Kei-Kei Yuki: Hey you guys! Did ya miss me? Well, I sorta got back into the Naruto mood and decided to up This Is Our World! Might try to update a few of my others Female!Naruto stories, but work has been kicking my ass lately~! XD
The Sunshine of My Eye
Minato must've come up with over a million different scenarios for his first meeting with his darling little sunshine, who he tragically never got a chance to see grow up under the guidance and love of him and Kushina. Yet the moment he sensed his child's distress, who had ascended into despair, about to undo the seal he placed on the Kyuubi, he appeared. Now facing his daughter, Minato's heart was torn upon seeing the emptiness displayed in those cerulean orbs she inherited from him.
"Fourth Hokage...? Why are you here...?" Naruko's voice lacked feeling. Ice had frozen over her heart. Minato sighed, reaching up to cup the chubby cheeks of his daughter, who, in his eyes, reminded him so much of Kushina.
"Shouldn't a father comfort his daughter when she's in great pain?" Minato smiled, a smile that would've quickly earned a blush and a punch from Kushina back in their younger days. A hint of recognition flashed through Naruko's eyes, furrowing her brows in confusion.
"D-Dad...?" Naruko repeated before fragments of what happened to Hinata made her jerk away from his warm hold. "Go away! I gotta save Hina-chan! I-I-I can't let her die! She can't die! SHE CAN'T DIE!"
Naruko shouted these words to the man who said he was her father. During her battle with Pain, Naruko's pigtails had come undone, allowing her silky, bright blonde locks to pool down her shoulders and back. "Get out of my way! You're nothing more than an illusion! I was born an orphan! I had no parents! GET OUT OF MY WAY!"
Naruto yelled these words with so much conviction that Minato became speechless. Watching the irises of his daughter's eyes bleed a blood-red, he dodged when she tried to scar his face with her elongated nails, just to reach to the seal, but Minato held her back.
"Naru-chan, you gotta listen to me!" pleaded Minato, wrapping his arms around his daughter's waist, restraining her, but Naruto continued to thrash around, having lost all sense of reason.
"Hina-chan! HINA-CHAN! Naru-chan... can't lose another person! Please don't make me lose you too..." Naruko's voice began to crack before descending into a loud heartbreaking wail. The wail was so loud and filled with grief that even Kyuubi felt bad for the poor girl.
"N-Naru-chan..." Minato died before he was even given a chance to be the father he hoped to be. He expected many things if ever allowed to meet his daughter, but never did such a scenario as this come to mind. Holding his pitiful and weeping daughter in his arms, Minato felt horrible. He wished Kushina was here to help guide him on saying the right things, but all the feared Yellow Flash could do was hold his ball of sunshine as she cried her heart out.
"I lost Sasuke! I lost Itachi! And Pervy Sage...! Naru-chan can't take any more pain! Please make it stop! Ruka-nee!" Naruto vented all her grievances, starting with Sasuke's defection into darkness, and finding out the identity of the person, who she treasured deeply in her memories, even though she could barely recall that person's face, was none other than Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke's older brother. Then there was the death of the Pervy Sage, her mentor and someone who Naruko shared fatherly affections towards.
All the things Naruko mentioned, Minato knew about. Especially how most of his daughter's pain stemmed from a certain Uchiha's defection. "And H-Hina-chan... she tried protecting me, but in the end, I was even too weak to protect her! Why does kami-sama hate me so much!? What the hell did I ever do, huh?!"
Naruko screamed aloud, and Minato wished to take his daughter's pain into himself. Minato himself felt awful for not being a better father. Minato might've been held in esteem as a fearsome shinobi and a great leader, but he profoundly failed the role of a father. Staring down with guilt in his cerulean blue eyes that she inherited from him, he grew worried as more time began to pass and Naruko's crying got worse.
"Naru-chan, what can Papa do to make the pain go away?" Minato held Naruko tightly to his chest, rubbing a soothing hand on her back, desperately hoping there was some way to relieve his lovely daughter's torment.
"The pain she is going through is not something that can be erased with sweet words alone." The voice of a woman immediately had Minato on alert, wondering who else had entered his daughter's inner psyche.
"So, you decided to show up, obaba." Minato was shocked upon noticing that the Kyuubi knew the mysterious person's identity yet emitted no sense of malice, just plain annoyance.
"Now, Kyu-chan, that's no way to treat your roommate." A bright burst of light approached and blinded Minato, who was only able to get a look at the woman's face.
"Wha... Why does your face look so similar to–" A delicate finger pressed against Minato's lips.
"Now is not the right time for my identity to be exposed." The woman placed a hand over Naruko's forehead, which glowed pink, ceasing Naruko's crying state. Naruko's eyes were closed as if she was merely sleeping, bringing a smile to the woman's face.
"This should calm her chaotic state of mind. Now that my job here is done, I will not interfere with this father and daughter bonding moment. Your daughter has faced great pain, pain unlike any other, but despite it all, her will to never give up burns bright. You're lucky to have given birth to such a beautiful and kind girl."
