A/N: Probably the fastest I've updated, but I just can't stop writing! Don't be surprised if I update again tomorrow! But I think that'll be the end of me updating so quickly as Spring Break is officially over for me. Back to college I go! Thanks to those who were kind enough to review and all those who have read thus far!

Key:

"Speech"
'Thoughts'
Demon/Deity
Demon/Deity thoughts
"Sign Language/ANBU coded signing"

Chapter 2: Game Start

It was official. Minato Namikaze was going to snap.

He had been awake for all of thirty minutes and the doctor (whom he 'remembered' was kind and did his job) just wouldn't stop fussing over him. The aging medic-nin kept prodding the skin where his worst injuries had been, triple checking his charts, and so forth. It was absolutely annoying and unnecessary. So far, they had proved to be worse than when he was stuck in the hospital all those years ago. Sure they fussed over him, especially during the height of the war, but they were never this bad.

Maybe it was because of the war that they didn't have the luxury of fussing over him. He was sure those nurses would be more than happy to take care of him during his recovery. 'Damn fan-girls...'

Still, his resigned composure during the final check up gave him time to plan a little on how to live as Naruto. From all the memories given to him it was clear his son was a ball of absolute sunshine. Never cried, never complained, never stopped smiling in the face of others...his poor baby boy had learned long ago to keep it all inside. Crying never got anything done. Complaining never changed anything. Anything else only caused pain.

His son had changed his outer appearance just so that people wouldn't hurt him.

Internally, Minato was fighting to maintain control of his KI. It wouldn't do to have him accidentally leak it in front of a medic who was obviously on Sarutobi's good graces. He knew that the Hokage saw Naruto for Naruto rather than the fox, but he knew that he was worried the seal would somehow break or that it was allowing the Kyuubi to influence him. To be honest, it was a little insulting. The seal he had created to contain the Kyuubi was his best work. It was the master piece among master pieces. Hell, he had given his soul to the Shinigami to complete it! Didn't that tell him of the seals power?

Evidently not.

Still, that didn't change the fact that he needed to do everything in his power to change the outlook on his son. At seven years of age he would be starting the Academy soon. It usually started at the end of summer, around September, but after the Kyuubi Attack, the Academy started in the beginning of November and ended at the start of July. Of course, with the way he was now, Minato was sure he could pass the written portion of the graduation exam with little difficulty. Being Hokage, if only for a short while, had caused him to know the ins and outs of all of Konoha's laws. The other aspects such as Mathematics, Language Arts, History and so on were something that only improved with experience. Maybe not history, but for the most part he was pretty sure he lived through the history they would be learning.

What he really needed to work on was the more physical aspects of his ninja career: Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu. From the feel of his chakra stores, chakra control was going to be a pain to get down. Thanks to the Kyuubi, Naruto was a chakra powerhouse. Thanks to that his stamina was off the charts, which somewhat explained why he could hardly remember being able to sit still for very long. He had too much energy to burn.

Ninjutsu wouldn't come easily as the very first thing he needed to do was get better control. It would take a very long time before he'd be able to walk on the trees, let alone water. Shadow clones would do wonders in helping him, especially since with the amount of chakra he had at his disposal, he was a one man army. But of course he couldn't. Kage Bunshin was a forbidded S-rank technique of the Leaf because of the amount of chakra required and the backlash of memories from the clone. No way would someone just teach a seven year old kid to do that, so all of the sudden being able to do it would be like painting a bright neon sign pointing at him that said: "Here I am! I'm a suspicious person just begging to be sent to the T.I Department!" He'd have to wait till he was able to wrangle it out of one of the Jonins. As for techniques, he should be able to go to the library to read up on the more basic techniques if only to relieve any suspicion, but 'learning' elemental techniques would have to wait till he could find someone to either teach him, or until he was put on a Genin team and ask his Sensei then.

'Damnit, I'm to young to do any good ninjutsu!' Minato thought to himself.

Working on taijutsu would be simple enough. Going through the katas he remembered secretly before officially learning them in the academy would do him wonders. Maybe he could even sneak out to watch a couple of the Jonins train to make it more plausible that he simply copied what he'd seen should he ever be caught. The best thing about being a kid though, was that no one would think twice about one running around in the city. He could probably make it into some sort of obstacle course to help him further. After all, running around a track or the city limits was a tell-tale sign of training, running around like a little kid was hardly considered training. Other than that, doing pushups, situps, and so forth could be done in the confines of his home was simple enough.

