"I hope Naruto and Minato get back soon. I have so many questions for them." Kushina said from her spot at the table. She and Obito were sitting at her kitchen table. A plate of pastries sat untouched in the middle of the table. It hadn't taken long to retell Kushina all of what Naruto had told him. "Does Minato know?"

Obito shook his head. "Naruto had no intention of telling anyone. He's worried that his presence could change things in the future."

For the first time since they started talking, Kushina looked worried. "I hadn't thought about that. It's true, isn't it? Naruto isn't supposed to be here, so what will his presence change? It's probably already changed a few things." Kushina seemed to think on that.

The silence stretched on and Obito couldn't help the yawn that escaped him. Kushina noticed and said she had kept him to long. "I enjoy being here. You and Minato-sensei are my family."

Kushina smiled at his words. "You can sleep on the couch over there. I'll get you a few blankets." Obito walked over towards were she was pointing. It wasn't a large couch, but he was just happy to be someplace where he felt he belonged. Kushina returned with the blankets and then disappeared for the night. She was probably going to be up late. A lot had happened in the past few hours, for all of them. Obito doubted anyone on his team would get a good night's rest that night. Except Kakashi. He probably didn't care who Naruto was. Obito thought back on all the things Naruto had told him, about his friends and his position as Hokage. The longer Obito lied down and recounted the tales, the more he came to realize that he barely knew Naruto.

He knew that Naruto was Minato and Kushina's son. He knew that Naruto was Hokage. Naruto had told him several things about friends of his and such. He had heard about the chuunin exams and Naruto traveling with his friends. But what else did he know? A small thing here or there, but what was Naruto's life really like? How did he manage to become Hokage at nineteen?

Obito rolled onto his side on the couch, why were all of Naruto's answers sounding so vague now? He had thought Naruto was sharing his past with him, but now every story seemed to be just the surface level, like there was more going on behind the scenes that Naruto wasn't willing to share. Obito shifted again on the couch. Why though? Naruto said he had nothing to hide, that he wasn't there to harm the village, and Obito trusted that. So why wouldn't he tell him more? Maybe it was just to keep the future safe. The less they knew about what was coming, the better, right?

As Obito turned onto his other side a new thought came to him. "My childhood was kinda like yours. I was different, so people treated me badly." Obito sat up, startled. He had been so wrapped up in the cool things Naruto had told him that he had forgotten a part of Naruto's first recollection. Naruto had said that the people of Konoha didn't want to him to be a shinobi, but that the Hokage had overruled them. Pulling a few pranks wouldn't have the shinobi wishing for Naruto to not become one. So what did? And what of the sadness that appeared in Naruto's eyes when he admitting to Minato being his father? Plus there was no way Minato would let anyone treat Naruto poorly.

Obito tried to stop his brain from reaching the conclusion, but he couldn't. There was no escaping the truth that danced around his mind. At some point in the future, Minato was going to die. A few tears escaped Obito's eyes. Minato-sensei's not dead yet. We probably have years to figure out how to change things. We could prevent Minato-sensei's death. Two more thoughts crashed into Obito at once. The first being that if Naruto was Minato's son then why did everyone hate him? What could Naruto have possibly done as a child to get everyone to treat him badly? The second thought was of something Naruto had said. He wasn't telling anyone about himself because he was afraid of what might happen in the future.

Naruto wasn't trying to save Minato.

oOoOo

Naruto had often been accused of having a blank mind, and right this second it would be true. He knew that there had to be a good excuse, a way to explain his statement away, but his mind could only think that he had just called Minato "dad." Naruto didn't say anything, in hopes that Minato would think he hadn't been referring to him. Besides, it was impossible, right? Naruto was just a few years younger than Minato, making it impossible for him to be his son. Surely his mind wouldn't even consider time travel.

"Naruto, I have a question for you." The statement came from Jiraiya. Up until that point, Naruto had forgotten he was in the room. He looked over his shoulder to where Jiraiya sat near the window. The sannin looked to be contemplating things, his face drawn in concentration. After a minute he looked up and caught Naruto's eye. Despite the circumstances, Naruto felt a pang of sorrow wash over him. How he missed the ero-sennin! Jiraiya glanced over a Minato, before he placed his gaze back on Naruto. "What year where you born?

Naruto gulped. He knew the look in Jiraiya's eyes. He knew. Naruto didn't know how he figured it out, but Jiraiya clearly knew. Beside him, Minato stared at Jiraiya. "Why would you ask him that in the middle of all this?"

