It is said that on the day that Chiharu was born, there was a massive wind that tore through the streets of Konoha. There was no storm and no hurricane, no thunder and no lightning, merely a torrent of air that screamed terrifyingly as it ripped itself across the hidden village. Houses shook and laundry scattered – pity the man without shelter. Sakura would say in her later years that the the wind seemed to compete with the volume of her screams, distracting her from the pain as her daughter was brought into the world. When I asked her what it felt like, she thought carefully before answering.
"Agony," she whispered, the memory flashing before her old eyes. "Sheer, utter agony." Then a hint of a smile played on her lips before it broke into a grin. "It was probably the most painful thing I've ever experienced… But it was also most worth all that pain."
When they placed the crying bundle of innocence in her arms, she wept. She wept because this baby was, as all babies are, perfection in her mother's eyes. She wept because she questioned the world her daughter would face when she'd grown up. She wept because this child was pure and clean, but had been tainted the moment she had entered the world of humanity's imperfection. Indeed, the Shinobi world had attained peace with the help of a great man, but if peace was absolute, there would be no need for Shinobi. Old threats might return, and new threats may arise, and as such, nothing could ever be certain. A war may be sparked between two nations after years of harmony, and both sides would think that they're in the right. This was the world they lived in. So, she wept.
Looking up from Chiharu, she looked into the sparkling blue eyes of her husband. He smiled as he placed a hand on her cheek and wiped away her tears. He then leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead, then a kiss on his daughter's. Soon, the doctors had left with the child in a cot, and Sakura was left to rest. Naruto sat on the bed, and laid down, making himself comfortable.
"I'm sorry you couldn't hold your daughter, Naruto," Sakura whispered as she laid her head on his chest.
"It's ok," he smiled, wrapping his arms tightly around her. "I'll be able to do it soon enough. When are you allowed to go home?" Sakura giggled lightly, her eyes heavy from exhaustion.
"I'm allowed to take her home whenever I want, Naruto, no one can stop me." She replied playfully. "But they'll be done with their examinations tomorrow morning."
"I can't wait," he kissed her on the forehead again.
"Oh, and Naruto?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Yeah?"
"I love the name you chose for our daughter." He grinned. Chiharu, a Thousand Springs; the perfect name for his daughter. Not only was it the season she was born in, but she was the beginning of a new era in the Shinobi world.
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A shrill cry rang throughout the Uzumaki household as Chiharu woke from her slumber. Following that was a series of grunts and openings and closings of doors. Naruto located his daughter with his sleepy eyes and gently picked her up, holding her tightly to her chest.
"Shush now, dear," he whispered tiredly. "Daddy's here now."
At the sound of his voice, Chiharu's green eyes widened happily and her mouth broke into a grin, the whiskers on her cheeks moving in tow. The past two years had been kind to the Uzumaki family. Sakura had returned as the head of the hospital while Naruto stayed at home to take care of their precious bundle of joy. Every night, he would tell her stories of Hokages and other heroes. But when he ran out of stories, he made up stories, and when he ran out of made-up stories, he told them all over again. Chiharu never seemed to mind. If anything, she had grown to be extremely attached to Naruto, and Sakura often expressed her jealousy, but more so her happiness that her family was still whole.
Naruto watched as the tiny blonde sniffed him and contentedly returned to sleep. Instead of immediately returning her to her cot and then him to his room, he sat in the rocking chair in the corner of the room. Not to think, of course, he didn't do that much, but just to watch. To watch over Chiharu as he had once dreamed to watch over Konoha was a blessing only a father could understand. He hummed a lullaby, more to himself than to her, and soon both had fallen sound asleep.
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"I can't believe that little Chiharu's already three!" Squealed Ino as she hugged the giggling toddler. The Konoha 12 had made it a habit to meet regularly, sometimes at the bar, and sometimes at a barbecue joint. However, over the past few years, the new presence of the newborn children had forced them to stop gathering in such venues. Instead, the gang would bring their children to meet in Hinata's house. That was mainly due to the massive land the Hyuuga clan owned, giving the children all the room they needed to play.
