Disclaimer: PakiNoor is sick and tired of repeating the same sentence over and over again, and shes beginning to wonder if there's a limit to the number of ways she can say it: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Sama, The Last Guardian Challenge is the brain child of The General Electric, Katana, the other OCs and this Fan Fic belong to me. Kapeesh?

Chapter Three: Dream out Loud

Six years ago

Naruto groaned. Kaa chan was going to KILL him. After she brought him back from the dead ofcourse… there was no way he was surviving this new torture.

It had started out simply enough. Kaa chan, Mikoto baa chan, and Yuuki san had been drafted as body guards for Midori San for a diplomatic mission to the land of Samurais. It was not often that the clan heads wives got a mission at all, let alone together, and the four friends had readily agreed. But since their husbands were busy and all four loathed the idea of leaving their children with nannies, the four women had turned to their "dear, reliable Naruto Kun" to take up the position of baby sitter. The fact that said chunnin had only just returned from his first A class mission, and was tired was not lost on any one, least of all his mother, but of course, it was only till the clan heads got off for the day. After all, a few hours of babysitting duty (with pay his father had twinkled at his disbelieving face- as if he need bribes to take care of his Imuto- but hey what the heck) couldn't possibly be that hard…right? Right?

Haha, yeah…right…

No sooner had he been informed of his new mission and been ceremoniously kicked out of his grinning father's office than Naruto had scanned Konoha for his sister's chakra. Not surprisingly, He located her somewhere near the academy, heading towards the park, with Sasuke and the Hyuga heiress in tow. Today it seemed that young Sakura had also been dragged along.

Much admired older brother he may be, but disturbing the kids during one of their games was not something that would be tolerated by the chibi ninjas. Sighing, he had decided to make it as fun as possible for the kids, and had sent of Gamakichi with a warning.

And thats where it all went wrong...

He had thought it was so cute when his Imuto had taken her first steps a little over four years back. When Sasuke started soon after, he and his dad's students had grinned and teased Itachi about his otuto getting jealous of little Katana getting all the attention till he tried for himself. It had been so much fun watching the Uchiha toddler trying to out do the chibi Namikaze as she raced all around the Namikaze compound, with him always a few steps behind.

The funniest thing was that little Katana didn't realize that her "Shashoo-tay" was trying to compete with her. So she didn't really appreciate having to stop every time he got left behind. Or when he complained loudly -on purpose!- And brought their anikis to their hiding place every he know that they were supposed to hide from Aniki? Much as he enjoyed humoring his Imuto, he had always caught her in time for lunch. Still, Naruto had to admit as he squinted at the mid day sun, this time they had either hidden themselves so far away that he couldn't hear Sasuke, or Katana had hidden some where alone, so as to escape being caught. Exasperated, the 14 year old sent a little chakra to his ears. Years of training with both the Inuzuka and Uchiha heirs had made this as easy as breathing. Just a little patience, and he would find them.

Sure enough, pretty soon he heard a tell tale sniffle that brought him face to face with the younger Uchiha. To his relief, Midori San's pinkette daughter and the Hyuga heiress were sitting right next to him. But where was…

"Sasuke, where's Katana?"

The children were startled out of their mumbling, and the pinkette Haruno ceased trying to comfort her dark haired friends in order to turn and give him a run down of the situation.

It seemed his Imuto had abandoned her friends in order to hide alone. Naruto's eyes narrowed. Fun and games were one thin, but one did not let their friends get hurt. One of the first things he and the older nin had taught the younger four was the most sacred of the rules the Konoha nin lived by: one who abandoned the mission was trash, but those who abandoned their friends were worse than trash. Such nin were not among those honored as heroes by the people of Konoha, no matter how skilled they may be. Perhaps his Imuto needed to be reminded of this time honored lesson. But for now, he had three very small, very tired children to deal with. With a sigh, Naruto settled down next to the grubby children, and held out his arms.

"Sasuke kun," he murmured, "Come on, lets go find my little baka of an Imuto."

