Chapter 5: How Genma Figured Out He Wasn't Even Remotely a Fraction Over the Fourth's Death: The kids were up to something... Well, they were always up to something. But this time they were up to something more organized and smart than just breaking into Genma's closet to be able to use his weapons. It was more organized and dealt with money. Then there was Kakashi, who was acting odder than usual. And, as if that weren't enough, Genma ended up having to save the Kyuubi container from an angry mob... And having to face a harsh reality.

..~..~..

Naruto was over just about every single day. Just like most of the kids. The only ones that didn't come with as much frequency were the Hyuga cousins and the Uchiha siblings. Hiashi was sure that he wanted to begin teaching his nephew and his daughter while they were still young, which meant that they spent a lot of time now in their compound.

Genma liked to believe that they both enjoyed it. That Neji liked being four and beginning to train to be a ninja. That Hinata was eager to begin learning her lessons to finally learn how to be a proper clan head.

But... Weren't they too young?

Genma was no parent to be talking. He didn't have any real experience with his own, biological children. But he felt that the things Hiashi wanted to teach Neji already were so... Well... It felt like it was just a bit too soon for the doe eyed Hyuga with a heart large enough to want to play with all his friends as much as he could whenever he was able to.

He just hoped Neji didn't wind up graduation the Academy before he was ten. That was all he could truly hope for when it came to someone as talented as him. The last thing he wanted for kids as kind and innocent as these was for them to wind up like him. They weren't prepared for the life he had lived. They weren't made for it.

But... Then again... He hadn't been made for it either, had he? He'd just forced himself to grow and adapt.

"Hey! Farmer man!"

Looking down at the young girl tugging on his pant leg, Genma couldn't help the soft smile that came onto his face. Tenten looked outright adorable with the bandanna on her head. Especially because her buns were done lower on her cranium to leave her a comfortable place to use it.

"Yes, Tenten?" He questioned softly as he knelt beside her to be able to look her directly in the eyes.

She was growing up before his eyes. It was only by a few inches, but the clothes she had worn when he had met her were already revealing skin, allowing him to see her wrists and just a tiny bit of her ankles.

"Let's go shopping, Farmer man!" She smiled broadly, grabbing his cheeks between both of her small hands. "I need clothes, Ino wants chocolate, you need new kunai and senbon,"

"How do you know that?"

"Don't interrupt me, it's rude." The girl glared and smacked his cheek softly, then continued as if she had never been stopped. "Chouji would like to get a new stash of chips, and we all need more finger paint."

There was a reason why Genma needed new projectiles. In a moment of completely irresponsible stupidity, Kakashi had given them to the kids. He didn't know why, nor did he care. He just knew that the man wasn't around the kids unsupervised anymore. And the kids shouted about having been able to actually touch Scarecrow's eyepatch before they had been stopped by Genma. But, really, Genma couldn't be bothered to listen to the things they came up with.

Aside from that, Genma's supply of senbon had depleted exponentially. Missions used a lot of his supply and then Kakashi had decided to waste the rest that he had left. He literally only had twelve left, the ones in the pouch attached to his leg at all times.

But he hadn't bought new ones because he was tight on money. And everything that the kids needed would cost money... He could go to their parents and tell them to give him the money he would need to buy the kids the things they seemed too busy to get. But he'd never asked them for that before. Not when this whole thing started. And certainly not know after he'd bought them so many different things with his own money.

With a soft frown, Genma began to think of ways he could tell the children that they wouldn't be able to go shopping just yet. He would need to get himself at least a B-Ranked mission to be able to get all the things that were needed. It would be tight to buy everything, but still possible. An A-Rank would give even more money, but Genma highly doubted he'd get one, considering how the Hokage had seemed to have decided to keep him in the village, even though he hadn't told him a single thing.

"Listen, Tenten." The man breathed out, heart heavy as he looked at the young girl's bright eyes.

"Gen-Gen!"

Ino's head popped up from the doorframe, smiling into the kitchen.

"Kiba, Chouji, Shika, Neji, and I all just got our allowances! Let's go shopping!"

