Author's note: Another chapter here. I hope everybody is in character.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I don't write for profit, just for fun.

Tsume

The Hokage had a free afternoon. No bothersome Council meetings were scheduled, no petitioners pleading him for something or other, no foreign dignitaries to deliver thinly veiled threats. Bliss. Well, there was still paperwork to fill and sign, but Sarutobi decided that it could wait for a day. His distaste for the infernal stuff had just reached critical level and if he had to deal with just one more important document, he'd snap and use the Katon: Bye, Bye, Paperwork no Jutsu. He shuddered when he remembered the last time he couldn't resist and actually did it. He had burned some really important stuff. Like the spy report that could have saved several of his shinobi from an ambush had he read it. The petition from two clans that took badly to his ignoring them and nearly started a civil war. And most importantly the note about his upcoming wedding anniversary. Biwako had been so annoyed that he forgot and spared no effort to let him know.

So paperwork was definitely out of the question. But what else could he do so he wouldn't look like he was slacking off? There were quite a lot of things, but they required dealing with people he didn't like, so he didn't feel like doing most of them. Eventually he decided that he could go and see how Naruto was doing. He headed towards the Inuzuka compound.

"Hello there, Hokage-sama," Tsume greeted him once he arrived.

"Good day to you too, Tsume-san," he replied. "And Kuromaru," he added when the large black dog at her feet growled.

"I'm here too," Tsume's husband spoke from where he huddled in the corner.

"Shut up," his wife barked, "the Hokage didn't come to talk to you." The man fell silent obediently.

The Hokage exchanged pleasantries with the head of the Inuzuka clan for a while before addressing the issue he came to see her about.

"So where is Naruto?"

"The pups are in the backyard," the Inuzuka clan head answered. "Hana is babysitting them."

"Then let's go see them." The whole Inuzuka family followed by the Hokage filed out of the room.

When they entered the backyard, they saw a girl of six or seven years playing with three tiny grey puppies. She was so engrossed with them that she didn't even notice their arrival.

"Where are Naruto and Kiba?" Tsume asked.

"There," Hana pointed without raising her head. They looked the indicated direction and saw absolutely no children.

"They aren't there," Tsume stated.

"Huh?" Hana finally looked up and scanned the courtyard with a confused expression. "Where did they go?" Tsume grabbed her daughter by her collar.

"How could you let them wander off?" she growled. The little girl shrieked. "What if something happened to them? What if somebody kidnapped them?" Hana trembled, looking about to cry.

"Don't overdo it, honey," Tsume's husband tried to help his daughter. The woman turned to him, a feral snarl on her already feral face. The man shrunk back.

"Don't tell me how to raise our children," she barked. "What if something happened to our poor little Kiba-chan?" The man looked even more scared than his daughter. The Hokage decided to interject before this turned into a case of domestic violence.

"Maybe we can find them," he suggested. "You are the best trackers in the village, are you not?

"That's right, Hokage-sama, we'll find the little ones in no time," Tsume stated confidently and then nudged her dog.

Kuromaru sniffed the air for a bit. "Follow me," he said and ran off. The group rushed after him. Soon they reached a meadow near the kennels where a cluster of puppies was playing. "Here," the giant ninken said. They looked but they couldn't see the missing children at first. Then they noticed that two of the bodies crawling on the ground on wobbly paws were of a different shape. They belonged to two brown-haired toddlers. Correction, only one of them was brown-haired. The other one only looked that way after rolling around in the mud.

"There they are," Tsume pointed with a smile. "You see, they are playing happily." The Hokage frowned a bit. It was true that Naruto was smiling, but there were a few things wrong with the scene.

"He's almost two years old now," he pointed out. "Shouldn't he be able to walk already?"

"Moving around on all fours is perfectly natural," Tsume replied.

"Much faster than on just two," Kuromaru agreed. Tsume's husband looked like he wanted to say something, but her glare shut him up.

"He should also say his first words already," Sarutobi continued. Naruto let out a few whining and barking sounds as he and his puppy friends crawled towards the group, wanting to check out the newcomers.

"He speaks just fine," Tsume insisted. "Can't you hear?"

"He has a bit of an accent, but he'll grow out of it," her canine partner added. Tsume's husband finally couldn't take it anymore and spoke his opinion.

"Honey, he's a human child, not a puppy." Tsume turned towards him and growled.

"He's my little puppy. I'm taking care of him properly." The man cowered before his wife's barking.

"People would be more inclined to believe that Naruto is a normal human child if he acted like one," the Sandaime pointed out.

"But just look at him. Does he look like a demon?" Tsume asked. Sarutobi shook his head.

By that time Naruto and his friends reached their group. Naruto began sniffing the hem of Hokage's robes.

"Isn't he adorable?" Tsume cooed. Combined with her feral appearance it looked creepy. Her husband took a step back unconsciously.

Hiruzen had to agree. Naruto was adorable even if he had rolled around in the smelliest stuff he could find and was acting like a puppy. In fact, it made him even cuter. And he did look happy. Those were points in Tsume's favor. The fact that the child was acting like an animal was against her. Sarutobi was a bit torn on this one. Then Naruto lifted his leg and peed on his robes. In his shock the Sandaime almost missed Kiba attempting to do the same on the other side. That did it. The Hokage decided to give the child to somebody who will teach him to act like a human and potty-train him properly.