Hiruzen looked a little surprised but agreed. "Let's walk to the tower, it's better for people to see their Hokage alive again."
Minato didn't object, they began walking out of the room and onto the village streets. Hiruzen and Minato walked side by side. Kakashi was a few steps behind them, few other Jonin and Anbu trailed them from afar.
As they walked on the streets all the villagers made space for them, turning their heads to their direction and stared at Minato like they were seeing a ghost.
Few had gone so pale, Kakashi was surprised they didn't pass out.
Minato couldn't help but feel irritated and a little disgusted as he looked around. These people shunned his son just because he housed half of the Kyuubi. The very people he had sacrificed his life to save.
The rational part of him understood why they would be afraid of Naruto, many of their loved ones had died to the Kyuubi and they didn't seem to know that Naruto was his son. But still, it wasn't fair to take their anger out on an innocent child.
If it wasn't for Minato, Naruto and Kushina, every single person here would've gotten ripped to shreds by the Kyuubi. He thought darkly.
Minato shook his head, shocked by his train of thought.
Kakashi stared at Minato's back in confusion. His sensei looked tense, and Kakashi couldn't figure out why.
Was he angry at the villagers? But then, his mouth dropped open in realization. Oh.
Hiruzen seemed to notice it too as he frowned, shooting a quick glance at the Fourth Hokage.
Minato kept his head lowered as they walked, avoiding eye contact with everyone.
They soon arrived at the tower and made their way into the empty council room.
When they walked inside the room the first thing Minato did was go through a few hand seals, placing a privacy seal.
An invisible barrier formed around them blocking out all sounds to the people outside the barrier.
Hiruzen sighed, he had a feeling this was coming. "Minato, is this about Naruto?"
Minato's head shot up and he glared at the village leader. "How dare you do that Sarutobi, have you seen the state he lives in?"
Hiruzen flinched involuntarily but kept his face blank. "I know it must be hard to see him like that Minato, but it was for the best to isolate him from the rest of the village or they-" He was cut off by Minato slamming the table.
"I don't care about that!" He shouted, venom dripping from his voice.
Kakashi's eye widened.
"That's my son we're talking about, not some nameless Jinchuriki you can control!"
Minato took a few deep breaths when he saw Hiruzen's stunned face, he needed to calm down. "He is the Fourth Hokage's son, he should not be living alone in some trashy apartment without friends and family, and he most definitely should not be scared of the other villagers."
The Third Hokage eyed him warily. "We had to keep the relationship between you and Naruto hidden to keep the boy safe. What do you think would happen if people outside the village knew that the Fourth Hokage had a son, what do you think the Land of Stone would do?"
Throughout the entire conversation Kakashi's eye was glued to his feet in shame. He was one of those people that had avoided Naruto, though not for the same reasons as others.
"What about his living situation, why is he living all alone without a guardian?"
For the first time, Hiruzen broke eye contact with the younger Hokage, struggling to answer.
"Naruto was placed in an adoption home originally, but they kicked him out.. for causing trouble."
Naruto had always been a troublemaker, so when Hiruzen heard that Naruto got kicked out for causing trouble he didn't think twice of it, but now as he thought more about it, he had a feeling that Naruto was kicked out for an entirely different reason...
He cursed at himself. The way all the villagers have been treating him he should've realized that he got kicked out, not because he caused trouble but because he wasn't wanted there.
Hiruzen wished he was wrong, but there was a possibility that Naruto was the one who was wronged and not the other way around
Minato seemed to come to the same conclusion too, Hiruzen figured, as he felt the younger man's sharp glare on him.
Minato gripped the edge of the round table, fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white.
"For how long.." His voice came out ragged. ".. How long has he lived alone?"
Killing intent leaked out of Minato, making the Third Hokage tense up.
Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't often feel fear, usually he was the one that put fear into people, but now for the first time in a long time, Hiruzen felt fear.
"Ever since he was three-years-old."
Kakashi's blood ran cold. The killing intent that came out of Minato made his body freeze. "M-Minato-sensei."
Minato grit his teeth, pressing down his bubbling anger. "That doesn't matter. You can't keep him hidden from the world like this forever, people are going to find out sooner or later. Instead of hiding and isolating him, you should be training him to defend himself against these threats."
Hiruzen looked down at his feet, feeling a pang of regret and shame. "You're right. I'm sorry for everything your son has gone through Minato, from now on we'll do things your way."
Minato ignored his apology, he was too emotional right now to acknowledge it. "I want you to make a statement to everyone of Naruto's relation to me."
"I understand." A soft smile broke across Hiruzen's tired face. "Naruto is a great kid, I'm sure with you here now, the villagers won't dare lay a finger on him."
