"Act first, explain later," -Dan Brown

"Look kid, I don't want to ask you again. Where did Minato go?" Jiraiya pushes me against a large tree and holds me there with his hand on my shoulder.

"I told you," I reply, rolling my eyes. "He said he was going to do some training. You know him, the only time he's not training is when you force him to do something else," I say as I cross my arms. "He didn't tell me which training area he's going to, just said 'whichever one is open'."

I know from Jiraiya's expression that he can see straight through my lie. But that was alright. I wasn't actually trying to get him to believe me, I just needed to stall for time so that Jiraiya didn't go chasing after Minato.

It was about four hours ago, when the sun was just starting to set, that Minato ran into my backyard and said he needed help. At first I was surprised by his unannounced visit, he never came to my house uninvited before. I mean he came to my place a lot before, but he was never one to show up uninvited.

I was also a little annoyed, this was our first day off, no missions or training sessions or anything, in about two months. I had been taking a very nice and peaceful nap, so peaceful that even the deer had come and lay down alongside me.

"Kotaro!" Minato yelled my name as he jumped onto the ground barely ten feet away from me, waking me up and making all the deer run off.

"What? Can't you see I'm trying to nap," I say as I sit up and look at him. The kid is sweaty and all covered in dirt, he'd probably been training all day, he can never rest, can he?

"I need your help Kotaro!" He yelled as he ran over to me, dropping to his knees right next to me.

"What is it this time, don't tell me you want to trai-"

"No! Not with that!" He cut me off. "Something happened to Kushina! I need to go save her!"

"Save? What are you talking about?" I asked, confused on just exactly the turn of events that happened to him today. Yesterday he had told me he was going to be spending the day with Kushina, but I didn't think that meant they were leaving the village.

"This morning! When I went to her house, there were a bunch of Anbu surrounding it!" He proceeded to tell me what he saw and was told.

It only took a split second for me to realize just what exactly was happening. We're both eleven years old, and have been genin for a little over eight months. Based on what I remember, the Kushina-kidnapping-incident occurred sometime in Kushina and Minato's first year as genin. That's what's happening right now.

"And they're doing nothing to save her!" Minato finished his rant/explanation.

"What do you mean they're doing nothing?" I asked. "There's no way that a shinobi can be kidnapped from the village and they won't do something to save them," I tried to explain.

From what I could understand from Minato, he asked the Hokage what was being done to save Kushina. The Hokage, probably just wanting the eleven year old rookie Genin out of the way, told Minato to leave this to the experienced people and go home. Minato took that to mean that nothing was being done to save Kushina, and so now he thought that he had to be the one to go save her.

"I told you I asked the Hokage. They're not doing anything so we have to go save her," He stressed to me again.

I could tell by the look in his eyes that nothing I say will stop him. So instead I decided that I will have to stall him, long enough so that whoever is actually planning this rescue mission had time to do something before Minato ran off and did something stupid.

Because for however much skill and genius he has at this age, he is still an eleven year old boy, and they are all idiots who never fully look at the big picture, myself included in this instance.

"Fine then, at least tell me you know where these people are heading. Let's make a plan before we do anything," I said.

And we started planning. I also came to learn that Minato had very little idea on how to actually save- or even find- Kushina.

"I'm sure she's leaving some type of trail, she's smart," Minato said. "It's what we're taught in training after all."

Man, has Minato not realized yet that everything you learn in training often goes out the window when you're put in an actual situation. Never mind, because he's right about this. I remember this scene clearly, however short and less detailed it was in the Naruto series. Minato is able to trail the people who took Kushina by the trail Kushina leaves of her hair.

I know that he somehow takes out the shinobi holding her hostage, but I'm not going to let him go out there without having any details about who they are. Minato might be strong for a genin, maybe even at a high Chunin level at this point, but if any of the details of this timeline are different and there's someone like a Jounin on this mission, Minato could end up dead.

"Do you have any idea who took her? Or why?" I asked, in Minato's long rant earlier, he never did mention it.

"No," he shook his head. "But I have my theories."

"What are they?"

"Have you ever heard of a jinchuriki, Kotaro?" Minato asked softly.

I paused for a second. Of course I knew what they were. But I'm surprised Minato knew what they were, and that he knew Kushina was one. The two must be closer than I thought if Kushina is telling him S-class secrets about herself. That meant Minato must also know what it meant that Kushina had been kidnapped.

"I've heard of them," was all I said. "What does that have to do with this?"

"You can't tell anyone this but…" he paused, and when I nodded my head, he continued. "Kushina is one, she has the Kyuubi sealed inside of her."

