Notes: That image of a young Itachi holding an infant Sasuke stuck in my brain, which led to this story.

Senjutsu for the Soul

A Naruto Fanfic by

Nate Grey (xman1023-at-aol-dot-com)

Chapter 1: A Mother's Curse

The moon that night was blood red, but barely anyone in the village of Konoha even noticed.

Most civilians were simply thankful to still have their own lives, but many homes and businesses had been lost in the devastation. Even the village's most prominent ninja clans had suffered heavy losses, whether they had been on the front lines or not.

But only a small handful of people knew of the greatest loss that day.

Uzumaki Kushina was fairly well known in Konoha, if for no other reasons than her exceptional talent with seals, bright red hair, and rather unladlylike mouth. Few knew of her true importance: she was the current jailer of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, one of the most destructive forces to ever roam the land.

Or she had been, up until a few hours ago. Now she was dead.

Like most of the people that found themselves in her position, Kushina had not chosen to contain the demon. She had never suspected that her people, and indeed, her very way of life, might be virtually erased as she knew them. And she had certainly not chosen to have only a few precious moments with her newborn son, Naruto.

But very little about being a demon container was about choice. Mostly it was about survival, discovering a purpose for yourself so that you didn't go mad or sink under crushing despair, and snatching happiness whenever and wherever you could find it.

It was not a fate that Kushina would ever have chosen to pass on to her only child. Failing that, it was not a fate that Naruto alone would have to suffer through. The least she could do was give him comrades who would become his family in her place, and bless the new generation of Konoha with unbeatable protectors.

The only problem with that was that Kushina, unlike her husband, was a realist. She would love to have believed that Konoha would accept Naruto and his burden with open arms.

Only she didn't.

And no mother in her right mind would hand her innocent baby boy over to a village that was more likely to sacrifice him again than lift a finger to help raise him. It wasn't as if Minato would be around to ensure Naruto's safety, after all: he was going to be dead, too. Maybe he didn't plan for it, or maybe he had, and had just managed to hide it from her, but Kushina had lived by trusting her gut, and her gut said that Naruto was going to be a very lonely orphan despite their best efforts.

It was fortunate, then, that the seal meant for Naruto required some effort on both her and Minato's parts. Kushina had taught Minato everything he knew about seals, and as was just common sense among ninjas, of course she hadn't taught him everything that she knew. Naruto's original seal was an extremely complicated array that only Minato and Kushina completely understood. There had been very little time to double-check Minato's work, but Kushina knew her husband, and could easily predict his thoughts most of the time. Based on that, she had designed an alternate seal for Naruto. It was far less complicated than the original, but there was still a use for that one as well.

Minato's seal would have placed the entire burden of containing the Nine-Tails' Yang chakra squarely on Naruto's shoulders. This, while not impossible, was still highly impractical, especially considering the environment that Naruto would be growing up in, with largely only himself to depend on.

Kushina's seal changed Naruto's main role to that of an anchor, and in her plans, two others would share that role with him. The main idea was that he would not carry such a heavy burden alone. Minato would not have approved. He was all about fairness and not asking anything of someone that he wouldn't do himself.

Kushina, on the other hand, was a mother on her deathbed. She didn't care what Minato thought, she didn't care what the village thought, and she certainly didn't care about what was right and proper. All she cared about was Naruto, and on that issue, she figured she deserved to be selfish. The village certainly had been, with her life and the life of the demon container before her. As far as she was concerned, they owed her, and she was collecting early. Really, her plan was still in the village's best interest, but it required a price that no one had agreed to pay. It was entirely Minato's fault for even putting the idea in her head (though he had admittedly stated it was something he would never do without the village's consent, she still gave him credit for it).

Instead of one container for the Nine-Tails' chakra, there would be nine.

Instead of one child's happiness, future, and indeed, very life sacrificed, there would be nine.

Instead of an entire village managing to abuse or ignore the existence of a single child with a demon's power, they would have to face the reality of turning their backs on nine separate children.

And if they could really do that, then Kushina was all too happy to be rid of them.

Uchiha Fugaku was the first to notice the blood red moon. He was concerned, but not yet alarmed. If tainting the moon red was within the scope of the Nine-Tails' power, it would not have shocked him.

But what happened next certainly did.

Nine black spirals appeared on the red moon's surface, and from each of those spirals came forth a column of red moonlight.

