The World Was All Before Him

The World Was All Before Him

- SuishouTenshi

A/N: Hi, I'm back. The update is quick, but I have to admit, the chapter's short. I thought you guys must be a bit tired with the endless political talk, so I wrote a light chapter. Enjoy!

Act IV, Scene VI: Trifles Light as Air

Doors barred, windows sealed, and chakra shield secured, Minato actually thought he could possibly get some work done before having to attend the mandatory birthday party that night. He could understand the populace’s eagerness to celebrate a revered man’s date of birth, but in his opinion, nothing should take priority over the urgency of crucial intel.

Mist had finally sent word, if a bit too late. In Minato’s hands was the first dictated letter from Mist’s Yondaime Mizukage. It was a generic letter, first apologizing for Mist’s belated announcement of their new regime, going on to reassure Leaf of their desire for a continued alliance, and finishing with an offer to host next year’s Jounin exams. As expected, Uzumaki Ryuuza’s name was not mentioned.

Seven hours after the Mist letter arrived, so did missives from Rock and Cloud. Both Sandaime Raikage and Tsuchikage expressed their succinctly worded displeasure with Mist’s delayed information, but neither proposed further investigation. They were also apathetic to the idea of having the next Jounin exam at Mist, Tsuchikage even blandly admitted that his village currently had no suitable Jounin candidate. Minato figured that either they did not know about Ryuuza’s involvement, or knew, but didn’t see it as their problem. And in truth, it wasn’t. If Ryuuza intended to use his new connection to stir up political unrest, Leaf would probably end up being the sole victim. The antagonism between Uzumaki and Leaf was not a well kept secret. As Leaf’s unstable allies, it was to Rock and Cloud’s best advantage to sit still and wait for a favorable outcome.

Minato scowled even as he penned his own reply. Too many decades of mutual hostility fed each Kage’s suspicions. This political game of half-truths they played with one another was often too onerous to keep up. It went against Minato’s candid personality. Sometimes, he just wanted to lock all of his fellow Kages in a room together and tell them to cut the bullshit.

And of course, to make matters more frustrating, Sand had yet to make its view heard. Sand was perhaps the most isolated Hidden Village. They had not been openly aggressive for ages, making them possibly the most peaceful village of all. However, their tendency to keep to themselves only fed the other villages’ apprehensions. Some conjectured that Sand was experimenting with forbidden techniques and that militancy was imminent. Despite Minato’s personal aversion for those type of doomsayers, he too fostered his own brand of unease with Sand’s silence. It was a typical policy for all active Konoha shinobi to keep a third eye out for any movement from Sand.

Just as he began to lose himself in mental war simulations and defense strategies, Minato’s strongest chakra screen began to shimmer. He got up from behind the Hokage desk, irritated at the disruption and not just a little irked at the intruder’s presumptuous attempt to break through his barrier.

Except it wasn’t so presumptuous after all. Five seconds later, Minato’s shield rolled over and bared its metaphoric belly to the bastard who managed to break it open from outside.

A bit sore that his best shield was breached so easily, Yondaime yanked opened his office door to berate the daring interloper and almost ran his face into Kakashi’s.

“How’d you...” he started to ask, because Kakashi was no doubt brilliant, but he was still Yondaime, dammit. It wouldn’t do for the student to replace the master so early.

Then he stopped, because behind Kakashi, there stood a Hyuuga.

“I asked Hizashi-san for help.” Kakashi tilted his head to the younger of the twin Hyuuga brothers, the brother he’d been in constant correspondence with since Naruto and Neji became friends, the brother whom Kakashi had been visiting on a regular basis in order to foster a tighter friendship between the two boys. That brother. “Everyone’s just waiting for you. The cake is going to rot at this rate, Sensei.”

Ignoring Kakashi’s almost whiny complaint, Minato stoned his expression and asked Hizashi, “Byakugan?”

Hizashi’s smile was irritatingly kind and modest. “Of course. Once I found the chakra source for the shield, it wasn’t difficult to inhibit the power flow. I hope I did not offend you, Minato. Kakashi-kun asked, and I could never refused him.”

Despite the fact that they were once classmates who graduated together and were habitual drinking buddies until the births of their children, Minato couldn’t withhold the juvenile response, “It’s ‘Hokage-sama’.”

Hizashi’s smile only vanished for a millisecond. “Ah, yes. I apologize, Hokage-sama.”

The man’s easy compliance only antagonized Minato more, so he looked away in hopes that his brain would just forget Hizashi’s existence altogether. When he swept his eyes back to Kakashi, he felt a cold shiver at the sight of the young man’s stern black eye.

Clearly, Kakashi wasn’t impressed with the sudden death of his sensei’s manners. “Hokage-sama,” he growled, “if you’d be so kind as to bestow upon us the presence of your charismatic self, now that all the guests are here, we are ready to cut the cake, and we would appreciate it if the guest of honor would make an appearance, seeing that it is your birthday party.”

It said something about Minato’s self-preservation instincts that in the face of Kakashi’s clear disapproval, the first thing he wanted to say remained the question of, “If it’s my birthday, why did you invite him?”

