Birthright
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. For anyone interested, here are the ages again. Aiya and Arashi are 12, triplets are 9, Kenji is 8, and Hoshi & Shisui are 6. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter .
Chapter Notation: Feel free to let me know how long you think the Genin Arc for Aiya and Arashi should be. I expect that it will run 2-3 more chapters, but I'm open to suggestions.
Chapter 20
All too soon in Hinata's mind, the family vacation ended and they were back at the Leaf. Today was a big day though. Both Aiya and Arashi would be heading off to meet their respective Genin Teams officially for the first time.
"What's Tenten like, father?" Aiya looks up at Sasuke between nibbling on her French Toast.
Sasuke chuckles at that and shakes his head. It was obvious that their eldest child was feeling a bit nervous. That was probably why she was playing with her food so much.
He pauses as though uncertain how to answer that. "Well I never really spent that much time with her. I know that she's good with weapons though and she's a tomboy." Sasuke shrugs and Itachi playfully rolls his eyes.
"You're description skills are exemplary, Sasuke." Itachi shakes his own head in disbelief. "Truly, they are." And with that, Itachi pokes Sasuke's forehead as their other children laugh.
Arashi in contrast seemed more than happy to gobble up as much food as he could get his hands on. Hinata smiles at this and decides Sasuke must have told him about the stunt that Kakashi had pulled with the "original" Team Seven. Smart boy.
Sasuke just rolls his eyes. "Whatever, Itachi." Hinata couldn't help, but giggle at the sight.
There were days that it was difficult to believe that Sasuke wasn't Shisui's and Hoshi's age and Itachi wasn't Aiya's and Arashi's. It seemed that now that the worst of the Massacre had been put behind them, they had naturally fallen back into their roles as the older and younger brother.
Arashi beams up at Itachi. "So what's Shikamaru like?" At this, Hinata and Sasuke both laugh.
"He's a very intelligent, though lazy ninja." Itachi shrugs as he smiles. "I don't know him that well, but you'll learn a lot from him. That is of course, provided you can get him to do something besides look at the clouds."
Hinata couldn't exactly argue with that description. She still couldn't believe it really. Her babies were all grown up. (Well kinda).
Miya wanders over to Arashi and boops him on the nose before bounding over to her mot her and presenting her with a scroll. "The Messenger Hawk was sitting on the window." The middle triplet smiles at her as if that explained everything.
"Oh yes, thank you, Miya." Hinata returns her daughter's smile and blushes beat red as she reads what was written on the scroll.
Dearest Hinata,
I love you with all my heart. It gladdens me that you have such a happy marriage, but I do not think it was appropriate to express said happiness in the room next to mine!
That was most unseeingly and deviant! Kindly, do not do so again in the future. What on Earth will you do, if one or more of your children overhears you and your husbands?!
Have none of you heard of the Soundproofing Jutsu? I find that hard to believe given how long you've all been married and the fact you have eight children. If you MUST indulge them in such deviancy, at least use that. And I am rather tempted to wash all of your filthy mouths out with soap!
Love, Your Father.
Kenji wolves down a couple eggs. "What's it say, mother?" And Hinata blushes more.
"I recognize the writing." Amaya smiles cheerfully. "It must be from grandfather."
Well at least she hadn't read it. Hinata's dignity was still somewhat intact. That was a relief!
Aiya rolls her eyes, after taking a sip of her orange juice. "He must have overheard the training too!" Hinata, Itachi, and Sasuke all sputter in response to that little gem.
"Yeah!" Arashi makes a face. "Next time, use the Soundproofing Jutsu!"
Sasuke glares at Itachi. "This one is all your fault." Well Hinata wasn't exactly sure that one was fair. After all, Sasuke had been just as pouncy.
"Right." Hinata blushes awkwardly as she fidgets with her hands as she used to do when she was still a girl. "Arashi and Aiya, you might want to get going." She smiles at them, trying to power through her blush. "You wouldn't want to be late for your first day!"
Thankfully, the siblings quickly head off upon hearing that. It seemed some things were universal. Almost every ninja child, no matter the era…was happy to officially begin their training.
"That's going to be us soon!" Nara beams at the thought and her sisters nod in agreement.
Kenji frowns. "Four more years." He sighs wistfully.
Though it was the youngest set of twins who pouted the most. After all, they were the youngest. At six, it was going to be awhile before they became Genin.
"Six years." They sigh in unison, causing their parents to chuckle.
