Shopping, cat and punishment
Early the next morning Minato waked Naruto. He was still sleepy as he had been up long the last evening.
"Hey good morning sleepyhead" Minato greeted smiling.
"Uh?" Naruto asked. Then he suddenly panicked. "No I didn't oversleep please don't punish me" he said holding his hands over his head.
Minato flinched and put his hand gently on Narutos back. "You don't have to be afraid Naruto. I won't punish you for oversleeping."
Naruto relaxed at the voice. Then he lowered his arms.
"Daddy" he said and smiled brightly. "It wasn't a dream. You are really here."
"Yes I am." He hugged Naruto who leaned into the hug sighing happily.
"Get ready Naruto we want to have breakfast and then we will bring Hinata home."
"Ah I remember. Yes I now have a friend."
"Yes you have. And it won't be nice to let your friend wait for breakfast."
"Yeah let's go daddy."
Naruto jumped out of his bed and looked around for his clothes. His mouth was wide open when he looked at the room. It was a nice room with two orange and two yellow painted walls. There was a desk with a chair and shelves above. On the shelves were some books and some plush animals. A dark red toad, an orange fox and a blue dolphin. Then there were blocks in different colors. Papers, wax crayons and pencils to draw were on the desk.
"Do you like it? Your mother Kushina prepared this room for you when she was pregnant with you."
"Yes I love it daddy" Naruto answered with tears in his eyes.
He walked over to the desk and looked longingly at the stuffed animals. Minato understood and reached for them.
"Which one do you want?" he asked.
"The fox. I like orange" Naruto aswered. Minato gave him the plushie. Naruto hugged it happily.
"Can you tell me a bit about mommy?" he asked shy.
Minato felt a pang in his heart. Then he smiled. "Of course Naruto. I will tell you after we have brought Hinata home and were shopping for some groceries and clothes for you. I have some pictures of her that I can show you."
Naruto smiled brightly. "Yes that's great daddy."
Minato helped Naruto in the bathroom and to get dressed. He only had the clothes from the orphanage and they were more or less all ragged and dirty. Twenty minutes later they sat in the kitchen with Hinata and Hizashi and ate breakfast. Hizashi had been at the Hyuga compound to ask Hiashi if it was all right for Hinata to return and to get some things for breakfast. They had toast, bacon and eggs.
When they were ready after half an hour Minato and Hizashi did the dishes and Hinata and Naruto played in the dojo. Then Minato used his henge to hide his true appearance.
"Why do you look different daddy?" Naruto asked.
"I don't want the people of Konoha to know that I'm back yet so I used a henge no jutsu to hide my normal looks. They will be informed later."
"Oh okay." They left the mansion and Minato and Naruto brought Hinata and Hizashi to the Hyuga compound.
"Well it was very nice of you to let Hinata stay overnight" Hizashi said.
"It was no problem. She is welcome at our home to visit whenever she wants" Minato said and Naruto nodded fervently.
"Bye Hinata-chan, I hope I see you again soon. I want to play with you again it was so much fun" Naruto told Hinata smiling.
"I would like that too Naruto-kun" Hinata answered.
Minato and Naruto were currently at the grocery store. Minato spread some killing intent to intimidate whoever looked hatingly at Naruto. Coincidentally when the manager came to throw them out Kakashi appeared to get his shopping. His appearance intimidated the manager so much that he didn't dare to refuse business to Minato and Naruto. The copy nin had quite a reputation.
"Hello Kakashi, such a coincidence to meet you here" Minato greeted him. Kakashi knowing what his sensei intended played along.
"Oh nice to meet you too Arashi, Naruto. I wanted to come by later the day to ask if you wanted to train with me Arashi just to see if you are still as good as you were three years ago."
"I would like that Kakashi. But remember last time we sparred I clearly defeated you."
"I got some more experience and have some new jutsus you don't know. It will be an interesting match."
"Well I look forward to it."
Naruto pulled his father's trousers. "Daddy who is this man?" he asked.
"Ah yes you haven't met him yet" Minato answered.
The customers and the assistants at the shop were speechless. The demon had called this man daddy and the man was obviously acquainted with Kakashi Hatake.
"Naruto this is Kakashi Hatake. We fought together in the third shinobi world war. He is a very powerful ninja and was trained by the Yondaime Hokage."
"Nice to meet you Kakashi nii-san" Naruto answered politely.
"My pleasure Naruto" Kakashi answered with his typical eye smile.
"Kakashi nii-san, why do you have a mask?" Naruto asked.
"It's a tradition of my clan" Kakashi explained.
