Six Years After (book 2)

Chapter 7

Happy Easter to all those who celebrate it! And to those who don't, I hope you have an awesome day. 

Third person pov

"Perfectly fine" was a vast overstatement of how things were going, if you were wondering. 

At first everything seemed fine. Considering they were all sort of expecting a literal bomb to drop from the sky and kill them all the moment Naruto stepped a single foot past the village gates, it was actually a bit of a surprise that it took so long for shit to go sideways. Things were going good! Great, even!  

Did they stay good and great? Obviously not, because why in the world would they do that? Silly of them to want that. Hopes and dreams are a joke in this society. Naruto knows better than to set his expectations so high! It always make the crashing and burning much, much harder.

"What's wrong with you now, Naruto?" Sakura sighs, stopping in her tracks to turn and give him a flat look. He and Kakashi-sensei had been on edge from the moment they hit the road and it was driving her nuts. "What, is there a pebble in your sandal or something? You need to pee? We're on a schedule, you know!"

Sasuke grunted in agreement, and Tazuna slurred something that was probably derogatory enough that it shouldn't be repeated. Naruto hummed absentmindedly, not looking at any of them.  

He was too busy staring at the very large, very obvious puddle sitting in the middle of the road some ten feet or so ahead of them. Super distinct, super uncannily round. Super not supposed to be there.

Kakashi came up to a stop next to him, also staring at it. He looked beyond defeated, his shoulders slouched as he took it in. Already, exhaustion was lining his face-- which was saying something considering he had only one eye exposed. Naruto reached out to pat him on the back, grimacing.

"The beginning of the end. It's all downhill from here." Kurama mused, though he sounded tired too. "There's absolutely something inside that thing. I hope you know that. I'd say two lifeforms, though notably pathetic in chakra capacity."

Naruto does know that. He can literally smell it. When did his nose get so sensitive? Is this a part of his seal being gone? Take him back to his days of ignorance and naivety. Life was much less disappointing back then, believe it.

"No. I'm great. Everything is great. Believe it." Naruto answered belatedly. He looked at the cloudless sky. Then at the dry road. Then at the sky again just to make sure, hoping against hope Kurama and his nose were both wrong. No dice. "...Man. Should we do something about that?"

Kakashi doesn't even get a chance to respond before a chain is exploding out of the fake puddle, two figures darting out right after. Sakura's scream is shrill enough to shatter eardrums.

~~~~~~ 

It's been three hours, thirty-seven minutes and exactly fourteen seconds since Naruto left on his mission. Minato feels nothing anymore. He is numb. His heart and soul have left him. They're now fluttering int he wind, and he fears they will never return. There is no point in living anymore-- in functioning.

Why be Hokage when he just wallow instead? His son is out there somewhere, braving the wild world all by himself... with his teammates, but that doesn't really count, does it? Right. Absolutely.

Naruto could get hurt, or die, or get hungry, or get lonely. Literally any number of things could happen to him out there. Minato will be there to prevent none of them, either! Or take any photos of his successes! He's probably hit so many milestones by now, and he bets Kakashi hasn't documented a single one. 

"...Lord Namikaze?" Shikaku Nara's voice was hesitant. Minato grunted a bit but didn't otherwise respond. "Are you listening?"

Minato shouldn't even be here. Shouldn't even be in these stupid meetings that he finally couldn't put off any longer. Apparently Naruto going on his first mission didn't qualify as a "family emergency". Can you believe it? If this isn't an emergency, what is?