Chapter 2

Tsunade was stuck with a choice that was making her think harder than she should. She was looking at the profiles of several of her ninja trying to decide who would be best for the mission. Beside her a black haired red eyed baby was using her desk as a support to stand. Itachi she assumed. There was another black haired one but that one was still sleeping. Most of them were already up. The blond, the red head and carrot top, the grey haired one, and the black and white one. She assumed those were Deidara, Sasori, Pein, Hidan and Zetsu. The stitched one, the girl, the blue one and the other black haired one were still asleep. She assumed those were Kakuzu, Konan, Kisame and Tobi who is the same as Madara. She didn't know how she felt about that one.

Going by their developmental stages Tsunade would guess that Zetsu was the oldest. Deidara and Itachi were closer and younger because neither could walk. Deidara couldn't even stand and Itachi just got to the standing stage in the thirty minutes he'd been awake for. Hidan on the other hand was barely standing but was evidently a fast crawler. Sasori was walking with support. Zetsu could walk a little, just barely. Pein hadn't moved from the spot that he had sat up from, literally. Tsunade was sure he was in shock.

She looked down at the pulling at her clothes. She saw Itachi looking at her with wide eyes reaching a hand to be picked up. He didn't seem pleased to be asking for something like this. She sighed but took him up into her lap anyway. He immediately turned to look at the profiles on her desk. She moved the information aside leaving the pictures. Just because he was a baby now didn't mean he couldn't still read.

"Want to choose who will look after you?" she asked him. All moving and bickering in the room stopped at her words. Itachi's chubby baby hands reached for the first picture and held it above his head for the others to see.

"Pfft." Deidara said in disagreement. Sasori gave a baby scoff. Hidan was crawling quickly to Tsunade's side, intent on getting onto Tsunade's lap too. There was no way he was passing up a chance to bury his face in her boobs.

Itachi moved onto the next pic. Pretty much the same response. He didn't bother picking up picture of Tsunade's own apprentice, Sakura. That would be a definite no from Sasori, Deidara didn't like her much either and he despised pink.

This continued until the pile went down to two and they were interrupted by a distressed cry. Konan had woken up and so had Kisame, Tobi and Kakuzu. Surprisingly Hidan didn't wake from his place buried in Tsunade's chest. Whoever got stuck with them was in for hell.

XXXXX

It had been a good day for Kakashi. He had just come back from a successful C-rank mission that he'd just taken so he could have something to do while making some money. He just knew he'd be bored again and soon. What to do?

"Kakashi-San." someone called from behind him. He turned and smiled at the blue haired girl.

"Ah. Hinata, how are you?" he said and the girl returned a small smile.

"I'm fine." she said politely. "Tsunade-sama would like to see us in her office."

"Really? Do you know why?" he asked and began walking with her towards the Hokage tower. He usually got called in for missions but why would she call both he and Hinata?

"No." she answered. She was just as confused as to why they both would be called. They walked in companionable silence each in their own thoughts of why they would be summoned together.

Kakashi knocked on the door when they got to the office. There was a small scream from the other side before a short 'come in' was heard. They opened the door to a chaotic room of crawling babies and an extremely angry creeping blond baby on the floor not far behind them. Two babies were in a chair babbling angrily at each other. Tsunade sat in the centre of it all with a black haired baby in her lap, a blue one on her desk and a silver haired one was sleeping face first in her breast with a thin line of drool leaking from his mouth. Tsunade seemed to be at the end of her patience.

"Tsunade-sama?" Hinata asked carefully as they looked around at the mess that the room was in.

"Yes. I have a mission for you." Tsunade shuffling some papers on her desk in a bid to calm down. The noise level in the room rose drastically when one of the two babbling in the chair shoved the other out with a scream at the same time the blond baby screamed in triumph when the others finally caught the baby they had been chasing. There was now a noisy baby brawl, two crying babies on the floor and a laughing baby in a chair. Tsunade snapped and she screamed as she released a wave of killing intent: "Shut up all of you!"

There was silence until the baby in her bosom sat up. "Fook yoll." (1) before falling back asleep where he had been. Tsunade ignored his snuggling and turned her attention back to the two ninja before her.

"As I was saying I have a mission for both of you. It is of absolute importance and absolutely top secret." Tsunade said looked from one to another. "It could be ranked S-class depending on how you look at it. Do you accept?"

"S-s-class?" Hinata asked shocked.

"Yes Hinata. You are possibly the only people I could ever trust with this mission." Tsunade answered. "I trust in your abilities Hinata. You are perfect for this mission. You are the only person with the appropriate skills for this and Kakashi is the best partner you could have in this."

"If I may ask, what's with the kids?" Kakashi asked looking around at the ten babies.

"No, you may not ask." Tsunade answered with a glare not to press it further. Kakashi heeded the warning and remained silent. "Do you accept? I need your answers now. This is urgent."

"I accept." Kakashi answered and they both looked to Hinata. The girl looked at both at them. Could she really manage a mission ranked that high? Tsunade seemed to think so and she had THE copy-ninja, Kakashi Hatake to help her. She could do it then, right?