Had he looked closer, Fugaku might have noticed that each column had, without fail, fallen on a certain location in the village. But all he noticed was that one of them had fallen on an old shrine, beneath which was the safehouse where his wife and infant son were hidden.

Every instinct in his body urged Fugaku forward, and he ran like a man possessed until he finally burst into the safehouse, and very nearly got a kunai in the throat for his trouble.

His wife Mikoto dropped the weapon at once, horrified by what she had nearly done. "What's the matter with you? Why didn't you use the safeword? Do you know what I almost-"

"Sasuke!" Fugaku panted, grabbing her arms and giving her a firm shake. "Is he-?"

"He's fine," Mikoto snapped, though she sighed when the baby instantly woke up and began to whimper. "Well, he was, until you came charging in here."

Fugaku ignored her and moved to the crib, peering anxiously at the small boy half-hidden in blankets. For a moment, the Uchiha clan head began to relax.

But then Sasuke rolled over, sleepily cracked open one of his eyes, revealing the exact same light of the demon moon within them.

Again, Fugaku acted on pure instinct. He slowly reached for his son, his hand steady. It would take no time at all, he knew.

But Sasuke, either reading his intent or acting on instinct himself, scrunched up his face and began to howl.

Mikoto had recovered her kunai and was peering into the tunnel expectantly, still assuming that there was some threat Fugaku had forgotten to mention. As Sasuke's cries increased in volume, she was just about to tell her husband to leave the child alone and let her settle him.

But a sudden blast of heat rolled over her back, and when Mikoto spun around, all she saw was the dark red aura around Sasuke's crib winking out, and what remained of her husband's body falling to the floor as so many ashes.

For several seconds, the idea that her husband was dead simply did not register. But Mikoto was a jounin, and all it took was a single step to remind her of her duties, both to the clan and her sons. Swallowing the sob that had been building in her throat, she cautiously took another step, pausing just beyond Fugaku's ashes. "Sasuke?" she whispered.

The answering coo was reassuring enough, and when Mikoto dared to look into the crib, Sasuke's usual smile awaited her, his chubby fingers already reaching toward the sound of her voice.

It did not take long for Mikoto to realize what must have happened, though the how and why of it was beyond her just then. Shaking her head in wonder, she carefully picked up Sasuke and cradled him to her breast. His only response was to latch onto her shirt with a little fist and close his eyes again.

It was not long before similar incidents began occurring all over the village. Soon it was public knowledge that there were multiple children in Konoha that seemed to contain the cursed power of the Nine-Tails itself. It was also, known, however, that these children were largely from prominent ninja clans, and that any hostility toward such children would be met with lethal force, if not from the clan, then certainly from the child itself.

The Sandaime Hokage was forced to take action. Some kind of quarantine (though he preferred to think of it as a necessary separation) was needed: already some of the deaths related to attacks on the children included their very own parents, determined to free their formerly pure children from the fox's taint. The Sandaime quickly gave orders to round up each child and a single relative who could be trusted to care for them. This restriction was largely to prevent Konoha's forces from being too severely weakened, but as it turned out, in most cases only a single relative was even available to care for the children at all. Either one or more parents had not survived, or was prevented by duties and could not be spared. In any case, the Sandaime did not feel the children would be safe in the village. He first considered other locations within the Land of Fire, but soon realized that anyone determined enough would still be able to reach them. What he needed was a location with truly limited access, only reachable by those who had no wish to harm the children. Truthfully, he already had one in mind, but it would take time to make the proper arrangements.

"I am sorry about this, Mikoto-san, but it is necessary, for the time being."

Uchiha Itachi raised his head as the words reached his ears, frowning as he watched his mother (and now only surviving parent) speak with the Sandaime Hokage. Though her voice was calm, Itachi could still sense the underlying anxiety in his mother's words. He found this odd: his mother had been surprisingly composed, both over the issue of his father's death, and the idea of raising her two sons virtually alone. He wondered what could possibly have shaken her now. Without even realizing that he was doing so, Itachi swiftly moved across the small room, both to better hear the conversation, and to offer what little comfort he could.

"I completely understand our having to be isolated, Hokage-sama," his mother was saying. "But please, is there any word on Naruto? I realize that officially, I'm in no position to make demands concerning him, but with both his parents gone, I'm surely the closest thing he has to a mother left. I need to be sure he's safe, for Kushina's sake."

