A/N: A lot of breaks in this one. Except for the first one, they are all Hinote's POV, with time skips between each of them.

Disclaimer: disconcerting as it may sound, Hinote's awesomeness hasn't yet gained me ownership of Naruto.

Chapter 4

Kushina had been ready to end the Uchiha clan when Mikoto had contacted her. Throwing Hinote, a three year old child, out of the clan, when it was all she'd ever known? That was a horrid thing to do, dattebane! She kept pacing, her hair floating along a phantom wind, ever since Minato had managed to convince her that declaring war on the Military Police wasn't going to help matters.

She'd tried to busy herself, finding a futon for Hinohino, making rice to go with the nattō–Hinote was the first child she'd ever seen who enjoyed the smelly thing–locating and disposing of Minato's stray Icha Icha, airing the rooms, setting the table, but she always came back to nervous pacing.

When she saw the flash of yellow that signified Hinote and Minato's arrival, she rushed out to smother the girl. Poor cute Hinohino, dattebane! It was clear, from her puffy eyes, that she'd been crying, and she had a nervous posture that reminded Kushina of a young Kakashi. The girl struggled in her grip, so Kushina loosened it a bit to let her breathe.

"You shouldn't-, shouldn't be touching me, auntie... I-, I mean, my chakra, I..." She looked about to cry again. Aggressive chakra... if only she knew. And thus Kushina came to a decision.

"Hinohino, how much do you know about the kyūbi no youko?"

"Kushina!"

"Hush, Minato. I know what I'm doing. So how about it?"

I stared as auntie channeled some of her chakra into my hand. At first I could feel nothing wrong with it–it was gentle, rich, and soothing, unlike the mixture of lava and liquid lightning I had in me–but then, much like prank candy, the outer cover melted and I felt the energy swirling within. Primal, untamed, unrestrained, natural as in disaster, the chakra of the legendary monster in auntie. And yet, I found it comforting to know it was there. That I could get more hugs without fearing for her safety.

"I know you're afraid of your chakra, Hinohino, but I've dealt with far worse. Now do you want some nattō?" She mussed my hair when I nodded fervently. I hadn't even realized I was hungry, but now I could hear my stomach growl.

We were soon seated. Kushina made a face when Minato-kun gave her a hearty serving of nattō with rice and grilled vegetables, the latter of which he had made after discovering the pot that was supposed to contain them had somehow gotten "misplaced".

"Och, but this smells... Why can't we have this with ramen? Hinohino, I love you, but I swear you're the oddest child I'll ever know. Why can't you like sweets like dango? Or ramen?"

"But auntie, it just tastes soooooo good!" And it did.

"This fixation of yours can't be healthy."

"...says the ramen maniac." Minato-kun was officially having Too Much Fun with this conversation. Auntie apparently agreed, because she decided to give him some extra nattō. Which I promptly stole from his plate, earning me a gloved hi-five.

With all the ruckus, I forgot to give auntie her gift until New Year's, when I found it among my note-scrolls. It was a drawing of her and Minato, holding hands and giving each other smoldering looks. She was delighted to have it... though she didn't need to tell me, as her ears had apparently decided to join her hair in crimsonhood.

"We, we do not look like this dattebane!"

Auntie, I know passion when I see it! I assumed she'd put a seal on their room just the night before, so that sound couldn't escape. It was pretty easy to tell, though, since Minato kept smiling as though he owned the world.

She gave me a return gift two days later: gloves with seals for my chakra. The craftsmanship seemed pretty good, at least to my untrained eye. Black, soft leather, with detachable fingertips. I didn't ask about those–their purpose was pretty clear. They had apparently been hand sewn by Minato, which by then didn't surprise me in the least.. Cute, studious, and good at housework. Very well. I shall approve of this ship.

On the same day, my parents visited with Itachi-nii. He brought me dango as a present, which, in Itachi-nii's view, was the greatest possible present. His sweet tooth was legendary among the family–in fact, he started staring at the dango enviously as soon as I opened his gift. I promptly offered to share them with him. Delicious things are better eaten together, after all. Now, if I can only get him into nattō…

Auntie's house was an odd place. There were scrolls everywhere. The hallways had shelves cluttered with scrolls. The wardrobes had scroll holders. The dinner table had drawers full of scrolls. I could swear the scrolls themselves had scrolls with scrolls on them. Scrollception, I thought one day to myself.

