Author's notes: Inoichi's book truly exists! I just have never read it.

o-o-o

o-o-o-o

o-o-o-o-o

"Order! ORDER!" Tsume banged her fist against the flat side of Oyubi's table until the din finally hushed. She found herself on the receiving end of multiple resentful glares, and held her chin high. "I did it, and I'm not taking it back." I am Queen Alpha Bitch. My word is law. It was a little difficult to establish her claim, however, when she wasn't willing to rule with the iron fist that Shinzou had so readily used.

It was one thing for an alpha to make decisions, but it was another to explain them. A clan-wide meeting was hastily assembled after lunch, with all the available adults-or-close-enough crammed into Oyubi's kitchen. Clan-wide meetings usually meant all the children as well, but this involved the Hokage's decree, and thus had to be limited to those who were in the know. This meant that the oldest children remained, undisturbed, at school. Children too young to be in the Academy remained in the care and supervision of whoever was on shift. Kiba and Naruto were currently babysitting Kakashi with nine puppies and Aunt Natsumi. Two puppies roamed Oyubi's kitchen, interacting with the other ninken. Yamato sat at the left of Tsume, stifling a yawn. He jerked awake before he could face-plant in his tea.

Of the thirty-seven adult Inuzuka women remaining after the Kyuubi's attack, only twenty had been able to make the meeting. The rest were on missions or caring for the clan's children. Of the twenty present, Tsume was one of three alphas. There were four gammas, and the rest were betas. Yamato was the only male human present. It was a tight fit with everyone in Oyubi's kitchen, which was why the ninken were lounging in Oyubi's living room, with the oldest and fiercest commandeering Oyubi's couch.

Tsume kept her eyes on the gammas – Megumi, Akahana, Ume, and Aunt Bashira. Aunt Bashira didn't care – she was always far more amused, instead of offended or challenged by Tsume, given the weight of her own years and experience. The other three were known to butt heads with her, especially Megumi, who was eighteen years older than Tsume.

Megumi moaned and covered her face with her hand. "How could you do this to our clan, Tsume?" Megumi had lost her two daughters in the Kyuubi's attack, left to care for three young granddaughters below the age of five at the time. "The orphanage was lucky to get anyone to come and do repairs, and only because the Hokage made the orders himself."

"Yeah," Kashin, a seventeen year old alpha, nodded her head in agreement. "They've also had a hard time getting shopkeepers to donate goods, like toys and clothes. IA had to look into people last year when Danzo heard that the shopkeepers were inflating their food prices to the orphanage after its budget was expanded. Kagami himself followed up." It was rare for the Head of Internal Affairs to do any legwork – his heart wasn't able to keep up with the demands of stamina anymore, even if stamina meant a slow walk a kilometer long.

Huh. Now Tsume felt kinda bad that she thought Danzo and the council lied about expanding the orphanage's budget when she had seen how rundown the building looked. Gosh, no wonder the children thought they were tainted!

"Oh," Megumi added casually, scratching an ear, "and someone spray-painted the back wall of our compound. Something about death to traitors and demons."

In a village like Konoha, there were secrets, and then there were Secrets. It was a secret that Tsume had adopted the jinchuuriki, which meant that it wasn't a secret after Hyuuga Hiro left her home, and word subsequently spread like a wildfire in the last two hours. The Inuzuka clan – especially Tsume – could always be counted on as a reliable cause of entertaining gossip or juicy scandal.

The Hokage had told Tsume very firmly, before gathering his papers and heading for his tower when one of the advisors promised a hot lunch, that it was a Secret that Minato was Naruto's father. Minato had made too many enemies, and the combination of being the Fourth's legacy and the jinchuuriki would make Naruto a very tempting target to many powerful and quite resentful enemies, especially considering the recently foiled attempt to kidnap the Hyuuga heir. Hence, Tsume wasn't allowed to tell anyone, even if she thought the persons already knew, and even if most of the adults in her clan could tell who had sex with who.

(Tsume wondered how she was going to keep such a Secret. Between the bright blue eyes and the fluffy blond hair, a person didn't need an Inuzuka nose to notice the family resemblance to Namikaze Minato. She hoped that the Hokage had just given her covert permission to dye Naruto's hair – something like a rich, glorious red, like maple leaves in autumn – in order to maintain the Secret. She always did like red better than yellow, anyway…)

"I'll track the vandal down later," Tsume promised Megumi.

"Oh, I already took care of the vandal," Aunt Bashira declared with a wicked grin. "A fresh, long dip in the Naka River does wonders at removing paint. And once the hospital resolves the hypothermia, he'll be back to repaint the fence."

"Look," Tsume said, spreading her hands wide, "most of us remember Kushina." The Hokage hadn't said that Kushina's maternity was a Secret, especially given how Kushina had been the only Uzumaki refugee-turned-ninja to stick around in Konoha decades after Uzu was destroyed. "Naruto is Kushina's son, and I couldn't let him go back to that place. No child, not even the jinchuuriki, should be found naked in the kennels in the middle of the cold night we had."

