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Time Waits (Complete)	By : momhuey8 Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Naruto/Sasuke Views: 1575 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Konoha had changed little in eighteen years and Naruto had no trouble finding the building where Jiraiya trained Namikaze Minato.
When he got there, he indeed found both men. Naruto couldn't help a lurch in his chest when he spied Jiraiya kneeling before his student. Damn, he missed the old man. A burning started behind his eyes and anger swept through him. One more disaster in his life. The closest thing he had to a father and he too had been stolen from Naruto, again, a thread that led directly back to his father.
Ruthlessly burying those emotions, he settled in a corner to await the end of the lesson.
When he looked up again, Jiraiya was staring at him. If Naruto wasn't mistaken, the old toad master had his eyebrows quirked in surprise. But Jiraiya could not know him.
Besides the henge, Naruto hadn't even been born yet.
"Minato-san," Jiraiya started, still eying Naruto.
"Hai, Sensei." When the student bowed his head, Naruto got his first glimpse of his father. His heart hammered and breath wedged in his chest. His father; the man who sired him, the man who died to save humanity. The man who ruined his life.
"For today's lesson," Jiraiya said, "I'd like to talk about destiny; particularly, your destiny."
Minato dropped his head and sighed. Naruto had yet to see the famous grin. "I already know. I'm Hokage. It's my destiny to sacrifice my life saving the world."
"Hmm." Jiraiya glanced back and forth between Naruto and Minato and Naruto had the irrational sense he was talking to both of them. "Not that. I'm talking about the Child of Prophecy. Have you ever heard of that?"
Minato scratched his head. "Yes, sensei, but I didn't think I was the Child of Prophecy."
"Correct. You are not."
Minato just nodded with no enthusiasm.
"The Child of Prophecy is your son."
Naruto's eyes widened and he looked at Jiraiya with suspicion. The toad sage couldn't possibly know…
"My son?" Minato barked a laugh. "Sensei, you promised you wouldn't drink before my lessons."
Jiraiya's mouth dropped open and his arms flapped at his sides. "I have not been drinking."
"Well, there are so many things wrong with that theory, I don't even know where to start," Minato snapped, then looked contrite and added in a more respectful tone, "Sensei."
"Minato-san," Jiraiya said gently. "There are so many who care for you. Your life could be so different… I know life has been hard, but you really should open up to..."
Minato jumped to his feet. "And start a family? Are you crazy?" He paced around in a small circle. "I can hold my remaining days in my pocket and you suggest that I not only start some relationship, but also produce Konoha's next orphan?"
"That redhead from Whirlpool seems to have an eye for you." Jiraiya scratched his chin looking thoughtful.
Minato's arms fell limp at his side and he stared at Jiraiya with his mouth hanging open. "Did you hear a word I just said?"
"Yep, I'm sure of it. I've seen her looking at you when your back was turned."
Minato's eyes narrowed. "You're a crazy old man. Life is for suckers and people born under more favorable constellations than me."
Then he turned on his heel and stalked to the door where Naruto was watching avidly.
"Let's go Taisuke." Then he shoved out the door leaving Naruto to follow.
Naruto followed several steps behind thinking that this glaring, furious person looked little like all the photos he'd seen of his father. The only glimpse he'd gotten of those famous pearly-whites, they were in a viscous looking snarl.
Just then they reached the end of the alley where Jiraiya ran his dojo and Minato stopped. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. After a couple of moments, he straightened his flak jacket, smoothed his hair and then, after plastering a ridiculously happy looking smile on his face, stepped out into the sunlight.
The person in front of Naruto now was so drastically different from the one of ten seconds ago that Naruto felt disoriented. This grinning idiot waved cheerily to passers-by, ruffled the tops of children's heads, chatted and joked with shop keepers and looked like what Naruto had been expecting all along.
Then as they turned down another busy avenue, Naruto's whole world shifted under his feet. Kyuubi! He hadn't really noticed Kyuubi's absence until he felt the presence outside this body. He felt a moment of panic that the demon was loose, but then tried to remember what the toads had told him about Kyuubi in the past. He was in another host. Naruto looked around frantically. His eyes landed on a beautiful red haired women standing nearby, who in turn, was gazing at Minato, her expression one of longing.
