Chapter 3: Present
Minato let out a long sigh as he buried his face in his hands. He had certainly earned every last one of the screams Tsunade had thrown at him nearly ten years ago, and right now, each of those words weighed on his back like a ton of bricks.
He had been a fool, a naive idiot, and by trusting Jiraiya and Sarutobi, he had made the worst mistake of his life. As a result, Naruto had been condemned to be treated worse than an animal. Sarutobi not only failed to keep his promise to look after his son, but he also turned the boy into a scapegoat for all the village's hatred and anger—forcing him to become what many of Naruto's own friends would later call "a kid who always hit first before anyone could hit him."
That thought made Minato clench his fists tightly. Naruto should never have grown up like that. He should have grown up loved, confident, with a firm devotion to Konoha and to the great sacrifice Minato had made for the village. Instead, he had become a paranoid, distrustful young man—someone who hated Konoha with every fiber of his being… without bonds, without love, the complete opposite of what Jiraiya had promised and sworn his son had in the village.
Maybe, in hindsight, they should have told Tsunade before doing anything. Even though, deep down, he knew she would have beaten them both half to death just for thinking of abandoning their son. Or, in the worst case, she would have taken him away entirely, believing that anyone who could even consider such a thing wasn't fit to raise a child like Naruto—who, just by the nature of his chakra, already had a host of issues that would have required special care. But Minato had wanted Naruto to stay, to build a strong bond with the village.
The worst and most ironic part of it all was that Naruto didn't even have a single bond with the village he was born in. And all the ones Minato had seen—except for Sasuke's, who had quite literally spit in his face when he found out Minato was Naruto's father—were completely one-sided. And honestly, Sasuke had to get in line with everyone else who wanted to kill him once he found out the reasons behind their abandonment… reasons that weren't just idiotic, but doomed from the start.
And as if the Uchiha wasn't enough, Tsunade had nearly beaten Jiraiya to death when she found out he was the one who had encouraged the idea. In fact, if it hadn't been for Minato himself, Kushina, and a squad of ANBU who intervened in the fight, they were pretty sure the female Sannin would have killed Jiraiya with brute strength alone.
On another note, not long after their return to the village, Tsunade resigned as Hokage and moved to the Land of Spring, where she was welcomed with open arms and appointed as head of the newly formed Health Ministry of the country. Of course, she took Shizune with her. Not that the black-haired woman had any intention of staying behind to begin with—she was yet another person in the long line of those who wanted the Namikaze family dead.
And with Tsunade's departure, just as Hiruzen had done before him, Minato reassumed the role of Hokage—more as an act of penance… or at least, that's what he liked to tell himself.
And once in office, the first thing he did was carefully read every single report on his son. Each and every one of them made his stomach twist. To begin with, Naruto's list of skills was… basically nonexistent, and his combat abilities were mediocre across the board.
Except for two things: among his peers, he had the highest endurance and the most raw physical strength. So much so that, with pure brute force, he was capable of smashing through solid concrete walls by the age of eight. But besides that single trait, there was nothing. And yet, he had survived countless suicide missions—ones that by all rights should have killed him.
Especially considering, as Kakashi had reported, Naruto always fought with his eyes covered by his forehead protector. In other words, he fought completely blind. And even so, in terms of taijutsu, he was the most skilled—though his style more closely resembled that of a drunk brawler in a street fight.
The very idea that his son could fight at that level while blind still made Minato shudder every time it crossed his mind. How the hell had he managed to do the things he did? Sure, he had a powerful body—no one could ever deny that. But his technique was a mess. He didn't have a single jutsu in his arsenal, and his chakra was so abnormal that he couldn't mold it properly. To the point where even his Rasengan wasn't just purple—it was highly corrosive.
And yet, he was certain that, by comparison, Menma and Shio—Naruto's twin brothers—wouldn't have survived even a fraction of what their brother had endured, nor completed a single one of the missions he had, even though they were better trained and had a much wider range of abilities.
So yes, Naruto wasn't just a prodigy… the boy had a natural talent for combat beyond anyone Minato had ever seen in his life. And he, like a fool, had thrown away a raw diamond.
