Updated: May 31 2014

13. Home

To pack their things took less than the twelve hours they had, at least for Minato; his biggest problem was that he had spread all his possessions around the post, so he spent most of the time searching through every corner, every tent and every watch post to find weapons, clothes and books. Kushina helped him by retrieving his jacket.

"So you're leaving with us, then?" Kushina asked when he explained that they were leaving that night.

"I guess," he replied. "Our contracts lasted as long as the war was ongoing, and I have to escort the general back to Konoha for a meeting, so I'll be joining. Dunno what happens to me after that, though."

Since Shikaku had lent a few books from him, he too found him during the day to return them. The easiest was to pick up the Hiraishin kunai he had strategically placed around the camp, and left one hanging from a tree for future purposes.

In the afternoon, he was placed at his usual watch post and fulfilled his duty as a border guard between the Fire country and the Rain, but had difficulties keeping himself seated. His thoughts were racing; this was the last time he was sitting there watching the border, and he had already spent his last night at the camp. He could walk the path towards Konoha and know that it wasn't to sabotage an ambush or prevent enemies from getting further inside their country. He was actually going to complete the road this time.

He looked around himself. The camp consisted of large tents made of thick, white sheets that had become dirty over the years. Trees grew behind them, but in front of the camp, down a small hill, the trees had been chopped down to give them a better view of the other side of the border, which was thick with forest. This was the last time he could call this place his home, and he was happy for it; even though he had always preferred a natural habitat, the days had been the same for five years. The same people living there, the same people stopping by, the same watch post, the same tents … and a new mission every time he completed one.

He sat for two hours, feeling the departure crawling closer, when his side view was blocked by something red. Kushina sat down next to him.

"We're leaving in an hour," she said, and Minato felt his stomach performing a somersault. He grabbed the fried rice she was handing him, and continued to stare at the different trees that was bathing in the sunset on the Rain's side of the border.

He had spent so much time with the boys at the border that it was impossible to keep him from behaving the same around Kushina.

"How's Inoichi doing?" he asked, unable to stop a grin from growing on his face. Kushina groaned and tried to kick him in the shin, but since old habits die slowly, Minato avoided the kick as easily as ever.

"Not you too," she complained.

"Just a question," Minato shrugged.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I dunno how he's doing," Kushina sighed and examined a rice on her chopstick with little interest. "I try to ignore him when I can."

"So he still hasn't given up on you?" Minato asked, partly to tease her, and partly of his own curiosity.

Kushina grimaced. "He's just annoying, nothing else."

Minato emptied his bowl for rice, set it aside, stood up and stretched. Several bones made cracking noises, and while he stretched his arms out, Kushina's eyes fell on the bracelet she had made for him five years ago.

"What have you done with it?" she asked, but with a hint of surprise in her eyes. She grabbed his arm carefully to see, and Minato felt goosebumps up his skin and tried hard to ignore it. He sat down with his arm outstretched so she could get a better view of the bracelet.

"It's completely torn," she said and unlocked it carefully.

"Comes with wearing it for five years straight, don't you think?"

"You've been wearing this the whole time?" She glanced quickly at him. "Even on missions?"

Minato shrugged. "I have to admit, it did grow on me," he smiled.

He thought he could see a smile playing on the corner of her lips, but before her face could make a complete expression, she grabbed a few of her own strands of hair and plucked them out. She put the bracelet in her palm, placed the strands over it, and green chakra glowed around it for a moment. Her hair twinned itself around the bracelet, fastening to it, and when the green glow of chakra disappeared, Minato could see the bracelet shining red whenever light hit it.

Kushina grabbed his arm again and locked the bracelet around his arm. She was smiling.

"The last time I did this, I had to whirl it thrice around your wrist," she said. "It's funny to think how small you were."

Minato looked at the bracelet which was still worn out, but now secured by the red, glowing strands of hair. "Thanks," he smiled.

She kept him company until the sun went down and the general came to announce that the time had come to go home.

The journey home to Konoha took three days. They were a large group of shinobi who had lived on the camp during the final battle, a few reinforcement teams, a couple of higher-ranked men and Tsunade and Orochimaru. Mintao's task during the journey was not only walking, but to make sure the general was safe. He was walking a few steps ahead of the general, who was following; after him came the rest of border squad eighteen (they had been reduced from thirteen to five after the final battle); and in the rear came those who hadn't worked at the border. Kousuke and Kemaru was walking next to Minato for extra protection, Kemaru loaded with one of Kousuke's bags. Minato had to endure walking with both his backpack and his heavy bag hanging from his healthy shoulder.

