Why Minato
Once appeared a nine tailed demon fox. One swing of its mighty tail could crumble a mountain and cause tsunamis. To fight the demon, the people assembled the shinobi. One brave shinobi was able to seal up the demon, but he lost his life. That shinobi was called the Yondaime (Fourth) Hokage.
He is there from the very start. He is the one that initiates the whole story of Naruto! If it were not for him, what story would there be? There would be no orphan boy by the name of Naruto with a nine-tailed demon fox inside of him struggling to gain the town’s recognition, his rival’s acknowledgment, and so forth. So in truth, Minato, despite not having that many appearances, has a very important role in the story.
And so …
Something about his presence that was in the background throughout the whole story stood out to me as strong as any character that was physically there. You saw him in Naruto, the boy he chose to be the container of the Kyuubi; in the Sandaime, the Hokage who took over after he sacrificed his life 12 years ago and carried on his tradition; Kakashi, who had the Yondaime as his teacher. The strength and courage that allowed Minato to become the Hokage and to use all of his strength to protect the town was everywhere.
And when he finally was presented in the Kakashi Gaiden arc, I was not disappointed. He was all that I expected to be and more. Intelligent, patient, kind, understanding … and even though Kishimoto presented us with this brief view of the man who was such a beloved Hokage, there was so much that was still not revealed – his name, information on his past, and his time as Hokage. It gave me such inspiration, and the desire to create this very shrine, because such a character deserved it. What I have helps reflects it. The few small trinkets I have been able to find that picture Minato decorate my room. I search for any fan art I can find. It is nothing short of an obsession, no ifs, ands or buts. Minato is one of the two main reasons I keep up with the story of Naruto (seeing how Naruto will grow is the other). And with recent developments, this webmiss has been very happy and felt that her life has been completed (well, almost).
