Naruto: Chaos Theory 4/?

[ofphenwa]

Title: Chaos Theory
Author: ofphenwa
Rating: PG13
Summary: Namikaze Minato never expected that he would actually have a son and that his son, Uzumaki Naruto, was already an adult. Neither did he expect that his son would end up bringing so much chaos and trouble into his life like his namesake.
Notes: So, just how many of you readers were surprised by Naruto's secret identity as Kyuubi in chapter 2? How did this story catch your interest?

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Chapter 4

To Minato, it felt as though he had slipped twenty years back into the past. He and Squad Blood-Hound faced off against Kyuubi on a near regular basis once a fortnight. Kyuubi was striking faster and harder than before, successfully making off with her spoils all the time and Minato's team was hard-pressed to stop her. Far too often, Minato found himself fighting with Kyuubi; he had to wonder if Kyuubi was deliberately seeking him out for a fight as she usually preferred to try and avoid any confrontations.

"From the way you've been gunning for me, I would think that you were still sore about the foiled Seirou Ohkawa heist. You don't usually engage in combat."

Kyuubi twitched at Minato's comment and unleashed a rather impressive crescent kick towards his solar plexus. Minato blocked it with both hands and was rather startled to find himself driven back by the force behind the blow. Kyuubi retorted, "Why the hell should I still be sore about that? I'm just pissed off that I keep fighting you every single time; you might as well just show up on your own without your puppies."

"My so-called puppies aren't that weak, Kyuubi," Minato said mildly and Kyuubi sharply swore as she had to jump aside to avoid a tranquiliser dart from behind. It was Shikaku, who was supposed to be still unconscious. Knowing that she was outnumbered, Kyuubi scowled behind her mask and gave Minato the finger as she released a smoke-bomb to make her swift escape while Minato and Shikaku were overwhelmed by the acrid smoke and went into coughing fits. Shikaku complained, "Not again! I really hate those smoke-bombs of hers!"

X

Naruto groaned loudly in the library, attracting a few rebuking looks from fellow students who were busy studying. He couldn't focus on this damn essay. He was too exhausted from last night's bout with Minato who was a much better martial arts exponent than he expected. His mind was also too fixated on the mysterious Hoshitama - despite having racked up an impressive tally of about fifteen gemstones within half a year; he still hadn't found that damned rock! His mood rapidly went downhill until he finally couldn't take it anymore.

"Fuck it."

Naruto stood up and cleared away his things from the table, carelessly dumping them into his bag. He wanted a drink and a bowl of ramen, preferably from Ichiraku's. On the way out he bumped into Sakura, who brightened up at seeing him and smiled. She cheerfully greeted, "Hi, Naruto! I wasn't expecting to see you. Where are you going?"

"Oh hey, Sakura. I was just going to grab a bite at Ichiraku's."

Sakura mused, "Isn't it kind of early for lunch?"

"Haha, I'm still growing and I've had quite enough of studying for now," Naruto replied with a faint smile, willing to indulge in small talk with the intelligent pink-haired girl, who had astounded him with the depth of her knowledge the first time they had met in that tutorial with the grouchy guy. He was mildly relieved to see that moody guy was nowhere to be seen, because the constant hostility he received from him was enough to vex even a saint. Naruto didn't even know what he might have done to warrant such resentment. It wasn't like he had stolen anything from him. Sakura smiled back at him and asked, "Mind if I come along with you? I don't have any classes for the next two hours."

"…Sure. But I'm not paying unless it's a date."

There was a flash of disappointment in her green eyes but it faded too quickly for Naruto to pick up on it. Sakura nodded, "Ok, that's not a problem."

X

Once again, Kyuubi and Minato clashed on the roof of a rich family's mansion. Kyuubi was gripping the glittering emerald brooch in one hand and it rather limited her ability to fight. Kyuubi was also moving sluggishly tonight because she had been careless earlier and was hit by a tranquiliser dart, thanks to Kakashi's excellent aim. It was quite amazing that she was still standing when the dosage of sedatives was enough to down a man for three days.

Minato took full advantage of it, forcing her backwards to the roof-access door, having learnt from his earlier mistake not to let Kyuubi reach the edge of the roof, as she would often leap off the roof in a dare-devil stunt to escape. Then he caught one of her wrists, forcing her to drop the emerald brooch and spun her around to slam her against the wall as he twisted her arm behind her back.

