Family.

Minato rolled the word around in his mind while he was following Naruto to his house. Trying to savor the meaning behind this simple word, Minato did his best to keep his overwhelming emotions at bay.

Not so long ago, Kushina was the only family he had the privilege to call his own. She was his anchor, his hope for starting a family of his own one day. Kushina gave Minato something even more precious than becoming Hokage: she gave him the chance of belonging somewhere.

The unfathomable longing for a place to belong that Minato felt would be incomprehensible for anyone who at least knew the name of their parents. Minato didn't even have that much. He had always been an orphan, someone without a past, someone who had just taken shape from sheer nothingness. His last name wasn't even his own last name, it was just made up quickly by a caretaker in the orphanage. Most probably, his first name was given to him using the same method.

Minato's deep desire to become Hokage had stemmed from this exact yearning for connecting with the world around him. It drove him through the hardest of situations, the most grueling of training sessions, and the fiercest of battles. Ever since he was a small child, he had seen the village as a replacement for having a real family. As Hokage, he had the opportunity to belong somewhere. As Hokage, everyone in the Hidden Leaf would be his family.

The village had meant everything for Minato until he met Kushina back at the academy. From the very first moment when Minato had laid his eyes on her, he was drawn toward this fiery, loud-mouthed redhead. She wasn't like him at all, but still, she carried the comforting feeling of home within herself.

And Minato lost himself in her forever. There was no obstacle that he wouldn't overcome for Kushina. There was nothing more valuable than her. If he had to choose between being Hokage and Kushina, he would choose Kushina in a heartbeat. He would choose Kushina over anything without as much as a second thought.

She was home. She was family. She was everything his heart had ever ached for.

Minato raked his gaze along the tall figure walking in front of him. The family he had always been longing for had manifested in front of his eyes in the form of Naruto. Fate had smiled upon Minato when he had designed that damned seal the wrong way.

Fate gave him another human being to call family besides Kushina and the village. Voicing Naruto's name in his head tugged at his heartstrings.

"We're here." Naruto halted in front of a gate and Minato almost crashed into him, having been lost in his thoughts so deeply that he had been just robotically following the Hokage.

Minato's gaze flickered at the writing next to the gate. Uzumaki. Warmness spread inside of him upon reading the name.

Naruto opened the gate and ushered Minato in. When Minato stepped inside the front yard, he let himself observe the house for a moment. It was fairly big and designed in a shape he had never seen before when it came to houses. He realized he was so deep in thought that he hadn't even paid attention to the village around him while they had been walking.

"I think you should drop the Henge before we go inside," Naruto looked back at him as he placed his hand on the doorknob.

"Right," Minato nodded and transformed back into himself.

They had agreed before leaving the T&I building that Minato would use a Henge until they figure out if the village should know about the sudden reappearance of the Fourth Hokage or not. For Minato, it made no difference. It wasn't like he intended to stick around for long, anyway.

Minato had abandoned common sense again, for the second time in his entire life. The fact that he had always been a logical man, but he had chosen to turn away from rationality two times in less than a day truly amused him.

He should've turned down the opportunity to learn more about the future. He should've drawn the seal back onto his palm the minute his shackles got removed. He should've just gone back to where he came from. He should've just forgotten about it all.

He would've done that if his family hadn't been his weakness.

"Here we go."

Naruto flashed a bright smile, but before he could turn the doorknob, the door hung open and a curled fist flew toward his chest. He easily stopped the attack midair, but the owner of the fist was determined. He flung his leg in an attempt to sweep Naruto off his feet, but to no avail. Naruto effortlessly blocked the move.

"Came home for dinner today, old man? You should've come yesterday, you're a day late," he bellowed.

Minato put his weight from one leg to another as he watched the scene unfolding in front of his eyes. He carefully peered over Naruto's shoulder to be able to observe this savage boy who had burst out of the house as if he had been waiting for this very moment the whole day.