"I know," smiled Sakura, who subtly winked at Naruto, who grinned back. He was sitting in front of Shikamaru, but not really. She herself was watching Ino's two children. Ino and Shikamaru had a daughter not long after Chiharu was born, and two years later, a son. Contrary to expectations, the older sister was the splitting image of her father, and they named her Shikaru, and the son, loud and vocal with blonde hair, was the splitting image of his mother and so they named him Inojin. Right now Sakura was carrying the little Inojin while Shikaru leaned against her father, completely disinterested in the affairs of the adults.
"Here, Shikamaru." The lazy man barely had any time to respond before Chiharu found herself in his hands, staring straight into his eyes. Immediately, she burst into laughter and waved her arms around. The worried shinobi pulled her close, scared that she might drop onto the floor. Unfortunately, this gave the child all the access the needed to hit Shikamaru's face. The ladies laughed while Ino mentioned that "Chiharu took after her father," but Shikamaru was frozen solid.
"What's the matter, Shika?" Ino looked at her husband. "Shocked that a little kid managed to land a blow on the powerful Shikamaru?" But the shadow master maintained a serious expression. Then he turned and looked right at Naruto. The blond ghost and his wife froze, wondering if his friend could see him.
"I swear, for a split second," Shikamaru muttered. "I saw Naruto right there." Ino gave her husband a hug while Sakura decided to keep her mouth shut.
"We all miss him, Shika," she said softly, mistaking his statement for a hallucination from emotion. Shikamaru wasn't convinced, but decided to leave matters as they were and ponder on them later.
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"Hold the shuriken between your fingers like this. That's right. Now, you're going to throw it in a line. Sideways, downways, anyways, just don't flick the shuriken right before you release." Naruto was in a training field with his daughter as she listened intently to his instructions. At least, she appeared as though she was paying attention. Past the calm and attentive façade was a heart that was jumping for joy that she was finally learning to use ninja tools. When her father finally gave the green light, she hastily snatched the shuriken and in the process cut her finger.
Dropping the shuriken, Chiharu, fell on her bottom as tears threatened to pour out of her eyes. She stared up at her father and pushed her bleeding finger towards him.
"Heal!" she pouted, threatening to cry.
"Nope," Naruto replied, crossing his arms and looking away adamantly. "That's what you get for not listening to me."
"Heal!" she demanded again, a tear sliding off her cheek and onto the ground.
"No means no," he said tenaciously, sitting on the ground to look her in the eye. "But I'll tell you what I'll do." He pulled out his mini medic kit and started to administer to her wound while she looked at him questioningly.
"No heal?" she asked, confused. He fondly petted her on the head and kissed her bandaged finger.
"Chiharu," he said thoughtfully. "There's gonna be pain and suffering in the world, and some of it can't be healed by chakra." He laced his fingers through her hair as he stroked her head. "You have to learn that it takes time to heal pain, and it takes pain to learn." He looked at his daughter whose bright green eyes were blank with the lack of understanding. Chuckling, he kissed her on the forehead. "I forgot you're only six."
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"Have fun okay? Make lots of friends and learn proper things okay?" Sakura kissed her daughter on her whiskered cheek and waved her to class. "Behave," she called out one more time, tensing unconsciously when her daughter barely turned to acknowledge her words, instead running off to make new friends.
"Do you have to do that?" Naruto snorted as he watched his pride and joy go.
"Do what?" Sakura asked, playing the oblivious.
"You've told her six times in the past five minutes to behave herself," he replied, nudging her cheekily. "But she's eight years old, what could go wrong?"
"Oh I don't know, burn down the school, prank her teachers, or worse," she fixed a warning eye on him. "Vandalise the Hokage Monument," Sakura shrugged. "After all, she is your daughter."
"Yes she is," Naruto agreed wholeheartedly. "Yes she is."
