Colors of Life and Death series
Truth in Dreams
by Songbird21
Chapter 38
Tsunade walked in to the room Hinata was in, saw her sitting up, and smiled. "You look like you're feeling better," she remarked cheerfully.
Hinata smiled sleepily. "Hai. Just a little tired."
"Hey, Kaa-san," Naruto greeted from his place in the chair next to Hinata's bedside.
"Naruto, I need you to come with me to Kazehana's room," Tsunade said, her tone suddenly serious.
"So what's up?" Naruto asked his mother as she led him down the hall.
"Kazehana's father is here," Tsunade replied.
Naruto looked at Tsunade with concern. "Why?"
"I'm not sure. But I would guess it has something to do with today's events."
Naruto was very nervous. He had no idea what was going to happen, but he was fairly sure that it wouldn't be good.
They took a left and continued until they got to the end of the hall. When they opened the door Naruto saw a man who looked to be in his mid-fifties, with a long, white beard, green eyes and the same blue gem in his forehead as his daughter. He wore a long black Kimono with curls of smoke painted in white along the front panels. He carried himself with an air of authority as he walked toward Naruto.
"So this is the young man responsible for my daughter's current condition," he said with an even stare.
"Dad" Kazehana snapped. It was obvious she disapproved of her father's words.
"Young lady, you will be silent!" the older dragon said with a firm tone.
Kazehana glared at her father but said nothing else.
Tsunade spoke up. "Naruto, this is Soyokaze--Kazehana's father."
Naruto swallowed and bowed deeply. "It's an honor to meet you Soyokaze-san," he said with a bit of nervousness in his voice.
Soyokaze seemed to relax a bit but his face remained stern. "Tsunade-sama has told me what happened in the Country of the Wave. When I agreed to allow you to be my daughter's subordinate I told her she was not to attempt battle until she had completed her fight training. Were you aware of this, Naruto?"
Naruto's eyes went wide. "No, Sir. I had no idea." He bowed again. "I'm very sorry."
Soyokaze seemed to consider this for a moment. "You seem like a good young man, but even so I must tell you that I am here to take her home and she will not be returning to you for several months."
Naruto looked dismayed. "But...."
Soyokaze put his hand up to stop Naruto from speaking. "That is my decision. She is not ready for this. That she was hurt this badly is proof enough. I will be assigning you another of my clan until Kazehana has completed her training."
Naruto sighed. "I won't interfere in what you wanna do, but can I say something?"
The old dragon cocked an eyebrow. He wasn't used to his decisions being 'debated'. "I suppose."
"Kazehana hasn't finished her training, but from day one she's been a great battle partner. She's good at knowing what I need her to do, thinking on her feet, and she even saved my life once. Yeah, she got hurt bad, but that's always a danger--even if you're a good fighter." Naruto paused a moment. "I guess what I'm saying is--please try not to be too hard on her," he finished with a downcast look in his eyes.
Soyokaze sighed but offered Naruto a small smile. "I will take your words into consideration." He turned to his daughter. "It's time to go."
"Yes, dad. Can I say goodbye?" Kazehana asked quietly.
"Of course," Soyokaze said graciously.
Kazehana rose from the bed and stood before Naruto. "I'm really sorry about all this. I should've told you about my training."
Naruto smiled. "That's okay. Hurry up and finish so you can come back." He gave her a quick hug and Kazehana moved to stand next to her father.
"Ja," Kazehana said quietly.
Soyokaze gave a final nod of farewell and the two vanished in a puff of smoke.
Tsunade gave Naruto's shoulder a squeeze. "Don't worry--she'll be back," she said with a smile.
Naruto nodded. "I know."
"Hey, Hina-chan," Naruto said as he gave Hinata a kiss on the forehead.
"Hello," Hinata replied with a sleepy smile.
Tsunade pulled a second chair next to the bedside, swiveled it around and sat down, resting her arms on the chair back. "You feel up to giving a report?"
Hinata nodded. "Hai." She sat up a little straighter. "When we were fighting Kakuzu he had some strange black tendrils he used to fight us and to...sew some of his body parts on," she said with wince. "Somehow during the fight he managed to use the tendrils to sew the veins in Tenten-san's stomach shut."
"What?!" Tsunade exclaimed.