Minato recognized him as soon as his eyes caught a glimpse of his blond hair. He was the boy Minato had seen at the training ground earlier. The Uchiha girl he had been training with had mentioned that the Hokage had a son, so Minato quickly put two and two together. This boy was his grandson, as crazy as it sounded in his twenty-three-year-old mind.

Minato had to stop himself from chuckling out loud when he remembered the young blond's clumsy attempts at shuriken training. The boy he had seen during training showed a big contrast with the boy he was watching now.

Naruto silently blocked a few other incoming strikes from his son before he grumbled under his breath, "Stop now, Boruto."

"I will stop when you stop," Boruto sneered at him and hurled another blow toward the Hokage, although it was just as futile as the previous ones.

"Calm down, we have a guest."

"A guest? I couldn't care less about some shitty –" Boruto froze in place with his mouth agape when his attention finally flickered at Minato.

Minato lifted his hand in a rather undignified wave. "Hello there," he voiced an awkward greeting with a goofy smile.

Boruto stared at him, the only movement of his body was the steady gaping of his mouth. His curled-up fist was still dug into Naruto's palm, but the young boy didn't seem to notice. Minato's smile slowly dimmed because he was fearing the boy had stopped breathing altogether.

"Boruto?" a voice came from inside the house. The source of it was a woman whom Minato couldn't see from where he was standing.

"Big Brother, what are you doing?" a little girl's voice joined.

"Is this a joke?" Boruto snatched his fist out of Naruto's grip and turned to Minato with his whole body. His blue eyes bore into Minato's own.

The first thought that passed through Minato's brain was that his genes were ridiculously strong. He had to swallow an inappropriate giggle as a memory of Kushina talking about red-haired babies crawled into his mind.

A woman and a little girl appeared in the doorframe and Minato turned his gaze toward them. His cerulean eyes met with wide, lavender ones. His own large irises mirrored the woman's surprise, although for different reasons. A Hyuuga not married to a Hyuuga was unheard of, at least in Minato's timeline.

The woman unconsciously moved behind the little girl and put her arms around her as if she wanted to protect her from Minato. "Naruto?" she shifted her eyes at her husband, her voice shrinking to a whisper.

"Isn't that Grandpa?" the little girl's face lit up in happiness as she recognized Minato.

Minato's heart started beating faster at the word even though he still needed time to process that he was someone's grandfather. The situation was rather surreal.

"I will explain everything, but can we go inside?" Naruto asked, scratching his cheek.

Naruto's wife and the little girl moved aside from the door to let Minato in, but Boruto swirled in front of him, pointing his finger at him accusingly. "Who are you? Don't lie!"

"I'm –"

"Boruto!"

"Seriously, Dad –"

"Big Brother, it's Grandpa!"

"Boruto, please –"

"My grandfather is dead!"

The chaos of voices died down in an instant. Even though Minato had already figured out he wasn't alive in this timeline, Boruto's statement sent a shiver down his spine. He had pushed this fact into the back of his mind, but now it was shoved into his face. Minato was a dead man, nothing more than a ghost from the past for these people.

"Your name is Boruto, right?" Minato stepped closer to him with a smile, ignoring the sharp glare Boruto sent in his direction.

"Yeah," he snorted, knitting his eyebrows together.

"My name is Minato. Nice to meet you." Minato offered a hand to shake, still smiling genuinely. Boruto stared at his hand as if it was poisonous before he slapped it away.

"Whatever," he grumbled and turned on his heels to march back into the house.

A sigh escaped Minato's lips and he glanced at Naruto standing next to him. He shrugged in defeat, mumbling an apology in Boruto's place. Minato raised his hand to rub the back of his neck, but he got stopped mid-motion when the little girl wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. He looked down at her with slightly parted lips and she peeped upwards. The unmistakable shade of blue in her eyes shimmered with affection.

"It's really you, right? You're my Grandpa," she beamed, her soft voice was filled with hope and excitement.

Minato wasn't too experienced with grandchildren, but he lowered his hand to put it on the girl's head, patting it gently. It seemed like something a grandfather would do. "Yes. And your name would be?"

