Hi again! I hope you enjoy this one too!
"M-My lord! My lord!" Iruka exclaimed, scrambling quickly, albeit respectfully, to open the door to the Namikaze home's library. Once opened he took a moment to breathe heavily, though it sounded less like breathing and more like angry whistles. His tail thumping wildly on the floor also communicated his current state in a way the immobile kitsune ears on the top of his head could not. Once he had clearly gotten enough control to not shout disrespectfully, he proceeded to shout, "Naruto-sama has done it again! He has defaced your statue in the garden!"
Minato sighed and put down his book. He almost didn't want to get up and face his child given what they needed to talk about. He had hoped to finish his book and be in a calm, collected, good mood before having his ear drums blown out. But only cowards fear confronting their children, he realized a bit sadly.
"Very well. Lead me to him," he ordered, standing up. The guard bowed.
"Yes my lord! Right this way."
His son was hardly hard to find of course. Stealth had never been the boy's strength. Before Iruka even opened the door leading to the backyard, Minato could tell where his son was. The fuzzy orange blur on top of a tall object was a dead giveaway.
So upon Iruka opening the door, he could see Naruto sitting on top of the paint-covered statue of him, laughing like there was no tomorrow. Small, triangular golden blond fox ears and a long, golden yellow, white-tipped tail twitched excitedly as his mischief-filled blue eyes scanned the perimeter.
"This ought to call the old man out. Mom gave him this statue so he has to fight me now! Hehehe!" He snickered. Minato for his part, kept his face neutral with an inordinate amount of self-restraint. Despite the terribly overwhelming urge to sigh and turn back around and just let Iruka handle this, he reminded himself it wouldn't be proper form. Because he had news to deliver and the more he delayed in delivering it, the more excitable Naruto would become.
Once his son's eyes finally landed on him, they brightened with simultaneous joy and battle lust. He stood up tall and waved his arms.
"Hey! Hey dad! Look! Like what I did to mom's gift?!" He taunted. It was Iruka though, who reacted first. The guardian straightened his posture and showed his pointed teeth which was only a precursor to the giant, slightly terrifying, all-red head that appeared before both father and son.
"NARUTO-SAMAAAA! How could you?! Why can't you show some respect-" the guardian was cut off by Minato stepping forward and holding his hand up. He looked over the statue. Once a proud-looking depiction of himself, a lovely gift from his late mate, now an embarrassing picture. There were silly spirals and dripping skulls all over his clothes and on his face was white paint with red dots on the cheeks and on the eyes and even his mouth was red with crazy teeth and...was that a bow in his hair? The acrid scent of paint told him that this wasn't an illusion. Naruto really did deface his statue.
Minato didn't feel anger at the sight of it, as he was sure Naruto was intending. But he didn't feel any humor, either. Instead he felt more annoyed than he would've otherwise. If he didn't have a grave situation on his hands, he would've felt different, but now he just sees Naruto's acting out for attention as worrisome. This was not the time to relearn just how provocative Naruto can be. He looked at his child with an exasperated look which Naruto returned with a grin.
"Naruto what do you think you're doing?"
"Pulling a prank," Naruto simply answered, his tail almost lazily swishing about behind him as he hopped down from the statue. The difference was almost immediate. On top of the statue, Naruto looked almost intimidating. Despite his silly antics, when he stands on top of a 3.6 meter tall rock, and stares down at his opponent with that fangy grin that screamed his intention for a fight, it was difficult not to take him seriously.
But at ground level, Naruto barely came up to the mid-thigh of the thing. This diminished the threatening look quite a bit, but Minato wasn't going to point it out.
"A prank is one thing but this is not a simple trick you little brat! You defaced the statue of your honorable father! What drove you to do such a heinous thing?!"
Naruto rolled his eyes and flipped off Iruka. "I'm grown now I don't have to answer to you anymore!"
"Naruto," Minato quietly warned. 'Grown' was putting it mildly. Naruto was more than old enough to claim his own lands, but still too young to consume alcohol. He then turned to his sputtering guard.
"You are on front door guard duty now aren't you? Why don't you return to your post Iruka. I'll handle Naruto."
Iruka looked like he wanted to argue but decided against it. With one last glare at Naruto, he left. Minato turned to see his son grinning at him. He can't help but guiltily wonder if maybe he had spoiled his son a little too much. A long time ago, Naruto wouldn't have dared speak to Iruka in such a manner. It made him wonder then how much Naruto truly adored the man who practically helped raised him if he could act so disrespectfully with no remorse.
