77 Catching Up

"He looked like a living statue and it was uncanny," Hiruzen continued. "I knew he had some kind of bloodline because, according to the caretakers there, he didn't always look like that. The very first day after the academy, he proved himself a Taijutsu prodigy but my first look at this bloodline came after that night, when he went looking for a fight with rats that had been dosed with soldier pills."

Oh yeah, I remember that.

Minato looked confused. "Why would anyone dose rats with soldier pills?"

"Two of the orphans there thought that the rats might be good practice." Hiruzen took a deep breath. "But they fled once the rats had finished growing. Then Daisuke, sensing a challenge, went down there and dealt with them himself. Got sliced up from top to bottom."

I still remember the rat that attached itself to my head, back when giant rats were actually a fight. I even thought it was difficult.

Good times.

"After a good night's rest, he had recovered totally," Hiruzen continued. "So, it was with any injury he received. He lost an eye once; it was back the next day. He took several explosion tags in close range, not a hair out of place once he woke up. Once, he got stabbed through the back with a trident, and it barely slowed him down."

I remember delivering one heck of a one liner to ole' Mori Kazu during our fight. He asked what I was, and I said 'durable'.

The real question is if the fact that I was being serious and not understanding the rhetorical nature of his question made it better. I almost think it does.

"But you said he looked like a moving statue?" Minato cupped his chin in thought. "He didn't look like that when I met him."

"Yes, well." Hiruzen sighed. "That's because of his bloodline, a thing so insidiously complicated our R&D still hasn't pieced it all together."

I wonder how much the information 'life is a game for me and those are just the rules' would help them out. Not a lot, would be my guess.

"I don't suppose there's a complete document for everything that they've found out, is there?" Minato asked with an inquisitive frown.

"Yes, but I can only let you see it if you're willing to take the reins of Hokage again," Hiruzen said, sounding hopeful and a little desperate.

"Of course," Minato said with a nod. "I need to let you get back to your retirement. You've more than earned it."

"Thank goodness," Hiruzen let out a sigh. "Alright, let me show you the basic facts for now, because it is important."

Oh, that looks like the sheet I drew for Shikamaru to clarify my bloodline. He went and showed it to the old man.

…I shouldn't be mad about it, but I am.

Why am I mad about it?

That doesn't make any sense.

"Shimoda does not operate on the same rules that we operate on," Hiruzen stated. He started pointing to each graphic on the sheet and giving a brief summary. "As long as an attack does not empty the hitpoints he had here, he cannot die."

"Okay," Minato looked at it in confusion.

"This bar is his chakra. From what I understand, his reserves are comparatively small, but they fill up again almost immediately. This is his Experience Bar, which gradually gets filled by doing missions and killing targets."

Hiruzen stopped to let the other Hokage get his bearings. Minato turned his head and picked up the drawing for himself, staring at it. "What does the Experience Bar do?"

"When it fills, he levels up, getting more hitpoints, larger chakra reserves, as well as skill points to increase his skills." Hiruzen took some herbs from the inside of his robes and started stuffing his pipe. "That is the only way he gets better at anything. No amount of training, practice or tutelage will increase his skill in a certain area."

"That's impossible," Minato protested with a deep frown. That's what he said, but he was processing what he was told.

You know, I don't think I ever saw a clearer example of how alien my bloodline made me to the Ninja than I did right here.

"That's Daisuke," Hiruzen intoned. "Near the beginning of his life, he had allocated his stats as a Ninja to be a certain way. You see the listings of Strength, Perception, Endurance? That's what I'm talking about."

"So, did he make his Charisma here low?" Minato's eyes narrowed.

"He set it at one, the lowest it could go," Hiruzen answered, rubbing the bowl of his pipe in thought. "So, he could have more points to put into the Luck stat."

Minato blinked heavily. "He had the ability to make himself lucky?"

"He did precisely that," Hiruzen confirmed. "Then took a perk, which he gets every even level, to further increase that luck to 10."

"Did he get any free points to spend at the start?" Minato asked, his eyes still scanning the paper.

"Our best guess is that he had five points and that, by his own admission, he increased his intelligence to ten at the start," Hiruzen answered.

Good guess.

"So, I'm assuming the bad blood he told me the two of you had," Minato began, putting the paper down. "Has something to do with how he stopped looking like a moving statue?"

