Author's Note: My late Christmas present to all those who have patiently been waiting for the next chapter. Merry Christmas, and have a happy New Year!

"What is all of this?" a little girl softly and politely asked as she walked down the path alongside her caretaker and surveyed her surroundings. This was a path she and her caretaker had walked on many times before, but today, almost everything about the path had changed. No, the path itself didn't change; it was just all the things that were now on it. As the little girl and her caretaker slowly walked down the path, the little girl looked around in awe and wonder as she saw strings of colorful lanterns being tied up on the tops of poles and booths, booths and stands being set up by people she recognized and people she didn't recognize, and colorful banners, signs and decorations being set up to accompany each booth and stand for whatever reason they were there for.

She held her gaze on a colorful set of masks neatly put on display by one of the booths, as she was experiencing a strange sensation of both fear and enchantment upon seeing them, and when she and her caretaker were well away from them, she broke her gaze and finally had the courage to meekly ask, "Is it a festival?"

Her caretaker smiled, looked down at her, and answered, "Yes Lady Hinata. That is correct." As he continued to lead Hinata down the path as Hinata continued to look up at him, Hinata's caretaker explained, "You see Lady Hinata, today is a very special day for the village." He looked down at her again. "Today is the day that, after many years of war between our village and the Land of Lightning, we have finally reached a peace agreement with them." He refocused his attention back on the path, an optimistic smile on his face. "Today is the day when the peace treaty between our two lands will be official. Today, the head Cloud ninja of the Land of Lightning will come by to our village and sign the peace treaty, and in celebration of that, our village will celebrate alongside our former enemies."

"And this festival is going to be one of the ways we'll be celebrating with them?" Hinata asked.

Her caretaker nodded. "Yes." He stopped (and Hinata followed suit). He pointed towards some people whom Hinata did not recognize, setting up their own booth for the festival. "Do you recognize them Lady Hinata?"

After a long attempt to try and recognize them, Hinata sheepishly lowered her head in shame and answered, "No."

Her caretaker kneeled down and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's okay Lady Hinata," he said, and when Hinata looked at his face, she saw that he had a reassuring smile on his face. "It's impossible for you to recognize them in the first place because they are citizens of the Land of Lightning."

Hinata let out a little gasp. "T-they are?"

Her caretaker let out a little laugh and nodded. "Yes, they are." He looked back at those said people. "They and many others made the journey here ahead of time in order to make this a celebration worthy of such an occasion."

Hinata's eyes widened as she let out a small, surprised gasp, looked back at the Land of Lightning citizens working hard on their booth, and let out a soft, awestruck, "Wow." Then, sad realization slowly crept into her mind, and in seconds, the look of pure awe and wonder on her face was quickly replaced by a look of sadness and disappointment.

Upon noticing this, Hinata's caretaker leaned forward and asked, "Is something wrong Lady Hinata?" The concern was evident in his voice.

Hinata, upon realizing what she had just done, blushed and averted her eyes away from her caretaker's concerned and worried gaze. "N-no, nothing's wrong," she answered while bashfully fiddling with her fingers.

Hinata's caretaker sighed. It was obvious that she was lying. "Lady Hinata…," he began.

"N-no really, it's nothing," Hinata quietly insisted, but unfortunately for her, her caretaker wasn't the least bit fooled. He knew her all too well.

"Come now Lady Hinata, you can tell me," her caretaker gently reassured. "We're friends, aren't we?"

Well that was certainly true. After a moment of thinking it over, Hinata finally relented, and said, "W-well… it's just…," she looked to her caretaker, and upon seeing how intently he was looking at her, quickly blushed and opted to look down at her fiddling fingers instead, "this festival… it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun…."

"Ah," Hinata's caretaker said. "I get it. You're sad because you think that you aren't going to be able to participate in the festivities. Is that it?"

Hinata's blush deepened as her head lowered even further down than it already had. Her caretaker couldn't help but give a small, amused grin at the spectacle before him. How could he not? She was acting as if she had just been caught red-handed committing some kind of shameful act. Despite this, however, she slowly nodded and answered, "Y-yes."

Hinata's caretaker let out a deep sigh, the smile still plastered on his face. "Now why would you think that, Lady Hinata?"

Surprised by such a response, Hinata hesitated before she explained, "W-well, today's my birthday, and father made it clear that he wanted me to celebrate it at home with the rest of the clan. And then there're those other ceremonies father mentioned that we were going to do today…."

Hinata's caretaker continued to smile. "Yes, that is correct Lady Hinata, but what about what happens after all those ceremonies are over?"

Before Hinata could answer however, somebody had suddenly swept her off her feet and ran a little bit away.

Hinata's caretaker gasped. "A kidnapper!" he inwardly cried.

After his initial shock and surprise due to how fast it happened, Hinata's caretaker quickly stood up, battle-ready, prepared himself for any more surprises, and was about to give chase, but when he saw who the supposed "kidnapper" was, he placed his hands on his side, sighed (both out of relief and exhaustion), and said in an exhausted yet amused voice, "Naruko."

Naruko let out a cheerful laugh and gave Hinata's caretaker a little wave, "Hi Ko!" Apparently, what Ko had previously assumed was a kidnapping attempt was actually Naruko sweeping Hinata off her feet, spinning her around, and embracing Hinata in a big, spinning "Hello" hug.

After addressing Ko, Naruko refocused her attention on the little girl in her arms and cuddled her a bit, "And hello to you too!"

Hinata looked up and smiled. "Mrs. Uzumaki!"

Naruko stopped cuddling her for a moment to turn Hinata around (as Hinata had been swept off her feet, spun, and hugged from the back) and gently say, "Oh come now! I've told you a million times that you can call me Naruko!" She turned her attention back to Ko, who was slowly walking towards them with folded arms and an amused, calm smile replacing the look of terror and surprise that had been on his face mere seconds before. "This is your doing, isn't it?"

Ko held his hands up as if he had just been caught committing a crime. "Guilty as charged."

"Ko, how could you?!" she playfully reprimanded.

"She is the heiress to the Hyuga clan!" Ko argued. "And as the next head of the Hyuga clan, she is expected to know and practice a few formalities!" He smirked, and added, "And by the looks of it, she's not going to learn any of them from you."

"What?!" Naruko asked, a little bit taken-aback and offended by his accusation. "Ko! How could you say such a thing?"

"Well," Ko explained, gesturing towards the hug Naruko was giving Hinata, "for starters, one does not greet people by running up to them when they least expect it and hugging them."

Naruko rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Oh, hush you." She brushed a bit of Hinata's hair with her fingers and continued, "She may be an heiress to a clan, but what you all keep forgetting is that she's still just a little girl who just recently turned three years old." After realizing what she just said, her eyes widened. She looked back at Hinata. "Oh! That reminds me!" She gave Hinata one last hug. "Happy birthday sweetie," she whispered.

"How did you know that it was my birthday today?" Hinata asked as Naruko set her back down on the ground.

Naruko kneeled down until she reached Hinata's eye level, smiled warmly, and whispered, "How could I not?" She lightly nodded towards Ko. "It's the only thing Ko's been talking about for the past week." They both glanced at a confused Ko before giggling in unison.

"But all joking aside," Naruko said, "you've just reached a huge milestone in your life Hinata!"

"R-really?" Hinata asked. "How come?"

"Well, it's because being three years old is a very important age," Naruko explained.

"R-really? Why is that?" Hinata asked, a bit out of curiosity, but mostly out of intimidation due to how much Naruko was building up how important being three years old was.

"Well, three is the number people usually use to signal when to start something, so naturally turning three years old should signal a new start in one's life, right?"

"Um… I don't quite understand."

"O-oh." Naruko thought for a moment. "Well, when I was three, I made the resolution to become more responsible around the house."

"R-really?"

Naruko let out a weak laugh. "Well, something like that." Hinata didn't understand what that meant, but that was to be expected. What Naruko was referring to was that, when she was three and her older brother, Minato, was five, despite the fact that Minato was considered, and in fact was, a ninja prodigy, in anything that wasn't ninja-related, Minato was surprisingly unreliable, so when she turned three, Naruko took it upon herself to do the chores and handle most of the responsibilities that Minato was surprisingly incapable of doing himself, or, at least, vowed to. She was still a bit too young to be doing any of that stuff, but when she WAS finally old enough, she never skipped a beat (that isn't to say that she was perfectly okay with doing most of the chores and completing most of the responsibilities at home though; she would often scold her brother for being so irresponsible outside of his ninja duties).

Naruko shook her head to relieve herself of the strange memories and refocused her attention back to the conversation between her and Hinata. "But my resolution doesn't have to be your resolution!" she assured. "You can make it whatever you want. And it doesn't even have to be permanent either. It just needs to be a start."

"A… start," Hinata whispered to herself.

Naruko nodded. "That's right, a start." When Hinata looked to be deep in thought and didn't say anything back, Naruko brushed a bit of Hinata's hair with her fingers and added, "Don't worry sweetie. No one's asking you to make one now." She let out an apologetic smile. "You don't even have to make one if you don't want to. I'm sorry if I was so self imposing."

Hinata gasped and quickly shook her head. "Oh no! It's a good idea." She smiled and gave Naruko a respectful bow. "Thank you Mrs. Uzu – I mean, N-Naruko."

Naruko smiled, and pulled Hinata in for one last, quick, hug. "You're very welcome sweetie."

"So," Naruko said, giving Ko a chance to come back into the conversation after she let Hinata go, "what are you two doing on a day like this?"

"Well," Ko began, gesturing towards Hinata, "I was taking Hinata out for an early morning stroll so she could get a first look at all the festivities. Then, after we celebrate her birthday and perform all the other clan rituals scheduled for today, I thought I'd take her to the ones she really wanted to go to before the day is over."

