Okay, here's the chapter.

Warning: I have finals this week. There may or may not be a chapter next Monday, because my brain will be fried. I also have 29 hours of work. Don't expect one, but I will do my best to get the next one out.

Ah, not much to say.

Chapter 20

"Are you sure your throat's okay?"

Naruto made a face as his mother reached for him again. "Yes, I'm fine. I told you, my permanent house guest heals everything."

"Well, he's not taking care of whatever's wrong with your knee," Kushina shot back.

Naruto made another face and slumped down low in his seat, glaring at the assembly. He could only assume that this was a courtroom. There was a big ring of seats on one side for the council and several tables set up in front of them. Behind the tables were a bunch of benches, which were getting increasingly crowded. Some of the other spectators shot him sneers, and Naruto stuck his tongue out at them.

Kushina grabbed it and used it to pull his face to hers. "You are not a child; don't stick your tongue out at people."

With that, she released it and wiped her hand off on the person sitting next to her, who didn't even notice. Naruto chewed on his lip as he fought back the urge to say something snarky and hurtful.

"Well, has your 'house guest' told you what's wrong with your knee yet?" Kushina asked, leaning down and trying to inspect it.

Naruto pulled away from her. "Naw, stupid furball says it's not physical, just mental."

"What?" Kushina asked, still poking at his knee. "You're imagining this pain?"

"Wrong knee," Naruto told her, even though it wasn't. She leaned over and started inspecting the other one. "And no, he doesn't really know what it is."

"Helpful little bastard," Kushina muttered, giving up on the phantom pain and sitting up. Almost immediately, she was on him again, this time brushing at his T-shirt. "I wish we'd had time to get you new clothes. Especially since this one's stained with ramen."

Naruto frowned and looked down at himself. He'd grown out of most of his clothes during his coma, and had barely managed to find things that fit him—an old, ugly, stained T-shirt and too-short pants that he had tucked into the tops of his boots. Well, actually, Kushina had, claiming it would hide the height problem.

"Ramen isn't very good for you either, honey—"

"Well, you shoulda told me that when I was a kid," Naruto snapped. "Oh, wait, you couldn't, 'cause you weren't there."

Kushina pulled back as if he'd slapped her. Guilt wormed its way into his gut as he watched her lower lip tremble and her eyes water slightly. The woman blinked away the 

tears, though, and looked him straight in the eye. "I'm trying to be here now. Why won't you let me?"

"You're trying to make up for sixteen years of nothing in one day," Naruto snapped.

"I'm trying to make up for last night!" Kushina cried. Heads turned at her outburst, but both Uzumakis glared at them until they returned to other things. There was no doubt they were still listening, but at least there was a pretense of privacy.

Kushina lowered her voice and continued. "I hit you. I beat you up. I beat my son up. I tied you up and—" Her voice broke and the tears gathering in her eyes started to fall.

Naruto grimaced—she was crying, or starting to at least. He felt fear well up inside him to tangle with the guilt and couldn't decide whether to hold her, run away or get her out of the room. He cast around for an answer, and found it when a middle-aged man who had seen his plight mouthed something to him.

Run away! the man advised.

Naruto frowned, not liking that. He thankfully didn't have to run as his mother sniffled a couple more times, but got herself under control. He slowly turned back, not daring to hope it was over.

Kushina sighed and wiped at her eyes. "I know you're wondering why I didn't a-apologize or something last ni-night," she said softly.

The younger blond stayed very still, as if any movement from him would startle her into tears again. But Kushina was in charge now and continued without a hitch. "The truth is, despite the fact that you'd shown me spirit energy and that Tsunade and Kakashi vouched for everything, part of me still didn't believe it was you.

"I was scared," she admitted quietly, twisting her fingers together. "Scared that it would be some ghastly mistake and then I'd loose you all over again. Scared because admitting it was you meant admitting the terrible mistakes I'd made.

Naruto reached out and tentatively grabbed her hand. She squeezed it once. "Let's stop talking about this," he suggested.

Kushina nodded, her now free blond hair falling in her face. "Yeah, this will be hard enough without extra emotional baggage. I'm inches away from falling apart as it is. We'll talk later, baby, I promise."

