Another Chance

The next day

“Sensei… wake up” Kakashi groaned again. “You’re sleeping on my jounin vest, I need that!” Kakashi sounded exasperated, but Minato ignored him. He sunk into the soft couch, trying to make for all the hours he had missed after travelling into the future. He was so tired, and the couch felt so soft…

“What about Naruto, Sensei?” Kakashi asked, desperate. He didn’t want to have to use this card against his Sensei, knowing full well that it would be a low-blow, especially after what Minato had confided in him.

Minato, hearing the word Naruto, immediately shot put, tugging on a standard blue ANBU shirt. He ran to the bathroom, hurriedly smoothing out his bed hair and failed spectacularly, before running out just as quickly to toss Kakashi his vest and yell, “Naruto, that’s right! Wait for me, Kakashi, I’ll go to him now!” And Minato disappeared in a Yellow Flash.

Minato gulped nervously, tugging at his Hokage coat. Desperately looking at himself in the mirror nearby, he touched his face and frowned. Kushina would be laughing at him so hard right now, Minato thought. But that didn’t matter. He had to make a good third impression. The first two were awful, with Naruto first thinking he was a creepy adult who wanted to touch him, and the second causing Naruto to lash out at him harshly after learning that Minato was his father. This is going to be fine, Minato tried to convince himself. Just perfect.

After wiping his palms off on the Hokage coat, Minato knocked on Naruto’s door, and waited. To his joy, the door slowly creaked open, and a pair of large blue eyes stared up at him. Seeing that it was Minato, the boy desperately tried to shut the door, yelling, “I said I didn’t want to see you anymore! Go away!” at the top of his lungs. Ouch. But Minato would not allow himself to falter here.

“H-hey… Naruto.” Minato cleared his throat. “So maybe we got off to a bad start yesterday, but I bought you a lot of stuff for you to use when the Academy starts. Could we maybe sit down and look through it together?” Minato asked, flashing Naruto his warmest smile.

Naruto’s suspicious expression didn’t clear up at all. In fact, it looked even worse, especially after Minato held up the 8 different bags of things he bought. “NO! Jiji warned me of people trying to bribe me to come in! You’re trying to come in and burn my stuff, like the others! Stay out!” and with that, Naruto slammed the door in Minato’s face.

Minato was floored. He had expected a harsh reaction, but not this harsh. He thought he would at least be able to get into the house to show Naruto what he brought for him, and not be so loudly turned away before he could even step a foot in. Minato, although hurt, still smiled. At least Naruto was so spirited even after all he had been through. It was nice to see him so lively, but Minato had just wished that he could be apart of Naruto’s reason to smile.

Minato stood outside Naruto’s house, wondering if he should continue knocking or give up. If he gave up now, would he make Naruto think he wasn’t actually serious on wanting to make things up to him? But if he continued, would Naruto find him annoying and wish he went away faster? Minato wasn’t sure which was worse, and what to do.

“You don’t have to worry about that monster fox, Yondaime-sama!” A noisy, shrill voice came from the apartment across Naruto’s. Minato turned to see a stout woman, dressed to the nines in fancy, luxurious looking clothing that hugged her non-existent curves. His lips turned down, he didn’t judge for people’s looks, but did that woman really call the cutest, most angelic looking boy a monster when she herself looked like that would happen to people after being digested by a beast?

“Miss…” Minato started. The woman interjected, seemingly extremely excited. Her shrill voice went two pitches higher as she continued. “You must want to exact revenge for what that monster did to our village, right? He killed your wife and levelled the village! It took over a year to rebuild it to this state!” The woman had thought she had Minato’s approval from his silence, judging by the way her face lit up seeing him look down smiling. “That monster will never be apart of our Village, honoured Yondaime-sama!”

Minato felt his son’s chakra wane at that. His fist clenched unconsciously at his sides. The woman still continued her yapping, doing nothing but to feed Minato’s growing anger. “MY SON” Minato started. “Is not and has NEVER been a monster.” The glare he sent to her was withering, and seeing her cower under his stare made him feel at least the slightest bit happier.

