Super Awesome Beta: Blaizekit (Who appears to have taken time out for school and reallife, good luck, Kit!) Help from: Igornerd, Ekusukallybaa, AlmostElectric, Cael05, Duesal Bladesinger, and Ser Serendipity (Yeah, we pretty much beta for each other. XD)

Chapter 18: Those Trees Deserved It

"It didn't go well, I take it?"

Minato looked up at him as Kakashi settled down into a crouch next to his sensei. The blond was sprawled out on the ground and had been staring miserably up at the sky until his student had spoken.

"I'm a terrible father."

Kakashi snorted in amusement. "I've seen worse."

"That's not very reassuring given the sorts of people we typically come across," Minato replied dryly, then grimaced. "I've been neglecting you too, haven't I?"

"Sensei, I'm not a fifteen-year-old child. I'm technically older than you, now. I don't need to be looked after."

Minato blinked as he realized that Kakashi was, in fact, a year older than he had been when he'd died, but then smirked at the jounin's last comment. "You try telling Kushina that?"

Kakashi shuddered. "No thanks, I'm not suicidal. Where's Naruto?"

The blond started to point, but then flinched violently and sat up with a grimace. "Kushina," he hastily explained when Kakashi tensed and began scanning the area. "I sent a clone to tell her. She... wasn't happy. I'm very glad that was a clone and not me."

"You are a clone, sensei."

Minato fixed him with a pointed look. Cracking jokes and reading Jiraiya's books? Kakashi really had changed. He made a mental note to talk to his student again when he had more time. Right now, Kushina had a plan that needed to be put into play. A pretty good plan the Yondaime was kicking himself for not having thought up on his own.

"Right. Well, Kushina's ordered you to take Sasuke to the bridge and she'll teach him tree walking. She promises to have him running up walls like a jounin by the end of the day. I'm not sure we want to know how she plans on making that happen."

Kakashi's single visible eye blinked in disbelief. "There aren't any walls on that bridge. How is she going to manage that?"

"I don't know, but I wouldn't bet against her." The blond stood up and made one last sweep of his chakra sensory and seal trap network before releasing it. With Kakashi and Sasuke moving to the bridge, all he had to look after was Naruto. Which meant he could go after his son. Why hadn't he thought of that?

"I'm going after Naruto. We'll meet you at the bridge after," he explained before walking off. He could have used the Hiraishin seal on his son to get there instantly, but he doubted that would have gone over well. Better if he walked. Besides, he wanted the time to think over what he was going to say when he got there.

Kushina seethed at the dissipating smoke of what had been her husband's clone. He just had to go and make a mess of things. Grumbling to herself about stupid prodigy husbands with no common sense, she made a kage bunshin and sent it after their son.

Just because Minato was being dumb and unwilling to send a proxy didn't mean she couldn't. If Naruto had a problem with it, he'd just have to learn to deal. She couldn't justify putting Pinky here in that much danger by going in person, and her son would probably understand. He did have a crush on the girl and an unusually strong attachment to his teammates.

Speaking of Pinky, she wouldn't say it aloud, but she was quite proud of having taught the girl to stand on the water in less than two days. The genin was still learning to move without destabilizing and dunking herself, but at this rate, Kushina was sure Pinky would make a promising kunoichi yet.

Well. Time to prepare scowly-face's training. She made another shadow clone, which stuck its tongue out at her for being lazy before going off, and then turned to the Naruto clones who were now starting their third set of strokes. One was doodling in the margin, another was asleep and drooling on his scroll, and the last had seen her turn and was pretending he hadn't been trying to catch a glimpse of the thoroughly soaked pink-haired girl on the water below.

Well, she had been gone for all of ten minutes. Considering the normal attention span for an Uzumaki, Naruto was actually a little above average. Unfortunately she didn't know how much time she'd have to teach him and average wasn't going to be fast enough.

With a flick of her wrist she sent a trio of kunai flying right past their noses making them yelp in surprise. "Back to work, slackers! Or momma's gonna get angry!"

