broke trustfund kid
When Naruto was young, 5 - maybe even 6, and had just enrolled into the academy, he could not read at all.
Not that he didn't recognize the words, or that he was never taught his kanji or hiragana. No, the problem lied in the way the letters would move around; floating away from the page, twisting and turning until they were completely illegible.
Up until Iruka-sensei came around, Naruto could only struggle during classes, unable to properly explain his problem without sounding like an idiot.
With Iruka-sensei came along understanding - not acceptance or even tolerance, not yet - but understanding from someone who had faced similar problems, and stiff advice. As the years went by, Iruka-sensei accepted him, and Naruto had gathered a collection of tricks to keep him focused in class, and to keep words firmly on the pages of his textbooks.
Naruto felt like he was 5 years old again, stuck in his head with words drifting up, up, up and away into a place he cannot follow.
I am your father.
"Naruto?" The Yondaime - his father - quietly asked.
Naruto looked at Kakashi-sensei instead, something to latch onto as a whirlwind of emotion warred in his chest.
He wanted to believe this man so much, this stranger with his eyes and his hair, the one person Naruto had met in his life that looked like him. He wanted to hear stories about his mother and how they met, he wanted to have training sessions and family dinner and all the normal fucking things people do with normal families. But Naruto has been disappointed too much in his short life to lower his guard down. Even if Tsuande-bachan believed this guy, Naruto had to make sure before he hurt himself again.
"Did you know?"
They were only three words, but they seemed to shock Kakashi-sensei to his core. Maybe it was the desperation in Naruto's voice, or just being addressed in general after remaining silent the entire conversation, but it brought on that raw look Kakashi-sensei sometimes gets when he looks at Team 7 when he thinks they're not paying attention. A haunted look of guilt, as if he's seeing through them, seeing other people in their places.
Seeing ghosts.
"Minato-sensei was only discovered a few days ago, he's been in the Intense Care Unit until Tsunade-sama declared him stable but," Naruto could see Kakashi-sensei's throat bob as he swallowed through the tight fabric of his mask, "but yes, I knew who your parents were, Naruto. He's telling the truth."
Naruto wanted to ask dozens, hundreds more questions, but found himself unable to as his throat constricted as whatever disbelieving part in him died away. Kakashi-sensei wouldn't lie.
He turned back to his father (his father - no one else's, no replacements or looks of pity) and took a step forward. Then another and another, before he was colliding directly into his chest.
His dad stiffened for a second, but before Naruto could panic or regret his decision, he felt solid arms wrapping around him, squeezing so hard as if he'd disappear if his dad held on too softly, and felt something in him break, and another mend back.
Never in his life had Naruto been accepted from the get-go; he always had to work for it, earn it and show his worth. And here's this person, clinging to him as hard as Naruto was. Accepting him, wanting him with no expectations or prejudice.
An ugly sound emerged from his throat as a sob wretched itself out of his mouth, against his will because shinobi don't cry, but this was all simply too much for him.
Naruto dimly registered his dad fervently apologizing into his ears, Kakashi-sensei and Tsunda-bachan turning away to give them some semblance of privacy as Naruto wailed.
"I hate you, I hate you, why did you leave, why did you seal it in me, why did you leave me alone," the words spilled out of Naruto's mouth, as if every emotion, every night spent tossing and turning wondering if his parents simply didn't love him, if they did something bad enough to earn the ire of every person in the village, had finally burst out of him.
All the while his dad just kept hugging him, just kept pulling him closer and apologizing, not blaming Naruto for anything or telling him to suck it up like most everyone else did.
Eventually, his sobs softened into hiccups and sniffles and he felt like he could breathe again, like a weight he hadn't realized was lifted from his chest. Naruto accepted a napkin from Tsunade-bachan with no small amount of mortification, but neither she or Kakashi-sensei judged him. If anything, Kakashi-sensei looked close to joining him.
"I promise you Naruto, I'll explain everything," Minato smiled gently as he ruffled his hair and shared a knowing glance with Tsunade-bachan.
"Why not now?" Naruto couldn't help but whine.
"Ah, seems you've sensed them as well," Tsunade-bachan commented as she stood from her chair and towards one of the corners of her office, maybe technically edge, it was a circular office. Kakashi-sensei looked as if he didn't know whether to beam in pride or bang his head against a wall.
"What? Sense who?" Naruto felt a wave of deja vu wash over him, feeling once again out of the loop.
