Chapter 4

Previously…

"Very good Naruko - you're not wrong, but as you know we began as a Vigilante group, in fact it was through good deeds that I and my group gained importance amongst the people. It was then that we came to be named 'Vongola Famiglia' by the very people we had sworn to protect. It was also many years ago - four hundred to be exact - that I became known not as 'Giotto' but as 'Vongola Primo'." The tall blonde man at the opposite end of the table announced. He gently reached a long-fingered gloved hand to remove his mask and with a rush of golden-orange flames deep blue eyes stared back at her from a face that was remarkably similar to her own.

"Once upon a time I was also known under another name, perhaps one that you are more familiar with. My name is Ieyasu Sawada or Giotto to those that knew me best, but not to you Naruko. To you and in another life, my name is Minato Namikaze…and I am your Father."

The table sat in awkward silence as Primo's veritable 'bombshell' left them shifting uncomfortably.

Daniela rolled her eyes in Primo's direction at his knack for the dramatics. 'Way to go Giotto - you idiota, as usual you have the sensibility of a toddler!'

Naruko gaped open mouthed at the man's…no her Father's announcement and was inwardly sent reeling. Her Father. She knew it was the truth, her intuition didn't so much as twitch when he was speaking – but it didn't make the whole situation any less shocking. A flurry of questions ran through her mind, but Naruko forced herself to focus and hastily snapped her mouth. She closed her eyes and shakily inhaled, counted to two and exhaled. Her heart was thundering as she continued her breathing exercises. A slightly hysterical thought made her wonder if anyone could see her heart thrumming in her chest, in another, she was squealing internally because the frigging Yellow Flash was her Father!

'I need to calm the heck down… Breathe in, breathe out aaand repeat…'

The man known as Minato looked unaffected, but the clenched fists under the table and the twitch of his jaw as he ground his teeth were a dead giveaway. He anxiously waited for a response, this was the turning point that decided if they had any relationship in the future, but he would patiently wait for her to be a peace with it - he was in no rush after all, now the proverbial 'ball' was in her court.

'Perhaps I should have eased into the conversation a little more? Hmm… well I was never known for beating around the bush. Come to think of it Kushina did use to tell me I was 'as blunt as a battle-axe'…now I understand why she used to chuckle at me when I took it as a compliment,' Minato sighed. 'This really isn't the time for reminiscing. But she's taking this remarkably wel- is that an eyebrow twitch?'

Naruko's eyes snapped open. They were glowing like pools of molten lava as her Flames rose to calm her emotionally charged thoughts. The Vongola bosses had to raise an eyebrow. Flame resonance at this level was a rare thing to come by indeed. How old was she again...? Timoteo in particular was shocked and for the first time in a long time a glimmer of hope shone through the despair. The rest exchanged smirks, after all, how often does a diamond in the rough literally just fall into your lap?

"You're The Forth Hokage." It was a statement not a question Minato noted as he mutely nodded his head to her question.

"Also known as the apprentice of Jiraya of the Sannin, Seal Master, Yellow Flash and the fastest man on the planet due to his creation of the Hiraishin." Again, he nodded. "…and also my Father who 'died' on the day of my birth?"

Minato winced at the expressionless tone she held but looked to be carefully considering his answer before he hesitantly replied, "That would be a…vague perception of me, but essentially yes, from what you and everyone in the world of shinobi knew – I died the night you were born - ."

"- Then WHY? WHY are you just sat there?!" She spat furiously, her calm façade shattering for a split second. She quickly began calming her breathing once again, good things had never come from her getting angry and Naruko could feel her power pulsing beneath her skin, just waiting for her call. "Explain… please!" Her expression turned pained, and she clutched at the front of her clothes above her heart and though her eyes were still amber, they now pooled with unshed tears.

