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Chaos 13: Return to the Leaf
Chapter Cover: The image shows Mika playing on the swing by herself as she looked at the tree beside her curiously. Naruto stood behind it, a gentle smile on his face as he looked back at her.
Kia, Omochao and Ethan were sitting down on a bench, enjoying the music of a lute playing by a kind man. After asking everyone in the area about any sightings of monsters at night or anywhere else, they were met with a negative response, similar to Tazuna, so they decided to take a break and head on back to Tazuna's place to meet with the others.
"Still no luck finding info on darkstalker." Omochao moaned in disappointment. "This could be harder than I thought."
"Don't worry Omo." Kia reassured him with a smile. "The world is a big place. We know that they're out there. Like Naruto said, we'll keep our ears open for anything that sounds like a darkstalker."
"Hm." Ethan nodded in agreement.
Omochao stood up from his seat and stretched his arms out. "Well, we should go ahead and meet up with-"
BOOM!
A loud explosion was heard throughout the whole island. The explosion was loud enough to even shake the island for a couple of seconds. The villagers let out terrified yells of surprise and fear. Kia immediately stood up and looked to the sky to see a dark cloud of dirt rising somewhere nearby.
It wasn't just her as Zane and Felicia also saw the cloud of dirt and they immediately took off to its direction.
"Oh my chao! What was that?!" Omochao asked.
"I don't know!" Ethan answered. He looked up at Kia and saw her staring at the cloud of dirt. "What's wrong Kia?"
"Naruto." Kia said in a whispered tone. She turned to Ethan and Omochao, picking the two up and running off to the location of the cloud of dirt. "Come on! Something's happening with Naruto!"
"What do you mean?" Omochao asked.
"I can feel Naruto's emotions from over there!" Kia answered, now leaping from rooftop to top to avoid running into people. She grit her teeth at feeling such emotions from her best friend. "His sadness, pain and his rage! Something must've happened to make him feel this way!"
Thankfully, she sensed Zane and Felicia were heading the same direction.
Kushina and her team had to jump back once again to avoid the fist of an enraged Naruto as he charged at her. The impact of Naruto's punch made the whole island vibrate for a couple of seconds before it stopped. Naruto stood up and was making his way towards her, his head down to hide his face.
"Naruto! Please stop!" Kushina desperately pleaded to her son. She didn't have it in her to fight him. "We're not going to hurt you!"
"She's right, kid!" Jiraiya agreed with her. "Just calm down and listen to-"
"SHUT UP!"
Naruto roars as he looks up at them to show them the new features on his face. His sclera turned deep green, his irises were still black slits but now they have blue pupils and his fangs lengthened greatly to the point he looked like a snarling beast. He also had dark blue reptilian skin forming on his cheeks.
Another thing they noticed was that his arms had turned a transparent light blue, making it look water-like, and he now had razor sharp claws. The Retrieval Team looked unsettled by his appearance. It reminded them of whenever a jinchuriki would tap into their tailed beast's power to gain such features. This power that Naruto has...what exactly was it?
Kushina was trembling as she stared into her son's eyes, seeing nothing but rage in them and felt his intention of killing her. She expected the rage but...this killing intent he was releasing was so strong it made her feel fearful of him, which only showed her how much of a terrible mother she was to him. But she wasn't going to let that fear control her. Before she could try to talk to him, Jiraiya, Tsunade and Shizune had already appeared in front of her.
"Sorry Kushina. Looks like the kid's not in a talking mood." Jiraiya said.
"He's right." Tsunade said, standing next to her idiot teammate as she cracked her knuckles. "Looks like we're doing this the old fashioned way."
Naruto gave another feral roar as he immediately charged at them, though his target was mainly Kushina, who had to take a hesitant step back from knowing this. Jiraiya and Tsunade charged at Naruto in order to stop him from getting to his mother.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" The guardian turned his claws into hammers and he used them to smash both Sannin like pancakes, only for them to move out of the way in time.
Shizune charged in afterwards, attempting to put Naruto to sleep using a tag. She was almost close to him when he suddenly vanished in a green flash. "Wha-?" She felt someone kick her back, the force of it strong enough to send her flying but was caught by Jiraiya.
Naruto growled at them with green bioelectricity surrounding him. He turned back to face his target, who never once moved from her spot, and continued his advancement towards her. He pulled his fist back, enlarging it while doing so and sent it towards Kushina, who looked quite shocked at seeing such a thing. Hiruzen quickly appeared in front of her, using his large staff to block the giant fist. The old kage grimaced from that as he was being pushed back despite the fact he's using his chakra to stick to the ground.
"Naruto! Calm yourself!" Hiruzen told the boy whom he saw as a grandson. He barely flinched as the green electricity zapped near his face.
Naruto growled threateningly at the old kage for getting in his way. Sensing someone heading his way made him glance around himself to see Tsunade, Shizune and even Jiraiya charging at him, getting ready to attack him from all sides. Tsunade jumps in the air to attack him with her Heavenly Kick of Pain.
The First Hokage's granddaughter was about to land her attack before something unexpected happened. She, along with Jiraiya and Shizune were blinded by a flash of light that appeared in front of them. Next thing Tsunade felt was a powerful kick in her mid section that actually made her gasp. She then used Substitution Jutsu to replace herself with a log as it got destroyed into splinters.
Kia grit her teeth, seeing that her opponent used substitution. She did a mid air backflip and landed on the ground, taking a fighting stance and glared directly at Tsunade, who was surprised by her appearance.
The legendary medical ninja looked around to see that the rest of Naruto's friends had also appeared. Zane stood in front of Jiraiya, his arms raised at him and the palms glowing red with energy. His eyes were completely focused on Jiraiya and they had a cold look in them, not taking kindly to the fact that they were about to jump on his friends. The sound of hissing noises drew her to her apprentice and she saw that she was blocked by Felicia, the catgirl on all fours and was glaring furiously at Shizune, just like a regular cat.
The little boy and toy were away from them at a safe distance, the two looking quite worried. She turned her attention back to Naruto's girlfriend, who was glaring at her for a moment before turning her attention to the boy in question, walking up to him.
"Naruto." Kia said softly, touching his hand to get his attention. She didn't say anything about his current features and was instead worried about him. "It's okay. We're here."
Naruto stared at her before looking at the rest of his friends to see all their worried expressions aimed at him. He closed his eyes, his features returning to normal and he removed his fist from Hiruzen's weapon. Seeing this made everyone else relax, their attention on Naruto to see what he would do. He opened his eyes to glare directly at Kushina, who flinched but didn't turn away from it.
Kia looked at the woman and old man, or more specifically at the leaf symbol on their forehead protector. Now knowing who these people were and why Naruto was feeling this way, she glared heatedly at them.
