Author's Note: As a warning, certain people may seem OOC (namely Sasuke in later chapters due to the different circumstances of the plot). Just letting everyone know so I don't get my head bitten off!
Enjoy!
Chapter Two: Uchiha/Uzumaki
It had been five years since Naruto's birth, since the day the Nine-Tailed demon attacked and ravaged their beloved village, since Kushina and Minato were told that their family size would have to be restricted. Minato was pleased, having finished overseeing the repairs and rebuilding of the village after the destruction from the beast, his pile of paperwork had decreased significantly. Neither of them spoke much about their conversation with the former Hokage, Kushina accepted it as much as she could, although the desire of another child still gnawed at the back of her mind. Minato had always been concerned about her reaction to the news, wondering if she was truly ok with the fact that she was forbidden to have anymore children until Madara had been found and put to rest. She did have to admit, she always pictured Naruto having a sibling, specifically a younger one, possibly a sister. Kushina had been wanting a girl for a while, fearing that Naruto would become lonely as the only child.
But the fear of Madara was always following them, trailing their every move like a shadow, she wouldn't put her son or her husband at risk because she wanted a baby. It wasn't worth it, Naruto was her miracle boy, the boy she thought she had lost and he and Minato were all she needed in order to be happy. And she was pleased to see how, over the years, Naruto didn't really seem to have any issues with loneliness.
"Naruto, are you excited to see, Sasuke?"
Kushina beamed at her son, gripping his little hand in her own. His sparkling blue eyes turned up to her, a wide smile spread across his face.
"Yeah!"
She giggled and Minato smiled at the two, finding Naruto to be the most adorable thing he had ever laid his eyes on. Their son was beautiful, spiky blonde hair to match his father's, and stunning crystal blue optics that glimmered in the sunlight. He had three whisker like markings on each of his cheeks, they assumed it was a physical trait from having the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed inside of him. Today he was clad in a bright orange shirt, and some jean shorts with his sandals. It was yet another gorgeous day in Konoha, as per usual, and the small family was making their way through the village in order to reach the gates of where the infamous Uchiha clan resided.
"I bet he's excited to hang out too."
Minato added as he ruffed Naruto's hair, the boy squealed and playfully hit his father on the leg.
"Daddy, stop!"
Minato chuckled brightly and soon the gates came into view, two guards stood in the front, the Uchiha crest embroidered into the chest piece of their vests.
"Lord Hokage!"
One of them spoke and the two bowed immediately, Naruto watched curiously, noticing how everyone his father came into contact with pretty much reacted the same way.
"Mommy, why don't you bow to Daddy?"
Kushina arched her brow in interest at Naruto's question and smirked.
"He bows to me, sweetie."
Minato released an outcry of laughter at his wife's sense of humor, just another one of those things he loved about her.
"Welcome, Lord Hokage."
The guard stated as they once more erected themselves, stepping to the side to allow the three of them to pass through, Minato nodded to both of them.
"Thank you, Naruto say bye to the guards."
Naruto twirled around on his heels and waved clumsily to them as he stumbled about and tried to keep grip on his mother's hand.
"Bye!"
He called to them before turning around to continue walking, his eyes wide as he took in his surroundings. He had only ventured into these parts a couple of times, on his way to visit Sasuke, his best friend, who was only about two months older than him. Sasuke also had an older brother of his own, Itachi Uchiha who was now ten years old. Whenever the two had play dates, Itachi was usually the one to watch over the two so the parents could chat. Itachi was more soft spoken and calm than Sasuke, but a child prodigy as Naruto had heard frequently.
They reached a quaint little house near the center of their clan's dwelling place. Kushina tapped lightly on the door, waiting eagerly to see her best friend and the rest of the family that they had become so close to. Moments later a slender woman, with black hair that reached her mid-back and onyx eyes answered the door, she grinned with a squeal and opened her arms. Kushina fell into the embrace, giggling while Minato and Naruto watched.
"Mikoto, it's so nice to see you!"
"You too, it's been far too long!"
The two exchanged a few pleasantries before the woman turned to give Minato a hug as well, patting his spiky hair, commenting as she usually did on how wondrous it was that it stuck up like that so naturally.
"Naruto, how have you been?"
She kneeled down to his height, patting his hair as well.
'Just like his father's.' She thought with a chuckle.
"Good!"
"Sasuke's excited to see you, he's been waiting for you to come over all week!"
He bounced up and down, exposing his pearly whites.
"Can I go inside?"
Naruto eagerly questioned, his gaze darting back and forth from his mother to his father over and over again. Mikoto gave them a quick nod, assuring them that this was fine.
"Go ahead, just remember no running or yelling in the house."
"Ok!"
Naruto didn't waste another moment before he darted inside, practically sliding across the freshly cleaned floor, racing down the hall.
"SASUKE! ITACHI!"
He started calling out, his voice echoing down the hall, Kushina could hear it from the front porch, a vein pulsing in her forehead, Minato gave a wary smile.
