Six Years Too Long

Chapter 18

Minato had never known one man's voice could make him so upset before. He reminded himself again that this was a two man job. That he couldn't wall Jiraiya out yet. 

"I do." Minato lied because really, he didn't. He had no idea what the hell he was going to do with Naruto during that time. Could he take him? His son was the village Jinchuriki, and as young as he was, it wasn't safe to remove him even if he would have the protection of a kage, sannin, and whatever ANBU accompanied them on the convoy. But leaving him here-- was that really any safer, the way the village treated his child in his absence? What if something happened? "You come to help, and you leave me and my son alone. Or you can turn in your headband. Your choice."

No matter how much Minato moaned and groaned, this situation was serious. They were desperate if they were asking, and if they were desperate then it meant things had to be at least somewhat dangerous. If it was that dire, Minato couldn't morally turn them away. Not after reading the reports of the resources they'd sent over after the destruction the Nine Tailed Fox rained down on the village. As shaky as their relationship with the other village had been in the last two years, that didn't mean they weren't still allied.

Minato had to be the bigger person here. It was shit and he really wished it weren't the case, but it was true. The rage he'd begun to feel simmering more often than not in his gut when he wasn't around his son wasn't normal. Minato had a lot of anger and resentment in him, and it only seemed to build the more he learned about what his son had been through. He had to wrangle it. He couldn't let this happen to himself.

"Of course I'll come." Jiraiya said it in an infuriatingly soft tone of voice. Minato's teeth clenched, and he refused to look at the sannin as his feet shuffled. He wasn't sure if seeing his former mentor's hurt expression would hurt him or just make him madder. Probably the latter at the rate things were going. "Do you know when we'll be heading out?"

"No. I still need to talk with my men and figure out what I'm doing with Naruto. You know. My son, who you abandoned even though Kushina and I trusted you to look after him. That one." Minato's voice came out less hostile than he'd thought it would, more flat and dry than anything else. He could practically feel Jiraiya tense, fresh guilt roiling through the air in waves. Good. Minato hoped he felt awful for the rest of his goddamn life. This was Naruto they were talking about. "I'll send someone for you."

Jiraiya didn't say anything else. If he had, Minato thinks he might've really thrown his desk at him.

~~~

Kurama is mean. He's grumpy, he really doesn't like when Naruto tries to make conversation with him, and he says some undeniably cruel things that would surely make Naruto's stomach curl had he not already had worse thrown his way. He likes his naps and hates humans, the Uchiha clan most of all. He's massive, he's old, and he's still having an identity crisis about his species.

He is also an amazing teacher. 

He really shouldn't be all things considered, but Naruto has never been one to deny the strikingly obvious. Something about the way Kurama words things just clicks in his pea-sized Naruto brain. After days and days and days of trying to stick his feet to the piss water, Kurama's got him doing it in a single night. And out of spite, no less! All because Naruto had insinuated there was no way Kurama could possibly tell him anything about chakra that he didn't already know.

Turns out Kurama was right. He does appear to know everything about chakra. Any question Naruto can think to ask, Kurama has an answer for it. None of it sounds like bullshit he's just spouting out as he goes along to sound smart, either. Kurama somehow knows what he's talking about and he knows how to word it in a way that Naruto will be able to understand, because nothing annoys Kurama more than having to repeat himself. Thus, it's easier for him to dumb it down the first time.