"It looks cool" Naruto said.
"Well thank you. Where were you headed?" he asked Minato.
"We were going to the clothes shops next as Naruto needs some new things."
"Well I will accompany you, I wanted to get some things myself. My dogs ruined some of my socks and civilian clothes. I really need to train them more" Kakashi said.
"Oh you have dogs? Can I see them Kakashi nii-san please?" Naruto asked with pleading eyes.
"Okay but later, they are at my home." "Thank you" Naruto shouted and hugged Kakashis leg. Minato and Kakashi chuckled at Narutos antics.
They headed to the cashier and paid for their groceries. Minato made a Kagebunshin and let him take his things to the house so he had his hands free. Kakashi copied his move and his Kagebunshin also brought his things home. Naruto ran in front of the two men and looked curious at everything at the shop windows. He didn't notice the dark looks he got from most of the villagers but they didn't dare to do more then throw hatred looks at him due to the presence of Minato and Kakashi. The best thing was that the gossip in Konoha travelled as fast as Minato remembered it. The little talk Kakashi and him had at the grocers was spreading. Especially the part that he was a ninja in the third world war and had beaten Kakashi in a spar. The news that he was Narutos father got them disbelieving looks.
"They seem to have problems to accept that Naruto has a father" Kakashi whispered to Minato.
"Yes it seems so but I don't understand why."
"Well you must know many believe that Naruto is the reincarnation of his prisoner so the fact he has a father crushes this believing."
"They are such idiots" Minato grumbled. Only because the villagers were idiots his son had to suffer.
"Well I can't wait to see what will happen after the council meeting in six days. Do you think Tsunade will have returned until then?"
"Probably. I sent a toad to sensei yesterday and the summons can communicate between each other. For something this important they will use their connection to get the message to mom as soon as possible."
"I hope you are right. The civilian council needs to be put in place. They ruin our forces with their incompetence." Minato nodded.
They passed an alley on the way to the clothes store. Suddenly a cat leapt onto Naruto and threw him to the ground. He cried surprised and caught the cat. Then other cries came from the alley.
"It ran this way" Naruto heard.
He looked surprised at the cat and stroked it absent mindedly. The cat purred. It was a dark brown cat with red ribbon at his ear. Minato and Kakashi looked unbelievingly at the scene.
"That cat?" Minato asked. "I don't believe it, it must be a relative to the Nibi. I had to chase it when I was a genin" he said.
"Daddy, what's wrong?" Naruto asked.
"There it is" a boy of twelve shouted. He and two other twelve year olds came through the alley. They suddenly stopped and took in the scene with disbelieving looks on their faces. There sat a little blond boy with the demon cat on his legs on the street and stroked it. And the demon cat purred.
"Sota, please hit me, I think I dream" the girl of the group asked her teammate. He did her the favor. "Ouch, okay this isn't a dream. Excuse me little boy" she asked kindly.
"Yes?" Naruto answered.
"Could we please take the cat back to her owner, it is our mission to catch it." Naruto clearly didn't look pleased.
"Daddy must I?" Naruto asked.
"Yes Naruto, but I think we could accompany them to the Hokage tower as I have never seen this cat this peaceful as in your arms. We could spare these genin a lot of scratches" he pondered.
"Hm, okay. I would like to visit the old man." Minato helped Naruto to stand up and the genin contacted their sensei that they had found the cat and would meet him at the tower.
They reached the tower and the sensei of the group recognized Kakashi and Naruto but not Minato. He was suspicious. But he didn't say anything because of the law.
"What are they doing here?" he asked his genin team.
"Sensei Yago the cat fled through an alley as we chased it and then leapt onto Naruto-kun, who was thrown to the ground by the impact. He caught the cat und it let him stroke it and seemingly liked it. That was the situation when we arrived. As the cat seems less violent with Naruto his father Arashi suggested to accompany us to spare us the scratches."
"Well that's nice of Arashi-san. Well I have never seen you around Arashi-san. Why is this?" Yago asked.
"That's because I was absent for three years. I fought against the Kyubi like so many others that day and could just return yesterday. If you want to know more about it, you have to ask Hokage sama as he asked me not to tell the details just now."
"I see" Yago said. It was possible that the Hokage wanted to keep something secret. If Arashi got a secret mission after the Kyubi attack it would have been easy to declare him missing in action (MIA). But why did the demon boy call him his father? He was the Kyubi now, wasn't he? But why was Kakashi Hatake so relaxed around the boy and joked with him?
