Minato spent a few months in self-pity, mainly walking through the woods inside the walls of the village. He tested his bounds which only extended to the boarders, he also discovered for some odd reason he could still use jutsu. He wasn't really sure what the point of that was unless he was supposed to battle another ghost, as long as it was in the walls of the village that is. Occasionally he would come across someone, Gai was the most often one spotted, usually because he had lost against Kakashi in something or other and was doing two hundred laps around the village on his hands as punishment for himself. Some things never change.
He eventually came to the conclusion that no good would come of him avoiding the village, he supposed the least he could do was catch up on things he had missed. Besides if Gai was the only person he saw, he would go insane. No good could come from that much green spandex and exclamations of youth. Maybe he could even see what Kakashi and Rin were up to. Jiraiya was probably still peeping on women at the bathhouse though and he hoped he hadn't roped Kakashi into it. Last he could remember the super pervert he looked up to had hooked his student to those awful books of his.
By the time he walked back into the populated part of the village it was night fall. He was right next to the Uchiha Compound and a sixth sense he had developed over the years perked up. It was dark but it wasn't late enough for the entire compound to be asleep. He was about to go take a look to see what was going on when the gates to the compound opened and out stepped a preteen kid in ANBU garb. He knew the Uchiha's were famous for their prodigies but a thirteen year old ANBU captain was a little ridiculous.
That developed sixth sense peeked again as Minato watched the prepubescent ANBU glance around wearily. What exactly was this kid up to, or the better question was what exactly had this kid already done?
"Itachi!" called a squeaky voice from down the street.
Minato whipped around to see spiky blonde hair as bright as the sun running down the street. It was the kid, the jinchuriki, the boy he had damned. His bad feeling was getting worse, Naruto needed to get out of here now.
Itachi paused and turned toward the boy after giving another glance around. "Naruto, you shouldn't be out this late." He said in a monotone voice.
"I was out training and lost track of time, I'm gonna be Hokage you know so I have to train." He said flashing that brighter than the sun smile again.
Something on the ANBU's face softened almost imperceptibly but Minato managed to catch it. He couldn't stop himself as he took a few steps closer to Naruto, it wasn't like he could do anything to protect the kid if need be.
"Tell me something Naruto, why do you want to be Hokage so badly. Is it just so the village will know who you are, or do you want the power that comes with being on Kage level?" he asked. These questions were a little too serious for a six year old in Minato's opinion.
Naruto's brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to think of an answer. "Nah, I just want to protect everyone!" he said exuberantly and Minato desperately hoped this kid never met Gai.
"But why, what's so special about this village, surely you've noticed the way the villagers treat you?" Minato tensed, as far as he knew this kid wasn't supposed to know about the nine-tails. "Why would you want to protect them?"
"I don't know why the villagers hate me." He said with a frown on his face but that changed back to that contagious smile of his as he turned and pointed toward the Hokage Monument. "But I've got the will of fire and just because they don't like me doesn't mean I won't protect the village with everything I have." He declared. "Becoming Hokage, that's my dream!"
Minato felt a little better knowing the kid didn't let his mistakes keep him down.
Itachi fixed Naruto with a calculating gaze before letting a small, and in Minato's opinion, a very Uchiha like smirk tug at the corners of his mouth.
"That's an admirable goal. You will become strong Naruto, very strong." He said. And then with a sad smile he turned away from the boy. "You should go home now and get some rest."
"Okay, see you later Itachi." He said running off and waving.
Itachi turned around to watch Naruto leave, not saying a word before he left in the opposite direction. Minato was tempted to follow but decided to check out the compound first, his gut feeling was too strong to ignore. He had discovered in his wallowing that if he put forth a little concentration he could pass through objects, so using this new found talent he walked right through the compound wall.
What he saw made him gag. Bodies were everywhere, men, women and children. The entire Uchiha clan lay in pools of blood. Itachi had slaughtered his family in one night and then spared Naruto. Something else was going on here and Minato intended to find out. He left the compound running, first he had to find Naruto to make sure the last of the Uchiha's didn't decide to add another to the body count.
He should have paid closer attention to the direction the kid walked off to. Where did this kid live? Did he live with his parents or was he a random orphan? There were so many questions and he couldn't even ask to get the answers. Not only was life hard but as it turned out death was even harder.
Finally he caught sight of the kid walking into an apartment building. Well at least the kid had a guardian to go home to. He ran a little faster to catch up with the kid as he climbed the stairs to the fourth floor. He really didn't think that Itachi kid would come back to kill Naruto but he didn't want to take the chance. He waited for the kid to open his apartment door so that he could follow him in.
Minato was surprised to find the tiny one room apartment dark and empty. It appeared that he was the only one who lived here. How could the Third allow a six year old to live by himself, especially one who contained a demon? So was this kid an orphan? If so why wasn't he in the orphanage? The ugly truth dawned on him then, no one wanted him.
