Chapter Summary: Tenzou tries and fails to pretend that he's okay, but luckily for him, Minato is the Best Dad.
Obito thinks Shisui is ridiculous and therefore, the friend that Tenzou needs.
Rin and Naruto are probably the only sensible people here tbh
Not being able to wake is a problem that Tenzou isn't used to, and he finds it's not something he wants to experience again. The exhaustion still eats at him, and the nightmare still lingers at the fringes of his memory. Coupled with his impromptu training and Danzou's confusing appearance, his mind is in a hundred different places than where it needs to be.
He's cold. Chilled down to the bone, and his limbs feel as though someone has threaded lead through them. The lab was cold. An unbearable chilliness that he could feel even inside the tank. He shoves down unwelcome memories. He's not there anymore. He's home.
He takes a breath that comes out like a wheeze, and forces his eyes open, crusty with sleep. The pale, cream painted ceiling stares back at him.
He's home. Not in the tank. Not in some dream. Not with Danzou. Home.
Obito's head is laying on Tenzou's stomach, half buried in the tough fabric of Chuunin vest that likely isn't comfortable. His breathing is steady, and his face shows no sign of distress.
He tilts his head and looks up at Rin, who threads her fingers through his tangled hair that's in desperate need of a brush. Her gaze is vacant in the way that speaks of deep thoughts. She startles at his movement looking down at Tenzou, with soft eyes but Tenzou can see the layer of concern.
He smiles at her and prays it doesn't look as fragile as it feels. He pulls himself into a sitting position, carefully detaching Obito and moving him into a more comfortable position. Tenzou looks around the room, taking in the scene slower than what's necessary. (but the nightmare is still in his head, and he feels like he needs to remind himself that he's here, that he's home.)
Tenzou looks over and spots Kakashi's empty bed. His chest tightens immediately and he tries to shove down the irrational flood of panic. Minato or Kushina would have taken him to the hospital. After all, that's what they promised to do.
Kakashi's fine. He. Is. Fine.
If only Tenzou's head would stop throwing up other not so pleasant suggestions.
He straightens himself and Rin pats his shoulder gently, "Kushina took Kakashi to the hospital. Minato-sensei's at the Hokage's office."
Tenzou nods and pulls himself off the couch and takes out the fraying braid, running his fingers through the worst of the knots. He pulls it back up into a pigtail, not caring how messy it looks.
"Tenzou," Rin eyes him and the hint of concern that Tenzou could sense before is now raw. It's all Tenzou can feel. "Are you okay?"
Tenzou doesn't know. There's too much to think about. He needs to discuss Danzou with Minato and Kushina, but where does he start? Is there anywhere to start? It's not as though Danzou had done anything bad or suspicious. He gave Tenzou advice which really any veteran should have done upon seeing a rookie struggling with something they could help with.
So the only thing Tenzou is going off is a gut feeling and the memory of how uncomfortable Minato looked in his presence.
Then there's the nightmare that just won't leave him alone. Tenzou doesn't know how to feel about any of it.
"I'm alright, Rin. You don't have to worry!" is what Tenzou settles with. It's not a complete lie. He's sure that Rin doesn't need to worry herself over this when Tenzou's not even sure if it needs worrying over. He's mostly alright, but he'll be a lot more alright when he talks to Minato about it right now.
He hadn't bothered changing from last night and he's still fully dressed so he opens the window and gives Rin a little wave, "I'll see you later."
Rin isn't an idiot and Tenzou's almost certain she knows that he isn't as okay as he tried to make out. But he's thankful for that. Rin is a nice friend, maybe she can help with the nightmares?
Tenzou comes up to the Hokage's office door and stares up at the two Anbu stationed there. One with a Hawk mask and the other an obscure pattern of white and black. The one in the Hawk mask tilts their head in a manner that's alarmingly bird-like and the other one who is built heavier than Hawk, looks down at him.
They both turn to look at one another and there's a moment of utter silence between them. A whole silent conversation, Tenzou realises. He takes a breath. The village's Black Ops are amazing. Terrifying, but amazing nonetheless.
The black and white masked Anbu nods and grasps the door handle, pulling it open for him. Tenzou looks up and regrets that he likely looks like an overwhelmed civilian, but manages to get out a thank you before he rushes into the office.
