Super Awesome Beta: Blaizekit

Chapter 17: Life Hates Minato... Probably Because He Cheated

The first thing Naruto had noticed upon waking up that morning was that he felt... well, not exactly tired, just, less energetic than he usually did. He wondered if this was what it felt like to be sick. He'd never been sick before. He'd have to ask someone.

It was with such thoughts in mind that the blond headed down the stairs and into the main room. The first thing he noticed was Kakashi-sensei.

He vaguely registered Sasuke sipping tea, Sakura helping Tsunami in the kitchen and his parents bent over a large sheet of paper before flinging an accusatory finger at the silver-haired man. "Oi! What happened to your arm?!"

Sasuke snorted and rolled his eyes while everyone else looked up at him in amusement. Kakashi's single visible eye crinkled in a smile while he replied, "a random wandering fuinjutsu tree got into a fight with a shark and-"

"LIAR!" the blond shouted, interrupting his teachers terrible excuse. The arm was no longer in a cast and all that black glowing ink was gone. He now knew it had been sealed by that crazy calligraphy his mother loved, he just wished he could be doing cool stuff like that instead of constantly writing the same squiggly lines over and over again. Not that he dared to try and tell her that... again.

The jounin shrugged and went back to reading his book.

"Naruto!"

The blond couldn't help but smile as he braced himself for his mother's customary tackle hug. Any other boy his age would probably have been annoyed at the blatant display of affection, but he just couldn't get over the fact that there was someone who wanted to hug him; and not just once in a while, like with Jiji, she wanted to do it all the time! He didn't understand how other boys his age would find that irritating.

"How's my little boy?" the redhead asked, pulling away to look into his face with a bright smile.

Naruto frowned, scrunching up his brow in thought. "Actually, I think I might be sick."

Kushina froze. Sick? Uzumaki didn't get sick! Especially not Uzumaki jinchuuriki! As always whenever she panicked, she acted first without thinking. Chakra chains shot out and snatched Minato from his spot at the table.

"Minato! Naruto says he's sick! Fix it!"

"He said he might be sick," Minato clarified, trying to untangle himself from the chakra constructs. "I thought Uzumaki didn't get sick?"

"No, not normally, but maybe it's some kind of terrible super disease or something!"

The elder blond looked over at his wife and tried to figure out if she was serious or just being overly dramatic. If anyone knew how Uzumaki constitution worked, it would be her. "... Then we'd have to take him to a medic. I've always just gone to the hospital if I thought I was sick, I wouldn't know how to diagnose him. Unless Kakashi knows?"

Both parents glanced over at the silver-haired jounin who shrugged without breaking eye-contact with his book. "I was only sick if I couldn't get out of bed."

"Well, you're no help. Useless scarecrow," Kushina muttered, then frowned. "Where are we going to find a medic way out here?"

Minato shrugged. "I'm sure there's a civilian doctor somewhere in the village..."

"Are you guys serious?"

They looked over to where Sakura was staring at them with an incredulous expression on her face. "You don't know how to check for...? Didn't your parents ever...?"

That was when Sakura realized she was surrounded by orphans. She sighed and walked over to her blond teammate. "I'll check... it's not that hard."

Sitting down in front of Naruto, Sakura was very much aware of the fact that the Yondaime and his wife were watching her intently. It made her a bit nervous as she quickly checked his forehead for a fever, his throat for swelling and then had him breathe deeply while she listened for any rattle of chest congestion.

"Unless he throws up his breakfast, he's fine," she concluded.

"Thanks, Sakura-chan!" Naruto spoke up cheerfully.

The pink-haired girl waved off his gratitude and made her way back toward the kitchen. Technically it was Sasuke's turn to make breakfast, but she'd offered to take his turn for him with the hope of amazing him with her cooking skill. Speaking of Sasuke...

Her gaze drifted over to the dark-haired teen. She could feel her inner-self bubbling up from the depths of her mind.

'We should take HIS temperature, yeah?! Then if he's sick, we'll put him to bed, make him soup, and give him a massage to soothe his muscles... then he'll HAVE to see how perfect a wife we'd be! DO IT!'

With that boost of courage, she took a detour to sit at the table. "Ne, Sasuke-kun, if you weren't feeling well, I could always che-"

"I'm fine," the boy answered curtly, narrowing his eyes at her in irritation.