At the mention of Katana's name, the three children lowered their heads and little Sakura fairly shook . Naruto frowned. Whatever Katana had said to her three friends, it must have been bad. Naruto knew that for all of her sweetness, Katana had a surprisingly sharp tongue for a six year old, and had been known on several occasions to shock even the older nins with her angry retorts. But though Sasuke had been on the receiving end of these jibes since both had been able to string coherent sentences together, Katana had never directed any of her barbs towards Sakura or Hinata, though Naruto had known her to get that Yamanaka brat into a kitten fight often enough (as Shisui put it).

"Sasu- hey!"

Naruto bit back a curse as the three children tackled him to the ground. Blinking, he looked up at the now grinning trio of youngsters. Little Sakura was sitting on his stomach, a surprisingly determined look on her otherwise kawai face. The Hyuga heiress seemed shocked at her own boldness, but kept her arms wrapped around his legs, her knees digging into his shins, her feet locked around his own. And Sasuke…

Naruto scowled . The little brat had the audacity to smirk at him, his hands wrapped around a where the hell had that brat gotten a kunai from?

"Hah! Aniki! We got you! We got you!"

Naruto looked up at the branches over head where a giggling Katana was being held in place by a very much amused Gamakichi. The little frog summon grinned and sweat dropped when his summoner fixed him with a Kushina worthy death look, but shrugged it off before bothering to explain.

"It was her idea. Munchkin's got a good head on her shoulders."

Naruto scowled before disappearing in a poof and reappearing next to his Imuto in a matter of seconds.

"Hey! No fair Baka ni san!"

If he scowled any more, it was sure to do some permanent damage, but damn, he remembered how they'd oohed and aahed over every new jutsu he performed a less than a year back. Back when he was Naruto Ni san or just Ni san and "Can I get you anything Ni san?" when he returned from a mission. And now?

Now he got poked in the forehead by a suddenly irritant little junchiriki , who in turn was being held back by an orange frog who was just too amused for Naruto's liking.

"Serves you right! You should spend more time with us! We want to become strong ninja too! And we have to train with someone don't we?"

Naruto blinked. And here he'd put this off as some elaborate torture session planned by Itachi and Obito. But no, Katana was completely serious as she proceeded to lecture her Ni san as a bunch of munchkin ninjas nodded at her every word from the ground below.

A game ? How dare he! They were academy students, This wasn't a game , it was a training exercise, with simple rules: Number one, run away from Aniki and never, ever let Kaka ni or Ita-ni catch her. Or Obito ni or Shishu ni. Rin ni was ok, because she smelt nice and knew just how to hold her when she was tired. (Not that she'd ever mention this to her Aniki, but sometimes she liked Rin ni better. But only sometimes. And Rin ni had promised not to tell Aniki about it. Ever.) But when she was training, not even Rin ni was allowed near her. No this was her special training, that she did with her Aniki. Kaa chan had told her that sometimes shinobi had to run away from bad shinobi who might cut them if they got too near. And if you got cut, there would be blood. Not that Katana was scared of blood, no way! She wasn't like that Ino pig that kept squealing if her hair got messed up or if Shino's bugs got near- and they were such cool bugs too! Really smart!- Its just that Oba chan said that we needed blood inside of us, not outside where it'd make a mess and be wasted, and Katana knew that shinobis were meant to save things, not waste them.

But Naruto ni was a chunnin , and even though she knew he would never hurt her, she knew that he knew a lot so if she wanted to stay "safe", she had to keep away from him, especially because she got tired a lot faster than he did.

Which brought them to rule number two: when needed, hide, and stay hidden. Itachi ni had helped her learn this when she explained to her Tou san's students and the Uchihas exactly why she needed to drive her Aniki half crazy with worry every time she tried to play shinobi. Not like the Rin nee or Obito nee had been of much help.

Obito ni had fallen over laughing about how she was going to beat Kushina's records yet, how Naruto was a dead man and how Jiraiya Sama had better watch out. Rin Nee had grinned and ruffled her hair and said something silly about how Katana should just be Katana for a little while longer. It had been Itachi ni who had taught her to look for the least obvious of places to hide, and Kakashi ni had taught her to take in her surroundings and analyze them as quickly as possible. And rule three: When needed, cheat. Because not everyone would play fair.

