Author's Note: It's finally back… sorry for the wait.


"Oh, by the way Naruko," the third Hokage said, "I think that you'd be glad to know that we've made some special arrangements for you and Naruto."

Naruko looked away from the sleeping Naruto in her arms and turned her attention to the now smiling old shinobi. "Special arrangements?" she asked.

The third nodded. He held his hands behind his back and looked up at the night sky. "Naruto, when he is old enough, will be allowed to attend the Academy free of charge."

Naruko's eyes grew wide as a big smile appeared on her face. "Seriously?!"

The third chuckled, and nodded. "Yes, and until he's old enough, you and Naruto will be supported financially."

"That's awesome!" Naruko thought for a moment. "But, what happens when he IS old enough to attend the Academy?" she asked.

"You could be my assistant if you like," the third Hokage suggested.

Naruko thought about it for a moment. "Your assistant, huh?"

"The work isn't too complicated, so it'll be easy for you to adjust to it, and the pay is decent to say the least. But I must warn you that work may pile up every once and awhile, and you'll admittedly have long work days, usually ranging from morning to night."

Naruko looked at Naruto, a soft expression on her face. "I don't really have a choice in the matter, do I?" she said quietly. "I can't exactly find work anywhere else. And even if it's hard," she gently stroked one of Naruto's cheeks, "I've got someone at home who's relying on me to do my part."

The third Hokage smiled. "I understand," he said.

Naruko nodded, and the third Hokage watched her as she starting her walk back home. Before she could get too far though, a sudden thought crept into the mind of the third Hokage. "Naruko," he called. Naruko stopped and turned around to face him. "Where exactly are you living now?" he asked. "You used to live in the Hokage Residence with Minato, but since he died and I became Hokage, you've been formally forced to move. I'm just curious as to where you've moved to, considering your new social status in the village and your money issue."

Naruko smiled reassuringly at the elderly shinobi. "Don't worry, I found a place."

The third Hokage was obviously surprised. "Really?"

Naruko nodded. "Yep." She looked back at Naruto, and said, "It's not as big or as fancy as a mansion or anything, but I think it's definitely homey. And best of all, the rent is pretty cheap too!"

The third Hokage scratched his head, a bit skeptical to what he was hearing. "How did you ever get such a place?"

Naruko gave him a little wink. "Let's just say I know the landlord personally."


"Well, look who finally decided to show up!" the landlord said, as he saw Naruko walking towards the apartment. He was a short, friendly looking old man with gray hair neatly combed to the side. "I was half afraid that the villagers finally had the guts to… well, you know."

"Sorry," Naruko said, bowing apologetically. "It's been an eventful day."

The landlord smiled and gave her a nod. "I see." He yawned. "Well, I'm going to turn in," he said drowsily. "Good night."

"Oh, before you go," Naruko said, "I just want to tell you again how grateful I am that you're letting Naruto and me stay here. I can't thank you enough."

The landlord let out a little chuckle, and said, "Still as polite as ever aren't you? You haven't changed one bit." He looked up at Naruko's apartment door and sighed. "I've watched you and your brother grow up in this apartment building, and not just me, but everyone else who lives here." He shook his head and chuckled again. "It's amazing how much things stay the same. Not a single person has moved out of this apartment building except you and your brother when he became Hokage." He looked back at Naruko. "It wasn't just my decision to let you move back in. What can we say?" He smiled. "Having you back is very nostalgic for all of us." He sighed. "Makes me realize how old we're all getting."

Naruko smiled. "If you ask me, that's not so bad." She then though for a moment, and asked, "But what about Naruto? Why are you all letting him stay?"

The landlord sighed, walked to his suite, and answered, "Let's just say… we trust you."

Naruko smiled, and left it at that. "Good night," she said.

"Good night," he drowsily said back.

Naruko waited until after the landlord closed his door to start heading towards her own suite. When she entered, instead of turning on the lights, she used the moonlight coming through the windows (which were still uncovered from this morning) to guide her way to the bedroom. She carefully laid Naruto on the bed with his little head against the pillow. She watched him while he slept.

"He looks so peaceful," she thought. She bent her knees to be at the same level as Naruto, rested her arms on the bed, and used one of her hands to tenderly stroke one of Naruto's cheeks.

Naruto stirred. "Mama," he murmured.

Naruko stopped stroking his cheek, her eyes widened. "What did he just say?"

"He said 'Mama'," a voice in her head said.

Naruko quickly stood back up and stepped back, horrified. "…He said 'Mama'?"

"…Yes," the voice answered.