The old man smiled reassuringly. "Naruto is in good hands. I have a very dependable friend bringing him here now. You should be able to see him shortly."

"I was hoping to do more than see him," Mikoto admitted.

The Hokage blinked. "I have no objection to you nursing him, if that's what you mean. I'm sure Kushina would have wanted the same."

"Kushina would have wanted me to raise her son as if he were one of mine," Mikoto insisted, "and I have every intention of doing so."

There was a long pause before the Sandaime answered. "I admit I hadn't considered that possibility."

Mikoto glared at him. "Are you saying I'm not qualified?"

"No, only that I hadn't considered it. Are you sure you want another child now, Mikoto-san? You just lost your husband, and I think even you will have your hands full with young Sasuke."

"It's not about what I want. It's about what is right, for Naruto. That I know his name at all should be proof enough that his parents trusted me. As for Sasuke, with his father dead, I doubt he'd object to more family, adopted or otherwise. Itachi feels the same way."

The old man glanced at Itachi, who by then had drifted to his mother's side. "Is that true, Itachi-kun?"

Itachi carefully checked the bundle of swaddling clothes fixed to his chest before answering softly. "It would be an honor to help raise the son of our village's greatest hero, Hokage-sama," he replied, mindful of his sleeping baby brother. "Please grant my mother's request."

"There are many who would not be pleased with such an arrangement," the Hokage pointed out reasonably.

"Anyone that has a problem with Naruto going to a loving home doesn't have his best interests in mind, anyway, so I have no idea why you'd give them a say in what happens to him." Mikoto lowered her voice. "He's just a baby that lost his parents. You can't deprive him of a family for no reason at all. He needs to be loved, and we will give him that."

The Hokage nodded. "I will take it under advisement, Mikoto-san. That is all I can promise for now. But I have no objection to leaving Naruto in your care for the time being, while I attend to other matters. You will be informed when-"

The door burst open, and Itachi's hand was already reaching for the kunai concealed in his waistband as a tall, cloaked ANBU walked in, carrying his own bundle.

"Apologies, Hokage-sama," the man in the bear mask said in gravelly voice. "I ran into some obstacles, but your package is secure."

The Hokage carefully reached into the bundle and moved aside the layers. Itachi caught a glimpse of golden hair before the bundle was closed up again, revealing only a tiny, red-splotched face. "I appreciate your efforts, Bear. I'll need you to supervise the remaining deliveries."

Bear nodded and vanished at once, the door clicking shut behind him.

The Sandaime turned to Mikoto, holding the bundle out to her. "I trust I don't need to remind you-"

"I remember the standard protocol for an S-Rank, Hokage-sama," Mikoto interrupted, quickly extracting the infant from the bundle and cradling him to her shoulder, "and as you pointed out, this isn't my first baby."

"One can never be too careful with such precious cargo, Mikoto-san," the old man sighed. "If all goes well, you four shouldn't be alone much longer. Please assist the others in any way you can. I expect some of them will be far too young and inexperienced."

Suddenly, the baby began to fuss. Mikoto carefully shifted him to one arm, gently pressing his face into the curve of her neck. "Don't worry, Naruto-chan," she murmured, stroking the back of his head. "You're safe now." Naruto immediately quieted, and after a few seconds, Mikoto lowered him back into his bundle.

The Sandaime allowed himself a small smile, but quickly stowed it. He had many other matters to attend to, but for now, young Naruto was comfortable, if not happy. It was more than many people in Konoha had just then, and the Hokage swept from the room to see what he could do to fix that.

Bear's next stop was a certain underground shelter, one that he had strict instructions to ensure the safety of after delivering Naruto to the Sandaime. He was mildly relieved to see that there was no structural damage to the tunnel leading to the entrance, but that faded once he reached the door.

There was no guard. This was a cause for concern, because the one thing that Hyūga always used was guards, whether they were necessary or not. At the very least, there should have been one posted to check Bear's credentials. Something must have gone wrong.

The moment he stepped inside, Bear saw what was wrong: something had exploded. And he had been an ANBU long enough to know that the something was definitely a human body, or had been previously. Now all that remained was a large area of blood splatter and a curious, bright orange sphere resting on a stone table. The sphere was about the size of two large mixing bowls pressed together, and despite resting in the epicenter of the explosion, was oddly free of blood itself.