There was a shift in the surrounding scent – several thought that the kennels were a perfectly suitable place for the jinchuuriki to be kept. Admittedly, Tsume had spent many a night in the kennels when her grandmother was alive, but at least she was able to keep the clothes on her back, and it hadn't been in the middle of winter. She had to remind herself that none of them had seen the bloody footprints, caused by an adult whose only response to seeing a naked three year old in deathly-frigid cold was to throw a glass bottle at the child. And as soon as she was done with this meeting, she was going to hunt down Fugaku and lead him straight to the culprit. "All right then, what would you have done?" she asked Megumi. "Make an attempt to kill him and accidentally release the Kyuubi? Leave him there? Come on, what would any of you have done in my stead?"

Akahana raised her hand after a moment of silence. "Okay, I'll admit that if I found the jinchuuriki naked in the kennels, I would've bundled him up and delivered him back to the orphanage."

"Why? That's like trying to cover up a stink by dumping perfume on it. It wouldn't fix the problem, and it would still smell like shit!"

Ume, an outspoken and defiant beta, glared and crossed her arms. "I wasn't aware that the jinchuuriki should even be a problem. He's nothing more than a meat suit for the Kyuubi."

Tsume flashed her teeth at Ume, gratified that it made her older cousin flinch and look away. "You were hurt by the Kyuubi. I get that – we all lost loved ones that day."

Megumi cast a resentful look at Yamato. "But none of your loved ones were your children. All of yours are still alive."

Tsume bit her tongue and dug her claws into Oyubi's table. Oyubi's table was littered with claw marks; it was barely noticeable. Everyone is mine. The clan children had been hers. She had played with the adults when they were children, had helped care for the adults' children and loved and protected them as their alpha. The guilt for not being well enough to join the fight, that she maybe could've made a difference before Minato had pulled the Kyuubi out of the village, gnawed at her insides. "And Naruto's loved ones are dead, too – killed for saving Konoha." She had loved Minato and Kushina as much as she loved her clan, and their loss had been every bit as painful as the loss of her clanswoman.

Megumi dropped her eyes at the unspoken reminder of Naruto's sire.

A memory flashed through Tsume's mind – the darkness of the earthen pit, the feel of Danzo's hands against her naked flesh, and the crackling sound of the fire. She remembered the scent of Danzo's desire and confusion, the wonder and jealousy as he looked at her.

("You know, Grandmother told me I should hate the Uchiha for what he did. But I can't hate this Madara. I don't even know if I could hate Grandmother. I think…. I think it's hard for me to feel hatred, almost like I can't feel fear, you know. Are the two things connected, hate and fear?"

"We often hate what we fear. If you cannot fear, I imagine that leaves little to hate. What must it be like, to live without such burdens of fear or hatred?")

Tsume suddenly realized that it wasn't that her clan hated the Kyuubi, but that they feared it. Or at least it had started out as fear. In her outsider experience, people had three choices with fear: let it cripple them, release it and move on, or turn fear into anger and hatred (an easy task when you're a ninja who weaponizes weaknesses). For all that Tsume could see and smell fear, the only understanding she had of it was a distant memory of a nightmare she awoke from, only a few months before her brain injury forever stole the ability. She didn't even think that she felt true fear when she had been on the brink of losing Kiba. But she understood anger.

To win her clan over, Tsume would have to dispel the fears that were born three ago, from dead flesh and broken buildings. She had to separate the Kyuubi from Naruto.

"I remember," Tsume said, "how much it hurt when I was twelve years old, when Grandmother said it was my fault that my mother died. The only thing I ever did was be born." The older Inuzuka women who remembered Shinzou in all her bitter glory, shifted about and glanced at each other. Aunt Bashira sighed and nodded her head, her memory being almost as long as Aunt Natsumi's, since she was a teenager when Konoha was created. Shinzou had despised Aunt Bashira's daughter almost as much as she had despised Tsume. "Naruto is not to blame for being born – he isn't the Kyuubi. That's like saying that the Sage of Six Paths was the Juubi, and we know that isn't true. We all know that when we're pregnant with a baby, we don't become that baby, because we're separate beings. Naruto is no different."

A murmur rippled through the betas. The gammas stirred, restlessly. The two alphas were quiet, waiting to see where Tsume would take this.

Tsume traced the new scratches in Oyubi's table. "I'm not asking for anyone's permission," she said. "I'm not even looking for your blessing. The Hokage said that the Fourth wanted Naruto to be treated like a hero – that's too much of a burden for someone as young as Naruto, though. He's only a few months younger than Kiba." Kiba had actually been due the middle of September. They would've been closer in age, if not for that deliberate strike against her abdomen… Tsume tore her mind away from the lingering past. "He should be treated like any other child – with love."

"How will this affect the rest of us?" Megumi demanded. "You adopt the jinchuuriki, and it's our wall that gets spray-painted." My wall, Tsume thought, suppressing a growl. "The orphanage suffered for having Naruto – and we already have problems enough getting decent weapons because of Sakumo. How much extra are we going to be paying for food, now? And that doesn't include the fact that we're going to be considered siding with the Kyuubi."

Tsume pushed her irritation down as the murmurs took on a different characteristic. "We'll keep together, hold a unified front. I've already got lots of people on my side – the Uchiha and the Nara clans." Okay, so maybe not the Uchiha clan, but Tsume figured that she could work on Fugaku and Makoto, and the rest would eventually fall into place. Kagami, she knew, would definitely side with her. "I have full support and backing from the Hokage, and I bet we could even get most of ANBU to side with us." She nudged Yamato as his head dropped to his shoulder.

