Title: UINO: Minato
Series: NARUTO
Short Summary: He couldn't remember who he really was, having two sets of memories that contradicted each other. And then the silver-haired young man with the painted mask and grey armour handed him a hopeful four year old with whiskers. UINO universe side-story with MinatoNamikaze!OC. Can be stand-alone.
Genre(s): Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Family
Rating: T
Word Count: 3'053, 3'240 altogether.
Characters: OC, Minato N., Kakashi H., Naruto U., Hiruzen S.
Pairings: Past Minato/Kushina
Start
He blinked open his eyes, wincing slightly at the bright white lights that were screaming at him from above. He hissed in pain as the area of his body, just above his abdomen and up to his lungs, throbbed painfully. He squinted up at the white, cracked, ceiling, and cursed under his breath. 'Looks like I survived that car crash.' His lips pulled down into a frown at the thought. What car crash? Hadn't he been fighting the... the... that monster? He took a breath as a familiar man's voice whispered from the back of his mind,
'Listen to your silly mother, Naruto...'
He grimaced and forced himself to sit up. Naruto. Why did that name sound so familiar? It was a name, he knew that much, but who's name? No... Naruto was the name of a manga character, not a real person... no, that's not right either...
'We were thinking of naming him Naruto, after the character in your book, Jiraiya-sensei!'
Long, beautiful, deep red hair and pale violet eyes flashed before his eyes, whispering his name, gentle hands caressing a small, whiskered cheek slowly, breath laboured and filled with emotion; pain, sorrow, joy,
'Minato-kun, our son, our Naruto, isn't he beautiful?'
Blond hair fell before his eyes as he leaned forward, memories of a giant fox with nine destructive tails and baby boys with blond hair and whiskered cheeks and long red hair and a sharp claw just inches away from piercing through a baby with a black swirl on his tiny stomach, and of frantic, crying goodbyes and pale pink lips stained with blood whispering lovingly and a final loud roar before that tiny black swirl sucked in large amounts of red something and then blackness...
'Grow up big and strong, Naruto... I'm sorry, my son...'
His son. His Naruto, where was his son? He frowned. He didn't have a son, what was he thinking? He looked around the small hospital room he was in, his eyes drawn to the large window in the wall, a picturesque village on display, and a large cliff-face with his face proudly staring down to the village and... no... that wasn't his face. Why was he thinking it was his face? Why was that cliff-face so familiar?
'Wow Minato-sensei! You're going to be Hokage!'
Hokage. Yes, that's right, he was the Fourth... no, Hokage weren't real... but he had been in office for a few years... no, Hokage were part of that manga. He held a hand to his head. He can understand now why he was so confused. There were two sets of contradicting memories trying to force their way into his brain.
Was he 'Minato!' or 'Brandon!'?
Reddish-brown hair and bright green eyes that were hidden behind red-framed glasses and a grin wide enough to touch her ears, and who was this girl, this child, this teenager? She was familiar but not and her voice was tinged with excitement almost constantly,
'Yo, B-Dog! What'cha got over there?'
She was carrying a white and black rabbit around, no, now she was laughing at the television while he sat beside her smugly... now she was sitting next to him in a car, their cosplays waving lightly in the wind from his window that was rolled down just enough to let some air in and wait, now she was pushing the buttons on the radio, changing the station,
'Geez Brandon, your radio doesn't pick up anything!'
Oh god, she is screaming, he is screaming, and the car is slammed into from the side and dear lord someone help him, it is hot and cold and red and his vision was fading and she had stopped screaming but now there was someone else screaming and there were sirens and he could just barely see her dull green eyes staring at him from a neck that was twisted unnaturally to the side, and god, he felt like vomiting...
'God, no, please, Taylor!'
She was dead, and he was dying, and no, no, no, he was never going to hear her voice again, never see her beam widely when he gave her a birthday present, never watch television together,
'C'mon Brandon! We're watchin' Naruto tonight!'
He'd never be able to come over to her house at all hours of the day, never laugh together over the stupid little things her pets did or the jokes they made, never hear her call him in the middle of the night about something her rabbit did,
'Brandon! You just missed it! My bunny rolled over on command! He's so smart!'
The heart monitor next to him started beeping rapidly, and the small black designs on it flashed white, making alarms ring out all over the hospital. His chest started throbbing even more and he grabbed it, panting, hissed, breaths escaping through his chapped lips. The door slammed open and several men and women in doctor's coats ran in, shouting orders as hands pushed him down into a laying position. He watched as the bandages around his chest were cut from his body before two sets of hands were placed over the gaping wound in his chest and now they were glowing a pale green, and the wound slowly stopped bleeding before bits and pieces of it began sewing itself together, and how in the world was this happening? Before he knew it the hands were gone and his chest was bandaged once again, and he was laying, breathing softly and easier as the doctors sighed in relief and smiled down at him, respect and awe in their eyes. They left him alone without a single word, whispering to each other about telling the Third that he was awake. 'The Third what?'
