Brought Back Something from Wave...

By Andrew J. Talon

Disclaimer: I do not and probably never will own Naruto or any other copyrighted works mentioned in this story. I am not writing this for profit.

You know who inspired this. But I thought I'd give it my own spin.

After all, why adopt Naruto... When it can be... An Adopting Naruto?

Naruto's behavior over the last few weeks had been... Markedly unusual after they had returned from Wave Country. He'd been much quieter, much more focused in training. He hadn't spoken nearly as much as he used to. He took things very seriously.

In a word, Kakashi, Sakura, and even Sasuke were all worried about him. Not that the Last Uchiha would ever deign to show it, but he had taken a step of extraordinary caring for him.

"Naruto," Sasuke stated, as they finished their last D-Rank of the day, "let's go get ramen."

Naruto actually brightened at this, briefly... And then he shook his head.

"I would love to," he admitted, "but uh... I've gotta go. I've got... To water my plants!"

"Can't you use your Shadow Clones for that?" Sakura piped up, following Sasuke's lead and leaning over Sasuke's shoulder. "I-I mean... We can all go!"

Naruto shook his head, and affected a stupid grin that seemed... Inauthentic. Warning bells were going off in Kakashi's mind, even as he pretended to read his Icha Icha.

"Ahhh... Tempting, but I've gotta go. We'll do it later!"

He vanished in a puff of smoke, and Kakashi watched his most unpredictable student run off in the distance. Kakashi shared a concerned look with his other students.

"Sensei," Sakura said, "I mean... He is Naruto, right?"

Kakashi nodded.

"I presume you've done your own genjutsu checks," Kakashi said, and Sakura blushed and nodded, "and yes... He is Naruto."

"Then what's going on?" Sakura asked, scowling.

Sasuke scowled as well, deeper than before.

Sakura looked up at her sensei.

"Can't you talk to him?" Sakura asked. Kakashi frowned, and shrugged.

"It hasn't negatively affected his performance," Kakashi said, "but it is... Unusual."

He shrugged, and then vanished via Shunshin, leaving two curious students.

Sasuke wasn't the top of his class merely due to Uchiha arrogance. He was a dedicated student and he strived to understand what was going on. Granted, he could get hyper focused on his goals... He would admit to that... With some reluctance. That served him just fine here though, as something was going on with his teammate.

A deeper mystery than the one about his mysterious, frightening power. One that Sakura had described. One he didn't believe, and yet with how strange the infamous deadlast was acting...

Sakura insisted on coming, and he allowed her. She was at least willing to defer to him, and not be her usual annoying self.

Naruto was surprisingly adept at evasion, and was doubling back and evading like he knew someone was following him. It was a challenge even for Sasuke to stay out of his sight, but manage it Sasuke and Sakura did.

A bit of Sakura's genjutsu knowledge had helped them hide. A bit of assistance he hadn't anticipated, but appreciated.

Naruto had only made one stop at a grocer's. He had adopted the henge of a woman, and bought... Milk, diapers, and other groceries.

Diapers...? Sakura mouthed aloud.

At last, Naruto came to an apartment building, lacking any other residents but him. He swung in through the window. Sasuke landed softly on the landing of the apartment, and slowly, carefully peeked in through the open window. Sakura landed right after him, just as quiet.

They could see Naruto's Shadow clones, busily cooking, cleaning-One was even in an apron. It was uncharacteristically domestic, something he couldn't associate with the loudmouth.

The tip of a kunai pressed against the back of his neck, and Sasuke stiffened. Sakura gasped.

"Stand up, nice and slow," Naruto growled. Sasuke took a deep breath. The sheer rancor in the other boy's voice...

"Naruto," Sasuke began slowly, "what is this? We're teammates."

"What's gotten into you, Naruto?" Sakura gasped.

"Stand up slowly and then leave, Sasuke," Naruto stated again. Something was seriously wrong. Sasuke grit his teeth, but slowly stood up.

"Naruto, I'm not your enemy," Sasuke insisted, "let me help you-"

"Just turn and leave, you two," Naruto growled, "I can't-!"

Sasuke moved, grabbing Naruto's wrist and swinging him through the window. Naruto slammed into the bed, and poofed into smoke. A dozen more Narutos appeared out of nowhere, charging Sasuke. He leaped into the bedroom, dispatching one, and then another, another's punches striking him across his shoulder. He lashed out with a kick, slamming another clone into the end table. It smashed the end table up against the wall, loudly, before the clone poofed into smoke.

"NARUTO WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Sakura roared, even as she cowered.

