Disclaimer: I am not Kishimoto-sensei, and thus do not own. No matter how annoyed I get as the manga continues
Chapter 5: When Leaves Gather
Kushina walked sedately back to her room, feeling more at peace than she had in what felt like ages. Things were sharp again, clear, and she felt a new purpose to her steps. A very important purpose.
Get money from her room for Ichiraku's ramen.
When she got there, though, she paused and blinked. A white carry-out bag sat in front of her door, and her sensitive nose could pick out the distinct smell of her favorite food wafting from it. Kushina smiled softly. Damn sap.
An idea struck her, and her smile morphed into a grin as she grabbed the bag and headed out.
Knock. Knock.
Minato looked up in surprise. He didn't really get visitors, especially not this late. Few even knew where he lived. Though there was something familiar about that chakra signature…
His door opened to reveal fiery red hair, a wide grin, and two carry-out bags of ramen.
"Kushina?" Minato gaped in disbelief. The last time he'd seen her she was a ball under her covers. When he had stopped by after training today to give her the ramen, she hadn't been in her room, and Hisoka-baa-san had told him that she had gone to see someone important. Now, here she was outside his door, looking as lively as ever, her flaming hair bright even in the dark of night, as if the past two days had never even happened.
"Are you going to invite me in? Or leave a girl standing out here in the cold?" she asked, making him immediately stand aside so that she could step through the doorway.
"How did you know where I live?" Minato wondered as he shut the door behind him.
"My mom told me," she responded while slipping off her shoes.
"…And how did your mom know where I live?"
Kushina's expression turned contemplative. "…Huh. You know? I have no idea."
Minato tried to not let that disturb him too much.
"Anyway, where's your kitchen? I need to microwave this." She raised one of the carry out bags, presumably the one he left by her door some time ago. He led her to the kitchen as she scoped out his place unabashedly. "Nice place. You live here by yourself? How can you afford it?"
"Thanks. My parents left me a little money. Plus the old land lady really likes me, so she doesn't mind if I'm occasionally late in payment if it's been a dry month mission-wise."
Kushina snorted. "Right. You're an old lady charmer. Really, Namikaze, does anyone not love you?" As soon as the words left her mouth, though, she clicked her jaw shut, eyes wide.
Minato, thankfully, didn't register her slip. He only shrugged and said, "And my team has been taking more C- than D- rank missions lately, so that's been helping."
"Ah, right, the prodigal Team 4, aka Team Jiraiya. What are your teammates like?" she wondered as she busied herself with preparing her meal. She popped her bowl into his microwave.
"They're pretty good," Minato shrugged. "Although they can be a little…eccentric sometimes."
She leaned against his countertop. "We're kids, Namikaze. That's normal. You need to lighten up some. You're too mature for your own good. Just because we're ninja doesn't mean we can't act like kids sometimes 'ttebane."
"I act like a kid."
Kushina snorted and flicked his ear.
"Ow," Minato pouted.
"Wuss." The microwave beeped, and Kushina took out her bowl before making herself comfortable at his kitchen table. Minato joined her, taking the lid off his own container.
"So…are you alright now?"
"Course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" She slurped her noodles loudly.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you holed yourself up in your room for an entire day?
"…Are you going to tell me what happened?"
"Nope," Kushina said through a mouthful.
"Why?"
The red head rolled her eyes. "Just because everyone calls you a genius doesn't mean you have to know everything dattebane."
"Then why are you here?"
"Do you want me to take the ramen back? Because I will," she threatened.
Minato hurriedly stuffed in a mouthful of noodles. He had already eaten dinner, and he wasn't as big a ramen-fanatic as Kushina was, but he didn't want her to take the food back and leave.
"So, I was thinking," Kushina mused, "We're probably overcomplicating the seal a bit. We're trying to connect two points in space into one point in time, so really the seal shou-"
Minato picked his jaw off the ground. "Wait, so, you want to work together on my jutsu again?"
Kushina gave him a look. "Duh. Didn't I give you my word like a month ago? Where'd you leave your brain?"
The blond spluttered. "B-but, didn't you say you didn't want to work on it anymore?"
"I said no such thing." Kushina took a sip from her broth. "Now, as I was saying—"
"Yes you did!" he accused.
She shot him a glare. "Do you not want my help?"
"N-no! I just– "
"So you just don't like me."
"No! That's not what I–"
"So you think I'm stupid."
"No! I'm just confused because you – and I – and your mom – and the housekeeper said – and…"
"Namikaze?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up."
