Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

EDIT: Changed some of the tenses in the first two paragraphs. Read AN for additional info.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto does. I only own the plot and original characters (and names). This is called fanfiction for a reason folks…

"Words": normal speech

'Words': thoughts

/words: unsaid words

words: emphasis

words: emphasis /dream / memory

/words: memory sequence

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Chapter 7 – Deception

When he woke up again, it was to the assault of so many powerful feelings they almost hurt physically. Anger. Pain. Loss. But above all, betrayal, so deep that it made Sasuke's treason pale in comparison. A cry rose up in his throat, coming out as a half-sob, half-scream, nearly choking him as he tried and failed to contain the white hot tears trailing down his cheeks.

'How could they?!'

The question spun in his mind, angry thoughts alternating with utter despair. He laid there, clenching the sheets in his fists, almost painfully so, eyes closed and biting the inside of his cheek to keep from screaming. It was a long time before his raging emotions settled down enough for him to finally start thinking rationally, and even then his control was tedious at best.

Hours later, there was the rustle of cloth to his left – someone had been in the room with him? Who? – before the person spoke, uncertainty and hope colouring their tone grey and blue.

"Naruto?"

The voice was gravely, rough from sleep, and full of hidden concern.

'Jiraiya.'

He opened his eyes then, turning his head slightly before locking gazes with the other man. A sharp intake of breath, and something shifted in those black eyes. The man leaned forward slightly, the hand on the bed twitching slightly in indecision.

"Hey kiddo. How are ya feeling?"

He stares, unblinking, a strange feeling welling up in his chest. He needs to make sure this is real, because things are so fucking unbelievable right now it scares him. So he reaches forward, his arm aching and trembling with the effort. The white-haired man sees the gesture and reaches forward after a moment's hesitation, clasping his hand.

"Sensei…" he whispers, happy and confused. Suddenly, he feels extremely tired and, forgetting about his worries, closes his eyes and goes back to sleep.

oOo

Jiraiya woke up suddenly, as he is prone to do, going from a deep sleep to complete awareness in an instant. He could hear Naruto's breath hitching, so the kid must be waking up. A quick glance outside told him he'd been sitting there for about nine hours – he must have fallen asleep sometime late in the afternoon, since the stars are just starting to appear in the nightsky.

A muffled sob brought his attention back to the blond teen in the bed, and Jiraiya nearly fell off his chair in shock. Naruto was…crying? He'd seen the kid frustrated, angry, sometimes a bit depressed, but throughout it all, never, not even once, had the young shinobi shed tears. It was like a physical impossibility, and Jiraiya briefly considered the idea that the world was ending.

There was another sob from the blond, breath irregular from trying to suppress the tears. The tanned fists were clenching and unclencing spasmodically on the bed, and Jiraiya was brought back to reality.

"Naruto?" And dammit, but he sounds concerned. He really hoped Naruto didn't notice, because he's sure the teen will tease him about it later – and at the same time he hopes Naruto does notice, because the young man should know there are people who care about him. That Jiraiya cares, no matter how much he'd like to deny it.

There is no answer spoken, but the blue eyes open and stare at him, emotions swirling inside, coming and going too fast to make sense. And although it's not the first time Jiraiya has locked gazes with his surrogate son (more often than not it was when they were glaring at each other during training), there was something changed in those eyes this time. A sense of…recognition? Longing? Hope. His breath caught in his throat, he could have sworn that…

For some unexplainable reason, Jiraiya suddenly had an urge to reach forward and hug the annoying brat. Instead, he leant forward slightly, asking in as much unconcerned tones as he could manage: "Hey kiddo. How are ya feeling?"

Naruto still looks at him with those same eyes full of hope, longing and a thousand something else. 'Gods, what happened to him?'

