Naruto got up and headed towards the training field to just relax for a bit before the chaos in the sea. Naruto brought his mom's book which had the picture of his ex family. He never wanted to forget what they looked like so he could prove them wrong. "Hey, whatcha reading?" Mito asked, suddenly appearing in front of Naruto who blankly looked at her, unamused. "Still the same book," Naruto answered while reading about how Robin spent her time with the revolutionary army. "What's in it?" Mito asked while trying to grab the book. "Stuff that's going to be uninteresting to you," Naruto said while standing up and holding the book away from Naruto. Mito reached up to try and grab the book. "Let me see it!" Mito yelled while trying to grab the book and Naruto kept dodging Mito's attacks. Though he wasn't expecting Mito to punch him from behind. Naruto dropped the book and Mito ran away with it. She opened it and saw a picture of her family with her brother in it. "What's this? Why do you have a picture of me and my family?!" Mito asked. "Are you stalking us?! Planning to kill us maybe?!" Mito yelled and Naruto shook his head, already growing a headache from Mito's screaming. "You know what? I'm going to tell my dad! He'll know!" Mito yelled before running as fast as she could towards the Hokage tower. Naruto immediately started chasing after her, but Mito was quicker. Naruto had not been in the village for a while so his knowledge of his surroundings is a bit blurred. But for Mito, who grew up all her life here, everything was easy. She easily lost Naruto who tried to keep up, but Mito knew the village more than Naruto. Mito easily made it to the Hokage tower quicker than Naruto. By the time Naruto got to the Hokage tower, he barged into the office and there was only Minato who was staring at him with confusion. "Where's Mito?" Naruto asked, not seeing her. "Mito? Probably getting ramen. Why do you need her?" Minato asked and Naruto was confused. He was sure Mito would've gone straight to Minato with the picture. "My bad, Hokage-sama," Naruto said while still looking around, trying to feel for Mito but her presence wasn't there. Naruto didn't want his village to know who he was. They'd all beg for forgiveness because he's so powerful and Naruto didn't know if he had it in him to forgive them, nor did he want to deal with the consequences of not telling. "It's fine, why do you need her anyways?" Minato asked and Naruto thought of something that was a partial truth. "Ahh sorry for bothering you. It's just that Mito took something from me and I'd like it back," Naruto said to Minato while rubbing the back of his neck. Minato had a bit of deja vu, since his son used to do the same when he was embarrassed or in trouble. "Then I'll call her in now," Minato said and Naruto went to say no when Kushina walked in with Mito. His ex family was there, everyone in the same room. He should've known Mito wouldn't go to Minato but to her mother, Kushina. "Minato! We need to discuss some family issues," Kushina said while pulling Mito alongside her. Naruto immediately froze, not knowing what to do for almost the first time in forever. (I love Frozen). Kushina saw Naruto and froze. It seemed dots connected in her head and she charged at Naruto with arms open wide as if she wanted to hug him. Naruto dodged the hug and made a beeline away from the trio. "Kushina, what's going on?" Minato asked. "That's Naruto! Our baby boy! I knew I recognized you from the minute I saw you!" Kushina said while staring at Naruto with tears in her eyes. "Kushina? What are you talking about? Naruto was announced dead five years ago," Minato said, confused. Mito just stared at Naruto almost in astonishment, almost like she saw a ghost.
Suddenly, Naruto was speechless and in fear. Fear of what his ex-parents would do, fear of the village, fear of what his family would do, fear almost consumed him and he began to feel claustrophobic. "Kit, calm down," Kurama said and Naruto began to calm his breath but it all went unnoticed by the trio who were discussing Naruto as if he wasn't there. Naruto calmly took a deep breath and tried to sneak out of the office. "Roronoa-Nico Naruto," Minato said and Naruto immediately turned towards Minato, who was looking at him with a neutral expression. "Yes, Hokage-sama?" Naruto answered, trying to also stay as neutral as possible. "Are you really my son?" Minato asked and Naruto froze. He knew this question was bound to come up, but he couldn't think of an excuse. Everyone looked at him, expecting an answer, but Naruto didn't know if he could answer. He tried to avoid the situation where he'd have to answer this question but to no avail. "Well, we're waiting," Kushina asked and Naruto sighed. He didn't have the heart to lie. " Yes, I am Naruto," Naruto said vaguely, almost hoping they would drop the question but from the trio's unamused faces he knew he had to tell the truth. "I am your long lost son, Uzumaki-Namikze Naruto," Naruto said while staring at the trio, waiting to see their reactions. "Naruto! We were looking everywhere for you!" Kushina cried while trying to grab Naruto again into a hug. Naruto narrowly dodged it and Kushina looked hurt. "Hokage-sama, I'd like to leave the village now with my family," Naruto said with no emotion in his voice. "What?! Leave the village? Not on my watch! We just found you and you're not going anywhere!" Kushina scolded and Naruto's anger began to rise. "I am your mother and you will listen to me when I say you're not going to leave us to go to your so-called family! We're your real family!" Kushina said and Naruto snapped. "You are not my family, you never were my family. You gave up that right when you kicked me out on my seventh birthday," Naruto said calmly, trying to keep his anger in. "What are you talking about?! I never kicked you out!" Kushina argued but Naruto still remembered what she said to him and what Minato had said about him. Naruto didn't want to actually stay and argue. He just wanted to leave the village with his family. "Yes, you did. Now if you'll excuse me," Naruto said calmly. "Hokage-sama, I've completed the mission, I am now going to leave until the jōnin exams. I expect an invitation via messenger hawk," Naruto said while staring at the trio. Naruto turned to walk out the door but Minato stopped him. "If you walk out that door and don't talk to us about this matter, your ninja status will be terminated," Minato said and Naruto immediately froze. Minato had Naruto right where he wanted him.
