Sunshine Chapter 1

Hello everybody! It is I, Iskander Mandoraekon!

I do not own Fairy Tail or Naruto. If I did, do you think I'd be here writing fanfiction instead of rolling in a shit-ton of money or when I could be spending all my time and energy drawing and writing the next chapter of the manga? No, those belong solely to the geniuses Hiro Mashima and Musashi Kishimoto.

Chapter 1: A Giant Hidden in the Leaves

-Konohagakure no Sato, Two Weeks after the Kyuubi Attack; Year X764-

"So this is Konoha…?" A diminutive old man said with a lighthearted smile as he walked through the gates with his traveling companion, a young man in his mid-twenties that stood a good few feet taller than the old man, both men looking around at the mostly intact but damaged state of the massive village. "It looks like a nice place, though a bit torn up."

"And you said that your son ran off here, Master?" The younger of the two men asked as he glanced around with a look of awe on his face. "I'm still kind of surprised that you had another son other than Ivan."

The Master nodded as he walked down the street, a slight skip in his step. "That's not surprising given that he ran away from the guild when he was only eight, around five years before you decided to join Fairy Tail Gildarts, none of us took the death of my wife well. I was really surprised when I got his first letter a year ago explaining that he was still alive and had made a life for himself here on Yoso. It was the first time I've seen Ivan actually smile for real in a long while."

"I'd be rather surprised if I'd seen that, Master Makarov!" Gildarts exclaimed with a boisterous laugh that had some of the locals direct their gazes at the two men. "No offense Master, but Ivan can be quite the stick in the mud at the best of times."

"None taken." He knew exactly what his eldest son was like. He'd thought the man might lighten up with the birth of Laxus, but it seemed he just got worse.

"Do you remember where the letter told you we're supposed to go?" Gildarts asked as he looked around the foreign streets.

"Yes." Makarov nodded with a fib as he sweatdropped and fished out the letter and took a quick glance at it. "He said that he and his wife were living in the mansion directly beneath the mountain with four he-!" The old man's jaw dropped as he directed his gaze upwards and his black eyes landed on the four giant heads adorning the face of the mountain at the back of the village.

"Well, I'll be…" Gildarts said as he looked up at the mountain in slight shock, having not really paid it any attention earlier when they were approaching the village. "I guess Minato really made a name for himself…"

Makarov nodded mutely, expressions mixed between awe and pride on his face as he gazed upon the last face in the line of faces. The features were more mature and older, but mostly remained the same as his son had been when he left the shores of Fiore.

Shaking his head to clear it of the cobwebs caused by his shock, Makarov's smile grew and he immediately began striding in the direction of the mountain with Gildarts quick to follow.

Soon, after a couple wrong turns and several helpful directions from a rather dour old man with bandages covering his right eye and arm, the duo made it to their destination.

"What is your business here today?" The woman at the entrance desk to the building they'd just entered asked when Makarov and Gildarts arrived before her.

"We're here to see the Hokage." Makarov supplied with a chipper smile as he remembered to use the title his son had put in the letter for their visit. "I have a meeting with Minato Namikaze."

The woman blinked in surprise at his words and looked between the two men as Makarov's words seemed to snap her out of her previous work mentality. "O-of course." She said as she committed their features to memory before standing and moving towards the doorway at the right side of her desk. "If you'll follow me."

Makarov simply nodded at her words while Gildarts sent a subtle glance towards the corner of the room after noticing the woman's glance towards the seemingly empty space. It only took a couple minutes for them to climb the stairs past the doorway before entering into what appeared to be a waiting room with a pair of large intricately designed doors situated at the end.

"If you will wait right here." The secretary said politely as she gestured towards the seats. "I will let Lord Hokage know you are here to meet him."

She didn't wait to let them get a word out before she opened the door and disappeared behind it, the door closing quietly behind her. After what seemed like a small eternity, the door opened again and Makarov put his best smile on as the woman returned to let them know that the Hokage would see them now.

Psyching himself up for the long awaited meeting with his missing son, Makarov pushed open the door and his smile fell slightly when instead of the expected visage of blonde hair and blue eyes, Makarov was met with the appearance of a man just as old as he was and nearly as short as he was.

"Who are you?" The old man seated behind the desk asked in a no-nonsense tone before Makarov could ask the very same question, his features guarded and blank as he stared down at his guests. "What business do you have in my village?"

