Minato stands before the screens that display the genin taking part in the exams. He is surrounded by the jounin instructors of the participating teams. Most of them are relaxing or idly chatting, but Minato finds himself intrigued by the genin's antics.
The first exam hasn't begun yet, but genin have started trickling into the exam room as they successfully find the location.
They are a rowdy bunch. Quite a few, mostly those from Konoha, have no sense of fear. They actively pick fights and declare their intentions.
But Minato's eyes are drawn to the Taki team. When they enter the exam room, he immediately recognizes Taki's jinchuuriki. He is still surprised that their nervous leader agreed to send her to Konoha at such a tense point in their relations. But while the girl and the possible motives for her presence in Konoha are fascinating, he is drawn to the boy who announces himself as "Kyuuryuu Naruto, future savior of the world!" upon walking into the room.
The chuunin hopefuls that are already in the room laugh mockingly, but Naruto doesn't seem to care.
Minato can't help being reminded of a certain redhead who, in her introduction to their academy class, announced herself as future first female Hokage of Konoha.
A fond but sad smile plays over his lips at the memory.
"Everything alright sensei?"
Startled, MInato looks over at Kakashi. "Yes, of course. Why?"
"You're smiling involuntarily."
Minato laughs uncomfortably, rubbing the nape of his neck. "Kakashi, don't be silly. I smile all the time."
"And I have two black eyes," Kakashi says rolling his one.
"What are your expectations for your team?" MInato asks to steer the conversation away from his feelings.
"I'm worried about them honestly. Individually, Sai and Sasuke are both strong enough to become chuunin. Only Sakura doesn't quite have the skills to become a chuunin. But their teamwork is abysmal. Sakura spends all of her energy fawning over Sasuke, and Sasuke is so busy trying to prove himself that he ignores his teammates. Sai just seems to intensify whatever uncomfortable situation is between the other two. I trust the boys can take care of things if they're attacked, but if Sakura is caught off guard…"
"I see."
"What's got you interested, sensei?"
"Honestly, the Taki team."
"Is that so?"
"I just don't understand why they were sent here. Why would Taki send its jinchuuriki to Konoha when we have such tense relations?"
"I think the better question is why Suna would send its extremely unstable jinchuuriki into an ally's territory during peacetime."
Minato pinches the bridge of his nose, "Ugh, Kakashi, don't remind me."
At that moment, Morino Ibiki arrives in the exam room and announces the start of the Chuunin Exams. Minato tries not to wince at the sight. Ibiki is the kind of man who shouldn't be around genin, which is exactly why Sandaime recommended him for the first exam…to weed out those who aren't ready to be chuunin. The students dutifully take their seats, and Ibiki describes the first test. It's a written exam, meant to mess with the genin's minds and encourage them to cheat. It's the only reason Minato agreed to Sandaime's suggestion. The task is quite clever, and there is no torture involved.
As the students begin, Minato finds his eyes again drawn to Naruto. While members of the other teams begin cheating, the poor kid stares at his test in barely-concealed horror. He panics and glances at the students around him, all feigning filling in answers, which only fills him with more panic. Minato almost feels bad for the poor kid who is obviously not ready to have been sent to the exams.
But then Naruto perks up. His eyes don't focus on anything in particular, and a big smile stretches across his face. He begins writing furiously.
"Those were some great ninja skills, Fuu! I wish I could talk into people's brains like you!" Naruto cries as they stand outside the Forest of Death. They have just signed their waivers allowing them to participate in the second round of the exams. "And you're super smart, Kegon-sensei!"
Kegon-sensei simply grunts and adjusts his forehead protector.
The proctor of the second exam, who introduces herself as Anko, stands before them looking menacing. She seems pretty crazy and just keeps going on about scrolls or something, but Naruto's too excited about the test to be concerned.
He can't wait for his first fight against an actual opponent, and he knows that it has to happen in the Forest of Death. What place could be more dangerous than that?
