15. Secrets

Already by the time their very first trip to Ichiraku's was done, Minato's new team of little soldiers had managed to press so much information out of him he doubted there was more to ask. It had been everything from when they were going to learn new techniques, when they were going on their first mission and things like that to more personal matters – Minato's personal matters, to be precise – where they especially focused on the fact that he didn't have a girlfriend.

Though all in all, after every uncomfortable or difficult question and after splitting up the two boys ranting at each other day after day, Minato felt that his cute little soldiers had grown on him.

Weeks passed, where they learned to control their chakra properly. Kakashi did fine, understanding the concept at once, but didn't have an impressive chakra storage to begin with. Obito seemed clumsy at the first attempts, but proved to be an incredibly quick learner, and could now perfectly control his own chakra. Rin worked tirelessly, having managed fine attempts ever since the first one, and was soon catching up with both of her teammates.

They had also taken on a number of D-ranked missions, and as they sat in a potato field just outside the village, Obito was finally bursting with complaints he had held inside him.

"Sensei, seriously," he began, straightening up, sweat running down his face from the hot sun. "Why do we have to do this? Don't they have farmers for this?"

"I've told you before, Obito," Minato replied from where he sat, which was underneath a shady tree with a book. "You take on D-ranked missions until you have enough ability to move on to C-ranked ones."

"But what's the purpose?" he complained, now standing up. "We don't learn anything from potatoes!"

"You learn how to work for a client," Minato said, looking up from his book. "The process from the client requests a mission until the mission is fulfilled and the payment is done. There shouldn't be any misunderstandings during this process, that's why you're starting at a low rank."

Obito grumbled.

"You'll get there soon," Minato said reassuringly. "I've talked to the Hokage. Once you've perfected your formations, we can take on C-ranked missions."

"Really?" Obito said excitedly, and Minato thought he heard Kakashi let out a sigh of relief. Even though the boy was far too skilled to be working in a potato field (and he knew this very well himself), he hadn't complained once since they started doing missions. He had actually obeyed every single order Minato had given him, not even questioning them. And though it made Minato a bit worried to see how little Kakashi gave his own opinion on matters and how he didn't seem to improvise very often, Minato expected the silver-haired boy would become more flexible when they met more challenging missions.

Their training had, as Minato had discussed with the Hokage, gone very well. Over the next couple of weeks they trained hard on different formations, adjusting to each other and improving their techniques. He was very pleased to see how much Obito had improved since they left the Academy, and was also impressed by Rin, who managed to do every training session they had together and working on her medical skills at the hospital after. He also saw Kakashi as too good to be waiting for the other two to catch up, so he decided to teach him more advanced things, thinking it would be a waste of his talent to make him wait.

So Kakashi had already started training on shaping his chakra.

And after two months as a team, Minato met the three kids by the wooden posts in the largest training field once again, pulling out two bells from his pocket.

"Let's see how the training's paid off," he said. "Don't be too disappointed if you can't catch it, but I still believe you have good chances. You've done very well."

The three prepared themselves with new determination on their faces, completely different to the confused and uncertain ones they had shown on that training field two months before.

They sure had improved. So far, Minato had worked with them as a teacher and support, but now, he acted as an enemy. They had already been warned that when they were going to train with him for combat, they had to go at him with the intent to kill – apparently, this news had never left their minds, and they charged at him harder and with more preciseness than he had expected.

Though unfortunately, Minato was still not defeated. And that was probably the downside of having the strongest teenage jounin of Konoha as their team leader.

Obito had been caught in a clever trap even Kakashi had difficulty spotting, and while Rin was trying to set him free, Kakashi tried to hold Minato at a distance so he wouldn't interrupt. Though when Obito was back on the ground and the three had grouped together again, trying again, they were all panting heavily, exhausted.

"This is ..." Rin panted when they backed off at least thirty feet. "This is … Impossible ..."

"Come on, you three," Minato said, trying to keep their spirits up. "All of you have managed to touch the bells; Kakashi almost managed to take one of them."

"But you're undefeatable," Obito said.

"Unbeatable," Kakashi corrected him, wiping sweat off his brow.

"Nah, he's not," said a voice that had not been present during their fight. They all turned towards the edge of the forest.

"Who's that?" Rin asked.