Hinata's eyes lit up as she heard this. "Really?" she asked. "You really meant to do that?"

Ko smiled down at her. "Of course." He gestured towards Naruko, who was now standing up. "As Mrs. Uzu -" Naruko good-naturedly nudged him with her elbow, "I mean… Naruko said, although you are indeed next in line to be head of the Hyuga clan, you are still just a child. You're happiness means a lot to me Lady Hinata, and I am not so old as to have forgotten how tedious and grating the rituals of the Hyuga clan can be to young ones like yourself. Once our responsibilities are over with, we can run out here and you can have as much last-minute fun as you can possibly handle."

Hinata could hardly believe her ears. "Thank you so much Ko!" she cried, bowing her thanks towards her caretaker.

Ko couldn't help but laugh. "Oh come on! I don't get a hug?"

"You said it yourself Ko," Naruko said, a smug grin on her face, "hugging people isn't a formality."

"I said it wasn't a formality in terms of greeting people!" Ko argued, but once he saw the look on Naruko's face, he knew that he'd just been played and blushed accordingly. After Naruko and Hinata both laughed at how silly he was acting, he sighed, he desperately wanting to change the subject. "So, um, Naruko," he began, "may I ask why you are so dressed up today?"

"Oh!" Naruko looked down and smoothed out her kimono. "You mean this old thing?" She was wearing a pink, ceremonial kimono with light blue cherry blossom designs and a light blue sash, and her hair was tied up in a ceremonial bun with two chopsticks. She gave Ko and Hinata a confident, fun, little twirl, a twirl that admittedly took Hinata's breath away. She had always considered Naruko beautiful, but her little fashion twirl seemed to serve as a testament to the fact that Naruko wasn't just considered beautiful because she was pretty, she was beautiful for many other reasons too. For starters, there was that confident smile, laugh and energy she had that seemed to just further empower the physical beauty she already had, but unbeknownst to Naruko and Ko, Hinata noticed that on Naruko's whiskered face (which, for some reason, never seemed to hinder Naruko's beauty to her) was a light blush, a small sign of embarrassment. She was a little embarrassed doing a little fashion twirl in public, but Naruko didn't care. Fashion twirls were fun, and despite the slight embarrassment she was feeling, Naruko chose to ignore all that and just do it. Naruko was kind, sweet, beautiful, confident, and independent, all traits which Hinata greatly admired. Naruko possessed the traits that both her mother and father possessed (for the most part anyway) and deep down, she felt as if she was nowhere close to any one of them.

"I wish I could be more like that," Hinata thought to herself.

Meanwhile, in the physical world outside of Hinata's mind, Naruko explained to Ko, "The third Hokage requested that I come over and attend the signing of the treaty."

"Why's that?" Hinata asked.

Naruko and Ko looked at Hinata before giving each other nervous glances. It was obvious that Naruko was asked to appear at the signing because she was the late fourth Hokage's sister, and having her there was just like having former presidents appear at special presidential events, despite the fact that they no longer possessed any form of real power, authority, say, or significance: for morale.

But how were they supposed to explain that to Hinata? Simple, they couldn't. The third Hokage had been true to his word and had succeeded in passing laws that would keep Naruto and Naruko safe and keep the villagers from depriving them of their basic human rights and necessities, but at the same time, many other laws had been passed alongside these. One of them had been to change Naruko and Naruto's last names to "Uzumaki" for Naruto's protection and to further create the illusion that Naruko was his mother, while another forbade any mention of Naruto's connection with the Nine-Tailed Fox in hope that the children, at the very least, would not resent him as the adults did. However, the two laws combined created an initially unprecedented consequence. The two laws combined unintentionally created a third law, a law that forbade the mention of anything regarding Naruko's past to anyone, especially around Naruto. This was because if they wanted to create the illusion that Naruko was his mother, while also not revealing to anybody the fact that Naruto, the demon-child, was the fourth Hokage's son, AND forbid even the mentioning of even the smallest connections between Naruto and the Nine-Tailed Fox, whom Naruko's brother sealed inside of Naruto, then the best way to do it was to never mention Naruko's past at all and pretend that the events in Naruko's life prior to the Nine-Tailed Fox's attack on the village never happened, and give Naruko a fake, new past in the process. Fortunately, Naruko quickly and easily cooperated with all the effects these laws had on her life, but she DID put up a fight when it came to which past the council was going to assign her. Despite the council's protests, she didn't want to be assigned a past COMPLETELY opposite to her real one, because, well, how else are you going to explain Naruto having no father and give him a reason to attend the Ninja Academy? In the end, they finally agreed to give Naruko the past of being the wife of a proud ninja who died fighting the Nine-Tailed Fox before the fourth Hokage finally defeated it.

The council had gone through great lengths and pains to make every adult in the village memorize her new past (or at the very least, the adults who knew her) and get used to referring to it whenever they referred to Naruko's past. Naruko was even forced to wear a ring on her finger, which admittedly upset her. She had always wanted to make a family of her own, but with her already having some sort of connection with what many people considered the Nine-Tailed Fox itself, the fake past and the ring on her finger definitely didn't help matters. With Naruto, it was practically impossible to get a boyfriend, and with the fake past, the ring as proof of that past, and the bad way the villagers always treated him, Naruto might not even want what he would consider a new "dad" to begin with.

"Well," Naruko began, just now thinking of a (hopefully) believable excuse for her presence at the signing. "A signing could get pretty boring." Naruko gave Hinata a little wink. "Someone's got to go in there and liven up the place, right?"

Hinata pondered over Naruko's words for a moment while Ko and Naruko anxiously waited for the desired response. Much to their relief, Hinata, for the most part, seemed to believe it. "I-I guess," Hinata said.

Ko and Naruko inwardly let out sighs of relief. Naruko even tried to cover up her nervousness with a small laugh. "Yeah," she said. "I was surprised when the third Hokage asked me to come too, but how could I say no, right?"

Hinata smiled. Yes, if put in Naruko's situation, even she might've not been able to say "no" to the kind, old man. He was practically everybody's grandfather. "Right."

After smiling down at Hinata, relieved that she had believed Naruko's excuse, Ko looked around and noticed something strange. "Naruko?"

Naruko looked at Ko. "Yeah?"

"Where's Naruto?" Ko asked as he continued to survey the area.

"O-oh," Naruko said, her face falling. Hinata almost couldn't believe her eyes. A sad Naruko? She had never seen that before, nor did she ever think that that was even remotely possible. "He's either sleeping at home or wandering around the village."

Ko stopped searching and looked at Naruko, one of his eyebrows raised in disbelief. "You left him unattended?"

"H-he isn't coming with you?" Hinata asked.

Naruko looked down at her and gave her a sad, little smile. "No, he isn't."

"But… why?"

Naruko tried to let out a carefree laugh, but even she had to admit that it sounded more like an awkward, weak one. "Well, for starters, it's a formal occasion. Can't have kids around, you know? And besides…," she averted her eyes to the side, avoiding eye-contact with the little heiress, "the council told me specifically not to bring him."

Hinata gasped. "B-but why?" She knew that a lot of people didn't like Naruto, but forcing Naruko to leave him behind? That seemed so crazy to her, especially when Naruto was about the same age she was and she still needed a caretaker to supervise her and take her around!

"Hinata," Ko said firmly, folding his arms, "you needn't concern yourself with such things."

"B-but -"

"Whatever the council says goes. There's nothing we can do about it."

Hinata seemed to resign after this statement. "R-right." Just then, an idea popped into her head. "W-what if Naruto stayed with us while Naruko is at the signing?"

Ko was taken by surprise at this idea. "W-what?"

Quickly realizing the flaws of her idea, Hinata blushed, averted her eyes to the side to avoid eye contact with her caretaker, fiddled with her fingers, and explained, "H-he doesn't have to sit next to us during the ceremonies or anything, b-but he could be somewhere close to home, so if he needs any help, he could just come in and ask for some."

Naruko looked at the little girl in awe for a moment before looking at Ko and saying, "Sounds like a plan."

Ko turned to Naruko. "No, absolutely not," Ko said, immediately shooting down the thought. He turned back to Hinata. "Lady Hinata, we can't perform the rituals properly if someone is constantly barging in and interrupting them." Upon seeing Hinata's disappointed face, Ko added (in a softer tone of voice), "It was a very thoughtful idea Lady Hinata, but it's just not possible." After getting no immediate response from her, Ko tenderly asked, "Do you understand?"

Realizing that there was no way to convince him otherwise, Hinata slowly nodded and softly answered, "I understand."

While Hinata may have given up, Naruko was inspired by her idea, and wasn't about to give up just yet, not without a fight. "Ko," Naruko said, gently grabbing Ko's arm, "can I speak with you for a minute?" They both looked at Hinata. "Privately?" she added.

Ko hesitated for a moment, before finally obliging to Naruko's request, but not before insisting that he take Hinata somewhere where she could play and still be in their sights while they discussed whatever matter Naruko wanted to discuss. After they found a playground with benches they could sit and talk on while Hinata played in front of them, Ko, never once taking his eyes off of Hinata, asked, "So, what is it that you want to talk about?"

Before she said anything, Naruko decided to keep her eyes on Hinata while talking too. "…It's about Naruto," she finally said.

Ko sighed. "Naruko, my decision is final."

"Please!" Naruko quickly took her eyes off of Hinata, turned to look at Ko, and leaned toward him. "I'm begging you, please reconsider!" she pleaded.

Ko glanced at Naruko from the corner of his eyes and saw just how badly she wanted him to do just that. He saw it in the desperation in her eyes, the look of desperation on her face, and the desperate way she was leaning towards him. For a moment there, Ko was actually starting to reconsider reconsidering, but he quickly snapped out of it and shook his head for good measure. "I'm sorry Naruko, but I can't."

