Something Precious

Chapter Two

Naruto groaned and tried to open his eyes only to be blinded by sunlight. He quickly shut them again. Wait..... sunlight. He forced his eyes open once blinking only a few times to allow them to adjust. It had been so long since he had seen such light. So bright and pure. So warm and assuring. During the war even the sky seemed to despair as the sun went into endless hiding, taking shelter behind heavy clouds.

"He's awake." the sudden voice startled him in it's closeness and he quickly pushed away landing soundlessly on a branch several meters away.

"Whoa now, calm down." said the voice with a tone you would use on a scared animal. Naruto's eyes finally came into proper focus and once they did they almost popped out of his skull. The person who had spoken was a man in his early twenties with hair as blonde as his own, and eyes that were electric blue. His stance was authoritative and he exuded capability without trying to. He knew this man.

"Dad?" he asked in a frail voice. "I knew it I finally died." he commented as if relieved. The other ninja frowned.

"You're not dead. My name is Minato Namikaze, we were just bringing you back to the village to get you treated." he explained. "What's your name?"

He seemed not to have heard the last part. "The village? Do you mean the Hidden Leaf?"

Minato nodded cautiously.

"But- but the Leaf... it was..." he trailed off unable to say it. Confusion raged through him. What was going on?

"What's your name?" the man asked once more. This time the blonde responed.

"Naruto." he replied simply. He still seemed to be rather confused.

'You're in the past, Brat. I used a seal to bring us back to before Obito supposedly died.' explained Kurama helpfully. Naruto growled at Obito's name, cursing it. Spitting on it. Hating what he had done to his comrades. Hating the hatred he brought forth in Naruto. Then the fox's words settled and his eyes widened. That means...
His head snapped up to look at the blonde man. That means that this man standing in front of him was actually Minato Namikaze. Was actually his father. It was really him, in the flesh. No time limit or illusion. No sick jutsu of any kind. The man there was the real Minato Namikaze, the man he aspired to be even before he found out he was his father.

"Hey are you alright?" asked a new voice. Naruto'd gaze was drawn behind his father to a small boy, around twelve maybe, wearing a mask, with piercing, coal black eyes and strange silver hair. He was looking at him with a familiar inquisitive expression.

"Dear god, it's a mini Kakashi." commented Naruto without thinking.

"Excuse me? What are you talking about?" the boy replied, almost offended. Naruto shook his head in disbelief. It was Kakashi, it was really him. He felt a flood of emotion flow through him. All he wanted to do was wrap the tiny, and frankly adorable, Kakashi in a hug. He could so clearly remember the day he had died. It had been about a month after the man was named Hokage. He was leading some shinobi forces to an enemy hideout. The whole thing was a trap as they soon found out. Naruto, being his second in command, was left at their camp to watch over the remaining shinobi and take over if anything happened. When he took a small break to meditate he sensed Kakashi's forces disappear, he raced to their position as fast as he could but he only got there in time to see his precious teacher die in his arms.

Unable to hold his gaze any longer, Naruto moved his eyes along to the girl standing beside him to the left. Rin, he thought. Her death-by-chidori had permanently scarred his future sensei and set in motion the destruction of the Five Great Nations. Maybe this time around Naruto could prevent that from happening and in doing so also prevent Obito from going insane.
Next in line was Obito Uchiha himself. Naruto couldn't help but send a rather harsh glare his way, though he knew this Obito had yet to actually do anything wrong. In fact he had heard that the man was quite kind during his time a genin, and looking at him now he seemed so innocent. So void of the monster that Naruto knew to haunt him.