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Minato is annotating another report when a chubby hand tugs on his sleeve from the side.
He looks down at the round face looking up at him, and though so many people comment- lie- that Naruto looks just like him, he sees Kushina’s face staring back, just with blue eyes.
Sometimes, it’s hard to take.
“What is it, Naruto?”
“Did I have a mom?”
“Yes, you did.”
This is the first time the question has come up. He has avoided talking about her for so long, now.
“What was my mom like?”
“She… she was a lot like you, Naruto.”
The cloak attracts a lot of the attention, so he just leaves it off one day as he takes Naruto to go get lunch. Naruto’s eyes are wide the whole time, both at the unusual treat and realizing his dad can disappear in plain sight like that for the first time.
He lets Naruto choose, which happens at random; out of all options, he picks a ramen stall despite never having had it before.
The owner still remembers his order even though it’s been years and slyly suggests shio ramen- Kushina’s order- to Naruto.
He loves it, eating two bowls.
As Naruto gets older, the corner of the Hokage’s office he occupies evolves; at first it had been a bassinet, diaper bag, and a blanket to set Naruto down on the floor near the desk, and then the blanket had been joined by soft toys.
A stuffed toad from Jiraiya has survived to be his favorite lately, along with a pile of books, but the most recent shift has been the inclusion of foam shuriken and kunai.
Sometimes Minato pretends he doesn’t see any of the Anbu teaching Naruto grips and various tricks, at least until live weapons are involved.
Naruto butts heads with the police chief’s younger son on his first day at the academy.
It was bound to happen; Naruto doesn’t get to spend much time with other kids because of him, and has grown up shy and quiet, just like Minato, but all of that has suddenly melted away.
Naruto, it turns out, is not like Minato at all.
It’s just deeply ironic that this discovery is made with the little boy Kushina had gushed about, hoping her friend’s child would be friends with her own.
He tries, but Kushina’s wish is totally ignored by their son.
Naruto does okay in the academy, depending on you define ‘okay’.
He skips class, he gets into fights with others, he pulls pranks on the teachers and fellow students, but Minato has a hard time disciplining him because not only does it not change anything, it just underlines how much like Kushina Naruto has turned out to be.
He doesn’t want to squash that.
It does mean a lot of meetings with a usually apologetic Iruka-sensei, who Minato has a soft spot for, and doesn’t understand why he’s never in any trouble for not keeping the Hokage’s son under control.
Naruto doesn’t barge into his office at all the day of the academy’s final exams, but he’s so busy that he only wonders at it briefly until Iruka stops by to congratulate Naruto and he sees the concern on the younger man’s face at Naruto’s absence.
He vanishes, targeting the marker on Naruto’s jacket; nothing more needs to be said.
Minato knows something is horribly wrong when he lands on the far side of the village, dropping onto a roof. Naruto’s jacket is hanging from a pole.
His son is nowhere in sight.
Not again. Not again. Not again.
No.
He doesn’t reach Naruto first; that’s Iruka, who’s learned much more about Naruto’s after-school adventures and where he likes to sneak off to than Minato.
It’s not too much later, but it’s late enough.
Iruka is seriously injured and Naruto is a teary, boogery mess, clutching onto the Scroll of Seals.
He arrives just as one of the other academy sensei launches an attack to finish Iruka off.
Minato ends it there, dropping Mizuki where he stands.
Naruto flinches away from him after, but not because of the death he saw.
“Why didn’t you tell me I’m the demon fox?”
Naruto doesn’t take the actual truth much better.
He doesn’t come out for breakfast the next day until after Minato’s left; he knows that because of Anbu, and he knows that didn’t go well because Owl’s mask got spraypainted for the audacity of following his orders.
It stays this way until team assignments.
Naruto bursts through the door, both of Naruto’s new teammates trying- failing- to haul him back.
“I don’t want Kakashi!” Naruto howls.
“You like Kakashi,” Minato points out.
“Not anymore!”
“He’s all yours.”
“Huh?”
Kakashi comes out of hiding and leaves with his team, Naruto still shouting.
When he gets home the next night, Naruto is asleep on the couch, filthy from whatever spin Kakashi had put on the bell test. He hadn’t even made it to the shower.
Minato picks Naruto up, resting his son’s chin on his shoulder.
Naruto mumbles something he doesn’t catch. He doesn’t ask, instead walking to Naruto’s bedroom, setting his son down on the bed after removing his jacket and tucking him in.
Even now, the bedroom walls are still the cheery bright yellow Kushina picked out, complete with the Uzumaki mon she had painted in a fit of manic joy.
The next morning, he takes his time making breakfast, even though he has a busy day ahead of him; the new jounin-sensei have to report on their teams, the daimyo wants an update, and there’s the first of many calls with the Kazekage to go over the summer chunin examination plans.
He has a good feeling about everything.
Minato’s proven right when Naruto smashes up against him, hugging him around the waist, just as he had finished serving his plate.
“I’m sorry,” Naruto says, into his shirt. “I don’t hate you. Or Mom.”
“It’s okay, Naruto. We’ll always love you.”