"Naruto."
The blonde snuggled deeper into his comfy bed, trying to ignore the annoying voice that was interrupting his sleep.
"Go away." He slurred and drooled all over his soft pillow.
"Naruto!"
Smack.
"OW!"
The blonde jolted up with a gasp, holding his stinging cheek in pain.
His head whirled around in shock and when he saw who was responsible for the slap, his face and ears went red in anger.
"Sasuke, I'm going to kill you!"
"I'm not scared of you, loser." Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Besides, I'm doing you a favor here. I could've just left you to sleep and let you miss school."
Naruto's eyes widened, the glare leaving his face in an instant. "School?! What time is it?"
"Relax, we have over an hour still."
Naruto looked at him, annoyed. "What's the rush then? You scared me, I thought we were late!"
"Mom asked me to wake you up for breakfast."
Naruto's eyes widened again.
Breakfast?
"Right..." He trailed off sheepishly, he wasn't used to eating so early. The past few days he had eaten every morning with his Dad, but before that he hadn't ever really eaten breakfast.
"Well, are you coming or what?" Sasuke was already walking out of the room, not even looking in his direction.
"I'm coming!" Naruto rushed out of the bed, a massive grin stretching his lips. "Wait for me!"
As soon as Naruto and Sasuke arrived to the Academy, they noticed that all the kids were staring at Naruto, and while that was usually the case, this time they didn't stare out of fear or disgust.
They were staring at him in awe, all the students almost looked nervous to even be around him.
The wide-eyed whiskered boy looked around in confusion and rubbed his eyes roughly to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.
"Naruto!" A random kid yelled, making his way up to the two stunned kids.
"Please, can you be my partner today for the upcoming Shinobi project?" The boy asked with a huge grin.
Naruto tried to speak but he couldn't get a word out. He was speechless. Why was he speaking to him of all people, wasn't he the same kid that avoided him like a plague.
Why?
"He's with me." Sasuke grumbled, looking almost annoyed.
The boy looked disappointed but nodded out of respect for the Uchiha, before walking away.
"T-Thanks." Naruto finally managed to speak up, licking his dry lips. "I don't know what just happened."
Sasuke grunted, hiding his own shock. "It looks like they all want to talk to you all of a sudden."
Naruto's head shot up, noticing everyone surrounding them.
He couldn't believe his eyes.
There were some familiar people, such as Hinata, Shikamaru and Choji that looked at him like he was normal still.
Throughout his life, those three along with a few other students had always treated Naruto well, Choji would joke around with him every now and then and he had small conversations with Shikamaru.
Naruto was saved by Iruka who had come outside to see what the commotion was about.
"Hey!" He shouted and clapped his hands loudly, startling the students.
All the eyes that were previously glued to Naruto finally moved away from him, allowing him to breathe.
"Get inside, all of you! Class has started!" Iruka ordered.
"Let's go loser." Sasuke said, nudging the stunned boy on the shoulder.
Naruto followed Sasuke with a gulp.
The Uchiha walked into the classroom and Naruto was about to follow him inside when Iruka stopped him by holding out a hand in front of him.
"Hold on, Naruto." Iruka said. "I want to have a quick chat with you."
"Don't worry, It's nothing bad. I just want to talk to you about a few things." Iruka quickly added, when he saw the nervous look on the boy's face.
"Okay." Naruto spoke quietly.
He felt everyone's stares burning through the back of his head as he followed Iruka and they walked further away from the classroom.
Iruka stopped in the hallway once he felt like they had walked far enough and cleared his throat. "I don't know where to start, I guess I should start by apologizing." He said and when Naruto looked at him wide-eyed, he smiled sadly.
"Look, Naruto... I'm really sorry for treating you so terribly for all these years, I've been so stupid and I know nothing I ever say will heal the pain in your heart, but I want you to know that I truly am sorry."
"I-" He paused for a moment and looked like he was struggling to speak. "I lost my parents to the nine tails... and I took my anger out on you... I know it doesn't justify anything I've done but I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me one day."
Naruto was staring at Iruka, eyes widening more and more with each word he said.
He didn't understand why. Why take his anger out on him. What did he have to do with the nine tails?
He had a bad feeling about it all. His mind went back to the day when he was being hurt by the villagers and his dad had come to save him.
He remembered feeling so desperate and angry, then he remembered the sudden surge of power and rage that washed over him so suddenly.
