Mending The Past To A Better Future

Chp.16 Below Surface {Part-3}

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Naruto stares worriedly at her father, whose been taking heaving breaths since he threw up not five minutes ago. She imagines that hearing about three kids under his charge all meeting these terrible circumstances where one of them dies, one turns into an enemy, and another is probably depressed and has PTSD is not an easy thing to hear.

She has to agree. When she’d learn of the vicious tale that would be Obito, Kakashi and Rin’s, she’d felt a pang of sorrow run through her. Their story was a tragic one at any turn.

“Are you okay?” Naruto asks carefully.

“I’ll be fine,” Minato assures her rather hoarsely, his normally tan features having lost all their color.

“If you’re sure...” she trails off. “Anyways, none of you knew that Obito was alive until the war, but eventually he understood our side of things and sided with us. He understood that Rin wouldn’t have wanted what he was doing.”

“And Kakashi?” Minato feared for his youngest student who was already as antisocial as anyone could be, who would now be facing the death of one of his closest friends as well as his sensei, and his other friends betrayal.

Naruto grimaced, and her eyes flashed suddenly. “Kakashi did not lead an easy life. He blamed himself for Obito’s death. He most certainly blamed himself for Rin’s and he felt especially guilty for it because he promised Obito that he would protect her.” She looked at him. “And you... well he took your death hard. He lost himself in Anbu after your death, and he didn’t have anyone to talk to, really. They-“ Naruto gritted her teeth, extremely angry on her teacher and friend behalf’s, “- called him cold blooded. And he had a moniker - Friend Killer Kakashi.”

Minato felt a surge of anger and protectiveness wash over him. They had no right... but he supposed Kakashi wouldn’t have corrected them if he had felt Rin’s death was his fault.

But there was at least something good. “Well you and Kakashi must’ve grown up together.

Naruto looked away, and when she didn’t reply, Minato’s hand landed on her shoulder and forced her to face him. “You didn’t?” he said dismayed.

“Under Lord Third’s orders. No one who knew you and Kushina-nee were allowed to talk to me. I didn’t even know who my parents were until I was sixteen.” Seeing the distressed emotions her father was going through, Naruto said, “But it’s okay. It was for my own protection, dattebayo. And I don’t blame him or you or anyone, you know? And that’s not important right now. I have a goal - and it’s not just stopping Rin from dying. There are so many things to fix.”

“Like?”

”Well, the Uchiha Massacre for starters.”

“The Uchiha what?” Minato growls incredulously.

Naruto waves him off. “A lot of what went wrong in my timeline originates from Obito and Rin dying. You don’t know how important your team is. Obito is the one who kills you and Kushina and sets the Kyuubi loose on the village. And since Kurama can only be controlled by someone who wields the Sharingan, Danzo uses that knowledge to his power to get the village to turn on the Uchiha, who, are already being ostracized as you know. From there, the Uchiha begin to plan a coup to take back the village, which, you should know is already in the works.” She pauses. “That’s the secret project Shisui and I are working on. We’re trying to dismantle the coup and take out Danzo.” Well, that was out of the bag. She didn't beat around that metaphorical bush.

Minato gapes at her, because he’s still stuck on the fact that Obito kills him and Kushina.

What the hell?