To walk in a group as big as theirs was hard since they constantly had to keep count, and it got worse when they caught up with border squad seventeen.

"Oh, crap," Minato said quietly when a couple of girls turned their heads and met his eyes. They giggled a little before they gathered and started whispering.

"Maybe you shouldn't have had that last beer, mate," Kousuke said in hindsight.

"Maybe we shouldn't have let Inoichi decide," Minato said when a brunette he barely remembered the face of, but could remember of other reasons, turned and smiled at him with blushing cheeks. He smiled somewhat crossed back and found an interesting spot on the ground to look at instead.

They walked for three long days before Minato could finally see something tall and red approaching, and in the end, they stood before the large gate of Konoha.

Upon seeing the gate, Minato felt like a little child again. He smiled from ear to ear, eagerly looking at all the familiar places, and mostly wanted to throw everything he carried and run ahead. Unfortunately he had to stick to his group, which was currently checking in, and followed border squad seventeen towards the Hokage tower to announce their arrival. It was safe to say that the Hokage's office was too small for the larger arrival, but he had, naturally, noticed their presence, and stood waiting for them outside the tower.

"It's good to see all of you again," the third said when they had stopped and gathered in their respective groups, Minato standing next to general Hiromu. Minato could tell that the war had had its effect on the Hokage; his face looked harder and older, but he smiled warmly when he wished the group welcome home.

"I'll let you settle down again," the third said. "But before I can do that, I have information for all of you. Those of you who went as reinforcements will get your individual assignments when you're needed. Tsunade, you're wanted at the hospital, they're undermanned. Jounin from the border squads," and he looked at the two squads, "Your generals have already told you that I wish that each of you lead a genin team. The exam at the academy will start tomorrow, so you have until tomorrow evening to decide. But know that to train a genin team is of utmost importance, because we need stronger arms when our neighbour countries regains their own strength. I ask each of you to consider this, and find me as soon as you know."

Most of them had already considered this, but even though Minato wouldn't mind training a genin team, he didn't know if he had the opportunity. One thing was that he was no longer a guard at the border post, he still had another job.

"Those of you who decide to grant my wish," the third continued. "I'll hold a meeting at three o'clock this Sunday. Meet at the academy, and I will announce your teams. Tonight, there will be a ceremony for those we lost during the war, so go home and get some rest. Tsunade, Orochimaru, I want to talk to you."

The two newly named Sannin followed the Hokage inside the tower, and before Minato could ask for orders, the general was addressing him.

"This is where I no longer need you, Minato," he said. That came as a surprise.

"You're not going back to the border?" Minato asked.

"Only to fully surrender my spot to the squad leader who took over when we left," the general replied. "There won't be need for any life guards as I'll be travelling with the squad."

Minato nodded, and when the general held out his hand, he grabbed it and found the whole situation quite surreal.

After the short dismissal, Minato picked up his bag again and went over to Kousuke and team six, who stood waiting nearby.

"Do you have anywhere to live?" Kousuke asked while the five persons and two dogs set off.

"Not really," Minato said. "I sold my apartment before I left, but I guess I can just stay at Jiraiya's."

"And you've got the key?" Kushina asked.

Minato smiled innocently. "No. But I left a kunai on the inside."

"Of course you did. Always the planner."

"Anyway," Tsume broke in as she, Kousuke and Rabi turned down another path. "Since the war's over there's gonna be a celebration tomorrow. I guess you'll be there?"

"Sure," Minato smiled, and they waved farewell. He turned to Kushina. "Are you going?"

"That was the plan, I guess," she replied. After a while, they arrived at a small, red bridge, where the path split in two. "Meet me here at eight tomorrow, we can walk together."

"All right," Minato said with a smile, and while Kushina turned right to her own apartment, Minato continued straight ahead to his sensei's house. It was then, when he was alone, it hit him that he had to adjust to a simpler life again. No one to wake him up and tell him to go out and hunt enemies, no one but the highest leader of Konoha to give him orders. No neighbourhood full of potential dangers, but a neighbourhood filled with children, rivers and relaxed animals. He caught himself still on guard, noticed that he perceived noises as alerts when they were only a window closing, a toy that fell to the ground. He was far from calm. He tried breathing deeply in and out.

