Chapter 2

-Two years after Naruto's birth-

Fugaku POV

I plopped down on the couch too tired to go to my bed and closed my eye's. 'I hate clan meetings' I thought to myself, the clan as a whole had been taking a lot of heat for the council's decision to keep Naruto alive and had to keep him under constant guard after a failed assassination attempt last year. We were able to capture the would be assassins but it provided little information about who paid them as they didn't know themselves, plus the were rogue ninja so there was no paper trail we could follow.

I brought the information to the council but at most they seemed more upset that it had failed than anything else. After the meeting Hiashi offered me his help in protecting Naruto and now he had a Uchiha and a Hyuga guarding him at any given time. That is of course not counting my wife and children, Mikoto would often take Sasuke with her so he could be used to having Naruto around and Itachi would go over to help his mother once his school work was done. I myself try to spend as much time over there as I can.

I the front door open and Itachi call out "dad we're home".

"Shhhhh" my wife said "Sasuke's asleep".

Mikoto ran up the stairs and put Sasuke to bed and came back down humming happily all the way "so what has you in such a good mood" I asked.

"guess what Naruto's first words were" she said plopping down next to me "mommy." she said smugly. I groaned and laid my head back, this was another thing I had missed. Sasuke and Naruto's first steps were also among the things I had missed, I was there for Sasuke's first word though and I couldn't help but laugh. He was trying to say 'Itachi' but it just came out 'Itchy'.

Hiashi POV

"Shhh" I whispered gently rocking Hinata back and forth "you're ok". She had scraped her knee outside and was now crying but unlike other children her age she wasn't loud, she was just crying softly as she held her bandaged knee. Hinata looked so much like her mother I often wondered if there was anything she got from me, the only thing that actually stood out as odd about her was her hair.

As a result of being the jinchūriki of the two tails Hinata's hair was a dark blue color much like the wolf's fur, most didn't care but I worried for Hinata's future. The elders and most of my generation already knew about Hinata being a jinchūriki and for the moment things were ok. The real problem was what would happen when I retired as head of the clan, as my first born it was naturally Hinata's birth right to succeed me but the elders would want someone else to take over. If word got out that the two tails jinchūriki was leading the clan we could have trouble but I don't see why that should be used against her. Hanabi, Hinata's newborn sister was already being nominated to take her place.

Her shyness would however be used against her, Hinata like every child loved attention, she craved it, but for some reason she didn't fight to make her voice heard. If she drew a picture she would bring it to me and wait to be noticed, it was like she wanted to be seen yet was afraid she would be a burden if she asked. I noticed she had fallen asleep so I took her inside and put her to bed.

-Time skip 3 years-

Gently I closed the door to the bedroom my daughters were sleeping in, normally they would sleep in their own rooms but today had been a hard one. Last week my wife Cana died from a heart attack and today was the funeral. Hinata had asked to stay with her baby sister and I didn't have the heart to tell her no. That night I sat down on my bed and cried for the first time in a decade.

Mikoto POV (Naruto's sixth birthday)

I was in the kitchen preparing ramen for Naruto's birthday, when the door swung open and Naruto ran in crying quickly followed by Sasuke and Itachi. "Is it true" Naruto asked through tears.

"Is what true?" I asked looking to Itachi.

"While we were at the park a man told Naruto that you weren't his mother" he said.

I gently picked Naruto up and set him on my lap "Naruto I need you to listen to me the man was right to the extent that I'm not your birth mother. She was a beautiful woman and my closest friend and she loved you very much. But I am your mother in every other way, Sasuke and Itachi are your brothers and even if we don't share blood you are part of our family".

Naruto looked at me with sad yet hopeful eyes and hugged me, I kissed his forehead "Now let's go have dinner we're having your favorite". Naruto's eye's lit up and he dashed into the kitchen, I chuckled and followed after him. Naruto could be so much like his mother at times it made me nostalgic especially with his hair, it was yellow for the most part but the tips were as red as his mothers giving it the look of an actual flame. Despite today's revelation Naruto was his usual self or in other words a big ball of energy. After dinner Itachi got up to go train in the forest.

Itachi had made ANBU earlier that year and at the same time became a legend among the Uchiha as the youngest shinobi to make ANBU. "Can we go with you" Sasuke asked.

"Ya can we" Naruto asked.

Itachi thought for a moment "Well it is getting close to your bedtime" He said causing both of them to pout "I guess if mom says it's okay.".

