Yeah, I know- I broke the hiatus. (Yay!) Anyways, there may be a slight shift in writing quality in this chapter, most probably getting better as time goes on. Enjoy!
Naruto's second year of life was much more exciting. One of Minato's favorite things to see was Sasuke and Naruto's playdates. They would simply sit at the park that Sasuke's mother had taken them to and play all day. Sometimes, they would watch Itachi (Who Naruto referred to as Itchy) practice his Henges, which amused them both. Itachi was only seven, but Minato saw that he was a prodigy. He had already graduated from ninja school, and was well on his way to being a Chuunin. Naruto laughed as Itachi turned into Kakashi.
"Who am I?" He said in a perfect imitation of Kakashi's voice. Sasuke was the first one to answer.
"Book Man! Book Man!" He said, using his and Naruto's nickname for the masked man. Itachi nodded, and turned into a replica of Iruka Umino. Naruto was the one to answer this time.
"Iwooka!" He said in his adorable mispronouncement of the 14-year-old's name. Itachi reappeared in a poof of smoke.
"Right. Good job, you two!" He said to the little toddlers. After Naruto's birthday party, Tsunade and Jiraiya had left Konoha, so the Hokage had taken him in. This didn't stop Itachi and Sasuke from treating him like a brother, though. Minato sighed. Naruto needed their support. The entire village had started to despise him. His days of being a harmless baby were gone, so he was seen as demon spawn. Just then, a little pink-haired girl being held up by a concerned mother walked by. Sasuke took no notice of her, and kept playing. Naruto, on the other hand, had noticed her.
"Hi! Hi, Sakoowa!" He exclaimed, waving his chubby hand in her direction. The mother of the pink-haired girl picked the child up, glaring intently at Naruto. She frowned, creasing her eyebrows, and walked away quickly. Minato and Naruto had been seeing a lot of that behavior lately.
"Well, what did you expect?" A loud, arrogant voice boomed from the back of the room. "He's the strongest reminder of an event they want to forget. Of course they shun him." Minato looked down, sad.
"I thought… they would respect him. He saved the entire town… and how do they repay him?" Minato said, suppressing rising anger levels. "They make him an outcast!" His anger faltered, and he hesitated. "I… never wanted this to happen. My regret haunts me every day, and I have nothing else to do here but regret. This is my own personal hell." The Kyuubi scoffed.
"Don't even say that it's my fault. I know." The Kyuubi said, attempting some twisted version of sympathy. Instead, it came out catty and rude. Minato turned his back to the giant fox, no longer listening.
"Every time I see somebody glare…" His voice cracked, but he continued. "It feels like they're glaring at me. As if they're saying, 'How could you do this to your own son?'" As he started to break down again, Minato's attention was pulled to the outside world. There was suddenly movement. "Wait, what's Naruto doing?" He said, panicked. Flashes and blurs of light and color flooded the screen connecting Minato to the outside world.
"Kit! Kit!" He said, toddling towards a few older kids who had the stuffed toy. They probably remembered the Kyuubi attack, and had decided the Kyuubi shouldn't have a stuffed fox. They ran away with it, laughing. Itachi stood up, anger quietly emanating from his young figure.
"How could they do such a thing to a small child?" He said, rage uncharacteristically tinging his words. He made to run after the children, but his mother caught him.
"We can't do anything, Itachi. Naruto will never get that fox back." At those words, something shook the room Minato and the Kyuubi were in. The small seal on the Kyuubi's cage glowed red, sucking energy from the Kyuubi and sending it out of the room.
"Well, crap." The Kyuubi said, looking up at the string of red penetrating the ceiling. "Naruto's drawing energy from me."
"What?!?" Minato exclaimed. "I knew it would happen eventually, but not this soon!" He held his head. "What if you break out?" The Kyuubi smiled at the thought of his own freedom.
"I would really like that, but it isn't happening anytime soon. Sadly." The Kyuubi huffed. "All he can do is draw on a tiny bit of my endless energy." Outside, Naruto swiftly moved in the direction of the older kids, coming up behind them. A horrible, raspy sound came from his throat.
"Haa…. Haa…" The little boy growled. The kids turned around, one of them clutching the little fox. Their eyes widened in surprise, and the fox shook in one of the boy's hands.
"Oh my god, he is a demon!" One of the two kids said, fear filling his voice. "Quick, Shigure! Give him back the fox!" The boy called Shigure glanced at the fox in his hand, shoving it fearfully towards Naruto. As soon as the little fox was in his chubby hands, the seal on the cage returned to its normal color. Minato saw the blur as Naruto turned and skipped away, leaving the two boys dumbfounded.
