For my monster's sake

by Angevelinka

Dead men tell no lies... if they are dead. Hokage and Kazekage raise their children on their own the best they can. One day Minato decides to help Sabaku family and invites them to Konoha. Can they all survive 4th's ideas and... winter? GaaNaruGaa fluff

36. Chapter Thirty Six: My torniquet

Indeed, it was a new thing in Suna village. The moment when the travelling hawk had finally flew into the main office and dropped the mail right in front of Daichi, knocking over his cup with light bitter tea, the chaos emerged. Before the glass even touched the ground the six differently masked ANBUs dropped into the office from the thin air and half of them pointed their weapons at the desk and others already had been halfway into defensive jutsus done. The redhead itself stared at the big envelope for a moment in complete surprise, only moving his heavily decorated fingers so the sun could shine in gold and blind anyone who looked through the windows.

Then he jumped out off the desk and pointed his both hands at it in seals formed in less than few millisecond, making his ANBUs backing away in fear. And just then the door slammed open and one stupid dog with too many teeth and too fat and muscular body for a mastiff fell into the office like if he weighed less than a few feathers, jumped at the desk and grabbed the envelope like the tastiest, most comfortable shoe to gnaw at and started shaking its head so wildly it was impossible to see anything beside two black and yellow eyes flashing in a long line of flash.

A second later a small red-haired heir of the provisional version of the Suna throne ran into the office also and caught the animal at the ears as it had no collar (had anyone mentioned how funny it was when they thought that after many times of the animal trying to bite their hands off and running away from them had finally got collared and then the dog had just disappeared from the spot in a cloud of sand only to reappear twenty centimeters further from the spot while the collar lied abandoned on the ground?).

'No! Bad Shukaku! Bad dog!' shouted Gaara, making ANBU glance at themselves. The Fourth Kazekage of the whole Suna and Wind itself sighed irritated and massaged his temples.

'Gaara.' he muttered as he grabbed the anima-thing by its ears (surprisingly, it didn't disappear) and tossed onto the ground, while his other hand remained stiff on the envelope. Now the object was all covered in the mud that smelled like meat right from the slaughterhouse. 'How many times I told you to keep an eye on this… this?'

He pointed his hand at the monster of a dog – it didn't seem to be amazed by the fact it was tossed, more – it started chasing its own tail and then it smiled – that's right, smiled – at him and ran out as suddenly as it bargained in. The kid had only looked at his feet, ashamed.

'Sorry.' he muttered. Daichi sighed irritated once again. Then he waved his ANBU off. If the thing could survive whatever Shukaku did to it by it's strange administrations, then it could mean only one thing – it was harmless. Every trap that was posed on anyone and got in hold of Shukaku's big teeth exploded right away, leaving the animal running around wildly without head until it got to the nearest source of the sand. And it really didn't matter what the trap was. He stopped acting surprised after one of his euphorbias, after getting sniffed up by the monster instead of leaking the white poisonous milk, exploded right into its stupid eyes.

He opened the envelope, and grimaced as he saw the childish writing that contained a lot of grammatical errors. Then he looked at the smeared address and nothing else was unclear. No wonder Shukaku came by when not a moment ago he could see him sitting on the street and scaring his innocent civilians.

'It's for you.' he said and he tossed the thing toward his youngest son 'Write him back to shorten his letters, that one gave us a scare.'

Gaara had only looked back confused, and then, unceremonially, he had opened the envelope so much all the contents fell onto the floor. After a moment the excited animal was once again back and it wagged its big long tail like a snake as it made circles around the redhead. Gaara didn't seem to mind – he lied on his tummy and started looking through the letters in his own pace. He was definitely comfortable right in the middle of his very official office.

'Gaara.' he muttered as he took the cup from the floor. It cracked in three. 'Go away to your room, I'm working.'

'This is for you.' was the answer as the kid tossed something at him. The dog jumped up, trying to catch it with its teeth, but his reflexes didn't let it. He simply caught it before Shukaku managed to do, almost losing one finger. But he knew he wouldn't and Shukaku also knew it, because in its stupid eyes there was much less humor than before, even if it had still smiled like a Cheshire cat. What would want Naruto from him? Quietly, he opened the much shorter note from the rest of the papers.

The note, of course, wasn't from Naruto (through really, comparatively, the calligraphy of the letter Gaara got was much more understandable).

Sorry, Naruto was feeling chatty, I asked him to make sure not to write more than two pages a week, for next time. I'll just send them all together once a month, 8 pages sounds reasonable, right? Underneath, there was a hasty added postdate, the first word on it bolded, under crossed several times and circled with red marker.

Ps: Maybe. You still know what that means, no?

The redhead looked at the word, blinking in silence, then, like if it was the most normal thing in the world, he crushed the note into a small ball and tossed right into the ugly dog. The anima-thing caught it immediately and started scrapping it to shreds, making such a mess it was almost strange it was only a short note.

'No.' he said as he got back to his desk. 'I don't.' Gaara looked at him, but he only waved him off. He could let them stay once in awhile. Sometimes even animals could be useful after all. That wasn't all the heavy mail the Kazekage received. That very same week, he received a scroll containing a much heavier package. Approximately six hundred pages worth of 'anonymously written' novella whose main protagonist was a short, middle aged redhead man with ED who was into cross-dressing and had a taste for little blond kids.

Daichi at first didn't understand the joke and started reading the scroll as if it contained something important. Sometimes he had got such heavy scrolls, but it was only emergency and he had never gotten one just 'because'. Only after reading from the code that 'the middle aged redhead who wore exclusive bra started salivating at the sight of blueyed angel that had only just hatched from the egg' meant 'how would you like your feet dipped in statuary or would you like to dance with an emergency that showed up at the brain damage of the street' (one code)

'the snake had just dangled its legs on the tree and now its humming old drunken political gummy bears to the moonlight's shadow' (second one) he felt like an idiot. A moment later the scroll made a great add to his night fireplace as the nights were quite cold at this side of the world. Instead of staying silent, he wrote a note with a critique, making sure that he mentioned he was curious how Jiraiya got to see him in his underwear when he usually went commando and why was he so eager to get into his own pants. He had also made a holographic seal in which a photo of a naked drunkard appeared right before opening the thing and perfumed it, so it would look just as nicely as any other tempting note.

Thanks gods, he was not very avengish, or he would ask for Chiyo to add another one of her photos again, or maybe even reappear near him and flashed him. He was not on the best terms with her, but he was sure that when it came to traumatizing Jiraiya she had found it to be as good fun as he did. But he was a good guy, right?

#+#+#+#+#+#

In the meantime, Minato was more than a bit nervous about the fact that while they had received a (normally sized) massive from Gaara, there had been no attached messages for him on regards of his note. He knew… he'd checked himself. Not that he wanted or planned to go through his baby's mail, but he really had been hoping for some sort of answer. So he read the letter back and forth and held it against light and even sniffed it to make absolutely sure there wasn't even scent code or anything like that… Because the silence really was starting to make him feel rather concerned as far as his well being was spoken for.

Oblivious to that, Naruto continued to take his lessons with varying degrees success in different grammars (as it turned out, calligraphy seemed to be one of his natural good points, oh the irony) but Minato sincerely hoped his son would never have to find himself alone without a map, because the little blonde seemed to be oblivious to landmarks that one could find in his every own village. It helped that the Hyuuga kids insisted that those same studies would be valuable once he became Hokage, because as Neji reasonably put it- whatever he learnt, he wouldn't have to learn later and would serve to make him a better leader sooner.

