A/N- Evening all! Here is an update for Rise of the Uzumaki Clan. This is the last of the infant phase and from here I will be moving into the academy days, as I feel there is some character development to be done there. So the next chapter will skip forward a few years. I hope you all look forward to it and enjoy this chapter!

P.s. I apologize for the shortness but there wasn't much more I felt I could add.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Just Uzumaki Katsuro and whatever other OC's may be added in somewhere.


Unfortunately for the Nara's however, Naruto proved to be a very light sleeper and woke twice as often as Shikamaru. Although, that night Shikamaru woke just as often because his crib-mate would and so both Nara's found themselves sending prayers of sympathy to the gods for Katsuro and themselves.

By the time morning came around though, the two adults were completely exhausted and Naruto was again crying for attention.

"Kami. Not again!" Yoshino cried as she rolled over in the bed. Shikaku also cursed from under the pillows he had been hiding in before groaning as he lifted himself up.

"I got it." The head of the Nara Clan groaned before quickly leaning over to kiss Yoshino's temple. His wife muttered something from the pillows that Shikaku just assumed was along the lines of thank you before going silent again.

Getting up, Shikaku stumbled over to the nursery and quickly picked the fussy Naruto up and checked his diaper. Noting that it was wet, Shikaku quickly changed the baby before lulling him back to sleep.

At which point, Shikaku noted that if he crawled back into bed with his wife he might as well call into work sick. Which was something he couldn't do. Sighing at the injustice, Shikaku walk back into his room and be-lined straight to the shower.

Hearing the water start running Yoshino could only thank the gods that her husband was a great man despite his laziness. Quickly lulled to sleep by the sound of running water, Yoshino barely even recognized when her husband kissed her goodbye and left for , she slept for what felt like forever.

Finally though, her body began to demand that she get up. Something would twitch or itch and Yoshino wouldn't be able to just leave it. Sighing as she finally realized that she wasn't going to able to sleep anymore, Yoshino lifted herself up out of bed and checked her bedside clock.

Seeing that it was now around ten in the morning, Yoshino jumped out of bed and ran down the hall to the nursery. Being semi-used to Naruto's demanding nature, Yoshino couldn't help but think if the boys were quiet then something had obviously gone wrong.

Charging into the room, she was shocked to hear soft giggles and raced over to the crib. Inside the wide awake Naruto and Shikamaru seemed to be playing with each other by patting their wet slobbery hands on each other.

Seeing that both boys were alive and okay, Yoshino sighed softly before noting that the boys had gone quiet. Looking down, she saw that the boys were both watching her curiously.

"Hello my boys." Yoshino cooed before quickly grabbing her baby sling and tying it around her chest. She then let the crib bars down so she could pick Naruto and put him in the sling and readjusted it so it sat on her back.

"How about a bath?" Yoshino asked the children before getting happy sequels in response. Laughing at their antics, Yoshino quickly grabbed some clothes for the two boys and the bathing tub.

Twenty minutes later, Yoshino was changing into dry clothes before carrying the boys down to the kitchen. Making the boys a bottle of formula, Yoshino quickly fed the two before laying them down onto their blankets and returning to the kitchen to make something for herself.

Settling for just a bowl of cereal, Yoshino ate quickly while watching the two infants wiggle on their blanket. Watching Naruto kick around in the tiger outfit Katsuro had packed for him, Yoshino couldn't help but wonder how the elder Uzumaki was fairing.

Before she could further ponder Katsuro's challenge however, the door bell rang through out the house.

"Who could that be?" Yoshino wondered as she picked herself up and walked over to the front door. Pulling it open, she was shocked to find a very ragged Katsuro leaning against the door way.

At first it took Yoshino a second to recognize the boy, as he was dressed a little oddly. He wore a pair of long black pants, a pair of heavy duty boots, and a sleeveless shirt that seemed to have a makeshift hood sown onto it. A face mask collected around his neck and bunched a little while a dark green flak jacket was left open rather then zipped shut.

"M-Morning..."Katsuro said weekly as he offered a small smile.

"Katsuro! You look half dead. Come in." Yoshino quickly ordered as she moved to help the teen into the house. Thankful for the help, Katsuro leaned on Yoshino and let her lead him into the sitting room. Collapsing on the ground when he got there, Katsuro groaned softly before crawling over to Naruto.

