The Yellow Flash and The Village of Mokugakure

[Minato Namikaze]

The afternoon sun shone down on the makeshift training field, warming the ground and the winds that passed the two shinobi. The golden haired man, who was sitting on one of the logs that protruded from the ground, glanced up at the sky and shielded his eyes from the almost unbearable sunlight. Even though he suspected it to be fake, probably some sort of magic made by Omni, he did have to admit that it was a near perfect representation of the sun.

“You know, Kito, we will get to the bottom of whatever is going in in the village.” The man began, placing a hand on the young ninja's shoulder in an attempt to reassure him. Kito said nothing, he just continued staring at the unlit fire pit.

“Did anyone back in Konoha tell you the story of how I saved Kushina?” The former kage enquired, gaining a small fraction of the boys interest. Kito shook his head.

“Well...” Minato said as he took a second to think. “When I was younger, a little older than yourself, Kushina didn't like me very much. In fact, I would say she hated me. But it all changed after she had been kidnapped.” The blonde kage's words finally struck a chord within the young shinobi, causing the boy to turn his head and stare at his mentor. Minato gave the boy a faint smile, then returned to his story.

“A group of Hidden Cloud Village shinobi tried to kidnap her. She was the Jinchuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox and I guess that was why she was targeted...” Minato paused for a moment, reminiscing in his naivety, before continuing.

“At the time, I didn't understand any of that. I just knew that she was a part of the village and that if I didn't save her, it would have been a while before anyone did. It would probably cause a war between the two villages. So that's what I did. I followed a trail of her hair, that she had been leaving behind, right to her and the group of Ninja that had taken her.” Minato paused, leaving time for Kito to interject.

“What happened then? A fight?” The young shinobi questioned. Minato gave a slight laugh as he placed his hands on his thighs.

“They wish a fight happened.” Minato boasted. “Much like yourself and Kakashi, I was stronger than your average genin or chuunin as a boy. I might have even given any regular jounin some trouble. But there was no way they were that strong.” Minato smiled.

“So they were easy to defeat.” Kito replied, Minato nodding, confirming the boy's statement. Kito returned his focus to the fire pit, doubt still in his mind.

“Don't worry Kito, we'll get her back...” The blonde man reassured as he stood up from the log that they had been using as a seat. “And we'll solve whatever is going on in the village. Trust me, I was the Fourth Hokage after all.” The man finished, Kito replying with a nod as Kakashi broke the tree line, a basket of fish on his back.

“Lunch is here.” Kakashi breathed through his mask as he hoisted the fish basket from his back and held it in the air. “I don't know how good the fish will be, some of them are quite small, but I'm sure we can find something worthwhile in this basket.” he concluded.

Later that evening

The scent of cooked fish filled the air, a cool breeze, a welcomed change, sweeping over the training field that, admittedly, had seen better days. They would fix it up, as good as new, but not today. Not when it would just suffer more battle damage.

Kakashi and Minato had been telling Kito of their missions from when Kakashi was only a boy. Albeit the two had also taken the time to reminisce in their own stories. Kito, however, was not taking the situation as well as the two seasoned shinobi that sat before him. Kito scrunched his face up, worry and anger bursting forth in a split second.

'How...?” Kito spoke up, rather softly. The two men just looked at the boy as he stood, his black clothing had become dirty, a fact that was made apparent as clumps of dirt fell from his shirt. “How can you just sit here and be so calm!?” Kito spoke angrily, almost yelling at his superiors.

“How can we just sit here eating fish while talking about the past like nothing is going on?” Distress filled his voice as he looked to the training ground. “We're not even training!”

Minato and Kakashi looked at each other, their once cheerful looks transitioning to that of a seriousness. The silver haired man stood and sighed.

“You still have a lot to learn, Kito.” He spoke, his voice carrying a slight disappointment. But he was just as hasty as the distressed boy was when he was a boy. “You never reveal your hand before your opponent does.” Kakashi continued, his golden haired companion nodded and then took his chance to cut in.

“I asked for the time off specifically for this reason.” His words came across easy and soothing. The man always knew how to speak appropriately for the situation, probably one of his many qualities that attributed to his promotion to Hokage.

“If we had stayed in the village, we wouldn't have been able to allow our enemies to play all their cards.” the former kage explained as he sat back and looked up to the, now, darkened sky. “So just be patient. We've got plenty of time to train, and rest is just as important.” Minato said as he picked up the pack he'd brought and gestured to the sleeping roll. It was time to rest for the night.

As Minato lay there with his eyes shut, thinking back over the day's training, a voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Minato...” A deep growl emanated through his head. Not a painful growl, but as if someone were talking to him. The darkness faded to a dirty green as Minato appeared within a watery chamber, a large gate sitting before him.

“I was wondering when you'd show up...” The blonde spoke, bitterness laced throughout his words. A pair of red eyes, with vertical, slitted, beast-like pupils appearing behind the bars.

“Nine Tails.”