Golden Child

Village Hidden In The Leaves

Chapter 1

Honestly, he was a little nervous. Normally reporting to the Hokage, while time consuming, was pretty standard, but he wasn't sure how the Hokage would react. It wasn't every day that Minato went off an a mission and returned with an orphan.

"Welcome back, Minato-kun." There was a smile stretched across on the older man's wrinkled face. Hiruzen Sarutobi wasn't old per say, not even in his fifties, but for a shinobi that was old enough and in times of war, early wrinkles weren't a surprise. "I trust your mission was successful?"

Yes, and no. Minato Namikaze knelt before his leader, not quite sure how to go about this. "Somewhat, Hokage-sama. There were a few...technicalities."

"Oh? Do tell, Minato-kun." Hiruzen leaned a forward in his chair. His voice a sickly sweet tone that didn't quite meet his eyes.

He was the Professor, a dictator first and foremost — an old man second. Hiruzen didn't like it but war brought out the worst in him, it brought out the worst in all. So when his best soldier left on a simple scout and report mission and returned with the news that a small eastern village had been raided by Kumo-nin, well he wasn't very happy.

"We, my team and I, proceeded to the rendezvous point where we were set to replace the current scouting squad, however we were detoured when we received word of an attack. Apparently, a group of sixty strong Jonin-Chunin from Kumogakure had attack and ransacked one of our eastern civilian villages." Minato didn't dare look his Hokage in the eye, not just because it was disrespectful, but because he didn't wish to see the look on Hiruzen's face.

"By the time we arrived the village and the people in it had both gone up in flames, there were no survivors and the Kumo-nin escaped." Minato informed him before turning silent.

"But that is not all, is it Minato?" No -kun, just Minato. 

"No...my squad and made contact with a group of Kumo-nin, they had broken off from formation and instead of fleeing with the rest they pursued a small chakra signature." Minato told him, a little hesitant out of fear from how his leader would react. "There we discovered a civilian child bound, captured and about to be transported back to Kumogakure for reasons unknown, the Kumo-nin fled and we freed the child."

"This child is now resting in the hospital, is she not?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama. Forgive me-" He quickly said. "-it was a judgement call. It had nothing to do with my squad, if anyone is to be punished be it me, please Hokage-sama." Minato lowered his head.

There was a few seconds of silence before Hiruzen burst out into hearty laughter, smirking in amusement at the young shinobi. "Rest easy, Minato-kun. You made the right call." Lighting his pipe and taking a drag, he frowned.

"If you had not the child would have most likely been hunted until she dropped which, according to what the medic-nin have informed me, was not far off." Hiruzen let out a puff of smoke, staring down at him. "Did you discover why she was being hunted?"

"We believe, Hokage-sama, that she is of Uzumaki blood and, like they did Kushina years before, they were...kidnapping her." It was clear Minato was disgusted by the thought but he remained professional.

"Yes that is the most plausible reason," Hiruzen took another drag. "Uzumaki, you say?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Minato stood up, seeing as there was no more reason to bow. All formalities were done with and Hiruzen was now more of the sensei to his sensei, rather than his leader. "Kushina even said herself that she felt a kinship to the child the moment she crossed our border."