They climbed the stairs to the mission room while Minato carried Naruto as his legs where too short to climb the stairs himself without his arms and they were occupied with the cat. They reached the room and Sota knocked.
"Come in" they heard. The seven went in and the ninjas on duty looked twice because they didn't expect such a large group.
"Team 5 reporting back" Yago declared. The Sandaime looked smiling at the genin and then Naruto.
"Hm, I think you have an interesting story to tell us" he said.
"Yes Hokage sama" the girl said. She reported the chase of Tora and how they found the cat with Naruto and how it was that Naruto and the others accompanied them.
The wife of the fire daimyo arrived and was happy to see that her cat was found again. Yago took the cat from Naruto and gave it to her and she squeezed it while Tora yowled.
"Oh my precious little Tora, I was so worried that you were lost."
"Stop it" Naruto said and tugged on the long robes of the lady. "Please you hurt Tora" he said.
Everybody was silent at his words. "What do you mean boy?" she asked. "I love my little Tora."
"But when you hug her like this it hurts her. Don't you see this?" He looked at her and the cat and was worried about Tora. He got a liking to the cat in the short time he had carried her and didn't want the cat to be hurt.
"Oh and what do you, a little boy know about things like this?" the lady asked.
"I can hear her cries" Naruto said. "She doesn't want to be squeezed and not be able to breathe."
"You can understand her?" the lady asked disbelievingly.
Naruto nodded. "I can show you" he said. She knelt next to the boy. "Come here Tora" he said and the cat leapt to him. He stroked her while holding her gently. "You see, she likes being held like this much better. She purrs. Tora, if this lady will be more gentle, would you like this more?" he asked innocently. Tora looked at him and then her owner and it looked like she nodded. "She said yes" Naruto declared.
The adults were stunned. That was an incredible ability. The lady took Tora back and tried to hold her like Naruto did. Tora was nervous but with each gentle stroke she relaxed more and more in the lady's arms. "I think I have to thank you boy. I never wanted to hurt my precious Tora. What's your name?"
"I'm Naruto" he said smiling.
"Well Naruto, you have my thanks. Hokage sama, here is the payment and an extra bonus for Naruto-chan." She gave the ninja the money and left the office.
Minato took Naruto from the floor. "Naruto, can you understand every animal or just cats?" he asked.
"More than cats. There were the birds which sang in the mornings or the rabbits in the bushes around the orphanage. The rats told me they wanted food."
"What rats Naruto?" the Hokage asked.
"Those in the cellars of the orphanage."
"Why were you in the cellars?" he asked, dreading the worst.
"The matron locked me in there when it was the day for foster parents to choose children. She said I would scare them away and she wouldn't let that happen to the other children."
Minato had a very hard time to suppress his killing intent.
"I see" the Hokage said. "ANBU" he said.
"Yes Hokage Sama?"
"Get me the matron of the orphanage Naruto was in."
"Yes Hokage sama" the ANBU answered and vanished.
Team 5 was stunned. They never would have thought that a little boy would be treated like this. Who was this Naruto? He seemed a very nice child. Yago was thinking hard. Could a demon be this nice? Or was he just playing nice to be underestimated? But if he was a demon, why didn't he fight back? And he just solved the everlasting problem of the escapes of Tora the demon cat, the bane of every genin team.
"Team 5 you are dismissed" the Hokage said. The four bowed and left the office.
"Sarutobi can you trust the ninjas in this room absolutely?" Minato asked trembling with fury. Sarutobi looked around and dismissed the two chunin. The ANBU were trustworthy. Minato dropped the henge and in his eyes everybody could see that he would murder the matron.
"Let me punish this woman. I will show her what happens when you mistreat children especially my son."
The ANBU didn't show any open sign that they saw the Yondaime Hokage and that he said the Jinchuriki was his son. This moment two things happened. Danzo entered the room and was more than surprised and the ANBU arrived with the orphanage matron. The Sandaime rubbed his temples.
"Kakashi please take Naruto with you. He mustn't see this." Minato said.
"Yes sensei" Kakashi answered and took Naruto from Minato. Naruto seemed to be frightened of the matron.
"What does this monster do here? Why have I been taken from the orphanage? It's time for lunch. I have to observe the other caretakers" the woman ranted.
Kakashi shunshined with Naruto away. Minato grabbed the woman at her collar.
"Yon-Yondaime sama?" she asked. "How is this possible? Have you returned to finally destroy the demon?" Minato slapped the woman in the face.
"Shut up. What right do you have to treat Naruto like a monster? He is a child. I have heard what you did to him. I only asked for one thing when I sealed Kyubi in him to save Konoha. For him to be seen as the hero he is to tame the demon. To be the prison which grants the safety from the demon fox. He isn't the demon."