The blond teen didn't answer, but once more his body spoke for him as he lifted a trembling hand, like all the strength has been sapped away. This time, Jiraiya resisted the urge for a total of half a second before he grabbed the reaching hand in his own. Naruto smiled one of his rare true smiles, falling asleep after murmuring something inaudible, his hand loosely holding Jiraiya's.

It takes a few long minutes before Jiraiya finally lets go, still puzzled by the word he read on the blond lips. 'Since when does Naruto call me "sensei"?...Mh, maybe the world is ending after all.'

He smirked. Nah. Naruto hasn't become Hokage yet, the world can't end before that. Getting up in silence, Jiraiya stuck his head out the door and into the seemingly empty hospital hallway.

"Go tell Tsunade the brat woke up," before retreating back inside and onto the chair once more.

Outside, an ANBU materializes out of the wall, dispelling the genjutsu before disappearing in a puff of smoke towards the Godaime's office.

oOo

After the ANBU had left her office, Tsunade called on Shizune, telling her she was headed to the hospital. Shizune nodded – the younger woman was tired, having worked double time since Naruto was hospitalized.

"Don't worry, Tsunade-sama, I'll finish up here."

Tsunade smiles gratefuly. It's times like these she's truly thankful for her apprentice's thoughtfulness. Twenty minutes later, and she is in the hospital, making her way up stairs that are becoming far too familiar, and strides past the hidden ANBU she assigned to guard Naruto.

Jiraiya is sitting in the chair when she enters the room, his gaze fixed on the boy in the bed and a thoughtful look on his face. As the door clicks shut, he shifts his eyes to her, nodding in greeting. Naruto is sleeping again – she'd hoped he'd still be awake, but apparently she would have to wait.

"Did he say anything?" she asks.

Jiraiya shakes his head. "No. Whatever that seal did though made him…well, I don't know what it did to him, but it's the first time I've ever seen him cry."

Tsunade has no answer to that. She can only hope, and pray that it is enough.

oOo

"WHERE IS HE?!"

Ninjas and civilians alike wince as they hear the Godaime's yell, shuddering at the killer intent in the air.

"We- we don't k-kn-know, Hokage-sama! He s-suddenly di-disappeared!"

Two seconds later and the unfortunate chunin was imbedded into the wall, courtesy of one super-powered right hook from one pissed off blond Hokage.

"Find him! NOW!" Tsunade roars. Chunin, jounin and even ANBU scramble, stumbling over each other in an attempt to escape the Hokage's wrath, leaving the tower as fast as they can. This is what Jiraiya finds when he arrives at the Hokage Tower two days later, having just come back from the archives once more, this time with some results.

"Oi, Hime, what's going on?"

Tsunade turns her infamous Death Glare on him, and Jiraiya gulps. Then the woman realizes just who is standing at the entrance to her office and sits down with a groan, massaging her temples. The Gama-sennin waits patiently – he doesn't feel like being punched to the other side of Konoha, not today anyway. Finally, Tsunade sighs and lifts her head.

"Naruto disappeared from his room today."

"WHAT?!"

"The nurse came in for his noon check-up and he was gone, and the window open. The ANBU didn't feel or hear a thing."

"How the hell is that possible? Naruto may be stealthy, but not enough to evade skilled ANBUs. They didn't notice anything?"

"No. But Boar tells me that there was no sign of an outsider entering the room. They had Inuzuka Tsume and Kuromaru make sure, even got a Hyuuga to check. Nothing."

"Shit."

"My thoughts exactly."

"Any ideas?"

"None, but I've given orders that everyone keep an eye out for that blond idiot. And when they find him, I'm gonna pound him into the ground."

Jiraiya chuckled, before remembering why he was there in the first place. His face turned serious and Tsunade, noticing this, motioned for him to take a seat as she awaited his report.

"I found something interesting while digging around the archives."

A delicate brow was arched. "Oh?"

