Chapter 59
Last Time:
'Who are you, Naruto?' Thor thought to himself
Now:
~ With Naruto ~
Naruto sat with his girls as A took a seat in a recliner opposite of him."I'm listening…" Naruto said as he put his fingers together, a common habit of his way of conducting himself with pure logic. "Naruto," Kushina began as she stepped up, "We know what we did was wrong. We want to make it up to you," she said, her voice beginning to break as tears began to flow. Naruto scoffed at her in utter amazement, "You neglected me for years, and then disowned me when I was only nine years old. How exactly do you plan on making something like that up to me?"
"Son…" Minato began, but was cut off as Naruto sent a harsh glare at him, "…Naruto…" he corrected himself, "…we know you have no reason to forgive us. We know what we did. We just…" he paused as his voice began cracking, "…we just want one more chance. One last chance to be a family," Minato finished as tears began welling in his own eyes. "And what kind of chance did either of you ever give to me, huh?" Naruto asked coldly, causing his birth parents to flinch.
Naruto internally sighed and rose from his feet, gaining their attention, before responding, "You had a few questions for me a while back. Well, now I have some of my own." He began to slowly pace the room. "Okay," Kushina said apprehensively, steeling herself as best she could for what she knew would be very difficult questions."It's no secret that I ran away from the Namikaze Estate the night Hiruzen was declared Clan Heir. Tell me, did you know what that meant for me?" Naruto demanded with venom dripping from his voice."We did," Kushina admitted.
"Good. Now, my running away cleared up a lot of problems for you, didn't it?" Naruto asked.
Minato was about to respond, but was cut off as Naruto pressed on, "Of course it did. No one to evict, no one to tell he wasn't wanted anymore. In theory, it was a best case scenario for you, wasn't it?"Naruto turned to face them before continuing, "Now, if I hadn't left, how would you have broken it to me? How would you have told your son that he wasn't wanted anymore? That he wasn't part of your family, just because he couldn't do something because of an incident beyond his control?" Naruto demanded before growling out the last question, enunciating every word.
"How did you plan to tell me that you wanted me out of your family, out of your home, out of your lives, and out of your fucking sight?" Yugito's eyes softened as she heard this. "Naruto…" she began, but didn't continue. She looked to see Minato and Kushina avoiding his eyes. "DAMN IT, ENOUGH OF YOU TWO FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELVES! STOP BEING SO DAMN COWARDLY AND GIVE ME THE ANSWERS I WANT!" Naruto yelled at the two of them. Samui tried to grab his hand, but he quickly yanked it from hers."Well?!" Naruto asked.
"I…I don't know…" Kushina said through tears, her voice a little more than a whisper. "You honestly expect me to believe that even knowing exactly what you were doing to me that night, that you didn't have a plan on how to go about it?!" Naruto retorted indignantly, "Just how stupid do you think I am?!"Kushina simply broke down and began to sob in body-wracking heaves, seemingly attempting to speak, but unable to utter any words. Naruto simply turned away from her in disgust and set his glare upon Minato."What about you, father dearest?" He spat with venom in his voice, making Minato wince.
"We…we would have done something!" Minato yelled, his mind blank for once. "Oh, and if I didn't want to leave? How would you have handled that?!" Naruto yelled. Minato was about to speak, but was cut off once more by Naruto, "Would you have tried to kick me out? Or maybe had your loyal lapdogs, the ANBU, take me away?" Naruto asked in a restrained voice."Of course not!" Minato yelled back. "THEN WHAT?! Have the local police take me away like a common criminal?!" Naruto demanded. "I don't know!" Minato yelled as he clutched his head with his hands. His posture in his chair was slumped, showing a fraction of how distraught he really was.
