Baby Naruto sat on the floor of the Uchiha's living room. Sasuke had gone into the other room to get something he forgot. The two were going out today, mainly because Kakashi wanted to see what had become of his student and Sasuke wanted to train a little. The baby crawled, with much difficulty, to the black sofa a few feet in front of him. The blonde baby stuck his hand underneath the sofa and gripped around for something to put in his mouth. Before he could comprehend it, he was lifted off the ground. Naruto gurgled disappointedly.
"Don't be going under there," Sasuke said quietly to baby Naruto. He held the child against his hip with one arm and the other gripped a diaper bag he had put together quickly. Naruto squirmed in Sasuke's hands while the Uchiha carried the blonde toward the training grounds. The child finally calmed down when he had his small fist full of Sasuke's shirt and his head looking over the older boy's shoulder. He gurgled in discomfort when his gums started aching. He latched his mouth onto the cuff of Sasuke's shirt and started chewing with his teeth less mouth. The Uchiha boy didn't seem to notice.
"Hey Sasuke!" they heard a girl shout when they got closer to their destination. Surprisingly Naruto stayed quiet, chewing still. He made a gurgling noise through the shirt.
"I heard Tsunade say it happened but… I didn't believe it till now, he's so little…" Sakura said softly staring at baby Naruto. She noticed the baby chewing on Sasuke's shirt.
"Um…Sasuke…" she said slowly. The Uchiha looked at her questioningly and titled his head slightly. She nodded at Naruto.
"He's chewing on your shirt." She stated in a calming tone while her inner self boomed 'CHA! That's what ya get for leaving us, jerk!'
"Naruto," Sasuke groaned tiredly while looking down at the blonde baby who looked back up at him with bright innocent blue eyes. The boy sighed in defeat.
"Can I hold him?" Sakura asked politely. Sasuke gave a sigh of relief and handed Naruto to her.
"Be my guest." He stated wearily before proceeding to do a much-earned stretch. He saw Sakura cradle Naruto in her arms as the baby stared up at her curiously before looking over at Sasuke and open and close his hands, wanting to be held my the older boy.
"Even as a baby he likes you," Sakura laughed after handing little Naruto over to him. The baby boy began to whimper and fidget. He grabbed Sasuke's shirt and began to yank on it. The older male sighed and dug into the diaper bag before pulling out a bottle filled with formula. The baby's eyes widened and he grasped the bottle, making sure it wasn't going anywhere, and then drank it happily.
"Wow… You're really good with babies, Sasuke," Sakura admitted. He shrugged earning an angry gurgle from the small bundle in his arms before the baby's concentration went back to eating.
"How long until Lady Tsunade can turn him back to normal?" she questioned.
"She doesn't know yet, she said it'd be a few months probably, "he explained while tilting the bottle a little higher for Naruto.
"Oh, is it hard taking care of him?"
"Eh, not really, but yeah, kind of, overall… I don't know," the Uchiha mumbled out very un-Uchiha like. She giggled which caused Naruto to gurgle happily; milk escaped his mouth and trailed down his chin. Sakura handed the older boy a baby blanket out of the bag he brought. He wiped the milk off the blonde's face which caused the baby to turn his head away stubbornly and let out a whine.
"Sorry I'm late, I had to help-"Kakashi said walking toward them, their glares shut him up.
"Let me see him," Kakashi said quietly as he approached the teammates. Baby Naruto gurgled happily at the sight of Kakashi. Sasuke handed the baby over to his Sensei and sighed. The blonde child waves his arms in front of him giggling as Kakashi looked him over. Naruto's small hand made to grip the mask on the man's face. He pulled it down and gurgled unhappily when the mask was taken out of his hands.
"He looks just like when he was little," Kakashi sighed looking sadly at Naruto before handing the baby over to Sasuke.
"Sasuke, can I have a word with you before you begin to train?" the Sensei requested.
"Sure," Sasuke agreed.
"Sakura-Chan? Can you burp him for me, please?" the Uchiha asked.
"Of course," Sakura smiled as he handed little Naruto over to her. She slung the baby blanket over her shoulder and set the blonde against it. He gurgled happily and blew a spit bubble.
