Kakashi rushed to the village, leaving the girl he found this evening. He had to meet sensei, or else Konoha would miss the chance to capture Orochimaru once and for all. As the Hokage building loomed over the horizon, he noticed an odd atmosphere resting in the building. 

The workers were unusually busy and did not even spare him a glance as he walked past the reception. 

Maybe I cut myself off from the latest news a bit too much, Kakashi thought as he stood before Minato's office.

Kakashi opened his mouth to speak when suddenly, he was cut off. "Sen—" Kakashi's hand barely even grazed the door to knock when another person came out and bumped into him, causing the two of them to stumble to the ground. 

"Ow..." 

Kakashi grunted as he picked himself up, lifting his head to have a look at the person who crashed into him. 

"Oh, isn't this Kakashi?" a voice exclaims, recognizing the Hatake. 

Kakashi too noticed the red hair that unmistakably belonged to only one person in the entire village. 

"Kushina-san," he greets as he dusts his clothes. 

The Uzumaki female similarly brushes the hair out of her face and grins at Kakashi, happy to see his face after a long time, "I heard that you were training, did you finish or are you taking a break? But knowing you, you probably wouldn't take a break, right?" she says and Kakashi had to agree. 

"I usually wouldn't take a break, but I have something urgent to report to Minato-sensei," the boy replies, "so if you would excuse me, please," Kakashi dips his head politely and looks up at her, expecting her to move. 

"Oh, of course! Go ahead," Kushina steps aside and gestures to the door. Kakashi steps into the office, and the door shuts by itself. 

***

It's a lazy Wednesday afternoon, the time when most kids take their naps, Academy students have their lunches and birds rest in the shade of the cool trees. In the Kazekage's house, a woman with her two children are in the living room. The woman is doing embroidery while both her children are sleeping.

Oh, but one of them was awake. 

Kankuro takes very long naps, as observed by Temari. As the elder sister, somehow or another, she always ended up knowing things about her younger brother(s) she herself was not aware of.  And right now, she wished the same to happen with her memories.

One moment she was dying, and the next, she was in some void space for who knows how long, and suddenly she's two years old. 

But sooner or later, she managed to connect all the dots all within the span of a week (thank her brother Kankuro). They had been transported back in time. 

Now of course, time travel seemed like the most absurd thing in the whole world, but after seeing her mother alive, she changed her mind.

Learning of Teruya's existence was a rather easy task that was accomplished. One of their shinobi were going through a bingo book and Temari managed to snag it from him as he was busy chatting. The first pages of the book had a well detailed drawing of an 'Uzumaki Teruya' sporting blonde hair, dark blue eyes and the noticeable headband resting around the ninja's neck. 

'Hah, Naruto managed to get himself here as well? Heh, main character privileges!' she had thought, carefully reading through each information word by word. Nothing much was given except for his name, status and affiliation. 

'Does that mean there are others who have time travelled as well?' Temari came to a conclusion, 'If someone like Orochimaru or Sasuke has come, does that mean the shinobi world is in danger?' 

An excellent question indeed. The two sand siblings would eventually find it out the hard way. 

___________

SHORT STORY

[does not affect the plot in any way] 

[5 days after Teruya was discharged from the hospital/after he got himself a jounin rank] 

A loud yawn escaped Teruya's mouth. It was a Saturday, the perfect day to train, although the wet training grounds worried him a bit. He walked nonchalantly, his wounds faded and pain numbed by medicine.

He really shouldn't be walking around like this. 

"Teruya-san, you really shouldn't be walking around like this," a voice says suddenly, right beside him and Teruya jolts as he yelled, "AHHHHH!!" 

Teruya slapped a hand over his own mouth, looking beside him to meet with blue eyes, like his own. 

"Minato-san!! You scared meee!!!" Teruya shouts, heart racing at thundering speeds, Minato feeling a little surprised at how violently Teruya reacted. 

"I'm sorry Teruya-san, I didn't think you'd be so surprised!" Minato apologizes sincerely albeit an expression of slight mirth played on his curving lips. 

"You and your super fast self," Teruya mutters to himself, "My heart is going to explode if you do that again!" he warns jokingly and Minato chuckled, "I swear I really didn't think you'd be surprised!" 

Teruya just shakes his head in faux disappointment, "Anyway, to what do I owe the pleasure of meeting someone as busy as Minato-san?" 

"I remember you had an appointment for a check-up today at the doctor's and it seemed like you had forgotten, so I just wanted to remind you," Minato says seriously, and Teruya is slightly surprised.

"I didn't think you'd care about me to such an extent!" Teruya states dramatically, teasing Minato. The Namikaze does not fail to satisfy. 

"I-It was just my duty!" Minato stutters in reply, but his comeback was weak. Teruya grinned, "Come with me? I still don't know my way around this place properly,"

"Okay," 

Minato and Teruya casually talk with each other, sometimes serious, sometimes playful. 

"Ah, Teruya-san, are you accustomed to your new house?" Minato is suddenly reminded as the two walk on the street. 

"I'm doing just fine, my house is great!" Teruya replies, "but I think I'm going to have to replace that tin roof of mine, it makes a lot of noise especially when it rains,"

"I know a good friend of mine that works with those things, I'll talk to him about it and let you know okay?" says Minato and Teruya is touched. 

Minato would always be his father, whether he was young or old. 

"You'd do that for me? Thanks Minato-san!" the Uzumaki says cheerfully, "It's been a while since I've had such a light hearted conversation like this," Teruya admits, voice becoming quiet. "I guess it was to be expected, considering my circumstance, ya know?"

The walk becomes silent, but it's not awkward. Rather, Minato just had to process what the Uzumaki had to say and Teruya allowed it. 

"Minato-san, I wanna eat ramen," Teruya mentions after some time, eyes wandering over the street stalls selling food and all sorts of snacks, he turns to face the blonde, "Where is Teuchi-san's restaurant?" 

"Teuchi-san's restaurant? Hmm, I think it was nearby the Academy," Minato replies, "but first, the hospital!" Teruya opens his mouth, wanting to protest but for some reason, he's unable to. 

(Teruya would soon realize that he found himself immobilized to Minato's every requests and orders, but that's a story for another chapter.) 

"Do I have to? I'm hungry though!" Teruya pouts slightly, barely even noticeable. 

"Teruya-san, I'll treat you to ramen if you go, okay? You need to have yourself checked or else you'll have problems later in the future," Minato convinces him. 

Why did I offer to buy ramen?? I don't even have money on me! Internally, Minato thinks in a panic, but his face seemed to be free of worries. I need to go home and quickly take some cash with me.

Minato was excellent at hiding his inner turmoil. 

Teruya's face brightened at the offer as his dipped lips turned into a full on grin, "Okay! Let's go quickly!!" he exclaims excitedly, now resolved to reach the hospital quickly. He takes a big leap, landing lightly on the roof a building and waves at Minato. "Well then, I'm heading there first, bye bye!" 

Minato stretches a hand, as if that would stop the Uzumaki, but Teruya had already gone ahead with a sprinting head start. 

That kid! 

Not a moment later, Minato finds himself taking the same route, trailing right behind the Uzumaki. 

written; wednesday, march 30, 2022

published; wednesday, march 30, 2022

hello, sorry i'm running out of filler chapters  so i had to make this short story thing. i watched the 4th naruto movie and was inspired to have a nice fluff scene between naruto and his father so there's that. 

well then, good bye. have a nice day!