Third person pov

Do you know how hard it is to read?

Naruto has no idea how people do it! And for fun, no less. The concept of willingly doing this for any other reason than absolute necessity is positively mind boggling. There's just no way people wake up and decide this is what they're going to do with their time.

Naruto's never been all that good at focusing on any one thing for any period of time. He can be dedicated, can work towards a goal and not give up on it, but his attention is erratic at best. He jumps from thing to thing like a lively frog jumps from lily pad to lily pad, only stopping briefly to bask in the sun before he's moving again.

There's no real narrative in seals. Maybe they tell a story all on their own-- maybe they can make a story when put together-- but the separated parts are little more than chunks of information he needs to memorize. Hours spent squinting at blocks of text, trying to parse out what it's saying and what it means.

Kurama is the biggest help he has in the moments he spends curled up in his bedroom in the evenings, hunched over his dad's annotated texts and making a futile attempt to absorb it all. Kurama can glance it over through Naruto's eyes and re-explain it in a way that he understands. Naruto's pretty sure that fact alone is the only reason he makes any progress at all.

It's, in so many words, total ass trying to figure out what the hell is even happening. The vague foundation in sealing his parents had given Naruto definitely gives him a leg up, but that hardly matters in the face of his overall struggling. Everything he's picked up through osmosis feels obsolete. 

"Okay." Naruto massaged his temples. He felt like he was hardly sleeping these days between training, studying, and dodging all the wary elders trying to prod him more about Kurama's seal. "Let me get this straight. The centerpiece of Neji's seal isn't an X form seal, it's actually a linear bolt construct crossed over with a modified confinement strait that's been literally branded onto his fucking forehead?" 

Naruto... has no real idea what he just said. God, what is he turning into? Had those words all just come out of his mouth?

"Yes." Kurama responded drily, sounding about as unamused as Naruto felt. "That's exactly what that is. Keyed through the blood and chakra of the main house, and involving a spiritual facet on confinement and a physical facet on the bolt."

Naruto stared down at the notes he'd been taking, utterly unimpressed. Cursed seals were controllable-- they'd known that. But to have one this complicated and layered... where the hell had they even gotten work like this? 

The invisible eight-pronged ring seal securing its permanency was so deeply entangled with the waterfall-style, dormant five element seal that would blow Neji's eyes up upon his death that Naruto had no idea if taking it off without blinding him in the process was even possible. The entire thing was heinous, meant to enslave and control in all the worst ways.

Without being to see the invisible layers of the seal, there was simply no way for him to find out more. It was driving him insane. Agitating it with chakra to show itself could kill Neji if he wasn't careful, but simple observation wasn't going to cut it. Cursed seals were the kind that twisted their way in and poisoned. And if he didn't know exactly what kind of poison, there'd be no combatting it.

"Cool. Cool, cool, cool." Naruto muttered to himself breathlessly, despite the fact that this was as far from cool as they could possibly fucking get. "And do we have any idea how to get either of those two things off?" 

"Separately, perhaps, though the processes for each are tedious and riddled with risks." Kurama's tails swished lazily. He wasn't near as invested in this as Naruto was, that's for sure. "Crossed over? I doubt such a thing has ever been done."

Naruto's nose scrunched up so hard it hurt. He hummed to himself in a way that was deeply pained and full of hysteria, his fingers drumming on the edge of the book he was reading. Said book was old as shit and full of archaic language which also didn't help at all. Who knows how out of date it was.

Cursed seals were ass. This was all ass. He should've said no when Lee asked for help. Being a good friend? What's that? Naruto has no idea! Sometimes cutting ties is worth it just to get some actual sleep and peace for once in your life. 

Ugh. Ugh. No, he doesn't actually mean that and he knows it. He's just exhausted, sort of (read: most definitely) doesn't want to be doing this, and is heavily questioning whether or not he's even smart enough to pull this one off. All signs so far are pointing to no, even with Kurama's casual, uninvested guidance.

Logically, there is only one conclusion Naruto can draw.

"We're fucked." He decides firmly, nodding to himself. From his place snoring atop Naruto's bed, Bull snorts, almost as though he's subconsciously agreeing in his sleep. "We're fucked and Neji is going to live the rest of his life as a prisoner by his own blood. Or we're going to accidentally detonate his eyes trying to free him from it." 