Right when she finished saying this, another head popped up beneath hers, this time belonging to a broadly smiling Neji. "And we shall pay for the kunai we lost. We made a pool between all of us and we can do so."

Tenten released Genma's face and jumped towards her friends, hugging Ino tightly before pulling her away so they could prepare to leave. But Genma just stared at both boys, feeling somewhat disbelieving at the words. If they had come from Kiba, there would be no doubt in his mind that the math had been wrong. But seeing how Neji had been the one to say this...

"You kids don't have to do that." The man murmured as he stood up from the floor, patting his hands against his pajama pants as he walked towards them.

But Neji just smiled up at him and grabbed him by the hand, pulling him towards his room. "We want to."

Inside of his room were the rest of the kids, excluding Sasuke and Itachi, seeing how they had not come today for breakfast. And Genma guessed that they wouldn't be arriving at all today. When they didn't show up for breakfast, they just didn't show up. If they did, though, it was very likely that they even spent the night.

Shino and Shikamaru sat on his bed, a board of checkers in front of them. Naruto was kneeling to the side, watching the game intently. Hinata was there as well, pale eyes wide as she watched the action (or lack, thereof) with rapt attention. Sakura and Chouji were by his window, watering the growing ferns that Inoichi had insisted on gifting him for his birthday, even though he had enough plants in his home already.

"Okay, guys, everyone out!" Kiba called out, all the while Ino clapped her hands together to call attention to herself. "Farmer man needs to get dressed so we can go out!"

Genma honestly expected the kids to put up a fight and refuse to leave his room. But they instead left in a single file line, not uttering a single whine about having to leave their activities.

If Genma hadn't been suspicious before, he certainly was after this.

The whole village knew that Genma took care of ten demonic midgets. Or was it eleven? Did Itachi count? Did Kakashi count? Genma felt like Kakashi should count. Especially because, recently, he had been around more often than before.

Genma had a theory that it was because he had been placed on forced vacation from his ANBU duties. But Kakashi never said anything about that part of his life to Genma, much less to the kids, so the older male had never been able to confirm his suspicions. And it wasn't like he was about to ask something like that. It would undoubtedly wind up with the younger leaving for some time just to avoid his questions.

Still, the fact remained that his apartment was getting too cramped for so many people always being around. His dinner table had long since been left for only Shino, Sakura, the Hyuga's, and the Uchiha's, the rest of the children taking their plates to whatever spot of the apartment they wished as long as they didn't leave too much of a mess behind.

They always left a mess behind. A mess that Genma always ended up having too clean if he didn't want to get scolded again by Hiashi for uncleanliness in his home.

His fuzzy duck slippers quacked with each tired step he took towards his kitchen. On the one day none of the kids would wake him up, he had woken up early.

With a tired yawn, the man opened his refrigerator and blinked at what was inside. There were no eggs, barely any milk, and just one bowl of leftover salmon teriyaki. There was food in there, but it all had to be cooked to some degree. And he didn't really feel like cooking anything.

Well... He was sure he had some old ground coffee around here somewhere... He could make himself some coffee and then head out to see if Raidou had come back from his mission so he could nab some food from him.

As he moved his body so he stood before the kitchen drawers to grab at the bag of coffee grind, Genma was struck by a sudden thought.

It had been months since he had been able to enjoy a morning like this. There weren't any kids hassling him for breakfast. There weren't any children sleeping in his bedroom, he had been able to sleep in his own bed and not the sofa. And there weren't supposed to be any unwanted visitors for at least a few hours, seeing how all of the parents had decided to make their children stay with them on this Saturday morning to do all kinds of different things with their own kid.

How long had he gone without drinking coffee in the morning because Kiba's nose was much too sensitive to stand such a strong smell? How long had he ended up forsaking his coffee to instead chase after hyperactive kids with bubbly laughs?

"Shit, man, you look like you've seen a ghost."

He should have known something would come around to dash away his good mood. But, Genma had to admit with a slight shrug, there was something that didn't feel right about not having to rush to make a breakfast for hungry tykes before preparing them for a day of playing and having fun.

"No. Just your ugly mug." Genma replied easily as he grabbed the bag, moving so he could begin to make his coffee. There was enough milk to make him some. Even though there wasn't any sugar, which meant he would have to drink it mostly bitter.

