13.

Konoha at the evening was vastly different than Konoha at daytime or even Konoha at morning. Konoha at the evening was preparing for night and preparing for night in a hidden village wasn't like preparing for night at any other random village out there.

They would simply take out the trash, turn off lights, make sure the children were at sleep, and let the dog out to do its needed things before the night or chase the cat out of the house till morning. Simple small things and then go to bed peacefully. Konoha was not like that. In Konoha the coming of the darkness set off a whole chain of proceedings and, for those few who knew about it, missions. The cover of darkness was the best time to move for any team doing something in secrecy. Unfortunately anyone infiltrating the village while not undercover as a spy would think the same. Sabotage and sneak attacks were always a real possibility in a village that earned its living mostly by hire out mercenaries.

They did have a very good defense. It wasn't labeled a hidden village just to make the name longer to pronounce. A good defense, however, did not mean that no one could get in and do all sorts of damage if they didn't stop them. Naturally the village was patrolled and guarded as if they expected an army to suddenly jump them if they didn't look.

The civilians didn't notice much of this, of course. They might, if they looked for it, see a few of the ninjas in the village run across the rooftops or sitting on light poles overlooking a certain street or area. Sometimes they might even see one of the elusive ANBU operatives. More common was it for them to see the police patrol the streets. If they were lucky, depending on the situation, they might even get a glimpse of a red flash in the eyes of the Uchiha clan members making up the police force. Then they would know they had briefly seen the famous, or infamous considering which side you were on, bloodline limit that made them so efficient at keeping ninja under control.

Konoha at daytime was filled with civilians going about their daily lives, ninjas that weren't on missions, fresh genin teams and children playing in the streets. There would be lively discussions and gossiping women with little babies or elderly people doing what elderly people do best. Spend at lot of time at seemingly nothing and still manage to do a lot. There would be noises everywhere and people everywhere. Cats and dogs and horses pulling wagons and pigeons, hawks circling the sky above carrying messages and at times complete, utter and still ordered chaos.

At night it fell quiet. Still. Unmoving and eerie. Street cats would prowl the shadows between the houses; stray dogs would scavenge the trashcans. The birds settled down to rest the few hours of darkness until the sun would rise again. People disappeared from the streets to spend the rest of the day with their family at home. It was the time when the higher ranking missions started, when the true secrecy began and the village shoved its true face instead of that it showed the world during the day. In bright light everything looks good, but only darkness creates true shadows.

So when the team of ragged, out of breaths and exhausted children stumbled in the main gate just as the sun set and the last vestiges of the day's activities settled it drew a few curious looks from the lingering civilians, but gained the full and undivided attention of any ninja seeing them. They knew from experience that any team returning in that state could hardly bring any good news. Especially when they were genin, except for one, and lacking their teacher. There should have been at least one teacher with them, but no one was there. Only the gasping children and the desperate look reflecting in all of their eyes. It was not something good at all.

Minato stood stock still staring at the ground while the chunin guard at the gate tried to make sense of what was going on. He still held the decorated scroll tightly in one hand. He hadn't let go of it since Yashino gave it to him. Or more like put it in his hand and sent them on their way. He wasn't sure if he was able to let go of it anyway, with the way his hand refused to open. It was as if his body had frozen now that they had reached Konoha. They were safe and he had done as he promised and made sure they made it home safely.

Fugaku, Mikoto, Shibi, Isanu. He looked at each of them and noted how they were shaking where they stood. They were pale except for where the air had whipped their faces raw when they ran and from the exertion. He tried to control his own breathing by taking deep calm breaths. He wondered if he was shaking too and tried to find out, but all he did find out was that his muscles protested against the movement. He stared at the chunin again.

"We need to see the Hokage," he said finally, deciding that something had to be done and that the chunin wasn't likely to get something useful from his tired friends. They were shocked and scared and, for lack of a better word, a little lost. Their exam had turned into a nightmare that just continued and continued. He clenched his hand around the decorated scroll harder than before and silently started to walk away not caring if the chunin would let them or not. Fugaku looked at the gate guard with a deep frown on his face, turned around without another glance and followed Minato. The blonde tilted his head a little when the older boy caught up with him.