"This offends you doesn't it? Makes you want to fight me huh? Well come on old man I've learned a few new tricks since our last scuffle," Naruto boasted, falling into a fighting position. His lone tail stood up for a second before 3 other beautiful appendages fanned out from behind. Now with all four of his tails out, he really looked ready for a show down. Minato sighed and put his hand on his forehead.
"Is that what this is about? Another plea for a fight?" He asked, even though he already knew the answer. But old habits die hard and one of his favorite old habits was always giving Naruto a chance to back away before he made another stupid mistake. Naruto frowned and crossed his arms.
"Well yeah! You've been ignoring me for this past month dad. I had to get your attention somehow!" Naruto shouted. A pout formed on his face and his ears flattened back on his head when he pointed out his father's lack of attention to him. If there was one thing the heir of the Namikaze loved, it was attention. Being ignored by anyone was completely unacceptable in his eyes—especially being ignored by his father. Minato knew this very well and sheepishly smiled in apology.
"Sorry Naruto. I didn't want to blow you off. But to be honest, something has come up involving you and I've spent the past several weeks dealing with it."
"Really?" Naruto blinked, before slowly bringing his hands behind his back. He then looked weary. "Why don't you tell me what it is before I admit to anything."
Minato forced himself to laugh. "Naruto it isn't something you did!" He also forced himself not to ask what Naruto may have done that he would 'admit to'. "It's actually pretty…good in a long run. How would you like to help bring two clans together at last?"
"Bring two clans together? Is this peace treaty training?" Naruto asked, tilting his head in confusion. Minato coughed into his hand.
"No…not exactly. More like…You're not in love with anyone right now are you?"
Naruto's eyes went wide and a blush settled prominently on his tan cheeks before he took a small step back. He then tried to hide his surprise by squinting his eyes and crossing arms again, but the fact that he wouldn't face Minato and still had the blush were all too telling. His son was too easy to read sometimes.
"I-I told you already! I have to focus on becoming the next great legend so I don't have time for love and all that…"
"But?" Minato asked, for he knew it was coming.
"But…I mean I guess once that's all done and out of the way…maybe I could give courting Sakura-chan a try! She's been looking pretty cute lately," Naruto grinned, rubbing his chin in thought. Minato gulped. He wasn't blind to his son often talking to, talking about, and staring at the pink maneki neko—tail-less cat—who came around here often enough. Intelligent and sweet and even feisty and headstrong…she's good enough, Minato knew.
But she wasn't great enough. Not enough to get out of this one.
It stands to question that if Naruto really wanted this woman why did he wait until now to explicitly express his interest, but the answer was ultimately irrelevant. The deed has been done and Minato was honestly glad he made it this far in the conversation without a fight. Now he had to see it all the way through. It wasn't that he was afraid of his child. Despite his constant challenges and his large bravado, his son was still too young and inexperienced to get the best of him. But his son was also a lot like his mother, right down to the hot temperament and stubbornness.
"Well I hope you understand then that physical looks aren't everything. Sakura-san is that girl from the Haruno family isn't she? Since that family doesn't have much in terms of er…power, there wouldn't be too much pride in marking her. But this clan Naruto, oh boy are they strong!"
Naruto frowned. "'Marking'…?" Minato could practically see when Naruto connected the dots. His eyes steeled into an icy blue as he glared coldly at his father. "Father what did you do?"
Minato winced. Naruto usually strayed away from polite terms such as 'father' when referring to Minato. The fact that he used it now showed he was pissed. Oh boy. Here comes Kushina's legendary temper. He sighed heavily.
"Listen Naruto. You know things between us and the Kitsune Clan have been strained ever since your mother died. This is the perfect chance for us to patch things up. Now I know you've never met him, but the heir is quite powerful and-"
"I DON'T CARE!" Naruto shouted, fangs bared and tails bristling angrily. "How could you do this to me?! Are you mad—You just said we would take a break from all this stupid suitor stuff!? And the Kitsune?! Are you even my father?!"
"Naruto don't be so overdramatic! 'Just' does not mean 4 weeks ago. What I just told you now, is he is powerful and we need to take advantage-"
"I DON'T GIVE A SHIT HOW POWERFUL HE IS! I'm powerful too AND I keep growing stronger and stronger by the day! I don't need power from that clan," Naruto sneered, his nose scrunching up in in disgust. "If they want to improve relations then they should've started trying 500 years ago! They're going to try and give me a mate instead of an apology?! Did you really sit there and entertain them with the idea of a courtship?!"