"Yes," Hiruzen nodded. "That's a good way of putting it. You see, he had a maximum level he could get too, level fifty. So if he were to spend perk points to get his charisma to 10, he would be wasting eighteen levels worth of perks to fix this one issue, but there was a solution. A perk he called 'Almost Perfect'. It would raise all of his stats to nine."

And force me to stare into the darkness, that it may stare back into me.

…not that I knew that at the time.

"The problem is that the perk required that he be level Thirty before he could take the perk," Hiruzen explained, taking another puff. "He was under the impression that he would be able to make significant progress toward that goal in the Academy, but he only got to level five or six and spent his entire academy years as a social outcast as a result. Your son, Naruto, was his only friend."

"Yes, he said as much in his vault." Minato looked at the paper and at Hiruzen with cold and calculating eyes. "While it lead to some good things, I'm not pleased that he was ostracized as well. What happened?"

"Some Shinobi let it slip to the public that Naruto was the Jinchūriki," Hiruzen replied, taking another puff from his pipe. "They were executed and we did not see any other leaks until recently, but the damage was done and the village shunned him."

Hypocritical of me to talk about their execution like this but, well, good.

"Was it arrogance that lead them to sedition?" Minato asked flatly.

"No. I later learned that they were agents of Shimura Danzo," Hiruzen pointed out. "He has since been executed for his many, many crimes against the villages and I will have a briefing prepared for you on them after you've had some time with your son."

Wait, Danzo's been dealt with?

…he's telling the truth.

Huh.

That's cool. Good on you, Hiruzen.

I guess.

"I would appreciate that," Minato folded his arms. "Now, Daisuke?"

"Daisuke, because of his nigh unkillable nature, lack of consequences for his bad decisions and desperation to no longer be the villages social pariah, had become inexcusably reckless," Hiruzen continued, taking his pipe out and admired it before stuffing some more herbs in it. "He would take any fight, with any opponent, no matter how dangerous it would be."

Oh boy. Here we go.

"Give me an example," Minato said, laying his hands on the table, fingers interlocked.

"In our sewers, our village came under attack by mutant fish men," Sarutobi began. "Experiments left over from Orochimaru that had been living down there for years without anyone knowing. It turns out they were clones of a much larger fish man."

"How large are we talking, exactly?" Minato asked.

"The size of Gamabunta," Hiruzen answered. "Alone. While seriously injured."

"That is reckless," Minato nodded. "You took him off missions, of course?"

You're kidding me. I thought you were cool, Minato!

"Of course," Hiruzen replied. "You know what he did in response? He reverse-summoned himself to get a contract."

Minato blinked. "…I think I see where you're going with this."

"I don't know what he had to do to get the contract." Hiruzen shook his head in disbelief. "But it only proved my point that he was reckless and foolhardy."

Come on, it was only fighting in a losing war for them.

Nothing too serious.

Intelligence Check Success: 10/4.

…shut up, game. He's wrong.

"It sounds like he was on the road to ruin and you had to intervene," Minato replied, sounding thoughtful. "But his unkillable nature wasn't the only reason he was valuable, was it?"

"No, what really made him valuable was his ability to invent jutsu at will." Hiruzen lit the herbs in his pipe and started puffing. "Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Fuinjutsu? It didn't matter. If it could be done, he could do it."

"You're kidding." Minato's eyes actually grew wide.

"He brought you back to life," Hiruzen pointed out.

"That was different," Minato replied, standing up straight in his chair. "He had to be taught how to do that."

Yeah, Kushina told him after I 'left'. Makes sense why she'd do it but now Hiruzen's being told that and I'm a little annoyed. It was a little dumb to hope, but I wanted to keep the Hokage at least somewhat in the dark as to my new capabilities.

"Daisuke needed to be taught how to do something?" Hiruzen shook his head and chuckled. "I didn't think it was possible. Who could teach him how to bring back the dead?"

"The Shinigami himself."

Hiruzen immediately started coughing and hacking. After he ran out of air, he took a deep breath. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised nowadays. After all he's done?"

"Well, you've surprised me quite a lot in the last few minutes," Minato replied wryly. "But you were telling me how he turned into a missing nin."

Hiruzen let out a sigh. "It was my fault."

You're right, it is.