"Yeah. It doesn't have anything to do with that blasted new seal, but it's about the Shiki Fūjin, so I figured you'd be interested." Leaning forward, Jiraiya laid down some of his notes for her to see. "I didn't get the whole thing, it was mostly just mentionned on the side of other stuff, but it turns out the Shiki Fūjin wasn't designed to seal a demon in a Jinchuuriki after all."

There's a sharp intake of breath from the woman sitting across the desk, terror welling up inside her –

"No need to panic. It wasn't designed to hold a demon originally." Tsunade lets out a breath in relief, before directing a questionning look at her ex-teammate. Jiraiya shrugs. "Seems Minato had been working on it to actually hold a demon without endangering the host, unlike the original seal. I'm not sure exactly what he's done with the seal though – last time I had a look at the brat's seal, I still hadn't gone through all the layers it holds, and I've seen a lot of them. Makes me think he might have been working on the seal for some time, instead of it being a spur-of-the-moment kinda thing like we thought."

"Any ideas of why he'd have been researching such a thing?"

Jiraiya shrugs again. "No idea, although Minato mentioned something about solidifying an alliance. He didn't say with whom though. Could have been any of Konoha's current or old allies."

The Godaime frowned, her hands folded in front of her face. "It must have been for a country with either an existing jinchuuriki, or one who may have been under threat from a demon at the time."

"Maybe," Jiraiya replied, "but I can't think of any country in such a state at the time, and Konoha doesn't really count. Could it have been Suna?"

"I'm not sure. I'd have to ask the Kazekage to check their records of that time, and about their resident demon. And I'm sure you know it's a touchy subject with him."

It was Jiraiya's turn to frown. "Mh, yes. That Gaara kid can't have been happy about his father's decision to make him a Jinchuuriki from birth. Although I can't for the life of me understand why Kayaku would do that. The Yondaime Kazekage was no fool."

"Indeed."

They sat together discussing the possibilities and implications of this new discovery until late in the afternoon. Shizune or Sakura would sometimes come in, carrying paperwork or tea, and occasionally both, barely noticed by the two sennin. Periodically, a ninja would also enter the room to report the progress of the search, although there had been no sign of Naruto all day. They knew he hadn't left the village, but that was it. It wouldn't be until the next day that they would know about the blond jounin's whereabouts.

oOo

He sat on top of the Hokage Mountain, mere feet from the cliff. The wind blew through his hair, ruffling his already messy blond hair, and he thought maybe he should get a ponytail.

Slowly, the sun's rays shone from behind him, chasing away the greyness of dawn and painting the sky in hues of pink and yellow. Below him, Konoha was waking, coming alive with the colors and sounds which had made him fall in love so long ago. He sat there, listening to the hustle and bustle of a new day, seeing the ninjas who protected the village coming and going, from missions and patrols, and various other tasks they performed relentlessly at all hours of the day and night.

He supposed he should be down there; he had snuck out of the hospital, and Tsunade was bound to be quite angry with him. He should be down there. But he couldn't, not right now.

After waking up in the hospital briefly and seeing his old sensei, his world simply came crashing down, and he'd needed some time alone. He knew his friends – his family – were worried about him, but this was not something he could share with them, not yet.

'How am I supposed to explain this? For that matter, how come no one seems to know, not even those closest to me?'

He could understand the council – considering how they'd treated him, he had no doubt that if they'd known of his true identity he would have ended up as a puppet for them, when his body was still too young to protect himself. Best they didn't know. At least now he would have the satisfaction of pulling one up on them, however unvoluntarily.

His eyes narrowed – those old fools were not all that powerful, caring more about their own personal political power, but he knew that where he was concerned, they were still biased. He could hardly blame them – the Kyuubi had killed many shinobi, and many families were decimated, if not entirely wiped out. They had good reason to hate the demon. Still, they ought to have seen past that and realized he wasn't the monster. If they proved themselves to be a problem in the future, he'd have to make sure they were disbanded, or replaced.

'Actually, the system should be changed. If I remember well, the teammates of the Hokage usually end up on the council.' He shuddered as he imagined Sakura, or even Sasuke, in a position of such influence.

