SPEEDOMETER: a countdown from a place before time

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Disclaimer: We all know who Naruto really belongs to. I'm just putting together some of the pieces.

Warnings: Language. Likely holds true for here on.

Author's Notes: Yup, we're in for the long haul. Edit 12/08/2007- It pays to be caught up in the manga. I've substituted the fan-created name for the Fourth for his real name--finally Kishimoto, finally!

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"Oi! Minato!"

The blond turned around and noticed that Naoki had brought Yasu along, the latter rubbing his eyes because, yeah, it's early, but a shinobi should always be prepared and they've only got a few minutes before their new sensei said he would be there, and Minato wants to make a good impression because even if he wasn't always the best in the academy, it was damned time he was good at something. He'd known that he wasn't a genius when he'd had to start working harder than anyone to keep up in kunai training, so he'd wake up early and break in a few logs around training field seven--the field that was always open from five in the morning until ten when he needed to be at school.

"Minato!" And he'd forgotten Naoki at his back, Sato Naoki who holy shit is that a shuriken? was the best marksman of their class, but the blond spun around to avoid the thing thank hell, and found himself face to face with the boy himself, light brown bangs falling into darker eyes that were always kind of flat (Minato's mother had said Naoki's parents and older brother had died at the start of the second ninja war, first the father then the mother and boy, so take it easy on him, kid) even when he smiled, and Naoki didn't ever really smile. He grinned, though, the plastic sort of grins Minato saw on his mother when he asked about his father, the one that flopped a bit when pushed, so Minato learned what hurt and tiptoed around the rest because he wasn't stupid, didn't want people to hurt, and everyone hurt nowadays, just a year after the war.

"You missed."

"It's early. Yasu's even still sleeping." Their other teammate was--leaning up against a post standing up and god this kid was asking for it, just asking for it, but it wasn't his fault: Inoue Yasu came from a line of civilians, couldn't be blamed for not having the jumpy awareness drilled into every ninja's child. They knew; they forgave him for it.

Minato smirked. "Let him. Our sensei probably won't be here for another ten minutes."

"You know, Yasu looked him up yesterday--that guy was Jiraiya-sama--of the Densetsu no Sannin!"

"Sannin?"

"Yeah, it's the title that was given to those three students of Sarutobi-sama at the start of the war when they held back a whole force of Amegakure ANBU who were invading after the assassination of Niidaime."

"Them? Jiraiya-sensei is that Jiraiya?"

"Yeah! I couldn't believe it either. He'd just made jounin too--just before the war. I heard Tsunade-sama and Orochimaru-sama also are going to take on students, even though Tsunade-sama is still technically only a chuunin."

What …what a team. "I'm glad I was stuck with you two then, Naoki."

"You need someone to watch your back, Minato. Yasu and I can do that for you. Even if Yasu is notoriously unreliable." Said genin snored a bit from the corner and the two friends broke down laughing, the blond doubled up even if he knew Naoki was right: he wasn't the best ninja--he tended to space out during combat, didn't really want to always get stronger--just wanted to keep up, and he wasn't as hard hearted as either Naoki or Yasu and knew it got in the way of his performance.

He just hoped it wouldn't get him killed.

A voice startled them both. "Is this the bunch? What team are you again?"

Their sensei could only be twenty at the most, but had grey hair prickling down his back and a wide, goofy smile plastered to his face. Minato started--this couldn't be Jiraiya-sama: this guy looked too laid back to be any sort of ninja, smiling too much to really have fought in any sort of battle, and red lines stretching down from his eyes looking more clownlike than predatory.

"T-team four, Jiraiya-sensei."

"Jiraiya-sensei, huh. I kind of like that. Has a nice ring to it." The grey haired shinobi picked at a spot on his chin and shrugged. "Well, before you can actually call me that, you have to pass my test."

"Test?" Yasu, finally elbowed awake, screwed up his face.

"Yup. I'll send you back to the academy if you fail--which would also be nice, seeing as I really don't like the idea of babysitting some brats for a year or two."

"But what would we do there? We already graduated."