Naruko shook her head and covered her mouth, trying to regain her composure. "He said 'Mama'."

"…He did," the voice reassured.

"But… I'm not his mother." She suddenly remembered a part of her conversation with Iruka.


Iruka looked away. "Please… he's not alone. He's got you."

"But I'm not his mother! I may look like him, but you have to believe me, I'm not his mother!" A horrible idea crept into Naruko's head, an idea that she hadn't thought of until now. "One day… when he's old enough to understand… I'll have to tell him that I'm not his mother… and he'll be crushed. Then… he truly will feel alone."


That same horrible idea was creeping through her mind right now.

For a long time, she was lost in her thoughts. Then she said to herself, "I can't do this."


Mikoto Uchiha heard a knock at the door. Her husband, Fugaku Uchiha, upon hearing the knocking on the door, entered the room, looked at her, and asked, "Is someone at the door?"

Mikoto shrugged. "Apparently."

Fugaku sighed and shook his head. "Who could be visiting at this hour?"

Mikoto opened the door. "Oh! Hello there Naruko." She looked at the sleeping baby boy in her arms. "And I see you've brought Naruto along with you."

"Hi Mikoto," she looked over Mikoto's shoulder, "Fugaku," she added.

Fugaku walked up to the door, standing behind his wife. "Hello there Naruko," he said.

After an awkward moment of silence between the three, Mikoto asked, "Is there a problem Naruko? Why are you visiting at a time like this?""

Naruko diverted her eyes away from Mikoto and Fugaku's gaze. Mikoto and Fugaku looked at each other, Mikoto was obviously worried, and if Fugaku was worried, he did a good job hiding it. Both of them knew however, that the Naruko in front of them was not the same Naruko that they knew. She seemed a bit… off… in a bad way.

"Can I… talk to you two for a moment?" Naruko asked.

Mikoto gave her husband one last worried glance, before saying, "Sure you can."

Naruko and Fugaku sat at the table while Mikoto made them a quick batch of tea, Fugaku suspiciously eyeing the sleeping baby in Naruko's arms. When the tea was finally ready, Mikoto distributed the cups to everyone, Naruko taking a long sip while Mikoto and Fugaku simply held theirs and waited patiently for her to finish.

After the sip, Naruko let out a long, satisfied, "Ah," before thanking her hosts for the tea.

"You're welcome," Mikoto said.

"Now why don't you tell us why you're here?" Fugaku suggested.

Naruko looked sadly down at Naruto. She didn't say anything for a while. To Mikoto, it didn't look like she didn't have anything to say, it was just that she had a hard time saying it.

Fugaku's patience was growing thin. "If you have nothing to say or you can't say it, then why did you come?"

Mikoto tried to calm her husband down. "Dear -,"

"No," Naruko said softly. "He's right." Avoiding eye contact the entire time, Naruko gulped, and finally said, "I think that Naruto… would be better off… staying with all of you."

Fugaku slammed his fist on the table. "Absolutely not!"

"Dear," Mikoto hissed, placing her hands on her husband's shoulders in an effort to try and calm him down, "keep your voice down! You might wake up the kids! And besides," she nodded her head towards the intimidated Naruko, "you're scaring her!"

Fugaku pointed an accusing finger at Naruko. "And she's setting us up!"

Mikoto looked at her husband like he had gone crazy. "What?!" she hissed.

Fugaku rubbed his temples angrily. "Ever since that… that," he pointed at Naruto, "demon attacked the village, the village has started accusing the Uchiha clan of orchestrating the attack!"

"Dear," Mikoto gently (but somewhat firmly) placed her hands on his face and forced him to look directly at her, "listen to me. You need to calm down."

"How can I calm down," Fugaku hissed, "when the village is trying to crush the very thing that I've put my heart and soul into?!" Fugaku pried his wife's hands off his face. "For years, I have tried to strengthen the bond between the village and the Uchiha clan, and what do these accusations tell me?! That it was all for nothing! They STILL don't trust us, even after all this clan has done for them! And they probably forced Naruko to give us that baby to further prove their accusations!"

"Honey, don't you think that maybe you're overreacting about this?"

Fugaku was about to answer that question, but before he did, he glanced one more time at Naruko. He took his wife aside, and, after one more glance at Naruko to make sure that she wouldn't try to eavesdrop on their conversation, whispered, "The village is going to force the clan to live at one of the corners of the village. They're going to ostracize the Uchiha clan from the rest of the village!"

Mikoto couldn't believe her ears. "What?"

