Lady Tsunade stares at them over the backs of her hands from behind the Hokage's — Kakashi's — desk. There is tension around her eyes, but warmth lies inside them. Most of it, a part of Minato notes, is focused on Kakashi who stands at his side. What a surprise that is (not), Lady Tsunade has the most concern for her friend's son.
As much as Minato is still trying to really, truly grasp what he's been told, what he's seen, he decides to see if he needs to stretch his mind even further. "Is there anything else we should know?" he asks the blonde woman.
She leans back in her chair and sighs. "No," she says, only to frown and look away from them and out the window. No doubt she's staring at his and Kakashi's faces on the Hokage Monument. "In fact, you should know less," she declares. Tsunade brings a hand to her forehead and massages her temples. "There isn't much we can do about the monument, however," she mutters.
Minato gives a nervous laugh. "Yeah. There was no hiding that," he agrees as he rubs the back of his head. He then looks around the room. Minato can sense one of the two ANBU who brought them here lingering just outside. "So, Lady Tsunade, what are we supposed to do now?"
"I have a place being arranged for the two of you. You just need to hold tight and I'll soon have someone escort you there."
Kakashi speaks up for the first time since they first came into the Hokage's tower and he saw Lady Tsunade behind the Hokage's desk. "Is it an apartment?" he demands.
The blonde gives Kakashi a leery, half-amused look. "What if it is, Kakashi?"
The six-year-old huffs and Minato bites back a smile when he also stomps one of his tiny feet. "How're we supposed to train in an apartment?" the boy complains (whines).
Tsunade snorts. "You won't be here more than a few days," she says. "I think you'll be fine."
"No!" argues Kakashi as Minato stiffens. Damn it. The last thing he wants to deal with right now is a temper tantrum. "I need to train. I'm gonna be in the Chūnin Exams next month," he tells her, cheeks puffing out.
Minato grits his teeth. "I said maybe," he hisses at the boy. "I need to find a team for you first—"
"I'm. Gonna. Be. In. The. Exam," grinds out Kakashi, cutting him off and glaring up at Minato with all of the venom his tiny body can muster. It's surprisingly a lot Minato notes in the back of his mind. He probably learned that look from hanging around Orochimaru. He's seen Jiraiya-Sensei on the receiving end of a very similar look more than once.
Even so, Minato refuses to be quelled. He's the teacher! He's the one who makes these sorts of decisions, not Kakashi. Narrowing his eyes at the boy, he hisses, "Not with that attitude you won't!"
Lady Tsunade makes a noise that might be disgust and stands up, slamming her hands down on the desk in front of her she shouts:
"Shizune!"
A moment later a dark-haired lady who looks to be in her thirties appears through the door. Her eyes flicker to them and Minato feels something niggle in the back of his head. He's almost certain he's seen her before. The name also feels familiar to him too…
"Yes, Lady Tsunade," she says as she focuses her attention on the other woman.
Hands now covering all but her red lips, she orders, "Get them out of here. They're giving me a headache."
Minato can't help the way his nose wrinkles at her words. Kakashi crosses his arms and mutters something under his breath as well. It's a rare thing for them to be in agreement, but it seems they both feel they have a right to be affronted at the kunoichi's complaint.
They cannot be as bad as Orochimaru and Jiraiya-Sensei fighting.
Shizune frowns. "Naruto isn't—"
"He will be soon!" argues Lady Tsunade, hands falling away from her face to send a glower at the younger kunoichi. "Entertain them until then," she demands.
"…Right," she agrees after a sigh. She offers them a strained, polite smile. "If you would please follow me? Namikaze? L— Hatake?" she asks with a gesture of her hand.
"Of course," agrees Minato. There's no point in arguing they're fine in the Hokage's office. Tsunade doesn't want them and, for the time being, she's in charge of the village. "C'mon, Kakashi," he urges the boy.
Once out of the office and following the woman down the hallway in the direction of some other room, Kakashi, voice a murmur, tells him, "I need to train Minato."