"He wasn't about to do something. If they're going to have a chance at helping at all a team needs to leave now," Fugaku said blankly. His voice didn't betray him but the stiff glare did. Minato nodded silently. He understood the need to hope until the end. He had never had family, but he had had plenty or friends that he considered family and he knew the need to believe they were alive until it was undeniably that they were not.

"Idiot guard," Isanu scoffed from behind them, with some noise they interpreted as agreement from Shibi. Mikoto didn't say anything, but the reflexive way she was moving her lips with no sound told of her inner turmoil. Minato felt sorry for them. He was sure he would've been deeply shocked and troubled if he hadn't had his extra years of life and thus extra years of experience. All in all he felt they were taking it well. Nearly too well, but they had grown up during a war and they were from clans. They had been conditioned to this life since before they could remember. He wasn't sure what he felt about that, but for all Konoha wanted their children to remain children and not little tools they were short on ninja and needed them to grow up fast.

Minato wondered if things would have turned out differently in the future of they had had the same will to condition his generation. They had gotten away easily, much thanks to Itachi killing off his clan and it being blamed on him losing his sanity. He was a child prodigy and the people deciding those things were certain he had been thrown into ninja life too early and to make sure it didn't happen again they started to protect the children from the life they would later live. The only one who didn't was Danzou and even if Minato would rather chop off his left leg than admit to agree with him in anything he hadn't sugarcoated anything. Sai was enough proof that what Danzou did was wrong too, but there had to be middle; somewhere both sides met and could be joined. He certainly would never try to coddle his children, if he ever had someone. He had seen what that led to and he wouldn't stand for it.

Minato blinked. When had he started to think like that? Was it form all the time he had spent with the Uchiha clan? He shook his head clean of the thoughts and nearly sighed in relief as the Hokage tower came into view. He was glad to see it, more than he could ever explain and hoped beyond hope that the old man who wasn't so old yet could do something. Though, realistically it wasn't likely they were alive anymore. They had bid their good bye and done what they had to do. Their names would adore the memorial and he would be one of those who came with flowers and traced their names with his fingers, wondering if they still watched over him from above.

He felt detached. It was as if what went on around him didn't register and he had gone numb and all he could do was to stand there and look blankly at the Hokage's secretary who wore a put off expression at them. He could barely see the faint traces of irritation on the woman's face. It was in the way her lips pressed a little harder against each other, the way the corners of her mouth turned minutely downwards, the way her eyes narrowed a friction, the small wrinkling of her nose and the way she let out her breath as if she calmed herself. She was not happy about having an emergency meeting at her hands, not when she was moments from being able to leave her workplace and go home to whatever life she had there.

"What may I do for you this evening?" she asked in an overly sweet tone. Yup, she was annoyed Minato decided. Perhaps she had children she wanted to get home to. A quick scan of her revealed a woman in her late twenties or early thirties with light brown hair, teal colored eyes and a round face. She was dressed practically for her job and had neatly manicured hands with a gold wedding ring. Minato tilted his head a little. He was no expert on women, but when they were married they usually at some point had children, and she was old enough to have one or two. There was nothing outwardly pointing to it, so if she did have children they weren't infants anymore.

"We need to see the Hokage. It is important," he said flatly. The secretary muttering something about it always being important but none the less went to knock on the correct door. They stood in front of her desk, looking at the filled up out tray with papers and the empty in tray. There were several sheets on her desk, together with pens and a small amount of gadgets that always cluttered peoples' desks.

Minato wasn't sure why he was noticing all these things now. When he was young… When he was a child the previous time, he had never cared to take stock of what the old man's secretary had on her desk or what she wore or they way she acted. She was simply another person there. Nothing more. This time, however, he had noticed all the small things about her and her desk and wondered if it was because this time he'd been thought to do it and he felt threatened with the numbness spreading in his body and refusing to go away. It was all too easy to fall back on the mindset he'd had before he was deposited in the past by a selfish old demon with dubious motives.