“If you mentioned such things again, I will personally ensure that every business in this Village will never dare to hire anyone around you, and that your life here will be worse than hell. Do I make myself clear?” Minato’s voice dropped to a low whisper, not wanting Naruto to hear his dad threatening others like this. It would give off the wrong impression, that the esteemed Hokage was threatening others and abusing his status. Minato didn’t care for it, but he knew Naruto had always looked up to the position of Hokage. So he would do his best to preserve his son’s image of that position.

That woman gulped noisily, much to Minato’s chagrin. She nodded furiously, too afraid to actually say anything. Minato smiled at her, the coldest one he could muster. “I hope that in the future, there will be less slander and discrimination against children who have done nothing wrong. Since we’re all on the same page here, I wish you a good day.” Minato waved her away, before she ran back into her apartment and shut the door with a bang. Minato nodded. This was the way it should be, people repenting and leaving his poor, fragile boy alone. She would be an example to the others.

Minato went back to staring at Naruto’s apartment door. Maybe if he stared hard enough, the door would magically disappear, and he could see his precious baby inside. Maybe his baby was doing his Academy homework, fully concentrated, or maybe he would be slurping noisily on his ramen. Minato wondered if he should continue standing outside the door like this, lest it ruin the Hokage’s reputation.

Thankfully, resolving MInato’s concerns, the door opened again. This time, Naruto held the door open wider for him to enter. Minato’s face lit up, staring at Naruto’s flushed face. “Thanks for what you said earlier.” Naruto thanked him, although fully seeming like he did not believe a word Minato said. The suspicion on his face did not ease even the slightest. Minato’s face fell. He expected too much. Naruto probably thought that he just said that to gain his trust.

Shoving his feelings as far down as they would go, Minato pulled out the shopping bags with the biggest smile he could manage. “I noticed that you really like orange, so I bought this little bag for you!” Minato excitedly pulled out the orange bag he bought from the market, and showed it to Naruto. Seeing his little face lit up like Christmas just came early, Minato felt gratified.

“For… for me?” Naruto stuttered out. This was too good to be true! And based on the other bags strewn across Naruto’s floor, this was just a small part of the haul this man had brought. Naruto licked his lips unconsciously. This was suspicious. He had only let the man in because he had defended Naruto, and jiji had told him he had to repay his debts to people. But this? This was too much. The hope that blossomed in Naruto’s chest was too much. He stamped it out. How could he know that Minato was being genuine, and that he actually wanted to be Naruto’s dad after abandoning him for so long?

“And.. and this is” The man continued his explanation of everything he had bought to Naruto, oblivious to Naruto’s sharp stares at him. Everything he had bought, although in huge quantities, were things that Naruto was lacking, or everything that Naruto had liked. A variety of kunais he had stared at for a long time, a type of pen he was envious of that everyone else had in his class but him, and all the clothes in his favourite colour- bright orange. He knew it was gaudy and ostentatious, but Naruto knew bright colours could get the most attention. But this attention was too much.

It felt like Naruto was floating in the sky, and when he looked down, he saw the earth so far down beneath him. The minute this man let go, he would go plummeting, falling and would never be able to get back up again. Naruto could not risk it. Not when he still didn’t know why this man had shown up out of nowhere and claimed to be his father.

“How do you know what I like?” Naruto suddenly screeched. Minato stopped in his tracks, stunned. He had thought it was going well, Naruto seemingly hanging off every word he was saying, staring at the materials he brought with stars in his eyes. Why did it suddenly turn bad?

“Are you a stalker? Did you stalk me? Cuz’...cuz’ that’s creepy, believe it! I don’t believe that this is all just a coincidence!” Naruto continued, glaring at Minato as he wrapped his arms tightly around himself. It seemed as if he had been trying to protect himself, Minato noted. From Minato himself. That thought gutted him. Did he really seem so untrustworthy in Naruto’s eyes?

