-A New Hope-
Disclaimer; I don't own Naruto. *pushes Sasuke out of emo corner, so I can sulk.*
It has been eight months since Minato's arrival to the future and he has been busy. After his first day of school and traing session with Naruto and Sakura, he was called to the Hokage's office. Apparently his clothes weren't the only thing that made it through the time portal, because Sarutobi handed him his special kunai. He was relieved when he discovered that he could still preform the jutsu, though he is barely at half the speed he used to be able to go. However with training he has slowly been able to increase his speed up to at least half as fast as he once was.
The school year was finally coming to an end and the genin exams are almost over. Minato has been preparing himself to meet his old student, now teacher, again. It was difficult avoiding Kakashi for so long, because he really did wish to help his student, but he also knew that he needed to wait and figure out how he was even going to approach him and reveal his identity. However he did take into account that his student might recognize him if not for his features than by his name, after all Kakashi was one of the few who knew he was married to Kushina. Though in the end Minato decided that he would tell Kakashi the night after his team passed the second genin test and he becomes one out of the nine official genin...again.
Plus this was not the only thing that Minato was busy focusing on. He has been training both Naruto and Sakura for the past few months and is proud to say that they have improved greatly. Naruto is now able control his chakra enough so that he no longer waste a lot of it when executing a simple jutsu, he is not so sloppy with his taijutsu anymore and has better reaction time, and he was able to get Naruto to sit down and study enough, so that he was at least near average, though still low, with his grades. Iruka nearly dislocated his jaw, when it dropped to the ground, when Naruto first scored a 'c' on one of his written exams, and Minato even began teaching Naruto a few low level seals he knew that would suit him.
Sakura has also come far in her training. Her stamina, though no where near Naruto's and his own, is now at a slightly above average rate, so she no longer tiers quickly, when in a taijutsu battle, her chakra coils are also slightly above average as well, with all the chakra expanding exercises she has been doing. She said that the first two things she wanted to work on before anything else, getting her stamina and coils up to at least average, then she would work on finding her areas of expertise, which Minato agreed completely on. He discovered that she was a genjutsu type, but didn't know how to execute one, so all three of them went to the library in order to get scrolls on the things they needed. Naruto got scrolls on chakra control and taijutsu moves, Sakura got scrolls on genjutsu, chakra manipulation and to his surprise medical ninjutsu, and he himself got scrolls on seals and wind/water based ninjutsu, for combination attacks he has been working on. They were in the chuunin level section, which was usually not permitted to academy students, however thanks to the third they were able to get the scrolls. Sakura's reflexes have also improved along with her and Naruto's weaponry skills, and thanks to the chakra manipulation, she has slowly, but surely begun to form chakra strings and began attaching them to things like weapons, in order to work on control and range with them.
They have both come a long way and are more than excited about becoming genin. Though it's not just them, Minato can think of several more genin that are oozing with excitement. The only one that does not seem affected is the Uchiha.
Uchiha Sasuke. The boy was a talented ninja for his age and reminded him of Kakashi, with his aloof attitude, higher level ninja skills, and the way he speaks to people. He is ranked second among this years group, with Minato himself in the lead and because of this Sasuke has made Minato his unofficial rival, along with Naruto, who is near the top of the list, not counting his written grades. Naruto has spent more than one training session complaining about Sasuke's mannerisms, much to both Minato's and Sakura's charring and always tries to one-up him in class. Minato just hoped that the gods would not put those two on a team together. Heh, yeah right.
Today the class has to perform a transformation jutsu and a clone jutsu. Minato is not worried for himself or Sakura, however no matter how many times he shows Naruto the proper way to perform the simple illusion, Naruto's clone always looks sick and is not able to even stand. So Minato decided that if Naruto is still unable to preform the clone technique, he would talk to the Sandaime and see if he can work something out.
