Author's Notes: Hey, I've been gone a really ridiculous amount of time on this story (or the series in general) and I apologize, life is weird when you're 22, still go to school full-time, have tons of homework, work at a crappy call-center job, and still try to have a social life and do necessary stuff. Just to level with my readers, haha. I appreciate all of you guys who are out there still reading, and I hope you know its true because I've been working on this latest chapter while I'm at work in-between calls, lol. I know this chapter is short, but I'll try to make up for it with the next ones, enjoy you guys! It's a very sweet and fluffy chapter. Much love, PK

Kushina: Fiery Aggression

In a once-prominent section of the Hidden Leaf Village there lives a clan by the name of Uchiha that is succeeded by its only two living members, Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha. Said Uchiha brothers are collectively the parents of five children. Out of five of those collective children, only one of them routinely causes their mama distress, and her name is-

"Kushina!" Sasuke yelled for seemingly the umpteenth time that afternoon.

"What did I do now?" she sighed, coming into the living room as she followed the voice of her ire.

"Why did you tell Katsuo that you were going to use him as target practice? Now he's crying," Sasuke questioned, holding the sniffling four year-old in his arms.

"Mama it was just an idle threat, I just want them to stay out of my room. And besides, they're just wooden kunai, they don't really hurt," she explained with a shrug.

"Let's see how much wooden kunai don't hurt when I play target practice with your rear end, princess. Now apologize to your cousin please,"

"I'm sorry Katsuo… that you're a little baby," Kushina concluded, before heading back to the direction of her room.

As Katsuo started up wailing again, Sasuke shouted down the hall,"That's right, go back to your room miss missy!"

"Endless grounding, whoopee!" she shouted back sarcastically before slamming her door.

That evening when Naruto was finally home and getting into his pajamas, readying himself for bed, Sasuke walked in, dramatically stating, "Your daughter is making me prematurely gray, I hope you know."

"Not my little princess," Naruto responded, looking at Sasuke, who was staring back dead serious, grasping the top of his head where strands of gray were appearing.

"Indeed, the one and only. Am I allowed to just decide to quit being her parent? Because she's honestly 90% you anyways, I just carried her for nine months, no biggie,"

"You know, initially I thought you were joking, but this sounds like something I really should pay attention to," Naruto remarked, sitting under the covers staring intently at his dark-haired husband.

"You should know I'm dead serious when you refer to Kushina as your princess and I question if we're even referring to the same little girl. Quite honestly, some days I feel like the one particular sperm that that little girl came from was infused with the demon fox or something as some kind of a sick joke, because she keeps me on my toes literally all day Naruto," Sasuke confessed, continuing on as he sat on the edge of their bed. "I'm with Kushina almost all of the time, just like I was with Miyaki, but she just misbehaves so much. She behaves totally different with you, and you know it."

"Oh, it's just a daddy's girl thing, she'll grow out of it. You remember, Miyaki was a total mama's boy and he still is. I don't think Kushina is a bad girl, just a little rebellious."

"Well your rebellious little girl is failing her classes I hope you know," Sasuke pointed out bluntly, looking visibly irritated.

Naruto's eyes widened. "Failing, why? Iruka never told me about this, granted, I'm not sure when's the last time I got to talk to him either."

"She's failing because she's just being a little rebellious, that's all," was the sarcasm-laced reply.

"Okay, Sasuke, I get that you're pissed off at me, but I don't think it's fair for me to have to choose between making you happy and making my daughter happy- this whole mess is between you two," Naruto argued.

"But it isn't! Kushina has two parents- one is her disciplinarian and the other is her best friend. Guess which one you are? You're so busy having all the fun with her while I'm stuck actually disciplining her. You try grounding her for once, she'll throw a fit."

Naruto sighed and patted the side of the bed that Sasuke seemed to be actively avoiding, and Sasuke looked down at the waiting eyes of the blonde but he wasn't folding and just glared back.

"Okay so… what if I take some time off and spend some time with her tomorrow and see if I can get her to act a little better?" Naruto suggested, folding awkwardly to the threatening Uchiha stare.

"...Are you just saying this to make me feel better or do you actually mean it?" Sasuke grumbled.

"I'm saying this because I want you to stop being mad at me and kiss me, teme," Naruto pouted, poked out lips and all. "Because you're like, seriously mad at me."

