Minato smiled and waved. "It's nice to meet you, how do you know Naruto?"
"He's my friend… We're both on the same team together." Sakura, for the most part, mumbled this. She was in a bit of shock still and looked over at Kakashi for help.
Kakashi, who was good at controlling his emotions, refrained from crying out of sheer joy, smiled and placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Would you mind standing guard? Make sure no one enters this tent. I think it's time they see their son." Kakashi turned toward the tent then stopped when an after-thought occurred to him. "Oh, and make sure this stays between us, alright?"
"Got it." Sakura nodded. As she went to stand guard, a chuckle escaped her lips. "It looks like Naruto's good deeds didn't go unrewarded."
Kakashi brought Minato and Kushina into the tent where the only occupant was Naruto. He was sleeping silently on a bed, his mouth slightly ajar as he breathed evenly. Kushina pointed at him in confirmation to which Kakashi nodded. Kushina and Minato took two chairs and sat by his side, Kakashi sitting on the other side.
Kakashi didn't say anything as he let the two parents see their son all grown up. Until eventually Minato asked the question, "How old is he?"
"Sixteen." Kakashi responded. Looking just as fondly at his student. "I'm pretty sure he already met you, Minato."
Minato already knew what Kakashi was talking about. "How did it happen?"
"The man he was fighting, Pain, tricked him into thinking he killed one of his friends right before his very eyes. Apparently he got to all nine tails before he was able to suppress it." Kakashi informed. "You should be proud of him and I'm sure you are. He saved everyone, even me. He's grown into a fine Shinobi."
It was at this moment that Naruto started stirring. Kushina gasped and grabbed onto her husband's arm, she was about to meet her son. Naruto slowly opened his eyes. His vision was blurry but that was nothing a little blinking couldn't fix. When he regained his vision, he saw his sensei next to him. "Kakashi… Sensei?" He mumbled.
"Naruto?" Naruto turned his head to the voice of a woman he'd never heard before. His heart stopped.
"Dad?"
Minato smiled and gestured to the woman next to him. "If I'm your dad, then do you know who this is?"
Naruto turned his head to the woman with the beautiful red hair. He didn't respond at first. He knew exactly who this would then be and he wanted to take in every feature of her. When his eyes landed on her smile, her kind, motherly smile that could light up any room, his bottom lip started to quiver. "Mom." He said.
"It's nice to finally meet you, ya know?" Kushina said, running her fingers through her son's hair.
Naruto chuckled. "Ya know… Now I know where I got that from."
Kakashi, who felt as though he was now intruding on a private moment, got up from his chair. "I'll leave you three to catch up." Without waiting for a response, he took his leave.
The family of three watched Kakashi walk out before returning back to each other. It was as though every question Naruto had ever wanted to ask his parents slipped his mind and all he could do was stare at their faces and hope this moment never ends.
Minato smiled at the infatuated look on his son's face. "So," He waited until Naruto looked at him. "I heard that saved the entire village."
Naruto smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "I guess I did. But you were a big help in it too."
"What did I do?" Minato asked. The answer that Naruto gave was not the one he was expecting.
"If you never invented the Rasengan then I would never have perfected it, and I don't know what I would've used in its place." Naruto smiled.
Kushina and Minato laughed, knowing this was Naruto's subtle way of boasting about perfecting his father's incomplete jutsu. Never the less, they were very impressed.
"You combined a nature element to it?" Minato asked with pride in his voice.
Naruto nodded. "Apparently I have wind chakra. But I can only use it in sennin mode or else it'll severely injure me, I learned that the hard way."
"So I see Jiraiya got around to teaching you. Is he here?" Kushina asked. Minato and her were surprised, Sennin mode. Just how strong was their son? They couldn't wait to see. Her smile disappeared when Naruto's disappeared.
"Before I fought Pain, Ero Sennin did when he went to the Village Hidden in Rain. He never made it back. He did leave behind a clue though and that's how I managed to defeat Pain." Naruto informed with a mix of sadness and pride for his master.
A few different emotions ran through the minds of Kushina and Minato when they heard what their son had just told them. First was sadness for their dear friend whom they just learned passed away, then there was a mix of surprise, shock and pride for the fact that there son had surpassed one of the legendary sannin. They were pulled out of their thoughts as Naruto continued speaking, his cheery demeanor there once more.
"Wait'll I introduce you to my friends, and also Iruka sensei, they'll be so excited to meet you, ya know!" Naruto sat up, only to grab his stomach and wince in pain. "I guess I'm not totally recovered yet. I could go for some food. It's been a while since I've eaten and the only thing I've been eating are bugs since I've been at Mount Myoboku. You guys are probably hungry too, considering you haven't eaten in sixteen ye-" Naruto's excited chattering ceased abruptly and a haunting frown appeared on his face. Naruto looked down at his lap. He didn't want his parents to see the tears well up in his eyes. He tried desperately to wipe them away.
"Naruto." Kushina said, placing a hand on her son's shoulder. Naruto didn't look up. "Naruto." She repeated. This time he did look up. What she saw broke her heart. Those old eyes shouldn't belong to someone so young.
"I was so alone." Naruto whispered. "No one wanted to be around me. No one wanted to play with me, or eat with me, or even talk to me and for the first twelve years of my life I had no idea why." Naruto's voice cracked at the end of the sentence. "And when I finally found out, it was only by chance. They weren't supposed to tell me in the first place."
Minato and Kushina watched as their son desperately tried to regain his composure. Wiping his eyes though the tears kept falling. "I shouldn't be sad anymore though." Naruto said, still wiping his eyes. "Because I have people I care for who also care for me now. All of that bad is in the past."
"I'm sorry, Naruto." Minato spoke.
Naruto looked up at his father incredulously. "Why are you sorry? There's nothing to be sorry about."
"There is." Minato stated. "I'm the one who put this burden on you."
Naruto shook his head stubbornly. "You did what you thought was right. That's nothing to be sorry for, ya know!" The tears finally stopped and Naruto managed to finally wipe the rest away.
It was then that Minato realized Naruto took after his mother in the stubbornness factor and there was no way he was going to win this argument. So instead Minato shook his head, smiled and said, "Okay."
Naruto's eyes grew heavy all of the sudden. He was still exhausted from his fight with Pain and the only reason he was awake right now was the adrenaline boost he got from seeing his parents alive. That was wearing off now but he didn't want to go to sleep yet, he wanted to keep talking to his parents, to keep seeing their faces.
"Go to sleep, Naruto. I promise we'll be here when you wake up." Kushina said, again running her fingers soothingly through her son's golden hair. That was all the confirmation Naruto needed as he finally let sleep grab ahold of him once more.