Chapter 14

Two years later.

"Are you serious? Water Country surrendered?"

Naruto chuckled at the unbelieving tone of his wife. It sounded much like his own when Hiruzen and Sakumo had confirmed it with him. Grabbing his tea from the counter, he moved over to the table where both Mikoto and son were seated.

Every time he saw his son he thought the whole situation was rather surreal. Mikoto was torn over if she wanted to have their children have the same names as her counterpart from Naruto's future, but in the end decided if they had a son... well, it was meant to be. It did end up being a boy, so once again Itachi was brought into the world. At just about a year and a half old, it was still too soon to see which parent he would take after the most as he hadn't quite lost all his baby fat yet, but if his black hair and dark brown eyes were any indication, it would definitely be his mother. Interestingly enough the child did not have any whisker marks on his cheeks, and after conferring with Kurama about it, they agreed it was because the bijuu was not actually inside Naruto's seal at the time of conception. The fact that trace amounts of Kurama's chakra was still in Naruto evidently didn't mean anything... or at least not enough to have any immediate effects.

"Yes, both Hiruzen and Sakumo confirmed it. I was surprised that it happened so soon, but considering how weak they must be with the loss of pretty much all their bloodline clans... I guess it was to be expected. We still have no idea why they entered the war in the first place, and unfortunately now Yagura is missing."

Mikoto shook her head as she held up the spoon with food in an attempt to keep Itachi from making a mess, which he seemed fond of doing. She knew Naruto was especially upset about that, he had been planning on going in soon to get Yagura out, but the country surrendered the moment they realized Yagura was no longer there. According to Naruto, the jinchuuriki for Saiken was missing as well... he had no idea where they were. That couldn't be good.

Still, it wasn't good dwelling on that, there were still plenty more paths to take."So our secret pact with Kumo worked out then?"

Naruto nodded. "Better than I think anyone would have believed. With us working together, we can force Iwa to stay isolated. They've been focusing more on Suna than us, and I think Wind Country is really starting to feel the pressure. Konoha will just cut Iwa off, while Kumo can either help or go in for the kill. That was the agreement."

"What of Water Country?" Mikoto was desperately trying to keep Itachi from banging his hands on the table, and finally gave up, pulling the bowl into her lap. She tossed Naruto an exasperated look as he chuckled at the predicament. "Would you like to feed him?"

"No, no... I went through the same thing last night." Naruto waved his free hand in a 'no thank-you' gesture. "To answer your other question, we're going to retain control of the country until the end of the war, and then after that we'll release it. They were too weak and never should have entered in the first place. They'll have to rebuild though - they may not ever be considered part of the great five ever again."

"Part of me feels sorry for them... what was the Mizukage thinki- ah! Itachi, don't pull!"

Mikoto had stopped trying to feed Itachi for a moment while he was banging his hands on the table. Apparently he felt hungry again and decided to get his mothers attention by grabbing at her hair and tugging it. Naruto tried not to smile as he watched his wife carefully try to extract her hair from Itachi's little fingers.

"Well, we've known the Mizukage wasn't really himself. From the little knowledge I have, I believe that the Sandaime... or Tobi, or Madara, or whatever name or title he's going by right now - is still alive and active - and has been using the Yondaime as a puppet. Now that his power base has crumbled, however... it makes me wonder what he's going to do next."

"Do you think he'll try to get another Kage under his control?"

"He might try." Naruto gulped down the rest of his tea before continuing, "But there are no other Kage with a bijuu sealed in them and Sharingan mind-control for an extended duration without one is almost impossible. He doesn't have the chakra to hold it for maybe more than a month, and that wouldn't be enough time to put any plans into effect without people noticing a personality change."

Having finally removed her hair from Itachi's hands, Mikoto nodded in agreement. Even though Naruto didn't have the Sharingan, sometimes it amazed her just how much he knew about it. She had to constantly remind herself that he had been fighting at least one person who had a Sharingan for the most of the second half of his life. Some of the tricks he could pull off while they were sparring shocked her. For example, she'd never had anyone fight her by only looking at her hands and feet.

As she helped Itachi finish off his dinner, there was a knock on their front door. Mikoto watched as her husband climbed to his feet to go get it.