Naruko's features softened a little bit. He really did sound sorry. She readjusted herself to the normal sitting position and the two watched Hinata playing by herself for a moment before Naruko softly asked, "Is it because you believe what the villagers say? That Naruto is the Nine-Tailed Fox?"

Ko shook his head, but whether Naruko saw him do it or not he wasn't sure, he was watching Hinata the entire time. "Whether Naruto really is the Nine-Tailed Fox or not doesn't matter," Ko explained. "What matters is that, no matter what I believe, Naruto has the inescapable reputation of being connected to that demon, and a person like that cannot be associated with Lady Hinata, as it could tarnish HER reputation." He dared himself to look at Naruko, who was still watching Hinata with a sad look on her face. "Do you understand?"

Naruko slowly nodded. "Yes, I understand."

After a long moment of silence, Ko asked, "Isn't there anyone else you could get to supervise Naruto?"

Naruko shook her head. "Every ninja I know is either on duty or going to be busy celebrating to save face for the treaty, and it's not like any of the villagers would be willing to watch over him for me. The only villagers who would even CONSIDER it would be Teuchi, my landlord, and my neighbors, but Teuchi's going to be too busy running Ichiraku Ramen to take care of Naruto, and besides, apparently Naruto's bad for business."

"Why?"

"Apparently no one wants to eat there whenever Naruto's around."

"Oh. And your landlord?"

Naruko blushed and looked away. "Naruto got really excited once and didn't look where he was going. He bumped into our landlord and… well… accidentally pushed him down the stairs."

Ko's eyes grew wide with surprise and shock. "Really?"

Naruko nodded. "He's alive, but he's in the hospital right now and his wife's been really mad at Naruto ever since." She shook her head. "I doubt asking her to take care of him while I'm gone is a good idea."

"A-and your neighbors?"

Naruko gave him a small, reassuring smile. "They already made plans to celebrate in the festivities with their families." She looked back at Hinata, and added, "They're all so nice, but they're old enough to have children and grandkids, and all those children and grandkids hate Naruto -"

"Which is why you can't have one of your neighbors watch over him," Ko finished. "Because even if they're okay with it, the rest of their families won't be."

Naruko nodded. "Pretty much."

Ko tried one more time to think of some sort of solution to Naruko's babysitting problem. "Is there really no one else you can ask to take care of Naruto for you?"

Naruko's face fell a little. "Well, I would've asked Mikoto, but…," her voice seemed to drift off after that.

Ko nodded sympathetically. "I understand," he said.

So much had changed in the last three years. It turns out Fugaku had been right all along about the village having their suspicions about the Uchiha clan, because mere days after Naruko and Mikoto had their little talk, new decrees were made to do exactly what Fugaku had feared: to banish the entire Uchiha clan to a corner of the village, to forbid anyone from the Uchiha clan from leaving outside that designated area without special permission, and to forbid anyone else from entering the area without authorization. Due to Naruko's new past, Naruko no longer had the social standing to get the authorization required to visit Mikoto and her family, so on the day Mikoto's family was about to leave, Naruko made sure to see her one last time, to somewhat fulfill a promise she and Kushina had made to each other.

"Mikoto!" Naruko cried, running towards Mikoto as fast as she could while carrying Naruto in her arms.

Mikoto and a five year old Itachi turned around and Mikoto gave Naruko a small, amused smile when Naruko finally reached them, tired and out of breath. "Well hello there Naruko." She looked at what Naruko had in her arms. "And it looks like you brought Naruto with you too."

"Well… of course!" Naruko replied after taking a few moments to catch her breath. "We need Naruto and Sasuke to see each other at least once before they're going to be separated from each other! I mean… what are the chances that they're going to become friends on their own, right? Gotta give them at least SOME kind of starting point, right?"

Mikoto gasped, but then smiled and said, "Yes, of course." She woke Sasuke from his nap in her arms, "Come on Sasuke," she pleaded softly, "come on, come on." Sasuke slowly started to stir and open his eyes. "There we go."

Meanwhile, Naruko was trying to calm Naruto down. Naruto had mistook Naruko's running for a fun little ride (all the running she did had Naruto constantly bobbing around in her arms), and apparently he didn't want the fun to end, so he kept pestering her in any way he could to get her to keep going. At this point, he was pulling on her hair. "No… Naruto," Naruko muttered, struggling to pry his hands off of her hair. "Stop that… we've been – ouch! We've been through this before! You can't pull on people's hair like this, ah! Especially to your own… mother, ow!"

Mikoto couldn't help but chuckle. "Having a little bit of trouble there Naruko?"

Naruko rolled her eyes. "Oh ha ha, very funny." She finally managed to release her hair from Naruto's grip. She sighed. "There we go." She raised Naruto up so that she could whisper to him in his ear and pointed at Sasuke. "Naruto, do you see him?" Naruto looked over to where his mother was pointing, looking at Sasuke with big blue eyes. "Do you know who that is Naruto? Do you?" A pause. "His name is Sasuke. Can you say that? Sasuke." Apparently Naruto couldn't say that because all he did was stare at the other boy in his mother's arms.

Likewise, Mikoto looked down at Sasuke, who was looking right back at her, and whispered (while pointing at Naruto), "Do you see him Sasuke? Do you?" Sasuke looked to whom his mother was pointing at. "That boy's name is Naruto. Don't you want to be his friend?" Sasuke gave her no response, simply staring at the blonde boy with his own big, onyx eyes.

Naruko and Mikoto looked at each other, Naruko having a nervous look on her face. "This isn't working," she sadly commented.

"Why don't we bring them closer together?" Mikoto suggested, not ready to give up just yet.

The two mothers did just that, bringing Naruto and Sasuke closer together, a baby's arms length away from each other. They continued to stare at each other… and stare at each other… and stare at each other… and stare at each other… and stare at each other… and stare at each other… and stare at each other… until Naruto suddenly sneezed in Sasuke's face, and, in retaliation for that sneeze, Sasuke quickly wiped his face and hit Naruto as hard as he could (which, fortunately, wasn't too hard, even for a baby). After this, it quickly escalated into a baby punching and kicking war (neither one really much hurting the other, but still).

After giving each other surprised looks, Mikoto and Naruko quickly pulled them away from each other. "Naruto!" Naruko scolded. "That wasn't very nice!"

"The same goes for you Sasuke," Mikoto calmly lectured. "That sneeze was an accident. There was no need for that."

The two didn't seem to be listening though, as (strangely enough) the two seemed to be glaring at each other.

"Ah geez," Naruko said, "this wasn't supposed to happen."

Mikoto thought for a moment, but then smiled. "Well, it wasn't what WE expected to happen, nor was it the outcome we desired, but…," she turned to Naruko, "I think we still succeeded in accomplishing what we wanted to accomplish."

Naruko's eyes widened. "R-really?"

Mikoto nodded. "Yes." She then looked up at the sky, reminiscing about the past. "Remember back when Minato and Fugaku used to be rivals? And when Kushina didn't like Minato at all when they first met?"

Naruko nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, look what happened to them," Mikoto reasoned. "Minato and Kushina ended up getting married." She leaned in and whispered, "And having a child of their own." She leaned back. "And Minato and Fugaku became good friends, and when Minato become Hokage, he and Fugaku worked that much harder to strengthen the bonds between the village and the Uchiha clan." Mikoto smiled at the memories. "They may have had a rough start, but in the end, they formed the strongest bonds."

Naruko gave her an amused look. "So what? You're saying that people who start off hating each other eventually make the best of friends?"

Mikoto good-naturedly shrugged. "Well, when you say it like that…." The two laughed a bit, almost completely forgetting about the five year old Uchiha silently watching the entire thing.

"All joking aside though," Naruko said, "I think I understand what you're saying." She smiled and held Naruto up. "Let's hope the same happens to these little guys."

Mikoto nodded. "Right."

"Mikoto!" Mikoto turned around to see her husband waving at her. "Mikoto," he cried, looking noticeably bitter and angry, "come on! We have to go!"

"We're coming!" Mikoto cried back. She turned to Naruko, her eyes noticeably watering up a bit, obviously holding back tears, which was completely understandable. She had just lost her best friend and her husband, who had also been a good friend of hers, and now she was going to be separated from the rest of her friends that were still alive. "This may be the last time we ever see each other," she said.

Naruko shook her head, her eyes watering up just as quickly. "Don't say that. Who knows? Maybe the village will see that they were wrong about your clan and trust you again."

Mikoto shrugged. "Maybe." They hugged (or at least hugged as best as two women carrying infants could). "Goodbye Naruko."

Naruko did her best to put up a bright smile. "Don't you mean, 'Until the next time'?"

Mikoto smiled. "Right. Until the next time." She turned to join her husband. "Say goodbye to Naruko and Naruto Itachi."

Itachi gave Naruko a little bow. "Goodbye," he said obediently. He was about to follow his mother, but stopped when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see that the hand belonged to Naruko, who used it to pull Itachi into one last hug.

"Stay strong Itachi," Naruko whispered. "Your family needs you now more than ever."

"…I know."

"And take care of Sasuke for me, okay? I wouldn't want anything to happen to my son's future best friend, you know?"

Itachi nodded. "Yeah, I know. Besides," Itachi smiled up at her, "I don't want anything bad to happen to my little brother either."

Naruko ruffled up his hair a bit and finally let him go. "I wouldn't expect any less from you." She paused, before adding, "Stay good, alright?" She gave Fugaku a worried glance. "Your father didn't take it too well when he heard about the whole split…."

"I know," Itachi reassured her, adding a smile for good measure. "A ninja's duty is to the whole village, not just their clan."

Naruko smiled. "Thank you." She looked to see that Fugaku and Mikoto were watching them. "Now go, your family's waiting for you."