He looks down at the mess of gray hair at his hip. He knows Kakashi does. Minato needs to as well. Going stir-crazy in an apartment will not be helpful for either of them. "I know, I know," he replies to the boy. Minato then licks his lips and decides to see if the kunoichi in front of him is a softer touch than Tsunade. "Hey, uh, Shizune?" he calls. As her head turns back slightly, he swallows. "That's it right? I know we're trying to limit our exposure to the future… But is there any way it can be arranged for us to visit a training ground every day while we're here? Even if it's with an escort?" he all but begs her.
She turns abruptly, and Minato almost trips over Kakashi in his effort to follow her. The boy grunts at being bumped into, but otherwise doesn't react. Minato blinks as he sees they've come into another, small office. Shizune goes and sits behind a desk.
"Have a seat," she says, jerking her head in the direction of a single chair placed next to the room's small, arched window.
Minato looks down at Kakashi. "Erh," he says. "You want it…?"
The boy rolls his eyes but does go and sit. Awkwardly, Minato continues to stand in front of Shizune's desk. Once again, he tries to persuade her of the necessity of being allowed to train while they are here. "I know everyone thinks it's going to be just a couple of days," he tells her. "For a lot of people, hanging around in an apartment for that long wouldn't be a big deal. For us…" he trails off and scrubs a hand through his hair. "He has too much energy to spend the whole day lazying about," he tells her.
Shizune's dark, assessing eyes flicker to Kakashi. "I think you'd be surprised," she replies in a cryptic way that makes Minato frown in confusion. Shizune exhales and her shoulders fall. "But, yes, I can arrange something," she tells them.
Minato gives her a close-lipped smile as Kakashi squirms in his seat, clearly pleased with the news. He then steps away from her desk and plans to go and lean against the wall beside Kakashi, however, he's barely taken a step in the direction of his student when a man's voice drifts into the room.
"Shizune?"
The woman stands up. "Yes, Naruto, we're in here."
A moment later a tan, blond young man steps into the room. His eyes blow wide at the sight of Minato and Kakashi. Minato knows he's mirroring his look. This guy…
Kakashi makes a derisive noise. "You're not serious! You say you don't want us to know about the future and you send Minato's kid to take us to where we're staying?"
Shizune winces. "He's not—"
"—We're not stupid," cuts in Kakashi, eyes narrowed.
Minato doesn't like his student's tone, or the way he's glaring at Shizune, but agrees. There is no doubt this guy is related to him. Since he grew up an orphan, Kakashi's guess that this "Naruto" is his son is probably correct.
The man laughs. "Yeah, I'm his son," he agrees.
"Naruto!"
Minato's son pouts at Shizune. "What?" he complains. "I'm not a good liar, you know! If you guys didn't want Kakashi and Minato to figure out who I am you should have told me to disguise myself!"
Shizune falls back into her chair and pinches the bridge of her nose. "Can we all pretend you don't know?" she pleads. "I don't want to have to be the one to write this down in the report…"
Naruto smirks. "No problem!" he replies.
Minato nods and, after he sends a look at Kakashi, gets him to agree to.
The kunoichi relaxes. "Okay," she says. "Please take them to where they will be staying." She then meets Minato's gaze. "You can expect an escort tomorrow between zero eight hundred hours and nine hundred hours."
"Thanks," he says.
She smiles.
Naruto makes a noise, drawing his attention. "So if you two wanna…" he mutters.
He nods and turns to Kakashi, who comes to stand beside him. Naruto then takes lead and brings them out of the Hokage's tower and guides them through familiar and unfamiliar streets of Konoha to an older apartment complex with a tan roof in an area Minato knows pretty well. His favorite fish stall is on the street over from here.
Naruto takes them up two sets of stairs and down to the third apartment on the floor they stop at. He reaches into his pocket and brings out a key which he tosses to Minato. "I'll let you guys take yourselves in," he says. "I bet you're tired…"
Minato squeezes the key in his fist and considers the slightly dejected face of Naruto. Even if it's weird and a part of him just can't believe it, he is his son (who's his mom? Minato thinks he knows, but he also doesn't want to jinx anything by asking).
