The next day, Minato woke up before Naruto and the first thing he did was go to the grocery store.
Today Naruto was going to eat something other than Ramen.
Minato wanted to cook the boy one of his own meals. Kushina loved them, he was sure Naruto would too.
He entered the store and immediately felt all eyes on him. He left his Hokage cloak in the apartment but it seemed like people still recognized him easily without it.
There weren't any other blondes in the village to be fair, besides Naruto of course.
He forced a polite smile on his face as he bought everything he needed. When he got everything he teleported back to the apartment using one of his seals he had placed there.
He went into the kitchen and started cooking, trying to block out his depressing thoughts about Kushina.
I miss you, my love.
Naruto slept with a big smile on his face. He was so happy.
Yesterday he had an amazing day with his Dad.
Life was great, in fact life was so great that it made Naruto a little apprehensive. Things went a bit too well, he was not used to this.
Ever since his dad came back, Naruto had been a little scared to fall asleep at night. He was terrified of waking up one day to an empty apartment, his dad being nothing but a dream.
He didn't know what he would do if this was all a dream.
Today, when he woke up he immediately grinned, all his worries vanishing instantly. He smelled food!
His heart flipped in his chest. Homemade food, and It smelled really delicious.
Jumping out of his bed, he ran excitedly into the kitchen and saw his dad cooking something on the stove.
"Dad!" He yelled. Minato turned around, and caught the overly excited boy in his arms.
"Good morning, Naruto." Minato's eyes crinkled in a smile.
"Good morning, Dad." the boy mumbled in his his shoulder, taking in deep breaths and savoring this beautiful moment.
Minato smiled, ruffling the boy's yellow hair. "Did you sleep well?"
"Sure did!"
They sat down on the table, facing each other, and Minato was about to start digging into his food when he looked at Naruto, eyes widening in alarm.
"Naruto?" Tears were running down the boy's cheeks. Minato would've immediately rushed to his side, but the kid was smiling.
Naruto wiped his tears away. "I... I'm sorry. This is the first time someone has cooked for me, I've always dreamed of eating a home made meal."
Minato's mouth fell open, heart churning. "Naruto..."
Naruto looked up and his teary eyes widened when he saw his dad's face.
"It's okay!" He quickly added. "I don't blame you, I'm just really happy that you've come to my life, you know."
Minato couldn't help himself, he got up, ran to Naruto's side and hugged the boy tightly.
"You'll never be alone again, Naruto. You got that?" Minato whispered.
A fresh set of tears streamed down the boy's cheeks and he nodded. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me." Minato swallowed, pausing. "I-I wish your mother was here instead of me, if there was a way to replace her with myself I would do it in a heartbeat. She would be so good to you."
"Don't say that, dad." Naruto shut his eyes. "I'm sure Mom was great but if I had to choose someone to be my parent, I would never want anyone but you."
"Oh Naruto..." he tightened his grip on the boy. Words couldn't describe his love for this kind hearted kid.
Few minutes went by where they just held each other in comfortable silence, before Minato let go.
"Let's eat before the food gets cold, I'm sure you're hungry."
Naruto nodded, rapidly. He couldn't wait to taste the food. "Yeah!"
Minato walked back to his seat, a smile tugging at his lips.
He watched closely as Naruto took a bite of the food.
The yellow-haired boy chewed for a moment before his face lit up in awe.
"Woah..." Naruto gasped. He had no idea food could taste this good.
Minato grinned.
He was about to open his mouth to ask for Naruto's opinion when the kid dug back in and started eating so fast that Minato half worried he would choke.
"Oh my god, this is soo delicious!" he gushed, mouth full of food.
The Fourth Hokage chuckled lovingly, watching his son eat the food for a moment before he, too, started eating.
When Naruto was done, he leaned back on his chair, holding his full belly. "Ugh. I think I ate a little too much, and a little too fast."
"Yeah, no kidding." Minato laughed. "That had to be some sort of world record."
Naruto blushed. "I couldn't help myself."
"It's okay."
The boy grinned and they fell into another comfortable silence, Naruto watching as Minato was finishing his plate.
"D-Dad..."
The man looked up, an eyebrow raised.
"What is it?"
"Uhh..." Naruto paused, gulping nervously. "No, never mind."
"You can ask or tell me anything, Naruto." Minato reminded him softly.
"Could you maybe... train me?" He asked, tentatively.
Minato's eyes widened, making Naruto panic. "F-Forget it." he lowered his head. "It was a stupid question."