Bear was not a psychic, but he could put two and two together. He had been sent to check the status of Hyūga Hiashi's then unborn daughter. If she was born and sealed, he was to retrieve her and a single relative, no matter what the clan said. Given what he had seen with the first child, he had expected far worse from this clan.

After a moment, he took a few steps forward. At once, the sphere began to pulse and glow dark red. Bear slowly approached it, and laid his gloved hand on the sphere's surface. That he could feel the incredible heat through the glove was no real surprise. That the special seal applied to the fabric held and actually kept his hand from being consumed was, however.

"Everything is going to be fine, little one," Bear stated. "I'm going to take you to the Hokage now. He will ensure your protection."

No newborn should have understood that, especially not when delivered in Bear's voice, which was comparable to a growl on even his best days. But the first one had, and this one apparently did, too: the sphere stopped glowing, and the heat faded somewhat, but it continued to pulse as Bear started to pick it up.

That was when the boy with the Byakugan came out of the darkness and tried to stab him with a kunai.

"Put Hinata-sama down!" the boy shouted, just before Bear punched him in the face with enough force to lay him flat on his back.

"Can't do that, kid," Bear replied calmly as the boy lay there twitching. "Hokage's orders. So you can either get hit again, or you can come along quietly. I assume they left you here to guard her?"

The boy slowly sat up, holding his bloody nose and glaring at Bear. "Where are you taking her?"

"Nowhere you're not allowed to go. So, again: you coming?"

The boy nodded and got to his feet, his hand tightening on the kunai.

"Don't bother, you'll just embarrass us both," Bear chuckled. "What's your name, kid?"

"Hyūga Kō," the boy replied.

"Congratulations, then. By order of the Sandaime Hokage, you are now officially the kid's legal guardian for the time being, assuming a more qualified relative fails to claim her. Which I'm betting they won't until she's proven to be battle-ready."

Kō's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing else as he followed Bear, and the precious cargo he was carrying, out of the shelter, at a distance.

Inuzuka Hana was, in many ways, still a child herself. True, she had entered the Ninja Academy, and was near the top of her class, but that didn't make her an adult, anymore than it made a genin ready for an A-rank mission. Certainly she wasn't ready to be a mother, either.

But for all intents and purposes, she was now. Because only an hour earlier, her mother had shoved Hana's squealing baby brother into her arms, and told her to look after him. It wasn't an easy choice: Inuzuka just weren't wired to accept the idea of abandoning their own. Hana suspected it had something to do with the way people were suddenly looking at her brother with fear, and the odd black circle that had been briefly visible on his belly.

Now she was sitting in a small, dark room, her baby was crying, and there was only one other person there that Hana suspected could help quiet him down.

"Uchiha-san, could you help me, please?" Hana begged, wincing as the wailing baby boy in her hands hit an even higher note.

Mikoto smiled kindly and nodded at the seat next to her. "Sit down, and we'll switch babies for a minute."

The young girl bit her lip nervously. "I don't know if that's a good idea. I'm pretty new at this, and I wouldn't want to hurt your son."

Mikoto laughed softly. "I doubt there's any real danger of that. Come on, sit down. This won't take long."

Nodding, Hana sat down beside the older woman, and soon found herself holding a sleeping baby boy, one who curiously lacked all of the expected physical traits of an Uchiha. She was just going to ask about that when she realized that the wailing had cut off abruptly. Hana looked over to see her baby sleeping peacefully as Mikoto gently rocked him back and forth. "H-How did you...?"

"He was tired from all the crying, anyway. All he needed as a little nudge. What's your brother's name, dear?"

"It's Kiba," Hana murmured, still in awe. "I'm-"

"Hana, right? My Itachi has mentioned you."

Hana turned bright red, unable to stop herself from fidgeting nervously. "He has? Really?"

Mikoto smiled. "Yes," she replied simply, offering nothing more. The truth was that Itachi made a point to learn the name of anyone from a prominent clan, more because he wanted to know where his main competition would be coming from than anything else. But if allowing Hana to think Itachi was interested in her gave her a bit more confidence, which she would need to take care of little Kiba, that was fine, too.

Hana eventually remembered what she'd wanted to ask. "Um, I haven't seen many Uchiha with this hair color."

Mikoto sighed. "I'm adopting him. He lost both of his parents in the attack. They were good friends of mine."

"Oh." Hana could think of nothing else to say, except: "He's cute."

"That he is," Mikoto agreed. "Naruto-chan takes after his father, I think."

