A/N: I don't own Naruto. I do own twenty-six ponytail bands. Most are MIA. The rest are in my hair right now. It's up to you to decide how many exactly.
Chapter 3: Adventures in Mothering
The Konoha Supermarket, like the Konoha Department Store, had a sale every year. From June 20th-June 22nd, parents would rush from work to the market to stock up on non-perishable goods and get perishable items for as low as one-tenth of the normal price. The Hyuuga Clan participated heavily in this sale, as did most other clans in the village. They would send large squads of ninja out to the store with chakra-infused single-use salinated eye-drops and chakra pills so they could use their Byakugan to find the best prices on the best goods. It was usually wise for people to stay clear of the Hyuuga when their dedicated shoppers, humorously dubbed "shopping-nin" by the store's employees, arrived.
That said, people are not wise, and the Hyuuga shopping-nin had to fight through a tide of other Konoha denizens. Among them was Himawari Hyuuga. As was so often the case, she had put off doing something she needed to do until the very last minute. In this case, it was buying a cake for her son's third birthday, which was, God help her, today: June 20th. She also had to take four small children with her to said store.
It was quite a sight to behold: Himawari Hyuuga with Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuuga, and Sasuke Uchiha all in-tow. Eiji was sitting in the shopping cart.
If you had told any onlookers at the time that they were looking at what would become two of the three Next-Gen Sannin and four of the five most powerful ninja in the world, they would have simply laughed, because they would be looking at one of the most powerful ninja in the village attempting to wrangle the nine-tails jinchuuriki with one arm, push the cart with the other, and order the last Uchiha and current Hyuuga heiress around to grab things from the shelf and drop them in the cart.
Himawari sighed tiredly, desperately trying to keep Naruto nearby. He was a good kid, and far smarter than people gave him credit for, but he had no discipline. No self control. She couldn't blame him for that, his parents were gone, so he had no one to tame him for his first few years, but she still wished he tired out easier.
Naruto ran off again, deciding to inspect a unique-shaped fruit.
She snapped her fingers. "Naruto!"
His head snapped in her direction, and he ran back to her side. He looked down at his shoes. "Sorry, Auntie Hima."
She smiled tiredly, tousling the golden mess atop his head. "It's alright. Just please stay near the cart. If you don't wander off again, I'll take us by Ichiraku's on the way home."
Naruto's face lit up. "Yay!"
Sasuke groaned. "Really? Again?"
Himawari sighed, exhausted by yet another sideways complaint. "I'm sure they serve soup or salad as well, Sasuke."
"And if they don't?"
Himawari held up a hand. "Sasuke, not now."
Sasuke exhaled loudly, rubbing the back of his head. "Fine."
Naruto pointed enthusiastically to the cart. "Can I sit in the cart?"
Himawari grinned. "I don't see why not."
Hinata tugged on her sister's shirt and pointed over to a sign on the wall. "But Hima, there's a sign over there that says you can't put kids in the cart."
Himawari chuckled. "You need to learn how to bend the rules a little, squirt."
Hinata pressed her lips together in concern, but forgot all about it when she saw how ecstatic Naruto was.
She looked back at her older sister. Village gossips said so many awful things about her. They said she was a promiscuous pervert that had seduced Itachi Uchiha in order to have him murder his clan. They said she sympathized with the Nine-Tails, and that's why she had taken in its jinchuuriki (another S-Rank secret Hinata was privy to as Hyuuga heiress). They said she was a pedophile who had taken an interest in Sasuke for his resemblance to his older brother.
Hinata dismissed those claims, as did most of her clan. Her mother had the kindness to take in two boys without families, and had the strength of will to raise said boys even when they came to blows nearly every day. She had the patience to deal with Naruto's invincible messes and Sasuke's constant barrage of sarcastic and negative comments about anyone and everyone, even her.
She did all this while completing B and A-rank missions on a weekly basis.
In Hinata's eyes, this woman was a saint, and the most skilled mother in the world.
Well, maybe not a saint. Her average response to a cat call or similar lewd comment was a barrage of Gentle Fist strikes to the crotch, leaving the man in question unable to get physically aroused for months.
Humorously enough, this is how she met Jiraiya. When he recovered, Tsunade was feeling sad about Dan Kato after getting drunk again, and the two shared a night of drunken passion together, both of them desperate for sex for two very different reasons. This led to the conception of the only other person in the world who naturally possessed the right genes for Wood Style, and would later help win the Fourth Shinobi World War, and even later revive the Senju Clan.
Such was the way of fate.
Much later in the evening, they had finished shopping and were exiting the store.
Himawari removed a large scroll from her back and laid it out on the ground.