Yamato snapped awake, blinking. "Hmm? Whazza? Yeah, sure." He raised a fist in the air in a show of sodality. "Huzza. Support all the way."

Kashin regarded Tsume with a neutral expression. "Who was the jinchuuriki before Naruto?"

That was… that was a really good question, especially when there had to have been one – right? (Apparently so, if the sudden spike of fear from Oyubi was any clue.) "Don't know."

"If we weren't worried about the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki before Naruto, why are we worried after?"

Also a very good question. Tsume eyed Kashin suspiciously, because Kashin skulked through the shadows, more of a scavenger than a predator, which was hardly becoming of an alpha. Then again, Kashin was also more likely to align herself with the winning party, so that meant that Tsume could win this with most of her dignity and respect still intact.

"Minato was a responsible person," Kashin added, her gaze distant. "He saved Konoha, even if he couldn't protect everyone that day. I don't think he would've saved our lives just to endanger them all over again with the Kyuubi. So if Tsume trusts the seal, then I will trust her."

Tsume listened to the murmurs of reluctant agreement around them. Megumi and Akahana turned their faces way – silent, but not agreeable. She anticipated problems with them in the future, but decided that would just have to be addressed when it ever came up. She nodded her head firmly. "Exactly," she said. "Between the Third and the Fourth Hokages, I feel confident in saying that Naruto is as harmless as any three year old pup out there."

Tsume snapped her fingers at Oyubi. "And speaking of three year olds…" Oyubi placed a stack of papers on the table beside Tsume. "Naruto wound up in the kennels, naked and starving, because there weren't any living adult caretakers at the orphanage. And the caretakers were doing a pretty lousy job too when they were alive, just so you know. So the Hokage is turning the entire orphanage over to my care, and I've decided that we are going to adopt all the orphans. Luckily, Hokage-sama is giving us the orphanage's fund for the next two years."

oOoOoOo

It took some fancy talking before anyone made any decisions. Ume, who had lost her only daughter during the Kyuubi attack, surprised Tsume by being the first to step forward. She adopted two boys.

"I like the idea," she told Tsume. "I couldn't keep the son that Grandmother Shinzou made the trader take back, and I often wonder where he is today. He was born a year before you…" Ume chose not to have any more children until after Shinzou's death, but by then it had been too late to have a successful pregnancy. "Minato was a good man. He saved Tomo's life once, back in the Third War. Because of him, I had three extra years with her before I lost her completely."

"I'll take this girl," said Aoi, who had adopted three clangirls when their mothers were killed by the Kyuubi. She waved the paperwork in the air. "I like even numbers, and there's something appealing about her name – Tenten."

"That's even-numbered, all right," Akahana said, before choosing the youngest of the orphans – the female toddler. She had two sons naturally that she had chosen to keep, since their fathers were foreign shinobi – Akahana often said that she'd rather not have any sons, but refused to give any offspring away to enemies.

Tsume scribbled some numbers on a piece of paper as she tried to figure out how to increase the monthly allotment for childcare. Most kunoichi were faced with a difficult decision – continue with their career or settle down to become mothers and housewives. It was a pressure (and often mandatory duty) of several clans. Mikoto-chan had been pressured mostly because she was the wife of the Uchiha Clan Head; most Uchiha women were able to continue their careers after a stint of child-bearing and -rearing. On the other hand, Mikoto quickly became Second in the Mothers Defense League, so she wasn't just sitting around being a housewife. The Hyuuga required the wives of the main house to retire once they became pregnant.

It wasn't unusual for an Inuzuka woman to have six to eight viable pregnancies in their lifetime. It was a necessity, considering the clan's average death rate and heretofore discharge of sons – children were their lifeblood. Childcare was a communal duty of the entire clan. Kunoichi who were pregnant or nursing would do stints with running the nursery or live-in daycares, earning a stipend during the time they were unable to accept any missions. Babies were typically weaned between eight and ten months, and their mothers resumed missions as the childcare was absorbed by the clan.

A core staff of Inuzuka women – those who were too old, forced into retirement from crippling injuries, or generally unsuited to become a kunoichi – ran most of the day-to-day needs in the compound, like minor repairs and childcare. They also received a stipend from the clan's general fund. If Sakumo had never covered the expense of Tsume's last year in the Academy, she would've eventually become a primary child caregiver, although she doubted she would've received a decent stipend.

With the addition of the orphans, Tsume could see that she was going to need to increase the allotment. There were now officially forty Inuzuka children under the age of eight who were not in the Academy.

After some extra finagling with the finances and ledgers, Tsume realized that she was going to visit Uchiha Itachi – er, Mikoto next week with her accounts on tow, again. The orphanage's budget seemed incredibly generous to Tsume (she didn't get to see money come in such large numbers very often, but knew enough to be impressed by that many zeros trailing the first number), but she had the sneaking suspicion that prices were going to get jacked. Hmm. Good thing she was sort-of-kinda friends-in-the-loosest-terms with the Uchiha Police Force and the semi-retired Head of Internal Affairs. Or at least as much a friend as you could be to the police when you were intimately familiar with every nook, cranny, and cleaning product of their building.