Itachi nodded and ran towards his family. They looked back at her and gave her one last wave of goodbye before finally leaving her life forever.

"Well," Ko said, standing up, "we'd better get going now. As you know, Lady Hinata and I have things to do."

Naruko nodded. "I understand." Naruko watch as Ko went to go fetch Hinata.

"Say goodbye Lady Hinata," Ko gently instructed.

Hinata gave Naruko a little farewell bow. "Goodbye Mrs. Uzu – I mean, Naruko."

Naruko smiled. "Goodbye Hinata." She leaned forward and whispered, "And don't worry too much about Naruto. I'm sure nothing bad will happen to him. He knows his way around the village (for the most part), and if he gets into trouble, I'm sure someone will notice." She winked. "He's pretty hard to miss."

Hinata let out a relieved sigh. "O-oh, okay."

"Come on Lady Hinata," Ko said. "We need to start moving. We're cutting it close as it is."

Hinata looked up at Ko. "Right."

Ko took Hinata's hand into his and looked at Naruko one last time. "Well, we're off."

"Have fun," Naruko said.

As they parted ways, Hinata remembered something Naruko had said to her and a word that Ko had just said mere seconds ago. "Start," she whispered to herself.

"Hm?" Ko asked, looking down at Hinata. Apparently he had heard Hinata's little slip of the tongue.

Hinata looked up at Ko, averting her eyes away from his gaze and blushing a bit. "I-I was just thinking about what Naruko said about starts."

Ko smiled. "Oh?"

Hinata nodded. "Y-yeah, and… I think I know what I want to start on."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"I… I want to start becoming a better person."

"Really? And what type of person do you want to become?"

Hinata looked forward, a thoughtful expression on her face. "I want to become strong like father… and kind like mother."

Ko smiled. "That's a great goal to start striving towards… Hinata."

Before arriving at the rooftop of the Ninja Academy (the place the signing ceremony was going to take place), Naruko made sure to take off her ring and put it somewhere (that was hopefully) safe. This was because the Land of Lightning already had information on her and it regarded her real past, the past where she was the fourth Hokage's little sister, not the one where she was a widow and a single mother. The ring alone would have brought up too many unwanted questions, and if the Land of Lightning ever found out about Naruto, who knows what would happen? Sure, the Land of Lightning was about to sign a peace treaty and all, but the third Hokage had warned her that only time would tell if the peace treaty would be a success or not, and until it can be, without a shadow of a doubt, be considered a success, there would just have to be some secrets that would have to be kept, as any clues, suspicions, or inconsistencies that could possibly betray them could prove dangerous in the long run.

Wearing a kimono, she had no pockets on her, so she had to resort to putting her ring in one of her sleeves and slyly sliding it close to her elbow. "Great," she thought, inwardly groaning. "Now I have to make sure my arms stay bent a certain angle the entire ceremony."

Thankfully for her, the signing went off without a hitch. Many people were there at the rooftop, including the village's council members, some ninja from both villages, and some important civilians from each village, and many of the villagers and ninjas from both villages were watching from the ground, prepared to start celebrating once the treaty was officially signed and the ceremony was officially over. To everyone's relief, both sides shook hands without any sign of animosity towards the other and the signing went by much quicker than expected, maybe because everyone had been expecting the entire event to have a much tenser atmosphere than it actually did.

After the signing, the people on the ground immediately went out to celebrate and everybody on the rooftop walked around and shook hands with one another, congratulating each other on such a momentous occasion. "You know, this isn't so bad," Naruko though as she shook hands with everybody on the rooftop. She had successfully hid her ring so far and everyone there seemed genuinely glad that the war was over and that the peace treaty had finally been signed, and for the most part, everybody seemed like a nice person (mostly, the council was their usual unfriendly selves). This was a good thing, because despite being asked to be a part of the signing, this apparently included showing the Land of Lightning citizens around the village and having dinner with everybody at the meeting, so despite the fact that the signing was now over, as far as Naruko knew, her whole day had basically been booked solid.

Despite realizing that the experience wouldn't be SO bad due to being surrounded by what seemed like decent people, Naruko was still upset about this. She didn't like leaving Naruto alone all by himself, especially if it was going to be for an entire day, but sadly (and she hated to admit this) she didn't know what else to do. The best she could do right now was trust that Naruto would be okay by himself for a day, which was at least possible. Naruto DID know his way around the village, he could survive a day entirely on ramen if he wanted to (heck, by the way he ate ramen, he already kind of did anyway), if he wanted something else to eat, he knew where some of the spare cash was around the apartment and it would've been illegal for any of the stores NOT to sell him food when he needed it (they would at most be very unpleasant about it), and even though the landlord's wife was angry with him, if he needed help getting inside the apartment, she'd always be willing to unlock the door if he happened to forget or misplace the key.

When everybody went inside the Hokage's office to discuss what they were going to do today, Naruko looked up at the clock. "It's 12:00 P.M.," Naruko noted. "I got here at nine… and shortly after that the ceremony started, so that means that the ceremony had been… yikes, about three hours long!" Naruko inwardly sighed. "Then again, I guess it's to be expected, considering all those speeches they made." Naruko thought for a moment. "Let's see, I left Naruto at eight, which means I've left him alone for about four hours, but Naruto's a deep sleeper, so let's assume that Naruto woke up at ten o'clock, that means I've only left him alone for two hours, right?" Naruko absolutely hated this. Despite the fact that a lot of people (if they forgot their prejudice about Naruto for a moment if they had any) would reassure her that her leaving Naruto behind without supervision was completely justified considering the circumstances, that still didn't change the fact that it downright bad parenting, and it didn't make her feel any better knowing that she was probably going to have to leave Naruto alone for another eight hours or so (which was about the time Naruto was supposed to go to bed anyway).

"Please Naruto," Naruko inwardly prayed, "please be safe, at least for today."

She was awoken from her thoughts by a confident laugh coming from behind her. "Well if it isn't the fourth Hokage's kid sister!" Naruko turned around to see that the voice and laugh belonged to the head Cloud ninja who was standing right behind her, an arrogant grin on his face and his hands on his sides.

Naruko turned around and did her best to give him the best smile she could, which is pretty hard to do considering the fact that the person you're directing it to just said something so rude. "Congratulations on the signing," Naruko said, holding out her hand, careful not to use the same arm she was using to hide her ring, inviting him to shake it.

The head Cloud ninja gladly shook it, the arrogant grin still plastered on his face. "To think the Village Hidden in the Leaves was hiding such a beautiful flower," he said provocatively.

Naruko could only laugh weakly. What else could she have done after a statement like that from a man like this? Take out the ring she was hiding in one of her sleeves and say that she was already engaged? (Though admittedly, she was extremely tempted to.) He may have been the head Cloud ninja of his village, and he may have just signed a peace treaty between his and their villages, but that didn't change the fact that she was getting an awfully creepy vibe from him at the moment.

"Ah, there you are," the third Hokage said as he walked up to the two, Naruko inwardly letting out a sigh of relief when he came. "I see you two have been formally acquainted with each other."

The head Cloud ninja smiled a sickeningly sweet smile. "Yes, yes we have."

When nobody was looking, Naruko slowly edged away from him. Nothing about this man felt genuine or natural, and although Naruko wasn't the type of person to judge, she couldn't help but feel a hint of disgust towards him.

"Well," the third Hokage said, "we'd best get on our way. There are many sights to see and so little time, and we've finally agreed on a schedule. Come on, let's go."

"And over there are the village's hot springs," the third Hokage explained as the group he was showing around reached them.

The head Cloud ninja smirked. "Mixed?"

"No!" Naruko cried. Realizing that she had said that too loudly (with everybody giving her a strange looks and all), she composed herself, and said more calmly, "No, they're not."

"They're only mixed on special days," the third Hokage added. "If you were truly looking forward to a mixed experience, I'm afraid you've come on the wrong day."

"Ah, that's a shame," the head Cloud ninja said.

"I don't know how much more I can take of this guy," Naruko thought. "He's been trying to find a way to make a move on me since the beginning of this entire tour!" Naruko inwardly let out an exasperated sigh. "When will it ever end?"

"Naruko!" a voice cried.

The whole group looked to see that the voice belonged to one of two Hidden Leaf ninjas running up to them. The two bowed respectfully to the third Hokage and the head Cloud ninja and turned to Naruko. "Naruko," the one who previously cried out to them cried, "please come with us! It's Naruto!"

Every one of the Leaf citizens' eyes widened and every one of the Lightning citizens' eyebrows were raised. "Naruto?" Naruko asked.

The other Leaf ninja nodded. "He's been throwing a tantrum for the past half hour and none of us have figured out how to calm him down. He won't even tell us what's bothering him!"

"Naruto?" the head Cloud ninja asked, the situation piquing his interest. "Who is this Naruto?"

"Um, well," unfortunately for the third Hokage, his mind was drawing a blank.

Naruko's mind raced furiously. "He's a boy in the village," Naruko explained, as calmly as she could. "He and his parents have been fighting for a while now, so whenever he's upset, he usually comes to see me. I guess they had another falling out."

Judging by the looks on the Lightning citizens' faces, it looked as if they believed her story. "I see," the head Cloud ninja said, scratching his chin and nodding.

Naruko turned to the third Hokage. "May I?"

The third nodded. "You may, but once you're done, rejoin the group as quickly as possible, understand? We wouldn't want our guests to be deprived of your presence, now do we?"

Naruko could only laugh weakly. "R-right." In all honesty though, she was more than glad to get some time away from that head Cloud ninja, even if it was for just a little bit. She secretly prayed that Naruto would take a long time to calm down. Handling him was a lot easier than handling the head Cloud ninja, no matter how out of control Naruto could get. She looked at the two ninjas who had come to fetch her. "Take me to him," she said.