"Ninja from the leaf village. Why are you here?"
Hiruzen could practically hear the demanding tone in her question and seeing the glare she was emitting already told him that she was quite upset that they caused Naruto such distress.
"Answer the question!" Naruto angrily said as he continued to glare at Kushina. "Why are you here?"
"Naruto...I...we…" Kushina tried to answer but couldn't find the correct words, her mind all jumbled up. She was stopped when the retired Hokage raised his hand to silence her.
"Perhaps…we should sit down somewhere in private and talk." Hiruzen calmly suggested.
And he knew that this was going to be quite a long troublesome talk.
Later
…
It was tense.
The atmosphere was so terrifyingly tense that it's a miracle there was no fighting or yelling.
After both parties had calmed down, Jiraiya led everyone to an old empty warehouse that was nearby. There was no way that none of them wanted to bring the incoming drama that was about to happen into the village. Once the toad sage pointed to the location of this warehouse, Naruto immediately started walking into that direction, wanting to put a lot of distance between himself and Kushina, with his friends following after him.
Not one person said a word to each other as they made their way to the warehouse though there were glances here and there between the groups, all of them watching each other to make sure none of them made a move. Jiraiya tried to break the silence by trying to strike up a joking conversation but one death glare from Naruto and stern one from his sensei shut him up. That glare from Naruto told him was not in a playing or joking mood with them.
Now, here they are, two sides standing opposite of each other. Zane is leaning on a bunch of wooden logs, arms crossed and is watching the Konoha ninja like a hawk. Felicia, in her cat form, is sitting by a window, also watching the Konoha ninja. Ethan was sitting down in a chair while holding onto Omochao, both looking quite nervous at what was about to happen. Naruto is sitting on a couch, arms crossed and a leg over the other with Kia sitting right next to him, sitting in a posture similar to a princess.
Over on the opposite side, Jiraiya was standing in front of the door they entered to make sure nobody would come in. Tsunade and Shizune, who was holding Tonton, stood on the side, watching the event that was about to unfold. Kushina and Hiruzen sat on the couch, just opposite of Naruto and Kia as they looked their way with a table in front of them. The Uzumaki woman kept her eyes focused more on Naruto, which he ignored just like she used to do to him and had his eyes closed.
There was more heavy silence for a couple of seconds before Kia sighed to herself, seeing that nobody didn't know what to say. So she decided to be the one to speak.
"Before we begin, let's start with introductions." Kia said, getting the Retrieval Team's attention and they were surprised. The way she spoke to them was like that of a princess. "My name is Kia. You obviously know who Naruto is. The ones behind us are... "
"We were already here before you showed up so we know who you are." Hiruzen gently said, looking at all of Naruto's friends. "And it's very nice to meet you. My name is Hiruzen Sarutobi, acting leader of this team. The one next to me is Kushina Namikaze, Naruto's mo-"
"Don't."
Hiruzen didn't say anything to the cold voice that belonged to Naruto. He looked at him, seeing he still had his eyes closed but his brows were furrowed. The retired Hokage nodded his head in understanding. Turning back to Kia, he saw the glare she and Zane sent to Kushina, silently telling him that Naruto already told his friends about his past. Kushina meanwhile felt her heart get stabbed at Naruto's dismissal of her being his mother. Behind the two, Tsunade glared at Naruto for his hostility towards Kushina, Jiraiya sighed and scratched the back of his head, Shizune and Tonton were nervous wrecks.
Kia sighed and looked at Naruto, placing her hand on his shoulder as a way to calm him down. It worked a little as she felt him relax slightly and he released a sigh to try and calm his nerves.
"So, what are you doing here?" The guardian questioned, all hostility in his voice gone as he addressed the retired Hokage.
"We are here on a mission, Naruto." Hiruzen answered.
The answer made Naruto narrowed his eyes on them. "And what mission is that?"
"It is to escort you back to the Hidden Leaf Village." Hiruzen replied.
Slam!
Nobody, except for Ethan and Omochao, flinched when Naruto uncrossed his leg and slammed the heel down on the table that was in front of them. The guardian's narrowed eyes were then morphed into a glare.
"If you think, for even a second, that I want to go back to that village, then you're dead wrong." Naruto said coldly. "I will never set foot in that village."
"S...Naruto!" Kushina spoke up, stopping herself from calling him as she knew it would only anger him. He turned his head to give her a cold glare. "Please, listen. I...I know that we hurt you very badly back then and that you have every right to feel-"
"...Hurt? Hurt!?" Naruto questioned as he stood up and glared down at Kushina with furious eyes. "How dare you say that to my face!? You didn't just hurt me! You, your family and everyone else in that damn village broke me!"
Kushina felt those words stab her in the heart as she flinched back and stared at her son with widened eyes.
"All the crap you people put me through; the bullying, the looks of contempt, acting like I didn't exist!" Naruto continued as he started to have brief flashbacks of his childhood making him grit his teeth so hard it was a surprise they didn't crack. "Just what makes you think I want to go back and go through all that again? After that crap with Naruki all those years ago, you and everyone else made it perfectly clear that you didn't want me, the disgraced talentless son, around in your village! Now all of sudden you want me back? Why are you after me now?! What the hell do you people want from me!?"
Everyone stared at Naruto as he breathed heavily and continued to hold his glare on Kushina, who looked ready to cry as she saw the pain in his eyes. Feeling Naruto's pain made Kia want to reach out to Naruto to try and calm him but she had to stop herself, knowing that he had to let it out.
"I...I just...I want you to come back home!" Kushina answered, looking down to hide her face from her son so he didn't see the tears that were falling from her eyes. "Me, Minato and the girls, we all miss you so very much. I felt so terrible for how we treated you, especially after what happened with Naruki, and all I ever wanted was to apologize and make it up to you. But when I learned that you ran away, I stopped everything I was doing and went to search for you!"
"She's right, kid." Jiraiya said, getting the attention. "We've been searching for you for six years since you were last seen that night during the storm and you fell in the ocean. Some of us believed that you were dead but your family never did."
A spear made of green energy landed right beside his head which he showed no reaction to at all, not even the cut that formed on his cheek
"Those people are not my family!" Naruto growls, not seeing Kushina flinch violently. "Family is supposed to love and care for you. Family is supposed to be there for you when you need them the most. Well, I needed her and she was never there for me! Both of them!" He glared down at Kushina, too angry to not even care about her tears. "They only cared about their daughters and how proud they are of them but not their freak of a son!"