"Hey there kiddo." Katsuro said softly to his happy nephew.

"What happened? You look like you got dragged to Kiri and back." Yoshino asked as she got something for Katsuro to eat and drink.

"To answer that, I'd have to tell you about my assessment." Katsuro said slowly before noticing that Yoshino was carrying food to him. Groaning, he pulled himself up to a sitting position and gladly took the food.

"Tell me." Yoshino demanded as she sat down to listen to how everything went. Sighing, Katsuro took a few bites before thinking back to the start of his assessment.

-Flashback-

Kneeling at the front gate to area forty-four, Katsuro reread the scroll left for him and considered his options. His assessment was more a mission simulation with controlled variables, but that wouldn't make his task any easier. According the the scroll before him the scenario went like this.

Apparently, a large group of defectors had broken into the Hokage's home and stolen a scared scroll. This group then attempted to flee but the pursuit team had managed to pin them to area forty-four where the criminals had been holding out since. Now the Hokage wanted him to go in, find the group, retrieve the scroll, and report back to his office preferably without killing any of the defectors so the Torture and Interrogation Force could have them.

Shuttering briefly at the idea of what would be in-store for a defector when the TI team got a hold of them, Katsuro quickly entered battle mode. Thinking the situation over, one could easily conclude that the defectors would be completely on the defensive after being hunted and pinned down. Which meant that where ever the group was hiding out would be heavily defended. Also, since the group had avoided capture until this point, they had to either be powerful or an effective team.

Sighing softly and his own evaluation, Katsuro sat down on the ground and crossed his arms and began to prioritize what needed to be done.

Alright, step one: scout the area. Step two: Find the defectors. Step three: Find the scroll. Step four: reassess situation. The Uzumaki thought before flashing through some hand signs and creating twenty clones. Once brought into existence, the clones all pulled their face masks and hoods up before disappearing into the forest to scout the area.

With the clones now out to do step one, Katsuro crossed his arms back over his chest and began meditating. Truth was, he was a little worried about how this mission would go. When he had first left Konoha, he had known his limits. However, now that he had spent a year using his chakra restraints to their utmost limit he wasn't sure.

Trying to probe his chakra reserves and get and idea of his own stamina, Katsuro sat motionlessly for about twenty minutes before his eyes snapped open as the memories of a clone came to him.

Cursing under his breath, Katsuro realized that this mission was going to be much harder now. Apparently that clone had been tracked by a team with an Inuzuka on it and had been holding them off when another team appeared with a Hyuuga. Which meant that not only could they track him by smell but also by sight.

Sighing, Katsuro created ten more clones and had them transform into mice and birds before sending them off. He then began meditating again and was annoyed when more of his undisguised clones were dispelled.

They're struggles weren't pointless however. With ever clone that was dispelled, Katsuro learned more about what he was up against and one clone had gotten lucky enough to hear the group discussing their plans.

Apparently their were three three-men teams out to stop him. Two on patrol and one guarding the scroll at all times. Which meant that their was a base somewhere in the forest.

Waiting patiently, Katsuro tried to come up with a plan on how he was going to do this when another clone dispelled with the best news yet. One of his disguised clones had not only found the last team but had come up with a plan to retrieve it. Grinning, Katsuro stood up and stretched out his limbs as he thought over everything his clones had shared with him.

Thus far, he knew that area forty-four was a fenced in, circular area with a lot of stranger creatures in it. The area itself was probably about five or six miles across and someone had built a tower at its center.

At first, his clone hadn't thought the tower was inhabited as it had looked completely empty but after taking a closer look one could actually see fine trip wires running across every entry way. A dead give away that someone was inside and wanted to know when something entered the building. The question then became how to enter the building unnoticed?

Well, Katsuro caught a real break on that one when his clone noted a small whole on the roof that a mouse could squeeze in. Transforming, the clone then entered the hole to see if it would lead him inside and was a little shocked to find himself scurrying along the riddled walls. And from one whole in the wall, Katsuro found the last group and the scroll. From there, a plan was formed. The same plan all his clones know knew and were following obediently if the sudden explosion about a mile west was any indicator.

