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Konoha’s advancement in technology over the last war years was incredibly impressive, Minato thought when he walked up and down next to where his partner was laying on her back getting a routine check up. Wasn’t it amazing that nowdays one could see and determine a child’s sex motnhs before the actual birth? Not that it made a difference really, but Minato was surprisingly impatient to meet the child so finding out a tiny breadcrumb about it would go a long way.
“You are making me nervous, y’know ” Kushina said with a frown and waved her hand. “Sit down or stand still or do something less irritating.” He tried, he really tried to just sit down and do nothing and wait for the doctor to give the news over, but he physically couldn’t. Normally they were the other way around, Kushina the one who was more energetic and expressive and he the more balanced out quiet personality, but when it came to this? No, Minato’s nerves were going at a speed faster than his abilities did.
Finally the doctor smiled in mercy for the stressed Hokage. “I know this is not what you came here for”, he said and put his hair back, “But I needed to see if everything is healthy, before I can move on.” He paused and that made Minato pause too for a second. “Everything is healthy and going according to schedule.”
Minato and Kushina exchanged a look, a silent nod from Kushina told him what he wanted to hear. She was fine too. That she was the Jinchuuriki was only known to a selected few in the village and so this ordinary doctor didn’t. They’d been worried there might be issues with the baby as it was growing, but each checkup was better than the last. Nothing was happening out of the ordinary, the baby grew exactly to schedule.
“As for the sex”, the doctor continued and couldn’t help but wink at Minato who had started walkeing up and down again. “It is very visible here. It will be a boy.”
The couple looked at each other again, Minato could feel his cheeks redden. “A boy” they said at the same time. Kushina made her hand into a fist and fist bumped the air as if she had won something, even though yesterday evening she had still said she didn’t care if it was a boy or a girl. Minato on the other hand felt himself deflate and his nerves quiet down.
He’d have a son, a little rascal who might some day inherit his ninjutsu technique or his mothers’s chakra control, who might have his blue eyes and her red hair and fiery personality. Most of all, the most important of all, he would be a little boy that would be so loved by his parents as nobody else had been loved before. And yes, Minato knew realistically that was not true, but he didn’t want to be a realist, just for this moment.
– –
They weren’t parents that were preparing much for the child. There wasn’t going to be a dedicated bedroom that needed clearing out or anything. MInato was so busy with Hokage duties that he’d have no time to do any of that stuff anyway and while Kushina had mentioned doing it alone or recruiting Kakashi for help, Minato had declined both of these things. Once the baby had come in autumn, they’d just buy a house and move there as a family.
One thing they did want to settle on before the birth though was the name of the child. It wasn’t as easy as they had expected it would be, mostly because certain names had certain connotations and as such they were often unusable. “We could call him Takumi”, MInato said, tapping his fingers on the table, “After my most loved uncle.”
Kushina frowned: “You mean that Takumi? The first time he met me he just stared at my boobs, y’know . And I was only 16!” Minato ruffled his nose, this name was definitely out then.
Her choice was next: “I think we should name him Shigure. Not because I know someone named that way but because I like it.” The name went over Minato’s tongue and felt bitter, he shook his blond head: “There is one named Shigure in my inner Hokage staff and he is old and doesn’t like when I take a nap at work. No thanks.”
It was tricker than you would originally think, giving a child a name they’d have to carry around all their lives. They thought about getting creative, using names and words they just liked in real life. Girls were often named after flowers, boys after mountains and animals, but none of that worked, at least not in their heads. They decided to table the talk for later.
Only a few weeks before the calculated birthdate Minato came home from work one evening to find Kushina wildly irritated in front of her own evening dinner. “I wish you could just tell me how you’re called, y’know . That would make it much easier!” She seemed to be screaming at her own belly.