Genjutsu on the other hand would be far more difficult. Like medic-jutsu's, genjutsu required a lot of chakra control and extreme focus. Something that Naruto wouldn't be able to accomplish. Hell, even he had been sub par at genjutsu in his life. So it wasn't a major loss.

He wasn't sure about how he would change the civilians opinion of him before he became a ninja though. Civilians as a whole were idiots. Fearful of anything that was different and completely dependent on the shinobi forces to protect them. The best he could do was not antagonize them in any way, shape, or form. So all the plans Naruto had been making for pranks were thrown out the window completely. At least the ones that targeted the civilian populace. Pranking shinobi would help him in stealth and avoiding the enemy. After all, he would have to re-learn how to mask his presence, and practicing against the higher ranking shinobi would help him greatly in that regard. Besides, pranking was hardly considered training as well, and no one would expect a thing.

'Hmmm...maybe being a kid isn't so bad...' It most certainly had it's perks, being able to hide behind the facade of a child would always be able to give him the element of surprise, something that was always an advantage to have as a shinobi.

"Alright, Naruto," the medic, Mizumi Hankuro, said, breaking his train of thought, "looks like you're all healed."

"Finally..." Minato murmured, much to Mizumi's amusement.

"Hokage-sama said to wait for him here so he can take you out to Ichiraku's for-" she looked to the clock and saw it read 12:47p.m, "lunch." The kind smile on her face was enough for Minato to reciprocate it. She seemed to truly care about his health, something that was rare for Naruto. While it was hardly enough, Minato was glad Naruto had gotten a few people in his life that cared for him, and gave him small bouts of sincere happiness.

"Thanks Mizumi-san." He said politely, and while he was sure it wasn't a good thing, Minato was greatly amused by her suddenly shocked expression.

"Ermm... yeah, uh, no problem, Naruto." she stumbled before finally composing herself with the same smile. Was it really that shocking to see Naruto act politely? Considering he called the Hokage 'Jiji' in public would probably make that a 'yes.'

"Ne, Mizumi-san, is there any clothes I could wear? I think mine... umm... they're too ripped." he asked in a low, somewhat shy voice. Ah, thank you years of shinobi deception.

"Oh! Of course, Naruto!" Mizumi said looking a bit flustered, "I'll go bring you some right now!" With that, the kind woman scrambled out of the room leaving Minato to chuckle a bit. She reminded him of Rin, the poor girl always acted so flustered whenever he spoke to her alone or directly, though admittedly she got better at hiding it with time.

'Rin...' The one thought made him realize that some of the people he had left behind were still here. 'Kakashi, Gai, Shikaku, Inoichi, Chouza, Hiashi, Hizashi...hell, even Fugaku...they're all still here.' Of course he could never, or rather wouldn't ever, tell them the truth. After seven years their wounds had been healed, the scars had faded... suddenly telling them that he was in the body of his son would only reopen them and cause them more pain in the end. At least, that was what he continued to tell himself. He knew, from the one glance at Kakashi's solemn face before he performed the seal, that he had hurt the boy in more ways than he could imagine. He was, however, pleasantly surprised to see that Kakashi had truly watched over his son to the best of his abilities as Inu. He was the only one that actually broke up the fights that began, the only one that made sure he got home safe, and the only one to not emit KI toward him. He even 'accidentally' showed himself to Naruto to let him know that there were people who cared about him.

'Good ol' Kakashi.' Minato thought to himself with a grin.

While he couldn't make friends with his old ones, he could make friends with their children. All of whom were near his age. He wondered if the apple did indeed fall far from the tree...

Only time would tell it seemed.

"Here we are!" Mizumi's voice rang in the room causing him to turn to the grinning brunette. In her hands were a folded clump of clothes. "Hokage-sama should be here really soon, so get changed and wait a little while longer for your ramen." she said before turning to let him change in private. As soon as she was out the door, Minato couldn't help but shake his head in amusement and exasperation. It seemed that other than her speech tick of 'datebane,' his son also inherited a near obsessive love for ramen. Though it shouldn't surprise him, during her pregnancy, Kushina had just about every single ramen that was made, or bought in Konoha. She had even sent out a few missions for teams to go pick some up from neighboring cities!

Getting out of the hospital bed, Minato went to the small pile of clothes and saw they were standard kid clothes. A pair of loose fitting black pants, a white regular t-shirt and a warm fitting navy jacket with dark orange cuffs and zipper. Again, as if on some unannounced cue, Sarutobi walked inside the room looking better than he had the day before.