“I didn’t!” Minato tried to explain himself. But Naruto was not listening, furtively shooting glances at Minato and loudly talking over what Minato was trying to say. Disheartened, Minato could only sit and wait for Naruto to run out of steam helplessly.

“...And I don’t want any of your crappy stuff anyways!” Naruto huffed. “Take them and leave!” Minato glanced at Naruto powerlessly. Slowly, he stood up, gathering the things he brought back into his bags. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Naruto’s own broken little Academy bag, strings falling out, and threads sticking out all over the place. It seemed like a hand-me down, Naruto noted. Or something picked off the side of the road. Minato frowned. The bag was clearly well-loved, and extremely old. Minato, using a substitution jutsu, changed the bag resting at the foot of the door to the new one he just brought, stuffing the old bag deep into the bags he was carrying. He justified it to himself. It was only one thing, and Naruto’s own bag looked like it was about to break. He needed a new one.

“Then… I’ll leave first, Naruto. See you tomorrow,” Minato called out to Naruto, slipping on his foot. Naruto just rolled his eyes at that, muttering a “you wish” under his breath. Minato let a sad smile come onto his face. That’s right, he did wish. Wish he could see Naruto everyday for the rest of his life, watch him grow into a fine young man. Minato shinshuned away.

“Kit, that man, he left you something.” Kurama told Naruto, long after MInato left. Naruto was wallowing in self-pity, that that man had left even though Naruto had wanted him to stay. Naruto knew that it was stupid, he was the one that told Minato to leave, but he still wished that Minato had stayed a little longer. Naruto hugged a pillow to his chest as he asked Kurama, “Is it something dangerous?” Naruto was paranoid. It wouldn’t be the first time anyways.

“No, kit. I think you should go see it” Kurama sighed and directed Naruto to it, feeling slightly bitter. This bitterness was washed away when he saw Naruto’s face break out into a huge grin at the sight of that orange bag. “Kurama.. He really left this for me? Like, not just by accident?” Kurama laughed at that. “He took your old bag away, kit. It was deliberate.” Naruto looked as if he had just drank five energy drinks with the excitement clear as day on his face. Slightly flushing, Naruto stared at that bag hard, as if it would turn into the man who left it and tell Naruto why… Why he left Naruto, why he was coming back to Naruto’s life now, and why he was moving Naruto to this extent. Naruto bent down and clutched the bag straps. Little droplets hit the floor. Narutro was the happiest he had been ever since making friends with Kurama!

Kurama sighed harder at this sight. He resigned himself to his fate, turning to the chakra puppets, he turned the male one’s hair and eyes blonde and blue respectively. Honestly, his kit should be glad he had someone as caring as Kurama.

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“KAKASHIII!!” Minato cried out, flinging himself through the younger nin’s house doors and onto the couch. Kakashi stared at him, unimpressed. “Naruto let me into his house! We made progress! Although he told me to leave later on because I knew too much about him and it was creepy, but we made progress!” Minato laughed happily.

Kakashi nodded solemnly. He knew Naruto. Although more reserved, the boy still craved any sort of affection and love from others. He was sure to accept Minato if Minato made it clear to the boy he was not going to abandon him. “That reminds me, Sensei. Do you want your old house back?” the copynin asked off-handedly.

Minato sat up. “I…” That house contained all his precious memories with Kushina. It had felt like a time capsule, something that would be sacrilegious to touch. Minato thought back to Naruto’s apartment. The wallpaper was peeling, and there was mold growing on the ground next to Naruto’s dining table. His only table. It was incredibly cramped, and even though Minato hadn’t managed to get a good look at the inside of the house, he knew it was unsuitable for a young child to live there all alone. “Yes, I think that would be best” Minato heard himself say. He nodded.

“Great,” Kakashi tossed Minato as pair of keys. “To the house.” He said simply. “You planned this, Minato gasped in shock, his eyes narrowing in a smile. “Of course. Unlike you Sensei, I actually had to plan for your sudden return. You move in tomorrow.”