Ficlet: Earth
Summary: Minato's father took his small hand and deposited a handful of dirt onto it. "This is life, son."
Theme: 053. Earth ( fanfic100); 016. Dying sun ( 500themes)
When Minato Namikaze had been four years old, his father had told him that there was something he had to teach him, a secret that was meant for his young ears only. Excited, he had let himself be led outside their house, feeling altogether special that his mother had stayed inside and would never hear about what his father had to say.
The greying man had then taken his small hand into his own and deposited a handful of dirt onto it. The earth had been clumpy, moist from the previous night's rain, and pungent in smell. Minato had stared at it for a couple of seconds before looking doubtfully at his father. "What am I supposed to do with this?" his eyes asked silently. In answer, the man had grabbed his other hand and laid it atop the other.
"Do you feel that?" he had asked Minato and the little boy had nodded, still not understanding the point. "Do you know what this is?"
"Umm... dirt?"
The answer had earned him a paternal smile that did nothing to clear away his confusion. "This is life, son. We pour our sweat and our blood and our lives into it. There is nothing in the whole world more important than land."
His father had then sent him back home while he shouldered his tools and went out to work the fields.
The memory had lingered at the back of his mind, a lesson never fully learned.
Eventually, Minato grew and decided that he would not become a simple farmer as his father. He was meant to become a ninja and he knew this viscerally. As he said his goodbyes to his family, to set out to train in Leaf Village, though, he had been brought back to that day. He could see his father's desire to make him understand the lesson before it was too late and he did something he could not take back, but Minato still could not grasp it.
It was not until he found himself at the peak of the Third Shinobi World War standing knee-deep in blood and mud that he knew exactly what his father had meant.
Theme: 053. Earth ( fanfic100); 016. Dying sun ( 500themes)
When Minato Namikaze had been four years old, his father had told him that there was something he had to teach him, a secret that was meant for his young ears only. Excited, he had let himself be led outside their house, feeling altogether special that his mother had stayed inside and would never hear about what his father had to say.
The greying man had then taken his small hand into his own and deposited a handful of dirt onto it. The earth had been clumpy, moist from the previous night's rain, and pungent in smell. Minato had stared at it for a couple of seconds before looking doubtfully at his father. "What am I supposed to do with this?" his eyes asked silently. In answer, the man had grabbed his other hand and laid it atop the other.
"Do you feel that?" he had asked Minato and the little boy had nodded, still not understanding the point. "Do you know what this is?"
"Umm... dirt?"
The answer had earned him a paternal smile that did nothing to clear away his confusion. "This is life, son. We pour our sweat and our blood and our lives into it. There is nothing in the whole world more important than land."
His father had then sent him back home while he shouldered his tools and went out to work the fields.
The memory had lingered at the back of his mind, a lesson never fully learned.
Eventually, Minato grew and decided that he would not become a simple farmer as his father. He was meant to become a ninja and he knew this viscerally. As he said his goodbyes to his family, to set out to train in Leaf Village, though, he had been brought back to that day. He could see his father's desire to make him understand the lesson before it was too late and he did something he could not take back, but Minato still could not grasp it.
It was not until he found himself at the peak of the Third Shinobi World War standing knee-deep in blood and mud that he knew exactly what his father had meant.