Thinking of old teammates made him think of Sachiko and Kazuma, and a small smile appeared on his face. He'd have to pay them a visit later. Or not.

They had married before Kyuubi attacked – Kazuma had been forced to retire shortly after, due to serious injuries, but he remembered having met their grown-up daughter, Tenten, when taking the chunin exams three years ago. He supposed it was easier to let them think him dead. They'd have tried to adopt him one way or another if they'd known, and he shuddered to think what the villagers would have done to them and their child if they'd taken in the 'demon brat'. No doubt Sarutobi had a hard enough time stopping them anyway. He'd have to talk to them soon.

Kakashi he was pissed off at the Sandaime for. The boy had still been young when the whole Kyuubi problem happened, for lack of a better term. At the time of the attack, Inuzuka Rin, his other remaining student, was in a coma, and Kakashi kept blaming himself for it. Loosing his sensei so soon after learning there may be a chance she wouldn't survive…He decided he'd have to check up on what had happened to Rin sometime soon. After he'd dealt with Kakashi.

Then there was Jiraiya and Tsunade. He had no clue why they hadn't been told. There was no logical reason to. In fact, it would have done a lot more good than harm. Instead, he had a feeling they both thought he was Yondaime's son – which he found extremely absurd, considering he hadn't even been married at the time, and had just started seeing Kushina…

His heart clenched painfully, and he ruthlessly pushed those memories aside. There would be time to grieve later. Better deal with the living before he tended to the dead.

Going back to his original train of thought, he tried to puzzle out why Sandaime hadn't said anything to his mentor-turned-father and his adopted sister. He had to have known it would hurt them greatly, so why…?

An hour later found him no closer to finding an answer, and he finally gave up, deciding that when the time came for him to confront those two, he'd ask them directly. It wasn't as if he could do anything about it after the fact.

Then there came the matter of his seal.

The Shiki Fūjin was never meant to hold the demon back for so long. When he'd gone into battle that night, he had fully intended to die, and take the monster with him. The purpose of the seal had been to seal a creature – be it human or demon – into the one using the technique, summoning the Shinigami as they did so and, once the target had been sealed, the God would take both and kill them. It could indeed be used to create Jinchuurikis, again at the cost of the life of the caster, but since he had been an adult and had no container at the time…As it was, the demon had proven more powerful than he'd thought, and turned back time for him so that the Shinigami's grasp on them would falter, causing for the demon to be simply sealed and not killed.

He supposed that the reason the Kyuubi had been asleep for so long was because whatever he'd done to overpower the Shinigami and at the same time save them both had drained the demon of his powers quite severely. But while the Shiki Fūjin was a better seal to use when creating a Jinchuuriki, it was far from perfect. Indeed, the longer the demon was awake, the more it had access to it's host's mind and thoughts, influencing them to use its chakra more often. As such, the jinchuuriki would fast become dependant on its power, and given enough time using the power, would weaken the seal to a point where it would break and the demon would be free.

Many believed the Shiki Fūjin to be a stroke of genius on his part, but he had actually been working on it for some time, having heard from his counterpart, the Yondaime Kazekage, that they had a demon problem of their own. He had wanted, at the time, to do something that would help Suna, strengthening their alliance while at the same time getting rid of a demon once and for all when its container died. In the meantime, the jinchuuriki would have been a powerful asset to his village. He had been planning on expanding on the original seal by adding a function which would completely block the demon's influence from the host's mind, while still allowing the jinchuuriki to siphon chakra, when the Kyuubi attacked, and the seal was never completed - its purpose that night had been quite different from creating a jinchuuriki.

Thinking back on it now, he realized his 'death' was probably the reason why Gaara was given such an imperfect seal – the way it had been going back then, it was only a matter of time before the Ichibi no Shukaku escaped its temporary prison. He knew the past was the past, but he couldn't help but feel responsible for his psychotic friend's predicament.

