Disclaimer: See chapter one.
Live or Let DieMinato sighed in despair as he slowly made ramen enough for both Naruto and himself. He knew that, if Naruto were anything like him, he'd need to make a lot. Minato smiled at this thought. In all the time he'd spent imagining was his son would be like, he never thought he'd act so much like him.
'I'm just glad he didn't inherit my cowardice.'
Minato shook his head to clear it of such thoughts.
'Stop dwelling on the past, idiot. I'm more than making up for it now…'So lost in his thoughts he did not notice that he was burning the ramen until…
"HEY!!! You're letting the ramen burn!!"
Minato looked at Naruto with a blank look on his face. Then…
"OH MY GOD!!! THE RAMEN!!!"
He panicked and began to run around the cottage in aimless circles. It didn't occur to him to do anything but run around until Naruto started yelling at him.
"OI!! Blondie!! Throw water on it!! We can still save them!! Water, Blondie water!!"
Minato began to look around frantically.
"But I don't have any water!"
"There's a big bucket of it right behind you!"
Spinning around frantically, He looked down and sighed in relief when he saw the huge bucket of water at his feet. Turning quickly, he somehow managed to unbalance himself and fell face first into the burning hot ramen.
In all his years of making ramen, he had never fell into it. He lay there for a moment, breathing in ramen through his nose, ignoring the fact that his face was on fire now and letting the reality of what just happened to sink into his mind.
Silence filled the room. Minato reluctantly pulled his face out of the soggy pot of ramen and even more reluctantly looked at Naruto.
"What the hell are you laughing at, Shortie?"
Naruto tried to stifle his laughter, but he couldn't help himself.
"What kind of Hokage are you?"
Any humor that might have been on Minato's face left immediately and he silently picked himself up. Quietly, as if he were speaking to himself, he said, "I was a damn good Hokage…one of the best ever."
Naruto snorted mockingly from his place on the bed.
"Yeah right: the best. Yeah the best coward Hokage Konoha ever had! The Yellow Coward of Konoha! Congratulations on your astounding achievement!"
The Fourth, who'd had his back to Naruto, turned with an enraged roar toward his son and kicked the offending pot of ramen, with all his pissed off strength, at the wall only inches from his son's face causing it to shatter into many pieces.
He glared horribly at Naruto, and Naruto could see the proud warrior who'd so fearlessly stood up to the nine-tailed fox demon in his piercing blue eyes.
Minato clenched his fists tightly together and tried to get his breathing back under control. He was like the very fox demon he had sacrificed so much to defeat. He wanted, so very much that it was like a physical ache, to let the Rasengan fill his hand and plunge it deeply into the chest of the one who had dared bring up such painful memories. He knew, though, that it would solve nothing but would just create more grief for himself. Plus the look of fear on his son's face was doing more to calm his rage than any apology could.
"Y-you could've hit me with that you jerk! Jeez what's your problem?!"
This stupid question, asked in the aftermath of Yondaime's violent rage, was too much for the disgraced Hokage. It was much harder to keep himself still and not launch himself at his son and punch him senseless. Instead he screamed. He screamed all his emotions that had been suppressed for those lonely fourteen years for the world to hear. He let his son bear witness to his eternal shame, his fear and sadness, his cowardice and betrayal; the hard emotions poured from his lips and echoed about the room; his weakness filled the ears of his once smug and ever vengeful son and left him speechless. He screamed until his voice abruptly died in his throat, and in the new silence he stalked out of the cottage, slamming the door behind him.
This stunned silence was only broken when Naruto faintly whispered, "Wow…"
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