Naruto turned to his comrades, "Girls, A, we're done here!""WAIT A MINUTE, WHAT?!" Kushina yelled out desperately while Minato leaped to his feet, a panicked look in his eyes. "Naruto, please, don't go!" Hiruzen pleaded, his own voice beginning to break. Naruto turned to Minato and Kushina, "You two threw me out of your lives with smiles on your faces! Instead of owning up to what you'd done to me, you covered it up by putting my name in your Bingo Book stating that I was responsible for your eldest son's disappearance! Since we arrived here for the Chunin Exams, you two have done nothing but justify your actions and feed us excuses and lies! I'm leaving this village…right now…FOREVER…AND THIS IS THE LAST TIME YOU WILL EVER SEE ME AGAIN UNLESS YOU START TELLING ME THE TRUTH!"
"Okay, okay," Minato answered quickly in the hopes of keeping Naruto from walking out of their lives once more, "You're right. We'll tell you the truth from now on; just please…don't leave just yet." Naruto paused and stared pointedly at Minato and Kushina, waiting for his answer. Minato took a breath and started, "The truth is that we hadn't at that point thought about how we were going to break it to you. We were so caught up in Hiruzen that we hadn't talked about what to tell you, or what to do with you. We probably would have put you in an orphanage or something."
"You mean to tell me that you two really didn't think it through?" he asked, astounded at their lack of foresight or regard for him, "Minato, you said you were an orphan, right?" "That's right," he answered. "Tell me something: did you ever wonder if your parents loved you, or if they just abandoned you because they didn't want you?" Minato closed his eyes and sighed, "Yes…I did wonder."Naruto continued, "And you willingly orphaned me, knowing exactly how it would have affected me?" Minato paled at that, "I…I didn't even…think about that…" He admitted."Of course, you didn't. Thinking about my feelings was too damn bothersome," he responded sarcastically.
Naruto sighed as he approached Kushina, who was crying in her seat next to Minato's, "Did you look for me like you looked for Hiruzen? Did you lose a minute of sleep on me like you did on him?" She choked up more and looked away. "I'M NOT LETTING YOU OFF THAT EASY! NOW ANSWER ME, DAMN YOU!" he roared right in her face, causing her to flinch and cry out in fright as she beheld his furious grimace. "No…" she admitted through her tears, "…no, I didn't." "How often did you even think about me after you disowned me, huh? At night, did you ever wonder if I was okay? Did you ever even wonder if I was alive, for that matter?" Naruto demanded.
Kushina broke down even further as she again shook her head in the negative, "No…I didn't…"
Naruto continued, "Tell me, when did you guys actually begin to look for me? After Hiruzen left? After he decided what happened to his brother wasn't worth it?" Naruto asked, pouring salt over the proverbial wound. "It wasn't like that!" Minato exclaimed. Naruto rounded on Minato, "You keep throwing that around like an old cliché! Well, if it wasn't like that, then tell me – what exactly was it like, huh?! Enlighten me: why did you decide to search for me?" "Was it to appease Hiruzen's desire for closure? Or was it because of my exploits, despite the fact I was considered the black sheep of the family? I truly wonder, if Hiruzen had wanted to kill me, would you have trained him to the end?" Naruto demanded.
"Of course not!" Kushina quickly yelled back at him. "And why should I believe you?! You didn't even think twice about me until Hiruzen was gone. Word getting out of 'Naruto Romanov' only fanned the flames and piqued your interest!" Naruto said to her in an oddly calm voice. He then turned to Minato, "You still haven't answered my question! When did you begin looking for me and why?"
Minato steadied himself and answered. "Kushina looked for you the day after you left because Hiruzen asked her to. He was worried because he hadn't seen you. After that, no…we didn't look for you. Kushina told Hiruzen that you ran away, and we…just put the matter to rest after that. When we found out that Hiruzen knew about what we did to you, he moved out, and refused to have anything to do with us because of what we did to you. As far as wanting Hiruzen back in our home and our family, I'll admit that our search for you started out that way, but…" Minato hung his head in shame before continuing, "…we realized somewhere along the way that we'd truly done you wrong, and…we wanted to try to apologize and make it right and bring you back home and into our family again. And that's why we're here right now."
