Chapter 24
A/N: AN UPDATE! A REAL UPDATE! NOT AN APRIL FOOLS GAG! HOLY MOLY ON A DOLY! AND WE'VE EVEN GOT A NEW TITLE IMAGE FOR THE STORY! OH! EHM! GEE!
The small harbour town was bustling with activity when Naruto and Sakura walked off the ship they had travelled with. Sakura had had some problems walking down the gangway but managed to get down without Naruto's help. It was barely though and Naruto had decided there that the travelling was done for now. That was why they had checked in at an inn at noon the same day. This was one of those traditional inns that could be found everywhere, with sliding doors, tatami mats and futon beds. Naruto did prefer the simple but rustic feel of this place compared to the garish monstrosity that the Gatoh-run hotel in Wave. He had gotten Sakura put in bed for more rest. They'd catch a caravan to Konoha as soon as Naruto could find one. Minato could say whatever the hells he wanted, Sakura was not travelling by foot in this state.
Thankfully a caravan was soon located. It'd head out in two days' time, leaving Naruto with little to do but to watch over Sakura and read through what scrolls he carried with him. He got more time for the latter seeing as how Sakura, already having become quite pale, seemed to strike a chord with the proprietor of the inn. The girl had hardly been put to bed before the woman came up with a massive bowl of shaved ice. Or rather two bowls Naruto supposed. The other had been shoved into his hands before he was booted out of the room so the stern-faced woman could take care of "the poor little dear" without "ignorant men running around".
Naruto guessed he should have been insulted. He was only amused however. Also while his bowl was notably smaller it was quite nice. Melon flavoured too, a taste he silently admitted that he enjoyed. Sitting down by a table in the common room, Naruto for the hundredth time read through his mother's scroll at his position by the table. He still found new things to consider in it. The Uzumaki fuuinjutsu was still one of the most beautiful things he had beheld, a true work of art. What wouldn't he have given for a chance to talk to these old masters, to hear their reasons and their explanations for why they had done what they had done? There were literally things he couldn't tell the reason for at all, something that only excited him. These people had possessed minds equal to his, perhaps even beyond.
Naruto found himself startled by the realization. He stood so far above the average mind in so many ways that is surprised him to find things he couldn't take on. Who were his peers mentally? He had people that respected him and which he respected as well. Anko had been a sister in all but blood. Guren and Ao were people he respected and liked both and so on. Yet intellectually? Orochimaru had been one before he revealed himself to be a madman living for the thrill of playing god. Naruto acknowledged the dead man's brilliance but also the fact that he was a pathetic wretch. Tsunade? She was brilliant sure but said brilliance was so rarely coaxed out from behind the façade of drunken carelessness that it didn't really matter. Harusame? Almost but not quite. The man was good indeed, but not a genius. His father? No, Minato's mind was not turned towards the sciences at all, the man lived through his fellow man too much for them to have anything in common.
Naruto guessed he was alone. The normal distribution of talents in people left a lot in the middle, the average, but very few both of the utterly moronic and the truly brilliant. Where were his peers? He gritted his teeth once more, feeling the frustration before he took a spoonful of shaved ice. No reason to get worked up over that after all, there was little he could do as it was. Better to focus on the scroll. He could almost feel a bond growing between him and the old masters through it. Their genii shone through the paper and he could only imagine the discussions they could have had. No matter what would come a heartfelt thank you to his mother was in order for this scroll. Idly tracing a finger over one of the seal patterns, Naruto noticed yet another little interesting titbit about these seals. Fascinating... they seemed... His train of thought was interrupted now when the proprietor came down the stairs.
"Are you finished taking care of her now?" he asked idly.
"The girl is not in a good state sir," the woman said as she walked by, "I must insist you rest here for at least a week." Her tone was frank, almost impolite, and Naruto wondered just how she could keep a business running with that attitude.
"Noted," Naruto said evenly, "We are leaving in two days with a caravan. I've arranged so she can lie down during the journey."
"She is hovering on the brink of death!" the woman said now, looking back towards him with anger in her eyes.
"I am well aware of that," Naruto said, "I put her in that state."
"You what?" she asked and Naruto sighed.