Hana blinked. "His name is Naruto?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yes, it is," Mikoto said firmly. "A good, strong name for a good, strong boy." She paused. "Not as good as Sasuke or Itachi, of course, but still."

Hana giggled. "My mother likes simple names. Kiba and I could have easily been named after food, too."

"Tsume is a good woman and a good mother. I envy her."

"You do?" Hana asked in shock. "Why?"

"I love my boys, but every mother wants one girl, I think. Don't you think so, Hana?"

Hana shrugged. "All I want right now is for Kiba to know how to talk, so I don't have to guess what he's crying for."

Mikoto stared at her. "I thought for sure you would want not to be in this position. Taking care of a baby isn't easy at your age."

"He's my brother," Hana insisted, looking insulted. "My age doesn't matter."

Mikoto smiled and patted Hana's head, making her blush again. "You're Tsume's girl through and through."

Itachi had seen how adults usually behaved around babies. That, he was used to.

But he was quickly beginning to understand that there was nothing usual about the current situation.

His mother had not given him all of the details. She had only said that Sasuke now had a special power inside of him, and that now more than ever, Itachi would need to protect him. Itachi was no fool: while barely a ninja himself, at least officially, he knew the basics of chakra and how it was supposed to feel. Sasuke's was no longer normal, but Itachi recognized that he only knew that because he had sensed Sasuke's chakra before, when it had been normal. Now it was thicker, darker, and more imposing, but only when Sasuke was clearly upset.

On some level, Itachi feared what his little brother might become one day. But on another, he understood that Sasuke's life was in his hands, for good or for bad. That was why he'd obtained permission from his mother to sit in the nursery that the Sandaime had set up for the tainted children. Sasuke had woken up and begun to fuss the moment they were inside, and Itachi now knew why.

There was only one other child in the nursery, and he was kept in a box of thick, protective glass. He looked very small and thin for a baby, and when he breathed out, a dark violet mist sprayed from his nose and mouth, staining the box with every breath. Itachi thought he seemed very sad and alone, but the nurses that frequently checked on them had forbidden Itachi from getting any closer, saying it was dangerous. None of them seemed to know the baby's name, either, or they just hadn't cared enough to share it with Itachi.

It wasn't long before a new occupant was brought in by Bear, the same ANBU that Itachi had met before. He gave the Uchiha brothers a brief glance before placing a strange, orange sphere in one of the empty beds. Bear started to leave when he noticed the other child, alone at the far end of the nursery. After a moment's hesitation, he transferred the sphere to the bed nearest the mist-breathing boy, then quickly left.

Within seconds, the sphere began to glow, and the mist-breathing boy rolled onto his side to stare at it, apparently transfixed. Then, with a loud cracking noise, the sphere split in two, releasing a large blast of heat into the air.

Nurses seemed to appear out of nowhere, and then there was a huge flurry of activity that Itachi couldn't keep up with. He caught words like "December due date" and "premature" being tossed back and forth, but wasn't sure what they meant until one of the nurses moved aside. Itachi caught a glimpse of a tiny baby girl, even smaller and less developed than the mist-breathing boy.

She was staring straight at him with wide, blank eyes that held no color at all in them. She opened her mouth, possibly to cry, but one of the nurses immediately, and Itachi's mind, roughly, slipped a tube into her throat, and secured a tiny breathing mask over her nose and mouth. Itachi almost stood up in outrage and ordered them to stop, but realized that his experience with babies was limited to Sasuke, who had been born with no real complications. For all he knew, whatever the nurses were doing might well have saved the girl's life, even if it looked painful to him.

But Itachi knew for sure that he didn't want to be there while they did it. By the way Sasuke was growing increasingly wriggly, neither did he. Turning away, Itachi moved to the door.

He was a step away from it when he felt dark, familiar chakra flare behind him, and a wall of heat rolled over him. It felt like he'd just walked into a spa, but it passed quickly, leaving the skin of his back slightly moist with sweat. The door hadn't been as lucky: it was now fused shut.

Itachi turned around. The nurses were suddenly complaining about faulty equipment, but did not seem to have noticed the door, or the chakra flare. Given all that Itachi had seen lately, it was entirely possible that they were used to such things already.

The baby girl was still staring at him. Only now her arm, which had been folded at her side, was stretched out, as if reaching for him.

