A/N: Welcome to the next installment of Prevailing Winds! Enjoy! By the way, college leaves you with some time, but it's early in the year. I'm absolutely dreading finals week, even 3 months before they even get close.
Disclaimer: I am not Kishimoto. Therefore, I do not own Naruto.
It had been a rough few days for the two boys, as both of them were dealing with their first kill. (Kills, in Naruto's case.) Shikamaru had trouble sleeping, which was shown by the large bags underneath his eyes. Naruto, on the other hand, had been keeping his emotions in check with a chilling efficiency, but fully was aware that he would have to come to terms with himself soon enough.
First, complete the mission. Dealing with this now will only lead to a possible slip-up.
They had been moving at a fairly slow pace, and were only about half a kilometer from Konoha's walls. Shikamaru had finally had enough.
"How do you do it, Naruto?"
"Hmm?"
"You act like there's nothing wrong. We both killed, and I can hardly sleep. Why aren't you affected at all? Was that part of your dad's training?"
"No," Naruto answers truthfully. "Once we have made it back to the village and completed are mission, only then will I worry about my feelings. I do not want to jeopardize a mission just because I can't handle myself."
Shikamaru only nodded in understanding, feeling better after knowing that he wasn't lagging behind Naruto in that particular department.
Shortly after, the two had finally reached the gates, greeted by Izumo and Kotetsu, the gate guards. Along with the two was Asuma, who greeted the two with a hearty wave.
"How'd the mission go, boys?" Asuma asks.
"It was a success, but not without an unavoidable sacrifice." Naruto says, the last part a bit quieter.
Asuma looked between the two. Already? Well, I guess this shows how much the information must have been worth. Innocence lost, at such a tender age... I can only imagine. Shikamaru looks like he's taking the brunt of it, but Naruto's taking it in stride, or is waiting until the mission is over to come to terms with himself. Probably the latter, if he's been taking pages out of his father's book. Asuma thought.
"I hope you two get over this soon." Asuma says, the ghost of a smile on his face. "Because you two are going to be trained into the ground for the next two years. No missions. No breaks."
Now it was Shikamaru's turn to speak. "Why, may I ask, are we doing this?" He asks, fairly surprised.
"Because Jiraiya has returned from a trip with some very serious news. Your father decided that if you were to continue doing these missions, he needed you to be the very best you could. We can't have you getting caught or killed. And sadly, that means I won't be training you anymore."
"WHAT?!" Naruto yells.
"Oi, keep it quiet over there!" A voice yells from the distance.
"Gaki, you should really learn to keep your voice down. Now, lets go visit the Hokage." Another voice speaks, directly behind Naruto, who jumps at the sudden presence.
Naruto shoots the man a dirty look. "Ero Sennin."
Jiraiya laughs. "Great. Now you're calling me a pervert too. Like father like son, I guess."
"I don't see why everyone doesn't call you a perv. You make it perfectly clear with all of those books you write." Naruto replies.
"Oi! Don't diss the books!" Jiraiya yells. Again, the voice further away tells them to quiet down.
"Shut it, hag!" Jiraiya yells back.
"Old acquaintance?" Asuma asks, smirking.
"Nope. Just an old lady who likes to whine and complain. Made a fool out of me once in my Genin days." Jiraiya adds, with an irritated look on his face.
Naruto and Shikamaru try hard not to laugh, which Jiraiya notices. With a sigh, realizing that any attempt to save face would be in vain, he grabs the two boys' shoulders and uses Shunshin no Jutsu to Minato's office.
A Minato clone (who could be identified as a clone by the post-it note with 'clone' written across the top), who looked much like Shikamaru at the moment, was bent over a report, bloodshot eyes reading word after word.
Minato, on the other had, looked as fresh as a spring lily, eagerly awaiting the latest news from Naruto and Shikamaru while leaning back in his chair with his feet on the desk.
"Well, let's see what you have." Minato says, holding out his hand expectantly. Naruto tosses the master scroll into his hands and finds a seat. Interpreting Minato's raised eyebrow, Naruto replies, "It's going to take a while. I would recommend a few more clones."
"Oh?" Minato smirks, and hands out his hand to Jiraiya, who hands him a small pouch stuffed with yen.
"Y-you bet on me?" Naruto asks, scandalized.
"You bet!" Minato chirps. "After all, I bet him that you would come back with enough information to make me create at least one clone. Ero-sensei (Hey!) bet that you would come back with only enough reports to keep me busy for half an hour."
Now it was Jiraiya's turn to look scandalized. "Hey, you made the initial bet, who else was going to bet against it?"
Minato just folds his arms and huffs, shutting his eyes and looking away from everyone else. Here was a man who was rumored to have been one of the (if not the) most talented shinobi to ever live, who earned himself a 'flee on sight' recommendation in the bingo book, and led the largest and one of the most powerful hidden villages. But yet, if you were to walk in the room at that moment, you would see Jiraiya, Naruto, an almost-asleep Shikamaru and a man acting like a child one fifth his age.
