(To Naruto) "When one person dies… he disappears… Along with his past, current lifestyle, and his future. Many people die in missions and wars. They die easily and in surprisingly simple ways. Hayate was one of them. Those who die have goals and dreams. But everyone has something as important as those. Parents, siblings, friends, lovers… People who are important to you. They trust and help each other. The bond between the people important to you ever since birth… And the string that binds them becomes thicker and stronger as time goes by. It's beyond reason. Those bound to you by that string will do that. Because it's important…"
-Iruka Umino
~Story~
'But he really chose a very interesting opponent for me, huh' Minato thought
'The Second Hokage, the one who bears the name of The Fastest Shinobi'
.
Tobirama gazed at the sky, enjoying every second passed.
'Looks like another fight is done' he thought as he felt Kakashi's and Minato's chakra got weaker again. He had been monitoring the fight from the start from afar, it seemed. He just couldn't help but wonder about the strength of his successors, aka the Third until the Seventh Hokage, he already knew well about Hiruzen though. As Konoha's ex-leader, he had to make sure that the village would have a trustworthy new leader, no matter how many generations passed.
Tobirama touched the ground and tried to sense the chakra in the forest. He could feel that all of them had already been separated far from each other, but it also looked like some of them had already stopped like him, whether they needed to rest or they simply got bored of running. Tobirama sighed and jumped at a tree, sitting on a sturdy-looking branch. He wasn't really much of a patient person, but he knew what he had to do. He would wait as much as he needed to.
'I'm supposed to be already dead, anyway' he thought again, but strangely, he didn't feel sad about it. He was kind of happy, even, because he knew, despite having killed so many people, he died a honorable death for his subordinates and village.
"I wonder how much time I will wait with nothing to do like this… and who will I go against?" the snowy white haired boy thought out loud, asking no one in particular. Deep in his heart, he wanted to go against his brother, to test himself, but he knew his brother chose Kakashi the prodigy instead, and it was not like he could protest or anything about it. Well, maybe he would just settle with anyone. All of them were Hokages, anyway. Despite Hashirama's weirdness, Tobirama's coldness, Hiruzen's cheerfulness (I think he was as a child), Minato's kindness, Tsunade's cockiness, Kakashi's laziness, and Naruto's playfulness, they all had great powers within them, and they would definitely put on a good fight.
Not too long after Tobirama said it, he felt two certain chakra went to his way. He slowly got up from his sitting position and smirked "looks like I get my answer faster than I expected"
.
Minato and Ashura slowed down after they reached a certain place
"He's here" Minato said as he looked around to find Tobirama, then he heard a sound. He snapped his head to look at the back, and he could somehow see a metal going toward his face
"UWAAA"
That was Ashura
He was so surprised to suddenly see the white haired kid attacked from Minato's back that he fell backward.
CRACK
The metal hit the ground and cracked it open due to immense power. Minato stood close from it, with open mouth, sweating. He was very, VERY close of getting hit, and he was sure he would have gotten unconscious if he really did. He was lucky that he had very good reflexes and speed
"Greetings" Tobirama said calmly as he pulled back his sword.
"uh.. yeah.." Minato was speechless. He didn't expect Tobirama to launch a surprise attack from behind like that. Well, not like he expected them to have some conversation like he did with Kakashi, though, since they didn't even get a chance to meet each other at their real time.
"You really are fast, glad to know" Tobirama smiled, which looked more like a smirk, as he prepared his sword. "'Yellow Flash of Konoha', was it? Hope you live up to that title" Tobirama added
"Well, I'm not sure if I can beat the fastest shinobi, though" Minato humbly said, rubbing the back of his head.
"I may be the fastest shinobi in my era, but I heard from Hiruzen that you are really fast too yourself. Apparently, the fastest shinobi in your era, too, right?" Tobirama couldn't help but smirk out of excitement. He didn't like war, but he sure enjoyed fighting. Fighting strong opponent was the only time he let himself smile and enjoy himself, most of the time, anyway.
"huh… yeah, I guess" Minato replied hesitantly, feeling nervous but happy to be praised by one of the people he greatly respected. Minato often heard stories from Hiruzen about the time when Hashirama and Tobirama were still alive. He also read many history books telling about their stories and sacrifices for the sake of the village. Before, he could only see their faces from the stone monument or the photos in the Hokage's office. But now, he could see them in person, and even talk to them, even though they appeared as children again. But still, Minato could feel the aura of a leader coming out of them. He wondered if Kakashi also felt that from him.
"so, want to talk then fight, or the other way around? I'm not the type to talk while fighting" Tobirama asked "Not that I want to talk about something in particular with you, though" he added.
"Whichever way you want, Nidaime" Minato answered as he took out his kunai on instinct
"Then.." Tobirama glanced at Ashura, who took the cue, and quickly jumped to a tree to observe, and save himself. "…Let's save the talking later" Tobirama ended as he threw some shuriken at Minato.
Minato blocked all of them with ease
"Suiton: Suidanha (Water release: Water Severing Wave)" Tobirama made a handseal and high-pressure water was fired from his mouth, toward Minato, who jumped to dodge it.
