One morning, Minato got up and changed into a brand-new tracksuit.
It was pure white, with three green stripes on the sleeves, the same color as the leaves he used when practicing Wind Release.
He had the Police Department cafeteria to thank for being able to afford new clothes. Lately, he'd been eating both breakfast and dinner there.
At first, he'd felt awkward about eating there all the time, so he'd offered to help out in the kitchen by washing dishes. But then some older guy insisted on paying him, saying that refusing would mean he looked down on the Police Department's kitchen staff.
With no other choice, Minato had accepted the money. It came in handy for buying some new clothes.
After stopping by the Police Department for breakfast, he headed to the Ninja Academy for class.
During the break, he took two leaves from his pocket, held them between his fingers, and used the spare moments to train.
The sight happened to catch Kushina's eye as she sat around with nothing to do.
She leaned over, tilting her head as her bright eyes fixed on the two leaves between Minato's fingers.
Even then, Minato kept his eyes closed, focusing intently on the leaves.
"Hey, what are you doing with those two leaves?"
Recently, the few troublemakers in her class who used to pick on her, along with the bad eggs from other classes, had stopped bothering her for some reason.
Now she had nothing to do during breaks, and she was bored to death.
"Hmm?"
"This is a training method Senior Qingguang taught me. There's nothing else to do during break, so I practice."
Seeing that it was Kushina, Minato was a little surprised. They weren't exactly close; they'd only spoken a few times.
The things he remembered