"My name is Makarov Dreyar, and this is my associate Gildarts Clive. We are here to meet Minato Namikaze." Makarov answered after a moment of confusion, wondering what was going on. Everyone that he'd mentioned his son's name to had been acting surly. The image his son had painted of the village had been guarded, but welcoming. "He's my son."

"You expect me to believe that you are the father of my successor?" The old man asked as he stared them down. "Minato was an orphan before he was brought to the village, and nobody has come forward to claim his parentage in over sixteen years."

"I have proof!" Makarov said as he reached into his shirt, Gildarts narrowed his eyes and tensed when he felt a spike of hostile intent from the corners of the room. Soon the old guildmaster pulled out the most recent letter he'd received from his son. "I know that it's been a long while since we laid eyes on each other, but Minato is my boy."

The old man took the letter from his visitor tentatively, eyes scanning it for any hidden traps, before opening the slightly crumpled letter. His expression grew less guarded and more surprised the deeper he went into the letter, seeing the flowing script of his successor that he'd grown used to in the past couple years of helping him learn the ins and outs of being Hokage, with the evidence that sealed the deal being a small picture of Minato with his heavily-pregnant fiery redhead wife that fell out of the letter.

"Well, I'll be…" The old man said as he blinked in surprise as he looked between the letter and his visitors, discreetly signaling the men and women hidden in the shadows to stand down. "So, you are telling the truth."

The man placed the letter on his desk after one final look, and returned his attention to Makarov and Gildarts. "My name is Hiruzen Sarutobi, I am the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha and the predecessor of Minato Namikaze as Hokage." He said and the two men became surprised when the old man gave a tired sigh and adopted a sorrowful look. "I am sorry to inform you of this since you came all this way, but Minato and his wife Kushina Uzumaki died two weeks ago in an attack on the village."

The two Fairy Tail member's jaws dropped and Gildarts sent a sad look to his guildmaster as the old man's world dropped away at those words.

His son was dead…

His baby boy that he had been so eager to reconnect with after sixteen years of believing he might never see him again.

"Minato is dead…?" Makarov asked as he stumbled slightly, steadying himself by grabbing the armrest of one of the chairs set in front of the desk. His black eyes turned to look up at Hiruzen. "How did it happen?"

"A powerful creature known as the nine-tailed demon fox attacked Konoha two weeks ago." Hiruzen said as his face gained a pinched expression, remembering the loved one he himself had lost that night. His beloved Biwako. "It appeared out of nowhere and began rampaging. Over three hundred and sixty-five shinobi lost their lives trying to force it away from the village. The devastation around the village that you probably saw as you came here was caused by the fox. Minato and Kushina died taking it down and sealing it away."

"A demon…?" Makarov asked, idly wondering if this was another of the legendary and infamous Demons of the Black Wizard Zeref, before he shook it off and refocused on the task at hand as he recalled another matter that his son had mentioned in his letter, trying to not let his sorrow get the best of him. "What about their child? Minato mentioned that his wife was expecting in the last couple of letters he sent me."

"Ah… yes…" Hiruzen said awkwardly as he turned slightly in his seat to look at the picture of the Yondaime hanging on the wall. "They had a son, Naruto. He was born on the night of the attack."

"Is… Is he still alive…?" Makarov asked with hope apparent in his eyes. He had another grandson!

"Yes…" Hiruzen said after a moment of consideration as he stared at his fellow old man, eyes flicking between the two visitors as he came to a decision.

One his advisors probably wouldn't like.

Especially Danzo…

But fuck them, he was feeling rather sentimental right now.

"Follow me." He said as he hopped down from his seat and began leading them towards the exit.

Makarov was silent as he sat on his bed in the hospital Hiruzen had kindly set them up in free of charge for the duration of their stay in the village, his eyes lingering on the picture of a baby with whisker-like birthmarks on his cheeks and a shock of blonde hair on his head that looked so much like the blonde that had been passed down the Dreyar bloodline.

He had traveled so far…

Hope in his heart to finally be reunited with his beloved second son after over a decade of separation and silence. To have his family be whole again, like it hadn't been in so very long.

Only for him to arrive and find that his son was dead, along with his wife, who Makarov had been excited to meet.

The only thing left of his boy was the infant he was holding a picture of that he couldn't take back home with him because of a special burden the child bore that was vital to Konoha. His grandson Naruto…

"Master…" Gildarts spoke up for the first time in hours as he sat down opposite the elderly man. "What are we going to do?"

"W-What can we do…?" Makarov asked with a sniff as he finally looked up from the picture in his hands. For the first time ever, the powerful Wizard Saint truly felt his age catching up to him. "Naruto might be my grandson, but Hiruzen made it clear that the village wouldn't let us take him home with us."

