Time Flows Like Ink

Summary: After a fuinjutsu experiment gone wrong, Minato is yanked into a future where his family is dead, his team fell apart and the Uchiha were slaughtered. With the defective seal burning in his palm, Minato struggles to stay afloat in a Konoha that isn't his.

Chapter 4

The Hokage's office was deadly silent. The same shinobi who'd discussed Minato's fate over his head before couldn't even look him in the eyes now. He didn't care why each of them had suddenly gotten tongue-tied. Minato was furious.

"Minato," Sarutobi said, the first to break the silence. "You have to understand–"

Minato's glare sharpened. One of the younger shinobi let out a whimper, but Sarutobi wasn't as easily impressed. "We couldn't have been sure that it was really you. It was sensitive information."

"The first time, maybe." Minato struggled to stay rational. "But while I was gone you decided that the tests and Kakashi's testimony were proof enough. If you hadn't, Genma would have brought me here the moment he found me at the Uchiha district. So why didn't he tell me? Or Rin? Or Kakashi?"

Maybe it was better that none of them were in the office with them. Minato wouldn't have known how to react, otherwise.

"Minato, please. I–" Sarutobi couldn't look him in the eyes.

Minato realized he would only get more excuses. Fine. There were more important things. "Who's taking care of him?"

Sarutobi blinked, cut off mid-sentence. "What?"

"He's too young to live alone. Who's taking care of him?"

Nobody answered. Minato felt his facade crumbling.

"He lives by himself," Shikaku finally said.

Minato bit his lip to keep himself from screaming. "Does he have a guardian? Someone who checks in on him regularly? Who spends time with him?"

Sarutobi opened his mouth to say something but decided against it. Silence greeted him instead. Minato looked around, his eyes lingering on the people who were supposed to be his friends. How could any of them have let his son grow up alone?

"Tell me about him."

Sarutobi leaned back in his seat, heaving a sigh. "We never found out all the details. On the night that Kushina gave birth... something happened and the Kyūbi broke free." He looked into the distance, lost in memories. Minato didn't comment, waiting for him to keep going.

"Kushina gave her life fighting it. By the time we found them, Kushina was dead and the Kyūbi was sealed inside Naruto."

So Naruto was the jinchūriki? Minato didn't want to think about what that meant for his position in the village.

"At the time we thought–" Sarutobi cut himself off. "I thought that it would be best to keep Naruto's identity secret. To let him grow up without the knowledge of what lingers inside of him. I'm afraid I was wrong. But I did not realize until it was too late."

Minato swallowed against the dryness in his throat. "So. So Naruto doesn't know he's a jinchūriki. But everybody else does? The villagers do?"

Sarutobi's expression grew pained. "The adults do. They were forbidden from telling their children, in the hopes that their prejudice would not be passed on." He closed his eyes. "Another mistake of mine."

Naruto was the jinchūriki, and most of the village knew. Minato's shoulders were tense. From the sounds of it, there'd been no one he could have gone to for support. Minato couldn't believe it. "Where's Jiraiya-sensei? He's Naruto's godfather." A horrible thought struck him. "Is he–"

"He's alive," Sarutobi said, muffling Minato's concerns. "He's stationed outside the village. Overseeing his spy network."

Minato felt his eye twitching. "Does he come for visits?"

A pause. "As far as I know, he and Naruto have never met."

To his own surprise, Minato had to laugh. It was an ugly, brittle sound and made the shinobi around him fidget. "Of course. What else." He rubbed his eyes, feeling incredibly tired. "Is there anything else I should know?"

Nobody answered, so Minato turned towards the window.

"Where are you going?"

Minato looked at Sarutobi incredulously. "To get to know my son."

Nobody was stupid enough to try and stop him. Minato leaped outside the window and onto the rooftops. Kakashi had been waiting outside and fell into step beside him.

"Did you listen in?"

"... I did."

"Good." Minato could barely recognize his own voice. "Show me Naruto's apartment." He would tear the entire village apart to find him, but chances were his son had gone home by now. He would try there, first.

Kakashi followed his order without comment. It was silent, both of them leaping over the rooftops and ignoring the tension between them. The trip wasn't long.

"It's that one." Kakashi pointed to the building on the other side of the street. The neighborhood didn't look fancy, but not terrible either. Minato concentrated and felt chakra spiking inside the building, in a way that could only be explained with a jinchūriki.

Minato closed his eyes. He wanted to head over so, so badly. Everything inside of him screamed, knowing Naruto was close. But he needed to have a conversation with Kakashi first.