"When did he have time? I never saw him even touch her stomach," Naruto said.
Hinata's eyes flashed wide. "When he hit her with that water jutsu!"
"Huh?" Naruto questioned.
"He must have embedded t-tiny pieces of those tendrils into the water, and when it hit her...." Hinata said.
"...the tendrils attacked," Tsunade finished with a frown. She stood and stretched a bit. "I'm assuming they're keeping you overnight for observation?" she asked Hinata.
"Hai. Father will be picking me up in the morning," Hinata replied.
"Rest well. You deserve it," Tsunade said with a small smile. "In the meantime, I have an annoying talking head in my jail that needs my personal attention," she said dryly.
Naruto snickered. "I'm gonna stay with Hina-chan."
"Naruto-kun, you don't have to. I'm fine," Hinata said with a bit of pink on her cheeks.
Naruto smiled and lovingly touched her cheek. "I know. But I just feel better if I'm here to make sure."
Hinata smiled.
"Well, I'll leave you two love birds alone. Night, brat," Tsunade said to Naruto as she tousled his hair.
"Night, Kaa-san," Naruto replied.
Tsunade left the room, and Naruto and Hinata attempted to get some sleep.
A lot of thoughts swam in Naruto's mind as he tried to sleep on the cot he'd been given by one of the nurses--the battle, Tenten's brush with death...but the thought that was now at the forefront of his mind was his father. Had he really seen him? As he closed his eyes and thought about their very short conversation a strong yearning pulled on his heart.
After roughly twenty minutes of watching the clouds drift over the full moon out the window he got an idea. He stood up and checked on Hinata. Smiling in satisfaction at the steady rise and fall of her chest, he tenderly stroked her cheek and left the room.
In the moonlit hospital courtyard Naruto sat under a large tree and sat down, folding his legs underneath himself. He slowed his breathing and closed his eyes. Within seconds he was in the prison dream scape of the seal. For a moment he didn't dare open his eyes. He was afraid that if he did he would be proven wrong.
He slowly cracked one eye open to see his father leaning against the wall of Kyuubi's cage, smirking at him in amusement.
"So? Are you just gonna sit there all day?" Minato teased.
Naruto's eyes opened completely. Grinning wider than he ever had in his life, he jumped up, ran to his father and threw his arms around him. He felt as though his heart might explode from the sheer level of joy he felt. "Tou-san!"
Minato put his arms around his son, closed his eyes and sighed in contentment. "Naruto," he said softly. "My boy."
"I wasn't dreaming. You're really here," Naruto said as the tears began to flow. He wanted to stay in the moment for as long as he could. So this was what it was like to be hugged by a father. Now that he knew what he had been missing out on he thought of his younger years with renewed disdain.
Minato smiled. "Yeah." He released the hug and pushed Naruto back a bit. "Let me get a good look at you. You're so tall! How old are you now?"
Naruto sniffed and wiped his eyes. "Almost fifteen."
Minato's eyes misted over. "So much--I've missed so much. I...I'm so sorry for not being there for you."
Naruto was silent for a moment before speaking. "I was angry at you at first--angry you stuck me with the Kyuubi and then left me all alone. I even didn't know my real last name till I turned fourteen." He let out a relaxing sigh. "But when Kaa-san told me...."
Minato got a strange look on his face and cut him off. "Your mother? Naruto, that's impossible. She...she died in my arms," he said with a tightness in his throat.
Naruto winced. "Not my real mom. I got adopted last year," he explained with a small smile.
Minato's eyebrows rose. "Really? By who?"
Naruto's smile brightened. "Tsunade."
Minato's face split into a wide smile. "I'm glad it's her. She's like an older sister to me." His expression changed to one of confusion. "But I wonder why she took so long to do it."
"She didn't know I was your son until a couple days before I did. Jiraiya had told her I died," Naruto said with an irritated frown.
Minato's face mirrored his son's. "I remember now. It was the old man's idea. I had a lot of enemies so he convinced me it was best. Anyway, what did Tsunade tell you?"
"Hm? Oh. She told me you did it to protect me and to save everyone. So...now I'm not angry anymore. I'm just happy to see you," he said as a few more tears made their way down his face. He thought it best to leave out the fact that he had already taken his feelings out on Jiraiya.