He sighed again, raking his hand through his too-short hair, and absent-mindedly made a note of growing it out. 'I really wish I could rub this into their faces,' he thought, glaring a bit at the village below him, 'but I really can't. I'm not ready yet.'

A wry smile twisted his lips as he thought of his village. Even after all this time, even after all the glares and hate and fear, even after the beatings and unfair treatment, he still wanted to protect them. After seeing the ugliest side of Konoha, he still loved it. His gaze settled once more on the village below him, and his expression softened.

'Guess I'm still a fool.'

Namikaze Minato smiled, feeling glad.

oOo

When he woke up that morning, Kakashi would have said the day started well. By the time he'd done his customary visit at the Monument, and stared at the names of all the friends he'd lost along the years, offering silent prayers, the sun had started to rise in the east. He could faintly hear the village waking up – the civilians at least. Ninjas among the population didn't have as regular a sleeping schedule, though the majority tried to maintain a certain degree of normalcy.

He'd just decided to get to the mission tower not-so-late for once, and was on the point of setting foot on the path when he'd faintly heard two voices, equally loud, and equally enthusiastic, fast closing-in on his location.

Not wanting to deal with Gai and his not-so-mini-clone so early in the morning, he'd come to the logical conclusion and promptly decided he would take the scenic route back to the village instead.

The 'scenic route' was actually a rarely traveled trail which wound to the side of the small hill the K.I.A monument was placed on, and while it had a most beautiful view of the village and ancient trees bordering it, there was one thing which deterred most people from taking it. The hill the monument was on overlooked the village cemetary, and the path stood on a ledge circling it for a good five minutes at a fast walk. Considering this was a ninja village, and the death toll was more significant, not many people liked to be reminded of their loss when simply walking, and as such avoided it as much as possible. That wasn't to say the people of Konoha didn't honor their dead, but how would you like to remember how many had been lost when walking to do some grocery shopping?

Kakashi was one of the few people who didn't mind – after all, he confronted his ghosts on a daily basis. He didn't often take the trail, but this one time (though he'd never admit it, not even to Ibiki) he was grateful to Gai for making him take it. Just as he was about to round the bend that would take him out of sight of the cemetary, he caught sight of sunny-blonde hair among the tombstones.

'Naruto?'

Sure enough, when he jumped down to investigate, he found his wayward student collapsed in front of a group of graves. The boy was unarmed, but cold to the touch, not to mention completely drenched.

'Did he spend the night here or something? He's soaked to the bone!'

For a brief moment, he considered taking the unconscious teen to the hospital, but given the fact that the Godaime wouldn't have let him leave if he wasn't at least better …and how much he hated hospitals…well, there was still his apartment. Besides, Naruto didn't seem to be hurt in any maner – he even unveiled his sharingan to make sure. As far as he could tell, the blond was simply sleeping, albeit in a rather strange location, and quite deeply too. His decision made, Kakashi gathered the still sleeping blond into his arms and took off, snorting at how trusting the other was to remain oblivious during the whole trip.

When they'd arrived at the run-down apartment, Kakashi had striped the younger man of his soaked outer garments and slipped him under the covers. A quick glance at the clock informed him it was nearly nine, and that he was suitably late. He'd just come back from a mission yesterday, and had collapsed straight into bed, promising himself he'd deliver the report the next day.

'Oh well, it's not like anyone expects me to be on time, and besides it's my day off.'

Shrugging, he made his way to the mission tower at a reasonably fast pace, before strolling inside with his trusty Icha Icha Paradise out…and nearly got bowled over by a running chunin. The poor man apologized, before leaving as fast as he could. Now that he actually paid attention, Kakashi realized that a lot of people seemed to be leaving the tower as fast as possible, and those that remained had a rather comical look of fear. Even the one ANBU he encountered was rather subdued.

