136: Family talks

[Hokage's Office]

[Night-time]

Darius didn't bother knocking. He never did when it came to Minato's office. He just opened the door, leaned casually on the frame, and gave the Fourth Hokage a look that said I'm stealing your son and there's nothing you can do about it.

Minato barely glanced up from the stack of scrolls he was scribbling notes on. "You're early."

"I'm always early," Darius said, stepping inside. "That's what makes me charming."

"You're many things. 'Charming' depends on who you ask."

Darius chuckled as he spotted Naruto perched on the edge of a small chair near the window, his little legs swinging freely, a paper frog clutched tightly in his hands. He looked up the second he noticed Darius.

"Uncle Darius!"

Darius crossed the room in a few strides and scooped him up into one arm without breaking pace. "Time for ramen, little blond menace."

Minato sighed, but his smile was there. "You spoil him."

"That's the point." Darius pointed at him while walking backwards toward the door. "You're the responsible one. I'm the one who gives him a stomach-ache and gets him home late."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Minato said, already returning to his paperwork.

"Pretend all you want, I'm still taking him."

And with that, Darius was gone, Naruto perched happily on his hip, chattering away about the frog origami game Verity had taught him.

Ichiraku's wasn't too far from home. Teuchi had expanded the stall ever so slightly over the past year, with Darius's help—though "help" mostly meant Darius lifting heavy things with one hand while making fun of Teuchi's aging back.

At Ichiraku's, the front stools were already occupied by two energetic girls—Verity was halfway through her first bowl, leaning back slightly as she slurped the noodles with practiced skill, while Aurama poked curiously at her egg slices, arranging them into a little smiley face in the broth.

"About time!" Verity called as Darius and Naruto approached. "They started without us!"

Aurama didn't look up. "You said you were getting one bowl. This is your second."

"I'm growing," Verity defended.

"You're growing wider," Aurama muttered.

"Oi," Darius cut in smoothly, settling himself between the two girls as Naruto hopped up on the stool beside him. "No arguing at the ramen bar. That's a rule."

Teuchi, wiping his hands on his apron, chuckled from the kitchen. "Good to see you all again. Same order as last time?"

"Make it double," Darius said. "Naruto's here."

"Coming right up!"

Naruto grinned at the compliment, swinging his legs under the counter as he waited.

"So," Darius began, turning a little toward Naruto. "How was class today? Verity said you got paired with Kiba for target practice."

Naruto puffed his cheeks. "Kiba kept saying he was faster than me. So I raced him around the academy three times. I won once."

"Liar," Verity said under her breath.

"Not helping," Darius said mildly, sipping at the tea Teuchi had just poured him.

Aurama leaned forward. "Kiba's not bad, but he barks too much. If I had a dog with me all day, I'd be barking too."

"You're lucky you don't," Naruto replied. "You've got a weird bird. It pooped on Sasuke's notes today."

"She doesn't poop," Aurama said quickly. "She has strategic accidents."

Darius let out a low laugh, covering his mouth with his cup. "Strategic accidents. I'll remember that the next time she drops one on my flour sack."

A loud clatter of bowls came as Teuchi placed their ramen in front of them. The smell hit instantly—rich broth, soft noodles, perfectly seasoned toppings. Naruto grabbed his chopsticks with both hands.

"Let's eat!"

It didn't take long before the entire group was slurping and chatting between bites. Verity picked the mushrooms out of hers and slipped them onto Aurama's plate, who accepted them with a nod like they'd done this trade for years.

Naruto inhaled his food with no shame, and Teuchi quietly prepared a second bowl in the back without being asked.

"Alright. First day at the Academy. Let's hear it."

"It was awesome!" Naruto burst out first, already bouncing. "The teacher's name is Umino Iruka, and he has this scar across his nose and he tells really funny stories. Sasuke was there, and Kiba, and there's this girl who kept looking at me funny—"

"Was she cute?" Darius asked with a raised brow.

Naruto wrinkled his nose. "She had really white eyes. It was weird."

"Hyuga," Verity said, stealing a fishcake from Aurama's bowl before hers even arrived. "She probably just likes you."

"She doesn't even talk!" Naruto argued. "She just... stands there and blushes."

Aurama shrugged. "Maybe your face is so funny she couldn't talk."

"You're one to talk!" Naruto shot back.

Darius held up a hand. "Enough. One insult per bowl, that's the rule."

"You made that up just now," Aurama muttered.

"I make up everything," Darius said, reaching across and stealing her chopsticks just to make a point.

Verity, ever calm, ignored them both and turned to Naruto. "Did you talk to Sasuke?"

Naruto frowned, stuffing a mouthful of noodles into his face before speaking again—something that caused Darius to wipe his cheek with a napkin immediately.