Before he could pin point his concern the secretary was back. She looked a little exasperated.

"Go right in. The Hokage is waiting for you," she said and went to her desk where she pulled out a deck of cards. Obviously it wasn't the first time she had to stay longer than intended. The sound of her flipping the cards at the desk was the only sound following their footsteps as they slowly entered the office. Neither of them had really been in the Hokage's office. Minato had, of course, but that was in a different time and sort of different place. The room where the missions were handed out didn't really have the same feeling of constricted power as the Hokage's office. As genin they weren't usually called here unless under special circumstances. It was natural for them to be nervous and a little unsure as to what to do, but they followed the lead of Minato, since he seemed have some sort of idea as to what he was doing.

Minato stared straight at the Hokage when he entered the room. He hadn't seen him outside of the mission briefing room since the first time they met in this time so he knew he had to act formal here. It was the kind of thing you just have a gut feeling of, that something is required and you don't really know why but you do it anyway because it feels right. He walked in front of the desk and bowed and waited for the elder to acknowledge them.

"I take it something has happened."

The grave voice was very different from the kind tone he'd used with Naruto, Minato noted distantly. It was more like the tone Jiraiya had used when talking about the Akatsuki and trying to make him take the threat seriously. Now he knew it wasn't something he could easily brush off. Of course, he had known that way back then as well, but not like he did now. Then he'd been worried about what would happen to him if they caught him and angry at the unfairness of it all. He hadn't asked for any of it and neither had any of the others they killed. Later, when he came back from his training trip, he had understood that the threat was far more; it was against the entire world. He still wasn't sure what he ought to do about it this time around.

He pushed the unwelcomed thoughts away. It wasn't the right time to be contemplating the future and he knew they couldn't use the nine tailed fox for whatever they were planning. Mainly because the giant old leach didn't have all his nine and oh so wonderful tails attached anymore. The stray thought nearly made him smirk but he held it back and with his free hand found the black scroll Yashino had asked him to bring back. The Hokage's eyes hardened upon seeing it, while the four children that had somehow become his friends during this endeavor, because there was no way he couldn't call them friends after this, drew a sharp breath each and tried to get a better look of the scroll.

Not that there was much to see. It was a scroll. It was black. It was held together with a seal. Nothing more, nothing less. Minato put it on the desk and met the sharp dark eyes of the man known as the Professor. He knew the Hokage had already figured out that something bad had happened, probably from the moment the disheveled genin walked into his office looking as if they'd just ran a marathon with the dogs of hell on their heels. Somehow that description weren't as far from the truth as Minato would like it to be.

"Sensei told me to hand this to you," he said and was surprised at how young he sounded. Within his mind he had almost expected to hear his deeper, grown up voice. He certainly didn't feel like a child at the moment. He felt just as old, if not older, than the young adult he'd been when he was forcefully put into a different existent. It was strange, but he had managed to act like he was just a slightly more grown up and responsible child than what was the norm, but as soon as they were back in the forest with the pursuers after them he'd snapped back… even with all the years as a child his mind had reverted back to where it had been.

"I see. I would like to hear what you know of it, and what happened," Sarutobi said seriously. Minato gazed at the others with a considering look. He then met the expectant look of the Sandaime Hokage.

"We were heading back from the chunin exam when we were pursues by what sensei thought were Hunter nin from Mist. He said something about not having time to cover it up better and not wanting to cause uproar by killing someone. He said the information he found is in the scroll, and when we couldn't shake the pursuers off he and Misuri sensei decided to intercept them to…" he hesitated for a moment. He didn't like to say this. He so did not want to say it, because he knew, like with every other thing that happened, it always became more real when you accepted it and spoke it out loud.

