It was the middle of winter in the village of Konohagakure. Snow cascaded down the village's streets as civilians and shinobi alike walked down it's shopping district with the day just beginning. Young Genin alike were either out on missions or taking the day off as vacation.

Yes it was quite odd since the Second Shinobi war was still in it's early climax. But today had an air about it, one that seemed to speak of peace soon in the horizon. So they walked happily, enjoying their time of peace, for they knew it would not last for long. The war was far from over after all.

One genin with bright blonde hair knew this all to well. He trained in training ground seven. It's frozen but peaceful air not calming him in the slightest. He needed to get stronger. Stronger for his village of it's civilians and shinobi alike, friends and most important his comrades. He would prove to them that he could become Hokage and protect everyone.

In the small shadows of the trees a young man with natural bleach white hair watched this, with an all to knowing smirk on his face.

The young man watched as the blonde male 'flickered' through the training grounds. He had heard about this man - the so-called Minato Namikaze. As he stood there, he observed the the way that the Namikaze's body moved. He knew that Minato would be no easy opponent if he were to fight against him one day.

A slight whistle escaped his lips as he continued to watch with glee. "He's quite the fast one isn't he Tsunade?" The young man questioned to his comrade that was just as equally hidden as he was in the shadows. The young blonde haired woman closed her eyes in thought, before slightly nodding her head. "And to think, he's not even a genin yet." The blonde glared at him slightly. Wondering why exactly Jiraiya called her here.

"And why exactly am I here Jiraiya?" She couldn't help but sound a little annoyed at her comrade. The young man in question turned his head a little to look at her. A blank expression playing on his face. "What could possibly be the reason to stare at academy students train?"

"You know as well as I do that Sarutobi Hiruzen is looking for us to become Jonin instuctors for these academy students."

"And why exactly are we staring at this one out of all of the others we could be staring at?" The blonde growled.

The young man shrugged. "I like this one. I can see a true potential in him. Just look at how fluid his moves are. He could be the next Hokage with the proper guidance."

The blonde narrowed her eyes. "The same could be said of anyone else, couldn't it? Don't just single out one student based on assumptions."

The young man sighed. "You're not seeing it, are you? He shows more potential than any of the others I have seen."

Tsunade's glare only darkened as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I've had enough of this. You know damn well I won't be in this village to see this so called 'potential'. After today I will be leaving this rotten place once and for all." With that said she began to walk away from this field. The field she once trained in with her comrades as a young genin... Jiraiya's words were the only thing that stopped her it seemed.

"I understand your pain Tsunade..." The white haired young man responded. "First your otouto Nawaki... And even your lover Dan." After that was said the blonde's shoulders shook with untold emotion. "This... War of bloodshed takes away are loved ones, but not their dreams. Know their dreams will still be remembered and live on. This boy is the living essences of that."

"..." Tsunade turned to glare at Jiraiya. "...You think you know all about it, huh? You have no idea... Just... I'm leaving, Jiraiya. Don't be so foolish the next time you speak to me."
With that, Tsunade was gone.

Jiraiya frowned as he turned back to watch the young man that was training.

"I know that I can put an end to this..." Jiraiya mumbled to himself. "I know that I can... And I will."

Tsunade snarled to herself as she made her way home. It seemed that Jiraiya and that old man Hokage still wanted her here... But for what exactly? A few months after Dan's death she made it perfectly clear that she would be leaving this rotten hell of a village soon.

Did they still have some false hope that she would reconsider? Because it seemed clear to her that their 'hope' fell on deaf ears. 'A bunch of fools they are.' She thought to herself quietly.

There was none left. As far as she was concerned all her family members were dead thanks to this 'place'. Was her grandfather and grandmother not enough for this village's peace? No they just had to take her little otouto and the love of her life away to... And for what exactly? All because of a dream they had to become Hokage. She knew that was only half of the truth though.

~Line break~

Minato moved as efficiently as he would in a real fight. He dodged imaginary enemy's moves with precision and retaliated against them with his own amazing skills. His speed and Flying Thunder God Jutsu made him a feared opponent, even within his own village. Yes, Minato was definitely one to be feared on the battleground.

There was just one problem. The Flying Thunder God Jutsu was not a full fledged technique just yet. In Minato's condition he had to put an extremely amount of chakra just to even attempt it, and the control he had to mold in to the jutsu seemed to put a strain on his body as well. The first time he had the idea to suddenly create a space-time rift in one of his basic academy kunai, nearly killed him in seconds. That's when he didn't even think about the basics of yin and yang.

