Bonjour! Comment allez-vous? I hope you're all well! If you can tell from the minute amount of French, I'm attempting to learn the language. I've always wanted to honestly! Anyways, I would like to give a quick shout out to a couple people. First off, thank you to WolfCoyote. Your reviews always make me laugh and I look forward to receiving more. Next, a shout out to TigrezzTail for predicting the future. A sly grin to you Sir (Or Madam I'm not really sure. Either way though…). Oh well. Also, not that you care, but thank you to Natewantstobattle for providing me with awesome music while I write! Anyways, to everyone who has reviewed, thank you! They make me feel incredible and give me encouragement to write. Okay, here we go. Thank you and I love you all!

~Nikki

"Well, if we're all done with introductions and apologies, then let's go," Minato said.

"To Konoha?" Naruto asked.

"To Konoha." Minato agreed.

Minato watched as a flicker of satisfaction made itself known in Itachi's eyes, so fast it was nearly imperceivable. Everything else about him, however, remained unchanged. His posture, body language, and even the rest of his face remained impassive, obviously trained to remain emotionless. Slightly unnerved, the jounin decided to keep a close eye on the Uchiha, not sure what exactly he was planning. Itachi gave off the same eerie aura that many Anbu members did, which worried Minato. Anbu, after all, were trained killers.

Minato abruptly spun on his heel and started marching back in the direction of his home, jolting the rest of the group into action As they started to fall in behind the determined man, he froze suddenly and seemed to consider something for a moment.

"Blondie. Uchiha," He said without turning around. "I want you directly in front of me. Kakashi, you take the lead please."

"Yes, Sensei," Kakashi consented as he walked to the front of the group and started out once more.

Itachi quietly made his way towards Minato but stopped when he realized Naruto wasn't following. Turning around, the Uchiha raised a delicate eyebrow at him in question, obviously wondering what the holdup was. Disgruntled, Naruto snorted and began to walk, exhaling sharply through his nose as he made his way past Itachi and muttered, "He does know I have a name, right?"

"Indeed I do," Minato said in a half snarl, overhearing what Naruto said. "I just don't think you're worthy of that name."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly in shock and hurt, again realizing that his name originated in one of Jiraya's books, as the main protagonist.

He doesn't think I'm worthy of following in Ero-sennin's footsteps, Naruto thought. Well screw that! He gave me this name for a reason, and I have no obligation to prove it to him. Even if… even if he's no longer with me, I know Ero-sennin was proud of me, and that's all that matters. I don't need this Minato's recognition. I already got it from my dad, in my reality, and I don't need it again.

Even as Naruto thought that, he felt an immense sadness rise up in his heart, and twin pinpricks of pain were trying to make their way into the backs of his eyes. Ignoring the hurt, Naruto plastered a small fake smile on his face as he walked past Minato, not realizing that had seen the pain in his eyes already. As Naruto fell in behind mini-Kakashi, he could feel eyes on his back, staring at him intensely. Ignoring this, the blonde kept his eyes straight ahead, ignoring the fact that his own father, knowing or not, had just hurt him worse than any amount of villages ever had before.

Minato glanced back to Itachi, gesturing for him to go ahead of him so he could keep an eye on the both of them. Itachi complied, taking slow steps to work his way past the jounin. As Itachi passed him, Minato was shocked to feel anger coming off the Uchiha, as he had already noted down that Itachi did not show much emotion. What surprised him even more though, was the fact that the anger seemed to be aimed at him, after he had made his last comment towards the blonde teen.

I suppose he did say that Naruto was his student, so it would make sense that he is angry in the blonde's behalf, the jounin sensei thought. What the hell did I say to upset him like that though? I mean, I doubt he's read Jiraya-sensei's book, so what did I say? I've seen upset people before, but that… that was actually kind of frightening. For as obnoxious and loud as he was earlier, I never would have thought he could pull an expression like that. He looked so… alone. Like Kakashi did after he lost his father, but deeper than that.

Argh! What am I doing, brooding over an expression like that? It must be my sensei instincts kicking in, wanting to help him like I am Kakashi.

Minato lept into the branches of the trees sensing Obito and Rin quickly following behind.

