Birthright
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. For anyone keeping track: Arashi and Aiya are 12, the triplets are 9, Kenji is 8, and Hoshi & Shisui are both 6. Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy this chapter.
Story Notation: There are two ways the rest of this story could go. First, we could do a ten year jump that will focus on the parents' relationship and the adult (or at least teenage) lives of their kids. The second would involve a medium timeskip of six years that would feature at least a snippet from Hoshi's and Shisui's Chunin Exams and then the final skip. Which would be a 1-2 chapter epilogue most likely. Feel free to weigh in on which you would prefer.
Chapter 26
The next day, Naruto shakes his head at his daughter and wife. He knew that Sakura was mad. Really, really mad. There just hadn't been time though!
"I can't believe you!" His wife looked about half ready to clock him. "Why didn't you tell me what was going on?!" And he kinda deserved it. "I could have helped!"
It didn't help matters that Akeno was watching the whole incident rather gleefully. "Daddy in trouble." She giggles.
That was apparently the wrong thing to say. Presently, they were back home and his favorite medic was giving him the tonguelashing of a lifetime. Oh and apparently, his daughter just didn't know how to quit when she was ahead.
"Yes, he is in trouble and so are you!" Sakura shakes her head. "You shouldn't have gone with them! You should have told adults!" Naruto knew that his wife was only shouting because she was scared. Scared that she might have lost their only child, but Akeno looked suitably terrified.
The waterworks were threatening to start and that was never good. "S-Sorry Mommy." Akeno was probably the only twelve year old who would call her parents Mommy and Daddy, but she only did it at home and when she was nervous.
Naruto doubted that it was going to work this time though. Sakura was absolutely furious. Not he could blame her.
"I didn't mean to make you worry." It was just one of her quirks or maybe a subtle attempt at manipulation to make them go easier on her. "I just wanted to help my friends!" Naruto wasn't sure which.
Sakura smacks her forehead and Naruto sighs as he looks around their cozy living room. It was the same as always, yellow walls that screamed sunshine and cheerfulness to him. A calming white ceiling with Sakura's beloved chandelier. An orange silky couch that the blonde just loved perched on top of a stormy gray carpet. Oh and there was also a small coffee table and fireplace in it.
Cozy, cheerful, but not overpowering. That's how his wife described it. They had built a life together. They just hadn't factored in the fact that Akeno was going to take after him so strongly.
"Yes, Akeno it's good to help your friends." Sakura sighs. "But you shouldn't have put yourself in danger like that." She shakes her head in exasperation. "You're just like your father."
Man, Naruto really hated this part. He had to actually punish his daughter for trying to save her friends. That just sucked.
"Yeah, but unlike me she has us to look after her." He sighs heavily. "You're grounded for a month." It really sucked to see the kicked Puppy Eyes too! "You're not going anywhere that isn't the Academy." She was just a little younger than the Uchiha Twins (well the eldest set) and thus hadn't graduated yet.
As predicted, that elicited crocodile tears. Those were the worst. He was such a pushover when it came to his daughter. He had no idea how Sasuke handled four daughters and four sons.
"The bastard must pawn this part off to Itachi and Hinata or something." He shakes his head.
Akeno blinks. "What are you talking about?" Oh damn. He had said that out loud.
Quick! He had to look parental! Naruto had to look like a responsible parent or else Sakura was really, really going to kill him!
"Nothing!" He uses The Voice! "You're grounded for a month and that's that." The Voice never failed. It was the tone that showed he meant business! "You're lucky that Akio told us what was going on and the Uchihas found you guys before it got serious!"
That's what had happened. Akio had come running to his office and they had split up. When the Uchihas caught up with them, Naruto had taken Akio back to his parents to get him out of the way of the fighting while everyone else went off to fight.
The blonde loved a good fight as much as the next person, but obviously a Genin shouldn't get involved in something like that. Naruto could still remember what it was like to be turned into a human pincushion by Haku at age twelve and would rather not subject anyone else to something like that! So yeah! Getting the boy out of there had been his top priority!
"But Daddyyy!" Oh no! That wasn't going to work. "I helped to save my friends and we beat up the bad guys ourselves!" Akeno pauses. "Well Mei helped some!"
Sakura twitches in outrage! "What were the Uchihas and Gaara doing then?!" Uh oh! This wouldn't end well. Naruto just knew it!
"They were mostly just watching." Akeno smiles. "I think they wanted to see, if we could handle it! And we did!" She giggles. "We kicked their butts!"
Oh boy. That was the wrong thing to say. Suddenly, his wife starts shrieking like a banshee!
"I'm going to have to have a talk with them!" Sakura seethes.