Kurama pauses, clearly thinking. Naruto carefully bookmarks his page, closing it as gently as he can muster. Resisting the urge to throw it out the nearest window and shoot a flaming projectile after it to finish the job is one of the hardest things he's ever done in his entire life.

Instead, he sets it on the ground and nudges it under his bed with his foot, where all the rest of his pilfered information on seals goes, including several semi-detailed diagrams on Neji's seal. He wonders if Suna has any cool and useful and super duper easy sealing books that will magically carry him through his travesty.

Considering the state of Gaara's seal when they first met, probably not. Naruto will write a letter to his redheaded friend anyway, just to keep hope alive.

"...There may be more resources. More information on cursed seals." Kurama says after a beat of Naruto desolately squinting at his ceiling, flopped back onto his bed in defeat. The blond shoots into a sitting position at his words. "They will not be easy to obtain, should they still exist at all."

What about any of this is easy? The fact that Kurama isn't automatically agreeing that this is a lost cause means that there's an actual chance. Like, a real one. To fix stuff. Like he already said he would-- it would be super embarrassing to back out now. He's already in it.

"Okay? So?" Naruto impatiently flopped back down, closing his eyes and willing himself to fall asleep faster just so he could face Kurama head on. "I'm literally open to anything at this point. Except maybe math. Which I know is like, a key part of seals, but I'm super desperate. Believe it."

Kurama is once again uncharacteristically quiet for a moment, contemplative. There's a strange wariness in him that Naruto can feel building like pressure in a can ready to pop. Naruto feels oddly tense waiting for him to speak, holding his breath. 

Anything that has a being like Kurama hesitating is something to be inherently wary of. Naruto has learned this well over the past few years and he'd be an idiot to ignore it now. He pretends idly that his heart isn't thundering, even though they both know it is. Kurama doesn't mention it-- who knows. Maybe his heart is thundering as well.

"Your mother has told you tales of Uzushiogakure. Her homeland, and yours by extension." Kurama started off, sounding like he was picking his words very cautiously. "She has shared her stories, but what of its nature do you actually know?"

Naruto knew that the answer to that question should be not much at all. That his mom's grief was too strong for her to go into any depth. That really, she'd only shared a few childhood stories and a brief overview of their culture and what it meant to be a member of one of Uzu's clans. 

A wistful note of the land being sacred and lost since their fall. A simmering anger at those who'd done it. A regretful whisper of all the things Naruto had never got to see. Really, Naruto did not know Uzu at all.

