Overtwisted

A shriek of pure joy caught his attention and Minato looked up, shielding his eyes from the glare of the sun with his hand. He smiled when he saw the source of the sound, Naruto’s beaming face and wide grin coming into view. The boy was sitting on the back of a large eagle, Obito behind him making sure he didn’t fall off the creature mid-flight.

‘For wild animals, they’re quite friendly,’ Minato thought, watching the eagle Naruto was riding chase another eagle, one that had Karin, Manami and Kakashi on its back. The woman had initially been hesitant to allow her daughter to ride an untamed bird, but seeing how careful the eagle had been with Naruto had eased her mind a little.

“I suppose it’s because they were bred to work alongside shinobi,” he murmured to himself, pausing when a giant koala-like beast peeked out of the trees and waving when the animal slowly raised a paw at him. “It must have been years since they’ve seen humans around though.”

He looked around the beach, taking in the shimmering blue ocean, the fine sand under his bare feet and the pleasant wind that ruffled his undyed locks. The island was a perfect spot for a vacation, apart from the huge beasts roaming the island and the lack of human presences.

The reason the group had come to Summoning Island was because of the spirit of Uzumaki Honoka that had been lingering, waiting for someone to finish off the ultimate summoning beast slumbering within the depths of the cave system.

Or well, had been slumbering.

Poking around the cave a bit had revealed a mechanism to drain the fluid from the vat the beast had been in. Things were easy after that: a seal to restrict its movement, a Fuuton jutsu to cut it into pieces and then finally thrown into the volcano.

And that was that.

Since they didn’t really have anything to do or a particular destination in mind, the group had decided to take a break on the island. It was a welcome change from the winter on the mainland and none of them needed to hide their true appearances, the island being a place where not even fishermen ventured.

A yell of frustration made Minato chuckle and the ones in the sky look down in mild surprise; the source was the redhaired girl sitting right at the edge of the forest. Since there was nothing to be alarmed about, the fliers simply shook their heads in amusement and turned away, leaving Minato to make his way to his daughter.

“The scrolls giving you trouble?”

Hikari huffed, tossing the scroll in her hands into a nearby bag. She flopped onto her back, her hair sprawling out over the blanket she was lying on and the sand. “Kind of,” she grumbled, squinting up at the sky. It really was a cloudless day. “I’ve found out that they’re summoning contracts but not what they’re for and how to open them. You sure you’re not interested in cracking them, Dad?”

“Maybe when you get tired of it,” Minato replied as he sat down next to the girl. “We don’t need summoning contracts right now, so it isn’t my priority. Besides, it’s a good test of your Fuuinjutsu abilities.”

Giving the laughing man the stink-eye, Hikari sat up as one of the eagles landed a few feet away, depositing Manami on the sand before taking off again.

“That was a nice experience but I prefer having the ground under my feet,” she told the father-daughter pair as she neared them, brushing her fingers through her hair. Though it was short, the wind rushing through the strands had messed it up. “The children seem to like it, so they can fly my share for me.”

“I agree that it’s not for everyone,” Minato said, laying out another blanket for the woman to sit on.

“Hmm. I think it’s the rush that affects me negatively. Although, speaking of flying, why didn’t you go, Hikari-chan?”

“Didn’t feel like it earlier,” the younger redhead answered with a shrug. Flying wasn’t something new to her, ever since she had received the Rikudo Sennin’s power and could fly by herself. ‘Not sure if I can still fly though; should test it some time.’

“Well then, if you feel like it now, why don’t you and Minato-san go together?” Manami suggested pleasantly, smiling when the other two blinked owlishly at her. The father-daughter pair was alike in some ways, while completely opposite in others. “I’ll get started on lunch in the meantime.”

Hikari considered that then nodded, looking at her father. “What do you think, Dad?”

“Sure, if we can get another bird to carry us,” Minato agreed with a placid smile that hid his excitement.

