Living with the Dead

Chapter 1 - "Mommy, Daddy"

Until now everything was normal. Little Naruto showed no strange signs of the presence of the Fox or other skills, which pleased the Third, who was raising him. The little Uzumaki was already causing enough problems for a baby. I mean, really, what normal kid goes into a frenzy to destroy everything that falls into his little hands just because he didn't get his daily dose of ramen? So, it was a relief for the old man that the blonde, apart from his ADHD attacks and fussy eating habits, behaved more or less like a typical child of his age. He had no major problems raising Minato's son, because he usually slept while the Hokage was working and thanks to that the brat did not interfere with his work.

After the death of the Fourth and his wife, Kushina, during the Fox Demon's attack on Konoha, no one in the Leaf Village wanted to accept little Naruto at their home. Since Jiraiyia and Tsunade, his godparents, were currently out of the Land of Fire and Kakashi, the only surviving student of the Yondaime, deeply depressed because of the death of loved ones, was too young to raise any children, it was him, Sarutobi, that was taking care of the jinchuuriki. Although, at first, the Council didn't want to agree to this and proposed to send the blonde to the orphanage, but after long convictions, the Third managed to take the young Namikaze to his home.

Nothing extraordinary happened during the first years of Naruto's life until his second birthday. Then Asuma, Hiruzen's son, who was dealing with the blonde-haired for a while, while Sandaime did his daily duties, ran into the Hokage's office with a shock on his face. A two-year-old boy was sitting on his neck, screaming with happiness and shouting something incomprehensible. In one hand the jounin was holding a sheet of paper. He ran to the desk.

"What happened, Asuma?" the Third asked "You look like you just saw the Sage of Six Paths."

"Maybe not Hagoromo himself, but it is just as unusual" the black-haired man answered and put the paper on the desk, showing his father what was on it. A bystander could say that this was just a child's picture, some scribbles of an ordinary two-year-old. However, not Hiruzen. He looked carefully at what was drawn on the paper and widened his eyes. He looked at his son in disbelief.

"N-Naruto drew this?"

The younger Sarutobi nodded, equally surprised. Sandaime looked in shock at the Uzumaki, who was pulling on the jounin's black hair. There was no indication that he was strange, but something was definitely wrong. Together with Asuma, they again looked at the picture, which was not drawn really beautifully, but definitely good for such a young child.

It represented three figures. One of them was definitely Naruto, the author of the drawing himself. They recognized him by his small height, those characteristic blonde hair, blue eyes and three cat whiskers on each cheek. But that wasn't weird for the two men. It was about the other two characters. An adult, tall blonde, practically a large copy of a young jinchuuriki, dressed in a white coat with red flames at the end and a red-haired woman with violet eyes in a green and white dress. They were both smiling. There was no doubt. They were definitely the dead parents of the boy, Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki.

"B-But how is that even possible?!" Hokage couldn't believe this "He is just a child! How does he even know what they look like?"

"I don't understand it either" admitted Asuma and, after a moment of silence, he added "Do you think it's the Kyū..."

"No, it's definitely impossible" Hiruzen interrupted almost immediately, "It wouldn't be able to couldn't contact him yet. Only two years have passed. The seal is still too strong for the demon to intervene in Naruto's life." The blonde, at the sound of his name, stopped biting Asuma's hair, to the clear relief of the jounin, and looked with his unusual blue eyes at the Third. The Hokage, seeing this, took the boy in his arms and showed him his picture.