Naruto winces. Yeah. He didn't envy the Uchiha Parents at the moment. His wife could be really vicious when she wanted to be. Like now.
Meanwhile Itachi makes his way back to the Uchiha District. He had taken Sagara's body back to the hospital. To say the least, the medics had their hands full. That was a lot of dead bodies to examine and injuries to treat.
He didn't bother to knock when he reaches his home. Why would he? After all, he lived here. And so, he just walks inside and chuckles at the scene that he saw before him.
Sasuke smirks at him. "It's about time." The smirk only continues to grow. "You're getting slow in your old age."
"Sasuke, you're being foolish." Itachi pokes his forehead. "You're not that much younger than me and I don't even qualified as middle-aged, let alone elderly." He chuckles.
His children were all watching him now with anxious eyes. Itachi could only sigh at this. Well it would likely fall to him to discipline them in some fashion. Sasuke was utterly useless at such things and Hinata wasn't much better in most cases.
Hinata shakes her head. "It's good that you're back." She sighs as she looks at their children. "I have no idea how even begin to address this one."
"We did take away their ice cream." Sasuke nods.
His foolish little brother was such an amateur when it came to these sorts of things. "How utterly barbaric." Itachi rolls his eyes. "Are you sure that there is nothing that I can do to change your mind? They're just children." He sighs and feigns a sad look at his brother. "How can they possibly live without their ice cream?"
Sasuke nods seriously. Itachi could only barely refrain from laughing. His brother honestly had no idea how to discipline them.
"We were just getting started." Hinata nods as if to back up Sasuke.
Hopeless. They were both absolutely hopeless. Honestly, how could they have eight children and not know how to discipline them.
"You're punishment shall be as follows for the next thirty days." Itachi pauses for dramatic effect. "No ice cream, your activities are restrictedly purely to this household and to the Academy and/or missions, you will all assist Lee with his beautification program, and you'll all be taking lessons from your grandfather about the Gentle Fist Technique."
"Awe man, no ice cream?" Keni sulks at that.
He wasn't the only one to weigh in though. "A month?! We're supposed to do nothing, but school stuff for a month?!" Miya was as expected, outraged about being grounded. She was always such an active little thing.
Itachi was trying his best not to chuckle at their children's reaction. He still couldn't believe that he had this. He had his brother back in his wife. A beautiful wife and eight children. Four of which were biologically his, but all of them were his where it mattered most. In his heart.
"You're fortunate that we're being this lenient." Sasuke gives Miya a dirty look. "There are far worse things than being grounded for a month." And that silences the feistiest triplet. Well at least for now.
"Do we really have to help with the beautification program?" Amaya groans.
The eldest of his daughters was enormously perceptive. She knew exactly what was going to happen, if they helped Lee to make the Leaf more beautiful. All of them were going to be run ragged.
"Yes, you do." Hinata nods. "And while you're cleaning up litter, think about what you did." The Uchiha Matriarch shakes her head. Apparently, she wasn't going to back down that easily. "You almost gave all of us a heart attack." Hinata sighs heavily. "I don't know what we would have done, if we had lost any of you." And with that, Amaya looks suitably guilty and quiets down.
Arashi tilts his head. "I don't get how learning the Gentle Fist is supposed to be a punishment though?" At this, Sasuke tries his best not to smirk.
He had heard many horror stories from Hinata about learning that technique. It involved increasing your flexibility to almost inhuman levels and many, many hours of training.
Of course, it had paid off in the end. Hinata could perform the technique flawlessly and well her flexibility could be applied in many situations. Some of them were erotic in nature. (Alright, a lot of them were)!
"You'll see." Hiashi smirks.
It was rare to see the Hyuga man smirk and well, even Sasuke was mildly terrified. Which was bizarre because he hadn't been afraid of his father-in-law in years. The man of course had been outraged by his suggestion that they should both marry Hinata, but it was too late for him to do anything about it and they all knew it.
The proud ninja now had eight grandchildren who were fathered by Itachi and Sasuke. He knew when it wasn't worth arguing over something anymore and that point had long since passed. Though Sasuke did occasionally enjoy scandalizing him with a few innuendoes that let the patriarch know exactly how happy their marriage was!
Nara gulps. "That doesn't sound good." Sasuke could only chuckle at their youngest triplet's response.
She was a smart girl. Well all of their children were smart. Though Nara seemed to know when to cut her losses better than most of their other children. Probably because like it or not, her name was forever unintentionally linked with Shikamaru's Clan.
A fact that both flattered and confused them to know end, he was sure. Sasuke had never been that close to them. Itachi's interaction with them was basically nonexistent and well, Hinata was on cordial terms with them but not enough to explain Nara's name.
