Chapter Text
Chapter 7: Mayhem
Secured within the Hokage’s personal lounge, two men sat in grim silence.
Sarutobi closed his tired eyes and took a deep breath before opening them to reveal fiery determination mirrored in Haikage’s eyes. “We have approximately two and a half years until war. This means we have less than two and a half years to prepare ourselves in training shinobi, forging alliances, and establishing a thorough information network,” the Sandaime Hokage reiterated their plan of action. “Presuming this timeline will still follow your Past, which is unlikely.”
Haikage acknowledged him with a short nod. Each word spoken after revealing the Past during the late-night Kage Kaigi, the Shadow Assembly, weighed heavily on his mind. “Hokage-sama, we will need to utilize all the time we have for the first task. In my timeline, none of the shinobi countries were prepared for war and therefore lacked power to defend and attack.”
“There is little we can do for the Academy students. Perhaps adding chakra and physical exercises to the curriculum. Basic first aid. Survival training. This will at least give them the skills to run from danger,” Haikage continued.
Sarutobi grimaced at the thought of children in war. The First Shinobi World War had begun before his birth, and all of his own childhood had been spent learning how to fight and survive. Many children had grown up believing war was the way of the world, and some never grew out of the mindset.
“Genin teams and chuunin are what we need to focus on,” Haikage continued more urgently. “It is best to set an ambitious training curriculum for each team’s jounin-sensei to follow. When I was a genin, there were no established requirements, and our growth depended solely on the amount of effort the teacher was willing to contribute. My team only learned tree walking and basic teamwork before our first Chuunin Exam. Hokage-sama, I refuse to allow unprepared child soldiers to become war sacrifices due to neglect.” He scowled in disgust as he remembered how ill-prepared they had been for Otogakure’s invasion. “For the chuunin, we can employ injured or retired shinobi to lead regular supplemental training sessions in every Ninja Art to monitor and improve their skills.”
“Finally, jounin should to be evaluated and grouped by specializations for advanced training in their particular field. Once they have gained a sufficient level of expertise, they can be matched with shinobi from other specialization groups to form well-rounded teams.”
Sarutobi nodded his approval and flipped through his papers. “Our shinobi count nears 10,000. It will be difficult to shield the new training programs from enemy eyes, but perhaps a staged invasion attempt will provide sufficient reason for the overhaul. I will discuss the logistics with the ANBU and Hunter-nin Commanders.”
“Haikage-san, you will be primarily dealing with international relations. We must reduce the frequency of skirmishes along Land of Fire borders and establish alliances or peace treaties with smaller nations to determine which will fight with us, against us, or remain neutral. Since our major enemies will be Iwagakure and Sunagakure, our efforts will target the western nations.”
Haikage furrowed his brow. This was going to be slightly tricky. He needed to decide whether to use the Haikage’s black mask or to recruit ambassadors to work under him. Going himself would ensure business was carried out properly, but he did not have the time to handle all of them. Sending ambassadors would get the job done faster, but diplomacy depended on a subtle exchange of words. The best option was probably a combination of the two, with him making the initial contact and then sending ambassadors after the connection was made.
“Hokage-sama, I request several teams of politically inclined shinobi as ambassadors to those nations.”
“Granted. I will involve the Head of International Affairs. He has already deployed teams to River with little success.” He penciled a note. “That is enough for today. This concludes the Kage Kaigi. Good work Haikage-san.”
The tension dissipated.
As Naruto organized his notes, Sarutobi set his elbows on the desk and carefully watched the figure in black from behind laced fingers. “Now, Naruto, I was informed that you were attacked. Would you care to explain?” He waited for him to elaborate with the air of a parent waiting patiently for a naughty child to confess.
Surprise flickered over Naruto’s face. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Uhh…it’s nothing,” he said nonchalantly. “We were just playing around.”
“Really, ‘just playing around’?”
Naruto nodded vigorously.