"No!" Minato shouted, shaking his head. "That's not it at all, your question just surprised me."
"I'll train you."
Naruto's head whipped up instantly and his jaw dropped wide open. "W-What, you will?"
The man nodded, smiling and taking a bite of his food.
Naruto kept staring at him in shock. The Fourth Hokage was going to train him.
Maybe he wasn't going to be the dead last of his class for long.
"Here we are." Minato grinned, his hand on Naruto's head.
They were in front of the Academy. All the other students were looking at the Fourth Hokage and his son, wide-eyed.
Naruto buried his face in Minato's cloak, trying to ignore the stares. This was the first time they ever acknowledged Naruto's existence, and it was only because of his dad.
He peeked to his right and saw the swing that he spent most of his time on, whenever he was here.
"Are you going to leave?" Naruto asked, voice small.
He didn't know if he was ready to be separated from his dad.
Minato looked down at him, eyes crinkling innocently. "Yeah, but before I leave I want to have a word with your teacher, Iruka, was it?"
Naruto's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Why?"
"Don't worry about it, I just want to have a little chat with him."
"He should be inside, he always waits there before class."
"Really?" Minato shot him a thankful grin. "Give me just a second then, I'll be right back."
Fear clawed up Naruto's throat when his dad walked inside. What if Iruka told him everything about Naruto, that he was a failure and nuisance?
What if his dad listened to him. Surely the Fourth Hokage would never want a failure of a son like him.
His breathing quickened and his throat tightened.
Sasuke who was standing far away from everyone, noticed the yellow-haired boy's distress and walked up to him. "What's up loser, are you crying?" he smirked.
"No!" Naruto shook his head and hastily wiped at his eyes. "What do you want, Sasuke."
"I dunno." The Uchiha shrugged, hands jammed into his pockets. "I noticed you didn't come alone this time so I was curious."
Sasuke didn't usually pay attention to Naruto. He didn't have time to make any friends, he wanted to spend all his time and effort to become stronger so he could impress his dad and Itachi.
But, he did notice that he and Naruto were the only ones that came to the Academy alone, everyday.
Sasuke came alone because his dad couldn't care less about him or the Academy, and Itachi was always too busy doing god knows what.
And Naruto... well, Sasuke didn't know. He knew nothing about Naruto, he just knew that the boy had no parents and everyone avoided him like a plague.
The Uchiha had no problems with Naruto, he felt a little sympathy even, but he tried to stay away from his business and instead focused on his own problems.
He couldn't ignore this though, what was the Fourth Hokage doing here with the dead last?
"I came with my dad." Naruto explained, simply. His eyes were distant, mind somewhere else.
"Your dad?" Sasuke's eyes widened. "The Fourth Hokage is your dad?"
It made sense now that he thought about it, they looked very alike. They had similar eyes and the same yellow hair. The only difference was that Naruto had whiskers.
Why did he have whiskers anyway? Sasuke never understood it, it was weird.
He looked at Sasuke, frowning. "Yeah, I only found out about it myself a few days ago."
"Hmph." Sasuke grunted, acting like he didn't care.
Naruto's lips twitched up into a smirk, glad for the distraction. "Are you jealous?"
"No! I don't care." Sasuke's eye twitched. "And don't get so smug, you're still the dead last of our class."
Naruto glared at him. "Not for long! I'm going to surpass you, you jerk!" he shouted, pointing at the Uchiha with his finger.
"In your dreams, loser." Sasuke rolled his eyes, but deep inside he was happy to see the boy go back to his usual self. It was weird seeing the normally energetic boy so distant and quiet.
By the time Minato came out all the students were gathered up in front of their Academy class and as the Fourth Hokage opened the door, they could see Iruka through the door crack.
The teacher was frozen on the spot, face pale, and he looked to be trembling, in fear?
Minato had an innocent grin on his face as he walked up to his son. "We're done talking, I'll be going now. Have a good day." He kissed Naruto on the forehead and ruffled his hair, before walking away.
Naruto was pleasantly shocked. His dad wasn't disgusted with him after all?
What happened inside? Did Iruka not tell him everything?
They saw him open the doors to outside and he walked out, his cloak bellowing behind him in the rough wind.
Sasuke watched the retreating figure, wide-eyed. "The Fourth Hokage is so cool." he said to Naruto who was frozen, his eyes glued on his dad's back.
"Yeah... super cool." He breathed out, in awe.
"How did he give birth to a loser like you." Sasuke continued, voice flat.