Despite the looming financial worries, Tsume still smiled at her cousins and aunts as the stack of papers dwindled and were divided amongst them, pleased that no one would be unwanted that day. No one should ever be unwanted, Tsume decided – unless it was Orochimaru, because he downright deserved it, the creepy bastard.

The smile fell away as the last of her family left, leaving her with Kuromaru, Yamato, and Oyubi. She leaned against her son and drew in a deep breath.

"Sleepy," he murmured, chin dropping towards his chest.

"I know. Back to bed, then. Thanks for waking up and joining us at the meeting." She accompanied him from Oyubi's kitchen and across the way to their house. The kitchen was cool as they entered. As Yamato stumbled off to bed once more, Tsume fed the fire. Then she settled down on the couch, brushed loose cushion fluff off one of the couch arms, and studied the crackling flames.

Tsume thought of Kushina's brilliant red hair, alit like dawn's color across the skylines. She remembered the bright spotlight on the crystals that had been woven into the red hair, remembered the way it fanned out beneath Kushina as she spiraled upside-down on the long curtain of aerial silk. The memories hurt and the pain hadn't lessened because she adopted Kushina's son.

"I'm doing all right, aren't I?" she asked the fire, because it was red like Kushina's hair. The fire crackled back. Tsume tried to push down the regret and guilt once more – better late than never, she had once told Minato in the Third War.

("You're just saying that because you aren't the one dangling by his toes in this damn trap. Now, um, can you let me down before my team sees this? And just where did you get the glitter and glue? I thought the Fire Daimyo had banned you from all the craft stores in the country.")

She sniffled and dabbed at her eyes as Kakashi entered her living room and carefully looked around. "All alone?" he asked carefully with his shoulders hunched forward.

"Sakumo's gone. He left after the Assistant Head of IA showed up."

Kakashi looked better as he kicked snow off the bedroom bunny slippers that Aunt Natsumi must've made him wear before releasing him from her custody. He also still wore the pajamas – wrinkled and stale with sweat – that Tsume had discarded last night. His scent was heavy with embarrassment and shame as he sprawled boneless on the couch beside Tsume. His color was better than the pasty-white and feverish red that she had seen last night, and the infection smelled like it was under control now with judicious application of antibiotics and proper wound care. He still looked like he had missed a week of meals, so Tsume considered making him a late lunch.

"So, I guess I missed a lot today," Kakashi said, rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously. His hand shook slightly from exhaustion and illness.

"You should've missed all of it by going to the hospital last night," Tsume replied caustically. Her smile eased the bite of her words.

"Yeah, I know. In my defense, the fever made it hard to think."

Tsume leaned sideways and rested her cheek against his shoulder. She took a deep breath, and reveled in all the familiar scents. He smelled of Hatake, Inuzuka, and faintly of Obito, before Obito's scent twisted with corruption. "I love you," she whispered, as a little voice happily hummed mine. My puppy. My son. "You were my first – you'll always be my first." Not her favorite – Tsume loved all of her children with the same passion and ardor, and would never be able to pick which one she liked the most – but she and Kakashi had a history that couldn't be duplicated with her other children; a history of triumph and tears as children growing up together to become adults while still somehow having that sense of mother and son.

Like Tsume, Kakashi was forced to mature too early and too fast. Unlike Tsume, he was the pinnacle of perfect breeding, the results of generations of Inuzuka women carefully choosing the sire of their offspring. Life had dealt both of them a rotten hand from a stacked deck of cards, but they were shinobi – cheating was the name of the game, as Minato had once told Kushina during the Second War.

Kakashi patted her arm. "I love you too," he mumbled after a moment of making sure that no one else was in hearing. He reluctantly allowed her to wrap her arms around him for a warm cuddle.

oOoOoOo

Two days later, the weather warmed up enough that Tsume felt the risk of frostbite was minimal enough to let the children out to play for longer periods of time. "Shall we go to the playground?" she asked Kiba and Naruto after Kabuto and Hana were waved off to the Academy. Besides, she was due to pop in on Danzo and the other children tomorrow and decided it would be good just to spend the day bonding with her littlest boys before introducing more foster children to the mix.

Kiba began jumping up and down. "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

After a heartbeat of hesitation, Naruto imitated Kiba in action and volume. It took Tsume an hour to get the boys bundled up, snacks prepared and made, boys unbundled to use the potty, bundled up once more, and then a fresh set of snacks made because the boys got hungry and ate the first set, before they delivered the eleven puppies to Oyubi for her to assume care. Oyubi, her hair in as much disarray as her house, quietly accepted the dogs as the sound of a vase shattering in the next room was heard.

A sheepish, "Oopsy," was heard. A mop of black hair and a pair of sorry eyes peered around the corner. "Sorry."

Oyubi hid her cringe well. "Any bleeding or life-threatening emergencies?"

"No, mom. PUPPIES! I LOVE PUPPIES!" There was a shriek of laughter, and the bundle of energy named Rock Lee pounced on the puppies. The puppies eagerly pounced back.

"That should keep him busy long enough for me to take a quick shower," Oyubi said, looking lean and desperate. "He's almost as bad of my brother!" Wooooo. That was saying something. So much for hoping that Oyubi would have a calm, steady son.

