Chapter Ten: Silent Tears
Betad by Carrie2sky

Naruto had been in the hospital for nearly a week now. The pain in his arm still remained. Why hadn't Kyūbi healed him yet? Shouldn't he have recovered from the Akatsuki incident by now?

His friends were only able to visit him sporadically, due to missions they kept getting sent on. When they did visit, they would ask him questions like why he was three years old, why he was in the hospital now, and a lot of other questions only Kami knows what. He couldn't take the pressure, not like this at least.

Tsunade, Kakashi, Shizune, Minato and Jiraiya, were the only ones who would come by quite frequently; it was both annoying and at the same time calming.

"But it's no fun to not have anybody to talk to . . ." complained Naruto, sighing from where he lay in the bed . . . in room 447 . . . at floor four . . . in the west part of Konoha's hospital.

The only thing Tsunade and Shizune did was to give him gross medicines that Minato insistedhe take or else he wouldn't get out of the hospital anytime soon. Jiraiya and Kakashi weren't doing much either when they were with him; they just talked about what was happening outside the hospital and how worried his friends were over him.

What Naruto found strange was that no one had asked about what had happened to him, except his friends and he couldn't talk about it with them. He knew it was only a matter of time before one of the adults would.

It was night and Naruto couldn't sleep. He looked at the clock, which showed 2am. He hadn't slept a single moment and there was a good reason for it. It was currently thundering and lightening outside, and every time Naruto heard the crash of thunder, it made him jump in fright.

Silent tears were falling from his eyes down his cheeks, which made his eyes red; he was shaking violently. He huddled to a ball under his quilt and shed even more tears than before.

It wasn't the thunder itself that Naruto was afraid of; it was what it reminded him about that scared him. Kyūbi had always tried to break out from his prison inside Naruto and when he tried to do that, Naruto was using his chakra to stop him. In the past when Naruto had used chakra from Kyūbi, he would try to weaken the seal even more than before.

Kyūbi was currently throwing himself against the bars and the sound it made was like the sound the thunder was making outside, only it was happening in his mind. The seal had been weakest when Naruto had the demon fox's cloak, and Kyūbi had thrown himself against the bars so hard that the doors had moved. It scared the bloody hell of out Naruto.

Ever since then, Kyūbi only threw himself against the bars to scare Naruto. Between the thunder outside and the noise Kyūbi was making inside his head was just too much for Naruto to handle. Being in this body shouldn't be affecting him mentally, but it seemed like it was. It felt like Kyūbi was going to break free. He knew that it was impossible if he wasn't using its chakra, but it still scared him.

"Please stop . . ." Naruto begged, as Kyūbi threw himself against the bars again.

"Do you really think that I'm going to stop just because you beg me to?"asked Kyūbi in the back in his head and Naruto's eyes widened in fear.

Kyūbi was talking to him, which never happened unless Naruto was unconscious!

"How . . . can you be . . . talking to me?" asked Naruto between sobs.

"How? You don't need to know because when I break out . . ."Kyūbi said, throwing himself against the bars so hard that Naruto screamed into his pillow to stifle it, "You'll die!"

Naruto cried into the pillow. When he was little and it was thundering, he had heard the sound back then in his head as well, but he didn't know that it was Kyūbi making the sound. But now that he knew what made that sound; he was more scared than he was back then.

"Little Naruto is crying, how terrible,"Kyūbi taunted him.

He smirked as he showed himself in Naruto's mind.

Naruto's eyes were wide open, but somehow Kyūbi showed himself so that Naruto could see him clearly. That did it for Naruto. He let out a heart-piercing scream that would have been heard in all of Konoha.

Minato had borrowed a room that was just down the hall from Naruto's, so that he could be close to him if anything happened. His room had been converted to look like an office that had a bed, a desk and some chairs.

He had been asleep at the time when he heard the scream: a heart-piercing scream that would trouble anyone who heard it, but for Minato, he knew that scream: it belonged to his son.

Naruto!

