No, I do not own Naruto.
A/N: Don't worry Liger01, it's not going to be a Naru/Hina or Naru/Saku pairing. In fact, there's a poll on my bio page to help me decide his romantic interest, or if there'll even be one. Now, I'm not making any promises that the poll winner will be the one I use, unless their victory is overwhelmingly decisive. So, dear readers, go to my bio page and vote for Naruto's dreamgirl (for this fic, anyways)!
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Kushina groaned, shifting slightly, wondering why she wasn't in bed, snuggled up against Minato, his hand on her belly. After a few moments, her eyes snapped open as she shot upright, brown eyes filled with terror as she cried "Minato!" Her eyes darted around the hospital room, trying to find her missing husband, until a small hand placed itself on her shoulder. Snapping her head to her side, she saw Tsunade sitting in a chair by her bed, sadness in her eyes.
"Tsunade..." Kushina asked, and the sannin sighed as she said "I'm sorry Kushina..."
Kushina felt tears flow down her cheeks, fighting the sobs as she asked "What about my Naruto-chan? Is he OK?" She felt her heart drop into her stomach as Tsunade's face didn't brighten when asked about her newborn 'grand nephew'.
"No..." Kushina whispered, looking to her lap as a sob escaped her throat, but felt the hand squeeze her shoulder as Tsunade said "Kushina, he's not dead..."
Kushina snapped her head toward the woman as she cried "Then what? What is it?!"
"It's his eyes... I'm sorry Kushina, but Naruto... Naruto's completely blind." Tsunade said, Kushina looking stunned at the woman her husband considered an aunt, woth a hint of hope on her face.
"But... but otherwise he's fine, right?" Kushina asked, and confused by the question, Tsunade nodded and said "Of course, but Kushina, don't you understand?"
"Of course I understand. My son's blind. But we're shinobi, and he has not only me, but Minato in him, so if anyone can learn to overcome this, its him. I'm worried if there's something more serious wrong with him." Kushina said.
Tsunade listened to the redhead, a soft smile on her face as she said "That's true."
"Tsunade, can I see my Naruto-chan?" Kushina asked, and smiling to the redhead, Tsunade nodded and said "Of course. I just need to see if I can't get him away from Jiraiya first. Man's been cooing and coddling the baby when it's awake since he... he retrieved him from Minato. You better be careful, or that fool's going to spoil that child rotten."
"Before you can, right?" Kushina asked with a smirk, to which the blonde sannin returned a smirk of her own, arms crossed under her chest as she said "You're damn right, Kushina. If anyone's going to spoil that little angel, its going to be ME!"
"So, your going to be staying in Konoha?" Kushina questioned, to which Tsunade gaped, sputtered, before finally sighing as she said "I guess. I mean, that little sundrop's going to need his auntie Tsunade around to be a good role model and counteract Jiraiya's negative influence... Besides, if anyone's going to be his doctor, it's me."
"Well, before you and Jiraiya start your 'spoil my baby rotten' contest, may I see him first?" Kushina asked, and Tsunade smiled and said "Of course.", standing from her chair and exiting the hospital room.
Sighing, the redhead buried her face into her hands, shoulders shuddering as she whispered "What am I going to do without you, Minato?"
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Opening her eyes as her hospital door opened again, Kushina gave a smile as she saw Tsunade enter carrying a chubby baby boy with blonde fuzz on his head and making the most pitiful sounds she'd ever heard.
Frowning as she heard him, Kushina asked "What's the matter with him, Tsunade?"
Tsunade gave her a reassuring smile as she said "Don't worry Kushina, your son's just hungry. I'm afraid that he might have that legendary appetite of Minato's." Kushina sighed and smiled, grabbing her chest as she said "I guess that means you girls are going to have to work overtime or be deflated." Taking her son from Tsunade, Kushina dropped one side of her gown, allowing her breast to hang free. Bringing her son up to the nipple, he latched instinctively onto and begun suckling greedily.
Kushina sighed contently as she watched her newborn son suckle on her breast, tiny fists moving as he enjoyed his meal. Smiling sadly, she blinked the tears from her eyes as she said "Don't worry Naruto-chan, mommy's here, and she won't let anything happen to you. I don't care if you're blind, deaf, or whatever, I'll protect you and make sure that you live a long, happy, healthy life."
"And don't you worry, Kushina. Me and Jiraiya are going to help you do just that." Tsunade said, stroking the infant's whisker-scarred cheek as he opened pale, pupiless blue eyes, which looked around unseeingly. The door opened and admitted Tsunade's young apprentice Shizune, a slug doll that greatly resembled Katsuya in her arms.
"He's sooo cute!" Shizune said with a bright smile as she set the doll aside, Kushina nodding as she said "That he is... And, if I may say so, he gets most of his good looks from me."