The snow was slushy and the surrounding buildings seemed dark and dull without the pristine white covering all of Konoha's loveable flaws. The streets were bustling with more activity since the cold snap had eased up, and several of the shopkeepers greeted Tsume warmly, because they were old friends of Aunt Natsumi whom Tsume paid to keep covered plates of fresh food available for Sakumo just off their back doorsteps.

Naruto, bundled in his orange parka and beanie, and a beige-colored knit scarf wrapped around his neck, was unrecognizable to most of the passersby. That didn't stop many from eyeing Tsume and the boys with barely-restrained malignancy, because they didn't have to recognize the jinchuuriki when they already knew Tsume had him.

The playground was just a stone's throw away from the Academy. Its equipment was smaller-scaled versions of the Academy's obstacle course, and it was a favorite area for mothers and fathers to bring their children. Shinobi parents often scoped out the offspring in the other clans, plotting how to best arrange seating and classroom placements to obtain better genin team arrangements and future partnerships. Civilians would do the same, hoping to create allies and friendships when the time came to enroll their child. Konoha's Academy accepted anyone who desired to become a ninja, regardless of clan, custom, or class (and sometimes country, since Kushina had come from Whirlpool), but it never hurt to have support and sponsorship from the famous and strong.

The civilians were also more blatant in their distrust and dislike of Tsume's decision. Most of the shinobi clans – partly because they were usually related in some fashion to the Inuzuka clan, and partly because the Inuzuka clan had a well-deserved reputation for being loyal and trustworthy to Konohagakure and all who dwelled within its great walls – decided to take a distant wait-and-watch approach when it came to Tsume… so long as she stayed away from them, of course. Tsume had a reputation for making rash decisions that often caused more damage than was necessary.

There weren't too many people present; most families opted to remain indoors even with the improving weather. When Tsume, Naruto, and Kiba arrived on the playground, the three adults from the shinobi clans subtly and carefully nudged their children away. The five civilians were more blatant, snatching up their children and quieting loud protests with harsh words and pinches.

The playground was very quickly abandoned.

Tsume pretended not to notice as she commandeered a recently-vacated bench, covering its cold wooden slates with a wool blanket that Kuromaru had reminded her to bring. She and Kuromaru settled down on the blanket; Kuromaru rested his head on her lap and she set the covered basket with its snacks off to the side. Then Tsume gave Naruto and Kiba practice kunai (tips carefully blunted and rounded to prevent someone from accidentally losing an eye or other important body part), and told them to go play. Naruto and Kiba ran shrieking for the swings.

As Kiba and Naruto decided to go down the slides, belly-first, Tsume half-expected a tumbleweed to blow across the otherwise empty-playground, and lonely harmonica music to play on the distant wind. She knew that Naruto's playground debut would be somewhat awkward, but hadn't imagined anything like this.

"Gosh," Tsume told Kuromaru, "this sucks. I feel like we have the measles or something."

Kuromaru shifted his head so she could scratch him behind the ears. "Maybe they think the Kyuubi is catching," he muttered, too low for any eavesdroppers to catch.

"Naruto's smile is contagious," Tsume said knowingly. Naruto was quickly becoming a darling with some of the younger Inuzuka teenagers, so she figured there was hope for everyone. She sniffed the air for a moment, and then gently pushed Kuromaru's head off her lap. "Excuse me for a moment – make sure the kids don't blow up the merry-go-round or something while I'm gone." She snuck around the parameters of the playground, ducked over the wall, and hid behind a bare bush.

Yamanaka Inoichi laughed as his daughter, too energetic from being cooped up in the flower shop for the last three days, tugged incessantly on his hand. "Come on! We have to hurry!" Ino insisted. "All the good swings will be gone!" She was also tugging Shikamaru along. "Yay! We're here!" When they rounded the wall that separated the playground from the Academy grounds, Ino screamed with laughter and dropped the hands she was holding. She tried to make a dash for the swing set when they came into sight.

Inoichi grabbed her and pulled her back when he saw the only two occupants on the playground. "Wait." He carefully edged her back behind his legs. "I think we should go to the café and get some hot chocolate. You like hot chocolate, don't you, darling?"

Shikamaru glanced sideways at Inoichi as Ino pouted and stamped her foot. "No! I want to swing!"

"It's not safe here—grrk!"

Inoichi choked as Tsume ambushed him from behind, throwing a tight left arm around his neck and sliding her other arm through his right to pin it back and away from his kunai pouch. "Hi, how's it going?" she demanded with a smile and a loud voice. "Isn't it great that you should join us on this fine day? Look – we have the playground all to ourselves. The children will love playing together."

Ino, taking advantage of her father's grip loosening on the back of her coat, hurried forward through the slushy snow. "Yay!" Shikamaru took one look at his aunt and followed after Ino, knowing which one was the lesser of two evils. After all, the Nara Clan had a much better sense of self-preservation than the Inuzuka Clan generally did. That, and Tsume gave Shikamaru amazing butterscotch cookies, which made Tsume the better adult in Shikamaru's world.

When Inoichi remained silent, Tsume tightened the arm around his neck. "You're not going to duck out of here, are you?"

