The dark hallways shook ominously as the two black haired shinobi made their way deeper into the Root HQ, with Sasuke's hand acting as a torch. Every so often, Orochimaru would discreetly glance behind them, something was off about this place. The Sannin sensed it as soon as he entered, unfortunately the same couldn't be said about his teammates.

    Sasuke would quickly glance at Orochimaru every time he looked over his shoulder. The ex-Uchiha didn't know what he was looking for, the place was deserted.

    The two of them continued walking down the cement hallway, so far they hadn't encountered any intersections. This struck them both as strange, and they exchanged questioning glances. There was no doubt about it, they were in a genjutsu, and that could mean one of two things.

1: Danzo had the place armed with traps before he died, or 2: The Root HQ wasn't as deserted as they had originally thought.

_______________________________________

    It was becoming increasingly hard for Kakashi to hold in his inner-fanboy. Who could blame him though? He had been in the presence of Jiraiya for over an hour! The famed author of Icha-Icha in the flesh!

    "Oi, Kakashi. You okay there?" The masked jounin couldn't help but let out an uncharacteristic squeal. Jiraiya was asking about his wellbeing! That meant he cared!

    "H-Hai Jiraiya-senpai!" Kakashi said with a smile, making Tsunade let out an exasperated sigh.

    "Kami made two of them." The toad sage looked at the blonde kunoichi questioningly.

    "What do you mean?" His question was answered quickly.

    "Jiraiya-senpai! I'm a huge fan of your Icha-Icha series! I even have all the limited edition collections! I was wondering if you could sign them but I mean, I completely understand if you don't want to because I have a lot of them but I guess a lot is an understatement but I would be really really honored if..." Jiraiya stared blankly as Kakashi rambled on about his books. The toad sage didn't know if he should revel in the endless praise he was receiving, or tell Kakashi to shut up. Though Tsunade quickly relieved him of this impasse.

    "Shut up Kakashi,"

_______________________________________

    Naruto stared wide-eyed at the glowing markings on the wall. They pulsed a golden-yellow color. The pattern looked to be methodical, as many symbols were frequently repeated, but neither Naruto nor Sakura had a clue as to what they meant.

    "That's why you got me!" Kurama appeared on top of Naruto's head and studied the markings. "Man, I haven't seen this kind of writing in about 500 years! I forgot what it's called though..." Sakura's eye twitched.

    "Mind telling us what it means?" Kurama looked back to the writing.

    "Nothing important really, the first part is basically talking about how great Danzo is, then it's a buncha rules: Don't give out information, don't kill Danzo, don't open the cells below us," Naruto's face morphed into a grin and he started jumping around.

    "Naruto quit it! The ground won't hold up!"

    "That's what I'm counting on! My Tou-san is being held below us!" The blonde continued to jump, applying extra force every time he landed.

    "Naruto! You didn't let me finish! It said not to open the cage because Danzo will-oh wait nevermind, Danzo's dead." Kurama, who had fallen off of Naruto's head said.

    Sure enough, once the Kyuubi finished speaking, the ground collapsed, revealing several dungeon cells. All but one were empty, and in the occupied cell was a certain blonde shinobi that everyone knew all too well.

    "Who're you? Is that...Kurama?" A tired voice croaked. Naruto's head snapped in the direction the voice came from, and his face morphed into an ecstatic grin, but the smile turned into a frown when he saw the state his father was in.

    Minato's wrists were chained to a wall, and he looked starved. Not to mention his hair was caked with blood and countless scars littered his face. "Tou-san?" The Yondaime's eyes widened in surprise.

    "Naruto... is that you? You're all grown up." Minato smiled sadly, he had missed his son's childhood.

    "We're gonna get you out of here dattebayo!" The Namikaze shook his head.

    "Don't bother Naruto." He shifted a bit so he could show the seal on his neck, the same seal Kakashi described; a life link seal. "Danzo linked his life force with mine, he's dead now, and soon I will be too." Sakura's eyes widened, it made sense, why would Danzo link his life force with a building when he could link it with the Hokage. For the first time ever, Kakashi was wrong.

    "We can remove the seal dattebayo! Don't give up!"

    "It's too late, Naruto." The blonde jinchuuriki trembled angrily, before breaking the bars that separated him from his father.

    "It's not 'ttebayo! There's always a way!" Minato took a shuddering breath.

    "Naruto, I'm so sorry I couldn't be there for you, that I couldn't watch you grow up, or congratulate you when you graduated from the Academy. I'm sorry that I couldn't be the father you wanted." Naruto shook his head with tears forming in his eyes.

    "Stop talking like that! You're not dying dattebayo! I won't let you!" He said, whispering the last part. Minato continued.

    "I know I have no right to say this, because I played no part in your life, but I'm proud to call you my son. I'm proud of who you are now. And even though I may not be with you physically, look up to the sky and know that I'm silently cheering for you from the heavens."

    "No! Tou-san don't go!" With his last bit of strength, Minato broke the chain restraining his right arm.

    "Baka, I'm not going anywhere. I'll always be with you in here." The Hokage poked Naruto's chest, where his heart was, before taking in a final shaky breath and closing his eyes with a soft smile on his face.

"Tou-san!" Naruto yelled. He broke the chain on Minato's left wrist, and hugged the Yondaime's lifeless body before it could hit the ground, wishing to hear his father's heartbeat for the first and last time as he cried silently.

_______________________________________

Parent's dying in books always makes me cry.
I feel terrible 😭😭😭

Thanks for reading though :)

-Isabelle