Prophecy (Naruto Neglect Fanfic)

Minato Requiem

A/N: Minato is in my top 5 favourite characters. Hope you enjoy :)

Minato sat silently in the kitchen. It was still late at night. After Jiraiya had left, he had brought himself down here for coffee. Instead he sat silently on a chair, doing nothing. He was completely out of it. His eyes were wide and staring into the distance, focused on nothing in particular. His head was still hurting. The migraine felt like tectonic plates moving around his head. Memories began to emerge from his brain as it still tried to process the 12 years under genjutsu.

'Naruto... What the hell did I do?'

Naruto sat by the table, his legs dangling off the chair. His smile was energetic despite the fact that he had been up all night walking home from the hospital. As Kushina held the newborn baby in her arms, she glanced at Naruto with a look of disinterest. Minato, who was cooking, paid no attention to the boy. Karah sat next to her mother and wore the same smile as Naruto. After a few minutes, Minato came in and set down meals for Karah and his wife. Naruto looked up, a cheerful and adorable smile on his face.

"Leave," hissed Minato. Naruto's smile disappeared, "You don't deserve food from us. Leave." Naruto hesitantly hopped off the chair, unable to process what had happened. He hoped it was a joke.
"S-sorry, tou-sa-"
"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOU SPEAK!" Minato's calmness dissipated as he yelled at his son. Naruto quickly ran out of the room, slightly scared. The baby in Kushina's arms began to cry. Karah looked at where her brother was sitting, concerned. Kushina rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Just ignore that annoyance," she said calmly before tucking into her meal.

Naruto wasn't allowed to have meals after that.

'D-did I not notice that we never fed him... or did I not care...' Both possibilities hurt Minato. As an orphan he knew the loneliness. He knew the cold. He had an opportunity to save someone from that: his own son.

'But instead look at what I did.'

"Kaa-san! Tou-san! It's my birthday!" Naruto ran down the stairs, filled to the brim with enthusiasm. He had woken up early. Minato groaned at the sound of his voice and Kushina held a stony face. Naruto ran into the kitchen and tried to hug his mother. She simply pulled away from him. When Naruto ran to his father, Minato did the same.

"Kaa-san! It's my birthday!" Kushina ignored Naruto and walked past him. Naruto didn't care and kept up his smile. "Tou-san! I've been waiting for this all year, I was thinking maybe-" Minato interrupted him by grabbing him by the neck. The shock and choking caused him to emit a small sound of pain before he silenced. Minato pulled him toward the front door and threw him on the ground.

"I don't want to see your face all day, do you understand?" ordered Minato. Naruto was standing in front of him with an ecstatic grin on his face. This was the first time he had been spoken to by his father in weeks.

"Yes Tou-san! I'll do everything you say!" replied Naruto and ran off into some part of the compound. Minato only responded with a tired groan. Just talking to the brat was enough to put him in a bad mood. He turned over to Kushina who had ignored her son's appearance as she had for over the past month.

"Now- it - is out of the way, we can get ready for Karah's party," Minato said. Kushina sighed.

"Thank god. I hope he could just go away forever." Minato chuckled.

"Yeah, hopefully if he becomes a ninja he can just get himself killed or something."

Minato ran to the toilet and spilled his guts out. He pulled his face up only to be met by the mental image of the young Naruto's eyes. He threw up again. 'T-this can't be happening.'

'Naruto passed the exam,' Minato thought. The past few days had been a rollercoaster for him. He had hoped that Naruto would fail the exam and he could focus all his efforts on Karah. Instead the brat had to go and pass. Minato struggled on what to do. He couldn't just demote him for no reason. He would think of one after his first few mission. Minato also had the matter of Uchiha Itachi to think about. The man was obviously skilled and had taught his son. The thought still angered him.

'Everything would be fine if Itachi just left the creature alone,' continued Minato's inner dialogue. A clever idea emerged in Minato's head.

'I guess I will have to force him to leave it alone,' a small smile played on Minato's face, 'A little isolation will do it good, maybe even teach it to stop being so annoying.' Minato was decided. 'As my next decree, I will forbid Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke from communicating in any capacity to the thing. Then I will place Itachi as team leader of Karah's team. There his teaching skills will not go to waste on... that.' Minato looked back at the piece of Naruto's paperwork. The word Namikaze next to his name aggravated him. He covered it with his thumb. 'As for you...' Minato looked over at the other graduates, 'Rock Lee... Hinata Hyuuga. Seems quite useless to me. He'll fit right in.' Minato chuckled at his inner joke, 'Hopefully, a time will come where he'll have to rely on them. Hopefully that time will be the last we see of him.' Minato chuckled again.

Minato held his head on the bowl of the toilet. His mouth still had traces of vomit in it. His head was still spinning from the migraines but his heart had been affected by something different. The memories physically hurt him. The traces of his previous thoughts physically hurt him. 'How could I hate him... so much?' Minato's body threatened to throw up again. 'I wanted him dead... my own son... my baby boy... dead.'

Naruto appeared in front of Minato with a bright smile on his face. Minato slightly angered at the sight of it but decided it was best to ignore it. He'd wipe that smile off his face soon enough. That thought alone cleared his head of anger.

"Tou-san!" said Naruto happily.

"I have read over the mission report-" Minato began, ignoring Naruto's enthusiasm. Naruto beamed, "And I must say I am disappointed in you." Naruto blinked. Minato inwardly smirked. 'That sure took that smile away huh?' "That you would endanger yourself and teammates like that is irresponsible and reckless. Your stupidity almost cost the lives of your squad and your annoying nature almost aggravated your attacker into harming your team." 'And you used my technique,' Minato clenched his fist under the desk. He would not allow himself to show to the boy that he was getting to him. 'You brat... using my Rasengan. I should have you hanged for this.' "You are not fit for the title of genin, you are to be demoted. Your position on Team 10 will be replaced and you will be re-enrolled in the Academy until you can next take the genin exams. You are dismissed." Minato took Naruto's headband and returned to his paperwork. Naruto kept up a small smile even as the headband he had worked so hard for was torn off his head, little strands of his hair going with it.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," he replied and slowly turned around and left the room. As soon as he heard the door shut, Minato felt the sides of his mouth rise.

Tears made their way down the Hokage's face. The memories were too heartbreaking. He felt so ashamed and guilty. The pain Naruto felt must have been immeasurable. The pain he felt right now was immeasurable. On top of the physical pain his head felt, the mental stress would kill a lesser man. Minato let more memories circulate his head. He knew they would haunt him but he thought best to get it over with. The one that hurt him the most was the particular memory of him gleefully signing the papers that would disown Naruto from his clan. In that moment he signed away one of the people who he loved more than anything. And he did it with a smile on his face. Minato held his head in his hands. He did not know how he did it but he had made his way into Naruto's room. He was still shocked at the state of it. Instead of focusing on the disgusting condition the room was in, Minato pulled his attention to a collection of dusty tears on the floor. He wiped them clean and pieced them together. After seeing the image, Minato took a step back. In front of him he was confronted with a picture of him carrying a little baby on his back. He shuddered. The image seemed to be staring into his soul. He was too intimidated to pick it up and so instead backed out of the room, ignoring his wife who was lying in a corner. He went back down to the kitchen and desperately began to rummage around. After a few minutes, Minato found what he was looking for.

By morning Minato was fast asleep in the kitchen, a few bottles of alcohol next to him. He felt like a disgrace; not just as Hokage but as a father. All he wanted to do at this point was forget.