章 80: Chapter 13: The Yondaime's Bad Decision
"Right is right, even if everyone is against it; and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it." ~ William Penn
[I am a line… Ignore me…]
No matter how hard he tried, the guilt he was feeling would never truly disappear. Minato knew this as he went about his day within his office. He looked down at the photos that decorated his table: Kushina, the twins and himself when they were still babies, Kushina and the twins sleeping peacefully, and Minato holding the twins with a wide smile on his face. However, as he stood up, he looked about the other photos that were behind him and he felt worse once more when they were all Kushina, himself, and Nuriko. No Naruto.
Minato knew there was no one else to blame but himself as it was his fault for being too self-reliant on prophecies.
Now, his decisions many years ago had come back to bite him hard. The world, as he knew it, was hanging in a balance as he had yet to even gain his son's favor.
He knew of course that his wife was doing a better job as Kushina didn't have to leave the house every day. Minato had to admit it, even if only to himself, that he wouldn't be as favored as Kushina since he wasn't there as much as his wife was.
Which brought him to his sudden idea.
"Iruka-san! Please cancel everything I have for the whole weekend. I will be going home for lunch and will return on Monday." He said and didn't even wait for the chuunin to say anything else before flashing out the office.
Iruka sighed as he rubbed his temple in annoyance. Just because the man was Hokage didn't mean he could skive off work. The scarred man just shook his head and went to push back all the Hokage's schedule to next week as it was already clear that the man wasn't going to be working the whole weekend.
[I am a line… Ignore me…]
Naruto was reading a book in his room as his mother had gone out to shop for dinner. They had an early lunch so the woman could do her tasks and return home early and spend an hour or two with him before having to prepare for dinner.
He was still confined to his bed but it was getting better as the days went by. It had been three weeks since he had been returned to the Hokage's manor and both his medics (Tsunade and Orochimaru) had been pleased with his progress. With not using his chakra and having plenty of rest, they had told him that he was healing faster than he did when he was staying at the hospital.
Naruto had snorted then and explained that staying there would have made recovering longer as it reminded him that he needed medical help due to his last mission that could have been his last.
He was lost in his thoughts that he almost didn't hear the Yondaime knock on his door. Naruto looked up from the book he had in his hands and blinked.
"Yes?"
Minato shifted on the spot and sighed.
"I came by to see how you are doing today. I took the weekend off as well. I thought, why not use it to stay at home from time to time. It isn't like the end of the world, right?" he tried to joke to ease the tension.
The man didn't know how to act around his own son as he and his wife had missed a lot of years thanks to their stupidity in believing that pouring their attention to the one that needed them most would be understandable since they thought that Nuriko was the prophecy child. Orochimaru's findings that it wasn't Nuriko but Naruto, it had made all those years of neglect look like intentional and now useless. Add the fact that during said years, Naruto was higher in rank that Nuriko, had more skill than her, more intelligent, and had the respect and admiration of his fellow shinobi as well.
Minato didn't like to compare but it couldn't be helped since there was so much difference between the two that it was practically a sin to mistake Nuriko for Naruto.
"I am doing well, thank you. Orochimaru-sama and Tsunade-baa-chan are doing everything they can to get me back on my feet." Naruto had told the man that he once thought as his father.
Yes, he had given them a chance but he wasn't going to place all hope on it because he could already feel that they would fail for some odd reason and that would be the end of it. He didn't normally give second chances to people who did him wrong on the level the Namikaze couple had done but he had been pressured then so he sucked it up and swallowed hard.
"I'm glad to hear that. You had done well protecting Ibiki and Genma. To have held off your enemies alone and at a young age, it takes skill, talent, and experience to have done it so well that you all return alive." Minato praised Naruto and got a nod as a silent thank you.
"Was there anything else you needed?" Naruto asked politely but with a tone that spoke of indifference.
"I was wondering… you know, if you don't mind that is… we could talk for a bit? You could tell me what you've been doing with Ibiki and the others… Kushina mentioned that you both talk when she comes and spends time with you…" Minato answered, hoping and praying that his son would agree.
Naruto looked at the man, assessing him for what seemed like a long time, but was merely seconds in reality, before he nodded.
"I don't mind. It's not like I have anywhere to be at the moment." Naruto replied, knowing well that he was trying just like his wife.
Minato looked relieved and went into the room. He pulled out the chair and sat next to his son's bed.
"So… what do you do at the T&I? I know it was on your file but I wasn't able to read it all. It was kind of thick and my attention span isn't really that long." Minato asked as he chuckled in embarrassment and scratched the back of his head.
Naruto rolled his eyes as he shook his head.
"Well… normally, Anko started the initial interrogation. She tries to get them to loosen up and gather as much information as she can before their either clam up or die from whatever injury they already had before being capture or from Anko. If they survive, then either Ibiki and I go next. Usually it's Ibiki who goes and I remain watching and note all information that he gathers. The few times I get to work instead of him…" Naruto trails off a bit and shrugs.
Minato moves forward, listening in silent anticipation of what his son was going to say next.
"Well, when I do get to work, I don't even have to really touch them like Anko does. I'm more like Ibiki. I use whatever information Anko had gathered and I continue from there. I'm into mind games and puzzles. Ibiki had taught me ways to gather information without having to even come into physical contact with the target. Just his appearance, habits, and even known history and abilities are enough to be used as weapons against them." Naruto said as he sighed.
Minato leaned back and blinked like an owl. One Ibiki was scary enough for Konoha but the man was training his son to be mini-Ibiki? With a dash of Anko? He couldn't help but wonder how long Konoha would remain standing if it were to happen.