Kushina flinched terribly from the accusation. She wasn't even trying to defend herself from it because it was true. Before Naruto left, she would always brag about how awesome and cool the girls were and how she can't wait to see whoever becomes the Hokage. But when it came to Naruto, well she had nothing to say about him, except that he was a prankster and troublemaker and how she wished he could be like his sisters. That was just among many other things she was guilty of in regards to her son.
"I...I was…"
"Hold it, kid." Tsunade spoke up, stepping forward to say her piece, her facial features set in a stern glare. "Your whole family regretted every single thing they've done to you ever since you ran away. Kushina even wanted to leave the country just to go out and search for you, almost trying to get herself killed. Doesn't that show you how much they cared about you and how they want to make amends with you?"
Naruto's eyes flashed green as he looked ready to pounce on Tsunade but was stopped by Kia, who reached out to grab his wrist. He looked back at her to see her giving him a stern yet gentle look. He immediately sat back down, turning away from the Konoha ninja.
Kia turned to look back at Hiruzen. "Tell me something, how long have you been staying here waiting for us?"
"Since the day Takashi returned to us, the shinobi that you and the others saved that day when Agni attacked." Hiruzen said, making the four in question look surprised. "As soon as he returned to us, he told us about the Chaos Warriors and he was quite scared to tell us about you."
Even though he said that in a joking manner, Naruto was quite angry and annoyed to hear that leaf ninja ratted on him and he was already thinking about ways to make him suffer the next time he sees him.
"Soon as we got here, we learned about Naruto's connections with the Chaos Warriors through Tazuna, who heard you talking about it with Zabuza while he was drunk." Hiruzen continued.
Are you serious!? Tazuna too!?
Naruto will definitely have a talk with him later. Despite the situation they were in, the others' sweat dropped as they noticed the menacing aura around him, the tiny devil-like wings on his back and evil grin on his face. But did they feel sorry for Tazuna? No.
Hiruzen blinked in bemusement at Naruto before he coughed and got their attention once again. "Since then, we've been waiting here for your arrival. Of course, we were also making sure that no one else would come after Tazuna's life after you left."
"I see." Kia said politely before she lightly glared at Hiruzen. "But as you've just heard, Naruto made it very clear that he doesn't want to go back to your village." Her eyes glanced at Kushina, who still had her head bowed, then turned back to Hiruzen, her glare darkening slightly. "What they did to him as a child is something that is unforgivable and quite honestly disgusting. Why would you want Naruto to return to the place that not only caused him great emotional trauma and pain but also nearly drove him to commit suicide?"
Felicia and Ethan let out shocked gasps as this was the first time they were hearing such a thing. The transformed catwoman turned her angry glare at the Konoha group who looked just as shock or horrified as them
But it was Kushina who was the most terrified of that information as she looked up to stare at Naruto, who's hair shadowed his eyes. She couldn't believe what she just heard. She knew that they ruined Naruto's childhood in the village by not giving him any love and attention, but she never imagined that he would even think about killing himself because of it. She placed her hands on her mouth, now recalling something she discovered in Naruto's room.
A kunai that was hidden underneath his bed with dry blood on its edge. When she first saw it, she didn't want to believe it. She refused to believe it! She wanted to tell herself that Naruto cut his hand by trying to train with it in secret. She got rid of that same kunai, not wanting to see it ever again and even think about it. But now to hear that Naruto was actually trying to kill himself, it made her feel sick to her stomach to realize that she would have potentially been the cause of her son committing suicide just like Kakashi's father did all those years ago, along with Shisui Uchiha.
"My god...have I really been such a terrible mother to my own son that he would kill himself!?"
Hiruzen looked at Naruto, seeing him not wanting to glance at them and felt disheartened to hear this. Someone as young and bright as Naruto wanting to commit such a terrifying thing as a child scared him greatly and was quite thankful that he didn't do it. Because now look at him. He lived a good, happy life somewhere far away, he made a lot of friends and accomplished so many things in such a short time since he made his appearance. If only his powers had awakened sooner, he would've been a fine leaf shinobi.
"Yes. You're absolutely right, young lady." Hiruzen said, turning his attention to Kia. "Naruto shouldn't deserve that. In fact, no child should ever deserve what he went through because of his situation nor should he have to go back to the place that brought him so much pain." He glanced back at Naruto, who was looking his way. He sent him a grandfatherly smile. "However, whether you believe me or not, there truly are some people in the village who wish to see you again. But there is one special person who wants to meet you the most, Naruto."
Naruto blinked and fully turned his attention to Hiruzen with his brows raised in surprise. He wanted to call bull on that, but out of everyone in the village, the old man was the only one he truly respected because he truly cared about him. So to hear him actually say that there were some people in the village who really missed him, and there was someone there who wanted to meet him the most caught him by complete surprise. He frowned as he couldn't think of anybody in the village who missed him for obvious reasons and he didn't know anyone who wanted to meet him of all people.
"Who are you talking about?" The blue guardian asked curiously, not seeing Kushina's eyes widening in realization at who the Third Hokage was referring to. She uncovered her mouth to look at him, only to see him glancing her way, telling her that it's her turn.
"Mikazuki." Kushina said softly, getting Naruto and his friends' attention. She wiped away the tears on her face. "Her name is Mikazuki. She's...your baby sister."
Team Chaos looked surprised while Naruto's eyes widened.
"What?"
"You have a little sister, Naruto." Kushina repeated what she said with a smile on her face. "Mikazuki Namikaze. Mika for short. Six years ago, after we discovered you fell in the ocean, I found out I was pregnant. Because of that, I was forced to stay in the village and couldn't continue my search for you until after she was born. Mika...she's been wanting to meet you for a long time. I...I told her that we finally found you and she was so excited to finally see her big brother for the first time in her life so I...I promised her that I would come back with you. Even now, she's still waiting for us to come home."
...
Naruto couldn't believe what this woman was saying. His mind was already a jumbled mess with her being here in front of him, but now after hearing this...hearing that she had another child, a child who shouldn't even know that he was alive but does, he just didn't know what to feel in this situation. It was like his emotions were in a whirlpool and he couldn't pick out which emotion should be feeling upon hearing this news.
Should he be happy that he has a little sister? Should he be angry that they told this little girl that he was alive, giving her such false hope like that? Should he be furious that they would use an innocent child as a way to try and get him to come back to the village?
So many emotions were raging in his head yet he did know one thing; he felt warm. Not warm as in he was hot, no he felt warmth inside his heart. There was a little girl who wanted to meet him, someone who was supposed to be a total stranger to her yet not a stranger. A little girl who didn't even know him yet wanted to know him. A little girl... who's waiting for the big brother she's never met to come home.