While this went on, Minato had his own problems to worry about, most concerning his own village. He had waited until his 'political advisors' started pressing on him again the fact he needed to go or at least receive dignitaries other than old friends from Suna to finish fixing up treaties that were half a dozen years late to propose the summit idea, and took advantage of that to distract them from perhaps other pressing political issues.

He did it because he thought there was time… because in the end, there had always been time. He had run out of it before, but like much else, he had forgotten, and so he wasn't prepared. In the end, time ran out, and in doing so, it started again his own clock. He woke up for no determinate reason at three in the morning, and like always before he waited some good five minutes before so much as opening his eyes. He couldn't really remember why he did such things anymore because they were so ingrained on him he didn't think of them consciously anymore, he just waited, and then got up.

He didn't know why, either, so he started looking up for a reason, but Naruto was deeply asleep, and other than needing to have the covers straightened on his stretched form, there was nothing worrying there. Kakashi wasn't home because he'd had a mission with Asuma (but he checked his room, just the same…). Nothing. The house was deathly still and…so was the night.

It rubbed at him the wrong way. ((Be careful, baby…)) He didn't like the way the voice sounded, too sweet to know if it was taunting or coddling. He didn't need either. He could have lived if it had been neither of those. He could have lived any other sort of inflection. The house was still and so was the night and it was a quarter past three in the morning, and he shouldn't have been up. But he was, and he went out.

He didn't see him. It wouldn't have mattered if it had, because by then it was too late, and if he had know, then maybe the boy wouldn't have sought him, if he had had any idea of what he started then-

'…Itachi?'

#+#+#+#+#+#

It had taken months to arrange the summit, and a truly ridiculous amount of mail being sent back and forth between the different villages. It was more than a little surprising when the remaining four received a scroll from Konoha, not two weeks before the meeting, written in the precise calligraphy of his secretary.

We regret to inform that Yondaime Hokage-sama, Namikaze Minato, will be unable to assist…

The note was slammed onto the table with such force that frail paper was broken in two.

'I need coffee.' said the redhead as he looked up from his desk with shaky cold glare. Baki immediately stood by his side as the Kazekage rose from his chair and marched toward the kitchen. That behavior was not anything good.

'But Kazekage-sama, you can't-' he started as politely as he could. In the answer the redhead turned around and put a knife to post near his throat. Baki swallowed slowly.

'I want my coffee' said the redhead in a slow, patient tone that said anything about how little patience was left in him 'And you're not going to stop me. Is that clear?'

Baki swallowed again, feeling the numb side of the knife touching his skin and having no doubts that he could die from it as easily as if it was the double edged sword.

'I must protest-' he said. And then he was knocked out. ANBU showed up right after that but they said nothing as he poured the hot water into cup filled with granulated dark coffee beans. He also pretended they weren't there. He turned around and walked through them, making them open before him like door and walked up to the window. Bitter taste of coffee, so satisfying after so long had only disturbed him. But he kept drinking.

He knew this. He was trying to play a happy innocent idiot who knew nothing about how the life played out but his doubts couldn't be hidden anymore. Here he had clearly written on the papers that Minato was not going to the summit he himself arranged. Arranged because of being there. He knew it was going to start simple. At first he wouldn't come, then he wouldn't answer, then he wouldn't lie anymore and then he wouldn't be. And then it would be over. He knew he shouldn't have let him go once he had his hold on him. He knew that simply trusting the man to stay put in his words was a mistake.

He drank the cup and went to make himself the new one. He barely glanced at ANBU who glanced back at him and between themselves. As he finally drank from the new cup he felt only more irritated than he was before.

'What are you looking at!' he yelled out, making the guards back a few feet away 'Go away!' And only when he threw the cup of steaming liquid at them the ANBU was finally gone. Alone time. At last. He started making himself third cup of coffee, ignoring how the first one started going through his bloodline.

'That's not healthy.' said suddenly a smug voice behind him. He threw a kunai at it before he even looked at the owner. The thing was dodged and hit the wall nearby. He bared his teeth. Once again he saw the glasses on the youthful grey-haired face. 'You shouldn't drink so much of strong coffee, Kazekage-sama. Did you rethink our offe-'

'The answer is no!' He roared as he threw another kunai at the person. In a moment it was gone like a wind. How did they even get there? He had to think about doing something to his security. Like, firing out half of them and burying everything valuable in the treasure points or something.

'I hate the way you make me feel.' he muttered as he slowly sipped from the cup. Then he threw the glass on the desk, not caring about the liquid anymore. He barely noticed the post eagle as it flapped inside. Only when the excited caricature of a dog started chasing it, he looked at it and ignored it at the same time. It looked like a book so it meant it was for Gaara. He was not interested in such things as for now. It was a bad thing he didn't, because the only clue as to what was happening was in one of the last lines of the massive.

'…bad things happened now and To-chan's been acting weird for a lot of days. I'm scared...'

Gaara had read the mail but decided to keep it to himself. He didn't talk about the Naruto's dad with his own father as it seemed to be pretty itchy topic for him. So instead he had only written back that his dad acted weird all the time and not worry so it will go away.

#+#+#+#+#+#

Minato had always had a nice smile, the sort of expression that made people relax around him and want to give him anything he wanted simply because he was too charismatic to say no to him. What people didn't know was that he was also capable of ugly grimaces that looked all the worse because they didn't belong to his face, because they looked like an unfitting mask in someone who shouldn't be wearing any. Right now Minato was smiling, but the way he did it left the three people in front of him no room for doubt that it was only for them to know how much he was enjoying what he did.

'I said…' he repeated smoothly, his voice almost an inappropriate purr. 'I'm not going.'

He leaned back on his chair, looking sick and drawn and tired and pale. Looking as if he were enjoying very much all of it.

'With due respect, Hokage-sama.' the woman said, her voice tight with what little control she had left of her temper. 'You don't have a choice.' The blue eyes rolled towards her, their steely blueness settling and seeming to take all of two seconds on properly focusing, before smiling at her and leaning back on his seat, looking very much like a cat who's just found a comfortable spot and intends to stay there, never mind the fact they had already been there for two.

A complete difference from the way he had acted just a few weeks prior, but then again, everything he had done since, including openly ignoring them, had been completely different from the blonde they had thought they knew. Yondaime had never again shown any sort of trust or goodwill towards them ever since what had happened with the nine tails almost six years ago, but he had never purposely sought to antagonize them like this. He had also never openly gone against them in such an aggressive way.

'Oh?' the blond asked, his tone amused. 'Council or not, threatening one's Hokage is hardly advisable. Especially given your current situation, Utatane-sama.'

The man standing nearby cleared his throat and looked at the blonde with quite disappointed stare.

'The summit will contain all the greatest heads of the countries that had ever met. It's very rare, as you know – the second generation of kages had never met up on such.' he glanced at Minato, like if he was checking if he was listening 'Even the so unreachable Third Mizukage decided to step from his nothingness and show his face. That's a honor and occasion that none of the villages would ever want to miss and you want to… skip this?'

