I'm suffering a slightly annoying writer's block at the moment, so nothing major out of this chapter.

42. The Calm Before the Storm

Some months later

Mission orders. Hospital reports. Training programs. Examination papers.

As July came crawling with its roasting sun, Minato's salon table was full of these. A confirmation that Kushina had been fully healed, papers describing Rin's progress, dates for the chuunin exams and reports from the time team six and the generals had spent in the Wind. All lying underneath take-away boxes, chopsticks and scrolls. Minato had been so busy setting up a training schedule for his team that he hadn't even thought of making a system out of his growing archive.

And, of course, scattered top of everything else: money to make one hell of a birthday party for Kushina.

Few things could beat the sensational feeling of a light breeze against the skin, especially on a hot Summer day, and especially during a long training session. Running sweat was not a problem as the training area was complete with a temptingly cold river.

Minato seriously considered getting undressed and jump in the water – after all, his team had yet to find him – and had just stood up to see if the coast was clear when something metallic flew through the air towards him and he had to jump out of the way.

He frowned.

"Obito," he sighed after having caught the second metallic object coming at him. "Why are you using Rin's crutches as weapons?"

"You made all of my weapons disappear," Obito replied as he jumped down from a tree just as Kakashi walked out of the shade, supporting a somewhat grumpy Rin.

"You know, disabling your comrade from walking for your own benefit is not what I'd call good team work," Minato said, picked up the first crutch and tossed them back to her. "If you're out of ideas, retreat and discuss with your comrades what the best strategy is."

"I can walk just fine," Rin said, adjusting the crutches to support her bandaged leg. "But yes, I'd rather have my crutches."

"Well, the task was to find you and surprise you, wasn't it?" Obito said, grinning hopefully.

Minato smiled and let out another sigh. "I guess."

Everything had been so peaceful lately. The village had gone lazy in the heat, but even though the time seemed to stand still, everything that had any potential progress continued as always. Rin, for one, had finally regained her ability to function, and could join the training sessions and missions again, but was still extremely fragile; small efforts were demanded to cause injuries, and she had so far managed to break her leg and damage the nerves in her wrist. It would take time, but as soon as her body had regained its' previous toughness, they would be able to take the chuunin exams.

Of course, Kakashi was already chuunin, but under special circumstances. He, too, was to take the exam with them to gain a proper title.

After the incident with the kidnappers, Minato had put the idea of a miniature tailed beast bomb on the shelf, but had after a few weeks picked it up again. He could now make eternal swirls of chakra in his hand, but as a weapon, they were weak; there was too much air between the energy, making it too light. He wanted to make it more compact, like the real beast bomb, to give it weight and power. And though the current result was far from what he was trying to make, the progress had been good.

But not only Minato and his team had made progress that summer. Kushina had also become dangerously powerful. If Konoha ever experienced an earthquake, Minato would know who to mark as responsible.

Even though the talk of a new war was continued like before, it felt as though the Land of Fire could rest – at least for a while. After the kidnapping of the daughter of the Wind's feudal lord, Konoha and Suna had spent hours and hours of discussing – or arguing, perhaps – until the two councils no longer faced each other in restrained conflict, but rather restrained silence. Konoha and Suna had never shared any sort of friendship or bonded well, but after the incident with the kidnapping, it seemed as though Suna had decided to leave every part of the Fire Country alone.

It was a good thing, to know that at least one of the five great shinobi countries saw you as something that was just there, rather than a target.

They had missed the summer's chuunin exam due to Rin's illness, though Minato reassured his team that because of this, they'd have more time to train and therefore stand stronger at the next exam. And because one of their neighbouring countries was not a threat any more – merely something under observation – there were left-over resources, which the Hokage planned on using on a second exam that would happen during fall. One of the reasons was because many genin were almost ready, but not quite yet, and would therefore have another chance without waiting a whole year. Another reason was that should a war break out earlier than expected, the quality of the shinobi of Konoha could be higher. This also helped Minato's team in enduring the impatience of taking the exams, and he could keep the arguments between Obito and Kakashi somewhat at hold.

The only thing that disturbed the peace was that Kushina had discovered how she could take advantage of Minato's skills. She had the day before leaned over the back of the couch he was lying in, reading, with a grin on her face.

"You're a quick learner, right? And you're good at everything you try."

Minato had frowned. Kushina never talked about his fast learning skills or talent in the way of a compliment; she had normally complained that it was unfair or suspected him of cheating.

She had then dumped a book on him. 'Calming, effective and sensual massages: three hundred ways to please'.

Minato had suddenly lost precious time to work on his miniature beast bomb because he had to learn how to give a stubborn, sly, no-is-not-the-right-answer-girlfriend a good back-massage.

Hell, it was her birthday tomorrow. Why not.

The birthday party had been successful, even though there had been no time to show Kushina the massaging skills Minato had learned from her book. They had eaten take-away and gone straight down to the bar after they got home from Minato's training and Kushina's mission, and had during the middle of the night stumbled their way home (Minato had suggested he'd Hiraishin them both home, at which Kushina had replied that no, she did not want to end up five miles outside the country).

"Good morning, lightweight."

The soft voice that murmured in his ear brought him from a weird dream containing Konoha's council and mermaids (he'd have to spend less time with the higher-ups, he assumed), and he found himself lying on the stomach, head buried in a pillow and arms still asleep. A hand was gently sneaking around him and he felt cold hair fall on his back as Kushina leaned over him and kissed his neck.

"Maybe," he mumbled as the headache caught up with him.

Minato didn't look like it, but at the moment, he felt a lot older than nineteen and a half. He spent nearly half an hour getting up from the bed, body beaten down and head heavy from the consuming of alcohol the night before (and sore muscles after they had come home and he'd pushed Kushina up against the wall after she'd attacked his neck with bite marks). He got dressed in a pair of sweat pants, but the weather was too warm for anything else, so he shuffled out of the bedroom to join Kushina in the kitchen, picking up their clothes on the way (which had been thrown off before they had even reached the living room).

"You know, you did promise me a massage," Kushina smiled brightly.

"Can it wait?" Minato pleaded as he dumped down by the table and buried his face in his arms.

Kushina only sniggered and flipped a pancake on the frying pan.

"Sorry," she said. "I'm demanding it. Today."

No mercy from Konoha's (self-declared) strongest kunoichi.