"Ooh! You dream of me, Gen-Gen?" Kakashi was suddenly draped over his shoulder, poking at his cheek with much too energy for this hour of the morning. "I feel so loved!"

With a roll of his eyes, the senbon enthusiast set the coffee maker. Then he turned to the silver haired man, crossing his arms over his chest. "Any reason as to why you're here so early in the morning, Scarecrow?"

The man turned around with a wave of his hand, giving Genma's apartment a once over before looking back at him. "Where are the demon children? I have a new game to show them." Genma quirked an eyebrow at this, which made Kakashi merely shrug softly. "They asked, I delivered. That's what one does if they want a healthy relationship, Genma. Communicate."

His tone was filled with unspoken insinuations. And Genma caught onto it rather quickly. But he wasn't about to let him lead the conversation, so instead, he merely shrugged and grabbed the milk from the fridge to begin to heat it up.

"They're with their families, Kakashi. I've been allowed a quiet morning after months of continuous service."

The last bits of his milk were served in a mug that had been brought to him by... Ino, he believed, after his father had returned from a mission. It read #1 Big Brother and he still wasn't sure how he should react to it.

Him? A big brother? Highly unlikely and somewhat illogical.

But he could never deny anything the kids gave to him, so he had just taken it with a small smile and soft thanks to the blonde girl. And from the way she had beamed at him, he had known he had made the right choice.

"Seriously?" Kakashi actually sounded surprised as he moved to lean against the refrigerator, crossing his arms over his chest as he closed his eye. "And here I thought you were on call, 24/7."

"Yeah... One would think..."

He really did spend a lot of time with those kids. It was so odd to not have them around this morning.

"Want to get some extra training in while the mongrels are still out?"

"Sure."

It would be nice to stretch his legs again for more than a simple courier mission.

He had a good feeling about today. Especially because he'd finally be able to chew on his senbon for at least a few hours.

He needed a drink.

"Come on, Gen-"

"Stay the fuck away from me if you don't want me to fucking poison you, Hatake!"

That shut him up.

Good.

He didn't need to hear any of this. He didn't need to be told that he should treat Naruto better. He didn't need to listen to some nutcase with aversions to doors tell him that he was wrong for not treating the blonde haired kid like a golden child.

"He's just a kid, Genma. He didn't-"

"Destroy the village? He was born on the same day that beast killed our Hokage and his wife, Kakashi! And don't tell me that's some kind of fucking coincidence!"

"We were both there, Genma. We both saw the destruction unleashed. But you can't tell me you believe a kid like him did all that."

"Believe what you want to believe... But you weren't part of the fighting. For all your big talk and macho act, you can't say shit. Because, when it comes down to it: You. Weren't. There... Not for what mattered."

It had been a low blow. Genma had known it before he'd even said it. But Kakashi had just pissed him off so much... That kid had killed his own parents. Decimated their village! Took the Hokage's life!

And that blonde fool had made sure that he was too far from Genma for him to be able to do anything to save him.

That damned idiot had gone off like he always did, leaving him, Raidou, and Iwashi with the orders to help the forces inside of Konoha to evacuate the areas that were closest to the Nine Tails. And he had died far away from them... Far away from Genma.

In his anger to get as far away from Kakashi as possible, Genma hadn't been thinking about where he was going. He just knew he wanted to get away from the bastard as quickly as possible. He walked as quickly as he could, hoping to put as much space between him and the silver haired bastard before he did something he may just end up regretting later on.

He knew that at this time, the kids would most probably be looking for him. But... He really didn't want to deal with them today. He couldn't. Not with all of the thoughts eating away at him.

On days like these, he would have usually just asked for an especially long mission to take his mind off things. And after that mission, he would unwind by drinking and passing out.

But he couldn't ask for a long mission. Not anymore. Not with the Hokage seemingly set on keeping him inside of the village at all times.

He couldn't deal with the kids today...

With a soft sigh, Genma looked up and noticed the direction in which his feet had taken him. He was back in the busy parts of Konoha, looking at the direction in which the clan compounds mostly were.

