"We should go back and sleep," he said slowly, with one last glance at the grey fence separating them from the exam area. The foreboding mist swirled around his feet as they started to track back to the hotel and one last night of sleep before they were tossed into something they would never forget and cause them nightmares in years to come.

11.

Minato learned that dawn in Mist was about as inviting as eating worms. The ever present fog was as thick as porridge, and if that wasn't unsettling enough, the rising sun, because there was one behind all that grey, colored the entire sky a luminous red. Like mist of blood. Bloody Mist. Minato had heard that less than endearing endearment before, but this time he wondered if the name came from this phenomenon.

They had been unceremoniously divided into groups of five to eight genin and ushered off to different gates without as much as a word of explanation. Not before they reached the gate they were assigned. There they had been told to gather five forehead protectors, not counting their own, by any means necessary and let into the secluded part of the Mist village. Needless to say, the fighting had started right away. Large areas of the wooden platform the houses were built on had been crushed by different techniques, and Minato found that despite the humid air the wood would still burn.

He was worried for his friends and anxious because something wasn't measuring up with the whole test. It was too easy. Of course, capturing the forehead protectors wasn't by any means an easy feat, seeing as any ninja placed their pride and identity as ninja in it, but it was doable. All you had to do was knock out the opponent and steal the target. Not at all difficult to understand or do. It was a simple, down to earth fight and anyone could do it. It was everyone against each other, and that made it even easier.

That said, Minato knew there were those who didn't just knock out their opponents but killed them instead. He tried not to wound them too much, but he knew he might have to if he met one of those who insisted on killing. He had come over a few bodies when he looked for somewhere to spend the night, and he still felt grossed out. They were only children, ten to twelve year old children, and forgetting for once that he was younger than them in this body he felt sorry for them and prayed silently for their souls. He didn't pity them; he felt for them because of everything they never got to know, but he knew that they had chosen this path themselves. Mostly. If they were from a clan they had been raised to be ninja, but that would make them even more prepared for their future lifestyle.

Minato had already gotten his forehead protectors. Since he was so young others thought him an easy target and all of them had gotten a nasty surprise. He wasn't above catching them in a genjutsu like the Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique. It was a D – ranked genjutsu, but very effective against unsuspecting victims who already were riled up and nervous from the whole situation they were in. Usually it knocked them out, but some had managed to dispel it, forcing Minato to fight them. He still didn't really do close combat, and kept his distance. It had the added benefit of keeping him more or less unscathed. He'd gotten some scratches when he had faced a Grass kunoichi who used senbons, but the needles didn't do much damage as long as he made sure they didn't hit any vital spots. All they did was making his skin sore and irritable. Luckily they hadn't been poisoned. He also had a small limp from a completely moronic Cloud genin who aimed to kick his knee and hit his leg instead. Hard enough to break his skin and give him a large, aching bruise. Minato was quite annoyed with that one.

He hadn't met any of the other Konoha genin yet, but among the one hundred or so genin participating it would be hard to find them without a trait like the destruction bugs or the nose of an Inuzuka dog.

Quickly making his way through the window of one abandoned house he wondered if it was safe to settle there for the night. The test would last for twenty – four hours. The jonin at the gate had only told them what to do, and not given them any further instructions. She had been rather abrupt in her briefing, not bothering with their questions and told them to do as told and if they had problems to suck it up. They were ninja after all, not little children.

Minato would have been insulted by her blatant disregard, but didn't say anything. He understood that the tension between the countries was high, and just after a war there were plenty of old wounds which festered and grudges which weren't forgotten. He'd been lucky not to run into someone intent on killing him just because he had a leaf insignia on his forehead protector, so he counted his blessings and hoped his luck would hold until the entire thing was over and done with.

The room he entered was small and naked, like the rest of the houses he had searched through. It was bereft of any and all furniture or utensils. He silently snuck deeper into the house, and made sure to make his steps as light and soundless as possible. The last time he had entered one of the houses he hadn't been the only one there, and both the Waterfall ninja and he had been utterly confused and shocked when they noticed the other. Minato hadn't waited for the other boy to do anything; he had acted on reflex and knocked him out cold with a kunai shaft to the temple as fast as he could and left after taking the forehead protector. He had a few too many, but he didn't see anything wrong in reducing the competition a little. This time the house was empty, and he choose to stay in the room he assumed had been the kitchen. It didn't have windows, and only one door, so if anyone wanted to enter the room, they either had to blow away the walls or go through the door. That suited him just fine.