It was barely a minute later when he returned with a bright-eyed, smiling Minato. Every time she saw the two of them standing next to each other she would have sworn they were brothers – probably along with everyone else in Konoha - so it was a good thing that she knew what their real relation was. It was an interesting day when Kushina came up to her and the first words out of her mouth were 'My son is hot, isn't he?'. According to the redhead, the look on Mikoto's face was priceless when she heard the question.

She did agree (of course) after finally coming to terms with the fact that it was her husband's future mother that said it.

"Hey there Mikoto! Sorry to bother you tonight." After his quick greeting, he immediately went over to Itachi and started making crazy faces at the little boy, who started squealing with delight and chanting 'To! 'To! - because that's all he could pronounce so far.

"It's fine. Itachi is all fed and will likely start falling asleep soon. What brings you here?"

Minato looked up from where he was kneeling by Itachi for a moment, and glanced between the parents. "Business, I'm afraid. Hokage-sama has asked that Naruto and his team back up mine on our next mission. Kakashi just made jonin and this will be his first assignment as field leader, but Hiruzen suggested a backup team just in case.

"Any particular reason?" Naruto asked.

"Not that he shared with me," Minato murmured. After a brief pause, he continued, "Our mission takes us to Earth Country's border... the Kannabi Bridge needs to be destroyed to keep their forces out of Grass. They'd use it for supply convoys for their operations beyond the border, otherwise. Hokage-sama wants to get a jump on keeping Iwa pinned down without being able to spread, and Kumo will start performing surgical strikes once we've completed a set of objectives."

"But there has to be dozens of bridges, even just along the border of Grass Country alone." Mikoto had picked up Itachi, who was finally starting to show some tiredness. His eyes were drooping and his head was resting against his mother's shoulder.

Minato nodded, "I mentioned the same thing. Apparently this one bridge they want us to take out is the main one in the area and a lot of traffic goes through it. There are no other bridges within at least three days walking distance - the canyon it spans is too large and another bridge would be too costly."

"Even so, shouldn't a surgical team be able to take on this mission? It's just to blow up a bridge. Why do they need three jonin and five chunin to handle it? Will it be that well defended?"

"Hokage-sama wants to be well prepared for any contingencies. He doesn't know what the enemy strength will be like. There could be upwards of a battalion guarding it."

"I still think it's overkill. But if Hokage-sama assigned the mission, then so be it." Mikoto was speaking to Minato, but had been staring at Naruto for most of the conversation.

He had been trying to keep his face in an expressionless mask as he listened in, but judging by the look on her face, he wasn't successful in that endeavor. As his wife finished talking, her attention fully focused on him - it was obvious that she believed something was up. He knew that would happen if he remained silent the entire time.

Minato's voice entered his conscious before he could do anything to try and placate her, "Aww, Mikoto, you're just upset because I'll be tearing your husband away from you for about a week. You'll be fine."

Mikoto's attention shifted to her old teammate, where she pinned him with a hard stare for a moment. Minato visibly shivered when a grin slowly spread across her face. "Yes... and I'm sure Kushina will miss you too. We'll have to come up with something to do while you're gone so that when you return you'll never want to leave again."

Just short of panicking, Minato turned to the other blond in the room, looking at him with wild eyes. "What have you been teaching her? She never used to be like this!"

Naruto simply chuckled. "Who says it's me? I know Kushina-chan is a pretty corrupting influence by herself. Anything else Mikoto picked up, she did on her own."

None of Naruto's words did anything to settle Minato, not that they were intended to. Letting out a sigh, the future Hokage simply waved a hand about airily, and started for the exit. "Right. Now I have to go talk to Kushina and make sure she doesn't do anything while I'm gone. I'll meet you at the main gate with your team at six in the morning, okay?"

"I'll be there."

Naruto watched as Minato exited their house, quietly closing the door behind him. Once out of sight, he turned to look at his wife, who was holding Itachi in her arms while staring at him with narrowed eyes. "I'm going to go put our son to bed, then I think you have some explaining to do."

Without giving him a chance to say anything, she disappeared further into the house, carrying the young boy with her. Once he could no longer see her, Naruto let out a sigh before moving into their living room, getting comfortable on the couch. This mission took him by surprise too... he knew that it would be coming around sooner or later, but the exact timing was unknown to him. On top of that, he only had the faintest of ideas how Kumo was supposed to play a role in all this - when Kakashi was telling him the stories of his past that he could remember from his life before Naruto went back in time, Kumo was just another enemy they were facing.