'I know.' the blond said, his tone a clear mocking of the man's own. "I planned it myself, didn't I? A good point to make, Nonetheless, Mitokado-sama.' The blond shrugged a bit, making a sort of helpless gesture with his shoulders. 'The problem is that if my own council goes behind my back and murders ¼ of the inhabitants of the village while I'm standing right here, I'm a bit concerned about what they will do if I leave them alone for a whole week. Maybe I won't have a village to come home back at, mh?'

Again, back to this. There was hardly a thing that could be said, or anything at all that could be discussed without the blonde dragging the topic back to the table, by force if necessary. The only leeway he seemed to allow them seemed to be he at least had the decency to bring the topic only when they were in a secure room. There was no saying what would happen if anyone found out what had really transpired the night Uchiha Itachi supposedly betrayed his village.

#+#+#+#+#+#

'How could you do something like this?' the blond slammed his hand on the table with enough force to rattle the few teacups left on it. 'Behind my back? You agreed to give me some more time to figure out something-'

'We ran out of time.' the woman said, her face impassive. 'We couldn't wait anymore, it was either sacrifice a few for the sake of-'

'A few?' the blond cried, eyes wide. 'Do you have an idea how many people were in the Uchiha compound? How many pre-genin level, how many of them were just civilians with nothing to do with this?'

The ANBUs in the room looked at each other, not sure if it was the right time to intervene or just before it. Not that they hoped they would do anything. No one stood a chance with Konoha's Yellow Flash.

'Yes, we do.' said one of the elders just as calmly 'And yes, they all had to die to make Itachi look believable. Do you think that Akatsuki hires people who fail at such things? Leaving anyone alive would be too questionable for the causes.' One of the elders had bowed toward him, whispering something to his ear. The man coughed. 'Uchiha Sasuke was not planned to be left alive. We will see if it was a big mistake or not.'

'You are not touching that child.' the blond hissed, eyes narrowed on the man. 'I'll be seeing after him, not you.' After all that had happened, the one thing he had promised Itachi after all that had been lost… He wasn't going to let them put their muddy paws on that scrap of a child if he could help it.

'We're not planning to.' answered the man then glanced toward him 'What do you have us for? The murderers, like Uchiha?'

'No, gods forbid you dirtied your own goddamned hands.' Minato spat, hating himself for the brief and somewhat sickening spark of relief he felt. 'You just sent a little kid to do your dirty work.'

'Itachi did what his village needed of him, what his orders told him to do.' Utatane said, not one hair out of it's appropriate place and he hated her so much at that moment, hated the whole of them-

'And you would have done the exact same thing if you had been in his place.' he had gaped at them in some sort of indefinable emotion for slowly ticking seconds, wanting to deny it, wanting to silence the voice. Because it's true, you know that because if those had been your orders, you would have done it… You would have killed your teammates if they had told you to do it. Didn't you try to kill your own son because they told you to? And maybe now he wouldn't, but then he might have (had he? He didn't remember, why had he done it, anyway?) but once he definitely would have and he couldn't discuss that because they knew it- They had chosen him for a reason, hadn't they? They thought you an obedient pet. They thought you to be easy to handle.

'You still went over me-' he had nearly gasped, horrified by the things his own brain was providing him with, the unstoppable mocking voice that he had thought to have rid himself of. 'That's treason and you know it. Even after I told you not to, you went ahead-' The youngest of the three stood up then, his own fist slamming on the table, this time actually knocking down the cup.

'Because someone needs to take the decisions you are too much of a coward to take!'

'You-' And that's the point that brought them all to this current situation, really, because up until then, the Hokage had reacted emotionally and maybe not as politically correct as the situation called, but if he had, it was understandably so.

But then, as Danzo glared at him with his remaining eye, the blond had suddenly flinched and looked at them in such a strange way, one faintly shaking hand slowly rising to cover his mouth. '...'

'You're too young to be Hokage.'

'You're too young-' the man continued, but then the blond spoke up again.

'Someone needs to take decisions, decisions at any price so… take anything? You don't know…' He hadn't been looking at anyone at that point, his head bowed and his hand just as slowly going back to his lap, and there had been so many things wrong with that sentence there was no saying who he was directing it at.

'Excuse me…?' the woman had asked, her calmed expression for once breaking into curiosity.

'No.' The blond had suddenly stood up, his bangs carefully covering his eyes and then left. They hadn't seen him for the next several hours, and when he came back he had started acting in this insufferable way, without any sort of hint to wanting to compromise or even listen to them. The elders looked at themselves, then back at the man.

'That insinuation was below the good taste.' said the man, but he didn't show his disgust 'You know very well nothing like that will happen.'

'How would I know that?' the blond said, still smiling in that corrosive way 'You killed the Uchihas and you have tried to kill my son numerous times, who knows what else you do behind my back? I sure as hell don't… No, I don't trust you with the village. I wouldn't trust you with your own families.'

The man had only looked at him in silence.

'You have to trust us.' he said finally 'You have nowhere else to go.'

The blond just smiled. The man only looked back, then rose his hand. A moment later all of the elders were leaving the place.

'I hope you will change your mind. We will be back later to hear the positive answer.'

'You do that.' the blond said with a little chuckle, leaning on his chair like if he actually found it comfortable, like if he owned the place. 'I hear hoping is healthy for people your age.'

The door clicked as the only goodbye that was provided.

There was silence for a while afterwards, broken suddenly by his thought and his own voice. You have to leave.

'Yes.' You should have never left in the first place…

'That wasn't fair and you know it.' Love made it fair.

'You didn't love me.' his hands went up to a necklace that wasn't there anymore, closing fruitlessly on nothing. 'If you had, you wouldn't have cursed me so.'

You cursed yourself, and by extension, everyone around you.

'That was their doing.' You've turned into poison, baby.

'You made me so.'

'Hokage-sama?' he turned, looking disinterestedly in his secretary's direction. 'Kakashi is back.'

He nodded.

'Send Asuma to debriefing and send him here.'

'…here, sir?'

'My office is rigged with cameras and microphones, Setsuna-san.' Minato said, his voice a soft and monotone. 'So yes, here.'

'Yes, sir.'

Not a minute later the very dirty, but also very excited teen entered the office.

'You called?' he gasped between breaths 'Sensei?

The blond smiled at him, by far the most normal smile he had offered… well, anyone- his son included – for the past weeks. It still didn't look quite normal.

'Welcome back, Kakashi-kun.' he said, making a gesture for the kid to come closer. 'I assume your mission went well?'

'The mission was accomplished.' said the teen as he came closer. He felt the difference between now and the past but he didn't dare to act upon it. 'The scroll was given safely.'

'As expected from the prodigy.' the blond said, his tone bordering on teasing as he finally getting up when the silver-haired jounin was close enough and reaching to ruffle his hair. Kakashi looked up at him and stiffened, not really knowing what to think of it. But he didn't move away. It didn't looked like if the blond was surprised by the reaction, not by the fact he seemed nervous by it or that he refused to budge. Kakashi… How would any of this affect him now?

'Kakashi, listen…' he pulled the boy closer, pulling him against his chest and hugging him just like he had when Kakashi had been so much younger and his father's body had been found. He was so much taller than then, the light build of his not yet finished adolescence making him seem deceptively fragile. He hadn't wanted to take care of him then, but he did now. God, what to do- he hadn't planned for this. He hadn't planned for anything at all, how could he have gotten so tangled? Give them a chance and they'll ensnare you she had said. Temptations never are what they seem.

