Anyone else having trouble understanding everything that's happening in the manga lately? And where the hell did Minato go?

(Naruto ch. 675)

Just to make it clear: the flashbacks and the letters Kushina and Minato write are from the year before the actual happenings.

- Ramin Djawadi: "Chaos is a Ladder" (Game of Thrones)

59. Scars

They had expected him, after all. The headquarters was no secret, and they had apparently watched all activity around them with care, anticipating a possible threat. However, they had not expected to be attacked by only one enemy, and for a moment, they hesitated in actually killing him until they could figure out why he was alone.

Bad move.

They were holding back, and Minato took the opportunity to slice thirteen way too calm throats in a heartbeat. The surprise – or maybe the realisation of whom they were up against – caught them so perfectly that Minato barely had to struggle to kill the remaining seven, who had kept a distance to work as back-up. He knew this was probably not the only guards Kiri had placed around the headquarters – usually, the defence consisted of several layers – and he crouched once more, touching the ground, to see how many enemies he was about to face next. Too bad he couldn't find any; he figured they were hidden behind a powerful barrier, which would break the moment he passed. He had no choice but to put himself out as bait and find the moment he was going to be attacked.

Part of him wanted to set out in a fast run so he could get back to his team as soon as possible. For some reason, he didn't want to be separated from them. They hadn't been apart since Obito's death, and these separate missions seemed like a step too far, and way too early. It was probably just a psychological barrier – he knew what they were capable of – but it didn't remove the unpleasant feeling in his gut, which made him worry more about his two soldiers than of the unknown number of enemies he was about to make himself available to.

He started walking towards the location, Hiraishin kunai at the ready in his right hand, and wondered how much the prize on his head had increased lately. They used to stand in line to hunt him down and attack him, money on their minds rather than their own lives; but that had changed. Ever since his new nickname had spread across the continent, no one seemed eager to be anywhere near him. They were ordered to run if they saw him.

He could barely feel the light touch to his skin as he broke a thin, invisible layer of chakra.

'June 4th.

To the girl of my dreams.

Sorry for the cheesy remarks, I can't help it.

Besides, I'm furious. I missed you with two days. It's unfair.

We're back because we were in some pretty intense fights against Iwa, and the whole battalion was injured pretty badly. Well, I wasn't, but that's not the point. Kakashi, Obito and Rin are all at the hospital getting patched up. The border posts didn't have the capacity to take in all the casualties, so they took the worst while the rest had to go all the way home for treatment.

Iwa has been really stubborn, and they keep sending reinforcements. It seems that the Grass country is their best way to crash into the Fire country, and after the last fight, the border became very weak. I'm going back to take the lead until we can manage to hold them back somehow, and destroy whatever it is that keeps them so strong. I'm not giving up until they draw back.

Sorry, I'm just a little frustrated.

I don't really like that your companions feel safer when you're the major target. Knowing you you've already shut their mouths, but knowing you, that doesn't make you feel any better, does it? I know I've been there many times when you've felt most distant from yourself, but I have to apologise, I'm still no good at consoling you. Especially not through a letter. If it helps, I haven't forgotten who you are. I don't care what you are, I never have. It's you I love. You.

If only you were here.

Love, Minato.'

Minato disappeared from the spot a split second before a kunai pierced the air in which he had been standing. He dumped silently down on a branch of a tree he had marked only a few feet behind, saw the kunai stab the ground and measured the speed, the angle – it had been thrown somewhere from his left, likely about thirty feet away -

He pushed himself from the branch and leapt through the thickness of trees, quickly locating his first enemy. The enemy was a man with large, glaring eyes and bright-blue hair, easy enough to notice; he was falling behind upon the realisation that he had been noticed, and seemed to panic a little more as he realised that his only chance was to escape. A shadow to Minato's right appeared to aid the blue-haired man, and Minato dug his kunai deep into the offender's chest, barely getting a view of how the person looked like before the body hit the ground, and Minato was already back to focusing on the man ahead of him. Preferably, he would be able to locate the headquarters without all the fighting, and get rid of the most important roles inside before blowing up the building and escape. He threw the blood-dripping kunai in his hand towards the blue-haired man, who raised his own to block, and two seconds later, Minato grabbed his flying kunai, inches away from the enemy, and did the well-rehearsed swing of his arm that sliced through the soft flesh and muscle of the enemy's throat.

Not pausing to reminisce the past few seconds, he immediately accelerated, ducked once a kunai came flying towards him, and started to keep an eye up for the actual building. The guards could wait. He flew through his Hiraishin kunai to avoid the delay, and saw a radar poking out of the tree tops ahead of him; throwing a kunai into the air, he transported himself to a better view several feet above the ground, and shot it towards the roof of a barely visible building. Transporting himself to the kunai's landing point, he skipped the searching for a way in; with minimal hesitation, he gathered the dense, blue chakra in his palm, and once he felt the power reach the required amount, he punched the black tiles with his Rasengan and crashed through the roof, landing perfectly, and in an above-average mess, on top of a large communication radio.

