Something Precious

Chapter Fifty Three

The moon peaked through the clouds that covered the night's sky. It's dull beams of weak light illuminating the lone figure that stood among the grave plots. His hair was yellow as the sun. His eyes were blue as the sky on a sunny afternoon. His features hidden by shadow, his posture ridged and motionless as a statue of cold stone.

Another man of similar description was walking to meet him; and though the figure knew of this, he made no move to acknowledge that he no longer stood alone.

"That plot is empty." Minato said softly. Had he spoken any softer, he words would be lost to the breeze.

"I know." Naruto responded. He made no attempt to explain the reason he stared with blank grief at an empty spot of grass.

Minato too, looked at the empty earth. "It's empty now," he said carefully and meaningfully. "But one day it won't be."

Minato could've sworn he saw a small smile grow on Naruto's lips.

"So you finally figured it out." it wasn't a question. "I knew you could."

Minato nodded with a smaall smile of his own. "I think so." he said, tilting his head slightly. "The future, if I'm not mistaken."

This time Naruto smiled for real. "Kinda crazy isn't it?"

Minato shrugged. "Just a little."

It was quiet for a moment. "So how did you figure it out?" Naruto wanted to know. One does not simply come to such a conclusion without clues.

"Well actually. . . that book you have, the one with the teal colored cover. It caught my interest. When I pulled it out I saw that it was covered in blood. I got a sample of it tested. It's Kakashi's. That, along with a few other things I picked up here and there, is what lead me to the conclusion that you Naruto Uzumaki, are not from now."

Naruto nodded. He didn't seem angry about Minato's shenanigans. "No questions?" Naruto asked when Minato didn't say any more.

Minato did have one. "Who are you. We are related aren't we?" he sounded hopeful. Maybe he could finally explain why he felt so. . . protective? Of the blonde. Like he knows him even if he doesn't really.

Naruto's brows scrunched together and a look of grief passed through his eyes. He looked like he could cry. But he didn't, he took a deep breath and released a shaky laugh. "Yeah. Yeah I'm your-"

"Son." Minato didn't know why he said it, but the moment he did he knew it was true. 'My mother was an Uzumaki, she had red hair. I got my blonde hair from my father.' at the time Minato had dismissed it; it was nothing, a simple detail of little actual relevance. Infact he had almost forgotten. But it wasn't nothing, because Minato was the blonde haired father, and Kushina was the red-haired Uzumaki.

"My son." Minato said, trying the foreign words in his tounge. It was strange; not bad strange, it was a good kinda strange. Naruto was his son. Naruto Uzumaki. The same Naruto Uzumaki whom he had found unconscious on the forest floor. The same Naruto Uzumaki who had sent a dozen Cloud shinobi fleeing from their Nation with their tails between their legs. The same Naruto Uzumaki who had been crucial to the Leaf's victory on Kannabi bridge. The same Naruto Uzumaki who been right in front of him the entire time.

Naruto flinched. Minato couldn't think of a single thing to say except, "Was I a good father?" he looked over to Naruto as he asked.

Naruto sighed, his face held an emotion Minato had been unable to identify. "I imagine you would have been the best." he said softly, quietly.

Minato was stuck into silence. 'Would have been'. Minato died then. Sometime in future. Sometime after Naruto was conceived but before he could make long term memories. And the Nine-Tails that Naruto now possessed; Kushina must have died too. She could have gotten sick and then they would have to reseal the beast, but the most likely scenario- "Was it the Nine-Tails?"

Naruto looked at him for the first time. His blue eyes that Minato could now say came from him, burned with an intensity that was different from any other time Minato had seen them. He looked hopeless. "Yes. Partially. . . it's complicated. There was someone else who had a hand in it."

"How old were you?" Minato wondered. For some reason it seemed important.

"A few hours after my birth the Nine Tailed Fox was released from it's prison and sent to wreak havoc on our village. Many great shinobi lost their lives that night before the Fourth Hokage finally sealed the beast away into his new born son. . . he and his wife died minutes later." Naruto's voice wavered near the end though he tried to keep the brief summary of events as factual as possible to keep the grief at bay.

"Oh. So you never even met us then." Minato felt like had lost something. Even if the time for that hadn't yet come.

Surprising him, Naruto actually chuckled. Not bitterly either; though also not with humor. "I did actually. When you sealed Kurama in me, you took a piece of yours and mum's chakra and wove it in with the seal, so I did meet mum once. I actually met you twice. The first time I met you, I was so happy to finally meet my father, but so mad that you gave such a burden like the Nine Tails. I actually punched you." Naruto fully laughed now, as he remembered it suddenly seemed hilarious. "No one ever told me so much as your names. You can imagine my surprise when I found my father was the man I had always looked up to. I made it my mission from age of five to surpass you and become the greatest Hogake the Leaf had ever seen." he said. He was rambling, but Minato was eagerly listening to each word. "The time I met mum I thought she was a trick of Kurama's. It was when I was taming his chakra. She got me for that." he said, absently rubbing his scalp. Minato flinched in sympathy, having many times been in the receiving end of the Uzumaki wrath.

"Even if each was only for a few minutes, they are among my fondest memories." then, for the first time that Minato had seen, Naruto beamed. Minato thought it ought to have hurt, his grin was so wide. "She told me all about how you two met and fell in love. When you saved her from village enemies hoping to take the Leaf's jinchuuriki for randsom." (I have no idea if this is accurate.)

Minato felt both happy and sad. Happy that his son knew him at least a little; sad that Naruto had to grow up without them. But he mostly felt proud. Proud of his son and the man he had become.

"You said you met me twice. When was the second time?"

The wind howled as Minato watched his son's face darken. "There is a war in the future. A man called Kabuto perfected a jutsu for the enemy; the 'Reanimation Justu', based off of the Second Hokage's. It brought back the dead and bent them to the users will, it made them fight against their loved ones. It was horrifying." Naruto shivered as he recalled the tales his friends told him about that first battle, before he arrived. He cleared his throat, hoping to dislodge the sticky lump of emotion that weakened his voice and made him vulnerable.

"Well someone else used the jutsu to bring back the four dead Hokages to fight for our side. You eventually become the Fourth Hokage, so we fought together for that one battle. We almost won too."

Naruto couldn't help it. He couldn't stop the tears as they traced their own paths down his cheeks, silent as they were, they caused more pain than they were worth. "Had I just. . ." Naruto's voice caught in frustration. "Gahhha, I don't even know! That's the worst part! I think it over a dozen times a day and I still can't think of a single thing I could've done! I was useless against him!" Naruto's voice rose to echo over the wind that was now blowing erratically, like it was tied to his emotions.

Minato didn't know who 'him' was, but he could read a situation well enough to know that now wasn't the time to ask. Instead he stepped closer and enveloped his broken son into his comforting embrace.

Naruto sobbed into his shoulder and he hugged Minato back, holding him as if he was a lifeline. "He was right." Naruto whispered. "Even though I killed him, he still won. He still took everything away from me."

"Maybe." Minato spoke quietly. "But now you have something else. You have Team Seven, and Inoichi and Choza and Shikaku. And your friends that you speak of, you can give them another chance to live. And this time, you will have me as well. I'll help you save them from that fate. I promise."

Naruto laughed happily and pulled away, looking Minato in the eyes. It was as if a burden had been lifted from his shoulders. One that had been too heavy for him to carry on his own for much longer. "Thanks. . .  dad."