He furrowed his eyebrows, his memories of that night were so blurry and just thinking about it made his head hurt.
It was all really confusing and he had too many questions.
Naruto wanted to ask Iruka, maybe he had some answers, but then he changed his mind. It didn't matter, Iruka-sensei was treating him like he was normal for once and that's all that really mattered to him.
"From now on, if you have any questions or want to talk to me about anything, feel free to do so." Iruka continued with a soft smile.
The young child nodded. "Okay." He whispered in a small voice, not knowing what else to say. It was all too much. He missed his Dad more than ever, he would be explaining everything to him in a way that Naruto understood.
He would be doing all the talking for him, he would be holding his hand and hugging him. He would ease all his worries just by being present.
He wouldn't hide anything from him. His dad was the only person that he confidently trusted and felt comfortable around.
Iruka didn't expect to be forgiven, but the way Naruto was still acting so wary toward him made him a little sad.
He knew he deserved it though. He just hoped that one day Naruto could find it in himself to forgive him and until then he would treat the boy like he deserved to be treated, with kindness.
"One more thing." He continued, making Naruto snap out of his thoughts. "You probably noticed the difference in everyone's behavior today when you arrived here, didn't you?"
He nodded.
"The third Hokage announced the Fourth's return to the whole village officially today... and he also revealed that you are his son."
Naruto's eyes widened and for the first time since he arrived to the Academy, he smiled. "Really?"
Iruka smiled back, happy to see him smiling again. "Yes. No one will ever bother you anymore, not even the villagers, and you will be treated with only respect from now on, as the son of a hero."
Naruto's smile widened for a brief moment, but then it vanished, as a dark thought appeared in his mind.
They're only treating you like you're worth something because you're related to the Fourth Hokage. They don't actually care about you as a person.
He swallowed through a lump and pressed those ugly thoughts down, but he couldn't ignore the truth in them.
Iruka frowned when Naruto's face visibly fell and just as he was about to ask if he was okay, Naruto spoke.
"I want to go back to the classroom." He requested with a small voice, his tongue feeling heavy in his mouth.
They didn't like him, they liked his dad.
Iruka was confused at his sudden change of behavior but nodded reluctantly. "Okay, let's go." he said and started walking back, with Naruto following him.
Sasuke was confused.
Naruto had been a pain in his butt ever since he showed up to his house. He was constantly bothering him by being loud and annoying.
But after his talk with Iruka, he turned really quiet and sullen and that somehow bothered Sasuke even more. Seeing Naruto like that didn't feel right.
He wanted to know what they had talked about. What was it that got Naruto so upset?
But he didn't ask him, because he didn't care, or at least that's what he convinced himself to believe.
Sasuke sat with Naruto anyway because he wanted to avoid all his annoying fan girls, and not because he wanted to spend more time with him.
Definitely not.
They were sitting in the classroom, waiting for Iruka to start it, when Sasuke saw Shikamaru approaching them out of the corner of his eye.
He bumped Naruto in the shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts.
Naruto stared at him in confusion, then his eyes went over his shoulder and he noticed the lazy Nara.
"Shikamaru?" He looked surprised but certainly didn't mind Shikamaru's company.
"Yo." He waved lazily and leaned against their table with a frown. "What's going on, why is everyone acting so weird today? Did something happen?"
"I found out that the Fourth Hokage is my father recently." Naruto looked down at the table. "And I guess The Third Hokage revealed it to everyone this morning."
Shikamaru tilted his head as if he just remembered hearing about it. "Oh yeah, dad told me about that." He then smiled. "So you really are the legendary Fourth Hokage's son, huh?"
The blonde drew circles on the table absentmindedly, feeling conflicted. He was super happy that everyone knew Minato was his dad, but on the other hand he didn't want to be acknowledged for that sole reason.
He wanted to show everyone that he could become Hokage, despite their opinion on him, and prove them all wrong.
"I wanted everyone to respect me, but not like this. They just see me as the Fourth's son and not as Naruto Uzumaki." He voiced his thoughts out loud, needing to vent out his frustration.
Sasuke looked at him in deep thought, before smirking. "Well if it helps, I still see you the same way, as a pathetic loser."
Naruto grinned, but then what Sasuke said fully sank in and he glared at him. "I'm not pathetic!"
