The Lonely Road | Book Ichi

Page I - Desired life.

The sun is rising and the birds are chirping. The stores are opening, people are waking up and ninja are entering the village gates, returning from a long mission or border patrol.

All is well in Konohagakure no Sato ( The village hidden in the Leaves ), it's peacetime and everyone is happy.

It has been almost a decade since the first shinobi war ended. The same war that started with a man, considered to be as strong as the three legendary sannin, Sakumo Hatake also known as Konoha no Shiroi Kiba ( White Fang of the Leaf ), who chose to discard his mission to save his comrades.

That one choice started the third great shinobi war.

It's funny when you think about it, although dark at the same time, and certainly sad, that the teammates and friends Sakumo had saved, all turned against him after he had brought them back and saved them. They all belittled Sakumo to the point where he committed suicide, leaving his four-year-old son to fend for himself.

Although as interesting as that is, this is not even remotely what the point is, in all honesty, we got sidetracked from what was supposed to be told.

The war was started by this one Konoha ninja ( Hidden leaf village ninja ), and it was ended by just one as well.

The entire war was ended by one teen named Minato Namikaze. That boy had single-handedly slaughtered thousands of Iwagakure ninja ( Village Hidden by Rocks ), with one jutsu no less. Implanting fear in all of the ninja world and earning the name 'Konoha's Yellow Flash'. His name came from the signature yellow flash that his enemies and allies saw before he disappeared and resurfaced in another location, in just a blink. Minato also made an entrance in the bingo books as an SS-rank threat and a flee on sight order.

Minato was an orphan who came to Konoha at the age of four and quickly showed signs of a genius. He had graduated at the young age of ten and was assigned to a team led by the famous toad sage, Jiraya.

He had quickly reached levels not normal for young kids and soaked up everything taught to him like a sponge. He was soon entered into the chunin exams, which he won on his first try, earning his well-earned promotion. Minato soon made jōnin and took the role of a teacher soon after.

When the third ninja war had begun, on top of training a future S-rank shinobi, had developed a space-time ninjutsu that allowed him to teleport to places where he had left his seal. Using that jutsu, Minato made quick work of Iwa's men and earned respect from the other kages.

The achievements that Minato achieved did not go unnoticed by Konohagakure either as soon after the war ended, Hiruzen Sarutobi also known as the Sandaime Hokage ( Third Hokage ) or the Professor, chose Minato Namikaze as his successor for the seat as the Yondaime Hokage ( Fourth Hokage ) of Konohagakure no Sato. ( Village hidden by Leaves )

It was a great honor and a long-time dream of Minato to be Hokage and seemingly the entirety of Konoha liked Hiruzen's choice for the next Hokage as-well.

As of now, three years have already passed since Minato was elected as the Yondaime.

On May 25th, today, the village has been extra lively since their beloved Yondaime's ( Fourth Hokage's ) wife is giving birth to their firstborn son. Everyone can remember the day, eight months ago, when the Hokage had announced Kushina's pregnancy to the village.

Saying that the village was happy would be an understatement, the village was ecstatic, everyone excited to meet the Yondaime's legacy and to have a possible heir for the Hokage's seat.

Currently, Minato Namikaze and his wife Kushina Uzumaki are residing in their family compound where Kushina has just popped out a beautiful baby boy, who she is currently holding.