Chapter 13

I don't own Naruto

Naruto's Baby Chapter 13

"Stupid cat," Konohamaru grunted as they had returned to the office where missions were given. He and his team had just found the cat known as "Tora" and had returned it to its owner. They watched as the large woman tightly hugged her cat and how the poor thing tried to get away. Iruka, Tsunade, and two other ninjas were sitting behind their table and sighed when Konohamaru demanded a tougher mission.

Another Naruto that's for sure, Iruka thought to himself as started to think of the blonde and worried. He would be coming home any day now, and while he was excited to see how much had he grown and how much stronger, his homecoming was going to be filled with mixed emotions.

The team had left, and Iruka was just off his own shift. "I'm off now," Iruka said. Tsunade stopped him for a moment, "I just got word from Jiraiya. He and Naruto will be back in the village later today," she said with a small smile. Iruka smiled back, "Yeah. I missed him. The village has been too quiet without him around."

"Too quiet? I would figure raising his kid would keep your life pretty entertained," Tsunade joked light. Iruka laughed along, but he commented, "Actually, Ai is…well…not as loud as Naruto. She's pretty energetic but I think Kakashi and I whipped her too much in shape sometimes."

"Ah, don't sweat it. Ai's a good kid. Zuko practically adores her," Tsunade laughed.

"How's he doing?" Iruka asked. Tsunade smiled, "I'm glad he takes more after me than his father," she said. Zuko's father's identity hadn't been released to the public and not even the boy knew who he was. All Zuko know was his mother and his Aunt Shizune. "I'm about to teach him some basic taijutsu. Why not have Ai tag along for the lesson? Have you and Kakashi started her lessons?"

"Well, sort of. Kakashi's teaching her hand signs now. She won't be able to use jutsu for a few more years, but she likes the hand sign game," Iruka said. The hand sign game was ordinary for shinobi children who were just learning the hand signs for jutsus. Older kids were the ones who played "ninja."

Iruka waved Tsunade off after a while more of talking and Iruka's gut twisted with guilt. I wonder how Naruto will react when he meets Ai…and when he hears how he's no longer her parental guardian.

Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon were walking around the village when Konohamaru stopped. He sensed something and kept his guard up. "Konohamaru? Why'd you stop?" Udon asked. The genin shushed his teammates and said, "I know you're around here, come on out!"

His teammates raised their eyebrows until they heard a high pitched voice.

"KONO-NII-SAN!" It came from the air. A girl jumped on Konohamaru's head, taking him down to the ground. The dust cloud cleared, and a child was on top of Konohamaru head. She clapped her hands. "Again! Again!"

"Ai-chan?" Moegi recognized the girl instantly and went over to her teammate, along with Udon. The girl was about thirty-five inches tall and weighed about twenty-five pounds. She had dirty blonde hair that was about the length to her shoulders and with bangs that covered her forehead. Her hair was also kept in a ponytail like how Iruka kept his hair. Instead of it spiking out, it was smooth and hung down much like Ino's did. The girl was wearing a long dark blue shirt with some dark green tights that went to her knees, acting like shorts. Her eyes were like Naruto's in shape, but they onyx coloring was nothing like Naruto's.

Konohamaru groaned and got up. "Ai-chan! I've told you numerous times not to jump out like that!" He scolded the girl, who only laughed at him. "you're funny when you're mad Kono-Nii-san," she said, using her nickname she gave him since his name was really long. Konohamaru rolled his eyes and said, "Okay fine, you win. But if you get hurt, it's not my fault." He got up and got Ai off him.

Ai had stood before she saw them walking off, and she followed after him, grabbing his long blue scarf. "Kono-Nii-san, where are you going?"

"We're just walking around," Konohamaru said.

"Can I come?" Ai asked.

"Fine," Konohamaru said, and they walked off. Ai followed with a smile, and since she was a few paces behind him, she kicked her feet as she walked, still hanging on to the scarf.

The group of genins soon saw Sakura, who was walking on her own. "Hey, Sakura!" Konohamaru and the squad when running over, and Ai followed when she let go on his scarf. She knew Sakura. She was always around her daddy, Kakashi and her papa, Iruka. "Hey Konohamaru," she said and noticed Ai. "Hi Ai," she smiled at the girl. Sakura treated the girl much more nicely since Naruto left and Iruka and Kakashi were raising her. "Where are you heading off to?" Konohamaru asked.

"The main gate. I have to pick up this morning's pedestrian traffic ledger for Tsunade-sama. Do you wanna come along?" Sakura asked. They nodded and all started to walk around the path.

As they walked and talked, Ai was distracted. As a child, this wasn't anything new. She had been around boring adults most of her life and the only ones close to her age, of her interest, was Zuko-nii and a boy named Senji. Zuko was her closest friend as she often spent time with him, and Senji was a new friend of hers.

When she felt really bored, she wandered off. She looked around for anything to catch her interest, and when she did, she walked off as the four ninjas were distracted by their conversations. The villagers knew Ai as the child of Iruka and Kakashi, and if she were to be in trouble, they knew exactly who to call. One of the older salesladies smiled as the girl was looking at her stock of jewelry. "Hello there Ai-chan," she smiled at the girl. "Are you here to scout for a gift for one of your daddies?" She joked with a playful wink. Ai shook her head no. "I'm just looking. They're so shiny," she said, and the woman laughed. "I hope so. Otherwise, they wouldn't be as pretty now would they?" She said.

Ai laughed and began to walk off, kicking her feet up a bit like she did before. She knew the village like the back of her hand. She knew what parts to not enter and where it was okay to go. One of her places to go was the playground, so she headed there.

A boy with light blonde hair stood there with his hands on his hips. "I bet you won't do it!" He shouted up the tree.