They nodded. "Right."

While the three of them were running, Naruko asked, "So, um, if you don't mind me asking, what time is it right now?"

"Um," one of the ninjas thought for a moment, "I think it's around two o' clock."

"Two hours," Naruko noted. "That means I'll have to leave him for (at least) another six hours after this."

As they were running, the third Hokage inwardly let out a sigh of relief. "It's a good thing Naruko is such a quick thinker. I probably have Minato to thank for that." He looked back at his guests and calmly asked, "Now, shall we continue the tour?" Everyone nodded and went on their way, but unbeknownst to them, the head Cloud ninja had slowly started to slow down his pace to the point where he was walking alongside his two attendants.

"Should one of us follow them?" one of his attendants quietly asked.

"Don't bother," the head Cloud ninja whispered. "Stick to the plan."

"But it all seems pretty suspicious," the other one quietly pointed out. "I mean… her name's Naruko… the boy's name is Naruto -"

The head Cloud ninja looked at him from the corner of his eye. "Coincidence. Besides, both are names anyone could have and neither one of them are part of the plan."

"But -"

The head Cloud ninja glared at him. "Stick… to… the plan," he hissed. "I didn't come all the way out here just to see the plan I meticulously created myself crumble before my very eyes."

"I-if I may be so bold sir," the other attendant whispered, "why are we only targeting the Hyuga clan's Byakugan? There are many more secrets we could possibly obtain with the position we are in right now. Why not obtain those as well?"

"Idiot," the head Cloud ninja murmured. "The more secrets we try to steal, the more chances we'll have on getting caught! And besides, the Hyugas have always been a thorn in our side during the war."

"But what about the Uchiha clan's Sharingan?" the other attendant asked. "It's arguably just as powerful, if not more."

"Out of the question. The village has banished them to a corner of the village and has practically ostracized them. Even today the entire clan is under heavy surveillance. No, we'll be stealing the Hyuga clan's Byakugan and nothing more. And to make sure the plan is successful," an arrogant grin stretched across his face, "I'll kidnap the Hyuga brat myself."

"Let me go! …Let me go!"

"Only if you stop what you're doing this instant!"

"No! It's… not… fair!"

"What's not fair?!"

"Shut up! You know what I'm talking about!"

"No! We don't know what you're talking about!"

"You're lying! You're all liars!"

"Naruto, stop it this instant!"

Naruto and all of the ninjas trying to calm him down stopped and looked behind them, Naruto's watering eyes lighting up immensely. "Mom!" He kicked the two ninjas who were holding on to his arms. "Let go! …Let go!" More out of relief that Naruko was here to deal with him now, the two ninjas released his arms and let him run into the arms of his mother.

Once he was enveloped in his mother's embrace, Naruto was a blubbering mess, and because of that, despite his best efforts to tell his mother what had happened, she couldn't understand a word he said. "Shh, shh, Naruto, calm down, just calm down for a moment okay?" Naruko whispered into Naruto's ear, alternating between gently patting his back, soothingly ruffling his hair and calmly drawing circles on his back with her hand. After a minute or so, Naruto finally seemed to calm down. "Okay," she let Naruto go and cleaned his face up a bit. "Now tell me what's wrong." Before he said anything though, Naruko quickly added, "And use your indoor voice, alright sweetie?"

After a few more sobs, Naruto said, as quietly as he could (which wasn't really THAT quiet to begin with), "E-everything!"

Naruko caressed Naruto's cheeks a bit, hoping that that would cheer him up a little. "Naruto, I don't understand. You're going to have to be a little more specific."

Despite the cheek caressing, Naruto let out one last tear. "Everyone!"

Naruko sighed. "Naruto…."

Suddenly, all of Naruto's sadness turned into burning anger. "Everyone's what's wrong!"

"Why?" Naruko asked quickly and calmly. "Why is everyone what's wrong?"

"Because," Naruto cried, not giving a care in the world who was listening to them or not, "they," he pointed at a man managing one of the festival booths, "won't let me play on any of their stupid booths!"

"Well then why do you want to play on them if they're all so stupid?!" the man angrily argued.

"Wait," Naruko forced Naruto to look at her. "Are you saying that EVERY booth won't let you play on them?"

Naruto nodded. "They won't even let me buy anything from them either! It's not fair!"

"EVERY booth? Naruto, are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"Every booth is rejecting Naruto?" Naruko thought. "But how? Some of these booths were put up by citizens from the Land of Lightning!" A sudden thought crept into her head. "Wait here," she instructed Naruto, who obeyed, probably because he thought she was going to let the booth-runners have it.

Naruko walked up to the man who had just angrily argued with Naruto, and whispered, "What did you tell the Land of Lightning booths?"

"We told them the truth!"

Naruko's eyes widened. "The truth about Naruto's connection to the Nine-Tailed Fox?! But that's taboo!"

"What do you take us for? Idiots?! No, we didn't tell them that!"

"Then what did you tell them?!" Naruko demanded.

"Like I said, we told them the truth." He pointed at Naruto. "The truth that he's a little monster who doesn't deserve even the smallest hint of kindness and joy, and that whatever they do, they shouldn't let him play or buy anything on any one of their booths because he rightfully deserves it!"

Naruko looked at him in horror. "How could you say something like that?" she asked in disbelief.

The man gave Naruto a look of pure hatred and loathing. "That fox killed my family!" He looked back at Naruko. "I'd sooner die than pander to the demon that killed them!"

Naruko let out a small gasp and looked around, and, sure enough, the other people running all the other booths seemed to have the same resolve. If the citizens from the Land of Lightning had any doubts about not letting Naruto play or buy anything on their booths before, with the behavior he had just displayed, they sure didn't have any now. In their eyes, it would've been downright irresponsible to let such a whiny, spoiled brat have the luxury of playing on one their booths without learning a lesson first and they would be sure to spread the word out to the other Land of Lightning booths; and the citizens of the Village Hidden in the Leaves who were running their own booths had finally found a loophole. The law about giving Naruto what he wanted (within reason) only applied to stores; it didn't say anything about festival booths.

Utterly defeated, Naruko composed herself and bowed apologetically to the man managing the booth. "I understand. I'm sorry if he caused you any trouble. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

The man folded his arms and let out an angry huff. "You'd better," he muttered.

When Naruko walked back to Naruto, Naruto asked, with hope in his eyes, "Well? Can I play on their booths now? Can I?"

Unshed tears were forming at the corners of her eyes. "I'm sorry Naruto."

And in a blink of an eye, all the hope in Naruto's eyes vanished. "W-what?"

Naruko kneeled down so that she could look at Naruto face-to-face. "I'm sorry Naruto," she whispered, her voice cracking a bit. "I really am."

Naruto was slowly starting to understand what was going on. "I… I can't play?"

Naruko grabbed Naruto's hands and gave them a little squeeze, trying her best not to look too sad in front of him. "I'm sorry sweetie," she whispered. "But it's their booths and they can do whatever they want with them."

The waterworks were about to start again. "But it's not fair!"

"I know, and I'm sorry, but I can't convince them to let you play on their booths!" She leaned forward so that their foreheads touched. "But don't worry, mama will make it up to you, alright?"

Naruto rubbed his eyes, wiping away the tears that would've fallen down his face if he had given them the chance. The expression on his face was no longer a sad one, but one of bitterness and disappointment. "How?" he asked quietly.

"…I don't know. Mommy doesn't know yet, but don't worry, she'll think of something. She always does, doesn't she?" She desperately wanted him to reassure her that somehow, in some way, she had been a good mother to him.

Naruto slowly nodded. "Yeah."

Feeling a little bit better from Naruto's response, Naruko kissed him on the cheek and said, "Remember, you can always go to Ichiraku Ramen if you're hungry, alright?" She knew she was spoiling him rotten like this, but Naruko didn't see how NOT spoiling him rotten was a good thing either, considering the environment he was living in.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah."

"And don't you cause any more trouble for anyone, alright? Mommy will get in a lot of trouble if you do, alright?"

Naruto nodded. "Yes mom."

She kissed him on his forehead and hugged him, whispering in his ear, "Mommy's so lucky to have a son like you."

After hesitating for a moment, Naruto smiled and slowly hugged her back. "Yeah, well… me too, I guess."

Naruko let out a small laugh and finally released him from her grasp. "Now go. Go and have fun as best you can. Mommy will think of something, alright?"

Naruto gave her the biggest smile he could muster and gave her a salute. "Right!" He then ran off to do God knows what.

As Naruto slowly disappeared from view, everyone went back to his or her own business. One of the Leaf ninja walked up to Naruko and asked, "Hey, you gonna be alright?"

Naruko nodded. "I'll manage."

The Leaf ninja looked over to his colleagues. None of them seemed to completely believe her, but Naruko was known to be strong in her own way, so they all silently agreed to leave it at that. "Well, okay then."

When she was about to leave to rejoin the Hokage's group, one of the other Leaf ninja added, "Hey, thanks for taking care of him for us. We owe you one."

Another Leaf ninja smiled and nodded. "Yeah. If there's any way we could return the favor, let us know."

Naruko's eyes widened. "Really? You'd really do that for me?"

Another Leaf ninja shrugged. "Well… within reason, but sure, yeah, why not?"

Naruko thought for a moment. Then, an idea popped into her head. "Well… now that you mention it…."

"Naruto," Naruko whispered, shaking the sleeping Naruto a little bit. "Naruto, wake up."

After several seconds of shaking, Naruto finally stirred and opened his eyes. "Mom?" He looked outside their window. It was still dark out. "W-what time is it?" he asked, rubbing his eyes. He still felt tired, like he hadn't gotten that much sleep. He looked at the clock on top of the cabinet next to the bed. He groaned. "Mom! It's two o'clock in the morning!"

