Mokuton Resurrection: Fresh Starts: Chapter Three

We're finally back with chapter 3 of Mokuton Resurrection: Fresh Starts and now we'll take a deeper look into how Minato and Tsunade are doing after the loss of their family members. As a bonus, today is Minato's birthday and Sketchfan's as well.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Note: This chapter is a week after Minato became an orphan.

Minato stood in the training field and gathered his chakra in his hand while trying to shape it perfectly. So far, his attempts at shaping his chakra were proving unsuccessful and he ceased the technique immediately.

"Well, Minato, how's that technique you're working on going?" Jiraiya asked as he approached Minato and the young shinobi turned around to reveal his slightly charred hands.

"I've still got some ground to cover before I can call it complete." Minato answered.

"Ouch." Jiraiya said.

"Indeed." Minato answered before he went to the hospital and sat in a hospital room before Tsunade came in. She looked at his hands with worry before kneeling down and placing her hands over his.

"Minato, what happened to your hands?" Tsunade asked.

"I burned them while trying to perform a new jutsu based off the Tailed-Beast bomb." Minato said and Tsunade sighed before beginning to heal his hands. Within a short time, his hands were healed and wrapped his hands in gauze bandages once she was finished.

"You know, even with ninjas dying as young as they do in the line of work, its reassuring to see those with devotion like you with bright futures ahead of you." Tsunade complimented as she finished wrapping his hands in gauze and Minato smiled at her.

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama." Minato said and Tsunade nodded.

"There, now you'll have to take a few days off of training and from now on, don't be so reckless." Tsunade advised.

"Yes, ma'am." Minato answered before leaving and Tsunade shook her head as he left.

"He's almost as determined as Nawaki was." Tsunade thought to herself and Minato left the building where he met Jiraiya outside.

"Well, how'd it go, Minato?" Jiraiya asked.

"Tsunade-sama healed my hands but said I should take some days off." Minato said.

"I see." Jiraiya said.

"But, you know, given the state of my hands, I can tell I'm making some progress." Minato smiled.

"That's the spirit." Jiraiya said before Minato headed home for the day and sat in his room staring at his ceiling. Since his parents were murdered, the house was so empty to him and the young blonde sighed before getting off his bed.

He sighed before walking around the village until he came to the training ground where he last spoke with Nawaki and sat near a training log before hearing some rustling nearby. Minato looked to see Tsunade appear from the trees and she looked back with a somewhat nervous look in her eyes,

"Damn!" Tsunade lowly said before looking at Minato and running over to him.

"Hello, Tsunade-sama, what's wrong?" Minato asked as Tsunade stopped near him and prepared some hand signs.

"Just be calm and follow my lead." Tsunade said before using the transformation jutsu to turn her appearance of when she was Minato's age and stood next to him. Just then, he noticed three men come from the trees and look around.

"Where'd she go?" The man asked.

"She couldn't have gotten far." The second one said before the last man noticed Minato and Tsunade nearby.

"Hey, blondie, have you and your boyfriend there seen this woman?" The third man asked as he presented an accurate drawing of Tsunade and she did her best to keep from raising her eye at them assuming Minato was her boyfriend; and also smiled at their denseness for not recognizing her.

"Who are you strange men?" Tsunade asked.

"We're debt collectors and she owes an incredible amount of debts to us." The first man asked.

"That pretty lady said she was leaving out of town and I think she said something about going to the Land of Lightning for a few years, right?" Tsunade asked Minato, who realized she was trying to deceive the bill-collectors.

"Oh, that's right, or it was somewhere near that area." Minato said.

"You're saying she's not here?!" The second bill collector said.

"Afraid not." Tsunade answered before wrapping her arm around Minato's and giggling.

"If you'll excuse us…" Tsunade giggled before she and Minato took off running while holding on his arm.

"Ah, young love." The third bill collector mused.

"Never mind them; what about our bills?" The second bill collector asked.

"We're heading to the Land of Lightning come hell or high water." The first bill collector said.

"Right!" The other bill collectors answered in unison before agreeing to leave the village to search for the supposed blonde woman.

Meanwhile

"Well, Minato, sorry I had to do that but I had to get rid of those guys somehow." Tsunade said as she and Minato watched the bill collectors from a distance away.

"Its okay, Tsunade-sama, but why do bill collectors always come after you?" Minato asked before Tsunade patted his head.

"Unfinished gambling business, kiddo." Tsunade answered before they started walking around once the bill collectors had left and they walked through the same area that Minato had last spoken with Nawaki.

"Just what are you doing here when I told you to rest?" Tsunade asked.

"I was just taking a walk to get out of the house." Minato answered.

"I imagine your parents must be wondering where you are." Tsunade said and Minato's head slightly lowered itself.

"About that…" Minato started to say with his usual tone lowering to a depressed one.

"What is it?" Tsunade asked.

"Last week during that attack, I lost them." Minato said and Tsunade gave the younger blonde a look of sympathy before patting his back.

"Him, too." Tsunade thought .

"But, that's why I've been training so much recently since I feel the stronger I am, the more of a chance I have at defending Konoha in the future." Minato said.

"Good logic but don't push yourself too hard." Tsunade said and Minato's face lit back up.

"Thank you." Minato smiled at the older blonde before getting up.

"You take care, Minato." Tsunade said.

"You too, Tsunade-sama, thanks again." Minato said before leaving and Tsunade looked as he left.