'While you were gone… things happened.'

Kakashi had only looked up, frightened. The hug was nice, but it was only reserved to the moments when something really had happened. Good things. Or bad. He mostly remembered bad ones.

'What's happened?' he muttered finally, catching the man through the chest and supporting himself in the hug. He felt he would need this if he wanted to get through the news.

It shouldn't have, but it hurt Minato that Kakashi leant on him, as if he trusted him to somehow help him bear with whatever he was about to say. He couldn't leave him. He couldn't take him with him either. Oh, God… what was he going to do?

'…about two weeks ago, Itachi Uchiha massacred his clan.' he said softly, tightening his hold on the younger boy lightly. 'All of it. The only survivor is his little brother Sasuke Uchiha.'

The teen looked up at him, staring at him for a moment in complete silence. What was said… it couldn't have really been said, right? He had misheard something. Itachi…? That Itachi? But he loved his parents! And what did it mean 'the whole clan'? Itachi was only thirteen! His hearing had really had to be playing tricks on him.

'What?'

The blond smiled a bit painfully at that, the smile looking more like a grimace.

'All the Uchihas are dead, Kakashi. All but Sasuke-kun.' he stopped, horrified at what he was doing, but then, what else could he have done, given the circumstances. As the council has so clearly put it, Itachi had his orders. He couldn't put Kakashi in danger because of it. 'He saw his brother do it, and he escaped afterwards, Kakashi… Uchiha Itachi has been declared a missing nin.'

The teen had only kept starring at him, like if he saw a ghost. Then he quickly glanced sideways, very much alike the person expecting the candid camera to burst out on him in any minute. A moment later his gaze had once again looked at the man, a little more disoriented.

'Itachi?' he repeated in much more disbelieving tone. 'Dead?' It sounded almost as truthful as completely bald, thin Santa Claus working on Hawaii dressed up in the hoola dress. And at the same time, it all sounded too real to not be true. Quietly, he glued up to the man, almost melting into him as he hid his face into his chest.

'It's not going to be okay, right?' he muttered in matte tone.

'These kind of things never are, baby…' Minato said, automatically calling the boy by such an endearment despite his age really was too much for him to fit in the description. This… was the right thing, right? He hated himself for lying to Kakashi, but he didn't have any other option, it was better if he didn't know the truth, wasn't it? He couldn't afford his jounin *not* to treat the oldest remaining Uchiha like the danger he was because Itachi wouldn't hold back for them. He had to keep his family safe. And is this the way? Letting the council walk away from it as if they had done nothing at all? Wasn't that more dangerous?

It suddenly occurred to him he didn't really know how Rin had died. It had been on a mission to Grass gone wrong (or so he'd been told) and he hadn't done anything to anger the council back then (had he?) so there had been no need to make a 'lesson' out of her, had then? (But what about Kushina?) He hugged the boy more tightly, every instinct he had telling him to take this boy and Naruto and run away, but where to? Somewhere safe. Where?

'Kakashi… That's not it all, either.' he buried his face on the boy's neck, lowering the tone to a whisper. 'I have reasons to believe the council might have been involved on all of this.'

The boy had immediately stiffened, sharpening his hearing. Despite how vile it sounded, he couldn't get away from his ninja senses. What was taught, was learned.

'Council?' he whispered so quietly that almost none of it could be heard. 'How is that possible?'

'I can't say right now, we will talk about this when there's time.' This might be the only safe room in all of Konoha, but even then, he wasn't going to trust it.

'But listen to this: from now on, never trust anything the council tells you. If they give you a direct order, please, act like if you were to carry it out, but don't. I will trust your judgment on what you decide to do in the end.' His teeth tightened as he remembered Itachi's red eyes slowly widening, as he slowly understood Minato hadn't even been aware of what had happened. 'And never trust them if they say I agreed to anything. Is that understood?'

Kakashi kept in silence when he nodded, still tightly close to Minato. A moment later he backed away, standing stiff and bowing as he looked at the floor that seemed to be a much more interesting view than Minato's face.

'Yes.' he muttered in a broken tone 'Understood, Hokage-sama.' His view had only broken in another two pieces. Nothing more.

'Thank you.' the blond said, wanting to take him back and hug him some more, but understanding the boy needed some time to get used to what he had just been told. Unfortunately. 'Kakashi…'

'Yes, Hokage-sama?' muttered the boy, not moving from the spot.

'I know you are just back from a mission, but if you'd like, after you have rested a bit, you can go see how Sasuke-kun is doing.' He wasn't sure if this would be better or worse, but he knew how his student felt on regards of Obito's family.

'The boy is understandably shell shocked by all that's happened, but he's been insisting on going back to his home and the place-' It was a bloodbath. He couldn't believe a tiny kid like Kakashi could have done that massacre, it wasn't physically possible. The newly appointed police force had been called to investigate and they had been done for a while now, but cleaning would take much longer. He doubted some of the signs of it would ever go away.

'…it's not really fit for anyone to live in, much less a boy in his state. I'm still looking for a foster family to place him with, so if you have ideas, I'm open to them.'

Kakashi stood quietly for a moment, then opened his mouth, without looking up.

'Hamaki Mimura is living alone with his two years old daughter Hibari.' he muttered under his breath. Then he looked to the side. 'Right away.'

And then he disappeared. As much as the news had took of him, he didn't want to let the kid to be alone. He wasn't close to him or anything, but he was sure that nurses at the hospital won't give him all support he will need. The blond nodded, watching for a moment again the empty room, making a small face at the seats usually occupied by the trio of backstabbing snakes. God, he hated them. He would never forgive them for what they had done. Disgusted, he quickly stood up and immediately left, the oppressive feeling disappearing right away one he could breathe open air. He decided to enjoy it a bit more and instead of going back to his office, he went to kitchen to make himself some coffee. He was a bit surprised to find it already occupied.

'Setsuna-san?'

'Yes, Hokage-sama?' The plump woman was making herself some tea- Oolong, if his nose didn't fail him. He felt alternatively pleased and somewhat guilty to notice she was wearing more make up than she usually did. He had been working very late these past few days, and so had the woman.

'…what a disaster, eh?' The woman grimaced in a faintly scolding manner, then nodded, her eyes set on the floral cup as she poured the boiling water on the infusion. Neither broke the silence as he looked around for the instant coffee in the tiny kitchen. It wasn't until he found the granulated mix that he spoke again.

'As a woman whose opinion I respect completely, would you say it's healthy to leave a five year old living alone?' The woman looked at him, her purple-marked eyes fixed on his slightly disheveled appearance, and then back to her cup, stirring the amberish liquid slowly.

'Some of the kids who have both parents are ninja are often left alone for long periods of time.' she replied carefully. 'My mother used to as well.' Minato nodded, waiting for the woman to continue.

'It's different for us, however, we live in a clan. We always had meals together with the rest of the family, and I had my cousins to play with. My aunts would come make sure there was everything I needed, just like I check on my nieces and nephews.'

Minato wondered if it had been like that for Sasuke. He had never had a big family, even when he had had his real one, it had only ever been his father and mother. And me? Have you forgotten again?

'Sir?' He blinked, tired eyes focusing slowly on her dark brown ones.

'Sorry, please continue.' Setsuna gave him a look that clearly stated how she didn't think the way he acted was normal, but did as told.