'Namikaze Minato, as the Third Hokage, I am proud to say that you have been selected to be the Fourth Hokage.'
The door opened again, just as he gathered the strength to push himself into a seated position, startling him enough to fall back down, and he prepared himself for a jabbing, sharp, pain in his chest when he was caught by two gloved hands that helped him sit up. He turned and saw gravity-defying silver hair standing straight up from behind a painted mask that looked remarkably like a dog and he can just barely spot a faint red glow from the right eye hole and the hands were trembling as he smiled and thanked the ANBU by name, calling him Kakashi.
'Are you sure Kakashi? ANBU is rough, and you might lose yourself...'
The older man by the door cleared his throat and caught his attention as he began barking orders for Kakashi to back away from the bed, and now he was even more confused when Kakashi bowed and called the old man Hokage-sama. The old man, Hokage-sama, approached and questioned him and he gave answers quickly before his brain could process the question, and several questions later the old man smiled happily yet sorrow-filled, and he couldn't help but smile back, before a single question forced itself out of his throat, where was Kushina, and where was his baby boy? The old man's smile withered slightly as he ordered Kakashi to go grab his son, and Kakashi bowed and disappeared in a swirl of smoke and leaves while the old man lowered himself into the chair next to his bed.
'...make sure you eat your vegetables, Naruto... and... take a bath... everyday...'
The old man sighed heavily and began telling a story, one that seemed to fantastical to his ears. And then the memories came, of him dressed in his long flowing coat as the Fourth Hokage and of Kushina giving birth to his baby, his Naruto, of someone, the false Madara, Obito, his mind whispered, murdering the ANBU guards and Biwako, the old man's wife and Kushina's midwife, before releasing the Kyuubi, the giant fox with nine tails, from Kushina's already failing seal, "giving birth was too hard on the seal!", and the Kyuubi began destroying the village but then he swooped in and used his technique, his Hiraishin, to transport it away and then finally of him sealing the fox away into his son. The old man continued from where his memories faded off, of how he had been in a coma and almost dead for four years, his chest wound wouldn't heal no matter what technique was used and the only one who can try to heal him, Tsunade, ran off before she could fix him, and of his son, his beautiful baby boy, who had been forced into four years without his father and that meant four years of scorn from the villagers, sneers and glares and the occasional villager who went too far and tried to hurt his son, only to be stopped by the ANBU Inu, no, Kakashi...
'Kakashi, when Naruto is born, promise me you'll watch over him.'
He closed his eyes and clenched his fists, and, despite the other memories who told him of the whiskered blond growing up almost fine with the neglect from the villagers, happy and smiling and a lovable idiot with a stupid catchphrase much like his Kushina's dattebane, ending up as the Seventh Hokage, he just couldn't let it happen to his son, who wasn't his son at the same time, this time around.
'JUST YOU WATCH! I'LL SHOW YOU! I'll be Hokage one day, dattebayo!'
And then, in the same manner he had left, Kakashi returned, silver hair rumpled slightly and painted mask pushed to the side of his head and a small blond boy who was looking around in wonder tucked protectively against grey armour. Kakashi smiled down at the boy, hidden behind the second mask that hid only his mouth, eye crinkling happily, and walked towards the bed, whispering to the boy who had finally noticed him sitting on the bed, watching the two. His eyes met wide blue eyes that he was sure were the same shade his were and blond hair that was a shade redder than his but just barely, but those eyes, they were shaped like Kushina's and the shape of his face wasn't quite his nor was it quite Kushina's, and it finally dawned on him that this was his son, his Naruto, his baby boy that he had been so proud of even when he hadn't been born yet, and his heart swelled with emotion that was a strange mix between pride and love but not quite either because neither he nor his other self had truly been a father nor had either truly had a father in their lives.
'You're... the Fourth Hokage! And you... you're my... dad?'
His son's blue eyes widened in hope when one of Kakashi's whispers included the word Otou-san, and he stared as whiskered cheeks moved as his son mouthed the word daddy and he could feel tears well up in his eyes as his Naruto leaned forward, arms stretched towards him, because even a four year old could see the similarities between the two, and really, how had no one noticed in the manga? Spiky blond hair couldn't be that common in Konoha, someone had to have made the connection eventually. Kakashi sat Naruto down on the bed and he gathered his son in his arms and now he couldn't stop the tears from falling as he mumbled about how sorry he was for condemning him to years of neglect and how he wished his Kushina could see how handsome their baby boy had become.
'HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO YOUR OWN SON! HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME ALONE LIKE THAT!'