Minato instantly jumped out of bed, wearing only his striped blue trousers and a white t-shirt, but he didn't care. He ran out of his room and headed towards Naruto room. Along the way, he met Tsunade who happened to be in the hospital at that time.

"Did you hear that scream?" she asked him as they ran in the hall.

"Yes, it's Naruto. Do you think that . . . someone's here to get him?" asked Minato.

Tsunade could hear the worry in his voice regarding his son. "I don't know, but I hope not," she said as they came to Naruto's room.

Minato opened the door and saw an empty bed with blood on it.

"Naruto?" he called, as he went into the room looking around for his son.

Neither Tsunade nor Minato saw Naruto anywhere, but then Minato noticed a blood trail on the floor. It started at the bed and went to the other side of the room. It ended at a dark corner where there was a little table.

"Naruto?" Minato called again.

Tsunade saw the blood trail as well.

Minato followed the trail to the corner, and when he got closer he saw Naruto there hugging his knees and crying. His wounds had opened up somehow. They had healed to the point where they shouldn't have opened up, but they still had.

"Naruto!" Minato exclaimed, in a worried tone.

He knelt down next to the boy, but he didn't dare touch him, fearing he would hurt him.

"What happened? Was there someone here?" asked Minato.

When Naruto didn't answer, Minato hesitantly took him in his arms and carefully hugged him tight.

Realising it was Minato, Naruto cried even more and hugged him back, tightly, as if he would never let go. He just cried and cried, ignoring the pain in his arm.

Minato just held him very close. Someone or something had hurt his son. His son for Kami's sake!

"Shh . . . shh . . ." he tried to comfort Naruto, but Naruto just cried louder, causing Tsunade to start crying herself when she saw the terror in Naruto's face.

It was something she had seen many times on other people, but never on Naruto.

"It's okay Naruto. Da-I'm here," Minato told him. He had nearly said daddy, but he caught himself in time. "I'm not going to let anyone hurt you, okay? You're safe now."

Naruto's cries began to slow down a bit. But as his sobs filled the room, Tsunade was now crying herself and Minato didn't know what to do. Something bad must have happened to Naruto for him to act this way. He just wished he knew what . . .

"He won't . . . go away . . ." Naruto finally said, between sobs. Minato hugged him closer, thankful that Naruto had spoken. "He's enjoying this . . ."

"Who's enjoying this?" Minato asked, as he gently stroked the boy's head.

"Kyūbi . . ." whispered Naruto, feeling Minato stiffen as he said it. He looked up at Minato and saw conflicting emotions flicker across his face.

"He's trying to break . . . out . . ." Naruto finished, crying once again, feeling strange comfort in Minato's arms, but not knowing why he cared about him so much.

He then threw his arms around Minato's neck, burying his face in his neck, tears still streaming down his face.

At first, Minato was surprised, but then he quickly recovered, rocking Naruto back and forth feeling him relax in his arms. Tsunade smiled at the sight and dried her tears away.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" asked Minato after a while when he felt that Naruto wasn't shaking anymore.

Naruto didn't answer at first. He wasn't sure if he should tell Minato or not. However, he was the one who had sealed Kyūbi inside him in the first place.

"Kyūbi is scaring me by threatening me . . ." Naruto told him, tightening his grip on Minato. "He's throwing himself against the bars, telling me that the seal is going to break sometime soon . . . and then I'll die . . . and he'll be free . . ." he started to sob again.

Oh Kami . . . thought Minato as he rubbed the boy's back. "It won't break, Naruto, I promise you that. I won't let that happen."

Naruto felt enormous gratitude towards Minato. It felt much better getting that out. He had never been able to talk like this to someone before; it felt so good.

"Arigato . . ." Naruto said shyly, causing Minato to smile inside.

It made him happy that his son was glad that he was there to protect him; it was something Minato thought he never would experience.

"I'll always be here for you from now on . . ." he whispered to Naruto, causing him to smile. "For the rest of the night, do you want me to stay with you or do you want to be by yourself?" he asked.