'That kid is from another large family, and he's used to a lifestyle like my own, I would say. No, I don't think leaving him alone in that graveyard would do anything good for him, at all.' The blond nodded, not really having thought of it that way, but really, what would Sasuke be expected to do, all day long in an abandoned section of the village? Oh, he was sure for a while it would be crowded with well meaning people offering help and attention, but in the end, they would leave and leave him alone.

'I thought about placing him in an orphanage.' he said, noticing how Setsuna mad another face at that, and feeling even more pleased by the fact he knew her so well. 'But it also seems like a bad idea, given what happened.' How long until older kids started bullying him to death because his brother had lost a few screws and decided to murder everyone I the family? Oh, he calculated about 0.93 seconds.

'Then…?' the woman asked, wiping a smudge of her lipstick of her teacup, giving him a curious look.

'Kakashi suggested Hamaki Mimura. We fought together during the Third war. I understand he has a daughter of his own?' The short-haired brunette pursed her lips, looking through the impressive files

'He seems like a good choice, should he agree to the idea. He's about to be given a genin team, so he will be off duty for a while.'

'Won't that press much on a single father?'

'His wife's mother helps him with the little girl.' she said, and Minato wondered how the hell she found out about these things. But then again, Setsuna was Setsuna. She was all powerful and all knowing, and that's how he liked her. 'But I still think that boy should be seen by a shrink for a while yet. Who knows what the hell he had to see that night.'

The blond nodded, taking a sip of his own beverage and mulling over the matter for a moment.

'Very well. Please send Mimura-san a note and ask him to see whenever my secretary is benevolent enough to find a hole in my schedule.' he wiggled his eyebrows at her, and was a bit disappointed to see her still giving him the same unhappy look from before. He looked back at her, confused by the silence. The older woman took her time taking another sip of steaming tea before sighing.

'With due respect, sir, you look like crap.' she said bluntly, making the blond blink at her. He didn't think he had heard the woman even use the word 'crap' in all the years he'd known her. 'I think you should take off the rest of the day and go see your son.'

'Naruto?' he asked somewhat stupidly, as if she could be referring to some other carbon copy of himself he had running around. 'He's fine, Maito-kun offered to take care of him while we finish settling things over.' The woman slowly raised a perfectly penciled eyebrow.

'Sir, I won't lower myself to repeating a whole sentence to show you what's so terribly wrong with your words.' she crossed her arms under her impressive rack, making his eyes automatically wonder to the Tsunade-worthy chasm between them, before looking back up at her with a smile. 'The office is under order and there is no pressing matter I can't solve on my own. I will arrange for Mimura to come by tomorrow, now please go home, take a shower and sleep. Your popularity will suffer if you keep looking like something the cat dragged in.'

'Ah, Setsuna-san, you wound me, you do.' Minato clutched at his heart dramatically. 'Don't you know that when the ship starts sinking, the last to leave is the captain?'

'I happen to know what you did to your team whenever you had to fare on boats, Hokage-sama.' The brunette smiled cockily 'Konohagakure is indeed very luckily it's not a boat if one must fare with a captain like you.'

The blond chuckled, making a small, helpless gesture, but thought the woman was right. He hadn't slept in almost a whole week. It sounded ridiculous, but it was true- he needed sleep. Even if he wasn't sure he would be able to get it.

'Okay, but tomorrow I shall be on extra early to make it up to you.'

'Then be extra early on your own, I'm not getting up any early for you.' the woman cried, throwing her arms up. 'You wanna make it up, buy some chocolates.'

'Yes, Mistress.'

'The kind you waste on Suna dignitaries!'

'Yes, yes.' …And what about Daichi? Oh, he didn't even want to go there.

But he was not given to be go to sleep so early, even if gods knew, he deserved it. No more than fifteen minutes later, the grey-haired teen teleported right into his room with the smallest Uchiha in his arms, crying like if there was no tomorrow. In some sense, for him there wasn't.

'I couldn't find him in the hospital.' said Kakashi, giving his sensei helpless look 'So I went to search for him at the places he would most likely be. I found him in his parents' main room.' he opened his mouth to say something more, but particularly loud cry interrupted him. He stopped to blink and when it quieted a little he continued.

'Yes. That room.' And nope, they didn't even manage to wipe the floor from the blood. The thing took too much effort without simple trivial things. The kid was reaching dehydration the way it went and as much as he wanted to help, he had no idea how to stop that. No hugging helped, along with kind words and simple truths. Naruto didn't teach him much more on regards of that.

The blond, other than taking that promised shower and changing into a sleeping yukata had done absolutely no effort for falling asleep. He actually looked sort of thankful by the interruption.

'It's okay, Kakashi-kun.' the blond said calmly, tying the know in his yukata more firmly and extending his arms for the little kid. Kakashi moved aside, clearing his way toward the kid. Sasuke didn't seem to mind that his hand was let go and only stood there, looking at the floor and crying his heart out. The blond sighed, not really surprised by the reaction. Kneeling down in front of the kid, he didn't try to touch him right away.

'Sasuke-kun?'

The kid hiccupped, once, twice, shaking in the whole as he kept on crying. And then out of sudden he opened his mouth and let out a long yowl.

'Brothe~~r!' Kakashi blinked, surprised. If anything, he suspected the kid to be crying out after his parents more than their killer. Carefully, Minato extended a hand and threaded it through the silky black locks, noting that if anything the boy also could use a bath. He really didn't want to think about the obvious rust-colored stains on his knees.

'Sasuke-kun…'

The boy had only shook his head in protest and cried louder, once again calling his brother. He didn't move closer and didn't make any notion he felt the caress that was provided to him through Hokage's hands. He probably either barely noticed or didn't care. Or maybe even both. Grimacing, Minato shook his head and just picked the little boy up, adjusting him in his hip.

'Kakashi, go take a shower.' he told the older boy, who had just came back from a half-month long mission and had gone straight to take care of what he had correctly assumed to be the first priority. 'You are tired enough as it is, I'll take care of Sasuke-kun.'

The teen looked at him with blank stare, then glanced at still crying child, obviously hesitating. Then he looked back at Minato and nodded.

'Yes, Hokage-sama.' he said and vanished. The child still kept crying at the blond's side, for a change reacting to the change of position with a simple supporting hold onto the yukata. His cry once again turned into wordless bawling.

Minato stared at the unoccupied space for a moment, feeling impossibly tired and drawn, but other than that, he didn't do or say anything. There was nothing, absolutely nothing he could do that would change the way the kid felt, or anything he could say that would alter the situation, and if anything, a little part of him wondered if maybe it wasn't better than the kid was wailing like this. From what he head, he hadn't really reacted the first couple days at the hospital.

'Please, take care of my little brother…'

Well… he would try. It was the least he could do.

Adjusting the boy's weight (who seemed to be a bit lighter than Naruto, despite the fact Naruto was obviously shorter), he sat up on the windowsill and adjusted the small form on his lap, wrapping the wide sleeves of the yukata around him to keep him warm and close.

'I have a son your age, you know?' he said quietly, not trying to get over the sobs of the kid, just some soothing background nonsense. 'His name is Naruto. He's probably running around chasing the sunset with one leg strapped to his neck or whatever new sort of grandiose training technique Maito-kun has thought of nowadays. I guess I can't complain because, the results are indisputable, but the methods really do leave much to desire… But those leg warmers really do look adorable on Naru, don't they? I wish he wouldn't put so many weight on them, though, it's amazing he hasn't overtaxed his legs with them. The other day….'

