Remembering that he let that tiny detail slip, Naruto had the sense to look embarrassed as he replied to Minato. "Uh...yeah...I'm still technically a genin."

Minato had a hard time believing what he was hearing. "But you have the jonin vest?"

"Oh, yeah. Well it isn't exactly mine. It was given to me."

Minato was getting more and more confused. He needed Naruto to give him some actual answers for once, instead of just beating around the bush. "Why was it given to you if you are still a genin? And more importantly; how are you still a genin?" You could practically see the gears turning in his head as he tried to figure everything out.

"Well first off, I never passed genin because I never got the chance to finish the chunin exams. Too many things happened and I just never got the chance. I guess I just forgot about it after a while." As he was talking, Naruto pulled a small scroll out of his pocket. Minato recognized it as the same one with the blood seal on it, and his curiosity peaked. "As for being given the vest, it was a special occasion."

Minato waited patiently as he watched Naruto undo the seal with a solemn air around him. As he opened it he saw that it was a summoning scroll. "What's in the scroll?"

Naruto was still silent as he stared at the scroll. Then laying a shaky hand on the scroll he carefully began to speak, his voice laden with emotion. "These are all items I was given during the Fourth Great Ninja War by close friends just before they died. The vest you saw me wearing is one of them."

"I'm sorry, Naruto. You don't have to tell me." Minato was shocked by what Naruto had said and he didn't want to push any unhappy memories back onto him.

"No, it's okay." Naruto gave a small smile as he looked up at his dad. "I want to tell you, and I think I'm finally okay to see everything again."

Minato watched and listened in silence as Naruto summoned each piece and explained who they were from.

"The jonin vest was given to me by someone who I saw as a father figure to me. His name was Iruka, he was the first person to ever have faith in me and treat me like a normal person. My friend Shikamaru gave me this lighter. Lee gave me this green suit..."

Naruto began to explain each item he had and their significance. A weapon scroll from Tenten, headband from Neji, BBQ coupon from Chogi, earrings from Ino, a dog whistle from Kiba and a bottle of bugs from Shino. But he got quiet as he looked at the last few items from the scroll, and the one unsummoned item. "These ones are even more special to me than the others."

"Who were they from?" This was the first time Minato had spoken up since Naruto began showing each item, and you could hear how careful he was being with what he said so he didn't hurt Naruto's feelings.

"This vial of sand was from Gaara. We grew up in similar situations, but he had it harder than I did. This is some of his special sand that he always carried with him. Kakashi-sensei gave me this first-aid kit. I didn't realize the importance of it until I saw how that is the same thing Rin gave him for becoming a jonin. Hinata didn't give me anything physical; the last thing she gave me was a kiss and those three very precious words that I still hold close to my heart. Haha, Tsunade told me I was Hokage. She put all of her faith in me..."

Minato could see the silent tears running down Naruto's cheeks and could hear the slight crack in his voice, even as he tried to cover it up. "You don't have to keep going if you don't want to, that last one and the unsummoned one seem pretty important."

"The last two..." Naruto choked on his words and had to take a few breaths to control his emotions. "These last two are from the other members of my team. They were my closest friends. Sakura, she gave me the photo of our team. I didn't know that she even had it with her. Sasuke...Sasuke was an interesting person. He was smarter than anyone else our age. He didn't give me something that was sentimental in any way. He gave me something he knew could help me fight, but I refused to use it." Naruto's hand was hovering over the unsummoned object.

"What was it?"

Naruto replied without even looking up. "He gave me his eyes."

Minato didn't say anything else and there was silence as Naruto put all of the objects away and sealed up the scroll, putting it back in his pocket.

There was a long silence before Minato spoke up, walking up and hugging Naruto at the same time. "Thank you for telling me. I know that was hard for you." Stepping away from Naruto, Minato looked him in the eyes and spoke once more, his voice firm but comforting. "You are very strong and they were all right in putting their faith in you. Now, how about we go and get some ramen for lunch?"

"Yeah, let's go!" Naruto gave Minato a huge smile before the two of them left for Ichiraku's, the air considerably happier.

After they had finished their lunch, Naruto turned to Minato. "Do you know where Itachi is by chance? I wanted to see him today."

"Ah, right. He's probably off training right now." Minato began to explain how, greatly because of Naruto's influence and encouragement, Itachi put his all into training and has done so well that he was already a genin. He also gave Naruto a list of places that Itachi liked to go that he could check to find him.

"Thanks! I'll go search for him."

Naruto spent the next few hours searching all of the places Minato had mentioned, looking for Itachi. Finally, he found him at the top of a cliff. He stood, curiously watching to see what Itachi would do, and was surprised when he jumped off. Naruto wanted to jump in and do something, but he was stopped by the determination he could see on Itachi's face.

Holding his breath, Naruto didn't fully relax until he saw Itachi land safely on the ground surrounded by a swarm of crows. Guess the crows make sense. Naruto was laughing to himself as he stepped forward some more. "That was impressive, Itachi!"