Minato's breath caught. She had every right to be angry of course but seeing her pain, hearing it, made his heart stutter and break a little more. He stood suddenly from his chair and despite it being made of solid wood it was noisily upended as it smacked against the floor, but he ignored it in favour of approaching Naruko. Unable to bear the distance any longer (any distance for that matter); he too had tears in his eyes, but his gait was steady as he made his way around the table to his once-lost daughter. He stooped to pick up the little blonde and carried her closer to the warmth of the fire. He was shocked and disappointed at how light she felt in his arms, a dark look flitted across his features and disappeared as he set her gently down on the furry rug. He reluctantly pulled away from her instinctively knowing she needed the space but was pleased she didn't shy away from him.

From the shortened distance he could see the slight freckles on her nose and the little speckles of silver in her irises something she no doubt inherited from him. Her large eyes and full lips were most definitely from Kushina and Minato marvelled at his beautiful daughter, inhaling her appearance like a man dying of thirst. She was the perfect blend of them both melded into one tiny, tiny body. He also took note of her worn clothing and lack of footwear and found himself once more cursing those that swore to protect his daughter should he have failed.

He could feel her agitated Flames from where he was knelt on the soft rug near the hearth and decided he needed to set her mind at ease.

"You of all people do not need to beg, Naruko. I will tell you of the events of that night and my theory on how I came to be here. I hope…in doing so will help towards earning your trust – I owe you that much." He said sincerely. "I know right now we are strangers to one another, but I had hoped to rectify that as well…" He watched her hang off his every word and smiled softly, as her pleading expression remained.

"…but first…let's do away with the peanut gallery," he said cheekily with a glint in his eye, aware of the eavesdroppers nearby and snapped his fingers - ignoring the indignant squawks from table behind him as the room shifted at will. "There. That's better."

The large, cathedral-like room disappeared along with the table and its occupants, instead changing into a traditional Japanese house complete with sliding doors, tatami flooring and ornate circular windows.

Naruko looked around the new room, still sat on the rug that was transported with them. While it had none of the luxury the hall before it had, it felt spacious and homey; loved. She took a moment to bathe in the feeling, letting it sink into her pores.

A warm breeze drifted through the room ruffling her hair slightly from an opening in the sliding doors to, what she assumed was the outside. Her curiosity piqued, she stood from the fluffy rug and padded across the room. She gripped then pushed the sliding door to the left, opening it further, and gasped as she looked outside.

"Your mother's pride and joy." Minato said suddenly from behind her, answering her unasked question.

"Where is this? Where are we?" Naruko questioned.

Minato smiled sadly and said, "This was our house, your Mother's and mine and where you should have grown up from the beginning…You know, Kushina, your mother, would work on the garden in-between her training and missions. And when she became pregnant with you, it became a place of reflection for her, I think."

Naruko looked out onto the scene in front of her in child-like wonderment. The idyllic landscape was greener than anything she had ever seen before - even in picture books. Soft looking grass rose and fell in gentle slopes and encompassed a footpath of white sand that had been meticulously combed into lines like that of Zen gardens. The path wound its way languidly up to a traditional Japanese wooden bridge, which was overlooking a stream filled with fat, lazy-looking Koi fish that occasionally breached the ponds surface to catch more food. Dragonflies hummed to and fro in the bulrushes that stooped and swayed at the waters edge in the slight breeze.

A knocking sound drew Naruko's attention to a bamboo water feature that once full, would lightly flip and empty itself into the large pool below to be filled all over again. Perfume permeated the air from the beautiful Peony bushes near to the decking which surround the house. The clouds of pink and white sat suspended like nature's edition of candy floss and looked good enough to eat.

Swifts and swallows danced amongst the cherry blossom petals that drifted on the wind and came to settle in little rock pools where they playfully splashed water and spruced their feathers.

"It's peaceful here…but it's not real is it?" Naruko asked softly as she crouched and lightly stroked the green leaf of a Bonsai tree that had been thoughtfully positioned on the decking. She watched a large green toad sunbathe on one of the many mossy mounds while resting her head on her knees.

"No…this is just a memory of it…quite a good memory I feel, but a memory nonetheless."