"You…grr!" Naruto could feel his brain hurting because of this, making him rub his temples in annoyance. "This is too much to deal with right now! I need some air." He stood up and walked to the door, with Jiraiya still blocking it, making no move to get out of his way, so he warped. The action stunned Jiraiya for a moment.
"Yes. I believe it's about time we need a break from all this." Hiruzen said with everyone silently agreeing to that.
Kia sighed to herself at this whole mess they suddenly found themselves in. This was not how their day was supposed to be. They were already having a good time coming back to Waves, now all of a sudden these ninja from the leaf village came and ruined it for them by causing this drama and bringing up Naruto's old scars. Speaking of him, she stood up and made her way to the door, the others following her lead and Jiraiya moved out of their way, none of them looking at either members of the group.
"Well, that could've gone better." Jiraiya commented with a sigh.
"Not now Jiraiya." Tsunade said, sternly.
Hiruzen sighed and turned to Kushina, seeing her look at the door with an uncertain expression. "Kushina. I know how much you wish to speak with Naruto right now, but give him a moment to calm himself. I believe you should do the same."
Kushina looked down at her trembling hands. She was still going over what Kia revealed to them about her son almost committing suicide. Oh God, how could she call herself a mother if one of her children would even think about committing such an act? If Naruto had truly gone through with it, she would've lost her only son, all because she hasn't been there for him and was with his sisters instead.
Kia was right. What they all did to him was unforgivable and disgusting.
The Uzumaki matriarch placed her trembling hands on her chest as a way to stop them from trembling and nodded her head at Hiruzen's suggestion as she tried so desperately to calm herself down.
Naruto sat on a log beside a lake, looking ahead with an angry glare on his face. He really wanted to calm himself down but he couldn't. He still couldn't believe it. After all these years, that woman actually had the nerve to show her face in front of him again and act like what happened back then never happened!
Seeing her face again is bringing back so many painful memories with her mainly in them. Memories that he put behind him after living on Angel Island for long and was finally able to be happy. That 'meeting' they had just now was replaying in his head and it was only adding more fuel to his increasing anger.
He picked up a rock, channeling his Chaos energy into it and threw it across the lake as it soared at blistering speed to the other side where a large boulder remained stuck in the ground. The rock went through the boulder, making a hole appear.
"Nice shot."
Naruto smirked a little at the comment Kia made. "Years of practice." He looked back to see his friends joining him.
"Are you doing okay, Naruto?" Felicia asked, placing one of her forepaws on Naruto's cheek.
"Yeah, that was really scary." Omochao admitted, his ball of light turning into nervous sweat. "I thought another fight was going to happen."
Naruto sighed and felt really bad that he had to make his friends sit and watch the drama. "No, I'm not okay…and I'm really sorry you guys had to see all that."
"Don't." Zane said, his tone of voice stern. "You had every right to react the way you did."
"That's right." Kia agreed with Zane. "If we had known that they were here, we would've held off meeting Tazuna today."
"As much as I want to deal with Tazuna right now, I'm going to hold it off." Naruto said, placing his thumb and index finger on the bridge of his temple. "I'm…so angry right now, I'm getting a crazy headache."
"Was it true?" Everyone turned to Ethan and saw he was looking at Naruto worriedly. "Did you…really think about k-killing yourself?"
Naruto flinched from Ethan's question and the worried expression he had. In his anger, he had completely forgotten that Ethan was there with them the whole time and he meant for him to stay outside with Omochao so he didn't see that. He looked down at the grass.
"Yeah. I did."
Ethan clenched his shirt tightly at the answer as he bit his lower lip slightly. He was no stranger to suicide. After all, he saw many people at the snake man's lab kill themselves because of the pain he put them through. Even the friends he made there all killed themselves, sometimes in front of him.
"Did they…did the Leaf ninja hurt you that badly?"
"...yeah. They did." Naruto said, rubbing his left arm softly. He felt Kia's hand touch his own, making him look at her and saw the gentle look she was giving him. He turned to Zane and saw him giving the same look as well. He took a deep breath and let it out as a big sigh.
It was time to tell them his story.
"It all started thirteen years ago, on October 10th, the night where the Nine Tails Fox attacked the Hidden Leaf Village." Everyone leaned in close to listen. "But it was also the night where the Fourth Hokage's three children were born."
So, Naruto told them everything. He told them about him being the Fourth Hokage's youngest son of the triplets, his life in the Leaf Village up until his fourth birthday where he started to notice how everyone seemed to favor his sisters more than him, the incident with one of his sisters Naruki and how everyone started to hate him after that with him finally decided to run away. Throughout the story, no one said anything as they only listened to him.
Felicia found herself disgusted at the people of the village for what they put Naruto through, to her it sounded like they were treating him as if he was a Darkstalker when he was just an ordinary boy. But then again, all children from her world have gone through what Naruto did, if not worse. Zane remained stoic but even he had a dark look in his eyes from hearing that tale. He can't remember his past after being in stasis for so long, but even if he knows that parents should always love their children no matter what condition they are in.
Ethan felt like crying. All his life, he was stuck being a lab rat and he didn't even know if he had a mama or papa out there. But he always dreamed that they would one day come and save him from the snake man, but then the nice doctor came into his and the other children's lives and treated them with love instead of pain. In a way, he saw the doctor as a mama.
Omochao already heard Naruto's story, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't feel angry at what the Leaf Village did to his best friend. When he first heard it, he couldn't believe that there were humans in this world who would actually treat children like that, let alone train them to become killers and have them fight in wars. It made the robochao wish he was back on his world. Kia had so many thoughts running through her head and none of them were pretty. Naruto is the son of the Land of Fire's Hokage. A Kage! And this is how a village leader acts towards his own family? Favoring two children while leaving one to fend for himself all because he didn't have chakra? Not paying the child any kind of attention all because he couldn't be a ninja like them?
The ninja world is truly a place filled with nothing but tragedy, which is why she wished it never existed.
"You're amazing Naruto." Kia told him.
"...Huh?"
"If it were anybody else, they would've chosen the path of revenge, to make everyone pay for what they did to them. But you didn't." Kia said, looking at him with new admiration. "You didn't choose revenge. You kept moving forward with your head held high, never looking back."
Naruto blushed a little bit but turned away. "I won't lie, deep down inside, I did want revenge. I hated everyone in that village so much that…after I ran away I was about to make a vow to come back stronger than them." He looked up at the sky. "But after meeting Chaos, after seeing what happened to him in his pursuit of revenge…I had to let it go. I just…didn't want to end up becoming a monster like he did and I think that he didn't want me to become like that either."
