Chapter V- Goodbye
Minato, get your stuff ready, we leave tomorrow morning at 8am. Jiraiya.
He stared at the paper that had been pinned onto his door as if he couldn't believe what it was saying.
He had just been a Genin for a few days, and now he was getting whisked off with the rest of his team mates on strange, unexpected expedition that would take kami-knows-how-long. Although he loves exploring and traveling and learning, and this experience would definitely let him experience all of those things, he couldn't help but feel like he would miss the village.
He'd miss the village sites—the memorial, the Hokage monument, the library he loved so much.
He'd miss all the memories he had made there.
He'd miss the people.
For reasons still unknown to him, the image of a redhead flashed across his mind, and he felt saddened at the fact that he would have to say goodbye to a friend that he had just gotten the opportunity to meet.
Sighing, he willed his body to move as he moved to his room to begin packing.
He kneeled down and began to gather some winter clothes when he heard a slight knocking on his door. He turned to see his grinning father, arms crossed as he leaned against the door frame.
"Jiraiya told me all about it." He interjected before his son could even open his mouth to begin to tell him.
"Be safe, alright? Your kaa-san would never forgive me if I let you go out there and get hurt, even though you're a shinobi."
Minato nodded, giving his dad a small smile as he tried to stuff his clothes into his bag.
His dad chuckled a little before joining him on the floor, taking out a few scrolls as he kneeled next to his son.
"Minato, I'm going to teach you a bit of an advanced jutsu, and it's going to come in handy when you need to hold a lot of things for a trip such as this, okay?"
His son nodded as he watched his dad roll open a few scrolls. The scrolls each had a row of circles, each surrounded by the same intricate symbols.
He watched as his father demonstrated a few hand signs to him, and saw that the inscription on the scrolls glowed and a hole appeared in the center of each circle.
"Now, you just put whatever you need in here, and when you need to take it out, just do the same thing and the items will appear as you put your hand on each circle."
Quickly, Minato organized the clothing that he was about to bring and he rolled out the other scroll and quickly activated it as well.
His father nodded in approval as he saw how quickly his son had caught on to this difficult technique.
"Why are you opening another scroll, Minato? This one has enough to hold all of your clothes and necessities."
His son turned and grinned at him, not halting his packing as he spoke to his father.
"What if I lose one of the scrolls, or something happens to render it useless? Then I'd have a backup scroll with basically the same thing so then it'd be okay!"
His father smiled at him warmly, and walked out as he let his son continue packing.
"I'm making dinner tonight!" He called out from the staircase, "You're gonna have to eat a lot of your old man's cooking before I let you out of this house!"
A good half an hour later, Minato crept down the stairs to see his dad over the stove, stirring a big pot of what seemed to be his favorite food—curry.
"Smells good, tou-san!"
He leaped down the rest of the staircase and proceeded to set the dinner table, and scooped up a good amount of rice into each of their plates, while his father ladled on the curry.
Sitting down to enjoy "the last supper" with his dad—until he came back, anyway—Minato called out a joyful, "Itadakimasu!" and dug in, his dad following along, but with less vigor.
As their pace slowed down, the older Namikaze eyed his son with slight amusement as he began to talk.
"Minato, I met some very nice people today. They're from the former Uzu village."
Minato looked up, looking at his dad with his mouth full of curry as he nodded, as if prompting his father to proceed to the rest of the story.
"They have a daughter that just graduated from the Academy at the same time you did. Kushina Uzumaki."
Seeing his son's eyes widen, the older man chuckled lightly and proceeded.
"You know, Minato, it's rude to leave without saying good bye to people that are important. Finish up your dinner, I'll do the dishes."
Without another word, his father gave him a small wink and walked away, grabbing a book and heading off to his den.
The son blinked, looking down at his food as he contemplated what his Father had just told him. Slowly thinking about what to do, he finished up his meal and went upstairs to finish packing.
After a good ten minutes of checking and rechecking the scrolls to make sure he had everything he needed, he placed the two scrolls into his backpack and made sure that all his weapons were in the weapons holster.
After deciding that he was in need of some relaxation, he went to the shower, sighing as the warm water hit him, closed his eyes, and began to think.
"…it's rude to leave without saying goodbye to people that are important…"
"Dad, what is that supposed to mean?"
Suddenly, it all clicked.
He finished his shower, threw on some casual clothes, flung his hair as if to attempt to airdry it, and headed out the door, calling out over his shoulder.
"TOU-SAN! I'M GOING OUT FOR A WALK!"