Sasuke's glare faltered slightly as he looked at the love of his life lying there with those big blue eyes, pouting like a child, which was parts adorable and amusing. He was a sucker for those blue eyes, and his husband and kids liked to exploit the hell out of that. He finally sighed heavily, resolve weakening, before saying, "I'll kiss you when I actually feel like you're listening to what I'm saying."

"I'm going to discipline her, okay?" Naruto promised.

"Okay… I hope everything goes well then. Because I really want my little girl to get her butt on track before she ends up having to repeat a year of school. She's a genius, I know it's in there, she just won't behave for some reason," Sasuke sighed, before finally giving Naruto a chaste kiss.

Naruto could tell Sasuke was pretty upset over this, but he didn't see what the huge problem was, himself. Kushina wasn't a bad kid, she was a smart girl with a lot of energy that maybe just needed to be directed the right way.

"Daddy, I'm so happy I get to go training with you today," Kushina gushed, holding her dad's hand, huge around her tiny one. The two were walking to a training field away from the village so he could have some privacy with her.

"Well I wanted to spend some time with you so I could see where you're at, yknow? How is school going?"

"Fine, we're still using wooden kunai for target practice, and I learned a basic substitution," she bragged.

"Well that's good, so you're not having any problems with your work?"

"Nope,"

"So then why is Iruka telling me that your senseis all have been citing you with behavior issues?" Naruto asked, turning to look at his daughter somewhat seriously.

Kushina seemed to pale a bit at that, but didn't miss a beat, as she replied, "I'll be honest, I have issues with everyone there in my classroom. I'm good with my work, but I get into fights a lot. But people pick with me!"

"What do people pick with you about?" Naruto wondered.

"There's a lot to pick on me about if you look hard enough," Kushina explained, balancing on a log as she spoke forlornly. "Because I have two dads, because I'm the smallest one in the class, because I have crazy red hair all over the place, because I'm always getting in trouble with the teachers… need I go on? School isn't really my strong suit."

"Kushina you're only in the second grade, I think you're too young to decide school isn't 'for you' right now," Naruto spoke, before he met eyes with the little girl who was pacing on the log before him. Kushina wasn't a particularly vulnerable person, even for only being seven, and most of what went on in that girl's mind was on a need-to-know basis. Very few people were let in on Kushina's vulnerabilities, and what floored Naruto the most was that Miyaki never had any of these issues in school. Miyaki never mentioned getting picked on for having two dads, he wasn't short nor had a crazy hair color to be teased for, and he was very personable and easy going. Kushina, on the outside, seemed like a pretty sociable person too but just now it seemed to appear to Naruto that Kushina was somewhat insecure, and she developed these weird violent defense mechanisms to make people leave her alone.

But where did it come from, he wondered. It reminded him of himself when he was younger, having no parents, no friends, being a failing student…

"You don't understand, daddy," she retorted.

"I want you to help me understand, Kushina. Because even if you don't think I understand how you feel, I do know that I never had any parents around to try and understand me. Since that happened to me, you always have me and Sasuke to come to because we know quite well how it feels not having anyone to try and understand you. It took years for me to finally find someone to open up to, and I don't want you to have to wait that long to feel comfortable opening up," Naruto explained, hands on the little girl's shoulders as he sat and she stood before him. Part of him was worried he wasn't making much sense, because he never really had to talk to Miyaki like this. Miyaki was always curious, always asking and understanding and explaining how he felt, while Kushina for some reason felt as though she had to know everything without ever truly having lived.

"I don't know what you mean,"

"Kushina, you have to understand you have a support system, you have me, Sasuke, your big brother, and tons of other people to name. Long story short, just learn to not be on the defensive so much, don't be afraid to be vulnerable with us, and just be yourself," Naruto reassured her.

"I'm pretty 'myself' on a regular basis I think, but I'll try harder," she laughed. "I just feel like a failure, I wanna be better at school but I feel like I can't control myself the way I need to, y'know?"

"Once you learn how to, you'll be amazing and I know it," Naruto said with a smile, kissing the ponytailed girl on the forehead as she made a face at the gesture. "And I can help you, because I had the same problem when I was younger too. But look at me now-"

"Yeah, you're the Hokage dad! I have Hokage in my blood so I'm pretty sure I'll be as strong as you one day, or even stronger," she added with a smirk, hands on her hips now.