"That poor kid…he's going through the same thing I am and he still has the strength to go strong in his mental skills." Tsunade thought before standing up and beginning to leave the area. She stopped and realized she was still in her childhood state.

"Isn't that something? I was so into giving the poor boy some comfort that I forgot to undo this jutsu." Tsunade thought to herself before undoing the jutsu and returned to her usual appearance before leaving.

Elsewhere

Minato returned home and felt slightly better than he was earlier. Normally, he'd talked to Kushina about this but she had moved to Amegakure since Kumogakure still persisted in trying to hunt her down for Kurama within her and given the land's security, it was the last place anyone would suspect her to be.

Plus, she apparently had a cousin there whose name Minato didn't know that she and her family were residing with and he thought back to the time before she left when they spoke for the final time.

Not long ago

Minato and Kushina stood on the balcony overlooking the village and stared into the distance.

"Minato…Minato…earth to Minato, dattebane!" Kushina said as Minato broke out of his gaze into the distance.

"Sorry, Kushina." Minato said.

"You were thinking of Tsunade-sama's chest, weren't you?" Kushina teased and a light blush appeared on Minato's cheeks; despite not thinking of said blonde's chest.

"No, I wasn't." Minato said.

"Well, your face is looking awfully red to me. I'm telling ya; Jiraiya-sensei is rubbing off on you." Kushina laughed.

"Anyway, there's another group of Uzumaki in this Rain Village offering your family shelter?" Minato asked.

"So far, my folks have told me that there's another Uzumaki family there and their security level is incredible." Kushina said.

"Those Kumogakure people or no one else after the Nine-Tails will ever think to look there though I've got say; I'm sure gonna miss this place." Kushina said.

"With your personality, you'll make plenty of friends before you know it." Minato said.

"Still…" Kushina said.

"Anyway, how is that new technique you're working on coming along?" Kushina asked.

"Far from completion but progress is progress. I just need to form it and get the rotation right" Minato said.

"Well, what I do when I'm using my Tailed-Beast Bomb is extract some chakra from it, concentrate it and then fire away." Kushina said and Minato began to think about applying a similar method to his technique.

"Hmmm…" Minato thought before the sun began setting.

"Well, Minato, it's been fun and thanks for everything." Kushina said before holding out her hand.

"It's been a pleasure knowing you, Kushina." Minato said.

"Also, good luck with Tsunade-sama." Kushina snickered before Minato's light blush reappeared on his face.

"Take care, Kushina." Minato said.

"So long, Minato." Kushina smiled.

Though he missed Kushina, he knew it was for the best since she's in a safer area and he smiled before moving on to make dinner. As he sat at the table eating, he looked at the seats where his parents usually sat at and sighed before continuing to eat his food to take his mind off them.

Next couple of days

Minato walked through the streets and found the Ino-Shika-Cho trio walking through the streets.

"Hey, Minato, what's up?" Inoichi asked.

"Oh, just taking a walk. What about you three?" Minato answered.

"We're off to an all-you-can-eat special! Care to join us?" Chōza answered.

"Well, I don't want to intrude…" Minato started to say before the red-haired youngster looped his arm around his neck and brought him along.

"Come now…it's all you can eat and today everything has a discount!" Chōza said.

"What a drag, Chōza, you're that excited over the discount prices?" Shikaku asked.

"Of, course I am!" Chōza merrily answered before the four young shinobi left for Yakiniku Barbecue restaurant and the four ate their fill of food.

"Well, that was delicious, don't you think, Minato?" Inoichi asked.

"No question about it; that was incredibly satisfying." Minato answered.

"It wasn't bad in the least." Shikaku added.

"Indeed, it wasn't!" Chōza said as he patted his gut.

"Well, thanks for the invitation but I should be going now to train now." Minato said.

"So long, Minato. " Inoichi said.

"Goodbye." Minato said as he left the trio and they stared after him.

"Well, Chōza, I'm glad we invited him with us." Inoichi said.

"Yes, the poor guy's shouldering some serious mental pain." Shikaku said.

"If inviting us cheered him up in any fashion, then I'd say he's slowly on the road to recovery." Chōza said.

"Yes, but considering what he's going through, it'll be a while before he's back to normal over his parents." Inoichi said.

"Yes, it will." Shikaku glumly answered.

Elsewhere

Minato returned to the training grounds and stretched his arms before taking his new steps of adding a rotation to his hands as he focused his chakra. From the trees, Jiraiya watched his disciple and watched his efforts before noticing Tsunade appear.

"Oh, hey, Tsunade, what brings you by?" Jiraiya asked.

"Nothing in particular." Tsunade answered before leaning against a tree and watched Minato practice.

"You're here for Minato, aren't you?" Jiraiya said and Tsunade didn't give him answer as they watched him perform until he was finished practicing.

"I won't give up…I won't." Minato reassured himself as Tsunade gave him a look of mixed sympathy and impression. Despite him going through the same level of loss she was, she was impressed by his indomitable resolve and fighting spirit.

Chapter three is here at least and this was to show how both Minato and Tsunade were doing after the loss of their family members and also explains about Kushina's whereabouts since she has never been mentioned in any of the other Mokuton Resurrection stories. Now, this chapter begins Tsunade's interest in Minato as she'll watch him grow from the boy she's amazed by into the man she'll love in the future and there's a good chance Dan will appear in the next chapter.

However, I'd like to see some reviews voting on what you'd like to see in the next chapter and until then, take care.