I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!
Chapter 1
A little girl with dirty blond hair yelped in fear as another horrifying crash shook the house. Suddenly the far wall was ripped from the house. A tall man with wild black hair stalked over to her while a young boy with wild red hair tried to push his quaking body into a fighting stance.
"What do you want, you little runt?" The man sneered. "You really think you can fight against me?" He pulled back his kunai as the boy closed his blue eyes and prepared for impact as the girl slammed her teal eyes shut and screamed. The man was suddenly thrown out of the giant hole in the wall and the two children felt arms tight around them.
"It's okay now, Kushina. Shh, it's okay." Her father shushed as he held her shaking body.
"Naruto! Sakura!" They heard as they saw Ino.
"Are they okay?" Ino asked making her way into the room.
"Yeah, Sakura made sure of that." Naruto grinned at his wife as she smirked back at him.
"Let's get them out of here before he recovers enough to move." Sakura said still holding her son close. "Come on Minato." She whispered as she pulled him up onto her hip.
The three started on their way to the other side of the house when Naruto stopped them. "I think I have a jutsu that will get them to safety."
"What?" Ino asked as Sakura looked at him trying to figure out where he got this idea.
"Kurama remembers a jutsu that can send them to a time that is safe." He started to explain. "The only problem is its going to drain him."
"What about the others?" Ino asked thinking about their friends children.
"He can only send the two back right now and he thinks that's going to be hard." Naruto shook his head sadly.
"They got all their kids out with the other villagers and your kids are in the Sand with Gaara." Sakura said putting a reassuring hand on Naruto's arm
"Besides they're after me. As long as I'm there for them to chase, they'll leave the others alone. We better do this before he finds out where we are." Naruto said as he put Kushina on her feet and held her hand, leading everyone off to a room to the side.
"Minato." Sakura knelt in front of her son. "Make sure you take care of your sister."
"They'll be okay." Naruto said softly. "Granny will take care of them."
Sakura gave a nod as she pushed her emotions back as she had been taught for so many years as a ninja. "You remember the picture your father and I have with the fifth Hokage?"
"Granny?" Minato asked making his mother nod happily.
"Yes, good, you need to find granny and tell her what happened. She'll keep you safe until we can get everything back to normal."
"Don't tell anyone else who you are." Naruto told his son. "You can use your first names but try not to say them in front of too many people. And do not tell anyone but Granny, what your last names are."
"Why can't we just get you or dad?" Minato asked his mother.
"Because where you're going your mom and me are only teammates. Besides I wouldn't know what to do." Naruto smirked. "Granny will know what to do to keep you safe. Just stay together and watch each other's backs." The siblings glanced at each other and nodded.
"Take care of your sister." Ino told her nephew and again he nodded. "I don't want any of you to go anywhere without someone that lady Tsunade says to stay with you."
Naruto broke up the talks. "Kurama's ready." He knelt in front of Kushina a second before she latched on and held tight. "Kushina, you think you can do a big important job for me?" She pulled back with a sniffle. "Can you make sure your brother stays out of trouble?" She glanced at her brother before nodding.
"You two stay safe." Sakura pulled Minato into a tight hug. "I love you." She told her two children as she pulled Kushina to her and hugged them both.
"love you too mom." Minato whispered as Kushina cried softly. The two turned and grabbed a hold of Naruto. "Love you dad." Naruto felt his chest tighten. After the life he had, he had only ever wanted a family. Sakura had given him a chance and then given him the things he only dreamed of. He had her love and two beautiful children. He could not let anything happen to them.
"Love you daddy." Kushina pulled tighter against her father's shirt. Sakura could see the emotions swirling and clashing in his eyes as he pulled his kids tight to him and ducked his head between the two.
"I love you both. You two be careful and stick together. You may be my little ninja and my little fox but the bad people are just as bad where you're going." He felt Minato nod against his chest.
Naruto pulled away glancing at Sakura they exchange sad looks before the house shook with an earth shattering crash. "It's time." She whispered as they backed away from their children. Naruto let Kurama take control as he performed the jutsu. Just as he completes the last seal, the wall crumbled and the man with black hair was back.