Minato noticed her as well. Naruto felt his father's mood shift once again, that glittering smile flickering for a second. At first, Naruto thought Minato was going to just walk passed her, but then he shoved his hands in his pockets and strolled over to her.
"Kushina-san," he bowed. "How are you today? That demon behaving?"
She bowed in return, smiling. "I am well, Mina…Hokage-sama. You?"
"Fine." He scratched the back of his head and repeated, "Fine." Then followed the mother of all awkward meetings, punctuated by stiff observations on the weather peppered with more observations on the weather.
Finally a group of children crashed into their legs and Minato used the distraction to make his excuses and continue down the street.
Minato's expression remained cheerful and bright, but Naruto wondered how no one could see the pure artifice of his father's demeanor. The man was miserable. Naruto wondered if he messed up history somehow and created this chameleon.
More than a little confused, Naruto opted to say nothing to this man for now.
For the next weeks, Naruto continued to hold his tongue, opting to observe in secret for now. In that regard, the toads had chosen his disguise well. As Minato's assistant, evidently a valued, fondly regarded assistant, the two were nearly inseparable, only splitting up for sleep.
He learned that the Hokage job was life and soul consuming. The work and demands of Konoha's residents and ninja were never ending and the two men usually opted for working breakfasts, lunches and dinners.
In private, with only his trusted assistant nearby, Minato was grouchy, irritable and perpetually angry. But as soon as someone else came near, that smile, the one Naruto had come to dread, would appear.
Naruto noticed that Minato's mood would sour further whenever they crossed paths with the demon vessel, Kushina. He thought Jiraiya was right and she did have a thing for Minato, but frankly so did every female in the village.
In that way, he reminded Naruto of Sasuke. Females swooned and fawned but none seemed to see the real man. They only saw handsome features and social status in their self absorbed infatuations.
Naruto started to feel sorry for Minato. Which annoyed the shit out of him. Righteous rage had brought him here. Visions of some selfish, oblivious, charmed charmer sent him on a quest for revenge. Now that he was here and experiencing something completely different, he didn't know what to do with himself.
One day, he was sitting on a rock in the training grounds, wading through Hokage paperwork while Minato trained alone. Then he and Minato seemed to pick up on Kyuubi's presence at the same time. He looked around and found Kushina leaning on a tree grinning at Minato.
Minato wiped some sweat off his face and studied her a moment. Naruto had become adept at looking underneath his surface and watched as his father became flustered. The blond Hokage bowed jerkily in her direction.
"Kushina-san."
"Hokage-sama. Training alone?"
He shrugged and she grinned wider. "Can't find anyone to train with you? Everyone afraid of hurting you?"
His mouth fell open. Then he barked a startled laugh.
"Yeah," he grinned back. "Word got out that I was as dainty as crickets' knees and I've been training alone ever since."
She nodded. "Well, I'm a puny girl. Maybe you can hold your own with me."
Minato stared for several moments and Naruto could feel his indecision, yearnings warring with his practical side. Finally, he seemed to decide, fuck it, and Naruto saw the first real smile he'd seen on his father's face. It was beautiful.
"Okay," Minato said. "Try not to hurt me."
She laughed, a sparkling noise, and the fight was on.
It was utterly amazing. Of course, Minato was legendary, but this Kushina was astounding. Watching the pair, who had succumbed to the exhilaration and were taunting and laughing, was incredible.
The two started out with some basic tai-jutsu and then, grinning in mutual acknowledgment that one could not best the other, they moved to standard, academy approved nin-jutsu. Still they were evenly matched. Naruto was marveling that these were two of the best ninja he'd ever seen when they upped the ante even further.
His mouth hung open as he was introduced to techniques that he, even with his travels and sage training, had never seen before. The power that rolled over him from these two was more than exhilarating. It reached deep and touched places inside of him. Somehow he recognized these things that he'd never seen before. They were a part of him, as yet undiscovered and untapped.