"Ah, Naruto, good to see you're up and about." he said with a relieved smile. "Come on, let's go eat." What surprised him was not that Sarutobi wasn't in his Hokage outfit, but that he had offered his winkled hand for him. This most certainly never happened to Naruto before... though he certainly had tried. The memories of Naruto's indecision to grasp the Hokage's hand as he'd seen so many kids do with their parents came rushing at him suddenly he had to blink a few times to get a firm grasp at reality. He could see the worry in Sarutobi's eyes, especially after his hesitation, so he took the hand slowly and couldn't help but feel a small warmth bloom in the center of his chest.

This was something both Minato and Naruto shared. Neither had the comfort of a family. In life, Minato had been in the orphanage for as long as he could remember. He hardly remembered his mother, and he hadn't a clue as to who his father was. In all honesty, Jiraiya, despite his prevertish tendencies, had been like a father to him, but even then something as small as grasping his hand in comfort had never happened to him.

At least now his son was with his mother, happy with the familial unconditional love a parent gave to their child.

Looking back to Sarutobi, Minato gave the aged man a genuine grin that caused the man to reciprocate it happily.

It didn't take long for the two of them to make it to Ichiraku's Ramen stand, though looking at the glares he had been given by the villagers, he was sure this was one of the reasons Sarutobi had offered his hand. No one would, after all, dare attack Naruto when in the presence of the Hokage.

"Ah! Hokage-sama! What can I get you?" Teuchi Ichikaru asked before turning to Naruto, "There you are, Naruto! We've missed you these past few days!" Minato couldn't help but smile at the man. From everything he remembered, Teuchi was the one who made sure he was well fed, even made him pay less for ramen after seeing how small and skinny he was. He was, after all, their best customer, and never once had they looked at Naruto in a negative light.

"Hi!" Minato said, brightened by the mans grin and genuine happiness to see him. "Can I get miso ramen?" he asked with a wide grin.

"Coming right up! Hokage-sama?" he asked turning to the leader of the village.

"I'll have the same, Tenuchi-san." Sarutobi said with a pleasant grin. He was always happy to see people who cared for Naruto like this. It was so rare to find someone who didn't see him as a demon that he couldn't help but smile.

"Right away, Hokage-sama. Ayame! Two miso!" Teuchi exclaimed to his daughter.

"Got it, tou-san!" the pretty brunette replied. "Hi Naruto! How are you?" she asked happily while getting the ingredients for miso ramen.

"I'm all better now, Ayame-nee!" Minato said as if compelled to call her sister. 'I guess some of Naruto is infused in me now.' Minato thought to himself. It would certainly explain a bit and help with becoming his son to the outside world.

"Good to hear, Naruto! I'll get the orders up in just a bit." she replied before turning to help her father.

Ichiraku's had always been a sort of sanctuary to Naruto. Here, he could eat without anyone kicking him out. Here, he could talk happily and openly. Here, they treated him like a person.

Sarutobi and Minato sat waiting for their food in a comfortable silence, though Sarutobi was a bit concerned that the small blonde hadn't been chatting away in his usual manner. It was just more confirmation that Naruto had changed after that night... and as much as he wished he hadn't, Naruto had lost most, if not all of his innocence that night.

"Ne, jiji?" Minato began toward Sarutobi.

"Yes, Naruto?"

The small blonde looked down from the soft gaze of the Hokage, shifting in his seat to look a bit uncomfortable, if not nervous. "Do...do you think you can teach me that ninja technique?" he began in a soft voice. "The-the one where you poof to look like a different person?" Minato honestly had to applaud his acting skills, he sounded just like a child would.

Sarutobi, on the other hand, looked at Naruto with a questioning gaze, "Why would you want to learn that Naruto?" he asked gently, already dreading the answer. He just knew he wasn't going to like the answer.

Shifting more in his seat, Minato looked up to the Hokage with slightly watered eyes, and said, "We-well...I... I just thought that...that if I didn't look like-like me, I wouldn't...they wouldn't hurt me..." he finished in nothing short of a whisper, his eyes looking once again at the wooden counter top.

Hiruzen had to close his eyes for a moment, taking in a single slightly shaking breath before he turned to the boy beside him. Minato's boy, his only son wanting to learn how to change his appearance so that people wouldn't hurt him. How he had failed... completely and utterly failed Minato. Turning to the small blonde, Sarutobi placed a hand on his sagged shoulders causing him to look up at him.