"Several years ago, I confronted Orochimaru in the sewers," Hiruzen started to explain. "You had been dead for nearly two years now. He had been experimenting on Konoha Ninja to expand his understanding of Jutsu. I had the ability to remove him and…I couldn't do it. He was my student, Minato."

"I understand," Minato's eyes narrowed. "But I assume you won't be making that mistake again?"

Wow, that's some Naruto level forgiveness right there.

…I guess I see where he gets it from. Cool, I guess.

"Never," Hiruzen's eyes narrowed in turn. "I won't have to worry about it, though. Daisuke encountered him during his Chunin exams."

"He charged in for a fight with a Sannin?" Minato asked.

"He forced Orochimaru to retreat," Hiruzen pointed out.

Minato leaned forward, steepeling his fingers in front of his face in thought. A good cover for the fact that he was speechless.

"Then, when we next saw him, he was conversing with Sunagakure's Jinchūriki. We intervened before it turned bloody, and Daisuke looked anxious like he normally does. I dismissed him to his chambers to give him some time to decompress," Hiruzen took a deep puff of his pipe. "I didn't give him any time to report what happened. His teammate stayed behind to make sure her Sensei knew and then he told me. When I saw Shimoda next…"

Hiruzen let out a sigh. "I chastised him for not reporting Orochimaru's presence, decided not to promote him right there, but I'm the one who didn't give him time to report his findings because I dismissed him before he could report it."

Oh yeah, that's right. That is how it happened, wasn't it? Huh.

…points for recognizing it?

"He was angry, but didn't know how to express it without destroying something. So, Daisuke did as Daisuke does and went after him." Hiruzen shook his head. "Killed all four of his body guards and just finished killing Orochimaru by the time I tracked him down. He was…furious. Called Orochimaru a 'non-problem', like any idiot could've handled him if they had been given a kunai."

Minato just hummed.

I mean, they could've.

Intelligence Check Success: 10/2.

Shut up, game.

"Then he talked about leaving the village. Openly flaunted the idea, saying that being a missing nin had to have been better than having leadership that didn't trust him." Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe, letting the smoke come out the side of his mouth. "I hadn't realized that his frustrations had gotten that bad. I agreed to promote him to special jounin so long as he worked with a partner."

"A suitable compromise for a Genin that could kill a Sannin," Minato nodded. "How did it work out?"

"Just one final thing before we get to that," Hiruzen held up a hand. "His teammate, Yamada Hisako. Her parents are both ANBU, and she had stated goals to do the same as her parents. But she also had very intense feelings for Daisuke. So, hearing him say that he'd rather be a missing Nin than continue to deal with me? It broke her heart and she lashed out."

She should hate me by now after all the rejections I subjected her too. Absolutely should.

Charisma Check Success: 10/8.

She doesn't hate me.

I feel so sorry for her.

Hiruzen took yet another puff from his pipe. "Then Daisuke lashed back at her and scared the Jounin into thinking that he was going to kill her. So, Daisuke then leaves."

"How did he leave?" Minato asked, raising an eyebrow in fascination. "He was surrounded by Jounin? Did he kill them?"

"He had cracked the Flying Thunder God seal several weeks prior to this," Hiruzen waved it off like it was nothing. "Your version. On his own."

"What?" Minato looked thoroughly alarmed. "How did he do that? You didn't give him access to my notes, did you?"

Hiruzen just shook his head with an amused smile on his face.

"Are you – but – how – I don't –" Minato just kept going. But he managed to regain his calm just a second later, rapidly shaking his head and returning to his serene expression. "I see now how he was able to defeat Orochimaru.

Heh, that was funny.

Didn't laugh, though. Didn't want Inoichi and Ibiki to realize that I was here.

"Yes, well. He left," Hiruzen continued the story. "Swore we wouldn't see him again until his issues were fixed."

"This was in the middle of the Chunin exams?" Minato asked, adopting a slightly disconcerted expression.

"Yes, and after disciplining Yamada, I put in place a plan to get him to come back," Hiruzen replied. "Shimoda was blood thirsty. He hungered for battle. He heard the drums of war whenever he awoke in the morning. So, I ordered that the exam proceed as normal."

Well, it worked. I only participated because I was still slated to make an appearance. Then, of course, there was the fact that I was able to help Gaara out with his little seal problem.