Now, however, they were unspoken allies. He capitalized on a chance meeting with Ei and Killer Bee in the wild forests of Valley Country. It was just him, Minato, and two other jonin on what was supposed to be early reconnaissance, but with Ei being a bit of a hothead they got into a scuffle. Minato had stunned them with his speed, though with the help of Killer Bee, Naruto managed to get everyone calmed down enough to talk rationally. The four of them went off to talk, and after recognizing the power of the two blonds, Ei agreed that it would be best if they worked together, even if it really wasn't public knowledge that they were allies.

That in turn led to a whole other series of secret meetings, but the deal wasn't sealed until he managed to get Kushina and Killer Bee in the same room. Pulling them all into a shared mindscape, Naruto and Kurama managed to relate what was really going on to Bee, and by extension, Gyuuki. That information was then passed on to Ei and eventually Matatabi, and after another month, the secret alliance between Kumo and Konoha was ratified.

They weren't told the entire truth of where Naruto was from, only that he was privy to special, unique knowledge that he shouldn't know normally. He able to use it to pull the bloodline clans away from Kiri. The fact that Naruto knew how the Sandaime Raikage had been grievously wounded by Gyuuki helped as proof, since very few people even in Kumo knew about it. While this immediately made him a target and a threat, Gyuuki and Bee talked Ei, the soon-to-be Yondaime Raikage, down from doing anything rash. They would be better as allies than as enemies. Besides, it was no secret that the other villages were wary of facing Konoha, especially now.

Iwa refused to back down, and Suna wasn't going to stop until Iwa did. Konoha was supposed to help Suna as an ally, but since Konoha had so far chosen to remain neutral and only help the lesser nations caught in the crossfire, their relationship was quickly chilling. But for the relations they lost with Suna, they gained with Kumo... which was arguably a stronger village than Suna anyway.

"So, I think you owed me an explanation?"

Naruto looked up at his wife as she entered the living room. She wasn't staring any more, but she did seem rather perplexed. Before he could even get started, she plopped down next to him and rested against his side. Between running the clan and raising their son, she was always completely tired by the end of the day. He had briefly thought about hiring someone to help out, but since Mikoto hadn't asked he didn't bother. She had a fierce independent streak and he knew better than to get in her way.

"I only faintly know what this is about. Hokage-sama asked me to tell him everything I remembered about the war, and I also relayed some of future Kakashi's memories too him. So I don't know the details, only the basics. This mission was one of them."

His wife eyed him for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Okay. I just thought you knew more, since you were being so quiet."

"Not really, no." Naruto lifted his arm that Mikoto was leaning against, and draped it around over her shoulders. "This time I was actually being quiet so I knew what was going on for a change."

He heard Mikoto chuckle as she leaned further into him. "You, being quiet and listening? Who are you and what have you done with my husband?"

"Hey!"

Mikoto chuckled again and turned to look up at him, kissing his cheek before settling back under his arm. "So what do you know about the mission other than what Minato said?"

Naruto scratched at the side of his head with his free hand, humming for a moment. "Well, the only thing that ever really stood out when Kakashi told me about it was Obito's death, because it kinda-"

"Wait, what? Obito?" Mikoto had turned from under his arm to look him in the face. All Naruto could do was smile grimly and nod.

"I think that's probably why Hokage-sama also assigned me this mission. I confessed that Obito is the type of person I would consider a huge influence, at least when I take into consideration just how much he changed Kakashi right before his death, and even more after."

He decided to keep the knowledge about Obito perhaps not having truly died to himself. Of all the encounters he'd had with the masked man named Tobi, he did always seem to know a lot more about both himself and Kakashi than he should have. Sadly, they never got to see behind the mask, so it was only educated guesswork as to his true identity.

Mikoto had leaned forward, her forehead resting against Naruto's chest as he chose to continue talking, "One of the things that Kakashi always drilled into us when we were training was that 'Those who fail their mission are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are even worse than trash.' One guess as to who said that."

"Obito?"

"Correct. I know it doesn't really sound like something he'd say, does it?"

