DIVERSE INHERITANCE
INTERMISSION: ACT II
~ SOUL SEARCHING ~
Seven and a half months after the wedding - or thereabouts - found Minato, his old teacher, Inochi and Mikoto for the arrival of his impatient son. Mikoto, who was starting to appear overdue, had been exempt from the cluster of medics that had ploughed into the room Kushina's yells were emanating from.
She screamed curses and profanities the entire time (15 hours altogether) much to the irritation of Tsume, Inochi, Fugaku, and Tsunade Senju herself. At approximately half past four in the morning Deidara Namikaze, upon meeting the world for the first time, was crying as loudly as his mother had been swearing.
One month and four days late, Mikoto's son finally decided to make his appearance. Despite his status as a medical ninja, Fugaku had been deemed too stressed to be of any use to anyone, and had been ejected from the room whilst his wife was left in the more capable hands of the same doctors that had been supervising Kushina a few weeks before.
Itachi Uchiha was brought into the world eyes blazing red with the Sharingan. He was surprisingly quiet for a newborn. Mikoto blamed this on his un-talkative father. The first time the two were left in the same room, Deidara had the usually quiet boy in tears through reason unknown to their mystified parents.
"The third has announced his retirement hasn't he? Are any of the candidates been appointed yet?" Kushina asked as Minato focused on lightly burning a piece of cheese covered bread under the grill.
"I think Orochimaru was mentioned…"
"I don't like him" Kushina stated flatly, shuddering involuntarily as Minato continued.
"…My parents are being cagey, but that's not what's bothering you is it?" he asked, giving the side of the grill a whack with his hand, trying to encourage it into life.
Kushina sighed.
"I'm not comfortable with Deidara graduating at this age, especially with the war going the way it is. It isn't right!" she shook her head disapprovingly, taking a long sip of coffee from her mug.
"I can't say I like the idea either, but I don't think the Hokage would let anyone graduate at this age unless he was certain of their abilities and in dire need of ninja, which he probably is. You're right though; kids should be kids" he agreed, whacking the side of the grill again.
"Where is that shrimp anyway? It's been unusually quiet this morning" he added, seemingly noticing the unusually quiet for the first time.
As if on cue, their was a loud yell from the upper floor before a thud of small feet and a blonde boy of four years old dashed into the room, struggling to tie on his forehead protector in his haste, and a small bag of his mothers exploding clay slung over one shoulder.
"I can't tie it! I'm going to be late for graduation, yeah!" he complained, directing a plea for help towards his mother.
"Come here shrimp; I'll tie it on for you, are your sandals on right?"
Deidara Namikaze had his mother's pale iron-blue eyes, love of explosions, excitable nature, and preference for long hair (though his own was much shorter than hers). The only parts that seemed vaguely like his father were his blonde hair and apparent prodigal skills as a ninja. He didn't have much patience for sealing, but he soaked up his fathers wind techniques like a sponge. Minato couldn't wait to teach him the flying thunder god technique.
Since the only sealing involved was the creation of the kunai themselves, and the rest was purely the execution of chakra, he had high hopes his son would be equally proficient with it; Kushina had insisted he wait a few more years before that however, and he had rightly agreed. A teleportation technique in the hands of a four year old would be chaotic.
"Yes, and I'm not a shrimp, yeah! Shrimp live in the sea!" the boy protested at the nickname, handing the blue-cloth and metal plate to his father. The moment it was secured to his forehead, he dragged his father towards the door.
"Come on! I'm gonna be late, yeah!" he yelled loudly, pausing only long enough for his Father to pull on his Jonin vest.
"Good luck!" Kushina called to the two of them before the two were gone form the small flat.
"Minato! You made it!" Mikoto greeted cheerfully as he entered the staff room of the academy.
Waiting with her was Shibi Aburame, a recent retiree from the ANBU, and Choza Akimichi. Today was the day they would meet their first Genin squads for the first time, and he was looking forward to the event. He took a seat between Mikoto and Shibi and slumped back on the cushioning of the sofa.
"Bad morning?" Shibi asked quietly as ever.