“We probably could lure one with fish or something.”

“That might work.”

“Let’s go then!”

Obito smirked when a huge brown eagle whizzed past, Naruto yelling in disapproval as Hikari let out a whoop of excitement. “Finally decided to join us?!”

“Yep! You guys were going so slow that we came to show you how it’s done!” the redhead yelled back, directing her eagle to turn to the right, startling Karin and earning an eyeroll from Kakashi when Hikari cut across them.

“Nee-san! Karin! Let’s race!” Naruto shouted, waving his arms wildly to attract the others’ attention. It was fun being so high up in the air.

Minato and Hikari looked at each other for a moment then grinned, turning to the last eagle in the air. Karin’s grin was just as wide as theirs, a competitive glint in her red eyes as she declared, “I’m going to win!”

Later that night, after dinner and some time spent stargazing, the three children and Manami were fast asleep, leaving the teenagers and Minato to watch over them.

Kakashi pulled out a large blanket, covering the sleeping quartet. While it might be warm on the island, they were still near the ocean and the breeze was a little chilly. Even if Hikari and Naruto couldn’t really get sick, Manami and Karin were still susceptible to it.

“Even Hikari is fast asleep,” Minato murmured, running a hand through his daughter’s hair and frowning when his fingers caught on some tangles. Since the girl was at the edge of the snoozing quartet and wasn’t likely to disturb the toddlers, the man gathered her hair and started brushing it with a hairbrush Kakashi found for him.

“She might have a ton of energy but she did spend most of the day running around with the kids,” Obito pointed out, leaning back on his palms as he stared up at the stars. Thanks to the lack of artificial light, the stars were very clear and visible, twinkling against the dark backdrop that was the sky.

He grunted when Kakashi tossed a blanket over his head, pulling it off and glaring at the Hatake who pretended not to know anything.

“How long are we going to stay on this island, Sensei?” Kakashi asked, taking a seat under a tree near Manami’s back, to act as a shield. Not that he thought that anything on the island would attack them, but better safe than sorry.

Minato hummed, braiding Hikari’s hair and tying it at the end with a piece of leather. The girl had not even twitched a muscle all the while, curled up tightly around Naruto. “Maybe for a few more days? I think Naruto and Karin would like to explore the rest of the island,” the Namikaze replied, looking up at Kakashi. “Besides, I’m pretty sure we’re all tired of the snow.”

“I suppose-”

“I’m more interested in where you’re planning to go next,” Obito interrupted, raising an eyebrow at the blond. “I know you and Hikari well enough to realize that you’re wrapping things you want to do with a pretty wrapper called ‘vacation’.”

Minato started chuckling; trust the Uchiha to be the one to pick out their hidden motives. “What gave it away?”

“Picking up the two Uzumaki under the pretense of visiting Kusa, which was where you came clean. Then vacationing on this island, which would have made a pretty good excuse if you two hadn’t gone straight into those caves.”

Kakashi stared between the laughing Namikaze and the deadpan Uchiha, flatly saying, “Would one of you fill me in?”

“Ah. It probably wouldn’t be an understatement if I said our original world was a bad place, would it?” Minato replied lightly, tapping the ground to put up a privacy seal around the sleeping woman and kids. There was no need to disturb them with their conversation. “It’s like what we did in Konoha with Kumo.”

Kakashi was smart and immediately understood what the man was hinting at. “So we’re going to go around fixing whatever went wrong in your world?”

“We will certainly try.”

“We’ve already thrown a wrench into Zetsu’s plans,” Obito added with a vicious and bloodthirsty grin that had the Hatake eye him warily. “He needs the Jinchuuriki and with Naruto under our protection, that’s one of his targets gone.”

“Not to mention we know what he wants to do,” Minato continued mildly, not at all concerned by the aura the dark-haired teen was emitting. He had seen worse and that was only a small fraction of Obito’s dark side anyway. “As long as we cut off all his helpers, we can take it easy and go at our own pace.”

