DISCLAIMER & A/N: I don't own anything from the Naruto universe. This Natsumi is mine, though. So is Ichika!

It'll be pretty obvious - but I wanted to mention that with Natsumi entering her pregnancy's third "trimester," her hormones have sent her moods reeling again. It's all in fun - and a chakra thing. I mean no offense to real women going through their pregnancies, I promise.

Thinking (+ flashbacks, "Natsumi speaking to Kurama in her mindscape," etc.)

Emphasis

Bijuu, etc. speaking

Bijuu, etc. thinking

Natsumi paced in the hospital hallway, frantic and trying to restrain her desperate worry in front of all the kids. Kushina - biologically her mother and still her clansmen now, a teenager she knew; a girl she loved and adored - had been in critical condition when she'd been brought in. She had already improved, supposedly, and was classified to be in serious condition but she was still being worked on in the ICU and…

"Can I talk to you in private for a minute?" Minato asked, startling her.

Although he'd had time to clean up, Minato had looked like he'd been through hell (and had scared the kids) with the amount of blood on his uniform and in his hair earlier. Natsumi nodded at her father/ "little brother" and followed him into the visitor's lounge since Shikaku was trying to entertain the kids. They were really behaving themselves and were obviously terribly worried about their cousin. Natsumi would've had them gather in the lounge earlier but there were other shinobis present then - families of Kushina's teammates who had been attacked as they entered the village.

Fucking Kumo!

"What happened, Minato?! Everything's being kept hush-hush."

Was Minato giving her a dirty look? No; he was probably just exhausted and concerned…
That's not what his chakra says, though, Natsu.

"Those Kumo… jerks attacked when Kushi's team was re-entering the village." Natsumi nodded at him: she knew that part. "They killed the gate guards and almost killed her teammates. I found them afterward - I was first on scene and… I KNEW they'd taken Kushina," Minato spat. "You said YOU were kidnapped and you're not even a full Uzumaki!"

"That's true."

Minato's eyes narrowed dangerously and he activated a seal that seemed to swallow the room. "Where did you get the Nidaime's seal?"

"What?" Natsumi asked, baffled for a moment. Minato huffed.

"You stole the Nidaime's Hiraishin formula! I've known about it for weeks but now I want answers!"

Natsumi jerked back before her hair began to fly in the air. "I stole NOTHING!"

Goddammit! The Hiraishin Minato had perfected prior to her birth was Natsumi's fucking birthright! And she'd only learned it during the Fourth Shinobi War thanks to his Edo-Tensei! She thought of THAT Minato - dead, cold, summoned from the Shinigami: his skin cracked and scleras black - being THIS Minato and felt her eyes begin to tear up. Hormones sucked and he sucked for leaving her and Naruto! "I… I should pound you," she whimpered furiously.

"You're from Uzushio and I get you were ANBU - and Uzushio was allied with Konoha, but what's your game here, Natsumi?! How did you get that formula? It's complex, you modified it, and have said that you're shit with seals! What is your mission here in Konoha?!"

Before Natsumi even realized what she was doing, one of her chains wrapped around his waist and she bent him over, pinching his ear: hard!

"OWW oWW oww OW OWWWW!"

"You little brat! Don't you dare curse at me! Don't curse at all! —Look… what you made me do." She fell down, her chains disappearing and panting heavily. It was obvious why adamantine chains were not to be used while pregnant: they made her chakra fall dangerously low - especially this far into her pregnancy. "I didn't steal shit," she spat right back at him, breathing hard and thinking fast as Minato now looked panicked. He probably just realized that Sakumo's going to kick his ass for upsetting me! "Someone else must have stolen it because… Wait! Hell, Minato! Weren't the Kages in Uzushio and Konoha close?! Who's to say they didn't develop it together? I have no clue…"

"...And I'm not telling you anything about my home village: I don't have to!" The last part was something the Sandaime had assured her of regarding her supposed home village of Uzushio and Kushina… The rest of it: the kages being friends, especially the first and second Hokages and Uzu's kages - was something Kushina had talked about.

- Kushina! Natsumi began freaking out over her mother's condition again and winced when a very hard contraction hit. "Oh-hooooh!"

