Tsunade smiled to herself as she watched Minato play with his puppy. After she had given them both baths, they looked much better. Kaminari—as she learned was the dog's name— was a Border Collie, and actually had a rich, dark black fur color. She had a white underbelly, and that was where Minato had gotten the name. It reminded him of thunder. Tsunade didn't think so.

Minato, instead of having had dark blonde hair, had inherited his father's bright blonde hair and his mother's beautiful blue eyes. He really was a sweet kid when you got to know him, just like his mother was. Although, even though Tsunade had known the Namikaze's well, she hadn't known that they had a child. She had been out of the village with Jiraiya on a mission for the last couple of years; she had gotten back just in time to attend their funeral.

However, when she thought really hard about it, the medic-nin did remember something about the night before she had left with Jiraiya.

"Kohaku," Tsunade said with a smile. "You didn't have to do this."

Kohaku Namikaze turned to her best friend and grinned, shaking her head with a smile. "Of course I have too, Tsunade. You're my friend, and I'm not going to see you for almost two years!"

Hiroki stepped next to his wife with a smirk, rolling his eyes. "Yes, but Kohaku, you know that we have to do other things tonight."

For a brief moment, Kohaku's face darkened, but it disappeared within seconds, and Tsunade almost thought she had imagined it. "You're right, dear, but that can wait."

Tsunade's amber-colored eyes flicked around the room randomly, lighting upon a small child peeking around the doorway. She cocked her head to the side curiously, staring at the little boy, but before she could ask, he had vanished, leaving the medic-nin to wonder if it had been her imagination.

Because the last time she had checked, the Namikaze's did not have a child.

Apparently she had been wrong. Kohaku must have had Minato when she had been on that one mission in the Land of Waves—or Land of the Whirlpool, depending on who you talked to. Tsunade didn't know why Kohaku, her best friend, had kept this a secret, and why no one had helped Minato.

Does anyone even know of Minato? She thought to herself as she watched the young child run through her small apartment. But she banished the thought as Kaminari jumped up into her lap, wagging her tail and panting.

"Hey, girl," she murmured, scratching behind the puppy's ear.

She sighed, standing up and cradling the dog in her arms. "Come on, Minato. We have to go." She called to the younger blonde. Kaminari barked in her arms.

"Coming, 'Nade!" Minato shouted, zipping past her so fast he was almost a blur. Tsunade blinked, then found the piece of rope that was serving as Kaminari's leash. She looped it around the dog's neck loosely, and then pulled her jacket on.

"Minato! Where'd you go?"

"I'm right here, silly," Minato said from behind her. She jumped and whipped around. When had he moved behind her?

"Come on," she said. "The Hokage's waiting for us."

She led the blonde out the door, the dog trailing along behind, sniffing at the ground.

/\/

The Third Hokage was waiting for his former student, but he was not expecting to see the young child holding Tsunade's hand.

"Sarutobi-sensei, what do you have to say about this?" Tsunade demanded, pointing to Minato.

Sarutobi shrugged, gazing down at the small blonde. "I don't know who this is. Satisfied?"

"No. Sensei, I respect you and all, but Minato was out in the streets for two weeks before I found him!" Tsunade shrieked, barely restraining herself from cussing her sensei out. That was not something Minato had to see.

Sarutobi crouched down in front of Minato, who clutched Tsunade's hand like a lifeline. "Hello, I'm Sarutobi. What's your name?" he said kindly.

"Minato Namikaze," he said after glancing up at Tsunade for permission. The Hokage's eyebrows went up a fraction, but he recovered himself.

"Where are your parents?"

"They're dead."

That confirmed Sarutobi's fears. He stood up, moving back over to his desk. "Tsunade," he said. "Where did you find this child?"

"In an alley," Tsunade frowned. "Why?"

"I have a bad feeling about this." The Hokage muttered. "Tsunade, did you know that Kohaku had a child?"

"No, not until I found Minato," she said. "Although…"

She told Sarutobi about the night before she left, and Sarutobi frowned. "Tsunade, if I had known that Minato was alive, I would have helped, trust me. But his parents kept him a secret. They didn't want us to know about him for some reason."

"So what should we do with him?" Tsunade asked, bending to pick Minato up. The boy had started to saga against her leg, eyelids drooping. She adjusted his body so that he could rest his head against her shoulder.

Sarutobi rubbed his cheek, glancing up at the ceiling. "I guess for now, all we can do is take care of him. We don't know what the Namikaze's were doing, and until we find that out you're in charge of him. You might even become his adopted mother, depending on what we find. You're okay with that, right?"

Tsunade smiled down at Minato, sound asleep from his hard day of playing with Kaminari. "Yeah. I'm completely fine with that."

A/N: Okay! A little more background on Tsunade and Kohaku. More to come soon (if you review. Please!).