Minato smiled. "Let's go somewhere a little less depressing." The scenery around them rippled and changed to the field they'd been in the first time he had appeared to Naruto. "Much better."
"So how did you get here anyway? I remember you said it was cause of what Orochimaru did but...." Naruto began as they sat down on the grass.
"To be more precise, it was because Kyuubi died. My deal with the death god was that he would hold on to my soul in exchange for sealing Kyuubi. When Kyuubi died the deal was no longer valid so the death God released me." Minato looked around. "I'm not completely sure why I'm here instead of in the afterlife, but it could be something to do with the connection created by the seal."
Naruto seemed to consider this for a moment. He was about to comment when his father said something else.
"You know...it's odd," Minato said with a confused expression as he looked around the area. "Kyuubi's not here but I still sense an abnormal chakra."
Naruto looked at Minato. "That would be my chakra."
Minato's confusion had now increased by several levels but his expression was slowly taken over by a look of concern. "What's happened to you?"
Naruto put up a hand. "I'm okay, tou-san." He sighed. "This is gonna take some time to explain."
Minato cocked an eyebrow. "Don't let me stop you."
The next morning Ino, Chouji and Nao were sparring in preparation for the chuunin exam when Kurenai stalked up to them in a huff. They could feel killing intent pouring off the woman. "Have any of you seen my idiot husband?"
All three teenagers quickly shook their heads.
Kurenai sighed angrily and walked off in a new direction. Once she was out of sight Ino noticed Asuma's head slowly emerge from behind a tree.
"Asuma-sensei?"
Asuma's finger immediately went to his lips. "Shhhh! She's trying to get me to have a family photo taken!"
It was well known in the village that Asuma hated getting his picture taken with a burning passion and so Ino snickered in understanding.
"Why not?" Nao asked with a shrug. "It's pretty painless."
"Have you seen pictures of me?" Asuma whispered loudly. "It's amazing I haven't broken every camera in Konoha." He folded his arms defiantly. "And it doesn't count as a family photo if our child isn't born yet." Suddenly the killing intent that had been felt earlier was back and right behind Asuma.
"Oh really?" Kurenai growled.
Asuma's face wore a sheepish, fear laden smile as he turned around to face his wife. "Y-Yo...love."
"Don't you 'love' me. You'll have that picture taken or I'll make you hold my hand while I give birth." She moved her face in menacingly. "And you know how strong my grip is."
Images of crushed fingers running through his head made Asuma quickly change his tune. "Okay okay!"
Kurenai grabbed Asuma's hand and pulled him away.
Chouji shook his head slowly. "Poor Asuma-sensei."
Ino cocked an eyebrow and folded her arms. "Serves him right for trying to get out of doing something important."
Nao chose to stay out of it. In her opinion it was better not to take sides. "Why don't we get back to training? I wanna be our best for the exam," she said cheerfully.
Ino's expression flickered with mild annoyance but she nodded anyway. "Sure." But they were interrupted yet again when they were approached by a rather annoyed looking Shikamaru.
"Have you guys seen Naruto? Godaime-sama is looking for him," he asked dully.
Ino smirked. "Have you tried Hinata's hospital room?"
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "That was the first place I checked."
The late morning sun had finally managed to creep over the edge of the buildings making up the hospital courtyard and lit up Naruto's face. He stirred slightly but did not come out of his trance.
Minato leaned against a large tree, his arms folded in thought. Finally he sighed heavilly and shook his head. "Wow."
Naruto nodded in agreement. "Yeah."
"So the chakra change is definitely permanent?"
Naruto nodded again.
"How are you handling it?" Minato asked with a frown. He knew his son would've had trouble just dealing with his family's extreme chakra levels without him but to add even more to that--he couldn't even imagine what Naruto had been through.
"Well, it was pretty hard for about six months. In fact it almost killed me," Naruto replied with a grimace.
Minato's eyebrows knitted together in concern. "How? Are you still in danger?"
"I'm okay now, but in the beginning it was destroying my chakra system cause of the overflow. Kaa-san helped me fix it though. She taught me Souzou saisei so I could heal myself and get rid of the extra at the same time."
Minato visibly relaxed. "As long as you're alright." A thought occurred to him and he looked off to the skyline. "Hey, I just thought of this. I know I don't really have the right to ask it considering what you've been through lately, but...."