Minato was quiet for a few seconds, letting Naruto get all of his anger out. He knew this was coming and he knew Naruto was going to bring up some valid things to be angry about. He also knew that he didn't really have an answer for why after centuries of blame and furious silence caused by Kushina's untimely death, this mating deal suddenly rings up.
But he refused to get emotional about it. There was some logic behind why Minato ultimately agreed to this in the end.
Minato stood tall with his hands behind his back and quietly said, "I knew this would upset you Naruto but…I'm sorry but the deal's already been done. You may not understand this right now but you need to court Daitaru-sama's son and…unless all parties, myself and Daitaru-sama included, are in agreement, see it through to the very end. You will."
That cool blue of Naruto's eyes, so much like his own, slowly bled away and a dangerous scarlet color took its place. His son's claws lengthened slightly, posed and ready to strike.
"I don't want a mate from them," Naruto snarled. Minato tensed, but he kept his hands behind his back.
"You have to enter the courtship. I'm sorry Naruto but it's for the best," Minato said firmly. Naruto let out a roar and charged. Predicting this, Minato dodged his furious son's attempts to rearrange his face.
"FUCK YOU! I'm not getting involved in this bullshit again!" Naruto screamed. He hops back a few feet and then launches himself forward, maneuvering like he was going to kick Minato in the side only to disappear at the last second and for another Naruto to appear to throw a punch at his chest. Minato had no choice but to catch the fist. His eyes widened in amazement at the the trickery used. It appeared Naruto wasn't lying when he spoke about picking up new things.
"GRRRR you…!" Naruto grunted, pressing his fist as hard as he could against Minato's hand. He pulled back just briefly to throw another punch but Minato was fast enough to catch that fist too and he wasn't letting go.
"I see you have improved," he pointed out. A little praise went a long way when it came to his son and he hoped his genuine words would calm him down a little. Instead, a wicked leer appeared on Naruto's face and his red eyes only seemed to brighten more.
"Yeah? You think so? Then maybe you'll allow me to take charge. Maybe you'll trust me more to make my own decisions! Maybe you'll leave ME alone and YOU can fucking mate with him and use his power huh? You were so keen to hand mom over to them like she was nothing so why not give yourself up first!"
At that sentence, Minato immediately lost all of his patience. His chakra flared like an ice-cold vortex within in and his vision turned red. With a loud growl he swiftly let go of Naruto's hands and backhanded him before he could even react. Naruto flew across the yard before slamming roughly into the ground and shoving up against and partially breaking the wooden stairs leading to the house. He let out a quiet groan and tried to get up but his attempt was futile as Minato in the next second was on top of him, harshly grabbing his neck and shoving his face into the ground. Naruto growled and squirmed to no avail. Minato leaned down so that his mouth was next to Naruto's ear. A loud snarl and a quick, but hard, bite to Naruto's ear stopped all of his son's movement and it was only when he was sure that his son was listening did Minato speak.
"Now you know your mother meant more to me than that. She was the love of my life and I will not tolerate you insulting our relationship. You understand me?" He growled in a low and furious tone. Naruto shivered and with a grunt he nodded his head a little.
"Good. I swear kid you do not want to know what I'll do to you if I ever hear you speak like that again. Strong kitsune do not let their anger get the best of them. Only weak and immature idiots make foolish mistakes like you just did. I am your father and although I've been lax in my parenting of you, never forget that you will respect me always. Is that clear Naruto?"
"Y-Yes sir," Naruto mumbled into the dirt. Minato loosened his hold a little.
"Good. Now, I know you're upset but it has to be this way Naruto. I can only pull you out on my own if you find someone else to fall in love with and who agrees to accept you in return. Otherwise, you will be mated with the heir of the Kitsune Clan in exactly three months time."
"That's my birthday…" Naruto mumbled into the dirt. But Minato heard him. The hurt tone of his only child's voice struck him in the heart, right through all of the anger, and Minato found himself calming down more. It wasn't like he was trying to cause Naruto any pain, in fact his goal was the exact opposite. But he supposed in the end, no amount of preparing for this moment would help him really prepare for Naruto being hurt by this.
Still, all he could do in response was smile a little pained grin and say, "Yes that's right."
"W-We've been through this so many times before…it won't work," Naruto whispered. Minato paused. His blue eyes glazed over in remembrance of Naruto's previous suitors. All of them were horrible. All of them Naruto fought with. All of them tried to hurt his only child. One of them…Minato looked at Naruto's shoulder. Although it was hidden by orange cloth, Minato will never forget what lay there. He shook his head.