"That's exactly why you're amazing." Felicia said this time. "You know what revenge does to people. It changes them, making them become something they are not. But you didn't fall for it. Even though you did want revenge you fought against its temptation and moved on, putting the past behind you and going forward, becoming a better person because of it."
Zane nodded. "Look at Terios and the Chaos Warriors. They too wanted revenge for what happened to them in the past and look what it did to them."
"Yeah. I would've ended up becoming just like them." Naruto said, frowning. "The day I left that village was the day Naruto Namikaze died. I didn't want anything to do with that village nor the Fourth Hokage's family."
"Does that also include Mikazuki?" An old voice asked. The kids turned around to see Hiruzen walk up to them. Some of them tensed up. "Oh no, there's no need to be so tense. I just came to check up on Naruto."
"It's okay guys. He's probably the only one in that village who cares." Naruto stood up and gave him a big hug. "It's good to see you old man!"
"And I you." Hiruzen said, hugging him back as the two released each other with everyone smiling at the happy reunion "Hard to believe that you're that same little boy who always pulled so many pranks. Now look at you. You're all grown up!"
Naruto gave a big smile in response. "Thanks!" He frowned as he thought about his question. "I…I really don't know. I'm still trying to wrap my head around her. Is it…is it true? Does she really want to meet me?"
"Yes, she does."
"But I don't understand!" Naruto said, looking quite confused. "Why does she want to meet me? She has her parents and sisters! Why didn't they just tell her that I died?"
"Because they didn't have it in them to tell her the truth." Hiruzen answers, confusing everyone except for Naruto who narrowed his eyes .
"The truth?" Kia asked.
"They didn't want to tell her I ran away because of them." Naruto replied with the retired Kage nodding his head.
"Yes. Whenever Mika would ask where you were or why she hadn't seen you, they would either avoid answering her or tell her that you're on a training trip." Naruto blew air out of his nose harshly while the others looked shocked or outraged at how they would lie to a little girl like that. "In fact, Mika would ask just everything about you. Of course, nobody couldn't answer because they didn't know you, except for me of course. So I told her many stories about your pranks and she found them to be most enjoyable."
Naruto looked up in surprise. He had no idea that such a little girl whom he didn't know would ask about him. He just assumed that everyone would tell her how much of a troublemaker he was back then, but it turned out she didn't think so. She found everything he did back then as a child enjoyable?
Hiruzen chuckled to himself as he recalled. "In all honesty, you should see all the drawings she made of you. On her birthdays, she would take a drawing of you as a way to put you in the family photos, even having a special guest seat for you prepared in case you showed up to surprise her."
Damn, that actually hit Naruto in his heart.
"Like I said earlier, after Takashi returned to us and told us about you, we immediately left for Wave and Tazuna told us about the situation." Hiruzen continued to explain. "Before we sent out a message to Minato to tell him about what we learned, I found the pictures of you and your friends, and Kushina wanted to send them home to show the girls." Naruto groaned in annoyance, smacking his forehead and silently cursing Tazuna. "We got a letter back from Minato a couple hours later alongside another letter addressed to you."
"You might as well burn it, because I'm not going to read his letter." Naruto said with a glare.
Hiruzen shook his head, reached into his pocket and took out a folded sheet of paper. "Not from Minato. From Mika."
Naruto blinked in surprise at the folded letter. He looked at Hiruzen then back to the letter in his hand. The letter had big words written in pink crayon that said 'Naruto Onii-chan'. He opened up the letter and read what it said out loud for everyone to hear.
"Dear, Onii-chan. Hello! My name is Mikazuki Namikaze but everyone calls me Mika! I'm six years old and I'm your little sister! I hope this letter reaches you because I really want to meet you! Mama told me that you had gone away for a little while but said you will be home someday and…I really really wanna see you onii-chan. Papa showed us new pictures of you. You look even prettier than Mama! And your water form looks so cool! Papa also said that you were fighting these really scary monsters with your friends and are saving us from them. Does that mean you're a hero right? That's so cool! Big brother, please be careful against those monsters! I want you to come home. I want to finally meet you, so we can play. Minami-nee and Naruki-nee are always busy with their ninja stuff and don't have time to play, Papa is busy being Hokage and Mama seems too sad to play with me, so it gets really lonely. But…it's okay! Because I'll see you soon, right? I hope so. Um, anyway! That's all I want to say. Bye bye, nii-chan! See you later!"
As Naruto read through the letter, he saw a drawing of what he assumed was him with his blue hair and her holding hands together looking happy with the sun smiling at them. He could also see some parts of the letter was damp, telling him that she must've been crying when writing it. Some sentences were also scribbled out as though she changed her mind about what she wanted to write. Once he was finished, he remained silent and just looked at the letter with a stunned look on his face. He was aware that everyone was looking at him, waiting for his response to this letter.
The warm feeling he had earlier when he found out about Mikazuki came back full force. Wow. Just…just wow. This little girl really wanted him to be a part of her life and she didn't even know him. But…he told himself that he doesn't want anything to do with Konoha and the Namikaze family! Should that include Mikazuki? No, of course not. She wasn't even born yet. She was completely innocent in this whole mess. She doesn't even know why he 'left' in the first place!
He was torn.
If he were to go, then that just means the Namikaze would try and use Mikazuki as a way to get him to stay and he doesn't want her to get caught up in the whole drama that they caused in the first place. But if he didn't, then he would leave a heartbroken girl by herself, basically telling her that he doesn't care about her, and she would end up holding some form of resentment towards him, having her to keep on waiting for him to come to her.
Damn it! Why the hell didn't they just tell her he died?! Why didn't they move on like he had!? Why would they put him on the spot like this!? It's not fair!
"Naruto." Naruto looked back at Kia to see her smiling at him. "It's okay. Whatever you choose, we're here with you." The others smiled and nodded their heads at them.
"Hm. Thanks." The guardian smiled at them. He turned serious as he looked at the retired Kage, opening his mouth to reply.
All was silent back in the warehouse as everyone waited for Naruto's group to return. Jiraiya was leaning on the wall, deciding to keep quiet and not say anything, Tsunade sat on the other couch, arms crossed underneath her chest, Shizune sat next to her while holding Tonton and sending worried glances at Kushina who was looking downwards, not wanting everyone to see the somewhat dead look in her eyes.
Hiruzen left earlier to check up on him with nobody stopping him. They knew that Sarutobi and Naruto had a special bond together even before he left. Naruto would always go over to the Sarutobi Clan's home just to hang out with him. It showed how much Naruto loved the old man like a grandfather. The retired Kage even went as far as to give Naruto some taijutsu training. He may not have chakra but Hiruzen wanted Naruto to be able to defend himself.
