Chapter 6: Excuses, Excuses, and More Excuses…

"Time drives everything before it, and is able to bring with it good as well as evil, and evil as well as good." ~ Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch. III

Minato had sent two ANBUs to search for Jiraiya. The memory of a forgotten warning came back the night he had to order Naruto to stay instead of allowing his son to leave. Until now, it still pained Minato and Kushina how horrible the situation had gotten between them. Both had made millions of mistakes and Minato was the reason that they had made them do what they did. Had he not decided for himself that Nuriko was the 'Gifted' child, maybe the situation with Naruto would never had occurred.

Currently, his son was out of the village with Ibiki and Genma for an A-rank mission to Yugakure. Teams Seven, Eight, Ten and Team Guy had passed. And it had been reported that Inuzuka Kiba had pissed his son off even before the boy became an official genin. Tsume had been informed immediately to make sure her heir didn't end up killing himself for being tactless.

Much to the Aburame heir and the younger Uchiha's annoyance, they could not request for a new team since there was no other genin team looking for replacements. And there was only a hand few that had passed this year.

Minato sat in his office, contemplating what he could do with his son when he returned from his mission when the door to his office slammed opened and an injured Genma came in.

"Hokage-sama, the mission to Yugakure was a success and their village leader had signed the treaty and alliance with Konoha. However, on the way back, we faced a few missing nins and three of them were from Kiri: Momochi Zabuza and the Demon Brothers. We manage to kill the demon brothers but Momochi had appeared and Naruto was left to fight him. Ibiki and I were recovering from the poisoned attacks of our opponents. Momochi had recognized Naruto from the bingo book and spoke of handing him over to Oto for the bounty. Naruto fought the Demon of the Mist off as best as he could but an unknown nin appeared and paralyzed Naruto, which gave way for Momochi to land several hits on Naruto. Before retreating, Naruto managed to cut off Momochi's arm which made the nuke nin drop his sword and vanished." Genma reported as fast as he could.

"And where is my son now?!" Minato instantly stood up.

"Ibiki rushed him to the hospital while I reported to you, Hokage-sama." Genma answered.

"Tenzo, inform Kushina what just happened and that I'll be in the hospital by the time you tell her." Minato said as he shushined out his office and towards the hospital.

He was ever grateful that despite her loses; Tsunade stayed in Konoha and ran the Hospital as the Head Medic. Minato reached the hospital and inquired where his son was held.

"Hokage-sama, Jounin Namikaze is still inside the operating room with Tsunade-sama. Please wait outside until she comes out." The nurse said and Minato did as he was told: he waited.

Kushina arrived ten minutes later with a worried look on her face.

"How is he?" she asked him.

"Tsunade hasn't come out yet." Minato answered.

An hour later, Tsunade finally came out with blood splatters on his operating gown. Kushina and Minato looked horrified.

"He'll be fine now. Ibiki managed to bring him in before any lasting damage happened to his body. Naruto's immune system fought off the bacteria's that got into his system. I've stitched the bigger wounds and healed the broken ribs. He has no internal injuries as Ibiki made sure he was body bound before he had rushed him here. Naruto will need bed rest for at least three weeks and no heavy exercised until I say so." Tsunade told them seriously.

"Oh thank Kami, Tsunade-baa-chan." Kushina cried as she sobbed tears of joy that her son would live.

"However, there is a matter I must address you both. Follow me to my office." Tsunade ordered and they followed her.

Once there were inside. Tsunade made them sit down.

"I may not have been there but I am fully aware of the rift between yourselves and Nuriko with Naruto. I am very disappointed with you bother that it came this far even. I would have thought that you would have noticed; I certainly have." Tsunade said with a grave tone that made the couple bow their heads in shame.

"As the twins grew up, I would have thought you both would have been fair. I didn't interfere as I did not wish to question your parenting. However, now that the twins are turning eleven, things are going to be harder to fix. I have heard the jounins and chuunins speak highly of Naruto. Even the ANBU I come across with speak so respectfully of him, not because he is your son Minato, but because of his talent, intelligence and skills. I wish I could say the same thing for Nuriko." Tsunade rubbed her forehead and leaned back on his chair.

"I know we made mistakes, Tsunade-baa-chan… Minato and I are trying our best to make it up to Naruto." Kushina stopped when Tsunade raised her hand.

"Kushina, I don't think you understand the situation at all. The obvious neglect you've done cannot be easily forgiven by your own son. If I remember correctly, you forgot about him during the twin's sixth birthday. I saw you walking about the village and Naruto was nowhere in sight. I kept tabs and hoped that you would have done something. When Naruto graduated early, I thought you both would have noticed. But when I saw that you didn't even see what the rest of the village could see, I knew you have no idea. When he became Chuunin, I hoped, yet you failed again. My last straw was when he became Jounin and you still did not notice." Tsunade's words laced with disappointment that made the couple silently cry once more.