Finally, the crazy lady passes out some scrolls, and the round starts. As soon as the black Earth scroll is tucked safely away in Kegon-sensei's bag, the Taki team takes to the trees and dashes off. They don't stop until Kegon has deemed that they've put enough distance between them and the other teams. Only then do they take a moment to strategize.
"Our best chance is to take the other teams by surprise. When we come across them, Fuu, you'll blind them with your dust. Naruto, you overwhelm them with your clones, and while they're distracted, I'll sneak in and grab their scroll."
"Aw can't I grab the scroll?" Naruto asks. "I've really been practicing my stealth."
"That's the plan we're going with," Kegon-sensei says firmly.
"Fine," Naruto pouts. He can't believe Kegon-sensei doesn't trust his skills. He's really been working on improving! Everyone says ninjas need to be sneaky, and Naruto wants to be the best ninja. "But if you don't get it the first time, I'll do it myself, ttebayo!"
Kegon-sensei turns away from Naruto and Fuu and looks in the direction of the central tower. "We should make our ways towards the tower but not too quickly. We don't want to outrun the other teams."
They dash off, Kegon-sensei in the lead. Naruto and Fuu follow behind, leaping from limb to limb. Their eyes make excited contact at every noise they hear. Each one could be their very first real fight as ninjas! But Kegon-sensei continues unabated, obviously recognizing the lack of any danger.
As they run, Naruto inches closer to Fuu, "Hey, hey, Fuu," he says. "I think that creepy kid we saw the other day is a jinchuuriki like us."
She looks at him, startled, but doesn't miss a step. Naruto hadn't wanted to bring up his hunch just after the encounter. Fuu had been furious. Looking longingly at Ichiraku, he had suggested that they just go get dango together, and as they ate, he tried his hardest to make her smile again. She hadn't, and in the days leading up to the exams, she had been brooding, her mood only improving with the exhilaration of passing the first round.
He knows that he runs the risk of making her angry again, but he has to tell her eventually! And if she does get mad, what better place to get riled up than the Forest of Death?
"Why do you think that?" she asks.
"Didn't you see his eyes? They changed colors! And my bijuu got all excited when it happened. Did yours?"
Naruto knows that Fuu knows more about her bijuu than he does. She's talked to hers a few times, and although they're not on great terms, hers seems a lot more agreeable than his. While Naruto gets an awful stomachache from his, she gets cool powers, like her bug-like chakra! She wants to be friends with it someday, especially now that they're working to form their great jinchuuriki alliance, but she hasn't quite figured out how to talk to it regularly. And regular contact is totally necessary since it's grumpy. Naruto tried a few times to talk to his own bijuu, but he can't seem to find it. His seems to only come out when it wants to.
Fuu admits that her bijuu didn't do anything during the encounter. Or if it did, she was too angry to notice.
"I think the creepy kid might be grumpy because of his bijuu," Naruto continues. "I think his might be grumpy like mine, and it might give him stomachaches too. Maybe he'll be happier if we can talk to him, and he knows that there are other people like him.
"So we can be friends someday!"
"Yeah, it's our mission to find all the jinchuuriki, so even if he's super creepy, we have to at least try."
"He's probably never had a friend before either! Too bad that made him creepy instead of fun like us. Do you think we should look for him in the Forest of Death?"
"I mean, if we see him, we can try."
"Absolutely not," Kegon-sensei shouts from ahead of them. "You will not try to befriend Suna's unstable jinchuuriki in the Forest of Death. I'd prefer you not try at all, but at least wait until you're in a location where others are around to detain him if he loses control."
"But you're here with us, sensei," Fuu says.
"No," Kegon-sensei repeats. "This conversation is over."
Naruto and Fuu are still pouting when they set up camp in the trees a few miles from the tower. Kegon decides that they are close enough that there's a high likelihood of running into another team, but not so close that they will be running into everyone. Now, they just have to wait until some unsuspecting genin team has the misfortune to wander past.
It doesn't take long for a team from Konoha to wander into the clearing, but Naruto and Fuu—who got bored within minutes of waiting—are so engrossed in a spar that has them zipping through the canopy that they don't even notice the Konoha team's presence until all three genin are lying unconscious on the ground. They find Kegon-sensei standing beside them frowning at an Earth scroll.