“Is that so, Naruto?” Sarutobi arched a skeptical eyebrow. “The situation sounded more like bullying. Any comments?”
Naruto pressed his lips firmly into a thin line stubbornly.
Sarutobi turned on his full parental glare. Naruto fidgeted but stuck his chin out with proud defiance.
“Naruto,” the elder man said sternly, “you are doing Haikage-kun a great disservice by wearing that petulant scowl while in his image.”
After a brief battle of wills, the blond’s lips morphed into a pout. “Oh fine! Yes!” He surrendered with a huff. “You know, it’s not cool to advertise that you were bullied.”
Sarutobi hid a chuckle at the boy’s attitude by taking a drag from his pipe but couldn’t comprehend how this exceptional shinobi had gotten bullied. “What happened?”
“We fought,” the Hunter-nin answered vaguely. His eyes slowly narrowed into a glare, but it could never win against the glare of an angry father.
“Naruto,” Sarutobi pressed sternly.
“Okay, okay!” The younger man gave in, grumbling about how Sandaime-Jijii should have exhausted his daddy vibes on Asuma and genin teams by this time of the night. “It was an ambush, not something stupid like bullying,” Naruto denied. “Six-to-one in the training facility. We fought. I was tired and pissed off that I wasn’t allowed to kill the damn bastards.” Then Naruto smirked smugly. “They got a bunch of hits in, but I gave better than I got and knocked four of them out. You should have seen how bad they got pounded to the floor!”
“Go on.”
Abruptly, his cocky attitude deflated and Naruto fidgeted in his seat, not looking so tough regardless of his Haikage attire. “I…uh…lost control, you know, from the injustice of it all. I was ticked off and worn out and they just wouldn’t go away, so I started to draw on Kyuubi’s chakra. But Minato woke me up before I did any damage,” he finished quickly.
“Minato-kun informed me that your injuries were not merely ‘a bunch of hits’.”
“Yeahhh, maybe a bit more…” Minato, you idiot. Naruto met Sarutobi’s eyes defiantly. “Just ask him if you want to know more, old man.”
Sarutobi sighed and wondered how the blond could be a cold, professional killer one moment and revert to a rebellious teenager in the next. His personas were so well-constructed to fit each respective situation. In all his years watching over a shinobi village, Sarutobi had never met someone so well-versed in their application. Naruto was not lying when he called himself the Master of Deception. “Very well,” Sarutobi conceded. “I have a mission for you, Uzuhara Naruto, Tokujou of Infiltration & Reconnaissance. I will send the details to your room later. Now, go to bed young man!”
“Ugh…what’s wrong with cranky old geezers?” He grumbled not so quietly under his breath. “It must be their stiff joints.” He chortled and escaped before the fuming man could throw another writing utensil as a senbon.
“I’m only 49!”
_____________________
Minato leaned back in his chair and stared blankly at the ceiling. A week prior, a disheveled Naruto had knocked on his door and told him he was leaving for a week-long Tokujou mission, and then rushed off before he could reply, obviously running late. Now he was impatiently awaiting his return, contemplating why he was waiting at all. He had never before waited for anyone’s return without setting an agreed place and time prior to departure. It wasn’t practical.
Uzuhara Naruto was a fascinating specimen. He had suddenly dropped into his life and proceeded to strew his orderly mind every which way. Originally, he had wanted to help the owner of the pain-filled chakra, but after the newcomer ran out on him for no reason, Minato couldn’t stop thinking about him; in the span of two days, he had turned Minato into a Jiraiya-worthy stalker. How embarrassing.
Naruto was a mass of contradictions. He was heartbroken but upbeat, aloof but friendly, reckless but calculating, dense but brilliant, world-weary but pure at heart, and so much more. The first time they met in the laundry room, Minato thought he had walked into a battlefield. Angry, devastated chakra emitting howls of emotional pain mixed with the scent of blood permeating through air almost made him gag until he saw a boy furiously scrubbing his blood-soaked uniform – a uniform he only noticed later to be of a Hunter-nin. He had impulsively called out and unintentionally frightened the blond-haired, blue-eyed boy enough for him to make a frantic escape. Minato didn’t know what had come over him when he realized he was looking at the ANBU dorm assignments for the new tenant’s identity. Uzuhara Naruto. Interesting name.