"I'll teach it to you, Naruto." he said with a forced smile, but Minato could see from the look of his sunken eyes that he was actually saying, 'I'm so sorry, Naruto.'

Even so, Minato smiled happily. This would help him get back to a healthy weight as now he would be able to turn himself into a completely different person to buy his food. No more rotten fruits and vegetables, no more over priced items, no more half ruined clothes... he would be able to get everything the way he was supposed to get them in the first place.

"Okay, while we're waiting I'll tell you a bit about it." Sarutobi began, gaining the full focus of the small blonde, "The technique you're talking about it called the Transformation Technique and is an E-ranked ninjutsu, the lowest and easiest class for ninjutsu. Essentially, it allows the user to change into anything they desire: people, plants, animals, inanimate objects. It's considered one of the harder e-ranked ninjutsu because it requires a constant flow of chakra to keep the form. Chakra, Naruto, is the moulding of both your spiritual and physical energy..."

Minato did his best to look as focused and deeply interested as possible as Sarutobi continued his explanation on chakra and the Transformation technique, but he really didn't want to. This was something that he knew the ins and outs of, heck, he even understood the complicated henge technique Tsunade uses to maintain a younger appearance.

He was silently sighing in relief once Sarutobi showed him the hand seals for the technique and how to feel the chakra flowing through his body as he did so. He purposefully fouled up the first few attempts as would be expected out of a seven year old, untrained kid. On his fourth try, he made himself look like an exact replica of Sarutobi, and started laughing genuinely when said man's pipe fell out of his mouth. Popping out of the technique, Minato had the widest grin plastered on his face.

"See that, jiji!" Minato exclaimed, fully channeling his son, "I'm going to become the best ninja ever!"

Once Sarutobi regained his composure, he couldn't help but smile and chuckle softly at Naruto, overjoyed that he hadn't lost all of his childish innocence.

Ruffling the small blue eyed boy's hair, he said, "I look forward to seeing that day, Naruto."

The rest of their time together was spent eating and making idle conversation with Teuchi and Ayame before the Hokage had to get back to his office and attempt to win the war against paperwork. Minato could honestly say that, that particular aspect of being Hokage was something he most definitely did not look forward to getting back to.

It. Never. Ended!

Ah, but as a kid, he wouldn't have to deal with any paperwork!

The simple joys of being a child.

Making his way home, Minato kept a soft, polite smile on his face and completely ignored the death glares sent his way. Using the memories that had infused with him, Minato did not look forward to having to clean his shabby apartment. It was expected out of an orphan to not have good leaning habits as those were usually instilled by nagging parents, but Minato would make sure that his home remained as clean as he could possibly keep it.

Even if it would end up trashed at least twice each year...

Not that he could do anything about it. Well, he could, but putting up warding seals which required near mastery at Fuuinjutsu was something he really couldn't do without causing outright suspicion.

Finally making it back to his rundown apartment, Minato opened the door and was immediately attacked by the slightly rancid smell. He could tell that Naruto was used to it, but Minato sure as hell wasn't.

'Kami, Naruto...I'm so...so, sorry.' He thought with tears in his eyes. Even though Shinigami said this was all of no consequence of his actions, he couldn't help but feel completely responsible for the hell his son had to live through.

Taking a deep breath, Minato began to clean his apartment out, ridding it of all trash, all the inedible food, too worn out clothes, and everything he could do without. After throwing the large black plastic bag in the dumpster, his home looked considerably better, if not a bit empty. All he had now was a fairly large bookcase, dresser, nearly broken desk and table, a worn out bed, outdated kitchen appliances, and the occasional spider here and there. Next step, clean everything.

So he did. Taking one of the shirts he had saved for this purpose, Minato scrubbed the entire apartment down with the little soap he had and dusted the floor and wooden furniture. He would have made clones to make this all go quicker, but Minato knew he was being watched by ANBU, as they hadn't completely masked their presence since he was a child. While he couldn't tell if the ANBU was a Hyuuga or not, he didn't want to take the risk of their eyes catching him correctly channeling his chakra to make solid clones. So he kept at a steady pace, taking breaks every now and then as his small body demanded.

