Minato: Departure
Minato fastened his neatly repaired journin vest over the shirt Usei had given him to replace the one the Iwa-nin had destroyed. He had fully recovered from his chakra exhaustion, and had even sent a toad to the Sandaime the other day to let him know that no, he wasn't dead yet. His new jutsu -which he'd decided to call 'Hirashin'- just needed a little bit of fine tuning and it would be finished.
He'd also met Usei's caretaker, whom she called 'Aniki-tou-san'. Taiyoumaki was a tall nineteen-year old with long blond hair, the patience of a saint and the mind of a politician. He was also the geese' summoner; Minato had had trouble suppressing his amusement when he'd first heard them addressing the young man as 'shogun'.
Teaching Usei sealing had been both productive and terrifying: she was frighteningly good at it and absorbed his lessons like a sponge. He'd found himself promising to continue the lessons by scroll, and had introduced her to three different messenger toads just to ensure they could find her to deliver his letters. It turned out that they wouldn't have a problem; according to the toads, Usei had a unique chakra signature that they could locate easily. Provided, of course, that she wanted them to. Minato had never met anyone who could hide their chakra as well as little Usei-chan.
The toad elders had also expressed in 'Minato-chan's little student' which the spiky-haired journin suspected had more to do with Usei's prophetic kekkai genkai than her sealing skills. Jiraiya had mentioned a toad prophesy once or twice...
And now, back to war I go. Minato sighed, double checking his gear before summoning the toad that would take him back to Konohagakure. Usei, Tiayoumaki, Gachoukuro and four fluffy goslings had assembled to see him off.
"Sayonara, Minato-san!" Taiyoumaki said, a small smile lurking in the corner of his mouth.
"Ja ne, Gama-deshi!" Minato grinned at the geese' nickname for him. One of the goslings had come up with it after their encounter with the elder toads.
"Mata ne, Nato-chan!" Usei called after him as the toad swallowed him and jumped into the river. Inside the toad's stomach, Minato hoped the foreboding he felt at the idea of seeing Usei again was just paranoia.
Aniki-tou-san = big-brother-dad; Usei's term for her guardian.
Gama-deshi = toad student.
A/N penultimate section of the prologue/setup.