"O-oh. Okay." She hastily beat a retreat back to the kitchen, her face as red as a tomato. At least it had been worth a shot...

Minato finally managed to extract himself from the chakra chains and glanced over at his son. "What made you think you might be sick?"

"I just woke up a little tired, it's probably nothing. I'll still beat Sasuke-teme to the top of that tree!" he boasted, fixing his rival with a challenging glare. Which was ignored with little more than an derisive snort from the other boy.

"Oh. That may have been my fault," the Yondaime admitted sheepishly. "I accidentally used up a good portion of your chakra last night."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at him. "Accidentally? What were you doing?"

"Failing," Kushina supplied helpfully.

Minato rolled his eyes. "We were actually waiting on everyone to be awake so we could go over that. Now that you're up, we can."

With that they all gathered around the table to eat while the adults filled them in on the story of a sharkman and a chakra eating sword.

Naruto growled in frustration as his foot slipped just barely three steps from the top. Sasuke was just as close as he was, and it was driving him insane. He was so close! He could just taste it!

Still, he had to admit that his frustration wasn't only at black-haired boy and the stupid trees... it was also... the way everyone acted around his dad. Like he was someone important. Even the teme had referred to the elder blond as 'Namikaze-sama'. Sama. Mr. High-and-mighty Uchiha calling someone sama?

Naruto was missing something important about his dad, and it was seriously starting to tick him off.

Well, now was a good time to try and talk to him. His father was sitting just right over there. Even if he was supposed to figure it out on his own, he could still ask questions about a few things the elder blond had said that hadn't quite added up.

"Dad?" Naruto asked, taking a seat across from his father. Minato had been practicing his own chakra control exercises, sensory chakra combined with some chakra string manipulation (the two at once were surprisingly good at refining control), when he'd turned his attention to his son. The younger blond had an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face.

Minato gave him an encouraging smile. "Yes?"

That smile made Naruto uncomfortable. Only two other people ever smiled at him like that, like they actually wanted to talk to him; Iruka-sensei and Hokage-jiji. He knew he'd earned Iruka's kindness by trying really hard to be a ninja and being super awesome at pranks, something the teacher had told him reminded the man of his younger self; and old man Hokage had always been nice, so he must have done something to earn it back before he could remember.

This new person, though, his dad, he was just nice to him for no reason! Like, really nice; and not just the 'hadn't-met-him-and-realized-he-wasn't-supposed-to-be-nice' kind of nice either. A part of him suggested that this might be what having a dad was supposed to be like, but that didn't help him much. What had he done to earn that smile? What did he have to do to keep it? If he did something wrong would he lose it?

That wasn't what he was here to talk about though, and he forced those thoughts aside. Instead, he focused on trying to find the right way to word his question. "You and mom said earlier that you two had sealed the Kyuubi," he started.

And wasn't that just a whole other kettle of fish he needed to talk to his parents about later, when he'd sorted out how he felt about it. He needed something clarified first, though.

Naruto didn't miss the sharp hitch in his Dad's breath as he stiffened and glanced around the clearing. Kakashi-sensei was the only other person there, though. Reading -or pretending to read- his nasty book. His mom had taken his clones to the bridge with Sakura for their boring calligraphy lesson, and Sasuke had gone back to the house for a bathroom break. Hence why Naruto had chosen now to talk about it.

He worried briefly about that reaction, wondering if this might be considered one of those 'something wrong' things that could ruin everything, but he needed to ask and he forged on anyway. "But everyone else says the Yondaime sealed the fox. So, did you guys help him or something? Is that why I was chosen to be the container?"

He hadn't really meant to throw in that last part, but it came out anyway. He almost regretted it when the older blond flinched. Almost. It was the man's own fault for not explaining this earlier!

"Naruto," his dad spoke softly, meeting his gaze evenly. "I sealed the fox. Your mother helped, she helped a lot, really, but I was the one who performed the actual sealing. I'm sorry it had to be you, and if there had been any other way, believe me, I would have done it in a heartbeat. I could not have asked someone else to give up a child when I was not willing to do it myself, especially not when my child had inherited the unique Uzumaki chakra that made them perfect for holding the bijuu."