The thought was a dangerous one, and Itachi's instincts screamed at him to ignore it, but he couldn't. Though he rarely ever felt like it anymore, he was a still a child himself. If this girl's future was what he thought it was, really, what could it hurt to show a little compassion now?

Itachi moved forward, pushing his way through the nurses, and leaned over the girl's bed. Her eyes followed his face, and her arm trembled slightly. Itachi understood at once that she was trying to raise it, but lacked the strength. Ignoring the nearest nurse's protest, he reached down and carefully pressed his right hand to the baby girl's cheek. She immediately turned into his touch, closing her eyes and resting her cheek in his palm.

"I'm sorry," Itachi whispered, wishing he could offer her more than just that. But for the moment, at least, it seemed to be enough.

"All nine children have been secured," Bear reported as he and the Hokage hurried toward an emergency meeting with the village council. "Unfortunately, there have been some complications."

"Such as?" the older man asked, mentally preparing himself for the worst.

"As I told you before, the Hyūga girl is two months premature. The low birth weight is nothing we haven't seen before, at least. But there are issues with keeping her warm enough to grow properly."

"I was sure that I cleared any medical equipment that might be necessary."

Bear shook his head. "You misunderstood me. She keeps herself warm just fine. That sphere that I found her in? It was a fusion of chakra, blood, flesh, and stone from the table I found her on. It was like she knew she needed the extra warmth, and fashioned herself an artificial womb. Aside from that, equipment left near her long enough keeps melting. I have to assume she's releasing the heat herself in order to prevent overheating. She's also become very attached to the older Uchiha boy."

The Sandaime considered that for a moment. "And the others?"

"The Aburame boy is still breathing poison that even he isn't immune to. Worse, it eventually corrodes any type of breathing apparatus we try to put on him. His family can't have any contact with him because they're especially susceptible to the toxins. The Akimichi boy has some skin discoloration on his arms, and the Nara boy has suddenly sprouted a full head of hair that's longer than he is. The Haruno twins have been a bit-"

"I understood that there was only one Haruno child," the Hokage interrupted. "A girl."

Bear shrugged. "There's two of them now. But that's the weird thing: half of the time, there is only one. No one can explain where the other one goes, but she always comes back. Not that we can really tell them apart at this point, so maybe they're both taking turns at vanishing."

"Then what of Naruto, Sasuke, Ino, and Kiba?"

"Nothing really noteworthy to report there. They're having the same unusual chakra flares as the others, but that seems pretty standard so far. The bigger issue is that we're running low on guardians. We only have five: one each from the Uchiha, Inuzuka, Hyūga, Yamanaka, and Nara. That's not counting the Uchiha boy."

"We may have to count him. Young Kō is eager but clumsy at the best of times. If his charge is attached to someone else, anyway, perhaps we can convince him to watch over another child."

"I doubt it. More likely he'll try to smother the Uchiha kid in hopes that the girl will forget him."

Both men winced at the very idea of a conflict between Kō and Itachi: they really could not afford a dead Hyūga right now.

"I wish I knew what Kushina had been thinking when she did this," the Hokage sighed. "I'm still not even sure how she pulled it off. There's no record of her having even met half of these children."

"There wouldn't be," Bear pointed out. "Most people wouldn't want anyone to know that a jinchūriki was anywhere near their kids, and the rest probably weren't fond of her as a person. Even if she was friends with some parents, why would they bother to report a friend visiting them? I doubt any of them would have agreed to have a seal of this nature placed on their kids. Maybe she did it without their knowledge."

"But why? Was there no other way to defeat the Nine-Tails at all?"

"There's at least two ways to do nearly everything. But I knew the woman. If she chose this method, the alternative had to be far worse, for someone. Just don't ask me who."

Yamanaka Inoichi stood watch over two or three children in the nursery. The number varied, but that was beyond his control. So much was beyond his control now.

For the hundredth time, he gently placed his hand on his sleeping daughter's chest. She squirmed a little at first, but then relaxed, already growing used to his touch and presence.

"Can you hear me, Ino?" he murmured, as much aloud as he did within her mind. "Can you give me any sign at all that it's you?"

"Let her rest, mindwalker," growled a voice behind him. "I have no use for her just now."

Inoichi spun around, his mouth agape in horror as he took in the bright orange chakra shroud enveloping Haruno Sakura's crib. "What have you done to that poor girl?" he demanded.

