Thank you to PromistDream for Beta-Reading my chapter.
CHAPTER 2
It had been a long day for Hiruzen Sarutobi, also known as the Sandaime Hokage, for the endless mountains of paperwork seemed to just never end. One of these days he swore he was to be buried, never to be found again under a landslide of the entire stuff. Puffing a smoke from his pipe, he sighed.
"Sometimes I wonder why I even have this job." Sarutobi thought as he peered over to a framed portrait of his once successor and now predecessor, the Yondaime Hokage.
A small smile creased over his aged face.
"Minato, how you ever dealt with this horror show of paper and ink day after day, I will never know…" His thoughts were soon interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Come in," he called.
The door swung open to reveal two figures: one male with orange hair, a black t-shirt, fingerless gloves, blue pants and sandals, and one female with short yellow hair, a firm and sharp face, a red t-shirt with black stripes down the sides, blue jeans, and black sandals. However, the most surprising thing was the short, yellow-haired boy with them, whom he knew as none other than Naruto.
He peered at the two strangers. He had never met them (he knew most of the village off by heart) so these two were suspicious to him and adding Naruto to the mix made the situation slightly unsettling. Were they both here for the Kyuubi that Naruto contained? He had to find out.
"Good evening to you both. May I ask why you have little Naruto here?" Sarutobi greeted as he stared at these newcomers with suspicion.
"A pleasure to meet you, Hokage-sama," the orange haired man spoke. "First, we ask that a privacy seal be put up around this room as this is a personal matter and we only trust you and one other at this time," he explained.
Sarutobi tensed and sharpened his eyes at the man. How did he know about the privacy seals in his office? He decided to play it cool and went along with it to see where this was going for now.
"It is done," he said as he finished the seals.
"Good," the man replied. "Dear, can you-"
"Already done," the female companion replied with the sleeping bundle of joy still wrapped around her. She had placed a small sleeping jutsu on the little boy.
"Good... I don't need my son so see this," the man said before laying little Naruto down on the small couch.
Before Sarutobi could question on why this man had called Naruto his son, the henge was dropped.
An audible thud was heard as the pipe from the Sandaime's mouth dropped directly onto the wooden floor below. His mouth was agape at the two people standing in front of him. Minato Namikaze, the legendary Yondaime Hokage, dubbed 'The Yellow Flash' for his use in the Hiraishin no Jutsu which single handedly ended the third great shinobi war. Standing next to him was the one and only Kushina Uzumaki, known as the 'Red Hot-Blooded Habanero' for which people who encountered her and had either seen or lived to tell the tale, could back up as evidence.
Kushina sat down on one of the nearby couches hugging Naruto as she waited for the implications of what was to happen.
While Minato appeared to be calm, albeit slightly angry as it could be seen on his face, those who knew him knew that he was restraining his true emotions from coming to light. Nobody dared to anger and unleash the wrath of the Yondaime and Iwa was proof of that.
"Sarutobi, it's so nice to see you after all these years... Let's chat, shall we?" the apparent now-revived Yondaime started to speak while the killing intent giving off from him was spiking through the roof.
Nearly all villagers in Konoha, asleep or not, felt chills run down their spine and the few who didn't unconsciously smirked without even knowing it.
Sarutobi, regaining his composure after a few seconds, looked doubtful at his old successor/predecessor and his wife. It was not uncommon for people to disguise themselves as important figureheads to gain access to certain places, especially the Hokage.
"Tell me" the Sandaime started, "How can I trust you are the real deal when I know that both the Yellow Flash and Bloody Red Habanero have been dead for at least four years now?" he asked before standing up.
The last thing Sarutobi saw of the supposed-Yondaime was a small yellow flash of light before...
"Is this proof enough?" the cold-edged voice of the Namikaze rang throughout Sarutobi's ears as chills ran down his spine. Even he knew not to get on the bad side of the Yellow Flash.
However, Sarutobi simply chuckled.
"Well now, the Hiraishin huh? It's been four years since I last witnessed that. It's good to have you back Minato," he said before glancing in Kushina's direction. "You too Kushina, you both don't look a day older than I last saw you." As these words were said, Minato flashed back to his previous position before taking a seat.
"We need to talk," was his simple reply.
The sun began to rise in the far distance, signaling the start of a new day. For Naruto Uzumaki however, it was another day for being yelled at, the occasional beating and even so far as… other things, which he shivered thinking about.
