Age 10
It was a normal, warm, and sunny day in Konoha. Academy students were enjoying their down time from the ninja training classes, and it wasn't a quiet rumor that many of the kunoichi classes drove some of the tomboy girls insane. Currently, some of the male students watched the rather loud spectacle in front of the school.
"I don't like flowers mom!" The small blonde girl was red in the face from the booming volume she emitted. "They suck!"
The seemingly taller, older, and clearly more deadly version of the student almost had steam shooting from her ears. Her blonde hair sticking in every direction from her frustrated pulls.
"What am I going to do with you!?" The woman screeched, almost clawing her features off as she ran a hand over her face. Deadly blue orbs narrowed at the miniature version of herself, minus her deep brown eyes, and gritted out. "You're going to spend the rest of the day helping me in the flower shop, until you understand what you're clearly lacking in the kunoichi classes."
The child's eyes widened, "B-But-"
"One more word and it'll be the rest of the week," The kunoichi chimed in a sing-song tone, her smile wide with victory.
Right on cue, shoulders slumped, and the tomboy shuffled her toe in the dirt. She wasn't stupid enough to push her mother that far. "Yes, mom"
Ino's gaze softened, chuckling to herself mostly. Of course, her own daughter would become a tomboy, but she loved her despite their daily clashes. Slowly, the ANBU captain lowered herself into a crouch before her daughter, taking her thumb to wipe a smudge of dirt from her cheek.
"How was school, Chokaru?"
Almost immediately, the young girl's eyes sparked with determination, puffing out her cheeks while grunting out, "Uzumaki."
Ino blinked instantly, her hand frozen in mind-hover, "Huh?"
"That stupid Uzumaki always makes our class have to do extra training because she sucks!"
Once again, the captain blinked before busting out in loud, carefree laughter. Her daughter looked on with clear concern for her mom's mental state.
"You-Sakura's-oh this is just priceless!" Ino gasped, swiping away her tears with her fingertips, and then smiled at Chokaru's confused expression. "It's nothing honey," Her voice still wavered with restrained laughter. "Where's your brother?"
Right on cue the boy ran right into his twin's back, making the blonde stumble into their mother, and then caused their mom to land flat on her rear with a loud thump. Ino sighed, eyeing the now bickering duo, and rubbed her throbbing temples.
"Hey! Hey! You two shush!"
Two mouths snapped shut in unison, warily glancing at the now standing kunoichi. The blonde swatted at her clothes, "Chokaru, Inoichi, come on. Your dad's gonna be waiting for us at the flower shop."
At the mention of their father the two flitted ahead of the captain, leaving her in their dust. Ino chuckled softly at the ironic information she had just been given and shook her head as she tailed after her two children. She just had to tell Choji about this.
…
Konohana shifted in her seat uneasily. Her gaze would flit to the side to watch her father sign off on more documents, one by one putting them into the 'Done' pile, and then turning to the next. Her fingers twisted in her lap and blue eyes darted downward to stare at her dirty blue sandals.
"Dad?"
"Hm?" He hummed.
The pink haired girl licked her dry lips as she turned her body to face her father, "Is there something wrong with me?"
That caused Naruto to abruptly halt all readings on the form demanding a larger budget for the hospital and to turn his bright eyes to his only child. Her cheeks were stained with pink, dirt smudged her skin, and her shoulder length pink hair was frizzed to resemble a bird's nest.
"Where'd that come from?"
"I-," Her features twisted in concentration, "I can't get hardly anything right. Everyday my class has to do extra drills because I can't get them right." Her small fists were clenched so tight that her knuckles were white.
Naruto chuckled warmly, ignoring the odd look she was giving him. Fluidly, the Hokage grabbed his child under the arms, despite her loud squawk of protest, and lifted her to sit sideways in his lap like he used to when she was smaller.
His calloused fingers ruffled her knotted hair playfully as he chided, "Nothing's wrong with you. I wasn't the best Academy student either."
The pinkette's tensed shoulders drooped at her father's warm words and glanced downward to her pant clad lap. "I know daddy, but still-"
"You're not me and you're not your mom. You're you."
"But-"
A loud sigh escaped Naruto, fixing the frowning girl with a meaningful look. "Konohana, I know you've been training every day after school and sneaking out at night to go to the training fields."
Konohana's cheeks flushed darker. Panic began to set in at the look of her father's stern stare. "I-I can explain!"
"There's no need. Me and your mom have known about it for a while. Actually, we've been taking turns following you. Did you really think you could sneak out without one of us noticing?"