"Himawari," she answered with a grin and it made Minato's heart melt. He winced as he called to mind that Kushina would never meet her grandchildren.

"Let's go inside, dinner is ready. We have enough to share it with our guest," the Hyuuga woman spoke up in a soft tone and moved closer to Minato and Himawari. "I'm Hinata, Naruto is my husband. It's an honor to meet you," she paused for a moment to search for the right word to address Minato, "Hokage-sama," she stammered and bowed respectfully.

"P-Please… It's just Minato," he protested.

Minato had been inaugurated as Hokage only a few months prior, so he still didn't get used to being referred by his title. Anyhow, his family members calling him any other name than his first name was a no-go zone for him. Even though these people he now called his family were still pretty much only strangers to him, he aimed at establishing a cordial relationship with them.

A faint blush appeared on Hinata's face as she straightened up and nodded slowly. She directed Himawari inside and they disappeared into the kitchen area. Naruto motioned Minato with his head to go in, so he entered the Uzumaki house. Taking off his shoes, he waited patiently until Naruto was done with massaging his temples and mumbling something to himself about life being hard.

Minato followed his son – it still left a strange buzz in his mind when he referred to Naruto as such – into the dining area of the house. Hinata was sorting food into a big bowl in the kitchen and Himawari was busy adding two more sets of tableware to the dining table. A crease etched into Minato's forehead upon realizing they must've expected Naruto to miss dinner.

Minato's gaze roved the room they were in. It was the kitchen, dining, and living room area all at once. A great place for the family to gather together, he imagined. He locked his eyes on the pictures hanging on the wall. His breath hitched when he recognized himself in his Hokage robes, standing in front of the Hokage monument. Kushina had taken that photo of him only a few weeks ago, but now the edges seemed wrinkled and the colors appeared much more faded.

Tightening his mouth, he reminded himself about that photo being more than 30 years old.

"Boruto!" Minato flinched as Naruto's voice cut into his rumination. Quickly looking around, he found the Hokage stomping his foot in front of the stairs. "Dinner is ready, come down."

Only silence greeted Naruto's voice. Waiting some more moments didn't help either, so Naruto marched up the stairs, grumbling under his breath.

Himawari was already sitting at the table, swinging her legs back and forth. Hinata grabbed the bowl full of food that she had prepared and moved to put it on the table, but Minato appeared next to her in a flash.

"I will help with that," he said and reached for the bowl. She blinked and parted her lips in surprise, but otherwise let Minato take it out of her hands.

"T-Thank you, Minato-san."

"Don't mention it," he shot a smile at her and put the bowl in the middle of the dinner table. "Where can I sit?"

"Next to me, please," Himawari patted the empty seat next to her.

Minato glanced at Hinata, asking without words if it was okay, but she just ducked her head, accompanied by a small smile. He then settled next to the little girl and Hinata sat down opposite of him.

Minato roamed his eyes through her, trying to connect her to anybody he knew from the Hyuuga clan. She reminded him of Hiashi's wife. Minato and Kushina had attended their wedding a few weeks ago. Could Hinata be their child? He hushed away the thought as it sounded impossible that Hiashi would let her daughter, a member of the main branch, marry outside of the Hyuuga.

Speaking of the branch family… Minato's eyes flickered at Hinata's forehead, but it was free of the seal he had anticipated to find there. Squinting his eyes at her, he attempted to piece the puzzle together.

"M-Minato-san?" she squirmed in her seat.

Minato blinked, forcing himself to stop staring at her as if she was a mystery that needed to be solved. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, averting his gaze from the woman.

"You were wondering about the Caged Bird Seal," Hinata said softly and Minato turned his attention back to her again. "The Hyuuga has changed, the elders don't enforce the seal on the branch family anymore. It's all thanks to Naruto and my little sister. She will be a great clan head one day."

"Little sister?" Minato's eyebrows darted up.

"I was born the heiress, but my little sister was better suited for the role."

