The Apple Never Falls Far From the Tree... Not

Prompt: "The apple never falls far from the tree."

Minato had heard it a thousand times. "Oh, he's so cute! He looks just like you, Hokage-sama!" was a very common phrase whenever he and Naruto were together. Truth be told, he didn't think his son looked that much like him. The boy had eyes shaped like Kushina's which were a shade darker blue than his own and a rounder face. Both had spiky blond hair, but Naruto's was golden whilst Minato's was paler and longer.

And that was where the similarities ended.

Always, Minato had prided himself on being an outstanding student, a prodigy. Day-in and day-out he studied and worked hard towards his goals no matter how "flaky" and "girly" the other young ninjas thought he was. And boy had it paid off! No pranks. No screwing around. No useless crushes on girls (at least until after puberty), and no senseless rivalries.

Naruto, on the other hand...

The boy had no filter between his brain and his mouth. He said what he thought before he had a chance to think about the repercussions of what he said, a problem that had gotten the boy spanked more than a few times by his angry mother and castigated by everyone from his parents to the local flower-shop owner, Yamanaka. And he had no subtlety. Last week, Kakashi had complained of the boy's tendency to be overdramatic, yelling at opponents, facing everyone head-on even when it was the un-ninja-like thing to do.

What am I going to do with that boy?

And he was a prankster to boot. Naruto loved pranks, ramen, jokes, and more ramen. He's leaching my funds dry on ramen alone! Last week it had been the Hokage monument, and while Minato didn't mind that his son had defiled the reverred ninjas' faces, the rest of the village (and his wife) had been none-too-pleased by the incident.

The apple never falls far from the tree, my a**! Why couldn't he just be calmer and more level-headed?

"Hokage-sama..." He recognized the ANBU (1) immediately by the swallow-mask on her face.

"What is it?" Please don't tell me--

"It's Naruto," she informed him. "I swear, I watched him. I only took my eyes off him for a second and he was at the other end of the market. I don't even know where he got it from, I--"

"It?" What had his boy done now?

Swallow fidgeted nervously. "Well, you see, he had a lighter on him. I think maybe he thought it would be... uh... funny to light Hyuuga Hiashi's hair on fire. The Hyuuga Clan Head bumped into him rather rudely yesterday morning..."

Minato wanted to smack his head against his desk until he forgot about this incident. He didn't even want to know what happened next. "And?"

"Well, suffice to say, Hyuuga Hiashi wants a meeting with you later this afternoon... after his haircut, that is."

Why me?


Note: More Minato-cuteness. Poor baby, he always gets the short end of the stick, ne?

(1) ANBU - Special Assassination and Tactical Squad... basically, they're just really kicka** ninjas who kill people and get sent on super-secret awesome missions.