"Hey!" Fuu shouts. "You can't just take on other teams without us!"
"Yeah, that wasn't our plan! I was supposed to overwhelm them with my clones!"
"It's safer if I do it on my own."
"But that's not the point of the Chuunin exams! Naruto and I need to prove we're ready to be Chuunin!"
"As long as you make it to the final round, Shibuki will consider promoting you."
"But me and Naruto need to have our first ninja fight before the final round."
"And you will. We still need another scroll." In response to Naruto and Fuu's confused looks, Kegon-sensei holds up the Earth scroll before pocketing it. "We already have an Earth scroll."
They return to their posts, but now Naruto watches his surroundings carefully. There's no way he's gonna let Kegon-sensei take everyone out again!
But besides that Konoha team, the day is uneventful. The sun starts to set, and they set up a fire to cook dinner. Kegon-sensei says that he isn't worried about most of the other teams being threats, and he actually hopes that the fire will attract a stupid one.
Naruto is keeping watch when they hear shuffling in the trees and the sounds of a distant fight. Within seconds his teammates are flanking him. Kegon-sensei's eyes scan the dense foliage, and Naruto knows from experience that he's using all of his senses to assess the danger.
They can hear the scuffle continue, but it doesn't come close to their camp. Still, Kegon-sensei doesn't relax from his defensive stance until the sounds of the fight dissolve into the breeze among the leaves.
"What was that?" Fuu asks, her wide eyes still on the surrounding forest. Naruto notices that while she's trying to mimic Kegon-sensei, she isn't able to completely hide the fear in her eyes or the tremor in her voice.
Whatever they heard was something huge.
"One of the other teams probably ran into one of the massive animals that lives in this forest," Kegon explains.
"Sasuke!" The distant wail is the voice of a young woman. Even from so far away, Naruto can hear the fear and sorrow in her voice. Something about it makes his heart stop, and Naruto is running before he even registers what's happening.
Someone's in trouble, and he'll save them!
He leaps through the trees faster than he ever has. Stray branches of overhanging leaves slap him in the face as he plows though. Through the crashing, he keeps his ears focused on the direction of her cries.
He slows down to a creep as a small clearing comes into view. Through the leaves he sees a pink-haired girl kneeling over an immobile boy. Another genin is standing impassively nearby. They are both wearing Konoha headbands.
"Wipe that stupid, fake smile off of your face," the girl scolds her conscious teammate. "Sasuke might be dying."
"He's alive and the woman's gone," the boy says. "There's nothing to worry about."
The girl huffs and returns to her immobile teammate.
Suddenly from behind, Fuu shouts, "What the hell was that, Naruto? You can't just run off!"
At the sound of her voice, both strangers look directly at them. They're immediately on their guard. The boy quickly paints something, and several lions come to life, flanking him. The girl draws a kunai and crouches low in front of her other teammate's immobile body.
"I see you think you can take advantage of us while we're weakened," the boy says calmly.
"I won't let you touch Sasuke!" the girl shouts, tears in her eyes but a fierceness in her voice.
"Uh," Naruto says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Is your friend okay?"
"Don't try to distract us!" the girl warns.
Naruto hold his hands out in a defensive gesture. "I'm not distracting! I promise! I'm actually concerned! We don't want to attack! Fuu here is really good at healing, so we might be able to help him."
The boy and his lions don't let up, but Naruto can see the girl falter. She looks down at her teammate hesitantly and back at Naruto.
"I swear that's why I came," Naruto says, hands still raised before him. He turns to his teammates. "Is that okay? I want to see if we can help. Please don't attack"
At the curt nod from Kegon-sensei, Naruto slowly approaches the other team, never moving his hands out of that defensive position. The Konoha genin don't move, but they also don't relax. As Naruto approaches the unconscious boy—Sasuke, if he remembers correctly—the others adjust to give him space while still flanking their teammate. Naruto kneels beside him. "What happened?"
The girl describes a fight with a creepy snake lady in detail. She explains how ultimately the woman bit her teammate on the neck, and the symbols appeared.