Fugaku nodded gravely. "And just to make things worse, they're going to place the clan under heavy surveillance." He shook his head again. "They just don't trust us."

They simply stood there silently for a minute before Mikoto took a deep breath, and said, "Listen, Naruko obviously has something on her mind and you're in no condition to talk to her right now. Why don't you turn in for the night and let me handle this?"

"You're not going to take that baby in, are you? Mikoto, think about the Uchiha clan's reputation!"

Fugaku was going to say more, but Mikoto stopped him before he could continue. "Please… let me handle it." Fugaku didn't seem too sure. "Don't worry, everything will be fine." She smiled. "I promise."

Fugaku sighed and rubbed his temples. "Alright." He started to leave the room, and Mikoto could hear him mutter to himself, "It's things like this that make me wonder if Madara was right all along."

After Fugaku left, Mikoto took a deep breath and sat back at the table.

"Is everything alright?" Naruko asked.

"For the most part," Mikoto said. She stroked one of her bangs, before asking, "Naruko, what did you mean when you said that Naruto would be better off staying with us?"

Naruko looked at Naruto sadly, before shaking her head and answering, "I'm sorry, but… he just can't stay with me."

"And why is that?" Mikoto asked. She secretly prayed that the reason wasn't what she thought it was.

When Naruko didn't answer, Mikoto thought she'd at least try to set her own worries at ease. "Please tell me it's not because of the village. Please don't tell me that the way they're treating you differently and all the bad attention Naruto's giving you is enough for you to abandon him!"

Naruko shook her head. "No, no it's not that."

"Oh thank goodness," Mikoto thought, placing her hand over her heart and letting out a sigh of relief. "Then why is it?" Mikoto asked.

At that moment, Naruko lost it. Tears were starting to fall from her eyes and down her cheeks, she was sniffing and hiccupping uncontrollably, and all she could do was shake her head and try to clean herself up with her free hand as best she could and keep all the noise she was making to a minimum.

Mikoto rushed to her side and tried to calm her down. "Naruko… Naruko, what's wrong?"

Naruko tried to talk as best she could against her own sniffs and hiccups. "I…," she shook her head, "I just can't."

"But why?" Mikoto asked. "Naruko, I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong."

"I just can't!" Naruko whispered as loudly as she could. The tears were coming down hard now.

"Oh, Naruko, you're crying on the baby, here, give him to me."

Naruko handed Naruto to Mikoto, and did her best to clean herself up and regain her composure. Mikoto rocked Naruto in her arms, to make sure he stayed asleep. While she was doing that, Naruto stirred a bit, and murmured, "Mama."

Mikoto's eyes grew wide. "He isn't talking about me, right?" she asked, panicked.

Naruko shook her head as she rubbed her eyes. "No. I'm pretty sure he's talking about me.

Mikoto let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness," she said aloud. Sudden realization hit her, and she smiled at Naruko and said, "Naruko, he's calling out for you!"

"I know!" Naruko said. "But I'm not his mother!"

Mikoto finally understood. She slowly nodded her head. "Oh, I get it now."

Naruko stopped crying. "You do?"

Mikoto shrugged. "Well, I can't say that I COMPLETELY understand, but I don't think I'd take it too well if a demon child called me 'mama' either."

Naruko wailed loudly.

Mikoto jumped a bit in surprise and tried to shush her. "Naruko, it's too late for this!" she whispered frantically.

Naruko shook her head and blew her nose. "I know, I know! But… that's not it!"

Mikoto found a stray pillow that could be used as a small bed for Naruto and placed him gently on the table. She then went to Naruko and tried to console her. "Naruko, you have to tell me what's wrong! Otherwise I can't help!"

Naruko shook her head. "I can't!"

Mikoto gave her a bewildered look. "Why?" she asked.

Naruko made many crazy gestures with her hands before finally answering, "I promised the Hokage that I wouldn't!"

Mikoto still looked confused. "I don't get it."

"I promised him that I wouldn't tell anyone who Naruto's real parents were!" Naruko quickly covered her mouth with her hands, realizing that she had let the cat partially out of the bag.

Mikoto's eyes grew wide. "Naruto has birth parents?" When Naruko didn't answer, Mikoto gently placed a hand on Naruko's shoulder and said, "I understand that you promised not to tell, but whatever you can't tell me is obviously effecting you right now! Please Naruko, I want to help! You can trust me, can't you?"

Realizing that it was too late to go back at this point, and knowing that Mikoto was someone she could trust, Naruko finally said, "Naruto's birth parents… are Minato and Kushina."