Shikamaru had a small smile on his face as the two started bickering. "What a drag."
Not long after, Iruka silenced everyone with a shout and ordered them to take their seats and the Nara left the two with a lazy wave.
Naruto was smiling by the time class started, feeling a little better already, thanks to Sasuke and Shikamaru.
Soon it was lunch break and the two made their way outside the Academy building. Naruto sat down on the swing and the Uchiha sat on the ground with his back against the tree trunk.
They were unpacking their lunch that Sasuke's mom had packed for them, when a question popped into his mind.
"Why do you sit here everyday?"
"I dunno." Naruto replied. "I just like it and it's familiar."
The Uchiha looked at him a little weirdly, but then shrugged.
Naruto took a bite of his sandwich and his eyes shot wide open as he chewed. "Woah, this is so good!"
Naruto was grinning from ear to ear as he took another bite, and Sasuke looked at him with his eyebrows raised.
Out of all things... a sandwich brought his happiness back?
He bit back a laugh. What a strange guy.
"Yeah, Mom is a great cook."
Naruto hummed in agreement and they finished the rest of the lunch break in comfortable silence.
Minato was running low on chakra. He still had enough to fight comfortably but he needed to use his Flying Raijin less.
More importantly than that, he was worried about Naruto. He knew he was in good hands, but he couldn't help it.
Minato needed to see him.
No more playing around. He needed to end the fight right here and now.
With a determined look on his face, he stood up and saw the masked man doing the same.
"Enough fooling around, let's end this!"
A dark chuckle was all he got in response. "As you wish."
The Hokage charged at the masked man, lips pulled into a scowl.
Obito, to Minato's shock, met him in the middle and the two clashed.
He threw a punch, which Obito blocked and countered.
They started trading blows on equal footing.
Minato flung a Kunai to his right and flashed to it, instantly throwing a chakra enhanced punch from that angle, surprising the Uchiha.
The punch landed on Obito's ribs, causing him to keel over in pain as he spat out blood.
He recovered quickly thanks to the Hashirama cells in his body, but Minato was quickly gaining ground and advancing on him.
He tried to create an opening for a fatal blow but he couldn't just use his Flying Raijin recklessly or he would run out of the little chakra he had left.
Of course, he also had the nine tails chakra, but he could not rely on that.
Obito grew slightly frustrated when Minato kept advancing and he made a few hand signs, making wooden pillars shoot at Minato from the ground.
He avoided most of them and cut through the rest.
"So you're not hiding from my attacks anymore?"
Obito only shrugged. "I was getting bored, I'll beat you at your own game instead."
Truthfully, he was confident that his Sensei was low on chakra, there was no way he had enough left to beat him anymore.
Not to mention, he had a trick up his sleeve that he was sure would work, even on someone like Minato.
Suddenly, Minato's hand came up to clutch at his head as a flood of information rushed into his head.
Kakashi, his clones, the Anbu team. They had done it.
His eyes widened and he grinned. They beat their opponents, Kakashi was safe and okay.
Obito frowned in confusion.
The Hokage smirked and despite his low chakra, he felt more confident then ever, and placed his hands on the ground. "Earth-Style: Mud Wall!" He created a decent sized wall out of earth, before hiding behind it and leaving Obito's sight.
Obito looked at it in amusement. An earth wall?
Really?
Did he take him for a fool?
Suddenly, the wall broke in half and Minato flew through it, right at him in an attempt to catch him off guard, but Obito only smiled behind his mask.
It was time to put his plan into play.
Minato didn't understand why the masked man wasn't trying to even move out of the way, but he soon found out.
Hundreds of Shuriken and Kunai launched at him, from out of nowhere and from every direction. It all happened so fast that even he couldn't react in time.
There were too many and Minato was still in the air, closing in on Obito.
Time seemed to slow down for both of them and the tense silence that followed was broken by Minato's pained grunt.
Many of the projectiles stabbed through him and sent him tumbling to the hard floor.
His limp body rolled on the ground for a moment, before coming to a stop.
Obito smirked to himself. He knew all the weapons he placed in his dimension would come in handy someday.
He raised his finger, dispelling all the wood clones that had launched the surprise attack from their hiding spots in the shadows.
Obito had him now, he managed to outsmart his Sensei.
Not wanting to waste anymore time, he made his way to Minato and clenched his fist, channeling most of his chakra in his fist.