"I SAID NO YELLING!"
She shouted, eyes bulging out of her skull as she clenched her trembling fists. Mikoto and Minato laughed nervously, her husband placing a warm hand on her shoulder to calm her down. Kushina never really was the expert on controlling her anger. Naruto simply laughed at his mother's calls and slid to a halt when he reached Sasuke's door.
"Sasuke!"
His young friend was sitting in the middle of the room, stacking colorful blocks onto each other in a certain tower like structure. His little tyrannosaurus-rex stuffed animal was sitting at his side, grinning and exposing his pointed, cloth teeth. Sasuke pressed his finger to his chin, furrowing his brows as he analyzed his tower, he didn't like how it was turning out. The moment he heard this familiar voice, though, his head whipped to the side, seeing his best friend standing in the hallway, his lips spread into the widest of smiles.
"Hi, Naruto!"
Sasuke gestured for him to come inside, Naruto obliged, falling onto his butt next to the tall tower Sasuke had created.
"Cool tower."
Sasuke wrinkled his nose, tapping it once, making it collapse to the floor in a pile of colorful blocks. Naruto blinked, his jaw dropping to the floor before he snapped his attention to the Uchiha. He looked a lot like his older brother, dark, intense eyes and black hair with his bangs framing his face. Sasuke wore darker clothes than the other, usually dressed in grey, black or even blue from time to time, also similar to Itachi.
"Why did you do that?"
Sasuke shrugged.
"Didn't like it."
Mikoto allowed Kushina and Minato into their home, sliding the door closed behind them. She ushered the couple into the kitchen where Fugaku, her stoic husband was reading the paper at the table.
"Fugaku, Kushina and Minato are here."
She lightly spoke, not wanting to rudely interrupt his reading time. Frankly in his opinion, it was the only time he had to his own thoughts. Every other second of the day he was taking care of the police force, overseeing Itachi's training or on missions, on the rare occasions he was home, he was incredibly quiet, keeping mostly to himself. The man pulled his paper down a mere inch, his eyes peering over it to take a look at their guests.
"Hokage."
He mused firmly, not a tinge of emotion to his voice. Minato paled, a wary grin quivering onto his lips, Kushina hugged his arm and laughed nervously. The two had known Fugaku since they were children, they practically grew up together, training at the same academy, traveling on missions and even raising two boys around the same age. However, Fugaku's hardened demeanor did always make them slightly uneasy, he never really spoke much, and when he did it was usually very cold. He wasn't the most outwardly affectionate person in the world, which made Kushina wonder from time to time how he snagged a woman like Mikoto.
"We've known each other long enough, Fugaku, just call me Minato."
Fugaku merely grunted, lifting the paper once more and burying himself within his reading. Seconds later a young male came trudging into the room, his black hair much longer and reaching his chin, dark eyes just like his brother and mother but with two creases under his eyes – almost making him look more mature than a ten year old.
"Itachi! It's been a while, look at how big you've gotten."
Kushina was beaming again, she thought Itachi and Sasuke were simply precious, she remembered when Itachi was just a baby, a bundle in Mikoto's arms. He gave a small smile, nodding to her respectively as well to his Hokage.
"Good morning Lord Hokage, Mrs. Uzumaki."
Minato smirked, raising his eyebrows at his wife.
"We should teach Naruto to be that polite."
Kushina scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest and blowing a strand of hair from her face.
"Good luck!"
Naruto was a terrific boy, everything they ever dreamed about and more and he was the kindest kid you would ever meet. But he was a bit of a loose cannon, just like his mother. He frequently tried to mess with other adults in the village, racing all over the place and darting out of sight, screaming out random words that he found to be interesting – no matter how fowl and genuinely driving people mad. But they loved their son, oh, did they love him. He was perfect.
"I take it Naruto is here?"
Mikoto nodded, smoothing out her apron.
"Yes, he's with Sasuke in his room, why don't you go keep a watch over them to make sure they don't get into anything."
Her voice was almost somewhat frantic, he arched his brow as his smile suddenly turned into a smirk.
"Don't you mean so Naruto won't get into anything?"
Mikoto's eyes shifted about nervously, Kushina's head fell and Minato rubbed the back of his neck while bushing furiously. Their son was quite the handful, that was the understatement of the year. Itachi nodded before another word was spoken, he didn't need to be told twice to look after the boys and made his way to see his little brother and the spastic blonde.
"Mother told me to come watch you two..."
He froze as he reached the doorway, peering around the corner and seeing the display in Sasuke's room. Naruto was standing on Sasuke's dresser, his brother on the floor watching as the blonde desperately tried to stack endless amounts of blocks in a castle structure, much more elaborate than the tower Sasuke had previously built. There were boxes strewn all over the floor, toys spilled out on the carpet, left there in their attempt to locate more building materials. Naruto was teetering dangerously on his toes, leaning over a gap of pure air between himself and the castle. Sasuke was trying to keep it from wobbling on the bottom.