He obeyed. The kitchen was silent for a minute, the two children looking at each other carefully, before the boy broke into face-eating grin, the kind that made Kushina want to whack him on the head with her chopsticks, which is exactly what she did. "Wise up, blondie! I'm trying to talk seals here 'ttebane."
Minato only rubbed his sore head and laughed. Welcome back, Kushina.
Tsunade examined the scuffed up but still intact boulder and scoffed. "Pathetic. Try again."
Her student made no complaint at her insult and only clenched his hand to strike the stone again. This time, the boulder crumbled a bit, cutting into his knuckles. He looked to his teacher for judgment.
The kunoichi huffed. "Still no good. Come on, are you going to let a rock beat you like some kind of wuss?" Tsunade suppressed a scowl as she observed the still-smiling boy. What was with this kid today? He should be exhausted – she had had him training relentlessly all afternoon. She'd decided to work with him on his physical strength, since she had noticed that although his blows struck fast, they didn't strike particularly hard. His speed would be enough in most cases, but only most cases. So as soon as his teammates had left, she had shoved a bunch of training weights at him and immediately had him doing pushups, sit-ups, rock climbing, boulder-moving and whatever other crazy exercise she could think of. But no matter how tough she made the training, no matter how hard she saw his muscles twitch and shudder with pain, that stupid grin never left his face. In fact, did it just grow wider at the word "wuss"?
Tsunade sighed. "Try again. In fact, don't stop until every bit of this boulder is in smithereens across the grass." With that, she stalked off, shaking her head. Kids.
Minato watched her go, bemused. He knew that was acting a little strange, but he couldn't help it. He was simply in a good mood, regardless of how much his body was screaming at him in pain. Well, actually, now that he was thinking about it, the pain was pretty bad. He should probably try to do the task set for him soon, before he collapsed.
Minato scrutinized the stone in front of him. His last strike had barely dented it, but that blow had literally been all he could physically muster.
Physically.
Minato had heard of the Great Slug Queen's reputation. Phenomenal, genius medical ninja with monstrous, fearsome strength. He had seen her with his own eyes reduce earth to rubble with a single finger. Of course she couldn't have done it with just her finger. She had to have used chakra. The only question was how.
Minato laid a hand on the boulder and sent a wave of chakra through his arm to the tips of his fingers, pooling it at the pads until they could hold no more, and gripped.
Cerulean eyes narrowed as the rock gave way.
Tsunade watched the blond boy from the edge of the clearing, her lips tilted into a smirk. So he was starting to figure it out.
"Is blondie staring at a rock?" a young, skeptical voice sounded from next to her. The medical ninja looked down to find a girl about Minato's age with long, flaming red hair.
"Training ground's booked, kid. Go find another one."
The girl crossed her arms. "I'm not here to train, I'm here for Namikaze." She jerked a thumb toward the boy who took step back and sunk into position. "I've got plans for him."
"Oh?" Tsunade raised a brow. "Aren't you kids a little young for that sort of stuff?"
The girl merely looked at her, baffled. "Huh?"
Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Never mind." She looked back at the clearing to catch Minato make another futile strike at the boulder before rubbing his hand in discomfort. Turning her gaze back to the young kunoichi, she asked, "You wouldn't happen to be Uzumaki Kushina, would you?"
She crossed her arms and looked at Tsunade suspiciously. "What's it to you?"
The older woman huffed a short laugh, going back to watch the boy punch uselessly at the stone. "Well, either way you're going to have to wait a while. He's training, and he won't be done until he's broken that boulder into little bits and pieces with his bare hands. And that isn't going to happen any time soo—"
Crack!
The boulder groaned as Minato's fist dug into it, making hundreds of cracks splintering along its surface, before it broke apart, sending bits of rock all over the grass.
Surprise was written across both kunoichi's faces, though for different reasons.
Already? Tsunade's eyebrows were high on her forehead. Even though he figured out that he needed chakra, it still shouldn't have taken him such a short time to actually get it. His chakra control must be amazing.
Kushina, on the other hand, had her mouth wide open. "Holy crap! That was awesome!"
Minato flushed slightly at the praise and rubbed the back of neck sheepishly. "Thanks."
The red head ignored him and turned instead to the blonde woman. "Can you teach me how to do that?"
Tsunade looked at her in surprise, before turning to gauge Minato's reaction. To her immense amusement, the boy at first looked slightly disappointed at losing the girl's attention. But then, his expression turned curiously nervous, with maybe even a hint of…fear?