Chuckling at the classic diversion, Katsuro transformed himself into a hawk and took off to the sky. Beating his wings in a steady but strong pattern, he climbed quickly until he could easily look over the entire training area. A sea of green lay bellow him as only the tree canopy was visible to him. and A little annoyed by this, Katsuro summoned the image he had of the area before envisioning where the tower should be and took off in that direction.

With the trees to hide him from his enemies bellow, and them being to busy fight off his clones, the flight was pretty smooth for the first time flyer. The whole feeling was exhilarating actually, but Katsuro was in battle mode at that point and didn't enjoy it as much as he might have. Instead, he was being task driven and set on seeing his new plan through.

Thus, when he was sure he was over the tower, he dove into the trees and managed to cut through the canopy without much injury and while holding his transformation. He might have face planted into the ground however, if he hadn't caught himself just as he broke the canopy and swooped in to land on a low hanging tree branch where he could easily see the tower.

Taking a few steadying breath, Katsuro scanned the tower and realized that nothing had seemed to have changed since his clone had staked the place out. The windows appeared empty and inviting but closer inspection had revealed them all to be trapped, with the exception of the front door. Katsuro however, knew that such a set up was made to herd him into a bigger trap they had waiting and luckily his clone had as well.

Smirking mentally at such, Katsuro flew up to the roof and looked around for the hole his clone had spotted. Quickly finding it, he transformed again into a small mouse and slipped into the crack and thus the very walls of the tower. Scurrying inside, Katsuro followed the path his clone had marked our for him to a small hallway. Releasing his transformations, Katsuro kneeled down and listened to see if his presence was noticed.

When no sign came that the extra team knew where he was, Katsuro quickly created four clones and transformed with them into mice. Nodding to each other, the mice quickly broke off into two groups. The first group, led by the real Katsuro ran back into the wall while the other rushed down the hall to a room.

Following the joists of the building, Katsuro and the two other mice with him dropped down a floor and paused when they got to the same whole his previous clone had first spotted the last team. Slowly peeking his head out, Katsuro look down at the group and frown slightly.

Sitting in a circle around the scroll in the middle of a large empty room were three Konoha-nin, two of which Katsuro recognized as Niju and Taru. Looking around for the last known member of their team, Katsuro was a little shocked to find that Anko was no where in sight. Instead there was a guy around his age who kept coughing and had two swords strapped to his back.

"Heard anything new?" Niju asked his teammate as Taru suddenly sat up straight and stretched his back.

"Nope. They're still chasing him around the whole forest." Taru answered before smirking. "He's one hell of a fighter though. Hasn't lost any of his old touch."

"And you know this how?" The third member asked before coughing. Taru's frown dropped and Katsuro took advantage of their distraction to scurry across the hole.

"I've seen what he can do from his own point of view." Taru said softly, making Katsuro flinch slightly. He had forgotten about that day, probably because he didn't want to remember it.

A heavy silence fell over the group, one that's weight Katsuro could feel in the wall. He however, chose to ignore it and press on to complete his mission. Using the walls to drop down another level, Katsuro undid his henge and signaled his clones to start working.

Like the floor above them, the floor he currently stood on was completely empty and wide open. A necessity to his current plan. Looking up at the ceiling, Katsuro let his senses show him where the other ninja were and pointed them out to his clones, who all began setting up the trap.

Meanwhile: two floors up, two more Katsuro's were just finishing their preparations when one checked the time.

"Five more minutes." The first clone said as the second nodded. Waiting patiently, the two slowly counted down until the appointed time.

"Ready?" One asked the other when such a time did come.

"As ever." The other responded before the two activated the seal at there feet. Suddenly, an explosive cracking sounded from under them and the two clones jumped just as the floor beneath their feet gave way and began falling onto the three shinobi directly bellow them.

Knowing the element of surprise would only last them so long, one clone pushed off the remains of the floor/ceiling and propelled himself down with the debris.

The three Konoha-nin, temporarily immobilized by shock, managed to avoid their deaths however by jumping out of the way. Taru however, jumped in the wrong direction as after narrowly avoiding a large bolder, he came face to face with Katsuro. Trying to raise his guard, Taru found himself unable to dodge the palm that Katsuro smacked right against his forehead, placing a sleeping seal right between his eyes. The last thing the Yamanaka saw before passing out was Niju runing over with chakra cover hands.