Minato slipped in and walked over to lay a hand on her shoulder. “We should really talk about this again shouldn't we?” H ealready knew the answer. It seemed like Kushina too had not really stopped thinking about the whole ordeal even after they had decided to talk about it at some other time. Fresh minds would help them find a better name, but Minato at least had not come up with anything that hadn’T already been mentioned.
There was of course the possibility of naming the child after Obito, one of Minato’s students that both Kushina and him had adored a lot. He had died a few years back and all of them had still been dealing with the aftermath of that death when Minato’s second student, Rin, had died just a year ago.
Now there was only one left and he spent his days around their apartment listening to their conversations. THat was why Minato couldn’t bring it over his lips to even suggest the name. If Kakashi could hear them through the window he might think they were trying to replace Obito with someone knew that carried the same name or he might get a panic attack just thinking about Obito. Kakashi was fragile since Rin died and needed to be protected at all costs.
So Obito was not a viable option, at least not for this child. Maybe in the future they’d have a second one, maybe when Kakashi was older and had healed his wounds a little better, maybe then could they think about bringing an Obito back in their lives. Minato at least kept the name tucked away neatly for different use.
That evening though they did not come up with anything either. Frustrated, they sat in front of empty rice bowls when Miinato suddenly remembered something: “Oh, Jiraiya-sensei is in town.”
Kushina looked up and put her head to the side: “How long has it been?” Too long, Minato thought. With all that had been going on, it had been stressful to be unable to just ask your teacher for advice.
– –
“What I’m saying is that in Amegakure, where I spent several years as you know, there seems to be something in the works. A new organisation called the Akatsuki are walking around and giving the people there a hard time. There will be a head to head soon there or it might come over here, I don’t know, just be careful” Jiraiya said, his hands folded in front of his chest. It was his second day in the village and he was finally giving his full report of his travels.
Minato had his head laid on his flat hand to watch his teacher. He’d gotten a little wider since he left, but he had lost nothing of his authority when he spoke. “I suggest you send more ANBU guards there and check the situation out.” It was advice but it sounded like an instruction. “We don’t want war to come over here again now that we just ended it.”
Of ourse Minato agreed to all of it, he nodded but couldn’t help but giggle. His teacher looked up and grinned as well “What's so funny about that?”
“You speak like you are my teacher still, when I should be higher ranked then you right now,” MInato chuckled back and got up. Former teacher and student stood in front of each other. With his wooden shoes Jiraiya was still one head taller than Minato, but in comparison to how different their height was when he was a student still, they had definitely become closer.
Jiraiya did a little theatrical bow: “Fourth Hokage-sama, what an honour to be speaking in front of you.” Then he looked up. “I would repeat what I have said with a little more ass-kissing, but I don’t feel it is necessary, huh, Minato?”
Minato shook his head and scratched his neck a little embarrassed. “You will never have to do that Jiraiya-sensei. Your advice will always be falling on open ears with me. There aren’t many people in this village that I trust as much as you.” He wondered if his students had felt the same about him. If Kakashi still felt like that.
These words apparently made Jiraiya embarrassed too and he mimicked Minato’s motion. “Don’t overdo it, squirt,” he said and laughed. Then he turned to go, but froze on the way to the door. “Oh I almost forgot.” He took something out of his pocket and threw it at Minato who was surprised by it but caught it perfectly with one hand anyway. It was a little book.
“I thought I would try myself with writing,” he said with a wink. “This is my first book. I thought you should be the first one who gets to see it.” Then he waved and walked out the door.
– –
Jiraiya never stayed long in Konoha if he couldn’t help it. Ever since Minato’s team had been scattered into the wind and started their missions independently, Jiraiya was often on travels, doing long term missions for the village or just learning about new cultures - and women, at least Minato assumed so.
So this time was no exception. No matter how much Minato had tried to convince him early on, Jiraiya would not stay until the birth in a few weeks. “Too messy,” he said. “Besides, Kushina and you will be very busy, you don’t need me hanging around being annoying.” It was sweet of course that he was considering them, but Minato couldn’t shake the feeling that it was his regret at the lack of an own family.