"I put her in that state using... let's say drugs," he said calmly as he looked up towards her. "We are shinobi as you might be able to tell." He now knocked a finger towards his Konoha forehead protector. "She is transforming right now into something more than a human, a quite trying process." The woman stared at her and Naruto wasn't even perturbed to see the disgust and horror in her eyes. He was really too used to that look. "Yes?" he asked calmly, clasping his hands in front of him.
"N-nothing," the woman said before she scurried away. Once more the plebian mind of the "average" people recoiled in fear without even considering that it might be their preconceptions that were wrong. The understanding of what people like him did ended at the doors of the R&D divisions still. With a sigh he took another spoonful of shaved ice. These two days couldn't pass fast enough. Even as controlled and as limited the R&D divisions of the great villages were... they seemed to be the only thing he'd get.
A sudden spike of adrenaline shot through Naruto and he tensed for a moment, becoming as taut as a steel spring as he looked to the side. Someone was out there! Someone immensely powerful. Just for one second he had felt it, but the sensation was almost overwhelming. And yet there was no feel of aggression to it, merely a message of its presence. His eyes went to the window and he looked out to see if he could spot anything.
He did. What he saw made him roll up the scroll and pocket it before exiting the building. He didn't head for what he had seen however, instead turning right and beginning a brisk walk through the town. He walked fast enough to hurry but not enough to be noticed. Any pursuers would have to hurry somewhat, leaving them less time to think. At one market he thankfully found a small crowd and walked straight through it. In the middle of the crowd he did a switch however. One second he walked there, the second a kage bunshin walked there and Naruto had slipped down into the earth as fast as he could. This way any shadows he had gotten here would be sent on a merry chase, leaving him to slip through the earth back towards the inn and the small alley nearby.
It was a right menace to move more than short distances through the earth, but Naruto managed to cover the entire distance. When he came out of the earth it was inside the alley, and in order to remain subtle he came out slowly. He supposed revealing himself to his Hokage and father both like this, slowly slithering out of the earth like a snake of some sort, didn't give the best impression. Yet Naruto did not care and therefore silently exited the earth this way to stand in front of Minato, whose three-pronged Kunai hung by the entrance to the alleyway.
"Hokage-sama," he said evenly as he looked at the man. Namikaze Minato had lost his coat at the moment and wore only standard shinobi gear. It struck Naruto how little it did to remove the man's charisma.
"Naruto," Minato smiled at him. So awkward, that smile of his. The desire was there, true, but he had no confidence in it. "Welcome back. It seems Kiri didn't take too much out of you." How little the man knew Naruto thought. Just as well though, if he had any idea of what had transpired there his head just might explode. Especially with Mei... Naruto remembered how freaked out Minato had been during Mei's first visit to Konoha.
"I heal quickly," he said evenly. "What brings you all the way here here?" Minato's face lost the small smile it held.
"I need your intel on the Akatsuki issue," he said and Naruto nodded. There it was, the secret second mission that had been the main reason why he was sent to Kirigakure. Akatsuki, dawn. A name and little more, yet it had gotten Jiraiya himself scared. Few in numbers but immensely powerful. A few weeks before he headed to Kiri something had hit Takigakure, killing every last shinobi there and taking the jinchuuriki of the seven tails. Jiraiya's estimates had placed the number of attackers at two. What more two other members' identities had surfaced, namely Hoshigaki Kisame and Momochi Zabuza. The assumption had been close at hand: Kiri was involved somehow. Naruto had gone equally much to ferret out what relationship Zabuza and Kisame had with Kiri as helping their R&D to grow. The nature of this organisation needed to be discovered.
Still, there was one very pertinent issue at hand before that.
"First I want to know just what compensation Kiri will have for you tearing up the deal she accepted at great hesitation." He told Minato, the man raising an eyebrow at first now. After a second he sighed however.
"I was informed by the messengers the Mizukage... didn't exactly take the message with equanimity." The Hokage's way of putting it outright dripped with diplomatic sensitivity.
"Did you expect that?" Naruto asked with narrowed eyes and Minato shook his head.
"No," he said with a wry smile lacking all amusement, "I expect her to want to roast me over an open fire for this, with good reason. Still, any eventual compensation will be contingent on what you've found out."