Minato was surprised to find that he was panting with exertion - Kyuubi was a much better fighter than he thought. Her stamina was inhuman, considering that she was fighting heavily drugged. He was very impressed and thought that it was a shame that she was on the wrong side of law, because she would have been an invaluable asset to LEAF with her abilities. Minato asked, "Do you surrender?"

Minato expected to hear a terse "Fuck you" and variations thereof from Kyuubi and another merry short duel before she fled once one of his team-mates showed up to lend assistance. It was almost funny how routine this was becoming. Kyuubi's reply was slurred but her meaning got through, "No way in hell."

For the first time ever, Kyuubi pulled the red chakra moves on Minato, ripping him away from her. He had seen it in action before, but it was quite another experience to be at the receiving end of it as the red chakra tail wrapped around his torso and flung him across the roof-top, stunning him.

Kyuubi retrieved the emerald brooch and slowly staggered to the edge of the roof to make her escape. She wobbled on her feet, visibly fighting off the effects of the tranquilisers in her system. She must have been desperate to pull such moves on him now as Kyuubi rarely used her red chakra since the Seirou Ohkawa heist. Despite his dizziness from his new concussion, Minato managed to lift up his tranquiliser gun and fire off a dart aimed at her back.

Despite being heavily drugged, Kyuubi's instincts were still sharp and she quickly turned but she stumbled and was not able to avoid the dart entirely. Instead of hitting her back like Minato intended, the projectile actually broke her mask. The broken pieces clattered to the floor and revealed a very familiar face that knocked the breath out of Minato in his shock, "Kushina?!"

For a brief moment, Minato really believed that the woman before him was actually Uzumaki Kushina, so strong was the resemblance between the two. Then common sense and logic reared their heads. Kushina was already dead and besides, she wasn't blond and nor did she have blue eyes! She also looked too young; Minato estimated her to be in her late teens. He felt vaguely shamed and impressed at being bested by someone who seemed to be only half his age. From the distance, Minato could barely make out faint lines on her cheeks that reminded him of the facial marks that Naruto bore. Kyuubi scowled fiercely before wordlessly diving off the roof with the emerald brooch.

Minato reflexively swiftly got up and ran to the edge of the roof but like before, Kyuubi was nowhere to be seen. He stared at the ground far below him, unable to believe what he had seen. Why did Kyuubi look so much like Kushina? Why did Kyuubi still look so young despite the twenty years lapse? Just what link was there between Kushina and Kyuubi? In his immense shock, Minato couldn't think of any possible answers. Kakashi was the first to find him standing perilously close to the edge of the roof and he asked carefully, "Are you ok, sir?"

Rousing himself from his stupor, Minato assessed his new injuries and replied slowly, "I've got a possible concussion but otherwise, I'm uninjured. What about yourself?"

"I'm uninjured, sir. Shibi and Shikaku are also fine sir. But, Tsume might have sprained her ankle in her enthusiasm in pursuing Kyuubi."

"That's good to hear. We'll hold the debriefing tomorrow after Tsume has her ankle looked at. It's been an exhausting night."

"…Did something happen, sensei?"

Minato didn't reply to Kakashi's concerned words, instead throwing a lingering gaze at the pieces of Kyuubi's broken mask. They gleamed bone-white in the pale moonlight and he took off his suit jacket. He personally wrapped the shards in his jacket and passed the bundle of precious evidence to Kakashi with the order, "Take them to the labs for analysis. I want them to strip the shards completely of any single clue they may find."

"Right away, sir."

As Kakashi walked away with the evidence, Minato opened his palm to reveal a pilfered small piece of the mask that had a small red spiral made up of nine 'tails' on it. That symbol was strangely familiar and he wanted to find out for himself where he might have seen it before, despite breaking all protocol procedures. His team-mates would be very angry with him if they found out about this, and that Minato had hidden the fact that he had seen Kyuubi's face, so he resolved to keep it a secret. It was now personal. The memory of Kyuubi's challenging blue eyes flashed through his mind and Minato whispered to the air, "Just who are you, Kyuubi?"

X

The sun broke over the horizon spilling its golden rays over the city of Konoha and making its skyscrapers shine like jewels under the rosy sky. Its light also made its way through the dirty windows of an abandoned old building within Old Konoha and landed on Naruto's face. Naruto sleepily roused awake and was initially bewildered to find himself still in his female form in Kyuubi's costume and in his hideout before recalling the previous night's events. Oh fuck! He had passed out like a chump in the hideout the very moment he got back as the sedatives finally overwhelmed him.