"Deidara was particularly enthusiastic about graduating, and was convinced we were going to be late if we didn't run" he replied.
"At least he shows some enthusiasm!" Mikoto grumbled.
"Itachi is so calm all the time it worries me! I don't like him graduating this early!"
"You sound exactly like Kushina" Minato laughed.
Mikoto whacked his shoulder, pouting.
"Who have you been assigned to? I have…" she glanced at the form she had picked up from the Hokage's office, re-acquainting herself with the names of her new students.
"Hayate Gekko, Raido Namiashi, and Kurenai Yuuhi" she confirmed.
Minato dimly recognised the Hayate name as that of a sword-using family, and the Yuuhi girl as one of those illusion specialists with the strange red eyes. He glanced down at his own form and blinked in surprise:
"Kakashi Hatake, Obito Uchiha, and Rin Uzuki" he replied in a stunned voice.
"Eh? Obito?!" Mikoto asked, surprised at the mention of her younger brother, now eight years old.
"Never mind Obito Mikoto, I got Sakumo's kid!" Minato objected; Mikoto's old team mate had committed suicide perhaps two or three years ago now, and his wife had followed about a year later.
Minato hoped this Rin girl would be relatively normal - he had met Obito and the boy was as enthusiastic as his own son. As for Kakashi, he had a very worrying creed of obeying the rules to the letter. He could see the explosions now.
"What about you guys?" he asked Shibi and Choza.
"I have… Might Gai? I don't know him, Anko Mitarashi and Iruka Umino" Shibi replied, frowning over the first name.
"That's the green kid Deidara talks about I think," Minato frowned.
"…You mean the boy who often proclaims youth?" Shibi asked, and Minato knew from the long hours spent working with him that he was somewhat horrified.
Choza laughed.
"I pity you Shibi! I got normal kids! Genma Shiranui, Asuma Sarutobi, and Yugao Uzuki" he informed the bug user with a gloating expression.
"Asuma? That the Hokage's kid?" Minato asked.
"Yeah… Either of you know who's taking Itachi and Deidara?" Mikoto asked, going over the list of graduating students.
"That would be me" a voice said from the doorway.
Minato didn't know if the fact his son's new teacher was head of the interrogation department was a good thing or a bad thing.
"Hey Mikoto! Come join us!" Minato crowed from the Ramen stand, waving over the black haired woman and her troupe of duckies (as he referred to his own Genin to their irritation).
She walked over with her small group and took the seat next to him with a cheesy grin. The sickly-looking boy immediately began discussing something with Kakashi, and the other four recent graduates chattered amiably about their relevant tests.
"How did they do?" Mikoto asked, going over the menu handed to her by Teuchi.
"Not too bad; Kakashi ended up tied to the tree stump, but he got it eventually" Minato grinned over his bowl of noodles, ignoring the glare sent his way by his silver-haired student.
Mikoto laughed.
"At least they didn't catch you! Genma pulled the rug over my eyes with his little fainting spell! Raido made a show of helping me and I didn't realise it was all an illusion till Kurenai had the bells! Really, I don't know how those Yuuhi people trick the senses so easily in the middle of a fight! I'm hopeless at illusions!" she moaned, though her tone indicated she was proud of her team for doing so well.
"That you are Mikoto; you never had much patience for them though. I never liked them either; damn fiddly bugge-"
"Miki" she corrected.
He stopped mid sentence and glanced her in confusion.
"Everyone except you calls me Miki; no one calls me Mikoto. And if I remember rightly, you came up with that stupid nickname! Call me Miki!" she seemingly joked, pulling on a fake pout.
He stretched another grin across his face.
"I'll try to remember that" he promised, before turning back to his noodles with a sombre expression on his face.
"Oh, did you hear? Danzou got put on the candidate list!" she said, moving the conversation from dangerous areas, to which Minato heartily encouraged with his cry of disbelief.
Teuchi gave his two customers a wearied shake of his head.