"I will do it!" Another boy's voice came out from the tree. A few kids were gathered around the base of the tree when Ai walked over and asked, "what's going on?"

"Senji is trying to do some move he saw one of the ninjas do earlier," Zuko explained. The boy was a little taller than Ai, but only by a few inches since he was a year older. He was wearing a kimono that was the same color green as his mother's and with the same seal on the back. There were two little red marks at the corner of his eyes.

Ai looked up to see her friend, Senji, on a tree branch. Senji was about the same height as Ai, but he had longer hair that was pulled into a low ponytail and he wore traditional gray kimono with the Hyuuga clan symbol on it. "Just watch! I'll show you how awesome I am!" He said as he pulled out a kunai. Ai gasped and pointed, "where did he get a kunai?"

"Apparently he stole it from one of the ninja's pouches while they weren't looking," one kid answered. They all watched as Senji threw the kunai to another tree, but there was a thin cord attached to it. AI recognized it, but she couldn't remember what it was called. She watched as Senji went onto the wire and was trying to do what looked like a balancing act. When he got to the center, and all of the kids were watching, he bounced off the cord and pulled out more kunai.

"He's trying to hit the marks!" One kid said in excitement.

"But he has to do the flips as well!" Another said.

Senji had flipped himself in the air and began flinging kunai in what he thought were exact spots, but he was just throwing them randomly and scaring the other kids to running off. Ai and Zuko dodged out of the way in time but watched as Senji was coming down hard and fast. The only the saved him from a hard fall was the trees that he crashed through. Senji came out hanging out by his hair that got tangled in the branch. He began screaming for help, and the kids started to run. Ai and Zuko watched as Senji was screaming and struggling. The two children jumped up to the tree and saw how tangled Senji's hair was in the tree. "It looks bad," Ai said. "What can we do Zuko?"

"Looks like it'll need to be cut," Zuko said. He looked around the area and pointed down, "Ai, can you get the kunai down there?" Zuko said. "WHAT? YOU CAN'T CUT MY HAIR YOU GUYS!" Senji screamed. "MY DAD WILL YELL AT ME FOR CUTTING MY HAIR!"

"He'll be even angrier when he finds out about this!" Zuko said as the boy struggled even more as he hung. Ai jumped down and picked up the kunai. It was the first time she touched a weapon, her fathers have been very clear about her training and what they wanted her to learn. Weapons were for when she was a little older.

Ai jumped back up and handed Zuko the kunai. The blonde boy grabbed a bunch of hair and just began cutting. It was like clumps and was sticky as well. "What is this?" Zuko asked as he felt the sap that was stuck in Senji's hair. The boy wouldn't shut up as Zuko kept it up and when Senji was feed, he fell to the bottom. Zuko and Ai jumped down to the bottom and looked down at their friend. "Senji, are you okay?"

"NO I'M NOT OKAY!" He sat up and held the remains of his hair on his head. Zuko had to cut off a lot of it, and it was uneven. "MY HAIR! IT'S GONE!" He cried.

"If I hadn't had cut it, you would still be up there!" Zuko said and smirked, "I told you that you couldn't make the move and I was right."

"I did so do it!" Senji said and looked around, and saw the scattered kunai, none of them hitting their targets. Not even close. He frowned deeply and the tears returned.

"It doesn't look that bad Senji," Ai said, trying to be comforting.

The group of kids was suddenly met with an angry Iruka. "What on Earth happened here?" He asked with his arms crossed. "Why are their kunai's all over the place? Were you kids using weapons?" He asked.

Ai lowered her head but then raised it when she felt that she needed to defend herself, "Papa. I didn't!"

"Yeah! It was all Senji! Those are his!" Zuko said. "And he got stuck in the tree, and we had to cut him down!" Senji said.

Iruka looked at the group and sighed, "Zuko go home. Ai, come with me," He said and went over to Senji and helped him up and looked him over. "No other injuries. You're lucky Senji," Iruka cooed and took his hand, along with Ai's, "come on, I'll walk you home Senji," he said and began heading to the Hyuuga district.

"Thank you for bringing him home," Neji said as he took his son inside. "What happened to his hair?" He asked. Iruka looked down at Ai and pushed her to answer. She looked up to Neji and gulped, "Senji was…trying to do a ninja move, and it ended with him getting stuck in a tree by his hair. Zuko and I freed him by cutting his hair." Ai said, intimidated by the older male. He was always serious, and Ai was sure she had never seen the man smile.

"Well then," Neji began, "I'll be sure to give him a scolding. Again, thank you for bringing him home Iruka-san," Neji said and closed the door behind him.

Iruka and Ai left the compound. They walked for a while, and Iruka looked down at his child, who looked worried. "You're not in trouble Ai," He said, and the girl looked up at him. "You were just trying to help your friend. You have no reason to be in trouble." Iruka assured, and he looked at his child, and that same guilt feeling from before came before him.

Iruka knelt down to Ai and asked, "Whose girl are you?" He asked.

Ai smiled brightly, "Papa's!"

Iruka smiled and picked her up, "that's right….and don't you forget it!"

"Ichiraku! Ichiraku!" Ai said as she ran ahead of Iruka. It was later in the evening and Ai was hungry. Like Naruto, Ai loved the ramen stand, though it didn't help that Iruka was raising her to like it. Ai ran in and jumped onto a stool. "One bowl of chicken flavor ramen!" She said energetically.

The old man chef smiled from where he was making a bowl for another customer. "Oh, Ai-chan! Glad you dropped by!" He said.

Ai plopped herself down and spin in the stool a bit before she noticed the man who was looking at her with wide eyes. She stopped turning and smiled, "hiya mister! Do you like Ichiraku Ramen as well?" She said. "I love it! My name is Umino Ai! What's your name?" She asked with a toothy grin.

It was Naruto whom she was talking too.