So as usual both Minato and Naruto strolled into class and talked, while waiting for sakura. 10 minutes later, the back door slid open and revealed a tired and out of breath Ino and a barely even winded Sakura. Minato knew all about Sakura's rivalry as well, thanks to their training sessions. Yamanaka Ino, daughter of his old friend Inoichi, Sasuke's number one fan girl, although she still flirts with himself whenever the opportunity arises, and your typical real-life Barbie. The girl is able to execute her clans jutsu well and she has a strong personality, which is needed for most ninja. However she does not take being a kunoichi seriously, therefore is average at best.
" Ha! I so beat you, forehead. Just like how I'm gonna win Sasuke-kun's love before you!" exclaimed Ino as she caught her breath.
"You know I find it ironic how your huffing and puffing, like the big bad wolf, when your related to the three little pigs, Ino-pig." said Sakura, not letting Ino's shallow words get to her.
" What did you just say?!" Ino shouted, catching the students in the room attentions.
"Funny, I didn't know pigs were hard of hearing." taunted Sakura.
" Shut up Bill-board Brow, your just jealous 'cause I'm prettier than you and that Sasuke-kun likes me better."
" Ino, even if I tell you I don't like Sasuke, it's just going to go in one ear and out the other, so I'm gonna leave." said Sakura as she turned away. She has this argument with Ino every other day and is just really tired of it. She still loves Ino as a best friend, but if she doesn't stop talking about Sasuke, she's gonna get punched to the other side of the classroom, maybe that would knock some sense into her. Heh, yeah right. concluded Sakura." Hey guys, sorry it took a minute, I was dealing with the usual." she apologized, sighing at the end, while putting her head on her folded arms on the desk.
Minato just gave her a small smile and patted her head. He was used to this by now, plus Kakashi used to deal with similar matters with Gai, though instead of a boy they were fighting over who was the better ninja. Well at least Gai was, Kakashi just didn't want to hear Gai, when he started gloating about winning their 'competitions.'
Everyone soon quieted down when both Iruka and Mizuki entered the class." Now class today is the last day of the exams and will determine if you past or fail." began Iruka, then Mizuki continued where he left off." We will call you by alphabetical order and you will step into the testing room behind this door." he said pointing to the door near the window on the other side of the chalk-board. They then proceeded to walk to the door and called out the first student's name " Aburame Shino."
Sakura looked over towards Naruto and saw that he seemed worried. She placed her hand on his shoulder, causing his head to snap in her direction. " Don't be nervous Naruto, chakra control is all about focus and you will need that to pass this exam."
" But no matter how many times I perform the illusion, it comes out all messed up. I'm never going to pass." he put his head down, so that no one could see his face. Naruto has slowly warmed up to the idea of having a brother and to him Sakura was like an older sister always scolding him when he was being too reckless or pulling pranks. While Minato would just shake his head and sigh in exasperation, then ruffle his hair and smile. He didn't want to disappoint those two by failing the exams after how hard they all trained together, because now he had more precious people that he wanted to protect and make proud of him. He looked up when he felt someone ruffle his hair and was met with blue eyes identical to his own.
" Don't worry Naruto, regardless if you pass or fail we won't think any different of you. But if you do fail, then I will have something to tell you that will cheer you up, alright?" Minato said reassuringly.
Naruto gave a small grin." Alright Nii-san."
" Good now let's -" " Haruno Sakura." Minato was cut off by Mizuki.
" Guess that's my cue, wish me luck guys."
" You got this Sakura-chan!"
" We know you can do this."
Sakura nodded." Thanks."
Sakura entered the examination room and stood in the middle, while Mizuki took a seat next to Iruka at the long rectangular table at one end of the room.
" Alright Sakura-chan, please execute the henge no jutsu first, the the clone technique." ordered Iruka kindly.
" Hai. Henge no jutsu!" there was a puff of smoke and once it cleared a perfect copy of Iruka was standing there.
" Very good." said man himself praised." Now the clone technique."
Sakura reverted back to herself and nodded. She did a few hand signs and another puff of smoke appeared revealing a twin looking Sakura.