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," Minato nearly squealed, panicking - and knowing that he was going to get in trouble when his sister had her wits about her again for cursing. "I'm SORRY! I hadn't thought of that! I just found a hidden seal on me and when I began researching, I talked to sensei and…"

"Shut up, you," Natsu whimpered as she tried to force her muscles to relax when they REALLY didn't want to. "I might be in labor and it's WAY too early!"

Minato fisted his hands and nodded, getting his act together. "It's alright. Let me get us out of this toad."

"Did you put this room in a -a TOAD?! I will…" Natsumi would've threatened the gifted little booger with something awful that she didn't mean if another hard spasm hadn't hit at that very moment. She wrenched open her eyes and saw Minato holding his fingers to the ground, reaching out his senses. She squinted her eyes closed again but felt herself being ungracefully lifted into Minato's arms – and then felt the familiar pull of the Hiraishin. "You… you did it." Her brother (for all present intents and purposes) had figured out the Hiraishin and used it to return her to Sakumo, who thankfully had come back to the hospital.

Sakumo's ponytail flew back as Minato teleported in. How that kid got down the Nidaime's Hiraishin formula - although he thought that's what Natsumi had used once but he'd let her keep her secrets - was a mystery to him. "Natsu?"

"I think I'm in labor!"

"It's way too early for that," he grumbled, grabbing his pregnant mate away from his brother-in-law and rushing into the ICU.

Minato fell to his knees. Shikaku was instantly at his side. "What happened?"

"I made her mad and - and she got me with her chains! I hurt my sister and… what if I killed my niece or nephew?!" He covered his face and tried to stop the way he wanted to sob. "OW!"

He couldn't shake off the twins who had lifted their masks to better bite him as they began to cry. "You little animals! No, Shikaku: let them be! I deserve this!"

.

"Uzumaki women ruined my evening," Biwako lamented grumpily hours later. Natsumi had responded well to the betamimetics she had administered earlier, stopping what could've been a disastrously early labor almost immediately. "Asuma-chan's still out there with your little ones?"

"I think so, Biwako-sama," Natsumi said quietly as she reached out her senses - just for a sec: because it hurt. "Hai. And I can feel Nawaki-chan's still with them, too. –And Shizune-chan, of course."

Natsumi couldn't take her eyes off of Kushina who was unconscious on the bed across from her. It looked like she had really taken a beating. Damn that Raikage! She'd learned that when Kushina's Kumo kidnappers realized that she'd fight them to the death rather than go willingly, they decided it wasn't worth keeping her alive. –At least that's what happened when Minato flashed to her side. She and Minato had fought off all eight of them.

If her teenage mother had Kurama with her, she'd probably already be healed by now.

"You should really be in the maternity ward."

"No, please," Natsumi pleaded with the Hokage's wife. "I want to keep an eye on Kushina-chan and… being there has GOT to be bad luck considering what just happened."

"We'll see," Biwako replied easily as she jotted some notes on Natsumi's chart. She looked up and raised an eyebrow at Sakumo-kun's beautiful wife. "I want to say that this is a hiccup in your pregnancy - it happens - but we'll have to keep you in the hospital for at least a week for observation."

Natsumi pouted, wondering if Sakumo would be able to take that much time off of work right now. He had planned to take his vacation time when she finally had her baby. 10 months is so long to wait… "She's really okay?"

Biwako smiled and rubbed her hand before softly patting her belly. "Unlike you, your daughter's behaving herself!" She ran her thumb over Natsumi's whiskered cheek when her eyes began to water. "I'm just teasing, sweetie. NOW! I DO have to return to the maternity ward before Tsunade breaks anyone else's legs."

Natsumi winced. "She really took down three nurses?"

"Three the last I checked! She's a horrible patient! I'll be glad when both of your pregnancies are over."

"Ah. Sorry," Natsumi said with a blush. She was very easily riled up recently and had caused a bit of chaos a few times, too. "Be sure not to tell Sake that she's a girl, ne?"

"Sure thing." Biwako turned back to the younger woman before she left the room. "You know that he's going to want a boy after this. I don't know what it is with men and sons."