Jiraiya shrugged. "I don't know. Not my problem. Now--are you ready?"

"Ready? For what?"

"I've got two bells here. Get one, you pass. After four hours, if you haven't snatched a bell from me, you fail. No more questions--figure the rest out on your own." And with that, their to-be-sensei disappeared while three mouths hung agape.

"Oi, oi, Naoki, Minato--he's joking, isn't he? Taiki-sensei never said anything about a test after graduation!"

Naoki slid to the ground, legs folding beneath him, and Minato, recognizing this as his infamous planning stance, joined the boy on the ground. "He said there were two bells, right? But Yuuta-niichan had two teammates, and both of them were assigned to him after graduation. So Jiraiya-sensei could just be testing us--he could be lying about just having two bells. Maybe he wants to see if we're any good with information gathering."

Minato frowned. "He could be testing our commitment--maybe he wants to see if we'll sacrifice ourselves for the good of the mission--you know, like Taiki-sensei taught us. One person will have to go into the fight knowing he won't get a bell."

"He's new to being a sensei, he said so himself. He might really only pass two of us."

Naoki shook his head. "Nah, Yasu--I think that either three of us pass or none of us do. I still think he might have a third bell on him, but we'd have to immobilize him to check, and that'll be nearly impossible, even with the three of us working together." A moment passed, and the boy sighed, thin wrists fluttering. "Listen, he's a really great ninja--and we really should consider that if by some chance Yasu's right, well, one of us has to be willing to return to the academy."

There was an awkward pause, and Minato closed his eyes before nodding sharply. "That can be me."

"Minato," because Naoki knew how hard he trained, knew he was up before anyone else and practiced until his muscles seized up and bruises scattered his body. Naoki had found him lying in the middle of one of the abandoned training grounds one day, nursing a twisted ankle and when the other boy had run his hand along Minato's side, he'd felt the flinch and heard the unbidden moan of pain and brought over ice so that Minato's mother wouldn't know. Minako had lost her husband on a raid years ago, when Minato was still young, and she'd retired from teaching to raise the boy and make sure he stayed alive. She'd panic if she knew her son trained so intensely--until he was bloody--so Naoki kept Minato's secret, because the blond smiled at him and cracked jokes and never asked about his brother, never asked if he was okay, if Naoki was okay alone. Minato just crashed on his spare futon more often than not and never said it was really so that the blond could keep him company.

And Naoki knew Minato knew, but they never talked about family, and it was okay. "Minato," he said again, but this time to confirm, because Minato would do anything for anyone, Naoki knew that better than anyone else--it's why everyone trusted the blond, even if he could be a bit stupid and slow--it's why everyone wanted to protect him, wanted him to succeed. Yasu was already nodding, and so he sighed. "Okay. If it comes to that, Yasu and I will take the bells. Now, we have to find a way to find our new sensei.

"And in honor of his sacrifice, Namikaze Minato will be our temporary leader."

--

Two hours later, three genin were sweaty and dirty and observing their teacher take a nap in the middle of a clearing. Yasu was good with dispelling genjutsu, otherwise Minato was sure the three of them would have been chasing their shadows around in circles for the rest of the time--Minato was glad he'd picked Yasu as their scout instead of Naoki, even if the latter was the stealthier. Naoki had frowned at the decision, but everyone who knew Namikaze Minato knew that the boy never let anyone down, and so the brown haired genin was willing to trust his teammate.

"Listen--if he's really asleep, that means he's completely underestimating us. We should send clones out there to check, though."

"Clones? If he's awake, that'd just alert him to our presence."

"Mm. Yasu, how good is your genjustsu?"

"Not great. I'm better at seeing through it than weaving it--in fact, my best can only hold up for a little while."

"Your best?"

"It feeds off the fear of the target and projects those feelings--but it only works for under two minutes at most, and that's when I have all my chakra."

"Jiraiya-sensei's a Sannin. That won't work."