She vaguely wondered if she had the materials to replicate Uzushio's special seal training desks. The ones that began to grow uncomfortably warm if the sitter slowed down their strokes or became too sloppy. It was worth a try, probably. Once they got back to Konoha.

Naruto growled softly to himself as he hit a tree in his frustration. He knew on some level that he really should have figured it out on his own, but... how come no one had ever told him he was the son of the Yondaime?

How many times had he asked Jiji about his parents only to have his attention purposely diverted? How many times had he thought himself some worthless kid with parents who'd abandoned him because he was unwanted? Jiji must have known who his parents where, and Kakashi... there was no way he couldn't have known. Why hadn't anyone told him?

And then his own father had...

He hit the tree again, not even caring about the layers of skin he was scraping off with each strike. Did no one think he was worth telling? Oh it's just dead last Naruto, he wouldn't understand. The idiot, the brat... the monster .

On some level, he knew he was being ridiculous, but at that moment he just needed to vent his anger before he gave into the urge to punch his dad instead. Was he even allowed to do that? He didn't know, but he sure wanted to. So he punched trees instead. Probably tearing his knuckles up in the process. Not that it mattered, they'd heal in less than an hour.

He had no idea how long he had been out there, taking his anger out on the poor defenseless forest, eventually coming to a clearing that looked as good as any to plot down in and tackle the mess of thoughts and confusion that his brain had become. Was this a normal part of having a family? Or was this just more of life hating him specifically?

He sat up abruptly when he realized he'd completely forgotten the competition between himself and the Uchiha in his anger. Cursing lightly under his breath, he pulled a kunai out of his weapon pouch and leapt to his feet. Like hell he would let that arrogant jerk beat him!

Channeling his inner anger and turmoil toward the tree, he took off at a run. He really shouldn't have been surprised that he'd barely gotten two steps up the tree before the bark splintered and cracked beneath his feet, causing him to fall. Calm and concentration had been required to get as far as he had, and he certainly wasn't either at the moment.

Muttering angrily he tried to shove all the emotional chaos aside so he could focus on his chakra... his concentration was interrupted by a soft laugh. He turned a withering glare in that direction, only have his anger dissipate in the face of a surprisingly cute girl.

Not just cute... like... super cute. Cuter than Sakura-chan cute! How did girls get to be so adorable?! It wasn't fair, you just couldn't stay mad at a face like that!

"Oh, sorry. I did not mean to disturb you," she apologized. "I was just gathering some herbs in the area... I'll just go somewhere else."

Naruto blinked in surprise as the girl turned and made as if to leave quickly. She was afraid? Of him? Awww, he hadn't meant to be that scary with that glare!

"No, wait!" he called out, hurrying to catch her before she could leave. "I'm sorry if I scared you. You can pick your herbs here if you want... Oh! I know, why don't I help you? What's an 'herb' anyway?" He'd heard the word before, he just couldn't remember exactly what it was if he'd even known that to begin with.

The girl hesitated and Naruto tried to put on the most innocently curious expression he could muster. It must have worked because she turned back to him. She still looked nervous, but she wasn't running away anymore.

"An herb is a plant that..."

Kakashi looked around the bridge in bewilderment. There were three Narutos scribbling away with brushes off to one side as if their lives depended on it (knowing Kushina-nee, they probably did) and about four Kushina's also wandering around painting various parts of the bridge. Covering it in seals. From Kakashi's limited knowledge of seals, some of them looked as if they were strengthening the bridge and others... well... they looked dangerous, but he couldn't figure out exactly how. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know how.

Sakura was nowhere to be seen. He found this mildly alarming.

There was also a distinct lack of vertical surfaces for his Uchiha student to train on. Said student noticed this as well, staring up at him with a raised eyebrow.

Kakashi chose to ignore him in favor of walking over to stand next to the Kushina that was overseeing the Narutos. She was probably the 'real' clone, unless there was another one wherever Sakura was training her. That might be the real one. He'd try this one first.