With a determined nod to himself, the man began to make his way towards the farthest compound, the Hyuga. He would have quite a few houses to visit before he could completely unwind for the day.

~/~

Hiashi hadn't really reacted to Genma telling him that he wouldn't be able to look after Neji and Hinata for the rest of the day or the following morning. The Hyuga had just nodded, thanked him for warning him, offered a cup of tea, then walked him out of the compound.

Genma had felt extremely out of place among so many regal looking people. Not only did their shinobi carry themselves with pride fitting that of a king, but so did their civilians. He had not seen one Hyuga walking around with their shoulders rounded rather squared.

Seriously, they took themselves too seriously.

After he had spoken with Hiashi, Genma had made his way towards the Inuzuka Compound. There he had been greeted by Tsume at the gates (which was kind of convenient, but Genma didn't really think much of it) and had excused himself. The woman had told him that she would just take today to teach Kiba about their clan's history and to take care of himself.

Then he'd gone to the Nara Compound. Luckily for him, there he had found Shikaku and his two best friends, which had made his task of excusing himself a bit easier.

There had been something in Shikaku's eyes that had made Genma feel uncomfortable. A gleam of knowledge. Something that made him think that the man knew more than he let on.

"The kids will be disappointed... But it was about time you asked for a day off, Shiranui. You can't be expected to run after so many kids every single day."

Genma had thanked the man and then made his way towards the Aburame household. Shino had answered the door for him and seemingly perked up.

"Shall we pick up the rest?"

He had sounded so eager and excited. Genma had felt bad about dashing his hopes away.

"No, Shino. I'm sorry. I was actually hoping to get a day off." Genma had knelt in front of him to look him in the eyes, offering a lopsided smile even as he clinked the senbon against his teeth. "You wouldn't mind, would ya?"

As he had spent more time with the Aburame, Genma had begun to be able to read some of his expressions. Even though he was always covered from head to toe, there were some tells to the young boy, no matter how minute they were. It was all in his shoulders, really. And now the kid's shoulders slumped just slightly, showing that he was disappointed.

"I'm sorry, Shino." He breathed out, patting both his shoulders before he straightened up. "But I need a day off. You understand that, right?"

"Yes, I do." Shino murmured softly, then asked, "But we shall play tomorrow... Right?"

Genma didn't have the heart to tell him no. And, really, he didn't think his love for routine would be able to deal with two whole days of no kids around him.

"Of course, kiddo. I'll see you tomorrow." He had smiled at the boy, saluted, then turned and walked away from the compound.

On his way home, he had stopped by Tenten's apartment to ask his mother to take care of her. Her father was off on another mission at the moment, but Takeo said that she wouldn't mind spending some girl time with her only daughter.

After that, the senbon enthusiast had just begun to wander. And as he passed in front of yet another building of shinobi apartments, he heard someone call out to him. Immediately he had recognized the voice. And without a second thought, he had smirked at the person that had called for him.

"Have a few minutes for an old friend?"

Just like he had expected, the person didn't disappoint him. They had gone off to the nearest bar without any problem. It didn't matter if it was only one in the afternoon.

~/~

"Help! Please! Someone help me!"

That voice... He knew that voice.

Looking up from his drink, Genma turned his head towards the bar's exit to try and figure out just why he knew this voice.

"Hey, no. Bad Genma."

Iwashi's hand wound over Genma's shoulder to pull the man back towards the bar, even though the fourteen year old had no true right to even be drinking. But this bar was known to cater to all shinobi, no matter the age. Especially the ones that had somehow been lucky enough to survive both the Third Shinobi World War and the Nine Tails' attack.

"You're with friends now... Drink..."

The teen wasn't even old enough to have facial hair, yet he could hold liquor like a pro.

Just what had the world won by turning Iwashi Tatame into yet another kid that had been forced to grow up before his time? What could the higher ups have possibly won from getting this kid out onto the front lines so quickly? He had been eleven, working as part of something that would have made most shinobi jealous at the time. The Fourth Hokage's bodyguard. He'd even learned a modified version of the Flying Thunder Formation Technique. Who wouldn't have wanted that?