So why did he, laying here in the darkness of his room, feel so distinctly that he did?

~~~~~~~~~ 

D-rank missions are... something. 

Honestly? Nobody wants to hire Naruto. Literally everyone knows exactly who he is, and not a single person wants him working for them in any capacity. And worse-- because he's the Hokage's son, they can't even outright deny him.

It makes for a lot of glaring, tension, and awkward shuffling. Anyone who gets saddled with Team 7 seems to viscerally cringe, shying away from Naruto like he's going to lash out and kill them where they stand.

In their defense, Kurama is tempted. Like he totally wouldn't, but he does think about it. Naruto can feel the way his irritation rises like a wave in him, a sharp anger that's separate from his own exasperation and resignation over the whole thing. Kurama is just as done with this shit as Naruto is.

"Wow. They really hate you." Sakura marvels a bit as the old lady they'd been assigned the mission of came out to bite Naruto's head off about pulling the weeds out wrong. Again. "Is there even a wrong way to weed a garden? You're doing better than I am."

From his place looming behind them, Kakashi twitched slightly. Naruto wondered if this woman was going to also find herself with a ticket for something menial that came out of seemingly nowhere at all, as pretty much every single one of their past mission givers had. 

"They don't hate him. They hate the thing in him." Sasuke scoffed in correction. Naruto inhaled sharply and willed himself to know peace. Peace. He can be peaceful. He will not attack his teammates.

Standing up instead of lashing out and obliterating Sasuke where he stood, Naruto brushed the dirt off his pants as best he could, grimacing as he did so. The texture of the dirt on his hands was gritty and uncomfortable, and the smell of it pierced his sensitive nose. Maybe Kashi was onto something with that mask of his.

"Kurama is not a thing." Well. He sorta was. But because it's Sasuke saying it, Naruto's choosing to take offense. "And besides, it's not like they see us as any different anyway. Kurama and I may as well be the same entity in their eyes." 

It was the sorry truth of it. Naruto and the Nine Tailed Fox had always been an overlapping image in the eyes of the public. Naruto born the night Kurama was "defeated". Him being a jinchuuriki was the worst best kept secret in the village.

Kakashi's hand landed on his shoulder firmly, squeezing in reassurance. Naruto wasn't really upset-- he was too used to it to be. Just a little bitter, perhaps. It was disgruntling to try and try and never have it to amount to anything because everyone's impression of you was already set in stone.

Sakura looked away awkwardly, clearly uncomfortable. Sasuke just grunted, because he's Sasuke and that's one of the mere five things he knows how to do. Naruto ignored the looks they shot him, instead forcing himself to let out a breath. He let the tension drop out of him, his shoulders slouching.

"You're more tired than usual." Kurama observed from within him, and Naruto could hear the frown in his voice. "You're not sleeping enough."

Naruto wasn't. They both knew why.

The research on seals was beginning to consume him just a little. Between the exhaustive training they were going through as new genin and the missions they ran day in and day out all across the village, it left him with very little free time to fully explore all the facets of seal making he needed to. 

Naruto was going to have to delve deep to learn how to crack this thing. And now that he was in it, there was no backing out. Even if he lost sleep over it, it felt like it'd be worth it in the end. With Kurama in him, Naruto had more zeal, more energy than regular people did. He could go for longer on less.

Eventually, though, it was bound to catch up with him. He could already feel himself becoming more irritated in general. Maybe tonight he'd take a break. Though he hadn't disclosed his seal research to Ayumu, the man still stressed the importance of moderation in relation to other subjects-- no doubt it would apply to this too.

"You and Kurama are completely separate, Naruto. And I'm sure the village will see that soon." Kakashi's words sort of sounded threatening, actually. "In the meantime, let's finish up here and see if we can't find a mission that doesn't..."

"Suck ass?" Naruto tried. Kurama snorted. Kakashi offered a closed-eye smile.

"I was going to say that doesn't discriminate based on things they know nothing about, but sure." He chirped out, giving Naruto another clap on the shoulder before pulling away. "Sucks ass works too!" 

Sakura's affronted squeak at their language was drowned out almost entirely by the shrewd gasp of the woman who'd hired them. Naruto ducked his head to hide his grin, tuning her sputtering about language and propriety out and instead crouching back down in front of the garden beds. 

Wind rustled past him, through his hair and across his skin. Naruto thought it smelt of salt.

~~~~~~~~~ 

Naruto watches as his dad drums his fingers on his desk, his brows drawn in as he looks at the immaculate mission report Kakashi had filled out and delivered directly into his hands rather than to the chunin manning the desk downstairs. No doubt it documented every grievance the woman had taken out against Naruto, even the mildest ones.

There was a strange itch under Naruto's skin that he couldn't place. Naruto had no idea what the hell it was, or why it seemed to be getting progressively worse. Trying to mutter his questions to Kurama brought no answers. If Naruto was feeling something unusual, Kurama sure wasn't.

Next to Naruto, Sakura was curiously eyeing all the pictures on the walls. This was the first time they'd actually come up to the Hokage's office, and clearly she wasn't expecting to see Naruto's face plastered across every surface. Naruto was too numb to it to bother feeling embarrassed.

It was nice, in a way. He didn't personally care if every man, woman, and child who passed through the doors of this office saw Naruto's face plastered across every available vertical surface. It was... nice. Nice that his dad loved him enough to want to see him even when he wasn't around.

"...I see." Minato said after a long, long moment. His voice was tight and his blue eyes narrowed, the smile on his face fixed. "Excellent work completing your mission as always, Team 7. I'm proud of you. And thank you for delivering this directly to me this time, Kakashi."

His professionalism is shaky at best, his growing anger obvious in the way his teeth grind and his hands curl into fists. Naruto just hopes he doesn't go out and uproot anymore trees later. He's wrecked the same woman's garden a solid fourteen times over the past six years, and that's even with her having moved its location twice. 

"Of course, Hokage-sama. We strive to do our best. And so far, we have. No other team of genin have completed the sheer number of D-ranks that we have." Kakashi hedged. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke all froze, seeming to hold their breath simultaneously. They knew what this was. "I was hoping you may have something a little more... serious. For us. I believe they're ready, ne?"