Inoichi gasped for breath.

"Because you know that there are some things even scarier than a three year old toddler." Tsume wasn't necessarily feared by her brother or his teammates, except… well, Inoichi once likened Shikaku's younger sister to an avalanche; safe to watch from a great distance away, but inescapable and exceedingly frightening when right on top of you. She hooked a leg around his knee, just to emphasis just how much on top she totally was.

Ino climbed into one of the seats on the swing and yelled at Shikamaru to push her.

"I will!" Naruto called, hurrying over to shove her with all his might. He held on to the swing at the same time and dragged his feet, laughing. Ino twisted around so she could punch Naruto in the head.

"Leggo! I wanted Shiki to push!"

"I wanna! I wanna!"

"They're having fun," Tsume whispered in Inoichi's ear. "Play is always better when you have more people involved. Besides, no one is going to get hurt any more than they normally would on a playground."

Tsume dragged Inoichi with her to the park bench where Kuromaru was patiently awaiting. She lightened the grip around his throat just enough to keep him from passing out. Inoichi reluctantly accepted a seat beside Kuromaru, and Tsume deliberately sat on the other side, pinning Inoichi in place between her and the ninken. After a moment, she nudged Inoichi with her elbow. "Don't worry," she added, trying to sound gentle, "Naruto's a good kid. He won't hurt Ino-chan."

Ino managed to bop Naruto solidly on the head so he could release the swing. Naruto, holding his head and crying, ran to Tsume. Kiba threw a slushball at Ino for hitting Naruto, and she shrieked as it struck the back of her neck and dribbled down her collar. Shikamaru flopped backwards and made a half-hearted attempt at a snow-angel. Tsume bet it was mostly to look like he was busy so he could stare at the clouds like his father did.

Inoichi tensed up at Naruto's approach. Naruto buried his face against Tsume's knee, so she patted his fluffy blond hair. "You're fine," she told him, feeling her heart swell in her chest as the hurt at the earlier playground rejections diminished. "No harm, no foul. Why don't you play with your cousin, Shikamaru? He's looking kinda lonely over there by the slides."

Naruto perked up, tears all but forgotten. "Okay!" He ran and pounced on Shikamaru.

When the children were outside of hearing, Inoichi said, "How can you be sure? You've collected enough dangerous pets and objects over the years – come meet my friend, you told us. He's a nice horse that lives in the Nara Forest, you said. I was damn near trampled, Chouza has a scar where that monster drew blood, and I've never seen your brother climb a tree that fast. Or move that fast at all by his own accord. Let's not forget the lovely Suna puppet that nearly killed me with a ten-year old poisoned senbon. Thank the gods that the potency of that poison diminished in the last decade. So how can I expect this to be any safer?"

To be fair to Juubi, Chouza had offered him a sugar cube, and then retracted his arm before Juubi could get it. Tsume would bite someone for that, too. Inoichi's hair probably looked like straw… and, yeah, she couldn't think of an excuse for why Juubi went after Shikaku, other than maybe the third was the charm? Also, that was years ago… Was Inoichi never going to let that silly little meeting go? And she had thought that she and Kakashi had found and dismantled all the traps in the puppets that Sakumo sent them. Tsume tilted her head to the side. Inoichi smelled more of concern and fear than he did of resentment and bitterness. It was a much better combination of scents than what the other parents had left behind, and something she approved. "I can't guarantee anything," she admitted, drumming her heels against the ground. "But I do know that you'd be in much more danger with me than your daughter would with my son."

Inoichi glared at her. Tsume had done a number of search-and-rescue missions with the InoShikaCho trio after she became a chuunin, and it was generally agreed upon throughout Konoha that it was far safer to be rescued by the team that included Tsume than it was to be on the team itself. The trio's ability to generally come back from such missions intact and (usually) only mildly injured attested to their renowned skill and teamwork.

"Besides," Tsume added, knowing how by the book Inoichi was, "it's an important step in a child's development to interact with others, especially those who seem to be social pariahs. It will help your daughter grow in generosity and compassion."

"I'd rather she be a proper bloodthirsty kunoichi," Inoichi replied. Nonetheless, he dipped a hand into his pocket and withdrew a well-worn, dog-eared book with multiple brightly-colored indexer tabs sticking out of the pages like confetti, titled Raising Your Spirited Child: A Guide for Parents Whose Child Is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, and Energetic. Because he was literally by the book. He flipped through some of the pages and intently studied a passage that was highlighted in neon yellow and starred three times with ink. After a moment, he snapped the book shut, tucked it back into his pocket, and slouched down in the bench with a sulky expression. "As long as their interaction is supervised," he stressed.

Tsume tried not to look smug. They watched silently as Ino eventually grew tired of the swings, and recruited Shikamaru, Kiba, and Naruto into helping her push the merry-go-round. Tsume could already see who was the alpha in the gaggle of kids. "They're already playing well together," Tsume said, slyly nudging Inoichi with her elbow. "Say, if the two you brought get hungry, I've got more than enough snacks for everyone." She pulled the basket onto her lap and opened it up, proudly displaying what she had packed.