"Yo," he greeted casually, taking his normal seemingly-relaxed stance.

"Kakashi! Sasuke!" Kushina greeted, slinging an arm around the neck of each and pulling them into a hug. She was of the personal opinion that everyone needed hugs. Especially shinobi. Especially Kakashi and Sasuke and Naruto shinobi. They didn't really have anyone else to give them hugs.

Kakashi gave no reaction to reject or accept the gesture. "I have brought you your pupil," he stated simply instead.

Sasuke didn't say anything as he kept his slightly exasperated expression in place. What was with this woman and hugs?

He didn't protest though.

"So you have!" Kushina cheered releasing them to whirl around and lift her arms in a grand gesture toward their surroundings. "Do you like what I'm doing to the bridge? Those missing- nin won't know what hit them!"

Kakashi nodded almost absentmindedly. "I'm sure they won't. Where's Sakura?"

"Pinky?" Kushina frowned, turning to face him. "She's learning water walking. Where else would she be?"

The silver haired jounin blinked as he thought that statement over. She didn't mean... Oh, wait, it was Kushina. Yes. Yes, she did.

Languidly he made his way to the edge of the bridge and peered down below. Ah. There she was. That pink blot on the water. Navigating the choppy waters carefully, focused on keeping her feet. Impressive. Made Kakashi almost wish he'd just tossed her into the ocean himself.

"Hn."

His gaze flickered to the Uchiha that had joined him at the small grunt of surprise. Yeah. Judging by the fact that the only vertical surfaces in sight were the support pillars below...

He took a purposeful step sideways away from his brunette student just as the redhead appeared to sling an arm across the kid's shoulders. "She's doing great, right? I'm an amazing teacher."

Sasuke turned a skeptical face to her. He really had no idea what was coming... Kakashi almost felt sorry for him.

"Okay! Your turn!"

The look on the boys face as the woman cheerfully shoved him off the bridge and watched him splash into the chilly sea below was absolutely priceless.

"You've got one hour to practice before I turn on the seals and the real training begins, alright? Pinky can help you!" Kushina shouted down after Sasuke had surfaced to glare scathingly up at them.

"What do the seals do?" Kakashi found himself asking with mild curiosity.

"Make the water below the pillars boil."

"Ah."

They watched the two genin below struggle as Sakura attempted to help a reluctant Sasuke onto one of the supports.

"They really ought to put railings on this bridge. Someone might fall off and really hurt themselves," Kushina commented idly.

Kakashi nodded in agreement.

Minato was in a predicament. He probably really should talk to his son and clear everything up, but... Naruto was busy. Talking with a girl of all things. He was reasonably sure Kushina would be horribly upset if he interrupted them.

So he waited. Feeling just a bit like a creepy stalker. He was a ninja, though, and he'd long since come to terms with the fact that they'd pretty much made 'creepy stalking' into an art.

After a few minutes, Minato realized two things from the girl's mannerisms. One, that was a boy, not a girl; and two, he was not a civilian. The kid had training, even more training than Naruto did. The way he avoided having his back to either Naruto or the easiest ways into the clearing, or the way he kept shifting positions so he could keep a lookout in different directions.

Frowning, he decided it would probably be a good idea to interru-

"Naruto!"

-pt. Or Kushina could just waltz on out there and greet their son with a hug.

"Who's this?" she asked with an appraising glance at the stranger. "You make a new friend?"

"Yeah! This is... uh," Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "We didn't introduce ourselves. I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Future Hokage!"

"Haku," the other boy replied simply. Subtly, Minato could see him eying his surroundings for an escape route.

"Uzumaki Kushina, the world's number one fuinjutsu master!" his wife put in, not to be out done.

Something about the way the boy moved and spoke set off alarm bells in the Yondaime's head. He'd seen him before, he was sure of it... now where...? He placed a hand on the trunk of the tree he was sitting in and sent out a quick sensory pulse.