He was dozing by the time he heard the first sounds of something wrong. He didn't know it was wrong at first; it was just the faint sound of a scream, nothing he hadn't heard before during the exam. He could feel chakra all around him, but his ability to sense chakra was dulled by the amount which was constantly producing the damnable mist in the air. He sat up a little, peering through the darkness of the room and shifted to crouch on the ground instead of leaning against the wall. The floor shook under his hands. It was a minute trembling. He wouldn't have felt it if it wasn't for his bare skin against the smooth wood. A moment later the wall behind him started to crack and break.

He didn't wait to find out if it was going to give in or not. He hurried for a room with a window and was met with the sound of running feet. He reacted as he had with the Waterfall ninja, but this time they were too close, and he didn't have the time to twist the kunai around. Minato felt warm blood splash his hand as he drove the kunai into the other person as hard as he could, and a body suddenly fell against him, thrashing as the girl died. Minato stood with her in his arms for a moment, completely at a loss for what just happened and stared blindly at her. She had long, pale blue hair and a Mist forehead protector, but the way she had stormed at him wasn't like the silent and careful assassins he had learned the Mist ninja were. It was almost desperate. The blood cooled on his hand, and the girl slipped from his arms and slid down his body before it fell to the floor. The kunai stood firmly in her temple. There wasn't a lot of blood, he noted absently. Only what had seeped out the moment he struck her. Maybe because he hadn't removed the kunai from the wound. He stood frozen with a dazed gaze at the girl, who couldn't have been more than fourteen, and didn't react to the sudden movement of the ground before the walls around him started to shake for real.

As shocked as he was, he had been trained to survive, and that training kicked in as he spun around and made few hand seals. Wind Release: Great Breakthrough hit the wall like a sledge and smashed it apart. Falling debris littered the street, which to Minato's horror was filled with people fighting. How he'd been able to miss it was beyond him, but few were using any chakra. It was like watching a pack of rabid dogs trying to tear each other apart with teeth and claws. They didn't even stop when the wind technique destroyed the wall and send the entire side of the house raining over them.

He leapt on to the roof of another house, but what he saw didn't reassure him. In every street were people fighting an all out bloody brawl. There were flashes of chakra, but from what he could see there were too many people attacking at once for anyone to form proper hand seals, and they were forced to use taijutsu and weapons only. Minato stared at the sight before him, horrified that something like this could happen and almost didn't see the shuriken thrown at him. It was a clumsy throw, as if the attacker wasn't entirely sure what to make of the throwing stars and Minato deflected them accordingly.

On the roof opposite him stood a boy, a teen really, with orange red hair and wide, slightly dilated eyes. Minato could see madness in them, and was pretty sure the teenager was more than a little warped. His body was shaking, Minato noted, and tilted his head a little, staring at the oddly wide eyes. It could be a drug, he guessed, but if it was it certainly did nothing for the users fighting abilities. Besides making them utterly fearless, perhaps…. This wasn't something he had expected, and he didn't like the situation either. He pulled out a few shurikens and dropped into a stance, waiting tensely for the teenager to make the first move. He was vaguely aware of the people fighting under them, but facing someone who obviously had no regards of his own life demanded more of his attention than he liked.

The strange boy didn't seem fazed with the shurikens, in fact he got a crazed grin and an equally mad glint in his eyes. Minato subtly attached the chakra strings to the shurikens and stiffened as his enemy, since this clearly was a crazy enemy set on killing him or die trying, slowly stepped closer.

"I'll kill you, I will and then I can survive," the boy said with an undertone of hysteria in his voice. Minato tightened his grip on the shurikens. This was turning out to be more and more troublesome, loath as he was to use that word.

"What do you mean survive?" he questioned, and the boy stopped while clenching and unclenching his empty left hand.

