And while I'm trying to make something out of chapter 40, here's a short-story.
- Ryan Adams: "Wonderwall" (Love is Hell)
39. Once Upon a Time
Suna was warmer than Konoha. Minato had at least drunk four bottles of water since they left the village, and they had a long way home.
"Koichi," he said, handing his team-mate a bottle of water. The water had gone lukewarm, but it was better than nothing.
At the academy, they had called him Koi. Minato had never called him that. He had never been able to compare him with fish.
"See, that wasn't so difficult, was it?" Mariko said, gazing proudly at the scroll in her hand with her large, purple eyes.
Minato looked at Jiraiya. He had his jaw clenched, and Minato knew why. They had been lucky.
They walked for hours. Koichi and Mariko were relaxed; maybe too relaxed. Minato kept his guard up for compensation. Jiraiya several times looked like he wanted to say something, interrupt Mariko's constant blabbering, but kept his mouth shut. Their team had been on the verge of tearing, and saying something that could recreate the conflict was not a good move.
They stopped by a river to refill their bottles and take a break. In the shade of the trees, they sat down on the bank while Jiraiya stepped into the chill water and lowered bottle after bottle in the river, shut the lids and threw them back on land.
"Maybe we can get another mission when we're home," Mariko said. "Since this went well, I mean."
"Mariko," Jiraiya said sternly. "You're eleven."
"So?" Mariko said with a cocked eyebrow. "Minato's eleven."
"Minato is –"
"- several years ahead of us, yeah, yeah."
"What I meant to say," Jiraiya said through gritted teeth. "Is that we're not home yet, and far from out of danger. This mission isn't done until we're home without injuries and have delivered the scroll. Until that happens, nothing suggests this mission went well."
Mariko grumbled something unclear.
"You shouldn't take this lightly," he continued. "It's your first B-ranked mission, yet you're acting as though nothing could happen. Keep your guard up!"
"Yeah, yeah," Mariko said, yawned and stretched.
Minato sat up abruptly and grabbed Mariko by her collar. "Mariko, get down!"
It had happened so quickly. Not another word to exchange before everything had happened.
There was blood on the ground. The tree which they had been sitting underneath had been stabbed by a kunai. Right where Mariko's face would have been, had Minato not heard the sound of the airborne kunai coming at them and pulled her down in time.
They could hear thunder in the distance. Twenty-three bodies lay spread around the grass. Minato stood in the river, blood flowing around his cold legs. Blood coming from the two bodies on the bank, with their upper bodies on land and the rest in the water.
He stared at their open eyes. They didn't stare back.
Border squad soldiers from Konoha had come. They carried them home.
It was the first time Minato had killed.
They came back to the village, and Minato suddenly didn't feel like moving. Every step felt heavy. He wanted to go home to his apartment where no one could ask him questions. Instead, they walked to the Hokage tower.
"What happens now?" Minato asked quietly when they sat waiting for the Hokage in his office. The sun was setting.
"I'm going to keep you alive," Jiraiya replied.
Minato looked at him.
Jiraiya sighed. "I wish I could mean that."
"What d'you mean?" Minato asked.
"War, Minato."
The war was a rumour.
He had hidden from Kushina. He was ashamed. Ashamed that he had the privilege of taking difficult missions. Ashamed that he hadn't watched over them. Ashamed that they, innocent as they were, had died instead of him.
"Don't think like that," Jiraiya had told him. Minato hadn't even said anything. He had just looked ashamed.
Kushina had been angry with him for avoiding her. After that, she had hugged him. She never asked him about anything.
He had sworn to protect her ever since that day. Just not out loud.
Yet he knew it was a promise that was impossible to keep.
I just learned that Minato was still at the academy during the second war, which I feared before I started writing on this story, but in order for my story to work out it just so happens that I moved the whole war. There are so many facts to consider I can't get all of it right.