By the time the sun had set, his apartment looked twenty times better than it had earlier and the smell had nearly completely faded. The next thing he did was take a shower, scrubbing down all the grime and sweat he had managed to produce onto his body. In the morning he would have to go out to buy actual food and not the lifetime supply of cupped ramen he currently had stashed in his cabinets. He would also have to buy some new clothes as well, ones to train in, and more casual clothes. It was a shame, but he wouldn't be able to buy kunai or shuriken until he was an Academy student since he didn't have anyone to buy them for him.

Making himself a cup of beef ramen afterwards, Minato walked over to his room and fell on the small bed, unconsciousness quickly taking over.

He honestly couldn't get a break.

It seemed, that now that he was completely healed, Minato reverted back to his internal clock and woke up bright and early at 5a.m.

'Damnit...I should have known this would happen...' he thought to himself before getting up and fixing the bed. It was too early for the markets to be open, so Minato took to another ramen cup for breakfast. He had to wonder though, it seemed that Naruto's diet was almost always ramen... hadn't he gotten tired of eating the stuff?

A memory of Kushina screaming, 'Ramen is food of the gods, Minato! You can never get tired of ramen!' came to mind and he realized this was yet another thing he had inherited from his his head, Minato finished the small cup of ramen and he walked over to the long mirror in his room. He figured he would turn into an ordinary plain man, nothing too outstanding to distinguish him in a crowd. So three hand seals and a poof later, a dull looking brown haired, brown eyed young man stood in front of the mirror.

'Yeah, this'll work.' he thought to himself before he grabbed his small pouch of money and set off to the markets. While it was still too early for them to be open, the markets were deep in the civilian sector of the city, so it would take a short while walking from his apartment. As he continued to hold up the henge, Minato was practically giddy with really realizing just how much chakra he had at his disposal. With this, he would be able to do techniques he had only theorized because he would never have the chakra required.

'I'll show them all for you Naruto,' he thought as he looked to the morning sky, 'I'll show them just how amazing you can be.'

By the time he had made it to the market sector, the shops were just opening and there were a small number of shoppers looking at their goods. Thanks to his disguise, no one even took a second glance at him and merely gave him everything he needed at their proper prices. He smirked internally at it all, knowing that most of the store owners had kicked him out more than once. As soon as he was content with the food he had bought, Minato set to go back to hi apartment, placing all the food in it's proper places. He had stocked up on milk, juice, fruits, vegetables,rice, and spices he needed to make proper meals. The only thing he lacked was meat, but he would much rather hunt for it on his own rather than pay the prices at the markets. Even without the outrageous prices he would have paid with his true face, they were far too high for an orphan boy living on a monthly allowance.

All he needed to hunt was rope, and a sharp knife, both of which were in his possession. While they were definitely not proper hunting tools, they would simply have to do. Sending out his senses to see if anyone was watching him, Minato sighed in relief to find out that no one was around and quickly formed the seals for the shadow clone technique. When twenty some Naruto's poofed into existence, Minato groaned loudly.

'I have awful chakra control!' It was going to be a pain to get his control back to the way he remembered he had it. Sighing, Minato dispelled all but one clone and charged it with more chakra so that it wouldn't dispel as easily.

"Okay," he said to his clone, "I need you to go to the library and find out everything that's happened in the past seven years, then go to the park and act like a kid. Do not allow yourself to get dispelled. Meet back here at half past eleven."

"You got it boss!" the clone said, saluting to Minato.

"Good. Leave the apartment fifteen minutes after I leave." With that, Minato took off, rope and the sharp kitchen knife in a small backpack on his shoulders. As soon as he was in a small alley way, Minato henged into the same man he was earlier and took off to Training Ground 2, which was deep in the heart of the Konoha Forest. It was also one of the lest frequently used training grounds since most Shinobi preferred a different setting to train in. It was, however, the best place to hunt outside of Training Ground 44, otherwise known as the "Forest of Death" since you were more than likely to be eaten by the things you wanted to hunt. It was hardly rare to see a ten foot evil looking rabbit in that place.

He was a bit surprised at how easily hunting came to him, after all, being in his sons body was no doubt going to have to take a little more getting used to since he had been in a near six foot body when he died. To be suddenly shrunk down was... disconcerting to say the least.

Even so, Minato was able to capture a small number of rabbits and birds in the few hours spent there, more than enough to keep him sated for a while at least. Stuffing his kill inside the backpack, already emptied of their blood, Minato made his way back to his apartment to fully clean out his meat (which was the most annoying part in Minato's opinion.) Still in his henge, he made his way to his apartment, meeting up with his clone on the way there and dispelled it as soon as he knew no one was watching. The memories came in a rush, and Minato wanted to scream at the parents that told their kids he was a demon.

