I want to thank everyone who has followed or favorited my story! Also to anyone who reviewed as well! Thank you for taking some time to say something I
appreciate it very much. I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far, I haven't written a fic in a while so I might be a bit rusty. Also if there are any mistakes I apologize, I'm not a big fan of re-reading and editing
Kushina and Mikoto were sat down at the table drinking tea, as their two year olds played in the living room. Although neither could speak much yet, they both babbled on with the words they did know. Itachi watched Hanako as she played with a stuffed toad, a gift given to her by her father's sensei.
"Itachi," the toddler called excitedly as she walked over to where he was playing with a ball. He giggled happily as she pushed the ball back towards him. Their play time was cut short as Itachi was gently picked up by his mother.
"Come on, say bye to Kushina and Hanako, we have to go home," Mikoto said gently to her son.
"Bye!" Itachi waved excitedly to his friend and her mother. Hanako grew sad watching her friend leave and went to her mother, who picked her up in her arms and gave her a kiss before setting her back down.
"No crying, okay? We're going to see your daddy and his students."
"Daddy!" At the mention of her father she immediately became giddy again. Kushina picked up the basket containing the food she made for Minato and his team before leaving the house. Hanako grabbed onto her mother's hand as they both walked to the training grounds. As soon as Hanako saw her father she let go of her mother's hand and ran to him.
"Daddy!" Minato grinned as he picked up his daughter and kissed her forehead.
How's my little girl doing?" Kushina who was now next to Minato, placed a kiss on his cheek in greeting.
"I brought lunch," Kushina said happily as she placed the basket down on a log, "I hope they like it."
"Of course they will," he reassured her before calling to his students, "Okay guys, line up! I'd like you to meet Kushina, my wife." They all greeted her with a polite bow. "Kushina, this is Rin, Obito, and Kakashi."
"You guys are so cute, ya know!" She grinned looking down at the young children.
"And this little one here is Hanako."
Rin, who was making playful faces at the toddler, rushed forward and cooed at her, "Oh! Sensei, she's so cute!" Hanako laughed as Rin tickled her stomach.
"Now, if anything ever happens to me, you three need to watch over Hanako, and pass down the Will of Fire to her, understood?"
"Yes Sensei!"
"Kakashi!" The now four year old jumped onto Kakashi's back, while he was sitting down eating lunch that Kushina brought for them. Hanako's small arms wrapped around his neck as she struggled to move around him to sit on his lap. Kakashi cast a side-glance in her direction to watch her. Once she was on his lap she grinned up at him, "See I can be a ninja too!" Rin, who was at his side, laughed at the smaller girl, fussing over how cute she was. When he thought no one was watching, he put his arm around her, to make sure she wouldn't fall. Minato caught the movement and grinned watching his team, however it faltered slightly as he watched Kushina yell at Obito.
"Here they go again," Rin commented as her eyes watched Kushina and her teammate argue.
"Daddy, why is mommy yelling at Obito? Did he forget to wash his hands or something? She always does that to you." This earned a chucked out of his students.
"No, of course not," he rubbed the back of his neck, feeling slightly embarrassed, "Your mother just cares, that's all." Hanako jumped off Kakashi's lap and went over to her mom, tugging on her dress.
"Mommy stop yelling at Obi, I want him to play with me," a pout formed on her lips. Kushina sighed in defeat at she looked at her daughter and waved a hand at her, signaling that it was okay to play with him.
"Come on Obi," she grinned and pulled on his hand. Obito stuck his tongue out at Kushina before grinning at Hanako and pulling her up onto his shoulders, gripping her legs firmly.
"You ready?" He asked as he looked up at Hanako.
"Yes! Let's go Obi!" Obito grinned at the new nickname Hanako seemed to have found for him.
"You better not drop her Obito, or you'll pay for it," Kushina said in a tone that scared Obito slightly. Just as he was about to say something smart to her in return, he tripped over a rock, causing him to topple over. Before Hanako could even scream Kakashi caught her, and Obito landed onto the ground with a thud.
"Nice going trash, you almost dropped her," Kakashi snorted as he looked down at Obito. Obito got up quickly and was about to yell at Kakashi, but was interrupted as he was hit in the back of the head.
"The first thing I told you not to do and you do it! You better be more careful next time, she's not a toy!" Obito flinched as Kushina continued to yell at him, her fiery temper growing with each passing second. Minato quickly got up to calm his wife down, or try to.
