AN at bottom.
Legend:
"This is blucross."- Talking
'This is blucross.'- Thinking
This is jutsu being spoken/thought of
0o0-0o0-0o0
The walk to Minato's house was relaxing, if somewhat noisy. When Naruto had been carried through the gates on his father's back, he was able to get a somewhat clear idea as to how his father was treated by the citizens of Konoha, shinobi and villager alike. It was clearer, though, as he was walking through the streets of Konoha with his father and Chouza- Shinichi needed to return his clan and Kakashi went wherever he went when he had free time- that the villagers got on exceptionally well with his father. Truly, it really made him wonder as to the characters of Konoha as a whole; if the villagers were this amiable now, back in the past, why were they so different later on? Was it possible that Madara had placed a genjutsu on the villagers and shinobi to make them hate him as a child? It would fit the characteristics of his childhood tormentors; if they saw his father as a figure to be respected now, then there must have been something to change their thoughts on him. Most likely, Madara had used the distraction of the Kyuubi attack to place the genjutsu, using its chakra to help reinforce the genjutsu.
Naruto sighed, bringing up his hand to ruffle his hair, a habit he had, apparently, inherited from his father. It was curious, he thought to himself, that he was so much like his parents despite growing up as an orphan. 'I wonder what it would've been like to grow up with Minato and Kushina,' Naruto thought idly, giving a grin and a shake of his head when Minato asked him if he cared what they were having for dinner tonight. He inwardly chuckled, 'It probably would've been cheaper.'
"Hey Naruto?" Naruto was snapped out of his musings when Minato called his name. He looked to his father, blinking when he saw concern on his face.
"What's up, Aniki?" Naruto asked, slipping into the role of a little brother far easier than he should have.
"Are you all right?" Minato asked, worry lacing his voice tangibly. Naruto cocked his head to the side; had he done something to give away his low chakra levels?
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" Naruto replied easily, not entirely sure where his father was going with this.
"You've been pretty quiet. If what you're saying about having your mom's personality is true, then you're either tired, brooding about something or bottling up emotions. That's generally how Kushina is." Minato looked Naruto straight in the eyes as he said this, most likely to make sure Naruto was telling the truth when he spoke. Naruto had to give props to his dad though; most people wouldn't have picked up on it that quickly, his mask always showing a carefree, happy-go-lucky type of guy. Then again, he was around Kushina a lot, and he had inherited her personality.
Regardless of his father's insight, Naruto still slid his mask into place; while he was enjoying the chance to be able to interact with his father, he still didn't fully trust the man. Too many betrayals had shot him, and the last one almost broke him completely.
"Nah, I'm all right. Really, there's nothing to be concerned about." Naruto smiled a wide smile that soon turned to a slight frown as he dodged Minato's grab at him.
"Oi, what're you doing?" Naruto asked, dodging his father's hands once again.
"I'm not buying your act, Naruto. While your mask is very good, I'm good friends with Inoichi." Minato replied, lunging at Naruto again, this time with his body.
Naruto blinked. 'Well shit,' Naruto thought, twirling around his father's outstretched arms, 'forgot all about him. Scary man, that one is.' Naruto remembered the first time he had met Inoichi; he swore that man was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed version of Hiashi.
Jumping backwards, Naruto landed lightly on his feet. He had to admit, it was pretty funny watching his father try to grab hold of him, though he wasn't sure as to how serious his father was. If the look on his face was anything to go by, though, his father was pretty serious about it. Looking around, Naruto saw the villagers and occasional shinobi watch with interest as he managed to evade capture of the man's arms every time.
Back flipping onto a wall, Naruto ran up backwards, a technique he had learned, surprisingly enough, from Neji. When he had asked about it, Neji informed him about Lee's tendencies to run up walls while he was in a fight, and had been told it was beneficial in a fight, especially against a taijutsu prodigy such as Lee. Kami knew that technique had saved his hide more than once with the element of surprise it brought, and it was no different now.
Running up the wall, Naruto snickered slightly at the dumbfounded look on his father's face. Apparently, his father couldn't do that.
"That's not fair!" Minato cried out while Chouza threw his head back and laughed. Naruto grinned from the roof of the building he was standing on before dashing away, hearing Minato's curses behind him. It was a good day for a light workout, anyway.
0o0-0o0-0o0
Whenever Kakashi was feeling somber, he would make his way to the memorial stone and talk to his deceased teammate, Obito.
"I'm back, Obito," Kakashi greeted, sitting cross-legged in silence as he thought about the war. "I met an interesting person today, Obito. He looks a lot like Sensei, twins if I'm correct." Kakashi knew that Naruto was actually his sensei's son, but he wasn't about to say that in public. "He's pretty strong, too. It kinda makes you wonder what he had to go through to get it."