And then a loud cry filled the apartment, making all the combatants freeze. All the Narutos groaned.

"Oh damnit!" One sighed. Another Naruto walked in from the kitchen, looking exhausted. While it was hard to tell, Sakura could guess it was the real one by the bags under his eyes. The obvious reason for that though was...

"A baby?!" Sasuke demanded in shock, as a tiny infant wailed in Naruto's arms, "you have a baby?!"

"Shut up Bastard, you're scaring her!" Naruto growled, cradling the infant protectively. The baby kept wailing, even as Naruto rocked her.

Sakura felt like her entire world had just unraveled and turned upside down. Sasuke wasn't much better.

A clone in Sexy Jutsu form came in from the kitchen, and handed the real one a bottle. Naruto made soothing sounds to the baby, and gave the infant her bottle. Her cries quieted, as she suckled from the bottle. Sasuke's mouth had been closed at some point, but he really couldn't remember a time it hadn't been hanging open right now.

"You... You have a baby?!" Sakura gasped. Naruto groaned, closing his eyes.

"Yes, I have a baby Sakura-chan," Naruto sighed.

"How-How do you have a baby?!" Sakura demanded. "Why do you have a baby?!"

"She was an orphan in Wave!" Naruto cried, "I found her-All alone in a shack, parents dead-I couldn't just leave her there!"

"So you brought a baby back?!" Sasuke demanded. "How?! How could you hide that?!"

"Hey, I'm not as big an idiot as I look, okay?" Naruto shot back.

"Says the guy who adopted a baby without telling any of us!" Sakura cried. "How could you-Why would you-?!"

"Hey!" Naruto growled, cuddling the baby protectively, "she's an orphan! Just like me! What was I supposed to do, just leave her there?!"

Sasuke stared at the helpless infant, suckling away from the bottle. He looked back at Naruto, who was giving the tiny baby a deeply caring look. One he recalled on the face of his own parents, or that man, looking down at him.

"I..." Sakura began, "I... I don't know. Why couldn't you tell us?! Have you been hiding this from everyone?!"

Naruto winced.

"Well... I mean... N-Not... Everyone," he admitted.

The front door opened. A blushing form entered, carrying some bags.

"N-Naruto-kun, I'm back with-" Hinata Hyuuga gasped, and dropped her bags all over the floor. "O-Oh my!"

"Hinata helped me sneak her in!" Naruto said with a smile, "and she's been helping me raise Kasumi. She saw me bring a baby in, but didn't say anything!" He grinned tiredly at Hinata, "she's such a good friend!"

Hinata blushed an even darker red, and held her hands up over her face. Naruto blinked.

"I don't know why she was watching me but... Ya know..." He shrugged. "So... Um... Please, don't tell anyone?"

Sasuke was scowling deeply. Not only was the Deadlast able to get the drop on him (twice!) he was also able to fool the entire village! And he had a baby on top of everything?! A little orphan?!

He could understand the feeling of compassion though. Seeing a helpless infant, an orphan... He could respect the idiot's convictions, at least.

"I... Well, I mean," Sakura said, "I mean... This is kind of a really... Really big secret. You've told the Hokage at least, right?"

Naruto and Hinata looked very guilty. Sakura gasped.

"SERIOUSLY?!"

"WAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"Sakura!" Hinata admonished, "how could you?!"

"S-Sorry!" Sakura cried, as Kasumi screamed in fright and Hinata and Naruto tried to calm her down.

Sasuke sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

These fools would drive him to leave the village, he just knew it.

If he didn't go crazy first.

Is it stupid? Yes.

Is it something Naruto is stupid enough to do? Oh yes.

And here are a few more omakes to go with this.

Sasuke: "Do you have to take her everywhere?"

Naruto: "Well now that the secret's out, I shouldn't just leave her in the apartment! I mean, this is just gonna be a milk run C-Rank! What could happen?"

Five minutes later...

Evil Ninja: "We're gonna kill you!"

Naruto: groan "I should have gotten a babysitter..."

Evil Ninja: "And we're gonna kill your baby!"

Naruto: "..." Hands Kasumi over to Sakura

Sasuke, Kakashi and Sakura all edge away from Naruto as the Nine Tails Chakra erupts from him.

Naruto: "I'm sorry... WOULD YOU CARE TO REPEAT THAT?"

Evil Ninja: "EEP!"

Kasumi just laughs and giggles as she watches her daddy beat up the ninjas.

