A Family of Heroes (Alt Universe Story)

by TheFemaleReviewer

Naruto and Hinata are married and they've got kids! Let's go on all the crazy and hilarious adventures of wives and family woes with Naruto's sons Jiraiya and Neji and his daughter Kushina, too! Throughout the story, we'll also get to me a host of other characters we know and love and their future families as well. Come see how Naruto and the Ninja World end up RIGHT HERE!

Naruto

A Family of Heroes

"Teddy bear smash no jutsu!" I yelled as I pile drove a teddy bear into her stomach.

She laughed and grabbed my hands.

"You just made him kick." She said.

I put my ear to her stomach.

"You think it's a boy?" I asked.

She just smiled.

"Hopefully not, I need a change." I said. "I want a baby girl to cuddle."

For a couple seconds, we sat there saying nothing. I gazed into her eyes. I recalled when we were younger. I'd never seen her eyes then the way I see them now. And her hair and her smile… Everything about her makes my heart skip. More than anything, I just want her to be happy with me. She held my hands to her stomach and then I lifted them to her face.

"You're so beautiful…" I whispered.

She blushed.

"Naruto…" she mumbled, looking away from me.

I laughed and touched her cheek.

"It's been so long since you've blushed like that…Hinata." I said.

She slowly grabbed my hand in her own.

"Don't think I don't know what game you're playing." She said, winking at me. "Trying to distract me with compliments won't work."

I threw my hands up and sprawled out on the couch next to her.

"Aw! You got me!"

"That's right." She said. "You have bathing duty tonight."

I sighed and rolled off of the couch.

"Alright." I said. "This should be fun anyway."

"Don't give them a heart attack." She called over her shoulder.

But that was exactly what I planned to do. I snuck up the stairs, wiggling my fingers like I was some kind of creature.

"Do I hear…children!?" I said in roaring voice.

I heard snickers, chairs pulled out and pushed back in, feet tapped the floor.

"It sounds like…little boys!" I roared.

Then I heared "shhh" sounds.

"The Great Fox Demon had arrived! And I'm hungry!" I shouted, bursting into the room.

One fast, blonde haired little guy ran past me. I intercepted him and threw him into the air. He laughed joyfully as I caught him into my arms.

"I got one…but I know for sure, there's another one!" I said in my monster voice.

I spotted a pair of feet on the top bunk bed trying to pull themselves under the sheets. I grabbed the leg and pulled the kid halfway out of the bed. He hung onto the bed post, squealing and laughing, black hair swinging into his eyes. I let go and he dropped to the floor, clumsily slipping off of his feet and landing on his back.

I glanced at the desk next to me and spotted something that looked like a weapon. With the first boy still under my right arm, I grabbed it and flung it around.

"What's this?"

The boy on the floor got to his feet.

"That's mine! I made it!" he said.

I pulled a trigger and ducked as a splotch of blue paint struck the wall. I dropped the first boy in surprise; luckily, he landed skillfully on his feet.

"That's a paint sprayer!" the black haired one said.

It only took seconds to figure out how it worked. I aimed it at them and fired. A whole new round of squeals and giggles sounded as I chased them around their room firing red and blue paint everywhere. At one point, my fingers got so wet with paint I accidently dropped it. The black haired one scrambled to pick it up and aimed it at me. I dove behind the younger, blonde haired boy and lifted him up in front of my face.

"Human Shield no Jutsu!" I shouted, using him to block all the paint.

He laughed and swung his arms around as hair became stained green. The door swung open. Hinata stood there with a knowing look.

"They're even dirty than before." She said.

I smiled sheepishly.

"Uh…I can explain?"

She just shook her head and smiled at me fondly.

"My boys…"

A lot of pictures resulted from that day. Paint dribbled down the walls. All of us had dripping red, purple or blue hands. Next to the door, we all pushed our hands there to make a permanent print on the wall. That day I taught them to write their names. The older black haired boy, who had made the paint sprayer, put his red stained hand on the wall first and then signed his name.

"J…I…R…I…A…Y…A" he said, saying each letter as he wrote it out.

Above it in blue paint, Hinata wrote with her finger. "Age Four."

My younger blonde haired wonder, whose hair was green at that point because of all of the paint, was too young to write his name. I grabbed his hand and pressed his small little purple print to the wall.

"Your name is short." I said. "It's like N…E…J…I."

I extended my finger to write it for him but he pushed my hand out of the way.

"N…E…J…I." he repeated, making the motions for each mark perfectly.

I raised my eyebrows and looked at Hinata.

"Whoaaa." I said. "We got a genius here!"

Neji smiled and said nothing. He also reached up and wrote "Age Two" above that. Hinata ruffled his hair.

"Remind you of someone?" I said.

She winked at me. Then she took a picture of the wall. And a picture of all of us standing there, paint drenched and grinning. And then it was finally bath time.

"Water bomb!" I shouted.

The bath water turned purplish green as the boys jumped up and down and got clean. Hinata leaned in close to us.

"Look at the camera."

"Funny face!" I shouted, right before it took.

After I dried them off and put their pajamas on, Jiraiya jumped up and down excitedly in his shirt with the Uzumaki symbol on it.

"Can we play ninja first?" he asked.

"Uh, I dunno…Mommy wants you guys to go to bed, we're going to have a big day tomorrow."

Jiraiya stuck his lip out.

"Pleaaaase?!" he begged, bright blue eyes shining playfully. "Neji wants to play too!"

Neji looked up at me with his big, white eyes, and nodded silently. I grinned.

"Okay!" I said. "Let's practice ninja flips."

Jiraiya knew his position. He immediately got down onto his knees and put his palms on the floor. I pushed Neji toward him.

"You're up first!" I said. "Front flip first, back flip second."

Without any issue, Neji ran at Jiraiya grabbed onto his shoulders momentarily and then flipped himself over him. Then he came back around, ran at Jiraiya again, put his left foot into his brother's back and used his right left to swing himself over. He landed steadily on his feet each time. I raised my hand and he high fived me and smiled softly.

"Jiraiya, you're up!"

Neji got onto his knees and Jiraiya approached Neji unsurely. I laughed.

"How can you be worried when you're the one who wanted to play?"

"I'm better at shuriken tossing." He protested.

"That's why you need to practice." I said.

He sighed and ran at Neji. When he flipped over Neji, he panicked causing his arms to buckle and he crashed on top of him. Neji rolled out from under him and they both rubbed their heads. I laughed and ruffled Jiraiya hair.

"Better luck next time, sport."

"Are you guys getting ready for bed?" Hinata called.

"Quick!" I said.

I lifted Neji up and positioned him on the top bed while Jiraiya crawled into the lower bed. I causally leaned next to the bed posts.

"Yeah, they're ready!" I said.

Hinata came in smiling at us.

"They need a lot of rest for tomorrow, or else how are they going to sit still while I'm in labor?"

I grinned.

"They'll be fine."

"Mommy." Jiraiya called. "What are we going to name the baby?"

Neji poked his head over the edge of the top bed, probably also interested in an answer.

"I'm not sure yet." She said. "What do you guys think?"

"Name him Tomohiro." Said Jiraiya.

Tomohiro, huh? Isn't that the name of…

Kakashi's seven year old son. A boy with shinning black eyes and long, straight gray hair that reached his shoulders. Kakashi vowed to be a better father than his was so he spends every waking moment with that kid. The kid's really handsome, too. He's nothing like Kakashi though. He's playful and talkative…and he hates reading. Whenever Kakashi comes over, Jiraiya and Tomohiro raise hell in this house, planting inactivated paper bombs and pretending to blow Neji up. Because of that, Neji isn't too fond of Tomohiro.

Almost acting out my thoughts, Neji shook his head furiously. I laughed.

"We have to give him the name of someone important to us." I said.

"Tomohiro is important." Jiraiya protested.

"He means inspirational." Hinata provided.

Jiraiya and Neji stared at her blankly.

"Well…how about I tell you guys the story of where your names come from." I said.

"Our names come from somewhere?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yeah! Of course! We didn't just didn't give you any stupid old name just lying around. Your names are the names of heroes."

Jiraiya sat up in his bed and pumped his arms in the air.

"Tell us! Tell us!"

Neji nodded.

"Well, Jiraiya your name comes from the man who taught me everything I know." I said. "He was like a father to me…"

I recounted old stories of fishing with him and learning ninjutsu with him. I showed them the rasengan, which by then I had successfully learned to do with one hand, while I told them about my first training mission with him. I left out the parts about his perverted behavior. They were far too young for that story. But I did tell them about how I learned toad summoning from him and how because of all he taught me, I gained the insight to defeat many powerful opponents.

"In the end, I was even able to perfect the one jutsu that he never could." I finished. "I became a toad sage."

Jiraiya sat up in his bed with wide eyes mouthing the words "toad sage" to himself.

"So, what happened to him?" he asked.

"He sacrificed his life for the village." I said. "One of the last opponents I ever fought killed him."

"Really?!" Jiraiya asked, eyes shining. "Did you go wild? Did you kill him?"

I shook my head.

"No." I said. "I talked it out with him. I tried to understand why he would do such a thing instead of just letting my anger get the best of me…and you know what happened?"

"…What, Daddy?" said a small voice.

I looked up and saw Neji's white eyes looking down at me.

I heard Hinata gasp.

Wow…Neji…

Those…were his first words.

I smiled at him and looked him in the eyes.

"Because I chose to fight with understanding, he brought back everyone in the village that he'd killed. He gave his life for all of the people here and then he died with a smile on his face because he trusted me to bring peace to the world."

Neji's expression was open and attentive, soaking all the information in.

"That's awesome!" Jiraiya shouted from below. "My name comes from a hero!"

"Right!" I said, punching him softly in the shoulder.

Jiraiya suddenly started practicing hand signs, excited about the story of his name.

"Money...Dragon...Dog..." he whispered, turning his little fingers.

"Your name comes from a hero, too, Neji." Hinata said, approaching him.

She grabbed his hand and held it.

"My cousin…a boy I regarded like my brother." She said.

"What happened to him?" Jiraiya asked.

"If it wasn't for him, Naruto and I might be dead right now…and you two wouldn't have existed." She said.

Jiraiya stopped practicing and Neji's jaw dropped.

Imagine someone telling you that you wouldn't exist if it wasn't for someone else?

"He protected us with his life during the fourth great ninja war." She said.

"Yeah." I agreed. "And because of what he did, he gave the Shinobi Alliance the fighting spirit to push on and win that battle!"

"Wow." Neji whispered.

"Yeah." I said. "Wow, is right."

Hinata kissed Neji on the forehead and I bent down and hugged Jiraiya.

"So, you see…you guys aren't just ordinary shinobi." I said. "You have the blood and names of heroes!"

The next day, I held Jiraiya and Neji in my arms nervously as I walked around waiting for Hinata to deliver. Kakashi was there with Tomohiro and Iruka was there with his son, but no more people were allowed in the waiting room. When we were finally let in, my eyes locked onto the bundle in her arms. She smiled at me.

"We were wrong." She said.

My eyes widened as I saw the flourish of red on top of the baby's head.

"It's not a boy..."

There's something strange about a man having a daughter… Something that just… Changes that man's heart forever. A new kind of tenderness came out of me. Jiraiya jumped up and down too short to see her. I pulled him and Neji up onto the bed and they snuggled in close to their mother and peeked at the baby's face.

"Aw, man." Jiraiya complained. "That's a girl baby!"

Neji said nothing. I reached for the baby with shaking hands and held her in my arms. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

"Whoa…Hinata…we got a second Byakugan here." I whispered.

Hinata laughed.

"How lucky." She commented.

I remember when Jiraiya was born…

He didn't open his eyes for a long time so we didn't know what they looked like and his hair hadn't grown in so we didn't know what color it would be.

"He looks like a pink blob." I had joked.

Hinata just held him tenderly. He was our first child. In all honesty…it didn't matter what he looked like.

He opened his eyes the next day and we were both shocked to see two bright, blue orbs shinning back at us. We both figured the Byakugan might not show up in any of the kids. We just thought my bloodline was stronger or something…but with Neji and now this one…clearly, Jiraiya's just the black sheep. Literally, the black sheep, too, because it turned out that he was the only one who grew black hair.

I gave her the baby again and she smiled.

"She has a lot of hair for a newborn." Hinata said.

I looked at her hair with growing realization.

"She's like…"

My mom's face flashed in front of mine along with that gorgeous, long red hair of hers.

"Wow…Uzumaki hair and Byakugan eyes." I whispered. "She's a perfect cross."

"The name?" the medical ninja who had helped her deliver asked.

Hinata looked at me.

"I named Neji so it's your turn again." She said.

I smiled.

"Her hair is just like my mother's." I said. "I want to name her Kushina."

Hinata smiled. "A family of heroes."

The medical ninja snapped a quick picture of all of us and wrote the date and the name of the baby on the back as a record of the baby's birthday and name.

