"Naruto… Naruto… Hey Naruto…" Rock Lee called him several times, but Naruto didn't respond. Sasuke and Rock Lee exchanged worried glances.

Rock Lee moved next to Naruto and touched his shoulder. Finally, Naruto turned and looked at them. "Lee, Sasuke," he said with a light nod and immediately returned to his training.

Lee and Sasuke exchanged glances once again. Lee touched Naruto again and asked, "Where is the original?"

The clone pointed to another Naruto and said, "He is there, but please don't bother him. We need to train."

The duo ignored the clone and immediately went next to the original. This time it was Sasuke who touched him on the shoulder.

"Hey," Sasuke said reluctantly.

Naruto just nodded at them and didn't stop his training.

"Naruto, we learned about your sensei. We are very sorry," Rock Lee said with sadness.

Naruto faced the duo with a vacant look and said, "Guys, I can't talk about this right now. Please, I need to train."

Sasuke and Lee exchanged side glances at each other and then both sat next to Naruto, one on his right and one on his left.

Naruto continued his training, but he kept failing at his task. After all, the gap between cutting a leaf and cutting a waterfall was huge.

After almost an hour full of frustration, Naruto finally looked at them and, after exhaling loudly, he said, "I don't know what to say. I feel a giant pressure on my chest when I think about my sensei." The color of his face had already changed to an unhealthy yellow.

"Naruto, let's get out of here. Training in your condition will only make things worse. Let's go to your house," Sasuke said and put his hand under Naruto's armpit to lift him.

Naruto removed Sasuke's hand gently and shook his head in refusal. "I am sorry, Sasuke, but I need to train. Ebisu-sensei's last wish was for me to become Hokage. I can't let him down. I also need to be strong enough…strong enough to beat Orochimaru..." Naruto's color became even more unhealthy, and he couldn't hold it anymore. He moved to a corner and started vomiting. Since Ebisu's death and the revelation about the fox inside him, he hadn't eaten, and he had nothing in his stomach to vomit. He was just struggling in pain.

Rock Lee, who was watching him, couldn't take it anymore. He embraced Naruto, and they started crying together. After a few minutes, Sasuke finally said, "Naruto, I know how you feel right now. I lost my parents and my whole clan. Believe me when I say that you should not train right now," Sasuke said with deep sorrow.

Naruto didn't give up and replied, "But you do exactly the same. Since the incident with your clan, you spend your whole day training to avoid your pain."

Sasuke's expression turned even sadder. "That is true, but I control the training. You are not in control right now."

Naruto couldn't reply to that, and he finally accepted to return to his house together with his two friends.

---

It took one hour for Naruto to tell them the complete story between his sobs. After that, he showed them some entries from Ebisu's notebook and both Sasuke and Lee had tears in their eyes.

Sasuke, however, noticed that the earliest entry was from page 14.

‘The entry on page 14 doesn't feel right as the first entry. For Naruto to hide it from us, there is a chance that his sensei has written something about the 9-tailed fox before page 14. If this is true then this is a perfect chance for me. I can use his trauma to increase my influence on him.

Also, this death is extremely suspicious. This notebook looks tailor-made to make Naruto the perfect servant for the village's propaganda. Can all this be just a coincidence? Is Orochimaru really the true culprit?

If it isn't a coincidence, according to my knowledge, only Danzo would have the audacity to pull something like this. I don't believe that Hiruzen is the type of person to do something like that. Maybe Shikaku, but I don't believe that I have misjudged him. If he was willing to use such aggressive methods, he would have taken care of the Root long ago.’

Naruto also told them that Hiruzen taught him the multi shadow clone jutsu which Ebisu was planning to teach him in the future.

‘That’s why he is able to create so many clones. However, with my chakra reserves this jutsu is impossible for me. Also, even if it was possible, I can’t handle the rebound from the memories of so many clones.

It seems that Naruto has a very strong durability towards this considering that Hiruzen trusted him with this jutsu. Is it because of his Uzumaki bloodline, is it because of the fox or a combination of both? The more I learn about Uzumaki the more I want to study him in a lab’ Sasuke thought.