"You need more alcohol if you're thinking you're going to be leaving without being drunker." The teenager pushed a shot of whiskey into his hands, eyes somewhat glazed over as he beamed. "Drink up, Mother Hen."

The man looked over the teenager with a quirked eyebrow, but soon chuckled softly and accepted the drink. Iwashi may have been drunk, but he was one hell of a conversationalist. Even though he wasn't much of a talker while sober, he sure knew how to run his mouth when he had a couple of shots inside of him.

"So's, as I was saying," Iwashi's hand rose to signal for another round and the bartender looked down at him with slight trepidation.

This bar was one of the few that still allowed underage shinobi to drink alcohol. It was one of the few the Hokage allowed to continue doing so. And it was with strict rules of not going overboard and having some shinobi of legal age accompanying them to make sure nothing bad could happen to them.

Not many other bars allowed shinobi under the legal age to drink. Most of them had been founded after the Third Shinobi World War, which meant they had been founded by people that, even though they had survived the war, hadn't really seen the kind of damage it had caused the people that had fought for their village. And seeing how a lot of the kids that had fought during the war had died, there really wasn't such a great populace of young shinobi that fit the bill to garner interest in a huge amount of bars to allow them to drink.

Genma only really knew one kid that had fought in the war and was still underage. He had been one too until a couple of months ago, but because of the kids, he hadn't been forced to try and weasel his way into booze for too long.

Iwashi Tatami. Fourteen years old, child prodigy, chunin, and had been fucked over as bad as the rest of the people Genma knew that had fought during the war. From what he knew, Iwashi had been the only one of his graduating class to have survived the war and Nine Tails' attack. His best friend had been killed during the Kyuubi attack.

Genius level intellect with natural skills for the shinobi world. Being from a civilian family hadn't affected him at all. The boy had never stood a chance.

Genma nodded at the unasked question, deciding that Iwashi was good for one more drink before he was cut off. And the bartender inclined his head slightly to show that he understood, then began to serve another round for them both.

"It hurt like holy hell when you stabbed me with that senbon." The boy was slurring just slightly, but he managed to keep his voice understandable enough. "But then I ended up meeting this cute nurse and now have a date for Friday."

"You? A date?" Genma couldn't help the small chuckle, "Iwashi, forgive me if I don't believe you. But you barely even speak, much less to cute nurses."

The fourteen year old smiled broadly over at him, suddenly reminding Genma too much of the kids he took care of on a daily basis.

Iwashi, no matter how many how many missions he'd been on or how many enemies he'd kill, still looked like a kid. Lanky body with awkward bones jutting out at all angles, mess of dark brown hair sticking out from beneath the bandanna that served as his hitai-ite, and big eyes that had way too many emotions always showing on them.

Would Genma have taken him in if he had started this whole babysitting business a few years ago? Would he have made the same promise to himself as he had done when it came to Itachi? Would it have even mattered?

"The morphine may have helped."

"I'm sorry! I didn't do anything! Not this time! I swear!"

There was that shouting again. Why did Genma feel like he knew that voice?

A frown pulled at the corner of Genma's mouth as he tried to remember where he had heard that voice before. And when the next round of drinks had been placed in front of him and Iwashi had jumped on the chance, he made a choice.

He had always been a curious person at heart.

"Hey, kid, I'll be back in a second."

Iwashi had nodded and waved him off, then turned to begin talking to the person sitting beside him at the bar, someone Genma had seen around before. Brown hair, hollowed eyes, and a perpetual cough. He had known this kid's name. He just couldn't remember it. He was Iwashi's age if he could remember correctly. But had graduated after him.

As he stepped out into the slightly warm afternoon, Genma's attention was caught by a mob that had seemed to form in front of a meat shop.

"I didn't do anything!"

He knew that voice... Genma racked his head for the information he wanted to know.

One of the kids.

That voice belonged to one of the kids.

That voice belonged to one of his kids!

Eyes going wide, the man's body began to move of its own accord.

If any of the his kids were being harassed by a mob of people, there'd be hell to pay!

"Please!"

"You stole it, you brat! You good for nothing loser!"

"You're scum!"