Jiraiya said nothing as he waited for Naruto's answer. Could he tell them the truth? He had planned on not telling anyone to prevent the future from changing, but hadn't it already? Jiraiya had told him tales about his missions, and he never mentioned this one. Naruto looked at Minato again, and then Jiraiya. Did his presence in the past change their future? Once they examined the seal they would know it was used for time travel, and in order to get back to his own time, he would have to have them find a way to reverse it. They would have found out eventually. Swallowing, Naruto caught Minato's eye as he cautiously said the year. "276 S.E."

Minato's eyes widened. He looked to be connected dots in his mind. Naruto caught a glimpse of Jiraiya out of the corner of his eye. He slowly nodded his head. "Then you are from the future."

oOoOo

Minato's mind was going a hundred miles a minute. 276 S.E.? That was a few years from now, which would mean Naruto came from almost 25 years in the future.. If Naruto was from the future, then how did he get here? Naruto seemed to have read his mind. "The seal you were sent to grab. I believe that's what brought me here. I also believe it's my only way back."

I'm so sorry, Dad. Dad. Naruto was from the future; Naruto looked so much like him; Naruto called him dad. Minato felt dizzy, suddenly short of breath. He looked over at Naruto, taking in every detail. Naruto's hair was the same as his, but he kept it to a shorter length. Naruto had his color eyes, but the shape was different, more like Kushina's. The whisker marks caught his eye. He had noticed them before, but he had never really thought about them. Where they scars or birthmarks? Could it be the result of being born of a Jinchuuriki. Minato had no doubt that Kushina was the boys' mother. He smiled despite the situation. Naruto's attitude should've been enough to tell him that this was Kushina's son.

Minato had never felt the need to know everything about someone before, but he wanted to drill Naruto until he knew everything that had happened to him. How did his son get to be nineteen and still be only a genin. Maybe he hadn't cared about being a shinobi. What else had Naruto told them? He had said he left his village out of a political disagreement, but that was probably a lie. How many other lies had Naruto told them?

"If this seal is the reason you've been brought here, then the question I gave is why?" At least Jiraiya was thinking. Minato was too busy processing to really think about what was currently going on. From what they'd been told, this seal was created by Iwa and the result was an increase in chakra. But why would bringing Naruto to the past increase chakra?

Naruto sighed. "It's a long story, but I'll try to make it as short as possible." Minato fought the urge to tell him to give as much detail as possible. That wasn't what was important now. Naruto seemed to be struggling with what to say.

"Why don't you just start with telling us about your life. We have a little bit of time." Minato looked over at Jiraiya, silently thanking him. Naruto couldn't stay here for much longer and Minato could think of letting his son go without knowing more about him.

Naruto smiled a little. "I was a prankster. Half the village hated me because I was always causing trouble. I'm not the smartest person, so I get out of the academy until I was twelve. Then I was put on a team with Sasuke and Sakura. I was happy to be on a team with Sakura-chan, but I hated that idiot Sasuke. He was the number one in our class and everyone loved him. Oh, and Kakashi was my sensei." That shocked Minato. He had never imagined Kakashi as being a sensei. He wasn't the type to deal with kids. "Kakashi had never passed anyone before, but we passed. Then we went on a C-rank mission and it turned into an A-rank mission and…"

"Why don't you skip ahead a bit?" Jiraya prodded.

Naruto dared to glare at him. "Fine, then Sasuke left the village with Orochimaru and I left the village to train with you. Three years later I came back and we tried to rescue Sasuke and failed. Then Kabuto brought dead people back to life and there was a war and Tobi was bent on taking over the world. But we stopped him and I became Hokage. Was that fast enough for you?"

Jiraiya and Minato stared at him with slack jaws.

"Who's Kabuto?" Jiraiya asked.

"Hokage?" Minato asked at the same time. Naruto, the boy who's claimed to a nineteen year old genin, the boy who'd barely been able to perform water jutsu's, though he did excel at times, was a Hokage? Just what else had Naruto been hiding? Also, Naruto being a Hokage would mean he was powerful enough to be useful. Maybe Iwa had brought him back and planned to brainwash him to help them.

"If you had let me tell the entire story you wouldn't have any questions." Naruto smiled.

"Naruto," Minato began, "How much chakra do you have?"

