I feel like this chapter kind of sucks, and is a bit repetitive. But, I am actually getting this chapter released on time. So, forgive me.

"Remember that we won't be here to wake you up if you oversleep. Speaking of sleep, make sure that you're listening for Hana at night in case she wakes up. If Kenta gets sick, you go straight to Sakura. And if you need any help with anything, Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei are available to help you. Please don't let the trash pile up. And…"

"Mom," Ayumi groaned, slumping down on the couch.

Naruto was facing his three oldest children, who were sitting on the couch in the living room. Sasuke stood quietly behind him cuddling Hana as Naruto lectured the twins and Kenta. Naruto knew he was being a worrywart, and he would verbally admit it. However, he also hated leaving the kids home alone, especially with them being in danger.

"This isn't our first time being here without you two, we know how to be home alone for two weeks." Junichiro muttered, looking bored.

"We know, Jun." Sasuke said calmly. "But, you haven't been here overnight without us with Hana yet. That, and with all of you being under watch with what's been happening, we are worried about you."

They had wanted to bring the kids with them to the Kage Summit. However, the twins had a mission the next week that they'd accidentally been scheduled, and Kenta had important exams this week that they couldn't keep him from. With the three of them staying home, it meant there would be no one to help them with Hana while they were in meetings, so they decided to keep her here as well.

So, the twins would be running the house for the first week, and then when they left for their mission Kenta and Hana would be staying with Iruka and Kakashi. The two men would be on call in case the kids needed anything, and Naruto knew that they would do everything to watch over the kids and make sure they were comfortable without him and Sasuke there. And while they were gone, Kakashi would be acting as a sort of interim Hokage and Shikamaru would remain in office to advise and do most of the work. Sasuke would have stayed behind with the kids and to take over the village. However, the man was on a committee with two other advisors and they would be meeting in conjunction to the Summit.

Naruto was weary about leaving the kids alone tomorrow when he and Sasuke left for Iwagakure. He had a bad feeling about them being alone. However, there were teams of anbu who would be watching the kids the entire time, and there were adults willing to come help the kids at the first sign of trouble whether it be because of the Kyoshinja or not.

"Just promise me," Naruto pleaded. "Promise me that the three of you will be careful and attentive. Promise me that if anything seems off for any reason, that you will get help. Please. Please just try and think about how worried your dad and I will be about the four of you while we're gone. We just need to make sure you'll be okay." He had a hopeful look in his eyes as he made eye contact with each child individually. They went from looking bored to sitting up a little more. They knew that this was a serious matter, Naruto knew they did, but they were still kids who felt like they were being babied because of how worried he and Sasuke were acting towards them about this trip.

"We promise." Kenta was the first to answer, his big black eyes focused on Naruto. Junichiro and Ayumi echoed the statement, which helped Naruto to relax a little.

"Good. Thank you." He gave the kids an encouraging smile. "You know that I'd be finicky with you guys whether or not you were under guard right now, right? As your mom, it's my job to worry about you all the time."

Behind him Sasuke snorted. "That's enough lecturing, idiot. If you don't let them go now, Kenta will be late for classes and the twins for training."

"Fine. You guys can go, and have a good day." Naruto huffed, not ready to let the kids go and still wanting to make sure they were ready for the next two weeks. But, he couldn't help but to smile when Ayumi wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him tightly. He petted her dark hair and kissed the top of her head before the boys also joined in the hug. And then, Naruto decided to pull Sasuke into the large hug as well.

"Alright, alright." Sasuke said with a sigh. Although he sounded exasperated, Naruto knew that he enjoyed it. "Go on or you'll all be late. We will see you before we leave tomorrow."

The three of them obeyed him, and after their goodbyes were all on their way. Sasuke wrapped one arm around Naruto's waist while the other still held Hana, kissing the man's temple. "Stop being a worrywart, they know what to do while they're alone."

Wrinkling his nose, Naruto took the baby from his husband and laid a kiss to her forehead. "I'm allowed to worry, and so are you." He poked Sasuke in the ribs. "Mister 'I pretend to have no emotions' over here."

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke grabbed Hana's baby bag so they could drop her off at daycare on the way to the office. "On the chance that I did show any emotions to the kids, what do you think they would do? Wouldn't that just freak them out more? They're used to you mothering them and fussing over them, and that's enough."

Naruto did fuss over them a lot, and he knew that. And although Sasuke wouldn't admit it, he did too—just not to the effect that he himself did. It was embarrassing because it reminded him of something a woman would do, and in a way it hurt his pride as a male. However, he had always passed it off as the fact that he had in fact been the one to carry these children and give birth to them. So it was only natural, right?

"You fuss over them in your own way, Uchiha Sasuke." Naruto felt the need to defend himself.

"Hn."

"Don't deny it, asshole. You know it's true."