The kunoichi looked back at the pleading girl, wondering exactly what would happen if she did teach this girl to have her monstrous strength.
"You're a mess. And absolutely useless like this," Kushina complained as she slowly took another step, fighting the extra weight Minato put on her side. His arm was slung across her shoulders and over her neck, his feet barely able to walk after the vigorous training he was forced through that day. "I had plans, you know."
"Sorry," the blond said as sheepishly as he could through his exhaustion. His eyes shifted over to look at her curiously. "What were they?"
The girl sniffed. "You'll just have to find out tomorrow."
Minato grinned contentedly, his eyes absently watching the bustling street before them. Kushina observed him, frowning, before suddenly jerking his torso forcefully with the arm wrapped around his waist, jostling his abused ribs and making him wince. "You really got to work on that," she told him.
"Work on what?" he asked, confused.
"That spaced out look," she said, rolling her eyes, "It annoys people. Namely me."
The corner of his lips turned down. "I don't mean to look spaced out."
"Well you do. Makes you seem like a flake, and girly."
He pouted. "Do you really think so?"
She gave him a look. "Well yeah. I mean that's exactly what I thought you were the entire time we were in the Academy."
His pout deepened, his eyes turned back to the dirt street, and he fell into a silent melancholy. It was kind of hilarious, actually. Kushina watched him for a long moment as they continued to trek toward the direction of his apartment, her mind warring with herself as she chewed on her thoughts. Eventually, though, his kicked puppy look forced her to open her mouth and speak.
"But…I don't think so anymore."
He looked up in surprise. "Huh?"
Her own gaze was averted, and if one looked really, really carefully (which, thankfully, Minato's exhaustion prevented him from doing) a pink tinge had spread across her cheeks. "I don't think you're flaky, or girly, anymore."
He slowly broke into a grin. "Really?"
"I'm not going to repeat myself, blondie."
Minato laughed. "Alright. But what do you think of me, then?"
Her indigo eyes grew wide. "Uh – "
She was saved, thankfully, from responding when a high voice called, "Minato-kun! What happened to you?!"
Kushina watched as a young girl with black hair pulled up into a sort-of bun and a flower tucked behind the ear came running toward them, eyes intent on her scuffed up companion, who blinked. "Oh, hi, Kahoko-san."
The girl named Kahoko came to a halt just in front of them, and Minato actually leaned back a little, making Kushina stare. Who's this? She looked kind of familiar…
As if he had heard her silent question, he introduced, "Kushina, this is my teammate, Nazono Kahoko. Kahoko-san, this is Uzumaki Kushina."
Oh, that's right. She was one of his teammates. Kushina could somewhat recall seeing her when she would go to pick Minato up from his team practices with Jiraiya. "Er, nice to meet you, Kahoko-san."
The raven haired girl ignored her. "Seriously, what happened, Minato-kun!? You look awful." Kushina snickered, while the aforementioned blond boy winced.
"Just a hard day of training, Kahoko-san," he replied.
Kahoko frowned in confusion. "But practice ended hours ago."
Kushina responded for him. "He had an extra session with Tsunade-sama today/"
Kahoko's expression turned into one of sympathy. "Oh, she's still punishing you, is she?" The question made Kushina's brow furrow in confusion, and she opened her mouth to speak. Minato, however, suddenly grabbed a tuft of her hair with the hand that rested by her neck and gave it a solid yank, making her shut up and glower at him. He ignored her, giving a one shoulder noncommittal shrug to his teammate, who was watching the interaction with slightly narrowed eyes. Her attention shifted, and she finally turned to look at Kushina's face, the unwelcome in her gaze making the red head flinch.
"I can take it from here," she told her, arms reaching forward to take her load.
Kushina's eyes narrowed, her short fuse already shorter from the girl's attitude toward her. "We're doing just fine, thanks," she stated, her grip tightening on Minato. She noticed the blond bite back a wince, however, and immediately loosened her arm again. "Let's go, Namikaze." She took a step forward, but was blocked.
Kahoko's eyes narrowed further. "Where are you taking him? He should go to the hospital."
"He doesn't need one."
Minato's eyes shifted uncomfortably at the tension growing between the two females. "Uh, I'll be fine Kahoko-san. Just need some rest."
"And how would you know? Are you a medic-nin?" the brunette countered, hands on hips.