"So he's not sick?" Naruto asks.
"I don't think so," the girl says. "We think it's some kind of seal."
Naruto looks more closely at the three tomoe on the boy's neck. He's never seen a seal like that in any of Baa-chan's books, but when he pushes some chakra into the seal, he can feel that it's pumping malicious chakra into the boy's system.
"I can fix this!" he exclaims. "Well…sort of."
He can't remove it, but he can seal it away. It's just like when he needed to seal away the water above Old Man Kuri's bed. Chakra is basically liquid. He just has to keep it contained so that it doesn't go to other places in Sasukes's system.
He sits down right next to the boy's head, pulls out a scroll of chakra paper ,and begins sketching out the seal. "This will take awhile," he warns.
It does. Dawn is breaking when he finally finishes. Fuu is taking a nap on the other side of the clearing. Kegon-sensei stands guard over her. Sasuke's two companions are sleepily still flanking him. The boy is stoic and unmoving while the girl is clearly fighting waves of exhaustion.
"This'll keep that bad chakra from going into his system," Naruto says, breaking the silence. The others are startled into motion and approach to see what he's done. As they watch, he cuts the seal out of the scroll with a kunai, and he carefully places it over the curse mark on the boy's neck so that the circle of script surrounds the three tomoe.
He pushes a little bit of chakra into the paper and grins with satisfaction as it transfers from the paper onto the boy's skin. As the seal adheres to Sasuke's skin, he begins to stir.
"Sasuke!" the girl shouts. She falls to her knees beside Naruto, looking at Sasuke, with hope in her eyes. When Sasuke cracks open a coal-black eye and tiredly mumbles, "Sakura," she turns to Naruto with watery eyes. "How can we thank you for saving him?"
Naruto rubs the back of his neck and smile sheepishly. "Don't worry about it! I'm just happy to help!"
"That's not right," Sakura says. "You saved his life."
"No! He definitely wasn't dying! I just, like, made him feel better, ttebayo."
"Here, take this as thanks." Sakura runs over to a bag, rummages through it, and pulls out a Heaven scroll. She presents it to Naruto, bowing at the waist to show him utmost respect.
Naruto stares at the white scroll before him. It's really nice of her and all, but he wants to get his Heaven scroll by winning his first ninja fight. "Uh, it's okay—"
"Thanks!" Fuu says, snatching the scroll from the girl's hands. "That's super nice of you! Here, you can have our extra one." Fuu hands Sakura their extra Earth scroll as she pockets their new Heaven scroll.
Sakura seems shocked. She's stood back up and is staring at the scroll in her hands like it might have an explosive tag attached. "But—"
"Don't worry about it! We don't need it, and you need all the help you can get. Thanks for the scroll!"
"Uh, yeah, thanks," Naruto says. He's still shocked by Fuu's brashness, but he's starting to recover. "I hope you guys make it to the final round. Maybe we'll get to spar!"
"Okay, you two," Kegon-sensei says, "I think we've helped this team enough. Let's get out of here."
"See ya!" Naruto and Fuu say in unison. Then, leaving the Konoha team to recover on their own, they hop off towards the tower.
Naruto tries not to hide under the weight of the stare of the Hokage. The man is standing on a platform above the sparring level where the genin will fight in a preliminary knockout round. The Hokage's real presence is so much more imposing than that of his stone face on the mountain. As Naruto moves about, he can feel the Hokage's eyes following him.
Naruto has to admit that the man's looks had shocked him. If he didn't know any better, he might have thought they were related, they look so much alike! But he does know better, enough to know not to fall for that trick. Baa-chan and Tobi-nii would never lie to him.
So he tries to distract himself from those piercing blue eyes by chatting animatedly with Fuu and betting on who will win each round. They both fall into hysterics when Kegon-sensei pretends to struggle against a Konoha genin, and they tease him when he returns to their sides in mock defeat.
When Fuu's name appears on the board, her usual exuberance evaporates, and her eyes set with a determined satisfaction.
She'll be fighting Kankuro from Suna.
