The scratching was what woke him up. There had been many environmental markers that basically told him he was home and safe in Konoha; the musty smell of sheets and an actual futon, the scent of tatami underneath it. A pillow that wasn't basically a rolled up change of clothes tied together with his armour ties. The fact that he actually had nothing on his feet for once in as long as he could remember.
All of these tied together to tell him Konoha and sleep, which was why he hadn't just rolled straight out of the sheets to slam a rasengan into the throat of whatever was making that noise before he even opened his eyes.
But he had a kunai in his hand before he actually did open his eyes to realise that one, the scratching was not caused by metal (specific resonance, not the right metallic vibrations), and two, it was a deliberate noise against the wood of his window sills (Right, He had window sills, this was his home), rather than an almost silent attempt to rappel up the side of a cliff without chakra.
He blinked at the sight of his blank, boring ceiling, just in time for the Hokage's hawk to hop right onto his chest, and impatient with him, shriek in his ear.
"Aaaah!"
He almost flung the bird into the wall with his kunai-hand, but it hopped out of the way, and turning to stare at him, one eye at a time, and then dropped a gold-gilt scroll on his futon with as disdainful an air as possible, before winging its way out of his now scratched-up window.
Minato winced at the ringing of his ears, rubbing around his ear with the base of his kunai before picking up the scroll.
A Hokage-summons. That might still be good, he told the skip of his heart, because the war was over (or maybe it was never going to be over, maybe his hands were never going to be clean, maybe he would never stop hearing the screams in the silence) and things would go back to normal. Maybe he would be told he would finally join the ANBU or something Village related. There were quite a few departments he could be put into - the research divisions of Intel maybe, because he wasn't exactly great at analysing the crap loads of reports that he knew chuunin were constantly running back to Konoha from the front, but he could do something with jutsu development. Or analysing their effects. Or -
(There was also the … Interrogation side of Intel, which he wasn't particularly keen on but at least. At least those had a nine-to-five, those had a time when he could go home.)
"No time like the present to finding out," He said into his empty apartment, and tucked the scroll into a pocket.
Sandaime raised an eyebrow at him. "You were adamant you were retired from the standing army, Namikaze-kun." Minato didn't wince at the dropping of his military title of Genshou, because he didn't want to keep being reminded of it, but it had been ages since he'd been just -kun to anyone and it -
"Yes," Minato said, "But I thought you'd put me in - oh, I don't know, Intelligence. The research division? Surely…" he looked down at the spread of files he had been handed. "They can be - aren't t here - actual experts for this?"
"Where," Sandaime said, genially, "Would we have experts in this?"
"The - The Academy?" Minato could hear his voice starting to climb in pitch. "I'm a field commander -"
"You have plenty of experience leading," Sandaime agreed.
"Experienced shinobi on the field," Minato exclaimed. "I am great at killing people!"
"Well," Sandaime said, "Don't kill them and it'll be a great learning experience."
"You can't make me a genin team leader! What am I supposed to DO?"
"Not kill them, for a start," Sandaime said.
"I'm not actually licensed to teach!" Minato said, shaking the folders like they were going to explode and take his hand with them. "That's what Academy teachers are for! They are actually taught to teach."
"Oh," Sandaime said, and leaned over to pull open a drawer. "Right, here is something I gave to Jiraiya when he had you."
Minato felt his heart settle - because of course Sandaime would have material to help, he was the Professor after all! - just a moment right until Sandaime slipped over a thin, clearly handmade booklet across the desk to him.
Your Students and You! the cheerful faded title said in Sandaime's precise hand.
"How… it's not adequate," Minato said, as he stared at it. It literally was stapled together. Maybe five sheets total, folded in half.
"It has pictures," Sandaime said helpfully.
".... Are there any courses that I can actually take on teaching?" Minato asked.
"Oh," Sandaime said, before Minato could implode, "Also, I thought you might like to know that you've been put forward as a viable Hokage Candidate. Dismissed."
They were, Minato realised, absolutely tiny. What the fuck was he supposed to do about them?
Make sure that your students have healthy eating habits!
Minato squinted at the image trying to make out what the weird little box thing the white-haired man - jounin? Was that supposed to be Jiraiya-sensei? - was holding. It … seemed to maybe be a bento box. It had white, red and green in it. So it probably was rice, something green and …
Something crinkled, and he looked up to see Kakashi unwrap half a ration bar.
There was nothing green about it - and if it was green, Minato would definitely not eat it.
He was supposed to tell his students to eat healthily - which apparently included... Rice and green stuff and other stuffs.
He looked up at his other two students sparring against each other and folded up the booklet, before reaching over and plucking the ration bar from Kakashi's hand.
"You can't eat that, Kakashi-kun," Minato said.
