Disclaimer: The whole Naruto universe belongs to Kishimoto, not me.

A/N: Gah...it's finally done! This chapter has been a pain in the butt to write. It just didn't seem to want to get written. I knew exactly what I wanted, but I just couldn't get down on paper in a satisfying way. Have any of you experienced that before? :sigh: well, at least it's done. I'm not completely happy with it, but nor am I willing to go back and change it right now.

:yawn: Well, it is very late now (2:15 am) and I am very tired. Hope you all enjoy the chapter. Night, night. :crawls into bed:

Key (quote marks are important)

thoughts

'Naruto speaking'

'Kakashi speaking'

'Kyuubi speaking'

Chapter 11: Start!

Signing and putting aside another official document, Minato sighed despairingly as he looked at the high stack of unfinished paperwork, which seemed no smaller than it had when he'd started that morning. It was now mid-afternoon, and it appeared as if he had made no progress at all, despite the equally high stack of completed work. As he pulled another sheet off the unfinished pile, he wondered absently just what forest was sacrificed to make the amount of paper needed for all this.

Just then, there was a knock at the door, right before it opened, admitting two chuunin who worked at the office, spending more time handing out missions than performing them. Both of them carried a large stack of papers, which could only be one thing.

"I apologize, Hokage-sama, for disturbing you," the first chuunin said, placing his stack on the desk next to the other one, carefully making sure not to topple them over, the other chuunin doing the same. He pushed his too large glasses up his nose as he continued. "I realize that you must be rather busy, but I'm afraid these need to be finished soon. The mission requests must be ranked and ready by tomorrow, and the reports from today's completed missions should be looked at and filed as soon as possible."

Minato forced a grin as he replied to the chuunin, (who had the appearance of someone who should've been a librarian instead of shinobi). "It's no trouble, Shad. I'll make sure they get done on time, so don't worry about that." As he said this, a part of him started sobbing at the thought of more paperwork. As it despaired, another part violently declared that he would find out just who invented paperwork, then create a time travel jutsu and kill the bastard before he could complete the terrible, heinous deed!

After Shad and his companion left the office with a short bow and were well out of earshot, Minato dropped his head onto the desk surface, whimpering slightly as he contemplated the three large stacks of paperwork. At this rate, I'll be here all week!

"Well, damn," a sudden, but familiar voice sounded from behind him. "They've already broken you. And hard, by the looks of it, if a stack of paper can bring a whimper out of you."

Minato groaned. "If you're only here to offer sarcastic remarks, Jiraiya-sensei, then take them somewhere else. I'm not in the mood to deal with them." He tilted his head up to glare at the white-haired sannin.

Plopping down onto the couch against the right wall, Jiraiya laughed loudly, ignoring the glare. "I'm just glad that I wasn't asked to be Hokage. It doesn't look like the job it's cracked up to be. Not to mention, I would never have time for my research if I was stuck behind a desk 24/7."

"Oh, please," Minato scoffed, leaning back in his chair, and crossing his arms. "The day you're made Hokage is a day I hope I never see. At the very least, every kunoichi in the village would become missing-nins in protest of the dress code you would no doubt put in place. Or rather," he added, frowning at the self-proclaimed 'super-pervert', "a lack of one."

From the wide, drooling grin, glazed eyes, and perverted giggling, Jiraiya was obviously imagining the possibilities.

Minato felt his eyebrow twitch, the rate increasing at Jiraiya's next statement. "Hehehe. Hey, since we're on the topic, Minato, I was wond-" he was cut off before he could finish.

"Don't even think about it!" Minato snapped out, sharply pulling a sheet off the unfinished pile. "I'm not going to use my power as Hokage to satisfy your perverted needs. You do that well enough on your own by peeping at every bathhouse in the Shinobi Nations."

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Jiraiya grumbled, scowling. "It's research, not peeping. There's a big difference. If I want to write a book one day, I'm going to need some inspiration. And to get it, I need to do research, plain and simple."

"It doesn't matter what term you give it, it's still peeping," Minato replied, stamping another document with a bit more force than necessary. "Now, is there a real reason why you're here, or do you just want to bug me?"

Jiraiya's face turned from joking to serious in a instant. "Well, entertaining as it is to bug you, there is something I wanted to talk about. ...Or rather, someone."

Minato paused in his work, already having a guess as to who his sensei was talking about. Jiraiya took note of this action and continued. "That guy your team brought in a month ago. Hazaki Narashi, I think his name is. I've heard some pretty interesting rumors about him, and I"m wondering if any of them are true." Jiraiya looked at Minato pointedly, as if asking 'well, are they?'

