went looking for something to eat, preferably something sweet. He hadn't eaten anything sweet all day, and he really, reallyneeded some if he was to endure Kushina when she was in one of her pouting moods.

"Are you even listening to me?" she asked suspiciously. He turned around with a reassuring grin.

"Don't worry, I am listening. I can listen to you and search for my treats at the same time."

Kushina stared at him, for a long moment before she shook her head slowly.

"Kaero hid your pocky earlier today. He said it isn't healthy to be eating it all the time, but forgot you eat dango for lunch."

Suddenly she had a sly smile as Minato paled at the idea of his sweets being hidden.

"….Can it be that you haven't had your usual sugary kick and that's what making you so grouchy? Geez, you really are addicted, aren't you? Honestly! But if it gets you more cooperative, they are beneath the towels in the bathroom."

Minato went to get them without another word. He would have word with the brat about hiding his sweets when he came back. He'd been close to emptying the sugar jar in his tea and transform it into syrup, which didn't sound too bad until he could sit down with the sweets. Then he remembered that he didn't particularly care for sweetened tea after all.

"So why are you worried about the chakra manipulations anyway?" he asked and tilted his head towards the book she'd been reading. Kushina grumpily closed it and handed it back to him. It was his anyway.

"The other girls all have really good chakra control, and mine is just regular. I wanted to impress them, I guess."

Now, that was an honest response, and one he hadn't expected. Perhaps she was maturing a little despite her young age. Minato hummed and wondered what he was going to tell her. He was familiar with the problems of chakra control; it had been his pet peeve for the longest time, until inhabiting another body, that is. It wasn't exactly an advice he could give her either. Oh, go get yourself a demon, have an insane member of the Uchiha clan try to control said demon with his creepy eyes and maybe said demon will do whatever and throw you into the body of a relative. No, that wasn't exactly the way to go….

"Not everyone can be good at it. If you have a lot of chakra it is more difficult to control, and you have more than most kunoichi. It only means you are better suited for ninjutsu than some of the more traditional kunoichi fighting styles. In that regard you are more like a shinobi than a kunoichi," he said slowly, proving that he to some extent was still very, very dense. Her eyes flashed for a moment, before she huffed. It was a compliment after all. Sort of. It was true even if it wasn't, and she liked it that way. Minato rested his head again a popped up hand while thinking it over.

"If you want to be better at it, you could do the leaf balance exercise every morning or afternoon. It should help you with your control, and the awareness of your chakra."

It was what he'd had to do for two and a half years with Jiraiya. If it helped him, it should help Kushina too, considering her chakra control was better than his had been. He felt a bit bitter about that. Having a seal constantly messing with your chakra, either drawing on it or releasing more into your system, isn't very helpful in regards to controlling it. Oh, well, he'd make up for it now.

"Do you think that's going to help?" she asked doubtful.

"Yeah, I usually do some sort of chakra control every morning before I meet up with Yashino sensei. He's totally fixed on it, and won't let me slip even the slightest. That and he is nagging me about having a small chakra pool, so I have to enlarge it somehow."

She blinked and looked surprised for a moment.

"Eh, really? I didn't know you trained before your training…. That sounded wrong, but when do you get up? You eat breakfast with us almost every morning so when do you have time to train?"

Minato smiled cryptically.

"That is a mystery for another day, my friend, but if that was all you wanted to ask me, I have to get some sleep. Yashino sensei is taking me on my first C – ranked mission tomorrow and I wanted to be fully rested before we leave."

Her eyes went wide, just like he knew they would. She was gaping, and pointed accusingly at him. It did remind him of a goldfish on dry land.

"C – ranked!? That is sooo unfair! I bet it is because you are everyone's little perfect genius right? If it was anyone else they wouldn't let them, you haven't been a genin for even a year yet! How did you do that?"

Minato smiled and laughed as he knew his answer would confuse her and annoy her.

"I studied butterflies. Lots and lots of butterflies!"

There it is. Hm, the next chater is predictably named Butterfly's Story 2. I am nearly finsihed with it as well. Originally it was part of this chapter, but this grew too long as it is. It is sort of a interlude to learn something about Yashino. I don't like Oc's and wouldnt have bothered if it wasn't neccesary, but the his background story will be important for Minato later on. Oh, and I don't have anything against canines. I am actually pretty fond of wolves, but I have always considered cat's to be more assassin like.