Kankuro swaggers confidently into the ring while Fuu stalks on. She looks like a predator eyeing its prey, and suddenly Naruto is glad that he doesn't have to fight her.
The intensity in the air is stronger even than when they had both met Kankuro in the street, and as they wait for the signal to begin, Naruto notes with satisfaction that Kankuro seems to realize that he may not come out on top without his friend and Kegon-sensei to protect him.
Speaking of…Naruto's eyes roam to the creepy kid who is watching the start of the match with a bored expression. His blond-haired companion is a few yards away watching the match intently, and although everyone gives the kid a wide berth, there are plenty of ninja to step in if things get out of hand.
As Fuu and Kankuro launch themselves at each other, Naruto sidles over to the creepy ninja.
The Suna nin stiffens as Naruto nears and carefully does not acknowledge the new presence. Naruto, practicing patience that he only learned thanks to Baa-chan and her boring lessons, doesn't say anything for a few moments. He watches as Fuu starts to overpower Kankuro in taijutsu, enough to prompt Kankuro to reveal a puppet that he controls from a distance.
"My name's Naruto. What's yours?"
The creepy gut doesn't say anything.
Naruto gives him some time. He doesn't want to be too forward. The guy seems like the type to get overwhelmed with too much friendliness. Below, Fuu nimbly jumps around to avoid Kankuro's puppet, looking for an opening.
"That's my friend, Fuu," Naruto continues when the guy doesn't say anything. "She's my very first friend. We only met like six months ago after my Baa-chan died. I'm her first friend too even though she's super cool and super nice."
The guy is still staring at the spar emotionless. Fuu has managed to ensnare Kankuro's puppet in a web, and she launches herself at Kankuro.
"People never really wanted to be our friends because we've both got monsters stuck in us. Everyone's are afraid that kids aren't powerful enough to keep the monsters locked up."
Naruto glances over at his companion to see whether his words have had any effect, and to his satisfaction, the Suna nin has gone rigid. His seafoam eyes are wide, like he's trying to avoid saying or doing something. The knuckles of his hands that clutch the banister are white.
Naruto grins. "You've got one inside you too, don't you? I know it sucks and stuff, but me and Fuu would want to be your friend. We want to get control over our monsters and protect the world together, ttebayo."
There's no response, but Naruto can feel the turmoil roiling inside of the jinchuuriki beside him.
Kankuro screams below as Fuu blows sparkling dust into his face, blinding him. Taking advantage of his handicap, she leaps towards him and lands a blow on his head that sends him flying.
"Whoo! Go Fuu! Kick his butt, ttebayo!" Naruto cries, leaping onto the banister.
She does, and when she finishes, she sends Naruto a triumphant peace sign and a wink. Naruto cheers.
As Fuu and Kankuro leave the ring, the board above flashes two new names: Gaara vs. Emi. Across the ring, a team starts cheering on Emi, who looks like she's about to be sick. The guy beside Naruto gathers sand to float down into the rink. As he does, Naruto says, "Good luck, Gaara! My name's Naruto, don't forget it!"
Minato longs to touch the ground and sense the chakras of those in the building. He's interested for political reasons: How unstable is the Ichibi's seal? Is the Taki jinchuuriki drawing on her bijuu's chakra when she casts her jutsu, or are her abilities just very bug-like?
But he's mostly interested in sensing Kyuuryuu Naruto's chakra. He needs to know what it feels like. The kid is pulling him like a flame pulls a moth. Whether it is curiosity or a real, physical connection to Naruto, he's not sure. But whatever it is, he finds himself helpless to fight against it. He watches with fascination as the boy jokes around with his teammates and then with utter disbelief as Naruto has what looks like a one-sided yet calm conversation with Gaara.
He finally gets an excuse to give his full attention to the kid when the next matchup appears on the board.
Naruto vs. Rock Lee.
The genin who participated in this year's exams were exceptionally talented. Far too many emerged successful from the Forest of Death. Personally, Minato thinks this is something to be celebrated, and he would want to showcase all of the talent in the final round. But he is aware of the political limitations that force him away from that choice. As a younger Hokage, he might have fought against them, but he has learned to accept them. He'll consider the Konoha genin who don't win the preliminaries for promotion if they show they are ready, and he'll recommend the other Kage to do the same.