"What the hell just happened?" Minato said, staring dead into the screen, but not really looking at it.
"Well, you started angsting-"
"That was not angsting!"
"It was totally angsting. Anyways, after the angst, little demon-child here got his fox taken away. He went Super Saiya- I mean, Jinchuuriki, and got the fox back. Why is that so hard to understand?" The Kyuubi said, a snide tone in his voice.
For the rest of the day, they sat in silence.
Five years later…
Minato looked out of the screen, watching the ninja school come closer and closer.
"Wow," He said. "My son is parading off to ninja school for the first time. I feel like a real father," Minato said proudly.
"Aw, shut up. Your happiness is getting to me." Naruto marched in through the school's doors and pointed his finger in the air.
"Hello, Ninja Academy! You're about to meet the best student you've ever had- UZUMAKI NARUTO!" He shouted proudly. Older kids mumbled grumpily at the loud and boisterous seven-year-old.
"Ugh, every year we get one of those kids," A ten-year-old whispered.
"Yeah, the ones who think they're gonna be somethin' big, like Hokage!" A tomboyish kunoichi replied. Inside Naruto, Minato shook his head.
"He really takes after Kushina, doesn't he?" He said to nobody in particular. "He's going to get really beat up." Minato's attitude towards school had always been meek and modest; He didn't dare upset the upperclassmen. Outside, a matronly woman held a single finger up, the other hand clutching a clipboard to her chest.
"All first years, please come assemble here!" She said. A group of kids rushed towards her. Some kids had that signature 'deer-in-the-headlights' look that only first years had. Others had cocky grins on their faces, glancing at the other people who were grinning. Naruto was one of them. Naruto spotted his friend, Sasuke, among the somewhat-large group. He was staring up at the woman, mouth slightly open. Minato was instantly reminded of himself when he was age. It was funny- Even though Naruto looked almost exactly like him, he acted almost exactly like Kushina. She even had his little quirk of saying '~Ttebayo' after every sentence.
"Now, let's all get into a single-file line!" She said. All of the children shifted into her requested line, and she started walking forward. All the children followed, like how ducklings follow their mother. After twisting and turning through the school, they finally stopped in front of a door. Minato recognized this as the first-year door, having been in there when he was little. As the children were ushered inside, a nervous-looking nineteen-year-old stood up from his seat. A flash of recognition went through both Naruto and Minato- It was Iruka!
"Oi, Iruka!" Naruto said excitedly, waving his hand. "It's me, Naruto!" Iruka's eyes turned to Naruto.
"Naruto-san, you will refer to me as Umino-sensei from now on, understand?" Iruka snapped.
"Okay, Iruka-sensei!" Iruka groaned, putting a hand to his face.
"This is gonna be a long year," He muttered. "Hello, class! My name is Umino Iruka, but you can call me Umino-sensei. How about we go around telling each other about ourselves?" He pointed to a little boy with a pineapple-shaped hairdo. He already looked bored, and was leaning on one elbow.
"Okay," The little boy said. "My name is Nara Shikamaru, and I like doing nothing, looking at clouds, and sleeping." Umino's left eye twitched. He hoped the rest of his class was more energetic than this child.
"Great," He said. "You go next." He pointed to a little girl with pink hair sitting next to Shikamaru. Naruto instantly recognized her- Sakura! He hadn't seen her in a really long time.
"My name is Haruno Sakura," She said excitedly. "I like hanging out with Ino, flowers, and…" She blushed furiously, thinking about Sasuke. A pout worked its way onto Naruto's face- why didn't she like him instead?
After a few more people, Iruka-sensei finally got to Sasuke. The little boy's face was almost expressionless except for a hint of excitement showing in his eyes. That was Sasuke- he was always hard to get emotional. Must be a Uchiha thing.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke," He said. A few girls in the back squealed. "I like hanging out with my older brother, eating ongiri, and reading." Wow, Iruka thought. This kid might actually be… a good student!
A few children later, Iruka-sensei reached Naruto. Naruto bounced one of his knees, happy and excited. The entire leg bounced up and down, like a rabbit on drugs.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto," He said excitedly. A few kids groaned, in contrast to Sasuke's fangirl-squeals. "I like ramen, pulling pranks, and pulling pranks involving ramen!" Wow, Iruka thought sadly. He's even more obsessed with ramen than before.
Inside Naruto, Minato put a hand to his forehead, exasperated. "Did I really help conceive him?" It seemed as if Naruto was the male version of Kushina! Not that it was a bad thing, but… Couldn't he at least have inherited Minato's book smarts?
It may have shifted styles within... but please review! CONSTRUCTIVE criticism only, please!