Little Katana may only be four (and a half as she had pointed out to the visiting and amused Tsuchikage, much to the chagrin of her nanny), but she was well aware of the responsibilities of shinobi, and of what was expected of her, if she chose to follow that path. As were her closest friends, two who were clan heirs and one who was, like her, the younger sibling of a clan heir. Clan heirs who were already legendary in their own rights. Itachi was already ANBU, and everyone knew that Naruto had only chosen to remain Chunnin , with less missions, to stay near Katana, a fact that had frustrated the little Namikaze greatly. And she made sure to let her Aniki know of it, now that she had finally gotten his attention.

Naruto twitched as his Imuto let loose her frustrations for all of Konoha to hear. A sniggering Gamakichi had been dismissed halfway through her ramblings and Naruto had taken it upon himself to treat the younger children to some food (Ramen and Dango! The other youngsters had chorused to a sighing Naruto...Kaa-chan was going to kill him).

"Imuto, I like taking care of you. Its my job remember? I'm your Aniki."

"Itachi ni doesn't do it for Sasuke!"

The Uchiha in question stopped his sniggering, scrunching his face as he considered whether to take that as a good thing or a sign of negligence from his own Aniki. Naruto couldn't help but smirk at the younger Uchiha's conundrum.

"That's because he knows I'm here to take over for him. He's busy, he is ANBU after all."

But little Kushina wasn't ready to give up yet. She swatted away her brother's helping hands in order to climb on to her stool herself.

"You should be too! You could beat him any day!"

Sakura followed her friends example, and after a second, Hinata also refused to take his help, albeit more politely than the other two. Sasuke, who had been lifted on to a stool before the rest, looked mortified as the girls clambered on themselves, and his mood grew worse with Katana's heartfelt retort.

"Oi!"

Katana spared her best friend a scathing look before relenting.

"Well, it would be a good fight…if Aniki bothered to train!"

And once again, they returned to their previous argument. This time how ever, little Sakura joined in.

"Ano, Katana chan, people are looking."

Sure enough, the people at the stall had increased in a matter of seconds, the large crowd attracted no doubt by the sight of one of their finest nin being lectured by a red headed munchkin. Naruto could've kissed the old man as he clapped his hands and told the crowd to either order or leave, as the grumbling crowd dispersed with grins on their faces. Naruto swore under his breath as he saw a few Jounin amomg the leaving crowd. Great, now dad would never let him live this down. Katana turned back from ordering her usual to fix her Aniki with another frown. Before she could continue however, Hinata and Sasuke decided to intervne.

As one clamped his hand over a furious Katana's mouth, the other turned to the Namikaze heir.

"A-ano, Naruto ni, y-you trust us don't you?"

Naruto paused mid order to stare at the little Hyuga.

"… Hinata chan?" Even Katana and Sakura looked surprised. The little heiress blushed at the attention, but hurried on with her speech.

"You know w-we would always stick with Katana chan, no matter what. You know we're going to academy to learn jutsu in a few months. And you know we'll all take care of each other no matter what. … right?"

Naruto could only nod at the heiress.

"Then can't you trust us? To take care of each other? And every one knows you're strong and that you'll take care of them. Don't you trust us to do the same?" The little Hyuga paused for breath, and Sasuke took over:

"How are we gonna get stronger if you don't let us? This is our village too you know."

Well damn. Naruto gaped at the four children staring back at him. He hadn't seen that coming. Sakura shrugged.

"Besides, we'll need a sensei when we graduate. And you need to be a Jounin for that."

Naruto blinked.

"…You want me to be your sensei?"

"Getting a little ahead of ourselves aren't we?"

The children's eyes widened at the new arrivals.

"Otou san!"

"Otou San!"

"Konichiwa, Tou san."

"Hokage sama! Fugaku sama! Hiashi dono!" The children's enthusiastic welcome made the clan heads grin.

"My my," commented the Hyuga head as he settled down next to his heir, "If this is the kind of greeting one receives from you all, I'm glad you took out most of your enthusiasm on Naruto kun."

Naruto forced out a chuckle. It would not do to scowl at a clan head.

"Indeed," murmered Fugaku, clearly more amused than he let on. Diverting from the topic only long enough to place an order, he took his place next to his younger son, and the boy looked both surprised and pleased as his father ruffled his hair. "That was an impressive attack children. A well thought out plan indeed. I regret having missed it."