"Daddy!" Kushina screamed as he slammed his hand on the floor and everything went black. As the blackness faded, Minato could hear his sister scream for their father. He blinked several times to clear his vision. Looking around he noticed they were in the middle of the village. He turned to make sure his sister was all right before they dropped to the ground unconscious.
"What do you mean they just showed up out of thin air?" Naruto asked as he stood outside of the hospital room with Shizune. "What's that got to do with me?"
"With everyone trying to get things back in order, you're the only one they have to watch them and get information out of them." She told him and saw a look she knew well cross his face. "Don't even try to argue on this. You're in charge of them until farther notice. Get what you can from them. I want to know who they are and where they're from." Naruto grumbled as he walked into the room as Shizune shut the door with a deep sigh. She knew dealing with Naruto and getting him to follow orders from above was tough but she really admired Tsunade now for being able to be about the only one to put him in his place. Naruto made his way to the window to sit on the sill and wait for the two children to wake up.
An hour later Naruto was dozing against the window frame when he heard the door open making him jump to his feet. "Relax Naruto." Sakura laughed softly as she walked over to him, seeing him relax against the windowsill again. The war had ended almost two and a half months ago and he had finally talked Sakura into going on a date with him. Their feelings for each other rolled out after the first kiss they shared when he dropped her off at her house after the date. She glanced at the children as she stopped in front of him with a smirk. "Shizune said you were babysitting. I just had to come see this." She laughed making Naruto cross his arms.
"Aren't you supposed to be working?" He asked and saw her smile up at him.
"Shizune said you're in charge of these kids and I figured I'd see if you needed help. I mean you in charge of kids…" She trailed off with a laugh in her voice. Naruto frowned at her making her grin at him. "You know I'm just messing with you." She reached out resting her hands on his chest and smiled as his hands came to rest on her hips, pulling her closer.
"You shouldn't make fun of your boyfriend." He told her.
"Oh? And why's that?" Naruto smirked before leaning forward but before they could connect their lips, they heard a hard thump making them jump and look over to see the boy with wild red hair sitting on the floor rubbing his head. Sakura and Naruto went to his side quickly making him look up with confused blue eyes. "Are you okay?" She asked as she reached out feeling his head.
"Yeah." He said apprehensive.
Naruto stood to the side watching as Sakura eased the lump that was quickly growing. "What's your name kid?" Naruto asked him making Sakura roll her eyes.
"Naruto." She scolded before looking back at the boy. "I'm Sakura, and this is Naruto. What's your name?"
Minato tried to get his brain moving, everyone always said he took after his mother more than he took after his father. Now was the time to show it. "Minato. My name is Minato." Naruto furrowed his brows hearing the name.
"Minato? What about your friend?" Sakura asked looking at the sleeping girl.
"That's my little sister, Kushina." Minato told them. He glanced at Naruto as he turned and walked to the window quickly. Sakura looked at him confused by his behavior.
"Where are you two from?" Sakura asked hoping to help as much as possible.
"I can't tell you." Minato said softly. "I'm only allowed to talk to Tsunade about it." He gave off a yawn making Sakura give a small smile.
"Alright, well back to bed. You've been through a lot today. You need your rest." She helped him up and into the bed where he quickly fell back to sleep. Sakura turned to Naruto and walked over slowly. She saw his distant look so she gently touched his arm making him jump and look at her. "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing." Naruto shook his head.
Sakura was not going to let it go easily. She reached out making him turn to face her. "Naruto. You know I'll get it out of you one way or another so you might as well just tell me before I beat it out of you." She warned and saw his shoulders slump. He turned back to the window. "Naruto."
"They're my parent's names." He said.
"What?"
"Minato was my dad's name and Kushina was my mom's name." He glanced at her. "I never wanted anyone to know because I didn't want to be treated different. I wanted everyone to treat me like me because they wanted to not because they thought they owed it." He shook his head again.
"Owed it to whom?" Sakura asked.
