Chapter 28

Last Time:

He scowled at the man, but rose to his feet and went to give them what they asked for.

Now:

~ Hokage's Office – After Inoichi's Debriefing ~

Kushina sat on a couch in the Hokage's office while Minato sat behind his desk. Inoichi knelt on one knee before the Hokage with a sour expression on his face. "By your leave, Hokage-sama?" Inoichi asked. "Dismissed." Minato replied in an absent minded tone. Inoichi quickly left, leaving the Namikaze clan head and matriarch to their own devices. They both stayed quiet for a few minutes, trying to process what they had just learned.

"Minato-kun.." Kushina began in a small voice, breaking the awkward silence. Minato turned to see his wife looking at him with teary eyes. "Do you think that's really how Hiruzen-kun sees us? As monsters?" She asked. "I don't know… We did what we did for the betterment of the clan, or so we said. But now I'm not sure…" Minato replied as he stared at his desk. "What do you mean?" Kushina asked as she got up and went to his side.

"Well, we can't honestly say we were doing what was best for him and the clan. We were just doing what was in our best interests.." Minato replied. "How can you say that?" Kushina demanded. "If we had been looking out for his best interest, we would have begun teaching him basic civilian knowledge after his accident. But we didn't. We just tossed him aside and started working out a training regimen for Hiruzen, who wasn't even old enough to walk!" Minato replied angrily.

"Not only that, but we would have told Naruto about the change of plans ahead of time. We would have found him some place to stay, we would have made sure he was enrolled in Civilian school, we would have made sure he knew how to take care of himself. Instead, we dropped the bombshell in the middle of the party and instead of watching him to make sure he was fine, we watched Hiruzen be happy for a few hours.." Minato finished as he got up and walked towards the window overlooking the village.

"You're wrong!" Kushina demanded. "Yea, well what did you do to make sure he was taken care of? Cause I know I sure as hell didn't do anything!" Minato yelled at her. "I….I looked for him.." Kushina muttered weakly. "Yea, once because Hiruzen asked you to. After that, what did you do?" Minato demanded. "I told Hiruzen his brother ran away.." Kushina said, remembering the day she informed Hiruzen of his brother's false fate.

'I doubt it…' Those words resounded in her mind. Such a simple phrase, one that was used all too often. And now, those words were stabbing her heart like daggers. "No…but.." "But what?" Minato demanded. "I..I.." Kushina stuttered as she held her head. 'No, I know I helped my son. I know I did…I know I did..' Kushina repeated over and over in her mind. Minato saw her clutch her head and left her to her thoughts as he looked back at how he acted.

When Hiruzen was first born, he was the happiest man in the world. He had a beautiful wife, two magnificent sons, he had achieved his dream of being named the Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, and he had managed to stop the Kyuubi from destroying the village. And for the nest few years, they had the picket fence life. A day at work, a warm meal and loving family when he got home, and kids who wanted to be just like him when they grew up. But after the attack on Hiruzen, things slowly changed.

The attention of the family as a whole began to shift towards Hiruzen. 'Was it because he is the jailor? Or because he's the one heir who could take over the clan? Was it because without chakra, we saw Naruto as weak?' Minato thought, disgusted by the possibilities and his reasoning. From then, as soon as Hiruzen could walk, he was trained to be a Shinobi. This took more of their attention from Naruto and switched it to Hiruzen. 'Poor kid.. all he could do was stand there as he faded into the background..' Minato painfully realized.

From then, Naruto seemed to get the raw end of any deal while Hiruzen got the best. And on the eve of Hiruzen's sixth birthday, Naruto was disowned. That broke the proverbial camel's back. From then on, Naruto's love for his family was shattered and no one was around to pick up the pieces. Of course, no one saw it this way. Not until now. 'I've been such a fool..' Minato thought sadly. He of course, kept up appearances. Made up the story that Naruto had ran away, and lied about sending out search parties after him. In his mind, Naruto was the past and Hiruzen was the future.

'Sensei was right.. All I am is a kid who threw away a toy, and now that someone else has it, I want it back...' Minato reasoned as bile rose to his throat. Somewhere along the lines, his son had grown into a man. He learned of his burden, the things that were kept from him, and instead of being a child, he used them to his advantage. 'If this were any other situation. I'd be proud of him.' Minato thought bitterly. 'And here, I thought things went bad the day he confronted us about his brother and moved out. But things had been bad long before then..' Minato thought as he went to sit at his desk.

The day Hiruzen confronted them about his brother, the attack, and the disowning, they were stumped. They couldn't believe their own son had gone through such great lengths to find the truth. Minato tried to reason with the kid, but what he didn't realize was that Hiruzen wasn't a child anymore. He was a man, through circumstance and not choice. By the time he left, both he and Kushina were on the floor crying and begging him to stay. 'A desperate plea Naruto never got…'

Since that day, things progressively got worse. He and Kushina tried to cope, but it was too hard. Eventually, he stopped trying and started hunting Hiruzen down. But nothing came up. 'No doubt thanks to this "Jot".' Minato thought. His wife stopped being the happy and joyful woman she was and became a husk of her former self, hell bent on getting Hiruzen back. And since then, even they began drifting apart. She was always looking for her son and he was always at work. Their marriage was crumbling and they couldn't stop it.

He looked up to see Kushina crying uncontrollably. He tried to go to comfort her, but before he could get close, she Shunshinned away.

