Ch. 1

"Do your best to get through the test Ino, but if the question is between you completing the test, or your life; I would prefer that you came out of it with your life intact. You can always try again in half a year, but both your father and I would be crushed if anything serious happened to you, especially within the safety of Konoha's walls."

"Yes daddy."

The rest of the rookie nine stared flummoxed at Ino and Naruto; since when had the two of them become so close friends as for Naruto to care specifically for Ino's safety (he wasn't admonishing the rest of them to keep safe), and why was Ino calling Naruto daddy?

In a matter of fact it had all started precisely two month before graduation… no that's not true, it had started two days before that.

Yamanaka Inoichi had just been informed by the clan elders that the grace period after his divorce from his former wife Kuniko was over, and that it was about time for him to find a new wife, and future mother for his daughter Ino's future siblings. He was against this for two reasons. One; the whole reason for the failed marriage didn't exclusively lie with his wife. Sure she had been unfaithful, and rather indiscreet at that, but the reason she was unfaithful; was that she didn't get what every wife had a right to get from her husband.

Inoichi was gay. He didn't find the female form at all attractive, and when Kuniko had gotten pregnant with Ino, they had stopped sharing a bed.

Now while he couldn't deny that she had been unfaithful, something the clan image couldn't bare, and which had led to the divorce; he had held knowledge of her having lovers since Ino had been 2 years old. As this meant that he wouldn't be forced, by his wife complaining to the clan elders, to share her bed, he had ignored it. In fact he had wholeheartedly embraced it, even though he himself had never dared to find a partner outside of his marriage.

But the matter of fact was that she had been indiscreet in her dalliances; and now he was forced to find another partner, and according to the elders, create more children. It was quite a conundrum how he was getting out of this.

As he entered his office in the T&I building he continued pondering on the problem. Keeping his orientation a secret this time around might not be the best way, seeing as it had already destroyed one marriage and home for his little princess. But who could he find who was willing to only have sex when trying for a child, and not to seek outside partners in the meantime… or (as he looked down on the paper he had just read; a description of the unusual physic of Konoha's jinchūriki, discovered during his first physical since he had been removed from the orphanage and which was a result of a rather terrible beating by some of the civilians in his apartment; apparently they had finally discovered where he lived, this wouldn't be the last time, far from it with how universally hated he was by the civilians and most of the civilian raised shinobi.), who was male and capable of carrying children.

The only problem with taking the jinchūriki as his wife, or rather husband, and breeding partner, was the fact that the boy was exactly that, a boy, and no more than half a year older than his darling daughter. While it was true that you became an adult in any way when given the headband, marrying at twelve, and to a man 19 years older than him, not to mention the ridicule and contempt he himself would be viewed with… but even then.

Just the thought of touching another woman again, and multiple times at that if he was to obey the elders' commands of more children, made him break out in heaves. But was it any better to take a child, because no matter what the headband said; his daughter was still a child, and anyone at her age could hardly be any different (just look at Shikaku's son, even with all that brain the boy possessed he was still just that, a boy), to his bed?

No! He had no wish to marry a child. No matter that he might possibly be the only male in all of the elemental countries capable of carrying children.

…o0O0o…

Two month, to the date, before the final exam of the academy; saw Naruto once again thrown out of the class. It hadn't been as big a problem this year as last, as the homeroom teacher of this year, Umino Iruka, didn't throw him out of the class without reason, and in a matter of fact tracked him down when he stayed away. But today Iruka-sensei was sick, and the aid Mizuki-sensei was taking charge of the class. It had taken Mizuki-sensei less than half an hour to fabricate a reason for throwing him out.

It was something he had gotten so used to by now that he could hardly function in a normal classroom setting. Luckily he had gotten so good at educating himself from books, and from spying on the shinobi on the training grounds, that he was far from behind. Sure he didn't score all that high on tests, but that was a combination of hiding his true skills (he had found out, a long time ago, about the extra genin-test, and if he wanted to have a chance at getting through without sabotage, he needed to be on the same team as Uchiha Sasuke, the rookie of the year, meaning he needed to be the dead last) and the fact that he wasn't very interested in history; something that apparently scored pretty high in the tests.