"I want you to be with me," answered Naruto at once. He couldn't believe that he actually said that to the Yondaime!

"Okay, then I will," answered Minato, which surprised Naruto a bit, but he smiled.

"Arigato . . ." Naruto said again, starting to fall asleep in Minato's arms.

Tsunade looked at Minato and smiled as she walked out of the room. Minato smiled back at her. He stood up carefully with Naruto in his arms, and headed towards his room. When they got there Tsunade was inside waiting for them.

"I need to check his wounds, you know," she said. Minato sat down on the bed with Naruto in his arms. Naruto was just happy that Minato was there for him.

The wounds on Naruto's arm had opened, so Tsunade healed them with her medical jutsu. It was only the visible wounds that had reopned themselves, Naruto's shoulder and fractured bones were completely fine. When that was done she bandaged the arm and shoulder and then left them together.

Naruto was soon asleep. The whole night he slept in Minato's arms, feeling safer than ever before.

After another week had passed at the hospital when Naruto was finally able to get out of there and go back to Minato's house. He was so ecstatic about it that he was literally driving Minato nuts. He kept talking about how the hospital was a weird place, it smelled funny, and it was so Boring with a capital B.

"Have you ever heard the words 'calm down'?" asked Minato as they ate breakfast that morning.

"Ca'm do'n?" asked Naruto with his mouth full of bread, then he drank some milk and swallowed. "What do you mean 'calm down?'"

"You've been talking about how bad the hospital was ever since you got out, don't you think you can stop talking about it now?" Minato asked him as he drank from his cup of coffee.

"Well I hate the hospital, and I just wanted to make that clear for you," answered Naruto, while taking a new bowl of cornflakes with some milk.

"I got the message, thanks . . ." Minato sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"What are we going to do today? I have been in this body for two and a half weeks now. I'm getting used to it now, so may I go train now?" Naruto asked with puppy eyes.

"No," answered Minato simply.

Naruto was taken aback by his answer. "Nani?" Naruto replied, looking at him with wide eyes.

"I said 'no', and I think that you know why. What happened the last time you went out? Let's see . . .from what I remember you ended up nearly dying," Minato answered him calmly.

Naruto just stared at him with anger welling up inside him.

"What!?" he finally screamed. "I can train . . ." but Minato cut him off.

"You heard me. Is there something about 'no' that you don't understand? I'm not going to risk you getting hurt like that again. Furthermore, I don't plan on letting you out of my sight for quite a while. End of discussion, Naruto," Minato said with finality, when Naruto tried to protest. His fatherly, protective side was really kicking in.

"Teme . . ." whispered Naruto under his breath and crossed his arms as he leant back in his chair.

Minato had fixed the chair by constructing a built in booster seat that Naruto could sit on, and then put a stepping stool beside it so he could climb up and sit in it himself, much to Naruto's embarrassment.

"I heard that," Minato told him, but Naruto ignored him . . . at first. "And if you continue on like this, you won't have any ramen for a month."

"You can't be serious!? I'm fifteen for crying out loud, have you forgotten?!" Naruto exclaimed angrily.What gives him the right to order me around like he's my father or something? He thought.

It was both annoying and yet comforting at the same time. He had also noticed that since becoming a three-year-old, his behavior was slowly changing to match his appearance. It was easier to get away with acting childish because of that.

"No, I haven't forgotten, Naruto, but . . ." Minato started to say.

"I can train, damn it!" interrupted Naruto angrily.

This made Minato very annoyed. "That's it, you're grounded until next week," he told Naruto.

Naruto was so shocked that his chair hit the floor with a loud thud.

"What? No fair! I can't be grounded," protested Naruto with a whine frmo the floor.

Minato saw a confused expression across Naruto face, and when he thought about it, Naruto had probably never been grounded before, since he used to live alone, being free to do as he wanted.