"I'll live, you will die, and that is all. If I survive, I will live and then I…. I will live," was the incoherent response. It told him nothing of what he wanted to know, and it sounded like the mutterings of someone completely out of their mind. He wondered if the teenager really was on some sort of drug. It would explain the wide dilated eyes. Large amounts of adrenaline would cause them same, though…. He shifted his hands slightly and narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

Minato bit his lip as the strange boy moved, and let the shurikens fly. He wasn't sure if he did it out of pity or out of misplaced sympathy, but the moment the blue strings spun around the teenager he changed their chakra and the sharp edges of wind cut through the soft flesh and killed the obviously mad person instantly. Minato didn't stay to look at the mess it created. He didn't want to see it; it was enough to see the red coloring of the strings before they faded. Like threads in the air, the wind carried the blood with it like it would rain. It wasn't a nice picture.

He didn't get to take more than a few steps before he was surrounded by more ninja with the same wide and insane glint in their eyes as the teen he had just killed. Minato felt his heart jolt as they charged him at the same time, and spun around with his shuriken to cut through them and get away from the madness. This wasn't an exam anymore and these people couldn't be genin there to take the exam. There were too many of them, and they were clearly not in the right state of mind. Forgoing the shurikens, he clapped his hands together to form seals, and jumped away as a large snake made of water crashed down on them before breaking right through the wooden street and into the sea beneath. The houses around the hole teetered on the edge a little as if trying to resist gravity and then succumbed to the force.

Minato panted from using that much chakra at once, and stared at the place the water snake had hit. The floorboards were not as sturdy as he had thought them to be. From where he stood he could see the blank surface of the seawater between tiles and boards from the houses. The genin swallowed by the water snake were nowhere to be seen. They had been dragged deep down by the water current made by the water snake, and would most likely not surface again. The technique had made a brief pause in the fighting but as nothing else happened and no more houses or floorboards were falling apart it continued like before.

Minato tried to find someone he knew in the mess and chaos, but all he met were either ninja trying to get away from the blindly attacking force or the ninja bent on killing him. If he hadn't been preoccupied by dodging kunai, shurikens and clumsily wielded swords he would have cursed and screamed. As it was he was too afraid to stop and too worried to try to escape, leaving the option to fight through whatever was going on and find his friends in the fray.

He was so high strung that when he finally reached a place with some semblance of peace he nearly fell to his knees in relief. His senses were still telling him not to relax and not to stop, but his mind was on something else.

The people attacking them were reckless and careless, with no regards to their lives or the lives of others. In fact, they seemed completely set on killing their opponents to get the forehead protectors. He hadn't seen any of them use any ninjutsu or genjutsu, but their sheer number and ferocity made them dangerous. It was as if they were brainwashed into complying with what they did. Minato sighed and decided to get out of there. This wasn't a test; it was slaughter. It didn't matter if he passed anymore, as long as he didn't have to take a larger part of this then he already had.

Apparently he wasn't the only one thinking like that. When he reached the fence he could see other genin there. They looked like he suspected he did; pale, shaken, scared and bloody. Too high strung to feel their own wounds and too nervous and jumpy to relax enough for the adrenaline to die down. He could see some of them stiffen when he arrived, but upon seeing his forehead protector they didn't do anything. They let him pass by them wordlessly, just like he didn't pay attention to them. Some didn't even see him; they stared blindly down or ahead, like the light in their eyes had gone out. What had happened, and was still happening judging from the screams and the sounds from the mist and darkness, had thoroughly drained them for energy and innocence. He wondered if that was what the Mist ninja had been planning all along. It was ruthless, brutal and served no purpose Minato could discern.

"Minato!" upon hearing his name he lifted his eyes from the ground to where the sound came from and laughed delighted. There was Mikoto; disheveled and tired, but still alive, with Fugako standing with his arms crossed over his chest, but for all his bravado Minato could see he was deeply disturbed by what had happened. His eyes were dull and his jaw set. The two Uchihas even smiled when he walked up to them.

"Thank God you're okay," Minato said and resisted an urge to hug them. He didn't think they'd appreciate such public displays of affection. He was about to say more, but an especially loud crash from the area where the fighting was located made them look warily towards the sounds and reach for weapons. Who knew if the lunatics would follow them out here?