Naruto could immediately see the way his dad froze at the careful prodding. Naruto shared a wide-eyed look with Sakura and Sasuke both, all of them tense, shoulders hunched waiting for the verdict. A shocking show of solidarity between them, Naruto knows.

This wasn't the first time they'd tried for a C-rank mission. They had an unprecedented success rate with D-ranks, often flying through several a day. Sasuke and Naruto were both several steps up from the other graduates of the academy, trained in ways most weren't, and Sakura was rapidly gaining ground in terms of catching up.

It wasn't that they weren't ready. They were beyond ready, teetering right on the marker for their first C-rank. It was a milestone most genin teams hit around this time, and that was typical even without two of the members being ahead of the curve. No, their preparedness wasn't the issue.

Naruto's dad was. And honestly? Naruto... can't blame him.

Naruto's track record with trips out of the village isn't good. Like, there's never been a single instance in which he has stepped foot outside these walls and not had something happen. If Naruto is out of the village, there will be an incident. The statistic is impossible to deny. Naruto's long since resigned himself to his cursed fate.

His dad, however, is not so resigned. If Naruto decided to turn in his headband today and take up being a ramen chef instead, he'd probably cry tears of relieved joy. These days, any excuse he could make to keep Naruto from going out of the village was one he'd hold onto with an iron grip.

Unfortunately, he was steadily starting to run out of reasons not to let Naruto go out. It would have to happen eventually. Yeah, the likelihood of it going to shit was 105%, but that's life. Naruto's a ninja and besides, it's not like he's ever died before or anything.

"Well--" Kurama started to say. Naruto tuned him out fiercely. 

The silence in the room was stifling. Kashi's closed-eye smile remained unwavering, and Naruto could see the cogs in his dad's brain turning rapidly, obviously searching for some sort of excuse. Naruto checked his imaginary watch, wondering if he'd get in trouble if he curled up in the corner and took a quick nap.

"...Right. I... agree... with you." The words sounded like they'd been torn from his dad at kunai point. Naruto winced at the look on his dad's face. He looked on the verge of a mental breakdown. "I'm sure we have something a little more... complicated--"

"We want a C-rank." Kashi chirped out relentlessly. Naruto's dad stared blankly as he swept forward, swiping a file off his desk idly as he did so. He let it flutter open in his hand, humming. "Ah! Would you look at this! It's perfect!" 

The noise his dad made was that akin to a dying cat. And when Kashi reached over, grabbed the official Hokage seal and stamped it himself, those noises increased tenfold. Immediately, his dad was over the desk reaching for the file.

"NO!" Naruto's dad shrieked. Kakashi threw himself backwards and out of reach. "That's in the wave! You'll be gone months! Let me--"

Naruto wondered if he should say anything. Probably not. All the other times he'd tried concerning C-rank missions, he'd just made things worse. No need to lose them this opportunity. He's sure he'll hear all about it tonight at dinner anyway.

Though admittedly-- the prospect of being away from home for literal months was fairly daunting considering all it took normally was a single day for him to get himself in deep shit anytime he did leave. He wasn't sure how he felt about that one. Mildly disconcerted. Or maybe majorly disconcerted? 

Yeah, it's hard to say. Naruto's just going to make the executive decision now to accept the very real possibility that he may not survive this. He will stand here in silence and accept whatever fate befalls him without complaint. Kumbaya, or whatever.

"A simple escort mission! What a wonderful start for Team 7!" Kakashi beamed. "I'm assuming the client is waiting downstairs? We'll see ourselves out!" 

Kashi dodges another swipe for the file and throws the door open, practically skipping out of it. Naruto winces a little as his dad flounders at the space his former student once stood, looking like a confused deer with no idea what direction to go, head swiveling back and forth between the door, his desk, and Naruto like he can't quite believe what happened. 

Naruto wants to feel pity, but he can't quite bring himself to. Is Kurama's semi-heartless nature rubbing off on him, or has this just been a long time coming and it needed to happen? Naruto's not levelled up enough socially to actually know, so if anyone figures it out, let him know.

Nobody moves. Naruto sort of wants to make for the door and he's pretty sure Sakura's thinking something along the same lines based on the awkward shuffling she's doing in the vague direction of the exit. His dad looks like he's just lost everything, a desolate expression on his face that speaks to future appointments to be made with Ayumu.

