Naruto Shippuden: girl from whirlpools

Teachers

Chapter Sixteen: Teachers

Kushina proved to be a remarkably fast healer. Even the doctors and medics who had once expressed shock at Minato's rapid improvement in the past were left further staggered that Kushina's broken nose could fix itself in just a couple of days without even any residual bruising. As usual, Kushina was a little uncomfortable when people made a fuss of her – she was not interested that the medic-nin believed her rate of cellular regeneration defied all laws of nature and required further study. She brushed off any amazement bestowed upon her like an unwelcome sales pitch, and Minato didn't care either; he was just glad that her nose was as pretty as it always had been.

All in all, for their first mission together it hadn't turned out too badly, though in other ways it had proved to be disappointing. There was no further word from Orochimaru about the investigation Minato had called into question. As far as the Hokage was concerned, there had been no further deaths and the evidence against Kamina – the man severely addled by one hell of a powerful genjutsu and killed by a suicide jutsu above his abilities – was absolute. The matter was closed. Minato was praised for catching the killer and his repeated insistence that the village should continue to search for the victims were brushed off. Their case slipped down the list of village priorities by the day, as every day that passed made it less and less likely there could be any survivors.

Nor was there any word about the arrangement Minato had made with Orochimaru. Though Minato had offered his blood for the express wish of finding a paternal match, the pasty faced sannin had never gotten back to him. How long did it take to run such tests? A week? A month? Three? Minato patiently waited, but nothing happened.

Eventually he grudgingly accepted that Orochimaru had either forgotten or had been unsuccessful, and since he still wasn't sure he wanted to know his parentage, he didn't bother to approach him again. He would let sleeping dogs lie. Having gone through most of his life untroubled by thoughts of who his father might be, he reckoned he would continue to cope. Sure, he may have had the odd little fantasy when he was a boy feeling particularly disenchanted with the caretaker fate had assigned him. Sometimes he may have dreamed that his father – perhaps a kage or someone equally powerful and important – would show up one day to take him away. So it was probably a good thing his father remained unknown. Anyone less than a kage at this point, which was certainly bound to be the case, wouldn't measure up to his childhood fantasies.

But this was not the primary source of Minato's concerns right then.

That autumn several changes came over Konoha. There were the natural ones, like the increasingly chilly days and the metamorphosis of the trees and forests in and around the village that almost overnight turned from green to every shade of red and gold. Kushina bought a scarf the same shade of turquoise as her remarkable eyes, and once again Minato was reminded of how far she'd come since she was a child. To see her in her dash to the shops for milk in her stylish scarf and hat would make anyone think the grubby red-head who had arrived in the village almost ten years ago must have been some other girl.

Then there were the unwelcome changes. Autumn was also the time of year when the genin were due to graduate, and when that happened they would need to be assigned a jonin teacher and subsequently tested. Minato always wished to be spared the process, but sometimes there simply weren't enough volunteers among jonin to turn to teaching. Every year it was always touch and go of who the Hokage would choose to conscript… and sometimes there was a fair bit of kicking and screaming involved. Not just from the children. And that year, Inoichi had it under good authority from a nameless source that Minato's name was being tossed around as a candidate.

But this wasn't the only unpleasant prospect Minato heard his name connected to. There was also the matter of some new 'exchange' programs popping up between the villages.