Itachi's fifth birthday was a rather vivid affair; Deidara had decided to look upon Ibiki as if he were some sort of a god, and made it his mission in life to drag a reaction out of his team-mate, all the while trying to keep their female team-mate Ayame from throwing a spanner in his attempts (Ibiki and Mikoto encouraged the behavior with brawling laughter to Kushina's horror).
Kakashi - now a Chunin - gave Deidara a look of complete distaste as he dragged 'big bro' Obito and his team-mates into some sort of game involving hiding, kunai, and the bowl of trifle that took pride of place on the buffet table.
He was later dragged into the game by Rin, Anko (both level-headed stalkers in his mind) and Gai, if only to act as a mediator in place of the supposed adults.
Amidst the antics of the three prodigal Genin, there were two other topics that had captured the attention of the adults; the recent defection of Orochimaru was hot topic between Minato and his teacher (along with many of the other male ninja present), whilst Mikoto was one again suffocated with a pleasant smile on her face as her friends poked and prodded her swollen stomach.
"When is the due date again?" Tsume asked.
"Mid July; two months to go. I hope it's a girl this time… Itachi is adorable, but he's such a handful!"
"Miki, he doesn't cause any problems at all, how is he a handful?" Choza's wife asked in disbelief, shifting her three week old son Choji on her lap.
"That's just it; he's too calm! Why do you think I encourage Deidar-"
"Mother! Mr Namikaze! Kakashi-Sempai hit Uncle Obito on the head and now he won't wake up!" Itachi called, running up to his mother, and gently tugging on her sleeve with severe calm.
"I think that proves her point" Yoshino concluded as Minato made his way over towards his rampant team with fury on his face.
"Damn it Kakashi, what did I tell you about team-work?!"
"This isn't a mission so it doesn't appl- Ow! Ow! Ow! Leggo of my ear! This abuse! I'll sue yo- OW!" Kakashi reasoned.
Deidara dragged his team-mate behind his mothers chair upon sight of his fathers face.
"Mum, dad's scaring me!" he whispered.
Itachi and Ayame said nothing, but the Ramen maker's daughter hid her face in the upholstery, and Itachi gripped the chair with white knuckles, making certain the piece of furniture was between him and the fuming blonde Jonin.
"We caught trails in rice country, but they were long dead. Shibi found traces over in wind country, and Hizashi's ANBU squad caught sight of him last week in Rock country! I'd love to know how he moves around so fast! Those trails couldn't have been more than days old!" Tsume raged, chewing on her sandwich aggressively.
"Tsume, you have to remember who you're talking about; Orochimaru knows all the weaknesses of Konoha's clans, and that you would be immediately sent out to track him. He'll have put plenty of measures in place to keep himself from being found" Kushina replied soothingly.
"Yeah… damn, I feel like I'm forgetting something…" she grumbled to herself, scratching her shaggy mane of spiky brunette hair
Mikoto shuffled back into the room, her hair somewhat rumpled, and began to clatter about in the kitchen.
"I love that kid to bits, but I wish he wasn't so fussy! Look at the mess of my hair!" she complained jokingly.
"What did he do?" Kushina asked intrigued; Deidara had never been much of a grabby baby - throwing, yelling, howling, jumping, twitching, and fidgeting had all made an appearance at some time but he had never been grabby.
Mikoto paused.
"I honestly don't know; I think he was trying to eat it at one point though…" Mikoto frowned.
Sasuke never cried without severe provocation (though for some reason he always wailed whenever Obito and Kakashi were too close), but he was very curious for a four-week old. He constantly gabbled, and grabbed, and tried to eat things even though he wasn't yet teething.
Mikoto was simply dreading that stage - Itachi had suffered in silence, but Sasuke seemed to have more enthusiasm than his brother (her genes most likely). She didn't imagine he would be as easy to deal with for a moment.
"Yoshino told me Shikaku is taking on a team this year" Kushina told them, her stunned reaction clear in her voice.
"…how the hell did the Hokage get that lazy ass to take on a team?" Tsume asked in disbelief.
"Bribery maybe? Who is it?" Mikoto suggested, turning her question to the news-bearer.
"Kotetsu Hagane, Izumo Kamizuki, and Hana" Kushina rattled.
