Chapter 4: Family Issues

"MOMMY! You're home!" shouted the blonde streak that ran into Hinata. The chair Hinata was sitting in slid back a few inches from the impact. Hinata was smiling widely as she bent over to hug the child and lift the small girl into her lap. The girl wrapped her arms around Hinata' neck and squeezed until Hinata had to gasp for air.

"Did you behave while you were staying with Tsunade-sama?" Hinata asked the child.

The girl's head quickly nodded like a child who has something to hide. Hinata glanced at Tsunade who smirked and nodded slightly.

Ken smiled briefly at the scene until the girl relaxed her hold on Hinata and looked back at him.

The girl hopped off of Hinata's lap faced Ken. She straightened out her kimono then bowed and said, "Good Morning Sir. Welcome to the Uzumaki household. I am Uzumaki Kushina."

Ken just stared at the child. The girl looked like a small version of Hinata with 2 major differences. Her hair was a sun yellow and her all white eyes were tinged in blue where her mother's had hints of lavender.

After Ken had stood quietly in shock for over a minute, Kushina turned to her mother and said in a small voice, "Did I do it right, Mommy? He hasn't said anything back."

"You did it exactly right, sweetie. Ken is just surprised to meet you." Hinata looked up at Ken next. "Ken, Kushina is Naruto's daughter. She was named after Naruto's mother; her grandmother."

Ken was getting over his shock and bowed back to the girl, "I am called Ken. I had another name once but I don't remember anything about it."

Kushina looked carefully at Ken then asked, "Did it hurt bad when you got those owies on your face?"

Hinata paled while Tsunade laughed out loud. "She is definitely Naruto's daughter with that sense of tact."

Ken smiled wryly but answered Kushina, "I don't remember if it hurt or not. I don't have those memories either."

Kushina just smiled and said OK before turning back to her mother. "'Zashi-kun doesn't want to stop training with Grandfather again, Mommy. Grandfather said something about having to bill you for his lunch one of these days."

"Zashi?" Ken asked.

"Kushina's younger twin brother by a half hour brother; Uzumaki Hizashi. He was named after my uncle, my father's twin brother"

"Twins. Naruto had twins?"

Hinata got an amused look on her face, "No, 'I' had twins." Hinata's face darkened after that, "He disappeared before he even knew they were coming. They were honeymoon babies." She bit her lip to prevent tears from falling. "The twins will be 7 and a half soon. I got lucky with the way things turned out. My original clan decided to be civil and help out some. Plus, after Tsunade-sama stepped down as Hokage, she came to live with her favorite niece and nephew."

"Not by blood of course, but in the heart," Tsunade added at Ken's confused glance at her.

Ken sat down and looked back at Hinata and Kushina. The blows just kept on coming. It seems that Naruto had a much better life than Ken did. All the things he had ever wanted were waiting here for him; a wife, a family, a past. But they all belonged to someone else; someone locked within him. The cost of getting those things could be his own destruction.


Inoichi was rummaging through scroll after scroll of seals within the ANBU library. He had found the original memory seal easily enough. The parts added to it seemed to remind him of something he had only glanced at once many years before. The closest he had come so far was similar to what he was looking for but the source disturbed him. It was a mention of a prototype seal found amid papers recovered from Orochimaru's lab when the dead Snake Sannin had fled Konoha for good. Inoichi headed to Ibiki's office to gain access to the Forbidden Section of the library to look at the original notes.


Hinata headed out with Kushina to check on her missing son but Tsunade took Ken by the arm and pulled him into a small room. He was surprised to find it was a medical exam room.

"What is all this for? They gave me a check up yesterday," he asked.

"Hush, gaki. That was for basic health. The medics there are not specialists like me. I am the one who also takes care of the twin's health needs. Now, I am going to check you out up to my standards. Mainly a basic scan and see if I can do anything about your scarring. I am not great at cosmetic work but there are a few tricks I picked up over the decades."

Ken nodded and just went along with the older blonde. He lay on the table while she ran a glowing hand over his body. He listened to her mutter at she was recording some notes as she went.

"Muscular mass appears normal. Well developed above average range for a shinobi but fits job description for a smith. Chakra coils are equivalent to that of a high jonin but show signs of having been larger in the past. This also fits due to the lack of chakra circulation for the past 8 years."

Tsunade moved up to Ken's face and moved her hand much slower now.