It was one of many Kushina's deep regrets. Naruto may not have chakra to be a ninja, but she could have at least taught him how to at least defend himself just in case someone attacked the village and he was by himself. She was also jealous of the familial relationship the old monkey and her son have.
But she still couldn't get over what Kia revealed to them about Naruto wanting to commit suicide. For too long, he had endured everything they put him through but it wasn't until after that incident with Naruki was his breaking point. She could still remember the horrified expression on Naruto's face after she slapped him and told him how she wished he was like his sisters.
Now knowing that she was almost responsible for her son committing suicide made her want to completely punch her past self in the face. If Naruto did commit the deed back then and she found his corpse by his bedside, then…she wouldn't know what she'd do!
The meeting they had showed her that she had a whole lot of making up to do with her son. But he just revealed to them that he didn't want anything to do with them, even after Tsunade told him that she almost risked her life to find him. Even though he didn't say anything about that, she knew that he honestly didn't care. Like he said, they didn't just hurt him, they broke him. They broke his heart, his spirit, his everything. He had moved on from them and found a new life on some island somewhere with a new family who helped repair his broken heart and spirit.
"I…I don't deserve to be called a mother, do I?" Kushina asked herself, a small sad smile on her face. Still, she wasn't going to give up. The pain she's feeling right now doesn't compare to the pain she put her own child through. She will make it up to him. No matter how long it takes, no matter how much he rejects her, she will do everything in her power to make her son know that she's truly sorry and wants him to come back to her family.
The door opened up, bringing all attention towards the group who walked in with Hiruzen being the last one as he closed the door. The oldest members of the group gave Kushina slight glares while Naruto gave her a hard stare which made her shake a little bit.
"We're going to the Leaf Village. But!" Naruto stopped Kushina from saying something as she stood up and looked quite happy but he immediately put a stop to that. He ignored the surprised Sannin and apprentice. "We're only going there to see Mikazuki. Just her and nobody else. After that, we're leaving."
Kushina nodded her head rapidly at him, relief showing on her face and eyes, along with sadness. While deep down inside she did want Naruto to stay in the village, she knew that it wouldn't happen. But the fact that he's coming to see Mika shows that there was a chance that Naruto might come and visit her, meaning she'll have plenty of chances to try and get to know her son.
Tsunade gave Naruto a glare and was about to say something but stopped herself when Hiruzen glared at her back, shaking his head at her. She sighed to herself. Well, she should be thankful that the kid wasn't going to fight them again with that crazy power he got.
Jiraiya gave a sigh at that. The point of this mission was so that Naruto could come back home to the village to be with his family, not just for him to have a quick visit then up and leave. Well, at least they were bringing him back, so in a way, the mission is accomplished. He got up from the wall and rolled his shoulders.
"Alright. Now that the bridge is complete it won't take us that long to head back to the village." Jiraiya said, causing Tsunade, Shizune and Tonton to stand up. "So if you kids want to get something from here now is-wait a minute, what are you doing?"
The Konoha Team watched with confusion as Naruto reached into his pocket and took out a brown pouch. He took out whatever it was inside, showing everyone a sparkling gold ring. His friends moved out of the way as he tossed the ring behind him. The leaf shinobi watched in shocked awe as the ring had sparkles of yellow energy shoot out of it and grew large enough to be a door for all of them to fit in.
Inside the inner rim of the ring looked to be another location with an outside sky and a rocky ground that leads to an edge.
Kushina covered her mouth in awe, Jiraiya rubbed his eyes and opened them to make sure he wasn't seeing things, Tsunade's eyes widened in astonishment, Shizune looked dumbfounded and almost dropped the frozen Tonton and Hiruzen looked amazed at that.
"What...in the world?" Hiruzen asked in stunned awe. As a shinobi, he had seen many things in his lifetime, things that are natural while others are unexplainable…but this? This was something incredibly new and dare he say revolutionary.
While the leaf ninja were still shocked by what they were seeing, Team Chaos walked through the Ring Portal, snapping them out of it as they walked through the portal as well, though they were still amazed by it. Jiraiya was the last one to walk through and he watched as it vanished into gold dust.
"Whoa." Jiraiya said. He took a look at his surroundings and widened his eyes. "Hold on, this is Hokage Mountain!"
"But that means-!" Kushina went to join her son and his friends who stood on the edge of the mountain, low and behold, there below them was the Hidden Leaf Village.
"Yes." Hiruzen said, walking up to join them, seeing the amazed expressions on Naruto's friends. "Kia, Zane, Ethan, Omochao, Felicia. Welcome to Konoha, the Hidden Leaf Village."
"Wow~" Omochao said.
"What a big village!" Ethan commented as he looked around.
"I'll say!" Felicia agreed with her little friends from Kia's shoulder.
"That's incredible!" Shizune exclaimed, looking back to where the Ring Portal disappeared. "We were just in the Land of Waves, now we're back in the village? What was that ring?"
"Oink!" Tonton wanted to know too.
"Just think of those rings as portals that allow for instantaneous transportation to wherever you wanna go." Kia said, her answer shocking the Leaf Team.
"What?! But that's impossible! There's no way such things have been heard of!" Tsunade argued, not believing that such a thing could be possible, for it was then it would make traveling to a certain location a whole lot easier for shinobi.
"Yeah. I don't even want to imagine what would happen if other shinobi learned about those rings." Jiraiya said before his tone turned curious. "Where did you kids get them from?"
"That's not your concern." Zane said coldly, sending a look towards Jiraiya's way, who raised his hands in the air in surrender.
"Okay, okay, I won't ask again."
Naruto remained silent as everyone else talked. He just looked down at the village below him, his expression completely blank and his eyes losing some light in them. So many memories rushing right back into his head. All the happy memories he had of this place had been replaced with nothing but sad and painful memories. Being here again, back in this hellhole, was making the suppressed anger and rage he had for this village rushing back. He even started to tremble a little bit and clenched his fists tightly. He could see them all down there, all those villagers who looked down and ridiculed him for what he did to Naruki despite being the victim of her and her sister's torment, all the children who used to bully and pick on him now wearing Forehead Protectors. It was like he was seeing the glaring eyes of those people once again, including the Namikaze family!
"Naruto! NARUTO!"
The Guardian of Angel Island gasped after hearing his Kia yell his name and felt her shake him. Taking rapid breaths, he looked to see everyone was looking at him. His friends looked worried, Kushina and Hiruzen looked worried and alarmed for some reason, Shizune was shielding a scared Tonton and the Sannin looked ready to fight.
"W-What is it?" Naruto asked. Kia looked down at his hands, getting him to look down as well and saw his hands turned into water claws and he had green energy all over his body in the form of bioelectricity. If he were to look into his reflection, he would see that his eyes were also glowing and he had a feral look on his face.
