Chapter 3

At the beginning, you sometimes wonder how it ends. Occasionally, the beginning can hint or determine the ending. That is, if you have time to wonder how it will end. Minato was too busy with the present to worry about anything else.

"Let's see... Step one." Minato had a tiny book open, trying to learn the contains of it before his son could get any louder. The smell that emanated from his son was nauseating. "Hush son, I'm doing my best!" Minato pleaded with his son. The Hirashin no Jutsu wasn't as confusing as learning how to change a diaper. (Honestly, I can't remember how either.)

Naruto cried louder. The smell of his own waste was getting to him too.

Minato tried again. "I got it!" He exclaimed triumphantly. Sadly, the diaper was secured around his left hand. "What?! How'd that happen?" He flipped through the pages. "Right, I'm suppose to clean him first..." He looked at the white thing wrapped around the lower half of his son. "You lucky I love you..."

XXX

"There." Minato quickly incinerated the old diaper as soon as he was done. "Better?"

Naruto stared at him, no longer crying, then giggled.

Minato smiled happily. "Good. Too bad I can't say the same for me." He didn't dare look at his hands, nor think about what was on them. "I better clean myself up."

After a quick shower, Minato was sitting on the couch in the luxurious living room with Naruto cradled in his arms. The couches were quite soft, each a cream color. The curtains were drawn back to let in the light, making the wooden floor shine.

Minato looked outside, the garden was showing the signs of autumn. Already, everything was returning to the earth. Soon, winter would settle in. Dejected, he sighed heavily. "Maybe we can keep the garden alive. For Kushina?" He looked at his son, comfortably snoozing in his arms. The blanket that Naruto was wrapped in was made by his mother-in-law, Kushina's mother.

"Every child must have their own blanket." He remembered her saying as she worked on it. It was a plain orange and red blanket, nothing fancy, but was held dear to him. Reports of Whirlpool informed him that it was no longer there. Destroyed by the Kyubi.

"Kushina must be with her kinsmen now... " He yawned, tears welling up in his eyes. Apparently, babies like to wake up three times in one night. "It'll lessen as the years go by... I hope." He got up slowly, careful not to wake Naruto. "Guess I'll get some sleep." Smoke was still rising from where the Kyubi had been. "They don't need my help right now. I'll let them cool off before I take Naruto out."

XXX

Just as he closed the door to his son's room, a servant came up to him. Minato gestured him to be quiet. "What is it?" He asked in a hush tone.

"Minato-sama, there are visitors for you." He answered in the same quiet tone.

"Okay, I'll be there shortly. Please inform them."

"Hai." He bowed before leaving.

Minato ran his hand through his spiky blonde hair. "Who could that be?" Just in case. He made a shadow clone to keep watch before following his servant. They can't know Naruto's secret already. It's only been a few hours.

XXX

"Idiot!" A fist followed the words, sending him flying back. He righten himself in mid-air and landed nimbly on his feet.

"Shh!" He held a finger to his lips. The hit made him blurry eyed. When his eyes came into focus, an angry assistant stood in his doorway. "My son is sleeping!" He whispered harshly.

She flushed, but didn't relax her angry stance. "Sorry."

Minato peered around her, Kakashi stood coolly behind her. "Kakashi, why is Karin here?" He asked.

Kakashi shrugged. "I must have been sleep waking. I thought this was the bookstore."

Karin brushed back her raven hair back behind her shoulders, annoyance flashed in her gray eyes. "Minato, how could you threaten the other clan heads?!" He voice was still quiet. "Do you want to make enemies with the most influential people in the village."

Minato looked at her coldly. "I don't care who they are. To me, they are nothing but scum." Last night, he had lost all confidence in the other clan heads. They call my son a monster, but they are the true monsters. Naruto... had no choice in what was done... He should have had one, but I took it away. He looked at the floor, ashamed. A Jinchuriki, who am I to decide that for my son? "They threatened my son." He looked her straight in the eye.

Karin hesitated, the extreme sadness in his eyes caught her off guard. "I-it doesn't matter what they did. Think of how difficult they can make your job!"

"My son's life matters more to me than what they can do to me. As long as it is me, I don't care. He... he's the only family I have left." Why did it have to turn out this way? Naruto was suppose to be looked at like a hero! Instead, they want to kill the one person who saved them all... He got off the couch listening in case they woke Naruto.

"You really don't care?" Karin looked at him, disbelief plainly shown on her face. To her, he cared what others thoughts. He always put others before himself. What they did must have shaken his trust in people.

Minato shook his head. "I still do... As long as I can help, I will. Sarutobi entrusted his village to me. I promised to protect everyone, ninja or citizen, with my life." He walked to the window, the garden suddenly seemed interesting. "I just don't want to defend my son's life from them." He murmured, just loud enough for them to hear.

Karin chuckled, going to his side. She laid a hand on his shoulder. "Then you're going to need my help." She winked.

"Probably mine too." Kakashi was on his other side. "No thinking of what will happen. You aren't very serious sensei."

Minato grinned at them, grateful. He wasn't going to go through this alone. "Thanks. I was actually thought I was going solo."

"Baka, you can't do anything without us." Karin squeezed his shoulder. "I'll go see if they other heads have cooled down." She held up a finger. "Remember, this the only day off you'll get for a long time. There is going to be a lot, I mean tons, of paperwork waiting for you. This village still needs a leader."

"You really know how to kill the moment, Karin-san." Kakashi stepped back before she whacked him. "Good luck sensei. I've seen an bit of what's she talking about, you'll need it." With that, he vanished in a swirl of wind.

Minato's shoulder sagged. "Great..." And I thought this would be a good beginning...

"Don't worry, we'll help out occasionally." Karin smiled before leaving.

Minato felt mood darken more. "They'll help carry the paperwork in." He muttered.

XXX

Sure enough, a mountain of paper was neatly stacked on his desk. Sighing, Minato putting Naruto in the crib he brought before getting started. After three consecutive hours of writing and stamping, he hand cramped up. "Son, when you become Hokage. I hope you can solve this problem." He said, massaging his hand.

Naruto cooed at him. Waving his tiny arms around.

Minato grinned. "Yeah, you'll probably figure a way out of this."

The door opened and Karin strolled in. "I see you finished yesterday mornings work."

His eyes widen. "Wha-? Y-yesterday morning's?!" He thought this was all from yesterday, the whole day.

She nodded. "Yup, that's all from yesterday morning. I tried to patch up the hurt feelings, but I failed. Good thing you friend decided to 'accidentally' misplace his work." She ushered in three more people who were straining to carry in the stacks of paper they each carried. "I told you, you shouldn't have gotten on their bad sides."

Naruto giggled sympathetically, that's what it sounded like to him.

Karin peeked in the crib. "Oh, is this your son?"

"Yeah, that's Naruto." Minato replied as the paper blocked the view of everything. "Time to get to work! I'll finish half of this or I'll do one thousand push-ups!" He said in a very Guy-ish way. "Man, am I going to be sore."

"He looks just like you!" Karin's words were muffled through the paper. "And he's so cute!"

Minato cracked his knuckles. "So this is my new life as a parent."