Minato must know everything by now, especially as he had seen his face under the mask! His suspicious absence from home was only going to cement his suspicions further. Naruto hyperventilated, pulling at his hair and forgetting to change his clothes and form. Not even the sight of the emerald brooch lying on the floor broke him out of his hysteria. Kyuubi manifested again and using its powers, it splashed Naruto with cold water to snap him out of his panic.

"Calm down, brat! It's not over yet unless you’re dead! Besides, your cell-phone has been driving me nuts all night!"

True enough, Naruto's cell-phone was ringing shrilly on the table littered with the blueprints of the various places he had staked out and his scribbled notes. In his deep drug-induced sleep and panic, he had failed to notice it. Grabbing it and hastily flipping it open, Naruto almost fainted when he saw that the caller's number was his father's. Covered with cold sweat and squeezing his eyes, he dredged up his courage and opened the call.

Time to face the music. I hope my skills are enough to let me escape from jail…

"Naruto! Are you alright?! Where are you?!"

"…Minato, I'm fine. I'm…at a friend's place. Why are you so worried?"

Naruto hadn't expected Minato to be enquiring after his well-being, having expected a tirade about how disappointed and angry he was, and how he was going to be thrown into jail forever and have the key thrown into the depths of the ocean to be fed to the fish. He gripped his cell-phone tightly in disbelief at his luck. Minato didn't suspect anything yet! Over the phone, Minato's voice sighed heavily in relief before softly replying, "Thank god you're ok. You sound different… Are you having a sore throat? Do you want me to pick you up?"

Naruto then realised that he was still in his female form and he was still stuck in Kyuubi's costume. To change now would be rather…uncomfortable, considering how tight the leather suit already was on his female form, but he couldn't afford to hang up the call now. Blushing with embarrassment, Naruto coughed and quickly lied, "No, I don't have a sore throat. It's just that my throat's feeling a bit dry like it usually does when I wake up. You just woke me up just now actually. There's no need to pick me up, Minato. I'll come home myself."

There was a brief thoughtful silence before Minato sighed and said, "…Very well. Just…next time, please inform me beforehand if you're going to spend the night out. I was so worried when you weren't at home last night."

Naruto heard the sincere concern in Minato's voice and it gave him a warm fuzzy feeling, knowing that Minato cared. With a smile, Naruto replied, "Got it. I'll see you in about half an hour."

"Ok. See you later."

Before Minato hung up, Naruto hastily spoke further, "…Wait. I, er, I'm really sorry about last night. I didn't mean to make you worry… Dad. I can already take care of myself so you don't have to worry so much again in the future."

There was a surprised silence over the phone. Then Minato spoke again in a warm and teasing tone, "Didn't I tell you to just call me Minato? But since you seem so intent on wanting me to perform my fatherly duties, I will be very happy to give you The Talk about safe sex as befits my duty as your father. I do hope you weren't canoodling last night with your mysterious 'friend' without condoms."

Naruto palmed his face and whined, "Minaaaaatooooooo! You know that I'm not dating anyone right now! And urgh, no, I really do not want to hear it the second time! Once was already enough!"

Peals of laughter sounded in his ear. When Minato finally stopped laughing, he went in for the final jab, "Oh, are you hiding in the closet then? My bad. But don't worry; I'm pretty open-minded about trifling things like that."

Naruto blushed a radioactive red and yelled into his cell-phone, "Go jump off a cliff, you crazy old man! I'm not GAY."

Minato quipped, "Bisexual, then?"

Naruto screamed, rather unaware in his utter annoyance at Minato that he sounded like a shrill banshee in his female form, "AAAAAAAARRRGGH!! THAT'S IT. I'M NOT TALKING TO YOU ANYMORE. EVER."

Oh my god, that man can be so irritating!

Watching Naruto throw his cell-phone at the couch and huff in a mixture of exertion and annoyance, Kyuubi dryly questioned, "So, I take it everything's fine?"

Naruto was already unzipping his leather suit when Kyuubi asked. His brows rose slowly in wonder and he replied with a bemused but happy smile, "Yeah. Everything's great!"

X

Minato chuckled as he closed his cell-phone and put it back in his pocket. He never knew that a man could hit such a high note before, like Naruto had just done and it was hilarious. He never tired of teasing Naruto since he learned that it was incredibly easy and fun to get him all worked up in the first few days of living together. You could say that it was now his new favourite hobby. Minato's amusement was slowly replaced by his relief as he smiled, glad to learn that Naruto was perfectly safe, and fine if his loud irritated screams were any indication.