Naruko held up her index finger in front of her lips, signaling for him to be quiet. "I know, and I'm sorry, but this was the only time I could do it."

Naruto gave his mother a curious glance. "The only time to do what?"

Naruko smiled. "Remember when I said I'd make it up to you?"

"Huh?" Naruto thought for a moment, trying to remember when she had said that. After the memories started flooding back, he looked back at his mother, wide-eyed. "You mean -"

Naruko quickly gave him the signal again to be quiet and nodded. "Yes. It took a while, but it's all ready now." After Naruko said this, Naruto finally noticed how tired his mother looked, despite how much she was smiling. "Now come on, get dressed and put on your shoes." She was about to let him do so, but then stopped him, and quickly added, "And keep quiet okay? I don't want to wake up any of the neighbors… or the entire village for that matter."

Naruto nodded, his excitement quickly overcoming his sleepiness. He quickly and quietly got dressed and the two of them left the apartment. While walking to their destination, Naruko tried her best to get them there as quietly as she could, but with Naruto so excited about how his mother was "going to make it up to him", Naruko was having a little bit of trouble keeping up with all the different ways Naruto could possibly wake somebody up, and with the night being so dark and all and Naruko being the only one carrying a flashlight to light their way, it only made their trek that much slower, resulting in Naruto becoming more and more excited and impatient.

Their walk finally led them deep into the woods, where Naruto was forced to hold onto his mother's hand in order to keep them from getting separated and Naruto from potentially getting lost in the woods so late at night. For a long time, they just went deeper and deeper into the woods, so deep in fact, that Naruto was sure that they were well away from the village. He hated to admit it, but it was actually starting to scare him. Where could his mother possibly be taking him so deep into the woods and so far away from the village?

Suddenly, Naruko came to a complete stop. She bent down and pointed in front of them. "Naruto, do you see that?"

Naruto squinted, trying to see what his mother was pointing at. "See what?" he asked.

"That light. Do you see it?"

Naruto looked even harder, and suddenly, he saw it, a faint light in the distance. "I see it!" he said excitedly. "I see it!"

"Run toward that light Naruto. Don't worry; mama will be right behind you." She gave him a little push. "Go!"

And that's just what Naruto did. He ran and ran until finally, he saw what his mother had been leading him to, and his jaw dropped. In front of him was basically a miniature version of the festival that had happened in the village today (or, technically speaking, yesterday), lit up by lanterns being hung up by strings surrounding the entire area and filled with games and food that Naruto recognized from the festival. The only difference was that other than he and his mother, no one else was there. No one was there to man the booths, no one was there to sell the food and treats, and no one else was there to enjoy the festivities.

When his mother finally caught up to him, Naruto pointed towards the little festival and asked, "Mom, where is everybody? What is all this?"

Naruko smiled and kneeled down to Naruto's eye level. "Do you remember how no one would let you play and buy anything from their booths?" Naruto nodded. "Well," she gestured towards the miniature festival in front of them, "no one can stop you here."

Naruto's face practically glowed. "You mean…."

Naruko nodded. "Yes sweetie." She kissed him on his forehead. "Have as much fun as you want. No one can stop you. And you can laugh and make as much noise as you want."

"Really?!"

Naruko nodded. "Yep. After all, no one can hear you from this far away," she gave him a little wink, "right?"

Naruto looked at the entire festival in front of him, the entire festival for him and him alone. "How… how did you do this?" he asked breathlessly.

Naruko smiled knowingly. "Let's just say mommy and daddy had some friends that still owe us one."

Naruto gasped. Naruko usually never mentioned, let alone talked about his father, not unless he outright asked her a question about him, so you could say that Naruko mentioning his father had some kind of connection to what was going on right now sort of made this even more special to him.

Naruto looked at his mother, a big smile spreading across his face. "Thanks mom!" He gave her a big hug, and while they embraced, Naruto whispered, "And thank you too… dad."

Naruko let out a little gasp, as she obviously heard that from how close they were to each other, but quickly recovered and whispered, "You're welcome sweetie." Once they let go, she gave him a little push and said, "Now go have some fun!"

Naruto was about to run off and do just that, but then he stopped, ran back and grabbed his mother's hand, indicating that he wanted her to join him. On the outside, Naruko took it with grace, but on the inside, she was just as overjoyed. After a whole day of putting up with the head Cloud ninja's extremely bad advances, she was in need of some good, wholesome, innocent fun for a change.

And that's just what they did. They played the games that the Leaf ninjas were fortunate enough to procure for them, they ate the festival-exclusive sweets (Naruto was going to have to brush his teeth again after this), and they played with all the leftover festival-exclusive toys that some of the booths still had with them.

After a while, Naruto was finally all wound up, and with his sleepiness slowly coming back to him, it looked like Naruto's festival was about to come to a close, but Naruko had one last surprise for him. She took out some sticks and a lighter and handed one of the sticks to him. Naruto, not knowing what it was, looked at it, and asked, "Mom, what is this?"

"You'll see," Naruko said as she was trying to get the lighter to work.

"All I see is a stick."

"Just hold on a second dear." When she finally got the lighter to work, she checked again to see if it wasn't just a fluke, and when it wasn't, she said, "Okay, hold the tip of your stick out." Naruto did just that. Naruko smiled. "Now, you might think that what you're holding is just an ordinary stick, but it's not. It's a very special stick, just like how everyone in the world is special in their own way."

Naruto groaned. "There you go again."

Naruko eyes widened in surprise. "What do you mean by that?"

Naruto had a cynical expression on his face. "You always do this mom! You're always trying to make everything so dramatic!"

Naruko blushed. "H-hey! What's the matter with that?!"

"You make everything so boring and needlessly complicated!"

The hue of Naruko's blush got darker and darker. "H-hey! You can't speak to your mother like that!" She pulled Naruto in, put him in a headlock and gave him a noogie. "Apologize right now mister!"

Naruto began thrashing about in her arms. "Alright, alright! I'm sorry!"

"And I accept your apology!" Naruko cried, and finally let Naruto go. "Now," she said in a sickeningly sweet voice as Naruto rubbed his head, "may I continue with what I was saying?"

Naruto pouted. "Fine." People who were willing to talk to him said that he was too weird to be his mother's child, and in a way, Naruto could see where they were coming from, but every once and a while, she'd pull a stunt like that, and he'd always wonder if they weren't so different after all.

Naruko smiled. "Good." She thought for a moment. "Now where was I?" she murmured to herself. "Oh that's right!" She looked back at Naruto. "Hold out the tip of your stick." Naruto did just that. "Now, you might think that what you're holding is just an ordinary stick, but it's not. It's a very special stick, just like how everyone in the world is special in their own way. All they need is the right fire burning inside them," she flipped the switch on the lighter, which produced a small flame, which she used to light the tip of Naruto's stick, "and once they have that, that person is capable of the most amazing of feats." Once the flame touched the tip of the stick, sparks started flying out of the tip, producing something that Naruto had only seen in the sky up until now.

"Fireworks!" he cried, his eyes shining with wonder and excitement.

Naruko could help but laugh. "Yes Naruto." She lit her own stick, which also produced many sparks. "Fireworks!"

To say that Naruto was overjoyed would've been an understatement. He began frolicking around, twirling his stick in every which direction, controlling his own, personal firework in every direction in which he desired it to travel. Eventually, he stopped for a moment and looked up. Despite how far away they were, they could still see the Hokage Monument in all its glory, and Naruto was looking at one face in particular.

Naruko walked up to Naruto, wondering what had stopped him. "Naruto?" She kneeled down to his eye level. "What's wrong?"

"It's just… the fourth Hokage," Naruto said, not taking his eyes off of the fourth Hokage's face for a second, "a lot of people said that he was the best. He beat the Nine-Tailed Fox when no one else could."

Naruko gasped, but then quickly recomposed herself, and said, "Yes, that's all true, but… why do you bring it up?"

Naruto didn't answer at first. He looked down at his stick, which had stopped producing sparks. "Was he like a firework too?"

Naruko smiled knowingly. "Yes," she answered, looking up at the fourth Hokage's face. "He was just an ordinary boy at first. Some even called him unreliable, so when he told everybody that he dreamed about becoming Hokage, everybody either laughed at him or didn't believe him; but then, he found his flame, and in no time at all, he became the fourth Hokage." She let out a small laugh. "They even called him the 'Yellow Flash'."

"And… what did the people who didn't believe he could do it say after he become Hokage?"

"They acknowledged and respected him wholeheartedly. And how couldn't they? Not only was he one of the greatest ninjas the village had ever seen, but he was also one of nicest people the village had ever seen. It'd be kind of hard not to acknowledge a person like that, let alone acknowledge him as Hokage."

Naruto stared long and hard at the fourth Hokage's face. "Mom?"

"Yes?"

"I'm a good person, right?"

"Well," she reached out and pinched one of his cheeks a little bit, "you definitely have some room for improvement," she smiled, "but you're definitely a good person Naruto. And as long as you know what's right and what's wrong and always do what's right, you'll always be a good person. At least… you will be in my book."

Naruto blushed and grinned immensely at this. "Then I've decided!" he cried, flicking Naruko's hand away from his cheek. "When I grow up, I'm going to become Hokage! That way, everyone will have no choice but to respect and acknowledge me!"

Naruko gasped. After all, what were the chances that Minato's son, without spending any time with his father, would have the same exact dream his father once had?

Naruko smiled knowingly. "I'd hate to break it to you kiddo, but being Hokage is more than just being the best and being a nice person." She then started listing all the boring things that came with the title of being Hokage, counting them off with her fingers. "Let's see, there's politics, all those old people you have to talk to, running the village, making sure everyone's happy, all that paperwork, and a lot of other boring stuff." Her knowing grin turned into a mischievous one. "You'd probably quit after the first day!"

