A/N: I would like to thank everyone who added this story to their favourites and follows as well as everyone who reviewed the last chapter.

Wow, this is a really nice room.

This was the only thought that came to her mind as she took in the decorated hotel room. There had been some strange looks from the adults but they didn't try and snatch her away from the two little girls. But maybe that scary man's wife is going to push me away. Most of the adults in this village would never allow their children come near her.

The thought made her heart raced and Naruto rubbed her sweating palms against her pants. It wouldn't be nice for their Mom to touch her sweating palms or if the sweat dripped onto the nice floor. No, it was better to get rid of any sign that she was nervous. The woman might take advantage of her nerves or she might think that she was weird.

Letting out a little audible gulp, Naruto straightened her back and watched with nervous eyes as Kiko and her sister rushed to the bathroom. Naruto blinked when Akane disappeared with a pop and from behind the door, she could hear a rather loud yelp. How did she do that? Was that a jutsu? It seemed like it could be a weird jutsu.

Her shock must have shown because Kiko looked at her with a wide smile.

"Akane-neechan used her Kekkei Genkei," Kiko explained with a smile.

Naruto blinked and tilted her head. "You mean she did something like the Sharingan?"

The girl furrowed her eyebrows together like she didn't understand a word that she said, and Naruto looked to the balcony window. The streets of Konoha greeted her but there was one sight that tickled her curiosity. There was a rather tall red-haired teen, who looked rather similar to that scary man, climbing up the balcony like a monkey.

But unlike the scary man, this teen seemed to have a loopy smile on his face. There was also something softer about his appearance if you asked her, something warm and innocent if you asked her. She blinked and jumped up when the boy landed on the balcony with a flourish that reminded her of a circus acrobat.

Smiled, Kiko giggled and clapped her hands before she dashed straight to the balcony door. The little girl was on her tip-toes and barely opened the handles of the balcony door. Naruto looked away and stared down at her feet as the door slid open. What should she do? Should she leave? But that scary man told her to go with his children.

It was nice that a stranger would invite her back to her home and even though she should be scared of strangers, she couldn't help but follow them like a hopeful little bunny.

"You guys met Aunt Kushina already?" the red-haired teen asked, wrapping his arm around Kiko's waist and swinging her over his shoulder. The little girl let out a loud giggle, a childish giggle that made her stomach feel weird. It was the same kind of weirdness she got whenever she saw Sasuke with Itachi.

It wasn't a nice feeling and maybe she should go.

"No but I made a new friend, Ei-niisan!" Kiko declared, her hand waved over towards her.

The boy blinked and put down the little girl before he turned towards them. Bright, vibrant green eyes fixed on her. It flashed with curiosity and then it faded to subtle understanding as if he knew and understood her behaviour. The smile on his face changed from being wide and childish to a soft smile that made her look down at her feet.

It was still so strange to have someone be kind to her. Kindness was not something that she was used to because very few people seem to be kind to her. Iruka-sensei was indifferent to her and the few times he did notice her, it was because one of the girls picked on her. He always took their side because they acted like little whimps when she fought back.

Just because she didn't cry like Ami, didn't mean she wasn't a victim.

"Your new friend looks like a little angel," the red-haired teen said, dropping the little girl onto the ground. Kiko bobbed her head and Naruto looked away as heat crept up to her cheeks. It was stupid of her to be embarrassed but no one described her as being an angel before. Chubby and fox-like were the words that the children would use to describe her.

Before she could try and thank the boy for his compliment, the door to the bathroom swung open and a pretty auburn-haired woman with the most striking green eyes that she had ever seen, marched towards them. Even though she was tiny, she could see Akane trailing behind the auburn-haired woman with a tiny scowl on her face.

"Mum…why was Akane in the bathroom with you?" The red-haired boy asked, sounding concern and curious.

The woman pursed her lips and darted her eyes to the scowling red-haired girl. "Because your sister thought that it was okay for her to use her Quirk inside the hotel room because Konoha has no law prohibiting the use of Quirks."

"Aunt Isao says to use a loophole whenever you can," Akane grumbled.

The auburn-haired woman pinched her nose. "I should stop letting your Aunt Isao babysit you and Kiko if she is going to teach you all of her bad habits and even if you blame Isao, you are still grounded for teleporting into the bathroom. As soon as we get back to Japan, there will be no video games for a whole month."

Akane wilted and looked away from her mother while Naruto scratched her head. What was a video game? It sounded something exotic. Was it a toy? A board game? It sounded weird and what was a Quirk? That wasn't a word she had heard before, but maybe she should ask Sasuke or Hinata-chan if they knew what that word meant.