Natsumi groaned. "That hotblooded man can kiss my ass if he does."

Biwako cackled as she left to check on Tsunade's progress.

.

"What in hell's bells are you doing here, 'ttebane?" Kushina wanted to laugh at the way Natsumi-chan's eyes shot open. Natsumi had been sleeping peacefully when she woke up but eventually Kushina couldn't stand the quiet or her curiosity. Natsu looked okay but she was always, ALWAYS worried about her cousin.

And these stupid machines beeping like they're actually doing something! Stupid machines! Her now-awake cousin seemed to read her mind.

"Don't you dare pull that IV out or touch anything, 'ttebane. Ah, shoot," the pregnant woman tried to scold. Natsumi had only let that annoying tic out of her mouth a few times since she'd been in this time period and fortunately never around Kushina before this. Fortunately, Kushina simply laughed but grabbed her gut. "Are you okay?" Natsumi began to sniffle again - gods she hated being pregnant - as she got out of the very uncomfortable hospital bed and padded over to her mother/cousin. "I heard you fought like hell." Kushina bobbed her head and took another drink of water. "Is it okay for you to drink that? Has anyone even come by to check on you?!"

A nurse came in at that moment to find Hatake-sama out of bed and Uzumaki-hime awake and alert. "Neither of you should be up, awake, or DRINKING WATER, for you! For God's sake!"

"I knew it," Natsumi groused, taking Kushina's almost empty glass irritably when the redheaded teenager took another huge gulp of water just to be a brat. "Knock it off, kiddo."

"I'm not a kid!"

"You're totally a kid! –Enjoy it while it lasts!" Natsumi pulled a face as the nurse ordered her into bed again. She was fine; being careful, but she was okay. And so is the baby.

"Let's kick her ass," Kurama chimed gleefully out of nowhere. Natsumi was now positive that her hormones affected the fox. Kurama's eyes were full of something she could only call "zaniness."

"I thought you were sleeping!"

"I'm a light sleeper! –Don't look at me like that, pathetic human!" Natsumi had given him a deadpan expression to indicate he was lying. He was, but that's none of her business. "What is happening? Why do I smell antiseptic?! This is a hospital; we must escape! ...Bah! You've been fertilized again."

Natsumi twisted her lips up in disbelief. "I thought you were a light sleeper! I've been pregnant for months now…"

"What year is it?"

"Oh, man. You should just go back to sleep! My mother was kidnapped by Kumo nins and she's now in the hospital with me. I'm really worried!"

Kurama tapped his chin with an enormous claw. "I remember that. It was one of the few times I was able to see outside of my horrid restraints. Kushina pulled on my enormous power in an attempt to overwhelm her assaulters but they were prepared."

"Her kidnappers knew that she was a jinchuuriki?" Natsumi never knew that. "Oh, and Minato figured out that I'd put Hiraishin markers on everyone and was pissed! But then he USED the jutsu and I'm so proud of him."

"You're an idiot."

"He saved Kushina!"

Of course, he did. "Well that's one reason not to eat or step on him," Kurama supposed. "That means you and Naruto still have an opportunity to be born."

"You realize that makes no sense, right? –At least as far as I'm concerned?" Kurama was right about Naruto, though - and that was more important. Wasn't it? She'd never cared about her life when she was a child; she'd only wanted to provide for Naruto but now…

"Perhaps. But you realize that Kakashi-brat smells exactly the same as future Hatake Kakashi, don't you? Our sense of smell is even stronger now. …His scent, as well as the rest of the skulk, is all over you."

Natsumi stared at him, increasingly wide-eyed, having apparently ignored that knowledge. He does, pretty much, smell like Rokudaime-sama, doesn't he?" Brows furrowed, she uncomfortably mulled that over in her mind. Honestly, it was something she didn't think about any more than she had to. "He'll be a different man in the future. –Happy and loved with lots of friends!"

Oddly enough, Kurama smiled and bobbed his head. He liked the puppies. Kits!

"Natsumi-chaaaaan?" Kushina waved with her head tilted cutely. "Yo-oh? Are you in there?!"

"Sorry! I was talking to Kurama."

"You gotta stop sayin' stuff like that, 'ttebane!"