Naruto froze. It was several beats before he answered. "Depends on the time, to be honest. There are times when I have a little bit more than average, and there are times when my chakra increases by a lot."

"Can you control when it increases?" Jiraiya asked.

"Sometimes. I used to not be able too, but I've been working on it and have better control now." Naruto's answer was slow.

As much as he wanted to get to know his son, they needed to send Naruto back to his time, and soon. Minato thought about what was waiting for Naruto back at the village. The Sandaime would probably throw him in a cell for coming after them. No, they needed to do this now. Minato stood up from his spot. His legs ached in protest from having been sitting for so long. He made his way over to the pouch and opened it. The seal was carefully placed on the side. He withdrew it and made his way over to the other two. "We need to figure out how to send Naruto back now. Once we get to the village we won't have a chance."

Naruto and Jiraiya agreed. Minato was pleased that Jiraiya was going along. He had been afraid that he might insist they return to the village now. It would take them a while to work through the seal, but with two seal masters, it would be faster.

oOoOo

Without any missions to complete, Kakashi felt bored. He was currently walking the streets of Konoha, and if you were to ask a bystander, moping. With Minato gone he hadn't really spoken with anyone, and he had to admit, he wanted to talk. Kakashi's walk led him by the cemetery. Looking in, he noticed several shinobi sitting around tombstones and talking. Kakashi smirked at their stupidity. They were speaking to the air and nothing more. The dead couldn't hear and answer.

Kakashi kept going until he passed a book store. He had never been much for reading, but maybe there was a book with new techniques to learn. He slowly made his way down the aisles. None of the titles stood out. He kept going and noticed that all of the books started to be labeled 'adult.' He paused wondering what would make a book an 'adult' book. Curiosity got the better of him and he reached over to grab it. He had only read the first page when the store owner caught him and snatched the book, telling him to go back over to the kids section. Kakashi was too red in the face to do anything but comply.

oOoOo

Minato groaned as he pulled rolled up the used paper and grabbed a new one. It has been two days since they'd started this dissecting the seal. He had figured out most of it, but there were two lines intersecting that he'd not seen before. He wished Kushina had been able to teach him some of the Uzumaki's seals, but they hadn't had the time to. Eventually Jiraiya and he had concluded that they would have to proceed with starting a counter seal anyway. If Naruto's presence was the one making the difference in the shinobi world's chakra levels, then they needed to send him back immediately.

Though it was serious work, Minato couldn't help but be glad for the time he'd spent with his son. It was such a strange idea to get used to that the teenager in front of him was his son, but the idea fit. He knew that after he and Kushina were married that he would want to have a child, but he had never put much thought into it. From there previous mission and their training together, Minato had expected it to be hard for Naruto to stay focused. He was surprised when Naruto remained mostly quiet, only speaking to make an observation on a line. He clearly knew more about seals than an average shinobi. But wasn't a Hokage expected to be above average, even extraordinary.

Naruto hadn't talked any more about the future since his hurried explanation two days ago. Minato was dying to ask how things were, but he understood. The less they knew about the future, the better. Still, he had to know one thing. He remembered the way Naruto had tensed the first day he asked, and he was hesitant to cause the same reaction. But his mind wouldn't let the thought go. "Naruto." He waited while the boy finished with the line his was examining and looked up. "I asked you this once and you didn't answer, but I can't let it go. What happened to your arm? I know it was caused by a powerful jutsu, which makes more sense now that I know you've been fooling us with your poor water jutsu performances."

He waited for Naruto to flinch or draw back the way he had that first day, but instead he smiled slowly. "I wasn't faking being bad at water jutsu's. Water isn't my natural affinity."

Minato temporarily forgot his original question. "It isn't your affinity? What is then?"

Naruto smiled. "Wind. I've also learned fire jutsu's."

"So you've been trying to learn a third element this entire time? Wow, three elements, that's incredible." It was. Minato couldn't think of another person he knew of that could control three different elements.

"Thanks, Dad." Minato caught his breath. It was the first time since Naruto had 'apologized' that Naruto had called him dad. He couldn't explain the feelings that stirred within him. This was his son. Maybe not right now, but at some time in the future, he was going to be raising this child. He and Kushina did a good job.

"And my arm injury hadn't bothered me in a while. It caught me off guard when it suddenly did." Naruto hadn't forgotten Minato's question. Minato was pleased that he wasn't avoiding the topic.

"How did it get injured? Was it from one of those times you couldn't control your chakra?" Minato asked cautiously.

