Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto...yes, i'm still trying to get over that.


"Learning is a gift, even when pain is the teacher." – Unknown


"Dattebayō!"

- is the catchphrase of one Naruto Uzumaki. It has no real meaning, but he uses it at the end of his sentences – often triggered by strong emotion; happiness, excitement, determination, anger etc.

His mother was the same. Even though while she was embarrassed by it –calling it a verbal tic-, Naruto embraced it. Maybe because he wanted to be closer to his mother, be unique or simply to annoy the vast majority of people, no one knows.

However, it seems that Fate decided to give Naruto a taste of his own medicine.

"Mina-chan," Naruto sighed tiredly, as he walked through the shopping district, "Stop it already."

Ignoring her father, Minako Uzumaki continued to run circles around her father, chanting, "Dattebayō! Dattebayō! Dattebayō!" While people passing them would do their very best to cover their snickers, but in the end they all failed to do so.

Today, on the 10th of October, Naruto decided he wanted to celebrate his birthday –which is coincidentally the same day the 4th Great Shinobi War ended- by commemorating those who had lost their lives fighting for the Allied Shinobi Forces' coalition, which was formed in order to stand together and defeat a common enemy.

The army had many shinobi and samurai. After the war ended, all five nations and the Land of Iron suffered great loss. But thankfully, the Shinobi Union was formed. With this union, villages and people were not short on resources to have a new beginning.

The people have been through a lot to be where they are now.

At peace.

And that is exactly what Naruto wanted to teach his daughter today.

…if only she'd stop and listen!

Naruto sighed once again. Shaking his head he looked up when he saw a set of open gates leading into the Konoha Cemetery. There are many people there already; Ino placed flowers on her dad's grave, Kurenai and Mirai are visiting Asuma again, Yugao was tenderly touching Hayate's grave. Naruto smiled sadly at them. Silently thanking everyone for their hard work and cooperation, and for giving him the strength and motivation to keep on fighting.

Tug.

Naruto blinked and looked down to see a small pudgy hand tug at his pants. Trailing the hand to its owner, he stares into Minako's eyes, which are currently shining with curiosity, "Dattebayō?" She tilts her head to the side.

Naruto's lips twitched upwards at that. He swept a hand through his short spikes, "You're never going to stop teasing me, are you 'ttebayō?"

Minako's smile turned mischievous; she yelled, "Dattebayō!"

Laughing at his ever-adorable daughter, Naruto quickly swept her into his arms, manoeuvring her so that she was out of reach to bite him, but held a firm grip when she started wiggling.

Moving towards the Cemetery, Naruto asked, directing her attention away from her displeasure, "Look around Mina-chan, what do you think all these people have in common?"

She looked to the left, she looked to the right and shrugged, "…Dattebayō?"

Naruto chuckled; of course his daughter wouldn't be able to tell him –she was only a year and a half old!- and they have barely made progress beyond from 'Dattebayō'. But she understood what she was being told, and that is good enough for him.

Naruto moved towards a large sculpture at the very front of the Cemetery. It's a sculpture representing the Will of Fire.

"You see, Mina-chan, all these people have one thing in common: they all believe in the Will of Fire." He put her gently down on the ground and turned her around so that she could see the sculpture. "This is the hope and dreams of all shinobi. It gives us strength to continue fighting against all odds. It tells you to never give up, no matter what, 'ttebayō!"

He looks down at his daughter, only to see her gazing in a dream-like state at the large statue, "Ninja are those who protect the Leaf and those within it."

With crossed arms, Naruto closed his eyes and smiled in satisfaction.

"…Leaf?" He heard a tiny voice ask.

Opening his eyes immediately, Naruto looked at Minako, who had picked up a fallen leaf from the ground. She stared at it blankly and studied it before holding it out to her father, "Leaf, Dattebayō?"

Naruto smiled at her brightly and crouched down to her level, "That's right, Mina-chan, protect the Leaf and those who live in it. That's my Nindō, my Ninja way." He put a stray strand of her hair behind her ear, "It can be yours too, if you want to."

Minako looked from Naruto to the leaf in her hand in contemplation before nodding her head, "Aaa…Leaf, 'ttebayō."

Naruto let out a soft chuckle as he lifted a hand and ruffled her already messy hair.

"Oh, Naruto," they heard a voice exclaim, "Fancy seeing you here, isn't it your birthday? Shouldn't you be home celebrating with your family?" Turning to the right –where the voice came from- they saw Kurenai with Mirai and her babysitter walking towards them.

"Orange-y!"

"Orange-y?" Naruto smiled in amusement as he lifted an eyebrow.

Kurenai and the babysitter laughed into their hands while Mirai blushed in embarrassment. Minako looked on at the scene in confusion.

Kurenai waved her hand dismissively, "Gomen, it seems Mirai-chan still can't help calling people their proper names instead of nicknames. She still calls Shino 'Uncle Buggy' and Kiba 'Kibamaru' and Hinata 'Auntie Hime'. It's almost second-nature to her now." Kurenai shrugs her shoulders helplessly.

Naruto laughs, "Don't worry 'bout it. I was the same when I was almost her age!"

Which is true. Naruto's never been one for formality and doesn't care much about someone's social standing. Instead of honorifics, he would give them a nickname (e.g. Rock Lee – Bushy Brows; Jiraya – Pervy Sage).

Kurenai smiles politely, "I know. But it would still be nice if she didn't. She is going to take the graduation exam soon after all, which means she'll have to represent the Sarutobi clan."

"Eh? She's graduating so soon? Then why does she need a babysitter?"

Kurenai sheepishly smiled at him, "Well she doesn't, but we've grown so attached to her that she feels like a part of the family now. Besides, I still need some help every now and then."

