Naruto: Huh! Isn't That Dad?

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Outside a bachelor dormitory building somewhere in Konoha Village, Naruto stood before a familiar door, pounding on it with his fist.

"Teacher Kakashi! Teacher Kakashi!"

"Naruto?"

Along with a somewhat surprised voice, a figure suddenly appeared not far behind Naruto.

Naruto froze, then quickly turned around to find Teacher Kakashi standing beside him at some point.

"Yo, Naruto." Kakashi lazily waved at him in greeting. "Did you need something?"

"There you are, Teacher Kakashi!" The gloom on Naruto's face immediately turned into a smile when he saw Kakashi, but he soon puffed out his cheeks in displeasure. "Where did you run off to just now? I knocked for ages for nothing!"

Kakashi scratched his head and casually brushed it off. "Ahaha, I had something to take care of, so I went out for a bit."

"Did you need me for something? Come in and talk." As Kakashi spoke, he walked past Naruto, took out his key, and opened the door.

Naruto responded and followed Kakashi into the room he had never visited before.

The moment they entered was a tiny single bedroom, with no entryway or partitions. The furnishings around it were extremely simple.

A single bed occupied most of the room. There was a low table beside it, stacked with several books and magazines, while a plain wardrobe stood in another corner.

The room was quite clean. The floor was spotless, and all the miscellaneous items were neatly arranged. Its owner was clearly someone who liked things tidy.

"Wow—Teacher Kakashi, your place is so small!" Naruto blurted out without hesitation, looking around the cramped room as his curious eyes examined every corner.

Kakashi closed the door and helplessly pressed a hand to his forehead. "Don't snoop around, Naruto."

Before he had even finished speaking, Naruto had already started wandering around restlessly. He even picked up a small book from Kakashi's bedside. "Huh—Make-Out Paradise? Isn't this the book you hold and read every day, Teacher Kakashi?"

Kakashi's pupils shrank. Taking two long strides forward, he snatched the book from Naruto's hands and carefully hid it on top of the bookshelf behind him. His face darkened. "Ahem. Kids can't read this."

Seeing how tense Kakashi was, Naruto pouted unhappily. "Cheapskate! It's just a book, not some treasure."

Kakashi did not know whether to laugh or cry.

Naruto really could not sit still for even a moment. He acted like a complete stranger in his teacher's home, poking through everything.

He should never have let him in.

With that thought in mind, Kakashi wanted nothing more than to send Naruto away as quickly as possible.

He actually had other important matters he wanted to investigate.

But with Naruto here, he could not exactly throw him out, so he could only deal with him patiently.

"Ahem, anyway..." Kakashi cleared his throat, trying to steer the conversation back on track. "Naruto, didn't you say you had something to ask me?"

"Oh, right!" Naruto finally remembered why he had come. Just as he was about to ask about the Rasengan, a familiar figure in a photo frame suddenly caught his eye. "Huh?!"

Naruto stared closely and saw an old photograph on Kakashi's bedside table.

He hurried over, picked up the frame, and leaned closer. There were four people in the photograph.

Three stood in the front row.

One was a black-haired boy wearing goggles and smiling brilliantly. Another was a white-haired boy with a cocky expression. Between them stood a girl next door, making a peace sign.

Behind the three stood a blond man, his hands resting on the heads of the two boys.

It was that blond man who made Naruto's eyes fly wide as he let out an incredulous cry. "D-Dad?! Teacher Kakashi, why do you have a picture of my dad?!"

Kakashi sharply turned his head. Naruto was holding the old photo, his eyes wide as he stared at Kakashi in shock.

Excitedly, Naruto held the frame up before Kakashi and pointed at the blond man's face. "This guy looks just like my dad! Oh, no... my dad from my dreams! Teacher Kakashi, I've been dreaming about my dad these past two days. It's him!"

For a moment, the room fell silent.

Kakashi stood dumbfounded, his mind nearly crashing. "...???"