Naruto shook his head furiously. "No I wouldn't! I'll definitely become Hokage no matter what! I don't care what happens before or after I become Hokage, I'm going to become Hokage! That's a promise!"

Naruko let out a melodramatic sigh. "I don't believe you," she said in a singsong voice.

"Well believe it!" He held out his fist. "I give you my word mom!"

"Talk is cheap," Naruko playfully argued.

"No it isn't!" Naruko cried, obviously getting extremely flustered and angry by his mother's sudden lack of support. "When I make a promise, I keep it! I'll never go back on my word! That'll be my ninja way!"

He really did look serious and upset. Naruko decided that now was probably the best time to stop playing around with his emotions. "Really?" she asked, in the sincerest voice she could possibly muster.

Naruto nodded angrily. "Yeah! I'll surpass every single one of the Hokages! Believe it!"

Suddenly, Naruko pulled him into a big hug. "I believe you sweetie."

"No you don't," Naruto's said in a muffled voice, as his face was being forced into his mother's chest. "You haven't believed me this entire time!"

"Oh, that's because you're so cute when you get all flustered and angry!" she gushed. "I just couldn't resist!"

"C-cute?!" Naruto blushed and tried desperately to get out of his mother's grasp. "Mom!"

"Oh, there you go again!" she teased. "I should probably take a picture, it would last longer!" All of a sudden, all of Naruto's struggling stopped. Naruko looked down to see that Naruto's eyes were starting to get heavy. "Oh Naruto," she whispered. "You're getting sleepy."

"N-no I'm… not," Naruto said, but immediately after that protest, he let out a big, long yawn.

Naruko smiled. "You're not fooling anyone mister." She released him, took his hand, and stood back up. "Come on, let's go home."

As they started making their way back home, Naruto continued his protests. "I don't want to go home… I never want to go home… I want to stay here," he yawned, "forever."

Naruko frowned. "I want to stay here forever too sweetie, but that's just not possible. Remember what I told you? One day, you'll be old enough to go to the Ninja Academy, and when that happens, I'll be working twenty-four seven. That means you're going to have to get used to spending every day by yourself, not unless you start making an effort to make friends."

"But I'll still get to see you, right?"

Naruko smiled. "Right. Early in the morning and late at night. I'll wake you up and tuck you in every day. And once I start that job, we won't have to depend on Grandpa Hokage giving us money anymore. We'll have enough money of our own to buy whatever we want."

"Like… ramen?"

"Especially ramen."

Naruto seemed to relent after that. "I guess," a yawn, "that isn't so bad."

As they continued their walk back home, Naruko looked at the droopy eyed Naruto and remembered all the things Naruto had said. "Like father, like son," she thought, a small smile forming on her lips.

When they finally got back home, Naruko made Naruto undress, put on his pajamas, and brush his teeth before finally letting him go back to bed. She watched him sleep for a while before finally getting ready to follow suit. It had been a long day, and cleaning up and returning all of the festival equipment was going to make tomorrow feel just as long. "Oh well," she thought as she took one last look at Naruto sleeping in their bed, "it was worth it."

Just then, she heard a knock at their door. Naruko's eyes widened. "Now who could that be at this hour?" She looked back to see if the knocking had woken Naruto up, but fortunately, Naruto was a pretty deep sleeper. She ran to the door as quickly and quietly as possible and opened the door, and couldn't believe who it was. It was Ko, but he looked pale, he was sweating profusely, and he looked like he had just seen a ghost.

"Ko?!" Naruko softly exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

Ko leaned against the frame of the door and covered his mouth. "That's a good question," he thought. "What AM I doing here?"

"Ko?" Naruko asked softly. "Ko, what happened? You're scaring me. You looked like you've just seen a ghost."

Ko shook his head. "I might as well have," he finally said. "Somebody tried to kidnap Lady Hinata tonight."

Naruko gasped. "What?! Well, where is she now? Is she alright? How did this happen?"

Ko held up his hand, signaling for Naruko to calm down. "Don't worry, she's alright. Lord Hiashi killed the kidnapper, but…." He shook his head.

"But what?" Naruko asked, fearing what his answer might be.

Ko continued to shake his head as he answered, "The kidnapper… was the head Cloud ninja of the Land of Lightning."

Word about the head Cloud ninja's death spread fast, throughout the entire Hidden Leaf village as well as the entire Land of Lightning. It was obvious to everyone now that the peace treaty had been nothing more than a means to an end, a way to infiltrate the Hidden Leaf village so that they could steal the Byakugan, but their plan had been foiled when Lord Hiashi killed the head Cloud ninja, or so it seemed. The Land of Lightning had a backup plan.

The elders from the two villages argued for days over what should be done. The Hidden Leaf's elders accused the Land of Lightning's elders of attempted kidnapping, but the Land of Lightning's elders denied that they ever knew such a plan had been set in motion. In the end, the Land of Lightning demanded Hiashi's body as compensation for the death of their head Cloud ninja, and the Hidden Leaf elders had no choice but to comply to their demands.

When Naruko heard the news, she was horrified. To take Hinata's father away from her, mere days after she had just turned three years old? It was horrible. That's why, on the day in which Hiashi's dead body was scheduled to be transported to the Land of Lightning, Naruko left, lying to Naruto that she was going to the funeral of someone he didn't know and that he'd probably find the funeral boring anyways, so that she could comfort Hinata in her time of need. She made it just in time to see Hiashi's body, a blanket covering his corpse, being carried away by some ninjas from the Land of Lightning.

"Hiashi!" she cried, running up to the body as fast as she could. When she finally reached them, Naruko asked, "Can I see his face? Just one last time?"

The ninjas hesitated before allowing Naruko to look one last time at Hiashi's face. Naruko uncovered the face of the former head of the Hyuga clan and gasped, almost weeping on sight. Sure, she never really knew Hiashi that well, and what little she knew of him wasn't very pleasant, but he didn't deserve to die for this, to die only because he was protecting his daughter! Naruko covered the face of the former head of the Hyuga clan and nodded towards the Lightning ninjas, signaling that they could continue transporting his dead body back to the Land of Lightning.

When they were finally gone from view, Naruko looked around and spotted Hinata, watching the Lightning ninjas taking away her now deceased father alongside the rest of the Hyuga clan. Her mother, Ko, and Hiashi's brother, Hizashi, were behind her. There were no signs of tears on their faces, probably because they wanted to be strong for Hinata.

Naruko ran up to the mourning clan and asked, "Are all of you alright?"

Hinata's mother nodded. "Yes. Thank you for coming Naruko. This is such a hard time…," she looked down at Hinata, "especially for Hinata."

Naruko nodded. "I understand. I'm sorry for the loss." She kneeled down to Hinata's eye level. "Are you okay sweetie?" she whispered.

Hinata averted her eyes to the side and whispered, "Y-yeah, I'm fine."

Naruko gave the heiress a small smile and said, "It's okay if you cry you know. You can get away with it since you're still so young."

Hinata shook her head. "N-no, I'll be fine." She gave Naruko a little bow. "T-thank you for your concern… Mrs. Uzumaki." Naruko resisted her impulse to correct her. She was going through a tough time, so she'd let it pass this time around.

Just then, an elder from the Land of Lightning walked up to Hizashi, and asked, "Are you Lord Hiashi's brother, Hizashi?"

Hizashi looked solemnly towards the elder. "Yes, what do you want?"

"It has just recently come to my attention that you and Hiashi were twin brothers."

Hizashi nodded, his expression not changing in the slightest by the elder's words. "And?"

"And that Hiashi was from the main house and you are from the branch house."

"And?" It almost seemed as if Hizashi knew exactly where this conversation was going.

"And it is the duty of the members of the branch house to protect the members of the main house, and members of the branch house have a curse seal on their foreheads, a curse seal that would seal off the their Byakugan and disappear upon death."

"And what are you implying?"

"Well, with the two of you being twin brothers and all, it would make sense that the Village Hidden in the Leaves would use that to their advantage, giving us Hizashi's body instead of Hiashi's. After all, who can tell the difference between twins, especially when the people forced to tell the difference have never seen Hiashi or Hizashi until today?"

"Are you accusing the Hyuga clan of double-crossing the Land of Lightning?"

"Well no, not yet anyway. This old man just wants some proof, that's all. May you show me your curse seal and allow me to compare it with another member of the branch house's curse seal?"

Naruko quickly stood up. "Now wait just a minute!" she cried. "You can't -"

Hizashi lifted his hand, signaling for Naruko to be quiet. "No Naruko. He has every right to be suspicious. After all, with resources like that, why wouldn't the village use them to their advantage?" He signaled for one of the branch house members to come up and take off their headband and reveal their curse seal, and then he himself took off his own headband and revealed his own curse seal. The elder examined them and compared them both closely, but there was no point in Naruko's opinion. The curse seals were exactly the same. The man before the elder was indeed Hizashi Hyuga, no doubt about it.

The elder stepped back and apologetically bowed. "My sincere apologies Hizashi. I hope you can forgive me for suspecting you and your clan of foul play. But you must understand -"

"I'd advise you and your ninjas to leave the village immediately," Hizashi interrupted firmly. "Or else my brother Hiashi will not be the only Hyuga being transported to the Land of Lightning." He threateningly stood over the smaller, elderly man. "Do I make myself clear?"

The elder stepped back in fear. "Y-yes, of course. We'll be on our way."

Naruko and the entire Hyuga clan followed the elder until he reached the village gates and watched as he and the Lightning ninjas who were carrying Hiashi's body left the village, and once they disappeared from view, the crowd of Hyugas slowly dispersed, until it was just Naruko, Ko and Hizashi standing behind the front gates.

Once the gates were closed, Hizashi asked Ko, "Is that the last of them?"