He had been really surprised when Naruto called him "Dad". While he appreciated the fact that Naruto respected him as his father, Minato found it uncomfortable. Not only did it made him feel old but also because Minato just couldn't see Naruto as his son at all despite having lived together for half a year. Perhaps it was because they interacted more like friends, albeit really close and good friends but their relationship was nowhere near a relationship between a parent and child.

Besides, Naruto was already an adult when they first met - it would have been rather demeaning to treat him as though he was a child when he hadn't even been there for his formative years. It was rather ironic that Minato was experiencing the reverse of the empty-nest syndrome when other parents would rather not have their children grow up so quickly and leave. He sighed heavily, wondering if he was going through a mid-life crisis. While waiting for Naruto to return, Minato occupied himself with his favourite book, "The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi".

X

Finally back in his true form and in comfortable casual clothes, Naruto whistled a merry tune as he walked along the winding streets of Old Konoha to the nearest bus stop. It was a good thing that today was Saturday, so he didn't have to worry about missing any classes - apparently his tutors had noticed his frequent absences and had warned him not to skip classes unless he had a valid excuse like medical reasons. While Naruto could easily forge a medical certificate from a Konoha doctor, he decided against it, not wanting to use his skills for selfish reasons. It was already bad enough that he was stealing jewels on an international scale under Minato's nose as Kyuubi.

Unfortunately, his good mood was soured when he almost bumped into someone whom he did not want to see - the grumpy emo guy. Schooling his face into a politely blank expression and deciding to name him Duck-butt in his head because of the way his hair looked, Naruto greeted him, "Good morning."

Duck-butt looked at him in a haughty manner and grunted, "Hn."

Suppressing the urge to throttle Duck-butt, Naruto finally couldn't take the passive-aggressive attitude he constantly received from him and snarked, "What, are you too lazy to say a proper greeting? Seriously, what's up with you? What have I done to offend you? Do kindly enlighten me."

Duck-butt scowled at him, but refused to answer. He continued to walk past Naruto, but before he made it any further, Naruto grabbed his sleeve. Duck-butt glared at him and coldly demanded, "Let go of me now."

"No. Not until I get an answer from you. Why are you so hostile to me?"

Naruto's blue eyes were determined and unwavering as they met Duck-butt's black eyes. Duck-butt ripped his arm free from Naruto's grasp and sneered, "Why should I tell you when you'll forget in a matter of seconds? Your memory is obviously like a sieve."

Naruto was now officially confused. He yelled, "Wait, what the hell do you mean by that?!"

Duck-butt ignored him and continued to walk away. Naruto fumed and shouted at his retreating back, "At least, you could tell me your name, you bastard!"

Duck-butt actually stopped and turned his head to look at him. He replied arrogantly, "I'm Uchiha Sasuke. Idiot."

Then he waltzed away, not leaving Naruto a chance to make a comeback. Naruto growled and shook his fist at Sasuke as he yelled, "Oh yeah well, fuck you too, Uchiha Sasuke!"

What an arrogant and unpleasant twat!

X

Minato heard the front door loudly slam shut from his reading room. Naruto was back, and he seemed to be in a foul mood. His brows furrowing in concern, Minato put back the well-thumbed book onto the bookshelf and went downstairs to see what was causing Naruto's bad temper. He easily found Naruto in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal with a ferocious scowl on his face. Giving him a quick look-over, Minato was relieved to see that Naruto was uninjured. He sat down across his son and asked, "Did something bad happen?"

"…Just had a bad encounter with someone I now officially don't like."

"Oh, I see. Would you like to tell me about it?"

Naruto brought the bowl to his mouth and slurped the rest of the cereals and milk down. He then wiped away the white trail of milk from the corner of his mouth before replying thoughtfully, "…Nah. It doesn't really matter now. I would rather forget about it."

Minato took his answer at face-value and nodded. Then he stood up and said, "Get yourself ready for a weekend trip. I'll like to take you out somewhere special."

"But don't you have work today? It's still Saturday."

Minato dismissively replied, "I know. Hop to it, Naruto. It's going to be a long drive."

Naruto was now intrigued by what Minato had in store for him. Obeying, he quickly washed the bowl and set it on the dish rack to dry before running upstairs for his proper morning ablutions. Within ten minutes, Naruto was ready to go with a duffle-bag containing enough spare clothes for the next two days. Shifting from one foot to another, he curiously questioned, "Where are we going?"

Minato winked at him and bent slightly to whisper in his right ear, "It's… a secret."

Naruto furiously rubbed at his ear to get rid of the tingling sensation from the warm air that had tickled it. Blushing, he muttered, "That's not very helpful at all."