"He is the Kyubi incarnation" the woman said.
"He is my son you imbecile scum. You have forfeited your life. Any last words?" Minato asked.
"But I always did my duty." "You mistreated a child under your care. He is malnourished, had to stay in the cellar with rats when the possible foster parents came for adoption of children. He was isolated from the other children. Never allowed to play with them. I'm surprised that he is able to speak as well as he is able to."
"That would be my fault" Danzo said. Minato looked at him questioningly.
"Would you care to explain Danzo?" he asked.
"My old ROOT members saw how the boy was treated in the orphanage. They told me their findings and I tried to get Naruto to move to my orphanage. I knew he would be talented and wanted to train him as a ninja later. But Hokage sama thought it would be better for him to stay there so the only thing I was able to do was to regularly send one man to the orphanage to speak with the boy. I knew that Hokage sama wanted him to attend the ninja academy later on but for this he had to be able to communicate with others on a sufficient level."
"Thank you for your efforts Danzo. I really appreciate this" Minato said.
"Now to you" he told the woman. He concentrated chakra in his right hand. It formed a spiraling sphere. "Rasengan" Minato said and trust his hand into the woman's stomach.
She crashed with a big impact into the wall. She was dead. Minato looked at Danzo.
"Do you coincidentally have more information on the treatment my son got at that orphanage?"
"Yes I have. I think it would be wise to have a talk in private later on Yondaime sama" he said. Minato nodded.
"Danzo, why did you never tell me this? I tried to protect Naruto" the Sandaime asked.
"You wouldn't have been able to do anything Hiruzen. The council has you under their thumbs. They would have said that you showed favoritism to the boy even if it was just the normal treatment every child needs. But as a Jinchuriki Naruto needs more guidance than every other child when he has to be able to control the chakra of his biju. He needs special training. I had more possibilities to operate from the shadows as everybody think I'm only a crippled old man. But I still have my contacts."
"You remember our talk yesterday?" Minato asked.
"Now the last piece of the puzzle is in place" Danzo said. "I guess you will retake your position as Hokage again?"
"Yes, after I have collected enough proof to cut the privileges the civilian council instated for themselves after my death."
"Well I guess than we should proceed to our private talk."
"I have some things to do before we can talk Danzo. Please come to my mansion at eight this evening. Then I will reveal my plans for Konohas future to you. Sarutobi, please think of a cover story for the death of this woman."
"Yes Minato. I'm glad that in one week you will be Hokage again. I have had enough of these headaches for the rest of my life." Minato grinned.
"Okay see you later" he said and shunshined away.
"Well that was interesting" Danzo said.
"You have no clue Danzo. Konoha is in for a storm. He will turn everything upside down and get rid of everybody who he thinks is a threat to Konoha. He won't be the same he was when he first took the mantle."
"And that is what I look forward to. He was a formidable warrior but he was kind of naïve. Now after he saw how Konoha treated his son, he will be more realistic."
"I just hope that he won't sacrifice everything Konoha stands for. The will of fire is unique to us and I don't want to lose this. It is what made Konoha strong in the past and allowed us to bloom."
"He told me his goal for our ninja picture. On the field able to suppress their emotions to perfectly fulfill their mission but caring in their private life. I have thought about this last night after he made his proposition to help him with his goals and I must say he has matured. I look forward to the changes he will start. It is about time that everybody is reminded of the true power a Hokage has."
Naruto and Kakashi were at a public playground where Naruto was at the swing with Kakashi pushing him. When Minato arrived, he saw his son laughing and was glad he didn't see what he did to the matron of the orphanage. He was in his henge again and walked towards Kakashi and Naruto. When Naruto saw him coming he let go of the swing and flew through the air. He landed safely on his feet and ran to Minato.
"Daddy" he shouted happily. "Did you see me on the swing? Kakashi nii-san pushed me really high. It was so much fun."
"Yes I saw it Naruto and your landing was really good. You will do great when you start your ninja training."
He ruffled Narutos hair. Narutos happy face was all what Minato needed to put the memory of the execution of the matron at the back of his mind.
"Let's go, we still have to buy you some new clothes."
"Okay daddy." Minato took Naruto from the ground and put him onto his shoulders.
"And do you have a good view from there Naruto?" Naruto squealed excitedly. Kakashi had come to them and together they went to the clothing stores.
When the three left the playgrounds a lot of adults began to talk with each other about the meaning of this display. How could the demon child be in the company of the famous Kakashi Hatake and who was his father?