He felt a connection, a thread that joined the three of them, and suddenly his perspective shifted. His parents! This was his father and his mother. He knew it without having been told.
He was bonded to these two by his very chromosomes. And they loved each other; even a blind person could see that. Grief filled him. They were so young, so vital. Between them they had enough power to all but shift constellations and yet they were gone, succumbed to the whims of fate and destiny. It was such a waste.
That evening, working late in the Hokage's chambers, both males were out of sorts. Minato was quiet and seemed defeated. Naruto was confused. He'd not found anything he'd expected to find since arriving in the past. Finally, he couldn't hold his tongue.
"You aren't a happy person," he blurted the thought uppermost in his mind.
Minato raised a brow and leaned back in his chair. "Excuse me?"
Naruto decided, screw it. He'd come here for answers, after all. "It's just," he walked to the painting on the wall of the smiling Hokage. "Shouldn't you be happy?"
"Why?"
"Well," Naruto scratched the brown hair at his nape. "You're Hokage. And everyone loves you." Naruto articulated the two dreams that made up his own childhood.
"Everyone loves me?"
"Uhm." Then Naruto realized that wasn't true, because from what he'd seen, no one actually knew this man. "Okay, but they respect you."
"Canon fodder." Minato leaned forward on his elbows. He stood and walked to the window, looking out at Hokage Mountain, at the faces of the dead. "Canon fodder," he repeated in a whisper.
He turned back to Naruto. "Don't get me wrong. I have an opportunity that most people don't get." Naruto moved to look out the window beside him.
"Thanks to my fucking father," Naruto's head shot up. "I'm the best ninja in the village, so I have a purpose. An important purpose." Then his voice filled with sarcasm. "I'm sure children will be taught my name for generations.
"But," he continued, more subdued, "between you and me, I'd trade places with you in a minute."
"Me?"
"Nothing personal, but you have the chakra of a dandelion. Because of that, you get a life."
Naruto didn't know what to say.
"I'd rather be able to have the love of one woman and a couple of children than everyone else in this whole village."
"But what about Kushina?" Naruto blurted.
Minato's shoulders slumped. "What about her?"
"She, uh, she loves you." Naruto blushed.
Minato pointed toward the mountain. "Canon fodder." He turned back to Naruto. "What would you do?"
Naruto was surprised at the response that sprang to his lips. "I'm surprised you give up so easily. I never would have thought you were a quitter." He continued even though Minato looked affronted, "You can't predict the future. Can you promise that she won't die tomorrow or next week?"
Naruto looked out the window and continued to wonder where his words of encouragement were coming from as he added, "She's a demon vessel. I imagine her odds of a long life are less than yours. What if you could make the time she has…better? Maybe make a dream of hers come true?"
Minato's mouth opened and then closed, a look of surprise on his face.
Naruto wondered if his words hadn't had some impact on his father. He was different around Kushina, even more nervous and flustered. His longings were now nearly tangible.
She must have noticed the difference as well. They were bumping into her more often and she showed up at the training grounds nearly every time they were there. And her sparring was different. If Naruto had to describe it, he would say she was seducing him. And Minato was weakening. One day, Naruto let his instincts be his guide and he left the two to spar in private.
That night, Minato didn't return to his quarters. He was a different man from that day forward.
Their routine changed. Minato spent less and less time at the tower and Naruto was getting pretty adept at the more mundane Hokage duties. He spent a fair portion of his days sitting at Kushina's kitchen table getting signatures and relaying news and instructions.
Minato still handled the work that needed to be done, but he did most of it from Kushina's cozy little home, all the while never taking his eyes off her as she moved around her home, cooking and cleaning.
For better or worse, Naruto was getting to know his mother now also. Now that she and Minato had crossed into the realm of lovers, Kushina opened the flood gates of her bottomless pool of love. She showered Minato with it, with looks, words, and touches.
And Naruto was also the recipient of her boundless affection. Touching was a big part of Kushina's relationships and now that Naruto was a part of her life, she hugged him, caressed his cheek, smoothed his hair and turned Naruto into a needy puppy. While he'd shied from the touch of others his whole life, he found himself powerless in the face of her warmth.