So far, there have been several intriguing matchups. Most of them went as anticipated. Hyuuga Neji beat Inuzuka Kiba. The Kazekage's daughter beat Akamichi Choji. TenTen beat a cocky Sound ninja. But there were also some surprises. Haruno Sakura beat a Sound ninja as well, and Hyuuga Hinata won against an older Kohoha genin.
Kyuuryuu Naruto and Rock Lee enter the fighting ring.
"You're going down!" Naruto shouts. It's clear he's so excited that he can hardly contain his emotions. The kid is bouncing with pent up energy. His eyes are not mean, but they do shine with determination.
"You burn with such youthful fire!" Lee responds. "I look forward to fighting you."
"Go, Naruto!" Taki's jinchuuriki shouts from the sidelines. "We're becoming chuunin together, so don't you lose!".
Naruto completely turns his back on Lee to give his teammate a thumbs up and a grin. "Got it, Fuu!"
Hayate starts the match.
Lee takes advantage of Naruto's turned back and darts towards him, but before he can reach him, Naruto forms a hand sign , "Kage bunshin no jutsu!"
Ten Narutos appear behind the boy, and they fan out in every direction. Lee throws a kick toward the original Naruto…who disappears in a puff of smoke.
Fuu whoops with glee, and the Konoha spectators seem to hold their breath. But Minato has already lost track of the match. His mind is whirling.
The Kage Bunshin is a B-Rank forbidden jutsu, developed by the second Hokage and hidden on scrolls in his own personal archive. How on earth does this boy know it?
Unless Kushina taught him, a small voice reminds him.
Minato shakes away the intrusive thoughts, reminding himself that he's had these same thoughts for over a decade. Nothing has changed with the arrival of this boy bearing Kushina's face and the name Minato chose.
Yet everything has changed.
He hasn't had a single lead on Kushina for over thirteen years. He had spent the first decade relentlessly searching for any clue that might explain where she went. He even managed to convince himself that he didn't need her to want to be in a relationship with him. He just needed to know where she went and why. He needed closure. After the first decade, he at least stopped outwardly searching for her, if only to satisfy the people who loved him and prove that he can move on. But after three years of quietly looking for clues, more evidence than he's ever found just shows up in Konoha.
An explosion brings him back to the match. As the smoke clears, he sees Rock Lee covered in ash from a exploding tag. He's lying on the ground breathing heavily. Naruto is standing back to see what he does.
Minato is proud to see that the boy is not willing to take advantage of an opponent in a fair fight. Kushina taught him well, that voice murmurs despite his best efforts.
"Lee!" Gai shouts from the sidelines. "Take them off!"
"But Gai-sensei! You told me only to do that to protect a very large group of very important people!"
"It's quite alright, Lee!"
The entire stadium, including Naruto, watches with baited breath as Lee bends down and removes the weights that encircle his legs. Minato can hear some snickering from the watching genin who are doubtful that such a small act will make a difference.
Lee proves them all wrong when the weights carve craters in the ground upon impact. Then he disappears.
Minato knew the boy was much faster and stronger than he let on, but this is quite unexpected. Even Minato, the fastest man in the world, can hardly follow Lee's movements. Instead of trying, he watches Naruto to see how the boy reacts.
Naruto just makes more clones, each one making several more to the point that the entire area is filled with copies of the boy. The original is lost. Lee blasts through the sea of Narutos, effectively destroying hundreds of them. But with each clone that's destroyed, Naruto makes ten more.
Minato is extremely impressed. Naruto must have immense chakra reserves to be able to use that technique to such an extent.
"Go Naruto!" the Taki jinchuuriki cries.
Suddenly the chaos stops, and the Naruto clones erupt in delighted laughter. "Gotcha!" they cry. They all dissipate at once, giving the impression that the arena is exploding. A single Naruto is left just inches away from Lee, who is struggling to get close enough to punch the boy.
