AN: Yes, it's another late update. IRL's been hogging my time like crazy. Finally I can start my company soon, like really really soon. Anyway, now I realize that 3 stories a month is basically impossible, so I think December will be the last month of it. For now, I think 2 stories a month will be a more realistic goal and it will most likely be Banchou of the Dead and My Nine Tailed Son. Depends on the result of this month though.

Before we begin, let's answer some reviews:

To Guest: Thank you. I hope you enjoy the story.

To lVelixl: Thank you for the long review. I'll answer them in sequence: yup, approximately that long. This chapter will be a bit "serious", but more fluff will be available in the next chapter. Promise. Minato knows for sure that Naruto is actually Kurama and the reason he made chakra chains instead of tails is because he wanted more limbs that are stronger and longer. Shape wise, I think chains are optimal because they're flexible enough, thin enough that it won't accidentally knock something over and overall the best finger replacement for him. But that actually gave me an idea… chains for daily life, tails for combat? Barbed chains (like Spawn) for combat?

Not so sure what you think might come up, but maybe it will? I mean I'm trying to make the story as family centric as possible, so I don't think you'll see anything too wildly inappropriate (at least until the far future, like 5 chapters away). Not so sure yet though.

And now without further delay, let's begin the new chapter.

Chapter 3: Growing Family

Naruto stared at the food in front of him. It was a steaming bowl of boiled dough with soup, meat, and other ingredients. 'Ramen'... Minato called it. He remembered it was Kushina's favorite food, but had never really tasted it as she did not and perhaps could not share any of her senses with him.

"Well, are you going to try it?" Minato asked.

"It is still steaming." Naruto pointed at the bowl with incredulity. Why would he eat something still hot?

"Ah, but that's when it tastes the best." his father replied.

Well, he had not led him astray so far… he would give it a try and he were to lie about it, Naruto knew how to get back at him. He took a tentative slurp at the noodles and his eyes widened dramatically.

"You like it?" The ramen chef asked. Ichiraku Teuchi, he remembered.

Naruto nodded vigorously. He had decided that this was a great dish that would be one of his favorites, a close second or even another first along with caramel apples. He glanced at his human father and went back to eating his noodles. He was still awkward in dealing with other humans, however Teuchi took it as him being a shy boy which was fine. His own Ayame was shy until she was 5 after all. Then she started taking charge and even bossed him around. Ah… children. What a mixed bundle of joy they were.

"Looks like he loves it, Ichiraku-san. Can we have another please?"

"Sure thing, Hokage-sama! Comin' right up!"

In the millenia he had been alive, he had eaten non-raw food. However, most of it was simple animal meat roasted over fire; without even the blood drained or the guts removed or cleaned. After this, he was pretty sure he could no longer go back to that type of life.

Xxxx

"And... where... are we going now?" Naruto asked with a yawn. After a fulfilling lunch; probably the best he had as a human, he was prepared to sleep, but it would not do to simply sleep on the side of the road like a vagrant.

"Well, you already look sleepy… so how about we go back home and you take your nap?"

"Don't… be… ridiculous. I'm… I'm fine." Naruto started to lag behind and his eyes felt heavier by the moment. He was really pushing himself, but he would be damned if he showed weakness in front of these humans.

"Come on then, it's time for a nap. Let's continue after you wake up, huh?"

Minato picked up his son in a piggyback ride. In less than three steps, the bijuu turned boy fell into a deep slumber. He smiled to himself, as an orphan himself... he did not experience much in terms of parental love. For that reason, he swore he would shower his children with all the love he could.

Now let's get his boy some proper sleep.

Xxxx

Evening in the Namikaze household had changed a bit these days. Every day there was at least one guest coming in to visit; most of them were also high ranking shinobi whose presence brought awe to the regular civilians. Today the guests were the Senju family who brought along with them a document that might change both families.

"Sorry, Naruto just slept and Kazumi is out on a mission today so I didn't prepare anything. How can I help you today?" Minato asked.

"This might be a surprise to you, but we actually have an offer for you and Naruto." Tsunade said. Off to her side was Jiraiya who seemed nervous with what was going to be said. Kanon was sleeping in his arms and the girl was snoring away happily. Behind them was Shizune who was finally able to take a break from her hospital duties.

"While you were away on leave, we had a certain issue that must be addressed." She continued.

"Simply put, some people think it's a good idea to give me new shit to deal with." She took a stack of documents from the pile on the table and lay it down. She did not look pleased in any definition of the word, but she close to slamming the stack down like she wanted to, but her sleeping daughter stopped that idea in its inception.

"After news of Naruto's recovery spread, people are now offering all sorts of ideas for him." She started to separate the stack into three separate stacks of different thickness.

"Marriage arrangement, branch family adoption, main family adoption... I don't even know who some of these people are." MInato was getting annoyed at the requests and decided that perhaps he had been too lenient on these people and needed to make a firm stand and statement to them.

"Which brought us to the next stack of problems. This time, they're for you."

"Burn them."

"You didn't even look at them."