He picked up the Fourth Hokage who was struggling to even open his eyes as blood ran down his lips.
Holding him by his vest, Obito grinned darkly behind his mask.
Finally after so long, he was going to be able to get rid of the one and only person that stood in the way of his dream.
He cocked his arm back and with a grunt punched his old sensei as hard as he could. His chakra enhanced fist landed with a satisfying crunch, and Minato's body slammed against the hard floor.
His mouth opened in a silent scream and dangerous amounts of blood flew out of his mouth.
"It's over." Obito materialized a Kunai into his hand from thin air, and without hesitation, brought it down on his Sensei.
The Kunai went through his heart with a sickening sound, ending his life.
A moment of silence passed and Obito looked down at the dead body of his old Mentor by his feet, with a straight face.
He felt nothing.
He expected it to feel a lot more satisfying, considering that he was now one step closer to achieving his goal, but he felt dead inside.
With one last look at him, he activated his Kamui and started teleporting out of the dimension, having completed his job.
"You're right."
Obito's eyes widened and all he saw was the 'dead' body puffing away, before he felt unmeasurable pain explode in his back.
"Rasengan!"
The Uchiha screamed in agony, not having expected the attack at all.
Before he could recover, Minato placed a seal on his back, cutting off his chakra flow and leaving him tangible.
"Did you already forget that I had you marked?"
To Obito's horror, he lost all control over his body and hit the floor, uselessly.
"NO!" He screamed as panic settled into his body and his stomach clenched in terror.
What was going on with his body?! For the first time since he was a child, he felt completely powerless.
Minato stood over the masked man with a stoic face and stepped his foot down on his back for good measure.
"It's over, as you said." He taunted his earlier words. "I placed a chakra seal on you. You have zero chakra running through your body right now."
"Now..." He began with a murderous glare. "Just who am I dealing with here, who is truly responsible for my wife's death?"
He turned Obito over roughly with a kick of his feet, and flipped the Kunai in his hand. "I swore I'd kill you, and since you made it so difficult, I'll make it extra painful."
Obito's body tensed and a cold chill ran down his spine. He was pinned down by Minato's dark stare.
His Sensei had never looked this dangerous, it terrified Obito and he struggled against the seal with newfound vigor, but it was no use.
When he was younger, he had only seen the bright and sunny side of his Sensei.
He didn't know he was capable of this.
He knew now what the Shinobi from the other villages saw during the war and the flee-on-sight order made a lot more sense now.
Minato thrust the Kunai down, but then... he heard a faint voice, so familiar.
"Sensei."
The Yellow Flash froze, the Kunai inches away from his target. "...What did you call me?" he whispered.
With a pained grunt, Obito's hand came up to what was left of his mask and he ripped it away in a single motion.
The moment his full face came into view, Minato's breath left his lungs and he stumbled back in disbelief. The Kunai in his hand dropped and clattered onto the cold floor, ringing loudly in the defeaning silence.
He made a small noise at the back of his throat.
Obito?
No...
Suddenly, Minato flashed forward and grabbed Obito by his robes. "What have you done to Obito!?" He glared at his one eye fiercely, but his hands trembled.
The younger man stared up at the slightly older man, unflinchingly. "I am Obito."
Minato pushed him away in disbelief, not believing his ears. "What is the meaning of this... how?"
Minato had always been able to keep his composure and managed to stay level headed throughout any situation. But not now, not when his supposed dead student was the same man that killed his wife and tried to kill Naruto-
He fell down on the hard floor with a grunt, his knees feeling weak. Bile rose up in his throat and he clenched his fists, biting it back.
Obito gazed at him blankly with his one eye. He wished he felt anger or fear, anything, but he felt empty inside.
His plans of changing the world for the better went down the drain and he wanted to hate his Sensei for it, he ruined everything, but he was just so tired.
He didn't know if it was because of the chakra seal but he felt exhausted.
"Why- Why would you do that? Why did you ruin my family?" Minato choked out, his voice coming out ragged.
"Kushina-" He grit his teeth, tears threatening to escape his eyes. "You killed Kushina. Why? Why her? She was so good to you!" He screamed, his voice cracking with raw emotion.
It was so unlike Minato to lose it like this, even he realized that, but how could anyone keep their cool in a situation as messed up as this.