"You are a horrible child!"

"You're a murdering monster!"

"They should lock you up and throw away the key!"

Some of the things the civilians were saying were despicable. And some made Genma want to abandon his 'Protect the village and all who inhabit it' oath to be able to bust some heads. But he moved through the large crowd, pushing people out of his way to get to the center of it.

"Move!" He barked as he moved past the people around him.

Some grumbled and glared. Others actually looked relieved. "Maybe they've finally sent someone to lock him up!" One old woman actually smiled at him in pure excitement.

He couldn't understand why anyone would say such horrible things to a kid. It was just a kid.

But when he finally got to the person they had been surrounding, Genma understood why he found so much hate.

Naruto looked up at him with wide blue eyes filled with tears and fear. There were scrapes on his body and the knee of his left leg had been torn and he was bleeding from a small cut.

Genma felt all of the breath leave his body in that moment. For all of the fear and worry that had been pounding inside of him had seemed to have left him. All he could do was stare at the crying child with his own eyes widened, mind going blank for a moment before barraging him with accusations to his own thoughts.

What kind of idiot was he? Just a kid! This was Naruto! Of course he deserved to be attacked by the villagers! He had killed their Hokage! Thrown their lives into a wild tailspin!

But... No. That was wrong, wasn't it? And he had been too arrogant and prideful to see it before. It had just taken alcohol to fog his brain for him to finally get through his pride and find the reason why he refused to see Naruto as yet another kid.

The Fourth Hokage had died. That was true. But the first thing the Third had told him was that he had sacrificed himself to save his village and his son. He was a master at seals. Who did he think he was to question the Fourth's decisions?

An angsty and bratty little shit that refused to believe his idol was gone. That's who.

"Take him away! Lock him up for treason! Execute him!"

The villagers were still shouting, even though Genma had stopped advancing. He was caught between his feelings and his reasoning.

Naruto stared up at him with a tear stained face, "Shiranui-San... Please don't let them hurt me... I didn't do anything..."

"He deserves to die!"

"Shut up!" He shouted, moving so he stood in front of the crowd to glare at the crowd. "He's three! You should all be ashamed of yourselves!"

"He killed-"

Genma's glare turned deadly then and the emboldened villager's courage fizzled. Then, without another word to the mob, he crouched down, picked Naruto up, and carried him away.

~/~

"So... Even him, Genma?"

The senbon enthusiast sighed softly when he heard Iwashi behind him. But he didn't say anything. He just smiled softly at Naruto, "I'll be back in a few minutes with bandages and some lunch for you." and walked out of his room.

"He's just a kid, Iwashi."

The words were hollow even to himself.

He didn't know what to believe anymore. His mind was caught between two extreme opposites and he had no idea what to do.

"I didn't know you wanted to befriend a demon." The teenager hissed, following after Genma with anger radiating off of him. "Genma, he killed the Hokag-"

"He didn't." Genma glared at the younger male for a second before turning back to the fridge to grab the singular bowl of leftovers so he could heat the pieces of salmon up. "He was a baby. How in the world could he have killed the Hokage?"

Yes. How had he done it? This had been a question that Genma had ignored for the past three years now. And he had ignored it because he had known that it blew holes into his argument for hating Naruto.

The boy... He had hurt the village... At least, that's what Genma had forced himself to believe.

"The Nine Tails is sealed inside of him! He's that monster's personification! He's just as bad as that thing that killed all of our brethren! He killed Mito!"

Mito. That had been his best friend's name. Genma had seen Iwashi around the girl a couple of times. And the mutual crush between them had been just about unbearable to see. He had seen his best friend and crush die before his eyes.

With a soft sigh, Genma shook his head. He couldn't deal with this. Even though the haze of alcohol that had been over him as he had walked out of the bar to find the angry mob had already left him, he didn't feel like his mind was ready to process so much.

He had spent so long telling himself that Naruto was a monster... He had even blown up at Kakashi for it... And it had taken a group of people agreeing with him for him to begin doubting himself.

"He's a container." Genma repeated what he'd heard the Third say once before he had passed that one law, then threw the bowl of leftovers into his microwave to heat it up. "He's not some demon, Iwashi. He's just a mischievous little kid that-"

"That steals on a daily basis!"