Minato's eyebrows stayed high on his forehead. Hinata's tone suggested that her younger sister being named as heiress instead of her was nothing extraordinary. However, such a big change in the rigid Hyuugas wasn't something that Minato could easily accept. It was unbelievable how everything could take an unexpected turn in a short span of 30 years.

Minato and Hiashi were mere acquaintances but Minato was no stranger to the cold attitude of the current head of the Hyuuga. Hiashi lived his life according to strict rules. He was one of the proudest members of the clan whom Minato had the chance to know.

And yet, 30 years passed and Hiashi chose his second-born to be the new clan head. He let the branch family refuse to be sealed away. And on top of that, he let his daughter, the former heiress, marry outside of the clan. He let her marry a Jinchuuriki. Not typical of Hiashi, even if said Jinchuuriki was the Hokage.

What on earth had happened that caused such a drastic change of heart in the man?

Loud thumps echoed in the house as Boruto tramped down the stairs. Naruto followed closely behind him and both of them hopped down on the two empty seats around the dinner table.

"Let's eat," Naruto rubbed his palms together with a wide grin spreading over his face.

Naruto waited until everybody served themselves before he decided to shed some light on the absurd situation. "So, Dad accidentally time-traveled here. He will live with us until he decides to leave," Naruto said casually as if someone time-traveling into the future was nothing out of the ordinary.

Minato started coughing, choking on a bite of food upon hearing about Naruto's plan.

"Are you okay?" Naruto raised an eyebrow at him. "You don't want to live with us?"

"No, it's not that. I just… I can't stay here for long. This is not my place to be."

Guilt bit into Minato's heart as he watched the corner of Naruto's and Himawari's mouth tug downwards.

"But you can stay for a few days, right?" Himawari inquired, looking up at him with hope glimmering in her eyes.

"A few days can't hurt anyone. You will erase your memories anyway," Naruto nodded thoughtfully.

Minato fixed his eyes on the food on his plate, pondering on his possibilities. Originally, he had planned to wait until the family would fall asleep, then he would draw the seal back onto his palm and leave this time period behind. His desire to get to know his future family had been fulfilled, he shouldn't gamble with time anymore.

Although, being in the crossfire of Naruto's and Himawari's pleading eyes had shaken his determination. Even Boruto was peeking up expectantly at him from under his bangs. Glancing at Hinata's soft smile reassured Minato that he would be a welcomed guest in the house.

Would it make a difference if he stayed for a few days? What if he was wrong about his theory on time and Kushina had been left to deal with life alone in his original timeline? What if something happened to the village in his absence? He really should go back as soon as possible.

Minato opened his mouth to voice an apology, but his lips betrayed him. "A few days can't hurt anyone," he heard himself repeating Naruto's words.

Now it was as clear as day. Kushina would kill him.

Naruto and Himawari high-fived above the table which was accompanied by Hinata's gentle laugh. Boruto let out an amused snort, but Minato could see the corners of his lips twitching as he tried to suppress a grin. Minato himself couldn't help but smile into the bite he was taking. Mentally apologizing to Kushina, he vowed to tell her everything when he eventually returned to her.

The rest of dinner was spent by Minato listening to the conversation the Uzumaki family had. Himawari talked about her drawings, Hinata said a few words about some kunoichis Minato didn't know, Naruto talked about everything that came to his mind, and Boruto also briefly told them about his last mission where his team had to find a lost cat. Even though Minato couldn't really join the conversation, he was grateful to be there with them. Listening to their cheerful voices made his heart race.

Minato noticed that the family was deliberately avoiding every and any topics which he could link to the past 30 years though. This little detail was prickling in the back of his mind. It caused the flow of his thoughts to always return to his gut instinct about the future not being as bright as it currently seemed.

After dinner, Minato helped Hinata clean the table despite her vehement protests. He would've washed the dishes also, but Hinata practically ordered him to leave the kitchen and Minato knew better than to argue with wives.