Sasuke shared some of his personal stories with Naruto and gave him some advice about handling the pain of loss. Naruto was very surprised that he hadn't realized how deep Sasuke's pain was before. He usually had an innate sense of people's feelings, but apparently, Sasuke hid his pain too deeply because of his pride.

Sasuke also asked him if the Hokage had arranged psychological sessions for him. However, Naruto was ignorant and Sasuke didn’t press him further.

‘This is very strange. After a trauma like this they should have arranged some psychological support. However, Naruto was not informed at all. Maybe they can’t use the Yamanaka’s mind reading jutsu against him because of the fox inside him. However, this is perfect for me. I can speak to him freely without being afraid of Inoichi finding out my plans.’

The trio spent the whole day at Naruto's home. Sasuke sent a shadow clone to bring meals from his personal restaurant, and another shadow clone to inform his training group that he is unable to train with them today. By the end of the day, Naruto was feeling much better. It was 21:00 when Rock Lee said goodbye, and Sasuke stayed alone with Naruto.

"Naruto, bring some paper and two pens. I know a good game."

Naruto was surprised but nodded. He knew that Sasuke was trying to make him feel better and accepted.

"Let me tell you the rules. I will shout to you the first letter of the alphabet and then I will keep recounting the alphabet silently. When you say stop, I will tell you which character was selected. We need to write a name, an animal, a verb, a noun, an occupation, and a color that starts with this character. We will have 30 seconds for each move. A correct and unique answer will receive 10 points, and if we are both correct but our answers are the same, we will get 5 points. For example, if 'N' is selected, the answers can be 'Naruto,' 'Narwhal,' 'Navigate,' 'Notebook,' 'Nurse,' 'Navy Blue.'"

"This sounds interesting. Can I also invent imaginary animals like you?" Naruto asked with interest.

Sasuke facepalmed. "Naruto, Narwhal isn't imaginary. It's a type of whale with a horn on its forehead."

Naruto looked at him with suspicion but still nodded.

 Despite his goofiness, Naruto was good at the game. Of course, Sasuke held back to keep the game competitive.

After several rounds, Sasuke took the paper and asked Naruto, "Do you see the problem?"

Naruto looked at him confused. "What do you mean?"

"Let me show you," Sasuke said and created circles with his pen. "STAY, SILENCE, ANBU, WATCH, MEET, EVENING, SASUKE, COMPOUND."

Naruto was very surprised, but Sasuke could see realization in his eyes, and he finally said, "You cheated!"

‘At least he knows how to act,’ Sasuke thought and said "You finally realized. We should have taken turns recounting the alphabet. The whole game I just chose my favorite characters."

"Even with cheating, you only beat me by 10 points. I consider this my win," Naruto said proudly.

Sasuke reluctantly agreed and carefully put the paper in his pocket. "I have already used my partial transformation against Inoichi. I can't afford to take any risk with genjutsu, especially against Naruto. I need to handle this very carefully," Sasuke thought.

---

It was almost midnight when Naruto talked loudly to himself,

"It's a waste of time if I don't have my clones training the whole day."

He went outside of his house and created 50 clones. The main body returned to his house and went into his bed. However, nobody noticed that one of the clones didn't follow the rest.

---

The clone knocked on the door.

"Come in," Sasuke said.

"Sasuke, what's going on? Why am I being watched?" Naruto asked with worry.

"Please relax and sit down," Sasuke said. Naruto obeyed reluctantly and sat down, then nodded at Sasuke to continue.

"You already know why you are being watched." Sasuke said and pointed up 9 of his fingers.

Sasuke wasn't entirely certain if Naruto knew about the fox. He had the theory about the notebook, but he wasn't 100% sure. That's why he used his fingers and didn't reveal the information directly. He gave Naruto a hint and wanted to observe his reaction. However, Naruto's immediate reaction confirmed his theory.

"WHAT? HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT? SINCE WHEN DO YOU KNOW?" Naruto almost screamed.

"I can see your chakra with my Sharingan. I found out this year when you were sparring with Lee in the academy. I used my Sharingan to copy Lee's taijutsu, and I noticed your chakra."