I knew it. Minato had hoped that Narashi wouldn't be who Jiraiya had wanted to talk about, but it had been a small hope. Briefly, he considered that maybe Jiraiya would drop the topic and move onto something else if he gave no response. He knew he was about to have the same discussion with his sensei as he had had with many others. But with Jiraiya, it would be different. The man just had a way of getting any information he wanted, and wouldn't stop until he got it.

Normally, Minato would have no problem telling Jiraiya something. His sensei was like a second father to him, and he trusted him with his life. If it were any other topic, Minato wouldn't hesitate in answering Jiraiya's questions (unless, of course, the topic was embarrassing for Minato, and Jiraiya only wanted blackmail material, but that was entirely different).

But Minato had made a promise to Narashi that, unless he had no choice, he wouldn't tell anyone the truth behind his identity. Minato actually agreed with him on that. The knowledge that Narashi was from the future could be very dangerous in the wrong hands. The fewer people who knew, the better.

'But,' a small voice in the back of his mind reminded him, 'Narashi did say that it would be fine to tell Jiraiya-sensei the truth.'

That was true, Narashi had said so. But he had also made it clear that, unless it was an emergency, he wanted to be there when Jiraiya was told, or at least notified beforehand. Obviously, he couldn't use the 'no choice' option, and even though he could always send a messenger to find Narashi, Minato wasn't precisely sure where the time traveler was. Vague idea, yes, but the training fields were so vast that it could well be past sunset before Narashi was found and showed up. And in that time, Jiraiya would still be trying to get as much out of Minato as he could. And while he knew that not a word about Narashi true identity wouldn't get past him, he really didn't want to deal with Jiraiya digging for answers.

Minato sighed, knowing that there really wasn't any way out of this. So, best make sure that I at least keep my promise.

"Jackal!" Minato called, said ANBU instantly appearing before him, kneeling in front of the desk. Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, wondering what the ANBU had to do with his unasked questions.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?" Jackal asked, his voice revealing nothing of the thoughts behind the canid mask. He nodded briefly to the seated Sannin in respect before turning his attention back to the Yondaime.

"Jackal, could you find Hazaki Narashi and tell him to come here immediately. Jiraiya and I need to discuss some things with him. He'd probably be somewhere in the training fields still, most likely with Kakashi."

Jackal nodded, unquestioning. "Hai, Hokage-sama!" He then departed, knowing that he had no other orders.

After the ANBU left, Minato activated the privacy seals around the room, not wanting to take any chances with what he might end up telling Jiraiya before Narashi arrived.

"Well," Minato said, turning to the other man, who looked surprised at the level of secrecy he put in place, "if you want to talk about Narashi, now we can. Though, I'm not going to guarantee that I'll tell you everything you want to know, not until Narashi gets here, at least."

"Why all the secrecy?" Jiraiya asked, eyebrow raised.

Minato answered with a question of his own. "Would one of those rumors you talked about have anything to do with why I let him become a ninja so quickly?"

Eyebrow inching up a little further, Jiraiya decided to humor his student, knowing that there's a point behind his method. "Yeah, that's actually one of the main reasons why I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to know what was going thought your head when you let the guy become a leaf ninja without so much as a proper background check. He wakes up perfectly healthy after a two week coma, and by dinner the same day, he's wearing a Konoha hitae-ate! Hazaki could very easily be an Iwa spy, and you're smart enough to realize that potential and the danger that it could pose. And his "history" is obviously fake. Even an ignorant genin could see that. So why did you let him join so quickly?"

"The answer is the reason for all the secrecy," Minato said. "You're right, Narashi's public story is hard to believe, and is a fake. I'm the only person who knows the truth, and if Narashi agrees when he arrives, you'll become the second." Minato anticipated Jiraiya's next question and answered it before it could be asked. "I made a promise to Narashi that if I had to tell someone the truth, that he would be present, or at least notified beforehand. You know I keep my work, Sensei. If I can fulfill a promise, I will."

Jiraiya grunted. "Yeah, how could I forget that? If I remember right, half the time, those promises lead to huge problems for me."

Minato shrugged, grinning, not feeling an ounce of guilt at Jiraiya's statement. "They're your problems then. Don't come crying to me about them." He continued before Jiraiya could give his, no doubt, angry retort. "Anyway, that's beside the point. Point is, if you want answers about why I ignored any and all advice about what I should've done about Narashi, you'll just have to wait. This isn't a 'life or death' situation where there's no time to wait, so you can be patient. Although," he added with another shrug, "if you have other questions that aren't connected to that particular topic, go ahead and ask. I'm not going to guarantee though that I'll answer them."