Gildarts stayed silent at the man's words. He knew that they were both extremely powerful, Makarov being one of the Ten Wizard Saints and Gildarts with his Crash Magic. But… there were only two of them… in a village of trained killers and powerhouses.

They might be able to take down a large number of their fighters, but they'd likely be overwhelmed sooner or later. Especially when trying to keep an infant out of harm's way.

"So, we are just going to leave him here?" Gildarts asked tentatively. This truly wasn't any of his business, but the Dreyars were an integral part of the Fairy Tail family, having been with the guild since its founding, and he wasn't keen on leaving another member of his adoptive family alone and orphaned in this village. Especially not after catching some of the looks the orphanage staff had been sending the baby when Hiruzen had taken them to see the boy.

Or the warning glances the Hokage had sent back at the staff…

He wasn't the smartest cookie, but he could tell that Naruto probably wouldn't have the best upbringing if he remained in Konoha.

"We wouldn't be able to sneak him out of the village, Gildarts." Makarov said sadly as he looked at the rising star of Fairy Tail. "Naruto isn't just the son of one of their Hokages, but also the last member of his mother's clan, and he holds that demon fox inside him… not to mention that Hiruzen most likely has those Anbu guards watching us in the event we do try…"

He placed the picture down and rubbed at his leaky nose. "I want more than anything to grab Naruto, transform into my full sized giant form and run from the village. To bring him home to Fairy Tail… but I don't see a way that we could do that."

The old man plopped onto his back and rolled over until his back was facing Gildarts, the taller and younger of the two watching the old man in silence.

Outside the hotel, a shadow detached itself from the darkness of night to reveal a tall man with a long mane of gray hair, his brown eyes trained on the two foreigners visiting the village. He'd been observing them for the last hour since he'd learned about them.

"So, that's Minato's father…" The man said as he watched the interaction between the crying old man and his younger compatriot.

"Yes…" Another voice said just before another person appeared from the shadows, the moonlight revealing a youth with gravity-defying silver hair that had a half-mask covering the lower half of his face and the signature headband of the Leaf village angled over his left eye like a pseudo-eyepatch. "Minato-sensei told me about him in the last couple months before the attack."

"I'd always thought Minato had been an orphan…" The older man said as his eyes flickered over to his companion before returning to the scene unfolding in the hotel room. "I guess he didn't tell me everything about himself."

"To be fair, Lord Jiraiya." The young man said as he looked at the Sannin. "I don't think Minato-sensei really remembered himself. The incident that led to him being on these shores caused him to apparently have amnesia of his previous life; he only began remembering just after Rin died."

"I see…" Jiraiya said with a sigh as he looked down. He wouldn't have been privy to that information then, since he'd been busy in the Land of Lightning at the time of the incident where Kiri had tried to turn Minato's kunoichi student into a Jinchuuriki to unleash the Sanbi inside Konoha's walls and afterwards, had been caught up in the aftermath of the war's end, making sure nobody tried to break the recently made truce.

Especially Iwa in the aftermath of the Kyuubi Attack…

The last time he'd interacted with Minato and Kushina in a comfortable setting where they would have been able to share such information was when they asked him to be their imminent child's godfather, and that had been around three weeks before Rin Nohara's sacrifice. Eight months before Naruto's birth and the Kyuubi's rampage when Kushina's seal failed.

"Lord Jiraiya…" The young man said as he shifted awkwardly. "What are we going to do about this situation?"

"You mean Naruto?" Jiraiya asked as he looked over at the last remaining student of his own student from the corner of his eye. "And whether or not his family should take him away from Konoha."

"Yes."

Jiraiya looked towards the window of the hotel room where the foreigners were staying just as the taller of the two visitors turned out the lights and slipped into his own bed. He didn't know what to say to his young companion's question. On one hand, he wanted nothing more than to see Naruto grow up happy, to see that his student's legacy was raised well. On the other hand, there was his loyalty to Konoha, and the fact that it would weaken the village greatly if he were to let the visitors take the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi away from its walls, especially since they just lost over a hundred of their shinobi, including their Yondaime Hokage, even if the oldest of the two had the right of blood relation.

"I don't know…" Jiraiya finally said after a moment of silence as he turned to look at the young man. "Keep an eye on them, Kakashi. Let me know when they leave the village."

"What are you going to do, Lord Jiraiya?" Kakashi asked as he looked at the older man in curiosity.

