Chance for a Prophecy

Chapter 23 - Precious moments

Disclaimer: Naruto and every character of the Naruto universe belongs to Kishimoto Masashi and companies, I don't know.

Applause goes for my precious beta readers: ImaginationJunkie1412, Ano-Hitori-Chichi,

Original upload date: 17th of December (in CET) ;)

Last update:

Chance for a Prophecy

Chapter 23. – Precious moments

Naruto silently watched the silhouettes of the delegations together with his father in the shadows of the giant gate, until their forms disappeared in the distance. The blond time traveler let out a relieved sigh and a satisfied smile spread across his face in the next moment. A warm breeze ruffled his golden locks in a playful manner, tugging but also stroking his crown. A moan kicked him out from his small world. He glanced towards his stretching leader and his smile widened.

"It went better than any of us would have thought." Minato stated, waiting for his shoulder to pop back into its place. When it did so, another satisfied moan rushed out from his soft lips. The young leader rolled his head once more before he turned toward his grinning relative.

"Yagura is really interested in the alliance, Ohnoki stopped sulking and accepted the new trading route and even the Raikage didn't close up against it." Minato made a wandering face. "Well at least I hope, based on his "I'll think about it" statement. I guess it is a good start."

Naruto nodded in agreement and turned around to head inside the heart of the city, his slow steps were shadowed by his father. A crowd started to gather on the streets of Konoha for the upcoming festival. The last rays of the burning sun painted long shadows along their path. Lampions lit up all over the streets, painting everything with their soft yellowish light, replacing the slowly disappearing sunlight. A group of children passed them, playing tag and avoided knocking their respected leader to the ground only by mere centimeters.

They casually strolled in the crowd, neither of them speaking a word. Naruto watched the people of his beloved village as they were enjoying the festival. Children tugging their parents' clothes for some sweets, or playing games for silly and useless prizes under the proud eyes of their parents and friends. His lips almost instantly turned up in a small smile, but only for a second, before it was gone as he spotted something from the edge of his vision. Something familiar. Something which sent a shiver down his spine and the feeling was soon followed by a droplet of cold sweet.

Minato walked with his hands held behind his back, the same soft smile fixed on his lips. The leader suddenly blinked when the warm feeling disappeared from his side and he realized that he had lost his brother. The Hokage blinked once more and turned around only to realize that his brother had fallen behind a few steps, his azure pools fixed on something in a shop, stand unblinking. A frown crawled up on Minato's face when he stepped next to his frozen relative and traced back his sight to see an orange mask plastered on the wall.

Only one eyehole glared back at them. Even without a mouth, Minato couldn't shake off the feeling that the mask was mockingly grinning at him. The spiraling pattern was motionless, however after some time Minato had to blink to stop the sensation that indeed, it was moving, slowly whirling around it's center viciously. The leader shook his head and slowly tapped his brother's shoulder, making him flinch and blink back to reality with a confused expression on his face.

"This...is familiar." Minato stated slowly, watching every emotion on his brother's face. "You drew something like this in the book I had given you to test your intelligence. It's something important isn't it?" Naruto looked back at the mask, his expression betraying none of his emotions. Minato was sure, that if his eyes weren't so shrouded by his blond locks he would be able to see everything that was going on inside his relative's thick skull. All emotions would be there, bare and naked. After a short pause, Naruto shook his head and walked away from the stand without a word. Minato wasn't able to hear Naruto's soft whisper. "It is an important reminder..." Naruto inhaled and the tension instantly disappeared from his muscles.