"Now, I wanted to speak with you both as Naruto's current condition should not be aggravated. That being said, I want you to not stress my patient while he is recuperating. Am I understood?" she asked them and both nodded slowly as they wiped their tears.

"Fix your relationship with him. Do not give up since this was technically your fault. Stress the point to Nuriko to better herself as I have noticed these past few days that she is not taking the news of Naruto being a jounin so well. Those years of training her better show itself soon, Minato." Tsunade added just before Shizune knocked and opened the door.

"Yondaime-sama, Kushina-sama, as ordered by Tsunade-sama, Naruto is now in room three-nine-four and resting." The assistant said before being dismissed with a nod by Tsunade.

"Do not forget what I told you both or I will ban you from seeing Naruto until I release him from here." She warned them one last time before they left her office to care for their son who needed them.

In the middle of the square, the teams gathered with their jounin senseis who were discussing a plan to have a joint training session together with Anko and Itachi when Genma and Ibiki appeared.

"Oh you're back from Yugakure. How was it? And where is Naruto-kun?" Anko instantly asked excitedly.

The genins turned to listen.

"The mission was a success but on the way home we ran into Momochi Zabuza and the Demon Brothers. Genma and I managed to kill the brothers and were recuperating with the Demon of the Mist appeared. Naruto had to fight him off to keep us alive. Naruto is strong but Zabuza outclassed him with experience and the fact that the Demon is an S-rank nuke nin, it's a blessing that Naruto managed on his own and lived. But really, Naruto would have been alright if it weren't for an unknown nin who paralyzed him, giving Zabuza the change to land hits on Naruto. Before Zabuza could retreat though, Naruto managed to detach the Demon's arm and the sword fell on the ground along with the arm." Genma told them and all were in shocked.

"And where is Naruto right now, Genma-san?" Shikamaru inquired for his friends, they were worried.

"He is currently at the hospital; his operation would have been over by now." Ibiki told them and the four boys ran off to the direction of the hospital.

"Meet us tomorrow at training ground seven for inter team training. Dismissed." Kakashi commanded and the jounins instantly shushined out.

The rest of the genins just sat/stood there for a while.

"Wow… Naruto fought off an S-rank missing nin and managed to cut the bastard's arm before the coward retreated." Kiba said with a stunned expression.

He had learned his lesson when he was punished by both his jounin sensei and his mother. Inuzuka Tsume had drilled it through his skull that the next time he opened his mouth and bad mouthed someone, Kiba would be neutered.

"Aren't you going to see your brother, Nuriko?" Ino asked and all eyes were on the other blond.

"I guess…" was all she said as she stood up and calmly walked towards the hospital gloomily.

She still didn't like the idea that Naruto was a certified jounin while she was a mere genin. All they had been doing lately were just D-ranks.

Being teamed up with Sasuke had been on of Nuriko's wish since she attended the Academy. But now that she got her wish, she didn't think she wanted it anymore. Sasuke wasted no time in tell her and Sakura how weak and useless they were. Also, Sasuke always spoke up of how he wished he was paired up with Naruto instead of her, how he was better than her, smarter than her, and more accomplished than her.

It irritated her so much that up til now, everything had been going well for her. She was the favorite, daddy's little princess. And now, all of a sudden, her parents fussed over Naruto. He was barely there while they grew up. He was always in his room… well, she thought he was since she never really saw him at home. He rarely joined them for dinner as it was. Now, her mommy avoided seafood recipes because Naruto was allergic to them (never mind her daddy who couldn't eat seafood as well). Most of the meals were chicken, pork, beef, and vegetables. Naruto hated ramen so that was out of the menu as well.

Nuriko sighed as she arrived at the hospital and was told by the nurse (before she even asked) where her parents and brother were. As she turned to walk away, she couldn't help but hear the whispers of the people around her.

"Did you hear? The eldest finally found out." Said one of the gossipers.

"Oh? And I'm sure she made a big fuss about it. I still wonder how Naruto-sama is being related to her. They are nothing alike at all!" whispered the other one back.

"I know what you mean. I heard from the Academy teachers that when Naruto-sama had stop coming to school because he already graduated, she was bragging about how it was good so that he wouldn't embarrass her in public." Another voice joined in and Nuriko fisted her hand as she tried not to listen.

"The nerve! It ought to be the other way around. It is as clear as day who is the better one. Naruto-sama is more talented, more intelligent, more patient, and his definitely more of a delight to work with than she will ever be." Said one other.

Nuriko walked faster, trying to get away from them to not yell back and say something that would get her in trouble. From what happened to Kiba, Nuriko wasn't that dumb to make a mess of her own. She reached the floor and saw her brother's friends waiting outside with the jounins and a few chuunins she wasn't sure she had ever met before. Which made her mentally ask: how many people did Naruto knew? He had never been the friendly kind of guy, even to her.