"Will you explain how you gave up on D-dad so easily?" Naruto asked, then smacked himself. The woman was emotionally fragile right now; why bring that up?

Kushina stiffened. "Yes, I'll get to that, but understand one thing, Naruto. I did not believe the lies that snake bastard told me easily."

Naruto nodded and settled into his seat, absently rubbing his knee. The number of people in the courtroom grew as the time drew closer and Naruto was glad that they got front row seats as the defendant's family. He glanced over his shoulder, looking for Kakashi, but couldn't see the preposterous mop of gray—wait, 'silver'—anywhere. There were many ninjas of his father's generation there, frowning, uncertain, waiting to see their once-dead friend and Hokage.

He turned back to the front and stared at the council seats, currently empty. Above them all hung flags with the family symbols on them. His eyes were drawn to the familiar red and white Uchiha one.

"It clearly never occurred to you that I didn't want a family."

His brow creased deeply. Why wouldn't Sasuke want a family? Being alone sucked. Seriously. The apartment was creepy in the dark, and he hated having to clean up his own stuff the morning after a mission.

Well, maybe Sasuke likes being alone, Naruto reasoned, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. He always was a weird one, almost as far back as Naruto could remember. There was a time, just at the edge of his memory, where Naruto could remember seeing Sasuke a normal, smiling kid, being given piggyback rides by his brother.

So having his family killed turned him crazy?

Naruto shook his head. Sasuke wasn't nuts. Disturbed, maybe, dark and depressing. But not nuts, not like some people were.

"You hypocrite."

Why hadn't he, Naruto, wanted to accept his father, his mother? Still didn't want to, on some, okay, a lot of levels. They weren't the first family he'd known, but they could still be a family. A darned good one, too, he bet. Was it just because his father was the Fourth Hokage, the Sealer?

But that didn't explain the resistance he felt to his mom.

Was it because neither of them were there growing up?

Naruto considered his mom. He didn't think it was her fault, not really. Orochimaru had fooled a lot of people. He was a master manipulator, the man with the forked tongue. Naruto had never really gotten that, but he figured two tongues meant you'd be able to say two things at the same time. Snake face had tricked Sarutobi and the general populace for years, and then he'd been able to masquerade as the Kazekage without anyone knowing. So, no, it wasn't his mom's fault that she wasn't there for his childhood.

. . . but he still blamed her.

Shame colored his cheeks as Naruto came to that conclusion. He wanted to accept his parents and he didn't have a good reason to reject his mother, but he did.

Naruto rubbed his forehead as he tried to apply that to Sasuke. It didn't work, because to his knowledge, Naruto hadn't done anything to hurt Sasuke. He'd been a rival, pushing him to be better, a teammate and a friend. Sasuke rejected Itachi and for good reason. The fault and the blame lied with him.

And I've gotten nowhere!

Why would Sasuke not want a family?

Naruto scrunched up his face and gripped his hair. Kushina, who had been watching the entire thing, raised an eyebrow. "You know, I can tell you're upset about something," she murmured, leaning in. "But you won't find the answers in your roots, so stop ripping your hair out."

Naruto grinned sheepishly and let go of his hair, which was now in an even more unmanageable mess. Kushina reached up in a vain attempt to smooth it, her hand trembling. Naruto's overworked mind tiredly reached for one of her comments and he felt so close to the answer, but at that moment, Chouji appeared in the aisle, right behind him.

"Hey, Naruto," he said. "And, uh, Naruto's mom."

Kushina smiled at the young man. "Call me Kushina. You must be Chouza's boy. It's nice to meet you. I knew your mother a long time ago, but I obviously haven't seen her in ages."

Chouji smiled politely and sat down in the end of the crowded bench. Naruto was about to ask him where everyone else was, but Chouji just closed his eyes and started to grow. It was very subtle and Naruto didn't even notice it at first, but within a few minutes, the man on the other end of the bench fell to the floor.

It was then the two blonds saw that Chouji was growing, not out, but across. He was forcing people off the bench one by one, to what purpose Naruto didn't know. He was transfixed by the civilians' amusing outrage and indignation and thus failed to notice when another of his friend joined Chouji.

"I think that's enough," Shikamaru said, yawning. "We only need room for seven."