Mikoto's eyes grew wide, and she quickly looked back and forth between Naruko and Naruto repeatedly. She pointed at Naruto. "He's… Minato and Kushina's child?"

Naruko nodded. "Yeah. They sacrificed themselves so that the Nine-Tailed Fox could be sealed inside Naruto or something." When Mikoto gave her a funny look, Naruko flung her hands up into the air and wailed, "I'm not a shinobi! If you don't know, then what chance do I have?!" The waterworks came back on.

Mikoto put two and two together. "So you're…," she struggled to find the right words to describe Naruko's current state, "like… this… because your brother and step-sister's baby called you 'mama'?"

Naruko nodded. She had finally calmed down a bit. "I just can't keep him! If I keep him then I'll eventually have to tell him that I'm not his mother, and if I tell him that… he'll be crushed!"

"Then why don't you NOT tell him?" Mikoto suggested.

"But then he'll think I'M his mother! And that'll be like slapping Kushina and Minato in the face!" Naruko blew her nose and added, "And what if I told him but he didn't believe me? I mean…," she held a couple strands of her own hair, "we both have blonde hair," she pointed at her eyes, "we both have blue eyes," she pinched her own cheeks, "we have whisker marks on our faces -"

"Yeah, what's up with that?"

"I don't know! As far as I know, I was born with this. It must've been a REALLY recessive gene or something." She then continued what she was talking about. "If he believes that I'm his mother, then that'll be like -"

"Spitting on Minato and Kushina's graves?" Mikoto finished.

"Something like that," Naruko said softly.

After a moment of silence, Mikoto asked, "So… how is leaving Naruto with us going to solve anything?"

Naruko shrugged. "At least with you guys, he'd KNOW that he was adopted. That'd save all of us a lot of drama."

"But what if he sees you around the village? What then?"

"I don't know!" Naruko cried (as quietly as she could). "I didn't think this all the way through! All I knew was that it would've been a bad idea to keep him with me!" For a moment, no one said anything, until finally, Naruko murmured, "It should've been me."

Mikoto looked at Naruko. "What?"

Naruko sniffed. "I should have been the sacrifice for the seal." She rubbed her temples and shook her head. "Instead of becoming a shinobi like my brother I decided to live a normal life. He was willing to sacrifice his own safety and well-being, sacrifice his own happiness, for the sake of the entire village! And what did I want?" She looked down and said bitterly, "A peaceful, picture-perfect life. A husband, some kids, and me in a perfect little house, in a perfect little place all to ourselves." She shook her head angrily. "What was I thinking?! How could I have been so selfish?! If I had been a shinobi then I could've been there with Minato, protecting Kushina and Naruto! I could've made sure they were safe! I could've been the sacrifice for the seal instead of them!"

Mikoto placed her hands on Naruko's shoulders and squeezed them firmly. "Stop it! Don't you dare talk like that!"

Naruko angrily pulled Mikoto's hands off. "And why shouldn't I?!" She laughed as if she were a psychopath. "It's not like I had anything to live for anyway! But my brother and my stepsister?! They had a son, each other, and an entire village!"

Mikoto didn't see any other choice. She slapped Naruko across the face and once again grabbed her shoulders, again squeezing them firmly. "Naruko," she said through clenched teeth, "get… a… grip!" She violently shook her before finally letting Naruko go and giving the two of them a breather. Mikoto stroked her bang before finally asking, "Are you okay now?"

Naruko nodded slowly. "Yeah," she answered softly.

"Good. Now listen to me. You have plenty to live for! And now that you have a baby with you, you have even more to live for!"

Naruko didn't seem to agree. "And what exactly did I have to live for before Naruto came into my life?!"

"Minato, Kushina," Mikoto pointed to herself, "me! And I'm sure there are plenty more, right?" When Naruko didn't answer, Mikoto grabbed one of her shoulders and shook her gently and asked, "Right?"

Naruko shrugged. "I don't know… Kakashi… Izumo… Kotetsu… Iruka now too…."

"See?" Mikoto said. "That's plenty to live for already!"

"Yeah, but… that still doesn't excuse my selfish lifestyle."

Mikoto sighed. "Naruko, wanting a normal life isn't selfish!"

"Compared to all of yours'?! Um… yes it is!"

Mikoto looked down for a moment, before she said, "You know what? You're right. It is selfish. And you want to know something else?" She looked at Naruko, her eyes showing off her sadness. "We've all wanted it on numerous occasions."

Naruko's eyes grew wide. "What?"