" Nice job Sakura-chan, you pass. Here is your official ninja headband." said Iruka as Mizuki handed her a forehead protector and gave her a weird smile. Mizuki-sensei always gave Sakura the creeps, especially when she would catch him observing Naruto, with a strange expression. But she gave a small nod, mom always told her to be polite, even when uncomfortable.
Sakura made her way back to the boys and sat down in her spot in the middle.
" How did it go?" questioned Minato.
Sakura just pulled out her headband and placed it on the table.
" Way to go, Sakura-chan!"
She smiled." Thanks guys, your encouragement helped."
" Is there a reason as to why your not wearing it?"
" Yeah Sakura-chan, you should be letting everyone know that your a ninja now."
" I'm gonna wait until we all have our headbands, that way we all become ninjas together."
Both Minato and Naruto grinned at her, the latter's being larger.
By the time the teachers got down to 'U' class was about to end. However because only four students were left to test, they allowed the students to leave early and meet their parents, who were waiting for them outside. Sakura's parents had left three days ago to a small village not too far from Konoha for business and would be back by evening, so they could celebrate. She didn't mind because she had Minato and Naruto to keep her company. So she stayed in the class and waited for the boys.
" Uzumaki Naruto." the way Mizuki said his name sent a small chill down Sakura's back and caused Minato to subtly narrow his eyes at the man.
Minato had never liked the man, because he could tell that he hated Naruto. Mizuki would always try to find faults in Naruto and make huge deals out of them in front of the whole class. Minato would always be watching for any signs of hostility, with observing him in the class for so long, he would not put it past Mizuki to jump up and start attacking Naruto out of no where.
" Do you think he will be okay?" asked a worried Sakura.
" Don't worry, even if he doesn't past I can talk to the Hokage and work something out."
" Is that what you were going to tell Naruto if he failed?"
" Yeah, so he will be feeling better in no time."
When Naruto didn't come out of the exam room, but they called Ino in, it was obvious to Minato the he failed, plus the happy expression on Mizuki's face gave away what happened.
" If your looking for your brother he jumped out the window after failing." the man said all too chipper.
Minato and Sakura looked at each other, knowing where to find Naruto. They both dashed out of class and saw Naruto in a distance on the usual swing he would occupy. As they slowed their pace to a walk, they heard the adults conversation.
" Looks like the demon didn't pass." spoke a rather large woman.
" Hah! Serves the beast right." cheered a brunette haired man.
" Hopefully they just lock him up." said a woman, with malice in her tone.
" He should be banished from this village, he is a danger to all of us!" preached one man, while the rest nodded.
Minato's fist were tightening with every sentence spoken. He was about ready to turn around and lash out at them when his female companion beat him to it.
" Would you all just stop! You are suppose to be adults and yet your gossiping and talking about locking up a child. Naruto has never done anything wrong and yet you treat him as if he were the worst criminal on earth. Learn some manners or I'll teach you some, Shannaro!"
The adults just looked at her like she was crazy and backed away. Not wanting to deal with the loud pinkette.
Minato on the other hand was stunned silent for a few moments. He had seen the way people looked at Naruto and talked about him and made it a point to glare at them, while he put his arm around Naruto's shoulder and began talking about something random and acting as if he never heard it. He knew Naruto did not want to make a scene about that type of topic, so he respected his wishes and would get Naruto's mind off the adults. But with Naruto failing the exams and not knowing about the good news, he would just feel even worse after hearing what the adults just said, so he was about to shut them up, however Sakura beat him to it.
He knew that Sakura cared for Naruto and himself, but she was never around when the adults would start insulting him and wondered if she was a shamed of being around Naruto in public, but she proved him wrong. She didn't care who saw her with the suppose 'demon boy' and she did not care for the adults and their harsh words toward her friend. Minato realized that Sakura would be an even more important person in both Naruto's and his own life than he first thought and that made him happy enough to forget about what the adults said and smile.