"Let's hope so because I'm not sure I can hold myself back if they do." Minato said, balling his fists.
Hiruzen nodded grimly. "That's understandable."
"Do you want everyone to know he is a Jinchuriki?" Kakashi spoke up for the first time, making both of them look up at him in surprise, they had forgotten he was there.
Minato lowered his head. "No, not yet. I want to talk to Naruto about it first. He deserves to make that choice on his own." Kakashi and Hiruzen nodded in understanding.
"There's something else I wanted to talk to you guys about."
Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
Minato looked into Kakashi's eyes. "When you looked into my memories did you see my fight with the masked man?"
Kakashi's eye widened before he nodded.
"Now that you mention it, yes. I totally forgot about that."
"On that night, it actually wasn't the Kyuubi himself that chose to attack the village, there was a man behind it, controlling the Kyuubi."
Hiruzen let out a sharp breath in surprise. "A man capable of controlling the Kyuubi?" He sounded a little skeptical.
"I'm guessing he had the Sharingan. Though, I don't know anyone from the Uchiha clan capable of controlling the Kyuubi." Kakashi said, rubbing his chin.
Minato hummed in agreement. "This is where it gets really confusing. I don't think the man is part of the Uchiha clan, not anymore. He must be an outsider, someone powerful enough to bypass the Leaf barrier and control the Nine tails, someone like... Madara Uchiha"
Hiruzen's head jerked up in shock. "Madara Uchiha? He died a long time ago by the hands of the First Hokage. It can't be him."
Minato leaned against the table, sighing. "You're right, it doesn't make sense." He paused for a second, a dark look coming on his features. "But it doesn't matter who he is, we have to take him down before he decides to attack the leaf again."
The Third Hokage thought for a moment before looking up. "Minato, do you think you could tell us everything you know about the man's abilities, I can gather a team of our best ANBU to go deal with him."
The Fourth Hokage straightened, his mouth pulled into a thin line. "Yes of course but only if you let me go with them and lead the team."
The older Hokage drew back in shock. "Minato.. you can't possibly do that, you just came back from the dead. What about your son?"
Minato growled in frustration. "I know that! But I have to do this. I'm the only one that is capable of defeating him, I can do it. Please Hiruzen."
The older man sighed, stroking his white beard. "Fine, but only if you take Kakashi with you."
Minato hesitated for a moment before nodding reluctantly. "Fine."
Kakashi held back a grin at the thought of going on a mission with his Sensei again.
Naruto tapped his legs in worry as he stared outside his window at the darkening sky. His dad still hadn't come back.
Naruto felt panic clawing up his throat and he stood up, pacing. What if something happened to his dad? Or what if he left again.
He felt a sharp pain in his chest at that thought.
No!
He promised to come back so he would. Nodding in defiance he returned back to staring at the window and waited patiently.
...
...
Screw it, he thought, getting up from the couch and running to his room to throw on a scruffy thin orange jacket and a pair of sandals before he walked out of his apartment.
He wanted to look for his dad and he wanted to see him now. There was no way he would have the patience to wait any longer, not when after all these years he finally had a chance of being with him.
Naruto walked around the busy streets of the village. Big blue eyes darting around, searching everywhere for a tall blonde man wearing a white coat.
He kept walking around for over fifteen minutes, ignoring all the dirty looks from the people and focusing on the mental image of his dad to stay strong.
He wasn't paying attention when he bumped into someone. Falling to the floor, the blonde boy rubbed his head in pain. He hurriedly got back up and opened his mouth to apologize to the person he had knocked over.
"I'm sorry Mister..." He trailed off when he saw the furious look on the person's face.
"You-" the man grabbed him by his jacket and lifted him up. "You little shit, watch where you're going!" The man spat, glaring hatefully at the smaller boy.
Naruto flinched, eyes widening in fear. "Yes sir... I'm sorry."
The man looked at him for a second before scoffing and throwing him to the ground.
"Whatever." was all he said as he walked away.
Naruto got up from the ground, ignoring all the looks from the villagers that had seen what happened. Holding back tears, he ran blindly. He needed to get out of there.
He was stopped by another villager blocking his way. "Where do you think you're going, ya little monster." A man smirked. A few others that had seen the altercation joined in, taking the chance to hurt the Kyuubi.
Naruto stepped back, terrified. "Get away from me!" He attemped to run past them but he was stopped.
The oldest of the group grabbed him by his neck. "You ain't going nowhere until we tell you to, little Kyuubi."
Naruto finally had enough. He bit the man's hand as hard as he could, making him yelp and withdraw his hand.
