Disclaimer: The characters in this fic belong to someone else.

After his friend's departure, Naruto became more clingy than usual. Minato ended up having to carry the twelve year old boy back to town. He didn't mind. The boy had gone his entire childhood without anyone to do this for him. It was the least his father could do.

Minato hefted his son up higher on his back. "Hey. You're getting big."

Naruto pouted and silently laid his cheeks on his father's shoulder.

"Have you learned to do it yet?"

"Do what?" The boy's voice carried lightly into his ears.

"The Rasengan."

"Yeah." Naruto replied dejectedly, his voice still weak from crying.

Minato smiled. It'd taken him three years to develop and learn the technique. To hear that his son had learned it in only a week was both wonderful and unbelievable. "That's amazing. How did you do it?"

"Sasuke told me to try making a clone to help spin it in the other direction and it worked. We were going to show you this morning." Naruto's breath hitched. "I'm such a crybaby."

"It's OK to cry. It just means that you have a kind heart - that you care about the people around you. Most Shinobi don't do that. They forget to feel, and that's why I'm so proud of you, Naruto."

Naruto snuggled into the crook of his father's neck and smiled. "I love you so much dad. Please don't go away too."

"I won't go away. I'll stay as long as you need me." Minato chuckled. "Now you're making me want to cry."

Naruto laughed weakly but said no more.

-Intermission-

Jiraiya downed another cup of sake. "That kid's going to win that bet."

"Not likely." Across from him, Tsunade was matching him cup for cup.

The Toad Sage refilled their cups. "What're you going to do if he does?"

His teammate sighed. "I'll go back of course."

"Just like that?"

She took down her shot of sake. "Yeah."

Jiraiya swirled his cup slowly in thought. "You know.. despite what I told you about travelling, I'm actually getting kind of tired." He chuckled. "Must be my age catching up to me."

Tsunade eyed her teammate slowly. "What are you trying to say?"

Jiraiya emptied his cup in a single gulp. "Ah. This stuff's good."

"Jiraiya."

With deliberate leisure, the Toad Sage slowly filled the two empty cups before him and grinned. "What I'm saying is that I'm getting kind of lonely you know what I mean? If you do come back to Konoha maybe we could..?" He trailed off, letting his teammate fill in the blank herself.

Tsunade sighed. "I still love him."

"I know."

"You still want me?"

Jiraiya nodded frankly. "Of course!"

She shook her head. "I can't say I feel the same."

The Toad Sage frowned. "Tsunade give me a chance."

The medic-nin looked thoughtfully into her cup, ignoring the man's plea. "How many women have you had, Jiraiya?"

Her teammate sighed. "Too many to count."

Tsunade nodded judiciously. "You'll always want other women. That's just who you are. I don't think I'd be able to deal with that and I don't think I want to. I have standards you know."

Jiraiya quickly swallowed his drink and poured himself another cup. "Look, Tsunade. I love you. I just want you to love me back. Why can't it be that simple? You're fifty. I'm literally your only suitor."

Tsunade drank swiftly and extended her cup toward her teammate. Jiraiya sighed and filled it. The woman shrugged "I'll think about it." before raising her voice. "Namikaze Minato! You owe me an apology for last night."

What'd they do last night?! Jiraiya raised an eyebrow and frowned. He turned to see his student walking over with one Uzumaki Naruto hanging on his back. "What'd you do last night?" The envy was clear in his voice.

Tsunade twitched. "Jiraiya. You're hopeless."

Naruto giggled.

Ignoring his mentor, Minato inclined his head in apology. "My deepest apologies, but I didn't know who else to turn to. If there's anything I can do to pay you back-"

"It's fine." Tsunade gave the former Kage a wave of dismissal. "Just as long as you don't ever lie to me again."

Jiraiya frowned. "So what happened exactly?"

"It's a long story but I found Obito last night and he was hurt. So I asked her to help him." Minato replied.

"You found your student? The one that died fourteen years ago?!"

Minato nodded.

The Sage shook his head. "Unbelievable.."

Minato spoke to his son softly. "Naruto." Naruto nodded and Minato quickly deposited him onto the floor. He turned to his mentor. "Jiraiya-sensei."

"Yeah?"

"I'm going back to Konoha to check on Kakashi to see if he's alright."

"What's wrong with Kakashi?" Jiraiya asked.

"From what I hear, I think he's in a coma."

"How?"

Minato shook his head. "I don't know, but I'll need you to watch Naruto for me while I'm gone."

Jiraiya nodded. "What about his friend?"

"He's gone." Naruto piped in despondently. "He's left to find his brother."

"Oh." The Toad Sage put on a thoughtful look before gazing up at his student. "Naruto can take care of himself. Don't worry about it."

Minato frowned skeptically. He looked down to his son who nodded his approval. "I'll see you later, Naruto." He smiled. "Don't forget to show her" -he gestured toward the female Sannin - "what you can do." After receiving a nod, the Fourth vanished.

Tsunade frowned. "Kid.. don't tell me you've actually done it."

Naruto jumped up and beamed emphatically. "Watch!"

-Intermission-

Reappearing at the marker he'd placed in his apartment bedroom, Minato quickly made his way to the hospital, stopping only at the front desk.