Kushina and Naruto peered around Shikamaru as Chouji shrank back down. There was a little bit of sweat dotting his forehead and Naruto figured it must not be easy to control the way you expand when you get big. Chouji scooted down the seat to make room for the others coming and pulled out several bags of chips.

Shikamaru, Sakura, Neji, Kiba, Shino and Sai all filed into the bench, taking their places behind Naruto. He was thrilled that they were there to support him, but Kushina nearly burst into tears seeing the loyalty they all held for her son. She got the symbolism.

Naruto frowned seeing Neji's arm in a sling. "Hey, what happened to your arm, Neji?"

The implacable Hyuuga simply raised an eyebrow and answered, "It was hurt in my latest mission."

"Hinata's filling in on his team for their current mission," Sakura said. "Normally, it would be a problem as she's a Chuunin and he's a Jounin, but the ranking's B and they just needed someone with Byakugan."

Naruto nodded and looked again to Neji. "Who hurt it? And how did they get past your Kaiten? And is everybody else okay if that person was so strong?"

Neji refused to respond and was faced with giggles and snorts from the others. Naruto, seeing something juicy, immediately started to bug and pester his friends until Sai gave in and answered him. He was the only one not to be amused at Neji's expense and apparently couldn't understand what was so funny.

"No enemy ninja hurt Neji," he said. Naruto's brow furrowed and his taxed brain struggled to keep up. "He was arm-wrestling with Lee, who got excited and slammed Neji's arm on the table too hard."

Naruto snorted and would have exploded into full-blown laughter, but Kushina smacked him on the back of the head. His whining was cut short by her next words. "All of you be quiet. The council members are coming in now. The trial's about to start."

The door opened with a creak and it was all Minato could do not to dash out of it and run for open space, where he could fight or hide. There had been a few moments, in the middle of the night, when they had moved him from his ugly, dark cell to the holding room behind the court, where he had breathed real, fresh air. Minato squeezed his eyes shut and thought of Kushina and Naruto. He was going to trial for killing Koharu. The guards stepped in and ordered him to stand.

But I did nothing wrong. She was threatening a ninja and citizen of Konoha.

They stopped before a large, barred door. Minato licked his dry, dry lips and tried to control his breathing.

The guards took the bindings off him and he flexed his free wrists. He still couldn't feel his chakra—he understood the process. Hell, he'd been the one to invent and insist on implementation of the chakra seals for prisoners. He knew it was necessary until he was proven innocent, but it still grated. What if something happened?

He would be helpless, unable to fight. They would come for him and kill him—or worse, come for Naruto or Kushina and they'd be killed or hurt. Images ran through his head, blood and bone, intestines spilled on the floor, bright eyes dull—

"Hokage-sama, we're about to go in."

Minato clenched his trembling fists. All he had to do was see them—see them alive and healthy and not mutilated or dead. He would in a moment, when they opened the door and started the trial. They'd be sitting there in the front row, ready to support him.

The doors opened and he stepped forward, searching the crowd for two heads of blond hair, for brilliant gem-colored eyes, for smiles and promises of hope, for sanity. There was a roar as he stepped into the light, people gasping in surprise, immediately talking to each other in everything from low whispers to outraged shouts. He didn't notice, but one woman fainted outright.

The tension drained out of his body as he spotted them, sitting in the front row. Kushina's hair was down around her face and she wore an old, familiar brown jacket. He couldn't believe that thing had survived all of these years. Naruto was next to her, in a downright ugly, dirty blue t-shirt.

He wanted to go to them, but the guards steered him away. He kept an eye on them and grinned back when Naruto flashed him a thumbs-up. He was seated in front of a bench with the guards on either side of him.

Tsunade smiled as she saw the Namikaze family's interaction and knew once everything had settled, the four would become close and strong. She'd not missed the mention of Naruto's sister, and knew that part of his story was true here as well. Kushina had confirmed it last night, even that the girl's name was Tama. She was apparently very skilled in healing and medical jutsus of all sorts, though her combat skills were dangerously lacking and she'd never been outside of the valley without an armed escort.

The Godaime intended to have a talk with Kushina about the unbalanced upbringing, but as long as Tama was safe with the Churaeah, it wasn't an immediate problem.