He was having daydreams of what it would have been like to be her child. He pictured himself curling up on her lap, falling asleep in her arms, her heartbeat at his ear. He imagined learning life's happier aspects in gentle lessons. He envisioned her standing staunchly in front of him, sheltering and protecting him from life's harsher side. It all tapped into a well that Naruto hadn't felt in himself before. He found himself longing for both ends of a parental relationship, both giving and receiving love and protection.
As Minato opened himself to Kushina, he was starting to experience other deeper relationships. There were people in the village who truly cared for him. While it was a much smaller group of people than the general sycophantic population of Konoha, the relationships had more meaning. One of the deeper relationships Minato developed was with Naruto himself, as the assistant, of course. Minato started talking to him more and more, and Naruto encouraged him to open up. He learned a lot about his father. He learned that he really had no idea what the man's life had been like. Turned out that it was eerily similar to his own life.
Minato had his share of loss and grief and while he'd had lots of attention his whole life, not all of it was good, much of it colored with jealousy and avarice. The village at large only cared about his value as a ninja, and females, with the exception of Kushina, only saw good looks, wealth and status. He trusted no one and because of that, he had no close relationships. Again, Naruto thought of Sasuke.
Now, as the days passed, and Minato and Kushina grew ever closer, Naruto was starting to get a glimpse of the happy Hokage of legend. It confused him even more. He didn't want his father to be happy. Did he? And what of his…plan? If he could keep the two apart, he could prevent his birth and his own pathetic life. Right? Naruto just wasn't sure anymore. As he watched the two, a demon vessel and a doomed hero, he couldn't stop the part of himself that rooted for their happiness.
One day, Naruto came to work and found Minato staring out the window. He looked as though he'd been crying. Naruto touched his arm.
"What's wrong?" Emotions flew across Minato's face. Finally he dropped his face in his hands and his shoulders started to shake. Naruto led him to the couch and patted his shoulder awkwardly.
Finally Minato raised his head and Naruto saw hell in his eyes. "She's pregnant."
Naruto gasped. And then anger flooded him as he watched the anguish on his father's face. "Yeah, kids suck."
"Is that what you think?" Minato's expression changed to one of anger, as well.
"You certainly don't seem very happy about it," Naruto snapped.
Minato grabbed Naruto by the arm and dragged him to the window. "What don't you get about dead fucking Hokages?" he yelled, spit flying from his mouth. "Dead! Fucking! Hokages!"
Remorse rose unbidden in Naruto at the sincerity of Minato's turmoil. "I'm sorry," he said.
"I should never have…" Minato's voice was bleak. Then he looked at Naruto with a helpless expression. "But she's… I just can't help myself. I can't stop…"
Minato suddenly gripped his shirt, his look wild. "I'll make you Hokage. She and I can go…"
"What?" Naruto interrupted.
"You…you know the job as well as I do." He shook his head then paced in a small circle, rubbing his cheek. "Or maybe Hyuuga or Uchiha. I wonder if the council…"
Naruto stared at his father as he muttered and paced. "You'd do that? Give up Hokage and leave Konoha for m…" He coughed. "For a kid?"
Minato looked at him and dropped his head and gripped his hair. "What am I supposed to do? This job and everything that goes with it is my responsibility. And it's a death sentence; how can I even think about passing it off to someone else? How can I ask another father or mother to…"
He came to stand in front of Naruto and raised his hands in a helpless gesture. "But now I'm going to be a father. What do I do?"
Once again, Naruto was surprised at the words that came from his mouth. "Sarutobi is still alive. Tsunade and Orochimaru and Jiraiya are all old." He shrugged and couldn't look at his father as he lied to him. "You could live to be an old man."
Minato didn't respond and finally Naruto looked up. "How does Kushina feel about this?"
Minato snorted and scrubbed his hands over his hair. "She's ecstatic." He shook his head. "I don't understand it. She's a jinchuuriki. Jinchuuriki have notoriously short lives."
Naruto didn't know what to say. Nothing about this trip had been what he'd expected, including his own responses. He found that, even knowing the future, he had no advice for Minato.
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Time Waits (Complete)