"Hatake Kakashi. Where is he?"

The man at the desk swallowed his surprise at seeing the long-lost Fourth Hokage and quickly checked the register. "Top floor. 12M."

Minato nodded. "Thank you." And was gone.

Arriving at the top floor, he burst into the room and stopped. A woman sat by his student's bed. She stood up in greeting. "Hi."

Minato inclined his head in acknowledgement, and turned his attention to the room's patient.

The silver-haired Jounin appeared to be asleep. Even in his coma, Kakashi's mask remained covering the lower half of his face.

"How is he?"

"He's alive." The woman took a papery breath. "But they say that he's never going to wake up.. they say they're getting no signals from him. I just.." She stopped, unable to continue.

Minato pulled up a seat and sat next to her. "Thank you for caring for him while I was gone."

Letting the Fourth's soothing voice calm her nerves, the woman turned a look at her fellow visitor. "You know.. he talked a lot about his team. He talked a lot about you.. how you helped him cope with his grief when he lost his teammates. When you 'died' that night, he blamed himself for being too weak to do anything." She paused to examine Kakashi's former mentor. "He loves you like a father."

Minato frowned. "How did this happen?"

The woman shook her head. "Uchiha Itachi. They fought and he lost, and he's been like this ever since."

It's exactly what happened to Sasuke. Minato's eyes widened. He stood up, startling the woman from her gloom.

Minato reached into his pocket and retrieved a kunai. "Here take this."
Stunned, the woman silently took the kunai.

"I'll be back." Without another word, he was gone.

-Intermission-

"Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade examined the man bowing before her. "Let me guess. You want me to do something about your comatose student."

"Please."

The medic-nin sighed. He'd probably stay there until she agreed to go with him. Namikaze Minato was one stubborn son of a bitch. "I'll take a look."

-Intermission-

Tsunade frowned. "This is worse than what happened to that angsty brat. The damage that Itachi did to his brother was mostly emotional in nature. What he did to your student must have been horrifying. His nerves have been badly damaged. Even if he wakes up, he might have trouble moving."

The woman next to her bit her lips. "Can you do anything for him?"

The Sannin nodded. "I can fix him. It'll take ten days at the very least. I'll have to visit him daily."

Allowing the green glow to fade from her hand, she drew it back and stood abruptly. "Minato. Your son won the bet. I'm staying here. You can bring everyone home now. Don't forget to take my assistant with you."

Minato nodded.

The Sannin smiled. "Your son is amazing you know that?"

Minato grinned. "I'll bring them back." He activated the Flying Thunder God marker he'd placed in the distant town, vanishing from sight.

Tsunade sat back down and studied her recent patient. They're going to make me Hokage. The thought hit her like a brick. What have I gotten myself into?

-Intermission-

"Hey, Shizune-san."

The woman nodded. "Namikaze-san."

"Tsunade's already in Konoha."

Wait, what?! Shizune did a double-take before getting a grasp of what was going on. "Your Flying Thunder God.. it's too much."

Minato chuckled. "I'll take Obito first."

"Wait!" Shizune grabbed his wrist. "Let me finish treating him. It shouldn't be too long."

The Fourth nodded and withdrew his hand. Shizune inspected the Kage slowly.

Minato gazed back at her nervously. "W-what? What's wrong?"

"Namikaze-san. You should take a look at yourself. You look like you just woke up. Have you even had breakfast yet?"

"Now that you mention it.. no." Minato replied honestly. "It's been a long morning."

"I'll bet. Go get yourself fixed up."

"I'll be right back." Minato made his way to the bathroom, pivoting on his feet before entering to spare a look at the dark-haired medic. She'd already turned her attention back to her blind patient. "Thank you. Shizune."

"Huh?" The woman turned her head. "Oh yeah. No problem. Just.. get in there and make yourself presentable. You're a mess."

Minato nodded. "I might take a while."

Shizune unwrapped the cloth around Obito's head. "That's fine. Take your time." She replied without turning. "I'll need you to lie down." Obito grunted and laid back onto the bed.

Minato smiled and shuffled into the restroom.

-Intermission-

Jiraiya raised a hand to the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. "Well.. I'm not going back for a while. I think I'm going to head back to Inazaku.. stop by at the Hotel to say 'Hi' to the family."

The Toad Sage grinned. "I still can't believe your son got Tsunade to go back.. and to become Hokage no less."

Minato nodded. "I'm so proud of him. I'm glad we went on this trip. We managed to sort out a lot of things. I'm.. I'm sorry for threatening the village."

Jiraya shook his head slowly. "I'm glad you were able to look past your hatred. Minato.. I'm proud of you too."

Minato smiled. "You'll be back in time for them to crown her right?"

"Of course!" Jiraiya replied. "She'll be wonderful! I wouldn't miss it for the world!"

"When will I see you again?"

The Sage shrugged. "Soon."

That doesn't tell me anything.. The Fourth gave his mentor a deadpan look. "Jiraiya-sensei."

"What did you expect me to say?" Jiraiya laughed and disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the blonde standing alone at one of the infinite entrances to Konoha's immense forest.