Their meetings afterwards were non-existent until the Hunter-nin’s Shinobi Assessment. Uzuhara was good. Better than good. Good enough to fight on par with him in a mock battle while still recovering. He was unpredictable and wild and had thrown Minato into confusion for half of the match. First that underground chakra technique, then the wakizashi taijutsu form, the use of seals with shadow clones, his exhilaratingly complex chakra, and Gamabunta. Okay, that undeniably amounted to more than half…
Then, he discovered Uzuhara had a past saturated with physical and emotional suffering. How was he still functional? Yet, Yamanaka-san had described that tortured mind as beautiful. From Yamanaka-san’s descriptions and his own experiences with the blond, Minato had to agree.
Uzuhara didn’t make sense. Still, Minato had the illogically overwhelming desire to become this troublesome boy’s – no, man’s – friend. No person could remain a child after what he’d gone through. He had found later that the Hunter-nin was much more broken than he showed outwardly, and Minato was honored to have his help accepted.
In the days following, Naruto had shown more swings between extreme emotions, but it seemed Minato had become recognized as a friend, perhaps his only friend excluding the Sandaime Hokage. Now, that was truly gratifying. Minato had achieved a position of trust and reliance. And Naruto, though he didn’t know it, had achieved the same with Minato.
Which must be why he was waiting, Minato sighed. He was fixated.
He wondered what Naruto was doing on the mission. He had mumbled something about Tokujou and infiltration. From what Minato had seen during their match, Naruto was excellent at deception, maybe the best, which would make him perfect for infiltration and espionage.
Minato jumped at three raps on his door. Naruto!
He composed himself and opened the door. Beyond the doorway, he saw the Hunter-nin smiling tiredly up at him.
“Mission success. Missed me?”
Minato smiled at the playful tone, but concern filled his eyes. “You look exhausted. Are you alright?”
Naruto rolled his eyes and grumbled, “I swear, you ask that every time we see each other.” Then he looked hopefully at the taller blonde. “Have you had lunch? I’m hungry.”
Minato held back a laugh. That was Naruto’s offhand version of how Minato would have phrased: ‘Regardless of whether you’ve eaten, will you accompany me to lunch?’
Giving an amused nod, they walked through the halls. As tired and oblivious as Naruto was, he didn’t notice the stares and whispers, but Minato noticed and felt apprehension fill him. His emotionally unbalanced friend might not be ready to face an awestruck crowd, and much less any fear-driven ostracism.
Moments after they entered the cafeteria, the entire room fell silent. Now, Naruto noticed. His face showed alarmed realization that his loss of control in the training facility was the cause of this reaction; his normally expressive face hardened into cold, blank stone. In a controlled, monotonous voice, Naruto spoke. “Minato, shall we proceed?” Without looking to see if he followed, the Hunter-nin took measured steps to the food bar.
The ANBU in the room watched Naruto silently until he disappeared from sight. Whispers erupted around the large room. When Naruto appeared again, this time with a tray of food, the whispers again faded into silence. “Minato, let’s sit over there.” Naruto pointed at a table near two exits – two escape routes.
As they began eating, a man walked over to them. Naruto’s chopsticks stopped halfway, and his shoulders tensed.
“Excuse me. Uzuhara-san right…?” The man started carefully but gained enthusiasm as he spoke. “I just wanted to say great job last week! Thanks for putting Jackal in his place. You kicked ass! I’m Frog, by the way. It’s nice to meet you!”
Naruto’s stiff expression cracked into one of wariness and bewilderment followed soon after by a twitch of his lips. Minato grinned.