In the picture, I gazed into Kushina's eyes, Neji was giving Kushina a brotherly kiss on the cheek, Jiraiya stuck his tongue out and crossed his eyes at the camera, and Hinata looked at us all fondly. That picture hangs up in the living room, the picture of us during bath time the night before hangs up in the front hall, the picture of us all dirty is in the kitchen and the paint prints and splotches are still there, on the walls in the boys' room, as a silent reminder of the love of a family.

Hinata

Seven years later…

A couple of days after Kushina's birth, I was allowed to leave the medical unit and sleep at home. I woke up to a bright blue morning. The windows were slightly open. The sunlight poured in and made me blink a couple times. Then I turned my head and came face to face with the light of my life…the man of my dreams…

"Hinata…" he whispered.

Many days when I woke up, I had to slap myself to make sure I wasn't still dreaming. Turning over and staring into those blue eyes was the center of my deepest darkest dreams…

"I love you."

The first time he said that, I might've fainted… Actually, I think I literally might have fainted, for some reason, I don't remember that day well. I was just walking on clouds. The war had ended. The enemies were gone. I'd been by his side that whole time, just making doubly sure he didn't collapse into depression from the loss of Neji and so many other people. I shouldn't have doubted him though. He reached for me after all of it, pulled me to him and kissed me for the first time. Ever since then, it's always been him and me.

And every day that I get to laugh and play around with Naruto or the kids, I just count my blessings. Life…really couldn't be any better, could it?

After Kushina was born, a lot of things changed. Not just in the family but in the ninja world as a whole. The Shinobi Alliance has remained ever since the end of the 4th Great Ninja war. We all collectively have lost people and died in each other's arms. We see each other as family, as equals. We have no interest in backstabbing each other like the past. We kept moving forward. For many years now, there weren't even small disputes between villages.

People are living long, long enough to reach beyond sixty years, long enough to see their grandchildren and in some cases, even their great grand children. But because people are living so long, the world is growing bigger and bigger… People have a longer life span so now they're having more and more kids. The average family size used to just be one child when I was growing up but now, suddenly, that number has jumped to four children per family. Villages are engorged with people, happy peaceful people, but people nonetheless.

Naruto was concerned with what this issue would do for the ninja academies and so, around the time Jiraiya enrolled in the academy, he ordered for two more academies to be built to hold all of the kids enrolling.

However, a new problem occurred… So many kids were becoming ninja that there became a surplus of ninja. The crime rate was very low. The world was peaceful, after all, so what would there be crime for? And there were more kids, and, in extension, a lot more ninja. The world wasn't as thirsty for ninjas as it had been before because none of them were dying. No one was dying, really. Because of this, there became a supply and demand issue. Not enough missions for all the ninjas showing up. The ninja academies became very strict and regulated and would only pass around 5-10% of the ninja enrolling. Meaning, the only people who ever became ninja anymore had to be geniuses. Unfortunately…that was not Jiraiya…

He came home crying graduation day, slamming doors and breaking things. Naruto was at work. Neji, who hated conformation, gravitated to the bedroom. Kushina picked at him.

"It's all because you don't have the Byakugan." She teased. "If you did, it'd be a no-brainer."

"Kushina!" I exclaimed.

She shrugged. "Well, it's true."

I tried to extend my hand to him. Tell him about how neither Naruto nor I were fabulous ninja when we were younger but Jiraiya isn't one to be consoled. He pretty much gave up on being a ninja after that. When Naruto got wind of it, he tried to pull some strings to get Jiraiya in but nothing would work. Shikamaru told him one day…

"It might be alright if Jiraiya was an average student." He said. "But I looked at your son's records, man. He failed every single course."

Naruto fumed silently.

"That might've been good enough when we were little, Naruto, but it's not good enough now. There aren't enough positions for slackers!"

Naruto glared at him.

"My son is not a slacker." He said. "He's just…"

I grabbed Naruto's hand.

"Look at me." I said.

He turned to face me, clearly very annoyed.

"Just relax." I said. "Jiraiya will find his own way."

Shikamaru patted Naruto on the back and left the Hokage Mansion. I stayed there with him for the rest of the day, watching him to do paper work and order people around with a smile even though, inside, he was in pain.

"Hey, J-man." Naruto said.

Jiraiya was sitting at his desk that night where he'd been all day, silently using a kunai knife to pry his lamp open for some reason. He didn't look up when Naruto came in.

"Are you doing okay?" he asked.

"No." he said.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Naruto sighed, flicking a toy shuriken around his finger.

"Well…I want to hear you talk."

Jiraiya slammed his kunai knife down in frustration.

"I can't concentrate, Dad, you're distracting me!"

"I'm just trying to help."

"I don't need help!" he yelled. "I can figure it out alone…like always."

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto. "You're not alone."

"Yeah, I am." He protested. "Neji and Kushina have the Byakugan and they're good at school and ninjutsu and everything! They're geniuses! And I'm just…nothing."

Naruto tried to speak but Jiraiya cut him off.

"And you're always at work! And you're never home anymore. And now I'm not even a ninja. I can't do anything right!"

Naruto, realizing Jiraiya just needed to vent, kept quiet.

"I hate this stupid village and I hate this stupid family and I hate ninjas!" he shouted. "I wouldn't be one even if they asked me to! It's stupid!"

"You don't mean that." Naruto said. "You know we all love you here."

"I'd rather be alone." He muttered.

Naruto stared at him. I assumed he was waiting to see if he was finished speaking but then he stood up and tossed the toy shuriken away.

"I guess we're done talking here then."

Jiraiya looked up with wide eyes.

"…What?"

With his back to Jiraiya, Naruto slowly opened his mouth.

"You have no idea…how lucky you are." He said. "Some people don't get the luxury of having a father who is the Hokage. Some people don't even have both of their parents. Some people don't have a brother or a sister or friends or anything."

"Yeah, like who?" Jiraiya retorted.

Naruto, seeing me standing beyond the door, looked at me momentarily. He told me he'd never tell his kids the truth about his past. But, I nodded at him. For this situation…it was needed. He turned around.

"Like me." He said. "I was born during a time of chaos. My parents, your grandparents, died the day I was born. I had no siblings or friends and I was utterly alone."

Jiraiya looked at his desk.

"So you sitting there pretending like the world is over just because you failed the academy once is ridiculous." He said. "I failed the academy three times and I still got back on my feet!"

Jiraiya looked at him with wide eyes.

"You can be wrong a million times, but you can only be right once." He said. "Now, if you want to sit here and cry and whine like a baby, then go ahead. But if you do that, you'll never be right."

Naruto finally walked back over to him.

"And more importantly, I don't have the Byakugan either." He said. "And I'm no genius, and neither is your mother. We were at the bottom of our class but we busted our asses to get where we are today. It wasn't easy. Nothing is. But we didn't quit. And we didn't do all that hard work to raise any quitters either!"

Jiraiya slowly looked up, his bottom lips trembled and his large blue eyes became tearful.

"I'm sorry, Daddy…" he said, stretching his arms out toward Naruto.

Naruto slowly walked toward him and hugged him. Jiraiya put his head on Naruto's shoulder and shook with the power of his sobs. Naruto rubbed his back.

"I know it seems hard now, but you'll realize soon enough what your dream is. And when you find your dream, just go for it…and don't let anything stop you." He said. "That's what I did and now, finally, I have something special to show for all that work."

"Something like what?" Jiraiya asked between sobs.

"Like you and Neji and Kushina." He said.

Jiraiya grasped Naruto harder, slowly stopping his sobs.

"You're the big brother, Jiraiya." Naruto went on. "You have to set an example for them. If you go down for the count right now, how is that going to look to them? Do you want them to start crying and quitting every time things get hard?"

He shook his head.

"Good. So, be tough." Naruto said. "Not just for yourself, but for them, too."

Jiraiya's eyes pierced into mine from over Naruto's shoulder. I could see the determination there. He wasn't ever going to cry again…

The year after Jiraiya failed out of school, the ninja world changed even more. To compensate for all the kids who, like Jiraiya, failed and couldn't do anything else. A whole bunch of trade schools began popping up outside of the main village; schools that would take children as young as twelve who wanted to be trained in engineering, science, farming or construction. Naruto was the first Kage to allow the illegitimate children who weren't able to become ninja to leave the lands to go to school and learn a trade.

Suddenly…everyone wasn't a ninja. People were excited about doing other things. Everywhere you looked you didn't see kids wearing head bands or practicing with shuriken and kunai knives…

Even crazier, the villages themselves began extending. People began taking their things and moving farther and farther out. Naruto allowed construction workers to break down the village barriers and extend the village many, many acres outward to compensate for all the people smashed together inside. In just fifteen years after the 4th Great Ninja war, Konoha was four times bigger than it previously had been. And since the clans were all spreading out, people became much more comfortable finding mates outside of their clan. Naruto predicted that the generation after our kids would be completely mixed…meaning it'd be almost impossible to tell which kid was from which clan.

"But that might also be an issue…" Naruto mussed. "What'll happen if the powers, distinct to each clan, suddenly disperse?"

For the first time ever, everyone didn't know everyone. I only saw a couple of familiar faces each day when I went to the store.

Then the next bad thing happened, Neji dropped out of the academy before he even got to his exam.

"Why would you do that, Neji? You know you could've passed that exam." Naruto said to him.

Neji shrugged. He wasn't one for words.

"Neji, talk to me, is something wrong?"

He shook his head. Naruto was getting frustrated. He didn't do well with people who didn't speak to him. And out of all the kids, Neji was the furthest thing from him. I walked over to them and put my hand on Neji's head.

"I'll talk to him, Naruto." I said.

Naruto sighed and walked away, probably glad for intervention. I bent down onto Neji's level and smiled at him. Out of all of the kids, he was the most enigmatic. Everything he did seemed to have no logic behind it. No rhyme or reason. But I knew, deep down inside, Neji was brighter than us all.

"Daddy hates me now." He said, looking after Naruto who'd walked out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

"That's not it." I said, hugging me to him.

Neji was small. He'd just turned nine but he was Kushina's height and weight. I easily scooped him up and brought him into my bedroom. I slowly positioned him on the bed and lay down next to him; he curled up into my chest.

"Yes he does." He said solemnly. "It's because Jiraiya doesn't want to be a ninja and I don't either."

I pulled Neji's head back and looked into his eyes.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Why don't you want to be a ninja?"

He stared at me, saying nothing.

"Neji, what's wrong?" I asked. "Wouldn't you like to be an awesome Hokage like your Dad?"

He just stared at me. Sometimes, even I couldn't grasp what was behind those large white eyes of his.

"If you're feeling self-conscious, don't." I said. "You're a great ninja already. You'd definitely graduate at the top of your class."

"I know." He said.

I didn't understand. If he knew he was a great ninja and he knew that he would graduate, why didn't he want to do it?

He slid out of the bed.

"I'm going to find a new way to impress Father." He said, walking away in the slow, quiet way he did.

The next day, the ninja academy mailed Neji his headband. They were calling him to be a ninja, claiming he was best of the best.

"Do you know some people would kill for a chance like this?" Naruto said, holding the headband out to him.

Neji grabbed it and stared at it for a second. He lifted it up and I thought he was going to put it on but then he shook his head.

"Then let THEM kill for it." He said.

He shoved the headband into a drawer in his room that hasn't been opened since. Somehow it's become a mutual agreement between Jiraiya, Neji and Naruto to avoid ever saying the word "ninja" again.

"Don't beat yourself up about this, honey, he's probably just scared." I said massaging Naruto's shoulders as he came home for break a week later.

"Maybe he's paying too much attention to Jiraiya… Maybe because Jiraiya is acting all antisocial lately, Neji's starting to take a lesson."

I knew that wasn't it. Neji had always been…different. Where Jiraiya and Kushina were very audible with their emotions and incredibly easy to catch on to, Neji was the silent observer, strangely never showing much emotion. Even as a baby, Neji was the only child I had who didn't cry.

"What am I going to do with those boys?" he said.

Jiraiya wasn't showing any interest in going back to the academy to try again. Both he and Neji had made a habit of locking themselves up in their rooms and working on their own little things alone.

"Love them and support them." I said. "That's all we can do."

Naruto sighed.

"You're right…"

"Dad."

We both whirled around. Small, blonde haired Neji stood there gazing at us in that lax way he normally did. My hand touched my throat.

How long has he been standing there? Listening?

Naruto didn't seem to think anything of his intrusion.

"Yes?"

"There's something I want to show you."

Neji put his hands together. Naruto's eyebrows rose. We could feel the pressure in the room and with my Byakugan, I could see it. He was accumulating enormous amounts of chakra. Slowly, he did a line of hands signs, bit his thumb and then slammed his hand down on the floor. Right there in front of him, a giant ape appeared.

Naruto's face broke out into a grin.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed.

Kushina and Jiraiya, hearing the commotion, ran into the room.

"Whose monkey is that?" Jiraiya asked.

Kushina immediately pointed at Neji.

"Neji summoned it!" Kushina said, knowingly.

