36. Words of a Perve

Kushina had only once woken up and seen him lying next to her in his sleep. That one time, he had slept over rather drunk at her old apartment and mistaken her bed for his own. She could barely remember how he looked like sleeping, but had to smile at how innocent and harmless he looked, when he was in truth nothing of the sort. She had to admit she could understand why girls became so infatuated with him without knowing him at all.

He had always gotten up earlier than her; how early, she never knew, but she had nevertheless woken up alone, the curled sheets, quilt and slightly inwardly bulging pillow next to her the only proof he had slept there at all.

Who knew that was all it took to make him sleep long enough.

She would have stretched, curled up closer to him, maybe planted a soft kiss on his cheek, or stood up to make breakfast. Though as her eyes searched for the watch lying on Minato's night stand, she found it hidden behind a large –

"Minato," she hissed, eyes large and hand shaking him rapidly.

"Mm –" came a sound, and he mumbled something of another world.

"Minato," she repeated. "There's a frog here."

As Minato opened his eyes and looked at her – something she could have stared at for hours, had the circumstances been slightly different – the 'frog' made an offended croak. He turned slowly to look for the source of the sound while Kushina drew the quilt further up to her chin, and his face broke into a smile.

"Gama," he said, and to Kushina's minor astonishment the 'frog' replied back.

"Hey there, Minato," Gama croaked. "I have a letter from Jiraiya."

"From sensei?" Minato said in surprise, sitting up. "How is he?"

"He's all right," Gama replied, turning to let Minato tie the letter off his back. "He's put himself in a weird situation, but he'll manage. Haven't seen him for a year myself so I was glad to see he's still up and going. Anyway, should be off. Good day to you."

Minato turned to look at Kushina, who still kept her eyes on the bedside table with a slight frown on her face, even after Gama had disappeared.

"They don't like to be called frogs," Minato smiled apologetically while he rolled the letter out.

"Right," Kushina said, getting up to find fresh clothes from the cardboard boxes spread around the room. Minato allowed himself a few seconds of glancing at her before his eyes travelled back to the letter he held in his hands.

Hey, kid.

First of all, sorry I haven't written. I never thought I'd be away this long, but things have occurred and I don't see any other option than to stay where I am. Don't worry, I'm not in a pinch or anything, I'm doing all right. Also, sorry if I had you worried when I never returned from the war. Wasn't badly injured, Tsunade fixed me up before they headed home.

Anyway, I wish I could've spoiled more details, but I promise I'll tell you everything when I get home in a year or two. Also, please don't reply; Hanzou's in a bad mood and never stopped disliking you, so if he ever shows up and I need to explain myself, a letter from you in my pocket would be highly inconvenient. I know how you're doing, at least briefly; even news about you reach the wastelands of the Rain. Though I'm curious to see how you've grown since the war.

Also, I have to do something about that house of mine. I guess you stayed there after the war, and either your honour has driven you out of there to find your own place or your slyness has finally caught up with you and you're using my empty house for your own gaining; anyway, either way is fine, but I can't keep a house I won't use any more. Never really used it before, either. So I leave it all to you.

Just keep in mind that I'll be taking some of the stuff with me when I get back, but probably not much. I mean, most of it are books, and you read them more than I do. Just don't throw anything away just yet.

I'm afraid I can't say much, so I'll leave it here. Keep doing your things, work hard and strive to become a real man (you know what I mean). After what I've heard, doing so will probably not be much of a challenge, but I know you to be a serious heart-breaker.

See you sometime in the future.

Yours sincerely,

Your awesome sensei.

Minato blinked. He then looked up, looking around the room as though he had never seen it before.

"What's up?" Kushina asked, now wearing a pair of red panties and Minato's favourite T-shirt and leaning on her arms against the bed.

"He left me the house." Minato turned to her, and then gave her a trying smile. "I guess you can unpack. If you want to."

"If I want to?" Kushina repeated, then shrugged. "Why not."

