And now for Chapter 1 of this story! And we get to see a lil' baby Ita! ^_^ So...this story will basically go through the life of Itachi and Ari...it will, for the most part, follow the storyline of Naruto so...it'll be a bit tragic for the two along the way...and yeah...but anyway,

ENJOI


It didn't take long for me to realize what my mother had done in her last few moments. I had been to Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, only once before, but I knew that there was no way in hell a village could grow that large or this advanced in a matter of months.

Mom was known as the Woman who Tamed the Nine Tails when she was alive. The Uzumaki clan is known for their strong chakra and long life span, but Mom's was unique even among them. She had a distinct chakra-chain style of jutsu which she favored, but what she was most known for was her regenerative abilities. She was just about impossible to wound, and was rumored as a psychic. Well, I know she was psychic because I managed to inherit that from her. When she was at her best, she could bring 100 lives back from the dead with the entirety of her life force alone. So for a small fraction of her energy, reviving one or two individuals was nothing.

But when Madara wounded her—I still can't remember what all happened—she shouldn't have died from those wounds if she didn't want to.

But she made a different choice.

I assume that when she realized that Madara had the upper hand over my father, she knew it would be either me or her. She was weakened, but with the remainder of her life, she could shield me, among other things.

And for whatever reason, she chose to send me to the arms of the Fourth Hokage's wife. And from there, I would soon meet the son of her best friend, and allow our lives to intertwine and tangle in a beautifully tragic way.

And this, my friends, is where the real story begins.


Minato

"What are you saying, Minato?" the Third Hokage asked. The news had visibly startled him. Minato still wasn't sure that he believed it himself.

"I'm saying that this little girl is claiming to be the rumored child of Chinatsu Uzumaki and the Kyuubi," Minato repeated.

The Third Hokage grimaced and took a long puff of his pipe, "And how is Kushina taking the news?"

"She's insisting on looking after the girl," Minato explained, "I don't know why, but Kushina's been very protective of Ari since we brought her home. And Ari really does seem to look up to us…"

"Do you two plan to keep her?"

"Well, erm…" honestly, Minato hadn't thought that far in advance. Everything happened so fast, "well, I don't think we can send her to an orphanage. And we promised Ari that we'd protect her. Lord Third, I know the threats, and I know the stories, but Ari is totally different than what the stories are telling us. And the way she talks about her parents…I think there's more to this little girl and her father than we have been willing to understand for centuries."

"I have no doubt about that, Minato, just…be very careful," Lord Third warned, "you and Kushina are planning on starting a family, and I fear that if all you say is true, the Nine Tails could become dangerous."

"How so? I mean, I know about what could happen to Kushina's seal, but—"

"Minato, you are not a father yet, so it's difficult to understand," the Third Hokage said, "but a parent will do anything to protect their child if they believe that child to be in danger. And having been sealed for almost seventy years, and then suddenly discovering that its daughter is residing with its Jinchuuriki and her husband…who knows what the Kyuubi thinks."

"Understood," and with that, Minato left.

On his way home, Minato mulled over everything that had happened over the past week. It was hard for Minato to shake off the fact that Ari wasn't human. What was even harder to shake off was the attachment Ari had for Kushina. But nonetheless, that girl was a cute kid.

Minato smiled to himself, "well, we have been wanting to start a family…"

"Minato!" the Fourth Hokage turned around to see an all too familiar face waving and running towards him.

"Oh, hey, Mikoto! How are you?" Minato asked his wife's best friend, Mikoto Uchiha. She brought her son, Itachi in tow, who dashed as fast as his little legs could take him as he tried to keep up with his newly pregnant mother. Mikoto's baby bump was already starting to show, but that didn't seem to slow the energetic woman down one bit.

"I am doing very well, thank you," Mikoto smiled, "Kushina told me that you two have a little girl staying with you."

"Oh yeah? Is that all she told you?" Minato asked. Dammit, Kushina…he loved that woman but sometimes she didn't know when to stop talking…and if people started to find out about Ari then…well..

"Well, yeah, is there something else I should know?" Mikoto joked, "anyway, I was just on my way over to visit you guys. I thought I'd bring Itachi along too. He's been needing someone his age to play with."

"Well great!" Minato said, slightly relieved. He then knelt down to Itachi and said, "and how are you, today, Itachi? Are you excited to meet a new friend?"

Itachi, as young as he was, he was a very mature kid. The boy smiled politely, not afraid of talking to adults and said, "I'm doing good. And yes, I heard Ari was the same age as me. How are you?"

"Well, I am just dandy!" Minato said in a silly tone, which made Itachi laugh. Inviting them to follow, the trio walked to his home, where Kushina and Ari awaiting, getting lunch ready for their guests.