“Huh…why do I feel like this is going to get troublesome?”

Minato and Obito looked at each other, then at Kakashi with innocent expressions that wouldn’t fool even a kid. “You wound us, Kakashi.”

“Right. Can I get a refund? I’d rather deal with Konoha and even Gai compared to whatever chaos you’re going to cause.”

“Uh uh,” Obito tsked at the silver-haired teen, tackling him bodily when Kakashi made an exaggerated attempt to get up and leave, smirking down at the other. “No take-backs; you’re stuck with us now.”

“Oof! Get off, idiot!”

“Make me!”

The two descended into one of their usual squabbles, rolling around on the grass as they tried to pull one over the other. Minato stifled a chuckle as he watched them, settling down against a tree as he decided to take the first watch. He didn’t bother to break the teenagers apart; they would stop when they felt like it.

“You guys are absolutely crazy.”

Kakashi stared incredulously as Minato handed over identification papers -forged ones, obviously- to the guards, not able to believe his eyes. Their little group was standing in front of the gates of Suna, the two toddlers watching the proceedings with wide eyes.

To them, the environment was new; they were used to seeing trees everywhere they turned or at least some form of plant life. But Suna was completely different, with sand as far as the eye could see and the heat beating down on their heads. Not that they really felt it; temperature control seals were rather handy.

Even Manami looked unconcerned, simply chatting calmly with Hikari as they waited for the guards to let them in.

“If you weren’t wearing a mask, you’d catch flies,” Obito remarked, elbowing the gaping Hatake and jolting him out of his stupor. “What are you so surprised by anyway? I thought you would have gotten used to us by now.”

“By the sheer audacity you have to walk straight up to Suna’s gates.”

“Yeah, so what? It’s not like we’re blatantly waving our real identities in their faces.”

A simple hair dye was apparently more than enough to fool people, considering that they were let into the village minutes later, proving the Uchiha’s point. Honestly speaking, they weren’t even putting that much effort into their cover stories either.

Hikari and Naruto were obviously Minato’s children, with Manami as his sister-in-law -considering her connection to Kushina, however distant- and Karin was the woman’s daughter, making her his niece. Obito and Kakashi were still introduced as Minato’s students, their story being that the man took them in since they were orphans which, technically, wasn’t a lie.

“Lighten up, Kashi-nii,” Hikari said brightly, slowing down to match the teenager’s pace and letting the toddlers run ahead with Minato and Manami. “See the fun side of things!”

Kakashi gave her a look that was drier than the dessert they were in, rolling his eyes when the girl snickered. “Fun,” he repeated. “Of course you’d call sneaking into Suna fun.”

“Well…we aren’t actually ‘sneaking in’, since we just walked right through the gates.”

“If you get the chance, I think you would march straight into the Tsuchikage’s office without a disguise and your heritage on full display.”

Blue eyes sparkled and a wide grin split the girl’s face, “Hey, that’s a great idea!”

“Nice going, Bakashi,” Obito facepalmed when Hikari started muttering excitedly under her breath. “Sensei, rein in your daughter before she breaks something! Or someone!”

“Oi! I’m not that bad!”

“You were just thinking about riling up old Onoki; I admit that would be easy, but do you really want another village on our tail?”

Hikari pouted, sulking when even her father and Manami started laughing at her, Naruto and Karin glancing at her with curiosity shining in their eyes. “Dad got to mess with the Hokage and the Raikage; why can’t I do the same with the Tsuchikage?”

“You’re the one who wanted to stay out of that,” Minato reminded his daughter, smiling when she swatted at him in annoyance. “If you give me a good reason though, you’re free to do as you like.”

“Huh. Well, there’s Deidara in Iwa, but he should be just a kid now…maybe I could find Roshi and Han to play with?”

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, not recognizing any of the names the girl had mentioned. “Who are Deidara, Roshi and Han?”