Naruto took the opportunity to run while the man was too busy holding his hand in pain.
But of course it could never be that easy, another two villagers grabbed him, holding him tightly.
The older man that he bit got up, now pissed. Naruto whimpered when the man neared him menacingly.
He punched the small boy, making Naruto gasp in pain and struggle in the villagers arms.
The man didn't care and punched him again, ignoring his cries for help.
After getting kicked in the stomach, something finally snapped inside Naruto.
Enough was enough.
Yes. Kill them all, you know you want to. A voice snarled in his head. Normally Naruto would've questioned it and pushed it back, but now he welcomed it.
A wave of strong chakra erupted from his body, sending the attacker and the people holding him flying back. The men fell on their backs and watched in horror as the boy's features changed, eyes going from round blue to red slits.
Naruto's nails grew into claws and he crouched, feeling immense power flowing through his veins.
His lips stretched into a feral grin, showing his fangs. Everyone watched, frozen in horror, not daring to move, incase they provoked him.
Naruto growled. He was completely under the Kyuubi's control, the nine tails had waited for this moment for so long. He had waited for the day the boy finally snapped, it took so long the fox was afraid that it wasn't gonna happen at all, but it finally did and Kurama relished in this moment.
He was going to make them all pay.
The man that had beaten the boy earlier backed away slowly, body trembling in fear at the glare he received from the enraged boy.
Naruto growled, jumping at him, claw raised. He was just about to tear him apart when Minato suddenly materialized between him and the prey. Naruto didn't stop though, he was blinded by the Kyuubi's rage and saw nothing but red.
Minato easily ducked under the claw swipe and grabbed Naruto's arm. He ignored the collective sigh of relief he heard from everyone around him and brought the boy close to his chest, making sure to keep his arms locked and immobilized.
"The Fourth Hokage..." Naruto's attacker gasped in disbelief.
How?
He shook his head grinning, relieved. It didn't matter. He was saved by the Fourth Hokage!
He was going to be fine.
"Thank you! Lord Hoka-" He was cut off by a punch to his face, it happened so fast he didn't even register it for a moment.
He did register the unimaginable pain from the punch though.
Rolling on the floor in agony, he forced himself to lift his head and looked up in horror. "Lord Minato, Wha-
"SHUT UP!" Minato roared, eyes dark. "Don't call me that. You have no right to call me that!"
Again, before the man could do or say anything he got punched, a lot harder than before.
Many villagers had gathered around them now, watching everything. They all froze in terror as the Fourth Hokage punched the man relentlessly.
Blood flew from the man's mouth and nose, his unfocused eyes were pleading for the previous Hokage to stop but Minato paid it no mind.
With one last chakra enhanced punch the man was sent flying. His unconscious body rolled for a moment before coming to a full stop.
Large amounts of blood was leaking from the man's head but the enraged Hokage didn't care.
Minato was breathing heavily, his face uncharacteristically scary. Minato was familiar with anger, he had been consumed by it many times and he always knew how to control it.
This time however, there was no controlling it. Everyone had their limit and this was his.
Naruto!
Minato turned back around and ran to his son.
He grabbed the boy and held him gently with one arm. He moved his free hand to Naruto's abdomen and once he felt the chakra from the seal, he twisted his hand, stopping the Kyuubi's intense chakra from leaking out.
Immediately, Naruto's features turned back to normal and his muscles relaxed. He looked up at Minato, a weary grin on his tired face.
Minato pulled Naruto closer to his chest, holding back tears.
"Naruto." Minato's voice shook as he looked down at his son. He had never felt as much self-loathing as he did right now, seeing his son like this tore him apart.
"Dad... you really came back." was all he said before his eyes slipped shut and he fell unconscious.
Minato wrapped his arms tightly around Naruto, bringing him closer to his chest and swallowed through a lump.
He was okay.
Minato still felt the crowd's terrified gaze on him but he couldn't say or do anything, he was too choked up by his emotions.
Luckily he didn't have to.
"Hey! Get moving already! There's nothing to see here." The white-haired Jonin's voice was hard as steel, as he stood between Minato and the crowd.
He had seen the whole thing.
The people in the crowd immediately did as they were told and soon it was only the father, son and Kakashi in the empty street.
Kakashi walked closer to the two, smiling sadly when he saw Minato bury his face in Naruto's hair.
"Sensei." Kakashi put his hand on Minato's back. "Let's get Naruto somewhere safe."
Minato nodded, wiping the tears off his face. "We'll go back to his apartment for now. I'm not leaving his side anymore until we have guaranteed his safety."
Kakashi smiled softly. "Of course, Sensei."