That explained the newfound dark circles under her parents' eyes for the past few years. Admittedly, the young kunoichi had chalked it up to the stress of their respective jobs. Guilt drooped her shoulders, "I'm so-"
Her father cut her off with a wave of his hand, "Neither one of us could bring ourselves to scold you for sneaking out when we saw you trying so hard." His warm blue eyes locked with his daughter's wide ones. "I'm proud of you, regardless of what others may say or what you think of yourself. Especially that little Inuzuka twerp."
Konohana couldn't help the burst of laughter that escaped her, clutching her sore abdomen. The sound brought a sunny smile to the blonde Hokage's lips, blue eyes sparkling.
"Thank you, daddy."
"Any time, but can we move your practice sessions closer to home? I'm getting old."
A small smile curled Sakura's lips at the high-pitched laughter of her daughter as she leaned on her husband's closed office door. Carefully, she slid herself down the closest wall, closing her eyes, and tilting her head backward. After a long day at the hospital, and being her daughter's shadow all night, the fatigue was beginning to set in. She could feel the demand for sleep slowly increase and her vision becoming blurry around the edges. But, despite this, she couldn't bring herself to move away, too enraptured with the listening to her two most precious people laughing.
Her own small chuckle left her, "And you thought you wouldn't be a good father."
…..
Kakato grunted as he landed with a plop on the grassy plane, Chairomi panting heavily by his side. "Good job girl," He groaned, falling backward to stare up at the now star filled sky. "We'll get it down."
The pup grunted her agreement, lying on her stomach by his arm. The two had spent the better portion of the day training ruthlessly. A small scowl spread on his lips, already anticipating the drills they'd have to run tomorrow for Uzumaki's incompetence.
…..
Konohamaru was currently running a heavy hand down his features, a frustrated sigh threatening to leave him. Konohana's latest clone was at his feet in a pathetic pile, while the creator herself didn't look surprised in the least. Rather she calmly remained standing, her gaze fixated off to the side, looking anywhere but her sensei.
"Okay class," He sighed, and everyone groaned, already anticipating extra drills. After all, their sensei's philosophy had always been you succeed as a team or fail as a team. "You're all dismissed."
Nobody moved, they all just sat, frozen in shock as they blinked. The sensei's red forehead spread all over his entire face, "I said you're dismissed!"
Everyone dashed for the door, fearing their sensei would change his mind. Their sensei was pinching the bridge of his nose, feeling a migraine beginning to form, when a particular pinkette attempted to slip by him.
Smoothly, he snatched her by the back of her shirt. "Not so fast." He dragged her back to his side and narrowed his eyes downward. "You're playing jokes on me, right? This is all just a massive four yearlong prank on your dear old Godfather, right?"
Blue eyes blinked owlishly upward and Konohamaru groaned.
"Right," His grip on her released and arms crossed sternly, "You're killing me kid."
"Hey!"
"We've just got to find your talent." The chunin directed her gaze downward to the clearly pouting girl, poking her on the forehead. "What can you actually do, runt?"
For a moment, her features remained in the blow fish form, until she deflated grumpily and shrugged. "Nothing."
Konohamaru snorted, "I doubt that." The brown, spiky haired ninja crossed his arms in thought, mentally going through all the sparring matches he had seen her participate in. His gaze leveled on the bitter girl, "Hit that." His finger directly pointed a carved leaf sign engraved on the front of one of the desks.
The girl's eyes rolled, "You serious? We both know I can't."
"Oh, is someone chicken?"
"Am not!"
A devilish smirk marred the wild haired ninja's features, "Don't tell me the Hokage's daughter can-"
"If I try, can I leave?" She snapped brusquely, eyes steeled, and arms crossed over her flat chest.
She resembled her mom a bit in that moment Konohamaru decided, appraising her widened ninja stance that he had drilled into his class. Something had apparently sunk in.
Rubbing his chin in thought, he nodded. "Yeah, sure, whatever. But you must hit within a one-inch perimeter around the mark. If you're off by a centimeter Uzumaki, consider yourself held back."
To his chagrin, she shrugged carelessly, not even glancing at the emblem when she lazily flicked the kunai in the direction. Halfway to the door she had the courtesy of yelling over her shoulder, "See ya tomorrow, sensei! Don't forget, mom said for you to be over for dinner at seven!"
"Konohana get back-," Konohamaru paused in his shout, his eyes narrowed in concentration when they locked on the target. Directly next to it the shiny ninja weapon was firmly wedged into the wood. "Lucky brat."
He couldn't help, but smirk smugly.
….
Kakato grunted, his shoulder rolling with the punch that his opponent just delivered. A battle cry was given, a fist flying towards his face that he blocked with his arm. A well-placed kick to the shin, a swift uppercut, and the target was flat on his back. Konohamaru soon called off the spar, giving both boys a well done, and allowed two girls to go next.