"Kids, would you mind lining the groceries up on the scroll?"
"I'll get more than Sasuke!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically, immediately reaching for the largest items of food he could find: a crate of instant ramen nearly as large as he was.
Sasuke scoffed at Naruto, grabbing a small bundle of tomatoes. "Moron. Grab stuff that you can carry."
"I can carry this! The future Hokage needs to be strong."
Sasuke laid out the tomatoes on the scroll. "Pfft. If you become Hokage, I'm moving to a different village."
Naruto grunted as he tried to lift up the crate of ramen. Hinata came to his aid.
Naruto grit his teeth. "Thanks, Hinata."
Hinata turned tomato red.
Himawari smiled, examining the two. Hinata was obviously head-over-heels for the boy. She'd try and push that along as best she could, but Hinata had to do most of it herself if she wanted a good relationship out of it. Then again, they were just kids. They had time to figure it out.
Eiji looked to his mother. "Could I help too, mom?"
Himawari swelled with pride. Eiji had just started talking recently. He'd gone from almost nothing to fully-formed, multisyllabic sentences. She had one smart kid. She suspected that to be the Itachi in him.
"Sure, sweetie."
He grinned ear-to-ear, adorably mismatched eyes sparkling, and started stacking items atop the box that held his cake. Then, he did the same for another box containing more instant ramen. He then lifted both stacks, one with each arm, and carried them over to the scroll like it weighed as much as a feather.
The other kids stopped and stared. A three-year-old had just lifted about fifty pounds.
Eiji hadn't done anything like that before. Himawari activated her Byakugan and examined her son carefully. What she saw confused her greatly. He was somehow managing to channel his chakra before he even knew what a chakra was.
Naruto dropped the crate onto the scroll and ran over to Eiji, preparing for a high-five. "Wow, Eiji! I didn't know you were that strong."
Eiji cocked his head to the side. "I thought that was normal. That isn't normal?"
Sasuke continued loading the groceries onto the scroll. "Yeah, a three-year old lifting almost twice their weight is normal. Pull that in the academy and they'll think you're juicing like the Akimichi Clan."
Eiji's eyes widened. Naruto punched Sasuke in the nose.
Naruto growled. "You prick!"
Sasuke growled, reaching for Naruto's throat. "Idiot!"
Himawari stiffened. Time to shut this down.
She grabbed each boy by the collar and lifted them up in the air, holding them apart.
She looked to Naruto accusingly. "Naruto, we do not punch our friends or use foul language."
Naruto huffed.
Sasuke snickered.
Her head snapped to Sasuke. "Sasuke, do you know what Chakra control is?"
He nodded.
"Good. Then you know that Hyuuga and Uchiha both have a natural affinity for it?"
He nodded again.
"Good. You know how you've always been good at ninjutsu?"
Sasuke looked away, understanding where this was leading.
"Well, it looks like Eiji is good at chakra control. This is very rare and special, not abnormal, just like your skill in ninjutsu. Understood?"
Sasuke nodded sullenly.
She dropped the two of them. "Are we good?"
Naruto rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Yeah, we're good."
Sasuke averted his eyes from Himawari and nodded.
Himawari patted both boys on the head affectionately. "Good. Now, who wants a fuinjutsu demonstration?"
Naruto raised his hand enthusiastically and bounced on his toes. "Me!"
Sasuke said nothing, but he appeared interested.
Hinata and Eiji both nodded quietly.
Himawari nodded, putting her hands together. "Now, we have everything on the scroll, right?"
Naruto nodded, excited. "Yep!"
"Okay then, watch carefully. Those of you with the Byakugan, watch my chakra carefully."
Hinata and Eiji complied, veins appearing near Eiji's left eye and both of Hinata's.
She flicked through a few hand signs before placing her hand on the scroll. "Sealing jutsu!"
In a puff of smoke, all the food disappeared and became drawings on the scroll.
Himawari began rolling the scroll up. "See that? We just sealed a ton of food into a little scroll."
Naruto's eyes widened. "That's awesome!"
Hinata had seen her sister do this before. It wasn't quite as cool as it had been the first time, but it was still a very useful technique.
Himawari latched the scroll shut and strapped it to her back.
She motioned for the small band of children to follow her. "Alright, munchkins. Let's go home."
They obliged.
Rain assaulted the windows of Himawari's home. It was a small but luxurious two-bedroom apartment that she had acquired as a reward for her first S-Rank mission after she became a Jonin. She had used it as an investment property up until she had decided to foster Naruto and Sasuke. He father wouldn't allow her to bring Naruto into the Hyuuga Estate, but had actively encouraged her to do so for Sasuke. Wanting to take them both in, Naruto to honor Minato's memory and Sasuke because if she and Itachi had been married, he would have gone to her, and both of which because they were kids that needed a home.