Naruto stared at Minato and Kushina in utter dumbfounded amazement, "So after what you two did to me, all you have to offer me in compensation is…an apology? How do you apologize for something like this?" "I honestly don't know," Minato responded, "All I know is that I had to try." Naruto paused for a few moments before asking sarcastically yet again, "You said you've always had a thing for the underdog. How come you never saw the one that was always right under your nose?" Naruto asked, making Minato grit his teeth and glare in response.
"DON'T YOU DARE GET INDIGNANT WITH ME, YOU SELF-RIGHTEOUS, HYPOCRITICAL PIECE OF SHIT!" Naruto bellowed at the top of his lungs, causing everyone's jaws to drop, especially Minato's and Kushina's, "YOU HAVE NO FUCKING RIGHT TO GET ANGRY WITH ME!"Seeing that he had quelled Minato's indignation, he lowered his voice, though his anger and disgust could still be heard clearly, "That hint of fatherly pride you feel for me and my exploits? You don't deserve it. The men who trained me when you shunned me; the people who fed me, clothed me, and put a roof over my head? They're the only ones who deserve it. You never did anything for me that gives you the right to fatherly pride, especially because you decided that you didn't want to be my father anymore!" Naruto said, making Minato stare at him with wide eyes.
He then turned to Kushina. "You went out of your way to keep me from learning ninja arts. I tried to learn taijutsu, you said my body couldn't handle it. When I tried to even look at a book on sealing, you took it from me and told me to move along." Naruto said, making her shrink. "I did it because of your condition! If someone with good taijutsu got the better of you and had chakra to enhance his hits, he would have killed you! And seals are dangerous enough even with chakra: one wrong move and you could have killed yourself!" Kushina tried to reason.
Naruto let out a small laugh, letting it grow louder and louder.
He then turned to Kushina with a smile on his lips, "And who's the accomplished seal master here? Your husband? I should think not; after all, you designed a major part of the Hiraishin seal. And you're a daughter of the Uzumaki: a clan who take to seals like fish to water, if I remember your husband's inscription properly." Kushina's eyes widened at this, "How…how do you know that? I wrote that in my own personal journal! I always kept that hidden amongst the books of the library!"Naruto summoned two clones, one henged as Natalya and another henged as Tony.
"She…" He began and pointed at Natalya, "…is my true mother. She taught me a fighting style where getting hit and hitting back go hand in hand, even letting me take down opponents a thousand times stronger than I. She also taught me about stealth and a few neat tricks." Naruto then turned to Tony, "This man is a genius, and I like to think of him as an uncle. Despite being only a civilian in his time, he found a way to overcome his limitations and help those in need. He did things that would blow your mind. One of them being scanning the whole Namikaze Clan Library in a few minutes and copying it to perfection," Naruto said, shocking everyone present. "I-I-Impossible!" Minato sputtered out, stunned at the very notion.
"No. Just science. You see, with her help and his, I managed to pull off what Iwa has only dreamed of. I infiltrated the Namikaze mansion and literally stole everything in your library," Naruto said, making everyone gape at him in utter disbelief, "And this was after a few years under their tutelage. Oh come on, don't be so surprised. I even went up to you and said 'Hi'." Naruto told Minato, who's wide-eyed gape turned into a confused one. "Maybe this will jar your memory," Naruto mused as he henged into the face Minato had seen so many years ago. "You're that boy Akane-chan had with her at Hiruzen's party!" Minato yelled.
"Exactly! The one kid you thought would be nothing more than a civilian did what most ANBU would have difficulty doing," Naruto exclaimed with exuberant sarcasm, shocking his family, Minato, and Kushina. "And now, my final question: Why did you stop loving me?" Naruto asked, the last question shocking them. They had no real answer for it. "Hey, big bro…I know you have every right to be angry, but maybe you should take it easy on them…" Hiruzen suggested nervously to his big brother before being interrupted by Naruto raising his hand in Hiruzen's direction.
