The New Heirs of the Will of Fire (Sequel to Tsunade's Daughter)

四 ↬ Kei's and Minato's first meeting

"I know..."

Afterward, they both remained silent for another while. 

"Are you..." Minato trailed off hesitantly, breaking the silence. "...Kakashi-San's daughter?"

Kei was definitely taken aback by his question. Minato could infer this due to the colour of her hair and her facial features. 

"You know him?" 

Minato nodded, seemingly surprised by her question as well. 

"Why does he come here so often?" Kei inquired. 

"...Well...When I met him for the first time, he told me that he was an orphan too, and that's why he came here, because he could relate to me and other orphans," Minato explained. 

"Huh? Really?" 

Was that really the real reason why...

"Hey you! What are you doing here?" An unhappy male voice demanded. 

Kei swiftly turned around to face the man who was frowning. He had dark brown hair and dark eyes. 

The man was ready to kick her out of the orphanage, but Kabuto put his hand on his shoulder before he could touch her. 

"It's okay, Urushi. I'll take care of this," he said calmly. 

Kei raised a brow as she stared at the other man's face. It was really unusual, with its white skin and his snake eyes, something she had never seen before. 

"Alright," Urushi said before leaving them. 

"Minato, could you please go with Urushi?" Kabuto asked the boy softly. "I need to discuss with this girl in private." 

Minato was now wondering why he had to do that. Was he again trying to hide something from him? Maybe so but Minato trusted Kabuto. So he agreed and quickly went to join Urushi wherever he had gone. 

"You shouldn't be here," Kabuto pointed out once the two of them were alone. 

"And why not?" Kei asked almost warily. 

"Because that's just how it is."

"That's not a satisfying answer!" Kei retorted. 

"Please, would you be kind enough to leave now?" Kabuto said as nicely as possible, not really liking the tone Kei was using with him. 

"If my father can come here, why can't I?" 

"Because you are not your father. And you should go back home now. What would your father say if he were to learn you were spying on him?"

"Is that a threat?" 

"It's not. I just need you to leave now. You don't belong here, that's all."

"......"

Well now, Kei knew what she wanted to know, and at least she was sure that her father was not cheating on her mother. 

"Alright, sorry for intruding here," she apologised, having now calmed down. "I just needed an answer."

"It's okay. I can understand."

With that being said, Kei swiftly left the orphanage and went back to the village, and got lost in thought as she was walking. 

She especially focused on what Minato had said to her about her father at some point. How he had been an orphan himself. She knew that her grandfather was a legend as a shinobi and what had happened to him; how he had been rejected and considered a pariah by the inhabitants of the village, including his own comrades, because he had chosen his comrades over his mission, and how he had decided to commit suicide in the end, not being able to take that anymore and leaving his son completely devastated.