"Where did you learn ape summoning?" Naruto asked.

"Konohamaru Sensei taught me." Neji said.

Right… Konohamru had learned monkey summoning in respect of the Third Hokage, his grandfather. Konohamaru was a big man by that time. He'd just married his own wife and may have a child coming soon. He stuck close to Naruto, as one of his closest ANBU subjugates. Jiraiya shrugged and left the room. Kushina poked and prodded the animal, which rolled his eyes at her and looked to Neji.

"If you're planning to just play, I suggest you summon a smaller one." He said, before popping into a cloud of smoke.

Naruto grabbed Neji and pulled him in for a hug.

"I had no idea my son was this awesome!" he said. "You're a true genius, Neji!"

Neji just grinned. For the rest of the day, Neji showed Naruto all the things he could do. From summoning to amazing gentle fist techniques. He'd even gotten better than me at gentle fist, even though I was the one who'd taught him. He was just nine years old but he could probably beat even a Jounin in battle. I'd never seen Naruto more proud…

But that was just that day. The next day, everyone lapsed back into their previous routines. Naruto went to work, Neji and Jiraiya stayed up in their room and Kushina stuck to me in the house.

There were still routine things in the Village that happened like they did in the past. The Chunin exams, for example, was held in Konoha that year. Naruto and I basically had to force Jiraiya and Neji to go, or bribe them with new tools, in my case.

Our teachers; Kurenai Sensei, Guy Sensei. Iruka Sensei, and Kakashi Sensei all have kids now. Well, Kurenai had a son even when we were kids… He's grown up to be an admirable shinobi. He's the best tactical thinker of his generation, as expected if he's following after Shikamaru. Shikamaru and Temari's son is rather bright, too, but instead of taking after Shikamaru's side with the shadow possession specialty, he's a wind user, like Temari. Kakashi has Tomohiro, of course, and Iruka Sensei has a son and Guy Sensei has a daughter who, thankfully, didn't inherit his eyebrows. All of their kids weren't affected much by the new times. They're all top notch shinobi, going on missions everyday and getting unbelievably strong. They all made Chunin during the last exam round.

Naruto often expresses anguish at not having kids like his teachers.

"Did you see that attack she did in the last round?!" Naruto exclaimed. "I can't believe Guy's daughter beat Tomohiro! I bet he's going crazy!"

Then he nudged the boys.

"Check it out, guys!" he said.

They glanced over with mild interest and went back to, in Jiraiya's case, pretending to sleep, and in Neji's case, reading a book.

Kushina moved up to the banister and grabbed her father's hand.

"You're right, Dad!" she shouted. "That was awesome!"

Naruto grinned down at her.

"You see that move right there, that Iruka- Sensei's daughter did?" he said.

She nodded, looking hard.

"That's called a substitution jutsu." He said.

She smirked at him.

"I know that one already!" she said. "But what about that rolling thing Choji Sensei's daughter can do?"

"Some clans have special jutsu." Naruto explained. "Like your Byakugan."

She grinned.

"I'm gonna be an awesome ninja one day!" she exclaimed. "I'm going to be Hokage just like you, Dad!"

The pride that washed over Naruto's face was unbelievable. He raised her up and put her on his shoulders.

"Of course you are!" he said.

More than anything, I think Naruto just wants kids who take after him. He probably thinks Jiraiya and Neji are more like me than anything. Neji is rather meek and Jiraiya definitely doesn't have that 'go getter' attitude that Naruto's known for. I think Kushina's probably the closest thing to him.

"What am I going to do with those boys?" Naruto asked in anguish after I'd just put them to bed. "When I was their age, I would've died to go to a Chunin Exam battle! And they would hardly even watch!"

I put my arms around him and hugged him from behind.

"I mean…who would've thought I'd have such antisocial turtles?" he asked.

"It's not just us, honey." I said. "Everyone's kids are like that. It's just…a new era. An era of peace."

He sighed.

"Yeah…I guess it is better that we're at peace with lazy kids than at war with dead kids." He mumbled.

"They aren't lazy. They're good at their own things."

He shrugged. He was like that. He really didn't understand them.

"Maybe I should tell them the story about who their names come from again." He mussed.

I smiled and said nothing. He's told that story to them at least a thousand times… But Jiraiya is nothing like Naruto's Godfather and little Neji is nothing like my cousin Neji.

They're their own people and I could see the individualism in them. In their own ways, I was certain they'd go on to do great things…

"What are you doing, boys?" I asked.

Kushina hung onto the back of my skirt and peeked into the room.

Neji lay on the top bunk with a large book cracked open reading up on something. Jiraiya was sitting at the desk. Neither of them responded to me.

"Excuse me." I said.

Jiraiya slowly looked up.

"I'm trying to make something new." He mumbled.

"Like what?" Kushina asked.

"Nothing for you, brat." He muttered.

"Ah, Jiraiya stop it…answer her question nicely."

He sighed.

"I'm making a portable lamp…" he muttered. "I call it a light spinner."

Visible question marks could've popped up over everyone's head. He sighed and held his contraption up.

It had pedals, like a small hand-held fan. Jiraiya held the top of the thing and spun it out to us. It glided, wings going around and around and blowing air like a fan, and in the center of the thing a bright light flashed on. I raised my eyebrows and caught it. The light turned off.

"See, that's the problem." He said taking it out of my hands. "If it hits the floor, the fan stops…and then the lights shut off."

He tapped the kunai knife he was using as some kind of mechanics tool against the light spinner.

"I mean, anyone can make a wind powered light…but how do you make it constant?" he asked himself.

I just smiled at him. He was completely wrong… Not everyone could make a light. Many people didn't even know how lamps were made. He got back to work, getting reabsorbed in his talent.

"You're weird." Kushina said.

Jiraiya leaned over and shoved her.

"Mom, make her get out." He complained.

"Kushina, go get ready for bed."

She sighed and left the room. I walked over to the bed.

"And what are you doing, Neji?"

"They recently put a book together about the creation of this village." He said to me in his soft, low voice, then he showed me the cover. "It's called 'Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama …Peacemakers or Warmonger's' "

I laughed.

"You're interested in that?"

He nodded.

"It's incredible." He said. "Did you know the Sage of the Six Paths is real?"

I recalled Naruto mentioning something about it to me before and nodded.

"Yeah, but your father would know more about that than I would?"

Neji turned back to his book. Clearly, he didn't believe me at all.

"So what's the point of reading up on it?" I asked him.

He ignored my question and held up another book next to him.

"You and Father are in this book." He said. "Written by a Cloud Ninja."

The book was large and black, in big red, dripping letters. It read: "The Fourth Great Ninja War: The World in Chaos".

Children shouldn't be reading something like that…

Neji seemed to guess what I was thinking.

"I already read it." He said. "You were right… The man I'm named after is listed as one of the biggest heroes in that war."

I smiled.

"Why would we lie to you?"

He continued staring at the book.

"It's not that I didn't believe you, I just wanted to know if everyone else knew too."

I said nothing. I just watched him and played with his fuzzy blond hair with my finger tips. He liked to keep it cut very short, unlike Naruto. It seemed like, in every way, Neji strived to be different.

"One day, I want to write a book like this." He said. "One that talks about the past and the future."

I put my arm around him and hugged him close to me. I could see Jiraiya looking up at us from his desk.

"You can do that." I said. "And Jiraiya can be an inventor… And you guys can…just be you."

Jiraiya slowly turned back around and put his head on the desk. Neji moved out of my grip and curled himself up next to his books.

"But more importantly, it's time for bed." I said.

Jiraiya sighed.

"Come on, Mom, just a few more minutes!"

"Nope." I said. "You guys know tomorrow's a big day. We're going to meet your cousins. That's going to take almost a whole day's worth of traveling."

"Why can't they just come here again?" Jiraiya asked.

"Because, your Father has to go to a big Kage Meeting in the Iron Country." I said. "We talked about this."

"I wasn't listening." Jiraiya mumbled, slowly making his way from his desk to his bed.

"No books, Neji, it's time for bed."

Neji handed me the books on his bed and I put them on his desk. I turned to leave the room and I heard a small voice.

"Mommy."

I turned, not sure which one had said my name.

"Yes?"

"Do you…really think we could go to a trade instead of being ninja?"

I knew it was Neji then.

"Of course." I said. "We'll be proud no matter what."

I clicked their light off and closed the door but as I walked away I clearly heard what sounded like Jiraiya scoff.

"Yeah, right…" he said.

Naurto

Kushina the Brave

"I don't even want to go to this stupid thing…" I mumbled.

She continued to iron my cloak without saying anything.

"I mean, it's not like we're in danger or anything, gosh." I continued. "And even worse, the fireworks show is this weekend and all the guys are going."

"Naruto, you know this is important." She finally said. "Everyone is counting on you."

I sighed. She came over and put the cloak over me. The words shined brightly in red on my back: "Sixth Hokage".

"And besides, the kids have never gone so far out of the village before." She continued. "They're all so excited."

I smiled thinking about the adventures I'd told them I'd had in the Iron country. Most of those adventures revolved around saving a single friend. But that was a long time ago…fifteen years ago to be accurate. And that friend had long since been saved.

"Yeah, you're right." I said, turning to her.

I kissed her lightly on the lips and smiled.

"Thanks Hinata."

She tapped me on the forehead.

"No problem." She said. "Now, as a favor, can you please get the boys ready? I haven't woken Kushina up yet."

My face lapsed back into annoyance.

"Ughh…" I moaned.

She winked at me and walked toward the living room probably still packing the kids' overnight bags. I wandered down the hallway and peeked into my sons' bedroom. They were both doing what they usually did, which was nothing.

I cupped my hands around my mouth.

"The Great Fox Demon has arrived! And I'm hungry for little boys!" I roared.

Neji glanced up from the book on his lap. Jiraiya dropped the screwdriver he was holding and threw their hands up in exasperation.

"Come on, Dad! Gosh…" he mumbled. "Stop with the little kid stuff."

I walked in the room and playfully shoved his head down.

"It's time to go, put decent clothes on."

"Pajamas are decent." Jiraiya said, trying to squirm away from me.

I snickered.

"If I have to get dressed you guys do." I said.

Jiraiya successfully ducked away from me and ran over to Neji's desk. He slapped the book out of his hand as he ran past.

"Get going, Neji!" He said.

Neji frowned, slid out of his bed and slowly picked up the book.

"Dad, can I bring my books with me?" he asked.

"Nope." I said. "The whole way there is going to be family bonding time."

He frowned. From the bathroom, Jiraiya groaned.

"I don't wanna bond with you guys!"

"Do you need help picking out an outfit?" I asked.

Neji shook his head and walked past me to his drawers.

My eyes traveled to the painted hand-prints over Neji's desk next to the door. My hand print was in blue, Hinata's and Neji's were in purple and Jiraiya's was in red. They'd long since dried up since then. Kushina had begged for her hand print to be added a while ago but we never got the chance to do it. Back then…things were so different.

I sighed, realizing quickly that it was going to be a very…very…long trip.

An hour later, we all stood near the forests outside the south exit of the village, ready to go.

"Do I really have to ride in this thing?" I asked Hinata.

She corralled Jiraiya and Neji into the carriage and then put her hands on her hips and smiled at me.

"Of course you do, you're the Hokage, you can't just walk around without protection anymore." She said.

"And besides, Dad, it's a pretty sweet invention." Jiraiya said from inside.

"When I was a kid, we ran everywhere!" I said. "And I'm sure it was a heck of a lot faster than using summoning horses to pull us."

"Dad's right." Neji said, as he got inside. "It's not nice to do that to horses."

One of the ANBU members walked up to me and lifted his mask off.

"Sup, Naruto." Konohamaru said, he walked past me and pounded Neji's fist.

I punched him in the shoulder.

"Long time no see. How's it going?"

"Great." He said. "I finally get to leave the village and go on a long term mission. It's been a long time since that's happened."

"True." I said.

"So, are you getting in or what?" he asked.

I mouthed: "Of course not" to him and then turned to them.

"Hinata, why don't you and the kids get in?" I suggested with an innocent face. "And I'll just walk with Konohamaru and the rest of the ANBU."

Hinata seemed like she was going to allow it until Kushina jumped up.

"I'm going with Daddy!" she declared.

Then Hinata looked all…motherly.

"…Kushina, come sit inside with me and your brothers." She said. "That's a bit…harsh."

"No way, Mom!" Kushina exclaimed. "I'm tough! I can do it!"

I smiled knowingly.

"She's right! She's my little ninja." I said encouraging her.

I winked at Hinata.

"She'll be fine." I reassured.

I pulled Kushina up onto my shoulders and we all set out. We let the carriage get about a hundred paces in front of us before I smirked at Konohamaru.

"So…what do you want to bet?" I asked.

"900 Ryo." He replied.

I raised my eyebrows.

"Pretty high…you must be confident."

"While you've been sitting in your office all day, I've been training." He taunted. "I could probably sweep you in seconds."