A throat cleared and the auburn-haired woman strolled towards her. Her movement was slow and careful as if she was almost hesitant on how to deal with her. She reached her hand out to her and there was a little encouraging smile on her face. It was really warm and a very funny feeling settled inside of her stomach.

"Akane-chan told me that you were her new friend," Naruto blinked and darted her eyes to the red-haired girl. Akane scowled and looked away from her but there was a slight pinkening on her neck. "And it is nice to meet you, Naru-ch—"

"—Naruto," the woman blinked and Naruto forced herself to look away from her. "I don't know you all that well and…I don't like being called Naru-chan."

Naru-chan was a weak, little girl and she wasn't a weak little girl. She was a strong girl, who sent three of her seniors to the hospital with broken ribs and tears streaming down their eyes. That girl shouldn't have a cutesy name like Naru-chan. Naru-chan was the little girl, who ran away from the orphanage with nothing but the clothes on her back.

"It is nice to meet you, Naruto-chan," the pretty woman said, clearing her throat. A bright, warm smile played on her lips and Naruto blinked when she held out her hand to her. "My name is Kumiko and I don't know if my scary husband introduce himself before he told the girls to bring you to me, but he is Kenji. That red-haired boy is our son, Eisuke."

With the exception of Kenji, Kumiko gestured her hand to herself and then to Eisuke. The red-haired teen offered her a grin and a wave before he darted his eyes to his sisters. There was some confusion in his eyes like he couldn't understand why his father asked her to come here and if Naruto was being honest, she didn't understand why the man wanted her here.

It made no sense why the man had been brimming with rage.

"Why did Dad say to bring this little cherub here?" Eisuke scratched his head and plopped himself onto the bed. Akane shuffled her way to her brother while Kiko darted her eyes between them. "He knows if her parents finds out about this then they can charge him for kidnapping, right?"

"Daddy says he knew her parents," Kiko spoke out and the little girl fiddled with her hands. "And he seemed really sad when Naruto-chan says that she doesn't have any parents."

Eisuke winced and offered her a look that screamed that he was sorry, but she didn't understand why he was sorry. It wasn't like she was the only one who had lost her parents. There were so many orphans in Konoha, most of them being orphaned during the last Shinobi war or during the Kyuubi attack. She was nothing special.

There was nothing special about her but Kumiko had a very strange look on her face. The natural blush on her cheeks faded, replaced with a paleness that reminded her of those ghost that the seniors swore that existed. Why did she have that strange look on her face? And why did she have tears welling up in her eyes? It made no sense if you asked her.

"Why is Mummy crying?" Akane asked, scrunched her eyebrows together.

Eisuke didn't answer. He stared at her for a second, inspected her like he was trying to figure her out, and realization lit up his eyes. She watched him with a tight smile on his face and blinked when the boy looked at her with pained eyes before making his way to the crying woman. For some strange reason, her heart clenched with pain and she watched as Eisuke hugged his mother.

"Because Dad is really heartbroken," Eisuke explained with a patient tone. "And when you really love someone, you feel sad when your loved one feels sad as well."

Oh. That explained why Kumiko was crying but could anyone explain why her husband was sad? Why did he feel sad about her parent's death? No one seemed to care that she had no parents or seemed to know who they were. But she guessed if she found out that Hinata-chan or Sasuke died then she would cry like a huge baby.

Of course, not in front of people but she would still sob like Kumiko.

"This was the last thing that your Dad expected to happen," Kumiko declared, shaking her head. There was some redness in her eyes and the woman furiously rubbed her eyes before straightening her back. "And when your Dad comes back, he will explain everything to the four of you."

The red-haired teen snorted. "If he is willing to talk."

"Eisuke!"

There was a tone of irritation in Kumiko's voice that seemed to conflict with the grief on her face. She looked like she wanted to throttle the boy but the woman reigned in her temper. Naruto could only tilt her head. Most females seemed ready to reach out for a pan to smack someone, especially if they had a son but the woman seemed to only shoot a look of disappointment at the boy.

"Dad doesn't talk about his emotions."

Kumiko thinned her lips.

"Your father has his way of showing his emotions and he will explain things when he get here."

"Oi Old Man, why did you ask for your kids to bring me here?"

Naruto leaned against her foot and stared at Kenji. It had been hours since she came into the hotel room and only now did the scary red-haired man come back to the hotel room. He looked furious and a part of her wanted to scramble away from the man. Those furious eyes reminded her of the Matron but she wasn't going to wilt like a flower.

