Feeling conflicted (Open)

Walking around after reporting back to the Hokage Office, Minato was feeling conflicted. Although he was the one to bring in the thief who had been terrorizing the village for several weeks, he had this feeling of guilt over him. After all, he had a man arrested who was trying to provide for his sick wife and their three children. Sure, how he tried to change their situation was wrong and in doing so he was breaking the law, but he tried to take responsibilty in giving his family the life they deserve.
Pacing through the streets of Konoha he couldn't take his mind off what had happened. Did he do the right thing? Should he have asked the leaders of the village for leniency for the thief? Minato was a shinobi who needed to defend and protect those who were unable to do it themselves. So was he at fault for taking away the husband and father of those who needed him? Or was he right in following and upholding the law? But as much as he was a shinobi, he wasn't a judge, he knew that. But it still didn't stop him from feeling confused after all.
Now that he had been thinking about it, he never really focussed on what it actually meant to be a shinobi. After all, until this point he just thought he had to fight and die for his village. But what if there was more to it than just fighting and dying? He knew what kind of shinobi he wanted to be, that wasn't the problem. His problem was figuring out what's the right thing to do in certain situations. 
The world can't just be black and white, can it? There had to be a middle way.

As he was strolling around with his head full of thoughts, he was wondering if he was the only one thinking about this? Surely there had to be other people like him. Not necessarily sharing the same view as him, but there had to be other people thinking about what's right and what's wrong?
And so he was continuing his search for finding Minato's Will.

(WC: 360)

Another day, another...cycle of pondering why she continued to be a shinobi. Suzume wanted to find a reason, after it was all she knew, but she couldn't help but to view the ways of the shinobi to be rather paradoxical. The academy that she was once taught in preached the ideals that shinobi exist to protect. Why protect the same thing that also harms? And by protecting the form that harms...the protector is then indirectly harming. If only it were more simple to just have a way of life where it wouldn't be necessary to have to turn a blade on another, for the sake of one's home...

Though what difference would it make to take off, defect from the village, and never come back? So what if Suzume was only a genin, she had the ambition and confidence to do it! All she needed was purpose to either stay or go - and that greatly depended on whether or not it was worth it to continue the cycle of a shinobi. She heard of other villages out there, maybe it was just Konoha that had such silly ways. Obviously, she didn't know enough to determine what action to take. That much she as aware of, despite all her hastiness and at times brat mentality...yet what else do you expect from a feral 13 year old girl running amok? The most guidance Suzume gets was her own, and rarely a kind higher rank. But she never understood them...what keeps them around for so long that they achieve such roles? She could ask, but their answer would be an even bigger dizzying spin of confusion. 

Figuring out the unknown answers to the big unknown picture was headache inducing, and Suzume shook her head to push it away. It didn't help much. She ended up tripping over her own feet from loosing balance, only to fall into some other genin...a much older genin. He didn't look to intimidating, though. If he got angry, she could probably take him on. This guy probably wouldn't think so by any means, from how she clumsily tackled her own limbs and end up face planting into the ground. But that's simply part of the trick! If your opponent believes you to be weaker than you actually are, they won't be prepared for what you're about to do to them! Suzume laughed the incident off, saying, "Well that was not intentional," with a charmingly goofy smile. 

[WC: 408]

Not paying attention to his surroundings, Minato was still sunk in thought. If he would have paid attention he would have noticed that he was about to get some company.
Before he would see it coming he felt something bump into him, followed by the sound of something dropping on the floor. But in this case it wasn't something, but someone. 
"What the hell just happened?" Minato thought to himself, only to being followed up by looking down to see a rather unexpected view. 

When he finally looked over he could see someone laying down, with her face planted into the ground. Minato was planning on helping her up but there was no need to. Slowly getting up, probably a bit embarassed by her little act of clumsiness, she was rubbing the dirt off her clothes until she was fully standing again.
Right in front of him Minato could finally see who just bumped into him by tripping over her own feet. It was a little girl, probably around 5 years younger than him. With her long, black and silky hair it took him a while to notice her Konoha headband around her neck, meaning she was also a Genin. 
With a charmingly, goofy smile she tried to laugh the incident off. 