'I knew it. But I still would have given anything to visit even this memory, just once.' Naruko thought sadly as she wrapped her arms around her legs, unknowingly making her malnourishment more apparent to her companion. It was quite painful for the young girl, knowing what could have been – of course she'd dreamt of a home – of family, before, a place where just saying those two things were the most natural things in the world. But seeing even just a sample of it reminded her of the hollow aching in her heart that she's grown up with instead as she sighed mournfully.

Minato noticed the downturn of her mood. 'Kushina would be rolling in her grave at how our Naruko has been treated up until now. She has suffered more than I can possibly guess; an explanation is the least I can offer.' Thought Minato and cleared his throat to get Naruko's attention.

"I would like to tell you all that I know of the events that led up to that night - that to you, was nearly five years ago, " he began. "I am telling you this both because you are clearly very mature for your age, Naruko, and because you deserve an explanation."

Naruko had turned to face him and was sat cross legged next to the Bonsai tree with rapt attention.

Minato remained standing and leant on the door frame as he began recounting his tale.

"The day we found out Kushina was pregnant was the happiest day our lives... I remember going to work as normal and settling in to the usual tower of paperwork. It couldn't have been any later than nine 9 o'clock in the morning when Kushina burst into my office – nearly breaking the doors down I might add." He chuckled and looked out wistfully into the garden. "She was so eager to tell me the news she'd forgotten both to change out of her overly cute fox print pyjamas and that I was at the same time, in a meeting, much to amusement of the village clan heads. She was so embarrassed that she vanished in a shunshin before I could say a word in response and left me gaping like a fish." He ran his fingers through his bright blonde hair as a soft look came upon his face. "Needless to say, I called an end to the meeting and delegated as much of the paperwork to my secretary as was safe – she was a rather, ah… testy woman – and took the remainder of the day off work. We sat for hours throwing possible baby names back and forth between us in this very garden."

"In the end, Jiraya was the one to name you…Godfather's privilege he told us - personally I think he was sick of the bickering." He grinned, eyes alight with mischief. "'Naruto' was the choice for a boy's name and 'Naruko' should we have a girl. I think the name suits you well, it means Whirlpool or Maelstrom." The corner of his eyes crinkling slightly as he smiled gently as he noticed the tear that escaped her eye. "He wrote a book you know, your Godfather. 'Tales of a –"

"- of a Gutsy Ninja?" Finished Naruko wiping her eyes of any evidence and Minato's eyebrows raised in surprise. "I-it's one of my favourite books. I liked the way it was written, and I liked how similar the main character's name was to my own - I didn't know who wrote it though but it has a - flair? - to it I suppose. I'm glad I kept it in my safe place." Naruko said smiling slightly.

Something in Minato's gaze sharpened at her words and gazed at her questioningly. 'Safe place?' he thought.

"Please, c-can you continue with the story?" Naruko pleaded aware of the questions he was no doubt itching to ask.

Noting that she wasn't going to say anything further, he continued. "Unfortunately because your mother…had sealed within her…a tenant – so to speak, extra precautions needed to be made and though the pregnancy continued without any hiccups, there was need to keep it secret until you were born safely."

Naruko paused to fill in the gaps in the story and then huffed. "If you're talking about the Kyuubi, then I know about that as well…"

Minato opened and closed his mouth several times while sliding down the door frame until his bottom hit the floor. Naruko giggled at his expression and reached over to push his comically hanging jaw back into place with a click.

"H-how? How do you know about the fox?" Minato stuttered as he shook himself out of his stupor.

Naruko's expression faltered somewhat and as she let her hand fall back into her lap softly. "I just… figured it out." She shrugged, not lying exactly but also not wanting to say anymore on the subject.

Minato stared at his daughter and took note of the standoffish behaviour before filing it in the ever-growing Mysteries-of-Naruko file and continuing.

"A-anyway, the pregnancy was known only to a few individuals, those of which I had hand-picked myself. It was known only to Kakashi (my kohai), Biwako and Hiruzen Sarutobi – ."

"- Hiruzen-jii?' Naruko interrupted, perking up at the familiar name.