"Come back here and talk to us," Minato said and Naruto had no choice but to obey. "Naruto, why did you leave us?" Minato said and Naruto didn't answer. "Kit, you have to tell them," Kurama spoke up. "But why?" Naruto asked, but Kurama didn't answer. "We're waiting," Minato said while staring him down. Naruto sighed. There was no way of getting out of this. "Maybe when you apologize for treating me so horribly, I'll tell you," Naruto stated, trying to avoid the question and Kushina was growing angry. Mito stood there, dumbfounded that her brother was alive and was her competition. She thought about how strong he was against her. He barely broke a sweat against her and she was defeated. Mito quickly ran over to Minato and whispered something in his ear but it went unnoticed by Kushina and Naruto who were arguing. "Treated you horrible? We never did that. Everything we did was to protect your sister," Kushina said angrily and then added, "and you." Naruto got angry at that last statement. He was still just an afterthought to his parents. Even after revealing who he was to them. Even after seeing how strong he had become, he was still second. (1385) "Naruto, I want you to live with us and stay here in the village," Minato said and Naruto shook his head while slowly backing away. That's the last thing he wanted was to live with his ex family again. Not after his childhood. "No," Naruto said and Minato looked surprised. "No, I'm not living with you," Naruto said while glaring at Minato. "Why not?" Minato asked. "First, I might be your biological son, but you are not my dad. You are merely my sperm donor and Kushina is my egg donor, nothing more, nothing less," Naruto said to Minato, standing his ground. Before, when he was younger, he would just take what they said and never complained. He always followed what his parents taught him, that he's not worth a minute of their time, so why are they worth it then? "What do you mean?! I gave birth to you! I carried you in my stomach for nine months and this is how you repay me?!" Kushina yelled and Naruto didn't even flinch. "You're not my mother. I thank you for giving me life but I never lived before I left. I was merely surviving," Naruto explained calmly. "If you want to kick me out of the village after this, that's fine. But you'd better be sure to keep your village safe because you'd be making one hell of an enemy," Naruto said while glaring at Minato and Kushina. Mito was quiet and to be frank, it was quite disturbing as Naruto thought Mito would be all over this. "I leave in three days with my family. If you don't come and apologize, I then expect to be banned from this village and I will be a rogue ninja who you will never see again. If others recruit me, you will have no say in who I put my alliance with," Naruto said, trying to threaten, but to be honest he just wanted to move away from all of this and go back out to sea. Being a ninja is important to Naruto but it isn't his whole life. He has a whole life ahead of him at sea. Realizing this, Naruto wanted to explore more in the sea. He missed the rocking of the Sunny, the dangerous waters and new adventures every day.
For the first two years that Naruto was with the Straw Hats, the crew agreed to spend time in Paradise before going to the New World. So Naruto was only in the New World for a few years and he already knows there's way more to life than just the villages. There's a whole ocean waiting for him to explore. So long as the crew's dream lives, so will Naruto's dream to journey and discover anything and everything in the world.
Naruto calmly walked to his sister who was stunned at his words. She was frozen even when Naruto grabbed his book and without saying another word, Naruto stormed out of the office and to his family. "Alright, Luffy. We're leaving," Naruto said while entering the apartment. "Right now?" Luffy asked while looking up from the fridge. "Yes, right now," Naruto answered and Luffy got up straight away to go pack though he could tell something was off and told Robin. Robin came out after Luffy came to her and saw Naruto aggressively shoving clothes in a bag. "Woah there, slow down, Naruto-kun," Nami said to Naruto as he zipped his bag. "Where are you going?" Robin asked Naruto who just turned to Robin and hugged her immediately. Robin hugged Naruto back. "What's the rush, chīsana kaizoku?" Robin asked and Naruto bursted into tears, surprising everyone. Zoro woke up to the sound of Naruto crying and immediately rushed out. "What's wrong?" Zoro asked Naruto while bending down to his level. Naruto just cried, letting out all of the emotions from the exhausting day. He thought he was stronger than them. He thought no one in the village could hurt him with his family by his side, but those old feelings of rejection along with his ex family's request for him to stay and forgive them was exhausting. Once Naruto calmed down, Robin and Zoro sat Naruto down on the couch with Naruto and the rest of the crew sat in the living room with them. "Are you calm now my chīsana kaizoku?" Robin asked in a soft, motherly voice that calmed Naruto. "Hmmhmm," Naruto sniffled while wiping his tears. "Now, let's discuss what happened okay?" Zoro asked and Naruto nodded and began to explain.
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Hello my wonderful readers! Sorry I took so long, classes are really kicking my ass this term and it's hard to keep up with all my classes. Sorry to keep you waiting but I have another chapter coming hopefully sooner rather than later!
Sorry about the chapter name lol. Totally forgot it existed when I uploaded the chapter. Lmao
- Via♡