By the time the kids went to bed that night, they had only received four more lectures. Sasuke would admit that one of them was from him, but he was proud of Naruto for letting go after three. Though, he expected at least one more before they left in the morning.

Sasuke was laying on the bed, a sleeping Hana laying on his chest. Naruto was packing, last minute of course, and sprouting off lists to himself to make sure he had done everything he needed before leaving the village. He mostly had, and Sasuke knew this because he had made actual lists to ensure their jobs were done.

Suddenly, the blonde paused in his packing and looked up, slightly pale as if he had forgotten something important. "Did I turn in those papers?" He asked.

"Which ones?"

"The ones for the wall repairs, they were supposed to go to Izumo. Did I do that?"

Sighing, Sasuke closed his eyes and gently rubbed Hana's back. "Yes, idiot. I delivered them this afternoon, along with the documents that Sakura needed, and the ones for Anko to deal with the Forrest of Death's renovations for the Chunin Exams."

"Oh, okay." Naruto seemed to relax as he went back to packing. After a few minutes he stopped again. "Did I…?"

Sasuke interrupted him. "Shikamaru will finish the budgets tomorrow. We'll sign off on them when we get home. They're not actually due for a month."

Once again, the blonde relaxed. Then again after a few more minutes… "Did…"

"Stop misplacing your anxiety."

"What?"

Looking at him, Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "You're talking work, but really you're thinking about the kids." He knew Naruto better than anyone else on earth. If he were really thinking about work, he wouldn't look as panicked every time he thought of something. It also probably didn't help that this would be his first time leaving Hana for more than a few hours. That would definitely add to Naruto's anxiety about them leaving.

There was a huff and he sat on the bed. "Well, I'm worried about them."

"I am too, but you have to let that go. We're leaving tomorrow, and they will all be here and there's nothing we can do at this point that will change that. But they know what to do, they're under watch, and you just need to trust them. Remember, we were both living alone at Jun and Ayumi's age. Actually, we were both living alone at Kenta's age, too. They can handle themselves. We did."

"I just…" Naruto started. He laid down and faced Sasuke, a hand moving to play with the red hair that curled at the base of Hana's head, probably to distract himself. "I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen. Something is telling me not to leave."

Sasuke was silent, and he just stared at Naruto. He could relate, something in his gut was telling him that something wasn't right. "They're under watch." He repeated, more to himself than to Naruto.

"But if worse comes to worst, will that really do anything to help them?" He stilled his movements and looked up at Sasuke with large blue eyes.

"I don't know. And there is no way of knowing unless something does happen. But we have to go to the Kage Summit, there is no way around it. The best we could do would be to take Hana with us. And then what? We wouldn't be able to watch her while we are in meetings all day. I'm worried too, okay? We will both be thinking about all four of them the entire trip. However, thanks to the technology we have now that wasn't available to us when we were their age, we can call them and check up on them regularly."

Naruto seemed to think about it, and he smiled an amused smile. "That will drive Jun crazy."

A smile of amusement also passed Sasuke's face briefly. "That it will. But it will make us feel better, right?"

"Right."

"So we will call them. Now get up and finish packing, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow and I won't tolerate you whining all day because you're tired."

"You're an asshole," Naruto said with a snort.

"Watch your language around the baby," Sasuke chided half-heartedly.

The next morning, they got out the door after Naruto lectured the children two more times, Shikamaru three times, and Kakashi once. But, with the thought of calling the children once they arrived in Iwagakure, Naruto seemed to be calmer through the trip than he had last night.

It helped Sasuke too.

By the time he head the third cough in ten minutes, Junichiro was slightly annoyed. Lowering the book he was reading, he waited, and after another two minutes there was another. Saving his place, Junichiro put his book on the coffee table and moved across the room to stand across from Kenta. The boy was sitting at the kitchen table working on his homework. Kenta avoided looking up at him, and his pale face was a little flushed.

Their parents had been gone for five days and in two days he and Ayumi would be leaving for their mission. Everything had gone smoothly so far, which he was thankful for. They hadn't seen hide nor hair of the people who had been following them a few weeks ago, Hana had been mostly easy but a little fussy (nothing they couldn't handle), and Kenta had been his usual responsible self, keeping himself busy and quiet.

It was getting late, and it was Ayumi's turn to put the baby to bed, and it was a night where she was fussy. He didn't blame her though, it was her first time being away from both of their parents at once for more than a few hours, and as hard as they tried they couldn't replace their parents. And while Ayumi was with Hana, here he stood in front of his younger brother, who was making an effort to ignore him. But, from the way his writing began to slow down, he knew he was getting to him.

Finally, Kenta stopped writing.

"Say it." Junichiro demanded.

Kenta remained quiet.

"Say it." He repeated, crossing his arms.

The boy finally looked up at him, stubbornness written in his dark eyes. He was not going to talk, so the two stared at each other for minutes. His resolve was firm until he let out another cough, and he slouched in the chair, throwing down his writing utensil onto the table.