"No," Kushina responded, scoffing. "But Tsunade-sama is. She healed the worst of the injuries, and told me to take him home for some sleep, which is where we're going, not that it's any of your business."
"Of course it's my business! He's my teammate!"
"He's my comrade, too. Now could you get out of the way?"
"No. With your manhandling, you'll just hurt him more. Give him here, I can take him home."
Kushina saw red. "Manhandling?" she repeated, her body tensing. Conscious, however, of the beat up body against her, she forced herself to take a breath. "Look here, you can either move or I'll make you."
Kahoko placed her hands on her hips and cocked them. "Oh, really?"
At this point, Minato was visibly nervous, shifting from foot to foot, but Kushina only ignored him and grinned dangerously at his teammate.
"Really. And the first thing I'll go for is that stupid flower in your hair."
Kahoko opened her mouth to give an angry retort when they were interrupted. "Yo! Nazono, Namikaze, what's going on?" A boy with ashy hair that curled close to his head appeared, a wide grin on his face that quickly faltered when he saw the blond boy. "Uh, Minato you look like shit."
Minato gave him a weak smile, obviously grateful for the distraction. "Thanks, Borome. Kushina, this is Kaijishi Borome, my other teammate."
Borome grinned easily at the girl, who immediately took a liking to him. "Nice to meet you, Kushina."
"Likewise, Borome," she grinned back, her mood suddenly taking a turn for the better.
"What are you doing here, Borome?" Kahoko demanded sharply, making him blink in surprise.
"What's got your flower in a twist, Nazono?"
The girl's teeth visibly clenched while Kushina muffled a snicker. "Nothing."
Borome scratched his cheek, looking between the three genin with obvious confusion. "Uh…sure doesn't seem like it." His face suddenly became very horrified. "It isn't…you're not…PMSing are you?" he staged whispered. Kahoko, aghast, turned a brilliant red, while Kushina burst into hysterics, barely able to keep her grip on the blond, who had gone back to looking extremely uncomfortable.
"No, you idiot!" she slammed a fist against her teammate's cheek, sending him flying back into the dirt.
"Ow, woman! What was that for!" he exclaimed, nursing his bruised cheek as he picked himself off the ground.
"For being inappropriate! You never ask a lady something like that!"
"I see no ladies around here!" he retorted, before suddenly grinning gallantly, "Other than you, of course, Kushina-chan." The aforementioned red head snorted at his silliness as the other girl grew angrier. Minato's slight narrowing of the eyes went unnoticed.
"Borome…" Kahoko growled, her nails digging into the soft flesh of her palms as her fists tightened.
The boy quickly ducked around to stand next to his other, safer (in a sense) teammate. "So, where are you all heading?" he asked.
"I'm taking this one to get some bed rest at home," Kushina told him, carefully gesturing to Minato without jostling him too much. The sunny haired boy gave a weak grin to supplement her response, and a growing look of comprehension grew on Borome's face.
"And I was saying that we should be the ones to take him home. We are his teammates." Kahoko's hands were on her hips, her posture firm and superior, making Kushina scowl at her. Before she could respond, though, Borome did for her.
"Uh Nazono?" he said slowly, giving her a questioning look, "Do you even know where Minato lives? Cuz I sure as hell don't."
The girl flushed again, but she snapped back, "No but he can tell us! It's not like she does either!"
"I do, too!" Kushina cried, making both of them turn to look at her, but she was already repositioning her grip on Minato so that she could drag him past them. "Now can you get out of the way? Namikaze looks like he's about to pass out."
"I'm fine…" Minato protested, though his weak voice wasn't convincing anyone.
"Quiet, blondie."
Borome quickly stood aside, pulling his enraged teammate back with him and letting the two sluggishly move past them. He quickly slapped a hand over Kahoko's mouth when she opened it to undoubtedly voice a loud objection. "You can't call yourself a lady if you can't keep quiet, Nazono. Sheesh. You yelling is not going to help Minato any, you know."
Kushina and Minato threw him a grateful look as they continued on their away. Borome responded with an easy grin before resuming distracting his female teammate so that the duo could make their getaway.
"I like him," Kushina told her companion when they had gotten a respectful distance away.
"Yeah, I could tell," Minato replied with a slightly strained smile. Kushina slated it to his exhaustion, though, and continued to muse over the team she had just met.
"Whats her face, Nazono? She could use an attitude readjustment, though, humph."
"Well, she might not be the easiest person to get along with, but she's good at heart, and pretty talented at ninjutsu," Minato defended mildly, making his red head friend scowl.