"You're right, Naoki. But if he's underestimating us--hey, do you think you could rig kunai around this clearing? We could make a few clones and have them run around and shoot the kunai so it looks like the clones are throwing them. That'll test if he's really asleep--if he is, we can just hide and use Yasu's genjustsu to get away if need be."

"Sounds dangerous. If he catches us, he might fail us."

Minato shook his head, and blond strands fell into his eyes. "But if we never move, we'll fail automatically."

Naoki had moved before he was done speaking, and Minato grinned at the boy's efficiency. Naoki's a really good ninja he though absentmindedly, trying to squelch the nagging whine in his stomach that asked him what the hell he was thinking, giving up so easily, always giving himself up so easily you can't protect your mother if you always give up, if you're not a shinobi.

"Minato," and fuck he was worrying Yasu he had to snap out of it, had to stop thinking so selfishly, Naoki needed someone by his side, someone dependable, and Yasu was more talented than he was, fighting against a family to pursue his dreams. Minato could damn well think about himself later, push it to the back of his mind like mother had always said father had done your father never minded if, ultimately, someone else would benefit from it.

Was he happy? he remembered asking.

I don't know.

"It's done, Minato." Naoki's thin hand was on his shoulder, squeezing slightly to both relax and warn the other. "Are we each going to make a clone now?"

"No--I'll do that and henge the other two into you. That way, in case we get caught, you two have enough chakra reserves to come up with a retreat that'll work."

Yasu nodded curtly, and Naoki knelt and clipped his ponytail back to the top of his head from where it had slipped. Minato readied the seals and quickly made three copies and henged two into his teammates, concentrating on the way Naoki's bangs fell into his small, effeminate face and how Yasu's eyes narrowed at the sides when he was serious, how the short boy shrunk into himself.

"Okay, go," and they did, Naoki watching movements to match them with the kunai he'd strung around Jiraiya's encampment, Minato whispering little nudges go this, no, that way, softly softly approach him, okay, pull back a bit, forward and the three were in front of their snoring sensei. Minato had one clone tentatively poke a finger at the man's side where the bells were fastened to Jiraiya's black belt. The older shinobi didn't even move when the clone unfastened them, and began to pull the strings all the way out of their loop. It was only when Minato's clone was actually holding them that he realized that Jiraiya had both eyes open and was smirking.

Shit, Minato thought, shit, he's good.

"So the kunai and clone trick was a bit boring, but I like your guts. Plus, the Inoue kid--he's good with genjutsu. Good move putting him up front. Had you let Sato handle it like I expected, you'd have taken twice as long and expelled that much more energy."

"Does this mean we fail? You caught us, after all," and that was Naoki, emerging from the bushes.

The man smiled and leaned back, eyes closing. "Nope. Namikaze here has the bells. He decides who passes and fails," and suddenly, Minato got it, world folding in on him. This test wasn't about sacrifices or information--it was about loyalty, and here, right here was something Minato knew he could do, something he didn't need to practice, something he was finally good at.

"Minato, you don't have to, we can take him" Naoki began, but the blond had already given away both bells, turned to Jiraiya, and bowed. Minato wasn't stupid--he knew power when he saw it and this was power, the rush between the Sannin's hands and the way the red tattoos looked more like bloody tearmarks when the man's eyes weren't smiling, when he was dead serious.

"You'll have to go back to the academy. You might never be a ninja."

"I promised I would be the one to do this."

"Don't think you could beat them in a fight? I'm sure the girly one wouldn't hold up to a few solid punches."

Minato scowled. "I promised. Plus, someone who doesn't trust his teammates is scum."

At that Jiraiya paused, hand twitching. Minato watched, terrified, as a hand clenched, unclenched, and reclenched in a moment that felt longer than a moment, longer than an eternity, because this, he felt, was something unplanned: Minato had said something dangerous, and even if he didn't know why, he'd always been good at reading people, at watching where edges come together and where the breaking points are and knew that this was something that would break the other man. He also knew that he'd never say something like that again to his sensei and filed the thought away.

A hand on his shoulder distracted him and the older shinobi was smiling again.

"Maybe that's true."

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That year was the last year Konoha ever passed four genin teams.