Author's Notes: This is my first small step into writing for the Naruto fandom. It fits into a vision of the future that I've spent some time developing, but will probably never actually write. Not much point in a disclaimer, as it doesn't provide any legal protection, and if anyone is deluded enough to not realize why it's on this site, they're hopeless anyway.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
Naruto actually found this much less disturbing than many of the other exclamations that had rung through the house lately. Little Hinae had recently taken to watching her father's every move, and imitating him. She was, unfortunately, at that terrible stage where she had the vision to see what he was doing and the power to get results, but not the skill to control what she produced. He had had to give her a very stern lecture a few days ago when she had, on her first try (!), managed to carve something resembling her father's family crest in the wall with a half-formed Rasengan.
But she had never signed a summoning contract. He was sure of it. So this one was perfectly safe. She couldn't possibly have summoned anything with that jutsu. No way. It was totally impossible.
But what was that yipping sound?
Naruto decided he had better investigate. On entering the garden, he found the little girl playing with a fox cub.
No, make that a two-tailed fox cub.
Suddenly, Naruto had a bad feeling about this.
His daughter looked up at him, her white eyes filled with excitement.
"Look, daddy, isn't he cute? He says his name is Nibi, and he'll be my bestest friend, and..."
Yes, definitely something was strange here. One might call it a gut feeling, if one's sense of humor ran that way. Some emotion was leaking past the seal, which was never a good sign. His unease suddenly increased tenfold, as he identified that eerily familiar emotion which he was sure he had never felt from the demon before.
Paternal pride.