" Come on Sakura, I thought we worked on your little anger problem." he joked and watched with amusement as she paused from her tirade and whipped her head around to glare at him.
" Are you saying I have anger issues?" she asked lowly.
Minato put on an obviously fake surprised face." Why Sakura, if you have anger issues, then Naruto has an unhealthy obsession with ramen."
" Hey leave my ramen alone!" called out Naruto. He had been watching the scene and was to shocked by Sakura's outburst, then smiled a bit when his brother started teasing Sakura, but knew he had to defend his ramen." The ramen gods will punish you for being so disrespectful to their holy creation!"
" The ramen gods can choke on leeks for all I care!" Sakura shouted back. She then turned to Minato and smiled sickly sweet. " Now Minato-kun are you going to take back what you said willingly or am I gonna have to make you?"
Minato snorted." Like you can."
Her smile widened and it was really starting to freak both Uzumaki boys out." Wrong answer." not even three seconds later Minato was being chased around by Sakura, with Naruto cheering both of them on. However Naruto stopped cheering, when Mizuki put a hand on his shoulder. A but too rough for Naruto's liking and Minato and Sakura were too busy to notice.
" Naruto I wanted to speak with you before you left."
" What's up Mizuki-sensei?"
" I know of an alternative way for you to be able to become a genin."
" Really?!"
" Shh~. Yes, but you can't tell anyone and you have to do this tonight, because it's still genin exam day."
" I'm listening." said Naruto as he put on a serious face, determined to pass the exam.
It was now later in the day and both Minato and Naruto were on their way home after having just dropped Sakura off at her place. Minato had acted like he was to preoccupied to notice Mizuki, but his ninja skills were far too high for him not to notice the malicious man a few yards away. Whatever the man said caused Naruto to zone out half the time they were together and he kept fidgeting.
" Hey Nii-san, you can go ahead of me I have something to do. But don't worry I'll be home before it's too late."
" Alright, but if you're not home before dark, I'm gonna start looking for you."
" Deal. See ya later." Naruto called out as he ran the other way.
Minato noticed that the direction Naruto had just left in was a quick route to the Hokage's building. This must be something big if Naruto is heading there, so Minato masked his chakra and silently followed. He saw Naruto slip past all the guards and made a mental note to tell Sandaime, that he needed better security. He watched as Naruto went into the vault that held forbidden jutsu and weapons and grabbed the scroll for the shadow clone technique. Then Naruto dashed away when the alarm went off, with Minato hot on his trail. Naruto lead him to the small forest near the academy and Mizuki appeared from the shadows.
" Good work. Now hand me the scroll." he stated, while stretching his hand out.
" Don't do it Naruto!"
Everyone turned and saw Iruka standing there, with a distressed look on his face.
" Iruka-sensei, what are you doing here?!" shouted Naruto in surprise.
" I followed you here after hearing what happened. Naruto there are several ANBU, jounin, and chuunin out looking for you. You need to return that scroll."
" Don't listen to him Naruto! He just doesn't want you to become a ninja!" yelled Mizuki." The truth is that Iruka hates you just like the villagers, because 12 years ago -"
" Mizuki stop it is forbidden to talk about it!"
"- His parents were killed by the kyuubi. You wanna know why everyone calls you a demon? It's because the kyuubi was sealed inside you, it's because you have the power of the kyuubi, and it's because you are the nine-tailed fox!" everything went quiet for a moment as realization set in towards Naruto." Now give me the scroll!"
Naruto backed away, his bangs covering his eye, then he took off deeper into the forest. Minato gave chase as well as the two teachers. Mizuki tried to get the scroll by transforming into Iruka, but was foiled when the real Iruka showed up, causing Naruto to hide behind a tree and open the scroll.
" Mizuki stop this at once, you have broken a lot of rules and will be punished!"
" I don't care, I'm not even part of this village. Once my boss gets his hands on that scroll, we will have more power and be able to crush this pathetic village."
" Not on my watch!" shouted Naruto as he jumped next to Iruka.