"Well that was not intentional"
With her icy blue eyes standing out, she was the first to start some sort of conversation. Since she was giving off a bit of a funny vibe, Minato thought she wouldn't be the kind of person to lash out for colliding with her tripping over and landing on the ground as a result.
It was the first kunoichi he'd seen from up close. Sure there were girls in his class at the Academy but he didn't count them as actual interactions. Hoping she didn't hurt herself he thought it would be the right thing to ask if everything was okay.

"Are you hurt?", not the most original line but still, he wanted to make sure she was okay.
"I wasn't really paying attention to my surroundings since I was distracted by my thoughts."
Being it the first time actually talking to a girl, Minato was acting a bit embarassed, hoping not to make a complete fool out of himself.

"I'm Minato by the way, who are you?"


(WC: 385, TWC: 745)

"Am I okay?" she repeated back, as if to make sure she heard him correctly. Wincing, she replied, "Yeah," continuing to get up and brush of the dirt she could that clung to her clothes. Of course, this caused for her nails to get dirty. Quite bothersome to the girl, certainly a major pet peeve. It would have to be dealt with later however, because it would be down right odd to to some daily grooming mid conversation. Well, this was just the beginning...but the point had been made. Suzume wasn't about to prove how feisty she could be right off the bat. It was one of her traits she made attempts to hide. 

She took note that he mentioned he was distracted by his own thoughts. Apparently, she wasn't the only one. "Minato, eh? I'm Suzume..." she answered, having to look up to meet his eyes. Not really knowing what else could be said after that, she open the gate for more conversation...there wasn't anything important she had to do today, and if anything Suzume probably would have just got herself caught up in some mischief if she hadn't tripped over the stranger. Couldn't hurt. Ever since he team was mysteriously disbanded, it had been boring anyways.  

[WC: 208]

It took some time for the girl to respond. After she was done brushing of the dirt of her clothes she finally said something.
"Yeah"

One word. Even though she was the one to bump into Minato, the only thing she was able to say was one word. 
"Well, aren't you quite the talker", Minato said. At this moment he didn't feel sorry for her anymore. He got distracted, she bumped into him and fell on the ground. Case closed. But there must have been a reason as to why the girl was by herself as well. 
"I'm Suzume", she said. 

Surprised she actually said some more, Minato now knew the name of the young female Genin.
Curious for Suzume's reason for walking around on her own, Minato decided to ask. He just returned from his mission, so that's why he was alone, but so far nothing made it clear why she was also alone.
"Nice to meet you Suzume, how come you're all alone out here?"

(WC: 167, TWC: 912)

Offset by Minato's question, Suzume scowled for a moment before coming up with any answer. "Is it mandatory that I be around anyone?" She was putting on a much tougher front than usual, but what would Minato know. He didn't, unless he had some crazy jutsu that let him instantly know someone by bumping into them. As if that could actually exists, though...

Maybe Suzume would have returned the question to him, but in her terms of logic it wouldn't make sense with the way that she answered. Besides, this guy seemed a bit older. He was probably making his way back from work, or some adult thing like that. Since when did adults have time for anything else? "How come you're not doing something else?" she shrugged. Not the most engaging of questions, but she already ran into the dude so may as well make something of it, she figured. 

[WC: 151]

The young girl responded with another question, if it was mandatory to be around anyone. “Gee, are all kids this audacious nowadays?”, Minato thought to himself.
Even though he was still a teen himself, he expected kids to be more respectful towards their elders. Oh well, maybe it was just an aspect of her personality or she was having a bad day.
 
Suddenly Suzume directed a question back towards Minato, how it came that he was out here, not doing anything else.
True, most of the ninja were out on missions, busy training or assigned to guard duty. In his case, Minato just got back from turning his mission report in at the Hokage Office, so he had some free time at the moment. During this moment he had some time to evaluate the outcome of his mission, thus being the reason as to why he was by himself. And so he explained to Suzume.
 