Deciding there had been enough time for people to speculate and stare, Tsunade stood and roared at them all to shut up. Homura grimaced at her inelegant start, but said nothing.

Naruto grabbed his mother's hand as Tsunade read off the incident: the killing of Ukatane Koharu by Namikaze Minato.

Minato took a deep breath. At some point in time, he knew he could have taken this courtroom on. Years ago, before all the fights, before Kyuubi, he had strong-armed and sweet-talked the Council into anything he wanted. The only one able to stand against him at the time was Sarutobi. He knew he had that strength in him still. Somewhere. He just needed to find it.

"This trial has been convened to determine if this action was acceptable, justified, or criminal," Tsunade said. "We will hear statements from all involved and make a decision based on the evidence."

"What do those three things mean?" Naruto whispered to his mom. "Acceptable, justified, criminal?"

"Shh!" Kushina hushed him, but pulled a pen and paper out. On it, she scribbled for a couple minutes, then thrust it into his hand.

Naruto frowned at it, but he could just manage to make out his mother's handwriting. Acceptable means that in the circumstances, there was no possible alternative. It was the only thing he could do to protect himself. Justified means that under the circumstances, it was not the ideal option, but the conditions allow it. Criminal means that it was totally intolerable and needs to be punished.

He put the paper down and stared up at the council. Tsunade had finished with the formalities, and was now asking his father to give his version on what had happened.

Minato stood and Kushina's eyes narrowed. This wasn't the posture of the man she'd seen in that cell last night—though it had been brief, she could tell that he was uncertain, unstable. But the way his feet were planted and his chin was tilted, he wasn't the Minato she knew from years ago, but he wasn't the pale shadow of himself he was last night, either.

"I will not apologize for my actions on the 29th of May," he began. "I did what I felt was necessary to protect my son, who was being threatened by Ukatane Koharu and weak and defenseless at the time."

Naruto folded his arms and slouched at the terms applied to him.

Homura rolled his eyes and leaned forward. "Do you really believe that there was no other alternative? You could not have shown her mercy for her 'crime?'"

Minato's eyes narrowed and when he opened his mouth again, his voice was like steel, ringing in the courtroom. "I did. I gave her ample opportunity to remove her weapon from my son's throat, but she did not. The Koharu I knew was a loyal ninja of Konoha, and a sensible woman. Had she been another, I would have killed her the instant her blade came near my son."

A murmur ran through the council and Minato sat back down, hands trembling.

"There were ANBU all around and you decided to take it upon yourself to intervene?" Danzou demanded.

"'A ninja must take it upon himself to protect the lives of civilians or allies, unless directly ordered not to by a superior,'" Minato quoted. "The nineteenth ninja rule, if I'm not mistaken."

Tsume sighed. "It seems like it's pretty clear to me what happened. I vote that this was justified and let's go home."

"Wait," Danzou ordered. "I want to try something. Namikaze Minato, do you recognize this Council's legal superiority over you, despite your position as Hokage?"

Tsunade frowned. Danzou was up to something, and she knew it wouldn't be good. For whatever reason, the man seemed determined to bring Minato down. What she couldn't understand was why. He would be a huge asset, provided he could get himself sane again, and even Akatsuki would be wary of threatening Konoha with the Fourth Hokage alive and well.

Minato frowned. There was no ninja who could countermand his orders, but he had to obey the domestic decrees of the council. "Yes."

"As a senior member of this Council, and therefore able to give binding orders to non-vital security interests, I order you not to attack any ANBU for the next five minutes."

Puzzled, Minato nodded and Danzou immediately signaled to two of the ANBU stationed at the back of the room. At his signal, they jumped forward. One grabbed Naruto by the back of the neck and held a kunai to his throat, exactly as Koharu had done. The other stood at his back, making sure none of the ninja sitting on the benches jumped forward.

There was an outraged roar from the entire assembly and more than half the ninjas leaped to their feet. Tsunade grabbed the front of Danzou's robes. "What the hell is the meaning of this?"

Danzou shook himself free and turned to face the scene playing out on the courtroom floor. Naruto was holding the kunai away from his neck and thrashing madly, but it was having no effect on the ANBU holding him. Tsunade saw what was about to happen and tried to bring Minato back to earth, to calm him down, but it was too late.