As he was wandering the outskirts of Konoha he came upon a strange scene:

Two hunter-nin, who were apparently knocked out, and a prisoner who was trying to escape. He knew that if he left, pretending to have seen nothing; it could quite easily lead to the missing-nin, or criminals, escape, and possibly the death of the two hunter-nin. He entered the clearing; resulting in the prisoner trying even more forceful to escape, and after having tried to wake the hunter-nins for a couple of minutes; he knocked the prisoner out, and let loose one of the fireworks he had on him; trying to attract either some of the ANBU, or at least a Jonin.

As it just so happened; Yamanaka Inoichi and Morino Ibiki was on their way from the prison to the T&I building, passing by the racket of the firework, and decided to take a detour to find out what was going on. That kind of activity, which wasn't ninjas training, this near the wall, could be a security risk.

As Inoichi and Ibiki entered the clearing they came to a stop. There stood the one they knew to be the Yondaime's son, kicking the missing prisoner they had been called to the prison about lightly with the tip of his toes, with a pair of unconscious hunter-nins behind him. It was quite an unusual sight.

"Uzumaki-san, what are you doing out of the academy, and what is happening here?" Ibiki's voice surprised both Naruto and Inoichi, though Naruto was the only one who gave visible signs of this, and as he turned Inoichi couldn't help but think that if he had just been given a couple of years to find a partner, he would gladly have waited on this boy who would obviously grow up to be a fine specimen.

When he got turned fully around and his eyes met theirs, Inoichi couldn't help but suck in a breath; he was wrong, this was no boy. Oh he had the age for sure, but his eyes; his eyes told horror stories. Stories of loneliness. Of having seen the devil there lives inside every man. He had the eyes of a veteran, a warrior, a shinobi… the eyes of a grown man.

While Inoichi's first instinct was to gather him in his arms and never let go, he wasn't sure exactly in what capacity he would keep him, as he quite frankly didn't awaken parental feelings in him, and the shock of his own, slightly lecherous, thoughts for a boy... man… someone his daughters age, made him pause, and in the end the initiative was taken out of his hands.

"Stop right where you are. I will need identification and your reason for being in this area before you are allowed any nearer."

At Naruto's steely and determined gaze, the two shinobis found their identification papers, and showed the academy student. As Naruto proceeded to gather his hands in the ram symbol, while quietly saying "KAY", so as to disrupt a genjutsu, Ibiki nodded in quiet respect. At least this academy student knew what way to act in a hostile situation such as this.

It was Ibiki who spoke up once again; even if Inoichi had been his superior for many years, he was so shocked, not that Ibiki knew the reason behind this, at his own thoughts, that he could hardly do more than follow orders right now.

"We come from the prison, having been informed of a prisoners break out, but it seems as if you have caught him for us, but if I may ask, where do the hunter-nins come from?"

Naruto stood looking at Ibiki for a short while, more or less ignoring Inoichi, to his great dismal, but ended his perusal with a snort of humor.

"More like prevented the prisoners re-escape… the hunter-nins were knocked out when I found them, and upon not being able to wake them; I knocked the prisoner out, to prevent his second breakout of the day. If you are going to bring the prisoner anywhere, I would prefer to follow, as I am not secure in my abilities to discover spies. That shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Inoichi knocked himself out of his stupor at the question directed at him. He smiled blindingly at the young man, and told him he was more that welcome to come along. Ibiki's suspicious look made him tone his satisfied and slightly predatory smile down, no reason to scare neither his kohai nor the young son of the former hokage. He quietly lifted the two hunter-nins up, one on each shoulder, belying the strength of his slender form (he was a ninja, doing such deeds as this should be par for the usual), and led the small procession out of the clearing and to the T&I building; they would need to interrogate the prisoner, to find out how he escaped.