Minato-sensei is surrounded by paperwork. He looks fresh though, his blond hair accentuated by the rays of light bouncing off. Naruto sits in his lap happily entertaining himself with what is hopefully a scrap piece of paper.
Minato looks up and a smile blooms across his face, "Tenzou!" he says, "I'm sorry I couldn't be at home when you kids woke up." He shuffles Naruto onto the ground where there's a little pile of toys.
"Obito was still dead asleep when I left, was he awake when you woke up?" he asks, amusement obvious in his words. He flips the pen across his knuckles and lets out a tiny chuckle.
"No, Minato-sensei. He was still asleep." Tenzou tries to keep his tone light but he's clearly not good enough at it yet.
Minato frowns at him and beckons him around the other side of the desk. He pulls out a smaller stool that's tucked under the desk and gestures for Tenzou to sit on it. "What's on your mind?"
Tenzou takes a deep breath and hopes that what he's about to say doesn't come off as ridiculous as he thinks it will.
"I had a nightmare last night so I went out to train to try and clear my head. I was stuck on this particular move that I couldn't get right no matter what. Then Danzou-sama appeared and he helped me get the move correct almost immediately. He then told me 'With the right guidance, you could become very strong'." Tenzou rubs his hands together, and hopes, to every god that this is making sense.
"I don't know why, but I felt uncomfortable the whole time he was there and I know it's just a gut feeling and there's no reason for me to feel uneasy about someone helping me but I did and I felt like I needed to tell you because I didn't know what else to do-"
Minato puts both his hands on his shoulders and Tenzou realises he's crying. Hot tears pouring down his cheeks and his breathing rattles in his chest. He scrubs furiously at the tears. Why is he crying? He has no need to cry. This doesn't make any sense, why is he so emotional?
Minato pulls him against his chest in what takes Tenzou a moment to realise is a hug, and rubs his back.
"You're tired, and the Kannabi Bridge mission almost ended horrifically. It was your first serious mission and you kids got several bites rather than the taste tester it was supposed to be. Danzou probably just tipped the scales a little bit, but it was enough to throw everything out of kilter." Minato says rubbing his back and the explanation makes an awful lot of sense.
"You're not losing it, it's pretty normal to respond like this on a first mission." His voice is steady and unwavering and Tenzou drinks up every word.
Tenzou lets his head fall onto Minato's shoulder. "Sorry to bother you with this," the apology hardly feels like enough to make up for barging into Minato's office and having a crisis, hardly feels enough to make up for being a burden when that feels like that's all he's been.
Minato sighs, and for a horrible moment, Tenzou thinks that he's lost patience with him. He jerks his head up from Minato's shoulder and is halfway through stuttering out a handful of muffled apologies when Minato gently eases him back against him.
Tenzou squeezes his eyes shut and half chokes back another bout of tears. Minato has no reason to keep him around. Not when he's a liability. Not when he's useless and so easily affected by something that seems so simple.
"I think you're pretty amazing Tenzou," Minato runs a hand through his ponytail. "I'm so happy that Kushina found you. I don't know what I'd do with myself if you weren't with us."
Tenzou pulls back slowly from where he's pressed into Minato's shoulders and gives him a long painful stare.
"Are you sure?" he asks. It comes out far quieter and more vulnerable then he intends.
"Yes. I am positive, Tenzou." Minato says and he grips Tenzou's hands in his own and stares back.
"Danzou was right, with the right training you can definitely become very strong. I haven't had time to do much with you kids but how about…" his brow creases as he wracks his brain for his timetable of the next few days. "I have a few hours spare this afternoon. We can train together, visit Kakashi and do whatever you want okay?"
Tenzou nods and takes a deep breath. Minato leans down and plucks Naruto off the floor who makes a displeased sound at being interrupted.
"Naruto is my son, but I consider you my son too. You don't have to worry. You're here to stay." Minato's hand is warm on hand where he's holding, with Naruto gripped in the other hand. It's warm and alive.
A little voice in the back of Tenzou's head wanders if Minato can read minds.
"I've got a few more hours stuck here doing paperwork," Minato pauses to ease the tight grip Naruto has on his hair. Naruto gurgles in response and pulls harder.
"I'll meet you back home after lunch and then we'll do some training afterwards." Minato finally frees his hand from Naruto's grip and rubs his scalp.