Minato raised an eyebrow. What a reply to an offer like this. But before he could make a comment, Kushina had leaned forwards, given him a quick kiss on the cheek and smiled.

"Of course I want to," she said. "Breakfast?"

"Sure," Minato replied, putting the letter on the night stand and watching her leave the room with an amused frown on his face.

Minato returned with his team to area five to find the abandoned laboratory. He felt weird about the whole situation. Kakashi, Obito and Rin were walking behind him, looking with slightly open mouths at the person who had joined them.

Next to Minato, the third was walking.

When Minato had returned the day before and reported to the Hokage, the third had reacted at the news of an abandoned laboratory discovered within the strange barrier. He had then told Minato, with a face that was obviously contemplating something, to come back around two o'clock the next day before resuming their mission. It seemed as though the third had spent the rest of the day considering the risk of leaving the village for a few hours, and had come to the conclusion that the village would probably do fine without him.

Exactly why the third had decided to join on this particular mission, Minato had yet to find out, but he couldn't help but feel slightly more authoritative and important with the Hokage himself strolling alongside him, even with jounin ten years older than him following.

They arrived early that afternoon by the laboratory, and stood for a moment observing the hole in the ground.

"So you fell through this?" the third asked Obito, who nodded fervently. "Charming place."

Minato stopped himself from letting out a sarcastic snort. The third turned to him, gesturing towards the hole with a torch waving in his hand.

"After you, young man."

Minato nodded, crouched and dropped himself down between the tagged edges of twigs, grass and dirt. He stepped aside to let the third follow, and eventually, the room was filled with people. Minato, still being in charge of the mission and therefore still giving orders, had left Nana and her chuunin companion outside to keep watch, and spread the others into different rooms after a brief search of the place with a thumb against the wall. The third was merely a passenger on this train, but immediately started searching the room they had landed in. Minato had a hundred questions he would like to ask, but kept them to himself for now; he could ask later.

Minato turned on the torch in his hand and pushed open a door which had been originally sealed off, though the seal was so weakened that it was easy to break through it. Entering the room, he found a large desk and empty shelves along the walls except for a few books.

Rin was hurrying after him, and started to look through the shelves. Minato went to the desk. The surface was empty; there was a lamp with a missing bulb, but there were no other objects on the dusty table. He opened the drawers, finding a few items. Pencils, empty sheets, a few bottles of water, a small note book. He checked that Rin was doing all right before he opened it.

It wasn't a note book; it was a sketch book. The first pages were filled with birds, only a few notes scribbled on the bottom of the pages. Though he noticed that as he kept turning pages, the drawings kept turning more and more obscene; the birds turned into mutations, or were dissected. After the birds came monkeys, and after the monkeys came wolves. And then, a photograph fell out of the book and landed on the dirty floor.

He had picked it up and straightened up when he noticed the third standing next to him.

"May I see that?" the third asked. He didn't nod towards the sketch book, but the picture. Minato handed it to him, but shifted to get a good look of it. It was a picture that had been clipped out of a book, with the motive of a white snake on it. For Minato it meant nothing, but as he glanced at the third, he saw him standing with a face full of thoughts and wonder.

"Does it mean anything to you?" Minato asked. The third slowly nodded.

"Later," he told Minato, and turned to find another room to investigate.

Rin got up, shutting a book close. "Nothing," she said. "It's nature books about birds and snakes, mostly."

"So the man who used this lab was researching animals," Minato said. "I found this sketch book as well." He pocketed it before Rin could have a chance to look through it, and followed the third out.

The rest of the lab was more or less empty, or contained the same information Minato had gathered; that whoever this scientist was, animals was his work. There were cages and chains, tables with the same large lamps you could find in a surgery room. Irino was collecting samples from anything they could find. But even though everyone seemed oblivious to whom the scientist was, the third had the look of realisation on him. And as they were done searching and Minato ordered everyone out of the lab, the third stayed, gazing at the picture in his hand.

"Do you have any idea who might've used this?" Minato asked.