"You know this training field's been reserved, right?" Minato asked the now mischievously grinning girl who stood leaning against a tree.

"Nothing wrong with watching, is it?" Kushina replied.

"You're interrupting," Minato reminded her.

"Wait," Obito said. "What d'you mean he's not undefeatable?"

"Unbeatable," Kakashi repeated.

"Can you take the bells from him?" Rin asked curiously.

Kushina shrugged, but pushed herself off the tree and approached the three kids. "I've never tried before."

Minato gave her a challenging look, perfect for taunting exactly her; it looked playful, yet it had a derogatory hint to it. He knew she hated that look and would do everything to wipe it off his face.

"Want me to try?" Kushina said bitterly as a reply to the look. "I could give your sensei a taste of what it will feel like when you're older and stronger."

Obito looked extremely stoked on this, while Kakashi looked as though the girl standing in front of him had just made a serious crime. But before he could say anything, Minato had, his eyes still locked with Kushina's, signaled for them to back off to the edge of the forest, and they all obeyed.

Minato had barely had time to think out what to do when Kushina charged at him with high speed. Not having time to escape, Minato raised his fist to give an offensive response; right on time he could sense another Kushina appearing inches behind him, and he could hear Rin gasp – though he noticed, not according to Kushina's plan, that both Kushinas were Kage Bunshins, so as he turned around to take on the second redhead clone, he felt no hesitation whatsoever as he slammed his fist hard on her stomach, pushing her down to the ground with a loud, bone-cracking crash which made the earth shatter underneath her. The clone disappeared, and the first clone had reacted the way Minato had wished for: she was surprised by his speed after attacking him so suddenly, and Minato sent the clone off in another puff of smoke before it had really done much.

Obito's jaw had dropped to the ground. The fight had lasted seconds, yet the unknown girl had managed to get closer to Minato much quicker than any of them had during their hour-long session.

And his jaw remained that way for the entire battle. Kushina had learned how quick Minato was and relied on strategy rather than strength, and soon, the battle had turned into a bell-switching frenzy. Kushina could only hold on to the bells for short moments; sometimes only seconds at a time, the shortest moment being when she stopped him from moving with her newly developed chakra chains, but unfortunately, her chains weren't that strong yet, so she had barely managed to grab the bells from him and leaned back when his hand broke free and he literally ripped them out of her hands. Though the chains were new to him, the thing that startled him most was when she stood several feet away from him, clenched her fist and brought it to the ground with such force that the earth beneath them cracked open, and he barely got away. She also liked to defend the bells by sending large pieces of earth and trees at him, using the same force of strength, and in the end, Minato was surrounded by several Kage Bunshins, all trying to squeeze him flat between the earth; Minato saw no choice but to take his swords, insert chakra in their blades and make a sharp slash towards one of the large, rocky earth chunks, making an opening through which he could escape. Though when he had only just begun searching out the real Kushina among the clones, all of them disappeared in puffs of smoke.

Minato stood panting heavily, looking around him for any sign of a redhead.

"Where is she?" Rin asked, apparently at a loss to understand where she had gone to as well. Minato crouched and placed a thumb on the ground. He then grinned and shook his head; the only persons apart from him left on the training field were two genin and an unofficial chuunin.

"What's she doing?" Obito asked.

"The only thing she could to keep the bells," Minato replied, now walking towards them. "She fled."

Standing beside the three young shinobi, he turned and looked out on the open field. It looked like a genuine battlefield now; the ground had been torn up several places, and some of the trees were either attempted broken in half or laying in bits over the grass.

"Who was that girl?" Rin asked. "Sensei, do you know her?"

"Oh, I do," he said, placing his swords back in their sheaths. "I've known that one since I was a kid."

"She was pretty," Rin said.

"Yeah," Minato replied before he could stop himself.

The warm sun reached the edge of the world slowly, sending red gleams over the rivers and windows of Konoha. There was a light breeze passing the house corners and rustling in the trees, much to the villagers' appreciation. People used the good weather for all it was worth; the winter was never cold in the Land of Fire, but the weather had always been grayer and more sour, while as the spring came, the birds sang for full, the chilly winds disappeared and the moods of everyone seemed to rise as they relaxed on balconies and porches.