"Jii?" He asked in amusement at the casual title and nodded. "Yes, old man Hiruzen agreed to help oversee the village when Kushina went into labour and his wife Biwako assisted Kushina with the birth. Ordinarily, I would have taken this role, but I needed to monitor Kushina's Seal very closely." He sighed again. "We thought it was all planned perfectly, in our minds, we had accounted for every possible outcome" Here, Naruko noted all traces of humour had left him. "…In our complacency we lost everything."

"The night your mother went into labour replays in mind near constantly." He continued with a haunted look in his eyes. "The thing you must know is that during birth, the Seal of a Jinchuuriki is at its weakest – which is why I needed to supervise and keep an eye out for even the slightest twitch within the Seal, for this could result in the Kyuubi being released…" He sighed heavily, running a now shaking hand through his blonde mane.

'Must a quirk of his.' Naruko thought. Keeping quiet, she carefully shifted closer - not wanting to divert the man who look to be reliving a nightmare (she didn't want him to have to repeat this after all).

"But we failed. I failed…I was distracted when you were finally born – what Father wouldn't be? - My attention was torn between you and the Seal. It was in that moment when the attacker struck. In what seemed like an instant, Biwako was killed and you were in the arms of the one that did the deed, a man with a swirling orange mask with just a single eye-hole. I remember the Kyuubi's Seal pulsing beneath my fingers on Kushina's stomach…It was as if this man's presence had caused the Nine Tails to react…I can remember Kushina shouting at the masked man, as exhausted as she was, to let you go. After that…everything was a blur…the masked man had wanted to remove me from Kushina's side. I can remember the grip Kushina had on my wrist, right up until the masked man threw you in the air forcing me to 'Flash' in order to catch you. I then realised he had placed enough explosive Seals on the blanket you were swaddled in to level a house, but I managed to Flash the blanket away from us moment before the explosion. The man used the second I was away from your mother to forcefully open the Kyuubi's Seal on her stomach...with the Sharingan that I now saw was glowing through the eye hole of his disguise."

Minato scrubbed a hand over his face in frustration. "I knew by then it was too late to stop the Kyuubi from being freed. Your mother shouted to me to get you to safety, so I Flashed back to this very house and the nursery we had made for you and settled you into your crib, right before I – and the rest of the village – heard the howl of the Nine Tails."

"I knew I had to do something, so once I was sure you were safe, I flashed to where the Nine Tails was rampaging through the Village, I noticed it's eyes were not ablaze in anger - though it's teeth were bared – but were a glassy mirror of the Sharingan whose control it was under. I realised then that I had to get the Nine Tails out of the Village as it wasn't in control of its own actions. It took… a lot of Chakra, but I managed to Flash both myself and the Nine Tails far enough away from the Village to give me some thinking time. By the time I had come to a decision both Kushina and Hiruzen had joined me. You mother pitched a fit once I told her my plan but Hiruzen, having seen Biwako's body volunteered to shoulder the burden. He was old he said, and his children grown but with Biwako gone…he'd lost his light. At that moment he seemed so much older than the strong predecessor I had come to know, and I couldn't say anything to convince him otherwise." Minato frowned as he relived the memory.

"What did you plan? What was it that Hiruzen-jii agreed to do?" Naruko asked as she searched her father's now weary face.

"…It is called the Shinigami Reaper Death Seal. It is a complex Seal which was created for when there is no other alternative as it is unstoppable and irreversible. The Shinigami himself Seals whatever the creator wishes to Seal, the price however, …is that the user's own life is forfeit into its stomach for all eternity." Naruko gasped in shock as she took in this new piece of information. 'Jiji was going to die in order to Seal the Kyuubi?!'

Following her line of thinking Minato nodded seriously, "Yes, it was drastic, but the situation warranted as much. The Kyuubi was to be re-sealed, however it couldn't be Sealed into your mother again. I believe the only reason your mother survived having the Kyuubi forcefully removed was due to her Uzumaki heritage. They were known for their oceans of Chakra and incredible life force, it was said that only an Uzumaki could withstand the malicious Chakra of the strongest Bijou, the Nine Tailed Fox, and become its container. Therefore-"

"-you needed me." Naruko finished her mind whirring away full speed. Uzumaki. Seals. Death God. 'I think I'm getting a headache.' She thought rubbing her temples.