"Can… can you show me? How you work?" Minato asked hesitantly.
Naruto turned to study him, a brow raised.
"Are you sure? It would not end well since you and I have… more information between us than normal prisoners." Naruto informed him.
Inside, of course, Naruto wouldn't want to miss a free chance at hitting the Yondaime where it would hurt but if the man was asking for it, who was Naruto to say no?
Minato nodded as he swallowed hard.
Naruto sighed and sat up straighter, silently analyzing the man before him.
"Namikaze Minato, Konoha's Yondaime Hokage, also known as Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō. Was placed under Jiraiya of the Sannin's team. Met your wife, Uzumaki Kushina, at a very young age when she had moved to Konoha just before the destruction of Whirlpool Country. Your best technique would be your Rasengan, which took three years to make, and your version of the Flying Thunder God Technique, that came the Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama. Jiraiya had once mentioned that you were one shrewd person, not one to do anything without reason. When you had gotten a team, with was then named Team Minato, you had tried to do good by your team. You were given Hatake Kakashi, son of Hatake Sakumo, Konoha's White Fang, Uchiha Obito, and Nohara Rin." Naruto began and Minato had already swallowed hard… especially at the mention of a few names.
"Of course, everything had been going well even if you had to fight off many of Kakashi's attackers that were due to what his father was supposedly had done. None really had the decency to remember that Konoha valued teamwork above all else and that to abandon your teammate in their time of need would put you on the same level as trash. But despite that, Team Minato flourished… until the Battle of Kannabi Bridge where you had transferred the mission to the newly turned Jounin, Kakashi. Of course, that particular mission had gone south which led to the death of Uchiha Obito and Kakashi gaining one of the eyes of the late Uchiha." He continued and Minato paled as he was reminded of THAT mission.
"The mourning had been long, both you and Kakashi had blamed yourselves for the death of Obito. And not too long after, Nohara Rin too had died in the hand of Kakashi. One after another, Team Minato began to lose its members until all that was left were two. Fast forward a few years later, you had married by then and were expecting children of your own. When Uzumaki Kushina had given birth to twins, a boy and a girl, you had been very pleased. However, what people didn't know was what kind of a father you truly are." Naruto's voice turned cold and Minato now regretted allowing Naruto to try and show his skills alone.
"The great Yondaime Hokage was not as great as he appeared in public of course. He had favored one child over the other, to the point that the other child had been all but forgotten. Both you and your wife had poured everything you had onto the one child that had not shown an ounce of ability despite the years of training and private teaching. While this was happening, the forgotten child had excelled. Made a name for himself and even had risen to through the ranks. What the public also didn't know was that the Hokage himself had NO idea that his own son had done so. That his son had carved a name for himself, nearly surpassing the once great name of Namikaze Minato." Naruto turned harsh and narrowed his eyes at Minato had tears running down his eyes.
Naruto did not spare him any mercy and began tearing into him for anything and everything. And he had given him the permission to do so.
"So, tell me, Hokage-sama… why does a man such as yourself, who prided himself with undying loyalty to his family and friends, abandon his own flesh and blood for the other child? Why did you favor one over the other? How could you have cared for others when you couldn't even care for your own?" Naruto asked, his eyes bearing holes into the Hokage who was so pale and was sweating.
Had it been someone else, Minato was sure that he wouldn't have reacted the way he did. But the one asking him and dissecting him was his own son who he had neglect, abandoned and had nearly forgotten.
"I… I… the prophecy…" he then realized what he had said and his eyes widen in horror as Naruto glared harder into him.
"What prophecy?" Naruto asked again, his voice cold and scarily calm.
"I… the prophecy… Jiraiya-sensei said… they said…" Minato was trying to speak, trying to think of how to even explain.
"What prophecy, Hokage-sama? What kind of prophecy would have made you do a despicable thing as to abandon your own child?!" Naruto's voice was getting more colder and sharper.
Minato was torn in between. He knew he shouldn't say it because he had been told that the prophecy he thought meant Nuriko was not fully correct… that the prophecy that had guided him blindly all these years could have, and possibly truly meant Naruto, was the reason that he and Kushina had favored Nuriko over Naruto.
"You OWE me… Father. You own me an acceptable reason as to why my childhood was full of misery and abandonment from people that was supposed to be my family!" Naruto pointed out angrily.
And the last finally broke Minato and he cried.
"The prophecy of the Toads… that spoke of a child… born to our family that would bring… who would bring about never before seen power… that would bring a new age to this world… we thought… we thought it was Nuriko… so we did everything we could to train her… but now…" he trailed off as he sobbed.
Naruto didn't look impressed. In fact, he looked livid.
"So… a so-called prophecy was the reason for my misery from you! A prophecy that could have meant something else entirely! A prophecy that you are saying now, may NOT even be about that fucking dead last!" Naruto retaliated.
Minato got to his knees and tried to hold on to Naruto's hands.
"I'm so sorry… so sorry…" he tried to apologize but he knew it wasn't going to work as Naruto pulled away from the man.
"You disgust me… a wise man like you are said to be, should have known better than to believe in such a thing as a prophecy. I hope that you realize just how stupid you had been now that you see what your actions concerning this prophecy had resulted too." Naruto closed off and looked cold and blank.
Minato tried to grab hold of Naruto who kept pulling him off.
"No… no… please, Naruto… I'm so sorry… I'm really so sorry…" he said as he cried.
"Consider your one chance gone, Hokage-sama. Enjoy the results of your so-called prophecy." Naruto told him as he pushed the man off him and flared his chakra to call for his chosen family as he knew there was always someone nearby.
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