"You're on." I said, eyes twinkling. "You think I've just been playing but little do you know, Kushina and I train every day."

"That's right Konohamaru-niichan." Kushina said from above me. "I'm fast, too!"

"Then let's see!" Konohamaru said.

We stopped and positioned ourselves. Kushina volunteered to do the honors.

"On your marks…get set…GO!" she shouted.

We blew down the walkway, spun around the trees and flew past the carriage. I caught a glimpse of Jiraiya and Neji's wide eyes. Maybe after they see me doing this they'll be more eager to train! I picked my speed up, neck and neck with Konohamaru the entire time. He pumped his arms and legs hard. I was running so fast, Kushina was holding on for dear life on my back. Around ten minutes later, we reached the first rest stop, huffing and puffing. The carriage was nowhere in sight. Kushina jumped up and down screaming about how awesome it was.

"I guess we can wait a while for the carriage." Konohamaru said.

I shook my head.

"No way, they have all the other ANBU members with them." I pointed out.

Konohamaru nodded, I wiggled my eyes at him.

"Sexy Jutsu contest!?" I asked.

He put his hands together, already used to showing his best sexy jutsu at whim but then he paused.

"Kid alert." He said, looking down at Kushina.

"Nah, she's fine." I said. "I taught her how to do it."

"For real!?" Konohamaru asked, eyes almost bugging out. "Hinata let you do that?!"

I put my finger to her lips.

"Hell no." I said. "But no one's going to tell her."

I bent down onto Kushina's level and playfully slapped her in the face.

"Hey, Kushina, show Konohamru what I taught you!" I said.

She grinned and put her hands together. The amount of chakra she was able to handle got bigger and bigger every day. I had no doubt she'd be a greater ninja than I was when she got older.

POOF!

Konohamaru's mouth dropped open.

"Konohamaru-sensei, what's wrong?" she said.

I almost fell in the dirt laughing. She sold the part perfectly! Konohamaru got to his knees.

"She's the winner, man! Mine is nowhere near that good! That kid's a genius!"

I held my stomach, rocking with laughter. Kushina popped back into normal.

"I can also do this!" she said.

Suddenly, a dozen of her were standing around Konohamaru. We both stopped laughing then.

"Wow, Kushina." I said with wide eyes. "You never showed me this before."

"It wasn't ready yet." All the Kushina's said.

"Clone Jutsu at seven years old?" Konohamaru asked. "It took me forever to perfect that."

I nodded as Kushina popped back into one.

"I'm want to learn Rasengan, too!" she declared.

We began walking again.

"Well, we have time going to the Iron country, let's stop at a nearby shop and pick up some balloons."

"Balloons?" Kushina asked.

Konohamaru raised his eyebrows.

"Do you really think you should teach such a young girl the Rasengan?" he asked.

I scoffed.

"Don't get tricked." I said. "She's tough, she can handle it."

Then I leaned over to Konohamaru so Kushina couldn't hear.

"And she probably won't get it right for another five years anyway so it doesn't matter." I whispered.

We went on another sprinting contest and arrived at a nearby town. We bought some balloons and the whole walk/run to the Iron country, Konohamaru and I showed her how to do the Rasengan and watched her try.

"Clones." I said. "Try using clones."

"I want to do it with one hand like you can, Daddy." She protested.

I shrugged but tried not to doubt her.

If anyone could do the impossible it was her, she was definitely my daughter.

Sasuke the Otakage

"How long has it been since you've seen that guy?" Konohamaru asked as we entered the Manor of my long time best friend and rival.

I shrugged.

"Maybe like five or six years." I said. "It was before Kushina was born."

Kushina jumped up and down.

"Yeah!" she yelled. "I've never seen our cousins before."

She thrust her fist into the air and then winced. She really over did it with the Rasengan training. I just hoped no permanent damage was caused.

We stood in the front room of the Manor, shaking the snow off of our clothes while servants took our coats. I glimpsed a pre-teen boy standing on the second landing peering down at us. I looked at him, squinted and then grinned.

"Wow, is that you Daisuke?" I called.

A boy with bright red fluffy hair and bright red eyes grinned back at me.

"I thought that was you, Uncle Naruto!" he said running down the stairs and giving me a hug.

"So how is everything?" I asked.

"Great!" he said, the he looked over at Kushina.

"Who's the shrimp?" he asked.

She walked up to him, hands on her hips.

"My name is Uzumaki Kushina! Daughter of Uzumaki Naruto, the Sixth Hokage of Konoha!"

Daisuke rolled his eyes.

"You had a girl?" he asked, all respect for me seemingly to fly out of the window. "Ugh, I'm sick of annoying little girls!"

"Dai." A voice said.

The boy's eyes widened and he slowly turned around.

"…Yes, Father?"

"Didn't your mother tell you to clean your room?"

"Yes." He said.

"Then why didn't you do it?"

Dai stood there, looking at his feet and saying nothing.

"Go…NOW."

I've never seen a boy run faster before in my life. I burst into laughter.

"Sasuke, you're awful!" I exclaimed as I watched him dart up the stairs.

"Could you be any harder on that poor boy?" I asked.

Sasuke walked over to me and rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah? So he'll be bouncing off walls like your sons?"

I sighed.

"I wish my sons were bouncing off walls…" I mumbled.

"I'm Kushina!"

Kushina stood next to Sasuke and tugged his pant leg.

"My Daddy's the Hokage."

I expected Sasuke to pull his leg away and make some snide remark but he didn't… It had been a long time since he'd done something like that anyway. He bent down to her level and shook her hand.

"I'm your Uncle Sasuke." He said. "I'm the Otakage."

She grinned and hugged him.

"When did you have this one?" he asked, stroking her long hair.

"Eh, about a year after the last time I saw you." I said.

"You're very pretty." He said to her.

Kushina laughed.

"I like Uncle Sasuke!" she said.

He stood up straight and smiled at me.

"She's just like you, isn't she?" he asked.

"Yup…the only one though." I said.

I asked Konohamaru to take Kushina on a tour of the house and I walked out onto the balcony with Sasuke.

"That was pretty tender though." I said as I looked out to the falling snow. "I didn't know you were so good with girls."

He rolled his eyes.

"I have three of them…" he muttered.

"Three?!" I exclaimed. "I thought it was just Daisuke and June! When did you have two more?!"

He leaned back thoughtfully.

"Well…when we came to Konoha for that last chunin exam, Daisuke was five and June was four so that means…yeah, she was pregnant with Kana then. I believe she had her a couple of days after we got back…and then Mikoto was born a year later."

I smirked at him.

"So-"

"Shut-up." He said before I could even speak.

I started laughing immediately, I couldn't help it. He knew me so well.

"No, really, I want to know…are you having twins next?"

"We're done." He said.

The seriousness in his voice caught me off guard.

"What is she tired of you?" I asked, playfully shoving him.

He said nothing. He looked over the balcony gazing out in the grayish white sky.

"Wait, she's not really getting tired of you, is she?" I asked.

"'Tch, no, of course not." He said.

"Then…"

"It's not that important to me anymore, you know?" he said slowly. "The way the world is going. The way the newer generations are acting… Some part of me just feels like…it's not so important to revive my clan."

I looked down. Somehow, the tone of his voice told me but I asked anyway.

"None of them have the Sharingan?" I asked.

"Well, it's too early to tell for Mikoto but no, none of the older ones have it." He replied. "They're not showing any aspects of an Uchiha… None of them can even do a fireball jutsu."

I shrugged.

"It could show up later."

He shook his head.

"No… I already know." He said. "They're…Uzumakis."

I laughed.

"Well my kids are all Hyugas." I said. "You wanna trade?"

He joined in my laughing and we both laughed together. He straightened up.

"Well, it doesn't really matter anymore does it?" Sasuke said. "This world of peace isn't really a place for an Uchiha, is it?"

I cocked my head toward him.

"You sound sad." I commented.

He shrugged…our eyes gazed toward the falling snow.

"Maybe…it's for the best." He finally said.

Jiraiya

I hate my family

Konohamaru- Sensei, Kushina and Dad got to the Land of Iron almost a full day before we did. They were walking around hanging out with our cousins and meeting the other visitors to Uncle Sasuke's huge manor, Kazekage Gaara and his family. There was a big dinner that night and we got to see everyone there so it didn't matter too much that we were late.

"Hey, Jiraiya pay attention!"

I turned my head.

"What?" I said.

Daisuke's eyes shinned at me mischievously.

"Masago is leaving, let's go see where she's going."

I glanced up to see a swish of sandy colored hair whip around the corner. I looked over to the Kazekage who didn't seem to notice that his daughter had left.

"She's probably just going to the bathroom." I said, trying to return to my food.

He sighed.

"You're such a spoil sport! Come on!" he said, yanking me out of my chair. We crawled under the table, ducking around the long legs of our parents, ANBU members, friends, and siblings and resurfaced on the other side.

We walked into the hallway and peeked around the corner. She was descending the stairs, going the opposite way of the bathroom. Dai winked at me.

"Check." He whispered.

"Why do you care?" I asked. "I thought you hated girls."

"I meant my sisters. They're annoying." He said. "Besides…Masago…whoa, man. Is she just gorgeous or what?"

I scoffed.

"You just met her like twenty minutes ago." I protested.

He ignored me and walked ahead.

To be completely honest, I did think Masago was gorgeous. It was incredibly hard not to. But she came off to me as one of those prissy, sassy girls who only cared about combing their hair or cooking with the ladies. But at the same time, I seriously didn't like girls who were rough and tough like Kushina. I didn't know what I wanted. But whatever it was, I doubted that Masago was it.

We ran down the hallway and toward the stairs, leaping behind walls and pots trying to be stealthy. It reminded me of when we used to play ninja as kids. Daisuke hid behind a giant pot in the other room but I was bold enough to duck down behind the couch. I peeked out from behind it.

Masago, a girl with long, sandy-colored hair that reached her waist and large baby blue eyes, sat down at the table in the large den and took some tools out of her pocket. My eyebrows rose. She was fixing something…what was she fixing?

I walked out into view. She glanced at me.

"Hi." She said with a wide smile.

I couldn't help but smile back.

"Hey." I said. "What are you doing?"

She had a screwdriver connecting an arm to a leg.

She's likes using tools?!

"Making a new friend." She said. "I like puppets."

Maybe I was wrong about this girl...maybe she was worth getting to know.

"I like making stuff, too." I said.

Her eyebrows rose.

"Wow, like what?" she asked.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the blueprints for my next project.

"I wasn't allow to bring any of the stuff I was working on here." I told her. "But I have this."

She took the paper from me and glanced over it in one swift motion, like she read it in seconds.

"An automatic shuriken throwing machine?" she said. "Nice but...you see the extra bolt you've got positioned right there?"

I nodded, kneeling on the floor next to her.

"That's going to mess up your projector area. The shuriken might start flying all the way to the left."

I looked at the paper, then back at her, then back at the paper. She smiled at me.

"Too much to grasp?"

I shook my head vigorously.

"I was thinking that exact same thing this morning except...I was thinking of attaching a rod right here and spinner bolt get my projector area right and also lengthen the range."

Her eyes widened and she looked down at the paper and nodded.

"Genius." She said. "I didn't even think of that."

I smiled and shrugged sheepishly.

"Well, you know."

She patted my head.

"You're a pretty smart kid, aren't you?" she asked.

...Kid?

"Hey, guys."

I turned around. Dai walked toward us casually. His bright red eyes pierced into my blue ones. I looked away from him.

Masago sat up straighter and pulled her hair over her shoulder.

"Hi Dai!" she said cheerfully.

He eased over to us and swiftly pulled me up from my kneeling position and stood between me and her. She gazed at him not noticing what he did at all.

"You must be the Kazekage's daughter." He said to her.

Well, duh...

"As you already know, I'm the Otakage's son. It's a pleasure to formally meet you." He said to her.

She giggled as he grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it.

I like the way her laugh sounds...

"So, what brings you down here?" he asked her.

"I wanted to work on my puppets." She said.

"Puppets?" Dai asked.

She lifted her hands above her head and her middle finger on her right hand flicked upwards. A puppet came flying from around the corner and Dai had to dive out of the way to avoid being smacked in the back of the head.

I snickered.

He put his hand behind his back and flicked me off without her seeing.

"I was just showing these to that little guy before you showed up." She said.

Little guy?

"Jiraiya." I said coming from behind Dai. "Uzumaki Jiraiya. I'm the Hokage's eldest son."

She smiled at me and opened her mouth to say something but Dai stepped between us and cut her off.

"That reminds me, Uncle Naruto wants you."

I raised my eyebrows.

No, he doesn't… When the hell does my father ever want ME?

"Scram." He whispered fiercely.

I didn't like his tone…like he was my father or something but I went back to my hiding spot. He took my seat next to Masago in front of the couch.

"I've just figured out how to program them to travel alone" She said. "I'm trying to make it so that puppet master ninjas can use puppets to send messages instead of birds."

That's...brilliant.