'Oh sure make it so I have to be the bad guy, well jokes on you' I thought "fine by me" I said. 'Kushina you're still affecting me from beyond the grave' I chuckled at the thought and left to do the dishes.

Three hours later Itachi walked in supporting both Naruto and Sasuke "What happened!" I shouted running to them. "I was practicing my kuni deflection technique and Naruto decided to try it himself while my back was turned and somehow hurt his knee. Then Sasuke did the same thing while I was busy tending to Naruto".

Both of the boys had passed out and left me angry and frustrated 'the two of you are going to be the death of me' I thought checking their bruises. With a chuckle I realized that this was how my mother must have felt when me and Kushina were kids. Naruto's knee was already healing while Sasuke's was swelling dramatically 'seriously exactly the same'. "How did they even hurt their knees" I asked, all they really had to use them for was jump the rest of the technique was solely done with the upper body. "I honestly have no idea" Itachi said.

Third person POV (6 months later)

The ambassador from the Land of Lightning elected to stay at the Hyuuga compound much to Hiashi's displeasure. In the past his clan had been a leading force in taking the Land of Lightning out of the last great ninja war and he was sure they still held a grudge. After a week Hiashi began to think the ambassador's stay would be uneventful.

Sadly he was mistaken, on the last day of his stay the night of Hinata's seventh birthday Hiashi awoke to the sound of her scream. He rushed to her room only to find it trashed and one of his clan's branch members dead on the floor. Activating his Byakugan Hiashi spotted the cloud Ninja making a beeline for the city wall with Hinata tucked under his shoulder.

-With Hinata-

Hinata cried, she was scared and at the moment all she wished for was that her father was there with her mother. Hiashi had tried to do his best by Hinata and Hanabi but he lacked the nurturing instinct that their mother had. And right now Hinata wished to have both a father and a mother with her. What she could never have guessed however was that there was someone willing to be her surrogate mother and the being was one nobody would ever expect.

'Hinata' a female voice said in the young girl's mind, Hinata felt her vision slipping and soon found herself in a field. "Hello Hinata" the voice said again although much clearer. In front of Hinata was the two tailed wolf although she didn't know that. "Who are you" Hinata asked.

"My name is Matatabi" the two tails said "but you can call me Mata". Hinata didn't really know what to think of Mata but at the moment she didn't care, Mata gave off a comforting air that Hinata hadn't felt since her mother died. Leaping forward Hinata hugged the blue wolf fiercely "Hinata" Matatabi said gently "I can help you but I need you to trust me". Hinata nodded unknowingly giving Matatabi permission to use her body "just close your eyes and don't open them till I say so".

In the real world Hinata's kidnapper paused as her body began to glow suddenly Hinata's eyes snapped open. Instead of her usual pupil less eyes there was a dense dark blue pupil in the center of each. Moments later his arm holding Hinata was severed by a thin thread of water extending from Hinata's hand. Black markings appeared on Hinata's skin solidifying her connection to Matatabi.

Knowing Hinata's body would not last very long Matatabi wasted no time in ending the Jonin ambassador in front of her. In seconds the unfortunate man had been sliced to bits, there had been a little bit of collateral damage but nothing major (in Matatabi's opinion), in addition Matatabi's own natural powers and had prevented even a single drop of blood from touching Hinata. Matatabi took Hinata's body away from the gut wrenching scene and released her hold only to find the Hinata had fallen asleep from exhaustion.

Minutes later Hiashi, Hizashi (Neji's father), Fugaku, and a handful from each of the clans arrived at the sight of the ambassador's death. Hiashi panicked fearing the worst till his brother appeared carrying an unconscious Hinata. Seeing she was safe Fugaku began his regular investigation and he wasn't liking what he was finding. By the time Sarutobi arrived several hours later the head of the Uchiha clan was just finishing up his investigation "what have you found".

"A great deal but there are a few things that don't add up" Fugaku said.

"The plan was to kidnap Hinata and take her back to the Hidden Cloud that much is clear as day. But what I don't understand is what caused what we see here." Fugaku said gesturing at the ambassadors remains.

"Near as I can tell a water style jutsu caused this and I have heard of a few that could do that to a human body but nothing that could cause such deep cuts in both the concrete walls and the ground itself. Lastly I checked, double checked, and triple checked there is no Jutsu in the entire Hidden leaf data base that could pull this off, which might be quite helpful if you know what I mean". Just as he finished speaking another Uchiha ran up to them and delivered some rather unsettling news.