"That does sound bad!" Shisui looks around a bit anxiously as Hinata laughs softly at her son's expression.
Sasuke didn't care though. Nara's name meant happy and content. She lived up to it. It was just an odd quirk of fate that the Nara Clan's last name matched up with the girl's first name.
Hoshi looks equally terrified. "Because it is, but you'll learn a lot from your grandfather." Sasuke nods.
"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Hoshi squeaks. "I mean, isn't that technique something that takes years to master?" That was a good point.
Hiashi though, well he was smirking. Sasuke almost felt guilty for what he was about to do, but it was the principle of the thing. If anyone was going to decide whether or not their children learned the Gentle Fist, it was going to be them and not Kira and Kaiden! And that was that!
"Don't worry." Itachi smiles at them. "I'm certain that your grandfather will be a most excellent instructor." He smiles reassuringly at them.
At this, the lavender eyed man nods. "Oh don't worry." He smirks. "I'll be extremely thorough in my instructions." And upon hearing that, every single one of their children groaned.
Elsewhere the Uchiha and Uzumaki Girl weren't the only ones endearing a lecture from their parents. Kameon sighs as he listens to his father scold him. He supposed he did deserve it though.
He had run off with the Uchiha Children (and Akeno) to save Arashi and Aiya. It had been reckless and the red headed boy knew that there was a good chance they could have been killed. Did he regret doing so though?
Absolutely not. "Father…" He'd do it again in a heartbeat. "I did it for her own safety!" No matter how foolish it had been. "Aiya and Arashi could have been killed by those creeps, if I hadn't bugged that bear!"
"Kaemon Sabaku!" Uh oh. "We understand that you wanted to help your friends, but what you did was incredibly reckless!" His mother was using his full name.
That was never a good sign. He didn't know why parents got proportionally more angry based on the number of names that they addressed you by. Though at least she hadn't used his middle name.
If his mother used his middle name, that was very bad news for him. "Don't you understand how badly this could have gone wrong?" Gaara shakes his head. "What would you have done, if we weren't there?"
Kaemon would have charged in with the other Uchiha Children! That's what he would have done! No one messed with his friends, especially not Aiya!
Mei sighs heavily and kisses Gaara's cheek. "Knowing him, it's probably best not to let him answer that." That was right! His mother knew him well. "You know how attached he is to them."
The Kazekage looked less than pleased, but he nods. He then shake his and turns his attention back to Kaemon. "What you did was brilliant and a wise move on intelligence gathering missions, but it was wrong to give your friend a gift and bug it!" Well yeah. Maybe.
He did feel a little guilty about that. "I wanted to make sure that she was safe!" The younger red head flails dramatically. "To make sure that no one would cut her eyes out!" Still, Kaemon couldn't bring himself to regret it!
That bear might have saved all their lives for all they knew. That or at least it had made it easier for the grownups to find them. Why were they yelling at him?!
Mei shakes her head and kisses Kaemon's forehead. "I know you were just trying to save your friends." She sighs. "Which is why we're only going to ground you for a month."
A month?! Were they serious?! "A month?! No way!" That was like FOREVER!
"If you insist, we could always make it a year." Gaara raises an eyebrow.
Kaemon groans, but nods. He knew a losing battle when he saw one. Sadly, this was just one of those times. The younger red head just wasn't going to win this "fight."
Mei smiles. "That's a good boy." She glances at Gaara. "Well at least he's smart, even if he really needs to learn to respect boundaries and he was only doing it out of concern for his friends." Oh good. His mother was pleading his case.
"I know." Gaara sighs. "I never should have told him about the Black Market. That's likely what made him do this." Yeah!
Wait! No! He'd rather know. That way he could protect them better! That's what Kages were supposed to do, right?! Protect people, especially their most precious people!
"You would have done the same thing for mother." He grumbles.
Gaara blinks and looks mildly terrified. "Kaemon, I'll make you a deal." A deal? Hmm that sounded interesting.
He looks up his father curiously. "What's the deal?" It was always smart to ask what the terms were before you agreed to anything!
His father was Kazekage and had drilled that into Kaemon's head from an early age. It was almost expected that one day he'd either take over for Gaara or Mei. So he'd had to learn things like that.
"Never compare your mother and Aiya again in front of Hinata, Itachi, or Sasuke and you won't be grounded." Gaara pauses to emphasize his point. "But especially, do not EVER compare that girl to your mother in front of Sasuke. Do you understand me?"
Kaemon nods rather quickly. "Okay. I won't." At least, that was better than not being grounded for a month!
A few hours later, Hinata sighs in relief when the children were all asleep. Everyone was safe and sound, even if most were sulking and her father had finally went home. Now, they could all get some well deserved rest or so she thought.