"Sort of. He's kind of cool, but he's... I dunno. Quiet. Serious. He doesn't like when people get too close."

"He has a stick up his butt," Aurama said.

Verity gave her sister a look. "Dad said we shouldn't say that."

"I never said that," Darius replied smoothly, "but I'm flattered you're quoting me."

Teuchi delivered another round of bowls, steam rising in thick spirals. The scent of miso and pork and scallions hit all four of them at once. Darius reached for his chopsticks and looked down at his kids.

Well—one biological, one not, and one borrowed from a Hokage. But it didn't matter. They were his now.

"I heard Iruka-sensei said you three were the loudest kids in class," Darius commented.

"Lies," Verity said around a mouthful.

"He said you were the loudest," Aurama corrected.

Naruto wiped his face with his sleeve. "Iruka-sensei said we had 'potential'... but also a lot of 'disruptive energy.'"

"That's code for 'needs to shut up,'" Darius said, grinning.

The kids laughed, and even Teuchi gave a soft chuckle from behind the counter.

After they'd all slowed down enough to sip broth and pat their bellies, the conversation shifted again. Naruto leaned sideways against Darius' arm and mumbled something through a yawn.

"What's that?" Darius asked, nudging him gently.

"I said… you're gonna come to the Academy Festival, right?"

Darius glanced at the girls, who both perked up immediately.

"We're doing a skit!" Verity said.

"A historical one," Aurama added. "Naruto plays the hero."

"I wanted to be the hero and the narrator, but Iruka said I couldn't do both," Naruto explained.

"Well, we'll be there," Darius promised. "Front row. Or maybe I'll bring some bread and bribe the front row."

Aurama smirked. "Like last time."

"Exactly like last time," he confirmed.

As the night wore on, the four of them lingered at the bar, sharing little stories from class—Verity's prank with disappearing ink, Naruto's attempt at cloning (which resulted in a version of himself that immediately fell asleep), and Aurama's half-successful smoke bomb trick that ended with the classroom smelling like lavender for three hours.

Darius listened patiently to all of it. He didn't say much when the kids were excited—he didn't need to. They just liked having him there. And the way Naruto occasionally leaned against his side, or how Verity nudged his arm to get his attention mid-story, or how Aurama glanced up to check if he was listening—all of it spoke volumes.

[At Home]

[Backery - 2nd Floor]

The house had settled into that soft hum of quiet that only came when the children were finally in bed. Verity had fallen asleep first, her cheek pressed into her pillow, still faintly smiling from all the laughter at dinner.

#Aurama had put up more of a fight, as usual—she had declared bedtime an act of oppression before finally collapsing under the weight of her own yawns. Naruto had gone next, tucked in by Ororo with a warm hug and a soft "Goodnight, little storm cloud," which had made him giggle into his sheets.

Darius, meanwhile, stepped out into the backyard.

He didn't need sleep—not in the way mortals did. Rest was more of a choice for him than a necessity. Tonight, he chose to sit under the old sakura tree that grew at the far end of their garden.

Its blossoms glowed faintly in the dark, kissed by the same residual energy that flowed through Darius himself. The villagers believed it was a blessing from some forest spirit. Darius let them believe it.

Perched in his lap, curled into a snug spiral of red fur, was Kurama.

The miniature fox's eyes were closed, his tails slowly rising and falling as he dozed. If anyone had told the people of Konoha that the monstrous Nine-Tailed Fox was currently the size of a pumpkin and enjoying nightly naps like a pampered housecat, they'd probably faint.

Kurama snorted gently, twitching in his sleep.

"I know you're awake," Darius murmured, scratching between the fox's ears. "You always fake-snore louder when you want me to keep scratching."

Kurama cracked one eye open, flicked his tail in smug agreement, and went back to pretending.

Darius leaned his back against the tree and tilted his head upward. The stars here were beautiful. Simpler than the ones in the Marvel-DC universe—less crowded, less dramatic—but beautiful in a quiet way. It made him wonder what other surprises this planet had in store.

He didn't have to wonder for long.

The gentle sound of the front gate sliding open pulled him out of his thoughts. He didn't move. He didn't need to. The chakra signature was familiar—bright like lightning and clean like water. Minato.

The Fourth Hokage stepped into the backyard like he'd done it a hundred times. Because he had. The relationship between their families had blossomed into a rhythm of small traditions. This walk, this late-hour exchange, had become one of them.

"You're late," Darius said as Minato approached, hands in his pockets.

"I brought you tea," Minato replied, holding up a thermos.

Darius grinned. "You're forgiven."

Minato sat down beside him with a small exhale, offering the thermos before stretching his legs out in front of him. The two men sat in companionable silence for a moment, the soft breeze tugging at their robes.