Kiko and Akane were sleeping on the bed while Kumiko and Eisuke just darted their eyes between them. They remained quiet, almost weary as if they knew better than to question the man. Maybe it would have been better for her to keep her mouth shut but she wanted answers. Answers that only this fuming red-haired man could give her.

Kenji paused and a strange emotion flashed before his eyes. Five seconds passed before the man knelt down till they were at eye level. There was absolutely no emotion in his expression, almost a cold-like expression and she wanted to drop her shoulders. She wanted to curl into a tiny ball because it terrified her to see that kind of expression.

"I asked Akane and Kiko to bring you because you are a member of my family," Kenji explained with a calm and collected tone. He stared at her for a good few seconds before he turned his whole body away from them.

Family? We are family? That was such a strange thing but she didn't dislike it. If anything, a warmth filled her whole body and hope crept into her stomach like it always did whenever something like this happened. She never had a family. Never had anyone to claim her as their own but this cold, scary man seemed intent on claiming her as family.

Of course, there was something that made her want to scratch her head.

"Family?" he nodded and Naruto poked her tongue against her cheeks. "How are ya related to me?"

From the corner of her eye, she saw Kumiko furrowing her eyebrows together with confusion while Eisuke looked almost uncomfortable. She should explain things but her attention was solely directed at the man kneeling before her. He looked almost disgruntled, almost upset but it was hard to tell when nothing seemed to break through his stoic mask.

"Your Mom is—was my cousin," he said, sounding like it hurt to say those words to her. "But your Mom was more like the little sister that I never had."

There was love in his tone and if she ever had doubts about his intentions towards her, then his tone told her that he really did love her mother. The mother that she never got to know but the mother, who seemed to have been deeply loved by this man. This cold man who seemed to be struggling to keep his emotions in check.

"You…look a lot like Kushina," Kenji paused and then elaborated. "That was your Mom's name, you know."

Kushina. Naruto closed her eyes and sniffed, wrapped her hands around her arms but she refused to bellow out in tears. It was stupid but there was now a name that she could put on her mother. A name that she could declare if those girls and boys tried to bully her again because she didn't know their names. She belonged to someone.

There was someone that made her but her heart cried for the mother that she never knew.

"Was she…pretty?" she squeezed her hands together and cleared her throat as several eyes continued to watch her, observe her as if they were waiting for her to cry. Crying was for babies and she wasn't a baby. No matter how much she wanted to release the tears, she wasn't going to let them think that she was weak.

The man nodded and turned to look at her. "She was very pretty and from what I noticed, she had half of the boys in this village trying to get her attention but she only had eyes for your Dad."

There was so much regret in his tone and a part of her knew that she should stop questioning him. He trembled like a leaf and Eisuke kept looking at them like he was seeing his father for the first time. Kumiko, on the other hand, had a sad little smile as if she understood the importance of this conversation between them.

"And what was my Daddy like?"

Kenji looked away from her. He just stared at his wife and Eisuke as if he was deeply contemplating about how describe her father to him. Was he going to tell her about what her Daddy was like? Would he tell her anything? Or was he going to keep her in the dark about her father? After a couple of seconds, the man exhaled.

"He was a very…sensitive man," Kenji's tone was soft and blank but it was still enough for her to clung to his every word. "And in the eyes of the villager, your old man was considered to be a… genius."

For the first time in her life, the word genius was thrown out like it was an insult and that was strange. People talked about being a genius in this village was something amazing but the red-haired man spoke the word like it was a curse. But it made her wonder if being considered a genius was a bad thing for someone that wasn't her.

"Was her old man like Chika?" Eisuke asked, drawing their attention back to him. Naruto didn't miss the slight bounce in her distant relative's seat nor did she miss the weariness in Kumiko's eyes.

Kenji grunted. "Rin's boy is a boy with a very high IQ and can enjoy stuff that people in this country can never dream to understand, but that pretty boy was more a genius in terms of being a shinobi."

Eisuke nodded and looked back at her with curiosity. He didn't make any comment, choosing instead to lie back onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling with strange eyes. She should wonder what was going through his mind but she was more curious to know about this Chika and his interests because it sounded like he was weird.

"And what was my Mom like?"

It was probably the most painful question for this man to answer but Kenji was the only way that she could get any answers. Of course, there was the sense that Mikoto-obaachan knew her parents but her shoulders always trembled at the idea of asking the black-haired woman about her mother. The woman always seemed to carry a solemn air around her despite her attempts of smiling at her.