Kakato didn't even acknowledge the annoying females as he picked up Chairomi. The brown pup licked his dirt smeared cheek with a small yip. "You'll be helping me next time girl."
He had been growing stronger, learning the techniques that had been honorably passed through the Inuzuka clan for generations. He was making steady progress, but that wasn't enough.
One sparring match with his older sister, the prodigy Mimi Inuzuka, proved that he had still failed to find a technique to conquer her Byakugan. Fists clenched and teeth gnashed at the thought, remembering the way she had hesitated in striking him. She thought he was too weak.
"Hey, Inuzuka! Pay attention and get over here!"
The prepubescent boy snarled as he made his way over to the formed ring around their sensei. When his shoulder clashed with another's, his immediate reaction was to shove and move on.
He was caught off guard when the obstacle shoved back and made him loose his footing for a split second. Kakato saw red, whirling on the idiot that-
Cool blue eyes dully locked with his fire sparked ones and a rosy brow arched in a challenge, "Have a problem, mutt?"
His normal vision came back into view at the aid of the bitter laced lavender that stung his nostrils. Even Chairomi whimpered at the strengthened scent. The student kept his cool, calmly shoving his hands into his pants pocket, "Not at all, princess."
Chapped lips split with a snarl, "My name's not-"
"I see we have a set of volunteers!"
Both students whipped their heads to the right, only to be greeted with the sight of their teacher smiling at them. Not just any smile, that creepy smile that would usually come with consequences.
"For what?" Was what bubbled past his lips harshly, immediately hating any idea of being put together with that girl.
Konohamaru responded with a chuckle, "For the next sparring match, of course."
"Huh?"
He ran the heel of his palm painfully slow down his features. With a sigh, Konohamaru jabbed angrily at the both of them. "Fight each other!"
Kakato grinned, fingers coiled as he turned to face his opponent. He eyed her widened stance with little interest. The young Inuzuka had seen enough of her taijutsu and ninjutsu to not even have an ounce of worry, and the fact that she was a girl certainly didn't hurt.
Konohana didn't even bat an eye at the fanged grin he sported, but rather focused on the subtle shift in his footing. Dryness consumed her throat when he suddenly flashed through a familiar set of hand signs, and in a poof of smoke three Inuzukas smiled at her.
Crap.
And in a blink of an eye, her arm flashed up to block a kick from the side, only to have a jab be delivered to her side. Her ribs throbbed from the tough impact, but it didn't stop her from bringing her elbow up to cause the satisfying crunch of his nose breaking to everyone's attention. A clone brought his knee up….
"That's enough!"
Suddenly, two Inuzukas vanished in a haze and left the two opponents to stare at their very red sensei. Kakato snarled when the instructor stood between them, handing him a towel silently, while giving Uzumaki a visual once over.
"Got to the nurse's office you two." His eyes narrowed at the subtle way they had been edging towards each other. "I'm not telling you again."
The female grumbled as she pushed past the Inuzuka, causing a wave of curses Konohamaru didn't think a ten-year-old should know come from the fanged child's mouth. Kakato's nose still gushed with crimson, staining the sandy ground of the training area as he grudgingly followed the girl's lead. The academy teacher sighed as he slumped with tension. He had observed enough.
The exercise was to see what their reactions would be to an actual battle. Fingers raked through already mussed brown locks, stress beginning to tighten his back and cause his head to throb.
Most hesitated, which was the normal.
Others had acted but were hesitant to strike their classmate. Once again, normal.
Those two…..Konohamaru squeezed his eyes shut.
He could still the ferocity in which Inuzuka struck out at the pinkette. There had been no hesitation between them. Konohana had most likely broken his nose with that blow, but in an ideal ninja situation Kakato had won before the first strike was every given. He had the upper hand with ninjutsu that the girl didn't. And judging by how hard the Uzumaki heir had elbowed him in the face, she had meant to do some serious damage.
They were still so young. Had he been that young when the fight or die instinct kicked in?
He could still see how Konohana winced with every breath she took and how Kakato's face was stained by the torrent of blood that streamed out his nose.
Two main things stood out in his mind during the brawl.
One, Kakato immediately took advantage of Konohana's weakness with ninjutsu.
Two, the way Konohana seemed intent on injuring that particular Kakato when faced with three.
From these facts Konohamaru came to one, simple conclusion.
They had known what they were doing.
…
The nurse had literally cussed when she saw the duo walk through her pristine white doors. She leapt to her feet, leaving her half empty beverage forgotten on the desk. Her eyes narrowed in annoyance at the pair. Her quick calculating gaze deduced swiftly enough what the problem was and ushered the two to sit on two opposite ends on the bed.