"Kiri is not involved," Naruto said, silently admitting that the man was right. If Kiri really had been sponsoring the Akatsuki the cancellation of his mission there would be the least of Mei's problems. "The two swordsmen are renegades and what more, the Akatsuki doesn't discriminate in its recruitment. Any village seems welcome."
"What makes you say that?"
"They tried to recruit me," Naruto said plainly yet at the same time with a small smirk, "Hoshigaki Kisame approached me in Wave country a few days after I thwarted their first attempt to seize the nine-tails. He asked me how long I was planning to remain in bondage to a father that abandoned me, a village that treated me like a pariah and a system that considered what I loved an appendix to their weapons' manufacturing." He smiled dryly, remembering the experience that night quite keenly. Kisame had been amused more than anything else, seeming as if he enjoyed baiting Naruto with the promise of freedom. He couldn't have assumed it'd work right off obviously. It had been a seed planted to grow in his head. And grow it had. Naruto was still debating whether to take a bottle of weed-killer to it.
Minato's reaction was a slow nod with sad eyes. A thought passed by in Naruto's head at this point. Just how much insight did Minato have into his son? Assuming he was blinded by love and shame and only saw a little boy would be silly. Minato hadn't made Hokage by being stupid no matter what cretins might think. And yet Naruto doubted he knew even partially about the true extent of Naruto's... dealings... in Kiri.
"Were you tempted?" Minato asked now, Naruto feeling a stab of anger. Did he keep believing that about him?
"I am loyal to Konoha Hokage-sama," he began evenly.
"That was not what I asked," Minato cut him off now.
"Then what do you want to know?" Naruto asked, feeling his hackles rise. "What hoops am I expected to jump through this time?" Minato seemed to get agitated as well, raising a finger and opening his mouth to say something before falling silent. A sigh came from the man and after a deep breath he spoke up again, more silent this time.
"He's right," Minato said and now Naruto found himself blinking. What in the name of... what had he just said.
"Hokage-sama..." Naruto began now. "There evidently is a lot you want to say. I have no idea of what you are thinking about right now. Feel free to tell me what you need to say."
"You are a genius," Minato told him, "One of the finest shinobi Konoha has seen. No, more than that, one if its finest citizens. And yet..." Minato waved a hand helplessly. "Your parents abandon you to a monster, the people fear you thinking you are the same as the man you and no one else stopped at great personal risk. The mind that should have been let free to understand the world is kept tied to producing cheaper smoke bombs and in the end you're yanked from even that to spy on a foreign village. You've got plenty of reason to hate Konoha and even if you don't you still got plenty of reason to just want to get away from it. I don't have the right to expect loyalty from anyone if all they seem to get for it is distrust and fear. You are no exception to that and I can't wave my authority around expecting you to instantly acquire an ironclad loyalty to Konoha. And considering all of this... If it was someone else, would you seriously be surprised if that person went rogue?"
"I am not other people," Naruto said. He felt strange at Minato's tired tirade. The man understood more than he had expected. "Other people dig themselves down in petty grievances and irrational spite which blinds them to the greater picture. I don't."
"Is that why you slapped Kimiko?" Minato asked.
"Hokage-sama," Naruto began now with narrowed eyes and bared teeth. "You cannot be unaware of what she did. She all but mutinied."
"And yet you hit her," Minato said, "I don't question that you got upset, I was too. But... I don't know if you think I should just die or if you are simply apathetic towards me. But Kimiko... I know you care for her. I also know you want to be rational and measured. And yet you became so livid you hit her." Naruto felt like he wanted to snarl at the man. He hit way too close for comfort.
"She earned it," Naruto said, "That little idiot consistently fails to understand what she is! She is a jinchuuriki, carrying the mightiest of the tailed beasts within her! If she had died Konoha would have lost something irreplaceable."
"Konoha or you?" Minato said, "She is my daughter, don't you think I'm well aware of what it means to be a shinobi? It's the same with every mission she will ever go on."
"It damn well isn't," Naruto said, "That peon lied to us, said there were no shinobi on the mission!"
"Are you surprised by that?!" Minato exclaimed now. "He tried to save his country! Tens of thousands of lives rode on whether he could get our help. In any other situation you'd call someone like that a hero!"
"Heroism is utterly irrelevant," Naruto hissed, "We are shinobi, not priests."