~ With Kushina ~

Kushina sat on top of the third's head at the Hokage Monument. She needed time to sort things out. She quietly hugged her knees to her chest and closed her eyes. She thought about everything that happened after the attack on Hiruzen. Fact of the matter is, she did shift her attention solely onto him and left Naruto in the background. 'I just wanted my son to be able to protect himself… is that so bad?' She asked herself. 'No, it wasn't. What was bad is that I chose one of my son's over the other. I should have wanted that for both of them, not just one." She mentally berated herself.

She thought to all of the good times she ever had with Hiruzen. From potty training him to helping him walk to teaching him how to throw his first kunai, she remembered every single instance. She tried to remember those times with Naruto, but there was nothing… Her despair grew at the fact she couldn't remember anything of Naruto's. 'This can't be, this can't be!' She internally yelled as she tried to recall all of the years he was with her. She sobbed at the fact all she could remember was Hiruzen.

She recalled that night that Naruto left. At first it didn't seem like much of a problem. One less thing to worry about, she thought at the time. That little realization hit her like a ton of bricks. She really didn't have her son's best interest in mind. All she cared about was Hiruzen's betterment. She had searched for Naruto, yes, but it had been because Hiruzen asked her to do it. When Minato talked to her about Naruto's disappearance she opted to let him go out on his own.

"Let him go out on his own and do whatever makes him happy.. He doesn't have a chance for a normal life in the middle of a ninja family.." She muttered under her breath, reciting her response from that day word for word. 'Bullshit, he could have been happy..' she internally yelled at herself. Then she thought about all of the years and time she spent training with Hiruzen, and she snatched a sealing book from Naruto because she thought he had no potential. "I was dead wrong.." She muttered.

'I told my son his brother ran away because I thought that's what would be best for him. But damn it, that's not what a mother does! She's supposed to take care of her son, come hell or high water. I just threw mine's away.' Kushina thought. All of those years spent on Hiruzen and she couldn't even spare a day to look for Naruto? Since Hiruzen turned six, she and Minato had spent all of their time on training him. They taught him all they knew of the basics, and even some of the more advanced stuff.

' His attitude did change after his seventh birthday..' She recalled. The usually happy and hyper Hiruzen grew more reserved and began to pour himself into training. At first, she thought it was because he finally understood what it meant to be a clan heir. But now, she knew it was because he knew what happened to his brother and he wanted him back. "He stopped a lot of the joking around with us.. whenever he asked us anything, it was pertaining to his training.." she muttered.

Since then, her family began drifting apart. She did her best to try and bond with him and get him interested in things other than training, but he wasn't interested. And the breaking point was when he turned 11 and confronted them about it. She tried to explain to him that without chakra, Naruto wasn't able to become clan leader. "Where the hell does it say that's a requirement?!" Was Hiruzen's response. She tried to reason with him that he was stronger than his brother and could lead the clan better, but he wasn't listening. He packed up and left, leaving her and her husband sobbing and begging him to come back.

After that night, her family was broken. She and Minato began drifting apart because he stayed at the office most of the time and she was out looking for Hiruzen almost on a daily basis. And now, this bombshell was dropped. "He's known about the Kyuubi since he was seven.." She said out loud. Kushina knew what it was like to be the container of the beast, and she wanted to be the one to tell Hiruzen when he came of age. But he beat her to the truth, and so much more.

She was suddenly gripped into a hug by strong arms. She looked up to see Minato holding her close to him. "Kushina-chan, you and I have both done wrong in the past. But I promise you this, not matter how long it takes, we will make it right. We will find him, we will apologize, and we will bring him back." He whispered in her ear. She broke down and became a sobbing wreck in his arms. The couple stayed in the twilight of the day overlooking the village. "And that promise I will keep, no matter what." Minato thought firmly.

~ Back In the Office ~

Jiraiya sighed as he released his chameleon jutsu. Thankfully, Hiruzen hadn't given away his identity to the mind reader and no one knew what he had been up to. "One less thing to worry about." He thought. He quickly summoned Gamakichi on the desk and took out a piece of paper and a pen. "Hey, pervert. What's up?" The toad asked. Jiraiya glared at him, then sighed. "I need you to deliver this message to Tsunade." He said as he quickly wrote something down on a sheet of paper and handed it to the toad. "MMhmm.." The toad said with a stretched out hand.

"Vulture.." Jiraiya muttered as he handed the toad a box of pocky. "Sure thing old man! Later!" the toad said and disappeared in a poof. Jiraiya shook his head and quickly shunshinned to the village gates. He was supposed to have left two days ago.

~ With Tsunade ~

Tsunade was at a bar playing blackjack with a shady looking mercenary. "I win this hand, you tell me everything you know?" She asked. "Sure thing, legendary sucker." The ninja replied. She fumed and was about to reveal the ten and the ace she had, but was stopped by a large poof in front of her. A small toad wearing a vest appeared, dropped a letter, and disappeared. "What's this?" She asked as she opened it and read it. She then dropped it on the table and handed her chips to the dealer. "Cash me out."

"Wait, where are you going?" The ninja demanded. "I don't need your information anymore." She replied and threw the note away. In that note, only a few sentences were scribbled:

Hime,

Search for Naruto is off. He's allied himself with the bat clan and the toads have an alliance with said clan. Can't risk them leaving.

-Jot

A/N: Well, now we have everyone's POV and Jiraiya's and Tsunade's will be revealed later. And thus, the Konoha situation gets worse before it gets better.