Tsume spluttered.
"Hana?! Oh god, I can't wait to see this! Her pups will drive him up the wall before Kotetsu and Izumo get a chance!" she barked in loud amusement.
"Well, at least he'll be a good teacher… if he can be bothered to do any teaching, that is" Mikoto agreed, opening up the fridge.
"Ah, that's it! Oi, Kushina, where that blonde of yours? I want him to look over a seal we found looking for Orochimaru… I swear even that man's ink smells like snakes" Tsume asked, remembering the matter all of a sudden
"Hokage called him up to the office for some official stuff- hey, Miki, where are you going?" Kushina leaned her head over the back of the sofa to watch her friend heading for the door.
"We're out of rice, I completely forgot! If Sasuke wakes up don't let Tsume get anywhere near him!"
"Hey, I have kids too y'know! Two of them!"
"I know, but you seem to rub him the wrong way for some reason! I'll be five minuets!" she replied, closing the door behind her.
Tsume was rather disgruntled.
"you know she's right, you scare your own kids; if you scared your own husband away, there's no way you aren't going to frighten anti-social junior II" Kushina laughed gleefully.
"Oh god, you're never going to let that go are you? And at least I can remember the kid's name!"
"Down Tsume, Down!"
Tsume growled.
"You wanted to see me Hokage-sama?" Minato asked, entering the Hokage's office at the prompt from his assistant.
The old man was accompanied by his parents and Jiraiya (something of an old second cousin), and was ensconced in his chair with a wrinkled smile on his face. His parents looked… horribly delighted about something; that was never a good situation to be in.
His mentor had one of those 'I-know-something-you-don't-know!' grins on his own visage, and Minato had learned to be wary of those if he was the one it was directed at.
"Minato, I'm glad you got here so quickly. I have a proposition for you" the old man greeted as Minato took the usual spot in the centre of the room, facing the wrinkling Hokage's desk.
"Proposition? What kind?" he asked.
If he hadn't already been leading a team (admittedly all now Chunin, but his students would always be his team besides his own old team-mates), he would have guessed that the man wanted him to take on some Genin. The original request had followed a similar sequence of events, but the presence of the three other people in the room countered that idea.
"Simply put, I'd like to add your name to the list of candidates for the next Hokage that will be presented to the Daimyo at the next council meeting before the election." the man informed him in all seriousness.
Jiraiya's grin broadened at the confusion on the face of his protégé.
"Do what now?" Minato asked, blinking.
"I think you more than meet the requirements Minato" the old man smiled.
Minato stared at him for a few moments in complete shock before his rolled back in his head and he fell to the floor with a loud thud. Jiraiya fell into gales of laughter.
"As amusing as this is, can someone please wake him up? I can't put his name on the list without his permission!" the Hokage asked, giving his old student a berating glance from the corner of his eye.
"Minato!" Mikoto called out to the blonde haired man, busy teaching his grey-haired student the basics on lightning manipulation.
He looked up to find the woman rushing towards them, and gave Kakashi a few more pointers on calling on the lightning element before going to meet the dark haired woman, now two-month old Sasuke in a carrying device on her front.
Itachi poked out from behind her legs nervously; ever since he's been placed on the candidate list, the boy had taken to looking at him with a mixture of awe and confusion; awe from the strength the candidacy implied, and confusion for the form of address.
Itachi had always referred to the man as Uncle Minato, but if his mother's friend (his best friend's father) was to become Hokage, then that form of address simply wouldn't do. He was at a loss as how to address Deidara's father with the possible rise in status.
Thus he had decided to avoid talking to the man if possible; it wasn't ideal, but it was the only solution he could think of that would totally avoid making an embarrassment of himself. Thankfully the blonde man didn't take it the wrong way
"Mikoto, what are you doing all the way out here? With Sasuke even? Hello to you too Itachi," he asked, tapping Itachi's forehead with two fingers - the boy gave him a glare from the corner of his eye.
"They're about to announce the final candidate announcements Minato! You need to be there for the start of the ceremony! You forgot about it didn't you?" Mikoto reminded him, giving him a reprimanding bump on the head with her fist.