"A real troublemaker," Kenji said with a controlled tone. "And a very good prankster."

So I got that from my Mom. She smiled and then blinked when Kenji stared at her with blank eyes. What was going through his mind? Was she being a bad person? Maybe she was being a bad girl for asking so many questions about her parents. The knowledge of her potential bad doing should be enough for her to stop questioning things, but there was just one question that came to her mind.

It was a stupid question because the answer was obvious but maybe Kenji and his family was going to be different.

I…want them to be different.

"I-If you are my family then does that mean I can stay with you and your family?" she asked, voice as soft as silk. Kenji frowned and the whiskered teen squeezed her shirt. "Or…do I have to go back to my apartment?"

Naruto watched as Kenji's expression twisted with rage and she opened her mouth, ready to spit out the apology to him but Kenji let out a shaky exhale. Standing up from her spot, Kumiko made her way to the man and squeezed his shoulder, offering what she suspected was a form of subtle support to the man.

"You are never going back to that apartment if I have any say on this," Kenji vowed. His chakra pulsated, burned with a rage that threatened to overwhelm her sense and the man let out another shaky breath. "You are going to be staying with me because I'm not letting my niece to raise herself. You are apart of my family, apart of the Uzumaki clan and we don't leave anyone behind."

Those words boomed throughout the room and tears welled up behind her eyes. It shouldn't move her but it did because it sounded like someone wanted her. Someone wanted her in their family and that was the most beautiful thing that anyone had ever told her. No matter how much those words brought a sense of warmth to her but she wasn't going to cry.

She wasn't going to cry.

"You aren't alone, Naruto-chan," Kumiko informed her, kneeling down until they were at eye level. Naruto rubbed her eyes and blinked when the woman cradled her against her chest. "Kenji and me are going to take good care of you just like how we are raising those three."

For the first time in years, full-blown hope blossomed inside of her and Naruto had to wonder for how long was she going to have this hope before it was going to be taken away from her.

"K-Kenji! You are alive?"

Naruto knitted her eyebrows together and tilted her head to the side as Teuchi stared at her newly-found uncle with wide eyes. After the whole thing with Aunt Kumiko telling her that she wasn't alone, Kenji asked her if there was any place that she wanted to eat. Of course, her Mummy's cousin didn't know that most of the people in Konoha gave her funny looks whenever she ate in their restaurant, so she decided on Ichiraku.

Not that she would have picked any other restaurant because Teuchi made the best ramen and was the nicest civilian that she knew.

"You guys know each other?" Naruto asked, pulling her bottom lip back. The two men exchanged glances while Kumiko stared at them for the longest time before looking down at the menu. She didn't seem to be surprised nor did it seem like she cared about the silent conversation that was happening between the two men.

Akane and Kiko seemed interested because they leaned closer to their father as if hoping that they could somehow have an idea on what was going on between them.

"Your Mom used to come here a lot," he explained, and there was a strange, sad look on his face as if the words stabbed him more than anything else in the world. "She had an intense love for ramen even though Akira-obaasama would scold her for eating that stuff so much. In your Mom's eyes, no one could make better ramen then Teuchi over here."

Naruto nodded. "My Mum was very smart!"

Kenji looked almost amused, seemed ready to say something before shaking his head as if he was against it. She could only wonder what the man wanted to say to her. His wife, on the other hand, smiled and seemed to have found something about her words to be amusing. She wanted to know what on earth was so funny for the three adults.

"Whenever your Mom was too stressed or if she was ever sad, she would come here to cheer up," Teuchi commented, turning away from her. In the corner of her eye, she could see Teuchi's wife hovering in the back of the stand. Her brown eyes lit up with irritation and Naruto held back the urge to stick her tongue out at the woman. "I could always count on her to keep my business afloat. She was the one that gave me the idea for this stand."

My Mum is the reason that I can eat tasty ramen. She looked down at her hands and then looked to the photos of the customers, who ate the most ramen. Was her Mom in one of those photos? What did her Mom look like? Did she have the same pretty red hair as Akane and Kenji? She guessed she might have been a red-head because Akane said that Uzumaki's had red-hair.

"Your Dad was sly enough to know that if he wanted to maintain your Mom's attention then he had to buy her ramen," Kenji snorted and then scowled. He plopped himself down on the stool and looked down at the menu with unreadable eyes. "He tried all sort of things to get her attention from trying to give her flowers to do…this."