A short while later, Minato told his students to go home and rest, reminding them that there was not going to be training the next day, but he would be treating them to lunch instead.
The next day Minato was somehow stuck with two four year olds, as their mothers went off to do who knows what. He brought Hanako and Itachi with him to the restaurant he had told his students to meet him in, Hanako's hand tightly clutching her father's hand, and the other hand in Itachi's.
"Daddy, when are you going to start teaching me jutsus? Teach me the cool jutsu Obi does!" Minato smiled down at Hanako, happy she seems to have an interest in ninjutsu, even if it's a little bit early.
"You're too young to be leaning jutsu, Hanako. Maybe in a couple of years I'll tell your mother to start training you with some simple chakra training. And I can't teach you Obito's jutsu, it's a jutsu that belongs to his clan. The Uchiha clan." Minato looked down at Itachi, "Have you heard of the jutsu, Itachi? It's called the Fireball Jutsu." Itachi looked up at Minato as he nodded his head.
"Everyone in my clan knows that jutsu!" He then turned to Hanako, "My father said that I should have learned it before I even start the Academy!" This made Hanako pout.
"See dad, even Itachi is going to start learning jutsu soon." Minato rubbed her head gently.
"C'mon, where here." Minato saw his students and waved at them, "Sorry I'm late, I had a small setback," he smiled, motioning to the kids at his side. The three pre-teens greeted their teacher, and the younger kids, familiar with the pair tagging along. Minato led them inside, and they were seated quickly.
"Obi! Itachi said that he's going to learn your cool jutsu soon, but daddy won't teach me," Hanako said to him as they began to eat. "Can you teach me instead?" The older Uchiha looked down at his younger clan mate, he wasn't surprised he would be learning the jutsu so soon, he was the clan leader's son after all.
"I'm sorry, I can't teach you that jutsu, Ko-Chan," he spoke with his mouth full as he looked at the younger girl, "I think your mom would kill me." Hanako let out a puff of irritation as she looked at Itachi.
"When you learn the jutsu will you show me, Itachi?" Her friend nodded excitedly, causing her to grin and hug Itachi.
"I think your dad's jutsu is cooler than ours," he spoke quietly, only wanting her to hear, "My father says he's probably the fastest ninja in our whole village." She shrugged her shoulders as she began to eat.
"They're so cute, Minato-Sensei, I can see them being together, can you?" Rin was watching the two kids and grinned tugging on Kakashi to look at them as well. Minato had a slightly panicked look on his face. Wasn't it too early to be thinking about those kinds of things?
The rest of the evening was spent with Minato explaining tomorrow's mission with his team. It would be Kakashi's first mission as a jonin and as a leader, and he reminded them to bring him a gift, to celebrate his promotion.
The wait for the return of her father and his team was unbearable to Hanako, what was supposed to be a few days seemed to take so much longer. Her days were usually spent with Itachi at her side, they could now go outside since the weather has been getting warmer, and they took advantage of it, going outside as much as possible. She had even gotten a visit from Jiraiya, who she had grown accustomed to calling grandpa, and as much as he complained that it made him feel old to be called that, he knew that he loved it as much as the little girl who had grown on him quickly. The night that her father did come back, she felt that something was wrong. As soon as he entered their home, he wasn't smiling as he usually was when he came back from missions.
"Hanako, stay here and wait until your mother and I come out," was all he said before he entered their bedroom. She began to feel nervous, a feeling that was completely foreign to her, as something knotted in her stomach. She waited impatiently for her parents to come out. When they did, the tears streaming down her mother's face didn't go unnoticed by her, and Minato kneeled down in front of her.
"Hanako, our mission didn't go as well as we thought, something happened and Obito was hurt... He died on our mission," Minato spoke slowly, knowing that she wouldn't completely understand. He looked up to Kushina for help.
"Obito was hurt very badly, he wasn't able to get better. He couldn't come back home. I'm sorry Hana, I know you loved him like an older brother." Kushina sighed as she went on her knees as well, and gently stroked her daughter's cheek.
"But he said he would come back to play..." The tears began to well up, stinging her eyes, as she began to sob loudly. Minato picked her up into her arms and tried to calm her down, he doesn't remember the last time she cried like that. Kushina tried to calm her down as well, but nothing seemed to work. Her tears finally stopped as the exhaustion hit her, and she fell asleep in her father's arms.