"I have no problem with you, Hiruzen. You were merely an effect; something that happened due to an action. I do have problems with the causes," Naruto said as he turned to his parents. "We never stopped loving you! How could you say that?!" Kushina yelled at him in an enraged tone.
"Oh, gee, I don't know! Could it be because you KICKED ME OUT OF YOUR HOME WITH SMILES ON YOUR FACES WITHOUT SHOWING EVEN A SHRED OF REMORSE?!" he retorted angrily, "Why did you disown me?! Why did you let me fade into the background and let Hiruzen become the only one that mattered? The one who mommy and daddy were always doting over and teaching things to?!" Naruto yelled at her.
"What we did was for the good of the Clan, Naruto. Hiruzen was stronger than you at the time; he showed more promise!" Minato said. "Oh, that's hilarious," Naruto said as he shook his head. "What's so funny?!" Minato demanded. "That you still think the Namikazes are a clan! And that you honestly believed Hiruzen could do better because he was stronger and showed more promise. Let's start off with the clan thing. Since I've been gone and Hiruzen has been named clan heir, has anything truly changed? Has it grown?" Naruto asked as he paced the office with his hands at his back.
"It seems to me that all that has happened is that it's grown 25% weaker. Not only that, it also has a clan heir that wants nothing to do with the remaining members. So it would have gotten 50% weaker. Three people do no institute a clan, neither do two. So tell me, what did you expect from letting Hiruzen take over? What good has come of it?" Naruto asked. "And how was letting a stronger person become the heir the best thing to do? If it takes strength to rule a clan, then I'm sure Hiruzen can be replaced. The Idiot Brothers have strength that rivals Tsunade's," Naruto mused.
"They're not family," Minato said. "So you only let family take over. Then what about me? Oh wait, I had no chakra. I couldn't have done well, could I? I mean, when does a man with no chakra ever run something well? Should we ask the Daimyo of Fire Country, the big man upstairs, if you will," Minato and Kushina both recoiled at that. "Even if it was for the good of the clan, as you say, how does that make what you did any less evil, heartless, and cruel to me? It seems to me that the only good that came to the 'Clan' from disowning me was that the clan had one less body to clothe and one less mouth to feed," Naruto said, making his former family wince.
"Now I'll ask again, why did you stop loving me?" Naruto asked in a calm voice. "We! Never! Stopped! Damn it, Naruto, we never stopped loving you! We lost you once and had no reason for it. We're not asking for forgiveness; we're asking for another chance! I'd do anything for that! It doesn't matter if I have to defy the heavens or kill the gods, just for one more chance…to spend time with my son!" Kushina yelled. "STOP LYING TO ME!" Naruto yelled right back.
"YOU DIDN'T LOSE ME, YOU CHOSE TO THROW ME AWAY! YOU'VE ALREADY ADMITTED THAT YOU DIDN'T SPEND ANY TIME AT ALL THINKING ABOUT ME, OR LOSING ANY SLEEP AT ALL OVER WHAT YOU DID TO ME! IF YOU LOVED ME THE WAY YOU CLAIM YOU DID, HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A SHRED OF REMORSE OR SHAME?! IF YOU LOVED ME, HOW COULD YOU DISOWN ME AND SEND ME OUT OF YOUR HOME WITH NO KNOWLEDGE OF HOW TO SURVIVE ON MY OWN?!" He demanded.
Kushina clenched her eyes shut, and began shaking her head while repeating almost like a mantra, "I never stopped loving you! I never stopped loving you!" "Okay," Naruto said, tired of his birth mother's self-delusion, "Forget what I said about not lying to me. Stop lying to yourself!" Kushina's eyes snapped open as she stopped shaking her head, and simply stared at him in guilt and shock. Naruto continued, "The truth is that you both stopped loving me long before you kicked me out of your family. You neglected me and acted like I didn't exist for years, only noticing me when I was trying to educate myself on becoming a ninja, and even then it was only to stop me. And don't tell me it was for my own good and that I wouldn't have stood a chance against someone who could mold chakra, because you knew that my condition was temporary!"
