The Yellow Flash and The Village of Mokugakure

[Minato Namikaze]

Minato looked up at the Centre-Tree that Tsunade had told him to meet her in. It was definitely large, larger than any other tree he’d seen before. It was impressive, to say the least. Minato gazed up at the tree, a hint of awe in his stare.

‘That is one, huge, tree.’ Minato droned as he found himself becoming even more impressed with the tree.

Minato scanned the tree from left to right has he looked the tree up and down. A staircase wrapped itself around the trunk of the tree, spiraling up towards a large tree hollow. He wondered if he should just take the normal route. It definitely seemed more professional, and Hokage-like. But he wasn’t the Hokage anymore. He was just a regular Ninja now.

‘The fun way it is.’ Minato grinned as he stretched his legs, readying himself for what came next. ‘Ah man, this is going to be fun.’ The yellow haired ninja exclaimed happily before leaping into the air and towards the tree.

Minato pulled out one of his kunai, holding it with his right hand as he descended upon the trunk of the tree. Minato pushed the Kunai into the bark of the tree, catching himself as he dangled by one hand from the side of the tree.

‘Yep, definitely fun.’ He mumbled as he lifted another Kunai from his pouch and tossed it through the air, vertically parallel to the trunk of the tree.

Pulling himself up and grasping the kunai with his other hand, Minato yanked the Kunai from the tree bark. A flash of yellow light was all that remained in place of his body as he reappeared at his Kunai. Minato grabbed onto it, noticing the spiral stair way in front of him. Another toss and another flash of yellow light had Minato arrive safely on the stair way.

‘That’s enough of that… for now.’ Minato smirked as he looked ahead of himself. He still had quite a way to go. ‘Time to go.’ He spoke, a semi-serious tone in his voice as he began sprinting up the stair case towards Tsunade’s Office.

Minato stared at the large, walnut coloured, doorway that separated the inside of the tree from the outside world. Minato stretched out his hands and pushed on the doors. The creaking of the doors broke the silence as he entered the room. Minato noticed a young boy standing beside Tsunade as he shambled his way over to the two.

Tsunade smiled as she placed her hand on the boy’s back and nudged him forward as she spoke. ‘This is Kito.’ She smiled, the black haired boy, however, didn’t seem too enthusiastic. ‘I want you two to work together.’

Minato looked the kid over, he reminded him of Kakashi in a lot of ways. The unimpressed scowl definitely bared resemblance to Kakashi. ‘So, Kito was it?’ Minato asked as he extended his hand. Kito nodded and then shook Minato’s hand firmly.

‘So you want me to run him through the usual test?’ Minato inquired as he turned to face Tsunade. She nodded as Minato then thought to himself before speaking up again. ‘Without anyone else, it’ll be hard for me to put him through it though.’

‘I’ve done the bell test already.’ Kito interjected. A stunned expression came over Minato’s face as he looked down at the young boy. ‘Yep, Naruto tested my team with it.’ Kito continued. Minato smiled as he thought of his son, all grown up, and leading a team of Genin. It gave him a sense of pride in his son. Then all he could think think of was how hard his life must have been. Living as an orphan and a jinchuuriki, people must have been horrible too him.

‘Don’t worry Minato, Naruto grew into a strong Ninja.’ Tsunade spoke up as the smile faded from the Fourth Hokage’s face. ‘He saved the world, you know.’
Minato looked turned to Tsunade, a dreary look on his face. ‘I don’t care about that...’ Minato sighed heavily. ‘I just wish I’d been there to see my son kick some ass!’ He wept as he trudged to the corner of the room, sat down and put his head in his knees. ‘It’s not fair.’

Kito and Tsunade stared at the yellow haired man-child as he began rambling to himself in the corner, mumbling things about how it was unfair that he died before he got to see his child grow up. His two companions just stood there, watching him for a minute or so before continuing the conversion.

‘In any case, Minato will test you... I think’ Tsunade announced as she turned to Kito. He looked at her in confusion and slight frustration as he had already gone through tests back in Konoha.

‘It’s not for you, Kito.’ Minato spoke, recovering from his miniature spat of depression. ‘I’m testing you so that I know I can rely you.’ Minato stated as he walked over to Tsunade and whispered in her ear. Tsunade nodded, grinned, walked over to her desk and sat down.

Minato headed for the door without addressing the young, black haired genin, and reached into his back pocket. He pulled out a bell, attached it to his cloak, turned to Kito and gave him a smug smile. ‘You have 5 hours, until midday, to get this bell from me.’ The former Kage grinned as he held up a bell and shook it.

Kito dashed at him as the sound of the bell filled the room. Minato dashed out of the room, reaching the edge of the stairs before launching himself off of the platform and into the air towards the village below them. He spun around in mid-air to find his future student standing at the edge of the platform he had just thrown himself from. ‘Good Luck!’ Minato exclaimed with a wide smile as he began descending towards the village roof tops.