"Mother!" Itachi gasped, aghast by the show of violence he was unused to seeing from his mother, never mind to whom it was being directed at.
Mikoto smiled at her son.
"Think of it as vengeance for your forehead Itachi" she said placating.
Itachi frowned.
"Rebenge is bad" he stated, mumbling into his mother's leg.
Mikoto sighed; Itachi was such a pacifist. She knew it had been the fighting that had done that, and in some ways it was a good thing, but taking the path of least resistance wasn't always the best way to do things. Besides, he couldn't even stand a joke between friends any more.
She was glad she had finally convinced the Hokage to take him away from the war zone; if he and his team-mates had to be fighting at their age, they could do it when the fight came to them as far as she was concerned.
Kushina had rightly put her foot down to the old man on the matter too; Mikoto had heard from Minato about the nightmares Deidara had been receiving lately, and there was no way they were healthy. Thankfully Deidara never seemed to remember them, and was just as loudly bubbly during the day as he always had been, but it didn't erase the slight jumpiness that had developed in the boy.
"I'm joking silly, now lets get to the ceremony; you too Minato! Get your team packed up and hurry on up before the ceremony starts!" Mikoto ordered in no-nonsense manner she had yet to use with Itachi; it seemed to be reserved for Minato.
"All right, just give us a moment to finish up!" he called after her, grinning sheepishly.
His young female student, a fellow refugee of his wife's, tugged on the end of his sleeve. He looked down at the eleven year old brunette in puzzlement.
"Is that your girlfriend Minato-Sensei?" she asked.
"Don't be silly Rin! Minato-Sensei's married!" Obito corrected before the blonde man had time to answer her question.
"But he's blushing! Look!" Rin pointed as Minato turned his face from his Genin.
"You heard the woman! We'd better get going!" he stated, busying himself with picking up the rubber batons he'd been training Kakashi's element with.
The after-party of the final nominations was fairly raucous; for many of the younger ninja it was their first time at such an excitable party; for the previous war veterans, they had seen such wild antics after the end of the second ninja war.
Fugaku and Kushina kept a beady eye on their spouses as they enjoyed the festivities, watching the blond and black-haired woman growing increasingly inebriated with alcohol consumption and cheer.
"I still don't see why he cant just divorce them and be done with it; your elders should be happy with your two Sharingan brats by now, so the marriage isn't necessary any more, right?!" Kushina growled, throwing back a shot of sake irritably.
"They won't do anything unless they take the first steps themselves, you know that. Mikoto sees things thought, and Minato is a stubborn idiot" Fugaku replied, glancing at the sake bottle Kushina was frequently pouring from with a contemplative look in his eye.
"But if we let them do that then they'll never get this crap sorted out!" Kushina pulled her hair in frustration.
"My thoughts exactly; thankfully I've planned for that" Fugaku smirked smugly.
"Explain…" Kushina demanded in a threatening tone; a result of being removed from the loop.
"It's fairly simple to create a mild drug that enhances the hormones" Fugaku smirked, finally taking a small sip of sake.
"…No! You didn't!" Kushina gasped, horrified ecstasy on her face.
Fugaku pointed behind her and she whirled on the barstool to glance behind her, and her jaw dropped.
"…how much did you give them? I didn't think Mikoto even knew what a lap-dance was!" she asked in astonishment.
"Remember those shots we got in the academy to keep down chakra poisoning?" Fugaku asked.
Kushina's paling skin tone told him she did indeed remember the immunisations.
"Twice what was in those" his smirked as Kushina paled another shade.
"…you are a very twisted man, Fugaku. Very twisted"
"Whatever works. You got those divorce papers handy?"
"Yeah, in my set of drawers so Minato won't find them, why?"
"because there is no way in hell I will settle for anything less when I had to resort to drugs to make certain those idiots would work things out; show no mercy Kushina! No mercy!" he drawled before passing out on the counter top.
"That would be so much more dramatic if you weren't such a lightweight" Kushina commented.