"We are," he agrees. "I also don't really know the state of the place, but maybe you can come by if you're not busy tomorrow afternoon?" he asks. "We could all eat dinner together."
The other blond perks up immediately. "Really!" he practically shouts, earning a tsking sound from Kakashi.
He chuckles. "Yeah," he says. "Obviously you won't be able to tell me stuff about my future, but I bet we can find something to discuss!"
Minato is then made to startle when a pair of arms wrap around him. "Oh man! Thanks so much!" gushes Naruto. Snickering as he pulls back, he looks around before whispering, "I can't wait, Dad."
He is speechless at the title. Naruto, however, seems unbothered. He instead turns his attention to Kakashi. He pats the boy's head, earning a growl for his troubles, before stepping back and waving. "See ya!"
Some of his bearings returned to him, Minato manages to wave back to the blond as he disappears back down the stairs of the apartment complex. When he and Kakashi are alone, he says, "Shall we?"
His student nods and Minato opens the door. They step into a clean (if slightly dusty) apartment. After leaving the entry they come into the living room and to his right Minato sees the doorway to what is surely the kitchen. Minato makes a beeline for it.
Coming into the cramped room he is relieved to see someone left a few groceries for them on the counters to sort out. He opens a bag to find tea, instant ramen, yaki-nori, and curiously, an eggplant. No matter. Minato can think of plenty to do with it and moves onto the other bag. There is a small sack of rice, eggs, miso, and a couple of other basic staples for flavoring food.
Minato reaches up and finds in the cupboard above his head bowls, plates, and cups. Another glance around the room helps him to discover a kettle sitting on the kitchen's stove. He nods in satisfaction at the sight. He can have a quick dinner made up in no time for himself and Kakashi. Pulling a couple of the instant ramen cups from the bag, he sets them on the counter beside the bags and turns around.
Kakashi is not behind him (why had he expected he would be? The kid barely listens to him and has in fact run away from him a couple of times in the last few months). Minato sighs to himself before calling, "Hey!"
A moment later, thankfully, Kakashi appears in the doorway. He stares down at the kid and gives him what he hopes is a warm smile. "We have instant ramen," he tells him. "Will that do tonight? I'd like to save our better stuff for tomorrow."
He shrugs, eyes towards his toes. "Not hungry," he replies.
Minato frowns. "What?" he says. "You have to be! I am!"
Kakashi's brows pull together with a scowl and he crosses his arms over his tiny chest. "No, I don't!" he declares, defiant.
He groans into his hands. "Fine!" he relents. "I'm eating your portion too!" he proclaims. Maybe, once Kakashi catches the scent of food, he'll change his mind. At least Minato hopes he will. A kid as tiny and active as Kakashi should not be skipping meals.
The boy makes a scoffing noise. "Whatever," he grumbles.
Minato decides to ignore his snotty tone in favor of fetching the kettle and filling it with water from the sink. After he finishes, he puts it on the stove and ignites the burner. While waiting for it to heat up, Minato sees out of the corner of his eyes Kakashi come to stand beside him. Knowing better by now than to speak first, Minato waits.
"Do you think anyone has told Dad what happened to me?" questions Kakashi in a little, soft voice so unlike his usual self.
"I'm sure someone has," replies Minato. It's a lie. He is not at all sure someone went to speak to the disgraced shinobi. In fact, some might be taking cruel pleasure in not informing him. Minato does his best to not let his worries show on his face. Poor Sakumo. He hopes their Hokage ordered someone to.
Kakashi shakes his head. "I bet no one did," he mumbles. "I hope…" he trails off and grows very still.
Minato knows he shouldn't push. It only makes Kakashi close up more. Even so, he can't stop himself. "You hope what?" he asks.
"Nothing," replies Kakashi, curt, glowering. "He probably won't even notice I'm gone."
"Kakashi…"
The boy turns on his heel and leaves the kitchen. "I'm going to bed," he says.
Feeling once again like a failure of a teacher, Minato watches his student disappear into the apartment's bedroom.
Thanks for reading and please let me know your thoughts!