This behaviour continued until he reached the actual mission room, getting steadily worse, and he suddenly had a sense of foreboding. Unfortunately, he did have to report in at some point this morning, and he'd rather get that out of the way.

'Ah. Well, that explains it.'

Sitting behind the mission desk was the Hokage herself, and while she certainly wasn't shouting, the look of fury on her face - not to mention the rather controlled killing intent suffusing the air surrounding her– told him enough. She was Pissed Off, and that was a Bad Thing (all caps intentional). The copy-cat ninja seriously considered turning around at that point, but (unfortunately) he'd been spotted.

"Kakashi-san."

He sighed, and resisted the temptation to look heavenward. Why couldn't he get a break? "Hokage-sama. Here's my mission report from last night." He handed her the scroll. "If you'll excuse me, I believe it is my day off so I'll take my leave right n-"

"Hatake-san."

There was no denying the order in her voice, especially when she used his family name, so he turned around and fixed a lazy eye on his leader. "Hai, Hokage-sama?"

"You don't happen to know where Naruto is, do you?"

'Ah. So this is about Naruto. Figures, when he gets her angry, I'm the one who gets in trouble. Dammit.'

"He's in his apartment, resting. Did he do something?"

Tsunade sighed in relief, her lips twitching, though she didn't smile. "Not that I'm aware of. Are you the one who found him?"

"Hai."

"Where?"

"In the cemetary, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade gave him an incredulous look. 'I would too, if I hadn't found him there myself.'

"The cemetary? What was he doing?" He turned towards the owner of the voice, a young chunin by the name of Iruka, whom he remembered disagreeing with a few years ago. Ironically, the subject of their disagreement at the time had been Naruto.

Kakashi took a look at the rest of the room's occupants, clearly indicating that he'd rather not have so many hear him. Tsunade caught on and dismissed them, telling Iruka to come back in when she called him, or when Kakashi left, whichever came first. Only when the door had closed did he answer.

"He was sleeping actually. I found him unconscious, collapsed in front of a group of tombstones, but suffering no apparent harm. He was soaked to the bone, and had obviously cried himself to sleep, if the tearmarks on his face are any indication. I took him back to his apartment, and as far as I know he's still sleeping."

He fell silent, and Tsunade furrowed her brow in thought. There wasn't anyone Naruto would visit in the cemetary…unless…

"Kakashi, do you recall the names that were on the graves?"

"I didn't really pay attention to them, Hokage-sama, though I'm sure I could find them again, if you wanted me to," he replied, his one visible eye curving up in a trademark smile. "They were surrounded by a peculiar type of white ivy, so it shouldn't be too difficult."

There was a sharp intake of breath, and he focused back onto the Hokage's face. She, however, betrayed no such actions, her face blank. Too blank actually, as if someone had slapped her in the face with a cold fish (he had to refrain from giggling at that thought). His eye narrowed slightly, but other than that, Kakashi said nothing: it wasn't his place.

Silence stretched on. "Hokage-sama?" The brown eyes focused back on him. "Was there anything else?"

Tsunade seemed to consider him for a moment, before she started speaking again. "Kakashi, would you mind watching over Naruto today? Something seems to have disturbed him greatly since he woke up, and I don't think he wants to go back to the hospital." /there aren't many other people I trust with his safety/ went unsaid, but he heard the words nonetheless.

He eye-smiled again. "Of course, Hokage-sama." 'Not like I had any choice. Ah well.'

"Thank you. You are dismissed. Oh, and do send Umino-san and the others back in."

"Hai, hai."

After getting out of the building, Kakashi checked back at the apartment, taking note that Naruto was still asleep. It was almost ten o'clock and Kakashi assumed (quite rightly) that the blond ninja would be hungry when he woke up, and so set out to make brunch. A quick look at the cupboards revealed a lot of instant ramen, and a few other things, but the rare few fresh produce in his fridge had long gone bad, since no-one bothered checking while Naruto was in the hospital.