Sighing softly, Genma began to rummage around his cabinets to find the first aid kit he knew he kept in there. Even though the kids were always running around and scraping themselves up, he'd never had to use this thing in his home.

He had heard that Naruto stole. But he also knew that he lived in an orphanage. And, thinking back on it, the kid ate a lot more than the rest of the kids whenever he ate here. He even asked Kiba to give him some of his scraps if the boy left any.

And when he'd seen Kakashi giving him a bath, the man swore he had seen ribs. But he hadn't thought much of it back then because he refused to think about it.

"Could it be that the orphanage doesn't give him enough food?" He theorized aloud, eyes going wide at the sudden realization. "And..." He gulped for a moment, hands going numb as they fell to his sides. "Could it be he steals to get the things they don't give him? Food they refuse to give? Clothes they refuse to make? Fuck... Could someone be that evil?"

"It's not evil if it happens to someone that's evil!"

Genma's blood ran cold.

When he turned to Iwashi, he saw that the boy's eyes were hard and his mouth was set in a deep frown. But with a shake of his head, Genma began to feel like the greatest piece of shit in the world.

"He's just a kid. Iwashi, he's just a three year old kid that had the bad luck to be born on the same day the Nine Tails attacked. He's just a kid and he's treated like shit because he had horrible luck..." The words tumbled from his mouth as guilt began to eat at him. "He's Minato's son... And we've failed him just like we failed Minato..."

Iwashi's eyes widened in disbelief and the microwave rang to signalize that the food had finished heating up.

Genma turned to it mechanically and grabbed the bowl. Then he grabbed some chopsticks and began to walk towards his room, leaving a stunned Iwashi in his kitchen without a further explanation.

When he opened the door to his room, he found Naruto sitting in the same frigid spot on his bed on which he'd left him. The blonde looked up with those bright blue eyes and an almost fearful look on his face. His body was tensed, prepared to run if danger arose.

It was like a slap to Genma's face.

"Here's..." It was hard to speak through the lump in his throat. "Here's some food, Naruto."

He didn't register when the boy took the food and began to eat. He was much too busy seeing a scornful Minato glaring down at him.

With tears pricking at his eyes, the man sat himself at the edge of his bed and rubbed his hands over his eyes.

Kakashi was right. The kid wasn't the demon. He was a container. Him and the Nine Tails weren't some kind of enmeshed being. They were different. The kid was much too kind and innocent to ever want to destroy the village. All he wanted was someone to play with him and to have fun.

And all Genma had done was glare at him and keep him at a distance.

"Shiranui-San... Are you... Are you crying?"

The boy whispered with trepidation clear in his voice. But that curious tone was so much like Minato's own that Genma felt his heart squeeze unbearably.

A sniffle left him as he pawed at his cheek, only to realize that he had, in fact, begun to cry.

"It... It seems I am, kid."

If Minato were here, there was no doubt in Genma's mind he'd kick the whole village's collective ass. The orphanage had failed him, the shinobi had failed him, and the civilians had failed him. They had refused to see his son for the person he was. They had chosen to see him for a monster he was not.

Genma had failed to see the person he was.

Small and much too skinny arms wrapped around his shoulders and clasped in front of his neck. A warm body hugged him from behind. And a soft whisper tickled his ear.

"Thank you for saving me... Genma... But you don't have to cry for me."

This would be the first time Naruto had ever called him by his name and not just Shiranui-San.

Raising his hand to softly grasp both of the boy's, Genma lowered his head and allowed more tears to fall.

Things would change from now on. Minato was dead. He hadn't gotten over this. He still held an illogical grudge over Naruto because of a childish need to blame someone concrete for what had happened.

It wouldn't be easy. Especially not with the boy being Minato's carbon copy. Every time he looked at the kid, he saw Minato and the awesome person he had been before he had died. He saw the man's smiling face as he promised him, Raidou, and Iwashi that everything would be fine, but he needed them to work on evacuation while he did something really quickly.