Sasuke and Kakashi walked a little ways away from the other two before stopping.
"So what was it you wanted to talk about, Kakashi-Sensei?" the raven sighed. His teacher's eyes showed their seriousness and stared at the boy before him.
"This concerns Naruto," He murmured glancing over at the little blonde before looking back.
"He requires a lot more attention then most babies I've seen," Sasuke explained. Kakashi nodded.
"Before this happened, and when Naruto was just a baby, nobody wanted him, nobody played with him, he would watch all the nurses play with the other little children and only come to check on him when he needed to be fed or changed, he probably remembers a little bit of that loneliness in the state he's in now. So he probably wants a lot of attention now from you," Kakashi clarified.
"Hm. I see," Sasuke replied thoughtfully. Sakura approached the two carrying the blonde baby who started fussing around a few minutes before. He gurgled angrily and his fists opened and closed quickly toward Sasuke.
The baby babbled irritated until the Uchiha took the child into his arms.
"Seems like he likes you best, Sasuke-kun," Kakashi grinned, well at least it kind of looked like he was grinning.
"Hn," he replied," Are you doing to help me train or not?"
"Yes, but what about Naruto?" he questioned. Sasuke smirked.
"I already figured that out, watch this," he declared. He handed Naruto to Kakashi and whipped out an Earth Style Scroll in a second. He did some hand signs and pressed his hand down and there was a poof.
The smoke cleared and the spectators opened their eyes to see a wooden looking play pin. He laid out a blanket and threw a few toys on top of it. Sasuke took little Naruto from his Sensei and set the baby in the play pin.
The Uchiha turned around and smirked.
"Hm. Very smart, Sasuke, very smart," Kakashi quipped with an eye brow raised.
"Let's get to the training, he'll only last so long until he cries," Sasuke muttered.
About fifteen minutes later, Sasuke was still training with Kakashi, and Sakura went to help Lady Hokage; Naruto was crawling around chasing a cricket. He looked up into the tree that the cricket had hopped onto and let out a happy gurgle when he saw someone sitting in the tree.
Sasuke and Kakashi were too deep in training to notice anything about the intruder.
"Hello, Naruto-kun," the voice drew out in a whisper; the owner of the voice fixed his glasses and smiled at the blonde baby. Naruto reached his hand out and opened and closed his hand as if waving backwards.
The medic ninja chuckled very softly. "This is what happens when you take what belongs to Lord Orochimaru, child. Let's see how long it takes your little guardian to figure out your sick. Maybe he'll wait until your dead." A few hand signs were quietly done and his hand glowed green. The baby gurgled curiously and stared at the man's glowing hand a few feet before him. He shrieked happily and crawled toward it.
"That's right, Naruto," the voice chuckled sadistically as the boy crawled closer. He got nearer to the medic and sat in front of him. Naruto put his index and middle finger into his drool filled mouth and giggled.
Kabuto adjusted his glasses before scrolling his glowing hand over the child's head and heart. He smirked to himself and pulled out a needle filled with some sort of liquid. Naruto stared at the needle for a second before deciding he didn't want to play with the man anymore. He turned around only to feel himself stabbed with the needle and the liquid forced into his blood stream. Once Kabuto had done this, he turned and disappeared into a puff of smoke smirking.
As soon as baby Naruto realized something had been painfully jabbed into his arm he let out an ear piercing cry. Tears ran down the blonde's now rosy cheeks as he sobbed. It didn't hurt a lot but the shock of it frightened him.
Sasuke's fire jutsu disappeared as soon as he heard Naruto's cries. He ran and did a back flip only to land right in front of the play pin. He hoisted the blonde bundle up and patted the baby's back.
"What's wrong?" Sasuke murmured softly into the blonde's ear. The child's sobs lessened up a little then died down to sniffles. The Uchiha checked Naruto over; he noticed a small spot on the blonde's arm but explained it away as a bug bite.
"Nothing's wrong, it's just a small bite," Sasuke said soothingly to the still teary eyed baby.
Kakashi chuckled softly and walked up to them." Seems you've taken a liking to your chibi dobe, Hm?"