"I know what they are. Some clan or prominent civilian family offering their sister, daughter, niece, or whatever to be my new wife. I can guess. A widower of a Hokage is like fresh meat to those jackals."

"Spot on..." Jiraiya commented.

"No problem, we'll tell them that they need to respect your wishes. At the same time, to help make sure these unsolicited offers are reduced or gone, I have an offer that involves… you." Tsunade said.

"Essentially, what hime is talking about here is…we want to adopt you. As our son." Jiraiya cut in.

Minato was stunned at the offer. For all intents and purposes, he had considered the Senju family as his own family. Jiraiya was his teacher, Tsunade was Kushina's teacher way before, and he had even helped them babysit Kanon.

"I mean, we're basically family anyway, so I just thought that… maybe we should just make it official. And… and… we don't have, like… real military or political power anyway, so… I think we can be kinda… a safe choice. I mean… " Tsunade was babbling at this point, trying her best to convince the Hokage to agree to their offer. To her, Minato and Naruto were her only ties to Kushina. If he refused her offer, she wasn't sure how she would take it.

"Would you mind to wait? I want to make sure Naruto is fine with it. I mean, it's a big decision."

"Yea… yea, that's fine."

"Do you want to stay for dinner? Naruto should be up soon, so I'm going to get some food delivered."

"It's ok, we have to go back. Kanon has a checkup soon, so we have to go to the hospital."

Xxxx

"What was that about?" Naruto asked. He boosted himself with the chakra chains and sat on the chair himself. It served quite well as an exercise and also, he was sure his human father was tired, no sense in making him even more exhausted.

"Ah, well… Naruto… how do you feel about having grandparents?" Minato asked. He really could have started the question differently, but this way he figured he could ease him into the real question.

"Was that what all of this was about?" Naruto pointed to a stack of documents on the table and took one look at it before realizing that he did not know how to read yet. So it was possible to absorb speech and verbal communication skills when he was adjusting to his body, but not written communication skills. Well, it made sense in a way; his eyes never opened one single time in those three years after all. But he was determined to master the language in as short a time period as possible.

"No, those are from a bunch of self-important people who thought they can throw their weight around. Those are not important."

"I don't see why you don't just get rid of those self-important people. If you're worried about evidence, you can just cut up the cadavers into several pieces then throw them into one of the forests. I believe area 44, Forest of Death is a good choice."

Minato had thought about it several times, but was surprised at his son's knowledge of areas in Konoha. However, he was quite concerned that his first suggestion was to just kill several people and throw the remnants for wild animals to eat.

"I'm pretty sure that's totally illegal."

"Well of course. That is precisely why you need to hide the evidence. Otherwise you should just hang them by the innards on the Hokage tower as a warning."

"I'll consider it for the future. So, what do you think if we have some more family members?"

"Have you finally decided on a surrogate?" Naruto was quite hopeful that his "mission" would be finished soon, but the look on his human father's face told him that was not the case. Ah… must be the question from before.

"No… not yet. Do you remember Tsunade-sensei and the Senju family?"

"They are Hashirama's family, yes? I remember she is the granddaughter of Hashirama and my first host... "

"Well….. They offered to adopt me."

"You seem a bit too… mature for an adoption… but I highly doubt their motives are impure. So, what is there to worry about?"

"We will have a bigger family and it means they might know of your secret. Will that be fine with you?"

"Oh, come now. I am a millenia old creature of pure chakra, I am capable of holding up a persona in front of mere mortals."

"Like that time you threatened to maim Kazumi simply because she wouldn't let you have more caramel apples?"

That was probably the first time he had managed to outwit his son and stunned him into silence. His integration into human society had been a slow process, but he was managing… in a way.

"But she didn't take it seriously, so no harm, no foul. Don't do it again though." Minato followed up.

"Very well. Regarding, this… adoption into the Senju family… I do not see any downsides to it. I will agree if you take their offer."

"Yea… I'm sure they would be happy about it."

"Now then… about my request, has there been any progress?"

"We're compiling a list of possible candidates, but I don't think it will be too long a list. Probably by next week we can have a chat with the potential surrogates."

Xxxx

The adoption process of Minato into the Senju family was easy and quick with few if any disagreements. While Uchiha Fugaku often disagreed with any policies that favored the Senju clan, he was surprisingly and suspiciously quiet this time around. In fact, he had given them a congratulatory gift of a gunbai. Naruto had insisted to examine the gift to make sure there was nothing amiss in it or with it. Now the new Senju family had a private party of their own in what used to be the Senju clan compound.

"Beware of Uchiha's bearing gifts. You may as well have eaten a salad of nightshade if you don't." Naruto explained.

He had checked it rigorously and was finally satisfied with it, but thought his new grandfather should check it. As his new family had heard him talk before, he could easily communicate. The issue was, there was no reason for him to be too wary of a random object. To make sure the sealmaster had no choice but to check it, he took the gunbai and pointed it to Jiraiya.

"Look. Look." he said.

"Aw, does Naruto want me to look at the fan?" Jiraiya cooed. If only he realized whom he was talking to.