"What?" Naruto prodded.
"I'd like to talk to Tsunade, but to do that I'd need to take over your body for a little bit. If you don't want to let me I understand. It would probably even make me uncomfortable."
"It's okay Tou-san. I don't mind," Naruto replied with a smile.
Minato grinned. "She's going to have a heart attack."
Shikamaru pursed his lips in annoyance and shook Naruto for the third time. "Oi! Get up! I don't have time for this."
Naruto groaned and his eyes fluttered open. "Shikamaru? What's up?" he asked as he stretched his joints
"Tsunade-sama's been looking for you for over an hour," Shikamaru answered with a frown.
Naruto yawned. "Oh. That's good actually. I need to see her anyway."
Tsunade looked up from her paperwork when she heard the knock on the door. "Come in."
Naruto walked in and stood in front of the desk. "Hey, Kaa-san."
Tsunade stood up. "Well it's about damn time."
"What'd you need me for?" Naruto asked.
"You have paperwork to do," Tsunade replied, waving her hand over the stack of papers on her desk.
Naruto smiled. "I think you're gonna wanna wait on that."
Tsunade cocked an eyebrow. "And why is that?"
Naruto's hands came together. "Henge!" There was a puff of smoke and Naruto became a perfect replica of Minato.
Tsunade frowned. "What are you doing?"
"Hey, Tsunade," said Minato. "It's been a long time."
Now Tsunade looked angry. "Naruto, this isn't funny."
Minato's face became serious. "It's really me, Tsunade. This isn't a joke. When Kyuubi died the death god let go of my soul, and for some reason I haven't figured out yet, it was transferred into the seal. Naruto is letting me use his body so I can talk to you."
Tsunade's eyes widened but she still looked skeptical. "Okay then. If you're really Minato then you know how long Jiraiya and I dated."
Minato cocked an amused eyebrow. "Oh please, Tsunade. You wouldn't date Jiraiya. You decked him every time he tried to ask you out."
Tsunade's eyes watered. "Minato-kun!" She laughed in joy and pulled him into a crushing hug. "I never dreamed I would see you again in this life!"
"Tsunade, stop hugging so tight, you're going to kill Naruto," Minato gasped.
Tsunade released her grip. "Sorry," she said as she wiped her eyes.
"So you're Hokage now. I never figured you for the leader type," Minato commented with a wry smile.
Tsunade smiled in kind. "Well, you have your son to thank for that one."
"Oh?"
"He has the same power you did--The power to make people believe in him," Tsunade said wistfully.
Minato grinned. "That's good to hear. How's Jiraiya?"
"Perverted as usual," Tsunade said with a laugh. She sighed and her expression turned serious. "Now I know you wouldn't have asked your son to hand over control of his body unless it were something important. So what's going on?"
Minato sighed. "This may sound trivial to you at first, but hear me out." He sat down in the chair in front of Tsunade's desk. "Naruto told me that most of the villagers don't know who he is."
Tsunade nodded. "Sandaime-sama felt it was best. He thought it would keep Naruto safe from your enemies."
"Naruto is almost fifteen and very capable of defending himself. I want you to tell the village who he really is."
Tsunade's expression became uneasy. "Are you sure that's a good idea? He already has Akatsuki after him."
Minato nodded. "It's time, Tsunade."
Tsunade sighed. "Alright. I guess it's your decision."
Minato put a reassuring hand on Tsunade's shoulder. "He'll be fine. He's my son after all."
Tsunade nodded. "Alright. But after the chuunin exams. I don't want his lineage tainting the results."
"That's reasonable. Well, I think I'll let my son have his body back," Minato said with a chuckle.
"It was good seeing you again," Tsunade said as she gave him another hug.
"You too," Minato broke the hug and canceled the henge, leaving Naruto in his place.
"You heard what we said?" Tsunade asked her son.
Naruto nodded.
"What do you think?"
Naruto thought for a moment. "I think it'll be nice not to hafta hide who my parents are anymore."
Tsunade smiled. "I suppose it would be. Why don't we go get some lunch? Work can wait for now."
Naruto smiled and the two left the office.
