The sun rose on a particularly chilly 10th of October, its bright early morning rays coating the village of Konoha in the beautiful light of dawn. However, almost as if to mock the brightness of the sun and blueness of the sky, the day was as cold as winter with the breaths of early risers turning to mist in the air as they walked along.
Minato blew on the palms of his hands then rubbed them together, for once glad of the oversized heavy brown cloak he had to don in order to stay unrecognised. It had been exactly a year since Minato had lasted visited Uzumaki Naruto. Once again it was the blonde's birthday and Minato was impatient to see his shinobi son.
Yes, his son was now a shinobi; a genin. He knew because, whenever he was feeling particularly downhearted, he used a scrying jutsu to check up on his sons progress. While Minato was happy his son was getting closer to his goal, he couldn't help but think that having a genin son made him seem extremely old, even if he was only in his thirties.
"I'll be in my mid-life crisis soon," he mumbled angrily to himself as he stomped up the steps that led to Naruto's apartment. Knocking on the door Minato pouted when his son still hadn't answered after several minutes. Was he still asleep?
Slowly, careful not to make a sound, Minato pick-locked the door and crept in. As he softly closed the door behind him he was enveloped in darkness. Cursing as he tripped over the rug he flicked on the light switch and was momentarily blinded by the sudden brightness.
When his vision had finally cleared he glanced towards the bed and frowned when he saw it was empty. Where was Naruto? He was about to search the bathroom when he saw the note on the kitchen side; the writing a haphazard scrawl as if Naruto had been in a hurry. Weary, Minato opened it slowly and read the script:
Dear M
Gone on a mission
Don't know when I'll be back
See you next year
Naruto
"Next year?" Minato said faintly, his chest giving a painful pang at the thought of having to wait another twelve months to see his son. He frowned and reread the letter several times before neatly folding it up and sliding it into the inside pocket of his cloak, beside Naruto's birthday present.
As his fingers brushed against the carefully wrapped parcel his chest gave another painful pang.
"This just won't do," he said in reply to the longing to see his son that had consumed him. There was a determined glint in his eyes.
"Hey dobe," Uchiha Sasuke called up from the bottom of the tree, eying his team mate who was perched on a branch, his face hidden in shadow. 'Dobe' didn't respond.
"Dobe!" Sasuke shouted, his face contorting in anger at being ignored. "Hey Naruto!" Sasuke yelled, scaling the tree in a matter of seconds and moving so he was kneeling on the same branch as Naruto.
As his name was called Naruto suddenly looked up and stared into the black depths that were Sasuke's eyes. "What do you want?" Naruto asked, not even bothering to add the extra 'baka' or 'bastard' that he usually treated Sasuke to.
Taken aback by Naruto abruptness and the fact Naruto hadn't insulted him; Sasuke had trouble hiding the surprise he felt. "Why didn't you answer dobe?" Sasuke said, once he'd ensured his voice was the usual emotionless drawl he'd perfected over the years.
"I didn't hear you," Naruto replied and in one swift movement he jumped from the tree and after a fifteen foot drop landed silently on his feet. Sasuke for the second time in only minutes was surprised by Naruto, the blonde boy's agility and gracefulness leaving him more than shocked. When had Naruto become so…well…stealthy?
Stealthy. That was the only word Sasuke could think of to describe Naruto's quick agile movements. Naruto was stealthy. Even the thought made him want to laugh out loud. He'd never thought Naruto and the word 'stealthy' would be in the same sentence, never mind the same dimension, what with Naruto's bright orange jumpsuit he insisted on always wearing and his loud boisterous voice which could travel for miles without fading.
"Sasuke, you coming down or not?" Naruto said, dragging Sasuke from his silent musings. Sasuke snarled angrily at Naruto before jumping from the tree, scolding himself at the noise he made when he landed. Naruto hadn't made any noise at all though it was obvious the blonde boy weighed much more than him, even if he was smaller.
"What did you want anyway?" Naruto questioned as the pair began to make their way to the camp Team 7 had constructed.
"Kakashi-sensei told me to come get you," Sasuke said in explanation, not bothering to look at Naruto as he spoke. Sasuke only realised Naruto had stopped walking when he was a good three metres away.
"Dobe?" Sasuke said uncertainly, frowning. Naruto was frozen to the spot, his brow creased in concentration and his eyes wide with an emotion Sasuke couldn't quite place.
"Dobe?" Sasuke repeated when Naruto didn't answer.
"You go on ahead Sasuke, I…umm…need to take a leak," Naruto said, grabbing his pants as if to prove it to the puzzled Uchiha.