Naruto looked at her with his clear blue eyes. "My dad was the 4th Hokage." Sakura's jaw nearly fell, as she looked at him shocked. How could she not have seen the resemblance, they had seen plenty of pictures of him in their books in school. "See, that's what I don't want." He turned away. Sakura quickly reached out making him turn back to her.
"Naruto, I'm just shocked I never figured it out before. How did you find out?" She asked never letting go.
"When I fought pain he had chakra sealed in me like he did with my mom so she could teach me to control the Kyuubi." He said low.
"This isn't something you can keep secret forever. It's not something that you can keep secret forever. Someone's bound to find out." She told him. "Besides you've done more than enough to gain your own respect than to have your dad's respect brought down."
"I just don't want anyone finding out yet." He shook his head. "Also if they're asking for Granny then they don't know about the war. There's nowhere on earth where they wouldn't have heard about the war and the lands bonding together." He was trying to think but saw the smile form on Sakura's lips. "What?"
"You've grown up so much." She smiled making him smirk. "You used to be a prankster who seemed like a big problem and bother, but now… you've grown up into a great man, Naruto. I think your parents, Tsunade and Jiraiya would be proud of you." Naruto looked at her as the words filtered through his mind. Blue met green and it was just the two of them there in that room.
"Sakura-chan…" He trailed off. Sakura was his first girlfriend and he was her first boyfriend so they had more than a few awkward moments in the intimate side of their relationship. There was one thing Naruto had done since their first date and that was to gently run his hand across her forehead to tuck her hair behind her ear before gently letting his hand trail down her cheek to her chin. "You're amazing."
"You know another thing? You've learned what to say and when." She laughed. "You're not such an idiot anymore." Naruto smirked as he felt her arms wrap around his middle. It still felt so strange to have the young woman he had wanted for so long holding him, but it felt so right. The two were so close. Both smiling, looking into each other's eyes.
The door slid open. "Naruto." They heard making them jump and turn to see Shizune and Kakashi standing in the doorway. Kakashi cocked an eyebrow as Shizune crossed her arms. "What is going on in here?"
"I…we were just talking." Naruto blurted out as the two walked farther into the room.
"Talking right." Shizune said unbelieving what he said. Since the passing of Tsunade Shizune had be the one dealing with many of the problems concerning the Hokage office. She was also one of the ones along with Kakashi to keep Naruto in line. "Don't you have work to do, Sakura?"
"Yes." Sakura glanced at Naruto who smirked at her making her elbow him in the side. "I thought I would help Naruto, seeing as he's not the best one at being calm enough to get information out of children."
"Hey!" Naruto protested.
"And you think you'll be able to get the children to talk to you?" Shizune asked the young woman. Sakura nodded and saw Naruto cross his arms. "Have they woken up yet?"
"The boy fell out of bed." Sakura told her. "He said his name was Minato and his little sister is Kushina. He said he wasn't allowed to tell us anything, but he did mention that he wanted to talk to Lady Tsunade."
"Lady Tsunade?" Shizune relaxed and let memories flash for a minute. "He doesn't know?"
"It doesn't seem like it." Sakura shook her head. "Maybe with a little more time we might be able to get them to talk to us. Then we can find out what's going on and where they came from."
"Lady Shizune?" A nurse stood at the doorway. "You're needed in the west wing."
Shizune nodded and sighed before looking back at the two teammates. "Fine. Sakura you're in charge of getting what you can from them, Naruto you are in charge of the children. So if anything gets destroyed it's on you." Naruto started to grumble making her glare at him. "Let me know what you get."
"Yes." Sakura nodded as Naruto crossed his arms un happy again.
"Kakashi, see if you can help them." Shizune said glancing at the two. "It seems they need to be reminded they are supposed to be teammates when they're working, not making out."
"We weren't making out!" Naruto and Sakura both yelled in defense. Shizune rolled her eyes and left with no farther comments. Leaving the two teens huffing.
"So you said their names are Minato and Kushina?" Kakashi asked looking at Naruto who nodded.
