光佐

"The country has not changed much since your absence." Chiriku said conversationally as they walked.

"I see." Minato replied distractedly as he followed behind the head monk. A brief period of silence ensued as the monk lead his charge slowly across the temple grounds. Minato could see two other monks in the courtyard. The two, both men dressed in unassuming robes, were raking leaves when they looked up to greet the head monk with a nod.

Chiriku nodded back and continued on his way without looking back, but the monks' stares fell onto the one who followed their temple leader.

"I expected you to have more questions." Chiriku said, and Minato hurried after him just as the monks began to whisper to one another.

"I thought matters of the outside world no longer mattered to the monks who live in these walls."

Chiriku did not respond, and they began moving up a flight of stairs toward a set of large, metal gates. The morning sun had risen halfheartedly over the treetops, visibly shining through a small gap in the otherwise grey, cloud-filled sky.

"Be that is it may, you are not yet a monk of the temple." The head monk finally answered. "There are some matters I feel you would want to know of."

"Matters I would want to know of?" Minato thought on possible subject matters that he would find interest in and found very little. Naruto was alive, and Kushina was dead. What else could he possibly want to know?

Chiriku reached the metal gates and turned to stare down the flight of stairs at the one who followed him. "Upon further consideration, I feel it would be better that you defer your decision for six more days."

Minato looked up from where he'd stopped walking. Six days? For what?

As if reading his mind, Chiriku spoke again. "I am expecting Lord Jiraiya to arrive in six day's time at the very latest, and I would like for you to have a chance to speak to him, as Namikaze Minato rather than as a newly christened monk of the Fire Temple."

Minato's mind elicited an old image, a tall man with a mane of abundant white hair and a radiant smile. Minato felt a sudden desire to see his mentor, to see how much Jiraiya had changed over the decade and what Jiraiya would think about his decision.

"When did you tell him?" Minato asked.

"I sent a note soon after I first found you as I had been asked." Chiriku explained. "You were unconscious."

"I see." Minato said, satisfied with the reply. He was sure that if Chiriku had known that he would decide to remove himself from the world and live the rest of his life in monkhood, Chiriku would not have sent any notice without first consulting him. But the message was already sent, there was nothing to be done. That Jiraiya was the recipient to the message wasn't unexpected either. Jiraiya was a gatherer of information - a spy of the Hidden Leaf. It made sense to have any messages be sent to one of the branches of Jiraiya's network. Very few informants, however, knew the identity of the one who headed one of the Leaf's largest spy operations, and Minato was suddenly curious as to how the monk standing above him could have known. Or perhaps that was concluding too much. Namikaze Minato's close relation with the Sage of Toads was no secret, and it was reasonable to assume Jiraiya to be an intended recipient of the message involving his student's new lease on life.

Minato closed his eyes and silenced the frivolous theories and possibilities that his mind couldn't help but automatically formulate. "It would have been better if you hadn't sent that note."

"Perhaps." Chiriku said, neither conferring agreement nor disagreement. "Will you choose to wait?"

Minato considered and then nodded. "Whether I wait six or a hundred days, the result will be the same. I would like to be inducted as soon as possible. I do not wish to have second thoughts."

"I see." Chiriku's smiled kindly. "Perhaps you'd like more time to consider. You haven't eaten in two days. Let us postpone for now and find you some nourishment. I wouldn't want to be inhospitable, as your host."

"Not at all. You have been very gracious." Minato said as he suddenly felt the emptiness of his stomach. "I supposed a meal wouldn't hurt."
Chiriku nodded. "Let us return then."

"So," Minato said conversationally as they descended the steps. "Why six days?

"It is the time during which I believe Jiraiya will be arriving." Chiriku replied. "Six days is an overshot estimate. It is likely Jiraiya will be here much sooner. He should be nearing the upper north-western quadrant of his network at this time. If he was, say, in the west quadrant, I would have asked for three weeks rather than six days."

"You know of his network." Minato said with a tone of surprise. "You know of his route too. How?"

Chiriku smiled to himself good-humoredly. "How indeed. I hope you don't mind a meatless diet."

"Not at all." Minato answered. The head monk had no prerogative to reveal anything, and Minato allowed the subject to slide. "I'm grateful for whatever you can provide me."

Chiriku nodded approvingly. With that, he started walking back down the stairs he had climbed, and the large metal doors at the top remained shut.

"Good morning." Minato said to the two monks who had been staring up at them from the courtyard. The monks quickly looked away and resumed their work.

"Sōhei! Choro!" Chiriku greeted aloud.

The two men held their rakes to the side and bowed. Their height and build were similar, and with their heads shaved of hair, the two looked almost as twins if not for the ear missing from the one with the broader eyes.

"This is a guest of the temple." Chiriku gestured to Minato. "It would be discourteous to treat him otherwise."