He cut to the chase right away. "I didn't expect you to take care of him when I died, Kakashi."

Kakashi stiffened, knowing what was coming.

"You were fourteen, you– I wouldn't demand something like that from you. But it's been years and Naruto, he." Minato had to pause. "He didn't even know who I was. We bumped into him on the streets and he didn't know you either, Kakashi. How can that be?"

Kakashi hesitated. Minato didn't snap at him only because he could see emotions raging behind his eyes, shame and guilt and self-loathing. "I don't have an excuse," he said, finally. "Not one that would be enough. At first I was young and grieving. Obito happened and Rin–"

Kakashi broke off but Minato understood. He wondered if one of the reasons his students were miserable was each other. Had they dragged each other down, both of them blinded by their grief and pain that they hadn't noticed the downward spiral until it was too late?

"After that I just kept coming up with excuses. I told myself the war was more important. Then that I was too busy with ANBU. Then that Naruto would be better off without–" He broke off, his voice wavering. "Without someone with bloodstained hands like mine."

Minato frowned, conflicting feelings raging through his gut. He wanted to wrap Kakashi in a hug and erase all the years of suffering. Another voice that sounded suspiciously like Kushina told him to punch Kakashi.

"You're right," Minato said. "That doesn't make it okay." His eyes were dragged back to the apartment, where his son was waiting.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Kakashi. I'm hurt, and that's not going to go away anytime soon. Kushina and I would have considered you Naruto's older brother and he doesn't even know you here." Kakashi flinched, wide eyes snapping up. Hadn't he known how Kushina and Minato thought of him? "I'm going to get to know my son, and I'm going to do that alone."

Kakashi's eyes were glued to the ground but he nodded, accepting Minato's decision. "Later, depending on how mad I still am, you and Rin will come with me and you will introduce yourself to him properly. No more excuses."

Kakashi's eyes snapped up, staring at Minato in disbelief. "Y-Yes, Sensei." He sounded like he hadn't expected Minato to want him in his life anymore. Too bad for him: Kushina would want to say her piece, as well. He wouldn't get off the hook that easily.

"Go and tell Rin," Minato said, turning towards his son's house. "She won't get out of this, either."

"Yes, Sensei." Kakashi's eyes closed in a smile, considerably more cheerful than before. He headed off, leaving Minato behind.

His heart was pounding madly by the time he stood in front of Naruto's door. Excitement battled with anxiousness and Minato felt sick to his stomach. What if Naruto didn't like him? What if he hated Minato because he hadn't been there for him? What if he didn't want anything to do with him?

Get it together, Namikaze! Kushina wouldn't let herself freeze like this. She would soldier on, no matter the odds. She wouldn't let doubts stop her from meeting their son.

Before he could change his mind, Minato knocked. His breath caught in his throat as the door opened, revealing a bewildered looking Naruto. "You again! How do you know where I live?"

Minato failed to form words. He took in every detail he had overlooked before. Naruto had Minato's eyes alongside his hair. He could recognize some of Kushina's features. But where did the whiskers come from? Were they a byproduct of the fox?

"What do you want, weirdo?" Naruto asked, snapping Minato out of it.

"My name is Minato," he burst out. "Minato Namikaze."

"Oookay. Am I supposed to know who that is?"

Minato smiled wistfully. "No. No, I suppose not." It didn't surprise him that Naruto didn't know his name but he was still disappointed. No one had thought it necessary to tell Naruto about him or Kushina, not even in passing. He paused. "Can I come in?"

Naruto frowned at him, hesitating. "I guess?" He stepped aside. Minato wasn't sure if he should scold him for letting in a stranger just like that. Oh well.

The apartment was small, fitting for housing a single child. It was a bit barren, only a minimum of furniture and personal items strewn around and empty cups and packages here and there. It was obviously missing a parental figure. Minato frowned, suppressing another painful jab in his chest.

"Are you just gonna stand around and stare?" The suspicious frown was gone, leaving Naruto looking lost. Insecure. He probably didn't get many guests, if any.

"Right. I'm sorry." He sat on Naruto's couch, noting with alarm that his throat had gone dry. His hands were damp with sweat. He cleared his throat, willing himself to push onwards. "Alright. How do I do this…"

He decided to start from the beginning. "Do you remember when we talked before? I mentioned that I haven't been in the village for a while. It's been about twelve years now."

"Why were you gone?"

"I didn't have a choice. There were… things, that kept me out of the village."