"Shut up," Sasuke hissed causing baby Naruto to whimper. The older boy sighed and released the jutsu that he used for the play pin. Kakashi helped him gather up the baby's things before they parted.
Sasuke noticed that Naruto was a little quiet, he seemed a little sad. His thumb rested inside his mouth and he sucked on it every now and then. His eyes remained shut as he rested against the older boy.
By the time they reached the house, Sasuke was genuinely worried about the blonde bundle cuddled into his chest. He could feel heat radiating off of the small child but his skin was cool and damp to the touch. Sasuke shook Naruto awake and sat on the couch with a bottle of cold milk in his hand, he tried getting the blonde baby to drink it, but he wouldn't.
Sasuke was sure that Naruto needed some fluids or something in his body, after all he hadn't had a bottle in an hour or two, and even then he didn't drink all of it. Baby Naruto's eyes fluttered open and Sasuke thought that they looked a little too tired. He held the blonde and grabbed the diaper bag before dashing out the door. Tsunade would know what was wrong with his blonde.
When Uchiha Sasuke arrived at the Leaf Village Hospital, he found Tsunade doing her nightly check ups. Worry glazed over her eyes when she saw the concern filled eyes that the Uchiha bestowed.
"What happened?" she hissed angrily, taking Naruto from him gently. She caressed the blonde's hair before resting the back of her hand on the child's forehead. Her eyes shot open and she called for Shizune.
"What's wrong with him?" Sasuke asked angrily. He didn't want to be left in the dark about what was happening with his blonde. After all, he was the one taking care of him.
"He's majorly dehydrated, have you been feeding him?" she glared furiously at the Uchiha.
"Yes! I have! I've taken pretty good care of him, thank you!" he argued.
"Then why exactly is he dehydrated?" she shot back. Sasuke lowered his shoulders and frowned.
"I don't know," he replied before telling her what he and Naruto had done that day.
"A bug bite you say?" she asked curiously and cautiously. He nodded and showed her the place where the "bug" had bitten the child. The blonde bundle stared at her with wide eyes when her hands started glowing green. He started to whimper.
"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked impatiently. Tsunade's hands stopped glowing and little Naruto stopped panicking but whenever they had the green chakra surrounding them, he started whimpering again.
Lady Tsunade's eyes narrowed when she saw the pattern and her mind raced through the possibilities of what could have happened. She laid Naruto down on the examination table and pulled off the bright orange and blue baby outfit that had been placed on him.
She ordered a passing nurse to fetch a bowl of cold water and a wash cloth and a baby bottle filled with water then turned back to the awaiting Uchiha.
"He likes you best, so I need you to try to get some water in his system, okay?" she ordered as she gently picked up the blonde baby and cradled him as he let out a soft tired, irritated gurgle. Tsunade carefully handed Naruto over to Sasuke when the nurse came in with the bottle filled with water.
"Now, try to get him to drink the whole thing, it's very important that he does this, if not he could get ever more dehydrated and have a heat stroke," she explained thoroughly making sure he knew the importance of what he had to do.
Sasuke nodded and put the top of the bottle at the blonde's lips. The baby turned his head the other way stubbornly and whined.
Tsunade watched him carefully, making the young Uchiha nervous. The woman realized this and left the room to obtain a few other things.
Sasuke sat down in the chair and slightly rocked the pouting child.
"C'mon, Naruto, you need to drink it," the boy sighed. The baby gurgled tiredly in response. The older male put the bottle in the blonde bundle's mouth.
"Please drink it…" Sasuke sighed, rubbing the baby Naruto's back. The child babbled and gripped the Uchiha's strand of hair and pulled on it, letting out an exhausted giggle. Sasuke couldn't help but smile faintly at the baby in his arms.
Naruto gurgled happily back and waved his arms around. The Uchiha put the bottle in Naruto's mouth and the blonde started drinking it.
"Finally…" Sasuke sighed in relief while still rubbing the baby's back softly. He stroked Naruto's soft, fluffy hair in a very un-Uchiha like manner. It didn't matter anymore; this was his best friend, no matter how old Naruto was.