"Cute." He said disinterestedly. "So, babe, you want to go for a walk?"

She stood up immediately.

"Sure!" she said excitedly.

Dai looked over to where I hid and smirked at me.

"Checkmate." He mouthed.

I watched with large eyes as he grabbed a coat for Masago and himself and went outside. I followed them discreetly but instead of going outside. I opened the window and peeked out.

"Your eyes are beautiful…and I love your nice brown hair…"

I rolled my eyes but she was giggling at everything he said.

"Dai's such an idiot." I muttered.

"Whose an idiot?!"

I whirled around to see Kushina behind me.

"Shhh!" I said, grabbing her arm and pushing her down.

The other two didn't seem to notice. She pushed my arm away.

"What are you doing?" she said.

I tried to push her away, but frankly, I'm an eleven year old boy who's weaker than his seven year old baby sister. Her eyes widened.

"Awww." She said. "Dai-kun is kissing Masago-chan!"

I peeked up and confirmed her words to be true. Dai, somehow, started a full on make-out session with the girl. Strangely, my heart sunk to my stomach. I…didn't like that Dai was kissing Masago. For some reason…I wanted to be the one…

How the hell did this happen!?

"It looks like he's eating her face…" Kushina commented.

I choked back laughter. For once, I agreed with her.

She backed away for a second, he said something to her, I could see his bottom lip sticking out, like he was begging her for something. She smiled at him and he slid his hand around her waist and kissed her again. This time, she kissed back.

I balled my fists.

I can't let this happen...

"You want to be the best little sister ever?"

"Yeah!" she said excitedly.

"Go tell Dai that Uncle Sasuke wants him." I said.

Kushina grinned. "Got it."

She walked around me, opened the backdoor and ran out into the snow as I peeked out of the window.

"Dai-kun, Dai-kun!" she called.

They immediately stopped kissing and looked around for something to pretend to be doing. I leaned in.

"Jiraiya's watching you guys kiss like a weirdo!" she said pointing at me.

Masago turned red, Dai looked irritated, and Kushina grinned at me savagely. I fell onto my butt in surprise and ran out of the room heading straight for the bedroom I was supposed to be sharing with Dai and Neji.

I passed my father on the way who stopped me.

"Why are you running?" he asked. "What's up?"

I swung out of his grasp and darted up the stairs.

"I hate this whole stupid family!" I shouted.

Neji

My brother Jiraiya

"Jiraiya open this door right now!" Aunt Karin yelled. "Right now!"

"No!"

I sighed and put my chin in my palms.

"So, I'm assuming he's the problem child?" Uncle Sasuke asked.

"Not usually but today…I don't know what's gotten into him." Dad mumbled.

"Don't yell, you're scaring him." Mommy said.

"If I were Naruto, I'd give him something to be scared about…" Aunt Karin said as she pounded on the door.

"Get your butt out here Jiraiya!" she yelled. "Or else no dessert for the rest of the week!"

"I don't care!" he yelled back.

"Oh, this kid is asking for it." Karin said, pulling on the doorknob.

"Karin…" Uncle Sasuke began. "Let them handle it."

She shrugged.

"You better feel lucky you aren't MY son, Jiraiya!" she yelled.

There was an audible bang against the door, like he threw something at it. Dad sighed.

"Maybe we should just leave him alone." He finally said.

"What made him angry like this?" Mommy asked.

"I don't know… I was just going to find out where all the kids disappeared to and then I found him running up the stairs screaming about how he hates everyone." Dad said.

Dad started rubbing his forehead like he did when he had to deal with us. He didn't understand us so we easily annoyed him. Because of that, I tried to be more silent and stay out of his way, but oddly, it only made him have an even shorter temper with me.

"Maybe you should ask." Mommy suggested.

"Jiraiya." Dad called. "No one's mad at you…we just want to know what happened."

Jiraiya was silent for a long time.

"Are you going to tell us?" Mommy asked.

"Ask Dai." He finally said.

Uncle Sasuke sighed and shook his head.

"Dai, come here!"

Dai-kun wasn't very far away. I was sitting on the top most step and he was at the bottom of the stairs listening to everything with Kushina and the Kazekage's daughter. Dai slowly came up.

"What's up?" he asked casually, like he didn't know what was going on.

But Uncle Sasuke isn't one to play around.

"What did you do?" he asked in a low, calm voice.

Dai's hands flew up in surrender and he started panicking.

"I didn't even do anything this time, I swear Dad!" he exclaimed, eyes widening fearfully.

I've never seen a kid more afraid of his father in his life… Honestly, if I were him, I'd be more afraid of Aunt Karin but it looked like Uncle Sasuke was even scarier to him somehow.

"Then why is he acting like this?" Uncle Sasuke asked.

"It's his own fault for being a pervert!" Dai retorted.

There was suddenly a lot of commotion coming from inside the bedroom. The door flung open and Jiraiya came out with a bright red face and glaring eyes.

"No, I wasn't. He's a liar!"

"Yeah, you were! You creeper!" Dai shouted.

"I wasn't!" he argued. "It was an accident!"

Kushina, who always has exceptionally good timing, came up the stairs then and wagged her finger at Jiraiya.

"Don't lie!" she said, then she turned to all the adults. "Dai-kun and Masago-chan were kissing and Jiraiya was hiding in the house watching them!"

"It wasn't even like that!" Jiraiya shouted. "I'm not a pervert!"

"Then how come you told me to break them up? You weirdo!" she said.

"You little brat!" Jiraiya shouted as he lunged at Kushina with his hands outstretched.

He looked like he was going to kill her…and he might've actually have done it if Aunt Karin didn't grab him by the collar and wring him up like he was a slab of meat.

Suddenly, a roar of laughter rung out. Everyone's heads turned to see father leaning against the wall, almost about to fall on the ground because of it.

"Is that all this is about!?" he asked.

Jiraiya was the most confused.

"I guess you really did live up to your namesake after all…" Dad said, ruffling Jiraiya's hair.

"…You're not mad?" Jiraiya asked.

"Of course not, no one's mad." He said, still trying to hold back giggles.

"I am." Aunt Karin mumbled.

Dad rolled his eyes.

"You're always mad." He joked.

The adults walked away with Dad still laughing.

"Not surprising…" Uncle Sasuke muttered.

Dad laughed and threw his hands behind his head.

"That's my son!" he declared, with a huge grin.

Kushina kicked the floor.

"I can't believe you got out of trouble." She said.

Dai-kun shrugged.

"Well, I'm going to find Masago-chan." He said with twinkling eyes.

He was looking at Jiraiya, obviously trying to heckle him. It took me only seconds to figure out what happened. Kushina and Dai-kun bounded down the stairs and Jiraiya and I went back into Dai's bedroom. Next to Dai-kun's bed, there were two mats for each of us. Jiraiya pulled both of our mats all the way across the room from Dai-kun's bed and then lay on his with his back to me.

"I hate them." He mumbled.

"I know." I replied.

"But…for some reason, Dad was proud of me."

Even I didn't have an answer for that, Dad was kind of strange sometimes. Even the other adults looked at him weird.

"He wasn't proud, he just wasn't mad." I pointed out.

"Same thing."

"No, it's not." I said.

He rolled over onto his back and put his hands behind his head.

"Whatever." He muttered.

For a while, I sat there next to him on my mat with my legs crossed and he lay down and looked up at the ceiling.

"When I saw him kissing her, it made me mad."

"Because you like her."

He turned his glare to me.

"I didn't say that."

"Yeah, but I know you better than you know yourself." I replied. "And I already know that you like her."

He sighed.

"I've never liked a girl before…"

"So?" I asked.

"So, it's kind of weird." He said. "And besides…she likes Dai now."

I shrugged.

"Dai doesn't like her, so it doesn't matter."

Jiraiya sat up in interest.

"How do you know that?"

"Isn't it obvious?" I asked. "He's just doing it to bug you. He can't stand someone getting a girl other than him. He's girl crazy."

Jiraiya nodded thoughtfully.

"You're right, Dai is always trying to get a girl." He said. "Maybe if I tell Masago that, she'll like me!"

"That's a dumb idea." I said. "Just wait. She'll come to you."

"How can you know that?"

I sighed.

Why does it feel like everyone is five miles behind me all the time?

"Because if he starts liking another girl, she's going to feel bad and come to you because now, she knows you like her." I said. "She'll come to you because she'll feel lonely."

He nodded, finally understanding.

"That's brilliant, Neji…where do you come up with this stuff?"

"Read." I said to him. "You'll get smarter."

He rolled his eyes.

"I know you read, Neji, everyone knows that but still…" he said. "You've been like this since we were toddlers."

A genius without a cause? A boy born with the brain of an adult? Yeah, right… I learn just like everyone else… I guess, maybe, I just learn quicker. And besides, just because you know some surprising things, doesn't mean you know everything. I discovered quickly that there's a world of information out there that I haven't even begun to crack open.

Jiraiya suddenly nudged me, mischievous blue eyes twinkling.

"You can bring our stuff here, right?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Of course." I replied.

I put my hands together, gathered chakra and then bit my finger and slammed my hand down. A small monkey appeared in front of me. Not so small that she was incoherent but small enough that she didn't waste chakra to summon.

She looked up at me with wide, brown eyes. Out of all the monkey's I'd summoned, this one was, by far, my favorite. I pet her fondly.

"Hey, Saruki." I said.

She climbed on top of my head and started picking through my hair. I smiled at her and snapped my fingers. She quickly came back down and snapped to attention.

"What do you need?" she asked.

"I need you to go to our room and pick up Jiraiya's tools and whatever new project he's working on."

"It's an automatic shuriken-throwing machine." He said.

"Yeah, that." I said.

Saruki nodded vigorously.

"And also, pick up 'The Secrets of the Uchiha Clan Massacre' on my desk." I said.

Saruki saluted me and then disappeared.

"Who writes these stupid books anyway?" Jiraiya asked.

"Most of them are a collaboration from a lot of people." I said. "Those are the best types, so you get to see things from everyone's point of view."

I recalled reading 'Jinchuriki on the Rise'. It was actually one of my favorites. It written by the Mizukage and Tschuikage of that time, the Raikage who was also Killer Bee's older brother, and the fifth Hokage.

Father was all up and through that book. It documented the capture of each and every Jinchuriki except him and the man named Killer Bee. Killer Bee wrote about training Dad when he was only sixteen years old to train the fox demon within him so that he could be a big help to the Fourth Great Ninja war. The last page of the book, written by the old Tschuikage who died before I was born, stops with Killer Bee and Dad running off to battle and it says: "We must put our trust in the young guys to correct the mistakes of us oldies." After reading that, I wondered if Dad puts his trust in me in Jiraiya and Kushina to correct his mistakes.

In any case, I never told anyone that I knew Dad's secret about being a Jinchuriki…not even Jiraiya. Somehow, I knew that if he wanted us to know, he would've told us when we were kids along with all those other stories about where our names come from.

Sakuri popped back into the room with the things we asked for. Jiraiya immediately grabbed his tools and got to work screwing and hammering. I couldn't understand his interest in such concrete work and he couldn't understand my interest in such metaphorical work. However, we both knew one thing for certain, neither of us were, had been, or ever wanted to be ninja. I guess that understanding alone helped us stick to each other.

That night, after Dai-kun came in and fell asleep, Jiraiya whispered my name in the dark.

"Yeah?" I responded.

"Are you gonna help me get him back?" he asked.

I didn't even hesitate.

"If that's what you want, then of course."

Pay Back

By noon the next day, we'd concocted some heinous plan involving all the kids. I had only spent a day observing everyone but I knew their roles and how they acted toward each other. It was easy for me to assume how they would act in particular situations.

I explained all of this to Jiraiya as we planned.

"You see Kana-chan and Mikoto-chan are just like Kushina." I said. "They band together all the time to get Dai-kun in trouble."

He nodded watching as they playfully made a contest out of seeing who could annoy Dai-kun the fastest. Neither of them won because he whirled around and angrily chased after them both in seconds.

"They're like double the trouble." He commented. "I'm kind of glad I just have one now…"

I begged to differ. Kushina might pretend to be innocent but I could see through her. She was intelligent enough to be like three little girls running around. She concocted her schemes against Jiraiya very carefully. It was obvious that she was having 'little sister' syndrome and she wanted to defame the older sibling to reassure that she was the favorite. That was something I couldn't care less about but it was obvious Jiraiya cared what Dad thought about him. A bit TOO much if you asked me…

"In any case, they'd gladly help us ruin Dai's life." I said. "So they're on our side with the plan. Kushina is clearly not going to help us…actually, she might be such a problem that we're probably going to have to distract her."

"How?" he asked.

"Probably using June-chan and Magaso-chan." I said.

He immediately shook his head.

"That's not going to work. Even though they're both eleven like me and they both graduated and became ninja, they don't like each other. All June-chan does is wander into the woods and heal sick animals and Masago's usually the one getting them sick because she's practicing her poison darts from her puppets on them."