"Thank you Minato-sensei," Tenzou says and hopes that Minato understands how much thanks he truly has.
Minato grins, his eyes scrunching up in that way that always makes Kushina gush over him, and tugs at a strand of hair from Tenzou's ponytail that was sitting over his shoulder. "Love you, kid. I'll see you after lunch."
Tenzou's heart stops beating for a good few seconds and finds that he really can't breathe.
Of course Tenzou loves Kushina and Minato – they were the ones that had saved him when they could have left him to die and made their lives a lot easier, but Tenzou had never really considered that either Minato or Kushina loved him back.
Naruto lets out a small gurgle that ironically sounds like he's concerned, reaching out a chubby hand at him.
Tenzou blinks and stares at Minato for far longer than he means to, but Minato doesn't lose his patience or his smile.
Tenzou coughs lightly into his hand and taps Naruto's chubby hand. He walks over to the door, taking every ounce of his will power not to sprint.
He reaches the door and hesitates, he tilts his head to face Minato, "I love you too."
Tenzou tares open the door and runs out.
He's never told anyone that before – well at least not that he could remember. His chest is warm and he doesn't mind the feeling. It was the same kind of feeling he got when Naruto would fall asleep on his chest, or when he was hanging out with Rin, Kakashi and Obito or when Kushina gives him hugs.
There's no way Minato would lie about that.
Naruto makes a few more gurgling sounds, small hands reaching for Minato's hair.
Minato had expected backlash at some point and he had been surprised how well Tenzou was progressing. But, something was going to tip over the delicate balance Tenzou had achieved and it just so happened that Danzou was the catalyst.
He sighs, leans back in his chair and pokes Naruto's nose a few times. The aching concern in his chest eases a little as Naruto giggles and tries to reach for Minato's fingers.
He was worried he'd over-stepped the line with the 'I love you' move. The last thing he wanted to do is throw Tenzou into a confused panic but he deserves to be told that he's loved. Kushina will be happy that Minato's broken the ice. She'll be telling him how much she loves her every other second.
Danzou is planning something. That much is obvious. Danzou operates in terms of what's best for the village and disregards any ethics like he's severely allergic to the idea.
The Third Shinobi War still rages and he needs to deal with that, not Danzou plotting some elaborate plan that apparently involves Tenzou – Minato's son – because he is by all accounts other than biological, even if Minato wants to drop everything and keep Tenzou a million miles away from Danzou.
He flares his chakra ever so slightly and one of the two Anbu stationed outside the door appears in front of him.
The only Anbu currently in the village are injured or having only just returned from a mission, since the village is in derperate need of more Jounin. The masks hide his agent's faces but Hawk and Spiral have been stationed on duty for what seems like an infinite amount of time and frankly, Minato's worried how much longer they can keep standing.
"Swap over with the next Anbu and make sure Tenzou gets home safely," he tells Hawk.
The Anbu salutes and shunshins away.
He looks down at Naruto who's staring at the spot the Anbu was, little crinkles appearing in his brow and Minato snorts embarrassingly loud at Naruto's confusion.
Little kids are honestly too cute.
Minato thinks of Danzou, and thinks of what he could want.
It likely has something to do with Kushina being the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and Tenzou wielding the Mokuton – one of the jutsus that can control the Kyuubi.
That, however, doesn't take priority right now. He needs to get this paper work filled out, read over the mission reports that have flooded his desk, go out with Tenzou then rest up and tomorrow he will go out to the frontlines and help give Konoha more of the upper hand.
This war has dragged on long enough, and Minato thinks he can speak for everyone when he says he wants it to end as soon as possible and preferably in Konoha's favour.
Obito tugs on Shisui's hand as he struggles to keep up with his significantly shorter legs. Shisui's parents have been dead for a while and he's still young, so it sometimes falls to Obito to look after him.
Shisui's seven years old, the same age as Tenzou and has completed missions for the war effort, so really Shisui doesn't need looking after. If anything, it seems that Shisui's more used to doing the looking after if how he acts around Itachi says anything.
But still, Shisui is Obito's cousin and he's pretty sure Shisui doesn't have any friends beside Itachi which shows the state his life is in. If Itachi is the only person Shisui has that's sad and Obito needs to do something about it.
He'd gone back to the Uchiha compound to pick up a fresh set of clothes, a tooth brush and other necessities and intended to head back to Minato-sensei's house, when Mikoto had spotted him and basically thrown Shisui at him.