Minato looked back to the kid who had pushed the only kitchen chair to the small counter by the sink. He turned the water on until it was steaming before grabbing a cup of instant ramen. Minato walked up behind him to see that the cabinet only held ramen; didn't this kid eat anything else?
He tensed as he felt a presence nearby and spun on his heel t look out the only window the tiny apartment had. He was relieved to see the dog masked Kakashi crouching silently out on the window seal. That was right he always had ANBU following him, so maybe the Hokage already knew about the murders.
He turned his attention back to Naruto who had climbed down and placed his ramen cup on the tiny kitchen table. He was sitting there staring at the ramen, willing the three minutes it took to cook to be done. All in all he was kind of a weird kid. The whiskers didn't exactly help him look normal, probably a side effect from the demon. But Kushina never had any fox like features so why did he?
The kid gave a small victory yell as he dug into his ramen causing Minato to smile. At least this boy didn't let anything get him down. Minato took a step closer to get a better look at him, with the blue eyes and blonde hair Minato was reminded of himself a lot at that age. Had he chosen this kid to be the container because he had similar features or had he been the only one available? Now that he thought about it, how did he seal the nine-tails in this kid? Another thing he would have to hope someone knew and would say aloud.
It was official, death sucked.
Since he knew the kid would be alright he decided it was time to leave to go to the Hokage Tower and find out what the hell was going on. Before walking through the door he took another glance back at the boy.
"I'm sorry." He said with a frown.
Naruto's head shot up and he had a noodle dangling from his mouth. "Who's there?" he asked in the high pitched voice of a child.
Had he heard him? Well that was interesting; he'd have to try this trick on the Third. The boy looked around his apartment before shrugging and going back to his ramen. Minato stood there a moment longer before finally leaving the tiny apartment.
It didn't take long for Minato to reach the Thirds office and when he did he almost stepped back out of the room. Inside was Itachi, Danzo, Homura and Koharu all looking calm, the last two looking irritated. The Third himself was absolutely livid and frankly Minato had never seen someone so threatening.
"The Uchiha were planning a hostile take over! What would you have us do, sit around and twiddle our thumbs?" Koharu asked evenly with a sneer.
"Do not forget your place!" The Third thundered. "You are my advisors and nothing more, Danzo you are retired and have no authority to over any shinobi of the leaf village." He glared so hard at the three that he was sure any lesser man would have shriveled up and died on the spot.
"Not only did you all break the law you kept your goings on from me and hid the evidence of the Uchiha's tertiary. As far as I'm concerned you will all be held for treason." Danzo smirked at this and opened his mouth. "Silence!"
He then snapped his finger and a team of ANBU appeared in the room. "Arrest the traitors." He said coldly.
"You'll regret this." Homura said as he was escorted out of the room.
All that was left in the room now was the Hokage, Itachi and Minato. The Third let out a soft growl before turning his ice cold gaze onto Itachi. "And where do your loyalties lie?"
Itachi held his eyes without fear. "To the Village and solely to the Village." He said without hesitation.
The third hummed as he sized up the preteen ANBU. "And yet you slaughtered your entire clan, certainly all of them weren't going to storm the Tower, how can you be trusted?"
"I will do whatever is asked of me Lord Hokage as long as it is for the safety of the village." This kid sounded like a drone but it was painfully obvious that he clearly did hold the village's best interests above his own welfare.
The third was silent for a moment as he continued to stare at Itachi. "Are there any survivors?" he asked with his lip curled, probably thinking of the assassination of children.
"One, my younger brother Sasuke." He said but there was a slight warning in his tone.
Minato turned his head back to look at the Third who was deep in thought. "Why did you spare him, I'm certain you're orders were to eliminate your whole clan."
"Yes Lord Hokage they were, but," Itachi hesitated. "He's my brother and the only hope to redeem the clan's name."
The Third nodded and Minato was sure they were thinking the same thing, that this kid was wise far beyond his years. "You won't be allowed to live if you stay in the village." He said quickly. Minato immediately caught his train of thought as his tone became quieter and more urgent. "Your cover will be that of a rouge ninja who massacred his entire clan, you will give me full reports of any threat that may come to this Village understood?"
Itachi gave a quick nod. "I do have one request Lord Hokage." He said.
The Third raised an eyebrow but made a gesture for him to continue.
"Tell Sasuke what happened. Tell him why it happened and that he is the only hope for the Uchiha Clan."
"Done." He agreed before snapping his fingers.
The rest was a blur as another team of ANBU appeared to take Itachi into custody but they were no match for the kid who quickly evaded them. Minato had to hand it to the Third, he may seem like the grandfather type but the man was not one to be messed with.
A/N
Yes I changed a few things, don't worry its okay.