"I just have one more," Jiraiya said, holding up a finger, "about why you aren't suspicious of Narashi, then I'll go into that other 'rumor' I've heard.

"You said that Narashi told you his whole story. But how do you know that that isn't a lie as well. The need for secrecy could just be an act to convince you that it was truth."

Geez, why can't everyone give me a little more credit? Can't they just trust me to know exactly what I'm doing and why? Minato thought, irritated, before answering Jiraiya. "Because in a ironic twist, what Narashi told me is just so far-fetched that I have to believe him. No sane spy would've come up with something so unbelievable. They would try something that's actually plausible, like leaving their own village and seeking refuge here. If Narashi had told me anything like that, I would've immediately handed him over to that new interrogation specialist, Morino Ibiki, to practice on. I'm not completely ignorant like everyone seems to think. I did become Hokage for a reason, after all."

"Sorry, Minato," Jiraiya said, chagrined. "It's just that it's hard to understand why you would let someone who appeared practically out of no where-" (Jiraiya, you have no idea how right you are with that statement, Minato thought briefly, careful to keep the grin off his face.) "-become a shinobi of the Leaf almost instantly. It doesn't help that you aren't exactly forthcoming about your reasons why. Though I suppose I'll understand sooner rather than later."

Minato nodded. Wanting to move away from the topic of his reasons until Narashi arrived, he asked, "So, what's that other rumor you heard?"

Jiraiya noted the sudden subject change, but didn't do anything, knowing he would get his real answers soon. "Those other rumors I've heard are actually about Kakashi. What you mentioned to Jackal seemed to confirm them."

Minato had an idea what Jiraiya was talking about, but motioned for him to continue anyway.

"Well, first I'd heard that Kakashi was letting his skills go to waste because he was so depressed about Obito. That's what prompted my decision to come back here after losing Orochimaru's trail, so I could kick the brat back into gear." He shrugged. "But when I arrived, I found out that the newly awakened Narashi had already taken care of it. Those two have been training together ever since, apparently. And most surprising of all, Kakashi seems to already have a rather close bond with Narashi, as if they'd known each other for years, instead of a few days." He shook his head incredulously, hardly able to believe it. "What I want to know is how? Kakashi doesn't trust anybody that quickly. You know that just as well as I do. He never has, and never will. ...Or, so I thought until recently. So how did it happen?"

Crossing his arms, Minato took a moment to think about his answer. "Really...I'm not exactly sure why Kakashi trusted Narashi so quickly. Especially since he, Rin, and Kushina-chan all gave me the same lecture you just did when they heard that I allowed him to become a Konoha shinobi. So why Kakashi suddenly went from thinking that Narashi shouldn't be trusted so quickly to trusting him so much now, I don't know." I have a hunch, but I'm not going to say what that is yet. "There's definitely a genuine bond between them, the both of them, almost like they're brothers."

Minato smiled slightly, remembering the night when he saw the two after a few hours of sparring. "Honestly, though, I don't really think I mind that, either. It's definitely surprising, but it's obviously good for Kakashi. After we got back from..." Minato paused, the memory still rather painful. "Well, Kakashi was really upset. We all were, but Kakashi in particular. He blamed himself for everything that happened that day. I was starting to worry that he would never get over Obito's death, especially since anything I did never seemed to help." He scoffed angrily as he considered his next statement. "The Uchiha Clan itself hasn't been helping much either, with their attitude towards him.

"Anyway, I know that they two only started spending time together after Narashi met with Kakashi at the memorial. I don't know what Narashi said, but obviously, Kakashi needed to hear it, cause he's started to make a turnaround. So whatever Narashi did, I'm grateful for it." Minato smile turned into a grin. "It's been too long since I've seen Kakashi actually happy, and far longer since he's acted his age."

"Woah, woah," Jiraiya interrupted, holding his hands up, staring at Minato with wide-eyed shock. "Hatake Kakashi is actually acting like a teenager?!"

Laughing slightly, Minato answered, "Yes, he is. It's a shock, I know, but it's true."

"Alright, this I have to see with my own eyes," Jiraiya said, slapping his knees, looking ready to charge off. "Think there's still enough time to call Jackal off the search and look for Narashi ourselves? You said Kakashi would probably be with him, so if we hurry, we could still catch a glimpse of the impossible."

"Sorry, Jiraiya-sensei," Minato said, laughing, "but it'll have to wait until later. Narashi's already here." Ignoring Jiraiya's small 'huh?', the blonde Hokage formed a ram seal, briefly turning off the privacy seals. "You can come in Narashi!"

