This chapter is dedicated to thelastunicorn & naruita14! I really appreciate everyone's reviews and questions - and thank you all so much for reading and following my stories.

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Naruto universe but I do have an imagination of my own. PLEASE REVIEW MY CHAPTERS! I will take advice and suggestions from my readers while continuing the story.

Thinking

Biju, etc. speaking

Biju, etc. thinking

Emphasis

Tsunade could only imagine the sparks that would fly between Minato's teenage brat and her own perverted teammate, Jiraiya. They would just have to work things out in regards to Naru-chan. Tsunade stroked the little girl's soft but spiky hair, which had grown in the back to the middle of her back. Shizune-chan had done a good job of cleaning the girl up. She noted how although the girl had the Yondaime's exact coloring, her baby-fatted little face was all Kushina. Maybe she had her daddy's nose, too: it was hard to tell with her fist in her face, sucking her thumb. Tsunade let out a contented sound. It had been a terrible day, but so far her four most important patients from it were surviving. For once, it was good to be home.

Kakashi was getting to know little Naru-chan a bit. She had been awake on and off for a couple of days now and he had stayed beside her every hour of the day - even after being ordered to go "get some new clothes that don't stink," and to take a shower. The teenager was so paranoid that either Naru-chan would disappear again, or more realistically that if he did anything wrong he would lose her forever: he was in a near-constant state of panic. The near-18-year-old finally relented to the orders of Tsunade-hime, making a clone to gather clothes from his apartment. He had Shizune take babysitting duties of the tiny blonde while he finally took a shower. He did feel better.

Exiting the washroom, Kakashi realized that his little charge had been taken off of the machines that had been attached to her. He exhaled heavily, releasing so much pent-up tension as he watched Tsunade-hime take away Naruto-chan's IV. Naruto, her big eyes open extremely wide - as they were whenever she was awake - made a break for it into the corner of the room.

"Come, Naru-chan. Nothing to be afraid of, ne?" Tsunade asked. The little girl only cowered further into the corner, just as she had when Kakashi first found her.

"Naru-chan, I have something for you," Kakashi told the cowering tike gently. The Hatake reached into his bag and pulled out a stuffed animal. He put it between himself and the little girl and took another step back. "It's a puppy," he informed her.

I don't know what a puppy is, but it's cute. The little girl gathered her courage and crawled forward to the unmoving thingy. After studying each occupant of the room, she reached forward and patted the soft thing. Puppy is nice, she thought.

Kakashi smiled down upon his sensei's child as she patted her new stuffed animal. "Do you want to name him? Or, gomen, her?" he asked lightly. The toddler just stared up at him with her big blue eyes, finally patting the stuffed animal's head again. Kakashi smiled at her but noticed that she looked to be expecting a bad reaction from not only those in the room but also from the stuffed animal.

"We have a long way to go with her," Shizune stated with a grimace.

"Patience is required," Tsunade simply said.

Kakashi nodded his head at both women. Suddenly there was a huge poof, full of smoke, outside of the open window. By the time the last Hatake looked back at Naru-chan, she had seemingly disappeared. He lifted his hitae-ate and immediately found Naru under the bed. Fast, he thought. Not surprising that she's quick like her dad though, I guess. As he reached down to offer Naruto-chan a hand, he heard the voice he had been slightly dreading.

"Is she really back, hime? Where's my goddaughter?" Jiraiya asked, rather loudly.

The little girl dove into Kakashi's arms, the ones she had been held by ever since she came to this weird place. What is THAT?

A battle toad had accompanied Jiraiya to the village obviously. Upon seeing the little female Minato, Jiraiya excitedly called her to him. "Come here, gaki! Kami knows I've been looking for you for ages!"

"Jiraiya, you perverted baka!" Tsunade exclaimed. "Can't you see Naru-chan's not… quite well?!" Jiraiya seemed to turn green at that, seeing his goddaughter hiding her face in Kakashi-brat's Jonin vest. "We have to approach her quietly, and you can't just ride in on Hiro and expect her not to be affected! And I'm warning you right now, Pervert: if you start that shitty dance of yours, I'll punch you into the Mountain again!"

"Why don't we all take a step back, ne?" Kakashi asked quietly. "I don't think Naru-chan needs to see any violence…" Jiraiya gave a nod in agreement as Tsunade actually looked embarrassed by her words, for once. Silence followed as Kakashi continued to stroke Naruto's long blonde hair.

"Orochimaru, huh?" Jiraiya asked, causing little Naru to clutch on to Kakashi harder as she shivered. The silver-haired teen frowned at the Sannin and noticed that the little girl had left a wet spot on his jacket. He swallowed hard and looked at the girl who was struggling to get away from him.

"Maa, I think Naru-chan just had a little accident." Truly none of them knew if Naruto could use a toilet or do anything else that she should be able to do at her age. He remembered the chamber pot she had hidden behind in the cave and decided to ask the little one a question. She was struggling against him, holding her legs together and looking panicked. "Ne, Naru-chan, do you want to use the potty?" Wow: those were words he never thought of uttering! After all, he'd been a child soldier since he was just a little older than the girl he was holding away from him.