In order to bend the powers of space and time to his will, he must think about first learning yin and yang. Yin is one's spiritual energy, able to create something out of nothingness. While yang release is physical energy, able to breathe life into form.

-XX-

The forest felt cold as Minato traversed through it quickly. The boy was moving at a steady speed. He leapt from branch to branch, the destination known only to him.

The blonde panted as if he had ran a mile - in hindsight, he probably had.

As he thought more about yang energy he couldn't help thinking about the Shodai's Mokuton. Was yang chakra used to create such a Kekkei Genkai from birth? Or did he discover it as a young ninja in training?

The technique he was creating would be able to rip through time and space to be able to transport him to the enemy with a kunai... The only problem was that using this technique felt like it was ripping him apart from the inside out. He made a mental note to himself that when he grows older and learns more about seals, that he'll make a special one for his kunai. That way it will take less the amount of chakra that it does now.

Wiping a bit of sweat off of his face, he decided to call it quits for today. He had only a small amount of chakra left from training, and he'd very much like to use it to go to a secret place of his before heading home, so he wouldn't faint from exhaustion.

After seeing the kid was about done today with training, Jiraiya decided to go back home. He would speak with Sarutobi tomorrow about if he could train the kid and two others as a team.

Disappearing in a swirl of leaves and cherry blossoms, Minato reappeared on top of a tree that was over looking a water fall. It had a nice view that showed the forest of Konoha while having a sweet spot down below, that let people take a dip in the cooling of the water. But hardly any people came by here anymore because of the rumor about Iwa shinobi appearing from time to time.

He snorted as he thought about that rumor. He's been coming here almost everyday and nothing of the sort like that had happened at all.

'I need to relax.' He told himself softly. 'It would do no good if I didn't. Tomorrow's the academy test to see who has the potential to become genin or not. I can't afford to lose out on this opportunity.' He took a deep breath to calm himself if by only a little.

As Minato calmed himself, he became aware of movement not far from where he was. He looked around and saw several people trekking past him. He stayed where he was, hoping that they didn't see him - he couldn't be sure if they were friend or foe.

At last, when they disappeared from sight, he relaxed. He sat down and thought about tomorrow. He knew that he could do well if he did his best. What he was worried about was having to compete against other people. What if he hurt someone badly? He would feel horrible if that happened.

Minato knew that he was strong. That was what made him concerned. What if he was against people who were weak? Not that being weak was a bad thing - it really wasn't! He just didn't want to cause any unnecessary harm to those who didn't deserve it. He really didn't.

His body soon went stiff though as spike of killer intent soon interrupted his train of thought. Very carefully he sent a bit of chakra into souls of his eyes to see what was going on farther on ahead. Nearly ninety-one point twelve meters ahead of the water fall, he could make out a rough sketch of four figures. Three of the figures seemed familiar... Probably the ones that passed by him, but the last one seemed different. He never saw her before.

The light on the sun glistened a bit, revealing that the three's clothing was that of shinobi... But the Hitai-ate they wore was from 'Iwa'. After seeing that, the chakra in his eyes disabled and soon disappeared as his breath nearly caught in the back of his throat.

What where Iwa shinobi doing here? And from the killer intent he felt earlier... Who where they threatening?

He soon stopped questioning himself and hid more in the tree branches, the leaves doing perfect to hide him. Without even thinking he grabbed a military rations pill from his pouch and chewed into the bitter tasting pill softly. Minato closed his eyes while filling a slight spike into his chakra pathway system. Indicating that some of it was replenished, if only by a little.

They gave academy students different ration pills then they did genin and higher up shinobi, so that they wouldn't tire that much after combat. It was for only if they needed it while facing a supposed threat or an enemy shinobi.

Preparing himself in a charged stance to where the killer intent was, he took one final breath to calm himself before he was gone. Only leaving somewhat of a Yellow flash behind.

When he was finally near the three shinobi he once again hid himself. Making sure not to make one sound. He did however see that the killer intent was radianting of off the Iwa shinobi, but it didn't seem like the blonde lady was fazed by this at all. In fact, she seemed annoyed by this. The blonde lady was soaking her feet in the cooling waters as the Iwa seemed to threat her with her life.

Minato wasn't sure what to do. Should he try and fight them away from his village? Or should he go back and tell someone to handle them? What if he went back and they couldn't find them? What if they were a serious threat to the village?

Minato sighed. He really didn't know what to do. He supposed that he could try and fight them - hell, he couldn't leave someone there alone in possible danger...

