and i was so young when i behaved twenty five
Minato dropped his smile when Naruto left the room, rubbing his scruffy jaw and turning to face Tsunade-hime - Tsunade-sama.
He needed to focus, as much as he wanted to grab Naruto and disappear, he had a job to do. After this, he'll ask all the important questions; like what ramen toppings his son liked, or what his dream was, or what his favorite cartoon was.
(He should shave, Kushina doesn't like his beard. Says it itches)
The Fifth Hokage crossed one leg over the other, the picture perfect image of leadership. Minato remembered how hard the Council of Elders had attempted to pressure Tsunade-sama into the position. As one of the last remaining members of of the Senju clan who still carried the name, having her lead the village would cement the power dynamics that the council so dearly wanted to achieve.
Minato still struggled to grasp it, but the idea of fully integrating the Senju clan into Konoha by rapid contract marriages was an ingenious move. The Uchiha were well known for their emotional tendencies, but the Senju rivaled that fanaticism with their cold blooded loyalty.
Willingly forsaking their clan name, cutting down their numbers by the hundreds to integrate into the Konoha populace. Paired with the Uchiha tradition to assimilate newcomers into the clan, the divide between the Uchiha and Konoha continued to grow under the Senju's watchful eyes. It didn't help that the Uchiha staunchly refused to relocate their compound closer to the village, letting people think that the Uchiha thought they were above the rest of Konoha.
It would've all been set in stone if Tsunade-sama had taken up the hat after the Third, but she vehemently refused. The only reason she got away with it is because of her lineage, and the fact that the First and Second clearly favored her.
So what, Minato pondered, could've made the Slug Princess return to Konoha, and take up the hat?
Tsunade-sama flicked her fingers, and seals flared to life.
"Necessary precautions now that we've been successfully spied on," Tsunade-sama snorted.
Minato almost asked why she blatantly let genins eavesdrop on the Hokage Office without so much as a slap to the wrist, but blinked when he saw Kakashi raise an unimpressed eyebrow.
"Ma~, Tsunade-hime, if I didn't know any better, I'd say Naruto might've grown on you,"
Minato had been attempting to put it off to a later time, but Kakashi was so different now. Logically, he knew it was inevitable since twelve years had passed, but to Minato, it had only been a few days since Kakashi was still a preteen with lanky limbs. Seeing a grown man stand in the place of scrawny little Kakashi was and still is disconcerting.
The complete flip in personality didn't help either. The Kakashi he knew would have never slouched, let alone slouch in front of the Hokage. He viewed everything with a lazy eye, hands in his pockets. His hair was running wild, somehow defying gravity and climbing upwards, a complete 180 from the 5 inches haircut per the shinobi regulations.
It was like the Kakashi he knew had been completely wiped away, and Minato was so proud he almost felt like his heart would burst out of his chest.
He was still devastated that Kakashi grew up alone, and he knew how the boy had the tendency to wallow and self-blame. He wanted to watch Kakashi grow up and get stronger, he wanted to be their for him, every step of the way.
"Watch your mouth, brat," Tsunade-sama scoffed, but there was no heat in her words. The woman who Naruto referred to as Shizune-neechan had moved to stand behind her, and covered up a giggle behind her hand.
"He reminds you of Nawaki, doesn't he?"
Minato felt his body stiffen, carefully watching Tsunade-sama for signs of her iconic temper. You don't mentions the people she had lost during the war, especially not by name.
To his shock, Tsunade didn't scream, or insult, or even throw anything. She just smiled in a bittersweet fashion. Hell, even Kakashi seemed to be smiling, from the exaggerated curve of his eye.
"What are you smiling about, blondie," Minato almost turned around to see who Tsunade-sama was talking to, before he realized he was smiling.
Ah, must've been an unconscious thing. Kushina always says he looks like a smiling dunce all the time.
"I'm just happy for you, I suppose," Minato smiled. He would have never imagined seeing Tsunade-hime ever get over the death of her brother and husband, especially not after she left the village and vowed not to heal or fight again.
Tsunade scowled, putting up a hand over her eyes like she was shielding herself from the sun.
"So bright," Shizune muttered, also covering the pig's eyes. Why was she carrying a pig. Why is it wearing a pearl necklace.
Kakashi didn't say anything, but when Minato attempted to direct his smile at Kakashi, he had that look to his face when he saw something nice but didn't think it was his place to feel happy about it. Minato was saddened he still had the same expressions from twelve years ago, he had hoped Kakashi would've done some healing.
"But enough joking. Get out Kakashi, the grown ups need to talk,"
Minato dropped his smile as the mood shifted, watching the shadows in the corner's of the room shift at the Hokage's finality.
Kakashi, for one, looked wholly unaffected.