Logic. It was logic, a parent's logic—a single parent's logic—that forced his decision. He needed to remember that. It was not the time to let his worries about that get a hold of him.
"I understand your fear, son. But I assure you that this will be different," Minato said softly. He released Naruto's neck and started to pet him instead.
"How? They hate us."
"They don't hate us. They never did. It's just things aren't what they once were. And besides, I met with Daitaru-sama myself and we both agreed to help make this as civil and cordial as possible. His son also had a slew of suitors he didn't get along with so you're both pretty much in the same boat. Don't worry. Kurama-kun won't be like the others. I assure you."
"Kurama...?"
Minato frowned, but chose not to answer. Instead he said, "I just need you to also behave yourself. His son is older and he has a higher number of tails than you. So please Naruto don't go picking fights with him. Try to keep yourself presentable and any disagreement you have please try to resolve it in a peaceful way."
Naruto stayed silent. Minato sighed. Naruto's hesitancy and discomfort was expected. And he cannot deny that on some level he wished he could take his son into his arms and tell him 'never mind. You don't have to do this.' He really did wish there was some other way to do this, but Minato was too far sold on Daitaru's original point.
Naruto mattered more than this compound and everyone in it, including Minato himself. And if Kushina, his sweet and only love, was kidnapped from these very grounds, then Minato had no choice but to ensure that there was some other youkai who could provide the protection he—he looked at Naruto's shoulder again—…clearly could not.
And Kurama, the only 8-tailed fox in the world, would be more than enough protection.
No matter how much his child screamed, he would not budge on the issue of safety. At the very least, he knew Daitaru's little brat could really be no worse of a mate than all of the strangers he had picked out so far. He had that much faith at least. Naruto on the other hand, will need a push if he's to even give this a try.
Minato can't blame him. But he has to do this.
"Promise me you'll really try hard with this Naruto. Promise me."
Naruto was quiet for a long time. Minato was a little worried about how long his stubbornness was going to hold out, but the older fox had a little stubbornness in him too. Though he preferred to call it, 'patience'.
Finally though, he heard his son speak. In a quiet, small voice he said,
"….I promise dad. I promise I'll try."
Minato sighed, "good", in relief before smiling and getting up off of Naruto. Naruto slowly rose to a stand and when he did he kept his head bowed. He stood still in front of his father.
"You will meet with him in a week's time and I want you to be ready by then. There should be a few books on the Kitsune Clan in the library. Try the books in your mother's section," he pointed out. Naruto nodded and only stopped when Minato put his hand on his head.
"You can do this Naruto. You're Kushina's and my son. Sure the suitors before were…awful. But to this day I have yet meet someone as charming as you. Look at your friends and how different they all are! You can win this one over. Just be yourself and think positively and it'll all work out," Minato said. He gave Naruto a quick peck on the top of his head, before moving to step over the broken staircase to leave. He was just opening the door when Naruto called out.
"Dad?"
Minato stopped and turned around to see Naruto staring determinedly at him.
"If this whole thing works out like you say it will…then it won't change anything." Naruto held his fist out. "Even if I am mated to someone more powerful than me, I'll still keep trying to defeat you. One day, I'll be known as the strongest kitsune there is. Believe it."
Minato's eyes widened for a second before he smiled in pride.
"I haven't a doubt that, that day will happen son. I have faith in you. Now hop to it!" He said, flicking his fingers in Naruto's direction.
Naruto smiled back, his tails wagging slightly. He hurried forward, hopped over the broken stairs, and rushed past his father into the house but Minato grabbed the back of his jacket before he could get very far.
"Um, where do you think you're going?"
Naruto turned his head towards his father. He tilted his head in question and pointed in the direction of the library. Minato pointed back towards the statue.
"You still have a statue to clean up."
"Eh?!" Naruto exclaimed. Minato grinned in reply.
"Hop to it! I'm not about to let the greatest representation of me look like that."
"Oh right! Hehe!" Naruto wasn't supposed to be laughing at that kind of punishment. Or could it be that Minato was rustier than he thought at this parenting business?!
Naruto turned all the way to face him and held up both of his hands and snapped his fingers. Minato jumped, as the sharp scent of the paint diminished to nothing. He turned around and was shocked to see his statue clear of any paint.
"Tada!" Naruto exclaimed.