Mikoto shook her head as she lifted it, looking amused. "No, it really doesn't. What brought it about?"

Naruto sighed, "From what I can remember, Minato had gone to blow up the bridge while leaving Kakashi in charge to take care of secondary objectives. Something happened and Rin got captured, Iwa was going to try to interrogate her for information. Kakashi wanted to continue the mission and complete it before they found out, but Obito wanted to go after Rin and save her, to hell with the mission. That's where the saying came from. I know his obvious crush on the girl was probably cause for some of it, but... well..." Naruto trailed off, shrugging.

Mikoto stared at her husband for a moment before frowning slightly. "It... sort of makes sense now. So what did they do?"

"Obito left and started tracking Rin. He found her and started attacking the Iwa nin guarding her, only for Kakashi to show up and help them fight. In the process, Kakashi's sword broke and he lost an eye, but they did manage to save Rin. Unfortunately, she was being held in a cave and traps were triggered, starting a cave-in. Obito managed to make sure Kakashi and Rin got out, but he was crushed by rubble. Before his death he gave one of his Sharingan eyes to Kakashi."

Mikoto was silent for a moment. "While it's horrible to hear about Obito's death, it was nice of him to do."

"Yep. Then Kakashi started emulating Obito's qualities in a way to honor him. Of course he chose to do some of the more annoying things, such as being late to everything..."

Naruto trailed off, leaving the rest unsaid. He didn't really need to though, he'd been with Mikoto long enough now to know that if she needed clarification on something, she'd definitely ask. Looking down slightly, he noticed that she had her eyes closed as she leaned against him.

"Tired?"

"Mhmm."

"I don't think anyone would mind if you took a break from clan duties for a while, this way you could spend some time relaxing and being with Itachi."

"Other than you, who could I dump all that stuff on? Definitely not my father, and I don't trust the elders to do things the way we want them done without having to watch every moment." A sigh left her lips as she finished. He had tried to get his wife to take a break before, but it always came down to the same things.

"I think you're running yourself ragged, though. Every day you look more and more tired."

"I know, but we've made so many strides in getting the clan connected to Konoha in ways it never has been before. I don't want to lose any of that momentum, and I'm afraid it will if I take a break."

"That's a pretty irrational fear. You have no way of knowing if things will stall or not."

"Stop it." Mikoto gently slapped at his stomach with an open palm. "I know your tricks, mister. You're not going to goad me into taking time off. We have a plan, and I'll be damned if I take a break before it's done. Besides, it's not like you get a lot of time off either. Considering you're responsible for overseeing the construction of newest, third ring of Konoha, I'd say you could use a break too."

"Okay, okay, you win. Just do me a favor, alright?"

Mikoto shifted her head to look at him, the questioning look in her eyes being all he needed to continue.

"When I get back from this mission, just take one day off. I'll do the same, and we can spend a day together as family. You, me, Itachi, and Anko. How about it?" Before she could reply, he leaned down to give her a quick peck on the lips.

When he leaned back, Mikoto graced him with a small smile. "Deal. I think I can manage a full day if you can."

This time she moved up to kiss him. Hers, however, wasn't very brief at all.

Naruto was watching on, amused, as the six kids in front of him all began trying to tell each other about how incredibly well they performed in all of their missions up to this point, all trying to outdo the others. Sparing a glance at Minato, he noticed that the other blond seemed to be feeling similar sentiments - if the smile on his face was any indication.

As he listened in, he observed them one by one. Kakashi was only interjecting when necessary, and it was usually just to correct something. Otherwise he was looking around while not being too obvious about it. It was a good thing too, since the silver-haired kid was in charge of this particular mission.

Rin was being quiet, as was Takuya. Naruto idly wondered for a moment if all those who took up healing had a similar temperament, as neither of them were really participating, but obviously listening to the goings-on. To date, Tsunade and Sakura were the only two people in his memory that could heal expertly but were also explosively violent and deadly when provoked. Neither Rin nor Takuya could make a person fear for their life just by glaring at them - at least not yet. He was working on it with Takuya, at least... the kid had some rather scary techniques in his genjutsu repertoire. Rin, though... he had no idea. Hopefully Minato was doing something.