"Mah, Tsunade-sama, as key witness to the Fourth's revival, I'd like to say I'm quite a big boy myself,"
Part of Minato's heart swelled at the fact that Kakashi wanted to stay. He'd been driving lessons of team work and loyalty in that brat's head for ages, and its heartwarming to see that his teachings persevered a decade later.
The other part wanted to throttle him for calling himself a big boy in front of the Hokage.
"You're a key witness to the failures of Konoha's mental health program, brat. Go take a breather, talk to that Shirunai brat and sort out your emotions,"
Minato and Shizune winced in unison, but Tsunade-sama's harsh words shut up Kakashi, as he simply stiffly bowed and practically fled the office.
Minato watched sadly as the door slid shut, turning to face Tsunade-sama.
"That was a bit harsh, Tsunade-sama,"
She squinted at him in response.
"Don't get your mushy all over me, Namikaze. Kakashi is still one of the top shinobi of the village, and we're still in an extremely vulnerable position,"
Minato straightened up as much as his muscles allowed him to, heedful of the dually intense stare that he was subjected to by Shizune and Tsunade-sama. A medic's job is never over, it seemed.
"But, you're our ace right now."
Minato remembered what she said in the hospital room days ago, but -
"Surely you aren't serious? You're stepping down barely weeks after your inauguration?"
Tsunade-sama grinned, clearly enjoying his distress. Minato knew the Sannin were on an entire other level in terms of what they could get away with, but he humbly thought that this was too much.
Minato would love to re-assume his position as Hokage, it's his shared dream with Kushina and he loved Konoha; wanted to make it better and stronger.
But it's been twelve years. The politics, internal relations, power dynamics, they're all different. People that had supported him and sided with him as allies could easily become his enemies now.
"I won't shove the hat on your head and run out the second this meeting ends - "
Minato couldn't help his sigh of relief, ignoring Tsunade-sama's stink eye.
"- but I will be passing the hat back to you as soon as possible. I have some personal business I need to wrap up, and in the meantime, you'll be playing catch up while you heal,"
That sounded a little more reasonable, but no less insane. Minato's election as Hokage had been controversial, considering he had no clan affiliation and came from a civilian orphanage. The only reason he was taken seriously was because of his war contributions, and Jiraiya-sensei's support.
But Tsunade-sama was right before, when she mentioned news of his return had already spread. If she was letting genin blatantly eavesdrop and then letting them off without so much as a warning to not speak of the matter, then any shinobi worth their salt in Konoha must know already. Nevermind what news had already reached the other hidden villages.
"Alright," Minato sighed, already feeling a headache forming, "but what about the clan meeting?"
"You'll work with Jiraiya to recreate the seal Kushina used on you, and present it to Seals Masters from other clans for them to verify,"
Tsunade-sama explained with such conviction that Minato almost forgot to protest.
"Tsunade-sama! Seals can't be just recreated based on their function, you know that more than anyone considering your experience with medical seals,"
Minato tried his best to control his tone, but having his life chanced on whether he and Jiraiya-sensei can reverse engineer a complex space-time seal was a bit nerve wracking.
"Relax, I know that blondie. We managed to take some pictures of the seal before you almost bled out. Based on what Jiraiya said, it seemed to be an iteration of your Hiraishin,"
Minato blinked, then felt a fuzzy feeling spread through him. Kushina repurposed his life's work to save his life, and she did it beautifully. But how did she manage to keep his body in stasis for so long? Somebody would've obviously attempted to use his kunai, so why did the seal only activate now? For a seal of this complexity, a huge amount of chakra was required, but where was the source? Maybe -
"Keep your theories to yourself, Namikaze. I don't have the same passion for it like my idiot teammate,"
Minato turned pink when he realized he was rambling, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as Shizune politely pressed her lips together in attempt to not laugh at him.
"Anyways, meeting's over. Shizune, wheel Namikaze back to his room, and call on the brat again,"
Minato only had a moment's notice to try and figure out if she meant Naruto or Kakashi before Shizune materialized next to him with a wheelchair in hand. Where. What.
"Wait," Minato put his arms out, shielding him from Shizune. A medic-nin shouldn't look that threatening with a wheelchair in hand, "Will I be paraded around the village in a wheelchair?"
"No, we'll be taking the long way. Underground tunnels, secret passages, the like," Shizune brightly explained, taking his silence as consent and gently manhandling him into the wheelchair, ignoring his protests, "it's where your hospital room is located anyways!"
All his questions were halted when she proceeded to deposit the pig on his lap, cheerily bowing to Tsunade-sama.
"Let's go, Lord Fourth! The path takes a bit of time, and Naruto's probably dying to see you,"
Minato blinked up from the pig in his lap, thinking of Naruto's face when he asked him to leave the office, tiny features scrunched up in displeasure and trying to cover it up.
"Yeah, me too,"