I raised my eyebrows.

"That's the first time I ever heard you being observant."

He shrugged.

"June-chan is like us." He said. "She doesn't want to be a ninja. She'd rather just be a scientist and work on new medical treatments…especially building stronger weapons against poison. They're like…mortal enemies."

I nodded.

"Hmm…isn't there something they both like?" I asked.

We both thought for a long time with nothing coming to mind.

"What the hell do girls like anyway?" Jiraiya mumbled, patience running thin.

"I just thought of something." I said.

"Yeah?!" Jiraiya asked.

"But…it changes the whole plan and makes it riskier."

"What is it?"

"Well…June likes animals, right? Well, so do I. I could distract her with animals. You like building things and so does Masago. You can distract her. And we can just rely on sending Mikoto, Kana and Saruki out to do the rest."

"What about Kushina?" he asked.

"I just remembered that she's been bragging lately about learning the Rasengan." I said. "We'll just lie and say that Dad will make her a Genin tomorrow if she masters it by tonight… That'll get her out of the way for an entire day."

"Genius!" Jiraiya exclaimed.

I smiled. The plan set into motion quickly. I was the one that told Kushina. She'd never believe Jiraiya. She ran quickly away from the Uchiha Manor to practice in the woods. All the way across from there, in the meadows near the road, the little girls and my summoning monkey set up the next half of the plan. I made sure everyone was in their positions. Jiraiya was next to Masago, showing her the improved version of his automatic shuriken thrower. June was next to me playing with a bunch of baby monkeys I had summoned for her.

I had already left the fake note for Dai…it was time.

He walked past us all who sat on the back porch with his hands in his pockets. Masago, who didn't even know about the plan, jumped up.

"Where are you going Dai-kun?" she asked excitedly.

He didn't look at her.

"Uh, just up the road…meeting an old friend." He said.

That guy can lie so shamelessly…

He walked off, leaving a trail of footsteps in the snow behind him.

"Let's go see his friend." Jiraiya suggested.

Without waiting for the girls' responses, as planned, we grabbed their hands and walked on. June sighed.

"I don't care much about what he does." She said.

"Here, June-chan!" I said bashfully giving her another monkey to hold.

She smiled at me and patted my head.

"You're such a cutie. I can't believe you were able to summon all these for me." She said.

I inwardly scoffed.

It takes so little to make people overlook you…

As June snuggled her new friends, Jiraiya walked quickly urgent to keep up with our cousin.

Soon he was approaching someone that looked like a girl.

"Hey…look what Dai dropped." Jiraiya said pulling a sheet of paper from the ground.

It wasn't really from the ground…that was also part of the plan. Masago read it over his shoulder and then looked at him tapping the dress wearer on the shoulder a couple yards ahead of us. Her mouth dropped open in anger.

"That little sneak!"

Jiraiya and I bumped fists behind her back. Ahead of us, the next part of the plan folded out. Jiraiya went to go meet that girl on the dock. We could see the dock clearly from the roadside. He tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around…best part…BAM!

"Ahhhh!" he shouted.

It wasn't a girl at all! It was just Mikoto-chan sitting on top of Kana-chan's shoulders with Saruki, my summoning monkey, leaning out of a hoodie trying to plant a big sloppy kiss on Dai-kun's face! He jumped backwards in shock, slipped off of his feet and fell into the freezing cold water.

"I'm gonna kill you brats!" he shouted as he resurfaced, coughing out water.

Mikoto and Kana ran all the way back to us laughing and giggling.

"Gotcha!" they shouted.

"I get it…" Masago finally said.

I looked around the girls who were jumping around to see Jiraiya trying to act nonchalant.

"What?"

"You planned all this so I would see how much of a creep your older cousin is, didn't you?"

He scratched his hair and looked away from her.

"N-No, of course not!"

"Jiraiya-kun." She said. "That wasn't very nice, or mature, or responsible."

He frowned.

Was all of it for nothing?

"I know… I'm sorry." He mumbled.

She pushed his chin up with her forefinger and winked at him with those shinning light blue eyes of hers that matched Kazekage Gaara's eyes. She swept her sand colored hair out of the way and planted a soft kiss on his cheek.

"But…thank you." She said.

I shook my head. Jiraiya looked like he was going to pass out right there.

"Meet me tonight over by that dock." She said. "I want to see some more of your inventions."

He nodded vigorously. All the girls walked away. Jiraiya turned to me, with his hand on his cheek. I shook my head about to say something demeaning to him.

"You bastard!" Dai-kun yelled.

He came thrashing toward us, soaked from head to toe in water.

"I'll kill you!"

He lunged for Jiraiya and caught him with a punch in the side of the head. Jiraiya smashed into the face and became the literal meaning of the phrase: "Eat dirt". Jiraiya got up, holding the side of his head, fists balling.

"Ow!" he shouted, tearfully. "That really hurt!"

"Then go away and cry you bastard! You ruined everything!"

Before Dai was even finished talking, Jiraiya rushed back over to him, arms extended like he was going to tackle him. Dai was faster though. He kicked Jiraiya in the crotch. Jiraiya fell to his knees. The tears that had been budding from the last attack spilled over.

"You asshole!" he shouted, through gritted teeth holding himself.

Dai responded by kneeing him in the chin. Jiraiya collapsed onto his back not before screaming in agony. Blood poured from the right side of his mouth.

Something's wrong…

I ran over to him and only had to look momentarily.

"You busted his jaw." I stated to Dai.

He looked fearfully between him and me.

"S-So?" He asked, glancing toward the house, probably thinking I was going to call Uncle Sasuke.

"So now…I'm mad." I said.

He shrugged, the expression of fear he had disappeared.

"What's a kid like you going to do anyway?" he asked. "Summon a monkey to gnaw my face off?"

Actually, I had no intention of using summoning…

I dashed toward him.

"Byakugan!" I exclaimed.

Naruto

My boys

"We are never coming to a conclusion are we?" I groaned.

"It's not a simple thing." Gaara said. "To decide this is monumental…not just for the villages but for the world."

I smirked at Gaara.

"Hey, by the way, did you know your daughter has a thing now with Sasuke's son?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"That's neither here nor there." He mumbled.

"What kind of a thing?" Gaara asked, looking at us.

I snickered. Sasuke sighed.

"I honestly don't care to know." He said. "He's going through this 'girl crazy' phase."

"Phase?" I joked. "Isn't that…forever?"

Gaara shook his head and smiled.

"Isn't he ridiculous?" Sasuke asked Gaara, motioning to me.

"Actually…I was going to agree with the 'forever' thing." He said with a smile.

I laughed.

"Sasuke didn't hit puberty until he was like twenty one, so…" I commented.

"Shut the hell up." He said, grabbing for me.

I danced out of his way and conveniently moved to Gaara's other side so he couldn't get me.

"I mean, really, Sasuke it's a wonder you even got married, like damn…I just knew you were asexual or something." I joked.

"Whatever."

I was on a roll so I went in for one last joke.

"Seriously, though…" I said, resting my hands behind my head. "The first time you and Karin did it, she was on top, wasn't she?"

Gaara's hand moved to his face to try to stop the bursts of laughter that were escaping but he was failing miserably. I didn't even try. I was rolling around in the snow, laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.

"I'm going to fucking kill you…" Sasuke said, chidori rippling through his right hand.

I looked up at him from the ground and outstretched my arms.

"Please!" I said, through giggles and random fits. "I have three kids!"

He grabbed my collar and moved in like he was going to do it.

"Sasuke! Naruto! What are you doing?

Gaara's wife, Karin and Hinata came out of the house just then to see us.

"We can explain! Tell 'em Sasuke!" I said.

He let go of my shirt and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"You're an asshole…do you know that?" he muttered.

I stood up and spread my arms out.

"Where's the love?" I said, putting my arms around him.

He shook me off and crossed his arms, allowing that familiar "annoyed" expression to wash over his face.

"See? We just made up." I said to them.

"All this fighting you guys are pretending to do is probably what encouraged the boys!" Karin said.

"What?" I asked.

Our attention finally focused on them.

"Naruto…Jiraiya-kun and Dai-kun got hurt battling each other." Hinata told me.

My eyes popped open.

"Jiraiya fought someone!?" I exclaimed.

"Who won?" Sasuke asked, interest returning.

Everyone turned to him with a matter of factly expression. He shrugged.

"More importantly than who won, Dai's hurt." Karin said. "Do you know how deeply I had to repair his chakra networks? They were all shot to hell."

Chakra networks?

"You said...Jiraiya fought him?" I asked.

"Yes." Karin said. "I asked the girls for the whole story. It seems that Jiraiya was jealous that Masago didn't like him, so he planned this entire ruse to make Dai-kun look like an idiot in front of Masago-chan. Well, like any normal person, Dai-kun was mad! But the fight wasn't his fault!"

"It wasn't Jiraiya's fault either." Hinata said. "Dai-kun has been picking on him since we got here."

"Doesn't add up, right?" Sasuke said to me.

I nodded. "Yeah…"

Then I turned to them.

"Where's Kushina?" I asked.

"Hmmm." Hinata said thoughtfully. "That's a good question. I haven't seen her since morning."

That's the first discrepancy...

"What about Neji?" I asked.

"He's with all the rest of the kids…he was with Jiraiya when the girls called us that they were fighting."

I glanced at Sasuke. He nodded.

"Right…" I said, walking past all of them. "I'll handle this."

Gaara's wife looked beyond us at her husband and ran into his arms.

"So, what happened at the Kage Meeting? Come to a decision yet?" she asked.

Neji stood there on the porch steps of the house, watching us. When he saw me approaching, he backed up. I shook my head.

"Stay right there."

He bowed his head, like a long-term criminal who'd finally been caught. I sat on the porch step next to him and we looked out at the rest of the adults who talked about the Kage meeting.

"I'm sorry." He said before I even opened my mouth.

He stared down at the ground and rubbed his hands together nervously.

"What are you sorry about?" I asked.

"Hurting Dai-kun." He said.

"There's…nothing to apologize for, Neji." I said. "I know you. I understand that you have a pure heart and you don't like to fight pointlessly…which means that you fought your cousin to protect your brother, right?"

He nodded.

"But still…fighting is wrong no matter what." He said. "I hate fighting. I hate war. I hate ninja. I hate all of it… I don't want to be like that. I don't want to use my Byakugan. I just…want to be free."

That was the most Neji had ever said to me in once full sitting. I stared at him as he held himself and looked at the ground.

"What do you know about war?" I asked. "It's been peaceful your entire life."

"I read about all of it, Daddy." He said. "I know everything that happened in the past. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th great ninja wars…why they happened, who started them, who won. I know it all… And I hate it."

"But there's no problem now." I said.

"It's just a lie!" He said. "All of it's just a big lie!"

I'd never seen him get so angry. I put a hand on his back.

"Calm down, Neji." I said. "Let's talk about this."

He stood up.

"I'm tired." He said, suddenly composed again.

I reached out for him but he dodged my hand and ran into the house. I sighed. The rest of them came to me.

"So what's the verdict?" Karin asked.

"Just as I suspected, Neji was the one who fought Dai… Jiraiya could've never."

"That little boy?" Karin asked then she snickered. "Mikoto is bigger than that half-pint!"

Sasuke shook his head.

"No, Naruto's right." Sasuke said. "That boy is clearly a genius."

Karin looked surprised.

"How can you tell?"

"It's obvious." Gaara said, joining in. "The way he carries himself…it's clear that he doesn't see the world the same as everyone else. I could tell the moment I set eyes on him."

Inside, June was feeding Jiraiya a vial of some concoction. Karin grabbed June and demanded to know what she'd given him. Before she could respond, Jiraiya sat up, jaw completely healed and smiled.

June smiled back at him. Clearly, Sasuke's older daughter was a genius, too…even though she didn't want to be a ninja. Karin let June feed Dai-kun the same liquid and watched as his chakra networks completely repaired and he sat up.

"Ahh, thanks lil sis!" he said.

Over her shoulder, he shot Jiraiya a deathly glare. Jiraiya glared back. Before another problem could occur, I intercepted Jiraiya and led him to another room. Behind me, Sasuke scoffed at Dai-kun. I glanced back at them.

"You picked a fight and lost? You're staining the Uchiha name."

Dai-kun bowed his head.

I stuck my tongue out at him over Dai's head. Sasuke pretended he didn't see me. He ruffled Dai-kun's hair.

"But Jiraiya looked worse than you did, so it's fine."

Dai looked up and grinned at his father. I rolled my eyes.

"Liar" I mouthed.

Sasuke smirked at me.

"Dad?"

I hurried into the other room and looked down at my first son.

"So, what happened?" I asked him.

Jiraiya shrugged.

"I liked her and Dai knew I liked her…so I came up with an idea to make her hate him but then Dai got mad and hit me…so I had to hit him back, Dad. I'm not a baby."

"You're willing to lie even to me?"

He sighed and put his head in his hands.

"I can't tell you the truth." He muttered.

I smiled.