Sasuke opened his teared, puffy eyes for a few moments to look at Minato speaking, but after the speech rolled on, he closed them again and pushed at the man's chest with all his might, obviously wanting to be let go.

'Naruto is stu-u-upiiid!' he cried out loudly. What did he care about Hokage's son? Who cared about what he did when he was not here at all? His parents were dead, his brother was gone and he was all alone and his Hokage acted like if some stupid leg warmers on his own blond copy mattered much more. 'I want to go ho-o-ome!'

The blond didn't tighten at all the hold, but he also didn't let go of the small child.

'Why?' he asked instead.

'I want to go ho-o-ome!' repeated Sasuke. Obviously, the question missed his hearing. 'I want I-ta-chiii!'

'Sasuke.' keeping an arm around the boy's shoulders, he used the other to tilt his shin up. 'Why do you want to go to that place? You will only be alone there.'

The kid had only let out a louder cry and pushed at the man again, obviously displeased by the fact he was still being held. He stubbornly refused to answer the questions as he just kept crying his eyes red.

'I'm not going to let go, Sasuke-kun.' he said calmly, leaning back calmly as if the kid was actually cooperating with the being held. Then again, a little kid's force was hardly something very upsetting... at least from a physical point of view. 'You can fight and cry all you want, but you are not going to be left alone.'

The boy had finally looked up, so moved by the words his cry had actually quieted down for a moment. He looked down at himself and pushed a little more at the arm that was holding it, like if he was testing if it really was not going to be let go. Then he looked at the man again, his face once again falling apart in the grimace of despair, but just before it fell, his brows furrowed, flashing with anger in his eyes.

'I hate you!' he said in a rebellious tone, much more quieter, but all shaking at the same time 'I hate!... I hate!... Itachiii!...'

The last word was only a helpless cry again, holding nothing but need for comforting. He didn't want to be alone, but at the same time he didn't want to be here at all too. He wanted to be at home, with his mom making a dinner and his dad reading a newspaper and his brother training on the fields… before he thought it was all cold and awkward and unpleasant, but now he wanted it more than anything on the world. To be like then. Like before.

'I know you do-'and God, he barely kept himself from calling this one 'baby' as well. Any more babies and he'd have to start considering tying his tubes that-he-didn't-really-have.

'And I know you will, for a while, but I hope someday you will see this was for the best. Right now, you have every right to hate me and anyone else you want, but I don't hate you. None of what happened is your fault and you are not going to be left alone because of it.' he gently pulled the boy closer to his chest stroking his lightly sweaty hair. '…hell, you'll be lucky if you get Kakashi to give you half a dozen meters of space for the next weeks.'

'I don't want… Kakashi!' mumbled the kid right into the blond's chest the kid, not pushing at him anymore. A moment later it changed as he started hitting him with his tightly shut fists, too weakly to do any harm but clearly showing how frustrated he felt by unfairness of all of this. 'I wanna go home! I wanna my dad! I want mother! I want… I want… brother!' The wailing emerged into a tired sobbing as he kept just hitting the man and didn't unglue his face from him at the same time. Not a few moments passed as Minato's shirt needed an urgent change for something drier.

'I know, Sasuke.' the blond repeated tiredly, still holding him gently 'But your family would have wanted you to be safe, and so we'll do our best to make sure you are.'

The kid once again shook his head, finally stopping his abusive punching and just hooked onto the man with both of his hands, continuing on wailing. As the time passed, his voice got more hoarse and quiet, until it changed into light hiccup. By then, his eyes were closed in a dim excuse of a nap that took him away from reality. If anything, the thumb that found its way to his mouth a moment later was a clear indication of that the Morpheus got mercy on him.

Minato kept stroking his hair gently until he was sure the little boy fell into deeper sleep, then carefully moved him to his own bed, covering him with the blankets and changing back into his clothes. There was no way he would be able to fall asleep after that, and he was too afraid of what his brain would conjure to torture him with if he gave it a chance to think up something. Instead, he bit his thumb and summoned a small light green toad, apparently caught in the middle of placing a heavy coat of lipstick on. Minato wisely acted as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.

'Gamariki-san, would you please take care of him for a little while?' he said quietly, making a gesture to the tuft of dark hair peeking from the top of the blankets. The way it stuck out made him think for some reason of the rear end of a duck, which provably showed how sleep deprived he really was.

'Of course, Mina-chan.' the creature said with a wink, adjusting itself in on the end of the bed and for all appearances getting comfortable. 'I didn't know you were into babysitting, though, I thought your Naru-chan kept your hands full?'

'Yes.' Minato answered distractedly, fiddling around until he found his necklace and placing it back on. 'Thank you for your help.'

He decided to go find Kakashi and make sure he hadn't fallen asleep on the tub again. Once he made sure he was all right, he'd go get Naruto, after all that had happened, he didn't want him out of his sight for more than a couple hours. Kakashi did not fall asleep in the tube – he had mastered sleeping in the standing position in the shower well enough to pretend he was not wasting time. That usually led him to wasting water and woke him up with a nice spray of cold. This time however he had managed to get out of it before he had gotten such a waker and he decided to stand nearby the kid to make sure Uchiha wouldn't escape again. Kid was a kid, but he also was a good ninja already and with kids being quick that made him also a good runner. And besides, his good will didn't let him do it the other way.

Minato, of course, let him feel manly and very watchdog like for all of the time it took him to drag the teen's futon into his own room, and then he ordered Kakashi to get in bed and wait there because after such a cry Sasuke wasn't going to get up any time soon without a good reason; and the silver-haired teen was exhausted. Besides, Gamariki was there to watch the two of them. Unreliable as the amphibian might look, he was one of Jiraiya's most trusted summons.

'So for Leaf's sake, just go sleep already, Kakashi.'

'No.' said the teen stubbornly as he sat covered by the quilt in his pajamas and shuriken in his hand. 'What if Itachi comes back? I need to stay awake.'

Minato made an obvious shushing gesture towards the sleeping kid, not wanting him to be upset by the name.

'Kakashi-kun, I sincerely doubt he was considerate enough to wait for you to come back from a mission to make an attack right now. If he's got any self-preservation instinct he's probably well out Fire country right now.'

'No.' said Kakashi again.

The blond sighed again, leaning down to ruffle his students' hair.

'Kakashi-kun…' his hand moved lower, petting down the boy's jaw gently until he found what he was looking for. 'I wasn't asking.' He was glad he had listened to Tsunade-sensei when she taught him how to put pressure on the carotid sinus- Sure, he would never be good enough to do it in the middle of a fight efficiently, but when handling a stubborn, unsuspecting teen, it was perfectly safe and efficient. Kakashi went down like a feather, and then it was just a matter of tucking him like an innocent little kid.

'A real pity, you not getting a daycare, Mina-chan.' Gamariki had produced a fan from somewhere and was coyly smiling from behind it at the blond. 'You really have talent when it comes to kids.' He smiled tiredly at the creature, then ruffled Kakashi's hair carefully. How did Rin die, Minato? Who was she with at the time? 'Wake him up if anything happens, please.' he said, zipping on his jounin vest. 'I'm going to go get Naruto.'

