DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything from the Naruto universe.

Thinking (+ flashbacks, etc.)

Emphasis

Bijuu, etc. speaking

Bijuu, etc. thinking

Crap: he'd really fucked up.

And normally I'm so good with children, Sakumo thought despondently. He peeked out his back window and saw Jiraiya soothing his little girl who had broken down in tears after he… Yikes. I interrogated her: that's what I did. That's exactly what I did!

Even Kashi was giving him dirty looks!

"I'm sorry Kashi. Dad really blew it this time, huh?" Sometimes Sakumo cursed his sharp shinobi instincts. His determination to protect his village had just made a possibly innocent little girl cry.

Kakashi hummed and scratched the back of his head. "You don't trust her."

Sakumo sighed; leave it to his genius boy to pick up on everything. "It's not that I don't trust her, son, and I trust Jiraiya completely. I've taught you how inheriting traits or genes work when it comes to pups," he said and then sighed again, feeling terrible but still on point about this girl. "She just doesn't resemble him at all, and she can't remember her mother…"

"Neither can I," Kakashi said, not realizing how much that hurt his father, "and she's an outsider."

"Now don't go there, Kashi-chan. That sounds very small-minded of you." He noticed the way his boy's shoulders fell and saw that pout through his mask. Adorable, he cooed in his mind. He knew that Kashi looked up to him more than anyone so he continued. "And we both know you're not small-minded, now are you, son?"

Kakashi stared at him for a while before a "Hmph!" came out of his mouth. Kakashi's masked little nose was now in the air, and his shoulders were back, and Sakumo could see that the boy was smiling even through that silly mask of his. His chibi was standing proud, which made his father chuckle. "What?"

"Don't be rude, Kakashi," Sakumo scolded. His boy really was rude, though; it was a problem. "I'd better make it up to your teammate, huh?"

"I'd rather it just be me and Minato-sensei like it was supposed to be," Kakashi admitted in a guilty whisper. He really liked Minato-san.

"You don't want your dear old dad teaching you?"

"Of course I do!"

"Good." Sakumo sat down and gestured for his son to sit beside him. "You and Naru-chan have an incredible opportunity here. Being taught by so many talented Jonin? Anyone would wish for it. Having a teammate is a wonderful thing, even if your team is a temporary one. You'll be paired up with many people throughout your career, Kakashi, and you have to cherish every one of them. You two have the potential to become very powerful shinobi.

"I'd protect you both my life," came a determined little voice from the patio.

Sakumo smiled, still feeling bad for causing the girl's puffy, red eyes. Somehow, he believed the little blonde who had been so flustered before. At least she believes that now, and he truly hoped that Naru and Kakashi's missions would never require such a thing, ever. Naru-chan was smiling shyly now, and he could see that his son was blushing by the redness of his ear tips at what she'd just said. Although I can barely see them: I wonder if he's really going to grow his hair into a ponytail like mine…

If he did, it would probably be the messiest ponytail ever seen. He once found a comb buried in his boy's hair that he'd had no clue was in there until he helped his son wash up.

"Naru-chan, I'm sorry. I never meant to be so harsh when I was asking you questions," Sakumo said, bending down in front of the girl - but not too close. She still smelled wary of him.

"That's okay," Naruto looked up and took Jiraiya's hand, giving it a squeeze. She was embarrassed over her outburst, but Hatake-dono just made her realize how much she'd failed everyone when he kept asking questions about her past. She had been suddenly overwhelmed, but Ero-dad and Kurama had made her feel better.

"Ne, Sakumo-dono? If you had…" Naruto stopped to think about how to ask this so that she could pound reality into Kakashi-teme, not realizing how her face had scrunched up so cutely. "Me and Dad were talking about it when he got home, and I wondered if… If you had a really bad mission - and I hope you never have one like that, (she was glad that Kakashi's dad smiled at that: she knew that HE knew that missions could often go badly,) would you choose your teammates or the mission if it came down to it?"

"Hmm. What did your father say?" Sakumo glanced over at Jiraiya and winked. Jiraiya still looked like he wanted to punch him and that was fine. He deserved it for being an ass earlier. After inviting them over, he scolded himself for being such a poor host. Maybe I'll even let him drop a toad on me later.

"He said he'd always save his teammates." Naruto ignored the way her pretend father had smacked himself in the forehead when she asked her really great question. Obviously, he thought she was too on-the-nose with her little question.

Jiraiya sneezed and shook his head. His daughter was about as subtle as a brick thrown through a window.

"Wait," Kakashi said, moving back towards the dining room they were all now standing in. "Shinobi rules clearly state that the mission comes first!"

"You're right, Kashi-chan," Sakumo began as he put his hand on his son's shoulder. Naruto panicked for a moment, but Sakumo came through in the end. "But the Will of Fire envelopes our belief system here in Konoha and it comes first." He ruffled his son's hair. "The reason that Konoha is the strongest of the five major hidden villages is because of our beliefs and our system of teamwork. Your teammates will make you strong, son; and you'll make them stronger, too. You're always stronger together; never forget that."

"Missions can be re-assigned, human lives cannot if they're put out," Jiraiya added.

Even Naruto thought it was cute the way Kakashi was frowning so hard as he took this all in. Until he spoke.

Kakashi was bewildered, and even through his mask, it looked like he'd eaten a lemon. "You mean... I have to protect her?"

Naruto's mouth fell open. "I oughtta pop you, you creep!"