The babysitter nodded with a smile as well, "It's been an honour to help them and I will continue to do so as long as I'm needed."

"Souka," Naruto turned to Mirai, "Well I bet you'll make your father very proud 'ttebayō!"

Mirai smiled widely, eyes shining with hope, "You think so?"

Naruto grinned with a thumbs-up, "Sure, Dattebayō!"

"Dattebayō?"

At hearing the tiny voice, Kurenai instantly brightened up more, "Ah! Minako-chan, it's good to see you again. Have you been a good girl?" Kurenai ran at her like a bulldozer, picked her up and began to coo at her student's daughter, "Oh, you're just so kawaii!"

Naruto sweat-dropped, "Eto…you really miss having a baby around don't ya, Kurenai-sensei."

"Oh hush you," Kurenai chided, "It feels like you've only blinked your eyes and then the next thing you know they're off on missions and training while you're home constantly worrying about their safety," she handed Minako –whose head was spinning so bad she barely knew where she was- into Naruto's arms, "You should appreciate the time you have with her now, especially if you're still determined to become the Hokage. There's no sadder feeling you'll get when you realize your child doesn't need you anymore." She sighed.

Naruto grins and laughs nervously, not really understanding.

Kurenai looks up, "That reminds me, where's Hinata? I imagine she'd want to be out here with you two as well."

"She wasn't feeling up to it today. She's been throwing up since six o'clock in the morning."

"Because of the pregnancy?"

Naruto nodded, with worry in his eyes, "Yeah, it's strange, she wasn't nearly this sick when she was pregnant with Minako. I don't think she was even sick at all, it's starting to freak me out."

Kurenai waved his concerns away, "Don't worry about it. It's completely normal; I myself was very closely acquainted with the bathroom when I was pregnant with Mirai."

Naruto pulled a face at that. He wasn't sure how to answer, so he changed the subject, "Well, I offered to stay with her, but she insisted that it was a nice day and Minako should get some sunlight. Only told us to bring some flowers for Neji."

Kurenai looked Minako over once more, before tutting, "You should've put a straw hat on Minako, Naruto. I read somewhere that redheads burn easily."

While the adults continued to talk, Mirai –who was starting to get bored- peered at Minako, still sitting in her father's arms.

Feeling a pair of eyes on her, Minako looked down at Mirai, who smiled friendlily when she caught Minako's eyes, and waved a little, "Hello, I'm Mirai. What's your name?"

Minako tilted her head to the side, but didn't say anything. When Minako didn't respond, Mirai frowned a little, "Well?"

Minako blinked, "Dattebayō."

"What?"

"Dattebayō."

"What's that supposed to even mean?"

Once again Minako didn't respond, but let out a tiny yawn.

Mirai let out an unimpressed huff, crossing her arms, "You're pretty stupid aren't you?"

"Mirai!" Kurenai gasped, having overheard her.

"What? It's true! I could speak in full sentences by the time I was 2-years-old!"

Kurenai continued to scold Mirai, while Minako glared at her, offended.

"But she doesn't say more than one word!"

Minako's glare intensified, "U-u-su-usu-," She was stumbling through her words, as if trying to prove Mirai wrong in her assumption that Minako couldn't speak.

Frustrated, she took a deep breath and pointed her tiny index finger at Mirai and with a scowl proclaimed;

"Usu-'aton-ka'chi!"

Everyone was stunned into silence. Until Naruto –who had been frozen in shock- screamed, "NANI?! SASUKEEEE!"


How it started…

Everything about this is stupid.

It's all just so stupid.

What is all of this supposed to even be?

Reincarnation?

The body dies, but the soul doesn't?

Cut the crap.

But what am I then?

An abomination?

A zombie?

A freak of nature?

"Mina-chan!" A masculine voice called. Looking up from her place on the carpet, she saw the face of her supposed father, Naruto Uzumaki also known as Mr.-I-save-the-world-before-breakfast, beaming down at her. He pointed at himself, "O-tō-chan!" He said slowly.

Urgh, so stupid.

He was stupid. Why does he always have to wear that blinding shade of orange anyway? Such an eyesore.

"C'mon Mina-chan! Say, O-tō-chan 'ttebayo!" He chirped again as he, again, pointed at himself with his bandaged finger.

And it's constantly, "This, 'ttebayō!" "That, 'ttebayō!"

So stupid.

Let's see how he likes it.

Minako opened her mouth. Seeing this, Naruto's grin widened and eyes shined with expectation, Yes! Finally!

"Da…'tte…'ba…yō."

Naruto blinked, dumbfounded, "…Eh?"

Minako grinned devilishly and threw her hands in the air.

"Dattebayō!"


A/N Hey everyone! It's been a long time, I know. But like I said in my last A/N this is not actually my main story, more like a side-project.

I want to thank all of you whom have favorited/alerted/reviewed my story!

SO Minako has red hair. The reason for this is because when I counted all of your requests red overruled and because I thought that it might be funny for Naruto and Hinata to have all their children with different hair colors.

I also drew a picture, if you want to check that out, it's supposed to depict Naruto ruffling Minako's messy red hair in fatherly fondness. (...And if we could all ignore the fact that I accidentally drew three wiskers-marks on Minako's face instead of two, that would be awesome.)

P.S This is completely unrelated to this story, but does anyone know of a Naruto/Harry Potter crossover where Harry is born as Sasuke and Sakura's son? 'cause if not then this Plot Bunny is running in my head at high speed all throughout the day and I'm just itching to write but I don't know if anyone's already thought of this or not!

Also if anyone has any ideas for prompts then feel free to prompt me! :)

- XOXO Kamigami.