Sakura: "Oh geez..." covers Kasumi's eyes

Kakashi: "On the plus side, our missions are getting a lot shorter when she's threatened. Hmmm..."

Sakura: "Don't even think about it, Kakashi-sensei! It's already too dangerous for her!"

Kakashi: "Honestly, we couldn't hand her over to a foster family anyway at this point."

Sakura: "What? Why not-AHH?!"

She got a look at Kasumi's face, in a steely, determined glare.

Sakura: "What happened to her?!"

Kakashi: "She's been exposed to the shinobi lifestyle. She is now a shinobi baby. The Will of Fire has taken hold of her, and will not let go."

Sasuke: nods "Yes, I see. She is too used to this life. It would be cruel to part her from it, and her father."

Sakura: "Am I the only one freaked out by how she's glaring?!"

Naruto: "Awww... You look so cool, sweetie!" Hugs his daughter "Yes you do! Yes you do!"

While Naruto is off on his mission to retrieve Tsunade... Kurenai, Asuma, and Gai decide to have their teams train and work together with Sakura until Kakashi and Sasuke recover from Itachi's attack. Sakura is the last to arrive at the meeting... Looking dead tired, frazzled, and exhausted as Kasumi screams her little lungs out.

Ino: "Sakura? Are-Are you okay?"

Sakura: wails "NO! SHE WON'T STOP CRYING! I'VE TRIED EVERYTHING BUT NOTHING WORKS!"

Kasumi: "WAAAAAHHHH! WAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Sakura: "PLEASE STOP KASUMI-CHANNNN!"

Ino: "Awww... She must miss Naruto!"

Kiba: "Hang on, I got this!" He henges into Naruto "Hey! It's okay sweetie, it's me! Naruto! Believe it!"

Kiba takes Kasumi into his arms with a big grin.

Kasumi: "... WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Kiba: "AARRRRGGGGHHHH!" He poofs back into himself, and hands her back to Sakura "Geez! She's got lungs on her!"

Akamaru: "AWOOOOOO!"

Kiba: "I know it hurts Akamaru, that's not helping!"

Lee: "Don't worry! I shall handle this!" He throws down a smoke bomb "HENGE NO JUTSU!"

Tenten: "Huh?! Lee, I thought you couldn't do those-" Lee emerges dressed as Naruto, with a blonde wig and hastily drawn whisker marks on his cheeks "WAIT WHAT?!"

Lee: Takes Kasumi "Do not cry, my beloved daughter! I, Naruto Uzumaki, your adopted father, love you very much and am here!"

Kasumi: "Mmph... WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Lee: "N-No! NO! I AM NARUTO! I LOVE RAMEN! I LOVE ORANGE! I WILL BE HOKAGE!"

Tenten: "YOU'RE NOT CONVINCING HER, LEE!" She takes Kasumi away, and rocks her "It's okay, it's okay sweetie, I promise!"

Neji: "Not that you could with those eyebrows."

Lee: "MY YOUTHFUL PASSIONS... WEREN'T ENOUGH!" sobs "I HAVE FAILED TO BE AS GOOD A FATHER AS NARUTO!"

Sakura: "YELLING ISN'T HELPING!"

Ino: "Honestly! Haven't any of you babysat at all?!" Ino takes Kasumi and rocks her as she sings "The clear, blue sky goes on and on
The ocean spans limitlessly
Please keep that smile on your face forever
Or else, I'll cry

You won't have to search around you
It's all ok now
Everyone is inside this hand~"

Kasumi: Pauses... But then resumes screaming "AAAAAHHHHHH!"

Ino: "H-Hey! Come on, my singing isn't that bad!"

Sakura: "She thinks you are that bad!"

Ino: "AM NOT!"

Sakura: "ARE TOO!"

As Ino and Sakura argue, Hinata slips in and takes Kasumi into her arms.

Hinata: "It's okay... It's okay... Shhh... Shhh..."

Kasumi... Calms down, and falls asleep with a happy smile. Hinata smiles down at the little baby and kisses her forehead... Then looks up to see everyone staring at her.

Hinata: "O-Oh... Um... Um, uh..."

Tenten: "Heheheheh... I guess if she sees Naruto as her daddy, she sees you... As her mommy?"

Hinata: "..." Complete Body Blush, Freeze

Lee: "YOSH! YOUR MOTHERLY PASSION BURNS LIKE A GREAT BONFIRE, HINATA-"

Neji, Sakura and Tenten stomp Lee down to silence him.

Sakura: "She just got to sleep don't say anything!"

Lee: "SORRY! I-I mean... Sorry!"