Kurama, for his part, shifted in Darius's lap, gave Minato a single, unimpressed glance, and then buried his face under his tail.

"I still don't know how you got him to do that," Minato muttered, watching the fox.

"I didn't make him do anything," Darius said softly. "I just gave him a better choice."

The three sat in silence for a while. The breeze rustled faintly, not that Darius noticed it much anymore. Not when he'd seen planets form and crumble. But he found it calming anyway, and Minato seemed to appreciate the quiet too.

Finally, Minato spoke again, his tone more cautious this time.

"Darius… can I ask you something? Something personal."

Darius's gaze didn't waver. "You can. Whether I answer depends on how interesting the question is."

Minato smiled faintly, then looked away, his eyes fixed somewhere distant.

"Do you ever… have memories that feel too neat? Like a puzzle that fits too perfectly, but still feels wrong?"

Darius's fingers paused mid-scratch behind Kurama's ears.

"I've been Hokage for a few years now. I've seen war, and lies, and genjutsu layered thick as mist. But the night of the Nine-Tails attack…"

He exhaled through his nose, slowly.

"I remember the pain. The fear. Kushina's scream. I remember sealing Kurama. But after that… it gets fuzzy. Clean. Tidy. Too tidy. Like someone wrote the ending after reading the first half of the story."

Darius didn't speak.

"I've asked the other jonin. Asked Hiruzen. Even the records—everything aligns. Too perfectly. But it's like… it was edited. And I keep getting this feeling in the back of my head. Like someone's hand brushed over the moment and smoothed it out."

He looked at Darius then. Calm. Steady. But there was something fierce under the surface.

"You did it, didn't you?"

Kurama stirred but said nothing. Darius didn't deny it.

"I had to," Darius said finally, voice quiet but firm. "The chaos that night… was unnecessary."

Minato stared at him, but not with anger. Curiosity, maybe. And a cautious kind of trust.

"I want to know. No lies. No riddles."

Darius looked at the Hokage beside him, the man he'd come to consider a friend—something rare for someone like him. Then, he nodded slowly.

"You deserve that much."

He leaned back a little, letting Kurama settle deeper into his lap.

"I'm not from this world, Minato. Not even from this reality. I was… born in a place beyond your understanding, created before time even had the manners to start ticking. My name is Darius, and I've walked through more stars than this sky holds."

Minato blinked once. Twice.

"I came here for a vacation," Darius continued, lips quirking faintly. "After dealing with some rather troublesome figures in another realm. My family and I needed a change of pace. A quiet life. Somewhere untouched."

Minato raised an eyebrow. "You chose our world for peace?"

Darius smirked. "Didn't know about the wars at the time. And technically, I arrived before chakra even existed."

Minato frowned slightly.

"When I first came, this world was nothing but a blank canvas. I crashed—literally—into the void and triggered what you might call a localized Big Bang. From that, your stars were born. Your Earth. And when I left a sliver of myself behind, your chakra tree began to grow."

Minato was silent for a long while.

"And you watched it all?"

"Every age. I saw the Ōtsutsuki come. Kaguya. Hagoromo. His sons. I watched as your clans formed, as your nations took shape. I watched the wars, the bloodshed. And then, when the Nine Tails attacked… I made a decision."

He looked Minato dead in the eye.

"I took Kurama. Not out of malice. But because Verity and Aurama wanted a fox. And because he deserved more than being a weapon."

Kurama's tail thumped once.

"I didn't kill Kushina," Darius added gently. "I couldn't stop that, I do not interfere with Death. But I erased the memory of my involvement. Changed the flow so that you'd survive, and the village could heal. I placed my family here, next to the ramen shop, because I like the smell. I made you believe Kurama vanished. Not because I wanted to lie. But because sometimes peace only comes when people think the danger is gone."

Minato processed everything silently. His hands were clasped in his lap. His eyes were still and clear, but Darius could tell his mind was sprinting through a hundred thoughts per second.

Finally, he spoke.

"So what happens now?"

Darius tilted his head. "That depends. You angry?"

"No."

"Confused?"

"Very."

"Regret trusting me?"

Minato paused. Then shook his head. "No."

Darius smiled softly. "Then nothing changes. You're still the Hokage. I'm still your annoying neighbor who bakes too much. Verity and Aurama are still loud. Naruto is still bright. The world keeps turning."

Minato nodded slowly. "And one day… you'll leave, won't you?"

"Yes," Darius said simply. "But not soon."

Minato stood then, stretching his back and exhaling deeply.

"Thank you," he said after a pause. "For saving the village. For saving my son."

Darius looked down at Kurama.

"Not just your son. I think I saved him, too."

Kurama huffed, but there was no bite to it.

Minato turned, cloak rustling behind him. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Darius raised a hand lazily in farewell.

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