It was Obito who answered him, “Deidara is a little brat obsessed with bombs and explosions. Roshi and Han are the Jinchuuriki of the Yonbi and the Gobi respectively.”

“…”

“Did that break you?”

“A budding terrorist and two possibly adult Jinchuuriki.”

“Yep.”

“…I give up.”

In a corner of the playground, a tiny child enviously watched the other kids playing with each other. He too wanted to join them, but no one asked him and he was too scared to ask them.

The first few times he had tried, he had been rejected rather harshly.

An awkward throw had the ball the other children were playing with bounce towards him and Gaara looked up hopefully. Maybe if he returned the ball, they would invite him to play?

Plus, there was no sign of recognition in their eyes, so it might be fine this time.

“Umm…here.”

The sand around the boy shifted and rose up, picking up the ball and holding it out in the direction of the other children. Gaara gave them a small smile the way Yashamaru had told him in order to make himself look friendly, hoping against hope that his wish would be granted for once.

No such luck.

As soon as the sand started moving, the children’s faces contorted in terror and they screamed, calling for their parents as they ran away. They didn’t even care to retrieve any of the toys they had been playing with, let alone the ball.

A sniffle escaped the hurt child, Gaara burying his face in his knees as sadness threatened to engulf him. The ball fell to the ground with a low thud, the sand that had been holding it up scattering when Gaara stopped focusing on it.

‘Why don’t they play with me?’

No matter how hard he tried, how much he made himself look friendly, no one ever wanted to play with him.

Not wanting to hurt anymore that day, Gaara raised his head and made to stand up, only to fall back on his butt when wide blue eyes met his teal ones.

“That was so cool!”

A boy with spiky black hair and brilliant blue eyes was staring at him, expression shining with awe and wonder. Unlike the other children, he didn’t seem to be afraid of Gaara, instead looking at him with open curiosity.

“The sand, that was you, right?”

It was a girl this time, with shoulder-length black hair similar to the boy’s, but she had deep crimson eyes. She didn’t look scared of him either, her smile a little more restrained but no less bright.

Gaara didn’t know how to react and scrambled backwards, not sure who the two were, since their clothing wasn’t anything remotely similar to what the people in Suna wore. They were far too light and in bright colors, unlike the dark tones and slightly heavy but airy clothes that the villagers dressed in to combat the heat.

“W-Who…?”

“Naruto, Karin, give him a little space. You don’t want to scare him, do you?”

A new voice joined the conversation, sounding amused. It belonged to a girl a few years older than the other two; she had long black hair tied up in a ponytail and blue eyes the same color as the boy, though the shape was different. She was smiling too, hands reaching out to tug the other two back a little.

“Sorry, they got a bit too excited. My name’s Hikari.” She nudged the boy and girl, whose expressions were now apologetic, “Come on, you two, introduce yourselves.”

They perked up, the boy almost yelling with a wide grin on his face, “I’m Naruto!”

“I’m Karin,” the short-haired girl said in a quieter voice, waving at the little redhead on the ground. “Nice to meet you.”

Gaara looked at the trio in front of him, wondering why they weren’t scared of him even after seeing him use his sand. Even adults ran away when they saw it, yelling and screaming that he was going to kill them.

But that wasn’t it; he just wanted to help!

Seeing that the three were looking at him expectantly, he replied, voice barely higher than a whisper, “Gaara.”

“Hello!” Naruto beamed, gesturing towards the ball on the ground. “Do that thing with the sand again!”

“Huh?”

The other boy blinked in confusion and stared. Just what?

Drooping in disappointment when Gaara simply stared at him, Naruto crouched and poked the ball with a finger, muttering, “But that was so cool…”

“…you’re not scared?” Gaara asked hesitantly, fingers tightening around the material of his pants. No one had ever called his sand manipulation ‘cool’ before. They always said it was strange and weird and scary.