"Doesn't mean she can act like something's biting her in the ass all the time," she harrumphs, puffing out her cheeks. The blond only smiled indulgently at her, evidently too tired to argue much. Taking note of this, his companion fell silent and tried to pick up the pace.
The two genin trudged steadily through the village, listening to the gentle hustle and bustle of Konohagakure. Raised voices as people haggled over market prices. Laughter as children ran through the streets, weaving in and out of legs. Mischievous tones of old woman gossiping on corners. Deep throated chuckles of men enjoying themselves after a hard day's work. Kushina felt herself grow content. This was a nice village. Lively. Fun, even. Uzushio had been much smaller than Konoha, and much more traditional and strict. Every hand mattered, so even children had chores and duties to fulfill around the village. The Academy entrance age was a year lower than it was in Konoha, in order to churn out more able bodied ninja earlier. Kushina had always thought, though, that their lack of manpower was mostly because, well, the manpower was exactly that. Made of men. Women were allowed to be educated, especially in the Uzumaki clan, and taught basic ninja skills, but were expected to stay out of combat, for the most part. That's why, honestly, Kushina had been a little relieved to leave Whirlpool. School hadn't been going well for her, because of her quick temper and general tomboyishness. The Academy here wasn't that much better, in that respect, but at least she got to be an active ninja. People teased her about her hair, but at least no one thought she was strange for being so eager to throw punches. Well…too strange.
They had reached Minato's apartment with no other mishaps. Kushina got him through the door and helped him into bed. "Do you want anything to eat?" she asked, putting a water bottle on his nightstand. He took it gratefully, and chugged down a good volume of it.
"I think I'll just sleep for now," he told her, leaning back against his pillows. She nodded, and turned to leave and give him some peace and quiet. He grabbed her wrist before she could go though, making her freeze. Her eyes traveled down to the contact, before moving up to be trapped in an electrifying blue gaze.
"Thank you, Kushina, for helping me home," he said feelingly, "I'm sorry we couldn't hang out."
She fought furiously against the blush that was trying to make its way up her neck and to her cheeks. Averting her gaze, she gently broke her wrist free from his grasp. "Uh it was nothing," she told his covers. "Just get some rest. Don't need you flaking out on me tomorrow."
She chanced a glance back at his face only to see Minato give her that wide smile that seemed to light up the entire room. "Wouldn't dream of it. See you tomorrow?"
She nodded. "Tomorrow. Now sleep, blondie!" With that she practically ran out the door, leaving the boy to his bed, drifting off into blissful unconsciousness with a smile still on his face.
The Sandaime Tsuchikage of Iwagakure reread the contents of the scroll that he had personally encrypted himself, making certain that not a stroke was out of place. Eyes roving the parchment, he checked every character, every symbol, every blot. Only when he was completely satisfied with the every inch of ink did he roll the scroll up and place a seal around it.
He handed it to the ninja in front of him. "You know what to do. And I don't think I need to say how crucial it is this falls into the proper hands, do I, Kintsuchi?"
The stocky, black haired man bowed as he took the scroll, his goatee brushing his collar. "Hai, Tsuchikage-sama." With that, he turned and exited the room, navigating the maze of hallways with purpose. He didn't stop when he reached the exterior of the building, shadowed by the tall rocky structures that composed the Village hidden in Stone. He made his way through the streets in the same manner, making his way out of the Village. At one corner, though, he paused, and his gaze suddenly swung over his shoulder, eyes fierce. He stared hard for a long moment, before eventually turning his head back forward. Instead of resuming his trek through the village, however, he sprang up to the roofs, bursting into a speedy route to the gates, creating a small dust cloud from where took off from the ground.
When the dust cleared, all that was left was bare ground interspersed with brown, earthy rocks. Eventually, though, one of the rocks twitched, and double lids slid back to reveal bulbous gold eyes with strange, horizontal pupils.
Follow him.
A/N: No, Kintsuchi is not a typo.
So...yeah. Manga happenings. Being ignored to an extent. I planned this story out way before Kishimoto decided to throw a whammy at me, so for now, we're going to say that the Niidaime did not invent Hiraishin. Sorry if you don't like this, but, well, too bad.
I also apologize for the wait. After finals, I started my internship for the summer which has been taking a lot of time. Not to mention I became a beta for another Naruto story - Chance for Prophecy by Dorcyy. I highly recommend :)
Please drop a review! I love reading your comments!