"Another message?" Itachi blinks as he heads to the window and sees a messenger hawk.
Hinata wanted to scream. She was really beginning to hate getting mail. There was that one time when her father had politely informed her that he had overheard their lovemaking and of course, finding out that their daughter (and later on their son) had been kidnapped.
Sasuke kisses her cheek and looks at Itachi. "What does it say?" Hinata could tell that he was almost afraid to ask.
Itachi chuckles and Hinata sighs in relief. Oh good. It wasn't another catastrophe in the making.
Dear Hinata, Itachi, and Sassy (I mean Sasuke),
Karin is still freaking out, but it looks like Safa is going to be okay. Thanks for healing her cuts and bruises, Hinata. And I guess it's a good thing your kids are apparently nuts or she might still be trapped there.
You're definitely going to have to tell us the full story sometime. I spoke with the other kid's parents. Kami, Akio, and Kitzu are all doing fine.
Oh and Sassy, you might want to watch number six, really closely. He takes after you way too much and while Safa usually takes after me, I guess she's like her mother in a way.
Safa won't stop talking about his Chidori. It's kinda cute, but a bit disturbing. Thank God he's way too young for this to be a concern yet. Anyway, we should all go out to dinner or something sometime.
Some fun time with the grownups. That and we need to strategize. Puppy Love, it's apparently everywhere. If Akeno looks at Arashi like that again, I'm probably gonna get cavities and the Kazekage's Brat is apparently some kind of stalker. He seriously bugged your daughter's teddy bear? Freaky!
Cya later, Suigetsu!
Hinata just laughs at the letter. At twelve, it was just as Suigetsu said. Puppy Love. It was unlikely to develop into more long term or if it did, she was fine with that.
Sasuke twitches. "I hope that idiot seriously isn't considering letting his daughter seduce Kenji!" Hinata tries not to giggle at her husband's expression, but it was almost impossible not to.
"Sasuke, Kenji is eight." Itachi shakes his head. "He's not going to be seduced by anyone for a good, long while." That was true.
Thank goodness she had two husbands. Her fiery and very overprotective Sasuke and her sensual and rational Itachi. She really was the luckiest woman in the world, even if her children were at least mildly insane. She loved them all.
"That's true." Sasuke shakes his head. "But this is the Leaf. Children grow up fast and you never know what is going to happen!" He glares at the wall as if it was the source of all his problems!
"It's been a very long day." Hinata kisses Sasuke's and Itachi's cheeks. "I think that we all need to relax and get some sleep." She smiles slyly and sways her hips invitingly as she heads upstairs. "A bubble bath sounds nice. Don't you think?"
Almost as soon as her foot touched the first step, Hinata heard the sounds of two Uchiha Brothers following her. They were very responsive. That was just one of the many things that she adored about her husbands.
Sasuke smirks. "That sounds like a very, very good idea." Darting off after her like a tiger chasing its prey or something.
That probably should have terrified her, but it was more exciting than anything else. Hinata giggles at his response and rushes off towards the bathroom. They could chase her.
It wasn't that far. They all knew how this game was going to end. Hinata was going to get caught by them both. Not that she would have it any other way.
"An excellent idea in fact." Itachi chuckles as he follows after Sasuke and their wife. "After all, I did say that I wouldn't make it a habit to turn down offers to join a beautiful woman for a bath and I always keep my promises."
That was just like Itachi. His memory was almost inhuman and he had always been the more elegant of the brothers. That was okay though. Itachi's elegance or Sasuke's passion, she adored both and she could have both.
It was like having one's cake and eating it too. Hinata still couldn't believe sometimes that they had been married for over a decade, but every day looking at Aiya and Arashi proved that was the case.
Time really did fly w hen you were having fun. "I'll start the bath." And they were having a lot of that, Hinata thinks to herself as she enters the bathroom and runs the hot water.
Between watching their children grow and their many passionate kisses, time definitely was flying quickly. She treasured every moment though. Well except when her children got kidnapped or tried to go after the kidnappers by themselves! That had NOT been an enjoyable experience!
"Such a good wife." Sasuke smirks as he joins her in the bathroom.
Itachi soon followed. "Indeed, she is." He smirks just like Sasuke. "Our Queen always takes such good care of us." He grabs the bubbles bath and pours it into the water.
Hinata smiles and kisses them both. "Mmm well I do try." She glances back and makes sure the door was locked. "Soundproofing Jutsu!" The Uchiha Matriarch was not in the mood to take any chances.
She really didn't want their children to overhear anymore training sessions. So this time, Hinata was making sure that the Jutsu was up before they started. It was safer that way because the mother of eight was certain that they were all in for a very long and pleasurable training session.