"He showed up, fought as normal, but things were off," Hiruzen pointed out. "He was wearing a mask and didn't say a word in any of his matches. The end of the exam was meant to be a three-way battle, but with two of the finalists from Konoha, the Kazekage offered to let Shimoda fight their Jinchūriki. Knowing that Daisuke could not walk away from a fight like that, or even be mad after that, I agreed and told him. The only thing he had to say was to ask me if I cared how he handled it. I just told him to make it flashy."

"Naturally, you were hoping that Shimoda would kill their Jinchūriki and remove a problem from the village," Minato pointed out. "It makes sense, given how blood thirsty he was. I haven't heard of someone getting that bad since the war."

"And I forced the usual treatment for blood thirst on him," Hiruzen pointed out. "Separation from missions, extra time with his teammates and sensei and tactics lessons to help him think through his encounters so he wouldn't lose himself seeking blood."

Um…what?

No, no, no.

He wasn't trying to help; he was just being an idiot. This is him just trying to justify his actions to the previous Hokage.

Charisma Check Success: 10/3.

GAME, I SWEAR – DO NOT TELL ME HE IS BEING SINCERE RIGHT NOW.

IT'S NOT TRUE, AND YOU KNOW IT.

"So, what happened in the match with the Jinchūriki?" Minato asked. "It was suitably flashy, yes?

"Oh yes," Hiruzen nodded, actually smiling slightly. "As you know, Shukaku lets the Jinchūriki wield sand as a weapon, in the middle of a desert. Shimoda performed a jutsu that stopped all of the sand in the desert from even touching him."

"So, we have one less Jinchuriki to worry about?" Minato started smiling as well.

"…no."

"No?"

"No," Hiruzen shook his head. "Daisuke walked right up to Gaara and placed his hand on his stomach. The seal on Sabaku No Gaara was of terrible quality, allowing him to hear the voice of the One-Tailed beast in his head. Daisuke's response was to fix it and improve the lad's mental health."

Minato blinked owlishly, his head tilting. "You're joking."

"No, I am not," Hiruzen pointed out. "When we met with him later, and he took off his mask, he looked like a whole new person. Healthy skin instead of ivory pallor, vivid and animated facial expressions, sparkling eyes where glass counterfeits might have been. He then attempted to resign from the Shinobi force because he was unfit for duty."

"The transformation was total, then," Minato said. "Impressive, very impressive. How did the partner program work?"

"It worked fantastically." Hiruzen nodded. "But he didn't kill a single person, ever. Now matter who it was, he always brought them in alive and let the local justice system of who hired them handle the riff-raff. Then, he went on a three-month vacation and this is when things started to fall apart."

"Were taking vacations part of the partnership deal?" Minato asked.

"Yes," Hiruzen leaned backward in his chair. "Long story short, he infiltrated each of the Hidden Villages to understand the history of the Shinobi wars, according to him and what he learned…do you remember the Broken Steel defensive action?"

"I was the leader of that action," Minato's eyes narrowed. "You know that."

"That's right, I do," Hiruzen nodded again. "According to Daisuke, Iwa has no idea it ever happened."

Minato looked taken aback, his mouth adopting a small frown. "You're joking."

I wasn't joking. I don't know how whoever is setting these wars up pulled it off, but they did.

"That's what Daisuke told me," Hiruzen answered with a frown. "He told me this after spilling two S-class secrets to your son and all the clan heirs."

"What secrets are we talking about, here?" Minato asked, his eyes narrowed.

"His status as a Jinchūriki and his parentage."

Minato glared. "I didn't want him finding out about those until he was a Jounin."

Wait, really?

Guess he wasn't as smart as people give him credit for.

"Neither did I," Hiruzen agreed with a sigh. "But thanks to Daisuke, Naruto and all his friends know that he has the Fox and that he's the Fourth Hokage's son and about my trouble with Orochimaru. The contents of that meeting have been classified as Double-S rank secret."

"Did you keep records of allowing Orochimaru to leave?" Minato asked.

"No."

"Then how did he find out?"

My brief memories of the anime filled me in, so you could actually say that I cheated.

I mean, more than I usually do.

"I don't know," Hiruzen shook his head. "My best guess is one of his premonitions told him."

I mean, close enough?

"He can see the future?" Minato asked.

"He gets small premonitions in the form of texts and titles," Hiruzen explained. "One of them must've tipped him off. That's the only explanation I can think of."