" Oh and what are you gonna do, you little demon!"
" Don't listen to him Naruto! You are not a demon and you have never done anything to harm anyone."
" Enough talk!" Mizuki quickly launched a giant shuriken at Naruto, but before it could make contact Iruka tackled Naruto and took the hit himself.
" Iruka-sensei...why?"
" You are just like me Naruto..*cough*..we were both lonely growing up. I wanted to be there for you and show you..*cough*..that life is not as bad as it seems."
" You take a break for now, Iruka-sensei." spoke Naruto as he helped Iruka into a sitting position, then stood up, with one hand on the scroll. " You said you were gonna destroy the leaf. Well your gonna have to get through me, Uzumaki Naruto! Future Hokage, believe it!"
" You brat!"
"Shadow clone jutsu!" shouted Naruto as dozens of Narutos' appeared." Charge!"
They all rushed towards Mizuki and began beating him up till he was knocked unconscious.
" Naruto, that was amazing." exclaimed Iruka after all the clones poofed away.
" Yeah well, I was not about to let some scum steal from my village." said Naruto with his fox-like grin.
" Close your eyes for a moment." stated Iruka. Naruto gave him a confused look, but complied." Okay, open them."
Naruto did and saw that Iruka's headband was missing, so he felt for his forehead, but was met with cool metal instead.
" Congratulations Naruto, you are now an official ninja." said Iruka with a smile.
Several poofs were heard and three ANBU appeared around the two." Umino-san, what happened here." demanded one with a rat mask.
" Well ANBU-san, Mizuki is a traitor and was sent here to steal one of our village's forbidden techniques. The scroll is right here and we are ready to hand it over"
The rat masked ANBU nodded his head towards the bear and the squirrel. The bear grabbed the scroll, the rat grabbed the traitor, and the squirrel said that she would escort Iruka to the hospital.
" No. I'm fine, plus I need to get Naruto home."
" I think I can manage that sensei." came a new voice. Everyone turned and saw Minato leaning against a tree.
" Nii-san?!"
" What? I did say that I would come for you if it got dark."
Naruto's eyes got mist, but he smiled brightly." Iruka-sensei, get to the hospital, so that you can be the one to assign me my team tomorrow. I think I'll be alright."
Iruka and the ANBU nodded and disappeared.
" So, you passed, huh?"
" Yep! Let's go show Sakura-chan, so that she can wear her headband tomorrow with no problems."
" Un."
The following day found two Uzumaki brothers waiting for their pink haired friend again. The only difference was that they were excited and nervous, because today they would be put in genin teams. Even Minato was a bit concerned, because though he knew who his teacher would be, the Hokage would not tell him who his teammates were.
'Stubborn old man, not even giving me hints.'
" Good morning you two!" chirped an all too familiar voice. Both boys turned and were shocked to see that Sakura had a new outfit on.
Instead of her dress and green spandex shorts, she was wearing a long sleeve off the shoulder red shirt, that had one thick white line trailing down the arms, with her white circle on her back. Black form-fitting shorts that went mid-thigh, gray knee-high boots, her long mid-back hair was put into a low side pony tail, so it trailed down near her left arm, held together by the red ribbon she would normally have on top of her head, and in place of that was her ninja headband. Coupled with her gray kunai holster on her right thigh and her matching weapons pouch.
" Wow Sakura-chan you look good!"
" I agree."
" Thanks, I was going for a nice yet functional look. My dress was not a the right choice for my profession."
Minato nodded at this, he was wondering if she would be able to work around her old outfit or if she would realize she needed to change it before she got hurt.
" KYA~ SASUKE-KUN~!" came the annoying screech of a dozen or more fan girls. They were all crowded around Sasuke's seat, which happened to be in the row in front of them.
" Sasuke-kun has got to be the hottest guy ever!" squealed one girl, while other around agreed.
" Hold it! The hottest guy around here is not Sasuke-kun, it's Minato-kun!" yelled a girl with brown pigtails, while the group of girls around her nodded their heads in agreement.