The only thing they could get him to do was have one last dinner with them before he was heading out again. Minato announced it one evening to his staff that he would need the evening off to help his wife prepare for a guest, which earned him side looks from the older members of the council. On the inside he just shrugged. He wasn’t gonna let a woman that was 8 months pregnant at this point without any help. If they didn’t understand that then he wouldn’t explain.
Jiraiya arrived on time, which was one of his better personality traits and he did the usual compliments to Kushina’s health, her hair colour and the smell of the food and then MInato sat his teacher down and they chatted about one of his recent travels to the land of Water. Weird things were going on in Kirigakure, he said, the Mizukage was acting strange. Minato had heard that story before, but Kushina wanted to hear all of it, so Jiraiya told it again.
At some point Minato picked up a little bowl of rice and some vegetables, walked to the window and knocked at it. Kakashi, who was sitting crouched outside, almost fell off the sill when he heard the noise. “Food”, Minato said gleefully and handed it over. “I don’t ne-” Kakashi began but his teacher cut him off: “Food.” He smiled and Kakashi took the bowl without arguing.
Dinner went by quickly and MInato was just in the kitchen cleaning the dishes when he heard Jiraiya mention the book to Kushina. “... I actually gave it to Minato to read a few days ago. I called it “The Tale of a gutsy Ninja”. Maybe he has mentioned it.”
“Minato, can you come over please”, Kushina called for him and he put the towel down he had been holding and walked over into the dining room. Jiraiya seemed confused by their reaction to what he had said, but he just looked at them and waited.
The blonde sat down on this chair again: “Yes, I’ve read it. I really love it, sensei.” Minato realised he sounded like he was paying his teacher a lip service so he added: “I loved following the story and the enemies were convincing. But I specifically loved the main character….”
“He gave it to me to read,” Kushina said now, “Because he finished it in one evening. I loved it too. You have a hang of writing, y’know .”
Jiraiya looked from one of them to the other and then he grinned his signature smile: “Alright, I knew I was going to be good at it, that's why I tried it out. Actually I think I could still work on the romance aspect, don’t you think? I left romance out completely and I think there just aren’t enough books about it. Anyway, I’m glad you like the main character because he is what in my mind is a great ninja. Someone who never backs down and never breaks his word you know?”
The couple exchanged some looks, but it was Minato who spoke up: “We decided to name our son after it.”
His teacher looked baffled: “After what?”
“The book” Kushina slowly moved her hand over her belly, “Naruto. We have decided to name him Naruto.”
Minato had rarely seen Jiraiya-sensei speechless, but now was one of those rare moments. The older man looked from one to the other as if he wanted to get extra confirmation that what Kushina said was true. “R-Really?” he pressed out and looked at Minato, who just slowly nodded with a smile.
“We also wanted to ask you to be Naruto’s godfather,” Minato now continued. “You’ve always given me great advice, so I would assume you could also give him great advice in case something happens to us. I’m sure you’ll be a good influence on him.”
Jiraiya got up and walked around the table to pull both of them in a hug. “You don’t even understand how honoured I am to hear that. I didn’t know my book would have such an influence on the both of you…”
“Oh yeah, Naruto was such a cool guy, I liked the name immediately, y'know . When I told Minato he was all like “I like the guy too! I hope our son is like that!” and so…”
Their multiple month long discussion on names had come to an end in just one evening, when they both had stared at the name “Naruto” and just knew that this was the right one. It was a little like falling in love, Minato thought. You think about it a lot, feelings and love and how it will be, but if it finally happens to you, you just know . Naruto’s name had come to them just like that. As if it had always been his name and they just needed time to find it.
Minato found her hand under the table and held it, while his teacher continued to press them to his chest. “Oh he will be,” Jiraiya said. “He will be your son, so of course he will be amazing.”