"Is that it then?" Minato asked, "Are we really nothing more than murderers for hire? Money or nothing? Is someone's safety, someone's right to not see their homes burned, their families murdered, their possessions taken from them, really just a matter of money? And if it is, where the hells is the difference between us and Gato?"
Naruto hated, absolutely hated, when conclusions he had implicitly drawn without really thinking about it ended up being used against him by someone else. It had happened very few times, but now it hit him full force. He did believe there was more than simple money-hunger to being a part of Konhoa. There were virtues at play in it, the stabilizing influence of the great villages on the world. He had told Gato that much, that his loyalty wasn't for sale. And yet Minato drove it straight into him now, this reasoning he was working with led to that exact same conclusion.
"Is that it then?" He nevertheless echoed Minato, "For your adorable little vision we should line up and die? We should submit ourselves to serving the needs of every little needy peon in the elemental nations?"
"We already line up and die," Minato said, "Do you think that shinobi only die if clients lie about missions? Do you think that Mitarashi-san's death is something unique? Shinobi die by the..."
"Don't you dare!" Naruto snarled now, enraged. "You do not use the woman who did more for me than you've ever done!"
"She got more in death than almost any other shinobi!" Minato halfway yelled now. "Do you know what stands by the main road to that village where she dies now?! A shrine to her! They got the local priests to inscribe her name into the prayer wheels at the temple. They have made her a spirit of protection! What better outcome of her death are you envisioning?!"
"One where she didn't die because of lying peons!"
"So better if she died on a mission where the client was richer and therefore didn't have to lie to save everything he loved?! Is that it? They should have paid better? Then we could die, then we could lose those we love. Then name after name can be carved into the memorial stone and no one cares. Because we got paid?" Naruto wanted to scream. He did make a good point. More than that, he made an excellent point. There was no escaping it. There just wasn't...
"It's not our bloody job to look after needy peasants who can't..."
"Who can't what?!" Minato now snapped, "Who can't take on rogue shinobi, the litter from our villages, that victimize them?! While villages burn and people are murdered our job is to make sure fat merchants' profit margins remain the same and tyrant lords can keep brutalizing entire nations because we murdered those who would stand up against them?! We have all this power, all this ability, and the only thing we should do with that is to keep feeding a status quo?!" Naruto wondered what was going on. How in the name of everything that existed had he ended up defending a traditionalist shinobi philosophy? Didn't he resent that very view for its short-sightedness?
"Make some damned sense," he said now, "What do you want?"
"I want that to change," Minato said, "I want a shinobi to become not a killer but a guardian. I want life to matter even if you're not rich. I want room for more than mercenary work and hired killing in our lives. I want this fighting and dying to matter beyond gold."
"And that's why Kimiko is excused for putting herself in a situation where we might lose the Kyuubi? Where it might have fallen into the hands of a group of madmen we know nothing about?"
"Should I chain her to Konoha?" Minato asked, "The Akatsuki could have turned up at any time."
"And her mutiny?" Naruto asked icily.
"Team Seven chose to act for something more than gold," Minato told him, "They wanted to save people, not earn money. It wasn't ideal at all. It was reckless of them to go ahead, but I won't punish people for showing a motivation that stands above greed. Not when it is that very quality I want to see in Konoha."
"This is absurd," Naruto hissed, "How can you possibly think that..."
"Because I am the Hokage," Minato cut him off frankly, "And my word is law. I'm using that for something, anything, other than ordering more people to their deaths."
"Cute," Naruto said, not able to take this any more. "Let me know when that leniency will extend an inch beyond the only child that matters to you." Disgustingly petty as it was, that was nevertheless how Naruto ended it, spinning around to leave.
"You do too," Minato said, "Which is why I haven't brought up Mei yet." The revelation hit him straight in the spine, nailing Naruto to the ground. Shock and horror both flooded him at the realization that Minato knew. Jiraiya that bastard, he had revealed it all! The Hokage knew of his fraternization with the leader of a foreign village! It was over. This was the stuff that broke careers. Naruto realized he was utterly and completely screwed. Yet he did not back down.
"Do what you please," Naruto told him. He would not grovel. That stood as firm as when Jiraiya had dangled the possibility of telling Minato in front of him.