"Oh." He didn't know what else to say to that. He hadn't exactly prepared to talk about the whole 'why me?' issue yet, and when his dad put it like that... "Why did you guys have to go and get yourselves killed then? You couldn't have stuck around to help me? Just stick the fox in me and go off and die? How does that make sense?! And where was the fourth through all of this, isn't it his job to give his life for the village?!"

He'd gotten up and began pacing by this point, and the sudden stony expression on his father's face wasn't helping his irritation much. He vaguely registered that, at some point during his rant, Kakashi had disappeared. "Well? I mean, everyone says the Yondaime sealed the fox, so he must have at least been there! Why does everyone say it was him, anyway?! It's not-"

"Because I did seal the fox."

Naruto almost missed the quiet, slightly pained tone of his father interrupting him. He glanced askewed at the man as he went over his words in his head. For a moment it almost sounded as if... no, that was impossible. "That's not what I asked," Naruto scowled. "I asked what-"

"You asked what the Fourth Hokage was doing, and why everyone says the Yondaime was the one who sealed the fox, I know," Minato answered slightly louder. The older blond hesitated then sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I should have said something sooner..."

He returned his serious gaze to his son and tried to speak as clearly as possible. "You misunderstand, Naruto. I, Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure, gave my life to seal the Kyuubi and save my village."

The silence that followed was deafening. Slowly the young blond allowed the little details he'd been dismissing as the delusional fantasies of an orphan to fall into place. That... actually made so much sense. But then... why...?

Hurt, confusion and anger warred within him, drowning out the small bit of wonder that had come with the knowledge. It'd been days! Why hadn't he told him?! Didn't he think that a significant detail like that was something his own son should know?! Didn't he trust him?!

"Naruto?" Minato called out hesitantly. The confusion and betrayal flitting across his son's face made him want to cringe.

Naruto held up a hand to stop him when he opened his mouth to apologize and maybe explain a little...

Instead, the boy turned and walked away wordlessly.

Leaving Minato with the agonizing decision of either dropping all the chakra string fuinjutsu traps and constant sensor vigilance in favor of going after him, or staying put and maintaining the security net he had in place to warn them of any approaching enemies.

It wasn't really much of a decision. His son's safety always came first.

No matter how much it hurt.

A/N: I appear to have attracted an infestation of drama llamas. Does anyone have some llama-be-gone? DX No seriously, this scene was originally planned to be much less painful in the feels, but then Minato-muse gave me a good scolding about how his character was being an idiot and I needed to make sure there were consequences for that.

Then I wrote this and he's regretting it a little.

Sorry this was late! RL ate my last weekend. Birthday party, taxes, car shopping... it just... wasn't happening. Have a random quote from me to Igornerd? "Eh, you stay in one POV per section. I don't. I just bleed from one mind to the next like some sort of strange creepy mind ghost." I thought it was amusing...

I'm having a bit of trouble with swearing in reviews, which is great that you guys are so enthusiastic, I love that XD; however, I do have children running around me almost all the time and they are voracious readers. They're not my kids, and my sister will be very upset if her children pick up anything from reading over my shoulder. It's a very realistic possibility that FF might get banned from the network. Which would be bad for everyone.

So, please, if you could refrain from swearing in your reviews, I would very much appreciate it. Sorry! XS

Story Recs:

Retrospect by Lanelle - "The Fourth isn't able to close the seal and Naruto is forced to resort to desperate measures. Timetravel/Accidental" All I have to say on this is: Katsuya, super slug! Ahahahaha...! Oh, and there's the fact that Naruto kind of arrives right in the middle of the bridge scene and confuses the bejeebees out of poor Team Seven. Then more hilarity ensues when he wakes up and stuff... just... it made me laugh. Last updated: June 2013

The Leaf's Naruto by Morta's Priest - "There's something to be said for keeping the past as it was - makes it predictable, malleable. Naruto never bought those arguments. He's always been the one to power through adversity rather than wait it out, so why would now be any different? He'll do what has to be done, even if he steps on a few butterflies along the way." Pretty darn good time travel. It's fun to watch Naruto charge right in there, crash and burn and then scrape through with lots of Uzumaki luck. Heh. Currently updating.

Man, why don't I have anything besides time travel on my rec list? DX Oh well. They're good. Go read them.

-Py