It was lunchtime once again. Fuaku had only been teaching for a week, and serving IT lunch before he wolfed down a few bites of his own meal while reviewing what little Clan business he could fit in had already become routine. Fugaku sighed as he set IT in the high chair that had been set up in the Academy breakroom. As he set IT in the high chair, IT did its best to wriggle away from him so IT could wander around breaking things. One of the Instructors whose child had outgrown their high chair had kindly left the one IT was currently using in the breakroom so he wouldn't have to constantly shift books that might get destroyed by an easily bored toddler. IT had as much energy as its mother, and a much smaller body to house it all in, which meant that IT was a good deal more destructive. Fortunately, IT didn't know any Jutsu. If it did, everyone could kiss the Academy good-bye.
Considering IT's near successful escapes from the playpen in the classroom, IT would probably be half as good a ninja as IT's father had been. A good portion of the classes he'd taught - which had set the other Instructors to complaining due to the accelerated pace and the difficulty of the subject material which wasn't supposed to be covered for years according to the current curriculum - had been spent herding IT back into the playpen which was rapidly becoming next to useless. Based on IT's progress, it would soon be time to break out the containment seals.
Pulling himself out of his musings on IT, Fugaku briefly tensed up as one of the other Instructors who was also on break approached him. They had begun to relax around him and mostly limited themselves to calling him a hard-ass when they thought he wasn't listening, but he hadn't forgiven or forgotten. That, and if anything happened to IT while IT was anywhere in his vicinity...
"Why don't you get some lunch? I can feed him." the Instructor who had approached said, looking friendly and open, until his eyes settled on IT that was.
"No. I'm keeping IT right here where I know nothing will happen to IT. The one time I actually managed to get a night out with my wife and visit somewhere fun without her worrying about the new baby, the village got attacked and people started blaming me for it. Seeing as I don't want even more blame for something I didn't do heaped on me and mine, I'm not going to let anything happen to The Harpy's hellspawn while I'm around." he said, still feeling the sting of the cold looks he'd received when he'd picked up a to-go order that morning from a newly re-opened restaurant which he'd occasionally frequented, and had once been welcome at prior to the Kyuubi's rampage.
"Harpy?" the Instructor said, looking confused, as if he'd thought he'd missed something somewhere and was thinking something that couldn't possibly be possible.
"Trust me, if you had to deal with IT's mother on a semi-regular basis, you would've called her that or worse. Fortunately, being gone for good, she can no-longer turn up out of the blue after an absence of several months and throw my life out of order while she drags my wife off somewhere to do only the gods know what, and I no-longer have to bail them out of some small town jail on a semi-regular basis." he said, not going into further specifics because, amongst those who knew, IT's parentage was a verboten subject and was never bandied about with "outsiders".
"You knew the Demon's mother?!" the Instructor exclaimed, sounding stunned.
"Frankly, I'm surprised you didn't know her. Just about everyone I've run into since the day I had the misfortune to meet her did."he said as he got out the lunch Mikoto had packed specially for IT while IT squirmed impatiently and whined for its food
Hyuuga Ko smiled as he picked Naruto up out of the playpen at the end of the day. Hiashi had given him permission to bring a friend home with him. While his popularity had grown greatly due to his unintentionally having caused his notoriety to grow, he didn't actually have too many people he actually called friends. What he did have were a large number of people who wanted to be seen greeting him in the hallway and being greeted by him in return, a pool of acquaintances, his classmates who stood by him and whom he would stand by in return, and a small group that he could truly call friends. Amongst that circle of true friends was a small child who had given him the courage to speak out against a bully rather than cower because the bully was larger, more powerful and in a position of authority over him. A child who had depended on him for practically everything, because others who were supposedly much wiser than he had chosen to shirk the responsibility and look the other way.
It was that friend that Ko was bringing home with him for the first time.
After walking through the village, ignoring the glances, stares, and sometimes outright glares he was receiving due to his burden, he reached the gates of the Hyuuga Clan's compound, which wasn't quite as isolated as the one the Uchiha were almost finished building. Some parents had blamed him for their children's behaviour in regards to Naruto, but others, upon being asked why it was not okay for people to kick babies, but it was okay to kick that baby, found they couldn't blame him because their sons and daughters had gone and done what they would've dearly loved to do if they came across someone kicking a toddler. Most of the children he knew had been taught to defend those smaller and weaker than they by their own families after-all.
"So Ko, where's your...oh." the Branch member guarding the gate greeted upon his approach, his welcoming half-smile slipping into a frown. "I think Hiashi-sama was expecting one of your other classmates when he allowed you to invite a friend home."
"He never specified." he replied as he passed, Naruto eagerly waving at the gate guard over his shoulder, as well as at the police who were running an unusually early patrol past the compound.
Naruto was an amazingly cheerful baby when he wasn't being bullied or around people who usually bullied him. The fact that Naruto seemed to like the current Instructor was part of the reason there hadn't been open rebellion during the past week, despite the fact that being taught by the Head of the Uchiha Clan was practically hell in comparison to lessons under the previous Instructor. However, one of his classmates had pointed out that if they all ganged up...
"Dinner will be ready in two hours." another member of the Branch house said, startling him out of his musings on how the new Instructor could be taken out if he proved to be more trouble than he was worth. Head of an important clan or no.
"You will be dining with Hiashi-sama this evening. Hiashi-sama has also informed me that you and your friend are permitted to make use of the family dojo until it is time for the evening meal." his cousin continued.
Learning that he would be dining with the clan head was a bit surprising, but not all that much so, considering the fact that the Clan Head vetted all outsider friends and sent would-be hangers-on who were of no benefit to the clan packing with all due prejudice. He had no idea how Hiashi would take Naruto's presence though. As it had been pointed out to him before that several Hyuuga had been lost during the Kyuubi attack, including one of his favorite uncles. Deciding to shelve the problem for later, he carried Naruto to the dojo.
As he was trying to figure out how to keep his little friend occupied without the hyperactive toddler completely destroying his surroundings that were looking more and more delicate and expensive to replace by the second, Hizashi poked his head in. Hizashi was more approachable than Hiashi. Probably because he didn't have the weight of the entire clan resting on his shoulders, and therefore was not quite as intimidating as the Clan Head. A moment after Hizashi had poked his head through the door, he was sitting on the floor in front of Naruto, examining the boy from every angle.
"Hey there little fella," Hizashi said as he brought his face closer to the little boy who stared up at him in wide-eyed curiosity. "You look an awful lot like Kushina. In fact, I think you are Kushina's. Did you know that I could've been your father if my marriage hadn't been arranged since childhood and Kushina hadn't been so in love with...with...Holy Crap!"
Edited 7-18-15. Edited 9-5-16.