It didn't take long for Aiya to get to her team's meeting spot by the bridge. Some things really were timeless, it seemed. It was something of an unspoken rule that every Team Seven met here as far as she could tell.
Thankfully, Tenten wasn't going to make them wait in the classroom. She didn't want to know what Akio and Kami would have gotten up to, if that had been the case.
Akio was a somewhat shy artist and definitely took after his father more than his mother when it came to personality. In looks though, he was quite similar to his mother.
There was just one problem. "Good morning, Aiya!" He was quite stealthy and loved to sneak up on people!
"Ahhh!" Aiya flails and almost stumbles, only to be caught by someone.
As soon as she looks back, she was staring into a pair of golden eyes. Great. Now, she looked like a skittish mouse or a klutz in front of her teammates on her first day! This was Kami.
He shakes his head at Akio. "You really shouldn't sneak up on people like that." Kami smiles down at Aiya. "You alright? Good thing he wasn't an enemy ninja or was this just your way of saying you're falling for me?"
Oh that was it! She grumbles and drenches him in a Water Jutsu. "You're fortunate that it was me and not Maya." He'd be in a lot of pain if that was the case. "First, she'd boop you and then she'd use Scorch Style on you!"
Akio laughs and takes out his paints and scrolls. Apparently, he wanted to capture the moment forever. Much to Kami's annoyance.
"What's a boop?" He blinks in confusion. "Nevermind. Scorch Style sounds painful. I thought that was only a bloodline technique though?"
He was a presumptuous flirt, but Aiya reluctantly admits that he knew his stuff when it came to Jutsus and bloodlines. "It is, but she was born with two strong nature types. They just kinda combined into that." Aiya shrugs.
All of her siblings were gifted in one way or another. That was just how Miya was gifted. At least she couldn't Flicker everywhere or go invisible like Shishi. He was getting to be quite the handful.
"Cool!" Kami seems to forget that he was completely drenched. "Can you use your Byakugan to see where our Sensei is?"
Aiya was about to respond to that when she hears a feminine laughter and notices that their Sensei was approaching. That had to be Tenten. Thank goodness!
Aiya was so relieved that her Sensei was also a girl. She didn't know what she would have done, if she had to put up with three boys. Kami and Akio were going to be enough of a handful!
"Why is Kami soaking wet?" Tenten blinks.
The eldest Uchiha Child blushes and rubs the back of her head sheepishly. "He deserved it, Tenten Sensei!" And in Aiya's mind, truer words had never been spoken!
Elsewhere Sasuke shakes his head as he escorts some of their children to the Academy while he heads towards Naruto's office. They were a handful, but he adored him.
He would have adored them a bit more though, if they hadn't overheard his private training time with Hinata though. That was just embarrassing! He couldn't believe that they had been so careless!
"Why do you need to use the Soundproofing Jutsu, father?" Hoshi smiles at him as he's carried on Sasuke's back.
Shisui seemed content to just walk with his other sisters and Kenji for the moment. Which was good because Itachi didn't have to go into the Academy for afternoon classes for a couple hours.
Carrying two children who were both six on your back, well that was a bit awkward. Not that they were heavy, it was just a matter of space really. His and Itachi's back was considered prime real estate by their children and many fights had broken out over who would get a piggyback ride and who wouldn't in the past!
"You'll understand when you're older." Sasuke sighs.
"But we're six!" Shisui seemed in the mood to protest that decision. "We're big kids now! That's what you said when we started the Academy!"
There were many things that Sauske had learned from fatherhood thus far. One of them was that anything he said, could and often would come back to bite him in the ass. How had such an innocent comment been turned against him?
While the younger Uchiha Brother was enormously pleased that all their children were so bright, there were times like these when that could be a bit annoying. They certainly knew how to turn his own words against him. Had Itachi done this to their own father?
Sasuke couldn't remember. "Yes, you're big kids now." He knew that he certainly hadn't.
He had practically worshipped the ground Fugaku Uchiha walked on. Though he rarely noticed or if he had, the other man hadn't commented on it much. At least not to him.
His mother had claimed that Fugaku spoke about him often, but Sasuke wasn't sure that was actually the case. Though he knew one thing. It was too late to turn back the clock when it came to that particular relationship, but it wasn't too late for him to be a warmer father to his own children than Fugaku had been.
"So you should tell us!" Kenji beams at him.
It was hard to say no to a kid who was looking up at you with the Bubble Eyes Jutsu and looked like your mirror image. Kenji either instinctively knew this or worse, he consciously knew it. That kid's Bubble Eyes Jutsu was positively lethal.