"Allow me to spell some rules out for you: One: you shouldn't say such awful words in my presence, actually you shouldn't say them at all. Two: you're going to listen to your elders. Finally: You're living in my house so I make the rules. I said you're grounded, so you are," Minato told him. He looked at Naruto who sat on the floor with a shocked expression on his face.

"You've got to be kidding me," said Naruto after a while. "Seriously, you're kidding right?"

"Do I looking like I'm kidding?" Minato asked with a very serious look on his face.

Naruto gulped. "Fine, but if I follow those rules, I should get a reward," he muttered.

Minato smiled. "If you accept this without complaining, then I could teach you some jutsus," he told him. As expected, Naruto jumped to his feet with a big smile on his face.

"You will?" he asked and looked at Minato with the widest smile he had ever had seen.

"I said that I could," Minato corrected. "I can't promise. It all depends on your behavior from now on," he told Naruto, who had a thoughtful look on his face.

Should I go along with what he says, even though I'm going to be grounded for the next four days? But if I get to learn a new jutsu . . . Naruto thought.

"We've got a deal," Naruto said finally, smirking at Minato who just laughed at him.

"I'm dying!" screamed Naruto at Minato when they ate dinner the same night. "I can't stand this!"

"Calm down, Naruto. You have been screaming like this all day, even at the office. It's getting on my nerves. If you still want to learn a new jutsu, then you're going to have to start behaving better than this," Minato said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"But I'm going to die of boredom!" Naruto complained as he put a piece of potato in his mouth.

Minato sighed deeply. This was going to be harder than he thought.

"Well there is one thing that we do need to talk about . . ." he said, and his eyes became sad and dull. "A very important thing, that I have put off until now."

Naruto looked at Minato with a worried expression and was concerned that he had done something wrong. He knew that he was really acting more and more like a three-year-old; he wasn't only a kid physically; he seemed to be changing mentally as well, even though Minato had said that he wouldn't.

"What is it?" asked Naruto and frowned at Minato's facial expression.

"That night two weeks ago, when those men attacked you . . . I have to know what happened," Minato began, making Naruto feel uncomfortable.

"Why do you ask that now?" asked Naruto, feeling scared about telling Minato he had killed someone. He didn't know how Minato would react to that. "Why didn't you ask me back at the hospital?"

"I couldn't. I felt that you had to get better first before I asked you," answered Minato, feeling sad. "I need to know what happened that night."

Naruto didn't say anything at first, but when he saw Minato's face, he paled and felt a chill down his spine. Minato looked worried and furious.

"Well . . . I . . . two men attacked me when I . . . when I . . ." Naruto paused here. He had a hard time confessing to Minato that he was training, since he had been forbidden to do so. "When I . . . was training . . ." he finished.

Minato sighed and gave him a 'what-did-I-tell-you' look. Naruto swallowed nervously.

"Do you know from which country they came from?" Minato asked him, as Naruto felt tears burning in his eyes, as he thought back.

"I don't know . . ." Naruto answered, unable to stop the tears from escaping down his cheeks. "I didn't see any hitai-ates on them . . . I only saw that they were two men, trying to attacking me . . ."

When Minato saw the tears falling, he stood up and walked over to Naruto who had started crying in earnest, covering his face with his hands.

Minato picked him up and held him. Naruto wasn't as shocked as he had been the first time, but he was still surprised over the way Minato cared so much for him. Minato rubbed Naruto's back while hugging him.

Naruto wrapped his arms around his neck and buried his face in Minato's shoulder.

"That's why I didn't ask you back at the hospital. You weren't ready for it yet. I wanted to make sure you had recovered enough to be able to talk about it, not to mention healing from your physical injuries," Minato explained, walking around the house with the crying Naruto in his arms.

Naruto didn't answer at first, but when he did, Minato listened very carefully. "I was training on tree climbing when they suddenly attacked me with kunai. I avoided as many as I could, and when more than one kunai attacked me from different direction I thought that it probably was more then one person attacking me . . ." Naruto explained between sobs, as Minato walked through the living room on the second floor.