The pain was so raw still. For Minato, Kushina had died no less than a week ago. And now he was face to face with the man responsible for it. The man he swore to kill, only for it to be his own student.
If it was anyone else, he would've done it by now, he would've avenged Kushina.
But he couldn't do that... not to his own student.
Obito looked so vulnerable and broken with his single eye, the sight of him made Minato's heart churn.
His mind flashed back to some of their moments together.
"We'll both become Hokage. Right Obito?" Minato smiled.
Obito grinned and hugged him tightly, surprising him. "You know it, Minato-sensei!"
How did it get to this point? How did things get so bad...
The whole thing felt like a nightmare, in fact, he wished more than anything that it was a nightmare.
His chest tightened and he let out a shaky breath, before looking at his student again, who was laying down and staring blankly ahead.
"I thought you died..."
"You're so naive, Sensei." He stated bluntly, not even meeting his eyes. "You don't know anything."
His teeth clenched in anger. "What are you talking about?"
"You let Rin die." Minato's breath caught in his throat and his anger disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. "I saw it with my very own eye."
"Rin?" He echoed numbly, feeling his stomach twist.
"You didn't protect her."
"Kakashi killed her." Obito continued. "He did it right in front of me."
Minato's eyes widened and he grit his teeth. "Stop lying! He would never do that!"
"He did and he used the Chidori as the finishing blow!" Obito suddenly screamed out, his voice cracking with emotion for the first time. "You weren't there to stop it! You let her die!"
The Fourth Hokage stared at the Uchiha in disbelief.
"Kakashi did that...?"
His head dropped, his chin touching his chest. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there, I was busy helping in the war-"
"Shut up!" Obito shouted. "I don't want to hear your god damn excuses, nothing will ever make up for it! We all expected you to jump in at the last minute to save her. The great Yellow Flash wasn't fast enough to save his own students!" He practically spat out his title, his voice dripping with venom.
Silent tears streamed down Minato's face, hidden by his bangs. He kept his stare on the floor and silently sobbed.
Guilt and heartache squeezed his throat to the point where it became hard to breathe.
He was right, It was all his fault.
Obito continued, not seeing his tears and even if he did see them, he wouldn't care. "We all looked up to you when we were younger, we felt almost invisible with you as our Sensei. I was always sure that no matter the situation, you would swoop in and save the day."
"I had so much belief in you. You were a hero in my eyes..." Each word he spoke, stabbed Minato deeper in the heart.
"We looked up to you." Obito repeated, his voice nothing but a hollow echo now. "What a mistake that was..."
After that they fell into a long silence, Obito was staring numbly at the dark void and Minato cried silently.
They didn't know how long they just sat there, having lost the track of time, but Minato eventually stood up, slowly, and made his way to the Uchiha with an expressionless face.
Obito didn't even look at him as he crouched down in front of him, only when Minato placed his hand on his shoulder, did he look up at him.
He shot Minato a murderous glare.
"Don't touch me-" He was cut off as they flashed away, disappearing from the dimension.
Wow, so that was that.
Just to clear up any confusion about the weapons that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, Obito in the anime had them stored inside his dimension and could make them appear in his hands like he did with the black rods when he fought Kakashi.
Also, am I the only one that feels like everyone undermines Minato's grief so much? Like in the anime/manga and in every fanfic where Minato comes to life, the focus is always on Naruto, Obito and Kakashi's pain and what THEY have gone through, and that's fair. Obito, Naruto and Kakashi have been through so much, but so has Minato.
He is still so young and at the end of the day, even if he is the yellow flash, he's still a human, and mistakes happen. He can't save everyone, there's so many instances where he DID save his students in the anime, but even he can't be everywhere all the time.
Especially since he was fighting in the war and was pretty much the sole reason they won it.
It was so sad to see him blaming himself in the fourth war when he came back as an edo. And no one was there to ease his guilt and talk to him. Like could you even imagine how guilty he'd feel if he found out about everything. Rin's death by Kakashi's hands, Obito becoming a villain and killing Kushina etc etc.
We saw a glimpse of it in the war arc but even then he didn't know the full story.
So yeah, I kinda wanna explore his feelings and emotions too a bit more and make it clear that just because he's so powerful at a young age, he's still just a human.
I have some great plans for Obito, Kakashi, Itachi, Sasuke, Naruto and Minato and I'm excited to write it all.