How had he forgotten that Naruto had seen Teacher Minato with his own eyes in that dream?!

Seeing that Kakashi did not speak, Naruto thought he had not understood and hurriedly explained again. "Teacher Kakashi, look! This blond uncle in the picture looks exactly like my dad from my dreams! I always thought the dad in my dreams was someone I imagined, but he actually exists, and you even know him!"

The more Naruto spoke, the more excited he became. He studied the photo for a few seconds, then became even more certain. "Really, they're exactly the same! Golden hair, blue eyes, even the way he smiles feels the same! Hey, now that I think about it, this guy kind of looks like me too! Hahaha!"

Naruto scratched his head and gave a couple of embarrassed, foolish laughs.

After all, saying someone else looked like him did sound a little narcissistic.

But he really was thinking: So my mysterious dad from those dreams was a real person, and he was even in Konoha Village!

Teacher Kakashi actually knew him?

Thinking of that, Naruto looked at Kakashi expectantly, waiting for his teacher to give him an answer.

Yet Kakashi remained silent.

"T-Teacher Kakashi?"

Naruto looked up in confusion. Kakashi had one hand over his forehead, his expression rather stiff, while his exposed eye did not dare meet Naruto's gaze.

Kakashi's thoughts were in complete turmoil. For a long while, he could not squeeze out a single word.

What could he say?

Was he supposed to tell Naruto right now?

Yes, that was your biological father, Minato Namikaze, Konoha Village's former Fourth Hokage?

Was he supposed to casually reveal the secret the Third Hokage had concealed for more than a decade?

But if he said nothing, Naruto was exactly the kind of person who would never let it go...

Kakashi was caught between a rock and a hard place, a bead of cold sweat forming on his forehead.

After a long while, Kakashi's Adam's apple moved. Just as he was about to force out a few evasive words, Naruto had already looked away, seemingly no longer fixated on the question.

Staring at the frame, Naruto suddenly noticed the white-haired boy with the cocky expression in the photo and burst out laughing. "Teacher Kakashi, that sour-faced brat isn't you, is it? Hahaha! He's just like Sasuke, with that same stuck-up look!"

Naruto waved his hand, looking thoroughly disdainful.

But then he pointed at the black-haired boy wearing goggles, his eyes shining. "This guy, though, looks pretty cool! The way he wears those goggles is kind of like how I used to look!"

Hearing Naruto shift his attention and focus only on poking fun at the people in the photo, Kakashi quietly let out a breath of relief.

Thank goodness, Naruto was such a simple kid.

Otherwise, he really would not have known how to end this.

"They were... my childhood companions." Kakashi stepped forward and took the photo frame from Naruto's hands, his tone becoming unusually low. "And my teacher. They... are no longer in this world."

"Wh..." Naruto froze. He opened his mouth, only to realize he did not know what to say.

Blankly, he watched Kakashi wipe the photograph in his hands. His usually carefree silver-haired teacher now had his head slightly lowered, his expression hidden from view.

So the people in that picture had all been Teacher Kakashi's companions from the past?

Naruto suddenly realized that although Teacher Kakashi always seemed so indifferent, he too was just like Naruto—living alone in this world...

In fact, he had lost so many important people.

In an instant, Naruto's joy and curiosity vanished, replaced by a dull ache of sadness.

He clenched his fists, then quickly loosened them. Scratching his head, he said softly, "Sorry, Teacher Kakashi. I didn't know..."

Brothers, the double rewards period is almost over. Please send some monthly votes~ Although I can't release chapters on a massive scale right now, if the numbers are good, I'll go crazy stockpiling chapters. On the day it goes premium, there'll be at least ten big chapters guaranteed. The better the numbers, the more I'll release—there's no upper limit. How much I can release depends on you esteemed readers keeping up with the story. Please help me get onto the new book rankings, finish the process early, and activate rapid-release mode.