13 year old grownup
"Yeah! This was private, ya know!"
"I'm sorry Naruto. Hokage-sama, this was completely my idea, Sasuke had nothing to do with it," Sakura-chan attempt to clear Sasuke's name would've been cool in Naruto's opinion, if Sakura-chan also didn't look like she was three seconds away from passing out.
"We would've never reached this far without me," Sasuke tutted.
To outsiders, this might look like Sasuke being incredibly arrogant and stupid, but to Naruto and Sakura-chan, who had been diligently decoding Sasuke's emotional constipation for months, it was an obvious proclamation.
I'm part of this, too.
Sakura-chan blushed and giggled, but Naruto could see the way her shoulders relaxed, and Naruto himself couldn't help the grin overtaking his face. Even Kakashi-sensei was doing his weird eye smile. Naruto saw Minato (his dad!) watch them with a wide grin on his face, and felt what little anxiety he had for his reaction melt away.
"Alright, enough of this," Tsunade-bachan threw herself on her chair, muttering about how weird team 7 always ends up. She swiveled around to face the windows, hands folded under her mouth.
"Wow, Tsunade-hime can really get intense," his dad stage-whispered, bending down to reach Naruto's ears. His dad was tall, so that means Naruto's gonna be tall too!
Naruto used to think this was her serious face, but after some excessive espionage discovered that she only does it when she wants to point and laugh but Shizune would nag her for being unprofessional.
He whispered as much back to his dad, and was awarded with a snort. Naruto tried to not grin like an idiot, but ultimately failed when his dad ruffled his hair.
"I don't care who came up with your dumb plan, what I care about is how you two got up this high security tower and eavesdropped on a conversation in a sealed office,"
Sakura-chan hemmed and hawed as she played with her skirt, pale in the face, while Sasuke adopted his default asshole expression.
"We're doing this the easy way or the hard way, brats. Fess up before I lose my patience!"
Bachan swiveled around in her chair, fist raised threateningly as she slammed a hand on her table. It gave an ominous creak.
"Tsunade-sama! That is the third desk this week!"
Bachan grinned sheepishly, losing her icy demeanor, and averted her eyes as she patted over the desk consolingly. "Sorry, Shizune-chan,"
Naruto doesn't blame her, Shizune-neechan can be pretty scary.
Naruto and Sakura exchanged snirks over Sasuke disaster hair, and were awarded by twin glares from Tsunade-bachan and neechan.
"Maa~ As cute my little students are being, you still need to explain. How you managed to get into this office is a bigger matter than just eavesdropping on your teammate,"
Kakashi-sensei's tone was light, but Naruto and his team could feel the gravity of his words.
Naruto kinda gets it though, the Hokage's office is super important, and a lot of ultra secret things are in here. This is like, a security beach. See, Naruto was smart! He knew all bunch of stuff about the Hokage's office and security and whatever. He's gonna be the next Hokage, believe it!
His dad's hand unexpectedly found it's way on Naruto's shoulder, giving it a tight squeeze. Naruto grinned at him, but not without a tinge of confusion. Was his dad nervous? He wasn't looking at Naruto, but that felt like he was consoling Naruto.
For what? Sakura-chan and that idiot were his teammates.
Naruto didn't miss the tense silence in the office, or the way Shizune-neechan quietly placed herself behind Bachan.
It was suffocating, and nerve wracking. Like blowing a balloon without stopping, not knowing when it'll pop in your face.
Sakura-chan popped the balloon.
"We took the servants' path!" It was more like Sakura burst, her face was super red. Like a balloon. Naruto was great at metaphors.
But it worked; most of the tension bled out of the office. The shadows at the edge of the rooms remained unnaturally still, the way they always were when Jiji used to talk to important guys in his here, but his dad's hand loosened in Naruto's shoulder. Tsunade-bachan lost her glare in favor of raising twin eyebrows in surprise, before throwing her head back and cackling.
"HA! So you brats are still using these passages, eh? Ahh I remember when I used to run through them. So many pranks, so much ink," Bachan, still laughing, finally leaned back into her chair.
Naruto tore his eyes away from Bachan, silently watching Sakura-chan and Sasuke. The bastard looked as unbothered as always, and Sakura-chan looked way less red. Naruto grinned, he knew there was nothing to worry about.
He missed the glances shared over his head.
"Eh~ And how did you know about them, Sakura-chan,"
Kakashi-sensei kept his body open, floppy arms loosely folded over his chest. The picture perfect example of cool. What a liar. He's been coiled up with tension ever since he got here, even Naruto and Sasuke could see that.
Sakura-chan obviously saw it too, and drew herself up, chest and cheeks puffing out. Like a marshmallow. A burnt marshmallow? Naruto's reached his limit in metaphors today.
"You can't tell anyone, okay?! This doesn't leave the room!"
Kakashi-sensei raised his only showing eyebrow, and gave an exaggerated bow.
"Of course, Sakura-hime,"
Sakura-chan went beet red, flustered as she apologized to Sensei, but Naruto stopped paying attention (sorry Sakura-chan).
He was looking at his dad, who looked way too shocked for some reason. It was just annoying Kakashi-sensei, what's so surprising? Naruto's made a bet with Sasuke once that Kaka-sensei couldn't go an entire day without annoying at least ten people. Sasuke scoffed and claimed it couldn't be more than five, since Sensei was still a jounin with responsibilities.