Inoichi poked through the goods. "Smoked cheese and sausages – high in fat, but good source of calcium and iron for growing bodies. Raisin muffins? I bet you made these with white flour and white sugar. Don't you know that research indicates that white flour and white sugar may be a contributing trigger for ADHD due to the changes in gut flora?" He glanced sideways to where Kiba had crawled into the middle of the spinning merry-go-round and was trying to stand while screaming at the top of his lungs. "Evidently not," Inoichi added with disdain. "Proper nutrition in the early years is vital in establishing a life-long vibrant health."

Tsume didn't think that deserved the dignity of a response. "I've got some celery sticks in there for you crunchy granola types." No wonder Shikamaru loved it when she snuck him butterscotch cookies.

"What's that?"

She slammed the basket shut and set it off to the side. "Nothing." Then she turned around in her seat and waved excitedly at the newcomers. "Hello! Come and join us!"

The young civilian mother, her cheeks rosy in the cold and her hair mostly tucked under her cap, led her shy daughter forward. The girl, approximately the same age as the other children, carefully hid behind her mother's legs.

"Are you shinobi?" the mother asked. Then she blushed a deep red and bowed in apology. "Oh, forgive me my rudeness!"

Tsume never replaced her sister's forehead protector – there would only ever be the one – but she had applied the alpha markings to her face that morning, showing Naruto and Kiba what the symbols and colors meant. Inoichi wore casual civilian clothes without his forehead protector.

"It's all right," Tsume said. "We don't mind." She ignored the shifty look that Inoichi gave her, one that said You and rudeness are kindred spirits. "I'm Inuzuka Tsume." The woman's scent didn't shift with recognition or any other emotion at the introduction. "This is Yamanako Inoichi. Why don't you join us?"

"Oh, that would be just wonderful! I am Haruno Mebuki, and this is my daughter, Sakura." At Tsume's eager nod, the woman turned a nervous smile onto her daughter, dropping her hand to settle on the pink hair. "Why don't you go play with the others, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura, her face pinned against her mother's knees, shook her head.

Mebuki gave the others a strained smile. "She's very shy…" Mebuki smelled of regret and embarrassment.

Tsume reached around Inoichi and knowingly nudged Kuromaru. They exchanged looks, and Kuromaru slid off the bench with a huff. He shook his coat for a moment, and then trotted over to Sakura. After considering the small child for a moment, Kuromaru licked her ear.

Sakura giggled and squirmed harder against her mother's knees.

Pleased with this response, Kuromaru licked her again with a huff, his tail wagging. When Sakura giggled and turned to look at him, he jumped back and crouched down, tail still wagging. Tsume rummaged around in her pockets until she found the bright red rubber ball that she had stuffed in her coat yesterday, and offered it to Sakura. "Throw it for him – Kuromaru loves to play catch!"

After glancing at her mother for confirmation, Sakura accepted the ball and threw it. It landed a meter away from Kuromaru. He shot Tsume a quick look – really? – and then made an elaborate show of leaping after the ball, and carrying it to back to Sakura with his head proudly held high. Sakura burst into giggles as she accepted the ball and threw it again. It landed on the other side of Kuromaru, barely missing his tail.

Kuromaru looked over his haunch at the ball, tail drooping slightly. "I think we better try the slides next, kid," he told Sakura gruffly. She gasped in wonder at his speech, and allowed herself to be herded to where Ino was leading the boys on an assault against the slides. Naruto and Kiba swung their kunai like swords, but hadn't poked each other's eyes out yet. Ino squealed in delight with having another little girl join their group.

Mebuki sank down on the bench beside Tsume. Tsume pressed tightly against Inoichi, partly to make more room for Mebuki, and partly because she might need to snag Inoichi if he decided to escape when Kuromaru wasn't pinning him on the other side. "Oh, thank goodness! She's been going through this clinging phase, and I haven't had a moment to myself since it started! We haven't even left the house in over a month, even for groceries! Sakura is a very intelligent girl – she stared reading all by herself – but I want her to meet and make friends, and not sit with her nose in a book all day long."

Inoichi nodded his head, sagely. "Already reading? Ah, it's always a challenge to meet your gifted child's needs. It's easy to let them find their own way because they're so intelligent, but so important to remember that they're still just a little child. That's my daughter, Ino." He proudly pointed as Ino crested the slide and yelled that she was queen of the mountain. "She's already speaking with perfectly structured sentences." Kiba pushed Ino over, and she slid backwards down the slide with a shriek. "And that little playground terror is hers," he added sullenly, jabbing his thumb at Tsume.

Tsume smiled benignly and shrugged. "My children were raised in a barn by a pack of wild wolves."

Inoichi choked with unexpected laughter, having been recruited last year with Kakashi and Pakkun to gather up said pack of wild wolves that had accidentally been released from their confinements, and then covered up his slip by coughing.

Mebuki watched wide-eyed as Naruto and Kiba scrapped over who was now the king of the mountain. Sakura was brushing slush off of Ino's jacket and hair. Mebuki gave no hint of recognizing Naruto, either in her scent or her body language. "They certainly have a lot of energy."

"Right." Tsume nodded her head vigorously and hammered her heels against the ground. "That's why we came to the playground. Gotta burn off some of that excess energy."

Mebuki leaned back against the bench and tilted her head upward with a smile. "Wow. It's amazing how there's only us three parents and our children on the playground. I would've thought that there'd be more."