He hugged his son tighter as Naruto began crying as well and he could barely understand what the smaller blond was muttering in between cries and he softly whispered that he'd never leave ever and that made Naruto cling to him tighter. The old man signaled something out the window before he tilted his hat and left, leaving him, his son, and Kakashi alone. And when Kakashi awkwardly shifted and began to head out, he stopped him by raising his hand and beckoning him over, and that was all it took for the young man before him to fall into the chair that the Third had vacated. Kakashi gave one single sniffle before letting his eyes express the pain he had been bottling up and he pulled the silver-haired man into his side, letting him cling to him as if he'd disappear again, after all he was the closest thing Kakashi had to a father since he was five. Naruto didn't seem to mind as he had tuckered himself out crying and so he moved himself over a bit and tucked the younger blond in, and ran his fingers through the short, spiky tresses and down his whiskered cheeks.
'I know I haven't been there for you... it must have been lonely... but I... I'm proud of you, my son.'
A doctor came in a few hours later, quietly tiptoeing around the exhausted Kakashi, and woke him up to begin running a check-up scan on him. But when he caught sight of the whiskered cheeks and blond hair that could only belong to one child, he began shouting angrily about the demon boy and how he'll throw the fox-brat out the window and save 'Minato-sama!' the trouble of ending the fox's reincarnation himself. He ended up waking both Kakashi and his son, but when the two shot up and turned to the doctor, one scared and the other with a kunai in hand, 'Minato-sama!' had already jumped up, chakra instinctively forming into a sphere just above his palm, and he growled and glared and slammed the Rasengan into the wall next to the now terrified doctor, before he began screaming loudly and angrily about how no one will ever do such a thing to his son and how, even with his injuries, he was the Fourth Hokage and what he said was law and if everyone acted like him to his hero of a son, then he'll pack up the second he was healed and he'd leave for Iwa or Kumo or even Ame and leave Konoha to fend for itself because he couldn't care for a village that wanted to murder a child for something that he wasn't.
'Dad, my dad, I can't believe it! I... I'm just so happy! The Fourth Hokage is my dad! Dattebayo!'
A few weeks later he was standing on top of his tower, the Hokage tower, the old man standing before him and helping prepare him for his re-inauguration, coaching him through a newly prepared speech and helping him into the Hokage robes. Naruto stood beside him, dressed in a small formal kimono, embroidered with the Uzumaki swirl on the back and shoulders, looking especially handsome as he had told him. And as he made his way across the flat topped tower, he picked his son up, making him squeak, and held him in his arms, close to his rapidly beating heart, because he just couldn't wait to see the villagers' reactions. As he approached the edge and looked down at every villager who gathered close to the tower, he heard their happy cheers of 'Minato-sama, Minato-sama!' turn into scandalous whispers and furious, at first, shouts, all of which turned quickly into happy cheers once again, when many assumed that he was about to finish what he started all those years ago.
'And I swear to protect every single one of you to the best of my ability as the FOURTH HOKAGE!'
The shouts died down as he held up his free hand. He gazed around at everyone below him, and, deep inside him, the many memories he locked back, the memories of Brandon, who died on his way to a convention dressed as Namikaze Minato, the memories of a different shaggy haired blond who's best friend desperately needed to visit a therapist, who watched as she died in his car with him, of watching the anime Naruto and reading the manga, surfaced and he let a glare grace his face for a few seconds before a smirk winded up his face and lit up his eyes with false cheer laced with anger,
'You know what? I do like watching Naruto with you Taylor. Now, you were telling me about Naruto's dad?'
"Everyone," He started, his blue eyes glinting madly and his smirk widened into a dangerous, almost roguish grin, "this..." He held Naruto up a bit higher, and waited for their chants of 'Take care of him already Hokage-sama!' and 'Kill the demon!' and 'It's just that thrice damned Uzumaki child!' to die down. "this young man, right here," He set Naruto down on the railing before him, and he knew that if any of the villagers could see the look in his eyes they'd be terrified and quaking in their boots because he was about ready to Hiraishin and Rasengan through them like he did to that Iwa platoon.
'I can't believe no one saw how similar they look B-Dog! I mean, c'mon, they're clones aside from the whiskers!'
He let them stew in their vicious anger and cheer for a few more minutes, before he licked his chapped lips and continued, "is my Son. Namikaze Naruto." And with that he gathered Naruto in his arms and, placing a kiss atop his son's blond hair, made his way into the tower, and away from the villagers' shrieks and mutterings about how similar they were. Minato may not have acted precisely in that manner, and while Minato guiltily enjoyed the villagers' faces, Brandon took sadistic pleasure in the horrified looks on their faces for the few seconds he'd been able to see them.
The man who entered the Hokage's office, his own office, later that night, wasn't completely Minato, nor was he completely Brandon, either. He wasn't truly Naruto's father, nor Kakashi's sensei, nor Jiraiya's student, and he didn't deserve the title of Fourth Hokage or the Yellow Flash, or the fear and respect and awe-filled glances that he inspired just by showing his face. But he'd take it all, because, from Brandon's memories and Minato's experiences, Naruto, dorky, lovable, idiotic, Naruto, didn't deserve being raised in a village that scorned him for something Minato did.
Fin.