A few days passed and the only Uchiha survivor seemed to calm down bit by bit. It was not a calm happy state as he kept on wandering off alone and keeping on staring at things in gloomy atmosphere, but he pretty quickly stopped making tantrums about things that were attached to him. So he was now eating everything if he was told to eat, he was getting up when he was told to get up and he was not complaining about company, food, clothes, surroundings and anything at all. He also stopped crying and talking about his family whatsoever.

Kakashi didn't find it a good sign, but he decided to be happy about the fact the kid wasn't trying to run away from him anymore wherever he trailed him. Sometimes Sasuke seemed to even listen to him when he tried to get a contact. But his submissive lack of any effort to also contact the world stayed the same, even when he was located at the new family with single parent and a young cute girl of a daughter. It seemed they were not going to get along at all as Sasuke seemed to be oblivious to something labeled as 'sister'. He only acknowledged Itachi.

'I wonder…' he mumbled to himself as he watched the ceiling 'What will grow out of him…' Probably something he'd e curious to see.

'From who?' asked Gai near his side, as hyper as ever. Kakashi politely ignored him. Naruto snorted just as politely. Maybe that had to do with the fact the little blond looked barely conscious, and much less able to move from the slump he had curled in. With Kakashi busy with trailing the Uchiha, Minato had taken to leave Naruto with Gai. At any other moment of his life he might have been very concerned to see what sort of habits his son would pick from the taijutsu master, cooking abilities being the last on the list, but he simply didn't have time.

The village was still railed up by what had happened, the council kept pressuring to go to that stupid summit and Kakashi kept hinting that now was a very good time for him to tell him why exactly he suspected the council to have orchestrate the murder of a whole clan overnight. The fact he didn't know what he'd tell his student when the time came didn't help matters. The truth was out of the question, because it would imply he had known it was coming from the start, and even if he had done anything he could to stop this disaster… Well, Kakashi would understand his position and his silence. What he doubted was that he'd be able to forgive it.

Day after day he'd sit in his chair signing report after report of ANBU squads that had been dispatched to find Itachi, feeling sick with dread they'd find Itachi, and if they did, weather he'd speak or not, and what he would say… No matter how he looked at it, the best that could happen in this case for Itachi to die quietly somewhere else or just disappear.

'But things never just disappear.' he muttered, fingers trailing over his necklace, link after link until they hit the missing one, fingers twitching for one moment before continuing on their path 'You just pile stuff on top of it and hope you will be able to forget about it.'

He couldn't stop and think about Daichi right now. The idea of stopping and analyzing so many things terrified him, because it would mean there was a path there, some deeply intricate mess of threads he hadn't just overlooking but gruesomely ensnarled by his mere out of place existence. If he thought about Daichi, he would think about Gaara and Karura, he would think about Chiyo and how this would affect everything, and how it all lead him back to Kushina and from there… Sandaime-sama. Tricked a voice purred inside his head. He didn't even know who it belonged to anymore. Why hadn't he seen it before?

Are you so sure you didn't? No, he wasn't. In fact, he was sure he had, because back then he hadn't trusted anything, certainly not that baby that looked so much like himself yet reeked to the poisonous chakra that had nearly killed him. No, he was sure he had thought exactly of that, asked the exact necessary 'why's and 'when's, because that's what sick people like he did. And he had just done what he always did and pushed that thought so far into his mind a search squad of nindogs wouldn't find it.

Because he was a mess and wouldn't have been able to put himself back together on his own. Because he had needed someone to trust, and he wasn't ready yet to face that person and admit that from the one he was alone in this, without a chance of escaping or getting rid of the accumulating baggage. You are running out of time, baby. That much was true. Time would pass weather he did it with it or not.

'Setsuna-san, could you please wrap up things for me?' he smiled at his secretary, who just frowned in response. As of late the blond smiled all the more, and between how ill he looked and how fake the smiles were, she wouldn't be surprised if she started having nightmares about it any day now. 'I thought you have a meeting with the council, sir.'

'I always have meetings with the council, Setsuna-san.' the Hokage said even more brightly as he shrugged off the robes and threw them over his desk where they miraculously didn't know any report down. 'You can tell them I haven't changed my mind and that I have better things.'

The woman frowned even more. It seemed that since the incident, the council was putting a lot of pressure on her boss, making him react very poorly in retaliation.

'Too rough?' the blond's grin widened 'How about some poetry? Let's try with roses are red, violets are blue, and I'm still not going so fu-'

'Just go already.' the brunette turned around with a despotic gesture of the wrist. 'I'll make up some proper excuse.'

'And here I was feeling so very artistic…'

'Perish the thought.'

#+#+#+#+#+#

'Yo.' The blond waved lightly to the spandex-clad jounin as he methodically destroyed a poor training dummy. It was also enough to make him nostalgic, if he wasn't so sure he wasn't thinking about redhead doing the exact same thing fifteen years ago.

The boy had immediately stopped the training and straightened like a bow, shining with sweat, eagerness and more sweat, even on his fluorescent green spandex. Gai surely knew how to grab attention even when he didn't care about it.

'Hokage-sama!' he all but boomed loudly as he bowed deeply forward, showing the respect in his own way 'What pleasure, once again! I assure you that Naruto-sama is safe with me, his will of fire and youth is kept intact!'

The Hokage gave the jounin a slightly curious smile, before turning his eyes to look at the heap of orange sprawled on the ground.

'I see.' he reached down for said bundle, picking him under the arms and picking him up that seemed to be reserved for parents. Naruto's eyes snapped open in fright at the sudden movement, then immediately relaxed as he recognized the person holding him.

'Daddy.' the little blond whined pitifully, slumping on his grip and burying his face on his father's shoulder 'I can't feel my legs. Are they still there?'

'Unless you carried more than just the usual pair around, I'd say they are.' he chuckled a little as the comment was met with a pained groan and Naruto wrapping his arms around his neck in an exhausted fashion. Maybe he should have given sitter duties to Gai before this, the one who was usually groaning on the floor and ready to collapse by the end of the day was Kakashi. 'Maito-kun-' he started, stopping to wince as a particularly bright ray of sunlight bounced off the young man's perfect teeth and nearly blinded him in the process. He'd have to note himself to remember and put Gai on the first row of offence next war they had. 'I know I've been imposing on you terribly these last weeks, I can't thank you enough for your help.'

'Think nothing of it, Hokage-sama!' said the teen, flashing his teeth once again along with showing his pose of a nice guy as he decided to call it (after it being the 'superhero mood' and 'the cherry on the top'). 'It's my duty and pleasure, I'm glad I can train such a fierce young man! His spirit is admirable!'

The blond gave another look to the boneless mass draped on his chest, before shrugging and giving it a little squeeze.

'Go get dressed.' he said, placing the little blond back on the floor. Naruto just gave him a confused look before shrugging and going to put on his discarded jacket back. His father wanted to talk adults stuff. Minato waited until Naruto was a safe enough distance before turning back to the younger man with a small not-exactly happy smile. 'I take Kakashi's gone to stalk Sasuke-kun some more?' There wasn't accusation in his voice, just some sort of bitter version of what was usually plain good humor on the Hokage.