"Yes," the third said. "It's only a guess, but it's a certain one. And I'm good at guesses." He handed the picture of the white snake back to Minato. "My pupil once found the skin of a white snake on his parents' grave. Ever since, he found it fascinating. He always had a special interest in research, and I know he's done some thorough reading. I don't doubt this was his."

"Orochimaru, you mean?"

"Exactly. He's always kept his work rather private, and I doubt I've seen it all." The third scanned the room again. "An underground laboratory of this quality ... No wonder he left it. A few years more and this will be a mud hole."

"Though why make a barrier that large?" Minato asked. "It was underground and has been sealed before, I could tell – few would have stumbled across it either way."

"Orochimaru has his ways," the third sighed. "Sometimes, it's more trouble than I like. There doesn't seem to have happened anything unreasonable inside these rooms, yet ..."

He went quiet. Minato was sure he knew what he was trying to put into words; Kushina had verbally pronounced what many others felt about the pale Sannin several times before, but Minato had no intention of suggesting them to the third.

"Orochimaru has ambitions," the third said. "And few limitations. Yet he's never really crossed any lines. Though I know what he's capable of, and many people would question his work. He has his reasons for working in secret."

Minato nodded. "Anyway, about this place ... There's nothing else to see here. We should probably seal it off, so no one will fall through it again."

"I'll leave that to you," the third said, walking towards the hole to get back up to the daylight.

Though as Minato prepared the seal to shut the abandoned laboratory off, sealed the rooms away from future oblivious passers-by and led the team back to Konoha, the place cleared and the mission done, he couldn't help but notice that the third had gone unusually silent.

"So that's it?" Kushina asked, brushing a few red strands away from her face with the hands she kept in a seal.

"Yep, that's it. He didn't say anything else, so I have no idea what's bothering him."

Minato made the necessary hand seals, and as the tips of his fingers glowed green, he could see Kushina clench her jaw and prepare for the shot of pain he was going to inflict on her. He placed the fingers on her stomach, circling her bellybutton, and transferred the chakra flowing in his fingers to the black seal exposed on her stomach.

She flinched, but only for a second.

"There, done," Minato said, gathering the few papers he had spread around him in a bunch and placing them on the saloon table he was sitting at. Kushina sat up on the red couch and looked down at her flat stomach, where the black seal was disappearing.

"So now you can just appear next to me whenever you want?" Kushina asked, lightly touching the area where the seal had previously been.

"No, whenever you need me," Minato smiled. "I promised I wouldn't creep."

"Thank you," Kushina smiled contently, pulling her T-shirt back on (it had originally been Minato's, but she seemed to have adopted it). "I wonder why he got so suspicious, though. I mean, you didn't find anything that looked wrong, right?"

"Well, he didn't exactly turn suspicious," Minato replied, dumping down on the couch and leaning back against the pillows. "He just turned silent and seemed to be thinking a lot about things. From what it looked like, the fact that Orochimaru had a hidden laboratory bothered him more than he said."

"I'd be bothered as well if I knew my student did things behind my back," Kushina said. "Especially things that involves dissecting animals."

"Who told you that?" Minato asked; he hadn't shown her the sketch book yet, nor told her about the surgery room.

"Sensei," she replied. "Met him on my way home. He said it looked quite creepy."

"Right," Minato said. He had never really known her sensei and tended to forget who he was; whenever they were on missions seemed to be the only time he was out of the house, otherwise he was a ghost to the village. Minato had met him on few occasions, but had never spoken to him up til now, and suddenly started wondering whether the man was actually healthy. "Uh, how's he doing?"

"He's fine," Kushina shrugged. "I know he looks like he's constantly drugged on hypnotic medications, but really, it's just how he looks. He doesn't grow older, he just grows more ... tired-looking."

She got up and stretched, yawning widely.

"I'm up early tomorrow," she said. "Care to push me out of the bed?"

"Only if you promise not to knock me down."

"I'll try."

Minato only sighed, mentally preparing ways to escape her fist for the next morning.