And as a result, that diamond was now completely out of his reach.
As for how the village reacted when they learned the truth… well, it was a strange mix of emotions—but none of them were ones Minato appreciated. No one felt true remorse. They were all disappointed in themselves for not recognizing the hero's son…
Hell, even Tsume—Kushina's best friend—had told him something that still made him flinch every time he remembered it:
"Why should I feel guilty for hunting him like an animal, when you were the ones who abandoned him like a stray dog?"
Minato had wanted to strangle her on the spot. It wasn't the same—not even close. He had left Naruto believing he would be loved. He never imagined he'd be treated like an animal.
And yet, everyone who had once called him a friend now hated him. Because they all thought the same way as Tsume.
The Ichiraku family had been the most vocal in their contempt. Not only had they kicked the Namikaze out of their shop when they tried to visit after returning to the village—they had threatened to poison their bowls if they ever dared set foot there again.
That humiliation still burned—and badly.
The rest of those who once called themselves "Naruto's faction" now barely spoke to them. And when they did, it was only because they literally had no other choice.
The only one who did was Sasuke Uchiha, who, time and again, devoted himself to insulting Minato, reminding him of every one of his failures as a father, and basically spewing whatever rage-filled insult the Uchiha had on his mind at the time.
Sometimes, Minato wondered why he didn't just execute him—or at least lock him up—for that level of insubordination.
But the worst of it all came when the other nations found out that Naruto had been exiled… for doing his job.
According to what Kakashi had told him—and had deliberately hidden from the rest of the village in an effort to curry favor with Sasuke—many of the important alliances that had kept Konoha at the top in recent years weren't thanks to the great feats of Konoha's elite shinobi, but rather because of Naruto… Uchiha Naruto.
Because yes, Sasuke had taken great pleasure in informing him that his family—before Itachi had gone mad and killed them all—had adopted Naruto as one of their own, and treated him like what he was at the time: just another kid who deserved a family.
And things only got worse when it came out that Naruto's parents had abandoned him at birth. One by one, all the alliances began to fall apart: Spring, Wave, the Moon, the Birds… hell, even Suna cut ties, reducing their relationship to a simple non-aggression pact. And even that was hanging by a thread, because Gaara had been trying to dissolve it entirely for the past five years.
Domestically, things weren't much better either. The new Fire Daimyō, Ozai, had pulled a significant amount of funding from Konoha as punishment for its actions—both for Minato's decision to abandon his son, and for the loss of so many valuable alliances.
And of course, he demanded Naruto be removed from the Bingo Book—not that he should have been on it to begin with.
Naturally, Minato had sent several teams to try and track down his son. So far, they'd come up with only the faintest of leads—just one, really: apparently, Naruto and Itachi had met a week after Naruto's exile, and no one knew how that encounter had ended.
But Naruto had left peacefully… and headed to the one place Minato had prayed he would never go: the lands beyond the Great Wall.
A wall that had stood since the era of the First Dragon King, said to have been built by the King himself alongside the Sage of the Six Paths to separate the Sage's descendants from the terrors beyond the Great Sea.
Lands inhabited by nightmare creatures, demons of incomprehensible power, beings who waged war as a pastime.
And the mere idea that Naruto had crossed the Great Wall gave Minato actual nightmares.
The thought that he could've survived out there for so long was highly unlikely—no matter how many times Kushina hit him for suggesting Naruto might not even be alive anymore.
And, as if summoned by that very discussion every time, Sasuke would show up out of nowhere to inform them that Naruto was very much alive—and, in fact, expanding the Uchiha family beyond the Wall…
And he always made sure to point out that, thanks to them, he would never get to meet his nieces and nephew.
It was annoying when he did that—but at least it was hope.
They weren't sure how or why Sasuke knew, but he spoke with the certainty of someone convinced Naruto was still alive.
And Kushina clung to every word the black-haired young man said.
Minato had to pull himself out of that train of thought. He needed to focus. There was a more pressing concern than his son… and his annoying half-brother, who apparently stayed in Konoha solely to torment them.