Then again, Kakashi had already told him why when he helped to compile the prestigious guest list. Of course, when Minato asked that question a week ago, he had made sure to appear as insouciant and unaffected as possible. Kakashi spouted some lame excuse, something along the lines of Hizashi being an honored Hyuuga, Neji was coming anyway, it wouldn’t do to invite Fugaku and Hiashi but spurn Hizashi, blah blah blah. Minato had stopped listening the second Kakashi’s eyes clouded over at the sound of Hizashi’s name. And cloud over they did. Of that Minato was dishearteningly certain.

So instead of protesting Hizashi’s unwanted presence again, Minato thought it safer to just nod and follow along.

Kakashi rolled his eye and disappeared, leaving Minato alone with Hizashi. In the ten seconds it took Minato to lock his office door and summon the right amount of energy to teleport home, Hizashi began to speak.

“Happy birthday, Hokage-sama,” said Hizashi, his words came across as bizarrely mocking to Minato’s currently sensitive hearing. He wished the guy would shut up. Weren’t Hyuugas known for their reticence? “I had hoped for a chance to talk to you one-on-one, it’s been a while since we’ve had a chance to chat. Kakashi-kun mentioned to me that Naruto-kun wanted Neji to join...”

Minato didn’t care whether it was too infantile for his stature or not, the sound of Kakashi’s name spoken in that particular Hyuuga-refined inflection was too much for him, so he teleported away without giving Hizashi the chance to finish. When the man appeared behind him on the other side of his property gates, silent and rejected by Minato’s ground barrier, the great Yondaime Hokage-sama walked away without inviting him in, his own spine stiff with puerile indignation.

If Hizashi was so clever, surely he could let himself in.

***

The party in itself was great. Obnoxious, but great. Though Minato had tried to keep it a private affair, Kakashi and Sandaime-sama both protested, saying that he only turned thirty once and ended up inviting every reputable shinobi family in the village.

It wasn’t like Minato needed the reminder that he was now officially ancient. The first thing he did upon waking up that morning was to check for wrinkles and grey hair. Laughlines were an inevitable addition, but he could at least still boast a head full of yellow.

He scanned the little bubble of guests in the living room. Kakashi was entertaining Sandaime, Nara and his perpetually sleepy son, and Fugaku. Hyuuga Hizashi loomed over him like a persistent mosquito.

Bah. Minato scowled. It offered him little comfort to remember that Hizashi was five years older than himself. It didn’t stop the guy from stealing the attention of Minato’s sole student. It wasn’t Yondaime’s fault that Hyuuga clan’s private laws made it impossible for Hizashi to lead a three-man cell. He couldn’t see why the Hyuuga branch leader picked Minato’s student of all people to pester. Every shinobi who’d led a Genin team knew and appreciated the loyalty and devotion of his cell; the bond between master and student was infrangible, one impossible to be encroached upon. The fact that Hizashi was even trying was enough to make Minato lose his legendary patience.

It wasn’t like he had any more students to spare.

He glared at the side of Hizashi’s head just a little harder at the thought of losing even one precent of Kakashi’s admiration to another person. Accolades from his subordinates was an absolute guarantee, but the light with which Kakashi looked at him was the only thing he ever felt like he truly deserved. Not even Naruto’s birth gave him such guiltless joy.

Just then, Hizashi lightly touched the small of Kakashi’s back. His fingertips stayed there as he whispered to the side of Kakashi’s masked cheek. The latter stood at perfect ease, head slightly tilted back to better catch the taller man’s words. Soon after, Kakashi made what looked to be an apologetic excuse to his audience and followed Hizashi out the living room and into the kitchen.

Brain swollen with anger, Minato excused himself from his own group of guests. He’d long ago recognized a pattern in that he was most likely to be surrounded by women at such social events, and though they were very experienced in trapping him into their conversations, he never truly needed to make any verbal contributions. Even now, Mrs. Akimichi and Mrs. Inuzuka didn’t miss a single beat as they traded stories of their pre-marriage glory days.

The party was expansive. The guests occupied most of the downstairs area and half of Minato’s backyard. The kitchen was one place no one bothered to step into, not when all the drinks and food were all already on display in the living and dining rooms. After Minato managed to dodge everyone’s view and rather grabby hands, he found himself a safe vantage point behind the half-opened pantry door.

He lowered his chakra signature to the point of nonexistence, slowed his breathing and heartbeat effortlessly, and took a quick peek into the adjoining kitchen.

To be honest, Minato couldn’t quite remember the last time he used so many of his espionage skills at once, but he thought the situation called for such direness.

Hizashi had Kakashi trapped next to the stove, pressing more than half of his body into the young Jounin’s. Kakashi looked stressed, but not angry or irritated, which only made Minato more infuriated.

“I’ll find out eventually,” Hizashi pushed, the bumptious bastard. “I wish you’d tell me. I want to help.”

“No, Hizashi-san, you really can’t. I appreciate the gesture, but it’s the Uchihas we’re talking about.”

“And I’m a Hyuuga, or does this seal make me any less of a bloodline carrier?” He tapped his own forehead.