"You…" Minato uttered. That was incredibly impressive! Naruto has never been able to emulate scent with one of his illusions before! He was not kidding at all when he said he improved…
Pride flowed in him and he made a great giant goofy grin before ruffling Naruto's hair.
"From stickers to recreating scent! How about that?! You'll be a five-tails before either of us know it! That's amazing Naruto!"
"Ahehe!"
Now Naruto had reason to laugh. And Minato wasn't a lackluster parent either! But just to be completely sure…
"Now polish it."
"EH?!"
"And before you start whining, no. You may not have anyone else help you do it. I'm so proud of your ability Naruto. And this would've been a great prank too. But you still gave yourself away too quickly in the end! As punishment, you are going to polish the statue."
Naruto pouted, but Minato knew he understood his logic. In the kitsune world, pranks were considered more noteworthy than battle skills. The bigger, better, and more effective-and more offensive-the prank, the more respect one got. But the biggest part of all pranks is not getting caught. Sure Naruto avoided capture while painting the statue, but he was supposed to let everyone see his work on their own first and run around panicking before giving the clue it was him. The fact that he exposed himself right after he finished decorating the statue makes his prank pretty much a failure.
It's likely in his anticipation of a fight, he forgot that little tidbit, Minato realized in amusement.
With a sigh, Naruto slowly walked towards the statue, mumbling curses and growls under his breath. Minato heard each and every word and held back a snicker for he was sure if his son heard him laughing, he'd try to restart their battle. Instead he smiled and cheerfully said, "I'll send Iruka with polishing supplies out soon. You just stay right there and make sure no poop from above gets on it! Or you're cleaning that up too!"
"Daaaaad!" Naruto groaned.
And so it ends! For now!
Major changes(for those who read the old version. If this is your first time reading you can skip haha):
1) Naruto's and Kurama's ages have been bumped up. When I first started writing this, I was about 15. Now I'm in my 20s and trust the LAST thing I want write about is teens banging it (because there will be hot and heavy scenes in the future). So Kurama and Naruto are now adults and I've drawn upon cultural and other reasons for them to still be in this mess lol. I never gave their ages in the old story (I saw them as '17' and '15'), but in this one they will be the human equivalent of '21' (Kurama) and '19' (Naruto)...please don't check my math when I convert this to the age span of their species haha.
2) NO MORE ITACHI :(! I kid! He's still in this story he's just got a different role! I made the decision to put Tobi there instead because he fit better. And to be honest my younger self was a petty lil thang who didn't like to bash characters, but also hated characters who got in the way of her fav pairing and ItaKyuu was an established pairing sooo Itachi got put in the role that was not going to win at all, in the slightest. But I like Itachi and so he's in a better position with a higher chance of endgame happiness, and Tobi's character has a higher chance of getting screwed over in the end wahahaha!...or is he?
Sooo here's my thoughts on all this...(Okay new ppl can read this if they want, but the only super important note is I will upload this on 'archive of our own' as well)
1) Have you ever written something, for ANY reason, and thought it was great? Then you left it alone for an hour and when you went back to reread it you're 'wait I can add so much more!'? Yeah that's what happened here. I felt like I just touching the surface of this whole new world (with copywritten characters lol) and I wanted to explore it so much! Last time I wrote this story I was literally writing chapter by chapter, with only major ideas/scenes really planned out and I think that tripped me up. Like I've been reading fantasy novel writing tips and I realized I can build so much more around Naruto and Kurama. The society, the rules, the setting, the politics, and of course the characters!
The characters especially...I want you get a greater feel for who they are, what they're thinking, and why they act the way they do. So I did! I drew more inspiration from the actual mythology (but be aware I'm using them creatively here) and I tried really hard to get this intro firmly established. Whatever I was satisfied with in the first draft I left alone (as you can see lol). But for the awkward phrases, the missing context, the just plain confusing bits...I added more to it. I feel like 'Oct. 10th' had so much potential and I'm hoping to realize it!
2) Some of the stuff in my old Oct. 10th made me cringe big time. I had to change them.
3) The old version of October 10th will stay up on here! It'll just be called 'Oct. 10th'. That said, I will ONLY update this version because this is the version that I have my future scenes and endings planned for!
4) Lastly, I am going to also upload this on 'archive of our own' as soon as I get an account there. This will be important for later scenes I guess since ao3 allows all kinds of fics and I srsly don't know what the differences between 'M' and 'MA' is...
So that does it! Again, I hope you enjoyed this rewrite! I anticipate putting up chapter 3 in two weeks!
...Please tell me what you think :)! Thanks!