"Of course." One of the men, the one with the missing ear, bowed in Minato's direction and the other followed suit. "My apologies. I am Choro, former chuunin of the Hidden Leaf."

The other monk did the same, extending a hand forward to be shook instead of bowing. "I am Sōhei. A very good morning to you."

Minato nodded and shook the offered hand. The man's grip was strong, and the palms of his hands were rough, almost bark-like in texture. "A pleasure to meet you." Minato said, intentionally not giving his name. Not all the monks of the Temple were necessarily trustworthy, and some have been known to leave the Temple life. Minato would rather remain anonymous. There was no reason for him to return to the world of the living.

Yet despite his reservations, both Choro and Sōhei seemed unable to take their eyes off his face. Sōhei's grip on Minato's hand tightened uncomfortably as he glared deep into Minato's eyes.

"Is this a joke?" Sōhei asked, his voice laced with barely contained anger.

"A joke?" Minato narrowed his eyes and made a futile attempt to take back his hand. "I'm not sure-"

"What do you mean to do coming to our temple under this- this guise?!" The man turned to address Chiriku, his anger now open and unrestricted. "Who is this imposter, Chiriku?"

Minato felt the grip of the handshake becoming uncomfortable. Before further harm could be done, Chiriku stepped forward. He took hold of Sōhei's wrist, and his voice became grave. "Sōhei. As I have said before, this is a guest. You will afford him the courtesy of such.

The monk did not move for a moment, his glare fixed intently on examining the face of the one who stood before him. And then, as if a valve had been released, he did as he was bid. Sōhei unclenched his hand and let it fall to his side. "I apologize." He said in a flat tone. "It's just… never mind. I have committed grave offense to our guest. I hope you can forgive me."

"That is alright." Minato said stiffly. The hand that he used for shaking hands was causing him more than a little discomfort. "The fault is mine for giving you sufficient reason to find me suspicious."

"What is your name, if I may ask?" Sōhei demanded in a much more subdued voice than before, but his glare remained.

Minato stared firmly into the man's dark eyes and had a sudden moment of recognition. This was a man he knew once. Yamanaka Inaba. Minato eyes widened in his surprise. The man was a relic of his past, a man who was known to be one of the village's greatest pleasure-seekers. It had gotten so bad that even Minato himself, under the capacity as Fourth Hokage, hadn't been able to keep Inaba from letting his love for women, drink and narcotics damage his performance as a Shinobi. Even the threat of demotion only incentivized him to hide his activities. Yamanaka Inaba was the last person he would have ever expected to see consigned to a temple as a monk.

The man's fiery glare was melted, replaced by a look of confusion and hurt, and Minato knew that he'd made a mistake. Inaba was a member of the Yamanaka clan known to be able to pick up the residual thoughts of those he locked eyes with.

"I know who you are." Sōhei, formerly known as Inaba, said, his voice trembling. "How?"

Minato shook his head, and turned his eyes away.

Choro, the monk whose ear was missing, put a hand on Sōhei's shoulder. "Whoever our guest may have been, he is of the past. It seems our guest desires to remain anonymous." Choro said. "Remember the oath we have sworn."

Sōhei grunted as he tried to find words.

"Our guest has not properly eaten in two days." Chiriku said before Sōhei could speak. "We will be taking our leave." He gestured to Minato and then walked away toward the gateway into the courtyard from which they'd entered. "Come." He commanded.

Minato hesitated to follow. He stared quietly at the former Yamanaka. The man seemed in shock, as if unsure of what to do other than stare. "Inaba…" Minato started to say, and the man's face lit up.

"So you admit it!" Sōhei said excitedly.

"Dead men don't come back to life." Minato pleaded. "Let it remain so."

The Yamanaka monk looked into the eyes of his former friend, and Minato stared back. After a long moment, the monk looked away. "I see." Sōhei bowed his head. "To think that you once lectured me for allowing desire to control my life."

Minato looked down blandly at his friend. Those had been different times. Kushina had been alive then. He'd lived for her, breathed for her. His every motive always somehow involved her. Even becoming Hokage had been her dream, not his, and he'd fulfilled it in her stead, pretending it was his own ambition that he'd fulfilled. As he thought back, Minato realized how much of a puppet he had been, a hypocrite among hypocrites. The degree to which he'd been emotionally attached to her could have been considered unnatural, perhaps even psychotic, and Minato briefly wondered whether or not he was mentally unstable. With a slight frown, he turned to follow after Chiriku, who was waiting at the gate.

It would be eight days before Jiraiya finally arrived with Naruto in tow. Minato would spend those eight days in self reflection as he busied himself with the chores of the temple. During those eight days, Yamanaka Inaba, or Sōhei as he had been newly named upon becoming a monk of the temple, would take every opportunity to work alongside his former leader and friend.

It was during the second of those eight days that Minato had his head shaved. He was inducted to the temple with a new name:

Kosa, Light Commander.