Six Years After (book 2)

Chapter 2

Third person pov

It's a well known fact that, after the return of his apparently-not-so-dead parents, Naruto grew like a weed-- or perhaps like a flower would be more appropriate to say. With steady meals and affection to guide the way, the time had flown at a riveting, startling place.

Life as a Shinobi brings with it many absurdities. Almost any ninja you ask will be able to bring up at least one instance of something unexplainable that happened to them during their career, something no amount of logic could even begin to justify. Something that seemed so impossible that it sounded like an absolute lie when you said it out loud.

Minato and Kushina, living through the Third War on the front lines, had several of these instances. Of moments they looked back on and squinted at, wondering if they'd really happened or if they'd just hit their heads a little too hard. 

Normally, such events were one time things. So short and fast you could blink and miss it. Something that confounded you for the rest of your life, that you laid awake thinking about. 

Somewhere along the line, their son had become one of those things. Minato had realized this the first time he caught his son, at the ripe age of eight years old, skittering along the ceiling with glowing red eyes, the remnants of home-made beef jerky sticking out of his mouth. Minato had thought he was hallucinating until it happened a second and third time.

Naruto marched to the beat of his own drum. It's one of the many, many, many reasons he was the absolute best child to ever exist in all the history of children existing. He was unlike any other Minato had ever met, brilliant and strange and just... his son. 

His son, who was weird. Concerningly weird. Minato didn't personally mind, and he knew Kushina didn't seeing as a whole lot of said weirdness had been inherited from her to begin with, but they weren't the problem. The council was.

They were going to take one look at Naruto and they simply weren't going to understand. That all on its own was terrifying.

Minato knew he was going to to have to face the aftermath of the bomb he'd dropped eventually. Minato is incredibly good at evasion tactics-- including but not limited to jumping out his office window and running when he felt familiar chakra approaching-- but it was only a matter of time before he was cornered. And when he was, they were going to want to talk to Naruto themselves.

Naruto was charming. He was adorable, resourceful, and the fastest learner Minato had ever seen. Minato's son was every ounce of brilliance he and Kushina held mashed into one, and then some on top of it. He was the best of both of them. He was just also... very... spontaneous?

Yeah. Spontaneous was a good word. A great word, even! He didn't conform to anyone's expectations of him at all. He was going to say what was on his mind and he wasn't going to try and give false platitudes to a bunch of "crotchy old fucks who don't know how to mind their own business." Naruto's description of the council, not his.

"Alright. We have to convince them that you and Kurama are absolutely not risks to the health and overall safety of the village." Minato proclaimed. They were holding court in Ayumu's living room. To say the man was displeased by their sudden appearance would be a vast understatement. "Right now, they're nervous and scared, and that means they're unpredictable. We have to approach this delicately."

"Hypocritical coming from someone who dropped it on them with absolutely no warning and didn't wait around to give more than a two sentence explanation, ya know." Kushina drawled out drily. Next to her, Naruto offered a fist bump. She took it. "You could've at least warned us before you did it."

Minato pressed his lips into a thin line. In the corner, Ayumu pursed his and slowly clicked his pen. He'd gotten a new clipboard, this one bright green. The color made its presence all the more glaring as he started to scribble on it.