'That's strong' Minato commented quietly as he saw the water destroyed the trees easily. With quick thinking, he took some of his typical kunai and threw them around on some places, from trees, rocks, the ground, and one landed near Tobirama's foot.
'That kunai..' Tobirama thought something as he saw the weird-shaped tool on the ground, and he realized it had the seal of Hiraishin No Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique) on its handle. But as he thought of that, Minato already appeared and raised his kunai. Tobirama could barely dodge, and he jumped several feet, to keep a distance.
'he got me' the red eyed boy thought as he touched his right cheek, finding blood on it a little.
'That kunai…' Tobirama cursed in his mind. If it were an ordinary kunai Minato was using, he wouldn't unnecessarily get scratched. But the problem wasn't only the shape, but also the seal on it. Minato could go the anywhere as long as there was his kunai there, whenever he wanted to. And that definitely wasn't on Tobirama's favor.
Tobirama decided to spare some time to take a glance around and look at the places where Minato's kunai were at, and memorized them. Realizing Tobirama's plan, Minato didn't give Tobirama the time to, and he charged at him.
Tobirama held his sword with both of his hands and prepared to block his opponent's attack. The two of them clashed and they continued to try to push each other for a little while before they pulled away from each other.
"Woah… they are fast." Ashura commented as he watched the two of them crossed their blades.
As soon as Minato put a certain distance, he grabbed some of his shuriken from his pouch and threw them to Tobirama, not letting him take even a second of break
"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" he said as the shuriken multiplied, making a 'poof' sound and white smoke appeared. Tobirama smirked as he put out some explosive tags and threw them.
"Gojou Kibaku Fuda (Mutually Multipling Explosive tags)" The multiplying shuriken met with the multiplying explosive tags. Then, darker smoke appeared with the sound of the explosion. After the sound of the explosion ended, a kunai went through the smoke. Tobirama dodged it and readied himself to attack again, but a familiar voice stopped him.
"Hiraishin – Ni no Dan(Flying Thunder God – Second Step)" the voice said calmly
'behind?' Tobirama asked himself in surprise, but he didn't try to look at his back. Instead, he used Hiraishin to teleport.
"Good thing I marked this tree before I fight" Tobirama said in relief. Then, he thought about what Minato just did.
'I was sure that there isn't any of that weird kunai, or any seals. Then how?'
'ah, so close. I almost got him completely' Minato thought, disappointment was clear on his face.
'could it be… that kunai from before?" finally a realization hit Tobirama after he saw the kunai that Minato was holding. The kunai that Tobirama dodged before was not only to attack him, but also to teleport behind him, and then attack.
"Fast-thinking strategy and high-speed movement… it pains me to fight against someone who is the same type of shinobi as I am" Tobirama said
"Yeah, it's hard" Minato agreed. Usually he wouldn't even need to use the second type of his Hiraishin to win against a troop of ordinary shinobi.
Now that they thought about it, they were like different sides of a coin. Pretty much the same, yet so different. Like Tobirama said, the two of them had the same fighting abilities. They were also known to keep up their calm and composure in any fight, even some of their jutsu are the same. But, they were different. On daily basis, Minato was popular for his kind nature, while Tobirama was feared for his cold nature. And in a fight, it was like they switched sides. Minato often put on a scary and serious face when facing strong opponent, while Tobirama would put on an excited and satisfied smile.
Same, yet different
That was exactly what made them enjoy this fight
Tobirama took his stance and inhaled deeply. Now that he had taken a good look on every places where there was Minato's kunai, he made a mental note to not teleport there, by any means, because that would be the same as declaring himself lose, and he didn't like losing. No one really did, actually.
Then they started again
Minato blocked Tobirama's sword with his kunai, and with his other hand, he tried to attack. Tobirama jumped past Minato and turned around mid-air. He swung his sword, aiming for the blonde's shoulder from behind. Minato turned on his heels and blocked the attack. Tobirama landed quietly on the ground only to jump again in order to avoid the tackle from Minato. The Previously-Second Hokage swung his sword again, this time at Minato below him. Minato successfully dodged it by teleporting to the nearest tree as he prepared to attack again. He landed on the tree and used his chakra on his feet to push him forward, fast.
'I believe Nidaime-sama won't fall for the same trick twice. Well, then…', Minato made a well-planned strategy in his head. He hoped it would work, since he didn't have much chakra left.
'If our overall abilities are almost the same, then…' Tobirama pulled his sword from the ground, gripping it tighter
'..It's just a matter of who is faster!' the two of them thought as they felt their eyes sparkled over the challenge.
Minato's kunai and Tobirama's sword crossed again. A loud 'clang' sound was made as the two metal met the others. Then, as if on the same command, the two of them raised their free hands toward each other, but before they could make any contact, they pulled away.
'Even our thoughts are the same' Minato thought in surprise, and Tobirama just grunted in annoyance. -The two of them were planning on putting on a Hiraishin Mark on their opponent- that much was obvious to them.