"Were you hit?" asked Minato in a soft tone, which Naruto was glad for. It was easier to talk about that way.

"No, but they did hit one of my bunshins' . . ." he answered, as Minato continued to rub his back. He sighed and closed his eyes.

"You could create one?" asked Minato again with the same soft voice.

"Yeah, but it was hard . . . it took so much of my chakra . . ." answered Naruto feeling Minato's body stiffen a bit. "It went fine but I only used three at the time . . ."

Minato didn't answer and Naruto understood that he was waiting until he wanted to tell him more and he was grateful for that. They went through the library and came to Minato's room.

Minato then sat down on the bed leaning against the headrest. He laid Naruto against his chest to use like a pillow.

"When they stopped attack I waited . . . but nothing happened, and after that . . .it turned really scary . . ." Naruto finished, hugging Minato tight as he stroked his head.

What happened Naruto? thought Minato, feeling very worried about his son, but he didn't want to press the matter further at this point, because it seemed so troubling to Naruto.

"I still don't know exactly what happened . . ." whispered Naruto, sounding as if he had never experienced anything more horrible, so that Minato was now both worried and scared himself.

"I felt their chakra and then I disappeared . . . I don't know how I did it . . ." he continued to whisper, as Minato held him closer because he was shaking. He grabbed the bedspread and covered Naruto with it.

"You've done really well to talk about this," Minato told him as he laid his head on top of Naruto's while closing his eyes for a moment.

Naruto huddled closer to Minato and shed silent tears. They stayed in that position for a long time and neither of them cared about the dinner getting cold.

"You can tell me the rest later . . ." Minato finally said, but noticed that Naruto had fallen asleep, with tears still falling down his cheeks, so Minato knew that night's events were haunting him even in his dreams. He cursed himself.

Minato couldn't stop nightmares. No one can stop a nightmare. He whispered comforting words to Naruto and tried his best to protect the child in his arms who was trembling out of fear from the memories.

"It's okay Naruto . . . it's no one here to hurt you . . . no one is here to scare you . . ." whispered Minato and hugged his son closer. "It's nothing to be afraid of . . . it's nothing . . ."

Naruto saw the dead man in front of him. The man who he had literally demolished! The man whose body was ripped into nothing but bits and pieces!

Naruto was afraid. He couldn't run from it, couldn't hide from it . . . this was something that would haunt him in his dreams forever . . . he couldn't escape from this! He had killed a man and turned him into nothing! He couldn't live with that! How could he live with such a . . . murder on his mind!

" . . .it's nothing to be afraid of . . ." said a voice that Naruto recognized as Minato's voice.

"Minato-sama . . ." he said and dried away the tears from his face. "MINATO!" he screamed a moment later.

He could hear Minato's words. He was trying to console him. Naruto ran towards Minato's voice, which seemed very far away, but Naruto didn't care, he had to get there.

"Minato!" he cried and ran faster, but the faster he ran the more pictures of the dead man he saw.

He also saw the other man's horrified face when he had called him a monster. He had to get out of there! He didn't want to remember, to see . . .

"Tou-san!" he screamed without knowing what he screamed.

"Tou-san!" screamed Naruto and woke up with a surprised Minato in front of him.

Minato was pale and looked in shock at him. Naruto didn't care what he had screamed he just cried. Cried his heart out. He threw himself at Minato and hugged him close as he sobbed loudly.

Minato didn't know what to think, so he just hugged Naruto back and his thoughts were blank. He couldn't think, couldn't breath, couldn't speak, but he could console. When he recovered a bit from his shock, he hugged Naruto really tight and covered himself and Naruto with the bedspread.

Naruto was still crying and Minato was both confused and happy that Naruto had called him tou-san even though he knew that it was an accident, he was still happy.

They both fell asleep soon, even though it was only six in the evening. But they slept through the whole night and Naruto wasn't dreaming about that incident anymore, he was dreaming about a family.