"Oh," I said, and had my eyes grow wide. "That changes a lot of things."

"Yes, it does."

"If that's the case, then that means they sent some strong people after her. And I mean really strong people," I said, and he nodded. So he must understand the severity of this mission he wanted to go on. "Is that why you came to me? Do you want me to go with you?" That must be the reason he's here right? I'm probably the only other genin who he had a chance of convincing him to join him on this escapade.

"No, you have to stay here," he said… and what? He couldn't be serious.

"What do you mean I have to stay here?" I asked. "They have to have at least a Jounin with them. You can't do this by yourself."

"You have to stay here and keep Jiraiya-sensei from going after me," Minato was quick to say. "If he catches up to me before I run into the group that took Kushina, he's just going to bring me back to Konoha without doing anything about Kushina."

And Minato had a point there. At least once the team the Hokage sent after Kushina catches up to Minato, their mission would still be to save Kushina. If Jiraiya caught him, he would just want to bring Minato back to the village.

"Fine then," I nodded. "I can do that, distract him."

"Okay," Minato said as he stood up, getting ready to go.

"Wait, you have to be smart about this," I stopped him and looked him in the eye. "You don't know what level shinobi they have with them. And they have to be pretty good if they were able to get through the village's defenses. If you make any wrong moves you'll both end up dead."

I saw him nod, and I continued. "When you catch up to them, watch them for a little while. Only attack if you're a hundred percent sure you can defeat them."

"And if I can't?"

"Then just remain following and watching them until whatever team the Hokage is sending catches up to you."

"Alright," Minato nodded. "I'll do that."

Then I remembered something. "Wait right here, let me get something for you," I said and ran into my house. Grabbing a pack of kunai from my room, I ran back down to Minato and handed it to him. "Take these, they're some of the weapons my Uncle Sayo makes," I explained. "He uses a special kind of steel, it makes them stronger."

"Okay," Minato said as he replaced it where his kunai pack was. "Thanks, I'm sure they'll be helpful."

And with that, I let Minato go off onto his little rescue mission, safe in the knowledge that plot armor will let him succeed. I mean, nothing that has changed the Naruto storyline has happened yet, right?

I wait around in the woods behind my house for Minato to come back and tell me he successfully saved Kushina. I wasn't expecting Jiraiya to actually come and look for me at all tonight. I mean, very little of this plot point was actually shown in the Naruto series. So I'm somewhat startled when, just as the last of the sun's rays are disappearing, Jiraiya jumps down in front of me.

And huh, he doesn't look too happy.

Xx?xXx?xXx?xX

Jiraiya finally lets go of me to run his hands through his hair. I can tell he's stressed about this whole situation, but I've promised Minato I would stall JIraiya as long as possible and well, between the two of them, I like Minato better.

"Look kid, I know you're more of my problem child on this team," Jiraiay starts. And wait, what? "But for tonight it seems Minato has taken your spot. Just tell me where Blondy has gone."

"I told you he's training," I say again and start walking back to my house. "Now can I go back to sleep, it's late and I'm tired. You know Minato, he'll be ready to go anyway tomorrow morning." And it's true, MInato will make it back from his little rescue mission and be back by the morning. Hell, he's probably using less energy tonight than he usually does. He's spent way too many nights doing some form of training in the past couple months.

"You say that yet I found you wide awake and waiting for something tonight," Jiraiya says as he pushes me back against the tree and crosses his arms.

I slowly shake my head. "I'm wide awake because I just haven't been able to fall asleep yet. Usually when this happens I take a stroll through the forest here, which is what I was doing before you just jumped down here," I say as I try to walk past him again. "Now can you leave, you really shouldn't be here uninvited. The deer don't like it."

"The deer don't…? Look kid, forget about your little deer-"

"The deer are sacred to the Nara Clan sensei! You can't just say something like that!" I blurt out, mock outrage clear in my voice, trying to distract him.

Then I see the light of a lantern shine down on us. "Who's over there? Is that you Kotaro?" I hear the voice of Uncle Hiroto call out. Oh, he must be on his nightly walk through the forest to feed the deer. I forgot he does that when he's not on missions.

"And is that?... Jiraiya? What are you two doing out here this late at night? If you're doing training, go somewhere else, you're messing with the deer," I hear him call out to us.

"That's what I was saying," I say and glare at the gray haired man standing next to me. "You're disturbing the deer. I told you where Minato was, now can you please leave and give the deer back their peace and quiet."

"I said I'll leave as soon as you tell me where Minato actually is," Jiraiya says, glaring back at me.