He assumed he had something to work on.

Still, he could take in the secluded streets of Konoha and enjoy them. The nature was well-kept, even though it was a little open for his taste – in his head, he was extremely exposed right there – and he enjoyed that everyone who showed up were allies. Something warm hit him in his chest when he turned down a small path and stood in front of the spacious, red house of his sensei. Something was missing, and Minato realised quickly that it was knowing that Jiraiya wasn't sitting on the porch at the back of the house, scribbling down stories and waiting for him.

He made a hand seal, disappeared from the path in front of the house and appeared in a guest room filled with cardboard boxes with his own things. It was a small room with a single bed underneath a window, a small, old-fashioned wardrobe, a dresser and a small night stand. He grinned at the sight of the bed; it hadn't been made since he last slept in it when he was thirteen. He sat down on the bedside and made a mental note of remembering to wash the covers before he used them again.

The wardrobe caught his curiosity, and he went over to check it out. Inside hung jackets on hangers, and pants and T-shirts were folded and placed in shelves. None of them fit him any more. He decided to leave the unpacking for later, left his bag and backpack at the floor and went to explore the rest of the house. Nearly everything was the same as before; the furniture was old-fashioned, the couch was comfortable and sunken, and the kitchen was messy, even though the fridge was nearly empty. Jiraiya had apparently expected to be away for a while. Minato wondered just how long he was going to be away.

To look for the spare key was easy enough since Jiraiya had a habit of hiding things in his various books. The bookshelf in the living-room was huge, but out of the books he had squeezed inside it, he mostly hid things in those he didn't read. Minato selected the books that looked most unopened, flipped through the pages, and was not surprised to find the spare key in a fat cooking book. Before that, he had found money, letters sealed in complicated ways and photographs in a tour guide of the Fire country, a book of the Wind's wealth and a picture book on plants.

When Minato unpacked his clothes and tried to find something suitable for the evening, he realised the only thing he had worn the last five years was sweatpants and T-shirts. Not even his shinobi uniform had been used more than once, on the day he had been promoted jounin when he was fourteen. On the way to the shopping streets he met Kousuke, who had the same problem – except that he had usually worn leather jackets.

The ceremony that night became a large, heavy funeral. Caskets, both empty and occupied, were placed symmetrically around a large place in the outskirts of the village, with pictures and names of the victims on them. The Hokage was the only one holding speeches, while Minato sat next to Shikaku as comradely, silent support. Shikaku's face was hard, his teeth clenched in the fight against tears that was pressing on. Minato didn't have to fight any tears; he had never cried in his entire life, not that he could remember.

The funeral lasted for two hours, until the Hokage announced that everyone could say their last goodbyes and stepped away. Minato visited several caskets, but spent most of the time staring at the empty chest that was meant for Kiraku. They hadn't found his body.

With a last pat on the chest, like he was patting a comrade on the shoulder, he turned, gave his respects to the Nara clan and walked silently away with Kousuke and the dog. When they had walked so far that their roads split, Minato disappeared, and left only a cloud of smoke on the empty road. Jiraiya's house, however, remained empty; on the top of the large, cold figure of a head, Minato had long ago placed a seal. He sat there the whole night, watching over the village which was unusually quiet, on top of the third's head.

When the sun rose and the village became busy again, Minato decided to walk home. Even after a long walk through the village's market and a quick stop by the Hokage's office to inform that he accepted the genin team request, he wasn't tired. He spent most of his morning making lunch from a recipe he had found in the spare key cooking book (he hadn't made his own food in five years, which made him a little rusty on the subject), and when he still wasn't in the mood for neither sleeping nor unpacking, he sat down on the porch at the back of the house with scrolls filled with different seals he was studying. The genmaicha tea he had made was getting cold as he got more and more occupied with the seals and began drawing potential, new techniques.

After a long, cold shower and unpacking of essentials, the evening came crawling and Minato left the house, dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a shirt he had bought the day before with Kousuke (sweatpants may have been the party outfit during the war, but these were new times). He stood by the little, red bridge and waited; Kushina was late, but the case had usually been such. He stood with his arms crossed and leaned against the rails while he admired the red glow in the flowing river, when he heard footsteps closing in. He moved his eyes away from the river, and had to keep himself from gaping.

