I Miss You, Dad

Chapter 1: The Unlived Life

Starting Off With Minato's Point Of View

Naruto was only so young. An infant, whose life has yet to be lived, and yet I've noticed that Kushina is very- odd, when around the boy. We were lucky to have triplet babies, a beautiful baby girl, and two wonderful boys, but I can see she gives more care and attention to the other two, Menma and Karin, than Naruto.

However, it wasn't always like this. She once equally as caring to one as to the other, as I expected her to be; as a parent should be. Though, a rather mysterious man had approached us a few nights after our triplets were born, saying he had a rather important, but concerning, message to share about our children.

As new parents, this man shouldn't have been trusted to even step into our home, but we shared some unknown curiosity as to what he was about to warn us of. As the Hokage, it's likely that our children would become targets as soon as the news breaks out into public domain.

His message was not what I had expected; not what either of us had expected. The masked figure spoke about how Menma and Karin were bound to be prosperous children baring glory to our clans, our names, having many words to speak on the deeds destined to them. Our other son, Naruto, however, would seek a darker path. Turning his back to the village, waging war against our people, using the power that was given to him to his fullest advantage, even having the chance of overtaking his siblings to gain full control of the powerful kyuubi, using this to strike his plots against the rest of the village after them.

As he spoke, I could feel the anger rising up within me. I do not consider myself to be an angry man, but I am not perfect, and him speaking about my son, who was only so fresh to the world, made me feel upset. I had not known this man, whose features were hidden behind a mask and all other identifying traits cloaked under, I was truly doubting if any of his words were true; they couldn't be, the future hasn't been decided yet. It's ridiculous to even consider believing such a thing, and wherever they had received this information from must've been some awful prank.

I had a mind to speak up to say something, in my typical calm manner, but I took a look to see how Kushina was holding up first.

I will admit, Kushina is quite the hothead. However, her expression was- a look of concern. Rather than be enraged that this man would ever dare speak about our son in such a way, to question his authority to say these things and where he could have imagined it, she looked more like she was completely buying into what he was selling to us.

I was shocked, simply. So shocked, even, I couldn't formulate words before this masked man had dismissed himself, and left from our home. Then, sitting with my mouth agape, I wiped off the dumbfounded look on my face and turned to Kushina, questioning the expression she bore on her face. She gave a quiet sigh, glancing off for a moment before returning her gaze to me. Rather abruptly, as if fearful of something, she placed her hand onto mine, gripping onto it tightly.

"Should we take it lightly, then, Minato? It's so bizarre, so sudden, and yet, could be completely valid? The Nine Tails is no kind beast; he's manipulative, and cruel. How can we truly know that our children will be able to stick it out against him, just because we're they're parents?"

Hearing those words had made my heart sink. My wife was never a foolish person, at least not the way I saw her. But by her current words, I was starting to believe that, perhaps, there was a side to her that allowed for this foolishness. Whatever it was, I needed to make sure she was aware of how ridiculous this all was.

I countered, saying,

"Are you truly going to believe the words of a strange man, completely unidentifiable, over common sense? The future of our children has not been decided yet; their lives have been completely unlived. There's more than enough time for their stories to be written in the way we hope for it to. It is how we raise them, that they will grow to be strong; how we teach them, that they will learn to overcome. That is why we ever allowed the burden of the Nine Tails to be placed upon them- we had faith in them."