He's not my problem, not my priority. Right now I just need to concentrate on getting these two back to the village. Making sure they're not threats. I'll just forget about that for now, it's not my fault there's a war right now so I can't trust these two. Damn…

Minato looked down at the branches flying beneath his feet for a moment, still feeling incredibly guilty. He sensed eyes on him and quickly looked up only to make eye contact with the Uchiha in front of him. Seeing his guilty expression, Itachi looked back ahead feeling satisfied with Minato's state of mind. Training his eyes on the blonde in front of him, Itachi could see his stiff posture and wondered if what Minato said bothered him that much. Making up his mind, Itachi took a long leap to land on the branch next to Naruto, ready to question the young blonde.

I'm still being watched, Naruto thought stiffening even further. Who the hell is staring at me?

Feeling a small rush of wind at his side, Naruto glanced over and was startled to see Itachi land on the branch next to him. Judging his expression, Naruto could see that he was considering something while looking intently at the jinchūriki.

Great, Naruto thought. Now I have two people staring at me.

"What?" Naruto asked.

"You seem upset," Itachi answered simply.

"What do you care?" Naruto asked sharply.

"I don't, really," the Uchiha said. "I just want to make sure your being upset isn't going to cause you to make any rash decisions."

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," Naruto snarled glaring at him.

"Fine then. Why are you so stiff?" Itachi questioned.

"Oh," Naruto said slightly confused. "Someone has been staring at me since we left the clearing we were in."

Unsurprised, Itachi glanced back discreetly and saw Rin staring at Naruto's back in a wondering fashion, as if wanting Naruto to look back, but also praying the he would stay looking forward.

"It looks as if you have a fan," Itachi said, amusement coating his voice as he looked back to Naruto.

"Huh?" Naruto asked glancing back and locking eyes with the young kunoichi.

Noting Rin's startled expression, Naruto sent her what he thought to be a soft, reassuring smile. To Rin, however, it was as if everything in existence had lost its color except for the blonde's face. Naruto watched as her jaw dropped slightly and her face was overcome with a blush to rival one of Hinata's best. Quickly, an embarrassed Rin hid behind Obito, breaking the moment of brief contact between the two. It was only then that the blonde realized his mistake. Naruto recalled Kakashi telling him about the way Rin had chased him when they were on the same team.

Flashback

Kakashi snorted as Naruto finished complaining about the way Sakura still obsessed over Sasuke, even after all this time.

"You think Sakura's bad, you should have met Rin," Kakashi said.

"Rin?" Naruto asked slightly confused.

"My old teammate," Kakashi clarified. "She too was a bit of a fangirl."

"How so?" Naruto asked.

"Well, she was always pretty obsessed with me, even if I never returned the affection. She was constantly trying to get me to go on dates with her, though she was much more subtle than Sakura. She also was always trying to plan celebrations for everything I ever did, from becoming a chunin to my birthday. It was really quite annoying sometimes. Either way though, one time I went over to her house to pick her up for a mission because she was late, and I noticed her closet was a little open.

"At first I thought nothing of it, but then I saw something through the crack. It was a shrine. She had gone so far as to make a shrine for me, Naruto. I don't think you understand how immensely terrifying that was. I quickly shut her closet and ran for it, and from that day forth, I never looked at her the same way again."

Horrified, Naruto glanced at his sensei and saw a terrifying expression on his face.

"You don't think… You don't think… That Sakura has…" Naruto gasped.

Both student and teacher slowly looked at Sakura with horrified expressions on their faces as Sakura bent down and picked up a lock of hair that had been sliced if of Sasuke's head while he and Naruto sparred.

Eyes shining, Sakura whispered, "Sasuke's hair… I might die of happiness!"

And it was that moment that Naruto decided he was no longer interested in Haruno Sakura.

Present time (But technically in the past)

Naruto again turned and watched as Rin peeked out from behind Obito and instead look at Kakashi, and a seemingly disgusted expression made itself known on her face. Looking back at Naruto, Rin realised he was watching her. Blushing yet again, she shyly smiled at him and ducked back behind Obito.

Horrified, Naruto murmured aloud, "That's not good…"

Itachi smirked. "You brought it upon yourself."

And with a slight whimper, Kakashi, Naruto, Itachi, Minato, Obito, and Rin arrived on the main path, only a few meters away from the main gate.

"Uchiha, Blondie," Minato said, "Welcome to Konoha."