Letting Taru drop to the ground, Katsuro quickly turned to the charging Niju and was about to confront him when a katana suddenly sliced down on him. The pain was there for a moment before the clone dispelled and Hayate's eyes widened in shock as he felt something hit the back of his head. Hit with a sleeping seal as well, Hayate dropped to the ground as Niju went to strike the second Katsuro clone and end the battle.

It was unfortunate however, that as Niju went to take the last step needed to thrust his chakra bladed hand at Katsuro, the floor under him suddenly gave as an explosion from underneath them both took their footing. Caught off balance, Niju soon found himself falling with Katsuro right above him. The Uzumaki took hold of his jacket and in one quick motion, knocked him out with the last sleeping seal before jumping out of the rubbles way.

Rock and dirt all crashed down onto the real Katsuro's level and he covered his eyes to protect them briefly and he squatted to minimize the surface area of his body that could be hit by rubble.

"Everyone okay?" Katsuro called out to his clones, the scroll he had gone through all the trouble for under one arm.

"Good." One clone answered to his right, a passed out Taru over his shoulder. Soon another appeared and gave the thumbs up with Hayate on his back. A third dragged Niju over from where he had landed.

He had known that the original distraction of have the ceiling cave on them wouldn't be enough for him to knock out all three of his opponents and he had been right. And just jumping out of a corner wasn't going to be enough to impress his judges or the Hokage. So, Katsuro had instead decided to take the riskier move and collapse the floor as well, which had been the extra surprise he had needed to get the last guard out of balance for him to finish him.

Of course, that also brought a danger to the team so Katsuro had also made sure there were enough hims to catch his fellow shinobi, and the scroll, in their fall and move them out of the way of what would have been a very painful death.

Thanking the gods for helping him to complete this part of his mission without really hurting anyone, Katsuro ordered his clones to tie up the three unconscious shinobi.

"Alright. Those explosions should have gotten the attention of the patrol groups." Katsuro pointed out to his clones as he pulled out four pieces of timber from the rubble.

"Use the same distractions as before and transform these into the scroll." He ordered before each clone nodded and took a piece of wood. Doing as instructed, they transformed the wood into perfect look-alikes of the scroll and made slings to hold them in on their back.

The four clones then jumped up to the floor the extra team had been waiting on before taking off down the pathway that led to the front door. Katsuro meanwhile, unzipped his jacket and exposed a giant seal on his stomach. It was a typical storage seal but much larger. Large enough to easily hold the scroll he had in his arms.

Using the seal, Katsuro stored the scroll in his abdomen before transforming back into a mouse and using a hole in the wall to travel back up the tower to his original entrance. It was as he was getting ready to change again on the roof that his scouting clones hit their limit and dispelled at once, filling Katsuro suddenly with not only their memories but their exhaustion as well.

His transformation released itself and Katsuro collapsed on to the ground. Feeling his chakra at dangerously low levels, Katsuro released the last chakra restraints he had and instantly felt better as the last of his chakra filled his reserves. Picking himself up off the ground, Katsuro realized he had maybe tenth of his original chakra.

"Damn." He cursed, realizing he still had the last four clones out there. Knowing there wasn't much time before he'd be too tired to complete the mission, Katsuro transformed into a hawk and took off.

Taking to the sky, Katsuro pushed through the canopy and shot up into the open sky. Finding an air jet to cost in, Katsuro soared towards the village hidden in the leaves. Half way out of area forty-four, Katsuro felt one of his clones dispel and almost fell out of the air jet. He did manage to keep himself together however and was soon cruising over the walls of Konoha.

Leaving the air jet, he rushed down to Konoha and easily picked out the Hokage tower from the other buildings. Flying straight up to the office window of the Hokage, Katsuro managed to land on the window seal and tapped the glass.

Seeing the old man turn and notice him, he felt another clone dispel and almost fell over when the old man opened the window. Jumping inside, Katsuro ignored the old man's shocked cry and released his henge before falling onto the ground.

Laying there for a moment, Katsuro tried to gather up his strength and opened an eye to see that the old Hokage was kneeling beside him with the Anbu guard right behind him. Lowering his face mask and hood, he saw the Anbu back off a little as they recognized him.

"Mission complete...Hokage-sama." Katsuro said weakly before lifting his shirt and releasing the storage seal. The scroll then appeared over his abdomen and Hiruzen took it and checked the scroll.