“Um, thanks Frog-san. I didn’t really do anything though,” came the tentative reply.
“No way! You were awesome. Just call me Frog. If you ever need anything or want to hang out, swing by room 220.” After waving goodbye, the man walked away, humming happily.
Naruto stared incredulously after the man who had swept through like a miniature storm and then to Minato who was still grinning ear to ear. “Wha…?”
Minato thought a silent, heartfelt thank you to Frog. “They consider you a hero for beating Jackal. Many of the ANBU who joined in the last four years were bullied by him. He might be a jerk, but he’s skilled on missions, which is why we haven’t been able to discharge him. But he went too far last week, so he was sent to T & I for a psych eval and put on probation for a few months. He might even get kicked out.”
“And…beware the crowd of Uzuhara Naruto worshippers heading our way,” he warned merrily.
Naruto scanned his wide eyes around the cafeteria and eeped in a way Minato could only describe as adorable. He saw a faint blush appear on the Hunter-nin’s cheeks, which turned into a full flush as more people showered him with their gratitude.
Minato cheerfully resumed eating, keeping a watchful eye on a flustered Naruto trying to deny the significance of his actions. It took an hour for the ‘hero’ to finish lunch, and Minato had enjoyed watching every second of it. Naruto’s smiles now came easier and brighter, and there was less hesitancy in his interactions.
“So, what did you think?” Minato asked in amusement as they walked out.
Naruto’s blush returned along with a grin as he recalled the events. “It was strange…but good.”
Minato nodded and slung an arm around Naruto’s shoulders, the action quickly becoming one of his favorites. “Great, because you’ll be getting more of that tonight, tomorrow at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and probably for the rest of the week.”
Naruto’s eyebrows rose in surprise but a moment later, confusion set in. “Why weren’t they scared of my red chakra? Everyone’s always hated me for it.”
Minato ruffled Naruto’s hair playfully. “ANBU is filled with unusual skills and bloodlines, so being different isn’t a big deal. Your other chakra is just your own unique fighting tool.”
At these words, Naruto slowly formed the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. It wasn’t wide or dazzling but soft and warm and accompanied by bright, serene eyes. He looked as if a weight had been lifted and was finally at peace with something. Minato felt his heart skip a tiny beat and his chakra jump; he never before wanted a camera as badly as he did now.
“Naruto, would you like to spend the afternoon in my room?”
The shorter blond grinned and nodded. “That sounds great if you don’t mind that I do a bit of work first.”
Minato returned the grin and steered his friend to their rooms for Naruto to collect his materials. The Hunter-nin returned to Minato’s room with several scrolls, papers, and writing utensils which were all dumped in a messy pile on Minato’s bed.
“What are those for?” Minato leaned over curiously to study the collection of scrolls. “Advanced sealing, henge, clones, and medical jutsu theories?”
“I’m trying to come up with a more permanent Henge and long-lasting Kage Bunshin in the form of seals. They’d come in handy during my infiltration missions,” Naruto explained absently, already beginning to formulate ideas in his mind.
Minato paused when his fingers fiddled with one of the scrolls. “Naruto…are you allowed to have this library scroll? It’s from the restricted section.”
“Mmm…not really.” The younger blond shot him a mischievous grin. “It’s their fault security was lax enough for me to nick it. That librarian’s snores covered up any noise I made. He sounded like the group of giant wild boar that attacked me in the Forest.”
“You need to submit a formal request to access forbidden scrolls, Naruto. Otherwise, you could be accused of treason. It’s listed under section 43 of the ANBU Handbook.”
Naruto snorted. “Lighten up! You actually read that monster? Why bother with the hassle. The Old Man will let me if I ask anyway.”
“You have no respect for authority…”Perhaps it would be wiser to feign ignorance. Minato sighed. “If you need a sounding board, I’m always available,” the ANBU Captain offered.
Naruto nodded gratefully and crawled eagerly to his loot.