"Far less than I've done to your own child, I must say," the shroud chuckled, slowly taking on the shape of a grinning fox's head. "This one appears to have far more raw power at her disposal. But don't worry: I'll continue to use your daughter as a mouthpiece, just so you don't feel left out. And don't forget, mindwalker: we have a deal. No one learns of this, or the next time you see your child, she'll be slitting your throat."

Just then, the door to the nursery opened, and a nurse stuck her head in. "Yamanaka-san? I thought I heard voices."

Inoichi stared at her, and then back at Sakura's crib. The chakra shroud was gone, and the sleeping infant gave no sign of anything being unusual. "Sorry about that. Just me, talking to myself. I have a lot on my mind."

She nodded sympathetically and slipped out, shutting the door behind her.

Inoichi waited before looking back at Sakura's crib. Now there were two girls, and one opened a slitted, blood-red eye and winked at him, before vanishing in a tiny puff of smoke.

That night, Naruto and Sasuke slept side by side in identical cribs. There had been room enough in the nursery, but Mikoto had put her foot down. She didn't want any of her boys spending the night under a nurse's care unless they were clearly unwell. To imply that they were was to question Mikoto's ability as a mother, and not even the Hokage was willing to do that. So instead, the boys slept in the cramped room where Mikoto had been sitting for most of the day.

It had been a long day in every sense of the word, but Mikoto did not sleep. She could be tired later, she'd decided.

Itachi had been totally silent since returning from the nursery with Sasuke. Mikoto was sure he'd seen something that gave him plenty to think about. He was a bright child, and she was sure that when he was ready, he'd share what was on his mind.

Sure enough, well after midnight, Itachi raised his head and looked into his mother's eyes.

"What is it, Itachi?" she asked him.

"Those babies. They're all like Sasuke, but... they all looked so alone, even the few that did have guardians with them."

"What they have is not a typical burden, my son. I suppose they have every right to look that way."

"Some of them are going to die, aren't they?"

Mikoto looked away. "I honestly don't know, Itachi. It's possible, maybe even likely for some of them."

He hesitated before adding, "One of them reached for me. She was so small..."

"What was her name?"

"Hinata. I heard the nurses talking. They're not sure what to do for her."

Mikoto could already see that Itachi was attached to the girl. She could also see that he was a sensitive boy, and that the girl's death, if she died, might destroy him. But she also knew that it was probably the best way for him to learn. "Why don't you go see if she wants some company?"

He quickly got to his feet, but Mikoto placed a hand on his arm to stop him. "Be sure, Itachi. She's already chosen you. If you choose her as well, she becomes your responsibility, no matter what any man or law says. You have to be ready to defend her, not as if she were Sasuke, but as if she were your own baby. Keep that in mind."

Itachi nodded and left. Ten minutes later, he wheeled in Hinata's crib, sat down beside his mother, and watched his baby sleep.

Jiraiya was vaguely aware of the situation in Konoha, and would have liked nothing more than to be there when his godson was born. There was a problem, however, and as usual, the name of the problem was Orochimaru. At the time, the problem had grown from one to about ten, and its new name was Akatsuki. Jiraiya was gathering all the info he could on them now, before they became a huge problem in the future. He felt that knowledge of their activities was the most important thing. After all, no matter what happened with the Nine-Tails and Konoha, Akatsuki would become involved eventually. If they were armed with Orochimaru's knowledge when they did, there was no telling how much more damage they could cause.

He ignored all of the requests that the Sandaime Hokage sent for him to return, even when they became orders. Jiraiya told himself each and every day that what he was doing was more important, for both Konoha and the entire shinobi world.

But when he woke up one night to find the imposing form of Monkey King Enma standing in the doorway of his hotel room, he knew his information gathering days had come to an abrupt end.

Enma said nothing of the situation in Konoha, or how desperately Jiraiya was needed there. He said only what needed to be said.

"You can walk in like a man, or I can drag you broken and bloody, but you will be in Konoha by morning."

Continued in Chapter 2: Sacrifice

Jiraiya spends some time with the cursed children, while Itachi learns the price of being a parent from Shino's mother.

Endnotes:

I didn't see the filler episodes that Kō was in, so I may be off about his age. But even if I had, they are filler, so I'm not sure how credible they are as reference points to begin with. I'm assuming he's somewhat older than Itachi. And even that may be a stretch, Itachi has one of those aged faces. I think it's the extra lines.