Amaya nods her head and smiles at her father. "He's right!" She had such a sweet smile.
Amaya's smile was just as lethal as Kenji's Bubble Eyes Jutsu. He never stood a chance. He'd have to think of something quickly, if he wanted to get out of this.
It was one thing to explain certain facts to Arashi and Aiya, they were twelve, but the others…well they were still too young. Sasuke hadn't even wanted to give The Talk to his eldest children, but he wasn't stupid. It had been something of a requirement.
That wasn't the case with them though. "Yes, you should father!" Miya boops him on the nose excitedly. "It's only fair." They were still young enough that it wasn't a real concern yet and god damn, Miya could jump.
She was going to put Guy and Lee to shame at this rate. The girl was definitely a Taijutsu Specialist in the making. There was simply no way around that.
"It's top secret information, that only graduates of the Academy can know." There. That would buy him three years with the triplets and even more with his younger children. "I'll tell you, once you've earned your ninja headbands."
Mercifully, that seems to pacify his children because he was able to get them to the Academy without further incident. There were times when parenting was incredibly difficult, but he wouldn't trade them for the world. Sasuke smiles as his children scurry off into the Academy.
They were the future. The future of their Clan and of the Leaf Village. The next generation was already off and running. It was just a matter of time, really. It scared him to acknowledge this, but the Chunin Exams were also lurking just around the corner for Aiya and Arashi as well. Now, that was going to be a nerve-wracking experience for him!
At that same moment, Arashi makes his way to the agreed upon training spot. The eldest Uchiha Boy was rather eager to begin training! This was going to be great!
"Looks like we're here first!" A splash of water hits him as Safa materializes behind him.
Right. He had Safa on his team. Uncle Suigetsu's and Auntie Karin's daughter. That meant one thing. This definitely wasn't going to be a boring team.
"Yeah. Looks like it!" He smiles at her.
Arashi still didn't particularly care for water much. He supposed that it was probably because he had such a strong Fire Affinity, but he was used to such behaviors now. After all, his twin sister also had a natural Water Affinity.
"Hey, guys!" Kitzu smiles as he bounds over to them.
Not surprisingly, he had a picnic basket in his hands. Like most members of his Clan, he ate more than average in order to manifest their trademark techniques!
Arashi didn't mind that. He liked too eat too! His mother always said that was because he was a growing boy though!
The Uchiha smiles at his teammate. "Hey, I see you brought food!" Food was good!
"What a drag." Yep! "I just got here and already you all want to have a picnic?" A loud yawn was heard, signifying that Shikamaru had made it.
Arashi didn't see what was wrong with a picnic though. He just ate, but maybe he could nibble on something. That and it would be a great way to bond with his new team!
Shikamaru was supposed to be a genius. Surely, he'd be able to see that! Well at least that's what Arashi thought.
"Shikamaru Sensei!" The team all looks at their instructor expectantly and Shikamaru yawns again.
It was hard to believe that such a lazy ninja was supposed to be really scary, but Arashi wasn't dumb. He knew that looks could be deceiving. After all, Naruto was Hokage and he seemed way too casual to be a Kage!
He smiles at them. "Well you're all certainly eager." That was an understatement! "Let's get started then!"
A few hours later, Itachi smiles as he watches his class play outside. It was recess time and he was grading a papers while the older Academy children were enjoying the nice summer day.
It wouldn't be long before the triplets were amongst them and Aiya and Arashi had already graduated. The children were growing so quickly. He'd probably be a grandfather before he could blink.
"Strange." He mulls over that concept in his mind for a moment. "It's difficult to imagine such a thing."
The vast majority of combat ninjas would never get to see their grandchildren in this life. He was no longer an active duty combat ninja though. Neither was Sasuke or Hinata.
The odds that they would live long enough to hold their grandchildren in their arms were far better than not. That thought brought a smile to his face, but it was difficult to imagine his foolish little brother as an elderly man or Hinata as an elderly woman.
"What's strange, Itachi Sensei?" One of the children smiles at him.
Hmm. He'd been caught talking to himself. Itachi makes a mental note to be more careful about getting caught doing such things in the future. One never knew, when someone might overhear something that you didn't want them too, after all. It was better to air on the side of caution.
He smiles at the child. "Oh nothing important." Itachi gestures to their classmates. "You may wish to join the game or you'll be left behind." The Academy Students were kicking and throwing a ball around.
Itachi wasn't aware of what the specifics of the game were and he wasn't inclined to worry about such a trivial matter. As long as the children were happy and not destroying the school building, well that was enough for him at the moment.