Naruto allowed herself to immerse into the recollection that Kenji had of her parents. Her heart fluttered and danced as Kenji told her about her father's antics on trying to win her mother over. It was unbelievable. It sounded like something those silly romantic movies that Hinata-chan loved to drag her to but…it was her parents' story.

It was their beginning and maybe in a way, it was her own beginning.

"If you saw Kushina's husband was that romantic then why didn't you do the same thing when you tried to get me to go out with you?" Kumiko asked, looking faintly amused. Kenji jerked his head and turned to look at the auburn-haired woman, who offered a fake scowl to her husband before darting her eyes to their three curious kids. "It would have been nice if you stutter instead of being so marcho with your confession."

Kenji snorted and poked Kumiko on the ribs. "You know that I don't do flowery stuff."

"No but you tried to impress me when my ex-boyfriend tried to harass me," Kumiko said dryly. "I knew how to take care of him but no, you just decided for yourself that you have to be my knight-in-shinning-armour."

Teuchi coughed and Naruto could distinctly hear the ramenstand-owner snickered behind the cough. Why was he laughing? What was so funny about the whole thing? It didn't really matter when she thought about it. What mattered was that Aunt Kumiko didn't seem to like the idea of the whole damsel of distress thing, which was great.

Almost every female civilian that she saw, seemed to love to throw that card around.

"What does harass mean?" Akane asked, drawing everyone's attention onto her. The little girl sat in a position that almost reminded Naruto of Hinata whenever they ate, and for a brief moment the blonde wondered if Kenji was a head of a clan. Children from clans, especially those of aristocratic clan, always seemed to have similar behavior.

Hinata-chan was teaching her on how to do the same thing because the Hokage needed to know some manners.

Kenji pulled a face. "It means someone was trying to bully your Mom."

"Why? Mummy is nice," Kiko said, putting down the menu. Kumiko smiled, pressed a kiss against the little girl's head and Naruto forced herself to look away from them. It was wrong of her but her stomach rolled around with envy. It was clear that the woman loved her daughter, loved her children and she shouldn't feel envy towards them.

It was wrong of her.

"You know I'm surprised that you have kids," Teuchi said lightly, focusing his eyes on the two young children before shifting his gaze onto Eisuke. "I still remember when you told Kushina that you don't like kids and…that you have no plans of ever having them."

Naruto blinked and shifted her gaze at the two adults. Kenji looked away from the smiling ramenstand owner, rubbing the back of his neck as if he felt uncomfortable about something while Kumiko had a strange look on her face. She didn't fully understand their strange looks but Eisuke seemed to have understand because he looked at his parents with a dropping jaw and eyes filled with horror.

"Tomo-chan was right," Eisuke cried. "You and Mum—"

"—Eisuke, we will have this discussion in the hotel room when your sisters and Naruto are asleep," Kumiko declared, clearing her throat. Eisuke frowned while the auburn-haired woman shifted her gaze onto the quiet man sitting beside them. Kenji just stared at his three children with a strange glint in his eyes and Naruto decided to look away from them.

She focused on the menu and allowed herself to drift away from the conversation. It had been nearly two years since she left the streets but not long enough for her to forget the conversations that could take place between a man and a woman. There had been a few times when she overheard a woman informing a man that he knocked her up.

Most of the time, those men had a bad reaction and Naruto would see those woman carrying a baby without any help from the baby's Daddy.

"Your son doesn't act anything like you or Asa," Teuchi observed once Eisuke excused himself to go to the bathroom. Kenji nodded while Kumiko curled her lips into a smile as if those words pleased her. "He seems to have more of Ren's traits then yours."

The red-haired man turned away from Teuchi. "He acts a little bit too much like Ren at times but…"

He trailed off and shook his head before curling his hands into a fist. There was almost a mournful air around him as if he couldn't bring himself to say the words that he wanted to say. It was like those words were too painful for him to say and Naruto could only begin to wonder about the life that her mother's cousin had to live.

"I guess Ren is gone," Teuchi said in a soft but sad tone. He looked at Kenji for the longest time as if contemplating about what to say to him before he let out a sigh and made his way towards the counter that offered drinks. Teuchi knelt down and opened the cupboard. "Do you still like sake? Or do you want something stronger? I got a merchant friend to give me some new—"

"—I don't drink," Kenji said with a tightened tone. "I haven't tasted any alcohol for the last five years."