Anko and Obito were the two loudest in the group, as usual. They were the ones who were going back and forth with each other about who did better than who. Naruto could only imagine what it would be like if Tora the cat was alive now... they'd probably be bickering about who caught the cat faster or used a better trap to capture it. He had to admit, however, that listening to who had a better gardening or painting technique never got old. It was too bad that D-Ranks were fairly rare during war time, otherwise they'd probably have some interesting dog walking and babysitting stories as well.

The final member of their group, Yuugao, was taking up the rear of their makeshift formation, and was right in front of him. While he was proud of Takuya and Anko for their own individual reasons, Yuugao was his pride and joy of the team. She was serious, but knew how to relax when there was downtime. She was a diligent student, and would absorb anything he was willing to teach like a sponge. Even her kenjutsu had grown in leaps and bounds - she was very proficient in it since he set her up with an apprenticeship to one Gekkou Noboru.

Apparently he was the father of her new crush, Gekkou Hayate, she happily announced the day after he had introduced them. He found himself in a hug that nearly crushed his ribs before their training started. He had no idea about her crush, but congratulated her and wished her good luck, only for the poor girl to finally realize just what she had said. Her embarrassment didn't last long, since she was just too excited to care.

Now, however, she was studiously watching the surroundings as well, just like Kakashi. It made sense for her to do so, since he knew her goal was to apply for Special Jonin status within the next few months. He had set her up with a list of things she needed to be prepared to do, and she was taking to it like a fish to water.

"Alright everyone, this looks like a good spot to set up camp. Let's set up, then we'll review our objectives for the next two days."

Minato's announcement pulled Naruto from his musings, and he observed as everyone immediately quieted down and began quickly unpacking gear and prepping camp. The moment it was done, he got everyone's attention, and began going over the plan.

"Okay, first – Naruto and I will be performing early reconnaissance on the Kannabi Bridge, just to see what kind of defenses they have there. If it's nothing too bad, we may just be able to take it out on our own. Unfortunately, Sandaime-sama believes they have built up their defenses rather solidly, so we may be calling in for the rest of you to help.

"Until that time comes, Kakashi will be in charge. I've already briefed him on some secondary objectives that need to be taken care of. He'll organize assignments as he sees fit, and if any of you have any issues I expect you to be professional and take it up with him in private. Am I understood?"

All of the chunin present nodded, and Naruto found his own head bobbing up and down briefly. Even in such a small setting as this, Naruto could easily see Minato's future as Yondaime and carrying the same authority that he saw in Hiruzen. He didn't even have to be loud, to the contrary – Minato was generally very soft spoken, always claiming Kushina was loud enough for the both of them. It was just the way the man carried himself that made you want to follow him. Naruto had heard similar things about himself during the Fourth war.

Realizing that Minato had finished, Naruto refocused on the goings-on, only to realize that all of the chunin were staring at him now, probably to see if he had anything to add. Looking at his own team, he gestured at them, "Do you three have your seals primed?"

Anko, Takuya, and Yuugao all nodded simultaneously, each of them holding up their hands, showing the back of them to him. All three had intricate-looking seals inscribed on the back. Naruto didn't need to say anything further, and simply nodded at them.

"I don't think I've ever seen a seal like that. What is it for?"

Naruto turned to look sideways at Minato, who had moved over and casually began looking at the back of Yuugao's hand. The chunin held it up so that he could get a better view.

"It's a summoning array tuned to my chakra, so with a little application of blood they can summon me to their position in an emergency. If they don't have time for that, all they have to do is push a little of their chakra into it and it will act as a beacon of sorts, leading me right to them."

Minato stopped looking at Yuugao's hand and turned to Naruto. "The applications of that sound pretty useful. What's the range?"

Naruto shrugged, "When I was first testing it, I traveled all the way to Uzushio, and I could still feel pulses from Mikoto at home in Konoha."

Minato's eyes widened drastically. The range on it was huge. "How come you didn't say anything?"

"It's still being tested. My team has tried to summon me three times and it has only worked once so far. However the time they did succeed my chakra was a bit drained. So I think it's like when trying to perform a standard animal summon, the more chakra they have, the more you need to summon them. I've been trying to find ways to cut down on chakra usage."

"Have you talked to Kushina?"

