Yellow Shadows

YELLOW SHADOWS 02 - Meeting Them

"You're the Fourth Hokage," Naruto breathes, and this time his not-clone's laughter is startled and high.

"I think I'd know if I was the Hokage, kid," Namikaze Minato (Namikaze Minato! Holy shit!) replies, not unkindly but not not firmly, like the Lord Third or a sensei - or a dad.

Minato-sensei was brilliant, Kakashi-sensei had once said, book in one hand and the other ruffling Naruto's hair. But as thick as bricks, too.

"Uh-huh," Naruto replies, crossing his arms sceptically. There’s no mistaking the man before him as the face on the Hokage Mountain. He’s looked up at that face, climbed it, defaced it too many times not to recognise it. And yet the Fourth Hokage can’t be here pouring over maps, wherever here is, since he died years ago. The seal on Naruto’s stomach is proof of that.

"Where are we?" Naruto asks, hoping this line of enquiry will hurt his brain less. The Fourth Hokage. In the flesh. Or, at the very least, an almost perfect imitation of him - but not completely perfect because what idiot would pretend to be Namikaze Minato and not know he was the Hokage?

"Rōran, in the Land of Wind," Minato says, handing over a canteen of water. It’s morning now but the desert sun never seems to set. It’s sweltering. Even in the shade of the camp, Naruto can feel his face frying in the heat. "You must've hit your head hard."

"But Rōran's a ruin," Naruto reasons, gulping down the water. Hopefully the other members of Minato’s team will collect some more on their way back from wherever they’ve gone. Even the kid’s not here; Naruto hasn’t seen him since their battle on the bridge. "This can't be the same place? Unless Mukade did something real freaky with your seal -”

The Fourth, Naruto remembers, almost spewing water like a fountain as he does, specialised in space-time manipulation jutsu.

“My seal?”

Oh shit.

"The Fourth's seal was on the chakra-whatsamadosit! In Rōran! Mukade unlocked it or something and there was this big flash of light and I really am in a different dimension!! What do I DO!? I need to get back! I can't be stuck here -!"

“Whoa, whoa, easy," Minato says, calm despite his look of alarm. "Run through it from the beginning. What happened?”

Naruto takes a deep breath, calming himself. Then he recounts the events of the past week, explaining the mission request from the Land of Wind and their task to track down the missing-nin, Mukade. There’s not much he can say about the Fourth’s sealing jutsu but he tries his best, explaining the strange light that engulfed his team and waking up, alone, to the sound of singing from a red-haired girl.

Minato listens patiently, humming as though in deep thought. He probably is since he’s a genius and Naruto can’t help but feel stupid in his presence. There’s something so - so sensible about Minato that Naruto finds solace in, and it’s not hard to imagine him as the Fourth Hokage, as someone dependable and strong, and someone the village loves.

“I suppose if I - or a version of me - sealed the Ryūmyaku with a thunder kunai, then it’s possible you’ve been transported through time, rather than space,” Minato says, rocking his head as Naruto does when listening to Jiraiya’s teachings. “Not that it probably makes much of a difference to you…”