"…to delay them or permanently stop them from pursuing us," he finished shortly. In his dull mind he wondered if the reason Yashino hadn't killed whoever it was that had woken from the coma inducing genjutsu was more because he, when faced with the need to kill again simply couldn't bring himself to do it when it wasn't absolutely necessary. He had heard some ninja sometimes reached a point where they couldn't do it anymore and quit. He wondered if that was what had happened with Yashino. He wondered if that would happen to him some day.

The Hokage didn't show what he was thinking but rose quickly and went to say something to the secretary. The five children in the office heard him talk, but the words were muffled by the door. When he came back he had a slightly pensive look. Minato blinked at him and fastened his eyes on a spot on the wall behind the desk. If the room insisted on tilting every other way he insisted on keeping his balance. At least until this was done and over with.

"Where did you part ways?" the Hokage asked and this time it was Shibi who answered.

"By the border between Vegetable, Fire and rain," he said. His monotone was strangely broken by the urgency in those words and Minato suddenly understood that he still hoped Misuri sensei was alive. He could understand that. If not he would have lost both a team mate and his sensei in this unpleasant exam. As if the Hokage read his thoughts he spoke and Minato could feel his resolve to stay on his feet waver.

"You are lacking two of your team mates. Did they stay to aid your teachers?"

The silence following that question spoke volumes.

"They were killed in the exams," Fugaky finally offered in a tone that, if the man hadn't been the Hoakge and used to deal with both clan head and clan heirs, would have kept him from asking anything else. Minato shifted a little and found the scroll the Mizukage had handed him. Without a word he placed it on the desk with a small bow and stepped back. The floor swung alarmingly under him from the small movement, but he held on a little longer. Behind him Fugaku supported Mikoto, and Shibi was swaying on his feet.

"The exam was… surprisingly violent," Minato said with a small grimace. Undoubtedly the Hokage would hear about that soon enough, if it wasn't already apart of the information provided in the black scroll. The Hokage nodded and carefully opened to scroll Minato had just placed in front of him.

"It seems congratulations are in order, young one. It is no small feat becoming a chunin at your age," he said and Minato wondered what he was supposed to do now. He was pretty sure that if he moved he'd pass out, because the strange tilting of the world around him didn't stop and he still felt numb all over. Even his mind felt numbed.

"Thank you," he ventured tentatively. He took a deep breath and forced his eyes to stay open. At least he tried to. He knew he fell to the floor. It isn't that hard to realize you are falling even if you aren't all there, but it was blurry and all he could feel was a strange prickling sensation throughout his body.

When he next woke he was at the hospital. He could tell from the way it smelled and from the feeling of the sheets. Nowhere else did the sheets manage to feel cold against his skin despite him laying on them and literally radiating heat. When he opened his eyes it was even daylight in the room. The curtains were drawn to the side of the window and a very annoying and loud yelling was heard from the next door room. In retrospect he was pretty sure that was what had woke him up.

It was a woman, and she was currently angry enough to make the entire hospital aware of her current pregnancy, which by the sound of it was welcomed but not at all planned. When he concentrated the woman and the person she was angry with, hopefully the father of her child, they weren't even in a room but in the hallway outside of his room. He frowned. That wouldn't do.

He experimentally moved a little to see what he'd broken or injured this time, but nothing felt wrong aside from a lingering weariness. It was an alien feeling and he didn't at all like it. As soon as he found out what it was he would make sure never to feel like it again if it was possible. Especially if it was what had made him pass out. True he'd been tired but that was ridiculous.

He climbed out of the bed to inspect the boring and plain light blue pajama the nurses had outfitted him in. There really wasn't much else to say about it and he carefully trotted around the bed to look at his charts. It was interesting only if you understood what they said, and having had enough previous experiences with the hospital, or at least waking up in an improvised hospital somewhere in the waste forests of Fire Country, he knew enough to understand what it said. Personally he wondered if he should think of it as a novelty considering that he had never ever suffered this particular, but more or less common, ninja defect before. Chakra exhaustion. How had that happened?