He gasped in alarm from seeing this, so he closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, calming himself down as his hands returned to normal and his chaos energy disappeared. No. He can't let his anger control him again. Not this time. He was better than this and he knew it. What happened in the past, happened in the past and it will stay there.
"You okay now?"
"Yeah." Naruto's answer made the Konoha ninja relax, though Jiraiya was still a little tense but eventually relaxed as well. He looked at Kushina. "Where is Mikazuki right now?"
"Hold up kid, we still got to meet your old man…" Jiraiya tried to tell him but was interrupted by several sharp pointy water tentacles aimed at his throat that came from Naruto's back. The Toad Sannin gulped nervously from that as Naruto didn't even turn to acknowledge him, neither did his friends nor the others.
"S-She's probably at the Ninja Academy." Kushina replied, silently cursing herself for stuttering like that.
"Tch." Naruto scoffed in disgust as his water tentacles vanished. He turned away from her. "Of course she is. Why am I not surprised that you already got this girl training to become a killer?"
Kushina flinched from the accusation her son made. Kia merely shook her head in disbelief at this, Felicia hissed in displeasure, Zane closed his eyes, Omochao looked nervous at the thought of a ninja school and Ethan looked quite scared for obvious reasons. Jiraiya and Tsunade glared at Naruto slightly for what he said, despite knowing that it's true. Hiruzen looked down, getting the feeling that Naruto and his friends saw the reality of the shinobi life during their journey.
"Kushina, why don't you take Naruto and his friends to go see Mika? We'll go and talk to Minato." Hiruzen suggested wanting to break the sudden tension.
"Right." Kushina said. She tried to give them a smile even though it was fake. "Come on everyone, let me show you the way." She walked ahead with everyone following after her. She heard Naruto grumble something to himself but thanks to her enhanced hearing, she heard what he said clear as day.
"I can't believe I forgot where it is."
She couldn't help herself as she let out a small giggle at his words.
Once they disappeared from sight, Hiruzen and the others immediately went off to meet with Minato via Body Flicker, unaware that they were being from afar by a figure hiding in the shadows.
Konoha: The Academy
After a couple of minutes of walking down the mountain and taking a shortcut to the Academy, Kushina and her entourage now stood in front of the building. During this, nobody didn't say anything to each other even though Kushina wanted to talk to Naruto but she knew that he had nothing to say to her. So even if she did talk to him, he would just ignore her.
"Huh. So this is the Leaf Village's Ninja Academy." Zane observed. "Kinda small."
"And ordinary." Omochao chirped. Ethan nodded in agreement with what he said.
"Yeah, it kinda looks like an elementary school." Felicia said.
"What? Were you expecting something more?" Kushina asked in an amused tone. She had no idea what an elementary school was but didn't pay it no mind.
"After seeing the Sand and Cloud villages Academies? Kind of." Kia replied as she thought back on the academies they saw. The Academy at Sand was a tower and the one in Cloud took place inside a mountain. In a way, it shows how different each village operates. She definitely didn't want to go to the academy Zabuza went to and could already imagine the kind of place it was.
Kushina laughed a little from that. "Yeah, of course Ninja Academies in other villages would be different." She blinked when she saw Naruto was nowhere to be seen. She looked around and saw he was by the tree where the swing is at, staring at it in a daze.
Naruto continued to observe the swing set, his memories of coming here to play by himself making itself known. He placed his hands on the rope, feeling its roughness and could tell it aged well, especially since it could still hold the wooden plank. He moved his hand and placed it on the flat surface of the swing itself.
"Naruto?" Kushina called out to him as she tried to place her hand on his shoulder but he moved out of her reach and glared at her, looking as though he was going to strike her.
"Don't. Touch me." Naruto said coldly. He turned and walked to the Academy door, not caring for the hurt look she sent him as she followed him.
The others meanwhile just watched the interaction between mother and son.
"You guys think this might be a bad idea?" Omochao asked in a whispered tone. "Just being here is making Naruto go on edge as if he's expecting something to happen."
"I don't blame him. After learning about his past, it would make sense for him to react like that. That's what I want to say, but ever since we arrived, I had this strange feeling that we're being watched and Naruto probably realized this as well." Zane said, his eyes narrowed.
Felicia nodded in agreement, ears twitching towards a certain direction. "I know. Someone is definitely watching us right now."
"W-What should we do?" Ethan asked.
"For now, just stay alert." Kia told everyone, her eyes moving around. "I know this place may seem peaceful, but don't forget that this is still a ninja village. There's bound to be some hidden darkness lurking somewhere."
Everyone nodded at this and went to follow after Naruto and Kushina.
As they entered the Academy, they saw that hallways were completely empty as everyone was currently in class. Kushina was in the lead, though she kept glancing back at Naruto but looked away when he turned to her. She felt truly hurt that Naruto didn't want her to touch him but she was just concerned about him. And the way he moved…he acted like she was going to hit…
Oh right.
Last time they spoke, she smacked him across the face and yelled at him, not even caring for the scared and hurt look he gave her as she was too furious at what he did to Naruki. Her heartache at this. Because of what she did to him, he didn't want to have physical contact with her in any kind of form.
She will forever hate herself for reacting like that.
"This is it." Kushina said, standing in front of a door to class that was currently taking place.
"Isn't that…Iruka?" Naruto asked, hearing the voice of Minami and Naruki's teacher.
"Yes. Mika is in his class too." Kushina replied. She opened the door slightly to peek, seeing Mika in the middle row and was trying her hardest to stay awake. "Oh! There she is."
Naruto and the others peaked inside as well, seeing the little redheaded girl who looked just like Kushina trying and failing to stay awake. Naruto's eyes widened slightly when his…at seeing Mikazuki for the first time. So...that was her? Just like Ethan, she looked so sweet and innocent that it's a waste that she would actually go down the path of being a shinobi. That poor child had no idea what was in store for her once she wore that headband and it only made Naruto, Kia, Zane and Felicia angrier that she and all those other kids are going to learn that the hard way without their parents even telling them about it.
"She looks so sweet." Felicia commented.
"Yeah. She almost reminds me of Naruto for some reason." Kia said, giving Naruto a teasing look who looked amused by what she said.
"I doubt it."
"So what do we do now?" Zane asked.
"Let's just go in and say hi." Omochao said.
"No. I want this to be a surprise." Kushina told him, though if she were being honest with herself, she still couldn't get over the fact that she was talking to a living toy.
"Well, hello everyone." A familiar voice greeted everyone, making the sneaky group peek in once more to see Hiruzen there.
"L-Lord Third!?"
