"Is that there's to report?"

The weary cerulean impenetrable gaze, cold and calculating that of Minato Namikaze befitted his status. The gaze had only been reserved for a select few, and as of now, it was directed at the team in front of him.

His loyal and former student, Kakashi Hatake, stood in front of him, hands in his pockets. Despite the nonchalant demeanor of the man that he knew had been in response to the hardships that he endured as a shinobi, especially after the loss of Obito and Rin that he himself felt, Minato knew his student internally far well.

Standing in front of him was the onyx haired young man that was Sasuke Uchiha. The hardened gaze of the young man met his own, reminding him of his father Fugaku. Already, even despite inheriting Mikoto's soft features, Sasuke was more and more like his father, as the young prodigious youth was leading the Konoha Police Force in place of Fugaku.

Aside from him, Sakura Haruno, a pink haired young woman with emerald eyes, was also standing in front of Kakashi. Her own flak jacket indicated her own advanced status and rank as a Chunin. Her own gaze was hardened, and she was a far cry from the childish crush she had on her teammate, from her own experiences.

And, facing him was his own daughter, Narumi Uzumaki. Her crimson hair flowed down her shoulders. Her eyes, a more darker shade of violet like his beloved wife, stared at him with a frosty gaze. She looked more like her mother that it was as if staring into a carbon copy of Kushina herself from her childhood.

"Yes, Sensei."

Minato nodded. "Good. You are dismissed."

The former Team 7, as despite being Chunin and Jonin now, bowed and turned to leave. But the Fourth knew he could not let Sasuke go. Not just yet. There were still things to discuss, they knew. The hardened gaze had not just been simply because he knew that war was on the horizon for them, but also the very fact that he knew why Fugaku's son held a indifferent, even a cold attitude towards him. "Sasuke, wait."

Despite the fact he could just ignore the orders and Body Flicker away, as had his cousin Shisui taught him, and the fact for what this man had done, he didn't deserve an ounce of respect in his eyes, he still halted himself. Sasuke turned to the man that he couldn't believe had been his father's best friend and rival. "Yes, Lord Hokage?"

Minato steadied himself. "How are Fugaku and Mikoto?"

"They're fine."

He nodded. That was about as much as he could expect from Fugaku's son. He knew what he had done shattered whatever friendship and relationships they had, but even then, he still cared for them and wanted to know how they were doing. Even if they hated them. "Sasuke, listen. I-"

"Do you have anything else you wish of me, Lord Hokage?" Sasuke narrowed a cold gaze. "Or should I go now? After all, you shouldn't have to concern yourself with me any longer, seeing as you are busy after all. You have your work, and you have your family… minus one, of course. But who cares, really?"

Minato knew what he was referring to, and it stung. It still stung him with incalculable amounts of guilt and regret and what he had done was unforgivable in the eyes of many.

Had it been Kushina standing here even, he was certain she wouldn't have retaliated against her best friend's son. Because he already knew Fugaku loathed him, and Mikoto did the same with him and Kushina. Whatever friendships they made in their time during the Academy was gone.

Seeing as there was no way to continue the conversation longer, Sasuke dismissed himself in a Body Flicker. Seconds later, however, Narumi herself entered. Her own violet gaze was filled with bitter tears of loathing for him and loathing for herself. Minato wanted to comfort her, but how could he when she hated herself?

For a moment, Narumi thought to say something, but shook her head. "I'll be going back home now. Mother is probably waiting for me."

"Narumi-"

But she was gone, leaving Minato only in his office alone.

Sasuke arrived in a blur of the Body Flicker back to home. Opening the door, he announced his arrival to his parents. "I'm home!"

"Welcome back, Sasuke." Itachi greeted him with a smile.

"Brother." Sasuke nodded. "Where is mother and father?"

Itachi noticed Sasuke's mood. Despite the fact that his younger brother attempted to hide it from them, he knew his brother far too well that his brother attempted to brush aside his feelings and act indifferent in a manner. He himself had a feeling of what it was, and he wouldn't dare to blame him. After all, he himself couldn't understand the decisions made by Lord Hokage and his wife.

"Forgot about me, Sasuke? I'm disappointed! Your most awesome and badass cousin is here and he doesn't get a greeting?" They turned to notice Shisui, who pouted.