"Hm. At this point, what would you have done differently?" Minato asked.

"After the foolhardy attempt to fight the fish-men boss," Hiruzen started. "I would've pulled him from missions, just like I did."

You would, old codger.

"But then I wouldn't let him back on missions until he was level 30," Hiruzen continued.

What.

"This EXP bar fills when he invents a new jutsu," Hiruzen said. "So, I'd tell him, no more missions until he had made enough to get to level thirty. Or maybe I would give him hand-crafted missions, such as 'turn over ten created jutsu to R&D'. Mainly, I just would've had him get to level 30 as quickly as possible so that we could have his friends around to help him deal with whatever horrific revelations he received when he finally became socially aware."

Nope, he's lying.

He's just saying that because he knows I could be spying on him.

Charisma Check Success: 10/1.

Shut up, game.

No one asked you.

"You tried to get him to mimic a natural growth curve, huh?" Minato asked. "It's what I would've done."

"You see what happened as a result of that?" Hiruzen laughed hollowly. "One of your son's dearest friends a missing Nin and the clan heirs' faith in their village nearly shattered. No, I should've tried to work with his bloodline instead of against it and it was my own blindness that stopped me from seeing it."

…okay, you know what?

I don't care anymore. I'm out.

Goodbye, Konoha!

"Then he says, that's not a kunai, that's my dog!" Naruto finished the joke with a wide smile.

Sakura started laughing, hard, slamming a fist on the table. "That's hilarious! Where'd you hear that one?"

"I was eavesdropping on some Inuzuka in the academy," Naruto answered, still grinning. "They had a ton of good ones, I swear."

"Sounds like it," Sakura said with a grin.

They were sitting in the Akimichi restaurant, one of the few establishments that Naruto could now go too without being refused service, since the whole incident with the Fish Men some months ago. Naruto was actually enjoying the broader variety of food he could now gain access too, though Ramen would always be his favorite.

Sakura, of course, had bean-paste dumplings. Her favorite.

"Man, jokes like that make me forget that I'm talking to a clone," Sakura said with a mischievous grin.

Naruto blinked, then smirked deviously. "Yeah, I've got hundreds of clones running around Konoha right now."

"Oh, and what does the original do with all his free time if he can't even come to see me?" Sakura asked with mock hurt, trying to pout cutely.

"He's probably on his way right now," Naruto replied, his grin getting wider. "Or maybe he already left. Or maybe I am the original and just forgot? I get tons of memories every day, it's easy to get jumbled."

"If only there was a way to test if you were the real one," Sakura said, chewing on one finger like she had seen a model on the cover of some book do.

"I can think of one way you can test," Naruto began, his grin getting slyer. "You'll have to kiss me."

Then Sakura went pink and Naruto felt just a pang of doubt that maybe he had gone too far. But he held it just in case she was actually wanted to kiss him.

"I think that might just be a little to forward in our relationship, Naruto-kun," Sakura finally said, with a small smirk.

Naruto just leaned back, placing his hands behind his head like he was relaxing. "Then I guess you'll never know."

Sakura just hummed, her expression saying that the mystery was starting to gnaw at her. "But seriously, how many clones do you make a day?"

"Hundreds. Seriously," Naruto nodded. "They handle all the training so I can do the fun stuff."

"Like what kind of fun stuff?" Sakura asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You know," Naruto got a sly grin on his face again. "Stuff that is fun."

Sakura giggled. "You're terrible."

"Only the worst," Naruto agreed, still grinning like a fox.

They finished their meal and left the restaurant.

The sun was starting to set and the sky was painted purple with golden beams shining through the clouds.

"Hey, want to watch the sunset?" Naruto asked.

Sakura checked her watched and looked up at the sky. "Sure! It looks like it's going to be pretty."

"They always are in the village," Naruto replied with a smile, before jumping up the building and taking a seat on the roof. Sakura followed after him and sat down beside him.

The sun's golden beams shined across the mountains in the distance, brilliant golden beams shining through the minor cloud cover over the golden orb on the horizon. The sky beyond that turning a vibrant purple as day turned to night.

Sakura rested her head on Naruto's shoulder and wrapped her arms around him. "It's beautiful."

Naruto just smiled and enjoyed her embrace alongside the magnificent view. As the sun disappeared over the mountains, Sakura lifted her head to look at Naruto.