"Yes." Minato said sadly. "You were our only remaining option…" He closed his eyes as he replayed Kushina's and his own words from that night.

"But Minato, she will be shunned, hated – people in general will never accept her-!" Kushina wailed for her daughter's future.

"It'll be okay love, she's strong… because she's our daughter and besides we'll be right there beside her. We'll keep her safe and we'll keep it secret!"

Opening his eyes once again and coming back to the present, he gazed into the blue eyes of his daughter with sorrow and longing as Naruko too took a sharp breath in. 'Oh how we failed her…'

"S-so then, why did you use this Reaper Seal instead? At least, I assume it was either mother or you as Hiruzen-Jiji still lives and I have the Nine Tails." Wanting to get the full story, before she could tackle the emotional roller coaster roiling between them as she blinked furiously to clear her eyes and if Minato noticed her teary eyes, he didn't say anything for which Naruko was grateful.

"You're right, in the end I was the one to use the Reaper Seal. Our plans were yet again laid to waste when the masked man attacked once more. Just as Hiruzen was about to complete the Seal, he was caught unprepared and struck from behind. He landed some distance away but was close enough for the Kyuubi to try and strike at him – the masked man had effectively removed him from the battle. In the meantime whilst Hiruzen was fighting off the Kyuubi, I had brought you closer to be ready for the Sealing and had to engage the masked man in battle while your mother guarded you. I knew I needed to act quickly but the masked man knew my fighting style better than any opponent I had ever faced and knew how to draw out the fight. As I used the Flash, he used a strange teleportation jutsu to counteract and anticipate my moves. I managed to surprise him and attach my Flash Seal onto a Kunai I has thrown. I landed a solid blow with my Rasengan from behind him and disguised a Flash Seal underneath it onto his back. He backed off so I used the Hiraishin once more to get close and remove his control of Kyuubi, after which he must have taken on too much damage and decide to cut his losses, as he had escaped."

Minato exhaled wearily. "The next set of events probably took less to time than it will for me to explain it…but then again I've had a lot of time to mull it all over. The Kyuubi – now completely freed – tried to make a getaway. I could have let it go, but the idea that some other village could use that power against us should they get their hands on it…no, I knew I had to Seal it. Hiruzen hadn't returned and time had also escaped us. Kushina realised this as well as she used her special Uzumaki chakra chains to encase the Nine Tails so it couldn't move, this I later realised was her life force as her chakra was so depleted already. She asked me to use her instead for the Seal…so that I might live alongside you…she understood that she was already on borrowed time." Tears slid down his chiselled features, but he managed to choke out the remainder of the tale. "I made to Seal the harmful half of the Kyuubi's chakra using the Reaper Seal – this would help you to control the power in the future. The Nine Tails grew desperate and fought against its bindings viciously, having noticed what we were trying to do, attacked you with its claws. Both your mother and I leapt between you and the attack. We were pinned now with the Nine Tail's claw, we knew at that point we wouldn't be able to leave with you... You were watching us silently…as if you knew what was going to happen. We had to say our goodbyes, well…your motor-mouthed mother did enough for the both of us and I Sealed the harmful Kyuubi Chakra using the Reaper Seal and a little of my own and your mother's chakra with the remainder of the Kyuubi's chakra into the Seal that is on your stomach. After that I knew no more of Konoha." He finished gathering himself.

"So, that's what happened…" Naruko sniffed, drying her face. 'They didn't abandon me after all…'

Minato kept silent as he watched her process everything he said.

"...What did you mean before, by 'that to me – was nearly 5 years ago'? Does it have to with the fact you don't look a day over 30?" Naruko asked suddenly.

"You caught that huh? My little girl is so smart!" He said proudly and Naruko blushed shyly at the compliment. "There's another story there too. One that I'm, once again, not proud of - But before I get into that I would like to hear yours."

Naruko looked deeply into Minato's eyes and decided she did indeed want trust him, to share everything with him at last. She took a deep fortifying breath and began telling her side of the story.