And so, Himawari was now an active Jonin and the single mother of three.
It was 11:43 P.M., Hinata was safely back at the Hyuuga Estate, the kids were in their respective beds, and she was laying on the living room couch, reading her favorite pervert's first book: The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi.
Terrible title.
Badass book.
Even more badass author.
She smiled to herself, dog-earing the page and setting it down on the short table in front of the couch. She stood up and walked over to the fridge, removing a slice of the cake.
She bit into it, leaving traces of chocolate cake and cream cheese frosting on her cheeks.
Her son had damn good taste.
Across the room, the phone began to ring. Not wanting to have to deal with a bunch of hyperactive small children, she sped across the room and answered the phone.
"Hello?"She answered through the cake.
"Himawari? Is that you?"
It was the Third Hokage.
"Sandaime? It's really late. You need something?" She asked, wiping the cake from her face.
"Call me Hiruzen."
"Alright. You need something?"
He sighed. "Yes, yes. I wanted to thank you again for agreeing to foster Naruto and Sasuke."
"No need to. They're wonderful."
"Really?" Hiruzen sounded surprised.
"Well, Sasuke can be difficult and Naruto has way too much energy for his own good, if you're asking me to complain."
"No, no, it's just there are some things you should know about the both of them."
"I know that Naruto is the jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tails and that he is the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki."
"Uhh, how do you know that?"
"Everyone but his generation knows that he's the jinchuuriki of the Nine-tails, and anyone that can sense chakra can see that he's more chakra than human being."
Hiruzen groaned. "Fair enough. How do you know about Minato?"
"Minato was my teacher and my friend. The two look so similar that I'm surprised Naruto hasn't figured it out yet, and who ever heard of a blonde Uzumaki?"
Hiruzen mumbled a few less-than-polite words. "I'll have to talk to the rest of the people trusted with these secrets."
"You do that. What were you going to say about Sasuke?"
Hiruzen sighed again. "When we evaluated him for the academy, we found that he has frequent homicidal ideation focused on on Itachi Uchiha."
Himawari groaned, resting her forehead in her hand. "How bad is it?"
"It's focused exclusively on Itachi."
Himawari frowned. "That doesn't make it better."
"We also have more intel on Itachi."
...
"Himawari? Are you ther-"
"Speak."
"We found that he has joined an organization known as the Akatuski."
Silence.
"And that he has become...involved with one of its leaders." Hiruzen admitted, sounding very tired.
...
"Himawari?"
"Is that all?"
Another sigh. "Yes, Himawari. I'm sorry."
"No you're not." She hissed, hanging up.
She huffed and sat down on the couch. That slut that Itachi hooked up with better be way uglier than she was.
Konan looked into the window of the home belonging to the ex-lover of Itachi Uchiha from atop the village walls.
She heard a gravelly voice next to her. "Mmm, nice tits on that one."
Unfortunately, Kisame was with her.
The shark-man in question turned to Konan. "Why'd we come here again?"
Idiot. "This woman used to be romantically involved with Itachi Uchiha."
Kisame nodded and stuck out his lower lip. "He's got good taste.
"If you encounter her in the field, you are not to engage her in combat."
Kisame cocked his head to the side. "Wait, aren't you and Itachi fucking now? Wouldn't you want this chick dead?"
Patience, Konan. "To the contrary. I'd like to try and recruit her."
"Now I'm even more confused. Didn't the boss say he wanted you to be the only woman in the Akatsuki? And didn't we only recruit rogue ninja?"
"She's a powerful ninja that knew Minato Namikaze. If we get her to join, she might be able to tell us where the Nine-Tailed Fox is. Then she dies."
Kisame's eyes widened. "Oh."
"Yes. 'Oh' indeed. I intend to approach her some time in the future and attempt to recruit her. In the meantime, if you and Itachi are here in Konoha on a mission, you are not to engage her under any circumstances. If she engages you, retreat."
He nodded. "Understood."
"Good."
The two disappeared into the night.
A/N: The focus will shift to Eiji eventually. Himawari is a key character, though, and one of the most important people in his life, so she effects who he is to a massive degree.
Also, Himawari's Action-y Theme (also stolen from the Ryu ga Gotoku Ishin OST): youtube watch?v=kmuvsVrdMbE
Lastly, check out the forum Hokage Tower. The Admin's a nice guy/lady named Tessela.
Here's the link: fanfiction . net myforums/Tessela/3141888/