A/N: I do not own the anime series Naruto. Naruto is the work of Masashi Kishimoto!

Chapter 2.

In a world where the strong preys on the weak, there were sanctuaries called hidden shinobi villages that would protect its ninjas, as long as the ninja had the right allegiances with the village he was staying on.

However, the most important person in the world, one the world should be protecting, cherishing, and praising, was currently being chased by several ill-willed civilians.

Under the blazing sun, a boy with red hair gasped for air as he ran till both his legs were on fire. Sweat poured out of him like he was ice melting under the sun. His previous healthy skin was now pale from exhaustion.

He had ran all the way from one side of the village to the other, so it was understandable that he would be exhausted. It wouldn't be weird if his body failed and he died from all that running, but this boy was no ordinary boy. Then again, no ordinary boy would be forced to run so much!

"He's getting tired! Just chase after him for a while longer and we can catch him!"

One man said while holding a tool used for cooking. The tool should be used inside the house, to slice vegetables and cut meat, but right now he was holding it in his hand with the intention to kill.

No one knows how a civilian could run so much, but that wasn't important right now. What was important was that he wasn't the only one holding deadly weapons, as behind him were numerous other vengeful civilians holding various dangerous objects.

"P-please! Why are you running after me?! At least put the knife down!"

The red haired boy cried but the civilians turned a deaf ear to his pleads.

"Someone! Help me! Please!"

The red haired boy turned towards the by-standers but he got the same response. It was as if they didn't care that he was being chased by dozens of civilians and that would die if those civilians caught up to him.

Gritting his teeth in fear and frustration, he turned and ran into an alley he recognized. It was an alley where he used to play when he was three years old.

One time, he got lost in the village when the orphanage was taking the kids out on a tour, and he found this alleyway to be interesting so he entered it. To his disappointment, the alleyway was a dead end.

The alleyway was a dead end!

The red haired boy paled when he realized his mistake. His head swung from one direction to the other, trying to find somewhere to hide but he found none.

"O-oh no! They're gonna catch me! I gotta get out of here!"

Panicking, the boy tried to exit the alleyway. But as he neared the exit, he came to a screeching halt and slowly backed away. The civilians had already caught up to him and were blocking the alleyway.

"Hahaha! The demon is finally cornered! Now, let's get rid of this demon and celebrate its death!"

The man holding a kitchen knife yelled at his companions and raised his knife high in the air.

"YEAH!"

Behind him were other civilians who wanted to kill the boy and also cheered, raising their weapons high in the air.

"N-no! What did I ever do to you?!"

Naruto was scared, but for some reason he was getting angrier as time went on. It felt like there was a volcano inside him, bidding it's time and waiting to erupt.

"What?! You ask WHAT YOU DID?! You destroyed the village! You killed our families! What else do you want us to tell you?!"

The man with the kitchen knife roared, but he was shedding tears when he remembered his dead family. His family was killed during the attack of the nine-tailed fox. He had drunk himself to sleep that day, and he even thought that he had drunk enough alcohol to kill himself, but he didn't care and kept drinking. In the end, he was hospitalized after falling down the stairs.

"I-I didn't do that! It wasn't me! I'm a good boy, I promise! I never killed anyone! Please… please stop!"

Naruto too started to cry, but his tears were different. His tears were the result of his fear and rage. Then, before the man could react, Naruto's pupils turned red, and red chakra covered his stomach, then his shoulder, legs, and finally the red chakra covered his hands, face, and feet.

It only took a moment before Naruto was shrouded by bubbling red chakra.

"W-what! Demon! Kill the demon now!"

The man then charged at Naruto, but he could only take three steps before he paled. There was a chakra chain pinning him to the ground, making movement impossible.

"A-AAHH! DEMON! THE DEMON IS BACK!"

The civilians screamed in terror, while the one who got caught in Naruto's chakra chains was praying to the gods if they existed, and was preparing himself to meet his wife and two sons.

Meanwhile, Naruto couldn't hear anything the civilians were saying. He felt warm inside the chakra cloak. It felt like he was in his parent's embrace. Like they were hugging him right this moment. He knew it wasn't true, but he wanted to believe it was.