Minato grinned at his son as he lifted his giggling daughter onto his lap. "Thankfully, Gamakichi's description was very vivid. I hope you didn't hurt yourselves in the process children."

Sakura face lit up.

"Nope. Baka-ni wasn't expecting it at all, so it was really easy."

Naruto groaned out loud as the stalls occupants laughed at the heiresses comment.

"This is the thanks I get for taking care of you three."

"Well then you shouldn't! You should spend more time training so you can get promoted. Or do you want everyone to know you got beaten up by a bunch of little kids?"

For the third time that day, Sasuke's face scrunched up as Naruto turned to his Imuto.

Being called "little" was something she detested. The fact that she had risked her friends disapproval and had swallowed her pride enough to refer to them as such, just to get her Aniki's attention was not lost on the older occupants either. She was really concerned about him.

Naruto felt a warm glow inside. He would love to coach the four of them, they had unlimited potential, but it was not for him to decide, and he and the clan heads glanced at the Hokage. With a soft smile that went unnoticed by his daughter, Minato nodded to his first born, and Naruto grinned.

"Ok wannabes!"

The children blinked, though Sasuke looked fairly disgusted at being referred to in such a manner. Naruto gave the children his trade mark grin.

"You want me to trust you guys to take care of yourself? To let you get stronger and to maybe someday teach you my justus? You want me to become your sensei?"

Non plussed, the four nodded, Hinata following a little later than the others. Naruto smirked.

"Make me."

The children were outraged. All that work for nothing? But they quieted as Naruto held up a finger.

"Make me trust you. Show me you're good enough to become shinobi, to be allowed on the same team. Show Hokage sama you deserve to not be separated. Show your clans that you are worthy of representing them in the field. Make us want to listen to you. Show me you can take care of yourselves. Make me want to trust you."

The children nodded, suddenly very serious and the clan heads smiled at each other. He had gotten them focused with a few simple words. The boy was going to make an excellent Hokage someday.

Sasuke piped up.

"We can still beat you up though right?"

"Is that a yes?" Hinata ventured hesitantly.

Thud

"Naruto kun, head off the table please." Ayame grinned at the scowling blond as the four children looked from him to the chortling older Ninjas before sharing exasperated looks.

Grown ups were so weird.

Present day

Minato frowned. Katana had barely blinked as her mother put down a bowl of her favorite dish in front of her. He remembered a time when she had had to be physically restrained from wolfing down the bowls contents in one go. But that reminded him of the laughing blond who had done the restraining, and he flinched forcing himself to return his attention to his hime. His daughter had been a ball of sunshine , lighting everything in her path. How she had changed. But as the Hokage looked around at the other kneeling occupants, he forced himself to accept : they all had.

Not for the first time, the Hokage thought of how differently things would've been if he hadn't been with Itachi that night. If the children hadn't found the Namikaze mansion empty. If they hadn't gone home with Sasuke. If-

Minato shook his head. What was done was done. It would not help to revisit buried memories. It had taken four years for the village to put it behind them. Four years to reform their police forces, to fill the places left empty in their Shinobi ranks. Time healed all wounds. But it would take more than time to bring back the life in these children's eyes. Four years of knowing that above all, these four needed their attention more than any other. And yet he and Hiyashi, Kushina and Yuki and Kakashi and Rin had turned a blind eye. The village needed their Hokage and clan heads. And while it wrenched his heart in two to let them wither away, he had been forced to allow it to happen. And the result was before him. But he could change that now. Konoha was back on her feet, her citizens faith was restored and he could finally pay attention to the new heirs of the will of the fire. Starting now.

"Katana, I met with Iruka senei today."

The twelve year old looked up from her meal. As did the dark haired heiress next to her. The silence stretched till the younger Namikaze responded.

"Oh?"

"He was, concerned… about your performance. All of you as a matter of fact."