Neither auntie not uncle were home that often–auntie hadn't retired like okaa-san, and uncle was busy with something he called "special surprise". Both Kushina and I knew what it was, of course. We'd already started planning it. Shinobi weddings, it turned out, were far more sober affairs than what I was accustomed to. Oh, the great clans had their grand events and all that jazz, but most shinobi were far more utilitarian. Auntie and uncle were already married in all but name, anyways.

All of that meant I was alone for most of the day–at least when Kakashi-san didn't visit (in other words, get roped into babysitting)–either running through training routines okaa-san passed auntie or reading from the extensive library at my disposal. Now, at almost four years of age, I could reach more scrolls than ever. Scrolls on the nature of chakra, on battlefield movement, on concealment, weapon maintenance… It was all fascinating.

I had also managed to coax auntie into teaching me about fūinjutsu. It was a complicated subject, to say the least. There were a wealth of basic symbols and variations one needed to learn before even thinking about learning the most basic designs. More so than ninjutsu or taijutsu, advanced fūinjutsu was the study of a lifetime.

"Now, some so-called 'sealmasters' are okay with just learning a few seals by heart and reproducing them as needed. Or worse, using molds. That's just sloppy, dattebane!"

I was learning a lot about how to recognize proper fūinjutsu from shoddy jobs. It seemed to be a pet peeve for auntie and, as a mathematician, I felt I knew why. Damn physicists, perverting perfectly good math. Of course, following her approach meant years before I could make even a basic exploding tag, but I was okay with that.

On the week before my birthday, I found a series of old, musty scrolls in the back of uncle's bed-drawer. I had actually been searching for a porn stash. As young as I was, I didn't have anything resembling a sex drive, but actually finding them would make for a great opportunity to see auntie go tomato, which had become a pastime of sorts.

I found no incriminating materials after all, but these scrolls were quite a find. They covered all of the Academy subjects, from the very first class to the very last test, with a clarity and insight I had learned to associate with the classical papers written by great geniuses. Well, the history sections were outdated, but precise and in-depth. And these were presentation copies, signed by one Sarutobi Hiruzen "for Namikaze Minato, brightest shinobi of this generation."

That meant Uncle almost certainly knew the author. That, in turn, meant I could meet him! If he was still alive, that is. I was sorely lacking in information about current events–no one saw fit to discuss politics with the toddler–but I'd gathered we'd apparently been at war, and otou-san, uncle and auntie had all participated. That sounded bad for people's survival rates.

Even so, I started looking into the scrolls in more detail, annotating my studies and jotting down questions and points in need of clarification in note-scrolls. I also made an effort to locate any scrolls within my height (plus chair) written by the man. Finding good study materials is a growing girl's romance!

It was three days before my birthday that uncle announced his "surprise" to me, auntie and a visiting Kakashi-san:

"I'm going to be Hokage!"

"Oh, Minato, I do!" Doh!

There was a tense pause. Kakashi-san choked on his tea. I just stared, laughing inside.

"EH!?" Both of them recoiled.

Minato recovered first:

"Er, I mean… Uzumaki Kushina, will you marry me?"

It was too late, however. Auntie had already gone tomato, this time in a scary way.

One hospital trip later, they decided to schedule the wedding for January.

My and Itachi-nii's birthday party was held in uncle and auntie's house, since I wasn't welcome in the compound. Okaa-san got a training tanto for Itachi-nii, and a training bō for me. From otou-san we both got new training clothes. Kakashi-san attempted to give me a book, but was vetoed (read: defenestrated) by okaa-san. Auntie gave us plushies, a crow for onii-chan and a fox for me. As for uncle…

"Sorry, Hino-chan, but I didn't know what to get you..." He'd given Itachi-nii a box of assorted sweets, which okaa-san was currently keeping him from gobbling all at once.

An idea struck me.

"Hey, uncle! You know Sarutobi Hiruzen-sensei, don't you? Is he still alive? Can you introduce me?"

Why is everyone gaping at me?

A/N: First of all, thanks to my friend for helping me avoid writing ridiculous and garish meals. The original version of that dinner shall, thankfully, remain forever buried.

Now, to the meat of the thing: I find Naruto's timeline confusing. That said, I am moving Nidaime's death to the Second Shinobi World War, 19 years before Naruto's birth. This is for three reasons: firstly, so that his reign as Hokage isn't so short. Secondly, so that he didn't train genin while Hokage. Thirdly, so that scrolls could be written while Minato was alive but before he became the Sandaime, thus enabling this last segment.

Please tell me what is good, what is bad and what just plain sucks... Reviews are welcome!