"This is absolute madness," Minato said and stared intently into the darkness and mist.

"We caught one to interrogate," Fuagko admitted and exchanged a glance with Mikoto who looked distinctively ill at ease. Minato nodded for him to continue.

"I used a genjutsu which interrupts the chakra flow to break the resistance and asked what's going on," Fugako continued, unaware of the remorseful look Mikoto sported. Minato did see it, but he understood why they had done it. If he had thought of it he would have done the same, but he didn't know a genjutsu which could be used like that.

"Apparently they are students who haven't passed their genin tests once they heard what would happen if they lost, or won, everything considered. They refused to take their tests and now they are being forced to either pass this or die, or be executed for treason."

Minato gaped at him. That was the harshest thing he had ever heard. He knew of the genin exam the Mist still practiced in this time, but to punish those who decided to drop out of the system was beyond cruel. It was inhuman and inexcusable. Minato shook his head in disbelief. There were also things which didn't add up with that story. The first being the number of people and the second their age. Some of those he'd seen had to be in their early teens, and that was too old to graduate by anyone's standard. In Konoha the age limit was twelve years old, in the future that had been the standard, and he didn't think it was any difference in Mist. He would have thought they would force the children to graduate even younger.

He remembered what Yashino had said about the slaves the Mist or Water had bought and their age. He couldn't help but wonder if this was an easy way to get rid of the ones they didn't need. It would explain their lack of skill in both using chakra and weapons. That theory had even more questions attached to it, like why they would bother to try to train slaves to be ninja in the first place. Not everyone could unlock their chakra, and even so it didn't mean they could become ninja. They had to have the right mindset, the right vigor and the willingness to do it. Well, he thought dryly, if the choice was do it or die the willingness was ensured.

"It's cruel," Mikoto mumbled and hugged her arms around herself. The two boys nodded in agreement, silently thanking the gods they weren't part of Mist. At the same time, what they had done and been forced to do crept up on them as the night and dawn proceeded without any incidents. Minato didn't know what to think or feel. He had killed before, but never children so young. He supposed he was worried about it because his mental age was many years older and it just didn't feel right to kill small children, while a part of him said, quite bluntly, that he didn't have a choice in the matter.

"I guess that's life," he said to his own thoughts, but it might also have been an answer to what Mikoto said. The three young genin waited together and watched as the mist turned from the white it used to be, to a pale pink and then a glowing orange red. It was almost as if the blood spilt that night slowly rose into the air. Red dawn, Minato thought wryly.

It felt like a lifetime before the gate was opened and the battered genin could get out of the restricted area. The different sensei were there waiting for them, and the three Konoha genin grinned as they discovered Shibi and Isuna in the crowd and heading for them. Their sensei took in their appearances and Minato could see the grimace they both made as they realized what must have happened during the twenty – four hours they had been apart.

"Are you wounded?" Misuki asked as soon as they were within earshot, and they blinked at their sensei as if that was the most unbelieving thing they had heard in the longest time. Minato simply shook his head.

"We've been stuck in a freaking battle zone with a bunch of complete lunatics! What do you think?" Isuna asked and clutched his arm tightly. From what Minato had seen, he hadn't moved that arm at all, and he could see blood drenching the material of his shirt under his hand. Misuri didn't seem offended by his tone, for once, but gave a small nod.

"Lunatics?" she questioned nonplussed, and the genin all grew serious and the happiness they felt upon leaving the dreadful place melted away.

"Yeah, lunatics would describe it well enough," Minato agreed with a look at his sensei.

"What happened?" the two adults asked simultaneous. Mikoto shook her head slowly and stepped closer to Yashino, as if seeking out some sort of safety. Minato felt sure she'd taken a life for the first time that night, and he knew how disconcerting that could be.

"We were asked to gather five forehead protectors by any means necessary, and it went fine until the night came. I'm not sure of the exact time, but sometime after dusk a lot of failed Mist Academy graduates were released into the area and told to do the same or be executed," he explained pensively, and looked pleadingly at Yashino. He didn't want to talk too much about what he thought here, but he wanted his sensei to know that there was more to it than that.