Karin tilted her head to the side, frowning rather adorably in thought. “No,” she replied, Naruto vehemently nodding in agreement. “It’s special, right?”

“That sounds about right,” Hikari interjected cheerfully, gently placing a hand on Naruto’s head when he didn’t stop nodding. She inwardly giggled at the look Gaara was giving the disguised blond, as if his head was going to fall off from all the nodding. “I’ve never seen anyone use sand like that before.”

‘Well, I have, but that was my Gaara, so it doesn’t count.’

“You look like you’re by yourself, so want to play with us, Gaara?” the older girl asked, extending a hand towards the younger counterpart of one of her best friends. It would be nice if she could give him a happy memory.

Teal eyes widened, a sparkle appearing in them as Gaara quietly asked, a little scared that she would take back her words, “It’s okay?”

“Yep! With you, we can even out the numbers!”

“Come on! Let’s play!”

Naruto and Karin lunged forward with happy cries when the child nodded, taking his hands and dragging him to the center of the playground. The girl looked at a laughing Hikari over her shoulder and demanded, “Nee-san, bring the ball!”

“Sure, sure…”

Under the shade of a sand construct clearly made for waiting parents, four pairs of eyes watched the children playing some distance away from them.

“He doesn’t seem like what you told me, Minato-san,” Manami remarked, smoothing out her skirt and chuckling when she saw her daughter pose in victory when she scored a point.

Apparently, the children had split into two teams -Hikari and Gaara, Naruto and Karin- and were throwing the ball at each other, trying to get the other team to miss a catch with outrageous throws. It was actually rather funny to watch, especially when Gaara’s sand made a sneaky catch and got the opposing team to scream about unfairness.

“Gaara really is a normal child,” Minato agreed with a short nod. “It’s just the faulty seal on him and the villagers’ prejudice. Although…no offence, but I didn’t think you’d be this fine with letting Karin play with him.”

The woman only smiled serenely. “You’ve allowed both your children to approach that child. If you really thought that Gaara-kun was a danger to them, you wouldn’t have.”

Obito snorted, elbowing the sheepish looking man, “She’s got you there, Sensei. In any case, unless they react with fear or try to hurt Gaara, the sand won’t do anything.”

“Hikari’s already proved she’s not scared of anything and I’m fairly sure that Naruto and Karin can see a lonely child,” Kakashi remarked absently, his focus mainly on the multiple Suna ANBU hidden all around the playground. “If it’s those three, they could probably even melt the coldest of hearts. And just Gaara is an unhappy kid.”

Minato couldn’t really refute that.

All Jinchuuriki, no matter where they were, led lonely and isolated lives.

No wonder they usually ended up becoming ticking time bombs.

‘Still, that doesn’t answer our question of how to help Gaara,’ he thought, expression becoming thoughtful as he focused on the hidden Suna ANBU. All of them were tense and wary, fists clenched around some weapon or the other. They clearly thought that Gaara would suddenly snap and kill the other children or go berserk.

‘Idiots. Treating him like that is what’s making the seal even weaker.’

“Tell me something, Minato-san,” Manami spoke suddenly, making all her companions look at her. Her gaze was trained on Gaara’s face, the boy watching the other children with wonder. “That child, how are you planning to help him?”

The Namikaze sighed.

“I honestly don’t know,” he admitted, resting his chin on the palm of his hand. “I can’t think of anything that would give him a happy childhood here in Suna.”

“What do you mean?”

“Let’s say we fix his seal and let them think he’s gotten control over the Bijuu. They would then train him to become a weapon. If we don’t, then he’ll be haunted by the Bijuu for his whole life. Both options wouldn’t fix his image amongst the villagers; Gaara would still be shunned and feared.”

“I see…what if we take him with us?”

The corner of Minato’s mouth twitched.

“Manami…are you seriously suggesting we kidnap Gaara?”