"Hinata?" Tsunade prompted bringing the girls attention to them.

"Yes. I'll do it."

"Great." Tsunade said excitedly with a sigh of relief. "Now, your mission's key component is the Akatsuki. Approximately an hour ago we had a visitor at the gates. This visitor handed over the entire Akatsuki to us."

The two before her stood shocked until Kakashi asked what was on both their minds. "All of the Akatsuki? How?"

"A jutsu backfired and there were some serious repercussion, our visitor saw it fit to deliver them into our hands." she explained and both ninja nodded. It was believable but people of the calibre of Akatsuki didn't just mess up a jutsu.

"A backfired jutsu?" Kakashi asked and Tsunade glared at him.

"Ok fine the guy was supposed to give them a jutsu that would help them destroy us but he gave them the wrong one and it had an effect none of them had expected." she replied with a glare. "Happy now Hatake?"

He gave her one of his famous eye smiles. She rolled her eyes at him.

"What is our mission then, Tsunade-sama?" Hinata asked.

"I'm getting there Hinata." Tsunade told her. "Kakashi, earlier you asked about these little bundles of joy. These are the Akatsuki."

They both stated at her and the Akatsuki stared at them. They all remained silent as Kakashi and Hinata looked around at them trying to see any resemblance to the hardened criminal rogue-nin they knew in the loveable and cute babies. Surprisingly they were many and few. Many because they had a faint resemblance, few because the resemblance wasn't there unless you were looking for it. Except for the blue Kisame and the black and white Zetsu.

"Are we supposed to kill them?" Hinata finally asked and Kisame scoffed before lying on his back on a stack of papers. He was awfully near to the edge of the desk. Hinata didn't really want to kill them. They were so small and were complete babies even if they were Akatsuki and were definitely smart than babies. As if sensing her distress Deidara patted her lightly on the leg and when she looked down at him, he smiled cutely up at her.

"No, Hinata you won't." Tsunade said watching as the girl lifted the blond from the ground carefully. She held a smile back as Kakashi watched the teen with the baby wearily. He obviously didn't trust the blond baby whose arms where wrapped around her neck. "Your mission is to take care of them."

"Say what now?"

"You will be taking care of them as they obviously can't take care of themselves." Tsunade stated hiding her inner glee at the look of absolute disbelief on their faces.

"I can understand why Hinata is here but I can't see why I'm here." Kakashi stated looking pointedly at Tsunade and the babies.

"Well that's obviously because you're going to be the daddy." Tsunade stated giving him a stern look. She couldn't help it. "I can't have her raise all nine boys and one girl on her own just I couldn't allow you to do it either. We need you for other thing and they would drive you insane." She looked them both in the eyes one after the other. "I would not have chosen you if I didn't think both of you could do this. It is absolutely important and completely secret. The council doesn't even know they're here and I want to keep it that way until I figure out exactly what we should do with them, if the jutsu really is permanent and if they will remember anything. There is a reason why this is S-class, you know. This isn't plain babysitting. You've already accepted this mission so you will do it and complete it to the best of your ability."

"Yes. Tsunade-sama." Kakashi said frowning.

"Good. Now," Tsunade said smiling once more. "I've already sent a letter to your father Hinata so no need to worry about him. He will have some of your things delivered to the Hatake home by this evening."

"My home?"

"Well yes. You all have to have somewhere to live, don't you?" Tsunade said and Kakashi gaped at her. "By the when I say home I meant your old home. You'll need the space for the kids."

"What?" Kakashi asked. He hadn't been in that house for years and he hadn't planned on going back there. That was the same house that his father committed suicide. "Tsunade-"

"I don't care Kakashi." she cut him off with a glare, daring him to speak again. He clenched his teeth but remained silent. She placed Itachi on the table and got up balancing Hidan in the crook of his arm. She picked up Kisame with the other hand pushed him into Kakashi's arm. "Now, pick your charges up and get going."

"All of them?" Hinata asked shifting Deidara in her arms. Tsunade pushed Hidan into her arms too resting his sleeping head on her unoccupied shoulder.

"Obviously not." the Hokage answered going to pick up Zetsu and loading him into Kakashi's arms with Kisame. She then began to hide their heads again. "I would attach one more to each of your back but we don't have the necessary materials. Ibiki and two ANBU will carry the rest."

The two stood with two babies each staring at their leader. Could they really do this? How could they do this? How could she do this?

A warm wet sensation rundown Kakashi's left arm. That sensation smelled oddly of urine. 'Did he just...?' Kakashi looked down at the black and white baby in that arm. Said baby looked back at him with wide golden eyed and gave him a helpless almost shrug. Kakashi's look narrowed into a glare and Zetsu subconsciously gripped his shirt in fear and tears began to well up in his eyes.

"Babies can't hold their pee, Kakashi." Tsunade said amused. He glared at her. "Get going."

(1) Fuck you all.