"She knows." Naruto said looking at his girlfriend. "I told her after the kid said their names." Kakashi looked between the two, seeing the look Sakura gave him. "She thinks I should tell everyone."
"You can't hide it forever. I'm surprised no one made the connection before." Sakura argued back.
"Let it come out when it does." Kakashi said making the two look at him. "Minato-sensei still has a lot of enemies, even now after all these years. They won't hesitate to attack if they found out that he had a son." Sakura gave a small nod. "Those names aren't well known and wide spread. Minato is a known Namikaze name and Kushina is well known in the whirlpool village with the Uzumaki clan. The question is how these two children came to hold them and where they come from."
"And how it is they don't know anything about the war and Lady Tsunade's death." Sakura added softly. It was still a very sore spot with those who had been close to her. Even after almost a month.
Kushina started crying before she shot up with a scream making her brother fall out of the bed again as the adults jumped and looked at her. Minato ran to his sister's side and held her tight as she cried from a nightmare. "I want daddy!" She cried.
"You can be with dad soon. But we have to be strong. Remember what dad said. Ninjas and foxes are the strongest there is and we are his ninja and little fox so we're the strongest there is ever." Minato tried to console his crying sister.
"Who's your dad?" Sakura asked softly as she walked closer to the siblings. Kushina looked at her with wide, watery teal eyes.
"I can't tell you." Minato shook his head and held his sister closer trying to stop her from jumping to Sakura or running to Naruto. "We can only tell Tsunade."
"Can you at least tell us how you know her?" Kakashi asked making Minato looked down at his sister as she held onto him tightly looking between the three adults.
"She's kind of our granny." Minato said, thinking it couldn't hurt telling them how they know Tsunade.
"A granny?" Naruto chuckled. "Granny didn't have any kids." He would know. Tsunade had left everything to be split as they see fit between himself, Sakura and Shizune. Jiraiya had left his belongings and fortunes to her with instructions that when it was her time, they be passed on to Naruto. Naruto retreated for a minute as he felt emotions flood him but he fought through the feelings and looked at the children, as they seemed to shrink.
"That's why I said kind of." Minato rubbed it in. "My mom and dad were really close to her and they taught us that she was our granny."
Sakura sat on the edge of the bed "So your parents were close to her?" Minato nodded. "Where they family?"
"Well she is our granny." He said with a small smile. "Can we see her?" He looked at the adults looking between each other before Naruto turned and left the room. Minato looked like his feelings were hurt seeing the pain on Naruto's face.
"Don't worry about him." Kakashi said as he moved closer with a small smile. "Sakura." She nodded and was out the door to find Naruto. "It's been hard recently. How about we talk for a little while?"
"Okay?" Minato said worried that he would not be able to keep up with the cleaver man. He had dealt with Kakashi's way of getting information out of him before and it he could stand up to it but not for long. He still had his father in him after all.
"You can call me Kakashi." He started. "So your parents were close to lady Tsunade?" Minato nodded. "They taught you she was your granny?" Again, Minato nodded. "Why didn't you learn it growing up?"
Minato took a minute to think about his answer, a feat his mother had taught him was useful, especially against Kakashi. "Because she wasn't around."
"Wasn't around? You mean she lived far away?"
"No." Minato sighed. "She died a long time ago. Mom and dad told us all about her and they said to talk to her and she would know what to do." Kakashi sat on the bed across from them thinking about the answers.
"How old are you?"
"Nine." Minato answered simply. "Where's granny?" Kakashi paused a minute hearing the sentence before looking hard at the boy. Minato squirmed under Kakashi's gaze.
"There was a war that just ended." Kakashi said watching his reaction. "Lady Tsunade was killed saving the other Kages. I'm surprised you don't know this. It was known around the world."
"I… well… "
Kakashi just looked at them making Minato heave a heavy sigh as Kushina peeked around her brother with bright teal eyes and a small smile. "You must be Kushina." The girl nodded with a small smile. "How old are you?"
"Five!" She grinned. "How old are you?"