Tsunade took the girl from him and took her to the bathroom. Upon putting her on the toilet, she realized that yes, the girl was potty-trained. The girl looked relieved but was looking at everything in the room as if it would either hurt her or had come from an alien planet. Tsunade chuckled at the girl and gave her loving words and reassurance. Once again, she was overcome with emotion as the girl looked at her with those big frightened eyes. Finished, Naru jumped off the toilet and looked up at the Slug Sannin. Tsunade flushed the commode, which made the toddler leap away in surprise. Tsunade would've laughed if the whole thing weren't so disturbing. She looked on as her tiny cousin watched the bowl empty and refill; Naru-chan was trying to move around the commode as she watched the water swirl.

Jiraiya had watched the entire scene, feeling sick. How the hell was he going to take care of this little tike - who may be potty-trained but otherwise seemed like a walking BABY of all things? He still had his spy-network to maintain for the village and those precious to him… He hadn't realized that he'd squeaked and turned green until he realized that Tsunade was awkwardly patting him.

"Don't get any ideas, Pervert. I just saw you losing it and decided to assist: medical ethics and all," Tsunade said without heat.

Jiraiya let out a huge breath of relief. "You're the best, Hime." He paused, shaking his head. "I just don't know where to start with the little Princess. It's going to be hard out there on the road with her. I know we'll find a way, but…"

"No," Kakashi interrupted. "She'll remain here in the village with me." Jiraiya stood up to his nearly impossible full height, trying to browbeat his brat's brat. The silver-haired teenager wasn't intimidated one bit.

You little shit! Jiraiya thought. "I'm her godfather, Pup, and don't you forget it!"

Tsunade interrupted before the argument went any further. "Alright, you two: no need for this now. We can discuss who will be taking care of Naruto-chan with sensei before you two go at it. Plus look…" She looked at the little girl who reached for her stuffed animal dog. Kakashi picked it up and gave it to the tike. The little one hugged it close to her and began sucking her thumb once more.

"Hmph!" Jiraiya exclaimed indignantly. "Kuychiyose no jutsu!" A small toad appeared as Naru shrieked: the first noise anyone there had heard from her. Seeing her shaking and hiding in the scowling brat's arms, he felt like an idiot. "Ne, Naru-chan, it's alright!" Jiraiya said quietly. He bent down to the toad and retrieved a stuffed frog from its mouth. "Here's another friend from your Kyofu, little one!"

The adults watched as Naru hesitantly pulled her face away from Kakashi's shirt. She looked at Jiraiya wearily before finally reaching for the little jacketed frog. The little one gave it an unimpressed look before eventually patting its head, and laid her own on Kakashi's shoulder, falling asleep. Everyone's relief was evident as a heavy sigh echoed around the room from all surrounding the girl.

"This won't be easy, eh Hime? Minato-kun must be rolling in his grave - Kushina-chan, too." Jiraiya said quite seriously.

"We'll make it work," Kakashi said with finality in his voice, surprising everyone.

The masked nin awoke in the morning without his little sister next to him. Jumping off the bed and looking around frantically, he felt immense relief upon seeing the scene before him. Naru was sitting with her two stuffed animals in front of her, inadeptly pouring water from the pitcher in her room on top of their heads. Kakashi made quiet sounds as he approached her, and tried not to laugh at the mess in front of him. Naru looked up at him but then looked back to the frog and puppy. Her expression made it so obvious to him: she didn't know why they weren't drinking!

Thinking quickly, he set out four paper cups on the opposite side of the room and picked up the girl and her "friends." He sat her down outside of the cups and did the same with the pup and frog. Finally, he grabbed the pitcher, pouring water into his and Naru's cups. He hadn't done anything even similar to this since his sensei forced a babysitting mission on him more than a decade ago - and even then, he'd kicked and whined about it and had been totally disgusted! Now, though, was different. As Kakashi sat and met her glass with his, she took a drink and gave him a wide smile, showing off ALL of her baby teeth. Kakashi pulled down his mask and smiled back. He was horrified by the clicking sound of a camera.

Turning around slowly toward the intruder, he focused as much Killing Intent solely on Tsunade as he could without scaring little Naru-chan. The Slug Sannin merely scoffed. "Don't even try, brat! You couldn't scare me even with that eye and jutsu of yours. Know when you're outmatched!" Tsunade plopped down next to the tiny blonde and asked for a cup. Kakashi scowled but got up to get her a cup of water, too. He had to do the same thing when Shizune came in, looking gleeful at seeing her shishou and the rest having a tea party. Things only became more horrible for the Hatake as the Kami-damned Hokage waltzed in.

"Oh, a tea party! Can an old man join in?" Kakashi got up to refill the pitcher and grab another paper cup. The elder seemed to be a master at tea parties, though, so the ninken-summoner just quietly simmered in anxiety and embarrassment at being caught. Naru finched whenever a hand from anyone in the group came close to her, but she toughed it out. Even though Naruto never spoke, the little grins she offered up occasionally were an absolute victory to each member of the party. Kakashi was also happy that she obviously liked to share, considering she continued trying to get him to fill the stuffed animals' little cups. Whenever he told her why it wasn't a good idea, her bottom lip would puff out as she pouted at the masked man.

As he heard "kuwaii!" being called out again, he suddenly remembered his sensei's constant struggle with Kushina-nee to keep his little princess away from all boys. Yes, he could understand it now: she was way too cute and (hopefully) unknowingly manipulative to get what she wanted. After all, they were all sitting in water that had been poured on the stuffed animal's faces - even the Hokage! Was there anyone who could say no to this little girl?!

A/N: From here, things will get interesting &/or heat up!