The door of the room opened and her parents came out with red eyes once again. Nuriko looked livid that they cried again because of something Naruto did.

"Ever since you paid attention to him, all you ever did was cry every night! And here you are again, crying because he got a little hurt!" Nuriko yelled and all eyes were on her.

Shino held back Neji while Shikamaru held back Sasuke. Too bad, they forget to cover his mouth as well.

"Well Naruto just proves how much better he is. He fought for this village and came out alive against an S-rank nuke nin. He held his ground which I can definitely say you won't be able to do. You're nothing like him and no matter how much you wish, you will never be as great as him. He is everything you're not which is just sad because even the villagers wonder how he can stand to have a sister like you who is pathetic as the friends she hangs out with. You and Haruno are nothing but dead weights and despite Kakashi-sensei's motto, if both of you are ever in danger, I don't think I'd risk my life for any of you two. If you got captured, it meant that you were so weak you couldn't even fight back. So, save yourself any more embarrassment by shutting up… because no matter how much you whine about it, the fact remains and everyone can see who is better." Sasuke said as he turned his back on her, bowed his apology to the Hokage and entered the room where his friend was lying.

For some reason, Nuriko knew that her outburst backfired as she looked at her parents who stared at her with shock and pure disappointment in their eyes. Even the jounins and chuunins looked disgusted. She instantly left and ran off, not bothering to see if her parents even tried to stop her.

The Namikaze couple silently watched from the door how their son's friends fussed over him. Worry was written all over their faces and just before anyone could say anything, the little blond prince finally stirred and slowly opened his eyes.

"Dobe!" Sasuke cried as his friend's eyes slowly open.

"Hey Teme…" Naruto replied with a slight grin on his face.

"Don't scare us like this ever again, Naruto. Geez… you're so troublesome." Shikamaru said as he ran his fingers through his friend's hair.

"Sorry… Couldn't be helped. Ibiki-taicho and Genma-san needed to be protected." He tried to tell them but they still sighed.

"Don't worry about it, Naruto. We heard form Ibiki-san already. We're just glad your back." Neji spoke up as he placed a hand on Naruto's leg gently.

A few more minutes, the jounins and chuunins joined in and told Naruto how glad they were of him and how proud they were that he protected his team even if it meant laying down his life on the line.

Half an hour later, the jounins (sans Kakashi) and the chuunins (bar Iruka) left the hospital and returned to their duties. Tsunade had entered the room to check up on her godson and gently berated him that he made her worry. Naruto at least looked apologetically before the situation turned serious when the blond noticed the couple at the back of the room.

"May I inquire as to why they are still here? Surely they would have returned home to their precious daughter since they can see I am alive still." Naruto pointed out coldly that even Tsunade couldn't help but flinch.

No one really spoke for a long time until Shikamaru sighed and asked:

"Hokage-sama, I do not mean to be disrespectful but I must ask, when you and your wife realized that you forgot Naruto's sixth birthday, why didn't you immediately set out to make amends right then and there?"

The couple looked ashamed and sighed.

"I think we tried… But for some reason… we just keep getting distracted. Nuriko would always demand our full attention. We train her so hard and when we finally think we have time, we keep losing the nerve to ask Naruto for anything. As time went on, the problem became harder and harder. Naruto always seemed to disappear and work got harder." Minato tried to explain as best as he could but Naruto only raised his brow.

"You know that your excuses are feeble right? And what do you mean you have been training Nuriko? She barely passed the Academy test. If she wasn't your daughter, they wouldn't have allowed her to graduate with that horrible bushin she made." Naruto pointed out and they winced again.

"And don't blame me for disappearing all the time… you made me that way. I was always forgotten. Since I was three, I knew that something wasn't right and that you would never give me the same attention you do with Nuriko. So right then and there, I stopped asking for anything if I could manage it. Most of my clothing, my books, and my equipment were from my friends. I went as far as borrowing money from them until I could pay them back when I could manage it. Aside from the breath of life, room, and bed, you gave me nothing… well, except the reality that I will never be anything in your eyes as your pathetic daughter." Naruto said as he smirked; the one that he gave his victims at T&I.

Iruka and Kakashi knew of the smirk of course which scared them a little as Naruto was using it on his own parents. Yes, they weren't the best but they still were his parents. But again, Naruto's words came back to them which made sense. They had all the chance they could but they didn't do anything.

"Now that we have heard the first set of why's, let's move on to why you are still here." Naruto asked narrowing his eyes on them.

Kushina shifted and swallowed hard.

"Naruto… please… I know that we have no right to ask it of you but... I beg of you, give us another chance. Just one last chance." Kushina was begging her son as she cried.

Tsunade and the rest looked away, not wanting to see it less they too try to ask Naruto to give them the chance.