"It's either quiet impressive they managed to even reach here, or ANBU is simply not what it used to be," Tsunade-bachan said loudly as she put her hands over the wood panels of the walls, to Naruto's increasing confusion.
Naruto felt the shadows of the room shift, and felt his face heat up with the embarrassment of more people seeing his meltdown. But before he could dig himself a hole to die in, he heard what seemed to be a scuffle. Then, even weirder, the wooden panels of the wall moved under Tsunade-bachan's hand, and two twin yelps came from inside the walls.
Two familiar yelps.
"Sasuke?? Sakura??"
Held in the hands of Tsunade-bachan from the scruffs of their necks, like wet kittens, hung his mortified teammates.
"Ah, you know them Naruto?"
Naruto swiveled his head to face his dad(!), who had looked amused but alarmed. Naruto didn't know what the big fuss was, honestly. He snuck into the Hokage's office loads of times when he was a kid and wanted to bother Jiji, just not this way! Sakura has got to teach him, 'cause there's no way that dumb bastard is the one who figured the cool walls out.
"Eh, yeah they're part of Team 7 - my team," Naruto clarified, "but I don't know what they're doin' here,"
Before anyone could say anything, the doors to the office slammed open, revealing a panting Shizune, who looked extremely flustered.
"Shizune-nee? Bachan, you need better guards,"
His dad snorted and Tsunade-bachan gave both of them the stink eye, before turning her attention towards Shizune, but Naruto wasn't paying attention.
He made his dad laugh! It didn't sound like Naruto's laugh, maybe he had his mom's laugh?
" - they promised they'd go to the Hokage Tower and come straight back," Shizune-nee was explaining with a pointed look towards Sakura and Sasuke, "but after they took too much time, I followed them here only to discover Kage-bunshin galavanting around the tower! Honestly, I might have expected this kind of behavior from Sasuke-kun, but you, Sakura-chan? I thought you were more responsible,"
Naruto winced, Shizune-nee really knew where to hit. True to his thoughts, Sakura-chan was now hanging her head in shame while the bastard just looked infuriatingly indifferent.
Actually, Sasuke was giving Naruto a weird look now that he was thinking of it, he looked a bit constipated if you asked Naruto, which he only did when he was feeling any emotion other than anger.
He was concerned for Naruto.
Naruto felt a soft feeling bloom in his chest, but was then completely trampled over by embarrassment. Sakura-chan and Sasuke heard all of that? Naruto had no choice but to leave the village.
Naruto was jolted out of his musings of which country to leave for (he did like the ocean so maybe the Country of Water, but Lightning didn't sound bad either) by his father placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, you feeling alright?" He gently asked, "I know this might all be overwhelming for you, so tell me if any of this gets too much for you,"
His dad waved his hand around on what evolved to Tsunade-bachan and Shizune-nee dually yelling at his teammates and Kakashi-sensei. They were kinda yelling over each other, so Naruto could only make out bits and pieces, but they did not sound pretty. Something about 'being nailed to a hospital bed' and 'terrible authority figure'.
"How do you know Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked instead of answering, a pitiful attempt at changing the subject.
His dad gave him a knowing look, as if promising to talk about this later, and Naruto was almost too caught up in the rush of emotions that hit him and furiously blinking the tears out of his eyes that he almost missed the answer.
"He was one of my student, along with two others that also coincidentally formed Team 7,"
Naruto almost asked where the other two where, but one look at his dad's face stopped him in his tracks. It was a nearly identical expression to Kakashi-sensei's.
Naruto opted to grab the back of his dad's shirt instead of saying something, which seemed to be the right course of action as his dad squeezed his shoulder and took a deep breath, before straightening up again.
"Seems like you've picked quite the troublesome students, Kakashi," Minato's voice was calm and clear, but cut effectively through the Shizune-nee's berating and Tsunade-bachan's threats of harm.
For a second, Naruto honestly thought Kakshi-sensei turned into stone with the way he froze, but he managed to regain his composure and muster up a weak laugh.
"Maah, seems so. But still, impressive troublesome students," Kakashi-sensei go that look on his face when he complimented one of them then made them redo the entire jutsu or kata a hundred more times.
By the looks of wariness on Sakura-chan and Sasuke's faces, they recognized it too.
"So how about you explain why you were spying on a very private conversation in the Hokage's office, hm?" Kakashi-sensei continued as his smile widened.