The last thing Minato had done was hug them all before he had left them to evacuate. He had smiled the whole time. He was going off to face his death and he hadn't stopped smiling.

Genma had failed the Fourth Hokage.

It was a good thing he had the rest of his life to repent and try to fix his failure.

The kids were back at it.

"Yo, Genma, we need to buy shōgi." Shikamaru sighed dramatically as he flopped over Genma's bed, all the while the rest of the kid around him screamed and cheered as they planned what they would play next.

Chouji sat down beside his best friend, all the while Genma pocketed his senbon in his mouth once more. "And we also need supplies for the pies Naruto and Kiba want."

"Peanut butter! We need peanut butter too!" Both the Inuzuka and the Uzumaki cheered before they ran off, chasing after Tenten and Sakura in an impromptu game of tag.

Seeing Naruto so happy made Genma's heart swell and hurt at the same time.

He looked so much like his father...

He had been staring after both hyperactive kids as he thought this. But then his attention was captured when he felt a tug at his pant legs. And when he looked down, he found Hinata and Neji standing by his feet, all the while Shino and Ino stood just a bit away from them.

"D-D-Do yo-you thi-think we c-could b-buy f-f-f-flowers to-too?" She questioned shakily, which made Genma's chest warm and a small smile come onto his face.

Hinata had a magical power. He was sure of it. She always made him smile. Just like the other kids did if they acted cute enough.

"And some crickets for my collection too?"

"Ooh! Some new paints wouldn't hurt either! And maybe some pencils so Neji can begin teaching us how to read and write."

The list of things they wanted was long. And he knew for a fact that the rest of the kids also wanted something else.

When he began to calculate all that this would undoubtedly cost him, he felt something soft smack him on the hip. And when he looked down once more, he found Neji smiling up at him, the bandanna around his head tied at his forehead like Genma wore his own.

"We pooled all of our allowances again, Shiranui-San." The boy told him, then cocked his head to the side slightly. "Do you think Sasuke-kun and Itachi-San would be able to come with us today?"

The man looked down at the pouch of money with uncertainty.

The kids had never gotten allowances before. And now that they did get it, it seemed that they only wasted it with him. Didn't their parents ever buy them stuff?

"We could swing by the Uchiha compound to ask, Neji." Shikamaru waved his hand lazily, yawning with a small shake of his head. "Getting so much stuff will be troublesome... Think we could stop to cloud watch?"

These kids were up to something. He was sure of it.

"Let's buy Genma some new pants too! All of his work pants are all covered with paint and/or food!" Tenten suggested as she suddenly appeared by his door, panting and red faced.

Sakura appeared right behind her, looking over the man for a second before murmuring, "And maybe some more stay at home clothes too?"

He made a slight face at her suggestion, but before he could really say anything, both of the hyperactive head demons (because even though they were all demons, Kiba, Naruto, Tenten, and Ino were the ones that commanded everything) appeared. And Naruto had a petition of his own. It just kind of shocked Genma to hear it from him.

"And he needs soap and shampoo too."

He was on his last bottle of shampoo and last bar of soap. But he didn't think any of them would ever think about this. They all hated bath time. He had thought they would rejoice in him running out of the stuff.

There was something fishy about the things they wanted to buy.

"Then it's decided. We'll go out and buy more stuff today." Neji looked around the room to get nods from all of the kids, then looked up at Genma. "Let us get going, Genma-San."

"Even in my fuzzy slippers?"

"Yes!"

The chorus of shouts made Genma chuckle softly. But he just allowed the kids to drag him out of his apartment clad in bright yellow slippers, paint splattered clothes, and loosely wrapped bandanna around his head.

..~..~..

I hope you all liked this chapter. It was a bit harder to write, seeing how I wanted to get Genma right.

You can expect a lot more of Iwashi in this story, too. At the beginning of this, I didn't know his age. But now that I do, I believe that Genma (after essentially adopting eleven terrible tykes and Itachi) would try to help him out too. Besides, he needs more love in this fandom!

And a huge thank you to FoxsoulRedux for the idea of Naruto hugging Genma during their talk! You're awesome!

Reviews make me feel all warm inside like Genma when Hinata asks something from him. So please give me some!