"I don't feel well." Kenta finally admitted, his voice soft. He looked back down at his homework before taking a deep breath. It was a little shaky.

Reaching over the table, he placed a hand on Kenta's forehead. He was warm. "Why haven't you told me?"

"I didn't want you to fuss over me." He looked ashamed.

Jun knew that his brother hated his body, and that he always tried to stay strong and hold out for as long as possible when he started feeling sick. Kenta especially didn't like having to be looked after by his two older siblings, so he had been trying to act even more mature than usual. It just caused Junichiro to sigh as he moved from his brother's sight and into their parent's bedroom to grab his medicine. Measuring it out, he returned to give it to him. Kenta took it begrudgingly, trying to avoid looking at Junichiro again.

"I just don't want this to escalate past you coughing. Ayumi and I are leaving in two days, and with mom and dad gone, being in the hospital won't be fun for you. I'm going to fuss over you anyways because I'm your big brother, but when you're sick, and our parents aren't here, it's my job to fuss. Sometimes you just need to give in and let people take care of you." Kenta was fidgeting under his gaze, feeling a little uncomfortable being lectured by Jun. "So why don't you put your homework away, and we will go upstairs and find a book for you to read? You can sit with me and relax for the rest of the night." He would have to watch over Kenta anyways, to make sure he didn't get worse, and if he got the boy to sit in the living room and read with him, it would be the easiest way.

Behind him, he heard Ayumi huff as she brought a crying Hana out from the nursery. "I give up. I'll just sit out here and hold her until she is asleep. Or I'm asleep. She won't go in the crib."

Jun turned to look at his twin, who looked like she wanted to join the baby in crying. "Just let her cry herself out, she'll fall asleep soon, I can't see her staying up much longer. I'm going to take Kenta upstairs to find a book, he's getting sick."

Ayumi looked between her brothers, frowning, her eyebrows knit together with worry. "Did you take your medicine, Kenta?"

"Jun just gave it to me." Kenta muttered, once again feeling ashamed now that he had both of his siblings worrying about him.

"Come on," Junichiro urged the boy. And Kenta followed him as Ayumi settled down in the living room, trying to calm the baby.

The two boys carried on upstairs where the libraries were. There were quite a few forbidden scrolls, seals, and books on ninjutsu, kekkei genkai, and other ninja arts up there. However, there was also a small library of fiction books. The library had been built up by each Hokage, and although at one point the libraries had been destroyed when Konoha had been attacked, they had tried replenishing the supplies over the years.

Jun absentmindedly walked through the room, letting his fingers graze over the spines of some of the books. "You know, Kenta, I'm not trying to make you feel embarrassed or ashamed by fussing over you. I just want you to be healthy. I care about you a lot, you know?"

With a sigh, Kenta picked up a book and looked at it. "I just want to be normal."

Looking to his brother, Jun heard him cough again. "You are normal, Kenta. You just have limitations. Which wouldn't limit you as much if you would just admit when you felt like you were getting sick. It would make it easier to manage."

"I guess." Kenta picked up another book. "I don't like when people look at me with pity when I tell them I'm not feeling well, though."

Returning to where Kenta was, Jun smiled at him. As responsible as Kenta was, he was still only eight years old, and wanted to be more adult than he actually was. If anything, it worried their parents that he wouldn't just let go and play around and be free like others his age. He had a lot on his shoulders, and Junichiro could see that.

Placing a hand on his shoulder, Jun grinned down at his younger brother. "Well, screw them, then. I don't pity you, and neither does Ayumi, or our parents. We know you're strong, we just worry about you. And anyone who does have pity, they don't matter."

Kenta's flushed face light up, and he smiled. "Thanks, Jun." He held up the book he chose, "I'm ready to go back downstairs."

Nodding, Junichiro turned back towards the stairs. But something felt off. He couldn't explain it, but something within him a voice told him to run, to get the hell out of there. Reaching out, he pulled Kenta towards him, confusing the boy. And then he heard a loud noise from downstairs, an explosion, and Ayumi screamed. Kenta tensed against him, and Jun felt his heart beat quicken.

Adrenaline began pumping through his veins, and he knew that he needed to get downstairs to his sisters. Moving forward, he pulled Kenta with him. But, once he reached the stairs, they were blocked by two people in white hooded cloaks. One of them reached towards them, and the blonde jerked back, taking Kenta with him. His mind worked quickly, thinking of everywhere in this room that weapons were hidden, or placed on display. He darted to the side, moving to grab one.

But then he smelled it, a sickly sweet smell invaded his senses, and the last thing he remembered as his vision narrowed in was seeing one of the people raise their head. A metallic mask covered their mouth, protecting them from whatever this smell was. Kenta blacked out before him, and Junichiro was pulled to the floor as he also lost consciousness.