Naruto shook his head. "Not really. I've been trying to do this on my own, and Kushina is usually pretty busy." He neglected to mention that he had been training her to use Kurama's chakra for a while now as well as working on a seal for Kurama to travel between the two of them, but there were some things he didn't want to share in front of everyone, even if he trusted them all.

"Well, she's a seal master and helped me out plenty with the Hiraishin, among other things, so maybe if you talk to her she'll have some ideas. In the meantime, can you also add that to my team, or will that take too long?"

Naruto was honestly surprised, and it must have shown on his face. "I can... but what about Hiraishin, I thought you gave a kunai to Kakashi?"

"I did. But I'd feel better knowing that you'd be aware of any potential issues if one of them used the beacon, rather than them using my kunai. I doubt it would happen, but a kunai could always be lost or misplaced. A seal on the back of their hand won't. I'd apply a Hiraishin seal but they fade off after about a day. It sounds like yours doesn't."

Understanding, Naruto nodded, and pulled some ink and a brush from one of his pouches. Kneeling down, he beckoned the three other members of Minato's team over. Each of them formed a line, Kakashi being first. Taking off his glove, he presented his hand to Naruto.

"The principle of the seal is fairly simple. Push a little chakra into it, and it will latch on, constantly draining chakra as it lets me know that you're calling. The amount of chakra it uses is barely a trickle, so unless you're dangerously low on chakra already it's unlikely that you'll feel it," Naruto explained to the three of them as he started painting it on the back of Kakashi's hand.

"You can shut it off the same way if you're really low on chakra, just sever the connection. If you still have a lot of chakra left and can't sense the drain to turn it off, I can when I get to you. The summoning works the same way an animal summon would, but we're still working on fine-tuning it. If you have any questions about it, ask Anko, as I've worked on it more with her than anyone else."

"Got it." Kakashi nodded at him, and when he was done, Obito moved forward for his turn. Rin followed after, and when they were all done, Naruto turned to Minato, asking if he wanted it as well.

"You think I'll need it?"

"It's not really a matter of needing. I follow the philosophy of 'better safe than sorry', or perhaps in this case, better prepared than not. It's up to you, though just to let you know, Mikoto asked me to keep one on her permanently, just in case."

"I see. We can talk more about it when we get home. I also want to bring Kushina in on it, and maybe we can work together and make it a more permanent part of our forces. How about it?"

It was what Naruto had been planning on anyway, so he simply agreed. He had thought about sharing the seal with Minato based upon the man's usage of Hiraishin, but there was always so much other stuff to do that it was fairly low on his list of priorities. But if Minato wanted to look at it more closely, he wouldn't stop him. Kushina was aware of the seal, but he had avoided asking her for too much help as it was something he was trying to learn on his own.

"Alright. Now that we're done here, we'll camp for the night and head out tomorrow. Unless anyone has anything to say?"

No one spoke up, so they settled in for the night. Naruto sent a quick pulse of chakra from the beacon that he had linked to him from Mikoto, and after a minute he felt a response from her. Sleep arrived quickly after that. Tomorrow hopefully wouldn't turn out the same way it did where he came from.

"Minato!"

The other blond he was traveling with turned his head to look over his shoulder. Naruto was waving him down, telling him to hold up, so he immediately followed his companion down to the forest floor.

"Is something wrong?"

Naruto shook his head, but was staring at Minato oddly. Just when he was starting to get impatient, Naruto let out a sigh and rubbed at the back of his head.

"I was trying to convince myself to wait to tell you about this, but there is no better opportunity than now. We're on a mission and not being observed in the village, and there are no others around to listen in. Since we don't train alone together anymore, I probably could have isolated you in a training area over the years, but I've never really had a good opportunity without making anyone suspicious."

Minato was trying to keep a passive expression on his face, but if Naruto didn't know better he believed the man's mind was going a mile a minute. "Er... okay?"

The time-traveler chuckled briefly, then leaned back against a tree he was standing near. "Mikoto always told me that the best place to start telling a story from is the beginning, and it helped me when I had to tell these things to Kushina as well. It's a bit harder now since it's been so long, but... anyway. I was born on October 10th, a little after the end of the Third Great Shinobi War."