"Actually…I already know the truth." I said. "Neji told me himself."

Jiraiya looked down shamefully.

"So you know…"

"Yup, and I'm proud of you."

Jiraiya's head popped up.

"Really?! Why!?" he asked.

"It's clear to me now that you and Neji are really good brothers." I said. "I was always worried that you guys were antisocial and not finding friends in anyone. But now that I see the respect you show each other, I guess I'm just proud that you're there for each other."

He picked at one of his bandages.

"Yeah…Neji's my best friend." He said. "So I couldn't rat him out… Besides… I got my ass kicked out there, Dad."

I laughed.

"Did you get the girl?"

His eyes gazed off into some little bit of heaven I'll never see.

"Yeah… She told me to meet her at the dock tonight."

I patted his back.

"Then that's all that matters." I said with a wink.

He grinned at me and we both laughed.

"You're the greatest, Dad." He declared.

It's been a very long time since I've heard that…

I put my hand in his unruly hair that mimicked mine in every way except color and gazed into the bright blue eyes which seemed to be sticking around as a tradition for first born sons in the family. He hopped up off the couch and dashed up into the kitchen, probably heading to the dock.

"Next is…Neji." I said lifting my eyes to the staircase.

Neji

Daddy Understands

I lay on my back with the lights cut off in the room I shared with Jiraiya and Dai-kun. Since what I did to Dai, he became scared and started avoiding me like the plague for the rest of the day. The girls were scared, too. And Jiraiya had his thing with Masago so… I was pretty much alone. I'd always been alone and it didn't bother me but…people being frightened of me, that was a whole other kind of pain.

Saruki crawled around to my face and nuzzled me. I hugged her.

"You know I didn't mean it, right?" I asked her.

Her brown eyes shined in the moon light.

"Yes." She said obediently.

It kind of sucks having a summoning animal as one of your closest friends. They have to agree with you. Especially the youngest ones. It's like law for them.

"You can go now." I said.

She nodded and disappeared. Right when she left, the door creaked open. I could tell by the spacing of the footsteps that it was my father. He had a wide trot.

"Cooled down some?" he said.

I said nothing.

"Still don't want to talk?"

I picked at the wood on the floor and rolled over so that my back was facing him.

"Neji…" he said. "Can I just ask you one question?"

Question? What kind of question?

I turned slightly and looked at him. His hands were up in surrender.

"Just one question and I'll leave for good, okay?"

Well…I don't want you to leave…but…

I nodded.

"What makes you think another war is going to break out?"

My eyes widened. I'd never admitted that…how did he know?

From reading all the books, seeing all the fighting, bloodshed page after page after page… Brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers all gone… Jiraiya told me about father's past. He had no family, no friends…nothing but his duty as a ninja. What kind of life was that? I never wanted to know.

"Because you're still here." I said simply.

He raised his eyebrows.

"Me?"

"You…and other ninja…and the ANBU and the other villages…" I said. "If we were really going to stay peaceful forever, why do I have to be a ninja? Why do I have to fight other kids in the academy? Why do I have to learn how to kill people!?"

My voice was gradually rising. I'd gotten off of my side and I was sitting up, glaring at him.

"If we're really at peace, why are you teaching Kushina the Rasengan?! Why are you even here? Why are you even still a ninja?!"

He stared at me.

"It's that!" I shouted. "That inconsistency right there that makes me hate you! You and your stupid way of thinking!"

I was losing control…

"You're all stupid! All of you ninja are just idiots!" I shouted. "You and Uncle Sasuke and Mommy and Aunt Karin, you're all warmongers and one day you're gonna start a war all over again for no reason and we're all going to die! But I won't be a part of it! I refuse!"

My voice echoed in the small room. My father just stood there, hands in his pockets, looking down at me. I was breathing heavily from shouting so much. I didn't understand why he was just looking at me like that so I took it as shock…and disapproval…and disappointment.

I turned away from him.

"And you're a liar." I said. "You're the biggest weaponry Konoha has…you have the Nine Tails Fox demon that slaughtered a whole bunch of people inside you. You're the furthest thing there is away from peace, Dad. And I'm not going to just be a murder weapon like you."

He was silent for a while and then I could hear his footsteps. I thought he was leaving but then I felt his hand on my back. I cringed and ducked my head down between my knees.

"All this time…this is what you were thinking?" he asked.

I remained rigid and still.

There's no way you're going to sway me, Dad… I'm not like Kushina and Jiraiya… I don't look up to you. I don't need you. You're not even smarter than me.

He sat down behind me. I could feel his back pressing up against mine. I kept still.

"You know…all these years when you've been growing up, I've always been more reluctant to get close to you than Jiraiya or Kushina." He said. "It was because…I wasn't certain. I couldn't get behind those big wide eyes of yours. I never understood who the true Uzumaki Neji was…until now…"

You didn't get close to me because you didn't care, that's all…

"I'm sorry, Neji." He said. "I shouldn't have underestimated you the way I did. I'm certain now that you're smarter than I would've ever imagined."

"Reading all those books and building up on knowledge… Soon, you'll know more about running a village than me."

"But, still…you're wrong to think that I would let something like that happen." He refuted. "Like I said before, your name comes from your mother's cousin, a dear comrade of mine, I watched him die in my arms… I know pain. I know war. I know hatred."

I pushed my head further between my knees, trying to block his words out.

"As a Hokage, I've strived hard to put rules in place so that you wouldn't have to bare the things I had to." He said. "That's why I don't mind the past I had…I'm glad that I worked hard and got here, so that you can have the life that you do have. And it's a good life."

"When I was a kid, there was no question about being a ninja or not. Everyone trained. Everyone fought. Everyone wore the headbands and went to battle. I'm glad that, now, you kids have options. But…I guess I'm so far back on the times that…it took me a long time to accept you for who you are."

"Right." I said. "I'm not a ninja… And I'm not going to let you make Jiraiya be a ninja and get him killed either…"

"You love Jiraiya so much, don't you?"

"Of course." I said. "He's my best friend."

He laughed. The vibration tickled my back.

"So…if anything ever happened and Jiraiya was in trouble, you'd fight, right?"

"Yeah…that's why I did that to Dai-kun…it just…made me so mad that he was hurting him…" I confessed. "But…I got too carried away…I didn't mean to, it's just…"

"It's normal…to feel that way." He said. "That…is the heart of a ninja."

My eyes widened.

"What are you saying?"

"Ninja are protectors, Neji." He said. "Like you, they are people who would rather fight and die trying than to see their loved ones get hurt. The way you stepped up and protected Jiraiya is the way your namesake stepped up and protected Hinata and I."

"Ninja sacrifice, Ninja endure, Ninja struggle so that the rest of the world doesn't have to. You might just see it as cold blooded killing but if you big brother or little sister were ever about to be killed, you'd understand… There is no choice about it. We are all ninja."

"But it's their fault so many people die."

"No it's not." He refuted. "It's not their fault. It's the fault of people like me… People who are in the position of power and have no idea what to do with it. People who launch wars and attacks for petty reasons."

I nodded.

"Right…I can already foresee what's going to happen." I said. "One of the villages who aren't making trade schools like we are is going to panic under the stress of having too many ninja and not enough missions and they're going to start a war with another country…just for economic reasons."

I gazed out of the window.

"It's eminent… There's no such thing as peace with soldiers still around." I mumbled.

Naruto laughed again.

"Sasuke just said that yesterday…" he marveled.

I said nothing.

"I've really been underestimating you, Neji…so…that stops right now."

I lifted my head.

"What?"

"I'm…going to tell you everything about me…from start to finish…and hopefully, you'll begin to see things my way."

*Millions of Miles of Talk no Jutsu Later…*

"I can't believe…Uncle Sasuke was a villain…he's...like your best friend!"

From as far back as I can remember, Uncle Sasuke was always joking with Dad and playing with me or Jiraiya and smiling at us. Yeah, he had a short temper but…we knew he loved all of us.

"You get it now, don't you?" he asked. "Nothing is simple like that. There isn't a fine line between good and evil and villains and heroes like it's shown in those story books you read."

I looked down.

"The Nine Tails Fox demon isn't a murder weapon." He said. "He's a comrade, just like Uncle Sasuke, just like everyone else. We're not ninja because we kill enemies, son, we're ninja because we protect friends."

I shook my head.

"I still won't do it."

"You don't have to." He said.

I turned to him.

"Yeah, right…" I said, lips pursing. "I'm the Hokage's son…more than anyone…I'm expected to…"

I had a sudden memory of fighting a girl in the academy I'd made friends with. She had long brown hair and purple marks on her face. She carried a puppy around with her and used him for ninjutsu. I still remember…

"Uzumaki Neji and Inuzuka Natsu…"

As soon as he told us to start, I activated my Byakugan and ran in.

"Natsu doesn't have a chance, that's the Hokage's son!" one girl said.

"Dude, this is going to be awful…Natsu's going to get creamed!" the boy replied.

I couldn't do it. I stopped right in front of her. Her puppy licked my leg, remembering that I was a friend. I stared into her eyes and felt nothing but remorse. I ran off the training grounds and didn't look back.

"No one expects you to do anything." He said.

"That's a lie." I mumbled. "That's why you like Kushina more than us. That's why you always smile at her and play with her."

He paused.

"We see how you act around her… She's your favorite… All you ever have to say about us is 'What am I going to do with those boys?'" I paused, remembering that I wasn't supposed to care about that. "But it doesn't matter… I don't care. I don't need you…"

He laughed. It was one of those laughs he did when he thought something was really, really funny. I was so surprised; I lifted my head fully up.

"This is so twisted." He said. "You guys really think I like Kushina more than the rest of you?"

"Don't you!?"

"Of course not." He said. "She's my only daughter…and on top of that, she's the youngest so, yeah, she's going to get a bit of extra attention but you guys are my sons. I relate to you guys way more than her."

"Still…"

"I admit that it took me a long time to accept you guys for who you are and I did worry about you guys but…"

He steadied his voice, getting back into his parental role.

"Neji, you're expected to be your own person." He said. "I don't mind what you do. You can even go be a farmer… You're an Uzumaki so, no matter what you do, I know you're going to go far."

"I was just worried before because you guys only stayed up in your room and you'd hardly ever come out and I was scared that you wouldn't make bonds with anyone but now that I see that you're such good friends to each other…" he explained. "I have no doubt you're going the right way."

"That all you care about? Us making friends?"

He nodded.

"That's all that should matter to you at your age, Neji…not war and peace or any of that stuff." He said. I could hear the smile in his voice. "You're nine years old. I just want you to enjoy life."

This wasn't going the way I'd planned at all. It was becoming increasingly clear to me that… My father was a lot smarter than I was…

"And even more than that, I'm proud of you." He said. "Proud that you're studying history, proud that you're a great protector…but mostly, just proud because you're my son. I…love you so much, Neji, more than you could imagine."

I lifted my head up and crawled onto my hands and knees around his front-side. He looked down at me with raised eyebrows. I put my head down.

"I'm…sorry for doubting you, Dad." I said.

He put his hand on my hair and ruffled it around. My hair…that was the same color as his but was the texture of my mother's. He chuckled a bit.

"This coming from the kid who hates me."

I bristled.

"I just said that because…I thought you hated me." I confessed.

He reached for me and grabbed me. I was still rather small for my age so it was easy for him to pull me up into his lap. I pushed my face into his chest and curled up like a baby. I couldn't remember a time that Dad ever held me like that…but that was because, unlike Jiraiya, I was no cry-er, and unlike Kushina, I wasn't a suck-up. He rubbed my back.

"It's alright to just…relax, Neji." He said.

I took a deep breath but for some reason, it came out shaky.

"You can let it out." Dad said. "I'm not going to look at you differently."

Suddenly, my face felt hot and wet. I sniffled and used the back of my hand to wipe my nose but it was no use… I was…crying. Quickly, my silent tears turned into a low sob.

And for the third time that day…I lost control.

"That's right." He whispered. "You can trust me."

…I know.

Naruto

Decision

"That sounds insane." Sasuke said after I'd told him. "He actually told you he hated you and every single ninja alive?"

"He's a good kid." I protested. "He's just…"

"Yeah, I know." Sasuke said. "More than any of your kids, I see him as having the most promise. But damn…that's harsh."

We were leaning on the same balcony we stood at the day we arrived. I could see the entire backyard and the forests from there…also the roadside and the dock. I was keeping an eye on Jiraiya and Masago and also Kushina…though Kushina had run inside by then.

"No kid really hates their parents." I finally said. "I think, for a long time, we just didn't understand each other…"

Sasuke crossed his arms.

"It's really interesting though… A kid who has never seen war that's afraid of it to this extreme? Talk about getting ahead of yourself..."

"I think he just has an extreme anxiety issue." I said. "He's scared that the world is going to go back into war and he's the only one who can see it coming."

"It's clearly anxiety." Sasuke agreed.

"But how can a kid have anxiety about something he didn't experience?" I asked. "He hates fighting so much…I just don't get it."