Said woman didn’t even bat an eye at the three disbelieving looks she received. “Perhaps.”

“Eh, do what you like,” Obito shrugged, completely unconcerned with the direction the conversation was taking. He didn’t have an emotional connection to the Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi but that didn’t mean he would reject the idea of caring for a child.

Besides…

“If we leave him behind, Hikari would probably whine and fuss about his future.”

“I can imagine that,” Kakashi nodded in agreement to the Uchiha’s words, finally tearing his stare away from an amused Manami. “But wouldn’t it become an issue when we go back to Konoha one day? We can’t keep him hidden forever.”

Minato sweat-dropped.

“All three of you are in favor of kidnapping Gaara, aren’t you?”

His reply was a resounding yes.

“Hmm…alright. Let’s wait and see what happens. We have time.”

“Yashamaru! Yashamaru!”

The slamming of the door and the loud, excited calls of his name were the only warnings he got before a small body slammed into his legs.

“Gaara-sama!”

Teal green eyes looked up at him, the little redhead practically radiating joy as he smiled widely. Yashamaru let out a startled laugh, wondering just what had evoked such an expression from the normally downcast boy.

“What made you so happy, Gaara-sama?”

“At the playground, I made friends!”

The exuberant declaration made the man blink and he had to take a few moments to process that. “Is that so?” he hummed, crouching to be at the child’s level. Yashamaru smiled, happy to see Gaara look so cheerful, “Did you have fun?”

“Yeah! We will play together tomorrow too!”

“I see. That’s great, Gaara-sama.”

“Stop lying!”

Yashamaru and Gaara startled, turning to see a boy with brown hair standing in the doorway of the kitchen. “There’s no way anyone will play with a monster like you!” Kankuro yelled, glaring at his younger brother.

“I’m not lying!”

“Then they don’t know what you are!”

“Kankuro-sama, that’s enough!”

Both children’s mouths snapped shut at the reprimand from their uncle and caretaker. Yashamaru frowned in disapproval at the older boy, resting his hand on Gaara’s head when the child pressed into his side. “That was uncalled for, Kankuro-sama. Please apologize for your words.”

“No!”

“Kankuro, you idiot!”

A hand smacked the back of the brunet’s head, the oldest of the siblings glaring at her brother. “Apologize to him!” Temari hissed, casting a fearful glance at their youngest brother. “Do you want to get killed?”

Kankuro rubbed the sore spot, fear lancing through his expression at his sister’s words. He turned on his heel, running out of the kitchen with an insincere ‘sorry’.

Temari shifted uneasily, finally choosing to make her exit too. She sketched a short bow and ran away, not looking at Gaara or Yashamaru as she disappeared.

The man let out a soft sigh, kneeling in front of his youngest nephew. “It’s alright, Gaara-sama. They’ll come around one day.”

“Okay…”

Later that night, after setting Gaara down for a short nap, Yashamaru stood at the open window. Making sure that the child truly was asleep, he flicked his wrist in a strange motion.

It was obviously a signal, proved by the way a Suna ANBU materialized just outside the window seconds later.

“What happened at the playground today?”

“Gaara-sama played with three children, a boy and a girl around his age and an older girl. They appeared to be family and background checks showed that they are part of a group of wanderers,” the ANBU replied, curt and to the point. “They arrived in Suna yesterday evening.”

“Travelers, huh?” Yashamaru mused, tapping his chin in thought. That would certainly explain why those children hadn’t run away at the sight of his nephew. There was no way they would have witnessed the Ichibi’s rampages nor would they know that Gaara was the beast’s Jinchuuriki.

“Should we prevent them from meeting again, Yashamaru-sama?”

The man shook his head. “No, leave them be. If the Ichibi attempts to break out or attack the foreigners, intervene. Otherwise, only monitor the situation and report their interactions to me.”

“Understood.”

“You may return to your post.”

