Chapter Text
PART ONE
Chapter One: The Aftermath
Minato stood in the clearing staring at his wife’s limp body vaguely hearing a baby crying in the background. He knew he should be crying but everything felt so numb.
“Take Care of Naruto” were Kushina’s last words to him and remembering that he finds himself looking towards the crying baby. His son. Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. Still unable to
move, he realizes he’s on the verge of collapse. He’s exhausted, hungry and the pain of losing his wife is slowly seeping in.
He hears foot steps approaching and he immediately jumps up ready to defend his wife’s body and his son. It’s hard to stand but he calls on the remaining of his chakra and picks up a kunai off the floor.
He looks up and sees Lord Third, Kakashi, Genma and Raido running toward him with worried expressions. Kakashi reaches him first and whatever look he sees on Minato’s face turns his worried look to horror.
“Sensei” He says shakily and reaches out to him.
Minato smiles weakly and drops the kunai, “Oh, it’s just you guys” he says before everything goes black.
——
Minato’s sense of smell is the first to arrive and immediately he knew he was in the hospital, hearing the beeps of the monitor right after confirmed he was right. He opens his eyes and and squints because it was so bright.
“Sensei, are you awake?”
He turns toward Kakashi’s voice, “Close the blinds”. He hears shuffling and then the room gets darker.
Kakashi comes back to his side and reaches for a glass of water and brings it to his lips. He drinks it eagerly before pulling away.
“Thank you. How long have I been out?” He asked looking around the room. He starts to panic when he doesn’t see Naruto. “Where’s my son?”
“He’s with some caretakers at the orphanage and it’s been four days, Sensei” Kakashi said quietly.
“Four days?!” Minato attempted to sit up and get out of bed. Kakashi is immediately there to push him back down gently
“Sensei, you lost a lot of chakra. You need to go back to sleep or at least get checked by a nurse before going anywhere”
Minato nodded, “Okay. Go get a doctor immediately then. I need to go back to the tower Kakashi, a lot has to be done”
Kakashi stands up to follow his teacher’s orders, “Lord Third has taken the Hokage mantle until you woke up. I’ll get a doctor to come see you and alert Lord Third that you’re up”
“Wait, I would like to see my son and I also would like to know why he’s already at an orphanage because as you can see I’m not dead”
“Of course Sensei” Minato watches as Kakashi flickers away.
A few minutes later, a doctor walks in with a clip board in his hands.
“Hello, Lord Fourth, how are you feeling?” He asked with a smile
Minato smiles back weakly, “I’m getting there”
“That’s good to hear. I just want to check your vitals and the chakra levels. If everything checks out you can be released today.”
“Yes doctor that would be great”
The doctor put the clipboard at the foot of the bed and comes closer to Minato with his hands glowing green. He scans Minato’s body for anything unusual and finds nothing.
“Looks like you just needed some rest Hokage-Sama. Your chakra levels are not one hundred percent yet but with food and a bit more rest it should be in a couple of days. I will go ahead and give the order to have you checked out”
Minato felt relieved, “Thank you so much doctor”
“You’re welcome, Hokage-Sama. I believe you have some visitors”
Minato turns his head and his heart almost stops when he sees Kakashi holding a sleeping Naruto in his arms.
The doctor leaves quietly and Kakashi steps forward and hands Naruto to him.
Minato looks down at his sleeping son and feels his heart in his throat. Tears start gathering in his eyes at how beautiful his son is.
“I never thought I could love someone so much” He says
“I’ll give you a moment with him. I also brought a change of clothes for you. I’ll set it here on this chair”
“Thank you so much Kakashi” He says gratefully
Kakashi nods and walks out.
When the door closes behind him, Minato looks back down at Naruto in awe. “I wish Kushina could see you” he whispers to the sleeping baby.
Naruto squirms a bit but doesn’t wake up.
Tears start to gather in Minato’s eyes unable to hold back at the thought of his dead wife. How am I going to do this without you, my love?
He takes a few moments to let his tears out while looks down at his son.
“I promise you Kushina, I will make sure he is always happy and strong”
He starts to wipe his tears when he feels the approaching chakra.
He hears a knock followed by his Sensei and Lord Third entering the room.
“There’s my favorite student. How you feeling Minato?” Jiraiya practically yells waking up his sleeping baby. Minato immediately feels his irritation flare. Naruto starts to cry and Minato’s first duties as a father begins. Minato looks up as he tries to soothe Naruto back to sleep and glares at his Sensei.
“Can you please speak with your inside voice around my baby?”