The village was in the red—on the verge of collapsing in on itself.
Konoha's prestige was in ruins, as was its ability to produce competent shinobi. Including himself, there were only three remaining S-class shinobi, and just a handful of clans still fully loyal to the village rather than to their own interests.
So far, he had been relying on the Uzumaki clan's fortune, Jiraiya's personal wealth as punishment for being the main architect of this disaster, and his own savings, just to keep the economy from imploding entirely.
Some clans, of course, offered help where they could—except, naturally, the Uchiha clan.
Sasuke had said that yes, he had money—his brothers no longer being in Konoha left him with sole access to the Uchiha fortune—but he had no intention of using it to save what he called "this nest of rats."
Minato could have forced him to surrender the clan's fortune, but doing so would've turned the rest of the clans against him for setting a precedent no one wanted.
And he wasn't about to spark a civil war.
To be completely honest, their only real chance of raising enough money to save the village was to win the tournament the Land of Spring was organizing as a way to open diplomatic relations with the Empire—who had, astonishingly, agreed to sponsor it.
Minato wasn't exactly sure how much money was involved, but he did know that the prize was one billion ryō.
Minato, of course, had no idea how the Land of Spring had managed to make contact with the Empire, but from what he could gather, they had probably used the White Lotus Trading House.
He wasn't sure how wise that was—but it's not like he had any say in the matter.
And if he did, he'd probably steer well clear of them.
Just thinking about them gave him chills.
The sheer power and influence they had amassed across the Elemental Continent was honestly terrifying.
Not surprising, really—considering they were an organization that had formed beyond the Great Wall, and proved beyond doubt that the Wall was now nothing more than an absurdly tall and utterly useless slab of stone.
They had not only crossed it as if it were nothing—they had marked the beginning of what they called "The Era of the Rising Sun Empire."
Because that was essentially what they came to do, besides trade:
They had come to deliver the news that the lands beyond the Wall—every continent, every country—had now been unified under the banner of the Emperor of the Rising Sun.
It was a name that carried weight like no other—and one that was more than deserved.
Because the Emperor, at least from what had been uncovered so far, had managed to unite every single kingdom in the world under his banner through nothing but raw strength, sheer stubbornness, and a charisma that made men and women alike willing to follow him straight into the abyss.
And it was thanks to this man—and his power, which surpassed everything they had ever seen (and considering where he came from, that was saying a lot)—that for the first time in recorded history, the wars had ended, trade flourished, and children could be children without worrying about growing up too fast just to join the next army.
Leaving all that aside—for Minato really didn't want to dwell on a man capable of wielding that kind of power—he couldn't help but think just one thing:
With every fiber of his being, he hoped this tournament wasn't what he feared it was.
But something inside him told him… it absolutely was.
—Rising Sun Empire, Capital City: Parnam—
At the same time that Minato and the rest of the shinobi continent were preparing for the inevitable clash between shinobi culture and the still-young Rising Sun Empire, the Emperor himself found himself in a situation that was, ironically, even more tense.
He was sprawled across his bed as if the very idea of getting up today was something he absolutely didn't want to do. And truth be told, he didn't. Today was his twenty-fifth birthday.
For any normal person, it would be a happy day—but for him, it was the day he hated most in the entire year.
That's why, even though he despised the celebration, he allowed his people to honor it, even if he himself refused to come out and take part.
Even if his friends and wives had tried to drag him out more than once.
But he always refused—and would always refuse—to attend a festival that celebrated the day he hated with every fiber of his being.
"You know, my love, it's one thing to refuse to celebrate, and a whole other thing to wallow in your misery alone… especially when you're not alone anymore."
That voice pulled him from his thoughts. He didn't smile… with her, he didn't need to pretend to be happy or okay.
He simply turned his head, allowing himself to look at one of his favorite wives—who, regardless of the fact that he probably wanted to be alone right now, simply walked up, climbed into bed with him, and gently placed his head in her lap, letting him see that beautiful smile that could literally part storm clouds… because she actually controlled the weather with her mood.