"I'll do nothing," Minato told him, making Naruto blink where he stood. What? "If you've found someone that is not my business," Minato continued, "I'm happy for you. And the reason I am that is no different as to why I let Kimiko get away with this."
"Yes, this pretty little dream of yours," Naruto began, trying to fend himself. "Delightful, utterly delightful. When do you start handing out cotton candy to whoever wants it?"
"If this dream of mine means you can be with the one you love," Minato asked, "Isn't it worthy of consideration?"
"Don't play Rin Hokage-sama," Naruto told him acerbically, "You are not succeeding."
"Then what do you want?" Minato asked. "I've told you what I aim for. What do you want?" Naruto only looked at that man.
"I want to do my research," he said. "No more, no less. I want to look into the heart of what makes the world around me tick. Understand the fabric of reality that lies beyond what we can see. Find the hidden threads binding it all together. That and no more. Period. It has always been that."
"I'm not sure I believe that," Minato told him. "Wait!" he said forcefully just as Naruto was about to speak up again in anger. "I believe that is what you want to be. But I don't believe that's all you are."
"And what insight brought you to that conclusion?" Naruto halfway hissed.
"The Mizukage," Minato said, "If your only desire was your science. How did that happen?" Naruto would have blushed if he could. Indeed he had a point here. That didn't mesh did it? And how the hell did you explain something like that? That he was played like a fiddle and almost bullied into falling for her? "Do you want to go back to her?"
"I don't see how that..."
"Just answer yes or no," Minato said, "And whatever you say, you have my word there will be no repercussions. I trusted you on the Tsubaki clan Naruto. And it's worked out amazingly well. I'm happy they are part of Konoha. Now trust me and let me help you."
"Fine," Naruto said. He didn't like where this had turned at all. It was getting way too personal for his taste. Yet at the same time he realized he'd never, ever get a chance like this again. Minato, his father though he may be, was Naruto's Hokage, the supreme authority. He was all but pleading with Naruto to tell him what he wanted and if there was one thing Naruto knew of Minato then it was that his word was sacred. "I... I do not know what to make of Mei," he admitted. "It all seems way too risky, way too convenient that she's just happen to fall for me. I know that fact."
"And?" Minato pressed and Naruto gritted his teeth.
"And I don't care," he admitted, Minato smiling sadly.
"Naruto," he began, "In this world we live in now you'll never be able to find out, not truly. But I want you to have the opportunity. Just as I want Kimiko to go on missions to help people, not make money. Is that not worth fighting for? To at least have the chance?"
"Don't try to motivate me with arguments based on emotions," Naruto told Minato. "Call me what you want, I still let reason guide me." So he said but Naruto more and more began to doubt himself. Was he simply being difficult at the moment, automatically refusing the option that seemed emotionally attractive because he instinctively assumed it'd be irrational?
"Fine," Minato said, "As long as we remain effectively mercenaries we'll continue to see constant warfare. The five villages' lifeblood is war, no matter how we slice it. And who benefits from that? Not the people, that's for sure. The nobility perhaps, they are the only ones with money enough to buy our services, meaning they've got control of their realms on tap for whomever is the richest. And we? We live and die as killers, many of us far too young when we die in some meaningless battle or ambush or failed assassination or what have you. I lost both of my teammates before I turned fifteen, they died in some forgotten battle against an enemy I can hardly remember who it was." Naruto listened in silence, his uncompromising rationality pointing out what good points Minato were making. Indeed he had thought the same thing many times before. Then again Minato cared about these things. Naruto didn't, not in the same way. Or did he?
"And this links to the previous issue how?" he asked acerbically.
"Imagine a world where we aren't mercenaries but guardians. Where our villages are supported by a modest tax levied across the nation and in return we keep the peace not because we were paid but because it is our duty. We no longer assassinate people but protect them. The wars of old are but a memory since each village's remit extends only to the borders of the nation it lies in. If anything we cooperate keeping the peace, and there's no longer anything to fight between us about. We can freely exchange information and even personnel between villages, learning from each other and each growing stronger for it. And if a scientist in Konoha wants to move to Kiri for the sake of his personal life, sure. The transfer is merely a matter of filling out the right papers and the other party agreeing to the transfer."