"How were you injured?" Natsumi asked. She'd talk to the fox and tell people that knew about him whether they liked it or not!

"I got stabbed with a sword channeling lightning: it totally fried me. I was afraid it would mess up my hair but it still looks good, right?" Natsumi nodded her head, making her happy: all Uzumaki women cared for their long hair. "And then Minato was here and there, teleporting for goodness sake, and I realized just how low my chakra was. I guess he brought me here."

"He did. The village was on lockdown. I was so worried!"

"You were stabbed twice GRIEVOUSLY and got lucky Biwako-sama was close by," the nurse clarified for the teen as she carefully checked her wounds and bruises. Kushina stuck her tongue out at her.

Sakumo entered the room in his full ANBU gear and Natsumi realized that damn nurse told on her!

"You will stay in bed," he ordered his wife.

Natsumi swooned, feeling dizzy at his words and the tone of his voice. He also looked really, really hot, didn't he? –She needed to do something about that! Pulling him down by his chest plate, she whispered into his ear. "I think… I need… I just need your cock, my Alpha."

"That's it! –I'm out."

Sakumo's breath caught in his chest as he was hit hard with what he realized were probably pheromones or some kind of crazy Uzumaki/fox weapon. He grabbed the curtain hanging around her bed and nearly ripped it out of the ceiling as he closed it around them. "Don't use that tone with me, woman. We will not be doing THAT for quite a while." Natsumi pouted up at him miserably - adorably - and he swallowed her lips in a hot kiss that she ended up giggling into.

His once-again insanely hormonal wife then whispered some absolutely filthy ideas she had into his ear, making Sakumo want to pull his hair out considering that he couldn't do those things with her right now. He pushed her shoulders back and hung his head, realizing the next weeks or months were going to be hell. "Crazy woman. One: NO CHAINS even if that little shit or any other little shit is being a brat!"

"It was my fault."

"I don't think so. Minato admitted what happened, sweetheart."

Natsumi gasped and tried to see Kushina from her side of the privacy curtain, and was glad that the teen didn't hear about Minato. Kushina was arguing with the nurse. "What did you do?!"

"Maa, I was going to carve him up and beat him within a millimeter of his life but then decided he could babysit the pups."

Natsumi jutted out her bottom lip again. "Not that he needs to be, but… That's not a punishment!"

Sakumo wasn't so sure about that. His little ones were getting into trouble at school AND at home now that they'd started at the Shinobi Academy. Kakashi was alternately anti-social or obnoxious while Ichika fluttered around doing whatever she thought might be fun. He raked his fingers through Natsu's hair, smiling when it made her purr and snuggle into his touch. "I'll be glad to have you at home again. Oh! And TWO: you are to do as the medical professionals tell you - from here on out, Natsu. That's an order!"

Natsumi was suddenly overwhelmed with his love and care for her. She kissed him tenderly at first, whispering how much she loved him over and over again. Things started getting hot and heavy before she heard Kushina begin to cry. The couple both jumped and this time Sakumo did (unintentionally) rip Natsu's privacy curtain out of the ceiling.

"You guys are so in love, " Kushina cried. "I want that but stupid… stupid… Stupid! – Natsu-chaaaaaaaan!"

Natsumi tried to get out of bed again but that totally pissed off Sakumo. "What's wrong?!"

"GO AWAY, OLD MAN!" Kushina let out another ear-splitting wail and then pouted, tears covering her face, at her cousin. "Make your old man go away!"

Sakumo let his head fall again. He thought something terrible had happened. His nerves were shot! -And he wasn't old! "Alright, alright. I know when I'm not wanted."

Natsumi asked the key question once Sakumo sauntered out, giving her a wink as he did so. He was so freaking cute - and had a great butt! And big, sexy shoulders and pretty hair! "Ahem... What's wrong, Kushi?"

"Stupid Minato-kun," Kushina whimpered. "He saved me - and - and…" She wiped her tears away and then fiddled with her hands.

"You like him," Natsumi smiled knowingly.