" Though Minato-kun is hot, the tall, dark, and handsome Sasuke-kun wins!" argued another Sasuke-fan girl.
" Yeah well the tall, bright, and handsome Minato-kun is also kind, therefore he wins!" After that comment a fight broke out between all the girls. They were biting, hair pulling, smacking, and shoving each other.
" Humph! I don't see what's so great about Sasuke. I mean I know Nii-san is awesome, but Sasuke..."
" Some people like the mysterious prince type." shrugged Sakura. But this caused Naruto to think that she also like him and he didn't like the idea of his Nee-chan falling for a bastard like Sasuke. So he climbed down and got in Sasuke's face to see what was so special about him. The fan girls stopped fighting and started yelling at Naruto to get away from ' their Sasuke-kun', but were ignored as the two proceeded to glare at each other. but everything came to a halt, when Naruto was knocked forward and ended up kissing Sasuke.
They broke apart barely a moment later and began coughing and spitting.
" Gross! I can't believe I lost my first kiss to a teme like you!"
" Dobe, I'm gonna kill you!"
Naruto suddenly sensed a lot of dark auras to his right, he turned and saw all the fan girls glaring at him and getting ready to pummel him. But luckily for him Iruka chose that moment to show up.
" Alright class take your seats I will announce teams now and after lunch your senseis will be picking you up. However due to the uneven number of students it might be a little different than usual. Now Team one..."
" I hope I'm on a team with at least one of you guys." said Sakura letting her worries display on her face.
" Me too, as long as I'm not stuck with Teme, I should be fine."
" Team seven shall be where the change happens instead of three students it will be four. Now the following students are on the team Uzumaki Naruto, Uzumaki Minato" Iruka ignored the shout of 'Alright!' in the background." Uchiha Sasuke," he looked up at the cry of 'Noo~' with a stern look to tell him to be quiet." and...Yamanaka Ino."
" Alright, I'm with Sasuke-kun and Minato-kun!"
" What, were stuck with that fan girl?!" shouted Naruto...again. While Sakura looked disappointed and Minato looked a bit upset.
" Wait, I'm sorry I read ahead of the list because of Naruto. The real final member is...Haruno Sakura."
" What!? Forehead!? I deserve to be on that team!"
" Alright Sakura-chan! We are all on the same team!" cheered Naruto. Sakura had a bright smile on her face and Minato grinned in approval as well.
" Team Eight consist of Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Hyuuga Hinata."
" Team Nine. . . and finally Team Ten is Akimichi Choji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino."
" I'm stuck with lazy ass and food boy, no fair!"
The bell rang, signalling lunch time.
" Good luck everyone on your new teams and have a good day!" called Iruka as he left the classroom first.
" Come on guys, let's go get ramen to celebrate!"
" Naruto we eat ramen all the time." said Sakura with a sigh.
" Yeah Naruto, how about we go to that barbeque restaurant for today?"
" But ramen..."
" Will be there for dinner time, we can change it up every now and then Naruto."
" Plus you need to stop eating only ramen. The only other time you do is when I practically force feed you." said Minato in a scolding tone.
Sakura walked over to Sasuke, while Minato was scolding Naruto about healthy eating.
" Would you like to join us Sasuke, so it can be a team lunch."
" Che, annoying. I don't want to waste my time with people like you, so just leave me alone." he answered as he walked away.
Sakura frowned." You didn't need to be so rude about it, I was just asking." she mumbled and walked back over to the boys, not really caring about Sasuke, if he was gonna be such a jerk. "so what are we eating?"
Minato looked at her with a victorious look, while Naruto looked like a kicked puppy. They both answered, one more enthusiastic than the other." Barbeque."
After lunch all the students went back to the classroom and one by one teams were being picked up by their senseis, until only team seven remained. They have been waiting an hour and a half.
" Argh! When is he gonna get here!"