The days seemed to fly by and suddenly the Chuunin exam was only a week away. Naruto was getting edgier and edgier as time went on. He was determined to pass this time. And the pressure was starting to take its toll. "Dammit!" Naruto swore at the bottle of ibuprofrin in his hand.
Hinata looked up from where she was reading on Tsunade's couch. "What's the matter?"
"This stupid child-proof cap!" Naruto growled as he cranked it sideways and it stubbornly continued to click in defiance.
Hinata sighed. She'd gotten used to his outburst over the last few weeks. She simply stood up, walked over to Naruto, casually took the bottle and opened it. "If you'd just calm down you wouldn't get so frustrated."
Naruto sighed--half in frustration from Hinata so easily opening the bottle and half because she was right. "Sorry, Hina-chan. I'm just really nervous about the exams. I can't let Gaara stay ahead of me."
Hinata smiled. "I know. And you'll make it this time. I have faith in you," she said as she gave him a hug.
Naruto smiled. "What would I do without you?"
Hinata giggled. "I don't know."
"I'd be miserable, that's what," Naruto said just before kissing her.
The morning of the Chuunin exam was a mess of wind and rain. Naruto yawned as he looked out the window. Perfect he thought with a groan. The exam is being held in the village of rain so today it rains. He threw off the covers. "Dammit I hate ironic crap."
The knock on his bedroom door made Naruto's muscles tense in annoyance. "You gotta be fricking kidding me. I haven't even taken a leak yet," he grumbled as he headed to the door. He opened it to find Sakura waiting for him. "Whaaat?" he whined.
Sakura held back a giggle when she saw his bed hair. "Kakashi wants us to run a few drills before we leave for the exam."
Naruto groaned. "I've been training my ass off for the last two weeks. You can tell Kakashi to piss off," he said groggily as rain pelted the side of the house.
Sakura shook her head. "Okay, but he's not gonna like it." She smiled. "You ready to be a chuunin?"
"SHHH!! You're gonna jinx all of us!" Naruto hissed.
Izumi suddenly came into view. "Excuse me, Naruto-sama, breakfast will be ready in ten minutes."
Naruto sighed. "Thanks, Izumi-san. I'll be down soon."
Izumi nodded with a smile and left.
"Well, Sasuke-kun and I are gonna be training till noon so feel free to join us if you change your mind," Sakura said.
"Probably not but thanks anyways," Naruto replied with a yawn.
"Ja," Sakura said with a wave.
"Ja," Naruto replied. As soon as Sakura was out of sight Naruto headed for the bathroom.
There was a knock on Naruto's bedroom door and he looked up from packing some clothes into his backpack. "Yeah?"
"Kakashi's here," Tsunade said as she opened the door. "You about set, gaki?"
Naruto sighed. "I guess so."
Tsunade smiled. "Don't worry. I have a very good feeling about the exams."
"Thanks, Kaa-san," Naruto said with an appreciative smile.
"Why don't you head on downstairs. Izumi packed you a lunch for the trip."
"Aren't you coming?"
"Of course I am you dipstick--but I need to wait for my escort," Tsunade replied with an expression of displeasure.
Naruto laughed. "Like you need one."
"Try telling that to the village elders," Tsunade said with a roll of her eyes. "Now get going. I'll see you there."
Naruto nodded and left to join his team.
"It's about time, dobe," Sasuke said as Naruto came out the front door.
"Shut up," Naruto replied shortly as he hoisted his bag higher up on his shoulder.
"Enough bickering," Kakashi said. "If you're going to pass the exams this time you'll need to work as a team." He waited a moment for his words to sink in. "Alright. Let's move out." And with that, team Kakashi began their journey to Amegakure........
.........TO BE CONTINUED
Almost 4000 words so a decent length. I'm not massively happy about this chapter, mainly because of all the little scenes (Such as the bit with the child-proof cap) that really had no point to them except to add length.
Before anyone asks. No--Minato will not be playing body-snatcher on a regular basis. In fact in may be a one time thing. And someone sent me a review saying that they "Could see the 'good' Naruto vs 'bad' Naruto fight happening". I assure you that will NOT happen. And there will not be an evil Naruto kidnapping good Naruto and taking his place.
I don't know when the next chapter will come. Hopefully it won't take more than 3 weeks but I'm currently recovering from a major relapse of my depressive disorder so I'm taking things one day at a time.