Kushina pulled her fingers through her hair, feeling totally embarrassed. "It's probably just cuz he saved me, ya know. He was… super fast and strong and stuff." Watery violet eyes blinked up at Natsumi. "How'd that girly boy get that way? And don't you dare tell him!"

"I would never! And you know… Boys grow into men, I guess - not that I'm saying Minato's a man because he's a brat; just like you," she grinned at her miserable secret-mother. "He likes you, too, if that makes you feel better. –I think he always has. Ha! He never told me not to tell you that!"

Kushina's lips quivered again. "So why's he dating Kojika-chan?! WHAA!" She tried to kick her legs under the covers, unintentionally proving just what a kid she still was. "Owww!"

Natsumi huffed but pretended not to know about Shikaku's sister - and ignored Kushina's theatrics. Surely hurting herself would make Kushina stop doing things to hurt herself? And look how complicated you made everything, Minato! "Maybe he's trying to make you jealous."

He's also proving geniuses can be idiots.

Kushina hummed, considering what Natsumi said as she wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Kojika-chan's a nice girl! Sure, she's REALLY laid-back, but she's not nearly as bad as her lazy, smart-ass brother, Shikaku-kun. But she's alright!" She smacked her fist into her hand a few seconds later, wincing a little at pulling her stitches again. "If Minato's actually trying to make me jealous, he's hurting her! I'm SO going to pound him!"

"Oh boy," Natsu grinned, agreeing with Kushina completely. Sorry, Minato!

Two days later, Tsunade snuck into the ICU, holding her newborn baby. Natsumi looked over and saw that Orochimaru, the med-nin in charge today, had only just turned away from looking over his shoulder, but she did catch the way he dramatically rolled his eyes at his teammate. The Sannin let each other get away with nearly anything. Natsumi was positive it was a Team 7 tradition.

"Oh my gosh! Let me see!" Natsumi's breath caught when she looked into the baby's big black eyes. "Tenzo?" –No; that's impossible!

No, it's not! That's definitely Tenzo-sensei. WHAT THE HELL?! The small, fingerprint-like birthmark that her old sensei's happuri-style hitai-ate had almost always covered? There was a little miniature version of it along with what hinted at being his beauty mark on the other side of his face that she knew too well!

"Tenzo?" Tsunade asked with a strange expression, tasting the name on her tongue. "Nah: I don't think so. We've been arguing over a name for my little shnookums but 'Tenzo' definitely wasn't on the list. …He looks like my grandfather, aside from the color of his eyes. They just sparkle, though, don't they?!" She gently rocked her new baby back and forth, cooing at him.

"How about that?" Natsumi weakly asked, her mind reeling. Kushina was having a fit over the baby but Tsunade hoisted him into the pregnant woman's arms instead. Natsumi's breath hitched: his chakra! It IS Tenzo-sensei! It's so tiny, but it is HIS! "What are you doing here? And why are you a baby?!"

Tsunade immediately picked her baby back up. "Orochi-kun! What did you give Natsumi?!"

"Nothing," the Snake Sannin asked as much as said. "She's been laying in that exact spot, taking up valuable space and breathing in oxygen that others could have easily benefitted from."

"You jerk!"

Tsunade shrugged and continued on with her earlier thoughts. "Dan wants to name him after his grandfather, instead: 'Yamato.' It's a nice name but…" Natsumi, however, had begun choking to the point that Orochimaru sent her away from her cousin so that he could check her vitals.

'Yamato' was Tenzo-sensei's code-name when he wasn't Tora! –He really liked that name! And his cat mask! "I think he'd like the name Yamato! Senju Yamato," Natsumi said, trying to say it again and then another time as she thought about it. Doesn't quite roll off the tongue or sound right but it's okay. She didn't realize the weird looks the others were giving her. "You should get him a cat!"

"Are you alright, Natsu-chan?" Orochimaru asked worriedly. "You should be." His hand lit up in green and hovered over her belly. Eventually, he shrugged at Tsunade.

Kushina and Tsunade had been whispering and throwing their cousin weird looks. "It's not 'Senju,' anyway. We're going to put Dan's surname on his birth certificate," Tsunade said.

Natsumi nodded, knowing that Tsunade had insisted that Dan keep his family name although hers was from the more "powerful clan." So that meant Tenzo's new name would be… "Kato Yamato?"