Inoichi coughed again, his elbow pointedly nudging his companion in her ribcage. Tsume silently bared her teeth in warning at him, and then eased into a smile when Mebuki turned towards her. "It's the weather," Tsume said as demurely as she could. Then she viciously dug an index finger into Inoichi's ribs, knowing exactly where his ticklish spot was. He squirmed and choked again.

"Do you two know each other?" Mebuki asked. "Well, of course you must, because you're both ninja. A friend asked me to join the Allied Mothers Forces, but that means remedial training. I never passed my genin test, so I don't think I'd do very well." Her scent was colored with shame, even though her face was relaxed and her eyes shuttered – civilians often didn't like to advertise that they had washed out of the Academy. They often considered themselves failures; shinobi considered them unknowingly wise, since it was better to bow out of a lifetime of blood and sorrow than it was to attempt it ill-prepared and unsuited. Unsuited people were dead people, after all.

"Inoichi and I have known each other since Academy." Inoichi had been swept into enough of Tsume's schoolyard brawls when she wanted to see her sire without her great-grandmother suspecting anything. "He's actually a teammate to my brother, and we occasionally go on missions together." Tsume considered Mebuki's scent for a moment, and then added, "The Allied Mothers Forces might suit you. Most of the other women I know said it was a lot easier to go through the remedial training, because protecting Konoha is personal, now."

Mebuki's eyes instantly went to Sakura, who was quietly helping Shikamaru create a snowman from the slushy snow. Ino had climbed on top of Kuromaru and was digging her heels into his side, yelling, "Giddyup!" Kuromaru glared at her unmoving, so Ino kicked harder. Kiba was standing in the seat of his swing, yodeling as he swung in wide arcs. Naruto was sneaking up on Sakura and Shikimaru with a handful of snowballs he had hastily created.

"My wife," Inoichi began, "is one of the Forces' captains. I can talk to her about getting you into a training program. It's not as extensive or as rigorous as the Academy's, and focuses primarily on stealth and trap-laying." The Allied Mothers Forces developed after the Second War finished, the women left behind deciding that they would never be left vulnerable again if the Hokage was called away. During the Third Shinobi War, they became Alpha Queen Trap Masters Extraordinaire, but had downvoted Tsume's suggestion for changing their name to a better reflection of their skill level.

Mebuki flashed them both a grateful smile. "I would like that. I don't really want to go on missions like you two do, but I do want to keep my daughter and Konoha safe. I want… I want Sakura to go to the Academy, and succeed." The words, unlike me, were pronounced in their silence.

Before anything more could be said, a messenger was instantly in front of Tsume. He wore the ANBU uniform, and his face was covered with a mask painted as a cardinal.

"Hi, Koyama-san," Tsume declared brightly. Nara Koyama was the one of her favorite cousins.

The messenger slouched with a groan. "Damn it, Tsume. When the mask is on, my identity is anonymous. Why do you always do this? Now I have to file a report on this…" He rubbed the back of his head. "Man, what a drag."

Tsume scratched her chin. "Oh yeah, sorry about that. What's up?"

"The Hokage is commanding your immediate presence."

Huh – that usually meant an emergency that required her tracking skills. "All right. Let me just take my boys back—"

"Yeah, no. He said right now."

Extreme urgency usually indicated a B-rank or higher child abduction. Such missions were easy work and paid well, since Tsume got to follow the ShikaInoChou team (apparently not this time since Inoichi was left undisturbed at her side ) or an ANBU team that did all the fighting; all she had to do was sniff out the trail, and care for the child in the interim following the rescue. She liked those missions the most, especially when she could make the child feel better, but they were also the most emotionally difficult, because the child was also usually traumatized by the time the team rescued them. "Fine." Tsume handed the picnic basket over to Inoichi. "Food and drinks in there, and no, you're not allowed to trash the raisin muffins. I will know if they don't get fed to my children, and I don't care if you think that white flour is the devil." She whistled, and Kuromaru immediately came over. Ino clung to his back like a stubborn little barnacle, his fur bunched in her fists. "The Hokage wants me post-haste," she told Kuromaru, even though he had already heard the messenger. "I'll leave the boys in your care."

"Why not his?" Kuromaru asked, indicating Inoichi. Inoichi looked like he swallowed a lemon.

"I can help," Mebuki said. "If… If your ninken here wouldn't mind showing me where you lived when the children are done playing, I'll be glad to take your sons home for you."

Tsume liked Mebuki's scent. It was both light and strong, like apple blossoms and ozone. "I've got two other children in the Academy over there. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but if I'm not back, Hana and Kabuto can take them home after classes. I imagine the boys are going to want to play pretty much the entire day, and that's okay."

As she followed after Koyama, she heard Inoichi tell Mebuki with admiration in his voice, "You are a brave, brave woman."

Tsume didn't think that Mebuki would do anything to Naruto – nothing in her scent hinted otherwise – and she trusted Inoichi enough to keep Naruto safe despite his fear of the Kyuubi. Besides, the Hokage's office oversaw the playground. She'd be out of the window and down the side of the building the moment she smelled trouble, although it was unlikely that Kuromaru would leave her much to do except pry his teeth out of someone's throat.