The woman's appearance was still mysterious to Minato, but taking in the words she said, he stared down at his sleeping daughter and smiled. "She really is a treasure."
Waking up from her dazed state, Naruko was much calmer, her eyes taking in the kind eyes overflowing with a father's love staring down at her. "So you've finally awakened!"
Noticing her head was lying in the Fourth Hokage's lap, she scrambled to sit up, earning a chuckle from the handsome man, recalling a fragment of memory when the man had said he was her father.
"So, are you really my father?" Naruko couldn't believe she was asking these words to the Fourth Hokage, someone she admired, though the First Lady was still ranked number one in her heart.
Minato nodded his head, confirming Naruko wasn't dreaming when she heard those words. Minato watched as various emotions swam through his daughter's eyes. Hurt. Confusion. Anger. Happiness.
"By all rights, I should punch you right in your gut! I mean, you sealed a freaking monster inside your daughter and made her a monster. I suffered greatly from your actions." Naruko recalled the scornful and hurtful words people threw her way as a child.
"For a period of my life, I had no friends nor family, but..." Minato quirked his brows when he saw a fond smile make its way to his daughter's face. "When I was at my lowest, an angel came to me and bestowed upon me her kindness and favor. Ruke-nee rescued me from my loneliness and raised me into the person I am in this life. A woman who didn't share any blood ties to me became my only family. Gradually as time began to pass, our family began to grow, starting first with Hina-chan, who became my first and best friend in the whole wide world!"
"Then there is Sasuke-teme, Sakura-chan, and Kakashi-sensei! Pervy Sage, though Ruka-nee disproves of his pervy ways! Oh, and Shika-chan, Choji, and Flat-Chest Ino are also good friends of mine, but don't tell Ino I said that! Rock-Lee, Neji, and Tenten are good people, though I hated Neji's guts for what he did to Hina-chan during the Chunin Exams, but they made up and are now much closer. So I now consider him a precious friend of mine. Oh, how could I forget Gaara-chan!" Minato said nothing but smiled as he took in his daughter's bright smile, content as he listened to her list the names of the people who she treasured deeply.
"Sorry for the long rant, but what I'm trying to say is that even though my life was by no means perfect, I still managed to find people who cared for me. So I don't feel that bad–I mean, of course, I hate that you weren't in my life, but... I'm good!" Naruko struggled to find the right words before stating what she felt best.
"But don't think this gets you off the hook! You still got a lot of explaining to do, so get to it, mister!" Naruko folded her arms underneath her chest, a tick mark above her brows, glaring at her father, who couldn't resist laughing out loud.
"Yep, you truly inherited Kushina's temper, but not too much of it! Okay, I'll explain everything to you." Minato dived into explaining that he sealed half of the Kyuubi inside Naruko because she's his daughter. He stated that he had had fate that she would one day control the Kyuubi's power.
Minato also revealed that a masked man in Akatsuki robes, whom he had fought, manipulated the Kyuubi into attacking the village sixteen years ago—later saying that he believed that the masked man was manipulating Pain's hatred towards Konoha.
"Hmm, you do know this doesn't put you in the clear, right? I'm still mad at you! That does not relieve my pain, dattebayo!"
'So much like Kushina~!' Minato smiled like a blissful idiot who noticed his daughter's similarity to his wife in the face of his daughter's anger.
"But if there's one thing I know, pain brings nothing but misery." The pensive look in his daughter alerted Minato to who his daughter was thinking about.
"But I won't let it falter me. This is my life! This is my world! My home! I won't let them destroy it! I'll fight to the bitter end for my friends and family!" The sparkle of determination surrounded Naruko's whole body, making her glow in the eyes of Minato.
Smiling fondly at the young woman his daughter had become, he said, "What a splendid woman you have become, my precious daughter!"
Omake:
After Naruko delivered a heartfelt speech to Nagato, he accepted the girl and placed his dreams onto her. Nagato decided to use the last of his chakra and used the Outer Path — Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique– to atone for his actions. One moment Kakashi was talking to his dead father, the next, his eyes were opening, only to see the face of a crying Iruka.
"Kakashi! You're back!" The beaten-up chunin teacher hugged his face to her chest, crying with relief that the man she loved regained life once again.
Naruko, upon entering the village, was greeted with cheers and praise, but none of that mattered. Ignoring the confused gazes that once looked at her with scorn, Naruko ran, ignoring how beaten and tired she felt until she spotted a pair of pearly whites that belonged to Hinata Hyuuga.
"Hina-chan!" Naruko clumsily ran to the Hyuuga heiress, dropping down to her knees, before engulfing the other girl in a tight hug.
"You're alive! Thank kami-sama, you're alive again! Naru-chan is sorry!" Bewildered by the girl she loved action's, Hinata returned Naruko's hug. Letting Naruko cry on her shoulder, before sharing the sentiment that she could breathe life again, she began to cry herself. Nearby, Sakura stared at the two sobbing best friends and shed a tear, happy to see the two reunited again.
End of The Sunshine of My Eye