"So like a mission? A really, really long one?"

"Something like that." Minato paused. "The last time I was here was twelve years ago. The Kyūbi broke free around that time. Did you learn about that in school?" Naruto nodded and Minato pressed on. "I thought I'd lost my wife in the attack. And my son."

Naruto didn't answer, not catching Minato's implication. Minato's fist was clenched hard enough to drive his fingernails into his palm. "I found out today that my son is still alive."

"Why aren't you with him then?" Naruto's voice was tense, either because of a sense of foreboding or refusing to acknowledge what Minato was saying.

"Naruto," he said, his voice catching on the name. "Look at me. What do you see?"

Naruto stared. His eyes started to wander, taking in Minato's appearance. Cautiously. Anxiously. "We have the same hair color," he said. "No one in the village has that exact shade. And your eyes…"

Minato smiled even as he felt tears prickling behind his eyes.

"T-This is a joke, right? You're joking!" Naruto leaped to his feet, clenching his fists. He glared at Minato with watery eyes.

"I'm your father, Naruto."

Naruto stood in stunned silence, his mouth twisting like he wasn't sure which emotion to form. Minato itched to hear him say something. Anything. But he knew he had to give Naruto time. So he waited.

"That's not... You can't be–" Naruto broke off, taking a step back. "You're not my father!"

"Naruto-"

"No!" Naruto was yelling now. "I don't even know my parents' names! Nobody ever bothered to tell me. I always thought they'd have to show up eventually, they'd show up and acknowledge me but it's been twelve years and they didn't come, nobody did, they've gotta be dead or left because they didn't want me or–" Naruto had to pause. He was breathing heavily. "You're not him. You can't be."

Minato was lost for words. He wanted to apologize and beg his forgiveness for leaving Naruto alone for so long. But how could he when Naruto didn't even believe him yet?

"We wanted to be there for you, but… Something went wrong." He cut himself off, realizing that there was no way he could explain everything to Naruto. He didn't even know what had gone wrong himself yet.

Minato changed tracks and tried again. "You know," he began. "We – that is, your mother and I, her name is Kushina – we picked your name out of a book from a dear friend of ours. She was overjoyed when she found out that she was pregnant. She couldn't wait to be a mother."

He took Naruto's silence as permission to keep going. "We invested hours to set up your bedroom. You can't imagine how excited we were, how much we looked forward to becoming parents. How much we looked forward to you.

"Naruto. I'm so sorry that it took me this long to come back. There's nothing I regret more than knowing that you had to grow up alone."

Naruto continued to look at him, his stare intense like he tried to find the lies in Minato's words. "Are you–" Naruto's voice broke. He bit his lip, his eyes avoiding Minato. "Are you going to stay this time?"

An adamant 'yes' threatened to burst out of him. Minato had to remind himself that that was not a promise he could make. "There's nothing I'd rather do than get to know you, and I'll do my best to spend as much time here as I can. But there's things I have to do, things that I can't ignore. I can promise you that I'll do my best."

It wasn't good enough and Minato knew it. Naruto deserved more, so much more. But Minato didn't have the power to give it to him. Not yet.

"Okay." Naruto was frowning like he didn't know what to make of Minato. He couldn't blame him: Naruto didn't know him, so he had no reason to trust him. "Are you going to stay for now? For today?"

Minato smiled, glad for a question he could answer without hesitation. "There's nothing I'd love more."

Naruto brightened up a bit, fragile hope reflected in wide eyes. "And…" He hesitated, biting his lip anxiously. "Will you… Tell me about her? About you two?"

"Anything you want to know. But I want to know about you, too."

Naruto's grin brightened the entire room and made Minato feel warm. "Deal, old man!"

"O-Old?! I'm twenty-three!"

Naruto wrinkled his nose. "Yeah. That's old."

Minato shuddered. "Don't ever say that in front of Kushina, you hear?"

Naruto fell silent and his expression grew unreadable. Was something the matter? Had Minato said something wrong? He stood, taking a step forward. "Naruto–"

He grunted as a weight rammed into him, arms wrapping around his middle. Naruto was hugging him. Minato choked a tearful laugh, returning the embrace. Happiness burned in his chest, stronger than any of the pain and anger that had built up over the last few hours. It felt like his son was the only good thing in this broken future.

Minato couldn't wait to tell Kushina everything.

A/N: My betas are Igornerd, To Mockingbird and PyrothTenka! Go check them out, they're all wonderful writers!

Please take the time to leave a review!

~Gwen