"Well then, lets hope he gets his personality from Minato. Last think Konoha needs is another you running around, blind or not." Tsunade said, Kushina frowning at the blonde medic-nin as she grumbled "Ha ha. Very funny, Tsunade."
"Can I hold him?" Shizune asked hopefully, and Kushina smiled as she said "Well, let him finish eating first. I don't to ever be the source of those pitiful sounds he makes, and taking him away before he's done eating will certainly cause him to make those pitiful sounds."
"Jusy like Minato and food."
Three sets of eyes turned to the doorway to see Jiraiya's large back, his front facing out into the hallway. Raising an eyebrow, Tsunade asked "Jiraiya, what in the name of Kami are you doing?"
"Well, Kushina's breastfeeding little Naruto-chan, so I'm turning my back so as to give her privacy." Jiraiya stated matter-of-factly. The three women in the room merely started at him in stunned silence for several long moments, before Tsunade jumped into action.
"Shizune! Check outside and see if the sky's falling or there's any pigs flying through the air! Kushina! Take Naruto and get somewhere safe! I'll get you when the danger's over!" Tsunade barked, Shizune running to the window in fear as Kushina stood and began trying to get her pants on one-handed while not removing her nipple from her son's mouth.
"Tsunade, what's the matter?!" Jiraiya asked, and Tsunade replied "You have a free chance to see a naked breast, and you're not taking it?! The Apocolypse is obviously nigh!"
At that, Jiraiya rounded on the trio, a look of seriousness on his face and eyes closed, arms crossed over his chest and the large stuffed toad he held. The trio of women stopped moving and turned to him as he said "Himes, I'm surprised at you. You have so little respect in me that you would honestly believe I'd leer at the wife of a man I loved like a son while she feeds my grandson. Honestly, I do have standards!"
The three women stared at Jiraiya in stunned silence, Tsunade breaking it by softly saying "Jiraiya, I'm sorry, I just thought..."
Jiraiya waved her off as he said "Don't worry about it, I know my reputation." His face broke into a broad grin as he said "Besides, if I wanted to see breasts, I can do a lot better than leering at new mothers in the hospital! Women line the streets, begging me to view their magnificent bodies for my glorious work! I know you've always wanted to show me that beautiful body of yours!"
"Jiraiya! You're lucky we're already in the hospital..." Tsunade snarled, to which the white-haired hermit let out his deep, rumbling laugh as he said "Kidding, Tsunade! Kidding! Don't blow a gasket, hime!"
Tsunade growled, shaking her head as Kushina sighed and turned to her son and muttered "Yeah, you're going to have a very interesting childhood, I can already see that." Naruto merely turned pale, pupiless blue eyes to her, smiling around the nipple he was suckling on and allowing some milk and saliva to trickle out.
"Good to know you agree, Naruto-chan." Kushina replied with a smile, wiping up the liquid from around his mouth as her son returned to his content suckling.
--------------------------------- ONE AND A HALF YEARS LATER ------------------------------------
"Fwog!" a small voice called out as the blonde-haired toddler waddled down the hallway. Wearing a dark blue t-shirt emblazoned with a smiling yellow cartoon slug and cream shorts, the whisker-cheeked toddler's head turned left and right, as if he could see.
"Naruto-chan! You shouldn't run off! You know its not safe!" Shizune cried exasperatedly, the slug doll she had bought the child when he was born tucked under her right arm.
"Wan' fwog!" Naruto said stubbornly, tiny arms trying to cross over his chest as he turned toward the sound of Shizune's voice, a pout on his chubby face.
Shizune looked at the toddler, a tiny twinge of guilt in her chest as she held out the slug doll she was carrying and said "Here's frog. Now come back to the playroom Naruto-chan..."
However, his response caused her to stare at the boy in shocked silence as, without touching the stuffed animal, said "Not wan' swug! Wan' fwog!"
"Wh-what did you say?" Shizune asked after finding her voice, and her tiny 'nephew' repeated "Not wan' swug! Wan' fwog!" Shizune gulped as she watched the tiny form of Naruto turn and begin toddling down the hallway again, once more calling for his stuffed frog.
"Ho-how..." Shizune asked noone, before remembering the tiny child quickly waddling away. Quickly catching up to him, she picked the small boy up in her arms, earning a suprised squawk from the boy as she said "I'll help you find frog Naruto-chan."
As she carried the tiny blonde in her arms, the child calling out for his beloved stuffed frog, Shizune couldn't help but think 'What is going on with you, Naruto-chan?'