Something close to surprise lit up the younger Namikaze's eyes but it was gone before her father could confirm it. Further down the table, Sasuke and Sakura looked away from their meals to their host from either side of Itachi. The young clan head had understood his leader's plan from the start, and continued with his meal. Opposite him, the much older Hyuga clan head, turned to wards his old friend, though he too refrained from commenting. Minato sighed inwardly. Thanks for the help you two.

"…Yes."

Minato took another bite before he readdressed the agitated children.

"The Genin exams are coming up. He was concerned because he felt your performance was not up to par with the standards set by the board. Katana, he said that you were falling behind in you're academics, and though you have stamina, you are still lacking control over even the most basic jutsus. Hinata chan, Sakura chan, he complained that while you two were doing well academically, neither of you displayed the confidence expected of Genin hopefuls, especially those of your caliber. And Sasuke, he was worried by your lack of interest in team activities. He also said that all four of you seemed to lack control over your emotions, and that you in particular were unnecessarily violent. Needless to say, we are very surprised …and disappointed."

The children had grown more and more agitated under his stern gaze, and Kushina cringed as she saw them grow more embarrassed with each passing second. She knew this was necessary, but as she looked at each child, the mother's heart beating in her cried for these innocents, three of them motherless.

Hurry Minato. She willed her husband. They can't take too much of this. Be done with it.

Minato finished his meal before he returned to the topic.

"But," he paused as the children perked up "what worried me the most, was Iruka's decision to not consider you for the genin exam at all. And after hearing his case, I'm afraid I'm inclined to agree."

That got their attention. Sasuke stilled and Sakura dropped her chopsticks with a gasp. Hinata's eyes were wide as she looked from him to her father to her friends before flushing and dropping her gaze to the bowl in front of her, mortified. But it was Katana's reaction that surprised them all.

"You can't do that."

The low, incredulous response drew even Kakashi's attention, and Itachi's brows creased at the barely there hostility.

Minato merely glanced at his offspring.

"Excuse me?"

"You can't," Katana's eyes were beginning to take on a look Minato hadn't seen in over four years, "You can't stop us from trying."

Us. She had thought of the four of them. Not used her influence as the Hokage's daughter to try to f through. She had thought of her friends as well. Minato felt pride surge through him and a quick look around the table proved he wasn't the only one who noticed her choice of words. Sasuke's eyes flickered to his old friend's face for the first time in years before noticing her father's eyes on him and turning away.

"Actually, I can. I can't speak for Sasuke or Hinata, but I am yours and Sakura's legal guardian, and if it means I can stop the two of you from embarrassing us on graduation day, I think I will. Though if Hiyashi and Itachi still want to let their wards give it a try…"

Katana tore her furious blue eyes away to the clan heads sitting opposite each other. Itachi continued to finish off his meal, while Hiyashi looked at his heiress before sighing.

"It pains me to say this, but no, I don't think Hinata has shown enough potential to be allowed any special favors from my part. Her performance at home has been equally dismall." The Hyuga heiress seemed to droop even more as her father continued."Your mother would've been ashamed."

Harsh Across the table, several of the occupants winced. Katana looked horrified and she turned to Itachi. Minato could see the cogs working in her head. Sasuke had done better than the three of them. Surely Itachi would-

"No. I don't think Sasuke is deserving either Hokage Sama. I have not seen any reason to change my mind."

The look on Sasuke's face would've been priceless in any situation. Poor kids Minato thought, they'll thank us some day.

"No. You're wrong!"

Katana's outburst drew all eyes to the young girl. On her feet now, she fixed her father with a glare Tsunade would've been proud of.

"Katana, sit down."

"We are good enough to become genin. You don't have any right to stop us from taking the test. You don't know what were capable of. How could you? You've never trained with us, Never bothered with us, not now, not befo-"

Hinata's eyes shot up, wide gray went from the girl standing beside her to the black haired boy sitting in front of her who had suddenly gone very very tense, and a pale hand grabbed on to her friends sleeve and tugged. Katana had frozen, all eyes were on Sasuke. And with everyones attention focused on the youngest Uchiha, who currently resembled a block of granite, it came as a shock when a response came from the most unlikely of places.

"She's right."