"I don't know yet." He admitted as his eyes lingered in the direction of the orphanage on the other side of the village. "I need to talk to Tsunade-hime and Orochimaru."

Kakashi blinked at the man's words, wondering what sort of impact the other two Sannin would have on this decision, before he nodded hesitantly. "As you command, Lord Jiraiya."

The Sannin turned away from the spot and walked back towards the shadows, easily disappearing from Kakashi's senses.

The depressed Anbu turned his attention back towards the hotel, sinking into his own shadow to stay beneath the radar of his fellow Anbu that were watching the building on the Hokage's orders. He knew they'd already spotted him speaking with Lord Jiraiya, but given their relationship with the late Yondaime, the Anbu would probably just chalk it up to curiosity about the Yondaime's revealed relation to the visitors.

"Minato had a father?" Tsunade Senju asked as she looked up from where she was packing up her supplies and belongings, turning her brown gaze towards her old teammate. Her apprentice Shizune out in the village to collect more supplies for their imminent journey. "I thought he was an orphan."

"Apparently not." Jiraiya answered from where he was leaning against the doorframe of Tsunade's room. "Minato apparently suffered from amnesia that prevented him from remembering his life from before he was nine, something to do with the accident that led to him being found on the shores of the Land of Fire. From what Kakashi told me, he started remembering everything a little after his student Rin died. His father's name is Makarov Dreyar, and they apparently come from a land called Fiore across the sea to the East. Minato has been writing to him for the past few months."

"Why did this Makarov wait until now to come to the village?" Tsunade asked as she turned back to the medical supplies she was packing after the small box she'd just finished poofed away in smoke as it was sealed inside a scroll.

"From what I've gathered from the correspondence between the two of them, Minato was wary about his father coming to these lands for the past couple months since tensions were dying down following the ceasefire." Jiraiya explained. "After all, it has only been the last month that's really been safe due to the treaty fully coming into effect and every village's forces returning home. Then there is the trip between the two continents that takes around a week-and-a-half to travel."

Tsunade nodded at the explanation, her brown eyes dulling for a moment as she wondered how Kushina's birthing would have gone if she hadn't been getting plastered in Tanzaku Gai and had been in the village to help. She then paused in her packing as she turned to face Jiraiya. "And what is sensei's take on this?"

"He let them meet Naruto…" Jiraiya said, pausing for a moment. "But he won't let them take him from the village."

Tsunade's eyes softened as she stared at Jiraiya. She might not have been as close to Minato and cousin Kushina as Jiraiya had been, but she knew that the late Yondaime had been like a son to her old teammate. "And you are conflicted about what to do with Naruto and this new information. Whether to help Makarov take his grandson back to wherever they come from or to follow sensei's decree."

"Yeah…" Jiraiya said as he glanced away from his long-time love interest. "I want him to be happy… to be able to grow up without being hated for that damned fox…" He lowered himself down to the ground and hugged his knees. "But it was already hard enough thinking about how to do that with the fact that he'd be targeted by Minato's enemies if I was seen raising a child that looked like a carbon copy of him, and that it'd be better if I left him in the village under sensei's care. But then…"

"Makarov Dreyar appears with proof of familial relation." Tsunade finished for him. "And the knowledge that Naruto could have a loving family if Makarov was allowed to take him."

She of all people could understand where Jiraiya was coming from.

Her lover Dan. Her little brother Nawaki. Her parents, who died only days after her birth. Uncle Shinzo, who had died of a sickness obtained from an infected wound while training. Grandfather Hashirama. Grandmother Mito, who died after passing on the Kyubi to Kushina. Great-Uncle Tobirama, who died so his teammates and successor could escape the Silver-Gold Division of Kumo.

She who had had a loving family and lost them, and Jiraiya who had never known his family and had found a family in his apprentice and the man's wife.

Naruto wasn't just a godson, but almost a grandson to Jiraiya given the close relationship between him and Minato.

"Yeah…" Jiraiya answered, his eyes still on the ground. "But to let them take him back wherever they came from would be a betrayal against the village. Sarutobi-sensei might be a forgiving man, but I'm not sure how he'd react if I were to smuggle the village's new Jinchuuriki away and let these strangers take him. Not to mention how those senile bats Danzo, Homura and Koharu would take it."

"I'm not really sure I'm the best person to give advice on this, Jiraiya." Tsunade said as she knelt down in front of him and placed a hand on his knee. "I don't have the best track record with family and you know that I have always been ruled by my emotions. It's the Uzumaki in me. I couldn't tell you the best way to go about this, because if it were me, I'd already be doing my best to get Naruto out of the village if it had been Nawaki."