The ANBU saluted once and disappeared as quietly as he had come, leaving the sandy-haired man to his thoughts.

Somehow, he had the feeling that things were going to change soon.

“Oh? Looks like we have some tagalongs today.”

Minato straightened when he felt two young chakra signatures approach the playground. Like the previous day, the children had run off the instant breakfast was finished, and the man hadn’t had the heart to stop them, not when he had seen how Gaara’s face had lit up when his newfound friends had entered his line of sight.

Behind him, Obito grunted in question. The Uchiha was lying on his hack, one arm thrown over his eyes to keep the sun out. For once, he wasn’t stuck to Kakashi’s side, the Hatake currently accompanying Manani. The woman had wanted to look around Suna and the teen had volunteered to be her guard, partly out of curiosity about the village and partly to escape his former teammate.

“Judging by the similarity in their chakra, I’d say that they’re Gaara’s siblings.”

“Probably got curious about who had the guts to play with their ‘monstrous’ brother.”

“Yeah, I feel-Oh, dear.”

“What?”

“Looks like we have a fight on our hands.”

“Huh?”

Obito sat up and squinted at the playground where Naruto was locked in an altercation with a brown-haired boy and Karin was hissing furiously at another girl with blond pigtails. Hikari was running a hand down her face, eyes screwed tight in exasperation as Gaara clung to her legs in fear.

“I wonder if we should step in,” Minato murmured, blue eyes trained on his daughter who looked like she was about to blow a fuse.

“Nah, let Hikari handle it,” Obito instantly shot down the suggestion, his Sharingan activating for a brief instant before disappearing.

Minato looked amused, raising an eyebrow at the Uchiha as he lightly queried, “What’s the Genjutsu for?”

“Knowing the brat, she’ll probably find a way to fix the relationship between those three,” the Uchiha stated, flopping onto his back. “That would definitely include an explanation about Shukaku.”

“And any explanation of that sort, no matter how watered down, would attract the ANBU’s attention,” Minato surmised, expression showing his approval of both his daughter and student’s actions. “Good thinking, Obito.”

As the two watched, Hikari separated the squabbling quartet, sending Naruto and Karin off with Gaara while she sat down with the other two. Minato didn’t know what she told them, but it had their faces crumbling with guilt only minutes later and the girl dashed off to hug her youngest brother, who returned the embrace, albeit confused.

Curious as to what had transpired, Minato walked over to his daughter, leaving the snoozing Uchiha behind.

“Hey, Dad,” Hikari greeted, looking up at the man with a strained smile. “What is it?”

“Just wanted to know what you told those two to make their worldviews shift so abruptly.”

“Ah, that. Just the truth.”

When Minato shot a disbelieving look at her, the disguised redhead snorted. “Dad, kids mostly have a black and white view of the world at their age. And they haven’t seen Gaara at his worst, so it really was a matter of making Temari and Kankuro see things from Gaara’s point of view.”

The duo looked towards where the five kids were apologizing to each other, some sheepishly and some grudgingly. But it did look like they had put the past behind them when they immediately launched into a game, wide smiles on their faces.

“The innocence of children,” Minato smiled, ruffling his daughter’s hair and chuckling when she glared at him. “It’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it? But will their change in attitude last? I wouldn’t want Gaara to get hurt.”

“Fixing his seal will help. I’ll leave that to you, Dad.”

“Sure.”

Hikari suddenly frowned, glaring at something in the distance. “But I don’t know how the Kazekage will react. If Shukaku suddenly stops breaking out, that bastard will definitely get suspicious.”

“I know. We should stay a little longer and watch how the situation plays out.”

Minato’s casual remark had a hint of something deeper that made the girl quirk a lopsided smile at her father. “Why do I get the feeling that we’ll be around for more than ‘a little longer’?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” came the sunny reply, obviously skirting around the question posed to him. “I’m not plotting anything.”

“Right. You’re not fooling anyone, Dad.”