"I don't want him to be alone," she'd said which Obito understood. It wasn't about looking after Shisui so much as keeping him company.
Rin had said she was worried about Tenzou and that he'd bailed the second he'd woken up and he looked shaken up and tired.
So, what better way to make Tenzou feel better than to give him another friend?
"Obito," Shisui says, running to catch up the few steps he'd fallen behind. "Is Tenzou sad? Is that why you're bringing me to him?" Shisui tilts his head at Obito in a way that obscenely reminds him of a little rabbit.
Obito almost stops walking completely at that comment. It's no wander Itachi and Shisui are best friends – they're both weird and not to mention mind-readers.
"Yeah, Rin said he was sad this morning when he woke up, he should be back by the time we get there," Obito replies, adjusting his goggles. He tries to ignore the scratches on the lens that make the world look slightly distorted. He'll have to get on to that.
Shisui nods along like he understands everything on a much deeper level than even Obito does which, what the hell. Shisui's always been mentally older than he physically is, but still, like he said, what the hell.
Obito wanders what goes through his head and immediately decides he doesn't want to know. He hangs out with Itachi almost every moment of everyday so probably something weird.
They reach the stairs of Minato and Kushina's house. Obito doesn't bother knocking, they'd broken that formality a month ago.
Rin and Tenzou are both back. They sit on the floor of the living room, knees touching and heads bent close together in a quiet discussion.
Rin's smile widens, red is streaked across her cheeks in happiness and if Obito's heat beats very hard in his chest, well no one says anything.
Except for Shisui, who's giving him that look which means he knows of Obito's Big Crush. Obito fights the temptation to kick Shisui back out and instead thinks of Tenzou's smile and decides it's worth it.
Tenzou twists around to face them and offers a small, hesitant wave.
"This is Shisui, Tenzou. You two are about the same age. Mikoto wanted me to look after him to make sure he doesn't get into trouble, so I thought I'd bring him here." Obito walks over and joins them sitting next to Rin.
He's not worried about Shisui or Tenzou. Shisui is the literal reincarnation of an actual ray of sunshine mixed in with far too much of the ingredient 'absolutely brilliant with people' to mess this up.
Shisui sits down next to Tenzou, smiling brightly. Shisui tends to radiate happiness and he managed to get Itachi Uchiha to come out of his shell and he heard Itachi call Shisui 'shishi' once. Anyone who can accomplish that deserves a medal.
For Shisui, befriending Tenzou will be a walk in the park.
Obito leans over, nudging Rin with his shoulder, "is Kushina not back yet either?"
She shakes her head and leans in close as to not disturb Tenzou or Shisui. "I think she's worried about Kakashi. You know how much he hates hospitals. He'll probably feel more comfortable with someone there with him."
Rin is worried too, Obito can tell. And he'd be lying if he said he wasn't as well. Kakashi lost an eye. The road to recovery from that is going to be long and difficult. But Kakashi has Team Minato and even if Kakashi can be an absolute asshole sometimes, Obito isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
They'll probably get sent on another mission before Kakashi is mission fit again and he's surprised by how much he doesn't like that idea.
He looks over back at the futon where Kakashi slept the night before and wonders how he ever managed to get so attached.
"Repeated near death experiences tend to do that," Rin says, grinning slyly at him.
Obito blinks and stares for a long a moment, uncomprehending. "Oh. I said that out loud. Huh."
Rin giggles, her hand covering her mouth and eyes squeezed shut.
Shisui snorts, outright laughing at Obito and nudges Tenzou with his elbow. Obito pokes his tongue out.
Tenzou allows a cautious smile that's still far from perfect, but it's better than the dejected look he had when Obito walked in so he decides to suck it up and count it as a win.
He's worried about Kakashi and his missing eye and the missions they'll inevitably have to go on without him. He's worried about Tenzou and how sad he looks and how Obito doesn't know how to help him. He's worried about Rin and how much he wants to be with her and how one wrong move in a mission could take her away. Hell, he's worried about Shisui as well. His little cousin is a small but resilient flame of hope and determination but how long will it last against the big bad world?
Obito is worried about a lot of things, but when he considers the alternative – not having anyone to worry about – he'd take this any day.
HI I SHOULD BE STUDYING