…o0O0o…

Inoichi left the prisoner with Ibiki and the two hunter-nins with the on-hand medic-nin, and led Naruto to his office. After an offer of tea, which was accepted, he sat observing the young man before him.

"So… why are you not in the academy right now? As far as I know you are Ino's class, and are supposed to be having a scheduled seminar in escapology." At Inoichi's question Naruto seemed to sink into himself, it took almost half a minute for him to answer, but when he finally started to talk it was with a bitterness that shouldn't find its home in someone so young.

"Iruka-sensei is sick today, so that is just yet another lesson I won't learn the easy way." At Inoichi's questioning, but kind, look he decided to explain fully.

"You know who I am… so there is no way you don't know how most of the people in Konoha hate me – and don't try to say they don't hate me… I heard that from jiji before, and it's a lie… they look right through me, overcharge me in the shops, deny me access to most places, and as far as for the academy; they sabotage me, throw me out of class if anything important are being taught, and teach me wrong as soon as they can get away with it… but Iruka-sensei… I know that he didn't like me either in the beginning, but he have always been fair… even when he hated me, he treated me like the rest of his students… the problem is that he only started to teach the class this year, and on days like today, when he is sick or on a mission, I get left behind… not much to do but to hope for a decent jonin-sensei when I become a genin." Then in a mumble "if I even get to be a genin."

During Naruto's explanation turned tirade of all that was wrong in his life, Inoichi sat quietly and listened, a first for Naruto, who normally had to be very in-your-face to get people to at least notice him, with a few exceptions like the Ichirakus and the Hokage.

They sat talking for about two hours; about Inoichi's work in T&I and his flower shop, he even told some of the more funny or educational stories about his time on his genin-team and what later became the famous Ino-Shika-Cho team which dominated the third shinobi war. They also talked about Naruto's life; his difficulties in his day to day life when he was faced with the blatant discrimination of the villagers, what he did to become a better ninja, how much he loved ramen, and why. As they started to come to an end of their conversation, Inoichi suddenly came up with a question. He didn't expect all that revolutionizing an answer, as he was pretty sure of the answer due to his daughters constant complains about the blond in front of him, but it was only fair that he got to answer such an important question himself.

"What is your biggest dream?" he expected the answer to be prompt and somewhere along the lines of 'I'm going to be the Hokage', so when the silence stretched out he got quite surprised. When the answer finally came, in almost a whisper and with Naruto's eyes, for the first time during the conversation, averting his, he became quite speechless due to what he heard.

"I want a family." When the silence yet again stretched, this time from the other side, he finally looked up. At Inoichi's flummoxed face he tried to explain.

"Someone like me… someone everyone hates… I'm never getting a wife and children of my own…" the silence stretched a little more, then, just before Inoichi opened his mouth to assure Naruto that he would find someone, Naruto started talking again.

"Can I tell you a secret?" at Inoichi's answering nod he hurriedly continued.

"I don't even need a wife to have children… I can make them myself… I'm not proud of this but I thought, in a couple of years, when I am strong enough to get away… I could let some missing-nin catch me and rape me… that way no one can say that my children belongs to them, and I can maybe finally get a family…!"

Once again; any word Inoichi could think of saying was caught in his throat… the world must look inhumanly cruel to think that the only way to get a family, and keep it, is through rape, and for that rape to be outside of the village. He was quite sure that Naruto meant that should he get raped by anyone in the village and end up pregnant; the council would make him give up his child to his rapist. It was truly humbling to think someone was willing to go that far for the chance to have a family.

In that moment Inoichi made a resolution; he didn't care about the ridicule, the people who would think him a deviant, or his daughter's tantrums. He was going to marry this young man as soon as he was old enough. Now how to propose in the right way?!

When he heard the half-broken sob from the young man in front of him, and saw him almost turn in on himself in abject fear of what would happen now after his confession, his natural fear turning overwhelming due to Inoichi's long silence, Inoichi decided to just wing it, and started to talk.