Itachi's eyes went wide and a wide grin appeared on his face as he heard the familiar voice. "Big brother Naruto! When did you get back?!" You could see the pure joy on his face as Itachi ran up, giving Naruto a big hug.

"Just today actually! I wanted to make sure I saw you before it got any later." Naruto ruffled Itachi's hair in a light-hearted manner. "I heard you've been getting really strong while I've been gone."

"I have! I had my dad teach me all about the Uchiha fire jutsus and I met this really nice boy named Shisui. He actually reminds me a lot of you. He has been teaching me a lot, especially with shuriken and kunai."

As Itachi talked all about what he had been up to, both he and Naruto began the walk back to the Village. Itachi spoke the whole time about all of his missions, his training and how he wants to become a great ninja to protect the village. The time flew by and before they knew it, the two of them were back on the streets of the village and Naruto finally spoke up.

"Alright Itachi, how about we stop and get a treat?"

"Yeah! I know the perfect place too!" Itachi was smiling widely as he drug Naruto to his favorite dango shop. "This place sells out really fast, but it looks like we made it in time to still get some!"

"Sounds perfect! Let's eat!"

Naruto ordered dango for each of them and once they got their food they found a quiet place to sit under a tree as Itachi continued to talk about all he had done over the past year.

The sun was beginning to set over the village, but neither of them seemed to care as they continued to talk happily with each other.

"You know Itachi, I think you are going to be one of the strongest shinobi in the village someday."

"Really? You think so?" Itachi's eyes were wide as he stared at Naruto, totally amazed at what he had said.

"Yeah, I do!" Naruto gave Itachi a big smile full of unwavering belief, but Itachi's face fell, his eyes dropping to the ground.

"But I haven't unlocked my sharingan yet. And Izumi said I must not like sweets because I was kinda serious and quiet at school and stuff, so am I not good enough if I do like sweets?"

Naruto wanted to laugh at the craziness of the situation, but the serious and dejected look on Itachi's face kept him quiet. "It's not bad that you like sweets. A lot of ninja do, ya know. And don't worry, I'm sure you'll unlock your sharingan soon, though you are strong without it too." He gave Itachi a reassuring smile before turning his gaze to the darkening sky, noting the few stars that were beginning to appear. "I didn't realize it had gotten so late already. Come on, I'll walk you home."

"Alright!" Following Naruto, Itachi popped his last dumpling into his mouth. "Sho hab u sheen or oder teab ebers et?"

"Haha! You gotta finish eating first. I can't understand you, ya know." Naruto was laughing as he watched Itachi finish chewing with a slight blush on his cheeks.

"Sorry. I asked if you had seen your other team members yet."

"You mean Kakashi, Obito and Rin? No, not yet. I was planning to surprise them tomorrow." As he spoke, Naruto noticed that Itachi was once again looking at the ground with an uneasy look on his face. "Why do you ask?"

Itachi looked like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar as he stared at Naruto, trying to find the right words to answer. "Oh um...well I'm not really supposed to know anything, but I overheard Lord Hokage talking about it."

"Talking about what? You can go ahead and tell me. I promise you won't get in trouble."

Itachi thought for a moment before decisively nodding his head. "Okay. It was probably only a little while after you had left; Lord Hokage sent Kakashi, Obito and Rin out with some other jonin to investigate some Mist Village shinobi that were getting close to the border. For a while it seemed like they weren't doing anything, until one day Rin went missing."

A feeling of dread welled up inside of Naruto. I recognize this story...but Obito was actually there this time...please let it end differently... His thoughts were running rampant as Itachi continued the story.

"I heard that Kakashi and Obito left to find her the moment they realized she was gone. When they reached this section of land covered in rocks, they just found Rin unconscious. Everyone thought it was weird. They had brought her back to camp to rest and she woke up the next day. Kakashi and Obito insisted on returning to the village right away to get her fully checked out, but she refused. They decided waiting there for a bit would be the next best thing."

Naruto was becoming more and more uneasy as the story went on. He had been the one to finally get Rin and Obito together. He didn't want Kakashi and Obito to have to go through that same pain again. "Is Rin okay, Itachi?"

Itachi's eyes flickered away from Naruto and back again, wavering in nervousness before starting the story again, ignoring Naruto's question. "After seeing that they weren't going anywhere, the Mist shinobi started to chase them down, seeming to force them back to our village. Rin kept saying that something felt wrong, but since they were being pursued they couldn't really do anything about it. After a while Rin just stopped, saying it was a bad idea to return to the village. In that time frame, the Mist shinobi caught up to them and they ended up fighting."

Itachi had stopped to catch his breath and Naruto noticed that his eyes were shining with unshed tears. He was about to speak up but Itachi just started talking again, obviously trying hard to finish the story without crying.

"Towards the end of the fight Kakashi was about to use his special jutsu to kill this one guy, but instead Rin jumped in front of Kakashi's hand, taking the blow herself."

Naruto's whole body was trembling in fear as he thought of losing someone else that he could have saved. His voice shook as he spoke, the words barely audible in the dark. "So...is she...?"