" I know Naruto, I don't like waiting either, but your complaints are only making it worse." said Sakura, to which Minato nodded his head in agreement.' Cha! When our sensei gets here, I'm gonna give him the beating of a lifetime! Shannaro!'
' You can't do that Inner, he's our teacher. But how about once we see what his face looks like, you can put a picture of it up on your dart board and go nuts?'offered Sakura.' Hmm~, fine, I'll settle with that.' grumbled a reluctant inner.' Good girl.'' I am not a dog.' Sakura drowned out her Inner as she watched Naruto put a eraser at the top of the door.
Minato had a feeling this would happen. Ever since Obito's death, Kakashi had been showing up for mission briefings and anything else later and later. Looks like the habit stuck and only got worse.
" What are you doing now Naruto?" asked Minato.
" Hehe, this is what sensei gets for being late."
" He's a jounin, he will never fall for that." spoke Sasuke for the first time.
Naruto was about to argue, but stopped when they all heard foot steps coming closer. A gloved hand slid the door open and silver hair appeared in the door way. The eraser fell and hit it's target. Naruto started laughing, Sasuke looked shocked that a jounin fell for Naruto's prank, Sakura was watching Inner throw darts at their new teachers face, and Minato observed his ex-student.
" Hmm~, my first impression of you all; I hate you." everyone gave him deadpan looks, he just eye smiled and said." Meet me on the roof." and poofed away.
The all walked towards the roof, most of them not knowing what to expect. Once there, they all took their seats that went like this, from the right(of kakashi) it was Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and then Minato.
" Alright now that were all here, why don't we introduce ourselves?"
" What do you want us to say?" questioned Sakura.
" You likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for that future, things like that."
" Well, why don't you go first sensei?" asked Naruto.
" Alright. My name is Hatake Kakashi, my likes and dislikes are none of your concern, dreams for the future...never really thought about it, and as for hobbies, well I have lots of hobbies." Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke sweat dropped realizing all he said was his name.
' Kakashi, how much has everyone's death really effected you...' thought Minato sadly.
" Okay you in the orange go."
" My name is Uzumaki Naruto, believe it! I like training with Nii-san and Sakura-chan, ramen, and pranks. My dislikes are Teme and the three minutes I have to wait when cooking ramen, hobbies...pranks I guess, and my dream is to become Hokage! That way people will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody!" he finished fist pumping the air.
' He certainly has grown up alright...' " Okay, you in the blue."
" Hn. My name is Uchiha Sasuke, there are not a lot of things I like and a lot of things I dislike, my hobby is training and I have no dream, but an ambition and that is to kill a certain man." Silence was left in his wake.
Naruto backed away a bit.' Jeez, I hope he doesn't mean me.'
' I had a feeling he would turn out like this.'
" Okay, girl go."
" My name is Haruno Sakura, I like dango, training with Minato and Naruto, and art, my dislikes are spicy foods, fan girls, and people who hurt my friends. My hobbies are training, reading, and many different types of art, my dream is to be a great kunoichi, so that I can be there for my friends and comrades." both Minato and Naruto smiled at her, to which she returned.
' Well this is unexpected. Maybe this girl won't just be in the boys shadows.'
He turned his head to the last boy and paused. He never did look at the files the Hokage gave to him, because he never past any team, but now that he was getting a good look at the boy, Kakashi realized that he looked even more similar to his old sensei than Naruto.
' Did sensei and Kushina-san have another son?'
He regained his composure and spoke." And finally, you in the track suit."
" My name is Uzumaki Minato." he saw Kakashi stiffen a bit." I like training with Naruto and Sakura and homemade cooking, I dislike those who treat my friends and brother badly and those who try to harm the leaf. My hobbies are reading and training and my dream for the future...is a secret." he gave a wistful smile.
" Aww, Nii-san no fair, you never tell us what your dream is."
" You will find out eventually Naruto, so don't worry about it."
" Good your all unique in your own way. Now tomorrow we will have our first mission. It is a test to see if you will stay with me or not."