Jiraiya winces, “Sorry Papa Minato”
Hiruzen chuckles, “Are you feeling well, Minato? There’s much to discuss”
“Yes Sandaime-Sama. Please fill me in on what I’ve missed”
Hiruzen signes and sits on a chair near the bed while Jiraiya stands by the window.
“As you can see, I summoned Jiraiya here because of everything that’s going on. People are angry, confused and scared since the attack four days ago. They’re even more wary because their acting Hokage has been unconscious. There’s been some distrust toward the Uchiha because of rumors of them controlling the nine tails. We haven’t had a funeral for the deceased because we wanted to wait for you. We have started rebuilding, though but that’s about it” Hiruzen finishes with a sigh.
Minato takes a closer look and sees how much older his predecessor looks since he last saw him.
“Okay, I want an announcement made that I am awake and will resume my position in office. I would like a meeting with the clan heads this evening to explain what happen during the fight and eliminate this distrust toward the Uchiha. I would also like to call a village meeting after the clan meeting to clear that up as well. I fought the masked man personally and I can assure you he wasn’t associated with the Uchiha in the village—“
Jiraiya looks up noticing the play on Minato’s words, “Not associated with the Uchiha in the village so does that mean—-?”
Minato puts a hand up, “All will be revealed later at the clan meeting. Besides the heads of the clan I would like you to be there Sensei, along with the advisors and my team. I would like to set the funeral for the deceased tomorrow morning and also see the plans for the rebuilding”
Hiruzen smiles and stands up, “I will get to it. Everyday you prove to me that I made the right choice in choosing you as Hokage”
“Thank you Lord Third” Hiruzen nods and walks out of the room.
Jiraiya comes to sit on the previously occupied chair, “I’m sorry for your loss kid”
“Thank you Sensei. It’s going to be a hard journey without her”
“Yes it will but you will get through it because that’s just the type of person you are” Jiraiya says patting his leg. “So what happened to the nine tails? Did Kushina take him with her?”
“No actually” Minato lifts Naruto up and feeds a little chakra to his seal, revealing it. “I sealed half of him into Naruto and the other half into myself”
Jiraiya jerks up, “How did you survive that?”
“I was going to do the reaper death seal on myself but Kushina volunteered herself since she was already on the verge of dying” Minato pauses taking a deep breath. “She started telling me how she can already imagine the hardships Naruto would have to go through without both his parents so he needs to at least have one around. She did it before I can even stop her.”
“That’s tough kid. I know I’m always out of the village but I’ll be sticking around for the next few weeks before heading out again. I’m here to do whatever you need me to”
“Thank you sensei. I’m actually going to take you up on that offer right now. I have to change, can you hold Naruto for me while?” He asked
“Minato, I don’t know the first thing about holding a baby” Jiraiya says but reaches out to grab Naruto anyway
Minato chuckles, grabs his clothes and slowly walks to the bathroom.
He immediately turns on the tap and washes his face. As much rest as he got, he still looks tired.
I am a father now. I have to be strong for my son.
Minato quickly changes and walks out to see Jiraiya holding Naruto away from him.
“Uh, I think your baby needs a change of diaper”
Minato chuckles and grabs Naruto looking around, “Hm, it seems Kakashi didn’t bring anything else for him. I have to go ask a nurse for some diapers”
After quickly changing Naruto, Minato decided to walk to the Hokage tower instead of teleporting so his people can see him.
He gets a lot of greetings and well wishes.
He reaches the Hokage tower in record speed and ascends to his office.
Hiruzen stands up as soon as he sees Minato.
“Your chair” He says with a chuckle as he moved away from the desk. “Lady Uchiha took the liberty of bringing bunch of things in here for Naruto” Hiruzen points to the corner where there’s a baby seat, a diaper and bottle bag along with formula and toys waiting for Naruto.
“Thank you Lord Third” Minato takes his seat. “I will remember to send Mikoto a letter of gratitude”
“The meeting with the clan leaders is in 2 hours. Followed by the village meeting” Hiruzen confirmed
“Can I see the rebuilding plans?”
Hiruzen moves a few paper on the desk revealing the set up for the rebuilding
“The academy comes first. We want the students to start going back to school next week. Then it’s the local market fronts and food stores and civilian houses and Shinobi blocks” Hiruzen pointed out
“Looks good. Thank you Lord Third.” Minato turns to out Naruto down in the chair Mikoto brought.
“Cat” He says and immediately an ANBU is in front of him, “Please Summon Kakashi along with Genma, Raido and Ino-Shika-Cho”
“Yes Yondaime Sama” Cat immediately disappears after.
Naruto wakes immediately after.