He turned to the door when the yelling didn't stop. This was going to get annoying. Here he was trying to figure out a puzzle that might or might not save his or someone else's life one day and she was still going on about why this guy had to get her pregnant at such an inopportune moment. Huffing he went over and flung the door open to glare at the couple.

"Congratulation, I am certain you'll raise a wonderful child when he or she is born. I wish you both all the luck in the world and I do understand it may or may not be a large change of your relationship, not to mention your lives, but there really is no reason why all of Konoha has to be informed," he said with his best 'I am a very wise nine year old' smile and all the patience he could muster. Both of the adults stopped whatever they were going to say to look dumbstruck at him. He couldn't blame them.

There he was, in his standard blue hospital pajama, blonde hair all over the place and messy from sleep, blue eyes serious and hands on his hips like some exasperated mother catching her children arguing. And he was nine years old. He felt a twitch forming when they suddenly started to look at each other and fighting to keep back their laughter. It was at that moment that he noticed them, apart from their voices. He blinked.

The resemblance was startling, to say the least. He wasn't sure what he was going to do about it, apart from ignoring the part of him which wanted him to lit up in a sunny smile, jump his sensei and scream for joy before being put firmly on the ground so he could dance around wildly. Another part of him commented dryly that no, it wasn't his sensei. Two very important things were lacking, or not like it should be. For one, the silver haired man in front of him didn't have a mask on, and his sensei wouldn't have been caught dead without it. The second was his forehead protector which wasn't places across his eye but rather in the tradition place across the forehead.

"I say, it isn't every day you are reprimanded by a child," the man intoned humorously. The woman stifled a small chuckle.

"He is right, though. Did we disturb you?" she asked and bent a little as if talking to a small child. Minato frowned at her. She had the same crinkling of her eyes as his sensei had had. It was annoying and he stepped back with a frown on his face. He did not want to be treated like some five years old. Sure he looked young, but damn he was nine already.

"In fact you did. I was trying to figure out why I am suffering chakra exhaustion," he said and frowned again. He had to figure out why that had happened, and if it had happened to the rest of the ragtag group that had returned alive. Not to mention find out if either Yashino or Misuri were still alive, even with the chances for that being rather small and next to nonexistent. The adults blinked at him.

"I thought the teachers at the Academy kept an eye on their students so that wouldn't happen," the man said to his… wife? Girlfriend? Sometimes bed partner? Minato really didn't know what they were. Neither wore a ring, so he assumed husband and wife wasn't it. She got an indignant expression.

"We do! It can be really dangerous for children to overload their chakra coals."

She looked at him with a chastising face.

"Weren't you listening when you were told not to train at home if you started to feel tired from using your chakra? You really should try to listen to your instructors. We are there for a reason, and when we tell you to do something or not to do something it isn't because we want to hold you back but because we know what we are doing."

Minato stared at her as she went on about the dangerous world of the ninja and how important it was to follow orders and instructions so things like this might be avoided. After all, in the field it could be his life on the line. He listened silently to her rant, while considering the man beside her. He seemed to have realized something by the look of suppressed laughter in his eyes. Minato raised an eyebrow at him before he glanced behind him. The door to his room was open behind him, and the bed and the small bedside table were both visible from where they stood. The man had most likely seen the forehead protector on there and let his friend… whatever, go on to make a fool of herself. Minato had to wonder of he found it amusing to tick the future mother of his child off.

He tilted his head a little to the side to take a better look at him. Of course, he knew who he was. At this point he was still a well known, well respected shinobi in Konoha. In fact, he was one of the best. Sometimes during the next ten years that would change and in the process profoundly fuck up the life of his son.

"You are the White Fang," Minato said and broke off the rant the woman was in. Both of them looked oddly at him. He smiled at them.

"Sensei told me about you," he answered the unasked question. It was true as well, though he didn't say which of his sensei it had been. Something told him they wouldn't have believed him if he did.

