Critical Moments-Volume 1

XXXIV

Chapter Thirty-Four

Rarely did Lord Minato conducted official business from his home office – Lord Sarutobi had taught him the importance of separating home life and official life during his early reign as Fourth Hokage. However, there were several times where it has proven necessary to conduct affairs of state from home when Naruto was a baby and Kushina was very much recovering from the trauma of his birth and similar postpartum depression. In order to be close at hand when his family needed him, he had insisted on having all the essentials of his office in place: the Hokage's seal, secure video-links for communicating with other high-level diplomats, and duplicates of all important legal documents for adjudicating business.

Minato had spent the past three days working from home in order to watch over his son. Naruto had been a real trooper, barely complaining of anything except being tired when he got home from the hospital – understandable considering how much energy he'd put into getting Hinata ready for her duel for months. However, the façade of strength disappeared when he was sleeping. Horrific nightmares plagued Naruto every time he closed his eyes. Unfortunately, Naruto's sleep was broken, and he was lethargic and prone to falling into short, nightmare plagued asleep throughout the day ever since the duel. Tsunade already had him go through a therapy session, and he was schedule for another one in a few days. Kushina meanwhile had given him a very mild sedative tea before bed last night; at least he slept through the night without an attack as a result.

"Lord Hokage, the Kazekage is on video line one," Shikamaru called from his corner of the room. He and Itachi were huddled around listening equipment and their own computers in the now cramped office.

"Put him on," Minato commanded. His screen came to life with the image of Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage of the Village Hidden in the Sands. The man looked surprisingly pale for a man who grew up in a desert. "Good morning, Lord Rasa," Minato tried for his most cheerful face. It was strictly bullshit; if he'd had his way, he'd be on a long camping trip with Naruto and Kushina far from the worries of the village or his office.

"Lord Minato," Lord Rasa replied fiercely, "I have reviewed your petition to delay the Chunin Exams by over two months! What is the meaning of this!"

"As the kage of my village, I'm well within my rights to delay the exam under any circumstance, Lord Rasa," Minato accented the Kazekage's name with extra bite, trying and failing to keep his temperament level.

"There are dozens of genin and their sensei staying at your village at great expense, in some cases personal expense as part of this exam, and now you want them to be your guests for possibly three to four months at this rate!"

"Might I remind, you, your lordship, that three of our top contenders for the test have undergone severe physical and psychological trauma from an assassination attempt, and my village is still on lockdown until we're sure we've apprehended everyone involved!" Minato was becoming steamed,, instinctively reaching for a pencil to twirl in his hand to distract himself from his rising anger.

"And might I remind you, your lordship, that there are dozens of your own genin who are now delayed because of your preferential treatment of your son." Lord Rasa paused and smiled as he gauged Minato's negative reaction, "Oh yes, word reached us even this far away. Now let's cut the crap; he and his friends can always wait two years like anyone else who suddenly got injured before the test next week!"

Something in Minato snapped, along with the pencil in his hand, at Lord Rasa's callous remarks. It was bigger than just his son. The Hyūga clan in one day lost twelve of its most senior members, including old man Hattori and Hizashi Hyūga. It was still a coin toss if Neji would keep his leg or not. Only now the psychological scars to Hanabi, Hinata, and the rest of the family were becoming evident. The thought of each and every injury built into a fiery rage in Minato's heart, expelling it through his words, "If you are going to take that attitude with me, and completely disregard the well-being of everyone affected by this tragedy," Minato pound a hand on his desk, "Then YOU can explain to your precious genin that their lives are meaningless, and they came all this way for nothing! THE CHUNIN EXAM IS CANCELLED!!!"