"Father…"

Naruto murmured as he closed his eyes. His eyes let out one final tear before he fell unconscious. After a few seconds, several ANBU jumped down and took him to the hokage tower.

–Inside Naruto's mind.

Minato and Naruto stared at each other for a long time, both having different thoughts. Naruto was wondering who the hell Minato was and why he wassuddenly in front of him, while Minato was thinking about how Naruto resembled his mother, Kushina Uzumaki, so much.

"Who are you?"

After a solid five minutes of staring at each other's eyes, Naruto broke the ice and asked an important question.

Minato blinked and remembered why they were here in the first place. He smiled and patted Naruto's head, to which Naruto flinched but he allowed Minato to pat him on the head. For some odd reason, he trusted the man with blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Hello, Naruto. How are you?"

Hearing Minato's words, Naruto's eyes widened. How did the man know his name?

"How do you know…?"

"How do I know your name? That's simple, it's because I was the one who named you, Naruto, my son."

Minato smiled at Naruto, whose eyes were wide open and jaws dropped, and hugged him. He wanted to hug Naruto ever since he heard Kurama say that the villagers were chasing after him, but opening the seal safely took a bit of time and Naruto was almost assaulted by the civilians,

Naruto would've been injured and traumatized by the event, making Minato thank his lucky stars that he sealed some of his chakra into Naruto's mind and made friends with the nine-tailed fox in the process.

"You're… my father?"

Naruto asked, this time his eyes were moist and his body was trembling. He wondered who his parents were ever since he could remember, and when he was being chased by those scary people a moment ago, he desperately prayed that his parents would come and save him. Now, his wishes had come true, and his father was standing before him.

"Yes, I am your father, Naruto. My name is Minato. Minato Senju. Let's go there, shall we? We're going to have a long talk."

Minato said gently. He didn't want to startle Naruto by letting him see Kurama on his first day, and Kurama felt the same so they planned to talk over to a small pond near the forest.

Naruto's mindscape was a giant forest, with ponds, rivers, and waterfalls scattered around. In the middle of the forest was a massive clearing and in the middle was a giant cage. Well, that was in the past, and the cage was now gone. It was replaced by a massive tree with varieties of flowers around it. It was a magical sight, especially with the butterflies and foxes resting and playing around the area.

Kurama was resting on top of one of the branches of the giant tree. Right now, he the size of a human after he asked Minato to use the transformation jutsu on him. Minato couldn't use the transformation jutsu on Kurama, given his size, but he was able to use a seal that resized Kurama to the size of a healthy adult male.

Back with Naruto and Minato. Naruto was listening to Minato as Minato told Naruto stories about Kushina when they were young. As the conversation dragged on, Minato noticed that Naruto was an excellent listener and seemed smart too. He was pleasantly surprised since he thought Naruto would also have Kushina's attitude, but it seemed that Naruto inherited his mind from his father.

"So, Naruto, how is your life in the village? Were they good to you?"

Minato asked the question again. He had been purposefully avoiding the topic, but he knew he couldn't evade it forever. It was better to figure things out now than later.

"That… earlier, some mean people chased after me. All of them were holding knives and pipes! They were all mean and scary!"

Naruto said to his father. You could almost hear a pout in his voice, as he was complaining why Minato didn't come earlier to save him. Minato couldn't help but sweat drop at this.

'Ha-ha, so he has some of his mother's attitude after all… Better be careful in the future, I don't want to be remembered as the father who got beaten up by his own son.'

"Naruto, listen closely. I will tell you why those villagers were chasing after you, but you have to make sure not to tell anyone that I was the one who told you, okay?"

Minato seriously warned his son, as he figured that Naruto should know the heavy burden inside him as early as possible. He didn't have to worry about Naruto accidentally telling someone of the secret, as he would be inside Naruto's mind all day monitoring his son, but he still wanted to tell Naruto to be careful.

"Okay, I promise, dad."

A/N: For those who asked if Naruto would be on any teams, the answer is: Wait and see~! I will be spoiling the story if I tell you what will happen on the future and how Naruto will grow up, so wait for the story to progress so we can enjoy it until the end~! ^_^