A short while later found Naruto lying on the bed on his stomach, stretched over Minato’s shins, and scribbling furiously while Minato sat against the wall working through his routine chakra control exercises. He was amused that Naruto had subconsciously spread across the bed while studying, only frowning at Minato’s legs blocking his way for an instant before shrugging and plopping down on top of them to get comfortable in what he guessed was his friend’s typical reading arrangement.
Minato found he liked the company and the comfortable silence with Naruto in this position except for one thing: Naruto’s bent legs and feet swinging lazily up and down through the air. Naruto just being there was pleasantly distracting, but the lazy motions of the feet were making it difficult for him to concentrate on a particularly difficult exercise. When he lost focus for the fifth time, Minato glared at the swinging legs. He didn’t have the heart to tell Naruto to stop, but he could tease him a bit.
Minato focused his chakra on his shins that Naruto was lying over and carefully nudged it down his friend’s side and even further down Naruto’s legs. Naruto paused his writing but didn’t interrupt, curious to see what Minato planned to do despite the shiver that tingled down his spine. Once the warm chakra spread to form a thin layer around both of Naruto’s feet, Minato wiggled it. Naruto let out a yelp at the sudden tickling sensation on the underside of his feet and almost fell off the bed.
“Minato! What was that for?” Naruto exclaimed.
“Chakra control exercises,” Minato answered innocently but was unable to hide his playful grin.
“Liar.” Naruto directed a glare at the other, still oblivious to the fact that it was ineffective.
The culprit smirked. “You were distracting me, so I thought it would be fun to distract you back.”
The Hunter-nin scowled. “I’ve been successfully distracted. But I’m not letting you get away with it.” A glint of something flashed through his eyes. “You offered to be a sounding board, so I’m going to take you up on the offer.”
Minato suddenly was unsure if the offer had been a good idea. Naruto was planning something, and he knew he was going to come out the worse for wear. Last time, he’d been swept off his feet, blown up more than once, and electrified. This time…
Minato shuddered.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry. I’m just going to diagnose you,” the prankster said with a straight face.
“Diagnose me…for what?” Minato asked apprehensively.
“Weeeell, I’m worried about something.” Naruto studied Minato intently. “Do you remember the Oiroke no Jutsu I used on Sandaime-Jijii? It should have affected you, but you didn’t react at all. So I’m worried.”
Minato looked at Naruto as if he had grown another head. “Worried that I didn’t react to a jutsu for perverts?”
Naruto nodded sagely. “It works on everyone else.”
“That’s because I’m not a pervert!”
“Even if you aren’t, there should at least have been a teeny-tiny hint of a reaction.” Naruto climbed off the bed and stepped to the center of the room. Before Minato could object, he formed a ram seal and pushed a small amount of chakra out.
Oiroke no Jutsu
With a puff, a voluptuous, naked Naruko stood in place of Naruto, covered strategically but scantily by clouds. “See? No reaction to nudity. Let’s change it up.”
Puff, slender. Puff, brunette. Puff, older woman. Puff, Hyuuga. Puff, muscular. Puff, pale. Puff. Puff. Puff. Puff, red hair.
Minato averted his eyes.
“Aha! A reaction!” Naruko exclaimed gleefully.
“I know someone with red hair, and it’s rude to them!” Minato defended, trying to force down his slight blush.
“Oh? You know someone? But you know Hyuuga and Inuzuka too.” Red-haired Naruko smirked evilly. “At least you’re not asexual. Now let’s see if you’re bi.”
“Naruto…” Minato began dangerously. “What are yo…”
Oiroke no Jutsu: Sexy Man!
A naked, scantily covered man with the same red hair stood before him. “Hmm, no?”
Puff, buff. Puff, spandex. Puff, Itachi. Puff, elderly (“Naruto! That’s gross!”). Puff. Puff. Puff.
“Alright, guess not,” Naruto conceded and reverted back to himself.
Minato blushed beet red.
Silence.
Minato fidgeted.