Naruto didn’t reply for a few seconds and his face was anxious and deep in thought. Then reluctantly and with a low voice he asked "Are you okay with it? Do you still want to be my friend?"

"Is there a reason I shouldn't be? Of course, I am still your friend. What the fox has to do with anything?" Sasuke said with confusion.

Naruto was extremely surprised and once again he was thoughtful. ‘Was it really so simple? I made hundreds of scenarios in my mind about my friends finding out, and he just accepted it like that?’

"Why didn't you tell me anything before?" Naruto finally asked.

"Naruto, this is a personal matter for you. I didn't know if you are okay sharing your secret. I was waiting for you to trust me and share it yourself." Sasuke explained

"But why are you telling me this now? What has changed?"

"Naruto, I know how hard it is to lose a person that you love. I also know how hard it is to feel alone. Even though I have the girls around me, they can't truly understand my pain. I don't want you to carry the same loneliness. I want you to know that I am here for you, and I don't care about the fox."

Naruto was shocked with Sasuke's declaration, and tears filled his eyes.

"Sa…su…ke, you are a great friend. You have faced the same loneliness as me all this time, and I didn't even know about your pain. I only cared about my own… Thank you, thank you…"

"Naruto, don't be sad. When you feel like that, you always need to remember that you are never truly alone. I am sure that Minato truly loved you, and I am sure that his love is always with you. The same also applies to me and my parents."

Naruto stopped breathing and looked at Sasuke with a shocked expression. He instantly moved next to him and grabbed his T-shirt with both of his hands.

"MINATO? PARENTS? DO YOU KNOW MY FATHER?"

Sasuke looked at him with complete confusion.

"You don't know about your father?"

Naruto just moved his head without replying still in shock.

"How is this possible? You are the son of the 4th Hokage, Minato Namikaze."

Naruto looked at him like he was insane.

"You are lying… you are lying… this cannot be true," he finally said.

"Naruto, I am not lying to you. You are the spitting image of him. Let me show you."

Sasuke immediately moved to another room and brought an old bingo book. He opened the book and showed him Minato's image.

Naruto immediately spotted the resemblance and was petrified.

"It's just a resemblance. This is not proof," Naruto said with refusal.

"Naruto, why do you think that the Hokage cares so much about you? There are many orphans in the village. Does he personally take care of them? There are also plenty of academy students with better grades. Does he care about them? Does he give them their own jonin sensei?"

Naruto's expression changed to rage and then finally to realization.

"HOW CAN THIS BE? HE SEALED THE MONSTER INSIDE HIS OWN SON. HE DESTROYED MY LIFE. THIS CANNOT BE TRUE," Naruto was in shock for several minutes.

Sasuke gave him time to express his rage and frustration but after 5 minutes he had enough

"NARUTO… PLEASE… STOP SCREAMING"

Hearing Sasuke’s commanding tone Naruto was surprised and finally stopped.

"Naruto, think about it. As a Hokage, would you choose to save one person or to save thousands? Even if this person is your own son."

Naruto was silent, and Sasuke continued,

"As a Hokage, you are a parent to the whole village. Minato Namikaze not only sacrificed his own life but also chose his own son to carry the burden. He put Konoha's safety above everything else. This is what it means to be the Hokage."

There were too many shocks and revelations in Naruto’s life in the last three days, and he hadn't had enough time to digest all the information. He was very conflicted. He finally found the identity of his father. His father was his hero but also the one who ruined his life. He didn't know how to feel about him. He wanted to blame someone but could not really blame him.

Sasuke looked at him with sadness and said "Naruto, the reason that you have suffered is not because of your father. You have suffered because people are extremely stupid. People are constantly searching for an easy target to blame for their pain and suffering. Everyone with a basic knowledge of fuinjutsu knows that you have nothing to do with the fox.

Naruto, to me, you are the true hero of this village. You have suffered all your life to keep the village safe, and I truly want to thank you."

Even though Naruto couldn't stop his tears and his conflicted emotions, he felt warmth in his heart.

---

Hello dear readers

I hope that you are enjoying the story.

Please comment and tell me your opinion so far!