'Ah, so cruel for you to mention that, Hokage-sama!' he said, flailing his fists in despair 'My eternal rival also does take good care of a child and he does indeed make a good work of it, it's hard to compete with his eagerness!...' Especially as it seemed that Kakashi had finally managed to break the worst barriers and he made the eternal bond with the little orphaned Uchiha! Oh, that was so wicked to watch him feed the little Sasuke from the spoon like a protective older brother, and it was such an unbearable pain when Naruto opposed to such treating also! How could he compete with the adorable antipathy of Uchiha which so eagerly pushed Kakashi's effort away, this glint of deceiving disgust in those big innocent black eyes? There was no match for such bond! Oh, his life was a misery.

The blond sweat dropped a little in response to the loud and overenthusiastic response, making a gesture to ask him to lower down the volume of conversation. Of course there was no way Naruto didn't know what they were talking about now, but he already disliked the idea that Kakashi was neglecting him in favor of the youngest Uchiha.

'I sincerely doubt anyone can bet you in eagerness, Maito-kun.' the blond straightened a little, hands disappearing on his pockets 'I actually wanted to ask you if you think Kakashi is okay.'

Gai glanced at him, for a moment having his face all serious and wondering. Then he lowered his head down, lost in thought.

'He seems to be swept by the charm of this unlucky young man.' he said finally 'Why, is there something wrong with my eternal rival?'

The blond just smiled lightly. Gai was overbearing and loud and sincerely tiring at times, but he was loyal and he did care for Kakashi, which was enough to place him in the list of people Minato sincerely liked.

'No, I'm just concerned about him, I don't want him pressuring himself too much.' Too late for, but that had been so for as long as he had known Kakashi. He had pushed himself nearly to death when the village started whispering about his father and after Sakumo- he wondered what was the silver-head trying to compensate, a debt to a dead teammate or the phantom of a father that had abandoned him when he needed him the most. '…I just worry.' he finished absently 'If you notice anything, would you please tell me so?'

'You can count on me for sure!' was said once again in the dramatizing loud voice as Gai threw another nice guy pose and flashed his snow white teeth. 'No matter what or who, but I will surely observe anything that might be wrong with Kakashi! Nobody observes him more than I do, his most rivalish rival!' Though he already thought that Kakashi acting so gluey as a bit uncommon, but who knew, seemed like Hatake had soft spot for people who didn't like him.

Minato smiled back, reaching to give the younger man a small squeeze a shoulder that seemed to be composed of a shockingly amount of muscle and sinew, but didn't withdraw his hand.

'Maito-kun.' All of the sudden, the Hokage's voice sounded different than just a moment ago, even though there was no perceptive change of pitch or emphasis. If he hadn't been having a conversation with the brunette a moment ago, the change probably wouldn't even register. 'What do you think of Naruto?'

The boy blinked, then looked at the exhausted heap of a kid.

'A very energetic young man!' he said, almost laughing 'I hope I will have such a boy as a student in the future!'

That answer didn't seem to be what Minato was expecting, because he looked at the younger man like if he had just asked him out on a date in an unknown language. He had expected- well… But Gai had never so much as hinted anything like that, had he? If anything, his own secretary had been openly upset the first times she had seen him, even though Naruto had grown on her over the past years to the point he'd almost feel comfortable enough to ask her to take care of him.

Maybe his student wasn't wrong to have suggested Gai as replacement nanny after all.

'Ah-' The blond blinked a few times, before finally removing his hand and smiling at the other man, this time sincerely. For almost the first time in a month. 'Thank you, Maito-kun... I'm glad Kakashi has you as a friend.'

'It's my pleasure!' said Gai and bowed down deeply in the respectful bow 'I recommend you my services for the future, Hokage-sama!

The blond thanked him, running a hand through the spiky blond hair. 'I will, and thank you again. Come on, Naru,' he said, his hand closing over his son's when Naruto immediately ran to him and took it. Or at least he tried to, because as soon as he tugged to move away Naruto dug his hills in the snow and looked up at him expectantly. With a sigh, Minato turned around obediently, prompting the little blonde to quickly climb up his back, tired arms wrapping around the older man's neck and snuggling into his neck.

Apparently near-death tiredness born from workout-overwork or not, Naruto was still in a very social mood.

'You won't guess daddy! Today Gai took me to the training grounds to watch the genins and when I asked him if I could do that he said I had to wait, but I asked and asked and then he started to cry and said I was very youthful and went on and on about it, but I didn't mind because that meant he let me and did take me to try target practice, and I got almost all of them right- well, some of them, but then he said I had to keep practicing until I got them all right or we would have to run around the training ground sixty times-'

The older blond nodded absently, going back through the path on automatic because he wasn't even looking ahead of himself, much less thinking about it.

'-And Kashi promised to take me to Ichiraku's when he came back from his mission and he's been back for weeks and he *still* hasn't taken me, and, you know? He's sneaking out, and he's not taking me to talk to mommy anymore, he sneaks out before I'm awake and goes talk alone, and then he needs to go see Sasuuuke-'

'Yes.'

'-and he's all day after him and doesn't have time to train me anymore because he wants to go see that stupid Sasuke, and it's not fair! You said that if I got the bells Kashi would train me, but he's always away, so how can I even *get* the bells if he's never around for me to get them?'

'Hm.'

'And stupid Ebisu wants me to learn all of the spots on the borders that belong to us, but that's stupid because you say it's ours and the other villages say it's theirs and in the end it's ours and theirs, but neither can do anything because it belongs to the other so it's just a big bunch of – of *stuff* that doesn't matter because it doesn't get used-'

'Right.'

'-and Neji caught a cold and now Hinata has one too so I can't come visit and I'm all alone all day because Kashi doesn't- 'a frustrated snort 'Daddy!'

'Hm?' the only reason the blond answered was because the loud noise startled him lightly out of his inner… whatever his mind had been doing while running off without inviting him. The blond squeezed his eyes shut and tightened the hold he had on his father's neck.

'You are not listening!' With one hand, the older blond reached over one shoulder to tousle the soft blonde spikes.

'I guess I'm not… Sorry Naru.'

Naruto was stubbornly burrowed against his shoulder for several moments, but eventually resurface, pressing his shin against the joint in his shoulder in a faintly painful way.

'…daddy, are you sick?' He couldn't really see his expression, but he knew well enough that range of tone on the younger boy, the concern and slight fear of it making him feel like utter trash. What was he doing, worrying his son in this way?

'No, no Naruto. I'm fine, it's just-'

'All the lot of bad things all together?' He grunted softly some vague answer, not rally in the mood to pick through that awkwardly phrased, yet rather accurate inquiry. It really was scary, how intuitive he could be sometimes. Another thing he had in common with his mother. 'Don't worry daddy, you'll fix it.' He almost stumbled at that, at that dead certainty- why did Naruto think he could fix this disaster when Minato wasn't sure what he was supposed to do? What had happened to the Uchihas, what was happening and how was he supposed to keep living like this, after finding out what was happening- what had really happened…?

'…baby?'

'Yah?' bright blue eyes peeked over his shoulder, the little blond plastered to his back. It was a warm, pleasantly heavy (if slightly sweaty) weight and Minato couldn't imagine his life without it. He couldn't imagine a life without it in it.

'What if…' to say it. To admit it out loud, if only for a moment and letting himself think- just to once ask '…if we left the village?'

'Huh?' Naruto wiggled even higher on his perch, now practically holding himself up by the hands on his shoulders as he tried to look at him, and he caught him before he lost his balance and toppled forward 'We are going to the summit?'

'…Yeah.' he sighed, adjusting the little boy on his front again 'I guess we are.'