I read some stories. The ones Koko shared and the link you sent :) and I thought about your Minato. Is he insane or a genius?
Excellent question! [I was hoping someone would bring it up somewhere] You've unknowingly touched a topic I'm very passionate about, @furrymakerkid. Prepare thy browser.
Also note: This is an interpretation based around my headcanons and readings [although I’ll keep the Yamanaka out of it]. Yours may differ and that’s okay - to each their own.
In a word? Minato is insane.
Add in a few more? Minato was a genius who frequented the realm of insanity because he had never experienced failure. So much so, that he thought he was untouchable. There was nothing be couldn't do; no one he couldn't beat. What are emotions? What is the importance of human life when it all boils down to who gets to sit at the Kami forsaken helm? It. Didn't. Matter. All that mattered was the fact that he knew he had the power and the intellect to get things done and he would see to it that he very well did.
I'm not going to go down an unreasonable character development route and state that he was born with these crazy ideologies. They were nurtured by the system; by his keen desire to learn, his innate curiosity, and an ego that was fed by every moron in Konoha who kept telling him that he was a genius borne once every decade. Konoha had enough geniuses! The Sanin, and the White Fang before that, and even in Hiruzen's generation. They didn't need more, but hey, when you need to push an agenda based on war and questionable trade, why not foster another?
Except this time, whatever gave birth to prior geniuses underestimated him. Minato was a conniving bastard and he knew it. He was cold, calculating and merciless. He had a flee-on-sight order at a young age; do you have any idea how many kills that would have taken to foster a reputation dangerous enough to warrant such a detail? He was the perfect soldier. He didn’t come from a special clan, neither did he have a kekkei genkai; his sanity depended on the fact that there was a will of fire he needed to protect but never believed in - not until much later, anyways.
So yes, Minato is insane; a title of genius wrapped around the raw potential of the sort of inhuman monster he knows he can be. He didn’t have time for emotions; rather, he didn’t need to consider them. His default setting ensured he could drift through social cues without needing to incur more; he was a strategist. The golden, sparkly image? Kami, no - he sees most people as variables. Everything is a freaking combination/formula to him. He didn’t have the luxury to treat them as fellow intellectuals unless he had reason to, otherwise.
So...what brings him back from the plane of insanity? The people [insert cringe here]. It sounds corny, I know - but read me out. I've had to read the manga multiple times, badger the few people I know [and love. Their patience is astounding] and have had to babble with fellow writers on Reddit.
Minato got lucky; he had Jiraiya for a sensei and that man wasn’t an idiot: he saw one genius go down the insane route and he wouldn't let another do the same. Similarly, Kushina becomes an emotional anchor, as well as the Genin team he was assigned and failed to protect. The guilt, coupled with an experience of such profound failure, haunts him till his second parting at the end of the Fourth Shinobi War.
Minato has flaws. It takes a lot of people's bloody sacrifices for him to be reminded of said flaws and heavens knows he hates it. He has faith in his own skills, can’t stomach the thought of depending on someone else. [this gets worse when he becomes Yondaime]
All of the above makes his psyche rather tricky to write; the insanity tends to pop up whenever jutsu or battle tact is concerned, yet it turns into a flapping penguin whenever emotions are involved. Only those who know him well are aware of this glaring weakness; heck, his batch mates and those he served in the various platoons over the wars only know him as the calm and composed, yet absolutely lethal Yellow Flash.
If I were to answer you bluntly; Minato is a restrained genius who knows the shades of insanity well. His genius teases it, invites it - but before both can truly ensnare each other, he gets pulled away and he has a hard time dealing with it.
Fun fact on Kushina: Ever noticed how, in the manga, Kushina tells Naruto that she fell in love with Minato when he rescued her? Here’s the thing - SHE fell in love. HE didn’t. It took a lot of shared experiences for that to happen, which is why my headcanons incorporate the best friend aspect more than the lover archetype. Their emotional connection to each other ties them together than any fleeting nuance of lust. I believe that when he says she made him a man, a Hokage and a father, he meant that she taught him to cherish others and to truly believe in the will of fire. The motif of the red thread of fate and all? It is important.
Fun fact on his Genin team: According to my headcanons, he is hesitant with regards to being assigned one. Kakashi is 5 years old; Rin and Obito, barely 9. He has a history for murdering child scouts their age and what’s worse? These kids are from peaceful times [whereas he is probably still stuck in the Second Shinobi War]. Whenever he tries to treat them like fellow cadets in the same outpost, Rin and Obito look at him funny whereas Kakashi nods like the dutiful little subordinate he is [bless his tiny, yet brooding heart]. Needless to say, they grow on each other like well meaning fungi and Minato eventually begins to lose his inner strategist streak in favour of an annoying sensei, not dissimilar to how Jiraiya used to treat him.
That whithers with Obito’s death. Rin’s eventual demise makes it worse, and Kakashi becomes someone he can’t afford to lose, even if the means of ensuring his safety are downright cruel. [Throw him in the ANBU - brilliant thinking, Minato] I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Kakashi was hurt by a man he trusted the most -- neither said man, nor Kakashi, realised it.
Fun fact no one asked for: This is why I prefer writing Minato from a pre-Hokage perspective. Do you have any idea what an unrestrained genius can achieve? He would give Orochimaru a run for his jutsu and Danzo a heart attack which would pop the eyeballs right out of his arm.
Now that I’m done, I'm going back to staring at the abysmal rip in the space-time continuum like the blob that I am. Said rip holds my assignments and thanks to your lovely ask, I can’t focus on those either.
o-o jiiiiiiiiiii