Minato leaped over the railing keeping the public from the actual courtroom and flew at the ANBU holding Naruto. The eagle-faced warrior immediately dropped Naruto, grabbed Minato's arm and slammed him down on the ground. Minato's foot came up and connected with the side of the ANBU who was pinning him down.

"Fall back."

Both ANBU flew away from the blonds and back to their original position by the doors. Minato dragged himself over to Naruto and checked his neck.

Dread settled in Tsunade's stomach as Danzou and Homura turned to her with identical smirks. She straightened and tried to regain some control. "This incident—"

"Is not in question, I agree," Homura cut her off. "But he attacked an ANBU going against direct orders. We'd have to convene another trial to deal with this incident."

"That's ridiculous," Naari said.

"Exactly. This trial is too specific, too narrow to deal with this man," Homura said. "I propose that this trial change its purpose to something more general—Namikaze Minato's sanity."

Tsunade and Kushina bristled. "What are you talking about?" the Hokage demanded.

"I'm talking about determining whether Namikaze Minato is fit to be a functioning ninja and member of society," Homura said.

Minato paced back and forth in his cell. The council had been thrown into chaos after Homura's declaration, and ANBU had ripped him away from Naruto. Tsunade had come down some while later saying that the trial was postponed until Homura's proposition could be shot down.

"And it will be shot down," she swore.

Minato ran his fingers through his hair and reached for stability. There were times when he was stable, and he knew then that he would descend back into madness and how difficult it would be. And he knew when he was insane that this wasn't right, that he was a far better, stronger man than this.

There were voices outside the door, and then it opened silently and the current bane of Minato's existence stepped through.

"What do you want, Homura?" he demanded. Something in him cried out at being so rude, but it was quiet and insignificant in the face of his anger and uncertainty.

Homura smiled. "I want what is best for Konoha, the same as you."

"Somehow I don't believe you," Minato responded.

"Yes, and you wouldn't cooperate with me either, would you?" Homura asked. He sighed and shook his head. "And thus, you have forced my hand."

"To have me committed as insane?" Minato demanded, struggling to keep his temper.

"Only if you don't agree, Minato," Homura said. "You see, I know what a great asset you would be to Konoha, one we really can't afford to lose. On the other hand, certain forces in Konoha need you on their side."

"So what?" Minato snapped. "I agree to whatever you want or you have me locked up?"

Homura nodded. "You've hit the nail on the head. You see, tomorrow morning we will determine the nature of your trial, and I have enough influence to strongarm it through and make sure the outcome is what I want."

"I may have been dead for sixteen years—" Minato began.

"And who will protect your son?" Homura asked.

Minato froze.

"An organization called Akatsuki wants him and if they get him, they will kill him. He has made his own enemies, and how many of yours will go after him to get to you?" Homura hissed, closing in on the terrified Minato. "I'm not asking for a lot, just a favor to be cashed in later. Is one little favor worth being free and able to protect your son and lover?"

Minato squeezed his eyes shut. Part of him was roaring against this blackmail, but the greater part was bringing up images of a dead Naruto, a Naruto being mercilessly tortured, a Naruto mistaken for him, a Naruto killed to get to him.

"Alright," he whispered. The images receded to be replaced by guilt. "One favor."

Homura smiled and turned around. "Glad we agree. I'll see you in trial tomorrow, Hokage-sama."

--

Hm, yes. Homura is eeeeevil, no?

And normally, Minato wouldn't agree. If he was in his right mind, he'd punch Homura in the face. But, he's not. And Homura found his vulnerable point: protecting Naruto. So, please don't say that's out of character. Mina-chan's nuts, bonkers, crazy.

That's all folks!

Edit: Before anyone else mentions it, I know that Kushina is a redhead, according to the manga. I have accounted for that in "If Only." She may dye her hair back, she may not. I haven't decided yet.

Edit 2: I am not making Naruto out to be a weakling. Minato is thinking only in terms of protecting his son, not that Naruto is a powerful ninja or that there are a multitude of other people to look after him.

Edit 3: No, he's not insane for wanting to protect his son. Danzou's point was that he couldn't control himself. He agreed not to attack ANBU, but then he did. That's the point Homura (who is a guy) and Danzou were trying to make.