They heard someone heave a sigh outside the door, before it opened, revealing Narashi. As he closed the door behind him, he said to the Yondaime, "You know, chakra-sensing and wards aside, it's actually very weird and a little scary when someone in a room calls out by name to someone who hasn't even knocked yet."

"Sorry about that," Minato replied, laughing slightly, not really sorry at all. He was starting to enjoy creeping people out like that. He then turned a somewhat shocked eye towards Narashi. "But forget about me and my growing quirks. What the hell happened to you?!"

The reason for Minato's shock was obvious. With silver-gold hair dripping, and clothes soaked and sticking to his skin, Narashi looked like he'd just jumped into a shower with his clothes on. A cold one, too, from the suddenly grumpy look on his face.

"Water-dragon jutsu gone out of control," he muttered, sighing. Seeing the inquiring looks the other two shinobi were sending, he elaborated with another irritated sigh. "Kakashi and I were training in field 18, you know, the one with the big lake. I was trying to get him used to using the Sharingan while also constantly expelling chakra to walk on the water. I used a water dragon jutsu, but lost control of it, and it practically drowned us both. Kakashi had reached his limit by then, so we called it quits."

Minato frowned disapprovingly. "Kakashi isn't unconscious again, is he? You know how dangerous that is, Narashi. I've told the both of you to be more careful about that."

Narashi waved Minato's concerns away. "Kakashi is fine, Minato. Our chakras are similar enough that I can safely give him a chakra infusion. All he needs is some good rest, and he'll be up and walking by morning. So no worries."

"But that shouldn't be possible," Jiraiya said, frowning. "The infusion, I mean. Kakashi's chakra is too unique. There's no way that you two could have similar chakras. The only way they could be is if you two were related, but Kakashi doesn't have any family."

Narashi looked at Jiraiya with a small smile, briefly thinking about how strange it was to see the Sannin in an actual jounin uniform, vest and all, (either again or for the first time, depending on which half one referred to). He turned back to Minato. "So, you called me here to tell him." It wasn't a question.

"Only if you're willing," the Hokage answered anyway. "It's your secret to tell, not mine, so I won't force you."

"I don't mind," Narashi said, shrugging. "Besides, if there's anybody I'd trust completely with this, it'd be Jiraiya. This is a little sooner than I expected to tell him, but it's probably better that he knows sooner rather than later anyway.

"I can tell him myself, though. It'll be the exact same that I told you, so you don't need to pay too much attention." When Minato looked as if to protest, Narashi pointed at the stacks of paperwork on the desk, grinning. "By the looks of things, you have too much work to do right now to be focusing on something else."

Minato jumped, looking at the paperwork piles as if he'd completely forgotten they were there. Then he looked as if he wanted to cry when he realised once more just how much he had to do. The other two shinobi burst out laughing.

"It's not funny!" Minato yelled at the two, dropping his head onto his desk with a 'thunk'. "Paperwork is pure torture! Give me a deep, dark cell and a sadistic jailor any day. Anything but this!"

'If I was the sadistic jailor, and saw this, I'd give him a mountain of papers to do and get just as much enjoyment from it. Haha!'

Still laughing, no longer from just Minato's reaction, Narashi asked, "Hey, Minato, wouldn't it just be easier if you used kage bunshins to help you do the work? I mean, they do know everything you know, and you learn everything they do. So it'd be the same as if you did it all yourself, just done faster."

There was a moment of shocked silence before Jiraiya turned to Minato with a flat 'you're an idiot' look. "You know, Minato, genius you may be, but sometimes, you can be a real blockhead."

Minato didn't say anything in response, only formed the proper seals for the jutsu, creating two clones on either side of him.

The one on the left instantly turned to Minato with an expression identical to Jiraiya's. "Sensei is right, you really can be a blockhead sometimes."

"Yeah," the other clone said, then pointed at Narashi. "To think that after nearly a month as Hokage, you still had to wait for someone else to point out the obvious solution." He scoffed, shaking his head in a disappointed manner.

"Oh, shut up, the both of you," the original Minato said, sitting up and glaring at his two clones. "You know what to do, so get to work. The sooner this is done, the sooner I can go home."

Grumbling, the two clones grabbed one of the stacks, before taking a seat at the low table next to the wall opposite Jiraiya.

"Kage Bunshins," Narashi said, chuckling as he plopped down on the couch next to the other shinobi. "The jutsu that gives new meaning to the phrase 'talking to yourself'." Jiraiya laughed in agreement, while the three Yondaimes sent a glare at him.