Mikoto sat up in bed feeling confused, messy-haired and for some reason better than she had in years. Daring a glance to the arm draped over her waist and the body it was connected to, she decided to lie back down; this was another sickeningly twisted good dream, and the less she saw of it the better.
She pulled the covers over her head in an attempt pretend she was still asleep, before flipping them back down again. This was childish; they were both grown ups, and this would be dealt with maturely… then again, hiding under the covers could be an even better solution, since this was clearly a twisted form of vengeance from the gods for… something.
A grunted movement from the figure next to her pulled her back down to bed and she whined in irritation and supposedly suppressed happiness. Jesus even after eight years, he still grabbed her in his sleep. Not that she could talk; she wasn't exactly trying to escape.
Oh, she was freaking out, but escape? The thought hadn't entered her mind; if this was another of her torturous dreams, she would make the most of it while she could (as per usual).
More movement from Minato alerted her to his wakening and she patiently waited for him to fall out of the bed in shock (as he had done once several years ago, before her clan began meddling in things). Surprisingly she was disappointed.
"I missed you" he mumbled, burying his nose and face into the black messy mass that covered one of her shoulders.
"Y-You're real?" Mikoto asked, not sure whether to be pleased or distressed by the previously ignored knowledge.
"You said that the first time too" he snickered.
Mikoto whacked his side, sitting up in the bed.
"I don't know how to react to this, Minato" she started.
"Take your time; I'll agree to whatever you decide.
"Wha-"
"I still love you, Kushina often teases me about it, but the fact is I wont do anything that's going to cause you any discomfort" he stated, a weak grin on his face.
Mikoto bit her lip; if she was honest, this decision had been coming ever since she'd heard that he and Kushina had gotten together. She was no more than content with Fugaku, he was a good father yes, but she had never been comfortably comfortable with him.
Kushina and Minato weren't the type to suddenly start dating out of the blue; for one thing they still had moments when they irritated the other to no end, oh they cared for the other yes, but they were team-mates and they had known each other for years.
But then they were married and having a baby; the jealousy and knife wounds in her chest were nonsensical to her, but they were there. She knew enough to realise it had been at the insistence of his parents (and because Minato tended to have a noble streak), but she had still been jealous.
That could only mean one thing in her mind.
"I don't think you're the only one who feels that way… but that doesn't really make things any simpler" she mumbled, lowering her head to the mass of sheets covering her knees in frustration.
Minato put an arm around her shoulder, but it was a hollow gesture when the same thoughts plagued his own mind.
"You still like omelettes right?" Minato asked, pulling a frying pan from the cupboard.
Minato nodded, watching as he fought with the temperamental cooker, trying to coax the gas flame into life; he'd taken down armies of ninja, but it was amusing to watch him be defeated by a simple gas ring on an old cooker.
Seated at the table as she was, Mikoto was the first to notice the thick A4 envelope with both their names on. Slightly alarmed, she seized the brown package and tore it open to pull out the wad of papers.
The first piece of paper was a letter in familiar handwriting.
Dear Idiots,
If you two don't sign these after all the trouble I went to in spiking your drinks last night (Minato, you of all people know how hard it is to bribe Inochi), then I swear to god I will trap you both in my Mangekyo illusion and force you to sign them.
Kushina says something about blowing you to kingdom come as well. Honestly; we are sick to death of watching the pair of you dance around each other like a couple of martyrs. Even Deidara and Itachi have noticed for god's sakes!
Sign the forms, or else.
Sincerely,
Fugaku and Kushina
P.S.
Don't think I won't hold that threat because I assure you I will; it's for your own good.
Mikoto took a glance at the remaining papers and almost splurted her glass of orange juice when she caught the print at the top of the page: 'Ninja Law Draft 17; Divorce'
Yaaay. Chapter Two!
This story will officially have two more chapters before finishing. I'm working on the last one at the moment, I just need to run it through a decent spell check - my new laptop died a horrible clanking death (literally), and I've been forced to resort to OpenOffice on my old laptop - I hate the auto correct and the non-grammar checking on that thing!
Hope you liked it.
Nat.
xxx