"...Did we just get our first C-rank?" Sasuke mutters into the still silence of the office. 

Immediately, Naruto's dad bursts into tears. It's answer enough.

~~~~~~~ 

Their client's name is Tazuna. He's old, he's drunk, and the first thing he does when he sees them is scoff and ask if they're actually qualified to protect him. 

Naruto wishes he could confidently say they were, but he's a certified trouble magnet. If someone's going to go out of their way to kill someone, it's going to happen whilst Naruto's around. They may've just damned the guy, but whatever. That's a future Naruto problem. Right now, he's more focused on where they're going to be going.

The Land of Waves is an island that borders the Land of Fire's coast so closely that they're going to build a massive bridge to connect to two. As it stands now, the only way to cross is by boat, and that's inconvenient for trade and travel if you don't own a boat or have no idea what you're doing when the waters start to get choppy. 

The channel that separates the two lands tends to have particularly bipolar conditions thanks to the cold water that comes in on one end and the warm that comes in on the other, their currents conflicting. The Land of Waves is longer than it is wide, stretching across one side of the Land of Fire in the form of a continental archipelago. 

It's supposed to be a beautiful place, if not excessively prone to fog and high humidity. The weather's starting to cool enough that Naruto's hoping it'll be a pleasant few months, with dewy mornings and plenty of time to train without overheating as Tazuna works to complete the bridge. They're already part of the way done, but stolen supplies and a few petty thugs had apparently driven them to seek a little extra protection.

Personally, Naruto finds that part a little suspicious. But that's also not what he's focused on, either.

That same feeling from before vibrates under his skin, less of an itch now and more of an incessant tugging in all directions, like something was trying to pull him apart. It doesn't hurt-- isn't even irritating, really. It's just ceaseless, like the world is trying to tell him something without using words.

The wind rattles outside. Clouds form overhead and rain patters down hard on the roof, a symphony he can't help but listen to. The weather howls, but it does not feel angry like one would expect a storm to be. It feels victorious. Hopeful.

The Land of Waves isn't the only island off the Land of Fire's coast.

Not far from the very island Naruto will be going to, he knows, is Uzu. It feels a little bit like fate when he realizes, tracing his mother's finger on the map as she excitedly jabbers over his first mission, pride bursting from her pores. His eyes lock onto the red whirlpool symbol set square between their elemental nation, the Cloud and the Mist. 

His mom had told him once that the waters there had always been unforgiving, but that since the fall of Uzu, they were unable to be sailed at all. That the ocean raged, unwilling to let anyone near the lost island it once cherished. Warm water from the Fire, cold from the Mist, and wind currents from the Cloud. The area was rife with cyclones and waves that towered high enough to swallow a warship. 

Uzu was lost. They say it sank. Naruto feels a tug in his gut and wonders how true that actually is. If Kurama thinks they could find the information they need there, then he guesses there's only one way to find out.

"I don't see why you're so upset, Minato. This is great! His first mission-- our baby's growing up so fast, and I couldn't be prouder." Kushina chirped out happily, a grin on her face. Naruto snapped his gaze away from the map, blinking rapidly. "Though leaving tomorrow is a little soon..."

"He's going to be gone months, Kushina. Out of the village." Naruto's dad was on the floor, face down on the carpet. He'd just finished crying about thirteen minutes ago, give or take. "Not hours, not days, not even weeks. An undetermined amount of months. And we won't get to see him!" 

His head popped up off the carpet, red rimmed eyes wide and insistent. Naruto felt another swell of doubt rise in him, looking at his dad. They'd been apart before, since his coming back six years ago, but not... not like this. Not for this long. 

Naruto would have Kashi, and that was something. He'd have his teammates, which... probably counted for something? He's going to say it does because he's pretty sure he's still supposed to be channeling the essence of friendship and teamwork through his veins, and Kashi will probably be able to smell it if he isn't.

Naruto glanced at his mom and did a doubletake when he saw the conflicted expression on her face. Fuck. No, okay, he does have to go on the mission. How's he ever going to find Kurama's siblings and achieve world peace if he holds the hands of his parents and never lets go? They'll be here when he gets back. He's certain of it.

"I'll be fine. Believe it!" Naruto gave a thumbs up, portraying confidence he didn't feel out in a beaming grin. "Besides, I've got Kurama on my side and he'll totally eat anyone or anything that tries to get us. This mission is practically already in the bag, it's so easy! We're totally gonna kill it."

His dad sniffles, eyes growing misty again. Naruto almost thinks he must've said something wrong just now before he realizes that anything he did or said would probably be met with tears no matter how encouraging he was.

"More like get killed, with your luck." Kurama grumbles out, but there's something underlaying his tone that makes Naruto perk at attention. "I see you're looking at routes to Uzu. You'd be abandoning your mission if you did that."

Uh. Excuse him?

What was he even talking about? Naruto wasn't going to abandon a mission. He'd sooner die than abandon a mission, in fact! He was a loyal Konoha shinobi, dedicated to his village, to his home. He was beyond excited to get out there and actually face the world, to climb the ranks and make everyone proud. 

He was going to show them he was a ninja to count on. He was going to bring on an age of world peace if it was the last thing he did, he was going to make sure Kurama had his family, he was going to pry that cursed seal off Neji's head, and everything was going to be awesome. 

Being a shinobi has been a part of his dream since like, forever. It's practically ingrained in his very identity at this point. Naruto may be knuckleheaded, but he's not a deserter, that's for sure. He knows the Will of Fire and what it means, and he does his best to carry it on like an Olympian torch.

Now. If he accidentally got lost and accidentally fell into a boat and that boat accidentally sailed off in the right direction...

"You're a fucking menace." The remark should've been scathing, but instead it just came out tired. "Why'd I even bring it up? Of course you don't give a shit. Your sorry excuse for a father is the leader of the village. Of course you won't face consequences."

Naruto grinned. He had some bags to pack.