“I can see where your question is coming from, so I will explain myself. I just returned from the Hokage Office after reporting back from my mission. I am not happy with how everything ended so now I am out here thinking about what happened and if what happened was the right course of action.”
 
Hoping he explained himself clear enough for her to understand, Minato was waiting on how she would react and if she would open up to him as well.

(WC: 238, TWC: 1150)

The elder genin wasn't that much taller than her. She didn't have to tilt her head back very far too glare him in the eyes. Maybe her expression was a little too hostile for only bumping into someone, but that was just Suzume's face at rest. She didn't care. The idiot shouldn't have been taking up so much room on the pathway anyhow. 

"Great explanation," she replied flatly. Why was this going into so much detail? He could've just said "Just got done with a sucky job so now I'm going home". But, being that the genin girl had nothing much better to do for the moment, she figured she would mess around with the guy."What would determine right or wrong anyhow?" 

Probably not the question the guy wanted to have to answer to, but it was an important one to sort out to figure out these types of issues. Although, Suzume had also asked for herself for the sake of her own perception of shinobi life. She was born a shinobi, probably, but didn't get why so many people lived it. That was very unshinobi like. Part of her wanted to find something good in it, but yet her focus was on getting out of it. 

[WC: 208]

In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.

But how do you determine what's right or wrong? A question asked by the young girl, a question asked by someone who shouldn't be thinking about these things at such a young age. A question that would make clear to Minato that the road where Feza was on, was full of obstacles. The marks humans leave are too often scars, but at the same time reminds us that our past is real. They are a sign that one has lived without regrets, after all even the best people have some kind of scars. 

Minato was having a hard time coming up with an answer explaining the difference between right and wrong. What may be right to him, might be wrong to her. And can the wrong thing also be the right thing to do? More evil gets done in the name of righteousness than any other way, meaning that even when people do the wrong things, it doesn't mean they didn't act in the name of good. Same can be said vice versa, just like how the young Uchiha did a good thing by putting away a thief but in the same time also indirectly did something bad since he arrested a father and a husband. Was that all there is to being a shinobi? Fulfilling your duty, following the law even when you're not convinced it's the direction you should be going for? Not even all the lessons and teachers at the Academy would help them prepare for something like this. 

"So far, I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after." 
Taking this into consideration it would mean that Minato had done either, as he felt both good and bad. There was no point in asking the elders since he already knew their answer: do what is right, not what is easy. And he knew they were right to a certain degree. 

Thinking about all of this stuff was giving Minato a headache. It might be best not to overthink situations like this, since he knew it wouldn't be the last mission he would have to do, knowing all too well that it's possible it will have the same outcome.

"Sorry for going on about all of this, I hope I didn't waste your time too much." he said to Feza.

(WC: 420, TWC: 1570)

Suzume laughed at his form of thinking. "So you don't think someone can be proud of doing something bad?" Maybe the dude was too feely for her type. He did become rather concerned about her trip...when otherwise the type of people Suzume was used to would have etiher snickered at her, or just let her be like nothing happened. 

Although, her more recent outlook of shinobi life did make for a dreary one. Minato had a much more positive aura to him...she decided to give him a chance, despite not used to tolerating the more optimistic types. It might be annoying at first, though if she ever were to actually rise to power she would need to gain a certain charisma to her. May as well practice now, so that everything would be set for later. 

How to go about that, however...Suzume had never been the most social. She stuck to two or three good friends in the academy, and never expanded more than that. Where were they now? Back then it seemed they'd never separate...but that's just how it goes, especially for a shinobi. They could be dead, just like that guy who her ex team mate had killed during the first genin exams Suzume had spectated for. Was her ex team mate proud for killing him, even though it prevented her from ranking up? "I can't say I understand where you're coming from. What happened on your little job?" she inquired.

[WC: 243]