Tsuchigumo

A New Dilemma

Minato paces the length of the living room. With Kushina out training with Tsunade who oversee her health and the twins at the Academy, he is free to talk with Naruto about...birds and bees. True to his words, when he voiced his concern to her, she just laugh at his face before telling him that he's the freaking Hokage so he should be the one telling Naruto about the next step of puberty.

She's lucky he loves her to death and back.

Naruto finally comes back from his morning stretches. It is a habit of his that he had been doing since becoming Genin. He takes his career as Shinobi very seriously. He looks inside the house to see Minato drinking freshly made apple juice. From the mess on the counter, he had been squeezing them barehanded instead of using the juicer. Looking at the calendar, he asks, "Aren't you supposed to be in the office today? Wait. Are you a clone? Can clone eat and drink?"

Minato sighs after sucking the last drop of chunky juice down his throat, "A legit question. I never thought about that. But that is not why I'm here," He looks at Naruto, "Naru-chan...we need to talk,"

Naruto shakes his head, "I didn't drink the coffee Ino offered!"

Minato blinks, "...good to know but...good that you...don't drink coffee," Not really. He don't know how anyone functions without coffee anymore. They are the holy water at the Hokage Tower that stops fellow paper pushing Shinobi from transforming into zombies after all. Especially during rush season. The carnage that happens at the hallway in front of the staff's lounge when the coffee ran out was something right out of a horror movie. He actually had to hide his personal coffee machine before anyone could sniff it out. But he's avoiding the main topic.

He clears his throat, "Coffee aside, Naru-chan, we really need to talk,"

Naruto's pedipalps lowers, "...am I being fired?"

Minato blinks, "What? No. Why would you think that?" Besides, Shinobi don't get fired.

Naruto clicks his pedipalps, looking to the world like a withering cactus, because nothing looks sadder than a withering cactus. Kushina cried for days when the cactus he brought back from Suna withered. It was truly the saddest sight of a withered plant he had ever seen. The large spider boy answers, "I just thought...that it's not working out and...maybe I'm actually am a bother to the team..."

Fuck, Minato thought, Naruto is actually at that age; The Dreaded Teenage Angst Age.

Even the thought sounds like the title of parental guidance book for teenage psychology that the Yamanaka Clan are expected to read. Maybe he should ask Inoichi to lend him some. He is completely out of his water. Think, Minato, what was he like at 13?

He was training to be ANBU.

Fuck, he got nothing.

Did he skipped that phase of puberty?

Minato mentally smacks his head. Naruto is waiting and he had been silent long enough to make him certain that his suspicion is legit, which it isn't!

Minato clears his throat, "No! Not about that either! And if you are thinking that, then I'll just tell you straight," He looks into Naruto's primary eyes, "You are thinking too much. Your team adores you. I think you're your generation's mascot or something," He coughs, "Anyway, that misunderstanding aside, I have a reason to talk to you today and I think you will find it helpful,"

Naruto blinks, still basking in relief that his team didn't secretly hate him like he had been fretting about secretly, "About what?"

Minato gulps, "Why...w-why don't we take walk? As we talk?" He mentally winces at the nervous pitch of his voice as he gestures awkwardly to the nature outside. Seriously, he can face the Kyuubi if it ever comes to that, but talking about the 'natural course of nature' with his growing boy is a whole other battle! He had never been more nervous in his life! Even marrying Kushina had not been this nerve wrecking and he legit had a panic attack the night before the secret wedding!