Sasuke clicked his tongue in annoyance and stalked into the nearby bushes towards the camp. However, once he was sure Naruto was fooled; he turned back around and hid behind a tree not too far away from Naruto. Naruto was hiding something, he was sure of it.
Meanwhile Naruto had moved from his previous position and into a fighting stance, his eyes darting around him. For a second he'd been sure he had sensed someone nearby. Whoever they were they were intelligent enough to be using a jutsu to conceal their chakra from the nearby campers. He tensed his muscles in preparation.
Sasuke watched Naruto move into a fighting position, wondering what on earth the boy was doing. There was no enemy- not that he could sense. Could Naruto have better senses than him? No, impossible. The dobe was probably mistaking a squirrel or something for a threat. Sasuke, seeing an opportunity to scare Naruto, was about to pounce from the bushes when Naruto suddenly dropped his fighting stance and his eyes opened in obvious shock.
"It can't be…" Sasuke heard Naruto mutter, before hesitantly calling out "Minato…?"
The man appeared so quickly Sasuke didn't even see him move. In an instant he was stood barely a metre away from Naruto. He was tall, about the same size as Kakashi, but a brown travelling cloak hid any distinguishing features from view. Sasuke still pulled the kunai from the pouch at his belt, ready to attack if he even touched Naruto. A part of him wondered why he suddenly felt the need to protect the annoying blonde but he decided he only wanted to save himself the trouble of telling his sensei he'd let a strange man kill Naruto without even trying to stop him. Sasuke's worries, however, soon proved unfounded.
"Minato!" Naruto exclaimed as he raced forward and embraced the man in spine-crushing hug The man chuckled, ruffled Naruto's hair and said "Happy birthday Naruto."
Sasuke frowned - it was Naruto's birthday today?
"You found me. I don't believe it," Naruto said after he pulled away from the man.
"Of course I did Naruto, I promised remember?" the man explained. Then, almost as if it was an afterthought, he added "And I also wanted to give you this." Suddenly the man had a brown paper package in his hands. Naruto grinned and took it from him, slowly opening the paper to reveal what was hidden inside.
Almost as curious as Naruto, Sasuke leaned forward to try and get a closer look at what he guessed was a birthday present for the dobe. After many minutes of slow unwrapping Naruto was holding a white box. He lifted the lid with one hand and pulled out a thick scroll tied in a blue silk thread (Naruto grinned knowingly as he held the scroll) and a large white feather.
"A feather?" Naruto said, bemused.
"It's no ordinary feather," Minato said knowingly. He leant forward and whispered something in Naruto's ear. Naruto's eyes opened wide and he stared in awe at the feather in his hand.
"Amazing…" he murmured, then grinned mischievously. "Thanks Minato, you're the best friend ever."
Several minutes passed with Sasuke secretly watching the pair interact, Naruto putting his gift away and tucking it into his baggy jumpsuit while the man Naruto called Minato leant against a tree and began to ask him questions about how Naruto was doing.
Sasuke listened intently when Naruto spoke of team seven and noted that the mans voice semed to hold a surprised tone when Naruto told him Kakashi was their sensei. He was unsurprised to hear Naruto praise Sakura, but was slightly shocked when the blonde admitted that he thought she wasn't a very kunoichi. Naruto went on to tell the man of Kakashi and his perverted books, but it was when the man asked about himself that Sasuke really paid attention.
"Sasuke? He's just as annoying as he was in the academy, still calling me dobe. It's funny though, I enjoy arguing with him. He's good at it," Naruto laughed at this statement, but suddenly stopped and his face turned solemn, "But he's so serious all the time. I feel kind of sorry for him... he's all alone. He's an orphan like me."
"You're not alone Naruto," the man replied, "You'll always have me."
Naruto beamed at the man but still ducked, laughing, when he tried to rumple his hair.
Sasuke was rooted to the spot with astonishment. Naruto felt sorry for him? Since when did Naruto feel anything but hatred for his so-called rival?
Sasuke's thoughts were soon interrupted though when he heard Minato say "Someone's coming."
Sasuke frowned, upset that even with all his training he'd allowed his emotions to control him and had forgot to focus on his surroundings. Minato was right. Kakashi-sensei was coming their way, obviously tired of waiting for Sasuke and Naruto to return.
"You got to go, right?" Naruto said his voice laced with misery.
"That's right," Minato said, trying to smile but finding it impossible.
"Well, I'll see you next year then," Naruto murmured as he hugged the man one last time.
"Yeah," Naruto released him and Minato ruffled his hair, "Bye kid."
Then Minato, as quick as he'd appeared, vanished.