"Even so their behavior was unsettling and difficult to comprehend," Shibi added monotonously.

"They were nuts, that's what," Isuna grunted and lifted his hand a little to take a look at the still open wound. Fugako shook his head at his teammate's brusque attitude.

"They were desperate and wasn't thinking clearly," Minato said with a frown.

"The one we caught had traces of someone else's chakra in him," Mikoto said quietly but still managed to be heard by all of them. Fugako nodded to her statement.

"My best guess is either a genjutsu like the one I used on him to interrogate him, or to…. torture," he said the last part more softly, because no matter how he was raised and how hard he might act on the outside, he was still an eleven- turning twelve- year old child. Yashino looked at them with a small frown.

"You interrogated one of them?" he asked, and they were reminded that they hadn't yet told their teachers that. Mikoto answered for them.

"We wanted to know what was going on, so we caught one and used the standard interrogation technique on him. The one the police force uses," she said quickly when she saw Yashino's eyes darken. If someone had taught the children the interrogation techniques of ANBU, he would have personally ripped them apart and strewn them for the crows to eat. Minato hummed and wondered which it was. He didn't think Mist would interrogate their own villagers, at least he hoped not but after this show he wasn't sure what to expect anymore, but if they thought they would gain something by torturing them…. Well, he had heard before that Konoha was considered soft and do – goody, so he supposed he shouldn't hold their standards to any other village. For a human being motivation to stay alive always was the best motivation everything considered.

"Excuse me, do you have your targets?" a soft voice asked, and the group turned to see a Mist kunoichi with pale skin and eyes that made her skin seem even paler than it was. They were as dark and bottomless as the stormy sea. Minato handed her his seven forehead protectors, and waited as Fugako and Mikoto each handed her the required amount. She wrote down their names as they did, and nodded to the others. Shibi also handed her four, but didn't seem disappointed. If the buzzing from his bugs was anything to go by, he was happy he didn't have to participate in another of the Mist's insane tests. Isuna also handed her four, but he pouted and scowled when he realized that he wouldn't be able to take the next part of the exam. The kunoichi looked over them, and turned to the sensei with a sympathetic look in her eyes.

"If you are missing genin by now, you should go to the hospital…. Or the morgue," she said in her soft voice before she continued on to the next group which waited to get their success or failure documented. On her back was a simplified snow crystal and Minato wondered if it might have been a clan symbol. He glanced up at his sensei, who also was staring at the symbol.

"Interesting clan that one…. Always so soft on the outside, like snow, and then they will go as cold and unyielding as the glacier," he said and smiled ruefully.

"An example of how looks can be deceiving," he continued while looking them over once more. Then he sighed.

"Do any of you need to be checked up at the hospital? That arm doesn't look good, Isuna, so you better come whether you want or not."

"I've got some cuts and scrapes but nothing major," Fugako reported dully. Mikoto had no wounds to speak of, having used the same strategy as Minato and kept her distance as much as possible and not run into another long range ninja. Shibi monotonously said his bugs had already taken care of the damage his body had sustained, in that wording, and again stunned his comrades with his choice of words.

"Hmm, well if that's all you've been lucky," Misuri said pointedly, earning some huffs and scoffs.

"We're just that good," Minato rebutted her with a teasing smirk and the mood lightened somewhat.

"Says the one almost out of chakra," Yashino admonished and shook his head bemused. Misuri chuckled at them but her grin faded as she spoke.

"You two are pretty cute together, but I'm afraid you'll have to continue your banter later. We have to check the hospital for Kimiko and Shou," she said and the smiles died on their faces. Minato lowered his eyes to the ground, and hated what he said next.

"If you don't find them there, there is no guarantee they are in the morgue either. There were people who fell into the sea, and some were dragged under," he said with some bitterness. It was bad enough that they would never grow up, that they would never see many of the most beautiful places in the world, not experience some of the precious moments they could have had, but to never be brought to a grave…. He knew that was the fate of many ninja, but he still didn't like it. It might not matter to the dead, they were dead either way, but to the people left behind it would matter a lot.

"Either way we'll find out," Yashino said after a moment of silence.

