Minato Namikaze was having a difficult time managing his time, and it was definitely starting to show. Whilst juggling his regular duties as a Hokage, and the paper work involved, he was also stuck instructing the jonin and giving them jobs to complete to help reconstruct the sections of the village damaged by the attack. The Hokage was also expected to give supportive, comforting speeches to the regular villagers on a regular basis, to update them on work being done, completed or planned for the future. Within all this madness the attack had caused, Minato was also trying to support his wife and child, whom both have various difficulties due to their separate situations.
Kushina was still suffering from chakra deprivation, as losing the Biju within her and becoming a regular individual meant her body would have to readjust to the new limit of chakra she could house. Sadly, this was much less than before, though the Uzumaki's always had large reserves of chakra, so her reserves were still fairly high. However, the actual loss of the supportive weight she'd held before was taking its toll, and she also wasn't healing as fast due to the nine-tails being moved onto another.
Naruto, their young babe, was in a completely different situation. Due to the circumstances at the time and the panic Minato had been in at the moment, the seal that the nine-tails was housed into Naruto by was much weaker than his mother's had been. This meant the beast was able to disrupt the baby much more often, even leading to points of possession by the fox, though having Kushina around to protect Naruto and his well-being certainly helped. Minato had also discovered that his son wasn't sleeping at all, also caused by the nine-tails, who was taking great pleasure in keeping the boy from resting at any time.
More specifically, when Naruto fell asleep out of exhaustion, the nine-tails had discovered he had full rein over the baby's body, meaning he could manipulate Naruto's small body much like a puppet. This had led the beast to make the boy torment himself, mainly scratching himself until he bled. Kushina had been mortified at first, but she quickly learnt to be constantly vigilant for her baby. Whilst Kushina watched their son like a hawk during the night and day, Minato was busy running back and forth from job to job, trying to assist the village in any way he could. Sadly, this left him minimal time to take care of his son and wife, and he wasn't able to see either of them at all for long.
However, Minato worked exceptionally hard the week after the attack, and had been able to come up will a list of jobs for the jonin who finished each job he gave them, and he was also able to get the assistance of Kakashi and Sarutobi to organise the shinobi and workers. With the assistance of Kakashi, Sarutobi and the elders, the young Hokage was able to direct all of the shinobi that came to him with jobs, and he had also found the time to take breaks, and rest with his new family.
-ooooooooooooo-
One night, two weeks since the attack had occurred, Minato had begun walking home from his office, painfully aware of how tired he was, and how dark the sky had become.
Looking up and staring at the few stars that littered the clouded night sky, Minato couldn't help but feel like he needed to have everything stabilised and complete quickly, so as to avoid any more stress, or excess work on his part. He could only work so many hours before he collapsed from lack of sleep, or he ends up shouting at some poor genin asking for a mission. Regardless, Minato wanted more time to breathe, and if he didn't get it soon, he'd end up screaming at the next person who knocked on his door.
Admiring the sky silently, he then noticed a change in the air. Feeling a familiar shinobi's chakra close-in on him, Minato smiled and turned to face the direction of the chakra, only to see Kakashi land in front of him. Lifting his hand in acknowledgement the Hokage took the moment to observe his student.
Kakashi Hatake's face gave nothing away, as per usual, though Minato could see the emotion in his eyes: Happy. Actually, that was a lie. Minato had not seen Kakashi truly happy since the youngster had lost his teammates, and with Might Gai out on an important mission at the moment, no one was really around to brighten his spirits. The blonde couldn't help but soften at his student's content gaze, before addressing him.
"Kakashi." The blonde's voice said in a happy tone.
"Sensei." Replied the younger, looking all the more tired. Minato would have laughed at the boy's antics, but he had grown used to Kakashi's lazy, unconcerned way of life.
"Having a little trouble sleeping, huh?"
"I'm on night shift."
"Ah, typical. I thought you'd be bothering Asuma by now."
"Asuma's disappeared. I've tried to find him, but he's just up and vanished. I think he's avoiding me." Kakashi replied passively, though Minato could see a smile forming on his face."
"That's what you get for pressuring the poor guy into being your drinking buddy." Minato laughed, remembering Asuma's face when he'd come to his office a few weeks ago, begging to be moved to another shift. The silver-haired teen shrugged off his sensei's comment, pretending not to care. Minato knew better though, as he saw the smirk teasing his face.
Minato had learned that regardless of the fact that Kakashi wore a mask he tended to express himself in smaller gestures and features, which were much more difficult to catch than the usual big smile or grin. Though Kakashi had trained himself to pull a completely straight face, people like himself had learned and mastered the smallest movements on the teens face, and connected those to emotions.
"Sensei?" Came Kakashi's voice, snapping the blonde back to reality. His student looked up at him, with mildly concerned eyes
"Oh. Sorry, Kakashi. It's been a long day." Said Minato, trying to lessen his student's worry. Kakashi raised an eyebrow, before sighing in defeat.
"Sensei, go to bed." Kakashi exasperated, whilst sending a warning glare his elder's way upon seeing him start to reply. Able to predict his defeat, Minato smiled softly, and ruffled Kakashi's hair in a minimal attempt at revenge, before running home. He'd wanted to admire the peace and quiet of the night, but clearly Kakashi didn't share his opinion. Chuckling to himself, Minato flew over the roofs of the city, watching his house slowly grow larger as he got neared his home.
-ooooooooooooo-
Thanks for the new followers of this fanfic, and sorry for the wait! Welcome to the gang, Sefieshuko, Weirdcat, Wolfmoon30 and xXDOVAHKIINXx! With the introductions out of the way, let's move on to the rest of the notes!
Things start getting interesting next chapter, as the plot will begin to go into full swing, and things will happen! Yay!
I'd also like to point out that yes, I don't write long chapters at all. Instead, each individual chapter has something that happens, or is explained within it, as opposed to running over several chapters. This is because, 1, I'm used to writing short, smaller scenes and events as opposed to long-winded chapters, and 2, because I feel it'll be easier to keep up with if the exposition chapters were just kept compact and short, as opposed to spreading them into small sections.
Sorry if the chapter style puts you off, but I've always enjoyed writing in small sections and challenging myself to get everything I want across in as little words as possible, and as of such, this is what I've decided on.
But never mind all that nonsense, hope you enjoyed this updated, and any reviews so far would be most appreciated! Thanks! 3