Hiruzen sighed as both Uzumaki turned to each other in open mouthed shock. It looked like he would have to head over there sooner than he thought.

Canceling the chakra he was pushing into his glass orb he stood slowly, sighing as he pondered what to say.

-----

“What does this mean?” Naruto spoke. “Why is the fourth holding my mom?” He said, becoming more and more hysterical with every breath.

“Uh, I uh. I think he's your, your dad Naruto.” Minori said nervously and began rapidly glancing between pictures of the legend and his nephew. They looked so alike he wondered how nobody had figured it out already.

Naruto may have had the general Uzumaki face shape, but his nose was definitely his father’s, and you could see the sharp lines of Namikaze cheekbones beginning to show as baby fat began to leave. And most prominent of all, his eyes were carbon copies of the ones in the picture frame.

Even without seeing these photos, one would have been able to figure it out sooner than later.

Naruto stood, completely still as he struggled to understand what he was seeing and hearing.

"U-uncle Minori, that can't be true, t-the fourth was a, he was a hero. He sealed the kyuubi away and saved the village." Naruto looked down, face still shocked and hands shaking. "I, I'm just the kid he sealed me into. They, he was probably friends with my mom is all. Yeah, just, it has to be that Uncle, it has to."

"I'm afraid Naruto, that Namikaze Minato was indeed your father." Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke up from where he was standing in the closed doorway.

"Gramps!"

"Lord Hokage!"

Naruto stood as still as a statue, staring ahead blankly.

"He sealed the kyuubi in me and he's my dad?" He whispered to himself not believing it. "My dad sealed the kyuubi in me."

Minori pulled Naruto into his arms, "How dare he seal the kyuubi in a  newborn? I was mad enough when it was a leader picking him randomly. But his own kid! Why would he do this?"

Hiruzen spoke sadly to the duo, "Minato knew only an Uzumaki could hold the kyuubi, he expected his own death but Kushina's was unexpected." he sighed and sat in a nearby chair.

"Minato used the strongest seal he knew to trap the kyuubi. A seal with a death price paid upon its completion." He continued gravely after seeing Minor's horrified expression. "Although weak from giving birth she was there anyway, holding the kyuubi down with her chakra chains. But the kyuubi resisted them and attempted to kill you, they both died saving you, and their last words were for you."

But the red-head was mad now. "Why would they do that to me! I don't care that they died for me! I wanted them to live for me!" He suddenly burst into tears, burying his face into his stricken uncle's shoulder.

"It's not fair!" He sobbed.

Minori rubbed the boys shoulder even as new determination filled him. He was holding his new reason to live, and by the look in the Hokage's eyes, he knew that too.

-----

They began to settle into the new home, moving their meager possessions in almost unwillingly. Something about the way the house was set seamed sacred to the two. From the pink apron hanging merrily in the kitchen, to the beautiful nursery that sent Naruto into a fresh but of tears.

Eventually they managed to move past that feeling. Sealing away won't of the deceased couple's belongings into the attic and filling the rooms with new furniture that didn't invoke painful memories or hopeless wishes.

Ino came over occasionally to personify the house with beautiful plants she brought as presents. And giving Naruto impromptu lessons on everything from flower arrangements to inter clan politics she had gleaned from her father's lessons.

It was almost a whole month before they met the groundskeeper.

An old woman who insisted the call her Grandma, going as purposely never telling them her actual name to ensure that. She smiled at them kindly, and told them how much they resembled Kushina. She entertained them with stories of Minato's helpless puppy love and Kushina's passion for everything she was involved with.

Grandma showed them little details they hadn't noticed before, like how the herbs and flowers in the garden were color coded meticulously. She winked and told them Minato enjoyed it that way.

So for a month it seemed like they would finally get time to settle, it seemed like nothing could go wrong, it seemed peaceful.

But by now Minori should have known.

Things weren't always as they seemed.