Sasuke was surprised, yet no less glad to see his cousin here. "Shisui. I thought you were off on a mission?"

Shisui grinned. "Well, it was simple. Elimination of a target and that was pretty much it. Managed to get some free time to join you guys for dinner."

The fact that Shisui was joining them, and the fact that they were all eating dinner as a family did lighten Sasuke's mood, though it was only a bit. The flash of blonde hair and cerulean eyes, though not that of Lord Fourth, went through his memories.

"Sasuke! Welcome back!"

"Mother. Father."

Mikoto wrapped her arms around Sasuke, and even then, despite his hardened gaze, he still couldn't keep it in front of his mother.

Supper at the Uchiha was quiet. The only things so far discussed were missions and assignments. Tension rang in the air, though it was for reasons everyone knew that was bound to happen, culminating into an explosion that would draw everyone in, shinobi or otherwise.

Sasuke himself thought back to the mission. It was a success, as he had told his mother and father. The rumors of some golden crystal that contained a special type of chakra that was rumored to them was circulating around as Shisui brought it up to the table from one of his latest assignments.

Fugaku questioned him. He in his experience knew many tools that contained chakra and could be utilized as a source of power but this was something entirely else. A few even said it turned them into monsters when touching the crystal. Of course, those were unsubstantiated rumors.

What were the odds of that happening?

When dinner finished and Sasuke helped his mother clean the plates, he found himself training outside, practicing katas as he used the tanto, gifted to him by Shisui, molding his Fire Release alongside the blade to perform the Halo Dance.

"Sasuke? Still training?"

Sasuke attempted to brush off Itachi's concerns. "It's nothing, brother." He replied as his Sharingan was primarily focused on the multiple target practices in front of him.

Itachi shook his head. "You don't need to lie to me, little brother. We're bound by blood and are Uchiha. I know how you are feeling."

Sasuke knew he couldn't even pretend to not stop thinking of Narumi, so he spilled everything, as he always had, to his brother. He found he couldn't even hate Narumi anymore either. He just felt bad and felt sympathy for her, as he saw she blamed herself for what had happened.

Itachi nodded silently. "You miss Naruto, I see..."

Sasuke blurred into motion as he attempted to perform the Halo Dance, utilizing the Body Flicker and the Fire Release alongside his blade. Even then, he wasn't on the level of Shisui, as Shisui flowed naturally. Hurling the last arc of flames forward, he stopped himself. After drinking a bottle of water, he turned to him.

"Of course I do." Sasuke stepped back into home. The memories with Naruto flashed in his head. "And he's gone forever."

He didn't believe in false hopes or promises. It wasn't like Naruto was ever going to return.

Itachi didn't stop him, watching as Sasuke headed in for the night. Though internally, he felt his little brother was still a tad foolish as he followed after him.

One day, Naruto would return. This, he knew.

Staring out into the mass of green and blue before him, he could feel the Stellaron within the core, somewhere on the surface of this planet, thrumming.

"Home sweet home…" The young man with blonde hair murmured. He glanced to see the pink haired girl yawn in her nightgown as she entered the main cabin.

"Hey, has anyone seen-Stelle! What are you doing?!"

"Oh. Hi March. Finding treasure!" The grey haired girl proceeded to unceremoniously dive right into the trash cans.

She turned to the blonde haired young man, to which he shrugged. "That's mine. That's yours. That next to yours is hers. Next to hers is Dan Heng. And the other two are Himeko and Mr Welt Yang."

"Oh okay." She proceeded to act as if nothing was out of the ordinary, while Naruto shook his head in amusement at his girlfriend and turned back to staring out at the planet.

This is going to be a Naruto neglect story. Not just any one, but also where a Stellaron is located on the planet and Naruto and the Astral Express crew are trying to remove it to save the planet, while the villages are in the midst of the Fourth Shinobi War. A lot of the neglect stories I see are that they have no bigger premise or story in mind in relation to Naruto being neglected. Very few actually achieve this, but they are abandoned.

I'm also not mindlessly bashing Minato and Kushina here. The point is that they made really dumb mistakes and this will be further expressed down the line.

As you guys can probably guess, this is heavily AU.