Naruto's grin dropped. "No. It happened two years ago in one of the last battles of the war." Naruto looked out the window. "The teammate that I mention, Sasuke, he found out that his brother had been used by some shinobi in Konoha and he vowed to avenge him. He was determined to destroy Konoha and I knew it had to be me to stop him. We had always had a rivalry, and we had fought a few times before. I knew before going into the fight that both of us where going to die, but for some reason I didn't. The injury to my arm was my last jutsu against him. I found a way to combine wind-natured chakra into rasengan and it was powerful, but without the extra chakra I ended up injured as well."

Minato didn't know what to say to that. "What happened to Sasuke?" He hated having to ask Naruto to say it out loud, but something told him Naruto never had before.

Naruto stared at the ground for a few minutes before answering. "He was killed. I killed him." When Naruto looked up Minato could see the tears he was fighting to hold in. Naruto's voice broke as he spoke. "He was my best friend."

Minato didn't think, he just pulled Naruto into his arms. He wished he had the power to stop his pain, but he knew he couldn't. Naruto didn't sob, but he couldn't hold back a few tears. Minato glanced over the boys head at Jiraiya, who had remained silent during their conversation. The man looked torn. Minato look must have given his confusion away, for Jiraiya held up a page with a new version of the seal on it. It was complete.

Naruto pulled himself away from Minato and wiped at his eyes. He must've caught the glances between Minato and Jiraiya because he was then staring at the seal. Minato took the seal from Jiraiya and slowly examined it. It wasn't perfect, it couldn't be unless they knew what that one line meant, but it was good enough to work. If they had more time, Minato would've suggested fixing it, but Naruto had been there too long. It was impossible that Naruto's presence hadn't changed a thing and they couldn't risk more. "This'll work." Minato announced for Naruto's benefit.

The kid seemed relieved. Minato wanted to feel hurt that he was happy to leave, but he understood. This wasn't Naruto's world, plus they would get to know him eventually. They would just have to wait a bit. Naruto grabbed one of the blank sheets and wrote on it. After a few minutes he folded it and handed it to Minato. "Please give this to Obito. And please tell the others I said goodbye." Minato nodded. What more could he do? He put the paper in his pocket.

Minato stood in the center of the room, Jiraiya beside him and Naruto across from him. Slowly he started the hand signs. Dog, snake, pig, dog… It happened in a flash. One second Naruto was there and the next he was gone. Minato swallowed the lump in his throat. Weren't goodbyes supposed to be drawn out? But no, this wasn't goodbye; he would see Naruto again in just a few years. He couldn't wait to meet his son again.

oOoOo

"Wake up, Naruto!" The voice was familiar, but Naruto couldn't care at the moment. All he wanted was sleep. He had been having such a good dream too, though he could no longer seem to remember it. "Naruto!" The voice drew louder. Naruto felt around for the pillow and pulled it over his head. Didn't the voice know he was tired?

Naruto was startled when a hand shook him. He groaned and rolled over. "Leave me alone! Can't you see I'm sleeping!"

The sound of rich laughter filled the room. A second later Naruto was falling onto the floor. The voice had pushed him out of the bed! "Come on, Naruto. If you're late than you're sensei isn't going to be happy." Naruto groaned. What did it matter if he was late once, or for the fourth time? Naruto opened his eyes and glared up at his father. "You're evil."

Minato only laughed. "I know. You tell me every morning."

Naruto quickly dressed before jumping out his window. He'd have to skip breakfast. If there was one thing Kakashi hated, it was lateness.

A/N: Well, here it is. I'm sorry it took almost four months to update, but unlike most people, summer is my busiest time of year. There were a few times when I said I was going to sit down and write, but when I did, I would be interrupted. Thank you so much to everyone who's been patient with me. Honestly, your reviews are what made me sit down and finish this today (I should be doing some of my homework. I'm in college now). The next two weeks are going to be busy for me, since I'm having to rely on others to drive me around while my car is getting fixed from being rear ended. I might not be home a lot to write.

Since there isn't a timeline given for Naruto, I just made up a year. Hey, writers get that creative license. I don't own Naruto, but I'm free to make things up.

I honestly don't like this chapter, but it's what had to happen. Minato and Naruto's relationship is so much harder to write than Obito and Naruto's. I had originally planned to drag out sending Naruto home, but to me it didn't feel right. This story isn't over yet.

Thank you for putting up with me and reading this chapter. Please review.