Kakashi immediately looked contrite. “I didn’t mean to suggest...”

“Of course you didn’t. You’re a courageous young man, Kakashi-kun, and a genius at that. I would never think of telling you what to do. Only, you’ve been kind to me the past few months. I didn’t think I’d ever find another person’s companionship to be so important to me after Neji’s mother passed. Let me repay the debt somehow.”

“You’ve done more than enough, Hizashi-san. Naruto and Neji-kun are getting on like fire.”

Hizashi smiled patronizingly. Minato prayed for an earthquake, if only to create some space between the two men.

“The children’s friendship is a natural development. I can’t take credit for that anymore than you could. This is our friendship I’m trying to cultivate. Please, tell me why Fugaku has been glaring poison darts at you with his eyes for the last hour.”

Kakashi crossed his arms. Minato didn’t think Kakashi had even noticed that he’d just shifted another half inch closer to Hizashi’s unmoving stance.

Finally, Kakashi admitted quietly, choking on each word as he pronounced them, “I applied to join the Uchiha police force, on account of a personal aspiration to further refine my Sharingan amongst peers owning the same gift.”

The statement was stilted, the vocabulary stiff and unfamiliar on Kakashi’s tongue. Minato felt a pinch of remorse. He still thought the mission was their best way to gain inside access to the Uchihas’ secrets, but he could see exactly how much pride it was costing Kakashi.

Hizashi put his right forearm around Kakashi’s shoulder, as if he’d already managed to see through the impenetrable Hatake emotional barricade.

“It is your duty.” More daring inferences. Hizashi was overstepping boundaries he had no right to go near. “Won’t you take pride in knowing your invaluableness to the Hokage?”

Kakashi snorted. “The problem now isn’t how willing I am. I applied two weeks ago. Fugaku has been compiling a list of why I should not be allowed to join. The reason why he’s been glaring at me all night is because there are apparently dissenters within the Uchiha council. They’re currently split in half on the decision. Last I heard, all it would take is one more vote to deny me. Fugaku is doubtlessly impatient about the stalemate.”

“One to deny you in a split council... Meaning one to admit you.” Hizashi smiled again. Minato has known the man for nearly thirty years, and he was sure Hizashi smiled more times tonight than in his entire life. It made him want to practice Rasengan on something. “I’ll ask around,” he announced confidently, as if any Uchiha’s decision could be swayed just because a Hyuuga was gracious enough to “ask around”.

It seemed like Kakashi was experiencing the same disjointed incredulity. He arched his sole eyebrow.

Hizashi laughed. Laughed! “Please continue to doubt me, it will only make my inevitable victory all the more glorious.”

He nudged Kakashi’s shoulder, teasing him into a flush.

A sickening realization began its ascend up Minato’s spine. Before it reached its goal, a small body barreled into Minato from behind and squealed, “Papa, whatcha doin’?”

Naruto’s forward momentum succeeded in pushing Yondaime’s head into the pantry door he’d been hiding behind. After the daze in his eyes cleared and his position unfortunately revealed, he made a triumphant note that Hizashi had politely stepped out of Kakashi’s personal space.

It only eased a small percentage of Minato’s humiliation. To think, he, the Yondaime Hokage, the rumored and feared Yellow Flash of Konohakagure, had just been caught spying on a peer’s attempted seduction of his young (too young!) student.

Oh, dear gods.

And that realization just finished its climb and firmly settled itself into Minato’s brain.

Hizashi hadn’t been teasing Kakashi, he was flirting!

An eerie numbness pricked away at Minato’s skin. A loud buzz hummed around his ears. He turned his back on the scene in the kitchen and picked up Naruto until he had his boy firmly tucked away in his arms. It was only then that he noticed Naruto wasn’t the only person to seek him out. He’d brought along his own entourage consisting of Sasuke, Neji, and an amused Sandaime Hokage.

Minato drudged up a strained smile for his guests. He still had a party to maintain and guests to charm. He would offer no explanation to either Hizashi or Kakashi for his rudeness, simply because he could not think of any reason that would make him want to look at either of them for a very long time to come.

Inwardly, Minato could only sigh dejectedly. He thought he’d never have to deal with this kind of emotion, not after Rin’s death. He wondered how fathers with daughters across the world handled this gnawing restless. It was only his first time experiencing the uncomfortable anguish of an overprotective mindset, and once was enough.

If the pain wasn’t so fierce, he thought the situation rather called for laughter. Out of all the people he knew, he never thought he’d one day have to protect Hatake Kakashi’s virtues.

- TBC

A/N: Title... well, I simply can’t write jealousy without thinking of Othello. “Trifles light as air / Are to the jealous confirmations strong / As proofs of holy writ,” - Iago, William Shakespeare, Othello, Act III, Scene III.

Okay, so that was a very silly chapter. I wrote it in one day, too, so try not to nitpick over the writing, please. Oh, and I considered going on more in a more omniscient narrative to explain Yondaime's feelings, but I thought that would take away from the fun. After all, he might be a god in battle, but I think my Minato is the kind to be a little slow when it comes to understanding his own feelings.