Tale of A Golden Girl

Healing

In a split second, Naruto felt a wave of sorrow and longing wash over her.

He was... young. So young.

This... this wasn't her father. He didn't even know she existed. He didn't know that she was his child, and he would never know, because Naruto had a duty to all the people in the future, and her selfish desires for family had no place in her mission. She had chosen to save everyone she could. To pave the path to a better, unbloodied future.

Even so... even reminding herself of what she had decided...

Her eyes welled with tears.

'Stop.'

She bit her lip beneath her mask to keep them from trembling.

'Stop this instant.' Kurama ordered. 'Now is not the time. Child, do you hear me? I said now is not the time.'

'Yeah...' Naruto thought weakly. 'I hear you, Kurama... I... yeah...'

Naruto pulled herself together long enough to blink, realizing she had been staring at her future father for what may have been an unnerving amount of time.

'Breathe...'

The blonde subtly took a calming breath.

'O-okay... I'm okay...'

Doing what she did best in times of stress, Naruto plastered on a smile. 'I just want to get this over with.'

"Nice ta meet ya! I'm Nawuto!"

Minato was fifteen, a Jonin, and already a sensei to a little genius boy who had a snarky tongue hidden behind his nonchalant front. The blonde teen noticed that Kakashi seemed more busy than usual, not including the techniques his father taught him and the jutsu scrolls he was always reading.

Despite teasing Kakashi at every turn to get under the stoic boy's skin, he did care for him, and he didn't want the kid to overwork himself. So, Minato asked him what was going on, and advised him not to overdo it with training.

The boy had answered honestly that his father was taking care of someone at the moment, and that meant when Sakumo couldn't, Kakashi had to.

The silver haired boy described Naruto as a short, clumsy blonde girl who cried at the drop of a hat, and was shy to boot.

Naturally, Minato wanted to meet the child that Sakumo had taken into his home, despite Kakashi's less than favorable description. Though, Minato could sense his student didn't dislike Naruto at all, and only wanted people to think so for some reason.

The blonde teen had asked Kakashi if he could introduce him to the infamous "shorty", and the boy shrugged, informing the young Jonin that he was going to pick her up after training anyways, so he could tag along.

And that's how Minato ended up standing under a tree out front of the Ninja Academy that he'd graduated from, trying to seem nervous so he could show the girl that he was relatively harmless.

Minato was curious about her though. She had bright blonde hair a few shades lighter than his own, and blue eyes also similar to his, though, they were more round, and framed by thick long lashes. The young Jonin wondered why she had taken to wearing the trademark Hatake mask, and chalked it up to admiration for Sakumo. Though, he would eventually ask for her reasoning.

The little blonde stared at him blankly for a long moment, eyes subtly taking on a wet gleam, before she blinked.

Minato cocked his head to the side when the little girl grinned at him. And even through the mask, the blonde teen could see it. Strangely, before that, the blonde teen could swear he'd heard her mutter a curse under her breath.