Naruto gaped.
Minato looked at him fearfully.
“Y-Y…you…you’re a narcissist!”
Minato’s eyebrows shot up.
Then he palmed his face in both relief and despair, Ughhh, Naruto, I don’t think that’s it… “Idiot! Just put some clothes on!”
The offending blond looked down at his bare front in confusion. “Oh, oops!”
The fearsome ANBU Captain Namikaze Minato, code-named Cheetah, wished he could shrink away and hide under his bed.
Once back in proper clothing, Naruto didn’t stop grinning. “Blond hair and blue eyes! Wow, I never thought… in love with yourself? Really? Minato is a narcissist…” He repeated in an annoying sing-song voice.
“Shut up.” Minato growled, still pink in the face. If only that were true, he thought to himself, thankful that there had been clouds blocking his friend’s intimate parts, and forcefully changed the subject. “Naruto! Show me what seals you’ve come up with.”
Naruto grinned even wider at Minato’s efforts at evasion but relented, apparently satisfied with the mayhem he had created for the day.
The rest of the afternoon was spent completing the seals. With two of the best Seal Masters working together, they constructed a complex seal to stabilize a Henge by two seal points and another seal which would allow Kage Bunshin to draw chakra from sources in its the vicinity. Testing the seals would have been the next step, but the loud growl from Naruto’s stomach brought their work to a halt.
As the two men cleaned up for dinner, Naruto brought out the blackmail. “If you treat me to ramen, I won’t tell that Minato is a narcissist.”
Minato groaned inwardly. Naruto was never going to let this go…
___________________
As they neared the ramen stand, Minato waved happily at someone at a distance. “Hey, Kushina!”
Naruto’s breath hitched. Kushina; Uzumaki Kushina; his future mother; the ex-vessel of Kyuubi.
He turned to take a glance…
She was beautiful and alive. That made her even more beautiful.
Uzumaki Kushina looked up from where she was walking away from Ichiraku and grinned widely. Is that a blush on her face? “Minato, you bastard! I’ve been trying to get in touch with you!”
…Aaaand she acted like Uzumaki Naruto before the trauma and his life in general: brash and loud.
Naruto couldn’t stop staring. He now remembered how many features he had inherited from her. His mouth, always grinning widely. The shape of his eyes, rounder than his father’s. His figure, narrower and definitely not as tall as his father’s.
He would have continued to stare and compare, but he abruptly felt a strange tug in his stomach and knew the cause instinctively. The kyuubi! He had to get out of there! Now! But before he could move, Minato had slung an arm over his shoulders and was steering them in her direction.
With every step closer, the tug grew more obvious. They were around thirty feet away.
‘Kurama?’
‘Her seal wants to pull parts of me back, but your newly reinforced seal is much stronger and will not break. Since your seal is also pulling at residual demonic chakra in her body, she is feeling the tug as well.’
Naruto groaned in dismay. The tug wasn’t really bad, just strange. The danger was that his mother would know something was up.
“Hey, Naruto. What’s wrong?” Minato stopped and looked down at him.
“I-I’m fine.” Naruto replied nervously. He was about to give an excuse to leave, but a loud groan interrupted him.
“Kushina!” Minato rushed over to her as she squatted, clutching her stomach.
“Ugh, my stomach feels awful,” she groaned again.
“How awful?” Minato squatted next to her and began rubbing her back soothingly.
“I don’t know. Awful. I…I think I might have eaten too much…”
“…eaten too much…?” Minato echoed incredulously.
“Uh huh…I had two more bowls than usual…,” she confessed, rocking forward and backward as if trying to relieve the pressure.
‘Two more bowls than usual, she says,’ Naruto repeated to Kyuubi, flabbergasted.
The demon fox laughed aloud. ‘Yes, she was always rather clueless, much like you were. What she feels is no doubt the seal, but because her seal is much weaker, the side effects are much harder on her body.’