Naruto watched as Minato tried to process what he was saying. It was faintly amusing watching the confusion work over his features, much the same was as it had for Kushina, and Mikoto before her. However, unlike them, it barely took a minute for Minato to come to terms with what this meant.

"So you you really are from the future, then."

The surprise must have shown on Naruto's face, because Minato grinned slightly. "While Hiruzen hasn't explicitly stated so, he's shown me some of his files and made comments about there being more to you than meets the eye. I am the Yondaime Hokage, even if I haven't been officially sworn in yet. I haven't figured out everything about you, but I know you're a special case."

Minato looked away before continuing, one of his hands pushing back through his wild mane of hair. "Well, now that I'm thinking about it, it all makes sense. You arrived in the middle of nowhere, and no one had ever heard of or seen you before. You claimed to come from a clan where no one was left who could verify your story. You're incredibly strong and know things about people that I'd bet you probably shouldn't really know. Besides that, no matter how much you tried to play it off, you knew how to counter the Hiraishin from the very beginning and are still the only one who can. The only reason you would know how to do that is if you know how to do it yourself. You can, right?"

Naruto nodded, slowly, still stunned at how Minato had managed to piece all this together so quickly – even if he had gotten a few hints. "But... how... why did you never say anything before?"

His future father simply shrugged his shoulders, and looked up into the trees. "Sandaime-sama has trusted you for years, so that automatically made me trust you. You're pretty much one of my best friends, and you've never lied to me... well, not unless it pertained to the time-travel, anyway. You've probably done more for Konoha than anyone else alive, except maybe Sandaime-sama, and even that is stretching it. If I didn't know that you don't want to be, if you asked I think they'd be willing to make you Hokage the day this war ends, instead of me."

Naruto found himself wiping his eyes, since they were getting a bit misty. Shaking his head with a smile, he couldn't stop himself from saying, "Thanks, dad."

That particular comment brought Minato up short, but was followed with a genuine smile. Naruto was startled as the other blond moved forward swiftly, pulling him into a tight hug.

"Minato, wha-"

"I wonder how many fathers can say that their son was their best friend?"

His voice was low, but Naruto could hear the emotion behind it. He returned the hug for a moment before they split apart. Minato looked satisfied, like several unexplained things finally had meaning, while Naruto was pretty much just waiting patiently for Minato to unload with any questions or comments he may have had. It didn't take long.

"I guess that explains why I caught Kushina looking at you with a somewhat wistful expression a few times."

Naruto simply tilted his head to the side a bit in confusion, but didn't say anything. He didn't have to, as Minato proceeded to explain, "I asked her about it. The first time she just joked about it and said it was nothing. The second time however, I asked if she was attracted to you, and she simply looked at me and laughed. She admitted right to me right there that you were very good looking, and made an offhanded comment about it being good genes – which at the time I didn't understand. She said, though, that you were very obviously taken and happy, and then she spent the rest of the day showing just how happy she was with me."

Naruto looked away, waving one of his hands, "Yeah, yeah. I'll pass on the details, if you please."

Minato laughed before continuing, "Needless to say I've seen her with that look a few more times, but I've never said anything about it. It all makes sense now though. So how long has she known?"

"I don't know the exact time-frame, but since before Itachi was born. I've been training her to use the Kyuubi's chakra."

"What? How?"

"In the future I come from, you were both dead, and as the last Uzumaki I was made the jinchuuriki. You didn't really have much of a choice at the time, all things considered."

"I didn't? Wait, you mean I was Hokage in your time too?"

"The Yondaime, yes. You will be whenever this war ends, in case you were doubting it for any reason."

"I never really doubted once they started putting my face on the mountain. I know there was some resistance from Orochimaru before my appointment, but what about during your time?"

Naruto leaned back against the tree again, crossing his arms. "Hiruzen and I already have him doing other things that will occupy his time. He and Tsunade are working on some medical advancements that I recall from my time, and trying to replicate them a little earlier. They've already had some success. In my time... suffice it to say he turned into a monster and ran off. He was killed... eventually. Needless to say I don't think I'll ever truly trust him, but the old man and I figured we could at least direct him some before having to kill him, if he still goes bad. Right now he's much more useful alive."

If the other blond was at all surprised he didn't show it. Instead, Minato nodded, but was staring at Naruto intently now. "How many people know about this, why are you here, and what do I need to know?"