'Guess I'll try something else..' Minato thought as he took some kunai. Six of them, he threw it at the ground around Tobirama, in a circular pattern. And of course any person who weren't stupid enough would understand that they were going to be in deep trouble if they didn't run away from that circle.
"Rasen senkou chou..-" Before Minato could finish saying the name of the jutsu, Tobirama already teleported somewhere. And, being a genius Minato was, he already knew where Tobirama was going to appear at, as he quickly threw an ordinary kunai with an explosive tag on it, to a certain tree. Sure enough, Tobirama appeared there and seemed too surprised to avoid the explosion. After the 'boom', Tobirama jumped out of the smoke, then before he could properly landed, he felt a presence behind him
'..Cr*p', he cursed
'Got you' Minato stretched out his hand to touch Tobirama's head, but the red eyed kid purposely tilted his head to the side, which caused Minato to only be able to touch his shoulder. He quickly put his Hiraishin mark, and then put a safe distance.
"Looks like I can win" Minato thought out loud, more relieved than happy. But his feared came back as he saw something glinted blue on his stomach part of his jacket. It was a mark. He snapped his head to see Tobirama, finding him smirking.
"Not so fast" The snowy-white haired boy said. Then, he disappeared
"Hiraishingiri!(Flying Thunder God Slash)"
Minato could feel his left foot being cut. He let out a quiet whisper of pain as he kneeled and grabbed his wounded foot, preventing the blood from coming out too much.
Tobirama turned around "Now, I only have to touch your head, and win this game" he said as he walked toward Minato. When he was already right in front of him, he stretched out his hand, but his crimson colored eyes grew wide when his opponent disappeared right in front of him.
"Tch. Thought you couldn't move anymore" he said, clearly upset. He felt a cold metal being pressed to his neck. Almost, anyway.
"Too bad, then" Minato, without wasting anymore second, touched Tobirama's head, and with that, he won.
After officially ended his fight, Minato staggered and fell, but before he could reach the ground, Tobirama caught his hand and brought him on his knees again. Tobirama helped Minato walked to the nearest tree and they sat under it together
"Does it hurt?" Tobirama asked the most stupid question he asked that day. Of course that gotta hurt.
"It stings, but it's not deep. It just happens to be on my anklet that I can't walk properly" Minato kindly said with a reassuring smile.
Tobirama frowned "I'm sorry" he said with emotionless expression, but his eyes showed guilt and worry
"It's alright! I always bring a first-aid kit with me" Minato said proudly, taking his big pouch and started to tend on his wound. Seeing Minato's expression, Tobirama sighed. Looked like Minato wasn't angry at all. Then, Tobirama laid on the grass in front of Minato, looking at the sky.
"Aren't you going to look for another person?" Minato asked
"I'm going to rest a bit"
"Oh.."
After Minato was done bandaging his foot, he took glance at Tobirama
"What is it?" Tobirama asked, eyes still at the sky.
"Uh, no.. just.." Minato shook his head and planned to just shut up, but when he saw Tobirama's expression, he took that as a cue for him to continue
"well… I used to do most of my missions by myself. And even if it was a group mission, I did most of the fight. Not like I'm complaining of course, because I also often relied on my friends on things I couldn't handle by only myself. And it's not like I don't know why my friends let me fight alone. I was too fast for them to help, and they trusted me. But…" Minato stopped a little as he looked at the sky, while Tobirama shifted his gaze toward the blonde.
"..When I fought against you just now, Nidaime-sama, it was the first time someone really matched my speed. Even though there was a time when I fought against someone very fast from Kumogakure, I could feel that I was still slightly faster than him."
Now Tobirama sat up, listening to Minato with full attention and wondered what was the point of what the blue eyed kid wanted to say.
"and, it may just be my thought, but I think that… we may make a great team" Minato finished with determined voice. Tobirama blinked twice, then looked at the sky again.
"Creepy. I thought of the exact same thing"
*Bonus*
"Hey, what was that jutsu that you were going to use before?" Tobirama asked
"Hm? which one?"
"That one when you threw six kunai around me. I think its name started with 'Rasen' or something"
"Oh, that one! that's a modification of Hiraishin no Jutsu. I call it 'Rasen Senkō Chō Rinbukō Sanshiki'!(Spiralling Flash Super Round Dance Howl Style) that jutsu can-"
"Alright, stop right there. My head and current mental condition can't take anymore of stupidity!" Tobirama cut Minato who was going to explain his jutsu excitedly.
"But that's not stupid! I came up with it myself!" Minato said, referring to the name of his jutsu
'D*mn. And I thought his son was the only one who resembled my idiot brother'
Thank you very much for the reviews!
here are my answers~
onlyagirl
The mission Tobirama gave Minato will be revealed soon. Thank you ^_^ i'm enjoying my holiday well right now
tanithlipsky
... i love you for reviewing after every time i post another chapter TwT
coriamber2014
ikr? Hashirama and Tobirama as kids are really cute in my opinion
May525
Thank you w
MawVax
yes, Minato met Obito in the 4th war, but at this story Minato had just died and never been revived yet ^_^
Again, thank you so much for the reviews!
see ya~
~NightOfHappyLight