Sakumo was sure when he first saw Jiraiya's daughter, that she was NOT, in fact, Jiraiya's daughter. The only thing that really was similar between them was the wild hair, and even that was divergent. Although both of them have light-colored hair. It wasn't as if he expected that Jiraiya or anyone else would have a child that turned out to be a little near-clone of his/her father as he and his dearly missed wife had, but he knew that Jiraiya and Naruto-chan just looked too different from each other to possibly be related.

And that could be dangerous, was his earlier thought.

Jiraiya was a powerful man, an important Konoha shinobi and student of the Sandaime, who was a student of the Nidaime, the Shodai's brother - making him as big of a target as Sakumo, himself, was. It was hard to imagine that Jiraiya had been conned into thinking this girl was his, but it was still something he had to consider when she first entered his home. After learning from separate soft interrogations of the two that the girl's mother had died in or shortly after childbirth and that she had no other living relatives sans Minato, (and he supposed, Kushina-chan and Tsunade-hime distantly,) the only other agent that could be manipulating the girl and thus Jiraiya was another hidden village or rogue group.

Now though? He was second-guessing himself: something that didn't happen often.

Whereas little Naruto-chan and his lifelong friend may not look alike, personality-wise they were almost like the same person! He'd even had to excuse the kids from the room in order to scold his toad-loving friend when little Naruto came up with a second rather suggestive statement out of the blue, coming up with a double entendre on top of it, no less.

Poor girl! Having a self-described "Super Pervert" as her father/guardian? He'd have to watch out for her.

The dinner that he'd planned in order to celebrate Kakashi's graduation - and to find out what the deal was with the little blonde he surprised goofing off with his son earlier today - had actually turned out very pleasant by the end of the evening, even after his earlier actions. Together, the kids were hilarious.

"My son tells me that you only scored one point under him at the Academy, Naruto-chan."

"Hai," she said simply as she crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue at Kakashi who was staring at her silently from behind that mask of his. Sakumo grinned and then turned to his son.

"What did he beat you in?" Kakashi scoffed and Sakumo ruffled his hair.

"Marksmanship," the little blonde said and crossed her arms, puffing her chest out. Sakumo looked down at his son and saw that his arms were crossed over his chest, too. Rivals then.

"By three points."

"Three?" Sakumo looked down at his son and saw his discomfort. "So what did you beat my son in then, Naru-chan?"

"Ninjutsu, taijutsu, and speed of genjutsu detection. But the genjutsu didn't count on the test."

"Oh really?"

"Maa, that just proves we need to train harder," Kakashi said as he looked away from their company. "Naruto can't even use genjutsu at all, plus she's some kind of monster oddity when it comes to taijutsu. "

"I'll show you oddity, you pompous as- butthole."

"What have I told you about cursing, Naru-chan?" the oddly quiet and probably vengeful Jiraiya finally asked.

"Only to do it if I could do it well - or something like that. I was trying to be polite!"

"Calling your host an ass-butthole is not polite!"

"I wasn't calling Sakumo-dono an as- I didn't even say ass, ya know!" Sakumo snickered and once again assured the little blonde that she didn't have to use an honorific, while Jiraiya scolded her again. "Er- I tried to stop myself, but Kakashi's such a little prick…"

"Naruto," both men began to scold. Sakumo looked at his son and found that he wasn't offended by what she'd said at all, the way he'd anticipated. No, his little boy looked gleeful that the girl at the table was in trouble. He shook his head. Kakashi was such a little pain.

"Don't you two want to go play outside?" Sakumo asked. He was ready and tired of waiting for Jiraiya's attack; it was best for the kids not to be here when it happened.

"No," they chorused together.

Brats.

"Wanna play cards?" Naruto asked. Kakashi shrugged and dragged his father to the table when he found that Naruto wanted to play a game he'd never played before.

Jiraiya came to sit down at the breakfast table, too, and sighed. Naruto had set up a game that Tsunade always played and lost. He missed his teammate already. He and his daughter were going to pair up, though, and he had never played poker that way. Naruto had all kinds of weird rules that she came up with, but fortunately whoever dealt next got to make up their own rules.

"Want to make this interesting?" Naruto asked as she rubbed her hands together. Kakashi's dad was good enough to bring out a jar of pennies that they all agreed to put back after they played and bet. ...Which wasn't as much fun but was okay.

She wasn't sure that winning had ever been so beautiful by the end of three rounds.

A flash appeared in the living room.

"Goddammit, Minato!" Sakumo yelled, throwing his cards and grabbing his kunai. "What have I told you about flashing around? And where did you put that kunai? I want it out of my house, right now!"

"But what if you need me, senpai?!" Minato asked earnestly, but his eyes were entirely focused on Naruto. "That's why I gave you the kunai in the first place: for you or Kakashi-kun." He turned more toward Jiraiya. "Sensei," he said politely, but something about it was forced. "It's about time to introduce us properly, ne?"

Kakashi watched with great interest as the scene unfolded in front of him. He was glad to see Minato-san, as he was about to lose and disappoint his father! Plus it was always good to see Kushina-nee's boyfriend. He internally snorted. He really liked Kushina-nee, his father's student who had always been around and helping out and couldn't believe that they were finally dating. It was gross but also amusing to see them being stupid around one another.

But what was this?

"Namikaze Minato," Jiraiya said with a sigh as he put his hand on his daughter's shoulder, "I'd like you to meet your half-sister."

Kakashi nearly fell over.

Naruto grimaced, clenching her teeth as she scratched her head. She was glad that she'd got all that crying done earlier! "Umm... Hi?" She found herself picked up and wrapped in the warmth of her father. A warmth that he'd lacked when resurrected during the Fourth Shinobi War. She would never let that happen to him again. She closed her eyes as he continued to rock her back and forth as he held her.

"It's nice to finally know and meet you properly, imouto."