Naruto took on the opportunity and lead Minato to his office upstairs.

"Sorry, we don't have a guest room," he scratched the back of his neck, "a designing error, you know. But you can sleep in my office, I laid out a futon for you. It will serve for a few days. I also brought you some clothes to sleep in."

"Thank you, Naruto."

"You know, you were quiet during dinner. Is there something wrong? You don't like us? I know Boruto can be harsh sometimes. It's my fault, actually, but I will talk to him. He always wanted to meet you, you know. I don't know why he acts like that now. Maybe I –"

"Naruto," Minato interrupted Naruto's nervous rambling with a warm smile, "there's nothing wrong with either of you. It's just strange. Give me a night to get back on my feet."

"Right, sorry. It's just… I thought I would never see you again. I'm just so happy you're here. You haven't changed at all."

"What was I like when you last saw me?" Minato asked, tilting his head to the side in curiosity.

"Dead."

The word rolled away from Naruto's tongue as a harrowing echo in the stillness. Naruto's face scrunched up in a grimace and his hand trembled as though he was forcing himself not to slap his palm onto his mouth.

"Oh," was the only thing Minato could breathe out as an answer. That one word raised a lot of questions in his head, but the Hokage turned his back to him, signaling it wasn't the right time to ask them.

"Good night." Naruto bolted out of the office, closing the door behind himself a little more forcefully than it should've been needed. The sound of the door slamming ringed in Minato's ear for long minutes.

The future definitely held grave secrets and Minato couldn't resist the urge to uncover them all.

He was about to change to one of the t-shirts that Naruto had left for him when he heard a forceless knocking on the door. The sound of it was so faint that Minato had to perk his ears, waiting for it to be repeated. He wasn't sure if he had actually heard a knocking or it was just his imagination.

Moving closer to the door, he laid his ears against it. Whoever was standing on the other side didn't knock again. Minato could hear the creaking of the wooden floor as someone pivoted from left to right in the hallway though. Opening the door, his vision was filled with messy blond hair.

"Can I come in for a minute?" Boruto mumbled with his eyes downcast.

Minato stepped aside and let him saunter in. Boruto stopped in the middle of the room, his eyes were stubbornly fixed on the floor. Minato leaned against the closed door with folded arms and waited for the boy to speak up. Minutes passed before Boruto finally turned to face him, carefully avoiding eye contact.

"I'm sorry," he blurted out. The rapid flushing of his cheeks stole a smile out of Minato.

"Don't worry about it."

Silence settled between them once more and Minato readied himself to push his body away from the door to let the boy out, but Boruto didn't move.

"Is time travel really possible?" Boruto lifted his gaze at him for a short second before he looked to the side once again.

"Well, I'm here, aren't I?"

"Yeah," Boruto muttered. He shook his head as if it could help him get rid of a disturbing thought and pointed his finger at Minato. The previous shyness was nowhere to be found on his face now. "Will you train me?"

Minato blinked, dumbfounded by the sudden change in Boruto's spirit, and pointed at himself. "Me?"

"Who else? We learned about you at the academy. I know you have some awesome techniques under your belt. I need them to beat my stupid old man."

"Is that so?" Minato raised an eyebrow at him.

"So? Will you?" Boruto tilted his head to the side, sharpening his glare. "Please?" he added hesitantly.

"Well, if your father doesn't mind –"

"He doesn't care," Boruto clicked his tongue. "Let's start tomorrow, what do you say?"

Minato hummed and raised his hand to grab his jaw thoughtfully. "Alright, I guess."

"Cool."

Boruto tried to maintain a nonchalant posture, but Minato spotted the delighted sparkle in his eyes and the slight tremble of his hands. The boy looked like he was battling with himself not to jump up and down in joy.

Minato sidestepped Boruto when the young boy barreled forward to exit the room. He pulled at the doorknob but halted for a moment.

"Tomorrow it is then, Gramps," he declared before he disappeared.

Author's Note: Minato met the fam! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. And as always, thank you all for the reviews!