" What do you mean?" asked Naruto.
" Well, don't blame me if you don't like it, but out of the ten teams there are only three will become official genin, the rest will have to go back to the academy."
" What?!" shouted Sakura and Naruto, while Sasuke looked upset and Minato gave no reaction.
" So meet me tomorrow at training field three at six in the morning, oh and don't eat breakfast or you'll puke." then he poofed away, planning on talking to the Hokage about his students.
" Guys, don't listen to him about skipping breakfast, it's a trick." said Minato, before Sasuke could leave.
" Hn, whatever." said boy responded as he left the roof.
" How do you know it was a trick Minato?"
" His eye had a gleam in it that told me he was lying."
" Awesome! Now I don't have to skip out on ramen in the morning!"
Both Minato and Sakura sighed, Naruto will never change.
It was late that night, going on 10:30 p.m., when Minato finished his training he does in the woods near Konoha almost every night. He was thinking about his student and knew that when he left earlier, Kakashi was going to do some research on him. He was not worried because there was not much on him except for his academy days, but that would not give much away.
As he was walking the now familiar trail to his house he heard singing, it was done by a beautiful voice, causing him to stop and listen.
'Now we've come so far from darkness and we'll never be apart'
He looked in the direction of the voice and took to the roof tops and saw an outline of a person in the distance.
' So we leave for tomorrow, to start our lives again'
He began silently moving closer to the figure he saw and was able to make out long hair.
' Find me there my tiny feathers, oh my holy ancient days'
Once he was on the same roof he noticed that it was Sakura, who was singing and she had her eyes closed.
' You will cover my sadness and ring your song of thee... for me~'
She slowly opened her eyes, the moon light-giving them an ominous glow.
" That was beautiful, Sakura." commented Minato, causing Sakura to jump a little. She turned to him, blushing a bit.
" Minato, you scared me. How long have you been there?"
" I heard you sing about coming far from the darkness and then made it here by the time you were on ancient days."
" Oh, what were you doing out so late?"
" I was training. Now can you tell me why you are singing on your roof?"
" I do this to calm my nerves and to admire the moon. It's nice to just not even think about anything for a moment and enjoy the here and now, without having to worry about the consequences for it."
Minato hum'd in agreement." You're the first person I've ever met that does that. Most ninjas train or drink themselves numb."
Sakura giggled." Well, I'm too tired to train and too young to drink, so I settle for an alternative."
" You said you do this to calm your nerves, are you worried about tomorrow?"
" Yeah, however I mainly worry about the ninja life we will have if we do pass."
Minato gave her a questioning glance, so she continued.
" Our generation was able to go to the academy and graduate like normal, but I can't help thinking we will have the most problems in the future, you know? Like the calm before the storm." she brought her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She was getting a bit cold, being in only a white t-shirt and pink pajama shorts. Minato noticed this and took off his jacket, handing it to her. She looked surprised, but took it and quietly thanked him.
" Hi no kage wa sato o terasu." he said lowly.
" Eh?"
" The fire's shadow illuminates the village. Meaning that as long as the fire lives we will never give way to darkness, do you know what fire I'm talking about?"
" Could it be the will of fire?"
" Hai, so don't worry about the future. We will take everything one step at a time and we will all stand together if an enemy presents itself. Like you said this was the normal graduation generation, but that doesn't mean we can't be the closest and strongest one as well."
Sakura smiled softly at him and he gave a crooked smile back. They both turned and watched the moon for a little while longer.
Done! Sorry it's been so long, I had things to do, but I wanted to give you guys a nice long chapter for the wait.
I have recently made an account on deviantart, because I noticed that there was barely any Minasaku fan art and I decided to make my own, so check it out if you'd like. I am using the same pen name, so no worries there.
Please let me know what you think of this chapter, I enjoy hearing your thoughts. Also thanks to those who reviewed the first two chapters it means a lot!
Thx for reading and see you next chapter!
Tah-Tah~