The cupboards banged and Teuchi let out a loud hiss. Naruto winced and scratched her head while Kumiko thinned her lips, not looking one bit pleased about something. Was there something that she was not aware about? It didn't seem like she was the only one confused because Akane and Kiko looked just as baffled as she was.

"Then…your first bowl is on the house," Teuchi said lightly once he got over his shock. "You still want your usual?"

Kenji shook his head.

"Give me Kushina's usual."

That night, she ate the best ramen that she ever had.

"Akane told me that you went to see the Hokage."

Kenji looked away from the sleeping children and focused his attention on Kumiko. His wife ruffled her hair with the hotel towel, her beautiful mossy-green eyes focused on him with an intensity that never failed to make him slump his shoulders. He took a deep breath, ribs stretched up and returned his attention back onto the sleeping children.

Naruto kept kicking the blankets off of her, small whimpers escaped from her lips and Kenji closed his eyes. Every whimper reminded him of the few sleepovers that Kushina used to have in his childhood home. His younger cousin would smile in public but it was during the night that she would remember that her parents were gone.

He knew his cousin vowed that she would never put her child through the same thing as her, but it seemed like Kushina's wish never came true.

"I did," he answered curtly, controlling the irritation that threatened to come out of his tone. He rose from his seat and made his way to the balcony door. The smiling faces of the civilians on the streets burned his eyes and rage dug through his skin because…how could they smile when his own niece was like a scared, little rabbit? They ruined Kushina's child.

Teuchi couldn't tell him anything with Naruto being there but he didn't miss the way that the customers stared at Naruto with veiled contempt. I know they broke the fucking contract because Kushina didn't have this problem. His troublemaker of a cousin had the problem of being a foreigner but the Hokage bend his back to make his cousin happy.

Unfortunately, his niece didn't have that same courtesy.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" his wife implored, placing her hand on his shoulders.

"I think if I talk about it then I'm going to fucking murder someone," Kenji admitted, balling his hand onto a fist and he lowered his strength before he smacked the wall with his fist. The wall cracked just a little bit and he made a mental note to pay for the damages. "I should have done the right thing when that Old Geezer told me about the contract he made with the Third."

You knew the truth and you didn't try to convince Gramps not to give me to them!

He had been a coward and two people paid the price for his cowardice. If he had been able to look past his own grievance then Kushina would have someone capable of controlling Akira's seal. If he came earlier then Naruto wouldn't be in this disgusting situation. This could have been prevented but his rage couldn't be quelled.

Ren-niisan died.

His grandfather died.

He sent them a message with the hope that they would help them through the attack and even if it had been war, no one sent a fucking message to them. Things could have been different if they replied, if they sent some shinobi to ensure that they send a message that they gave a fuck about them. But no one came.

They lost and buried over 800 clansmember from children to the elderly.

"Is that why you have been trying to control yourself in front of Teuchi-san?" his wife asked softly, palm rubbing soothing circles around his shoulder. The warmth didn't ease him and the image of his smiling family members flashed before his eyes. "I know you wanted to take up Teuchi-san's offer of a free drink."

I wanted so badly to have that stuff but I promised you that I'll get myself under control. The words wanted to come out but it was too emotional for his liking. No matter how many times that stupid therapist told him to talk about his feelings, it wasn't easy. It was still so difficult to break against the mindset about emotions being a bad thing.

As the next head of the Uzumaki clan and the Third Uzushiokage, you will learn to curb those emotional fits because no one loves an emotional leader.

His grandfather would bring a cane and smacked him hard in the shins whenever his emotions came out.

"Naruto doesn't know a fucking thing about her parents," he hissed, digging his hand against the door of the balcony. "She doesn't know that her mother was a little brat that would break tradition because she followed her heart, and doesn't even know that the man on that mountain is her father. She lives in an apartment by herself…and I'm only realizing just how fucked up our system is."

They hadn't done the exact same thing to Kushina. When his baby cousin came to live in this ungrateful village, Kushina had lived for a time with their grandfather's sister. She hadn't known at that time but she hadn't been send to take care of an ailing Mito. Instead, Akira and their grandfather chose her as the next jinchuuriki.

"It's going to be fine," Kumiko whispered with a voice as soft as velvet. He tightened his jaw, trembled and covered his face with the palms of his hand. How the fuck are things going to be fine? This whole situation was a mess if you asked him. "We are going to take her to Japan and you can tell her everything that you know about her parents. We can give her the family that she deserves."

He couldn't stop the bitter laugh from coming out of his mouth. "This isn't going to be easy. I know those four old snakes, watched them whenever my grandfather came to do his meetings with them, and I know they won't make it easy when it comes to Naruto. That Danzo is the slyest one out of them."