"Facial scarring is mainly cosmetic. It seems to have been done mainly to obscure and distort facial features. Hmm, interesting. Residual marks previously called 'whiskers' seem absent. Follow up on that at a later time. Burn scars are deeper as on that side of the face and indicate damage caused by fire jutsu. The sudden stop of the scarring would indicate that as well due to the collar of Naruto's flame retardant uniform ending near that point. Heavy burn scar tissue could be debrided to reduce appearance but not eliminated entirely without heavy surgery or regeneration of tissues."

Tsunade stepped back at that point and shut off her recording. "All done, Ken"

"So?"

"Well, I can tell you are healthy as a horse. You're only real difficulty physically is the facial scarring you have. I can lighten up the cut scars slightly but they will still be noticeable. For the burns I can use chakra to thin down the scar tissue somewhat."

Ken nodded slowly. He could go from hideous to just really ugly.

"Hinata said you were Hokage and your face is on the mountain there. I guess it must have been something pretty bad to make you crippled like that."

Tsunade nodded slowly, "Yes, it was pretty bad." She sat on a chair in the office and rolled up the leg of her pants. Her lower leg had been amputated just below the knee and she wore a prosthetic limb. "I'll tell you about it this evening when the kids are in bed and I can have a few drinks. A lot has happened in Konoha the past 8 years."

Ken heard the door chime sound and with Tsunade headed for the front gate. The maid had beaten them to the door and a chunin was waiting in the foyer.

"Tsunade-sama, Ken-san, the Hokage has requested Ken's presence at his earliest convenience."

"I am doing nothing so I shall be along directly," Ken told the chunin.

"I'll escort Ken to Kakashi," Tsunade offered. "Tell him we will be there shortly."

The chunin bowed and left while Tsunade turned to get her green smock with the kanji for 'Gamble' on the back. She tossed Ken his hooded cloak and said, "Come on Ken. I'll give you the nickel tour of Konoha."

"But doesn't Hokage Kakashi wish to see me right away?" Ken asked.

"Yup, that is why he is going to wait a couple of hours. An old joke, trust me on it."


Ken walked along with Tsunade as the lady pointed out various points of interest of Konoha. The entire time people greeted Tsunade politely but few said anything beyond greetings. He was glad for his hood as it allowed him to hide his scarred appearance. A few wary looks were cast his way but once people saw he was with Tsunade few said anything at all about it. The town had an air that put Ken on edge. Like earlier, it was a warm sunny day but the feeling he got from the people was one of paranoia.

Two hours after receiving the message from the chunin, Ken and Tsunade entered Kakashi's office. Kakashi looked at Tsunade with a raised eyebrow. "I thought he was going to be here hours ago."

Tsunade grinned, "We were on our way here but Ken forgot the way so we just wandered along the road of life until we found the place."

Kakashi sighed softly as Tsunade burst out laughing. "Did I really sound that lame, years ago?"

"Yup, you did. I knew by what the chunin said it was not a major thing or the wording would have been different." Tsunade sat uninvited but Kakashi said nothing. Her sitting was one of the rights he had given her after taking office.

Kakashi looked at Ken, "We will need a few days to get ready to remove the memory seal on you first. We plan on leaving the chakra seal in place until we know if the unsealing has gone well. But, for now, do you have any requests or needs?"

Ken looked down then at Kakashi, "Well, if possible, I would like to see if I can have access to a forge for a few hours. It helps me relax to work on something. I get antsy just sitting around doing nothing. Even making plain nails would be something. I would also need to get my personal hammer out of impound at the gate."

Kakashi looked surprised in spite of his mask. "That is not a normal request but I'll have to see what can be done about that."

Tsunade spoke up, "The Hyuuga had one a few decades ago but I am not sure if they still have it. Back during the Third War they made a lot of their own weapons."

Kakashi nodded, "You have closer ties with Hiashi than I do, Tsunade. Perhaps you could approach the Hyuuga for Ken?"

"Oh, sure," Tsunade said sarcastically. "That will be a pile of laughs. Better give me a formal request letter so they do not get all high and mighty on me and consider it a favor I owe them. Since the Uzumaki are an associated family to the Hyuuga, it should not be a major issue but you never know."

A brief conversation with the secretary got Ken a letter asking the Hyuuga if Ken could access their old forge, if it was useable.

"So, anything else you need help with right now, Ken?" Kakashi asked. Before Ken could say anything else, the sound of explosions was heard. Kakashi turned to see smoke rising from the market district. "Damn, another bombing," he muttered.

"Tsunade, please take Ken back to the Uzumaki compound. Since he has just arrived, I don't want people to think he had something to do with this."

Tsunade nodded and gestured to Ken, who followed her out of the office as people began to stream in as they left.