"What should we do?" Mikoto asked him wearily. Shibi was by her side, discreetly lending her an arm to lean on. Minato smiled a little. That was what being a teammate was like. Always having the support of someone, be it silent or vocal. Misuri looked over the ragtag group.

"You should get back to our rooms, get washed and try to sleep. You all look like you need it," she said sternly. With that tone of voice, none of them dared to protest and Minato wholeheartedly agreed with her on the bath, at least. He had blood all over the front of his clothes, thanks to the people he had had to take on close up. It hadn't been that many, but in the mass of people fighting he hadn't counted and he hadn't thought, he had just acted. He guessed he'd find a few wounds here and there when his senses finally calmed down completely and he washed up.

Late that night he lay wide awake and watched as the fog slowly shifted in the light of the light pole outside his window. Shibi was sleeping, he was sure of that, since his breathing was even and deep. There was no question that Isuna was sleeping; he was snoring like there was no tomorrow. How they managed to do that after what they had just been through was beyond him, but perhaps they were too shocked to let it affect them yet. In a while it would start to register, and then…. It would make them or break them as ninja. Minato knew, because once he had gone through the same.

The sound of the door opening and closing alerted him to Yashino's presence. He never managed to detect the man unless he made a sound. It was scary and almost a little supernatural how he managed to be so quiet and... invisible, for lack of a better word, at all times. He was there, but he might as well not be.

"Are you awake, Minato?"

Minato didn't turn to look at his sensei, neither did he acknowledge him at first.

"Yes," he answered eventually when Yashino didn't move away or leave. He heard the quiet sound of clothes moving and glanced around to see Yashino leaning against the wall with a tired expression, twinning a cigarette in his hand.

"You never sleep much at night, am I right?" Yashino asked again, and this time Minato made a small movement of agreement.

"Shh, such a troublesome child…. Would you like to come with me outside for a while? I'd like to watch the stars a little."

Minato raised an eyebrow at that. His sensei really did get weirder and weirder each day but he didn't turn down the offer. Instead he silently dressed and followed the Uchiha to the roof of the hotel. They sat side by side and stared upwards, but all they could see was the constant grey and slowly moving mass of chakra induced mist.

"Ah, such a pity, they aren't out today," Yashino said with a small grin. Minato snorted at his mock surprise.

"Why did you bring me out here?"

"Why did you agree to come?"

Minato tilted his head to look at Yashino, but the man was not watching him. He was smoking and staring up with a thoughtful expression. Not the distant look of someone remembering, but of someone who is deep in their own mind. Minato returned his gaze to the glow of the light poles under them.

"Hey, sensei…. Why….. This exam wasn't an exam, it was just…. Carnage. Why would the Mist do something like this?"

Yashino hummed but didn't respond straight away.

"Why don't you tell me what happened first? I haven't got a report on it. I know Misuri spoke with Mikoto and Shibi, but I've been taking care of something else," he answered evenly. Minato could guess at what 'something else' was, and knew better than to ask him to elaborate on it, so he told him. Slowly at first, and then faster. About the fear he had felt when they were fighting all around him, about the panic that had risen in his heart and made him act without thinking, about his concern for his friends and his remorse at killing someone as young as himself. Yashino listened patiently, and at the end he leaned over to ruffle his hair.

"Everyone dies, Minato. That is the course of the world. It doesn't matter what power you held, what cards life has dealt you. In the end we'll all die, and if that happens at a young age or an old age, it doesn't matter. What matters is what they felt during those years. Did they live a fulfilling life? Were they happy? Were they loved? Did they have dreams to reach for or goals to attain? If they did then it is fine, because they knew what life is, and the only sadness left is for those who are still alive to grieve what they have lost."

Yashino chuckled dryly.

"The dead don't grieve, Minato. They meet the friends and family they have lost. It is those left behind you should worry about, always and always those who are still alive. In our life regret is inevitable. You can say you'll never regret anything, but you will regret or you aren't human. If you want to live like a ninja that is more important than to never regret at all."

"…but if I said I would never do anything I would regret, what then?"

Yashino shook his head knowingly with a sad smile.