Nodding his head quickly, the old man obliged and took it from his hand. His first thought was to just look at it for a couple of seconds before returning it to the gift pile, but there was something off about it. The fan itself looked normal in shape, everything else about it was something NOT Uchiha.

Instead of the oversized weapons they had once used in the warring ages, it was small enough to be held in one hand. The screen was made of wood instead of metal and there were none of the characteristic triple tomoe nor uchiwa of the Uchiha clan. Instead there were spirals above a vajra; both symbols of the Uzumaki and Senju clans.

Jiraiya turned it this way and that, trying to see if there was a hidden message, dangerous seal, or anything… unsavory in it somewhere. It was… safe at least, he couldn't find any hidden elements; dangerous or not.

"It's a pretty one, isn't it? But this is your dad's so you gotta ask him if you want it, ok?"

Naruto nodded and walked away to his human father. However, Jiraiya was a spymaster and knew that some things don't need a hidden explosive tag or poison cloud emitter to be dangerous. The fan was actually full of slight.

The Namikaze family had never grown to a large enough size to be counted as a clan and as such had now emblem of their own; reminding them of Minato's status as an orphan. The gunbai containing the spiral and vajra said that they would never escape the Uchiha or be greater than them. The positioning of the spiral above was also not a design choice nor coincidence. Jiraiya took it as meaning that the still living Senju family is still below the dead Uzumaki family. The size of the fan itself was also an insult; how their once great clans had been reduced in number to only a single household remaining.

When Minato saw it, he too had the same idea as his new father. He sighed at the gesture, leave it to Uchiha Fugaku and the other high ranking members of his clan to insult people relentlessly. Now he was considering what respond he should give to them. As their son, any slight towards them was a slight to him. While he could not lash back physically, he could give them a taste of their own medicine.

A token of their appreciation was expected, but he wanted to make them know their idea was far from appreciated. A subtle gift that served as a warning… Minato decided that asking his son would be a terrible idea. Given his suggested reply for a minor inconvenience, his suggestion for a true insult would probably be something that would be the stuff of nightmares.

No, he would need to come up with something himself or get his new parents for it. After a while, he came up with his own idea. Now, it would be best to ask if his parents agreed to it.

Xxxx

Several days after Minato's adoption into the Senju family was finalized, he delivered his reply by messenger; a team of fresh genin cell on a D-rank mission. He packed his reply into a box made from one of the chakra trees grown by Senju Hashirama himself. The box was lacquered red and had a brass symbol of Konoha on top of it.

The gift itself was a spearhead with the Uchiha clan emblem near the base and inside the box itself. It was secured to the box with a jute cord. The mirror sheen of the blade reflected half of the emblem back and on the tang was the name of the spearhead "渡り鳥" (Wataridori - Migratory bird).

As Fugaku opened the box, color drained from his face. The gift he had received was something more akin to a war declaration.

"Do you know what this means?" he asked the elders in attendance.

They were experts in non-verbal communications and symbolisms, it was impossible for them to miss. Red had been a common color in the Uchiha clan, but the polished brass emblem of Konoha would take away the viewers' attention away from the box. Combined, these meant "you are not the main strength of Konoha". At the same time, the usage of brass instead of gold pointed out that they were not worth as much as they thought. The chosen wood implied that their existence was due to the first Hokage's grace, not their own achievements.

The spear was commonly used by ashigaru soldiers, common foot soldiers while the samurai of old would rely more on their bows before using their spears; Minato essentially told them to know their place as a soldier. The symbol half mirrored on the spearhead implied that they needed to reflect.

However, the main point that made them even more wary was the arrangement of cord and the name of the spearhead. Cord (綱 - tsuna) when combined with the first kanji of Migratory bird (wataridori) makes "Tsunawatari" (綱渡り). The Hokage told them that they were walking on thin ice.

"Gather the others. We will need to convene on our next step." Fugaku said. However, he had missed something else in the gift, after all it was a simple and unassuming children's toy; a small monkey with a third eye on its forehead, crocheted of brushed and braided fox fur. The creature had been quite popular through a child's learning programme; the name was Satori (覚 - Consciousness). However, instead of the smile it was commonly depicted with, this Satori had a grin. Someone else also knew and he too could play this game.

Xxxx

Konoha hospital

"Well son, looks like it's time for you to choose the lucky lady." Tsunade said with a grin. On her desk was a short list of five names; women who were compatible with Minato's own genes and his late wife's.

"Did you tell them about this?"

"Of course. We ran the test first, you see. Blood type, age, genetics, medical history, chakra levels, the works. Essentially we picked the ones who had checked all boxes and fit the bill. All of them are currently on active duty, but they are way overdue for a leave."

Included in the list was his last remaining student, Hatake Kazumi. He was more partial to her, but unless she herself personally agreed to it, he would go with the next person in the list.

Post Chapter AN: And… cut. This chapter was a bit longer than expected, but at the same time shorter than I hoped it would be. Please review if you don't mind as I want to know how my readers feel about my stories. Hope you have a wonderful day.