Blonde pigtails hung limply over her shoulders, jerking the Inuzuka's chin upward, and when he snarled, she growled, "Hush, twerp." Her powerful grip pried the towel from his nose, "Fractured."
A small poke on the bridge and Kakato howled. "Why you old ba-"
"Did you do this?" She whirled and pinned her sparking gaze on the pinkette.
The girl shrugged neutrally, wincing when she sucked in too much air. "Yep."
What neither of the students expected was for her to smirk, actually smirk, before turning back to her patient. "Next time hit harder at a more precise angle. It'll break the bone for sure."
"Hey! Aren't you supposed to be- OW!"
"Quit being such a baby!"
"Old bat-OW!"
"The name's Tsunade," Her smirk widened on the seemingly young woman's features at the boy's paling expression as he immediately realized his error.
To her smug satisfaction Kakato zipped his mouth promptly shut after her introduction, allowing her to properly heal the fracture. Two fingers pressed to the bridge of his crooked nose and the other resting on the Inuzuka's stomach, he didn't dare question the Legendary Sannin.
When she turned her gaze to the pinkette, there was something akin to amusement at the small twitch her lips gave off, "You're an idiot."
The mini-Uzumaki swallowed dryly, "I know. Nice to see you too."
"You're an Uzumaki alright. Thick skulled and rash," The blonde snorted, flicking her on the forehead hard enough to leave a small red mark, and pressed her palm to her ribs. "I had been hoping you'd favor your mother a little more."
Green chakra pulsed into her small frame, correcting the fractured ribs. What she hadn't expected was her free hand to lay flat on her stomach.
"Auntie-"
"I can easily re-fracture these ya know. Now, stay still Konohana!"
Tsunade's brows furrowed as her eyes widened, clear with her findings. She had to restrain from laughing.
The ribs were back to their proper state and Tsunade stepped away to her desk, picking up her pad of paper as she did so. "Loosen your control, twerp."
"Huh?"
The former Hokage groaned with narrowed eyes, "There's a such thing as too much chakra control." Her gaze returned to her quick scribble, "You need control yes, but if you have too tight of a grip on your chakra it won't be able to do its job."
All Konohana could do was stare at her opened mouthed and wide eyed as she casually told her what had been hindering her whole performance. "H-How did you-"
"I checked both of your chakra flows." Was her flippant response, "And Inuzuka, actually have some control. You're using too much chakra in one go." A mischievous glimmer lit up her chocolate eyes, "And don't underestimate a girl again."
"What are you? My grandma?" The Inuzuka growled out, defensive practically radiating off the male.
Tsunade flashed a menacing grin that made the boy nearly leap onto Uzumaki to get farther away, "Do you want me to hurt you, ya little punk? I can break much more than your scrawny nose."
Kakato grunted out what vaguely sounded like a curse and Tsunade smirked, ripping off a note and handing it to the students in her personal scrawl. "You two get outta here. You're done for the day."
"I got a question. Why is the former Hokage a school nurse?"
"None of your business brat! Now get out of here!"
Both students bolted from the room; never seeing the slight amusement on her features.
…
Age 11
Sweat spotted the pinkette's forehead. Her hands trembled in their position as she forced the familiar hum of chakra to wash over herself. Knuckles were dried with blood and her scuffed up knees wobbled under the weight of her form. Her tongue ran over her chapped lips once more before her brows furrowed in concentration.
"Clone Jutsu!"
Upon the sound of the tell-tale pop of the jutsu's completion, Konohana cracked one blue eye open hesitantly and glanced to her right. The sight before her made both eyes snap open.
"Took you long enough," Her perfect copy snarled with an acidic smirk.
The earth came up to meet her buckled knees as she stared at the clone's smirk gradually morph into what she could only described as a tender grin. Her chest constricted like a vice and eyes burned from the salty liquid that was slowly trickling her burning cheeks. Dirtied hands flew up to wipe away the tears, but it didn't stop more from coming. I had taken her five years to finally make a clone.
That was the first time she had cried out of happiness.
….
Kakato fell to the ground roughly, his breath leaving him with a rough swoosh as he heard his sister cringe. She lowered her palms from their raised state, her beautiful white-lavender eyes transitioning back. Her white teeth nibbled into her already reddened bottom lip, gazing at her little brother lain before her, completely rendered useless by her technique.
"Kakato," She stepped forward.
"Don't!"
His sharp snap made her freeze on the spot, her eyes only softening more with an emotion that made him snarl. "Don't look at me like that!" Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, "Don't you dare pity me!"
Mimi recoiled as though she had been slapped at his venom laced words. "I never-"
He didn't listen, merely turning his head to the side to further avoid looking at her pale face. "Just go. I'll be home in a few."
Chairomi whimpered by his side, only helping to drive the blade into his older sister's heart.