"Do you think you are the only one to ever think like that? Do you think they managed to do it? In the end, you never know what your choices will bring until you've made them and seen the consequences for yourself. It is in that moment you will know if you will regret it or not, and then it is too late to do anything about it. Some choices may seem obvious, but…. In this war, to begin with, I never killed without due cause. I didn't like it and I didn't want to. Later one of the people I had let go killed one of my teammates. It wasn't until that moment that I realized that was the consequence of my choice. For each enemy I let live, some of my comrades might die."

"…." Minato didn't know what to say. He always thought that if he only did what his heart told him to do, it would be alright, but from someone others point of view, that might look both selfish and naïve. Looking back he knew he had regretted things in his past life too, despite saying he wouldn't. He had regretted not being strong enough to keep Sasuke in Konoha, he had regretted not learning everything he could while he was young so he could learn more advanced things later, he regretted not paying more attention to his friends, who thought that he never really had paid attention to other people's feelings unless their emotional state was something he could relate to. His choices…. Yeah, some were good, some were bad, some…. Well, something in-between, but he never saw their results until later.

"You learn as you go, brat. For each day you survive, for each person you meet, you'll learn something you didn't know before. Pay attention to them because when everything is said and done, they are the ones to judge you. If you want to become a great ninja, you will have to do things you don't want to do. Most likely you'll have to kill innocents, even children, you'll have to lie and deceive, cheat and trick, but you'll also have to protect, love, care for, nourish and help. You will take lives and you'll save lives. That is how it is, but the people who matter to you, the people who will judge you when the time comes, they will never know it all despite being the ones who will praise or dirty your reputation."

Minato only nodded and drew his knees up to rest his head on them. What Yashino was saying sounded so cynical and jaded and still, from the civil war he had experienced he knew it to be true. From the stories he had heard, he knew it to be true. It wasn't until it was done that he would truly know. He wondered briefly if some of his friends had thought of him as childish and never told him. They probably did…. It made him wonder what his current friends were thinking. He almost yelped as a hand landed heavily on his head.

"You are thinking too much, Minato. Do you want to hear what my sensei told me, when I was your age and wondered how I could ever go on like this?"

Minato looked up at him in surprise. It was the first time he had heard Yashino mention his own sensei, but of course he would have had one at some point in time. He wondered who that had been and how he had influenced his sensei.

"What did he say?"

"The same thing I'll tell you. When we're back in Konoha, watch the streets one day. Sit down by yourself and look, and ask yourself what you see. Then, when the evening comes, ask yourself where all the lonely people come from."

"Lonely people?"

"Hmm, lonely people. You'll understand one day. I did…. and now, unless there is something else troubling you, you should try to go to bed."

Minato was about to leave, but remembered something he had wanted to tell his sensei.

"Those people, those who attacked too recklessly at the test, they didn't use much chakra, and they didn't seem to be very good at handling their weapons. If they had been, we'd all been dead by now."

"I know. I think they were disposed of in that way because most countries won't look into it," Yashino answered in a hushed voice.

"You mean…. They were…. "

"Yeah, but I don't understand why. I understand getting rid of the ones they can't use, but to train foreigners, especially this kind of foreigners, won't necessary give you any loyal soldiers. It is as if the Mizukage wants to replenish his ranks after the war as quickly as possible, but why spend so many resources on it and for what? He could easily have walked around his own countryside and gathered orphans and others who'd want to become loyal ninja of Mist and saved himself a fortune at the same time. I don't get it."

They sat in silence for a while, each considering what they knew, and Minato trying to fit it with his knowledge of the future. He agreed with Yashino, it didn't make sense at all. The Uchiha eventually sighed and ruffled his hair again.

"Go to sleep, Minato. We won't understand more tonight anyway, and you have an exam to pass in a week."

"A week?" Minato asked startled. The one time he had taken the chuunin exam before they had had a month to prepare. Obviously that wasn't the case here.

"They want us out of here as fast as possible. They might host the exam in a show of strength and prosperity, but they don't like having their village flooded with outsiders. Especially not right after the war," Yashino answered as he heard the surprised tone of voice.

Minato nodded in understanding and left to get some sleep that night. Who knew, perhaps he would get the answer to the riddle that was Mist's ploy one day.