“Minato, you idiot. This is your fault!” She missed a punch to his arm. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
“My fault…?” The ANBU Captain looked lost and frantic as he pulled her up to her feet. “Uhh, Kushina, hold on. I’ll help you home, okay? Just please don’t throw up…”
‘Kit, you should follow while maintaining this same distance.’ Kyuubi advised. ‘If you leave now, and she recovers immediately, she may connect the discomfort to you. You can separate after several blocks.’
Naruto followed them from the shadows. The two staggered slowly down the street with Kushina trying to defend her ramen and Minato nodding along to appease her. He maintained the same distance of around thirty feet.
Strangely, the tug was almost unnoticeably declining in strength. Naruto wouldn’t have known if Kyuubi hadn’t informed him.
‘I have a theory that proximity over time may cause the connection to weaken. Let us experiment, kit.’
Under the fox’s instruction, Naruto decreased the distance between him and his mother by fifteen feet. The tug shot up exponentially, and she began to sob. The pressure didn’t decline even after several minutes.
‘I feel the pull strengthening when we are at this short of a distance.’ Kyuubi panted at the strain but waved off Naruto’s concern. ‘Let us now test the distance of forty feet.’
The tug almost disappeared. He could also see his mother relaxing.
‘The seals have no effect on each other after a certain distance.’ Kyuubi regained his composure. ‘Decrease the distance gradually.’
The tug increased again, but when he reached what he estimated to be around twenty-five feet, the tug spiked up in strength. His mother cried out again.
‘You cannot go any closer than this, or we will be tied even more tightly to her. However, if you maintain a distance of approximately twenty-seven feet, there is just enough tension for your seal to eventually override hers.’
Naruto arched his eyebrow at the demon fox. ‘So, Kyuu, that pretty much means I’m going to be stalking her for a while.’
‘Kit, you stalked the Uchiha boy for years. It should be second nature for you.’
‘Ugh, please don’t bring that up. At least not now. I’m starving, and I want ramen.’ Naruto complained with embarrassment. ‘Let’s go back and wait.’
So he waited at Ichiraku for Minato. He sat without ordering and waited diligently. He waited some more. An hour later, he couldn’t wait any longer and ordered several bowls. Then he waited again. Half an hour later, he ordered several more bowls. And waited.
Naruto felt his heart sink.
Minato wasn’t coming.
He’d been forgotten, and it was by his only friend in this time. Forgotten and abandoned. There was no way her seal still hurt, so why wasn’t he here yet?
Naruto scowled. Minato hadn’t spared a single glance back at him when he left with his mother, but of course it should be expected. He should have expected it, but the days spent with Minato had been so good that he had completely forgotten Minato was his father, the same one he resented for abandoning him for the village.
He was reminded clearly now that this wasn’t timeline, and Minato belonged to his mother in this future. He needed to get used to the idea that he couldn’t be close to them because, at most, he could only hold the position of a best friend, which made him an outsider. Naruto didn’t have the right to infringe upon their happiness. They wouldn’t know what to do with a son their own age, and even if he used his time jutsu to merge into his baby form, little Naruto would end up with a tortured adult mind who didn’t know how to behave within a normal family.
Minato couldn’t be his because in the end, he would be his mother’s and little Naruto’s. Someday, after he got used to standing beside Minato, Naruto would have to give his friend away, and he would be alone again.
His happiness at seeing his mother withered. Naruto felt like crying. This was why he had tried to stay away from human interactions, because these people weren’t his. He shouldn’t get close to people here because no new relationship could replace the ones he had with his precious people. Human interaction between him and the people of this world were insubstantial and mere distractions. He didn’t need or want any of it, or so he tried to convince himself.
‘Kit, you are overreacting…,’ the fox murmured, but his host refused to listen.
Naruto looked up to the cloudy sky with jaded eyes before hardening his resolve. It was time to get his seals tattooed, run some important errands, and start saving Konohagakure like he had vowed to.
Naruto felt ugly in his jealousy.