"You are Senju Tsunade correct. Granddaughter of Senju Hashirama, and one of the three trained under Sarutobi Hiruzen?" One of the Iwa shinobi asked. Minato stood in shock of what he heard. Why did Iwa dare threaten one of Sarutobi's students? Especially the Slug princess herself.

"And so what if I am?" The blonde only seemed more annoyed with them every second.

"The Amekage of are village, Hattori Hanzo would like to have a word with you. Won't you come along quietly?"

Tsunade snorted a bit. "What would a slimy salamander like Hanzo want with me?"

The Iwa shinobi seemed to answer this with little to know trouble. "He has seen your medical techniques from the war, and is intrigued by this. He would like to study this under full analysis, and maybe have you as a shinobi for Iwagakure."

Disgust was the only thing shining in the Slug princess's eyes after that. "The answer is 'no' Iwa." That was her final say in this.

After those words were said, the shinobi could do nothing more than you force in the matter. They refused to take no for an answer. They would rather die here than come back to their village empty handed. "Don't say we didn't try to reason with you." Grabbing Kunai from their Kunai holsters they prepared to attack the Senju.

Minato seeing that this was heading in the wrong direction, he decided to do something about it. He did know that Tsunade-san could probably handle this on her own, but if wasn't like him to just sit back and watch. Grabbing his Kunai in his right hand, he let a little yin and yang chakra seep around the handle of it. Aiming it at the shinobi that was closest to the Senju, he released with perfect aim.

It took everyone in a form of shock as they saw a bright yellow flash on one of the near tree branches, before seeing a kid that was barely older than ten take down one of the Iwa shinobi with a simple kunai. It didn't kill the shinobi, but there was a somewhat deep slash on his chest.

Seeing the perfect opportunity of the shocked faces, Minato sent a bit of chakra into the souls of his feet before flinging his kunai to the second shinobi that was closest to Tsunade-san on the water. There was again a bright flash when he seemed to transport over to the shocked face of his next opponent.

The Iwa shinobi seemed to regain himself in the nick of time to dodge the academy student, but was surprised to see that instead of striking his chest like the other one. The child seemed to know that his opponent was going to dodge in the upper right position, so he prepared himself to aim for the shoulder blade instead. It hit dead on it's mark, making the Iwa shinobi wince in pain while holding his shoulder.

Seeing this, Minato put a tad bit of chakra onto his fingertips, and used the water as ground to propel himself once more back into the air and somersault backflip kick his opponent square in the chin. Sending the Iwa shinobi in the air only for his back to come in contact with the stone wall near the waterfall.

... The only problem seemed to be was that... That was the last of Minato's chakra he could use. Or he might risk fainting from exhaustion. So he ended up splashing into the water's core, not noticing the last of the shinobi.

Seeing his comrades taken down by one single kid, the last Iwa shinobi wanted his revenge. Letting his anger take control and block out his other senses, he made a mad dash for the little blonde brat. Tsunade seeing this, jumped up to her feet and sent a wad of concentrated chakra into her fist and connected it with the water, sending a tidal wave towards the Iwa shinobi.

The tidal wave hit it's mark and sent the shinobi spiraling into the water's deep core. When he finally came back to the surface he was coughing quite violently, but none the less glared at the Senju.

"That's enough," turning his head in the direction of the voice, he saw that it was his leader that spoke these words. His leader look badly injured, but managed to shushin a bit to their other fallen comrade who was just now standing. "Where retreating for now..." Those were the only words that needed to be spoken in the dense silence. He knew not to question these words, so with a nod, all three shushined away from the scene.

After feeling their chakra signatures where gone the two blondes let a breath that they didn't even know was there escape them. Tsunade turned her head in Minato's direction with a smile on her face, but it soon turned to shock as she looked at him closely. 'It's that boy...' She thought to herself.

Taking a step towards him her shock only increased as the young academy student fainted from in the water from loss of chakra.

When Minato's eyes flickered open, he was rather surprised to see Tsunade standing above him. He frowned, not sure if he was hallucinating or not.

"...What are you doing here...?" Minato asked.

Tsunade smiled. "Just giving you something before you leave."

With that, Tsunade leant down and placed a kiss on Minato's forehead. When she pulled away, Minato was aware of something cold and hard in his hand. He looked down, surprised to see the necklace of the First Hokage sitting in his hand. He looked back up at Tsunade, wanting to ask why he had this, but the woman was gone.

"..." Minato sighed as he put the necklace on the pillow beside his head. "...I suppose that this is a gift from Tsunade that means she has faith in me..."

And with that, Minato was asleep once again