Naruto's eyes that were still watching the door long after Minato had left, snapped to him in anger. "I'm not a loser!"
"Hn."
They walked into the class and Naruto gulped, feeling every student's eyes on him.
Oh boy...
Minato teleported to the Hokage's office right after he dropped Naruto off.
"Kakashi?" Minato raised an eyebrow when he saw his former student in the room with them.
"Hi, Sensei." Kakashi's one visible eye crinkled. "Lord Hiruzen called me in as well."
"I have some urgent business to discuss with you two." Hiruzen took a smoke from his pipe, before he looked up at Minato. "But first, how is Naruto?"
"Good, I hope." Minato shrugged. "I just dropped him off at the Academy."
Hiruzen nodded, before he leaned back on his chair, a heavy sigh escaping his lips.
Minato tilted his head. "What is it?"
"I have prepared a team of Anbu to go with you and Kakashi to deal with the masked man." He stated, making Minato tense up.
Kakashi's visible eye widened. "Already?"
"Yes."
"Good." Minato grit his teeth, his eyes narrowed into slits. "The sooner I get my hands on him the better."
Hiruzen looked at his successor, frowning. "Minato, I know that what he's done to you and your family is unforgivable- but you have to control your anger, you must enter into the battle with a clear mind."
"You're right." Minato took in a few deep breaths and unclenched his fists.
"I've been getting angry a lot easier lately." he remarked, his hand going up to rub his forehead.
Kakashi agreed.
"Do you think the nine tails is the one responsible for that?" Hiruzen wondered, worried, and set his pipe down.
"I'm not sure." Minato pursed his lips. "It doesn't matter though, I'm sure I can keep my anger in check."
Hiruzen nodded, deciding to trust him.
The silver-haired Jonin cleared his throat. "How do we even find him?"
Minato looked at his student, smirking. "I managed to mark him last time we fought."
Kakashi's eye widened in surprise.
"He doesn't know that Minato is alive either, so you will have the element of surprise on your side." Hiruzen continued.
Kakashi nodded, face set. "When do we leave?"
"Very soon." Minato ran a hand through his hair. "I have one more thing to take care of before that. I'll be quick"
The Jonin nodded.
"In the meantime, Kakashi you go fill the Anbu team in. Tell them everything about the masked man and his abilities."
"I will!"
Thanks to Minato he knew exactly how the man's teleportation ability worked. When he and Inoichi looked into his memories they saw the whole battle and heard Minato's thoughts.
It was go time.
"I'm home!" Naruto shouted, walking inside his apartment.
His face lit up when he saw his dad sitting on the couch. "Dad!" he yelled jumping into the smiling man's arms.
He felt Minato's chest vibrate as he laughed.
"Welcome back, Naruto." Minato said, ruffling the boy's hair. "How was your day?"
"It was really, really good!" Naruto exclaimed, eyes sparkling in excitement. "Iruka-sensei actually paid attention to me and helped me understand everything!"
"Oh, did he?" Minato smiled.
"Uh-huh." Naruto nodded, head bobbing up and down at a rapid rate. "I made lots of friends too, and was included in all the games that the other kids played!"
He began rambling about everything that happened, the games they played, the subjects they studied. He told him everything, a massive grin plastered on his face.
Minato's heart melted. Seeing Naruto this excited and happy made him warm inside.
At least I'm doing something right.
When Naruto quieted down slightly, Minato sighed.
It was time to break the news to him.
"Naruto, I'm very happy to hear that you had fun."
The boy looked up, head cocked. The tone of his dad's voice made him nervous.
Minato paused for a moment. "I have an urgent mission I have to go take care of, outside the village."
"What... a mission?" Naruto trailed off, stomach sinking. "Are you going to be gone for long?"
"Maybe."
Naruto felt his heart drop. He was going to be alone again?
Minato cupped Naruto's cheeks lovingly, having a slight idea where his thoughts were going.
"Hey, don't worry." The Fourth Hokage smiled, reassuringly. "You won't be alone."
Naruto's big hopeful eyes snapped to his in confusion. "I won't?"
"Nope." A grin appeared on Minato's lips. "You'll be living with Sasuke and his family while I'm gone."
Naruto's head jerked up in shock. "Really?!"
"Yes, really." Minato pulled him closer. "I spoke with Fugaku and Mikoto already, they agreed."
Naruto's body slumped in relief and he lunged at his dad, hugging him tightly.
"Thank you so much for not leaving me alone!"
"You'll never be alone again." Minato assured Naruto, kissing him on the head.
That was a promise he would keep.
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