The spring had always been a good opportunity for every family and every team of shinobi to spend time outside, simply talking and enjoying the good weather at the same time. That was also the case for three of the shinobi of their generation's team six; on a large balcony that belonged to their sensei they were stretching out on the wooden planks, leaning against the sun-warmed wall, chatting mildly and happily. One was a brown-haired boy with his hands behind his head, another one was a spiky-haired, wild-looking girl with a drowsy dog by her side, and the last one was sitting in the middle, her red hair flowing freely down her shoulders.

It was such a calm and relaxing moment that Kushina, even though she was meeting Mikoto very soon, was tempted to close her eyes and take a short nap.

Until a kunai hit the wall dangerously close to her face, standing straight out of the wall.

"Oh, hell no -" Kushina began, but before she had managed to stand up the balcony had become chaos – a man leaned over her, kunai against her throat and knee against her chest, her teammates had shouted in surprise and rushed up, weapons facing the intruder, Tsume's dog had jumped up and barked loudly -

"Bells back, please."

Seconds passed in which Tsume and Rabi slowly realized that it was Minato who had attacked Kushina and Tsume's dog had started wagging his tail. Kushina looked as though she had been called home from the playground after an especially fun game.

"All right," she sighed, pulling the bells out of her pocket and dropped them in Minato's hand. "You win."

"Thanks," Minato smiled, straightening up and replacing the kunai in his pocket. "You know, the third wasn't pleased when I returned to his office without the bells."

"Sorry about that," Kushina said a little awkwardly. "I really couldn't see any other option, looks like I still can't catch up to you."

"You surprised me, though," Minato grinned, at which Kushina looked questioningly at him. "It's been a while since I fought someone with strength like that."

Kushina looked genuinely pleased with herself. "What's up with the bag?" she asked, finally noticing that he was, indeed, wearing a bag on his back.

"Oh, we're leaving for a few days," Minato replied. "It's their first C-ranked mission. I'm meeting at the front gate now."

"Hold on, I'll join you," Kushina said. "I'm meeting Mikoto there."

In a couple of seconds, Minato had transported himself to the Hokage tower, handed the bells in and arrived right outside the house of Kushina's sensei. Kushina handed him the kunai he had left her, and they started walking towards the front gates of Konoha.

"I've always wondered, why is it so heavy?" Kushina asked, watching Minato as he made to place it back in his pocket.

"The shape," he said and handed it to her. "Take it, you can try it out."

"Not with that seal," Kushina reminded him; it wasn't the first time he had handed her a kunai like that or suggested she kept one. Minato removed the seal, and Kushina weighed it in her hand. It looked somewhat naked without the yellow piece of paper around the handle.

"You've become stronger," Minato said.

"Same goes for you," Kushina replied. "Nothing unexpected, though, five years' a long time to improve ..."

"Of course," Minato said. "I guess I've missed out on a lot, despite how well we knew each other before the war."

Kushina turned to him and started playing with the kunai with a smile on her face. "You know, one can't know everything about a person, no matter how good friends they are."

"I'd say I knew you fairly well," Minato stated.

"Well, sure," Kushina shrugged. "I've already told you my biggest secret."

"Well, it's not like you told me, it was more like ..."

"All right, all right," Kushina interrupted. "So I ended up transforming, attacked you and sent us both to the hospital. What would you've done?"

"Probably the same," Minato shrugged.

"So," Kushina said in a teasing voice. "I can assume you have some big secrets you've never told me?"

Minato looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Why d'you ask?"

"Just curious," she shrugged, but looked expectantly at him.

"I may have," he grinned.

"Oh, really?"

They had neared the front gates of Konoha, where Minato's team was standing by the registration desk and Mikoto was standing a little further away, talking to her fiancée. Kushina stopped beside her, while Minato went to the desk.

"Come on, tell me one secret," Kushina said, raising her voice slightly to be heard at the small distance. "You said you had some."

"I said I may have," Minato replied, dropped his bag on the ground and grabbed a pen to register their departure.

"Come on, I know you do."

Minato finished writing their names and the time as the grin returned to his face.

He glanced at her. She had begun throwing the kunai in the air and catching it.

"When we were kids," he said. "I had feelings for you."

Kushina's hand was posing to catch the kunai, but the kunai simply fell to the ground as a silenced Kushina glared at him wide-eyed, hand still open.

Minato picked up his bag and made to leave, but before turning around, he gave her one last big, warm smile.