Sakura's whisper sounded so loud in the suddenly quiet room. Minato was not surprised to see the girl tearing, but then she looked up, and it was the fierce look in her eyes that got his attention. Protective, loving, shy, determined. It was how Midori had looked when he had questioned her decision to marry a civilian. His old team mate had fixed him with that very stare before she had proceeded to open his eyes. Very forcefully. She had been Kushina's greatest ally during their genin years, and that look had always promised a painful after math.

How he had missed it.

"She's right," Sakura had gotten a little louder, "You never did pay any attention to us. It was always," here she took in a deep breath as they waited. Would she dare utter the name? "It was always, were too busy dear, not now dear, run along dear, stay children for a little longer dear, later dear. We waited, and waited but it was never later. You never paid attention to us . To what we needed to learn. May be you're right, you were busy, and may be we could've tried harder. But all I know is," for the first time in six years Minato saw a glimpse of the shining emerald his heart's sister had had, and he couldn't tear his eyes away as her daughter continued "All I can think is, that this, what's happened, what's happening… its as much your fault as it is ours. May be even more."

The silence was deafening.

Minato watched as the girl blushed but held his gaze, albeit faltering. Oh little blossom, you have no idea how right you are…

"Hokage Sama."

Minato tore himself from the suddenly shy green to deep, suddenly hesitant black. Sasuke looked uncomfortable. It was the first time in a long time that the boy had spoken to the Hokage voluntarily, and from the look on his face, what ever he was going to say wasn't something he liked at all.

"Sakura and Hinata have maintained adequate results in all areas except the one you mentioned. Whatever issues they have can surely be cleared up, once they have enough experience in the field. And a competent instructor can I'm sure guide us in the…other areas."

Katana hadn't missed the way her name had been left out, her shoulders drooped only a little and something told Minato she'd been expecting worse.

"And," Sasuke seemed determined to avoid looking at Katana, "I'm sure the four of us can cover up any weaknesses that would hold us back in the exams. After all, there is still a month left."

Minato had not missed the widening of her eyes, or the sudden glances between Sakura and Hinata, but he chose to ignore his daughter and her friends in favor of the younger Uchiha.

"Actually, not a month. The finals will take place in two days." The children looked incredulous and even the can heads raised a brow. This was news.

"I decided to have them as soon as possible. After all, regrowing economy or no, Konoha still needs its task force. The quicker we get new blood in, the better forKonoha. Breathe Katana."

The girl had started to resemble a certain pepper…

"You cant-"

"I already have." When he rose and directed his guests to the adjacent sitting room, the children's last hopes seemed to disappear. Waiting only long enough for his wife to leave before him, he casually threw them a lifeline.

"I will reconsider..."

Turning to close the doors, he glanced at the shell shocked children.

"If you can make me."

He did not miss the look in those blue eyes. That spark, the glint of blue steel... He had not seen it in four long years…

He shut the door, turned around and let his face crumble.

She looked just like…

Somewhere in the Land of Waves

Kisame glanced at his partner. What was he, a baby sitter?

"Hey, small fry you gonna drop dead? If your sneezing angers my sharks, I'm not gonna drag you back to base."

The blond rubbed his nose.

"Tobi wouldn't like that."

Kisame cringed. Missing nin he may be…but the thought of a distressed Tobi trying to bring his " amazing Naruto sensei" back to life while berating "Kisame dono" for letting him "sleepy sleep with icky fishies" was not an amusing one.

"Can we go now? All this water makes me wanna go pee."

…Then again.

Of all the geniuses who have to defect from that idiotic village… why do we get stuck with the morons? First the snake, now the brat. What happened to the dark, silent type? The kind that could be accepted as ANBU material?

Was a quiet partner too much to ask for?

XXxXXxXX

And there you have it! Chapter three! Complete with a happy flash back for once. Plus I figured you guys would like to know how the munchkins had fared over the past four years. Before you kill me though:

Of course Katana isn't a bouncing orange blur like the cannon verse Naruto. Her lifes been different as the upcoming chapters will reveal.

Yes, the kids broke apart. But they will get back together of course … Does any one wanna guess how they're gonna "make" Minato change his mind? I'm curious

And yeah, Minato's team mates have never been named in the cannon, so I'm gonna take advantage of that

Oh, and a big Thank you to Kyu15 for your reviews!

Sayanora!