Opening it up, the Hokage couldn't help but be impressed. The whole assessment had original been designed to test a Jōnin for the Anbu program and here Katsuro had succeeded, granted not by much if what the man could sense of Katsuro's chakra was all he had left in him.

"Good job Katsuro. Your assessment his complete. Please take the rest of the day to rest." The Hokage suggested before handing Katsuro a few soldier pills. Recognizing the pills, Katsuro quickly ate them and felt his chakra replenish a little.

"Yes Hokage-sama." Katsuro said as he managed to pick himself up. Bowing slightly, Katsuro left through the window he had come and headed straight to the Nara complex.

-End Flashback-

Amazed at the story Katsuro had just told her, Yoshino picked her jaw up off the floor.

"Wow. That's amazing." Yoshino complimented before noting that Katsuro was yawning largely.

"Why don't you go home and get some rest now?" Yoshino advised. "I think Naruto is more a day sleeper anyways. You should get a good couple hours before he gets needy again."

Nodding at the suggestion, Katsuro picked Naruto up and wrapped him in his blanket while Yoshino grabbed his baby bag. Making sure his nephew was sufficiently wrapped, Katsuro watched Shikamaru for Yoshino and noticed that the little Nara was tearing up.

"Ah...Are you going to miss Naruto?" Katsuro asked the little Nara while playing with him with his finger. The baby briefly smiled up at him until Yoshino appeared with Naruto's bag.

"Here's everything. You should get going while you can still move." Yoshino advised. Chuckling at that, Katsuro slowly picked himself up. Yoshino meanwhile quickly swooped Shikamaru up and followed the Uzumaki's to the door.

"Thank you again Yoshino-san." Katsuro said gratefully. Yoshino just laughed it off and waved goodbye to the young man as he left.

Making his way home, Katsuro tried not to fall sleep on the side of the road and just barely made it back. Setting Naruto into his crib, Katsuro collapsed onto his bed and was in and out of consciousness for the rest of the day.

The following morning however, his peaceful sleep was disturbed when the alarm of his barrier went off. Which of course, set Naruto off.

Grumbling under his breath, Katsuro picked Naruto up and bounced him in his hold before checking the barrier. Standing just outside the barrier, was a random shinobi Katsuro didn't recognize. Walking over to the barrier, he reset the whole thing before raising a brow at the ninja.

"The Hokage has summoned you." The shinobi explained before disappearing. Sighing, Katsuro noted that he was still dressed from the day before and didn't even bother changing. Instead, he just took off towards the tower with Naruto.

Arriving at the tower a short while later, Katsuro stood before the Hokage and bowed.

"Lord Hokage." Katsuro said as he bowed with a giggling Naruto against his chest.

"Katsuro. After reviewing what happened in your assessment, I have come to the conclusion of ranking you as a mid-level Jōnin capable of doing high risk A-missions." The Hokage explained as he looked over Katsuro's new file. "And you will specialize in infiltration and assassinations."

Nodding at that, Katsuro awaited further instruction before being told the duties he was expected to preform day to day.

"All Jōnin come to my office between 8 and 10 am where they will receive their missions for the day. If not mission is assigned, you are free to do as you wish for the day unless a priority mission comes up." The Hokage explained. "And since today's assigning is done, you are free for the day."

"Thank you Lord Hokage." Katsuro said as he bowed. The old man smiled and nodded before motioning Katsuro closer.

"Can I hold him?" He asked. Smiling, Katsuro brought Naruto over to the Hokage and put him in his arms. At which point, Naruto woke from a brief nap and stared up at the grinning man.

"You look just like your father Naruto, but I get the feeling you're going to be like your mother in spirit." The Hokage chuckled, getting a small smile from Katsuro as well.

"He will be a strong shinobi." Katsuro said softly as Hiruzen nodded.

"Cherish these moments though Katsuro. Soon he'll be in the academy and then it's only a short amount of time before he's an adult." Hiruzen advised. "By which point, it'll be too late to just treat him like a child."

Taking the advise, Katsuro nodded his head before taking Naruto back from the old man.

"I'll do everything I can for him. I'll be the best uncle I can be to him." Katsuro promised seriously. Smiling at the teen before him, Hiruzen could only look forward to what the future had for Katsuro and his nephew.


A/N- Well, that's it for this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it and as usual, I beg you to review. Reviews are motivation after all. =D