"Kushina!" Minato scolded making her shrink back. "What are you going to do about us?" He asked worried.
"That depends on what you tell me. You tell me the truth and we'll try to help you. You continue to walk around the truth and there's nothing I can do." Minato looked at him and the two stared. Blue met grey as they were stuck in a staring contest for several minutes before Minato looked away mumbling.
"Mom was right." He grumbled.
"Your mom was right about what?" Kakashi pushed and watched as Minato gave a little glare before giving in.
"That no one can get passed you with anything."
"You're mom knows me?" Kakashi was confused now. "Why don't you start at the beginning?"
"Mom and dad had someone going back to get revenge on them and the village so they sent me and Kushina here with a special jutsu dad's friend knew. They said to find granny and she would take care of us until they could get us back. What's going to happen now? Granny's not here. Who's gonna take care of us?" He asked as he started to become afraid.
"Where did you're parents send you from?" Kakashi asked, trying to push the boy as far as possible.
"Here." Minato told him and saw the confused look as Kakashi tried to figure out what he meant. "Well kind of. Mom and dad said the war was twelve years ago."
"That's not right. The war ended only a month ago." Kakashi paused. "You're saying you're from the future?"
"Uncle Kakashi, I have to go potty." Kushina said as she moved around her brother again. Minato hit his forehead on his hand at his sister's mistake and the look Kakashi gave. "Oops." She said shrinking away.
"Uncle?" Kakashi asked. There were only two people around who would teach their children to call him uncle. "Are you saying you're parents are-?" He stopped as the door opened again and they turned to see Sakura walking in with Naruto, neither looking extremely happy, but both looking better than when they left the room. "Sakura." Kakashi said looking at his student. "Kushina says she needs to go to the bathroom."
Sakura gave a small smile as she walked over to the little girl and held her hand out to her. "Come on sweetheart." Kushina grinned as she climbed from the bed and left holding Sakura's hand.
"Feeling better?" Kakashi asked Naruto who gave a nod. "I explained to Minato about what happened. I need to talk with Shizune for a moment. You going to be alright watching him?"
"Yeah." Naruto nodded before walking over to sit on the bed as Kakashi got up to leave. "So you call Tsunade, Granny?" He heard as he left. Minato nodded. "You ever meet her?" He shook his head. "She was really great." Naruto started telling him.
Ten minutes later Sakura walked back in with Kushina, both smiling. "You two hungry?" She asked and watched them nod quickly. "Okay, let's go get something to eat and then we can figure things out." The two children jumped from the bed and onto the floor excited.
"Ramen?" Minato asked making Sakura laugh a bit and look at Naruto who smirked before she nodded and they were off. "Can we train afterwards? Can you teach us stuff?" He asked happily as they reached the ramen hut.
"We'll see about that. Are you two in an academy?" Minato nodded.
"And our parents taught us some stuff too." He said proudly. "So can we? Please?!" He begged making Sakura look at Naruto who smirked and shrugged. Just as they sat down, they heard someone call for Naruto.
Kakashi walked over. "You eat yet?" He watched them shake their heads. "Well hurry up we're all taking a trip to see the Tsuchikage."
"The Tsuchikage?" Sakura asked confused. "Why do we have to go see him? What about them?" She asked looking at the two children.
"They're coming with us. They are the reason we're going to him. We need to check out something and make sure they are alright and telling the truth."
"Why not just use Ino and have her do that mind thing?" Naruto asked.
"Because this is something much more delicate to take care of. Meet me at the front gate in 30 minutes." He said before disappearing.
"Guess we better eat fast." Sakura sighed as they ordered. She glanced at Naruto deep in thought, on the other side of the children. "You alright, Naruto?"
"Yeah, just thinking about what Kakashi-sensei said."
Sakura smiled as she helped Kushina get the chopsticks right so she could eat. "Well don't think too much. We'll get things figured out." She smiled at him making him smirk. He always loved her smile. The second he saw it all his thoughts disappeared and all he saw and thought of was her. "Eat up; we have to stop at both our places to grab our gear before we meet up with Kakashi-sensei.