Minato just smiled at him.

"Be patient. All good things come to those who wait, Naruto. I don't want to spoil the surprise for you."

Slightly bemused by Minato's playful behaviour, Naruto smiled back and amiably agreed, "Ok. It better be a good surprise!"

X

The sky was bright and blue above them as Minato's car sped through the forest. Lying back in his seat, Naruto looked out the window at the trees speeding past in a blur of green and brown. They had already been driving for at least two hours and they didn't seem anywhere near their destination. It was monotonous and really boring. Naruto whined, "Minato, just how long is it going to take to get there? You still haven't told me where we are going."

I'm starting to wonder if I should have stayed in Konoha to continue searching for the Hoshitama.

Currently outfitted in a white-and-black striped shirt and blue jeans that made him appear decades younger, Minato looked over his black shades at Naruto and replied with a smile, "You'll see soon enough. You'll definitely like where we are going… There! Can you see it?"

Naruto was awed by the view of the vast blue ocean that suddenly appeared before him as they emerged from the forests. The sun glittered on the ocean's surface and he could see an island in the distance. His attention was caught by the mega construction of a bridge that stretched between the island and the main continent. Naruto turned to Minato with an amazed expression, "We're going to that island? What is it called?"

Minato generously informed him, "Nami no Kuni. Kushina and I used to come here often when we dated. Thanks to its lovely beaches and great food, it's a great place for young couples to hang out even today. You might even want to bring your future girlfriend here one day. Aside from its popularity as a romantic destination, Nami no Kuni is also a very important trading centre between Hi no Kuni and Mizu no Kuni and I have some important business to take care of here. In the meantime, you can enjoy yourself for the weekend - you look like you needed a break from your studies. You've been looking so tired and stressed lately."

Naruto was pleasantly surprised by Minato's considerate gesture. His gesture also caused a spike of guilt in him for hiding the secret of his identity as Kyuubi from him, which had been the source of his recent fatigue. With a slightly strained smile, Naruto thanked Minato.

X

Their accommodations wasn't as fancy as "Fire Lotus" but in return, his room had a scenic view of the white sandy beaches and the crystal-clear blue ocean waters that Nami no Kuni was famed for. Minato's room was next door, connected to his room via a two-way door in the wall beside the study table. Naruto had an inkling that Minato had purposely booked two adjoined rooms in order to hide his true occupation from him - recognising that it was the pot calling the kettle black.

Either way, this arrangement was advantageous for him because it allowed him the freedom to finally hack into LEAF Agency's databases to dig up information on Namikaze Minato. Doing it in Konoha was too risky as his IP might still be traced despite his precautions. Here, in a separate country altogether, Naruto could hide his tracks more easily thanks to the international encryption codes.

It took a little longer than expected to crack the firewalls on the LEAF Agency's databases but in the end, he was finally through. Naruto looked at his watch and saw that he didn't have enough time to pull up the files on anything related to Kyuubi in the database before he had to leave with Minato. Sighing in annoyance, Naruto searched for any files containing the name Namikaze Minato. He was rewarded with quite a number of files, all dated within the last twenty years.

Naruto randomly opened one of them, skimmed through and surmised that it was one of the case files Minato had worked on. Naruto saw that in the course of twenty years, Minato had worked on at least 600 cases, which translated to a gruelling 2.5 cases a month with a 90% success ratio. The only times he had failed was when he had been hunting Kyuubi. Naruto was very impressed and he muttered, "Wow, Minato is really that good? With that kind of track record, he shouldn't have been doing field missions anymore, like the Kyuubi-hunting, as he would have been promoted to a high position…"

It was easy to find Minato's position in the LEAF Agency; the hardest part had been trying to gain access into the databases. As his father's profile unfolded on his laptop screen, Naruto once again thought he was dreaming. There was no freaking way that Namikaze Minato was actually the Director of LEAF Agency, the leader of Hi no Kuni's strongest force! But the words were right there in front of him, highlighted in bold. Now he understood why Minato had kept his job a secret from him - being the son of the best secret agent in the world would paint him a very tempting target, even more so than being Kyuubi's son or being the new Kyuubi would.

Naruto hastily cleared away all evidence of his hacking from his laptop and made sure to hide his digital tracks as meticulously as he could. Just as he shut off his laptop, the door to Minato's room opened. Unaware of what Naruto had been doing just seconds ago, Minato smiled at him.

"All settled in? Let's go for lunch."

Naruto managed a small grin that belied his nervousness, "…Yeah. I'm really famished!"

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