"Kyuuryuu, Naruto wins!" Hayate announces.
As the smoke clears, Minato sees that Naruto has painted a seal on the the ground that's trapped Lee. He can't see the details from this distance, but one thing is clear. There is an Uzumaki spiral at the center of the seal.
When Minato arrives home, to his surprise, Kakashi is lying on the couch reading one of Jiraiya's god-awful books.
"What are you doing home so early?"
Kakashi turns an incredulous, lidded eye towards him before returning to his book. "What does it look like I'm doing?"
Minato, far too used to Kakashi's attitude, deadpans before saying in his most professional voice, "Why are you home? I expect jounin instructors to meet with their teams after the preliminaries."
"I did."
Minato is certain Kakashi's version of "meet with his team" consisted of him telling his team to go home and train.
He sighs and then shuffles into the kitchen. "Do you want some tea?"
In response, Kakashi lifts the mug on the coffee table beside him without taking his eyes off of his book.
"Right," Minato mutters.
Kakashi had moved in with Minato soon after Kushina disappeared. He had already had a room here and had frequently stayed the night, but once Minato was alone, his stay became permanent. Minato is certain that the move was a ploy from his friends who were worried about him. With Kakashi at his apartment, he wouldn't be alone, and Kakashi could give them reports on his mental state.
When Kakashi had first arrived, Minato had been frustrated. It was when he was still an absolute mess (really, he's still an absolute mess though), and he was living in the Hokage office, too afraid to come home to an empty apartment. He'd genuinely yelped when he'd flashed home for an inevitable shower to find someone stirring a pot of okayu on the stove. Without thinking, he crushed the person with a hug, tears running down his face, muttering "I missed you so much."
The person had pushed him away, pleading, "Please don't kiss me," before Minato realized that it wasn't Kushina but Kakashi. He'd then sheepishly scurried away to the shower and had been grateful that the pouring water concealed his tears even from himself.
When he had emerged and returned to the kitchen to grab food, Kakashi had announced, "I'm living here now," and he'd placed a bowl of okayu on the table with a threatening glare.
Initially, Kakashi acted like Minato's parent. He cooked and gave him curfews that, if not followed, resulted in a tongue lashing. He cleaned the house and subtly hid anything that was distinctly Kushina's. The actions were annoying and overbearing, but slowly, they brought Minato home.
Minato still spent most of his time in his office, but when Kakashi wasn't on missions, he'd regularly return home for meals. He became grateful for Kakashi's presence when he started sleeping at home again. He'd sleep on the couch, unable to bear returning to the bed that he and Kushina had shared. And every morning, he woke up with the weight of Pakkun on his chest and Kakashi asleep on the floor beside him.
Eventually, after months of pestering him to sleep in his bed again, Kakashi convinced him to turn the third bedroom in the apartment—the tiny one that would have been a nursery if he and Kushina had ever had kids—into his new room. The room was just big enough for a bed and a nightstand, but Minato was happier there.
And so, he once again had a home and could go to work without being sheepishly embarrassed for sleeping at his desk again.
His gratefulness for Kakashi is the only thing that lets Minato put up with the brat's attitude all these years later.
As he fills the teakettle. Minato's mind is still racing from the day. No matter how much he tries to focus on the present, on his ever-mounting duties, or on how goddamned annoying Kakashi's reading habit is, his mind just keeps returning to that seal on the floor.
It's proof enough that he's found his first lead on Kushina in 13 years.
Htwo people in the world could have taught Naruto that seal, and Minato's one of them. The other is the woman he's been searching for for the past 13 years.
As he announced the details of the final round of the Chuunin Exams, scheduled for a month from today, his mind had been ringing. She's alive! She's alive! She's alive!
He had rushed out of the preliminaries, excusing himself from everyone who had wanted to talk with him. At the start of the day, he'd looked forward to congratulating the genin who had made it this far. After Naruto's match, he had prepared himself to talk to Naruto as well, perhaps congratulate him and ask him about his training in fuuinjutsu. But then he'd looked over to see Naruto regaling his team with an animated story. Fuu was giggling, and even their sensei and jounin teammate looked at him fondly if not with some exasperation. Minato couldn't bring himself to ruin the moment.