Rushing through the door, he lept, going to the closest house to his—Shikaku's.
Saying goodbye was not an easy task, Minato decided, as he stared at Inoichi and Chouza's dumbstruck face after telling them. They were over at Shikaku's, and were therefore the first to hear about his departure.
"You're…leaving us? Just like that?" Inoichi uttered out, his voice betraying him as a hint of sadness was evident in his words.
"Yeah… I don't know for how long, or where, but I'll be back sooner than you know it! Just don't forget about me, alright?" Minato smiled at his former classmates, giving them a thumbs up.
"That'd be impossible, we all grew up together, you know?" Chouza said, patting the blonde on the back as he smiled sadly.
"Well, it'll be a see-you-later then, Namikaze. See you when you come back, whenever you come back." Shikaku finally said, after a long period of silence. With a note of finality in his voice, he strode up to Minato and extended his hand out for a handshake.
Minato eyed the hand, smiled, and then proceeded to shake it.
"Definitely. I'll miss you guys, get strong!"
After all the dumbfound faces and pats on the back were over, Minato headed out to all of his close friends' houses—the Uchiha Manor, the Hyuuga Manor, and lastly…the home of Kushina Uzumaki.
"Oh… I see."
The three words Kushina Uzumaki uttered when she heard the news—the dreadful news that her first friend from Konoha was leaving.
"Well, you BETTER stay safe. I expect letters! Don't you dare get hurt out there, or else I'll kill you before the enemy does!" Kushina shouted, threatening him with her fist as he gave a small smile.
"Of course I will! I'll be back before you know it, so don't go off and forget me, alright?"
He didn't notice much until he saw a flash of red and suddenly he was tackled into a tight hug.
He returned the hug as Kushina responded.
"You idiot. How could I forget you? I should be scared of you forgetting me!"
He heard the crack in her voice, and the sniffles that came afterward, and immediately felt a bit of an ache in his heart.
"That's not possible. Let's make a promise, and not forget each other, alright? When I come back, everything will just be the same as it is right now."
He felt her head nod, and they slowly released each other from each other's arms. He knew it must've been awkward for her, especially since she hates to cry or look weak in front of others.
"Well, I'll see you later, then!"
He gave her a brilliant smile and turned, leaping from rooftop to rooftop back to his house.
She looked at his back, a small smile on her face as she wiped the last of her tears from her eyes, knowing that he'll be back, knowing that he wouldn't break his promise.
Taking a deep breath, Minato stepped forward. One step, two steps, three steps. To his front, his two team mates and his teacher. To his back, warm smiles from all his friends (well, maybe not Fugaku or Hiashi), and his father.
Giving them a confident, reassuring smile, he strode toward the village gates, and joined his team mates as they waved farewell to all of their own friends and family.
"WAIT!" shouted a young redhead, as she raced after the boy clutching something in her hand.
"I want you to have this!" She exclaimed, cheerfully smiling as she handed him a bracelet. It was a leather bracelet, braided in with some string, with string hanging out to adjust the size.
"You might have never noticed me wearing it, but it's my lucky charm! Keep the promise we made, or else I'll drag you back and make you regret it!"
He nodded, smiling as she took his hand and slipped on the bracelet, tightening it to suit his wrist.
"I'll stick to our promise, Kushina-san." He gave her a small smile and a wave, as she nodded and stepped back, as if letting him go.
He turned and along with his team mates, began to set off on his expedition, leaving behind his family and friends.
"That stupid blonde, he still can't talk to me without adding the stupid –san after my name."
Her sensei came and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, before gently saying,"Come on, Kushina, we have to go, you still have to train if you want to get stronger.
She nodded, and turned, along with her own sensei and sped to the Training Grounds with her team mates.
"He'll be back in a few weeks or so, right sensei?"
Her sensei gave her a hard look, before a small smile and saying, "I don't know, Kushina. You'll just have to wait and see."
Little did she know, she would be waiting for another year and a half.
Hey all! Sorry for the shortness of this chapter! Originally, this chapter was supposed to be 4 pages longer, but then it wouldn't have flowed very well with what I was about to write, so I'll finish adding the other 3 or so pages to the other chapter, and then update it ASAP. School starts tomorrow for me, yippee! I'm excited! But that means that I'm going to take longer to update, but just so you know…
REVIEWS ENCOURAGE ME TO UPDATE!
Sorry for the shorter chapter, but I swear the next one will make up for it!
-KishikoChan