It might be months before I can go back to Japan. Arrangements and deals would have to be made. He would have to get one of his clans member's partners to overlook the contract, to dig through any loopholes that those bastards would use against them and to fight back. It would be a cold day in hell before he gave them that whimpering blond-haired girl.

"How long do you think that we are going to stay here?" Kenji jerked his head and Kumiko chuckled. "That expression tells me that you are going to fight long and hard to get Naruto-chan to come back with us."

He opened the balcony door and strolled towards the ledge. I'll fight but Eisuke needs to get back for his final year in middle school. Unlike him and the other adults of his clan, the children of his clan had so many options when it came to their future. Eisuke wanted to become a hero, now more than ever especially with that tragedy that happened to his best friend.

It was good for Eisuke to have a dream but that boy didn't seem to care about what was important for their clan.

"I'm going to contact Rin and have him pick you guys up," Kenji stated, pulling out the lighter and cigarette box from his pocket. A flame was lit and the cigarette hovered just underneath the flame. A smoke would allow him to think things carefully, to plan on his next couple of steps because one wrong move and everything was going to go to hell. "I might need his wife because I know they are going to try and fuck things up by blaming us."

Kumiko frowned.

"I don't feel comfortable about having you stay here without a member of your family here," his wife admitted. "The last few days have been difficult for you and it will reassure me that you have someone to help you through this."

You are going to fuck things up if you don't have someone to act as your voice of reason. That was the hidden words beneath that concern tone of hers and all he could do was look down at the streets. Normally, Asa would be his first choice but he just lost his wife to the backlash of her Kekkei Genkei. There was no way he was going to be pleased to know that his childhood fiancé, one of his dearest friends was gone like his wife.

Akira might still have the strength of a woman in her sixties but she was pushing 90 and he didn't want her to insult him every time that he fucked things up.

There was only one option left.

"I'll have Rin bring his eldest daughter here," he relented, removing the cigarette from his mouth. Smoke blew out and Kenji rubbed his wrist before looking straight at the building opposite of them. "She will return the four of you back home while Rin helps me through this mess that we are in. As much as I want you four with me, I wouldn't put it pass those snakes trying to hurt you and the kids."

There was a resigned look on his wife's face but she didn't dare tell him that she wanted to stay here with him. Their kids meant the world to him, even if one of them kept insisting that he wanted to go to that blasted school and the other child seemed to be having problems with connecting with the other children.

It wasn't Akane's fault because some members of his clan couldn't help but question her paternity. If it wasn't for her red hair, they would accuse Kumiko on cheating on me. But Akane had his red hair and had his chakra. The same went for Eisuke while Kiko inherited his chakra. The reason that his own clans member would question was because of the teleportation Kekkei Genkei.

"Does…Naruto-chan have anyone that should be responsible for her?" Kumiko asked, twisting her head around to stare at the blond-haired girl. Kenji blinked and his wife pulled her bottom lips back. "I really cannot believe that no one would want to take care of such a sweet girl."

"There are three people that I know Kushina and Minato would have made Naruto's guardian," Kenji replied. "Minato's mother loved children and I doubt she would have abandoned Naruto, especially when she is the only reminder of her only son. The only thing that would stop her is if she was dead."

He was certain that Keisuke was dead because that woman would have tried to make Naruto gentle and from the way she argued with Akane, he saw no signs of the whiskered girl being a gentle little girl.

"And the other two options?" Kumiko frowned and tilted her head to the side.

"Jiraiya is another option but that man has always been irresponsible," he grimaced and cleared his throat. "The other option is Kushina's best friend and I refuse to believe that Mikoto would just abandon her goddaughter for a good five years. She loves Kushina and Minato and…"

Naruto is the perfect blend of her parents. Those words couldn't come out, seemed intent on being stuck inside of his throat. And since those words couldn't come out of his mouth, he could only clear his throat before looking away from his wife's knowing eyes. If Mikoto didn't adopt Naruto then there had to be a reason.

Fugaku could have been a reason but he knew the man well enough to know that he had some respect for Minato. The man had always been weak when it came to his fiancé even if he couldn't say those words to her. No, there had to be a very good explanation on why Mikoto didn't take care of the girl sleeping on his children's bed.

"You are going to confront her."

He nodded. "I want answers and Mikoto-chan is probably the best person that can give me answers."