Shrugging it off, knowing he couldn't do anything about it now, Minato silently cleaned the meat, keeping the rabbit fur in hopes of finding a use for them later.

Wanting to do some training, Minato made a quick plumb rice ball and made his way around the city in a decent pace. While he made sure to avoid as many civilians as possible, he could see that they took notice of a boy running around the city like a 'hooligan.' But that didn't stop him. He was disgustingly tired by the end of his self made obstacle course around the village, a distance equivalent to running five times around the city perimeters.

'Damn,' he thought, 'I forgot how hard the first few months of real training was like.' While his mind was ready for the strain, his body wasn't. Shaking himself to rid of the slight muscle tremors, Minato took to walking around a bit to cool his body down.

"I'll show you!" he heard a voice proclaim, "I will prove that hard work beats genius's!" Curious Minato made his way around the corner where he saw two boys facing each other in the middle of the street. From the looks of the two, the boy who had a bowl cut hair style and bushy eyebrows was the one who screamed.

"You cannot change your fate." one of the boys said. He was tall for an eight or nine year old, his face slightly feminine, but his eyes proved he was a Hyuuga, and from the bandages covering his forehead, a Branch Member. "Fate has decreed you cannot defeat me."

"I will prove you wrong!" the boy said again, fire practically burning in his eyes. The other boy seemed done with the conversation and simply turned to leave without another word. The crowd that had formed around him also dispersed as soon as they realized no fight would happen. The boy that was left stared at the back of the Hyuuga boy, fierce determination in his eyes.

"I will prove it..." the unnamed boy muttered to himself, "I don't care what they say, I will prove it."

Curious, Minato walked toward him, tapping his shoulder so he could get his attention. Once the boy turned around, Minato couldn't help but ask, "Why do you want to prove that?"

The boy stared at him for a while before saying, with fire in his eyes, "Because I will prove I can be better then geniuses! I'm not a dead-last, just because I can't use chakra doesn't mean I can't be a ninja!"

Minato stared at the boy wide eyed. Couldn't use chakra? That was practically a death blow to any ninja career. But the boy in front of him... he couldn't help but feel that it was possible. There were a few number of shinobi in the world who chose to use as little chakra as possible, Maito Gai was one of them.

"What's your name?" Minato asked curious. To be honest, the resemblance between Gai and the boy was...nah, maybe it was just the bushy caterpillar eyebrows.

"Rock Lee!" he exclaimed with a wide grin.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki." Minato replied easily with a smile, "You know, if you can't use chakra, why don't you just focus on Taijutsu? You don't need chakra for that."

As soon as he finished, Lee's eyes widened in sudden realization. "YOSH! I will become the best Taijutsu specialist Konoha has ever seen!" Lee exclaimed, the fire in his eyes burning crazily. "I haven't seen you in the Academy before?" he said questioningly. Lee was certain he would have noticed him, his blonde hair was kind of hard to not notice.

"No, I'm starting this year though." he replied with a wider grin. Honestly, he wasn't looking forward to five years at the Academy, 'learning' everything all over again.

"YOSH! Then I will help you! We can train together and I will teach you everything I can to prepare you!" Lee exclaimed happily. Minato couldn't help but grin gratefully at the boy. 'Yes! Now I don't have to hide the fact that I'm training! Thank you Lee!'

"Yeah! Maybe we could ask one of the Jonins for help? I know! Let's go ask Jiji if he knows who we can ask!" Internally, Minato was snickering. Oh, he was going to keep calling the man 'Jiji,' it was way too much fun.

"Jiji?" Lee asked confused.

"Yeah, Hokage-jiji! He'll definitely know who to ask." Minato said while grinning widely.

"You...Hokage-sama is your jiji?" Rock Lee seemed floored by the idea.

Cocking his head to the side, Minato said, "Ummm...I don't think he is really...but he's old and like a jiji to me."

Nodding in acceptance, Lee said, "Okay, let's ask Hokage-sama for help!"

When Minato and Lee began making their way to the Hokage Tower, they spoke of their lives, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams. As they continued talking Minato couldn't help but feel he had found a life long friend.

'I'll help you, Lee.' Minato thought as he listened to the energetic boy, 'We'll both prove everyone wrong!'

A/N: Reviews are loved and inspire me to update faster!