The man looked at the woman and smirked deviously as what Minato had said slowly dawned on her.

"You're… are a ninja?" she asked slowly and Minato couldn't help but grin at her.

"I graduated two years ago. I passed my chunin exam not long ago."

That made both of them stare at him, and feeling a little uncomfortable he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. He tried to make them focus on something else.

"You are the White Fang?" this time he voiced it as a question, so they had to answer. The man dipped his head a little, curiosity stirring in his eyes.

"I am. Say, who's your teacher? He shouldn't let a chakra exhaustion go this far, even if you've a chunin now."

Minato carefully blanked his expression. This was not what he'd wanted to talk about, but it was better than being stared at.

"Uchiha Yashino, and we weren't training. We were running from Hunter nins from Mist."

There was a terse silence.

"I did wonder what he'd gotten himself into… well, I'm sorry kid. I'm afraid he was killed. It's all over the village by now, but if you've been sleeping off chakra exhaustion you probably haven't heard yet."

Minato met his brown eyes with his own blue and stared at him for awhile.

"I knew the chances were small for them to survive… but thank you for telling me anyway."

The woman looked mildly uncomfortable as she gazed between them. Apparently she was an instructor at the Academy and probably not someone used in the field very often. If so, she probably never had to leave someone to die in a battle they had little chance of winning and couldn't decipher the silent understanding passing between them.

"I'm Hatake Sakumo, and this is Etsuko, my…" he trailed off, clearly not entirely sure what to label her himself. Minato just watched as they silently spoke with their eyes and agreed.

"friend," they said together, and Minato suppressed the urge to smirk at them. Did they think him that gullible?

"I am Namikaze Minato. It is a pleasure to meet you," he said and smiled at them knowingly.

"Ah, Sakumo I see you have met our newest chunin," a cheery voice spoke and all three of them turned to see the Hokage observe them with a large smile. Minato hummed and greeted him politely.

"You mean he really is a chunin?" Etsuko asked a little unsettled by the idea. The Hokage gave smiled brightly.

"He most certainly is. The Mizukage was certainly impressed enough with him to pass him. I am looking forward to see what else young Namikaze may do as he grows," he said with a firm smile and nod to Minato.

The blonde considered the adults for a moment before he asked a question that had bothered him since he woke up.

"Hokage – sama, would you mind telling me how long I have been asleep? I don't think the nurses have discovered me awake yet, or they would certainly swarm me, but I would like to know."

"Two days, but you shouldn't be alarmed. Your friends are in a similar state. It is to be expected since I think you set a new speed record for a genin team from the border to Konoha. You must have been running very fast to keep the same speed as the ANBU, and with much smaller chakra reserves."

Minato frowned. That wasn't what he had expected to hear, but it did explain what had happened. The numbness and the dizziness… it was his body telling him he was running out of chakra. So… disappointing. His chakra reserves were still too small it seemed. He just didn't get it. He had fought in the exams and seemingly used more chakra there than it took to run… all day and all night? Hardly. They had used chakra to enhance their speed too… not just to cling to the trees and branches. It did explain it, but he didn't have to like it. If he was to fulfill his goals he needed larger reserves or his carefully constructed plan would go down the drain.

"I also come to inform you formally of the death of your sensei and tell you that the Uchiha clan extends an invitation for you to take part in their private funeral tomorrow," the Hokage continued when he saw that Minato had registered everything he'd said first. Minato snapped his eyes to his, perfectly aware that they weren't alone or he would have asked why the burial was private. Instead he only nodded thoughtfully.

"Thank you," he said softly and for a moment he couldn't help but remember all the previous funerals he had attended. Including the one for the healthy man in front of him.

He stood there with the eyes of them on him and wondered what a strange thing it was indeed, that he had just lost one sensei and learned of the creation of another… that was too bizarre and he turned on the spot, padded back to the bed and decided that he would sleep some more. Perhaps his sudden headache would go away if he did.