Naruto tried to stop himself, but his willpower won in the end. He watched in mock horror as his hand starting moving, accelerating by its own accord, and finally reaching its final destination: smack dab in the middle of his forehead.
Minato, who opened one eye and saw Naruto covering his face with his hand (most likely in shame), coughs loudly and summons 4 clones. He unseals the master scroll, taking the lone document that Naruto had sealed directly, and handed the scrolls to the clones, who went upstairs. After a brief moment of deliberation, Minato sighs, makes another clone, and hands him the documents.
"Now lets get back to business" Minato folds his arms again, and leans back against his chair. "How'd the mission go?"
-An hour later-
Minato was kneeling behind the two swollen-eyed boys, hands on each of their shoulders, looking between them every so often. "Look, boys, I know it's tough. Everyone's first kill is a rough ordeal. I know you may not like it, but you're going to have to get used to it. Especially you, Naruto."
Naruto only looked down at the floor. "It's a part of the job, Tou-san. Not a part I like, but necessary nonetheless."
Minato nodded. "As long as you understand, it's okay with me." Then he looked at Shikamaru. "You can head home now. Yoshino-san was worried horribly over you. You too, Naruto."
Naruto happily complied. He was really looking forward to his head hitting the pillow.
With a groan, Shikamaru walked out of the office pinched the bridge of his nose to ease the headache that was sure to come.
As Shikamaru left, Jiraiya spoke up. "About this training-"
"I'm coming." Minato blurted.
Jiraiya balked. "You don't seriously think that you're-"
Minato shot Jiraiya a glare. "The clones just dispelled. Orochimaru is planning on waging war."
Jiraiya folded his arms. "Explain to me how you'll be in two places at once. You know a shadow clone won't last that long."
Now it was Minato's turn to stare at the floor. "Shimura Danzo."
Jiraiya looked almost offended. "Are you really considering leaving that-"
"-War hardened shinobi that has trained his own men to a high level over the past years, and advisor to Lord Third—in charge? Yes." Minato finished.
"But Minato, you know how-" Jiraiya started, only to be cut off once more.
"I know how he trained them. We had a little talk a while back. We agreed to disagree, but I left with the knowledge that from then on he would train them the way I was trained. To keep your mind clear of emotion until the mission is over." Minato finished, repeating what had been drilled into him at a young age.
"So you're going to step down as Hokage? Your dream job?" Jiraiya asked, confused.
"No, I will not be stepping down. Danzo will be holding the reins as I take a leave of absence. He has been through multiple wars, he will know how to prepare. He also knows Konoha inside and out, and is very meticulous when it comes to security and battle plans. He will be a good replacement while I'm gone. With the information Naruto gave me, we'll need to change Academy curriculum. Drop the civilians. . . and up the standards. There's one thing that we don't need, and that's dead shinobi. We will need to get the Third War curriculum back out and then some." Minato ranted, pacing back and forth.
"This is Orochimaru we're talking about here. He doesn't have enough people to launch a war effort. My spies' current estimation of his numbers are only in the hundreds." Jiraiya informed.
Minato only shook his head. "And Suna? After all– they're in this too."
Jiraiya's jaw dropped.
"If they attacked right now, we might be able to hold them off without significant losses. And I'm not going to take that chance." Minato stated. "But he has 7 years until they have the proper resources. Our time to prepare is now, not later."
"Well, I guess we better get moving, then." Jiraiya mutters and stretches. "With the amount of time Orochi-teme has on his hands, we won't know exactly what we're dealing with until a year or so before the invasion. We need to prepare the boys for anything and everything. Including the worst case scenario: a full-out war."
"I know, sensei. But Naruto is going to have to learn from both of us, and Shikamaru as well. We won't be leaving him behind in the dust. We are teaching them both whatever we can." Minato stated.
And so the exciting (Naruto), torturous (Shikamaru) trip began.
A/N: And that's a wrap. Be aware, the next chapters are going to focus on their training, and Minato plans on milking all of the time that he has in order to get those two in tip-top shape to serve the village. HOWEVER, we need not forget that Naruto does not have the same reserves he has in canon (they are still rather large, however, due to his Uzumaki and Namikaze heritage, with both parents being described as having large and potent chakra pools). So that means no ridiculously large Kage Bunshin numbers in his training. What I am aiming for in this story is a realistic progression. While quick to learn, I believe that getting a handle on and perfecting techniques will be much more important for Naruto. The lack of near-infinite chakra to use highlights chakra control, which I am very glad I get to play with. With substantial chakra and exceptional control and technique, I see a very competent shinobi in the making.
So the rant is over, and thanks for reading once again! :)
-MPL