"Well," Narashi said, ignoring the glares and turning to the Sannin, serious once more, "if you want to know the full explanation, better to start now."

The explanation didn't take as long as it had with Minato. Narashi, of course, did most of the talking, with Jiraiya asking only a few questions for clarification on what Narashi said. Mostly, though, the Sannin sat quietly, listening carefully to what he was told, face expressionless.

When Narashi finished, there was a long moment of silence as Jiraiya took in the information he'd been told, while Narashi, and even the three Minatos, who paused in their work, waiting for Jiraiya's reaction.

Finally, he said, "So let me get this straight; You're from seventeen years in the future, and have absolutely no idea how you got here, or how to get back." Narashi nodded. "You're actually two people, one of whom is the thirty-year-old Kakashi, who were fused together somehow during the trip from future to past." He nodded again. "In a year, the nine-tailed demon fox is going to attack the village, for seemingly no reason whatsoever." Nod. "And in order to defeat it, the Yondaime Hokage, my student, the very man sitting right in front of us, uses a self-sacrificing jutsu to seal the Kyuubi away." Another nod. "Am I forgetting anything?"

Narashi though about that for a second. "Nope. That's about it," he said, shaking his head and shrugging.

"I see." Jiraiya sat silently for a few seconds before turning to Minato with a wry grin.. "I know what you meant now when you said 'so far-fetched that I have to believe it'." Minato only grinned back, nodding.

Narashi just laughed at that statement. "So, you actually believe me?"

Jiraiya nodded. "Yeah, I do. Crazy as it is, it does explain a bit. Particularly why Kakashi seems to trust you so much and how your chakras are similar. You are him, so of course that would be the case." A strange grin spread its way across his face, sending shivers down Narashi's spin, though he couldn't explain quite why. "I just have one question I want to ask you."

Still nervous about the grin, Narashi said, "What?"

"You've already explained that half of you is Kakashi. But it's your other half I'm curious about. So," the grin widened, "what are they?"

Narashi was about to tell Jiraiya that he wasn't going to tell anybody who his other half was when he paused, his brain catching up with exactly what Jiraiya had said.

.

.

.

The next second found Jiraiya on the ground with a goose egg bump on his head, seeing nothing but stars as Narashi stood over him in an embarrassed rage, yelling, "I'M A GUY, YOU STUPID, PERVERTED SAGE!!"

He tried desperately to ignore Kyuubi's roaring laughter in the back of his mind.

While this occurred, Minato's clones had smacked their foreheads so hard that they caused themselves to dispel form the force. This left the original Minato clutching his head, exasperated at his sensei. Bad mental image! Bad mental image! Oh, ow, ow, ow, ow. Too much information to the brain! Too much information! OH, DAMN YOU, JIRAIYA!

Narashi sighed angrily, nostrils flaring, while muttering, "I swear, I hate him so much sometimes." Needing a change of subject, fast, Narashi forced a grin on his still red face, and looked at Minato. "So, are you ready for tomorrow?"

"Huh?" It took Minato a moment to push aside the image Jiraiya's comment caused. When he did, he managed to realize what Narashi was referring to and why. He grinned, answering. "Of course I'm ready. I've been ready since the agreement was made. What about you? You're the one who needed these past couple weeks."

Narashi grinned ferally. "You are going down, Hokage-sama."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

The next day, six people gather at one of the lesser used training fields, which was equal parts grassy field and dense forest, with a stream running through each. The sky was clear, with few clouds to block the mid-morning sun.

"Now remember," Jiraiya said, standing in between Minato and Narashi in the middle of a small field. Kushina, Rin, and Kakashi were standing at the forest edge behind Jiraiya. The former two were there for medical and moral support, while Kakashi and Jiraiya were just looking forward to the upcoming fight. "This is supposed to be a friendly match to determine Narashi's shinobi future. So be good kids and don't try to kill each other. Of course, this being a shinobi battle, dirty tricks and traps are a must, and close calls a given. So don't hold back on that aspect!" Jiraiya added with a grin.

Minato and Narashi glared at the sannin acting in as referee. "Just get on with it, Sensei," Minato ground out, his patience with the man worn thin.

"All right, all right," Jiraiya relented, he raised his hand, prepared to signal the start of the anticipated match between the two.

"Ready."

Muscles tensed, prepared to move in an instant.

"Steady."

Jiraiya grinned once more, before he brought his hand down in a fast chop, jumping back to join the other observers."

"Start!"

A/N: Oh, umm, just so it's clear; what Jiraiya said was just a joke to get a rise out of Narashi. He wasn't being serious.