~~~~~~~~

Minato's actually going to drop dead on the fucking floor.

No. No, no, no, this cannot be happening to him right now. This is not how this was supposed to go. None of this was according to plan! Not that there'd been a plan to begin with, but if there had been, he'd like to go on the record and say that it wouldn't be anything like this. Thank you.

Pretty much everyone with the bare minimum of one eye and half a brain knows that Minato lives and breathes fatherhood. His son is the sun he orbits around. He loves him like he's loved nothing else, down to his bones and the marrow in them. He would do anything for him.

And Minato-- understood. He understood that his going out of the village was an inevitability. He trusts Naruto for how capable, strong, and clever he is. He trusts Kurama, who has so far not eaten him or mentally damaged him... anymore than he already is. 

Probably. Hopefully. That's not really the part he's worried about right now.

It's just that Naruto is... accident prone. Or maybe accident prone isn't the right term. It's more along the vague line of everything ever in the entire world deciding it wants to kill him the moment he steps foot outside the village, almost as though Konoha's walls are dampening the effects.

Minato cannot lose his son. Point blank, he will lose his mind and actually go on some sort of heinous rampage that will probably end not so great. He acknowledges this, and that it's probably not healthy, but you know what? Being dead for six years while your son gets traumatized and neglected isn't very healthy either. So. There.

He gets that over half a decade has passed, and things have developed, and that's great. Minato just... 

Naruto always has something happen to him when he goes outside the village. A kidnapping, or a nearly severed foot, or his heart stopping, or him randomly being in the fucking woods and almost dying in the process of saving the Uchiha clan's heir.

It was always something. Minato knew Naruto would be going out eventually, but he'd been waiting, anxiously skimming through C-rank after C-rank trying to find one that wouldn't take them far and wouldn't keep them long. Something short and nearby, so that when something inevitably went wrong, they were close enough to receive aid.

Minato knew it wouldn't be a sustainable thing to do long term, but this was Naruto's first time going out there as a shinobi. Minato wanted-- needed-- him safe. Near. He'd been kidnapped one too many times for him not to have PTSD over it.

Now, he was going to be gone for months. Literal months. For as long as it took for them to get to The Wave, for the bridge to be finished, and for them to get back. That's how long his son would be away from him, communicating through nothing but the weekly mission reports and updates of status. Maybe a convoluted message or two sent through Pakkun.

He'd be miles and miles and miles away. And Minato knows he's bigger now, but sometimes he looks at him and he still sees that six year old boy he stumbled across in the street, looking worn down by life. Sometimes he sees the boy who looked up at him with wonder and surprise, shocked to find out he was actually loved.

It's hard to let that go. Minato didn't-- he didn't get thirteen years with his son, watching him grow and change. He's only gotten six so far. From a baby to a boy in the blink of an eye, and then onwards. Maybe his perception was skewed because of it. 