"Naruto?" Sakura started.

Naruto hummed and looked back at her. "Yeah?"

"I think," Sakura began, slowly closing her eyes and moving her lips toward Naruto. "I need to test…if it's the real you…"

Naruto met her lips with his and they held the kiss.

When they parted, Sakura's face was crimson and the sun had disappeared behind the mountains.

"Let's get you home now, eh?" Naruto asked with a grin, acting confident and as though that wasn't the greatest thing that he'd ever experienced in his life.

"Y-yeah, let's," Sakura nodded and they stood up.

As their boots hit the ground, they looped arms and started walking back to Sakura's home. Sakura, for her part, went back to resting her head on Naruto's shoulder, which wasn't hard since they were roughly the same height now.

The wonders of good nutrition, Naruto thought in response to his increased height. This date? Best night of my life. Bar none. I wonder what Daisuke would say if he heard about…

Naruto shook those thoughts out of his head. I can go back to planning to bring him back later. Just finish the date strong.

They came to Sakura's house, Naruto guiding Sakura since she had her eyes closed by now. "You're home."

"Hm?" Sakura actually sounded disappointed as she unhooked her arm. "Good night, Naruto. I had a wonderful time."

"So, did I," Naruto replied with a smile. Then he leaned forward, and kissed her on the lips a second time. "Good night, Sakura."

She was beet-red once again as she started to walk up the stairs and open the door. When she closed it, Naruto heard a squeal of joy and he started walking off toward his own house.

He let out a sigh of contentment. "That was great. Got to thank Sensei for those dating tips, he really knows his way around girls!"

"Speaking of thanking me," Kakashi-sensei appeared out of nowhere, leaning against a wooden pole with his book in his hand like he had been standing there since the beginning of time. "Your date went well?"

"Yes," Naruto started nodding enthusiastically with a huge grin. "Thank you, Sensei."

"Don't mention it," Kakashi replied with an eye-smile. "Now, you and I need to go see the Hokage. We've been summoned."

"Wait, really?" Naruto asked, scratching the back of his head. "Do I need to tell Sakura?"

"It's just the two of us," Kakashi replied with a hand on his shoulder. "And I got told not to disrupt you if you were in the middle of something, which is why I waited."

Naruto blinked rapidly. "Huh. I wonder what the Old Man wants?"

"Well, I think we should go see," Kakashi replied with an eye-smile.

"Yeah, let's go," Naruto nodded.

"Ah, Kakashi-san. Naruto-kun," The Hokage looked impossibly happy to see the two of them. Like he had the largest of smiles just at seeing the two of them. "I am so happy that you came so quickly. I've got the best of news for you."

"Daisuke came back?" Naruto immediately asked. "And you're pardoning him so he doesn't get his limbs severed and his chakra sealed?"

"Not quite that good, but it does have to deal with Daisuke." The Hokage nodded, his pipe very much not in his mouth.

"Daisuke sent you a message asking if he could talk with his team?" Kakashi asked with a raised eyebrow. "So that we can actually talk and try to come to some sort of peaceful agreement?"

"More like he sent a peace offering, if that's what he intended," The Hokage replied. "Rather, he managed to figure out how to do something new with his jutsu. He learned how to…raise the dead."

"What?" Naruto asked, his eyes getting wide.

"He brought three shinobi back to life and they just recently had their identities confirmed," Hiruzen continued with a smile. "They're on leave for the next few days while they get up to speed on what's happened these past few years and I knew that the two of you would want to see them immediately."

Kakashi turned his head, looking at the Hokage through the corner of his eye. "Who did he bring back?"

"Come to my office and see," The Hokage happily ordered.

"Okay." Naruto shrugged and followed the old man alongside his sensei.

Up the stairs they walked and the Hokage opened the door to his office and zipped forward to his desk.

Naruto blinked away the cloud of dust and saw ahead. He saw a man that was as tall as his sensei, with a brilliant shock of blonde hair. He had his arm around the waist of a woman with long red hair and cerulean eyes. Both of them locked their gazes onto Naruto. The woman's eyes went wide and her hand slowly extended out as if to caress Naruto's cheek.

Beside them was a girl, about his age, with short brown hair and purple tattoos on her cheeks.