"What are you two doing?"
He snapped, eyes widening at how terribly close Naruto was to collapsing on the ground. Sasuke lifted his head with a bright smile.
"Big brother! Come help us!"
Itachi inched closer, afraid that if he made any sudden movements that he would cause the building of blocks to come tumbling down and Naruto along with it. The room was already a mess, if something like that were to happen and their father saw, he would blow a gasket.
"Naruto, you should get down from there, you're going to fall."
Naruto stuck his tongue out at him, grabbing another block that he shoved into his pocket and leaning over to place it on the very top.
"Don't be such a party pooper, Itachi!"
"Naruto."
Itachi grumbled as a warning, Sasuke laughed brilliantly, waiting for Naruto to put the last block on the top.
"Go ahead, Naruto!"
"It got it! I got it!"
Naruto inched to the very edge of the dresser, hiking up on his toes once more and reaching as far as he could upward to place the last block on the very top, Itachi winced, still drawing closer hesitantly as he prayed that Naruto successfully place it up there without falling, or least gave up. But it didn't seem as though the blonde was phased by anything.
"There we go!"
Naruto called out with glee as he finally snapped the last block into place, but Itachi saw what was coming, Naruto released a great cry as his feet slipped off the dresser beneath him, sending him tumbling to the ground. Itachi covered his eyes, not wanting to see how this would turn out. Naruto landed on his side with a massive thud, knocking against the castle and sending all of the blocks into the air. Sasuke quickly sheilding his head, a few of them bouncing off his arms, and even more of them landing on Naruto's head until all of them had finally landed in a giant mass on the carpet. Itachi finally gained the courage to look up, eyes squinted as he saw the huge pile of blocks strewn every which way, Sasuke glancing around, confused and surprised, and Naruto lying on his stomach, his tongue poking out and a green block resting on his spiky head.
"Ah, Naruto, you dope!"
Sasuke squealed, Naruto merely lifted his head, grinning as wide as ever as a nervous laugh escaped him. The older brother only shook his head, hearing footsteps bounding down the hall, great, the parents were coming, he knew this was going to happen. If only that little kid would listen once and a while!
"Naruto?"
"Sasuke?"
The worried outcries of both mothers erupted down the hall as they came skidding to a halt when they reached the room. Both of them panting, eyes wide and the color drained from their faces. Itachi simply looked back at them with a shrug.
"I told him not to do it."
Naruto's optics were practically bulging out of his skull at the sight of his now fuming mother, her face melting into the color of her hair. Steam was practically spewing from her ears, her hands clenched into tight fists as Mikoto stood their, releasing a deep sigh of relief to see that nothing serious had occurred.
"NARUTO!"
Kushina screamed, Itachi took a great step back. Naruto felt a cold chill run up his spine, sliding away from his mother in fear of her temper, but still grinning as he found the whole situation quite amusing.
"Every single time! I told you to be careful!"
Sasuke was snickering in the corner, covering his mouth quickly when his older brother shot him a warning glare. He was lucky Fugaku hadn't been the one to come down and check things out, than he would have been in serious trouble.
"Sorry, Mother!"
Naruto immediately responded, his face turning red from embarrassment. Kushina simply shook her head, rubbing her temples to ease the pain that was pulsating through her brain.
"You're going to give your mother a heart attack."
Mikoto looked to her friend and giggled, the poor woman was so terrified the moment she heard the crash that her heart almost jumped out of her chest. Ever since Naruto was born she was always so afraid that anything and everything would happen to him. It was as if she was expecting Madara to sneak in through the window and steal him right from under her nose. The red headed female went to kneel before her son, lifting him back up to his feet and flicking the block off his head. He twiddled his fingers and she groaned.
"I know you're just playing, but promise me you'll be more careful next time."
Naruto smiled shyly and nodded.
"I promise."
She smiled in return, pecking her beautiful son on his forehead. He was her world, and she was absolutely paranoid about something happening to him. Kushina wouldn't stand for someone ever hurting her child again, he just needed to be a little more cautious.
"Good, I love you, Naruto."
Kushina's eyes glistened in the light as she relayed her most precious words to her boy, the words that only he and Minato were allowed to hear. He exposed his little white teeth again, swaying on his feet as she stood up again.
"Love you too, Mommy."
Her chest swelled with heat, her heart pounding against her chest as Naruto smiled up at her with the most beautiful face she had ever witnessed. How did she ever get so lucky to have a son like him? So full of life and love, her miracle boy.
"Now you two clean up this mess."
Mikoto sternly responded as Kushina rejoined her, the two young ones groaned, jutting their lips out in a pout.
"Do it! Or no dessert!"
She added as they began to walk away, their jaws dropped, not saying another word before they raced around the room, clumsily throwing blocks and the like into the boxes, tripping over each other and desperate to satisfy their sweet tooth.