Though, he had to admit it was sort of justified. Naruto was in mortal peril more often than he wasn't half the time.

"Is... he okay?" Sakura was one of his son's teammates, a headstrong girl with bubblegum pink hair. According to Naruto's recollections of his day at dinner, she was getting progressively more tolerable and not nearly as mean. 

"He'll be fine!" Naruto chirped from his place holding Minato up, because his legs had given out and he was, again, about to drop dead right here, right now.

Naruto is bright and sunny as always, teeming with excitement for his upcoming mission even as Minato flops into him and hugs him close. He seems content to hug back for the time being, the backpack on his back bulging with supplies that will last him the months he'll be away.

He won't be at breakfast, or lunch, or dinner. He won't crash into Minato's office unannounced. He won't get into trouble with Shikamaru and Lee, and he won't set anything on fire. He won't ask him about seals endlessly, or ask about his day at work, or see if he wants to go out to eat, because they don't spend enough time together these days, as he says.

"I wanna die." Minato announced, voice a croak. Tazuna was looking more concerned by the second. If this was what Konoha's Hokage was like, what did he have to look forward to with his protection? "My baby. My baby is leaving."

Naruto patted him on the head gently, because Naruto's an angel who can do no wrong. Minato sniffled loudly.

"We'll be back before you know it, Sensei. You'll hardly even notice we're gone." Kakashi chirped out with so much enthusiasm that it just had to be fake. "I'll be keeping a close eye on him. We'll bond. Train. Spend a lot of quality time together. Don't worry, I'll take pictures of the many milestones he's sure to hit."

If Minato didn't know any better, he'd say Kakashi sounded almost smug. He squinted at his former student, contemplating the pros and cons of strangling him. Naruto's mission would probably be cancelled if he did that, so the idea did have merit.

Ayumu, who'd come along to see Naruto off and definitely not to play emotional support counselor, sighed heavily, almost as though he could tell what Minato was thinking. Minato let out a noise of discontent when the Yamanaka's hand landed on his shoulder, gently tugging at him. 

He tightened his grip on Naruto, wondering if he could call in a vacation and just go along. Maybe it was time to turn in the hat. Sure, they'd been making plans to unite Konoha together again and bring it out of its state of mild disarray, but surely someone else was perfectly capable of doing that if they just gave them their loose step-by-step instructions.

"You've got to let him go." Kushina prodded, though she looked a little misty-eyed as well. "He's going to be fine, Minato. Kakashi will watch him. He'll write to us, ya know?" 

"Believe it." Naruto reassured, foot lashing out to catch Sasuke in the shin when the Uchiha rolled his eyes. His teammate leapt back with a hiss. Naruto didn't bat an eye, pulling away from Minato to grin up at him instead. "Nothing will go wrong this time! And now that Kurama's out and free to do whatever he wants, I'll be practically indestructible!" 

Kakashi nodded widely in over-exaggerated agreement. Behind him, an irritable Tazuna was grumbling about how long they were taking, muttering about Kurama and clearly trying to figure out which one of them that was. If only he knew.

Minato felt his heart break a little as Ayumu finally tugged him back. They'd already talked about Naruto leaving. Not in any official session, more like Minato had shown up at his door sobbing and the man had been too exhausted to keep Minato from barging in and flopping face down on his couch.

Letting Naruto find independence away from them was going to be important. Acknowledging the fact that he'd be leaving and letting him start to make his own life for himself was vital to the health of all of them. Holding on forever wasn't healthy.

It was just... hard. Minato didn't know why he was having such trouble coping, or maybe it really was just rooted in the fact that he was afraid something would happen to his son. Letting him go out there, knowing something was probably going to hurt him, and knowing he wouldn't be there to do something about it--

"Alright." Minato choked out despite himself. He gave a smile, hand coming up to run through Naruto's hair. "But if anything happens, anything at all, you-- you send me a message, okay? However you have to, you send me a message."

Naruto beamed. Kakashi offered a hum.

"We will, but I have a good feeling about this one." Kakashi offered. "I'm sure it'll go perfectly fine."

~~~

Uhhh as always read up to chapter 10 on patreon yadda yadda I also started a story on there where Naruto can see dead ppl but I think I'll post it here eventually bc I love Sakumo Hatake and there needs to be more of him in the world