"Did you see this? How can the Hokage allow for this thing to run around? What if it attacks our children?" a woman asked.
"Yes, it should be killed and then we will be safe again. I don't understand why the Sandaime didn't finish what the Yondaime started" another agreed.
"Stop this idiocy" suddenly a blonde woman said. "This boy isn't the demon everybody thinks he is. My husband is a ninja and he explained the working of sealing objects to me because I was worried about the safety of my daughter Ino when I heard about it. The boy is just the prison of the demon. And Inoichi is absolutely sure that Minato Namikaze knew how to construct a seal that was fail-safe. They were classmates at the academy and even then he was way ahead of everybody in the art of sealing."
"What are you saying Ren-san? Would you let your daughter play with this boy?" a man asked disbelievingly.
"I would observe them the first time to make sure Ino is safe, but yes I would. He is just a child. A child that has to carry a terrible burden to keep everybody safe."
"You are crazy he is the reincarnation of the demon. The demon has taken over the body of the child."
"Now you are the one who babbles nonsense. And by the way it's forbidden to talk about that. You did see how the child played on the swing? How he laughed when Kakashi, who by the way was the student of Minato Namikaze and should know the abilities of his sensei better than anybody else except perhaps Jiraiya sama, pushed him higher and higher. Which demon could show such genuine happiness? That isn't a trick of a Kitsune, just a little boy who has fun like every other child."
"Are you sure Ren?" another woman asked.
"Yes Yoshino I am sure. I think Shikaku would tell you the same. This boy isn't a danger."
"Pff, Shikaku would just say troublesome and wouldn't bother to explain anything to me the lazy ass" Yoshino replied. Some women laughed. It was legendary how all Nara men found everything troublesome.
Kakashi, Minato and Naruto arrived at the clothes store.
"Wow, this is a big house" Naruto said.
"You're right. I'm sure we will find everything we need for you here" Minato said. They entered the store and after a few moments a lot of the customers glared at Naruto. This time he recognized it.
"Daddy?" he asked unsure why they looked so mean.
"Don't be afraid Naruto. I'm with you and nobody will hurt you" Minato ensured.
"And if they try anything, they will have to answer me first. Nobody treats my little brother bad" Kakashi added.
"Thank you daddy and nii-san." The people in the store didn't want to believe their ears. The famous copy nin had called the demon his little brother. What did this mean?
"Stand aside" suddenly a woman said. "Hello welcome to our store gentlemen, how can I help you?" she asked. The woman was in her late forties, had blond hair with a few grey stripes and was probably a retired Kunoichi if Minatos thoughts were right.
"Thank you Miss. We need some new clothes for my son" Minato said.
The woman looked at Naruto and then her eyes narrowed. She looked at Minato and Kakashi. She lowered her voice.
"How comes you say you are his father? I happen to know who his father was and I know for sure he died in the Kyubi attack. What do you plan?" She looked intensely. "And if I don't get a sufficient answer, I will dispel this henge of yours to get my answers. This boy has been through enough, I won't let his heart be broken by somebody who uses him to get his father's techniques or fortune."
Minato smiled at her words. This was somebody who wanted to protect Naruto and he had a feeling he should know her from somewhere.
"I think I met you before. Would you please tell me your name?" he asked.
"My name is Sakuyo Yamanaka" she answered.
"Now I remember you" Minato said. Kakashi looked at him.
"Who is she?" Kakashi asked.
"She was the nurse who led the preparation course Kushina visited when she was pregnant with Naruto" Minato answered. "I would never have thought to meet her as a store clerk. Why don't you work at the hospital Sakuyo-san?" Minato asked.
"I ask the questions. Who are you?"
Minato sighed. "There is just one way to prove myself. You are a Yamanaka. If I grant you access to my mind you will see who I am, but I have to ask you to not tell anybody, even Inoichi of my identity until I reveal it in about one week. I still have to prepare some things."
"All right I agree. If I find you tell the truth, I won't say anything" she promised.
They went to the back of the store where Sakuyo started her technique.
"Shintenshin no jutsu" she said and fell limp.
"What happened to her?" Naruto asked worried.
"You don't need to worry Naruto. She just used a special ninjutsu to look into you fathers mind to see if he is really your father as she don't want you to be hurt. She will awake soon" Kakashi explained. Naruto nodded skeptically. But a few moments later the women awoke and smiled at him and the others.
"That's indeed great news Arashi-san. I'm glad you are back. Well let's go and search for some clothes for Naruto-kun" Sakuyo said and led the way to the children's department.