"Oh Naruto, that's a terrible way to create a family. And what about your dream of becoming Hokage? That would only be possible if you have a partner to share the childrearing with…"as Naruto looked ready to bolt Inoichi let the words he had hold back fall out of his mouth.

"Marry me!" there was a stunned silence; Naruto because he couldn't believe that anyone would ever offer him marriage, and definitely not at his age, Inoichi because of his shock at just having blurted it out. He tried to explain his sudden offer, to make it somehow an acceptable solution, but ended up falling over his own words so much that he couldn't even understand what he was trying to say himself. He took a deep breath and tried again.

"I have been divorced for two years now… the underlying reason for my divorce was that I could find no joy in the female form, but even then… the elders of my clan are pressing me to remarry, to supply the clan with more children.

We lost more than half of our numbers during the Kyuubi's attac, and that was after staggering losses during the third shinobi war… quite frankly; we need more children and, as I am in my prime, some of those children need to come from me.

I read your medical file after the attack last week, and while I have to admit that the thought of taking a child to my bed, even in marriage, are rather uncomfortable for me; you are the only solution I can find for having a childbearing partner not of a gender of which the thought of taking to my bed quite frankly disgust me.

I am willing to give you the family you wish for, and the stability of a safe home, should you accept my hand, and while it is normally looked down on, you will become an adult upon your acceptance of your Hitai-ate, and as such will be able to marry.

I don't expect an answer from you now, but I really think that…"

"I accept!" Naruto's reply was almost yelled, and once again the office was plunged into stunned silence.

Inoichi took a deep breath and nodded decisively. He was not going to turn back on his offer, but he needed to be sure that his young would-be fiancé understood what he was going into. He was not willing to let his darling daughter experience another broken home.

"You are aware that upon entering this marriage you will need to supply the clan with children, and as such will have a rather broken progress as a ninja? I have heard from my daughter that you wish to become Hokage… worst case scenario would see you unable to reach that goal, as you would need to put the family and clan first, as you will become the spouse of the clan-head, and thereby next in command until the day I die or step down and my daughter take over, are you ready to possibly, and most likely, forget about your dream for the sake of your family?"

Naruto was nodding along when Inoichi was talking. There was nothing in his little speech that came as a surprise, save the fact that Ino had informed her father of his, until now, highly valued dream of becoming the strongest Hokage the village had ever had.

But the fact was; that even though he still wished to become the hokage, he wished even more for a family, and wasn't the whole reason for his wish to become hokage in the first place, because of his wish for acknowledgment from the villagers.

He could just as easily get that by marrying Inoichi, and even if the bulk of the villagers wouldn't accept him, the Yamanaka's would… Inoichi would… his children, the children he had wished for since he was six, and old enough to take care of himself, would.

He was losing hardly anything by possibly giving up his dream of becoming the hokage… he was gaining so much more, and at a much lower price… he was quite aware of the sacrifices the post as hokage demanded.

He was quite happy that Inoichi thought to warn him of the consequences of his actions, no matter how unneeded that warning was, but he had decided, and he never went back on his word; he would marry Yamanaka Inoichi upon becoming a genin.

He told Inoichi of his decision, and after agreeing to meetings every other day; they had to get to know each other if this was going to work, they parted ways. Naruto with his hands full of books about escapology and tricks on how to stay in form during capture, Inoichi with a both lighter and heavier heart. He finally found an acceptable spouse, now he just had to inform his clan elders and daughter of just who his future spouse would be. Better make sure that his clan, and especially his daughter, kept their mouth shut about recent development. It would be hard enough on both him and Naruto after the marriage; they didn't need further ridicule before the act.

He just hoped that his old teammates and follow clan heads would now him well enough to agree that this was the best solution over all. He was quite sure that he would receive at least a couple of bruises from Chouza, before he could explain fully what was going on and the reasons behind his actions. While he in no way saw Naruto as a child, after talking with him and looking him in the eyes, he was quite aware that his friends wouldn't see it the same way, at least not until they had met him.