'Truth be told, I'm surprised he even had fresh produce to begin with.' He sighed. 'Ah well, time to go shopping I guess. I wonder what I can make? Mmh…Something simple. Bacon & Eggs? Sounds good. Maybe some toast with that. And tea. Tea's always good. Although I'd prefer sake myself...Heh, sake-flavored tea? Nah…'

A half-hour of idle musings and shopping later and he was back, enjoying his rare day off, before setting to work in the kitchen. He'd heard some movement from the bedroom, and had no doubt his host would soon be awake. The toasts had just popped out, and he was feeling rather cheerful as he transfered the scrambled eggs onto the plastic plates he'd dug up from the cupboards, going as far as humming a tuneless song. The man turned back to the bacon, and neatly slid them alongside the eggs.

'Now, where are the butter knives? Ah!' Finding said items, Kakashi gathered the plates and turned around to place them on the table – and faced a ghost.

'Minato-sensei!?'

He was so shocked by the vision of his deceased sensei, calmly sitting at the kitchen table and gazing at him quietly, that the plates slipped from his grasp. Lightning fast, the other man grabbed them out of the air and set them at the table, proving he was no apparition, before quirking an amused eyebrow at him. "Ohayo, Kakashi."

He gaped.

His mind screeched to a halt as the blond man smiled that same smile he'd have whenever someone on the team had done something particularly funny. The blond walked past him, getting the toast and butter to the table, before sitting back down opposite him.

"Aren't you gonna sit down? It smells rather good. Didn't know you were such a good cook." It was even the same voice, slightly younger but…

"Na- Naruto?!"

"Mmh…?"

He wasn't aware he'd sat down, but as he stared unabashedly at his one-time student, he could have sworn he saw something like vague amusement in the blue depths, as if the blond was playing some kind of great prank on him.

'The hell? When did he start looking so much like sensei?'

He was being a hypocrite of course – Naruto had always looked like his father. Although there had been no solid proof (that he was aware of anyway), there had never been any doubt in his mind that the two were related. The father-son relationship wasn't that hard to figure out either, seeing as his sensei didn't come from a clan, and his only remaining family would have been Yamanaka Inoichi's father – a second degree cousin, from what Kakashi had gleaned during one of those rare conversations when Minato-sensei would share personnal information. As it was, not many people had blond hair of that particular shade in Konoha, or eyes that blue.

"Are you gonna eat that? 'Cause it's getting cold. Of course, it's not ramen but I'll take what I can get."

"Hey! You should be grateful I cooked for you!" Yep, that was definitely amusement in Naruto's eyes. Kakashi narrowed his eye, but started eating nonetheless. No sense wasting food.

The two of them stayed mostly silent while they ate, which was a feat in itself considering who one of the two participants was. Remembering Tsunade's warning, Kakashi kept shooting veiled suspicious glances at the not-quite-a-boy. Said boy wasn't as oblivious to his gazes as one might think, if the amused grin he shot his companion was any indication.

'I'm missing something here. Is he playing with me or something? But that wouldn't be like Naruto. That boy never thinks about tricking people. Well, except when playing a prank. Mmh, but maybe Jiraiya-sama beat that out of him?'

Then, Kakashi realized that something rather essential was missing indeed, and was the cause for his initial confusion: "What happened to your whisker-marks?"

"Didn't need them anymore, so they disappeared."

The answer was infuriatingly vague, and could mean any number of things. 'Argh, maybe Jiraiya-sama did teach him the art of deception. Dammit. And here I was hoping for an easy answer. Why meeee?'

"Oh? Care to elaborate Naruto?"

The blond didn't answer immediately, instead polishing off his plate, quietly thanking him for the meal. He nodded, not taking his focus off the other. There was still the possibility of a prank on Naruto's part. But then Naruto gave him a long, serious look, and Kakashi had to fight the urge to squirm. The ressemblance between the teenager sitting before him and his old teacher was eerie, right down to The Look©. Finally, his host spoke, apparently having considered his words very carefully:

"I-" A moment's hesitation, then: "It's nothing."