Kakashi blinked at him, pale eyebrows furrowing. "But… sensei…"
"I'll get you bento. I'll get all of you bento. Just - Spar with them," he said, gesturing vaguely towards Obito. "Uh. Or just watch them. You know. I'll be right back."
He stuffed the half-eaten ration bar into his pocket, right next to his own ration bar he'd planned for lunch, and ran the fuck away to the market.
And then .....
So he knew that he had to make a good impression on Minato-sensei. No, an excellent one.
"Oh, that's you made your own bento? Or was it your … aunt?" Minato-sensei looked surprised, and Obito hastened to explain why it was still a decent one, even if it had been rushed.
"I know that we must have good nutrition," Obito said. "So, proteins to keep me full for a long day of training-" he indicated the two portions of protein - two hardboiled eggs and soy sauce simmered tofu, "- rice for instant energy, and seaweeds and fruit for vitamins." he looked up at Minato-sensei, hoping it wasn't too simple.
Instead, Minato-sensei looked impressed. "That's very well thought of," Minato-sensei said. "Even the proportions -"
"Yeah," Obito said, "my aunt taught me, and said that i had to add more protein for drills and training, carbohydrates for instant energy if it's a long day, and the green stuff and fruit for salts and other micronutrients for salt and ion replacements." He watched their sensei, and had a huge sigh of relief when Minato-sensei nodded solemnly.
"Very good, Obito-kun," Minato-sensei said gravely. "Did you take note of that, Kakashi-kun? This is why I didn't let you eat just those ration bars."
Yes,, thank you Mikami-basan! He seemed to have passed the test! Obito beamed.
Comment on Does Your Brother Know
drelfina on Chapter 2 Fri 03 Jan 2020 04:14AM UTC
Comment Actions
Lilili_cat on Chapter 2 Fri 03 Jan 2020 04:43AM UTC
Comment Actions
drelfina on Chapter 2 Fri 03 Jan 2020 04:45AM UTC
Comment Actions
Lilili_cat on Chapter 2 Sat 04 Jan 2020 04:02AM UTC
Comment Actions
drelfina on Chapter 2 Sat 04 Jan 2020 04:07AM UTC
Comment Actions
drelfina on Chapter 2 Sat 04 Jan 2020 04:21AM UTC
Comment Actions
Lilili_cat on Chapter 2 Sat 04 Jan 2020 04:37AM UTC
Comment Actions
drelfina on Chapter 2 Sat 04 Jan 2020 04:39AM UTC
Comment Actions
Lilili_cat on Chapter 2 Sat 04 Jan 2020 04:45AM UTC
Comment Actions
drelfina on Chapter 2 Sat 04 Jan 2020 04:58AM UTC
Comment Actions
Lilili_cat on Chapter 2 Sat 04 Jan 2020 05:14AM UTC
Comment Actions
drelfina on Chapter 2 Sat 04 Jan 2020 05:21AM UTC
Comment Actions
Lilili_cat on Chapter 2 Mon 06 Jan 2020 04:04AM UTC
Comment Actions
drelfina on Chapter 2 Mon 06 Jan 2020 04:32AM UTC
Comment Actions
Lilili_cat on Chapter 2 Mon 06 Jan 2020 05:03AM UTC
Comment Actions
drelfina on Chapter 2 Mon 06 Jan 2020 05:05AM UTC
Comment Actions
Lilili_cat on Chapter 2 Tue 07 Jan 2020 03:42AM UTC
Comment Actions
drelfina on Chapter 2 Tue 07 Jan 2020 04:40AM UTC
Comment Actions
Lilili_cat on Chapter 2 Wed 08 Jan 2020 01:58AM UTC
Comment Actions
drelfina on Chapter 2 Wed 08 Jan 2020 02:01AM UTC
Comment Actions
Lilili_cat on Chapter 2 Wed 08 Jan 2020 02:21AM UTC
Comment Actions
drelfina on Chapter 2 Wed 08 Jan 2020 02:23AM UTC
Comment Actions
Lilili_cat on Chapter 2 Wed 08 Jan 2020 02:30AM UTC
Comment Actions
drelfina on Chapter 2 Wed 08 Jan 2020 02:39AM UTC
Comment Actions
Lilili_cat on Chapter 2 Wed 08 Jan 2020 03:17AM UTC
Comment Actions
drelfina on Chapter 2 Wed 08 Jan 2020 04:04AM UTC
Comment Actions
Lilili_cat on Chapter 2 Thu 09 Jan 2020 04:20AM UTC
Comment Actions
drelfina on Chapter 2 Thu 09 Jan 2020 04:21AM UTC
Comment Actions
Lilili_cat on Chapter 2 Thu 09 Jan 2020 04:45AM UTC
Comment Actions