Ko nodded. "Yes. Every Land of Lightning citizen and ninja in the village left the day after the deal for Hiashi's body had been made. Those were the last of them."

Hizashi sighed. "That's a relief," he said, as he took off the headband covering his curse seal. He held out his hand to Ko. "Do you have a water bottle on you?" he asked.

Ko nodded. "Yes." He took out his water bottle and gave it to Hizashi.

What happened next, Naruko could hardly believe her eyes. Hizashi poured some water onto his hand, and used it to WASH AWAY HIS CURSE SEAL.

After the curse seal was completely gone from his forehead, Hiashi and Ko looked at Naruko, who was surprised to say the least. "Y-y-you… you just," a wide-eyed Naruko mumbled.

Hiashi looked almost as surprised as Naruko was when he saw her look of complete and utter disbelief. He looked at Ko, only to see that he was sheepishly looking the other way. "No one told her?" he asked, and he genuinely sounded as if he didn't know that she didn't know.

Ko shook his head. "No sir. She didn't."

"Really?" Hiashi asked in disbelief. "I understand that the secret wasn't publicized, but… you usually tell her what's going on in the Hyuga clan, don't you?"

"I-I was told specifically by your father and the third Hokage not to tell her," Ko answered.

"Well, can't say that that doesn't make sense."

"Y-y-y-you're Hiashi," Naruko mumbled, pointing at Hiashi. She then looked and pointed towards the gates. "S-so that must mean that that was…."

"Yes," Hiashi said sadly. "That was my brother, Hizashi."

For a moment, no one said anything, but then, to Ko and Hiashi's surprise, Naruko ran up to Hiashi and slapped him across the face harder than Hiashi ever expected her to slap. After he recovered from the slap and Ko recovered from the initial shock of it all, the two saw that Naruko had an angry, tearful expression on her face.

"N-Naruko," Ko and Hiashi thought.

Naruko trembled as she spoke. "All this time… all this time… I was feeling sad for Hinata… because I thought her father had been taken away from her!" While she spoke, she looked at Hiashi dead in the eye, with so much intensity that even Hiashi felt like backing up a little bit, but didn't out of fear of what she other surprises she might have had in store for him. "But all this time… all this time… it was Neji who was really suffering! It was Neji who had his father taken away from him!" Naruko was practically screaming now, and she was slowly starting to take big, angry steps towards Hiashi, forcing Hiashi to take a couple fearful steps back. This was all so strange. He usually never felt this way about anybody, especially a normal person. "All this time… I was comforting Hinata… when I should've been comforting Neji!" Some of her intensity was slowly starting to fade away. "Neji… Neji…," her face was becoming less angry and more tearful, "this isn't fair to Neji!" She desperately looked around. "I don't even know where he went! Where is he?! Why aren't you comforting your little brother's only child?! It's your fault his father was taken away from him to begin with!" That was Naruko's breaking point. She slowly fell down to her knees and sobbed loudly, becoming a blubbering mess on the ground in seconds.

As Ko quickly rushed to Naruko's side to help calm her down, Hiashi took a moment to recover from Naruko's passionately emotional onslaught. After the two of them recovered, Hiashi, having a good idea about Neji's present whereabouts, walked up to Naruko and whispered, "You're right. I'm going to go comfort my nephew right now. After all, he will be my responsibility now. It's the least I can do." He hesitated, before adding, "And… if it makes you feel any better Naruko… I too did not agree with this plan."

And thus he walked away, leaving Ko and Naruko alone at the front gates of the village. Ko gently placed one of his hands comfortingly on one of Naruko's shoulders. "Are you going to be okay?"

Naruko sniffled for a bit, before nodding her head and answering, "Yeah." She hesitated before adding, "I'm sorry for blowing up like that, it's just… it's just…," she sniffled again, and then looked at Ko and did her best to give him a smile, as if she were telling him a joke or something, "I just don't understand politics at all!"

Ko looked away and nodded. "Neither do I Naruko. Neither do I."

"Neji!" Hiashi cried as he knocked on the door of Neji's room. "Neji, are you in there?"

"Go away!" Neji cried from the other side of the door. "I do not wish to speak with you right now." His voice was filled with anger and bitterness.

Hiashi opened the door and entered the room anyway. "I'm afraid I can't do that Neji," he said. There was tenderness in his voice, but Neji didn't hear it. He couldn't hear it.

Neji couldn't help but smirk. "I guess you're right about that," he scoffed. "It is my destiny, after all, to serve under you for as long as I live. I can't tell you what to do, and you can do whatever you want with me."

Hiashi was taken aback by the four-year-old's words. "T-that's… that's not what I'm here to talk to you about."

Neji turned around to face his uncle, a crazed look in his eye. "Then what did you come all the way here to tell me uncle? That it was my father's destiny to die in your place today, and that I should accept it just as he was forced to accept it? Well save your breath!" He clenched his fists. "Everything has been made crystal clear to me today! We as people are all under the mercy of the uncontrollable force known as destiny, and once we are born into this world, our destinies are written out in stone!" Neji looked down, unshed tears forming from the corners of his eyes. "My father's fate was sealed the moment he was born just a few seconds after you were! His destiny was to serve under you, his own brother, in absolute servitude, until he was destined to die today for your sake!" A crazed smile appeared on Neji's face though. "But if that's true, then destiny has also told us many other things as well!"

Hiashi almost didn't know what to say. Such words from a four year old… it was unreal. "Like what?"

Neji smiled. He was obviously glad that Hiashi had asked that question. "It is Lady Hinata's destiny to be the worst head of the Hyuga clan in history!"

Anger swelled up in Hiashi. "What did you say?!"

Neji laughed like a lunatic. "Please! Don't tell me you haven't noticed! The difference between my strength and her strength is far too obvious for anybody to miss! Lady Hinata is far too weak to be the head of any clan, and in the end, all she'll ever be is a spoiled, rich brat with no talent whatsoever! I, on the other hand, am naturally strong and skilled in the Hyuga arts!" Neji let out an arrogant laugh. "Maybe it is my destiny to overthrow the main house and finally set things right in this messed up clan!"

Hiashi stepped back, shocked that such an idea would come from what used to be a cheerful, well-behaved boy. "M-mutiny?!"

Neji smirked. "If fate allows."

Hiashi's fists were clenched, his anger burning inside him. It took all the effort and control he had to stop himself from activating Neji's newly given curse seal and use it to fry his brain. "You should not underestimate my daughter," he seethed. "She will prove you wrong!"

"Ha! Once a failure, always a failure! People can't change Lord Hiashi! Just like people's destinies can't change, no matter how much one fights it! So while your daughter is doomed for failure, I am destined for greatness! I bet you wish our destinies had been reversed, don't you?"

"That's enough!" Hiashi cried, finally reaching his breaking point. "I will not simply stand here and let you mock my daughter in front of my very face! Did you forget?! You were just given your own curse seal days ago!" He lifted up the hand seal needed to activate the curse seal. "I could scramble your brain with a mere thought!"

Neji laughed. It was as if the four year old boy had been replaced with a psychopath. "Then do it then! If that is my destiny then I shall welcome it with open arms! After all, who can fight destiny?!"

Hiashi was extremely tempted to do it, extremely tempted to scramble his brain just as he had threatened to do so, but in the end, found that he could not do it. How could he, when Neji and Naruko were absolutely right. It WAS his fault that this was all happening, and it WAS the fate of the branch house to serve the main house despite the fact that they were all family, it WAS this system that had gotten his brother killed despite his protests. "What… has this clan become?" Hiashi inwardly asked himself.

Hiashi lowered his hand seal and left Neji's room without saying another word, which seemed to give Neji a great deal of satisfaction, and at the same time, a great deal more anger and bitterness. "Walking away from me like that," Neji grumbled. "It's because you know that the things I just said were true, weren't they?" He lay down on his bed, covered himself with his blanket and drove his face into his pillow, crying and screaming into it until he could cry and scream no more.

When he had finally calmed himself down, he was deep in thought. He had said those things to Hiashi more out of anger than out of conviction, but now that he thought about it, what he had said was true, and the more he thought about it, the more he believed what he had said. "My destiny has allowed me to live… so far. …Well, I said it myself, what's the point of fighting destiny? We can't change it, no matter how hard we try. Might as well let destiny be my guide from now on." He suddenly began to remember the times when he and his father would go out and look at the birds flying through the air. All the birds that they had previously assumed were free to fly wherever they wanted. Neji chuckled at how foolish he had once been. "Flying free? Please! Freedom's a joke!" He took off the headband that was covering his curse seal and looked long and hard at it. "We are all birds caged by destiny, at destiny's complete mercy, and forced to go wherever destiny takes us. I see it clearly now. I see and know the truth."

"Hizashi," Hiashi thought as he walked away from Neji's room, unknowingly letting Neji sink deeper and deeper into the abyss he was creating for himself, "I'm sorry, but… I just don't feel like I have the right to tell Neji what you told me to tell him. After all, he's right, isn't he? It's because of destiny that you are dead on my behalf." Hiashi stopped walking and looked at the ground. He was so torn. For once, he didn't know what to do. "What should I do? S-should I do nothing? Should I let destiny show me the answer? Should I wait until destiny shows me the answer? No, I shouldn't! But what if I only make things worse?!"

After hours of deliberation, Hiashi finally resolved to do nothing and let destiny play its part. He didn't like going this route, especially with how much destiny has destroyed his life and a few others in the process, but at the same time, Hiashi felt neither worthy nor suitable enough to actively tackle the problem (or Neji) head on. He was just going to wait, let destiny set its course and its destination, and hope that the answers will be there. "Hizashi," Hiashi asked, looking up, hoping that Hizashi's spirit was graciously looking down on him, "did I make the right decision?"