Naruto chuckled. "Get comfortable, this is going to take a while. I'll be brief now, obviously, but when we get back, I can go over everything with you, Mikoto, and Kushina to fill in any gaps. Then we'll talk to Hiruzen."

"Understood."

Naruto watched as Minato found a log that had fallen over a while ago and sat down on it. Once he was comfortable, Naruto began his tale of who he was, where he came from, and why he was here now. It didn't take long for Minato realize who was the one person he had to look out for above all others now.

Tobi.

Ten days later...

Naruto walked through the village, heading home. Minato had dismissed them all and had gone to report to the Hokage, requesting to meet up with him and Mikoto later this afternoon. Claiming he had to check with Mikoto first to see if she was free, Minato nodded before departing.

He was incredibly thankful that the mission had gone out without a hitch. The bridge was in fact well defended, but since Minato knew about Naruto now, they were both able to use Hiraishin in tandem to take down any defenders that would have gotten in their way. They made relatively short work of the bridge itself, all things considered. It was amazing how much damage a few well placed explosive tags could do.

As for Kakashi and the rest of the chunin he was in charge of, well... Rin didn't get captured this time, so Naruto was thankful for that. They still got into a few fights, but it was nothing especially risky. All of their engagements were ambushes except for one because the Iwa team had a sensor and were alerted. That didn't stop them however, and Obito finally got his Sharingan to boot. It activated relatively late, and even then it took Anko getting in danger because she wasn't watching her back carefully.

Someone from the Iwa team shot some knives made of stone at the girl, and Obito had to put on a burst of speed to get there in time to make it. His eyes activated as he tried to watch and deflect them, and he knew he wouldn't have been able to block them otherwise.

As a result, Anko was hanging around Obito for most of the trip back. They had gotten along well enough previously, but now she couldn't be kept away from him. All in all, it was a fair bit amusing, as she had acted similarly when Naruto saved her in his future. Obito was taking it all in stride, and everyone was happy for him that he had finally unlocked his elusive eyes.

Even with Anko hanging around him, it was still painfully obvious that the boy had a crush on Rin, though she didn't appear to care. Naruto would keep a lazy eye on that development. It wouldn't do for anyone to be hurting Anko should she choose to go after the boy. She wasn't his daughter by blood, but he'd still put anyone interested in her through the paces. He had earned that right, hadn't he?

As Naruto passed what was once the entrance to the Uchiha District, he noted that it was relatively quiet, compared to how bustling the place usually was. He didn't see anyone that he recognized, now that he thought about it.

It didn't take long for him to reach their home, and immediately upon entering he called for his wife.

"Mikoto? Are you home? I'm back!"

He heard a noise that sounded like something moving from one of the nearby rooms, so kicking off his sandals, he closed the front door behind him and started heading towards it. The moment he started moving, Mikoto came around the corner, a look of grief etched upon her face.

Before he could say anything, she ran down the hallway and threw herself into his arms. He had to take a step backward to keep himself from falling backwards into the door.

"M-Mikoto? What's wrong? Did something happen?"

His wife squeezed him harder, and nodded against his chest as she began to openly sob. Not quite sure what was going on, he decided the best thing for the moment was to hold Mikoto close and rub her back, trying to soothe her.

Another noise from down the hallway made him look up, and he saw Orihime standing there holding Itachi. Orihime's eyes looked a little puffy from what he could tell, and the normally boisterous Itachi was appearing rather subdued as well, though not outwardly distressed.

"Orihime? You're here? What's going on?"

The maid bowed her head as if she was steeling herself, and when she looked up, the sorrow on her face was unmistakable.

"N-Naruto-sama. It grieves me to inform you t-that Mikoto-sama's father, Uchiha Kagami-sama, passed away this morning."

Years since Naruto's arrival: 4.75

Name::Age::Rank reference

Naruto - 24 - Jonin General

Mikoto - 23 - Elite Jonin

Minato - 21 - Elite Jonin

Kushina - 20 - Jonin

Rin - 13 - Chunin

Obito - 13 - Chunin

Kakashi - 12 - Jonin

Yuugao - 12 - Chunin

Takuya - 12 - Chunin

Anko - 10 - Chunin

Itachi - 15 mos. - Badass