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Kushina yawned, pulling off her hitai-ate, cursing the idiots she worked with at the administration tower, as she walked into the house she and Minato had shared, which now housed her Tsunade, Shizune, Jiraiya, and of course, her little Naruto-chan. Thinking of her blonde cherub, she smiled. Most of the time, it was hard to even tell that he was even blind. Apparently, he wanted to prove his mommy right when she'd told Tsunade that he could overcome the disability.
"Naruto-chan! I'm home!" Kushina called, and recieved a familiar cry of 'momma!' and the sound of bare feet padding toward the main room as an answer. Turning the corner into the living room, she watched her Naruto waddle up to her and latch onto her, babbling about his day in his own special way.
"Hey Naruto-chan! I missed you!" Kushina said and knelt down, gathering the boy in her arms, smiling as she felt him wrap his arms around her neck and bury his face in her shoulder. Kissing him on the forehead, Kushina saw Shizune enter quickly, but grew concerned at the look she was recieving from the dark-haired apprentice of Tsunade.
"Hey Shizune... Is there something wrong?" Kushina asked, and Shizune rubbed the back of the head as she said "Well... its about Naruto..."
"Naruto?" Kushina asked, and the child replied "Momma?"
"Hush, I'm talking to auntie Shizi." Kushina said, and the boy nodded as if in understanding, snuggling his face deep into his mother's neck, already feeling sleepy now that he was once more in his mother's arms.
"What about him?" Kushina questioned, and Shizune answered "It's nothing bad... It's just, well, unusual."
"How so?"
"Well, today Naruto was trying to find his frog, you know, the one Jiraiya got for him? Anyways, I tried to give him his slug one in its place so I could get him back to his playroom... But without even touching it, he was able to tell it wasn't his frog." Shizune answered, and Kushina blinked before turning to the dozing blonde in her arms as she unknowingly thought the same thing Shizune had earlier 'What's going on with you, Naruto-chan?'
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A couple of days later, Kushina found herself sitting in Tsunade's office/examination room, holding her son in her lap as he played with his stuffed slug, watching as Tsunade checked and double-checked papers in a manilla folder, ocassionally talking to Jiraiya and Hizashi before returning to the papers. By request of both Tsunade and Kushina, the two men aiding the medic-nin in trying to figure out what was going on with her son. Finally, Tsunade nodded and closed the folder, standing from her desk and moving to stand before Kushina.
The redhaired mother felt her heart pound in her chest as Tsunade said "Kushina, we've run every medical exam and test that we know. And as far as we can tell is that Naruto-chan apparently has the makings of a new kekkai gekkai."
"A-a new kekkai gekkai?" Kushina asked, the blonde smiled as she said "Yes, Kushina. He's as healthy as the day he was born, so don't worry. The only real difference is that, as Hizashi explained to me, his body seems to generate an unique chakra pulse at regular intervals that radiates outward in a dome. And once released, it goes out a set distance before disappating, except when it encounters something such as you, trees, or his stuffed toys. Once encountering an object, it bounces back to him and gives him a 'view' of sorts of the world around him, similar to ecolocation."
"OK..." Kushina said, and Tsunade nodded as Hizashi stepped in and continued "What Naruto most likely sees is a colorless, textureless version of our world. Trees look like lightpoles with paper leaves on them, people resemble clay statues, and books and scrolls might as well be blank to him."
"How often does he send out these 'chakra pulses', Hizashi?" Kushina asked, and Hizashi answered "About every three to five seconds, with it taking two to three seconds for it to radiate outward and bounce back. Which means that its like he's blinking very slowly, with two to three seconds between each look at the world."
"But how exactly how big is this 'chakra pulse dome' you were speaking of?" Kushina questioned, and Hizashi replied "Right now its rather small, with only a couple yards in diameter with him in the exact middle of the dome, but as he gets older, it should grow larger until it goes about as far as human sight, though the farther away something is, the less clearly he'll 'see' it, much like human sight. So, with some training, he should be able to live about as normally as people around him. Even become a shinobi should he wish."
"Won't be the first blind shinobi we've had in Konoha." Jiraiya said with a grin, Kushina nodding as she remembered the young chuunin Tonbo. Maybe she could get him to help Naruto later on.
"Hear that baby? You might have a kekkai gekkai!" Kushina said, hugging her son softly, who merely giggled and said "You're silly mommy!"
"No, you're silly. And silly boys need to be kissed!" Kushina said, and began peppering the tiny blonde with kisses, causing Tsunade, Hizashi, and Jiraiya to laugh at their antics.
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A/N - So, how do you like Naruto's 'kekkai gekkai' of sorts? Basically, its ecolocation with chakra instead of sound, and since Naruto has so much chakra naturally, the drain is negligable. If its too much, I can change it.
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Oh, and don't forget to vote on my bio page poll for Naruto's romantic interest!