Tsunade got Ken home without incident. Few people had remained on the streets but all looked about nervously. Ken now understood the sense of paranoia he had felt earlier in the day. "Is it always like this?" he asked Tsunade.

Tsunade pulled out a large bottle of sake from a cabinet in the sitting room. She did not wait for it to warm as she drank several dishes of the rice wine before speaking.

"Not always. Things have been on an increase the past year. The attacks, coupled with the increased activity from Sound, have been very bad for morale. People are scared, Ken. This war with the Sound is unlike any fought between hidden villages before. It would be best if I told you the background of it."

"Technically, we have been at war with the Sound Village for 14 years, since they attacked us during a Chunin Exam. The war went to a cold state when Orochimaru was killed 11 years ago by Uchiha Sasuke. We never made any kind of peace but neither side was going out of its way to attack one another outside of teams running into one another. That changed 5 years ago."


Tsunade's Story

"Tsunade-sama, we are having an incident at the Eastern Gate. Uchiha Sasuke is standing there calling out for you!" said a messenger.

Tsunade growled as she crushed the sake cup. Things had been sliding for the aged Sannin since her 'little brother' had disappeared 3 years earlier. Missions to Konoha had been slowly dropping as a revitalized Sound Village had been growing in the Rice Country. Rumors and hearsay had one man behind the Sound's re-emergence. Now that man was at her village's gates.

Alarms sounded throughout Konoha as Tsunade walked toward the Eastern Gate. Ninja came to alert and arrayed themselves near the gates.

Tsunade arrived at the open gate to see Sasuke standing just beyond the entrance; his arms crossed over his chest. His team 'Hawk' was standing behind him and the gate guard lay dead in the dirt.

"I assume from the state of my guards you are not here to surrender yourself, Uchiha?" Tsunade growled out.

"Hardly, I am here to issue my ultimatum, Old Woman. In 1 month, the Sound will commence open warfare on this worthless village unless it surrenders to me and my sound Village. I am offering to any Konoha ninja the opportunity to join my village before hostilities commence. Those that do not; will die."

Tsunade frowned and replied, "Well, why don't I just make things easy on both villages and get rid of your traitorous hide right now?" She rushed forward to strike at the smirking Sasuke. Ninja moved to support her when something unexpected happened. The ANBU that moved to help Tsunade were grabbed by a number of other masked ninja who brutally slew the elite ninja. The chunin and jonin were then blocked by the masked traitors from aiding their leader.

"Root," one jonin muttered

Sasuke pulled out his sword Grass Cutter and waited for Tsunade's attack. He had taken possession of the sword along with the Sound Village after the fall of Akatsuki. A muttered jutsu and the blade flashed with a corona of electricity. He sidestepped her first attack and struck without mercy. His Sharingan eyes telling him exactly where and when to strike he was swinging his sword before Tsunade had even completed her attack.

The electrified blade flashed down at her trailing leg slicing completely through the calf and the shin bones; severing the limb 4 inches below the knee. The current in the blade cauterized the wound as it cut. Tsunade fell forward into the dirt as she howled in pain. A shout of anger rose from within the walls as ninja surged to help their fallen leader. The sword was placed under her chin to halt any further action by the Konoha forces

"Now, none of you would want to be responsible for Tsunade's death, now would you?" Sasuke chuckled with a laugh that sounded too much like Orochimaru's. "I just wanted to have a little chat with your leader uninterrupted."

Tsunade glared up with teeth clenched in pain as Sasuke continued. "Your best teams are all out of Konoha on 'important' missions that I set up. The ambushes waiting for them should deal with them nicely. Your precious Naruto is already lost to you. And to make things so much sweeter, one of your own advisors sold you out."

An old man hobbled his way out the gate surrounded by the masked ninja of Root. "Danzo," Tsunade hissed.

"You seem surprised, Tsunade-hime. I warned you for many years that Konoha should be more aggressive in its policies but first that fool Hiruzen and then you refused to heed my advice. Now, I am taking my Root and allowing the diseased tree of Konoha to fall so something better can grow in its place."

"A moment before we go, Danzo," Sasuke interrupted. "I must make one small change to our agreement." Before Danzo could reply, Sasuke struck swiftly and impaled the man on his sword.

"You think I could forget that you ordered the destruction of the Uchiha? The Sandaime's teammates may have slid away from my grasp due to old age but you were the force behind the killings. Oh yes, Itachi told me before he died what happened. Orochimaru's notes confirmed it. Uchiha's do not forget those who go against them, Danzo."

Sasuke pulled the sword from Danzo's gut and swiftly beheaded the man.