"Do you seriously believe that will work?" Naruto asked. He had calmed down quite a lot at the moment. Losing his temper did not help him here. He knew that so he had forced himself to calm down and think rationally. Personally and emotionally he had a stake in creating something like that. Mei for instance. Also it was a given that a job like that would place less strain on shinobi overall. He did not care for the idea of everyone around him becoming as detached as he could be, especially since he had been lucky he didn't become even more messed up. And from a larger perspective? It wasn't really something to discuss. A possible end to war, greater stability and through that prosperity which would perhaps make science more relevant to the common man. And also since the end of war befitted almost anyone it'd be in the common interest of the vast majority of people to go along with this idea. Basic self-interest actually worked in Minato's favour here.
"I think it's worth fighting for," Minato said, "But I cannot do it alone. And right now the Akatsuki might very well be the single greatest threat to this dream of mine." Naruto wondered where it chafed for him precisely. After all, objectively Minato's dream seemed more and more beneficial to him. He knew well that the attractiveness of an idea mustn't cloud one's rational judgement but was there really any dichotomy between them? No, of course there wasn't. The very idea was outright idiotic.
There Naruto changed his mind completely. Evidence had been laid forth and taken into consideration. Arguments for both sides had been scrutinized and Minato's side came out looking more solid. With that in mind there was only one logical path to walk down, namely Minato's.
"Therefore..." Minato added and Naruto tensed. There was something in his voice that made him worried. "When you get back home... I need you to find a way to allow Kimiko to access and control the Kyuubi's power as soon as possible, a mission you'll have Carte Blanche during." Naruto was surprised by this though not overly so. After Wave it was evident that Kimiko was utterly helpless if any real shinobi would attempt to grab her. It was a reasonable idea to bring her up to speed. And yet that Minato, who had been so anti-"human experimentation" as possible, would ask him to do this was still surprising. Then again everything for his little girl Naruto supposed. Either way it made countless new options spring up, options Naruto had theorized about but no more now became feasible. Then again...
"This was a new route to take with her," he remarked and Minato nodded.
"I wanted her to have a normal life," he said, "Jinchuuriki generally are just gathering dusk, the alienation their special training causes a greater threat than any else." Naruto couldn't help but remember the mess with Utakata and nod to himself. "But with these people on the lose... Kimiko needs to learn how to handle the beast I had to seal inside her, if nothing else to make it as hard as possible for the Akatsuki to steal the Kyuubi." Naruto could tell how much Minato hated the thought but he didn't let that stop him so Naruto decided to get down to business.
"I'll need all your notes on the seal," he said calmly, "As well as the Uchiha police 100% off my back while I work. It can be done," he added when he saw Minato's surprised face as the man was about to say something, "But don't even think that it will be easy for her or me. Is that acceptable?"
"You've pondered this before, haven't you?" Minato asked and Naruto nodded.
"I fought for my life when I was seven," he said evenly. "Kimiko is a jinchuuriki yet she is twelve and this mission was her first real taste of danger. The discrepancy vexed me even when I was fourteen. An eventual boost of her control has long been a theoretical side project of mine."
"I'm sorry," Minato said, Naruto looking at him.
"I have a hard time believe you truly feel sorry for sparing her what I went through," he said dryly.
"Not that," Minato said, "I should have been on Orochimaru's case like a bloodhound from day one. I shouldn't have let you out of sight."
"Hokage-sama," Naruto cut him off. "Let's start with this. Whatever has happened has happened. It's too late to change that. What more I do not resent what I am. I am not the same genetically as you and other people. To some that makes me inhuman. To me it makes me more than human, something I am not necessarily proud of but thankful for. Yet as I told Kushina: Move on, accept that the boy you seek never will come back. You failed, he grew up without you and is not suffering because of it. Deal with this fact, not only for your own sake but for the world's sake. Too much rides on you to allow you to wallow in self-loathing and regret over something that cannot be changed."
"You don't pull your punches at all do you?" Minato smiled now somewhat forcedly. It was easy to see he was struck by Naruto's words, and not necessarily in a positive way.
"We're both adults," Naruto said, "Consider it a proof of my belief in your rationality, that I do not coddle you. When can I get my hands on your notes?" A conflicted look came over Minato's face now. He seemed all of a sudden hesitant for a few seconds, running his hand over his face. Eventually though he took a deep breath.