He had never seen Kushina in a kimono before.

"Sorry if I'm late," she said with an apologising smile.

"Uh, that's all right, I expected it," Minato said and tore his eyes off the unexpected, green, white and black outfit to look at her face instead. It didn't do much to help.

"Oh, did you?" Kushina said and led the way to the town. "Are you sure you weren't too early? You've always been like that, haven't you?"

"Even if I had, you would still be late," Minato said and prepared to avoid a punch to his face. "You know, you've always been like that."

"I've changed, actually," Kushina said with a clever smile. "I've grown out of many old habits, you know."

"So you don't hit people any more?" Minato asked innocently.

"Hey," Kushina said with a forefinger pointed threateningly at him. "I can easily keep myself from hitting someone, if that's gonna prove my point."

"Of course. Bet against Tsunade, and you may have a chance."

This only made Kushina's expression even more challenging.

They walked to the town square and met several people on the way. One of the local sake bars had set out large amounts of seafood, fried rice and alcohol, and due to the cloudless night, tables and chairs had been carried outside. Minato decided to avoid Kousuke and Inoichi this time, aware that any chance of training the day after would be a distant wish if he let them pour him drinks all night.

That, unfortunately, was not going according to plan. The moment after he sat down by a table with Kushina and some of her friends, Kousuke jumped down on the chair next to him, and it didn't seem like Inoichi had given up on Kushina after all. He was trying out his new method, which annoyed Kushina to no end; he had befriended one of the girls from border squad seventeen (luckily one of those who hadn't been out on the night of Minato's birthday), led her to their table and had after the first bottle was consumed begun on the story about the girl who broke his heart.

For Minato, this was entertainment.

"She wasn't a good choice," Inoichi said to the sympathetic girl. "And she was violent too."

"Violent?" the girl gasped.

"Yeah, sometimes, she hit me for no reason."

Minato gave Kushina a very meaningful grin to remind her of her promise to not hit anyone that night, which she answered with a look that said very clearly that she could do much worse than hitting.

"Do you know who this is?" the girl asked, addressing Minato. "Doesn't she sound crazy?"

"Terrible, isn't it?" Minato said, but couldn't wipe the smile off his face when he poured Kushina a new glass of sake to keep her occupied.

"By the way," the girl said with her eyes set on Minato. He felt a lump growing in his chest. "I heard some rumours at the border post … Is it true you went home with Masako?"

Minato could feel a strongly raised eyebrow next to him, but kept his eyes firmly away from Kushina.

"Uh," he said intelligently.

"Has she been bragging about it or something?" Kousuke asked.

"Are you kidding me?" the girl said. "She barely talked about anything else on the way home."

Kousuke laughed loudly. "That's funny. She doesn't have much to brag about."

Minato let Kousuke steer the conversation, poured himself a new glass of sake and lifted it to his mouth.

"What do you mean by that?" Inoichi asked. "Minato, are you that bad?"

Minato nearly choked on his sake, and Kousuke laughed even harder.

"He may not remember much himself," Kousuke grinned and wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. "But I can reveal that that girl didn't snatch anything that night."

Minato grinned at Kousuke. "No, the lucky one to share my bed was you, wasn't it?"

While Inoichi continued to look confused, Minato and Kousuke had difficulties getting themselves to stop laughing. Minato stole a glance at Kushina, who, after all, hadn't said anything during the conversation, but she seemed busy talking with Tsume.

It seemed that others had heard the rumours, and several times, Minato had to disprove them. It also seemed that he was still a lightweight, and he was the night's first to be considered sent home. Kushina had seemed quiet and hard to read after the conversation with Inoichi, Kousuke and the girl from border squad seventeen, but if it was the alcohol that changed her, Minato was unsure; it was either way she, red-cheeked and giggling, who tried to support him while she announced that he should go home, but Minato had no sense of where home was. Kushina saw no other option than to let him sleep on the couch in her own apartment, since she had always avoided Jiraiya's house if she could help it and didn't remember the way herself.

With a little help from Kousuke, Minato was finally dumped on her couch, and fell asleep immediately.