Like Father like Son, Chapter 10 follow up

"Why the sad face kiddo?" Nami asked the silent blond child.

"It's nothing." Naruto answered.

"Oh come on, you can tell me. Don't you trust me?"

"It's just that I don't understand why he goes this far for me." Naruto finally relented to open up.

"Well, he used to be Hokage, why do you think? It's his job to protect people you know."

"But, he should be hating me." Naruto almost whispered.

"What do you mean?"

"He lost his family because of me." He answered with a low voice, filled with guilt. "He should be hating me…"

"What are you talking about? He lost his family in the Kyuubi attack. You were nothing but a baby back then. Does this have to do with the Kyuubi being sealed inside of you?" Nami asked, surprising Naruto with her knowledge. "Yeah, I know."

Knowing that Nami was aware of his secret, he continued: "I heard people say that his wife was killed by the Kyuubi and she was pregnant. When I woke up, I asked him and he said that it was true." He said with a defeated tone.

"That's not all he said is it?" Nami answered, knowing that Minato would never stop there and that Kushina was not pregnant anymore when she died, the proof of it talking to her just then. "I bet you he said more and that what you didn't tell me was the most important part."

"Um…" Naruto hesitated.

"Come on, what else did he say?"

"He said that I wasn't Kyuubi and that it wasn't my fault." Naruto said in a subdued tone.

"See! I knew it!"

"But that's not true. Maybe it's true that Kyuubi and I are two different people but he is still buried deep inside of me and that makes him a part of me. He has hate me for it. When he sees me, he must see the demon who killed his wife and child and he should be hating me for it." Naruto hadn't realized that his voice had woken Minato up.

"You're wrong." The Hokage's voice made itself heard, surprising Naruto.

"Blondaime?! I'm sorry, I woke you up." Naruto was heading towards the door, thinking the conversation was over, when the Hokage called him back."

"Naruto, wait. I thought we had fixed this when you first woke up but as I told then and as I will say as many times as it needs to be said for you to understand it: you are not Kyuubi and you're not the one who killed my wife."

"But…"

"No. I'm not done yet. That night my wife had given birth to our son and instead of resting like she was supposed to, she wanted to go help the villagers and she and I died fighting the Kyuubi" It was hard for him to tell the story but his son needed to hear it so he would put his feelings aside for his sake. "See, it wasn't you who killed her, it was the demon. You were nothing more than a baby then, how could a baby, a few minutes old baby could kill someone?"

"But…" Naruto started again, laying a hand on his stomach but once again he was cut short by the Hokage.

"The Kyuubi is inside you, yes. But you are not him and he is not you. I am the one who sealed it inside of you so I know better than anyone else the difference between him and you. In case you didn't know I'm kind of an expert in seals and I can assure you that sealing something inside of something else doesn't change the nature of the "something else". Yes, the Kyuubi is inside you. Yes, I hate it for my wife and all the ninjas and villagers' deaths from thirteen years ago; but when I look at you I don't see the Kyuubi, I see you for you, I see the baby who I left with the heaviest burden possible in life. You are the true hero of that day, the one who saved the village and all of its people by taking on this burden. The reason I chose you is because I knew you that one day everyone would see you for the hero you became on that day and I knew that you would be able to use this evil power and turn it into the greatest and the most wonderful power possible. Do you understand now? You're not the demon, you're the one who will tame it and use its power to save the world!"

"Really? You really think that?" Naruto asked, tearing up because the Yondaime Hokage, his hero, said that he believed in him to save the world but, mostly because he felt relieved that the man didn't hate him and this time he really believed him.

"Really!" Yondaime assured.

"Wait you said that your wife but you didn't say anything about the baby. Does this mean that he or she is still alive?" Naruto asked, now that he had relieved of his guilt and doubts, realizing that the Hokage had only spoken about his wife's death.

Minato froze. As much as he loved his son he didn't think he would have catch up on this detail in his story. Now wasn't the best time to tell him the whole truth but he wasn't going to lie to him. Besides, if he played this right, it would maybe help him have an idea of how well his son could take the information when it would be time.

"Yes, he is."

"Oh! It's a boy. Where is he? How old is he? Is he ok? What does he look like? Wait, have you seen him since you came back? Do you know his name? Do you know what he looks like? Does he know you're his dad?" Naruto was asking hundreds of questions all at once and Minato couldn't help but notice that he was striking where it hurt the most.

"He's thirteen, I can't tell you where he lives or what his name is. I have seen him and he is a perfect mix between me and his mom but he doesn't know that I'm his dad." Minato answered his son, only answering the questions he could without lying to him or revealing things he wasn't ready to reveal yet.

"Why not? Does he have adopted parents?" Naruto asked, pointing the biggest regret Minato had: having his son grow up all alone, without anyone to take care of him.

"No, he doesn't. I'm kind of scared of telling him. He could hate me or I could be a bad dad to him. I'm not sure it's best for him to know that I'm his dad." Minato answered his son truthfully.

"But you're the Yondaime Hokage, the best Hokage ever! He would be stupid if he didn't find it cool to have you as a dad and even if you wouldn't be the best dad you will definitely be a great dad. And you were dead for the last thirteen years so it's not your fault that he didn't have parents. And he never had a dad so he can't be disappointed by you as a dad since he doesn't know what it's like. At least that's how I feel. I kind of always wondered what it would be like to have parents or brothers or sisters. Maybe it's a bit like when I'm with Iruka sensei." Naruto admitted.

"Okay boys, time to go back to sleep, you're still both injured." Nami intervened. "Come on, Naruto let's leave him alone." Nami said guiding the genin to the door so that Minato could fall asleep again. He was obviously exhausted and he had put his rest to the side for the wellbeing of his son. Now that both son and father had said what needed to be said, they were both feeling better and peaceful sleep would come to them more easily and help them recover faster.

"Goodnight!" Naruto said to Minato, a big and sincere smile on his face, before he left the room.

"Goodnight." Minato answered, a loving warmth heard in his voice.

Before she closed the door behind herself and Naruto, Nami and Minato exchanged a smile, knowing that maybe, everything would end well and the two would get to form a wonderful family one day.