"That's my girl," Naruto mused, grinning. "Okay so no more getting into fights at school, and I'll personally train you every day you want, when I get done with my work, okay?"

"Deal daddy-O," Kushina agreed, with a thumbs up. "I'll do my absolute best."

Kushina sat at the counter in the kitchen, idly doing some of her written homework. The little kids were gone with Itachi for the afternoon, Kisame was gone on one of his many missions, and Sasuke was sitting on the living room couch, reading.

"Mama, why don't you go on missions all the time anymore like you did when I was little?" Kushina called into the other room.

"That question kind of came out of nowhere," Sasuke mused.

"Is it because you love me and don't want to ever leave me?" she said with a grin identical to her father's.

"You caught me Kushina," Sasuke responded with a playful tone, smiling behind the book he was reading.

"Don't you get bored?"

"Sometimes, but I think being your mama is exciting enough for me. I'd have to say it's one of my favorite jobs aside from being a ninja,"

"You really think that mama?"

"Yes, are you surprised?" Sasuke asked, looking inquisitive. "I don't stay home all day for my health, I stay here because I want to raise you into a wonderful young lady… even though I know nothing about being a lady."

"Wow, so you really gave up being a ninja just to raise me and Miyaki?" the little redhead gasped.

"Yes, I did,"

"Wow mama, that's… really lame to be honest. Wow, okay. So I should keep doing this here homework so I don't have to be a lame parent like you when I grow up. Thanks for the heads up!"

"Kushina… you really do play around a lot don't you?" Sasuke sighed.

The ponytailed girl sat adorably smiling from her place at the counter and retorted, "I have to make your boring life interesting mama, you'd die without me. You love me! And that's what makes me love you!"

"I appreciate your continued effort in acting out to make my life interesting, but I'd greatly appreciate it if you didn't…" the elder Uchiha said with a chuckle.

"We have to keep up appearances mom, you knew what this was when you had me, you signed up for this," Kushina replied in a no-nonsense voice. "I love you mama but them's the breaks. Business as usual."

"Business as usual, eh?" Sasuke laughed, picking up the little defiant girl from the bar stool she was sitting in, as she screamed, half out of surprise, half in laughter. She was in a fit of giggles as Sasuke tickled her while swinging her around, it was pretty nice when Kushina was just Kushina the little girl, not Kushina the self-proclaimed revolutionary.

It was at that time that Naruto came through the door, greeted by the rare sound of Sasuke and Kushina, laughing, together at that!

"Daddy help me!" she yelled out through her giggle fits.

"Coming princess!" the blonde called out with a smirk.

"Naruto, you're really taking her side- aah!" Sasuke shrieked, as Naruto's hands found their way to the raven's side, under his shirt. Few people knew that Sasuke was so ticklish aside from Naruto of course.

In Sasuke's moment of shock, Kushina freed herself and joined the tickle assault on Sasuke with Naruto.

"Glad to know you guys are getting along finally," Naruto stated warmly, before stopping to hug and kiss his love, then his daughter.

"Somewhat," Kushina said with a sassy intonation, waggling her finger. "I just gotta keep things interesting for mama."

"Why don't we take a break from making mama's life difficult and watch a movie, just the three of us? I'll make snacks," Naruto suggested, and his little girl looked elated.

Kushina ran to her bedroom to go change into her pajamas, while Sasuke took one look at the bright red ponytailed girl running off to her room, then turning to look at his blond lover in the kitchen pulling out a box of brownie mix. He was beginning to have a sense of deja vu… how many years have gone by since he, Naruto, and Miyaki were doing this same thing? It made him feel like a sap… but he missed his little boy being a little boy sometimes.

Not even an hour later, piled all on the huge living room couch in their pajamas, was Riku and Miyaki cuddled on the left, Naruto and Sasuke cuddled on the right, and Kushina sitting in the middle snuggled between her dad and her big brother (occasionally leaning over to pick with her favorite brother-in-law.) They were sitting, watching some scary movie with the lights off, eating fresh brownies with vanilla ice cream on the side. The kids thought it was quite mushy, but Kushina loved being under her big brother and her dad, so it was the best of both worlds for her. Sasuke thought he was being too mushy, by inviting his grown son and his husband over, but Naruto understood it. They both really loved their little tight knit family, as unorthodox as it is.