Sasuke shrugged.

"He just has a pure soul…one that's easily disturbed by some things. A lot like how I used to be." He proposed. "Perhaps it's those books… Reading all that stuff about you and the wars and the past…probably traumatized him."

That was a new idea…

"Traumatized?" I repeated.

Sasuke nodded.

"The kid's nine years old… Even Dai would piss himself after reading some of that stuff. None of it is pretty."

Normally, those history books were only loaned out to adults but since Neji was the son of the Hokage, he could pull some strings. Of course, I was notified that he'd been renting them but…I didn't think anything of it. I was proud he was taking the initiative to get the education that I never had the chance to get.

"Just imagine a boy reading about massacre after massacre after massacre…and the killers are none other than his own people. It must be incredibly confusing." Sasuke mussed.

Sasuke crossed his arms.

"'Tch…" he muttered.

I hadn't heard him make that annoyed sound since we were kids. He only did that when something was truly bothering him. I looked at him.

"More importantly…he knows you're the nine tails jinchuriki… That means he read books that detailed the attack that happened the day you were born." He said. "Imagine seeing your own father as the cause of so much pain and death."

I looked down.

Could it be that…Neji was so reluctant to get close to me because he was afraid of what was inside of me?

"I doubt that he'll tell Jiraiya or Kushina, though." Sasuke said. "He seems like a person who understands the repercussions of that decision."

Neji…I tried so hard to make sure none of you would feel pain but… I failed somehow.

I balled my fists.

How is it that I let you slip through the cracks like that? And now you might actually be traumatized from my awful parenting…

Sasuke's hand eased into my hair.

"Hey." He said.

I slowly looked up at him.

"Don't beat yourself up about it. He's fine now, right?"

I shrugged.

"I don't know…" I said. "He basically cried himself to sleep. I covered him with a blanket and just let him sleep it off."

Sasuke removed his hand from my face and looked up at the sky thoughtfully.

"I'm very surprised that his idea was the same as mine though." He said.

I nodded. Neji believed with all his heart that one of the villages wouldn't be able to handle the new peaceful world and they'd start a war just to settle back into the constant flow of revenue from giving their ninja something to do.

"He's a lot like you in that…he sees through deceit." I said. "Everything he said was right. Why would any country still have ninja hanging around of they didn't plan to go back to war and use them one day?"

"Something like a self-fulfilling prophecy." Sasuke said.

"Right." I agreed. "And…he just refuses to be a part of the lie."

Sasuke shook his head.

"I still can't get over how you had the genius and all I have is lover-boy over here."

I snickered.

"That kid is probably acting out all of your repressed sex urges." I joked.

He ignored me.

"Well, Jiraiya's kind of becoming like the lover boy of my family." I said nudging Sasuke and motioning toward the lake.

Jiraiya held up three small circular wheels in his hand and spun them. Almost like magic they revolved around the girl with flickering lights. Masago-chan was clearly sold. She watched as they floated around her blinking red and green lights.

"Yeah, but your kid is an inventor." Sasuke said. "That's amazing… Just look at the stuff he creates."

I smiled and then looked down.

"I used to wish they would just stop all that stuff and be ninja." I muttered. "I feel so bad for thinking that now… They're so good at what they do. Hinata could see them for who they are… It took me so long to just…believe in my own kids."

Sasuke laughed.

"Mothers are like that though." He said. "From birth, the kid could grow up to be a criminal, and any sane mother would still see promise in them. It's fathers who have to be the realists… I remember when Dai started doing that music thing he does and missed a mission because he was too busy 'practicing'…I was about to kill him."

"Music?" I asked, looking up at him.

"Yeah… He's always banging on something… Calling it drums. He and the younger one, Kana, sing, too. "

I laughed.

Well, they did live in the sound village…didn't everyone there have a musical style jutsu?

"Have they made any songs yet?"

"A million." He said. "They just don't stop… And all June cares about is 'saving the animals'. She's the only one who inherited Karin's healing ability but she doesn't even want to use it to be a ninja!"

I pictured Sasuke's kids in my head; Daisuke looked just like a male version of Karin with short spiky hot red hair, June had Karin's hair, Sasuke's eyes and wore glasses, Kana had short black hair pulled into a ponytail that looked a lot like Itachi's and Karin's eyes. The little one, Mikoto-chan, was the only one with long, black hair that reached her waist and huge black eyes.

I sighed.

"I guess it's alright you know…as long as they're happy with themselves, we should be happy with them."

Sasuke turned to me again.

"But…if you're feeling the way I think you're feeling…you do realize what this means, don't you?"

I nodded.

"Of course." I said. "But…finally, I believe in my son…and I believe what he's saying is right. Tomorrow, you and I will stand with Gaara and the Mizukage on their side of the decision and tip the tiebreaker."

Sasuke nodded.

"And…ninja will be outlawed…permanently."

We stood there for a couple of minutes watching the falling snow and silently thinking of our decision. With the outlawing of ninja would come complete erasure from the texts and all modes of living. People wouldn't be allowed to practice ninjutsu in any way shape or form. Everyone would be active citizens…growing in their own ways, doing what they can to survive. As my own son pointed out to me, there's no use for weapons in a peaceful world… All it does is insinuate war.

Sasuke put his hand on my back.

"How are you feeling about it?"

"I feel…certain." I responded.

"Yeah…like this is the only way, right?"

"Yeah."

We were silent for a while, then Sasuke pointed.

"Your kid just got to first base." He said.

I looked over, grin wide on my face. Sure enough, with Jiraiya's light spinners orbiting around them, Jiraiya had grabbed the girls hand and probably pulled her to him. After a long kiss, they smiled at each other awkwardly and sat down at the edge of the dock holding hands.

"He takes after me." I bragged.

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"That kid has WAY more game than you do." He replied.

"Coming from the guy who didn't know how to have sex until his honeymoon…"

I barely dodged that punch.

"Try me, Naruto." He said, shaking his fist out. "Just try me ONE more time."

I held my hands up in surrender and laughed.

"Daddy!" yelled a voice.

Another voice chimed in, yelling the same words.

"Daddy! Daddy!" they called.

Just from muscle memory, both of us turned around. Mikoto ran to Sasuke and grabbed onto his leg and Kushina grabbed my hand.

"Daddy, Kushina learned something epic!" Mikoto said, pointing.

"I did it, Daddy! I did what you wanted!" Kushina exclaimed. "Now, I can be a Genin!"

Kushina held her small little seven year old palm out and, to my utter shock, chakra began to swirl together…faster…faster…faster.

"Rasengan!" Kushina shouted.

Mikoto laughed gleefully.

Kushina jumped up and down excitedly chasing Mikoto further out onto the balcony while Sasuke and I stood there looking dumbfounded.

How is this possible? She even did it with one hand!

My thoughts swirled around.

No…of course, of course…she has the Byakugan…being able to actually see the chakra must've made learning the jutsu a hundred times easier. Kushina…you might be the real genius here.

"I'm gonna get you!" Kushina said, running with the Rasengan.

She was so small, it looked more like her Rasengan was pulling her. Mikoto whirled around.

"Sharingan!" she shouted.

I almost collapsed. My little niece, who could've been even shorter than Kushina, opened her eyes revealing a Sharingan with one todem in each eye. It was a very immature Sharingan but still… Itachi was the last person I'd known to unlock a Sharingan before he became a Genin…and even he didn't do it this young.

As Kushina ran at her, she put her hands together weaving a couple signs and then thrust her right arm down between her legs. I knew that stance. I'd seen it a thousand times. I ran for Kushina.

No, no no… Please…let me get there…

"Stop!" I yelled.

Sasuke was closer to them. In seconds, he'd gotten there, grabbed his daughter's hand and deactivated the jutsu. I got to Kushina, tossed her up into my arms, and disturbed her chakra causing the Rasengan to fade out.

"What's wrong, Daddy?" Mikoto asked as Sasuke lifted her up. "I was just being strong like you said."

"Yeah!" Kushina agreed, from my arms. "We're going to be top notch ninja!"

Sasuke and I stared at each other from over our daughter's shoulders. The sparks from the Chidori Mikoto had tried to activate still lit up in her small, little arm…making that "chi-chi" sound. Sasuke pushed his face into his daughter's long black hair. I felt like I was going to cry. We both had the same look in our eyes.

"I don't want to lose you." We seemed to say.

The snow fell slowly. Far away from us, Jiraiya and Masago sat on the dock probably talking about what next big thing they wanted to invent or what school they would go to or maybe something simple…like tomorrow's weather. It doesn't matter, really. Kids should…just be kids.

Afterwards

Gaara, Sasuke and I shook hands with the Mizukage, Tsuichkage and Raikage. Killer Bee had become Raikage after Ay passed it down to him. The Mizukage was still our esteemed lava girl and the Tsuichkage gave the role up to his grandson, a man slightly younger than us who he trained. We were all a newer generation. Wiser from seeing war. We persuaded them to see our side…and in the end, they did. Ninja would be outlawed everywhere beginning that day. Sasuke, Gaara and I watched everyone carefully for deceit. We saw none. For once, everyone trusted each other.

The banners were created then. They were stripped across every building, over every fence, posted onto every door in all five of the ninja nations.

"Anyone caught practicing ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, or any kind of ninja activities will be prosecuted."

I as the Hokage had no special permissions. We made sure to make it strict. Everyone had to abide by these rules. Suddenly, being a Hokage had nothing to do with dying for your country. More importantly, it was about living for your country and making decisions to keep people happy.

The academies were turned into more trade schools. Posters were put there giving children hope about making a living in a world of peace. Be an engineer, be a scientist, be ANYTHING you want…

Our kids grew up. They embraced the policies more than anyone. They encouraged their classmates to be about it and, quickly, things changed. Ten years later, people weren't even saying the word "ninja" anymore. It was like it disappeared from the vocabulary.

Because of the ban on jutus, medical ninja weren't allowed to heal people with their power. However, Sasuke's daughter June, with her eye as a scientist, as well as a healer, found new unique ways to heal people with medicine and tools. She opened up the first real medical school that educated doctors, nurses and scientists who didn't use ninjutsu. And, of course, summoning pets were banned too so she encouraged people to buy homeless pets and domesticate them. Without her, our plan might've failed miserably when people started dying of sickness and there was no way to heal them…

His son Daisuke and daughter Kana also went on with their music. With Jiraiya and Masago's help, a whole slew of instruments, such as Guitar, Piano and Horn, were created which they used to produce hundreds of songs. Dai added Guitar to his Drum playing talent and Kana learned Piano. All of their songs revolved around having pride for one's country and trusting peace. Their last two songs "Give up the Kunai" and "Freedom Is One" sold the most out of all of their records combined. It's not enough to just yell at people to do what we say. It's also important to sway their heart. Somehow, music can get into a person's heart better than any other tool. In that way, Sasuke's musicians were incredibly helpful.

Jiraiya continued inventing things and went, with Masago, to an engineering school in the water country. After they got out, they backed the largest construction and engineering group ever seen and new technology started popping up. Buildings were sprouting up out of nowhere and transportation devices that were finally faster than just running were created too. On top of that, there was a bunch of little gadgets that Jiraiya created alone that were passed around. They began calling him the "Prince of the Era of Peace" because the "Father of the Era of Peace" was still me. He basically singlehandedly industrialized the entire world. He'd always been so self-conscious that he didn't have the Byakugan…but now, I think everyone knows for sure that ALL of my children are definitely geniuses.

And if you're interested in discovering where these ridiculous nicknames come from, look to Neji. He was so proud that I'd actually listened to what he said and went by it that he turned into an entirely new boy. He stopped closing himself off and started going out and making more friends. And it was almost unbelievable that he'd said he hated me before. He didn't stop reading though… Quickly, he began writing. By the time he was twelve, people were recognizing him as an esteemed author and buying his books all over the world. That's how he started coining these nicknames for everyone. His first book was called: "The Sixth Hokage: Hope and Peace for All".

Sasuke's youngest daughter Mikoto and my youngest child Kushina seemed to be pretty fine with the regulations, too. Though, they didn't prosper as well as their elder siblings in the new world but because of our families' riches, they did just fine.

"I think, with the way things are going, there won't ever be war again…" she whispered in that soft, light voice I loved to hear so much.

I smiled and snuggled Hinata.

"That's the plan."

"I never thought it would be this way…us living so long…growing old together." She said. "Back when we stood there, hand in hand against the Jubbi…I never thought…"

I hugged her tighter.

"Isn't that the beauty of it though?" I asked her. "Imagine if we'd given up."

She turned to me and kissed me softly.

"I'm just so happy that…our ninja way turned out so well."

Our ninja way? Never giving up. I could see that fighting spirit in all of our kids. Our kids… Our ninja way… Our peaceful village… Our long, healthy life…

"Hinata…" I whispered as I gazed into her eyes. "I love you."

After all these years, she still gets a small tinge of pink to her cheeks whenever I say that to her.

"I love you, too, Naruto."