He had been sensed, of course. And the men inside had prepared for an attack much better than the other guards had; it caught Minato by surprise, and he reacted just a moment too late; he shifted, but felt a kunai slice through his unscarred shoulder, cursing as the pain shot through his body.

Now that his shoulders finally matched, he could do his best to repay for the injury; he was bleeding, but not fatally, and he ignored the pain and went into a direct attack against the man who had thrown the kunai. The man had been sitting on the opposite side of the room, taking a coffee break by the looks of it, and a woman in a room was talking quickly through a different radio, giving orders or probably informing someone out there about the intruder; said intruder decided to go for the woman at the still-working radio instead, and after getting past the man, he kicked in the door separating the two rooms and headed straight for the woman. She had the same brightly blue hair as the newly deceased guard had, and looked up with a distressed expression just in time to witness her radio being smashed in pieces.

'November 1st.

I see you haven't been home since June. I guess things really did stir up by the coast, huh?

There's not much to tell. We finally managed to hold Iwa back, which gave me an opportunity to go home and gather more arms. I've recruited sixty-five soldiers, all fresh chuunin under the age of fifteen. I feel terrible.

I hope you're all right.

Minato.'

Minato put the pen down and pulled his hair painfully with his free hand. A year had gone without seeing Kushina, which was even more frustrating than before; just the fact that they actually had a small chance to see each other, got his hopes up unwillingly, before being crushed fatally as soon as he realised she wasn't anywhere near the village. And the fact that she hadn't even been home to reply gave him an emptiness he couldn't quite explain; he knew she was out there, but he really had expected to at least hear from her during his short return home, only to be disappointed. It felt like time was standing still, yet the days went faster and faster.

He picked up his backpack, turned off all the lights and transported himself out of his already locked house, appearing before the red gate of Konoha. The closest of the sixty-five chuunin who stood waiting for him jumped a little of surprise at his sudden appearance, but he ignored the familiar reaction and announced for everyone to shut up in a nice manner. They fell silent, all faces turned to him. All of them were at least a head shorter than him.

He then began talking about their task, about the front lines, how they were about to fight for their country and do their duty as shinobi of Konoha. How he had faith in them to fulfil their task, and that he would do all in his power to get them through the upcoming battles.

All in all, it was a speech on how they were most likely going to die.

Minato cursed. The pain in his shoulder hadn't subdued, but the chaos had. The woman had, moments before the death of both her radio and herself, given orders to the remaining guards to head to the Fire country, along with a list of suitable formations. The man in the other room had disappeared as well, but not before Minato had managed to plant a kunai in his leg, making sure he left trails for him to follow.

He sat on the floor, searching the dead woman's pouches, and finally found a roll of bandage, pushed her away with his foot and tore off a piece of the bandage roll. With difficulty, he tried to wrap his wounded shoulder with the bandage before tying it tightly. He didn't have time to fix it – the Kiri-nin were heading for the Fire country, and he was late.

Getting up, he collected his kunai, stuffed the bandage roll in a pouch that mostly contained first-aid material, and left the smashed headquarters. The blood trails were easy to follow, and just to make sure the wounded man had followed the guards, Minato crouched and placed a finger to the ground, locating the rear end of the group. They were many, too many to count in a matter of seconds, but not too many for him to handle – he set off immediately, following them through the thick forest and towards the ocean. Once he arrived at the beach, he could see them far ahead of him on the open ocean, and followed, a strong September headwind hitting his face -

Kakashi and Rin should be done by now, he thought. He had been out for hours, possibly ten, spending most of them on open ocean, while they had a much shorter route to their location. If they had been effective and everything went according to plan, they could be back by the coast already, filling up with rations and preparing their report.

Minato was fast. He was closing in on the Kiri-nin, yet they were still far ahead; he could see land, and was wondering if he had miscalculated – they couldn't have reached the Fire country just yet, let alone see it – and maybe it was the Land of Waves that lay ahead of them. Just then did he realise they weren't heading North to the front lines. They were about to cross the Land of Whirlpools.

They were heading for the Boat village.

'December 29th.

Minato,

Don't feel terrible about yourself. It's no secret that Konoha is weak. Besides, you were only thirteen when you went to war for the first time. I know you're incredible and all that, but age is age.

Things stirred up, yeah, and they recently managed to destroy our camp. Which is why I'm back, I don't have a bed to sleep in or a job to do. We managed to bite back at them, so we can relax for now. I'd love to be part of your company, but I'm going back as soon as they fix the camp.

Truth is, I'm the only one who's back. They tried to get to me, and did a better job than they have so far. It was at night, and I was sleeping heavily because I'd been on a mission for forty-eight hours without sleep. Rabi woke up and tried to protect me. He died.

I'm all right. But I swear Kiri will get back for this.'

I mean, I'm assuming this wasn't the final screen-time Minato had. He can't just disappear without getting to say a proper goodbye to Naruto first; he probably transported himself so far away that the black dots stopped working and didn't hurt him. I just think it's weird that he's been so slow in coming back and no one seems to question it.