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Was it right or was it cruel? On the night that the nine-tails attacked the village you had lost so much. A loving family, a newborn child, the chance at happiness. And yet the village asked you to replace it all with the child that had started all of this. The child that had the beast sealed within him that had taken so much.
Initially you had wanted to dismiss the whole idea, angry as you were, wanting to wallow in your own sadness. However, when you saw the child, small as it was, prematurely born and all alone in the world you changed your mind. How could this little life be responsible for the destruction you had seen and faced? How could he have known or even chosen for the beast that was forcefully sealed within him, because he happened to be available, because he happened to be suitable.
And though still sad you resolved yourself to taking care of this child. A child you hadn’t named yourself, but knew you could love nonetheless.
“Why did you take me in?” Naruto asked you when he was old enough to understand that he wasn’t wanted by the village. Big blue eyes looked up at you, pained by the rejection he faced day by day. “Don’t you have a family?” he questioned, lips trembling at the thought that you might leave him one day as well.
It surprised you, despite his cheerfulness and mischievous strike there was a sensitivity within the boy, an understanding that you weren’t his parent, no matter how much he wished for it. Though he didn’t understand the precise circumstances in which he lost his parents, Naruto knew that he had at least lost his mother, his father cast in a deep slumber from which he had yet to recover.
Pulling the child towards you, you made sure to meet the boy at eye-level, so that he might see the sincerity in your eyes. You didn’t dare to hug him, not wanting to take away the role of his biological parent, careful not to grow too attached to a child that wasn’t yours to claim, though you knew that it was too late for that. Too much time had passed for you to still see Naruto as a child of another.
“When people are all alone in the world,” you started, rubbing small circles in the back of his small hand. At least you could provide him with this warmth, distant as it was. “They become lonely, and when they are lonely,” your breath hitched as you tried to fight back the tears threatening to come out, “they can’t help but reach out to others to take away that loneliness,” you cracked a smile, though you knew that the boy was intuitive enough to sense your sadness nonetheless.
Secretly you had hoped that Minato would never wake up from his slumber. Selfishly you hoped that one day the fourth would perish, allowing you to keep the child to whom you had grown so attached to. Each time you did guilt washed over you, for Naruto didn’t deserve to grow up in a world without parents. And each time you did catch yourself with those thoughts you felt even worse, for this was the precious life of another that you were chasing away.
And when Minato woke up years later dread flooded you even more, the fear as you wondered how long the recovery would take, the thought that Naruto would choose his biological father over you, who had only been a substitute.
“Who is tha?” Naruto pointedly questioned, a pout crossing his lips as he stared at the equally blond man sitting up in his bed. “Finally awake, huh?” the child continued, sparing no moment to express any joy or sympathy.
Flushing you gently clenched his hand in yours, your eyes nervously flitting over from his father to the third Hokage and then back to Naruto himself.
“We have talked about him before, Naruto,” you explained, hoping that he would catch on quickly, “he is your father,” you continued with a sigh. Despite being the son of a prodigy Naruto showed little for it, you feared, mentally clenching your heart as you hoped that they wouldn’t blame it on a lack from your side.
“So, does that mean you will marry him?” Naruto questioned out loud, earning a chuckle from the rest of the room while you grew hotter by the minute, nearly choking on your own breath.
“Naruto!” you breezed, feeling like you could sink through the floor right there and then.
Needless to say, the first meeting had been chaotic, though the ones that followed after didn’t go much smoother either. Somewhere, Naruto seemed to understand what the rehabilitation of his father meant for him. Somehow the boy seemed to understand that slowly you would fade out of his life.
“Hey [Name],” Naruto called you, a pout once more on his lips as it had been fixated on his expression so often as of late. “Won’t you be lonely?” he asked you, seemingly remembering that conversation you had years back.
Freezing you took a few moments for yourself before turning around to face the boy, a lunch bag ready which you pushed into his hands. “Why, will you forget about me?” you grimaced at the boy before hurrying him to the door. It was best not to answer the question, so as not to shoulder him with any unintended pressure.
It had been months since Minato had woken from his slumber, his memories and reality slowly catching up since the day everything went black for him, his strength slowly returning as he was preparing his return. Soon he would be able to take his son home, himself, start the family he had always wanted.
Soon you would be alone again, having to give up the boy that you had come to see as your own. The one who had simultaneously taken everything away and given back.
“Thank you for looking after Naruto, [Name],” the fourth Hokage addressed you at a rare quiet moment. The day was ending and exhausted the little boy had played until he couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore, falling asleep on top of his father. An endearing moment you found, and a moment that you found they both deserved, for both had been deprived of one another for much too long.
“It must have been difficult,” Minato continued to speak, familiar blue eyes turning up to you, though you noted that they missed the childlike wonder that his son so often held when speaking to you.
“It was a pleasure, really,” you responded awkwardly, knowing what he was referring to. “It helped me overcome my own pain,” you continued in a hushed voice. It was where you kept your answer, not daring to speak further, or say more, for fear of burdening both the father and son with your feelings.
“Naruto seems to like you,” Minato continued, seemingly not catching onto your sad tone, or perhaps he did and decided to brush over it. You never knew. In the months since his awakening you had accompanied the boy to the hospital every day, being his primary caretaker and all, leaving you with ample interactions between and thus getting to know one another.
“Hard not to, with the way the village has been treating him,” you scoffed, cursing how your heart fluttered at the compliment, how your mind was running away with you just because he smiled back.
“You are a good person, [Name],” Minato insisted, still not done with praising you it seemed. “I hope that you will continue to stay in Naruto’s life.”
Feeling your cheeks growing warm you chuckled, a smile daring to show itself on your face as you nodded.
“I would love to,” you whispered, glad that Minato wasn’t thinking of taking the boy out of your life either. “I have grown very fond of him as well,” you finally admitted, your fingers digging into the flesh of your arms as you thought of how you had grown fond of more.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Minato’s eyes crinkled into a smile as he stared at you, “I heard it is difficult being a single parent,” he chuckled, leaving out another wish that he wanted to utter.