Naruto on the other hand, narrowed his eyes on the couple. They had never given him any reason for him to even forgive them, let alone ask for a chance.

"Answer me this… if you do have an answer, then I might consider it." Naruto spoke up after a long silent moment.

The couple looked hopeful and nodded.

"What is it that you think you need to fix between us? The last time, you didn't even know what it was. Do you know now?" he challenged them and all eyes turned to the couple who stood straighter.

"Our strained… no, our nearly non-existent relationship with you. We know that Minato and I will have to work hard for it but we want to fix it. I want to know who my son is and everything about him." Kushina answered bravely and waited.

Everyone waited for Naruto to speak up.

Another long pregnant of silence swept through the room and only Naruto's deep inhale and exhale broke it.

"One chance. And if you fail, I will be nothing more than another shinobi in the service of the Yondaime Hokage. You are never to acknowledge me as a son as I will never speak of you as my parents. You are never to treat me any different from the other shinobis if you ever fail. And you are to agree that if you fail, I will change my name to whatever I choose and will live by that name til I die of old age or in the line of duty. My name will never will Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto if you fail this chance." Naruto told them with a deep, cold, and solid tone.

Yes, he was only ten, but he could change it when it suited him.

The others listened and vowed to themselves to never piss the blond off no matter what. They also vowed to make sure that Naruto was safe and protected.

The couple understood the gravity of the situation and nodded in acceptance of the demand. They were grateful for the one chance and promised themselves to never fail as they feared the thought of losing their son.

"If they fail, you do know that the clans will fight to make you are their own right?" Shino spoke up and everyone turned to him then to Naruto who looked a bit worried then sighed.

"I… had not thought of that. But I will cross that bridge when I get there… if I get there that is." He corrected as he saw the couple winced.

The door suddenly opened and banged on the wall. Naruto had not been on his guard which made him jump off the bed and fall on the floor.

Tsunade, Minato, and Kushina grabbed Jiraiya angrily while the rest helped Naruto back on the bed.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!" Tsunade screamed at her old teammate's face.

The couple had kunais on opposite sides of his neck and the Toad Sannin swallowed hard.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to! I swear! I panicked!" he tried to explained as he was being held by three strong nin and one could punch his head off if she tried hard enough.

Tsunade released Jiraiya and went to check on Naruto to see if he was alright. The jounin, chuunin, and the genins glared and threw their KI at Jiraiya the whole time the Head medic was checking Naruto.

"If anything happened to Naruto, Konoha will be another Sannin short." Kakashi spoke up and the rest nodded in agreement, which made Jiraiya worry as there was little chance he would come out alive with all of them against him.

After a few more minutes, Tsunade shared her findings.

"Luckily, Naruto is alright. The fall didn't damage anything but give him a small ache from the fall." This made everyone sigh in relief before glaring at the man who just came.

"So what brings the equally negligent godfather here?" Naruto asked with a trunk load of hate.

He was tired, a bit hungry, and in pain once more.

"I uhm… I came to talk to Minato but the Tower staff said he was here. I thought something happened to Nuriko-chan." The answer was wrong which made Naruto freeze the whole room with just his facial expression.

"That useless kunoichi isn't here. The door is still wide open for you to leave. Your presence is not needed. The Yondaime and his wife were just leaving. Go see to your precious goddaughter and make sure she hasn't managed to kill herself from just walking home." Naruto told the man who shivered in fright as the eyes of his godson bore into his own.

"I uhm—" Jiraiya tried to apologize but it was too late; Naruto was mad.

"LEAVE!" Naruto commanded and a giant fist of KI sent Jiraiya out the door and slamming against the wall that cracked heavily.

The genins were on the floor in shock as they never felt that much KI in their lives. Iruka, Kakashi, Tsunade, Minato, and Kushina chocked a little before they regained their balance and breathing.

Jiraiya was stunned, not noticing the pain he was in as he tried to get himself back on his feet.

Naruto had coughed hard and blood came out of his mouth. Tsunade was instantly trying to see what the damage was while Neji turned his Byakugan on to see if his bones or nerves were damaged. Sasuke, Shino, and Shikamaru, along with Iruka and Kakashi, stood to the side while Naruto was being looked over.

"Minato. Kushina, take Jiraiya and leave. Naruto's internal wounds nearly ripped themselves apart. I told you that Naruto will NOT be stressed out. Get out and never enter the hospital Jiraiya. You are not good for Naruto's healing." Tsunade commanded and the couple obeyed before they too were banned from visiting Naruto.

"I don't want him near me ever again." Naruto said in between coughs before the couple left with Jiraiya.

Truly, for a Sannin, Jiraiya was as stupid and as loud as Nuriko. No wonder the girl turned out the way she did, thought most of the occupants of the room.

Little was known to them that the Hands of Change had been turned by Chaos and Destruction.