The rest of the dinner went by without much interruption. Minato and Kushina caught up with old friends and Naruto talked amongst his friends. Though what only Naruto noticed as he kept glancing at his mother, was that she had a distracted look on her face. Eventually Naruto had to bring it up, he stopped mid conversation with Choji and asked, "Mom, is something bothering you?"

Kushina ceased with looking around the room to turn her attention to her son, all eyes were on her. "I'm looking for someone by the name of Uchiha Mikoto. She has a son your age, Uchiha Sasuke, do you know him?" She asked innocently.

"Here we go." Kakashi said.

Naruto and Sakura's entire demeanor changed and it seemed like a gloom appeared over them. Their faces held sadness and longing, Naruto's had something extra. Guilt, Minato noted. Kakashi leaned over to the Unpredictable Ninja's parents and whispered, "Sasuke is kind of a sore spot with those two." Naruto's parents looked from Kakashi to Naruto and Sakura, back to Kakashi.

"Did he pass away?" Kushina asked Kakashi sadly.

"If only it was that sim-"

"He left. But I'm going to bring him back if it's the last thing I do." Naruto interrupted passionately with a fist raised.

"Make that two of us." Sakura added just as passionately, her fist raised as well.

Minato and Kushina were just a little bit confused but were knocked out of their stupor when Neji began to speak to them. "Uchiha Mikoto is dead. She, along with the rest of the Uchiha clan was murdered by her son, Itachi. Sasuke was the only survivor. In revenge on his brother, Sasuke betrayed the village and left to train with Orochimaru when the opportunity was given to him, in hopes to get stronger to one day kill Itachi. A team that consisted of Naruto, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, and me were sent to retrieve him. We were picked off one by one by shinobi guarding Sasuke. Eventually it was just Sasuke and Naruto, and a battle broke out. Naruto lost and even though Sasuke was trying to kill him the entire time, he spared Naruto's life. That was three years ago."

When Neji finished recounting what had happened, Kushina and Minato had no idea what to do with this information. They both looked at Naruto who had a frustrated look on his face as he stared down at the bowl of soup in front of him. "I'm going to get some air." He grumbled before standing up and walking out of the tent.

Minato and Kushina watched as Naruto left the tent and kept watching after he was gone. Only did they turn back when they heard Sakura speak. "We were all on team seven together. Sasuke is a precious person to both of us." She had a sad smile on her face. "He just lost his way." Sakura looked to where Naruto had walked out. "Naruto promised to bring Sasuke back that day. But he failed. He broke his promise; went back on his word. Naruto never goes back on his word, that's his Way of Ninja. I know he still beats himself up all these years later, I do too. I saw Sasuke leaving the village and I couldn't talk him out of it, he hit my shoulder and left me unconscious." Sakura frowned, "I suppose there was nothing we could have done." The frown turned to a stern, determined look. "But that doesn't mean we are going to give up, especially Naruto, he's the most determined person I've ever met."

Naruto walked through Konoha, looking up at the night sky with his hands in his pockets. Just as he did often, he wondered what Sasuke was up to. He thought back to the time, not too far away, when he and Sakura finally found Sasuke. His entire demeanor had changed, but he was still Sasuke.

Naruto had eventually ended up at the carvings of all the past Hokage. He walked up the stairs and settled on the Third's carving, laying on his back with his hands behind his head, looking at the stars.

Though Naruto hated being alone, as that's how he spent most his life, he was content right now. On top of a battle that almost cost him his life and the people of the village hoarding him, it was nice to have some alone time, if not for a while. Naruto wondered what his parents thought of him. This is their first time meeting him when he actually had a personality and not just a new face. He, on the other hand, loved his parents. They were amazing and he couldn't have asked for better, even if his mom did scare him a little bit. He figured all moms were like that though.

Naruto heard footsteps approaching him but he didn't look up to see who it was. He already knew who it was. "Naruto." His mother said.

"Great first impression, huh?" Naruto spoke. "I swear I'm not like this all the time."

"You've just got out of battle, I'd imagine your brain is still foggy." Minato provided. He and Kushina walked over to Naruto and sat on either side of him.

"There was a point where I thought I was gonna lose, ya know. He threw me onto my stomach. A metal rod was stuck through both my hands, one for each of my shoulders, two in my back and one behind each knee." He paused at the memory. "The weird thing is, it only hurt for the time I was actually being impaled. Maybe I just don't remember or maybe I was too out of it at the time but when they were there I didn't feel anything."

Then Hinata came out, I still don't understand why, but she was brave." Naruto frowned as a thought only just occurred to him. "Since she was alive, she saw me lose control. I wonder if she's scared of me. I hope you two never have to see me like that." Naruto stopped speaking for a moment to gather his thoughts. "I don't know why I'm telling you all this. I guess I want to just tell you both everything."

"Your friend, Sakura said that Sasuke is a precious person to the both of you, why don't you tell us why he's so special to you." Minato suggested.

Naruto let out a small chuckle at Sakura's choice of words, even though they were none-the-less true. "Because no one paid me any mind. They'd do their best to ignore me and tell their children to ignore me, to not talk to me. Sasuke was the first person to acknowledge me." Naruto gave no further explanation but that was all they needed to hear.

"Sounds good to me, ya know!" Kushina said cheerfully. Minato nodded in agreement and the two parents lie down in the same position as their son and watched the sky.

It was a few minutes later that Naruto cracked a smile and said, "Hey, dad. I told myself if I ever met you alive, there's something I would ask you."

Minato looked from the sky to his son. "Oh?"

"Will you battle me?"

It was an odd yet perfectly reasonable question. What son wouldn't want to have a battle with their dad to see who will win? Frankly, Minato wanted to battle his son as well; see how strong he has become. "Sure."