"It's nice to meet you, but if you'll excuse me I must get these back to my sick fri-"

The boy was standing up to leave when Minato appeared. Haku had thought of himself as fast, one of the fastest even; he was abruptly and decisively proven wrong.

There was no period of transition, one moment he was standing up, the next he was pinned to the ground struggling to get air back into his lungs from the force used to subdue him. His arms were pulled back and restrained behind him and a kunai held at his throat.

"Kushina, chakra seals, please," the elder blond requested in a voice that wasn't quite a command.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Naruto protested leaping to his feet. His mother held him back before he could jump in and attempt to separate the two.

"Naruto, don't. Your father never does anything without reason," Kushina explained, fishing into her pockets for ink and brush. It would be bunshin materials, but they could get a more permanent seal later.

Unfortunately, neither of them realized Haku had a bloodline limit. Or his ability with single-handed hand seals. The small stream cutting through the clearing responded to the ice user's desperate pull on it, freezing up into a mass of sharp icicles and rising up into a large wave.

The shadow that darkened them moments before it crashed down gave Minato only time enough to realize that killing the boy would not stop the attack and Naruto was in danger...

He dove for his son.

A/N: Okay, so... it's been a while, huh? XD My only excuse is that April is an evil month and my sister is right in that it's impossible to keep to a schedule in April. Eheh.

On the plus side, I've got a new laptop! Woo! I'm no longer dependent on waiting on others to have computer time. So... hopefully the next update won't take nearly so long.

1000+ favorites? O.o Uwah... so many people. I hope to not disappoint anyone...

Oh! And as you may have already heard if you read Duesal10's or Igornerd's work, we've kind of made this thing we like to call Awesome Authors Coalition, AAC for short. It's pretty much the 8 of us looking over each others' work and helping each other when we hit a writing wall. You should see the crazy ideas we have... actually, you can.

We made a forum, the link is in my profile, and anyone can come join. Come chat with us, RP, or otherwise just stalk us as we do our thing. X3 The RP with me, Due, Igor, Eku, Ser and Ele is just amazing. Totally worth checking out if you like our work or even if you just want more of Kushina being utterly ridiculous. Or if you want to see Sherlock!Shikamaru crash a train into Konoha. It's the thread labeled 'Convergence'.

There's also a community if you want more story recs to check out. :3 That's up in my profile too.

Speaking of story recs...

The Hidden Prodigy by mapplepie (Last updated Apr 2014) Kakashi time travel. Utterly adorable, he's like six with grown up Kakashi stuffed inside. XD Minato/Kakashi fluff abounds!

Summary: Somehow sent back into the past, Kakashi is given a second chance to relive his childhood. He is determined to make the most of everyday and to fix the horrors of the future, but sometimes, simple determination is not enough to save everyone. Despite so, Kakashi promises to never stop trying. Time-travel.

Ghost by cywscross (Last updated Apr 2013) Just... read it. It needs no plug. It's amazing, there's a reason I'm reccing it even though it hasn't updated in a year. X3

Summary: The first time Naruto becomes aware of his mysterious guardian, he is twelve and has absolutely no idea just how big an impact their meeting will have on himself and the rest of the world. Time/Dimension Travel, AU.

Kaeru by Ann O'Neem (Last updated May 2014) An adorable time travel (seriously I read so many of these. XD) that's told a lot from outsider's perspectives instead of from the traveler's eyes. I love the light-hearted feel of it. Also, little Gaara amuses me muchly. XD

Summary: Kaeru, the Toad masked ninja was a strange shinobi. He appeared from nowhere and adopted right away the jinchūriki Naruto. Riled up Uchiha Itachi, the famous ice king, and perverted Hatake Kakashi. Fought like an enraged beast and had a heartwarming smile. Kaeru knew too much. And... He was something out of time and space. TIME-TRAVEL and some mindless slash. Or not.

Huh, forgot about that slash warning. So far, it hasn't come up. I'm hoping for the 'Or not' personally. XS

Okay! Thanks for reading, and I will see you all next chapter! Which will hopefully not take nearly as long to write... Eheh...

-Py