"Root, to me!" Sasuke called out. The masked Root ninja all pulled out of Konoha and formed up behind Sasuke. "Remember Konoha. One month to come to me and grovel for your lives or die." Sasuke laughed as he left with Tsunade still lying in the dirt of the gateway.


"With that, the traitor left with a good portion of our ANBU destroyed or traitor. Danzo had infiltrated too many of his own people into our elite. To make things worse, not all of the Root left Konoha that day. Since we did not know the extent of his organization, he left many traitors in place. They continue to remind us they are here by terror attacks. Only half of our best teams returned from the ambushes the Uchiha had set them up on. So many good ninja lost because we were careless. Konoha's strength today is only half of what it was when Naruto was lost. We are losing the war and people are giving up. There are more missing ninja from Konoha in the past 5 years than the entire history of the village before it. Some have gone to Sound, others fled or just vanished. We even stopped adding names to the Memorial Stone because it hurts morale."

"After I lost my leg, I couldn't be Hokage any longer. Kakashi was the best ninja we had left so the clans made him Hokage. He didn't want the job and it still shows. Oh, he gets things done but his heart is not in it."

Tsunade tossed the sake dish aside and drank straight from the bottle.

"So many gone. Shizune killed by Root the day they left. She was found dead in my office along with my precious Ton Ton. Sakura missing. Team Gai lived through their ambush but Neji was blinded. Team Asuma lost Ino and Choji. Izumo. Kotetsu. So many gone."

Ken did not know what to say as Tsunade wept in her seat. A hand grazed his shoulder and he turned to see Hinata standing there. Standing next to her were Kushina and a dark haired boy her size that he assumed would be Hizashi.

Hinata turned to the children, "Aunt Tsunade needs hugs."

Both children went up to the old woman and crawled into her lap. Tsunade paused in her tears to wrap an arm around each child as they both wrapped theirs around her. Within in a few minutes, Tsunade had stopped crying.

"It was not losing her leg that broke, Tsunade. It was losing Shizune," Hinata whispered in Ken's ear. "Shizune was like a daughter to Tsunade. We moved her in here with us because she loved Naruto so much and his children were the light of her life. They always seemed to have Naruto's magic touch to bring happiness to people they are around."

Once the twins had gotten Tsunade calmed down, they remained on her lap for a few more minutes. Eventually, the boy slid down and walked over to Ken with slightly narrowed eyes.

The blue tinged white eyes were not as welcoming as Kushina. "Did you make Aunt Tsunade cry?"

"Hizashi!" Hinata exclaimed. Ken held up a hand to her.

"No, she was telling me about how she lost her leg. It was a terrible thing and it made her cry."

Hizashi kept staring at Ken for a few more seconds before nodding. "You're not lying about that."

"Oh? You can tell such things?" Ken asked slightly amused.

"Yes, Grandfather has been teaching me many things. He said if Aunt Hanabi does not have any children, I would become the Hyuuga heir so I must be ready."

Ken smiled at Hinata, "A very serious boy, isn't he?"

Hinata blushed lightly and smiled back, "Serious yes, but at least he still minds his mother." She looked back to Hizashi, "Go and get ready for dinner. We are going to the Hyuuga for dinner and you know that your grandfather likes clean children. You were training all day and it shows."

Hizashi nodded and walked off as if he owned the house.

Hinata rubbed her forehead, "I swear I think that boy channels the old Neji. Anyway, you need to get cleaned up as well Ken. Peasant chic might work for Tsunade but I do not think it would go over too well for you."

Ken was a little worried as he got changed. For the second time, he was about to have a first meeting with the father in law.


Next Chapter: Family Issues Part 2


End Notes: A few fates revealed along with the main villain, of course it was Sasuke. The guy IS the main villain of Naruto after all. Not sure if anyone predicted that Root would be the ones to turn traitor. More with them later on as the depths of their activity are revealed.

I am going to have the next chapter of The Lost Ninja out quickly as I am pulling in an old story I had written a year ago but never posted; the story of Naruto and Hinata getting together.

For Hizashi, I am picturing the personality of Samurai Jack. Very serious when he needs to be but also kind and caring as well. More of less a Hyugga-fied Naruto. Kushina is a blonde mini me version of Hinata who got a much more caring childhood so is not as painfully shy.


Reviewer Notes: The civil war and its reasons will be addressed in coming chapters.

Hinata is not the same old Hinata. She is now a strong woman who was left as a single mom. As a single dad I know taking care of a kid is a tough proposition and she had twins. How she knows Naruto was still alive when so many had given up hope will be revealed as well.