When I open my mouth to say something, Hiroto is quick to cut me off. "Kotaro, just tell your sensei where your teammate is." Shit, that man can always tell when I'm lying, not that I was trying that hard anyway, but he's once again always quick to cut off my nonsense.

"Fine," I say as I let out a breath and cross my arms. "He went after Kushina, said something about the Hokage and everyone else taking too long making a plan to save her."

"What?!" Jiraiya says.

"You know, Kushina," I repeat. "The Genin from the other team Minato has a crush on. He went on ahead of whatever rescue party the Hokage sent after her. He was getting too annoyed with their lack of action and wanted to get a head start."

I don't know what to exactly name the expression that crosses Jiraiya's face. Somewhere between mad, exasperated, surprised, and irate.

"What do you mean he just went on his own rescue mission to save her?" Jiraiya shouts and asks as he grabs me by my shoulders.

"He's following the trail that Kushina is leaving behind her," I explain. "Don't worry though, I told him to only attack if he's a hundred percent sure he can take out the guys holding her."

"Are you serious Kotaro?!" I hear Hiroto yell from behind Jiraiya. "You just let your teammate run off on a suicide mission?"

"It's not a suicide mission," I say. "Minato is a very good judge of people's strengths."

"You and Minato also haven't fought against anyone above a low Chunin level," I hear Jiraiya say. "You're both way too inexperienced for this." It's as he says this that I realize exactly how stupid of a decision it was to let Minato do this. If it was anyone else, or if I didn't have the gift of foreknowledge of this world… I would have done everything to stop him.

But since it was Minato… and I know the type of shinobi he will become one day, I eventually let him go. I probably should have tried a little harder to stop him but… I didn't, now I have to live with the consequences.

Jiraiya seems to take my silence as me realizing how much I messed up. But he doesn't let me off the hook. He grabs me by the waist and hoists me up on his shoulder. "Looks like you're going to be spending the rest of the night with me."

Shit, I should have slept while I was waiting for Jiraiya to find me.

Xx?xXx?xXx?xX

Hours later, hours filled with Jiraiya running around the village with me trying to find out just who was sent out on the retrieval mission, we eventually end up standing by the village gates in the early morning hours, waiting for the two genin to return.

I try to ignore Jiraiya's eyes glaring into me, but it's hard. I still refuse to say anything though, for I know that once I do, the man will launch into a long lecture about how stupid this idea was.

And that is one thing I will not face alone. Minato is the one who started this, hell, he made most of the plan and didn't really listen to me at all. If I'm going to be yelled at, I won't be getting yelled at alone.

So I stay silent, arms crossed and look out the village gates at the trail leading away from the village, waiting for Minato and Kushina to return. And I know they will return, for the two have massive amounts of plot armor on their side.

"I swear," I hear Jiraiya start to talk next to me. "You three are going to be the death of me one day."

"I highly doubt that, sensei," I interrupt his rambling. It's true. I don't know if my character ever has a death in the Naruto series, they never really show any characters from the Nara Clan except for about three or four, but both Mikoto and Minato die years before Jiriaya does. Hell, he's not even in the village when they die.

"Oh?" Jiraiya says. "Because you two aren't exactly showing me that's the case."

"You're a really strong shinobi, sensei," I say. "If a little stress kills you, I worry for the future of Konoha."

He huffs a laugh then. "You can be pretty cheeky there, brat," he says. "But don't think that cheekiness of yours will get you out of the trouble you're in."

"Awe that's a shame, at least I tried."

And with that, our conversation stops when we see a shadow appear on the horizon.

It's a short person, about Minato's height, who's carrying someone of similar size on their back. That must be Minato and Kushina. As they get closer to the village, we see some Anbu jump down and walk beside them. That must be the actual rescue party that was sent out.

When he sees us, Minato comes running up to us, Kushina asleep on his back and a smile on his face. "Hey guys! Guess what, I made it!"

I don't say anything, but can tell when Minato meets Jiraiya's face, for the smile slowly dies off his lips.

"Minato, take Kushina to the hospital, then meet us in the Hokage's office," Is all Jiraiya says before he takes hold of my shoulder and makes me follow after him.

Xx?xXx?xXx?xX

"Kotaro," Minato whispers over my shoulder as we're walking out of the Hokage's office later that morning. "About that secret I told you earlier…"

"What about it?" I ask.

"You can't tell anyone about it. And I mean anyone. Not even I'm supposed to know."

"Don't worry," I say as I lift my arms and rest my hands on the back of my head. "It's not like I have anyone to tell who would be interested anyway."