"Oh, that sounds nice," Kushina said, smiling brightly. The baby had her finger and she was enjoying playing the weakest-ever game of tug-of-war with him - although she supposed that the newborn's grip was pretty strong. "He's got pretty, super-dark eyes just like Shizune-chan, 'ttebane. –And it'll be cute how Nawaki has Dan's coloring but Yamato's is more like yours… maybe."

No: that tiny bit of hair may look blonde now but will be a soft brown by the time he's an adult. Natsumi sucked in a loud, long breath, desperate for Yamato to become her old sensei's name since he liked it so much. For sensei! "Yeah! It does! And you got to name Nawaki-chan, right? –So it's only fair to Dan-kun to name him Yamato after his grandfather - on his side, 'ttebane!"

Calm down, Natsumi! You sound like a weirdo!

"That's true," Tsunade admitted before putting a fist on her hip. "You're acting weird, Bartender!"

"OH, MY GOD! I wonder who's filling in for my clones at the bar! I didn't even tell Ami that I'd be gone!"

"You didn't know you'd be gone! Minato-brat put your tight ass in here," Tsunade said hotly.

"Ah, thanks," Natsumi smiled genuinely. "I always appreciate an ass compliment!" Kushina's chakra had begun to spike, however.

"He… He did WHAT NOW?!"

"No, no, no… He really didn't!" Natsumi couldn't believe that Sakumo went and told on her brother - but she could totally see him coming to the hospital to see Tsunade and Dan's baby - and then Sake probably told Dan while he was there; and then Dan told Tsunade. That's how things usually went. And God knows her husband LOVES babies so, of course, he'd be up there visiting them, too!

Kushina began to rant about Minato being an ass while Orochimaru pushed his teammate out of the ICU, saying that she was causing a disturbance.

"Hey, Natsumi," Kushina snickered (and snorted a lot) once the Sannin were out of the room and she'd calmed down, "did ya see how big Tsunade's boobs were gettin'?! Geez! She's gonna kill that kid!" That was followed by another series of amused little snorts. "I don't think I've ever seen bigger boobs in my LIFE!"

.

Rooming with Kushina for nearly two weeks had been fun for Natsumi - much more so when they were both transferred to the second floor after a couple of days. Both of them had healing factors that were insane so it was a wonder that they had to stay as long as they did. ICU had been filled with nosy nurses who always tried to listen to their increasingly outlandish plots the more stir-crazy they became, plus Kashi and Cheeky hadn't been allowed to see her when she'd been in ICU.

Minato felt terrible about what he'd accused his sister of doing - basically plotting against the Leaf - and when he brought the pups in after school, he looked increasingly haggard from taking care of the kids. Shikaku had stayed with him for the first three days but had checked out after that, not being able to handle them anymore.

Natsumi didn't get it. One: it was hard to believe that Shikaku willingly went back to the Nara Compound (one of the nicest places in the village whether the heir wanted to admit it or not.) Two: her puppies were good and went to school for six hours a day, five days a week this year, and Sakumo was working at the house whenever he was forced to at night. Maybe the ninkens were giving him fits? Natsumi missed her ninken: she hadn't seen them in two weeks!

Sakumo came to pick her up along with Dan who would be escorting Kushina back to the Senju Compound. The Uzumakis parted ways with Natsumi feeling sorrier and sorrier for Minato, whom Kushina swore to "prank into eternity." She was looking forward to babysitting baby Yamato and Natsumi had to agree.

"See you, Kushi! I love you!"

"I love you, too, 'ttebane!"

Sakumo pried the teenager off his wife before she smothered or sent her tumbling to the ground, pulling the two apart. Both gals looked good and healthy again and Sakumo could only shake his head in fondness as he watched Kushina skip away in circles around a very sleep-deprived Dan, looking like she'd never been hurt or taken. What a resilient girl.

"On the way home, I need to check the bar and stop by the butcher's to get the ninken some bones, and…"

"Oh, my wallet," Sakumo groaned about treating Natsumi's MANY ninken, "and no bar!"