Suddenly, he remembered that strange dream he had last night. Apparently his parents had come back to life and, to his biggest surprise, his father was the Yondaime Hokage!
"HAH! What a joke! Me? The son of the legendary Yondaime? That's a good one," Naruto thought to himself. But, he did feel some sadness caused by the dream swell inside of him. It felt so real to him. And that woman with the Yondaime… When she hugged him felt strange, yet right at the same time. It was as if he felt it before.
Groaning, he opened his eyes to the unfamiliar ceiling above him.
"Must be the hospital, again," Naruto thought, already familiar with previous encounters with the dreaded place.
The strange thing was that he felt somewhat comfortable with the unfamiliar feeling of the bed he was laying in. The sheets were not ragged as they should have been nor were there any springs loose that sprung up from the mattress to poke at his small body while he slept.
With curious eyes, he looked around the room and almost jumped at the sight around him.
Bright orange walls greeted his line of sight around him as he sat up. A dark green drawer was in one corner standing next to a dressing cupboard. Over in another corner seemed to be a play-area of sorts like the one he saw back in the orphanage. Back then, of course, he was never allowed in it.
Wanting to inspect the room further, Naruto decided to hop up and get out of the bed. Placing one hand forward on the bed, he held himself so he could get out.
Squeak!
"Huh?" thought a confused Naruto, till he felt a foreign object in between his hands. Looking down, his eyes widened and gazed at the sight of it.
A plushy fox.
Curiously, he picked it up and examined it before giving it another little squeak. That simple sound brought back painful memories of his time in the orphanage. He remembered receiving a birthday present from the Sandaime Hokage when he came to visit on one of Naruto's birthdays where he had given him a stuffed teddy bear.
It was Naruto's third birthday and the Sandaime Hokage had taken time off to visit him.
The Sandaime had just pulled out a brilliantly gift-wrapped present, saying that it was for Naruto. With the energy level of a crazed maniac, Naruto went straight for the gift, sending paper and bowtie pieces flying to reach the special gift inside.
A brown furred teddy bear with green eyes and light tan-furred paws, nose and belly.
"It belonged to your mother, Naruto," the Sandaime started to say. "She wanted to give it to you as a present for when you were born," he finished with a sad smile.
Naruto nodded. Sure, he knew that he didn't have any parents since they had died, but hearing it belonged to his mother made him feel happy.
The Sandaime had stayed for a couple more hours before he had to leave but by that time Naruto had fallen asleep after bedtime story, during which Naruto clutched the bear throughout the entire story.
Naruto had slept peacefully for a few hours before he was awoken by landing on the floor and being hauled off to the main living room where he was greeted by an open fire in the fireplace. The orphanage lady had snatched the bear from his arms and dangling it above Naruto.
"You want it?" She asked in a mocking tone of voice while Naruto tried to jump up and reach it. "Hmpf, Demon's don't deserve these kind of things!" she yelled before tossing the bear into the fireplace.
The sight alone made Naruto scream in pain, seeing his only friend being torn away from him. He cried great waterfalls of anguish. Finally, the lady kicked him in the stomach before heading off back to bed, leaving the defenseless child in the middle of the room, weeping from both the physical, and the emotional trauma he just went through.
The last thing Naruto thought he saw before losing consciousness was what appeared to be the bear itself crying. A strange liquid was seeping from its eyes as if to show it was feeling the same pain that Naruto felt before finally burning to ash.
With that final sight, Naruto slipped into unconsciousness.
.
The smell of cooking brought Naruto out of his thoughts as he clutched the fox against his chest. It really smelt amazing and not like that disgusting crap they served at the orphanage. No, this smelt genuine. Curiously and cautiously, he made his way out from the room that he was located in and followed his nose to the amazing scent.
As he walked past five doorways and two bathrooms, Naruto was truly amazed at the size of the house. From what he could tell, it was up to three times larger than the Hokage Tower. Keeping that in mind and storing it away for later in his head, he came to a stop at the top of a large staircase. Silently, he crept his way down. Finally he reached the bottom of the stairs and rounded a corner before coming to an abrupt stop at the sight he saw.
Standing right there in front of him were the two people from his dream. No… His parents were right there in front of him, cooking up a big breakfast.
"It wasn't a dream..." Naruto trailed off before the floodgates opened.
And he ran...