"Nothing exciting, I can assure you." A voice appeared above Kakashi, startling the teenaged jounin. Looking up, he saw that the subject of his conversation was sitting up high on a tree branch in the tree next to the memorial stone.
"Konnichiwa, Naruto-san," Kakashi greeted, knowing that Naruto was his better. Naruto jumped from the tree branch, landing silently on the ground. Kakashi noticed that no extra moves were expended, showing of the training he was put through.
"Naruto's fine, Kakashi. We're friends, right?" Naruto replied, giving Kakashi a sideways glance and a smile. The silver-haired shinobi noted that it was, unlike many he had received, sincere.
"Hn," Kakashi replied amiably, idly watching as Naruto sat next to him, his knees drawn to his chest. They sat in a companionable, if not slightly polite, silence until Kakashi went back to the topic he was at beforehand.
"If you don't mind me asking, Naruto-san," Kakashi grinned at the slight pout that formed on the blonde's face, "how did you jump to ground soundlessly?" He had to admit, he was curious as to how the blonde had made his way to the ground without sound; it would be something worthwhile to learn. That is, if the blonde teenager taught him.
"Ahh, it's slightly difficult, considering that I'm using my main element to help silence my drop." Naruto responded, and Kakashi tipped his head to the side, his eyes most likely showing confusion. "I'm aligned with Wind," Naruto replied, slightly amused at the confusion of the younger shinobi.
"Like sensei?" Kakashi murmured, seeing another connection between his sensei and the teen next to him.
"Yep, like Aniki." Naruto said. "I suppose you'd want to know how to do it without using Wind though, wouldn't you?" Kakashi nodded, warming up to the teenager quickly; it appeared that he had found a kindred soul in the blonde next to him, though he wasn't going to ask how that came to be.
"What you do is, when jumping from the tree- or any surface for that matter- channel a light amount of chakra to the soles of your footwear. If done correctly, you should land on the gravel laying on the ground, not the ground itself." Naruto, it seemed to Kakashi, would make a very good jounin sensei.
Nodding in understanding, Kakashi filed the information away for later, planning on practicing it later.
"In a way," Naruto continued on, absently twiddling with his thumbs, "it can also be used as an exercise; either with control or building up your reserves." At Kakashi's curious look, the blonde continued. "It's not as easy as it appears to be; I've known med-nin's who use it in order to practice their chakra control. I had this one friend who practiced it when she was younger; her reserves weren't that big, you see, and so she had to-" Naruto paused in mid-sentence, coking his head to the side.
"Ahh, sorry Kakashi, I got to run; while it was nice chatting with you, I was originally playing cat and mouse with Aniki. You can see how that was going," a mischievous smirk painted the blonde's face. "We'll continue this conversation later, yeah?" At Kakashi's nod, the young jounin watched as the blonde stood up- winking as he did so- and silently jumped back to his branch before making his way westwards of where the memorial stone was, going ninety degrees west of where Kakashi could now sense his sensei coming. Cooling his features into a mask of slight solemnity, he turned his head when his sensei landed on the ground besides him. Minato-sensei, Kakashi noted, made noise when he landed on the ground.
"Hey Kakashi-kun," Minato greeted him, a warm, yet weary smile. "By any chance, did Naruto pass by you?"
"Gomen, sensei," Kakashi replied without hesitation, "Naruto-san hasn't been by as far as I'm aware."
"I see," Minato said, looking disappointed. "I'll see you in a little while, then." Minato said, reminding Kakashi that they had to go meet Rin.
"Aa," Kakashi replied, watching as his sensei ran off, presumably after his wayward son. Sitting in silence, Kakashi listened to the forest as it sang its harmonies, thinking about his sensei's son. Naruto-sa-no, Naruto, he decided, would be a good friend to have.
0o0-0o0-0o0
Hello everyone, I'm pretty sure you thought I was dead. Alas, I'm still hear, alive and kicking. I'd like to apologize, as I know I have not updated ANY of my stories in a long time. I've been going through a rather depressing patch of depression- and writer's block- that I, hopefully, have gotten over. I should be back to updating on a more regular basis (I hope) and would like to thank all of you for supporting this story thus far. I know it's been a while since I've updated, and I appreciate every single one of you who has reviewed, favorited and alerted this story. Truth be told, with all the emails I've been getting as of late for the story and favorite alerts, I believe that to be what got me kicking again, so I thank you once more.
Now, onto better topics, what'd you think of the interaction between Minato and Naruto, and Kakashi and Naruto? I myself liked how the two teens interacted with each other. If you want interaction of characters with other characters brought up in this story, just leave a review with an idea; ideas are always welcome. ^-^
Please drop a review, they're always welcome!
Smell ya later,
blucross