"In three days' time," he said with an obvious effort, "A ruined house about an hour south-southwest of Konoha's main gate."
"Got it," Naruto responded briskly, "What more, to keep your hands clean throughout this my personal recommendation is that we appear still estranged."
"No," Minato said now. "It's enough that I'm practically asking you to continue down the deranged path of Orochimaru," he hissed. "I won't let you take the fall for it too!"
"Calm down will you?" Naruto said. "You're misunderstanding me. I'm widely considered cut off from my family, enough that Guren-san offered to make me a member of her clan – don't you dare use that against her by the way – and if we use that people will not consider the possibility that I'm working on Kimiko's seal. If nothing else: how could an estranged child with no evident interest in patching things up get his hands on the necessary – for they seem to be necessary to get anywhere – notes to accomplish anything with the seal?"
"And if you are discovered, then what?" Minato asked heatedly, "What about the Tsubaki clan? They love you enough to line up behind you no matter what. Can you risk them becoming pariahs in their new village?"
"Do you not think I am aware of that?" Naruto asked coldly, "They worship me, hold me up like an idol after I saved them. And to continue on this line: what about Sakura, the very girl half dead at that inn right now because she chose to follow me all the way? The R&D department which reputation and status is still fragile at best in Konoha?! I'll destroy it all if I'm discovered. I know that. I know it as well as anyone can. Do you think I wouldn't consider this before accepting this assignment?"
"Then..." Minato said and it was easy to see he didn't understand. "Why?"
"Because if this dream of yours is going to come true you'll pay for it in blood, sweat and tears," Naruto elaborated. "I did not explicitly state at any time I believed it impossible. Naïve, yes. Distant, yes. Impossible? Considering that you single-handedly trounced Kumo I honestly do not know. And yes, if your dream will be realized I have a personal stake in this matter, an immense such. But." Now Naruto raised a finger. "It's bigger than personal stakes. And unless we are ready to sacrifice it will not come true. I'm doing this precisely because I have things I hold dear. As you said: is that not worth fighting for? Besides, if I am revealed, do you not think I will have quite the compelling case for seeking out the Akatsuki for protection?"
"What?!" Minato exclaimed, Naruto raising a hand.
"Merely an option worthy of considering," he qualified his statement, "You need weapons against the Akatsuki, I'm offering to become one. In many ways I am a potential kunai to be planted against their heart under the guise of being one of them."
"No," Minato said, "Out of the question! I'm not going to have you take a fall like that. It's too dangerous and if you fail you'll die and be remembered as no better than Orochimaru!"
"And yet if the situation has progressed to the level that such a thing would be needed," Naruto said calmly, "Do you think we will have any other options? Keep the possibility in mind, that's all I'm saying."
"Duly noted," Minato said tersely, "This discussion is over now!"
"As you command Hokage-sama," Naruto said with a dry voice and folded arms. Minato flinched at this but didn't relent.
"I don't..." He began before sighing. "Damn it Naruto. I've asked enough of someone who isn't even a..." he petered off now but Naruto knew what would come.
"A real shinobi?" Naruto asked mildly yet with venom lining his words.
"A field shinobi." Minato said, "I know you want to focus on science and I don't begrudge you that. I want you to be at the head of R&D. You are producing miracles there. The Kiri mission was bad enough to send you on. My hope was that it'd be a one-time incident, and even then I only sent you because of the threat the Akatsuki posed. Look just... Let's change subject. How is your apprentice doing?" Naruto smiled wryly.
"She is currently at that inn," he pointed over his shoulder, "The retroviruses I've given her has made her severely ill and your summon back to Konoha came at a somewhat unfortunate time."
"Will she be okay?" Minato asked, Naruto silently thankful for that the man didn't go down any of the many paths of accusing judgement open to him at the moment.
"Within week or two," he informed the man, "I sped up the "transformation" if you so will. I felt it better to have her suffer a month of sickness rather than five years of discomfort. When she's recovered I will begin her training in earnest."
"First now?" Minato asked.
"I am taking my time."