Mikoto let out a small laugh, looked down at the table, and drew circles on the table with her index finger. "Yes. You can say that, in a way… we were jealous of you."

It took a moment for Naruko to process these words. "You all… were jealous…," she pointed at herself, "of me?" She just couldn't believe it. "But… why?"

Mikoto sighed. "Let's just say that being a shinobi is VERY far from all fun and games. Placing every dream and desire to the side in order to do your duty, always saying goodbye to your family in case the next mission you take is your last, having to emotionally keep everything bottled up to the point where it's unbearable, the physical and mental pain that goes with the job, seeing your friends die right in front of you." Mikoto shook her head and slowly rubbed her temples. "You have all the power you want, but you're constantly someone's tool or have to act like one." She looked at Naruko. "There were times when we were VERY close to quitting."

"…Even my brother?" Naruko asked.

"Well, your brother a little bit less than the rest of us, but yes, even he considered quitting at least once." Mikoto smiled. "But then we come home from our missions and we see our families and friends, the people we're protecting, and we know it's all worthwhile." Mikoto gently held Naruko's hands in hers and gave them a soft squeeze. "Minato and Kushina always told us how, even after the worst missions, you'd always be there at home, waiting for them, with a smile on your face and food prepared for them and you ready to help them out both physically, mentally, and emotionally in any way you could. You did that Naruko. You! You've helped keep the fourth Hokage and his wife sane!" She smiled at Naruko knowingly. "Would a selfish person really devote all that time and effort to nurture the people they loved?"

Naruko smiled and wiped the sides of her eyes a bit. "No… I guess they wouldn't."

"Good." Mikoto wagged her finger at her playfully. "Now I don't ever want to hear you talk like that again, understand?"

Naruko let out a little laugh. "Yeah." She looked at Naruto. "But what do I do about Naruto?"

Mikoto sighed. "Naruko, I'm sorry, but I can't take him in. I've got two boys in this house now, and with Itachi being the oldest, Fugaku's going to devote most of his attention to him, no doubt neglecting our newborn in the process. I don't know about you, but that'll be more than enough drama for me to deal with. 'Adoption drama' would probably pull me over the edge."

Naruko's face fell. She reached out to stroke Naruto's cheek and asked, "But what can I do? If he stays with me, then I'm eventually going to have to tell him the truth. And if I tell him the truth…-"

"Naruko," Mikoto interrupted, "you can't keep worrying about the future like this." She held Naruko's chin and forced her to look at her. "Look, I can't say that I know what to do or what's going to happen, but I can say this: a child needs to be loved, and Naruto will definitely get the love and attention he needs… from you."

"But-"

"Whatever happens in the future will happen in the future. We live in the present, not the future, or the past for that matter. Worry about Naruto's reaction to the truth when you get there. Until then," she picked Naruto up and held him in front of Naruko, "even if it's just pretend… he needs a mother. He needs you."

Naruko looked at Naruto for a long time before finally taking Naruto from Mikoto's arms and cradling him in hers. She shook her head sadly. "I'm going to dread the day I'll have to tell him… so much."

Mikoto nodded. "But until then…." She waited for Naruko to finish that sentence.

Naruko finally relented and smiled. "I'll be his mother."

Mikoto smiled. "That's good." They both stood up and Mikoto led Naruko to the door.

"Thanks for the pep talk," Naruko said, "I really needed that."

"No problem." Mikoto opened the door to let Naruko out, but before Naruko could leave, Mikoto stopped her, and added, "You know, before Kushina died, we had hoped that Naruto and Sasuke would be friends…."

Naruko let out a small laugh. "I get the hint."

Mikoto smiled. "Good." She gestured towards the door. "Now if you don't mind, it's getting late, and we both have children we need to take care of tomorrow."

"Alright, alright." Before Naruko left however, she added, "Oh and… whatever I said that made Fugaku lose his temper; can you tell him I'm sorry about that?"

Mikoto nodded. "Don't worry, I will. But if you ask me, I don't think it was really your fault."

Naruko let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you." She turned to leave and added, "Good night."

Mikoto followed her out, stopped in front of the door, and waved. "Good night to you too," she said.

When Naruko finally got back home, she walked back to the bedroom, and once again placed Naruto down on the bed. She bent down and stroked his cheek, and he stirred. "Mama," he murmured.

Naruko froze. "No, Mikoto's right. A child needs love, and until that day comes when I finally need to tell him, I'll give him all the love and attention I can possibly give him." She leaned forward and gave Naruto a soft kiss on the forehead. "Don't worry sweetie… mama's here."