Ari

Kushina-Sensei said that a new friend was coming over to play with me. After a week in the village, I was getting acquainted with the people of Konoha, and I had gotten to know the neighbors. I really liked it here. It was calm, I had a nice warm bed to sleep in at night, and everybody was nice to me, especially Kushina and Minato, and they even knew what I was! But still they told me not to tell anyone about my daddy. They said that some people were afraid of my daddy, that lots of time had passed since the day Madara attacked us, and they said that stories about my daddy had been twisted into bad rumors and now people were scared of him, because they didn't understand him. I accepted that fact and happily took on the role of playing an orphaned girl who was taken in by the Hokage and his wife.

But in all my short life, I don't think I had ever had a true friend before. Not to mention, I don't think I'd ever played with someone my age. Frankly, I wasn't too sure I knew exactly how to play…

"Oh, it's easy!" Kushina tried to explain to me, "you um…well, you can do all sorts of things! Like, play house! And you can pretend to be different things or people! Or you can run around and play tag!"

When I wasn't getting it, I started to panic about embarrassing myself in front of my new friend, so Kushina went back up to the phone and called my new friend's mommy back.

"Hey, Mikoto, I have a question…" Kushina asked, slightly nervous.

"Yeah?" I heard Mikoto's voice answer.

"Um…how good is Itachi with other kids his age?" Kushina asked.

"Well, since he's not in school yet, the only other kids he has to play with are Shisui and Saya, but he's really good with them. He and Shisui tend to rough-house a bit, but he's really sweet with Saya…why?" Mikoto asked.

"Well, Ari seems to have had a tough childhood so far and…" then Kushina whispered, "I don't think she really knows how to play…"

"What?" Mikoto asked in partial disbelief.

"I know it sounds weird, but Ari's getting a bit nervous about meeting Itachi. She hasn't been around kids her age before," Kushina-Sensei explained.

At that Mikoto let out an audible sigh, "Oh, geez, Kushina…the things you get yourself into…well, I'll tell you what, I'll talk to Itachi and tell him to go easy on Ari. How does that sound?"

"Oh that sounds great, Miko! Thanks, and sorry, Itachi is a great kid, I just didn't want Ari to get too worked up about this, you know?" Kushina said.

"Oh yeah, I totally understand! I'll see you in a bit, okay?" And with that, the two hung up.

"So…Ita won't make fun of me for not knowing how to play?" I asked skeptically, rocking from my heels to my toes and back.

Kushina-Sensei knelt down and smiled, "no, of course, not dear! He's going to show you how to be a kid your age, how does that sound?"

I giggled and spun around shouting, "That's great!"

Kushina went ahead and finished making lunch and I helped out as best as a four-year-old could. It was shortly after we finished setting the table when Minato opened the door, coming home from his visit with the Third Hokage.

"Minato! Minato! I called out, I'm going to learn how to play!" I shouted cheerfully, but then I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw a dark-haired pregnant woman standing behind Minato holding the hand of a boy who looked about my age.

"Hey, honey!" Kushina welcomed as she exchanged a hug and a kiss with Minato. She then turned her attention to the woman behind him and the two women exchanged a giddy and excited greeting as they hugged, "So, how's the baby?" Kushina asked.

"How's the baby, what about me?" Mikoto joked, "And what about you? When are you guys going to get busy, huh?"

"We're working on it," Kushina stuck her tongue out at Mikoto.

I ignored the two's exchange, my eyes focused only on the boy before me. He had dark hair, slightly lighter than his mother's, and he had dark, powerful eyes. Those eyes…they were all too much like Madara's…they scared me.

But then the boy did something that forever changed my perspective of him. He smiled, and it was then when I realized that as powerful as his eyes were, their gentleness were all the more powerful. He had kind eyes, welcoming eyes. I could feel safe within their gaze. And it was that gaze that forever trapped me.

I smiled shyly back at the boy, shrugging my shoulders as if I were trying to hide.

"Hi," the boy said, "I'm Itachi, do you want to be my friend?"

"I'm Ari," I said.

"Hi, Ari, what would you like to play?" Itachi asked.

"Well," I shifted around nervously, "I don't really know how to play…"

Itachi cocked his head to the side a bit in confusion, but then he smiled again and held out his hand.

"That's okay! I'll show you," he offered sweetly.

My face grew hot and turned a light shade of pink. I reached out and took hold of his small, open hand and we ran out to the backyard. And that small exchange, and my little hand in his, was all it took for destiny to run its course.

I had the time of my life that day, playing ninja, tag, climbing trees, running around like a child. I had finally found a friend.

And I've never let go of that hand since.