Jiraiya locked eyes with the female Sannin for a long moment, before running his hand through his hair and sighing.

'Well, this has been a bust…' Gildarts thought as he stowed his bags beneath his bunk in the cabin of the ship they'd chartered, set to return to Magnolia empty handed with nothing but sorrow to show for their trip.

What had started with joy and curiosity, had ended with sorrow and regret.

It was hard to look at his guildmaster and see such a broken man. Makarov had come to these shores expecting to reunite with a long lost son, meet a beautiful daughter-in-law and a new grandson.

A cousin for Laxus and nephew for Ivan.

A family member that would never be able to see Fairy Tail and meet his family.

All because some old fucks wanted a powerful weapon.

Gildarts's fist clenched tightly and he had to clamp down on his magic before it activated instinctively.

Hiruzen had seemed regretful enough and more than kind from how he'd interacted with the orphaned baby and the two of them, but those three Elders that they'd met when Makarov had been nearly able to convince Hiruzen into letting him take his grandson home with them? They wanted a weapon, and they didn't care in the slightest that Naruto Uzumaki had kin that were more than happy to raise him. Or that the boy was human.

And that Danzo fellow had given him a bad feeling.

Nearly a week had passed since their arrival, and now they were leaving, all the poorer.

He chanced a glance out the round window of their cabin towards where he could see Master Makarov talking to a tall man and couldn't help but wonder how everything was going to turn out.

His train of thought and self-loathing was broken when he was met with the strange sight of a beaming Makarov skipping into the cabin carrying a small bundle.

"Master-?" He began as he looked over at the old man, only to have his jaw drop in utter surprise when the bundle shifted and a small arm reached out from what he realized was a quilt to reach for the guildmaster's mustache. 'What the…?!'

"Gildarts!" Makarov exclaimed giddily as he jumped over to the young S-Class, tears of happiness replacing those that had fallen in his sorrow for the past week. "I've got good news!"

"How!?" Gildarts exclaimed as he looked between the bundle as the face of a cooing Naruto was revealed and his Master's face. "How did you…?"

Suspicion filled him for a second as he remembered the man that his Master had just been talking to outside and his head whipped around towards the window, only for the man from before to be missing.

"A man that was close with Minato." Makarov answered, almost tripping over his words from how happy he was to have his grandson in his arms. "He apparently couldn't stand the idea of Naruto not being with family after he heard about our visit and the Hokage's refusal to let us take him!"

Gildarts could only watch in shock and amazement as the old man quickly moved over to his own bunk and began setting up a safe place to set the infant down comfortably.

Perhaps this trip hadn't been a total bust after all…

Hey everyone! I know that you were all expecting the next chapter of 'Is it wrong to find Heroes in the Dungeon?' that I promised and don't worry, I am nearly finished with that one, just got a little stuck, but I suddenly had an idea of a Naruto raised in Fairy Tail, growing up alongside our favorite mages.

In this story, Naruto is the grandson of Makarov through Minato. When Minato was eight, he ran away from Fairy Tail following the death of his and Ivan Dreyar's mother (who still hasn't been given a name in Fairy Tail, nor have I thought of a name for her) and a fight with Makarov. He ended up on the shores of the Land of Fire after a fierce storm destroyed the ship he'd been aboard and he was found with amnesia by a passing patrol of Konoha shinobi who decided to take him back to the village, where he ended up swooning over Kushina Uzumaki, apprenticing under Jiraiya, earning the name of the Yellow Flash by slaughtering Iwa shinobi, and becoming Yondaime Hokage.

In his grief towards the deaths of Rin and Obito, Minato began remembering his past and after a bit of trouble, got back into contact with his estranged father. Given that the Third Shinobi War was still going on, Makarov would have only been able to start traveling to Konoha shortly before Naruto was born.

I already have a good idea of how I'm going to have Naruto's adventure pan out, and I've already made his specific Magic, but I am open to any ideas you guys would like to pitch me in the reviews.

The pairing is up in the air right now, though I am leaning towards Erza given my own preference for fiery redheads. Feel free to give me your thoughts about who should be his romantic interest, though as a warning, while I respect gay rights, I am a straight man and only write straight pairings, so please don't add any homosexual pairings, that includes ideas of trans.

Thank you for your time, and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter.

Iskander Mandoraekon signing off, Ja Ne.