Naruto won, of course. And Sasuke was fuming mad at Sensei for the entire week, much to Sensei's confusion. They did manage to weasel out another technique put of him that way, the three of them, so it counted as a double win for Naruto.
"It was Ino-pig! She showed me the way back when we were kids,"
Naruto tuned back in, shelving dad's weird reaction for later. A weird bubbly feeling erupted out of his chest at that though. Later. Cause his dad's here to stay.
Naruto totally understood Sakura; if he had to use some secret passage only Sasuke knew about, he'd take it to the grave.
"Ino-pig?"
Naruto's head snapped back to his dad, who had muttered the name with an amused smile. Naruto jumped at the opportunity to tell his dad something.
"She's Sakura-chan's rival, y'know,"
His dad hummed in understanding, listening to Sakura-chan and Sasuke's explanation.
"And I'm guessing Sasuke is your's?"
"Yep! I'm totally better than him in everything!"
Naruto tuned his teammates out explanation, suddenly overcome with a burning question.
"Did you have a rival?"
His dad blinked, then put a hand under his chin, thinking.
"Hmm, probably your mother. She has crazy Uzumaki chakra stores, and a genius in sealing,"
Woah, so his parents were rivals!
"We always pushed each other to be better, always coming up with new tricks to beat each other," his dad continued, eyes distant as he gazed out towards the Holage monument.
"She wants to be Hokage too, it was one of the things we competed on,"
Naruto soaked in all the information he was getting, giddy with the knowledge that he had more in common with his parents than he thought.
But. One thing struck him odd. His dad kept talking about mom like she was still here. It doesn't seem like he noticed, a small smile dancing on his lips, ignoring the rest of the people in the office in favor of the Hokage monument.
Naruto decided not to push it. He was learning this neat little thing called emotional sen-si-ti-vi-ty. Iruka-sensei said it was important if he wanted to be Hokage. He decided to cling onto his dad's sleeve.
He wasn't gonna hold his hand, like some kid. Please, he was almost 13. And a genin, so basically an adult. Adults don't want to hold hands.
"- so Sasuke-kun used his Sharingan to check for traps - I carried him so he won't get tired!- " Sakura-chan hurriedly added at Shizune-neechan's frosty glare.
" -then we got here. The end,"
"You didn't need to carry me, I would've been fine," Sasuke felt the need to cut in. What a prick.
"Hey! Sakura-chan carried you, you should thank her!"
Naruto pointed at him with his free hand, realizing his mistake too late.
Sasuke's eyes flickered from his pointed finger, to his other hand curled on his dad's sleeve, and so did Sakura-chan's. Something flashed, and Naruto felt the beginnings of embarrassment claw its way into his stomach. Sakura-chan wouldn't say anything from her tiny nod, but Sasuke was a downright bastard.
But Sasuke defied his expectations when flicked his eyes to meet Naruto's, a well practiced sneer set on his face.
"And I would've been fine, I didn't need her help. I'm not weak,"
Naruto's tongue felt too heavy from relief to respond as quickly as he wanted, and Kakashi-sensei beat him to the punch anyways, telling them to settle down.
His hand curled harder into the scratchy fabric of his dad's sleeve. It was itchy, like hospital clothes. Naruto wondered what happened.
"Alright, mystery solved and everyone's happy. Now get the hell out of my office,"
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura-chan all snapped their heads towards Bachan in unison.
"What-"
"That's it?!"
"That's not fair-"
"Don't care! Out! May I remind you that you were eavesdropping?" Bachan shoo'd them as she sorted through piles of paper on her desk.
An obvious dismissal, Bachan would rather die than do paperwork.
Sakura-chan was the first to give, glancing between Kakashi-sensei and Tsunade-bachan before bowing and turning to leave, giving one last cursory glance at his dad before closing the door behind her.
"Well I'm not leaving til dad does!" The word rolls off his tongue in a foreign fashion, the syllables strange to his mouth. Naruto makes them fit anyways.
He expected his dad to support him, so felt decidedly betrayed when he shared a look with Tsunade-bachan before kneeling in front him, wincing as he settled on one knee.
"Listen, Naruto, I need to discuss some important things with Tsunade-hime. I need you to wait outside for a bit,"
Naruto gaped at him, sputtering in response.
"It'll only be a bit okay? I'll be out before you know it,"
Naruto opened his mouth, intent on asking his dad what the hell his problem was, and no, he will not be waiting like some brat outside of the principal's office.
All that came out was a small, "Promise?"
Embarrassing. And in front of Sasuke? Naruto wanted to dig himself a hole and crawl in it. He pointedly did not look at Sasuke. At least Sakura-chan didn't see that.
Still, he felt a stupid amount of relief when his dad smiled softly and whispered, "Promise,".
Naruto nodded back, eyes suddenly hot. He's being so stupid, it's not like his dad is gonna disappear the second he turns around.
"C'mon, you too Sasuke," Kakashi-sensei drawled.
Sasuke glared at him like an offended cat. Kakashi-sensei began to physically herd him out, like a cat.
Naruto moved towards the door, turning back to give his dad one last look. He had his back turned to Naruto, the rays of light around his frame making him look as big as Naruto felt he was.