Kushina gasped at this, while Minato closed his eyes and hung his head in shame. Naruto continued, "You could have arranged specialized training for me for a few years. I could have started with the physical conditioning required of a ninja so that I would have been in top condition and my chakra reserves would have grown even if I couldn't access them yet. And then, when I could have accessed my chakra, you could have arranged specialized training for me to learn ninjutsu and chakra molding and control so that I could have caught up with my peers. Did that even occur to either of you?"
Kushina simply shook her head in the negative as her tears began flowing freely once more. Naruto continued, "Aside from all of that, when did either of you even once take a parental interest in me as your child? How can you claim to love me when neither of you even bothered getting to know me, or even making any kind of effort to care for me?" Kushina, unable to lie to herself any longer, closed her eyes and hung her head, "I…I can't. I'm sorry, but I can't." Minato went to his wife's side and looked at him, "Naruto, what we did to you has no excuse and no redemption…"
"Then why do you keep making excuses and trying to justify and minimize your atrocities against me, then, huh?!" Naruto raised his voice at him, cutting him off. "Because the truth of what we did to you is too damn painful for us to bear!" Minato blurted out, his own voice breaking once again, "Naruto, you're right in everything you said. We've both been cowards, and we've been unwilling to see the ugly truth about ourselves! We did stop loving you…and that was our true crime! It's the single biggest regret and mistake of our lives. Even if you never forgive us, we're going to spend the rest of our lives trying to make it up to you. I will do anything in my power to make you see how sorry we are! Anything at all," Minato finished, his desperation to atone for his action quite evident.
Naruto stared at the broken people in front of him. He truly disliked them but he knew he couldn't leave things this way. Natalya was a prime example. She went down the wrong path and got on the wrong side of justice various times, but she was redeemed. All she needed was someone to give her a chance. In her case, it was Hawkeye. If he turned his back on his former family, he'd be turning his back not only on Natalya, but on everything she and the other Avengers taught him but despite all that he knew he could never forgive them or have anything to do with them.
Despite how much it galled him, he made his decision and turned to his birth parents, "We will never be a family. That much I can guarantee you, Minato and Kushina. Frankly, I think that you're two of the most disgusting and reprehensible excuses for human beings that I've ever seen!" Minato and Kushina began to cry, their hopes at reconciliation with the son they threw away completely dashed before Naruto spoke up once more, "However, I was taught that no one is past redemption, that hate is human, and that forgiveness is rare. Hate is a vicious cycle that only leads to more hate, and I can honestly say I don't hate you."
They perked up at that, their eyes becoming filled with hope, as Naruto continued, "If you hadn't done what you did, I would have never found my family…" he dispelled Tony and Natalya, "…or the loves of my life…" he pulled Yugito and Samui close to him, "…or my new home. It won't be easy, and I'm only doing this to honor what my true family raised me to be, but I believe at the very least we could work to build something, and maybe we can even become friends down the road," Naruto said as he got up from his seat.
"This does not mean that your past atrocities against me are erased. This only means that you have a chance to redeem yourselves. I suggest you take full advantage of it," Naruto said as he went to the door and motioned for the others and Hiruzen to follow, "But honestly, I can no longer stomach the sight of either one of you right now. So, if you'll excuse me, I have a younger brother to catch up with," Naruto finished and left. As Minato held his wife close to him, he let a waterfall of tears fall from his eyes. These were tears of joy. Despite the fact that they had wronged him so, his son still gave them a chance to be in his life. 'I promise you Naruto, we will not fail you ever again,' Minato and Kushina silently pledged to themselves.