Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its character belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I make.
Chapter 148: Disciple
Minato kicked a stone as he left the training ground, watching it skip across the path before disappearing into the grass on the side.
While walking to his dorm, he looked at the sky before freezed for a moment.
In the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of familiar red hair walking alongside another figure he recognized just as quickly. Uzumaki Raiken, the war hero who had ended the Second Great Ninja War in just under one month.
Minato had seen him from a distance many times before but had never approached him directly, partly because Raiken was constantly surrounded by people and partly because Minato had never found a reason convincing enough to close that distance.
Walking beside him was Kushina.
Minato almost turned and went the other way before Jiraiya words from earlier stopped his leg from leaving.
'Girls like Kushina do not respond well to someone who just waits around hoping things will change on their own.'
He stood there for a moment, his jaw tightening slightly. Then he let out a small breath through his nose, something between a sigh and a grunt, squared his shoulders and walked toward them.
"Minato," said Kushina, visibly surprised to see him approaching. Today was supposed to be a simple outing, just her and her brother heading to the market because Raiken had mentioned wanting to try cooking something new. Running into Minato here was not something she had planned for.
Raiken looked at Minato with a calm face but in Raiken perspective, he looked visibly nervous.
"Raiken sama, Kushina," greet Minato and there is a shaky tone in between his tone.
A short silence followed before both siblings reply to him.
Minato opened his mouth and then closed it again. He had walked over here with something in mind but now that he was standing in front of her, the words he had been turning over since leaving the training ground refused to arrange themselves into anything. His chest felt oddly tight and he was suddenly very aware of how little distance there was between them.
'Just say it,' he told himself.
He said nothing of the sort what he had keep inside his heart.
"I wanted to ask," said Minato, pivoting the conversation before he could stop himself, "whether you would consider taking me on as a disciple, Raiken sama."
Kushina blinked at him.
"A disciple?" she repeated, as though she was not entirely sure she had heard correctly.
"I saw the Rasengan you and Maruku used during the last mission," said Minato looking at Kushina. "I want to learn under Raiken sama."
Kushina crossed her arms and looked at him with the kind of expression that made it very clear she wanted to stop Minato from asking her brother.
"Brother is busy," said Kushina. "He does not have time to be taking on students."
"I understand that," said Minato steadily. "But I would not ask if I did not think I could keep up."
Kushina looked like she had at least three more reasons ready to go but Raiken, who had been watching the exchange quietly, spoke before she could continue rejecting Minato
"Show me, why you are so confident," said Raiken wanted to test him.
Minato looked at him and then raised his right hand. The blue chakra gathered in his palm, spinning and compressing into a tight and stable sphere that held its shape without flickering or collapsing. He had done it for the first time only hours ago but it sat in his hand now as good as Raiken rasengan.
Kushina went quiet and there is a look of surprise on her face.
She stared at the Rasengan in his palm with an expression that shifted from dismissal into something she was clearly trying not to show too openly. She had spent considerable time learning that technique and watching someone reproduce it after a single observation was not something she had expected to see.
"You did that after watching us once?" she asked.
"Yes," said Minato.
Kushina looked at her brother.
Raiken studied Minato for a moment longer, his eyes moving from the Rasengan to the boy holding it and back again. Then the corner of his mouth smirked and he felt really happy.
"Come by my house on Friday morning," said Raiken. "Do not be late."
Minato let the chakra dissolve from his hand and gave a firm nod, keeping his expression composed despite the fact that his heart had jumped considerably at those words.
"Thank you Raiken sensei, I won't disappoint you," said Minato.
"Yeah don't disappoint me," replied Raiken. "See you later Minato."
Before Raiken walking ahead towards the market,
Kushina exhaled through her nose and turned to continue walking toward the market following her brother, muttering something under her breath.
Minato stood and watched them go before turning back toward the path he had come from, his earlier heaviness replaced by something that felt considerably lighter, even if the reason he had walked over there in the first place just to confess Kushina.
Even if he failed to confess today, getting closer to Kushina brother was at least one step closer to knowing her better and finding a way to close the gap between them.
He had been an orphan for as long as he could remember. According to the staff at the orphanage, his parents had been civilian ninja who died during a mission, leaving nothing behind except a name for him to carry.
That was why when Kushina was bullied in Konoha he had stood there with his tongue tied and done nothing, unable to make himself move when it mattered and now that memory sat in his chest like something he could not quite put down no matter how much time passed because he regretted it.
In the original timeline in Naruto series, Minato had not been the one to step forward when Kushina was tormented by people from within the same village. It was only when shinobi from Kumogakure attempted to kidnap her that he had finally moved without hesitation and that single moment had been enough to make her see him differently.
But now things were different, with Kushina brother living in the same village and standing close to her at every turn, the moments where Minato might have naturally stepped in and left an impression on her simply did not appear the way they once had.
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There is 30 advanced chapter on my patreon.
Chapter 174: History
Chapter 175: Fraud Zetsu
Chapter 176: Hidden Clan
Chapter 177: Visit
Chapter 178: Moon
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