"Yes, bar," Natsumi said, instantly becoming irritated before her eyes once again twinkled with near-insanity. She was so damn glad to be out of that hospital! "Ooo! And then I want to stop by the school and spy on the pups!"

Sakumo scratched behind his ear, giving his wife a dirty look that didn't seem to bother her in the slightest. "I guess I can get behind that. They're probably doing something troublesome." The next thing he knew, Natsumi was streaking toward The Broken Bar. "Oh, for God's sake." He dutifully followed after her and found her upstairs talking to the beers she was brewing.

"...so sorry I left you alone, my Darlings."

"You are so crazy," Sakumo lamented, making her jump. "Calm down, Natsu." She pouted at him and went back to checking the brews, making him taste them - which wouldn't have been so bad had they not been warm or hot.

"Do you think they're spoiled?"

"Spoiled?" Ami yelled from the stairs she was climbing, fuming a bit. "I've been trying to do everything you or your clones usually do!"

"I'm sorry," Natsumi said genuinely once her business partner was in the room. "And thank you for that! I know you're not into the brewing, plus you've had to put in so many extra hours because of me being down. …We're going to have to hire help for the next few months."

Ami shrugged her shoulders. "Meh, that's fine. You know I like wine, and you've inspired me to start making it. –Maybe we could make it into a theme night! Say, once a month, have a grape-stomping contest!"

"That is highly unsanitary," Sakumo said to himself, grossed out.

"But fun! Lots of fun," Natsumi said, her thoughts buzzing with ideas to make the bar more successful again.

"It is unsanitary though," Ami agreed with Sakumo - but soon caught Natsumi's excited-with-business-opportunities buzz. "We could TELL people that we're making their wine behind the scenes after they stomp the grapes but really just re-brand a normal bottle with their name on it or something. At least at first!"

"So sneaky; I LOVE it," Natsumi exclaimed, hopping on her toes and nearly stumbling. Sakumo caught her elbow and let out a heavy sigh, letting her know that she needed to cool it. "You would've made a good ninja, Ami-chan! …OOF!" Natsumi rubbed her belly where she'd just been kicked really hard.

"That's it! We're going home."

"Awww…"

Over an hour later, Sakumo couldn't believe that his (admittedly) waddling wife had dragged him to the butchers, weapons, and grocery store. Insisting that they go home as they later walked toward the Academy, he hung his head when his nearly-eight-months-pregnant wife jumped onto a tree branch to spy on their pups before following her up the tree. "You are in so much trouble."

"Don't be boring, Sakumo," she chided, waving back at Ichika who had looked straight at her, seeming very excited to see her. She's a little sensor like her Kaa-chan. Natsumi thought that Kakashi might be asleep with his eyes open since he was staring straight ahead with his arms crossed over his chest. Is he even blinking?! She smiled broadly at seeing a black-haired student taking notes and sitting next to Nawaki (who was, naturally, sitting next to Kakashi) who was all dressed in green. "Oh my goodness; isn't he oddly adorable?" And youthful. She always liked Gai-senpai.

Kakashi was by the window but still staring straight ahead, Nawaki on his right, then Gai, then Ichika, then… Obito.

Obito was hard to look at not only because of the atrocities he'd committed in another time but because of what he was wearing. Orange: not as much as Naruto, but still. He even had what looked like the exact same goggles Naruto used to wear. How did that happen? Natsumi had always wondered where those ridiculous goggles came from.

Quickly looking away from the Uchiha, she noted that one row down Asuma and Genma were seated, then a girl she'd never encountered with tattoos on her cheeks but she's not an Inuzuka, then Kurenai, then Anko - that made Natsumi's smile grow even bigger. So many of these little kids had once been her senpais! And there were so many more: Ibiki, Aoba, Ebisu, Raido…

Natsumi knew that her pups were the youngest in the class. It looked like some of the kids were up to two or three years older, probably - and had most likely transferred in from the civilian academy.

"Sake, these kids…They're going to be VERY important to the future of the village."

Sakumo grinned at her proudly as he wrapped one arm he was holding her with under her legs. Jumping down with her in his arms, he placed his wife on her feet and cradled her belly. "They sure will, and so will this one. Let's get you home, baby."