It only took 20 minutes and they were all at the gate with Kakashi who was unusually early. The group didn't say anything but they headed out towards the land of the earth, Kakashi was hoping that the Tsuchikage would know what kind of jutsu could be used to send the two children back in time, if it in fact was the truth. The longer he watched the two children he could see more and more similarities between them and who he believed their parents were. They only looked like them in slight ways but their actions spoke volumes of their parents.
He could not believe what he was starting to believe. He had never heard of a time jutsu and that confused him as he began to believe the children's story more and more. They were definitely their parents' children. The doubt that had been in his mind slowly dissipated as they traveled. He truly believed they were Naruto and Sakura's children by the time they were three days into the travel. He watched as they set up camp once again.
"Kushina, Minato. Time for bed." Sakura said fitting into her motherly duties without even realizing it. Minato and Kushina tried to run around the campsite only to have Naruto catch the little girl as Kakashi turned Minato around. Sakura was standing in place with her hands on her hips looking at the two children. Minato grumbled as he climbed into his sleeping bag while Naruto carried the giggling girl over to her own. Sakura and Kakashi could not help but smile at how natural Naruto had become with both the children.
"Don't want to." Kushina shook her head. "Just a little longer?" She begged Naruto, shifting her face into the perfect puppy dogface to show off her big teal eyes.
"Bed time." Sakura said moving in. "Not going to work this time. Go to sleep. You can run around in the morning." The girl frowned and climbed into her sleeping bag to go to sleep leaving the adults to keep watch.
"We should be there by tomorrow afternoon." Kakashi said as they all sat around the fire. "You two seem to be doing well with them."
"Yeah." Sakura gave a small smile. "Something seems so familiar about them though." Kakashi saw Naruto nod, but he kept his eyes on the flames. He was deep in thought about the little girl. "I think I'm going to get some sleep." The two men nodded as Sakura moved off.
"You going to tell her what Kushina's been doing?" Kakashi asked making Naruto's eyes snap to him. "I saw her last night." Naruto looked away back at the fire. "She gets scared and goes to you. Sleeps in your lap."
"She's a kid. Kids have nightmares about their parents, especially kids who are left without them. They might not want to tell us who they are but they do miss them." Naruto said looking at his teacher who nodded.
"Then it's a good thing you and Sakura are there to take care of them, and let them believe it's their father holding them." Naruto's head snapped and he looked shocked at Kakashi. "I heard her."
"It's better than waking her up to tell her that I'm not and that her parents aren't here." Naruto told him. "They should be able to get at least some comfort, even if it is from people they barely know. it's better than not having anyone." He said and Kakashi could see Naruto thinking back to his childhood.
"We all wanted to be there, Naruto." Naruto glanced at him. "Your parents had enemies, your father especially, we had to be out there keeping them at bay, and making sure they never found out about you."
"I know. I'm not really all that upset that I didn't have anyone, besides if I had someone there, I wouldn't be me. Right?" He smirked making Kakashi smile at him. "I'm going to get some sleep." He stood and went to walk off to the side to lean against a tree. Kakashi sighed as he jumped into another tree and started reading one of his books.
"I'll keep watch tonight." Kakashi told him.
It was not long before Kushina startled awake and make her way over to Naruto as quietly as she could. She reached out to wake Naruto but he turned his head to look at her. "Another dream?" He asked softly and saw her nod sadly. He reached out pulling her into his lap. She cuddled close to his chest, holding his shirt tight as he dried her tears and held her close. "It's okay. It was just a dream. You're safe." He told her softly.
"Night, night daddy." She said softly as she drifted off to sleep listening to his heartbeat. Naruto sat smoothing her blond hair as she drifted off. He did not know why but he felt the need to comfort the little girl and hold her close. He dozed off, never loosening his grip on the little girl as she slept soundly. Naruto was woken up by a screech of a bird. He felt Kushina jump in his arms as Minato sat up quickly looking around scared. Sakura sat up rubbing her eyes as Kakashi dropped to the ground as the bird turned into a scroll.