It wasn't cold feet. Nope, not that. Minato would never let a preteen scare him.
So instead, he hurried home, plotting how he would approach Naruto and hoping that Kakashi would be home so that Minato could tell him about his discovery.
Now that he's home, though, seeing Kakashi so idle, acting as if nothing at all special had happened today, the reality of what this means begins to sink in. Naruto exists. Meaning he has a father, and it's not Minato.
As Minato places the kettle on the stove, he begins to wonder who his father could be. Perhaps that jounin teammate who looked at Naruto with such fondness? In a small village like Taki, it wouldn't be unusual for a father to be assigned to assure his own son's safety outside of the village. From a distance, Minato couldn't pin down his age, but the man could be in his 30s like Minato. The jounin also had the same shade of brown hair as Naruto.
Minato's stomach clenches at the thought, just as the kettle whistles. He had always imagined his children with Kushina's red hair, and for some reason, the fact that Naruto didn't inherit it saddens him.
But the fact that Naruto might have inherited anything from another man hurts even more. He and Kushina were supposed to have children. Not Kushina and some other man.
He drops the tea infuser filled with green tea leaves into his cup, and as it sinks in the water, he himself sinks to the ground, dropping his head between his knees.
Naruto is a small kid, but Naruto must be at least eleven if he's participating in the exams. That means Kushina met a man soon after she left Minato. It would have had to be very soon after she left if they were to have the time to meet and build a relationship strong enough to have children. Or maybe Naruto is the result of a one night stand, and doesn't know his father. That, at least, is a less devastating thought.
Still, the fact that Kushina was with any man that wasn't him crushes him. Especially so soon after leaving. It meant that she had forgotten him quickly. It wasn't like she didn't have the option to come back to Konoha, back to Minato.
No, whoever Naruto's father is, she chose him over Minato.
And here Minato is, thirteen years later, still pining after her.
Any joy that he'd had at finding proof that she had lived after she disappeared is now eclipsed by the hurt that she chose not to come back to Minato. Knowing that he wasn't good enough for her but not knowing why is unexpectedly harder than anything else.
"Sensei?"
He hadn't realized that he began crying, but now he feels the cool air on his wet cheeks as he looks up at Kakashi standing in the doorway of the kitchen. The small part of his brain that still has some ability to think critically, recoils in shame, but his body can't seem to follow through.
"Oh, sensei."
Kakashi drops to his knees beside Minato, wrapping lean arms around him, and pulling his head against his chest.
Minato lets him.
They stay like that, their roles reversed. The teacher crying, the student comforting.
The tea steeping on the counter.
It's not until Minato is able to swallow his tears that Kakashi says anything.
"Is it Naruto?"
Minato balks, but it comes out as a laugh. "How- how did you know?"
"He's got Kushina written all over him. From the boisterous confidence to the monstrous chakra reserves, he's an Uzumaki through and through."
"And he looks like her too." Minato feels like a child, and the crust of tears on his cheeks doesn't help the illusion.
"He does," Kakashi confirms.
Minato simply sighs. "Then there's no doubt he's an Uzumaki."
"Sensei, I realize it's probably hard to come to terms with this new information. But it might help you to meet with Naruto and talk to him. We chatted a few times during the exams and—" Kakashi's breath hitches, and Minato is reminded that Kakashi had loved Kushina too. They both have lost so many people that they love. Kakashi quickly composes himself and continues. "And it was like I was talking to Kushina. It might be good for you to have that. Maybe he can offer some sort of closure."
Closure.
It's the last thing Minato wants. He wants Kushina back. Even after all these years, he still loves her more than anything else.
No, he's not willing to accept closure from Naruto. Not yet, at least. But he will accept information.
Minato composes himself as he plots how he will approach the boy. He manages to stand and grab his tea on the counter. Then he gives Kakashi a small smile, an acknowledgment of his appreciation, and takes a sip of tea.
It's bitter.