"Don't get me wrong," Minato said, "She is your apprentice but she is still a Konoha shinobi. How long will it take before she is capable of serving in a field role as well? I assume that is what you are preparing her for."
"Three months," Naruto said calmly, "By the time of the chuunin exams you will see what I can accomplish. Sakura will be beyond any average genin and even though she's not meant to be a field shinobi you'll see. She will triumph over anyone in her path."
"You believe in her that much?" Minato asked. He seemed happy somehow.
"Not quite," Naruto admitted, "I believe in myself. Sakura is an uncut diamond and she will take a lot of work. But I am confident it will pay off. She'll become a priceless jewel and when the chuunin exams come I will show her off to the entire world."
"I'm looking forward to seeing it," Minato said. "Do you want me to bring her back with me to Konoha?" He held up one of his three-pronged kunai now to imply what precisely he meant. Naruto pondered the option for a second before nodding.
"Might be for the best," he said, "Travelling in the regular manner would put a strain on her. Make sure to keep the medic-nins off her however. Their meddling might upset the process. The results would be... unpleasant."
"How unpleasant are we talking?" Minato asked.
"Ranging from possibly fatal to the stuff of nightmares," Naruto said plainly. Minato blanched somewhat.
"I..." he said, "I understand. What about Rin?"
"She should be fine," Naruto admitted. "She knows enough to not meddle at least. This works to both our advantage though. If you take her now it'll be a slight towards me, you're meddling with my apprentice. We'll become even more estranged officially, giving you plausible deniability towards what I am doing to Kimiko as well as a motive. You meddled with Sakura, I meddle with Kimiko. It's perfect."
"Naruto, no" Minato began.
"Just do it!" Naruto hissed now, "Do you think having approved human enhancement on your own daughter will be something your reputation of benevolence can survive coming out?! You took the step when reaching out to me and I will help you. But these are the consequences!"
"I'm not going to be the one dealing with them!" Minato hissed. "I've hurt you enough!"
"Father!" Naruto snapped now, Minato freezing in place. That one word, one he must have thought lost to him from Naruto, brought him to a standstill. "I choose this." Naruto spoke slowly and with a forced calm. He did not like how much using that word had taken out of him. "Whatever has been we are here now. And I choose this because I believe in this dream of yours. If your claims of regret hold any water then let me do this. I can be sacrificed in a way you cannot. I have the expertise and the skill to pull both these enhancements and any possible infiltration off. I have a plausible motive." Naruto was struck by something now. There was a reason why he argued so heatedly for this and it was not a purely logical one. It made him somewhat embarrassed but he did not hide it. "And finally: they went after Kimiko and I will not rest until they are dead for that." How much of this was based in a desire to get at those who had tried to hurt that little idiot he still held so dear? He wasn't sure. He knew it was a lot and felt a little ashamed of the fact.
"I..." Minato began with a somewhat strained voice. "I understand..." his gaze was darting back and forth, showing his agitation. "Very well... good luck." Naruto felt a sting of shame at this, realizing just how low a blow he had delivered. He could have asked for the seat of Hokage after using that word and Minato would have given him it.
"Take Sakura and return to Konoha," he said now, feeling it'd be best if they cut this off now. "When I return I will get to work as soon as possible. I swear, Kimiko will have every last iota of control I can give her. If we're lucky, this new estrangement will not lead anywhere and we can put it aside when the Akatsuki is dealt with."
"Business as usual then Naruto?" Minato asked with a sad smile and Naruto nodded. Without any real further ado Minato departed, leaping through the air and into an open window at the Inn where he vanished. Naruto remained there for a while, pondering just what had happened. A deep sigh came from him before he left the alley and headed back to the Inn. While there was no real need for it he nevertheless went to check on Sakura. The bed was empty and the girl no doubt back in Konoha already.
"Damn it..." he muttered to himself. His sense of obligation had made him begin another mission already. He wondered just what would come now. Something told him this would become big and while he hoped he would be proven wrong he did not feel too optimistic.
So that was it then? Not even back in Konoha and yet in this short moment so much had changed. The paths they took in life seemed to hinge not on how long something would take, but how long it would take to acknowledge the obvious. Realigning to serve the goal the most obvious was merely a matter of efficiency. He supposed he was unusual in this regard yet Naruto hoped this would serve to their advantage.