"Alright!" And with that, the boy races off to join the game.
Itachi smiles as he watches. He just hoped that he didn't become a grandfather too early. Arashi and Aiya were still relatively innocent. Though at least now they knew all about Kunais and Pouches.
Meanwhile Sagara paces in his hotel room. He knew that the time to strike was drawing closer and closer. The eldest Uchiha Children were now on Genin Teams. Soon enough, they would begin taking missions.
Missions away from home, preferably. He still wasn't eager to tangle with their parents. Still, his goal wasn't to kill the children.
"I'm just going to force them to sign the contract." Though killing them would also technically fulfill his promise.
If they were dead, there was no way for them to learn those techniques. The Hyuga Clan's famous Gentle Fist Style. The one that was such an integral part of that Clan that Kira and Kaiden had been willing to spend their lifesavings to prevent the children from ever learning it.
Foolish in his opinion really. They had Hyuga blood in them. One would think that the Clan would want to spread their genes out and their techniques amongst family members. Whatever.
"That's not my concern." He had a job to do and he was going to do it.
It was a bit frustrating really. He'd never had a mission take this long. Though he knew that eventual payoff would be worth it.
He could likely return ten times over. All Sagara had to do was get these brats to sign the contract and then he'd be a very, very rich man.
"Alright." He stretches as he Flickers off. "Time to see what the brats are up to!" And with that, he heads to the training grounds.
It was important to monitor their progress. Sagara had to know what they were capable of, if he was going to grab them. Which meant for now, he'd bid his time and wait for the perfect opportunity to strike.
On the other side of the Leaf Village, Hiashi sighs as he has some sake with Kakashi. It was a tradition of sorts. Over the years, the two men had bonded.
Initially, this was because Kakashi was rightfully concerned over how Hiashi would react to the Marriage Contract. That was no longer the case though. Now, it had become a ritual for them to dine together at least once a month.
"You should be happy today." Kakashi smiles at him cheerfully. "The twins are meeting their Genin Teams."
He knew that he should be happy, but he couldn't help it. Hiashi was worried. While Arashi and Aiya were both formidable Genin, they were still Genin and missions could be dangerous even for the most fearsome Jonin. He knew that much.
Hiashi sighs as he finishes his sake. "I am, but I'm also worried." God help them all, if anything happened to those children.
Hiashi didn't even want to think about what Sasuke and even Itachi would do, if that was the case. He didn't think that he'd ever fully feel comfortable around either of them, but it was obvious that they were both very much family men now.
Men who loved their family deeply. Men who were extremely powerful and men, who could destroy entire villages easily in their grief. It was a troubling thought, but one that he couldn't completely push out of his mind.
"That's only natural." The masked ninja concedes as he bites into a rice ball.
He knew that it was only natural. That didn't make it any easier. The Hyuga Patriarch sighs and suddenly felt rather old.
His grandchildren were old enough now that two of them were able to go on real missions. He was a grandfather and if this kept up, he'd probably be a great grandfather in another decade. Well give or take a few years, Hiashi supposed.
"I'm aware of that." He sighs and shakes his head. "I never though that this would happen when I signed that Contract."
What man would have? He had signed a Betrothal Contract that was supposed to marry Hinata off to the eldest Uchiha heir or possibly the second born, if Itachi hadn't been able to fulfill the contract.
That was before the Massacre though. Obviously, Itachi was a criminal and the Contract had fallen into Stage Two. Sasuke had been too young at the time for it to matter and then he had left for the Sound and become a Missing Ninja himself. After that, a Criminal.
By the time, both brothers got back to the village and were in good standing again, Hiash had simply forgotten about it. It seemed that fate had other ideas though. Fate had thrown his daughter towards the Uchiha Brothers.
"I imagine not, but that's what you get for meddling." Kakashi chuckles.
Hiashi doubted there were very many people who would have dared address him in such a way. Kakashi could get away with it though because he was a former Hokage and his friend. Still, the Hyuga man shoots the other ninja a dirty look for that one.
"I suppose, but I did get eight beautiful grandchildren out of it." So it wasn't all bad.
Kakashi nods his head approvingly. "That's right. Look on the bright side." He smiles. "I'm sure that they'll both be fine. Don't worry so much."
Pft. Spoken like a man who had never had children or grandchildren. Worrying is what fathers and grandfathers did. It was just hardwired into their biology. Kakashi was a brilliant man, but sometimes he could be a little oblivious. Then again, Hiashi supposed the same could be said of almost anyone…even himself.