"And that's why Juvia is going to stay with you until your birthday is over," she said as she softly began to run her fingers through his hair with tender affection.
Unlike her fellow sister-wives, Juvia understood what it meant to hate a specific day—to not even want to remember that it existed.
And because of that, she wasn't going to force him to do anything his heart didn't want.
"I could ask you to leave me alone, you know," the Emperor murmured as her gentle hands passed through his hair.
"But you won't. Because you know Juvia knows how much you hate being alone," said the blue-haired woman with a smile that silently said, I'm not going anywhere.
That actually made the Emperor smile—just a little.
Yes, he certainly hated his birthday… but not nearly as much as he hated the idea of being alone.
That fear of loneliness had always haunted him.
So, turning to his side, the Emperor simply let his wife continue stroking his hair.
Today was the one day of the year he would refuse to leave his room and would spend the rest of the day letting his wife pamper him.
It was all he had the energy for… and he certainly didn't want his daughters to see their father in such a pitiful state.
—The next day, Government Palace of the Kingdom of Friedonia—
Naruto dragged his feet all the way to his office.
He was still in a particularly foul mood, but he had already skipped work for an entire day, and thankfully the birthday celebrations were finally over.
At last, after what could only be called a dramatic march, he reached his office, where his ever-loyal right hand and best friend was already waiting for him—with the pile of paperwork that was clearly today's work… and probably yesterday's, which he had avoided.
Fortunately, Zeref Dragneel—his best friend in the world and one of the few people who truly understood what it was like to be alone in this world from a young age—was there.
Even if Zeref's pain had been far worse, due to his circumstances.
"You look like shit, my Emperor," he greeted him in his usual way—a tone that would've sounded deeply disrespectful to anyone else, but to them was as natural as breathing.
"At least you managed to avoid the cake this year," he added, knowing that even the sight of a birthday cake with his name on it was enough to set his friend off.
Naruto let out a small scoff.
"Apparently, according to my wives, it doesn't count as a birthday cake if it's just a giant cupcake."
And with that, he confirmed he hadn't been able to escape at least one dinner with all his wives—who had tried (and very likely failed) to make him see that his birthday wasn't a day he had to face alone anymore.
Not that he needed the reminder. He knew that better than anyone.
It's just that the day brought back too many painful memories to even want to celebrate it.
Zeref simply nodded. He understood better than anyone how he felt.
After all, there was one day on the calendar he himself hated with every fiber of his being—and on that day, he locked himself in a damn cave far from everyone just to avoid accidentally killing someone.
Some years were better than others.
"Well, there's no use dwelling on it. Now, as you asked, here's the list of everyone willing to fight in that tournament you agreed to sponsor," Zeref said flatly.
Naruto raised an eyebrow at that.
Right—he had agreed to sponsor Koyuki's tournament… and he still wasn't sure why he'd done it.
But he had already committed, and well, he wanted to see Koyuki again after ten years.
He was sure she was still an incredibly beautiful woman.
"They're the Kings of Heaven," Naruto murmured, momentarily pulling his mind away from his actress friend.
"There's not much I can do when they literally crushed the competition just because they want to put the shinobi in their place on the food chain… or in Julius's case, to see how different chakra is from magic," Zeref replied with his best 'you don't pay me enough to deal with this shit' face.
"Do I even pay you?" Naruto asked.
He honestly couldn't remember ever putting his best friend on payroll.
"Do you want the truth, or do you want to stay friends?" Zeref shot back dryly.
End of Chapter
Final Note:
Before I go, one thing to say to UnsanMusho: what you're asking is basically impossible—and for a very simple reason.
Naruto is paranoid, vengeful, and deeply aggressive. Yes, it's all Jiraiya's fault, but I'll answer you with what Naruto always tells Kushina—in every version, without exception:
"You abandoned me."
Do you really think he's going to forgive that?
Do you really think he gives a damn if they want to make things right now?...
Hell, because of them, Naruto hates his damn birthday.
Anyway, just wanted to make that clear.
Trevor out.