Kakashi stared at his old student suspiciously. Naruto was indeed hiding something, but what? In response to his stare, the blond only grinned before getting up to wash the dishes. Kakashi knew he should probe deeper, but decided against it. If Naruto wanted to trust him with his secrets, he would do it on his own time, and Kakashi could very well wait.

That didn't mean he wouldn't try for any other sort of information though.

"I found you this morning."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that. Thanks for bringing me home."

"Not a problem. Although I'd like to know what you were doing in the cemetary."

The blonde didn't miss a beat, replying cheekily. "What most people do in cemetaries I suppose: visit departed loved ones and pay my respects."

"Oh? Can I ask who?"

"That, is none of your business." The tone was just as cheeky and carefree as before, but it had a cold undertone, and made Kakashi look up from his book in surprise. Naruto continued drying the dishes, placing them one by one in the cupboard, and Kakashi knew he wouldn't get anymore out of him. Not for now anyway. He sighed. 'Maa, why do I always get the difficult ones?' He considered that for a second or two, then: '…I don't think I want to know the answer to that…'

He looked at Naruto again. "Tsunade-sama was worried about you."

There was an embarassed chuckle as Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, I, um, kinda snuck out of the hospital. I suppose she's been terrifying everyone about finding me?"

Kakashi chuckled. "Hai, it was an amusing sight to see. You missed out."

The blond threw him a look, indicating he knew perfectly well that Kakashi had been as scared as anyone else there. In retaliation, the jounin did what he did best: he took out his little orange book and started to read, making his way to the door in-between perverted giggles.

"I'll be around if you need me," he said, then was gone.

He could hear Naruto's laugher all the way down to the street, and Kakashi smiled. It was only hours later that he realized the blond hadn't called him "sensei" even once during their talk.

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Author's notes: So….how many of you saw this coming? (grins)

Anywho, yes, this is the infamous plot Naruto-is-Yondaime. And don't come to me saying it's impossible – I know that, I'm reading the manga. I just found the idea interesting, and while digging around the net for similar fics couldn't find even one which explained this particular plot in a plausible manner. So I decided to make my own. You can stop reading if this doesn't interest you anymore though. :)

On another note, this chapter was incredibly hard to write. I have at least double the length of this one in notes and plausible directions in which this could have gone, and had a lot of trouble deciding whether or not Yondaime should reveal himself or not. As you can see, I decided against it for now. His friends will learn of Naruto's true identity in time, but I want to go through the emotional trauma Minato is going through first, and get some other people's observations – like with Jiraiya, Tsunade and Kakashi here.

I'd really like some constructive feedback on this. This is the turning point, and I'd like to know if you guys think I handled it well.

Answers to questions you didn't know you had:

Q: Is the main character Naruto with Minato's memories, or has the seal completely changed him into the Fourth along with all the Fourth's power? Or is he now someone completely new altogether?

A: NO. Naruto is Yondaime / Yondaime is Naruto. In other words. YONDAIME & NARUTO ARE ONE AND THE SAME. Personality changes will be dealt with accordingly.

Q: the first part is confusing – you keep switching tenses. Why is that?

A: It's meant to be confusing. It reflects on Naruto/Minato's state of mind when he wakes up.

Q: Is Minato going to investigate the seal / Kyuubi further?

A: Of course. As stated in the chapter, the seal isn't perfect, and he doesn't want any more contact than necessary with the demon.

Q: Speaking of seals, who put the "whisker marks" seals on Naruto?

A: Sandaime did. I'll explain later.

Q: Are you going to do a "Kyuubi redemption" in this fic?

A: Oh hell no. I like those kind of fics, but I think having a smartass evil demon will work better in this case. In my fic, Kyuubi attacked Konoha because he felt like it.

Thanks for reading!

P.S: If you spot any stupid mistakes, please let me know.