Minato's legs wobbled as he coughed out the last of the bitter grass. He couldn't tell if it was the sting in his cheek or the dizziness in his head making everything spin so badly. He groaned, wiped at his mouth, and shook his head hard in some attempt to stay upright, only for the pain flaring across his face to make him wince.
"Pah, pah… it hurts!"
When he finally processed where he was and why his jaw felt like it was on fire, the memory of coming here for Kushina returned. And with it, bitterness spread across his chest.
"I came here hoping to make Kushina kinder…"
He had tried to do the right thing. He had believed in kindness, in bonds between comrades, everything the Third told them Konoha was founded on. Everything Minato had tried teaching himself to uphold. This was supposed to be about helping her feel accepted, not getting stomped into the dirt for it.
Yet here he was, eaten by guilt and packed with bruises. Jaw clenched, eyes hot, Minato could barely make sense of what had gone wrong… or why it felt so much like betrayal.
"Kushina… why?"
No response came from her but instead, Akira's shadow stretched long over both of them before that familiar cool tone cut through the tension.
"Since you asked sincerely… I'll be merciful-Ah, wait… wrong line."
Akira stepped forward and stood just in front of Minato, gaze angled downward with calm disdain.
"What? You feel wronged? Kushina walked into school today trying to make friends. They greeted her with sneers and ugly words. That sting from betrayal, you get it now, don't you Kenny? Eat the dirt."
"Ah? Is that really… what happened?"
Minato's breath caught for a second as realization clicked into place. She wanted him to feel it-not as punishment-but to make him understand what Kushina felt that day. The point wasn't cruelty, it was clarity. It made sense now. Completely unfair… but also impossible to argue against.
Even so, he clenched his hands at the edge of Akira's robes.
"Um, Lord Akira… my name is Minato, not Kenny…" (T/N: idk who the fuck is Kenny.... but the author put it in so its most likely a chinese meme or someshit.)
"Right-that's on me. Should've made you chew grass anyway."
"I…"
His mouth opened to argue but closed before any sound came out. Akira didn't wait for him to continue either, he leaned forward again and spoke without louder emphasis this time.
"You know why I said you weren't fit to take Kushina into battle?"
Minato almost nodded-he wasn't sure of anything anymore. Weakness gnawed at his gut already, and Akira's words kept landing harder and harder. All he could whisper back was-
"Why?"
"'Cos you're fucking stupid."
"I'm stupid?"
Minato spoke it aloud by accident-crushed under the weight of everything being stripped away so fast. He had ranked third overall across the academy. He had no clan backing or bloodline inheritance, but he had worked harder than anyone else he knew and earned everything through personal effort alone. Being called stupid now-by someone this respected-shattered him.
"How… how is that even possible?!"
Akira finally saw what he wanted, a crack in the pride Minato had buried beneath humility. And so, he pressed further, slowly dragging every last excuse out into the light.
"Ninjas live between death and survival every damn day. Hesitation gets people killed. If someone's your enemy and you hesitate, they're gonna kill you or someone you care about. Saving mercy for enemies is suicide, and if you wanna go die that way, fine. Just don't drag Kushina with you."
"But I-they…"
Minato's throat tightened. He wanted to fight back with reason, but nothing formed past his tongue except fragmented thoughts and useless arguments even he couldn't believe anymore.
Seeing the boy slump over himself, Akira rolled her shoulders once.
"Well. At least you've kept your looks intact. Hokage candidates tend to be pretty-or handsome-you've passed that bar fine, I guess."
Mito groaned softly from the side and stepped closer toward Minato with folded arms and half-lidded eyes fixed on Akira.
"You don't have to take everything he says so seriously," she said gently. "Akira's not great at... subtlety-but what he says usually has some truth in it somewhere."
Minato looked up through hazy vision, his thoughts unsteady but beginning to shift.
Even if it hurt, even if everything Akira said made him want to crawl into the earth-none of it was wrong.
And if he fixed those flaws...
Wouldn't that give him another path to Hokage?
Without another word, he dropped forward in full submission, knees slammed into dirt and arms stretched forward in apology and respect.
"Lord Mito... thank you for your kindness-and Lord Akira… thank you for your guidance."
Akira tilted his head just enough to catch Mito's raised brow-and then exhaled slowly through his nose with dry amusement prickling behind his eyes.
"Sure enough," he said under his breath, "everyone in this world's just a bit masochistic..."
It should've been enough. He'd gotten the message and accepted it-but Akira's thoughts kept drifting toward Sarutobi's interference… and the fact that others were watching too closely.
he stepped forward with his heel planted firmly into the earth.
"My shit stays mine."
Minato flinched-but then he understood what it implied-and his eyes lit up again.
"Lord Akira! Please… take me as your disciple!"
Akira didn't smile-instead he turned back toward him with narrowed eyes and answered slowly-
"Why?"
"Ah…?"
Minato froze-assuming this would be one of those stories where the mentor simply accepted after seeing promise. He'd been ready for encouragement-not rejection.
And now... he couldn't find anything convincing to say back.
Strength? He had none worth writing about without inherited bloodlines.
Wisdom? he already said he was stupid-twice.
Future potential? If things didn't change, that potential would end in some shallow grave on some forgotten battlefield...
What did he have?
Looks?
He lifted his chin slightly-but one glance at Akira's face was already enough to crush even that small hope flat into nothingness.
Minato drooped again completely defeated.
It really was too hard being him right now.
"…It's so hard for me…"
(╥﹏╥)
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