Shikaku stared at down at his son not sure how to answer, why didn't I ever help Naruto? For the same reason no other clan did. It wasn't out of hate, not really. Most civilians may not have realized what a jinchuuriki was, but the clans understood perfectly that a jinchuuriki was as stable as their seal. With the likes of an Uzumaki and the Fourth Hokage as the principle designers of the seal none of us were too terribly worried about the Kyuubi somehow escaping. It wasn't even the shear annoyance we felt as the little blond menace pranked anyone he felt like.

In all honesty I had let Minato down, we all had, anyone with eyes and enough personal honesty could tell whose kid Naruto was. But none of us could look at him, not for long… the sad thing was our reasons for pretending Naruto didn't exist was in no way the same as why the civilians ignored him. But the root was the same…

The civilians looked at him, saw the Kyuubi, and feared.

We clan members looked at Naruto, saw the Kyuubi and remembered.

Remembered the terror of that night as shinobi who had fought and survived the darkest times of the third great shinobi war froze in the force of the Nine-tail's killer intent. Remembered watching whole swaths of ninja be sent flying, screaming in agony, as the burning tail that struck them literally lit them on fire. But mostly we remembered coming home, coming home and finding loved ones dead.

A lot of people who didn't know remarked in surprise about how many clan heirs were graduating in the same class, they shouldn't be, and if they knew what they were talking about they'd shut up. Ten months after the Kyuubi attack there was a rash of births, clan heads replacing lost heirs, or—for those lucky ones whose heir had survived—ensuring they had a spare just in case they weren't so lucky again. Shikamaru had no idea he had had an older sister, Shikaku didn't think any of the clan heads talked about it. No one wanted to remember the shared grief of that night.

Shikaku watched his son shift in discomfort after a solid minute of silence, he should say something, but… How do you tell your child that the reason you had just stood by and let another child suffer was because you simply couldn't bear to look at them? None of us could.