The Hokage will lie and Teuchi doesn't need me hovering over him to get answers. Kenji dropped the cigarette and squashed it with his foot before locking his gaze on his wife. Kumiko didn't say a word, only nodded and flickered her eyes back on their sleeping children. He felt his shoulders relax when he saw the subtle sadness in her eyes when it landed on Naruto.

"I don't think that you should be alone when you confront her," she said, making her way to the bed. The auburn-haired woman combed through their daughters' hair before doing the same thing to Naruto. "And I want to be there when you ask her and before you say anything, we decided when we had Eisuke—"

"—I need you there," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. His wife blinked and Kenji forced himself to look away from the smile on her face. "I don't trust the council, the Hokage but I can trust Mikoto and her love for my cousin and her husband."

The Uchiha clan may be known for their hatred, Kenji and you may have to be weary but if an Uchiha loves then their love can be intense and deep. They will do anything for the people that they love.

It was Akira that told him those things when he admitted about his weariness of Kushina's friendship with Mikoto. His grandfather had always been weary of the clan, always remembered the battle between Madara and Hashirama…and the end result of that battle. Mito became a jinchuuriki, witnessed her husband's despair and his grandfather never forgave the clan for what happened.

Hashirama might have died from old age but till her dying breath, Mito would claim that it was his broken heart and stress that killed him.

Another whimper came out of Naruto's mouth and Kenji watched with a heart filled with grief as the little blond-haired girl clung onto Akane. That little troublemaker of his looked so much like an angel when she slept, no scowl on her face and she clung onto Naruto like those kolas that he had seen in the zoo.

"We should bring the kids along when we meet Mikoto tomorrow," Kenji muttered as Kumiko rubbed Akane's shoulder. "It will be good for them. Akane can learn how to socialize with other children, and not have them wonder about her heritage and maybe one of those kids can convince Kiko that learning the shinobi arts isn't…bad."

Kumiko thinned her lips. "Kenji, you know that Kiko isn't like Eisuke and Akane."

"I know and I already accepted the fact that she will never have a violent job," he sighed. "But the world is a dangerous place, especially for a girl. I want to protect her in anyway that I can and after what happened with Tomoyo, I just want to be reassured that…she can take care of herself."

Kumiko nodded, didn't try and tell him that Kiko didn't need to learn how to protect herself. His youngest daughter could become a nurse, a lawyer or whatever the fuck that she wanted…and he would always be proud of her. But Tomoyo had been kidnapped and Asa gave in to his daughter's insistence of not learning the shinobi arts.

It had been a cold day when Asa came to him with eyes filled with fear and informed him that Todoroki Fuyumi hadn't seen his daughter go to her elementary school.

"And what about Eisuke?"

Ah, the number one troublemaker in his life.

"He needs to start learning about the shinobi clan and seeing the expectations instead of me grilling it inside of his head," Kenji grumbled, flickering his eyes to the red-haired teen clinging onto his pillow. "And the importance of alliances. I never got along with the Uchiha clan because of my grandfather but…Eisuke is different."

He hadn't been poisoned with the stories of the past and had a more…naïve outlook on things.

"Are you going to pressure him to—"

There is no need for him to become a shinobi and I refuse to allow that boy to become like me. Until he had been forced to go into therapy, he believed that being a child soldier was good. That he should be proud that his childhood innocence had been lost but Eisuke and the new generation of his clan showed him that there was a different option for them.

An option where they could live till they become functional adults with healthy coping habits.

"The good thing about Eisuke is that he has more choices than we ever did," Kenji admitted with a tired sigh. "He wants to be a Hero and I'm going to support that kid because that is his dream, but Kumiko…I'm never going to budge on the idea of UA. He can scream, argue and even tell me that Endeavor would recommend him but it will be a cold day in hell before any child from my clan enters UA."

Kumiko thinned her lips.

"Kenji, you know that every child in Japan wants to go to UA and the fact that Touya wanted to go there—"

"—If he wants to be a fucking hero then he doesn't have to go to UA," Kenji snapped. "Unlike Konoha, Kiri, Suna and the other hidden villages, there are so many options on where he can go to become a hero. If he truly wants to be a hero then UA shouldn't matter! What matters is that as a member of the Uzumaki clan, as the heir…he has to put the clan before his selfish desire."

One wrong move and this peace that he managed to build for his clan would be taken away from them.

A/N: Do tell me of your thoughts on this chapter and the next chapter should show Naruto and her time in the Academy with the knowledge that she has a family. A conversation between Mikoto and Kenji would be shown in the next chapter.