"Grampa!? What are you doing here!? I thought you were on a mission!" A young boy wearing a helmet, a long blue scarf and had a high ponytail exclaimed.
"I was. But I decided to drop by because I have a surprise for a certain someone in this room." Hiruzen said.
"Huh? For who?" Iruka asked.
"Why, for Mikazuki of course."
"W-What? A surprise for me!?" A now awoke and excited Mika asked. "What is it!?"
Well look at that. She sure got up in a hurry. Naruto thought in amusement.
"Come on down and I'll show you."
Mika ran down the aisle and stood next to Hiruzen, bouncing in place.
"First, close your eyes." Mika did as instructed using both her hands to cover them so she won't peek. Hiruzen then turned her around and had her facing the door. He faced the students. "Second, nobody, I repeat, nobody is allowed to say a word or even make a sound. Am I clear?"
"Yes si-" The same boy from earlier had his mouth covered by two other students that were sitting next to him.
Hiruzen nodded in appreciation at the two and turned to the door, looking at them peaking in as he nodded.
"Come on." Kushina said. She opened the door and the whole group walked in, bringing everyone's attention onto them.
The students and Iruka knew who Kushina was but they didn't know who the other kids were behind her. Kushina took her place next to Hiruzen while Kia and the others stood a few meters behind Naruto, who was in front of Mika. Naruto looked at Hiruzen and nodded at him.
"Okay Mika. You can open them now."
Mika uncovered her eyes and the moment she did, she saw someone was standing in front of her. She slowly looked up at the person but then widened her eyes as she saw him. The same shade of blue hair that she once saw was now cut short, the strange but also cool looking necklace was still hanging around his neck and his outfit had changed. But for her, it was the face that she was more familiar with. It was the pretty face that was even prettier than her mommy and big sisters.
The person smiled at her and went down to her eye level.
"Hi. Your name is Mikazuki, right?" Mika nodded her head at him. The boy pointed at himself. "Do you know who I am?"
She did. She knew exactly who he was, but no word answer came out of her mouth. She just stared at him with widened eyes and a slightly opened mouth, too stunned to even reply. Was…was this real? Was he really here? Was she not dreaming right now?
She looked back at Hiruzen and was shocked when she saw her mommy was there next to him, looking at her with a happy warm smile with tears gathering in her eyes. She motioned her head towards the boy, making Mika turn around to see him holding out a letter. The letter she wrote for…
"Onii-chan…?" Mika asked, grabbing her dress tightly as she could. Her cheeks turned red, her eyes glistened and her lips trembled.
The boy answered her question by giving her a big happy smile as he chuckled a little. "My name's Naruto! I heard you've been wanting to meet me for a while now. Nice to meet you, Mika."
Tears fell from her eyes and hit the floor as she continued to stare at him. He looked worried for a moment but was surprised when she immediately jumped him, wrapping her tiny arms around his neck and giving him the biggest hug she ever gave to anyone.
"NARUTO-NII!"
Naruto was stunned for a brief moment, not expecting her to hug him like this, let alone start crying at the sight of seeing him for the first time in her life. A gentle smile made its way on his face as he hugged the crying girl back, softly rubbing her hair, making her cry more.
Kia after wiping a tear from her eyes clapped her hands at the emotional scene that was happening in front of them. Zane joined in immediately, smiling at this well, followed by a crying Felicia, Ethan and Omochao. Hiruzen clapped his hands as well, a happy smile on his face joined by a crying Kushina. After that the whole class clapped their hands, all of them surprised to finally see Mikazuki's big brother for the very first time. Even Iruka was surprised to see Naruto after so long.
Up in his office, Minato, the Sannin and Shizune were watching the scene before their very eyes on the crystal ball Hiruzen provided for them to watch this very moment before he left to lend them a helping hand.
"How sweet." Shizune commented, smiling at the scene happening with Tonton squealing in agreement.
"Well, what do ya know? The kid may have an attitude, but he definitely has heart." Tsunade said, a small smile present.
Jiraiya looked at the crystal ball before turning to the stunned Minato, smiling at him. "You see kid? Naruto may have issues with you and the rest of the village but Mika? She's completely innocent. Brat knows it too and he doesn't have it in him to add her to it."
Minato didn't say anything as he continued to watch the scene on the crystal ball, his lips trembling slightly and tears in his eyes. The moment they returned to his office, Minato immediately asked them where Naruto and Kushina were. When Hiruzen told him, they left to go see Mika, he was about to head down there himself but Jiraiya stopped him.
Everyone then gave Minato the rundown of what happened. As he had expected, Naruto attacked Kushina the moment he saw and went on to attack anyone else who got in his way. But he never once attacked Hiruzen at all, despite him blocking his way to her, further showing how much Naruto could never attack those he's close with.
It broke his heart to hear that Naruto admit that he cut his ties to everyone in the village, them included, and that he didn't want anything to do with them. The fact that Naruto even tried to kill himself after the incident with Naruki, horrified him greatly and there was no doubt his wife felt the same way, maybe even more.
Minato had to agree with what Naruto said to them. They all broke him as a child. Because of that, whatever kind of love he once had for them and the village is long gone. His attack on Kushina was proof of that.
By the Sage, he was an awful father towards Naruto. The poor boy had every right to not want to be a part of the village and doesn't want them to be in his life anymore.
Still, he should at least be thankful that Naruto only came just to meet his baby sister. But just like Kushina, he would not give up. Even if it would take his entire lifetime, he would do whatever he can to earn Naruto's forgiveness.
"But how should I approach him?"
The question made him worried. He already knew that the moment he showed his face to Naruto, he would attack him without any hesitation at all and if they fought, from what he understood, this mysterious energy that Naruto has reacts to how emotional he gets. He can still control it to a certain extent from what Jiraiya and the others saw earlier, but if his emotions start going to the extreme, the energy will become active and start going chaotic.
He didn't even want to imagine what would happen if he ran into his big sisters. After all, they made things worse for him with the mocking and bullying they did on him. Even if he were to send ANBU, he would likely ignore them or downright attack him if they get on his nerves and his friends would join in.
Minato continued to watch the meeting between Naruto and Mika. Even though his little girl was crying, the truth was that she was incredibly happy to finally be meeting his big brother. Naruto himself looked surprised by Mika's action, but judging by how he smiled and how he returned his hug, Minato knew that Naruto was also happy by her reaction towards him.
The Fourth Hokage stood up from his seat, a determined expression on his face which caught everyone's attention. He will go meet his son, not as the Hokage but as a father.
"I'm going."
Author's Note: Well, here it is. Naruto has finally returned to the village and met young Mika. Not much to say about it except to say look forward to more drama in next chapter. R&R