"Naruto, meet Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, your parents," The Hokage announced with the happiest of smiles.

"What?" Naruto's own eyes went wide as he stared at the two adults across the room, just as they were staring at him.

"And Kakashi, you recognize your teammate Rin?" The Hokage continued, taking in a pleased breath.

Naruto looked up at his Sensei.

Kakashi's head-band was lifted up, showing the Sharingan that he had kept hidden, but it looked completely different, with long lines instead of three tomoe. He was staring at the Genin across the room. From the sounds he was making, Naruto knew that Kakashi was trying desperately to breath but couldn't force the air into his lungs.

"Sensei," Naruto said in concern. "Sensei, breathe."

"Kakashi-san," Rin said, slowly stepping forward. "It's okay. It's me. I promise, it's okay."

Immediately upon hearing her voice, Kakashi disappeared in a Shunshin.

The Hokage let out a sigh of disappointment. "I am sorry, Rin. He'll come around."

"I should've known better," Rin said bitterly, looking at the floor. Tears were spilling to the floor.

Naruto looked back at Minato and Kushina. "Are…you really my parents?"

"Yes," Kushina answered quickly, moving toward Naruto at a brisk walk and doing everything in her power to make sure she didn't run. She fell to her knees to come to his height and she was crying as well. "Yes, I am. I'm your mother. Kushina. I-I know it's been a long time."

"You died putting the Kyuubi into me," Naruto asked with a frown. "And then Daisuke brought you back."

"Yes, to both of those," Minato said, stepping forward. "I'm sorry that you've had a difficult time because of that. It wasn't my intention, or your mothers. But Daisuke said that he owed you a debt, so he brought us back."

Naruto looked horrified. "Debt? We're friends! There's no debt."

"He seems to hold you in a great deal of esteem, regardless," Minato replied with a small smile. "And I'm grateful you were able to make friends since we could not be there for you."

"I'm sorry, Naruto," Kushina said, half sobbing. "For leaving you alone, to fend for yourself for all those years. We never wanted to, believe me."

"I-I believe you," Naruto tried to comfort his weeping mother, trying to fend off that strange and awkward feeling growing in his stomach. "I really do. But this is just so weird! I always wondered if maybe my parents, you guys would come back but…I never thought you would."

"Well, thanks to Daisuke, we're here," Minato said. "You'll be happy to note that I'm pardoning him in a few days."

"You, you are?" Naruto asked quickly. "Are you serious? You're becoming Hokage again and you're going to pardon him just like that?"

"Just like that." Minato nodded. "And don't think that just because I'm Hokage doesn't mean I'm not going to have a lot of time for you. I'm still your dad, and I intend to make up for lost time."

"We both do," Kushina nodded rapidly. "I promise, we'll do everything we can to make things right."

"Look, it's okay," Naruto said. "It wasn't your fault, was it?"

"No, but we still regret that it happened," Minato replied, putting his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "You seem uncomfortable, is everything alright?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Kushina said, leaning back. "I-I wasn't thinking how awkward this would be for you, just…"

Naruto took a breath. "It's okay. Mom. Dad. I…wow, I never thought I'd be able to say that. It's just…a lot of take in. But I'd love to get to know you guys."

Kushina then just launched into an embrace of her son, wrapping her arms around his entire body. "Oh, my little boy has all grown up."

Naruto froze up for just a second, then hugged the woman – his mother, back.

Minato got on his knees and joined in on the group hug. "We're back, son. And we're here to stay."

I have a family, Naruto thought, both with joy and an intense feeling of nervousness. I actually have a family. Daisuke, wherever you are? Thank you. Even if it doesn't work out, at least I'll have gotten to know what it was like.

Apart from the group hug, Rin was standing there, her hands folded in front of her, feeling awkward. Hiruzen placed a hand on her shoulder. "He'll get better, I promise. I didn't think his reaction would be this…intense."

"He did stab me with a Chidori," Rin pointed out, still frowning deeply. "I should've known."

"Kushina, Naruto?" Minato said, causing the group up to break up just so slightly. "I think we can include one more, don't you think?"

Kushina perked up. "Come here, Rin."

Rin's frown turned upside down and ran to get included in the family hug.

Hiruzen looked at them with a smile, taking out his pipe. It wasn't perfect, not by a long shot, but this was a great day. For Naruto, for Kakashi, for the entire village.