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"SHE'S WHAT?"
The poor chuunin that was on duty suffered the wrath of the doctor as he relayed the news to her.
"She's… um… painted-"
"I HEARD WHAT YOU SAID!" Sakura roared as she threw off her lab coat and rushed out of the door, leaving the news bearer to collapse from anxiety.
"Your daughter, Uzumaki Naruto, has vandalised the Hokage monuments," Sakura yelled as she sped across the village in search of her kin, "ON HER FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!"
"I know!" Naruto cheered as he followed her through the throng of people. "And she did it so well too!" Sakura turned her head and silently promised her husband pain later.
"You better not encourage her!" the doctor bellowed, ignoring the odd glances people threw at her. After all, nobody could see him, so God knows how that looked.
"But Sakura chan," the ghost chortled. "Don't you find their make-up an improvement? Look, Ji-ji has a moustache to go with his beard! And Baa-chan has new tattoos!"
Sakura chose not to reply, instead opting to follow a trail of chakra that she finally found. She also decided not to tell him that a real improvement to the mountain would have been the addition of his bright face.
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"Papa," Chiharu complained. "Why do I have to practice my Taijutsu?"
"Would you like me to explain alphabetically or chronologically?" he replied curtly.
"Chronologically," she answered, undeterred.
"Okay," he paused for a moment before resuming. "You let Jinmaru steal your ramen, and you couldn't fight back when you found out. You haven't won a fight against anyone in a sparring session, and you're already ten! You need a taijutsu teacher."
"I could always beat Jinmaru up with ninjutsu," Chiharu muttered.
"Well you suck at that too," Naruto shot back and watched as she dipped her head in shame. "It's ok, in time you'll get really good, I sucked at everything too, when I was your age."
"Really?" She looked up hopefully.
"Really," he replied with a gentle smile.
"Yay! Thanks Papa!" The grateful girl jumped into his arms and hugged him happily. With a grin he placed her back in the ground and stood to his full height.
"OK, there are three major things to learn and develop in Taijutsu: accuracy, strength and speed. We'll be doing something fun." He had said 'fun', but the sadistic grin on his face suggested otherwise.
They spent the rest of the day, or the week for that matter (perhaps the many years to come), practicing footwork, increasing punch strength and speed, practicing blocks and basically conditioning exercises that tired her beyond her wildest imaginations. In fact, every time she swore she could not be more exhausted, she was dreadfully proven wrong the very next day.
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"Chiharu." The blonde girl spun around and happily greeted the man.
"Uncle Shikamaru!" She grinned and ran up to him, giving him a hug. He smiled and pat her on her head. Shikamaru was by far her favourite of all her parents' friends. He was never treating her like a child that was too cute to be taken seriously, and always seemed so cool.
"Can you come into the shop for a minute?" He asked, walking into the flower shop in which he resided. He and his wife had decided to move in to the flower shop together, Ino adamant that they needed to keep the business going, in memory of her father. "I need to talk to you." Chiharu looked at her father who promptly shrugged nonchalantly. So she followed.
"Chiharu, how old are you?" He asked as he placed a cup of tea on the coffee table in front of the couch the little girl was sitting on.
"I'm eleven!" She grinned, making him smile back. She had received her father's contagious grin.
"So you've learned how to control your chakra?" He continued.
She nodded. "Kaa-san made me," she pouted. "It's so hard!" Shikamaru chuckled, remembering the child's father's difficulty with it. If she was anything like her father, she'd have his massive chakra reserves, as well as his perseverance to refine her control. He fixed his gaze upon her and when he opened his mouth, his tone was serious once more.
"What I'm going to try today is an experiment, okay?" He began. "It might work, and it might not. This is a secret between you and me. Only your mother can know about this." She seemed to look around the room before nodding. In truth she had looked for her father's approval, which he solemnly gave. "Good. Now I want you to put just a tiny bit of chakra into your hand. No, a little more. Just a bit more; ok good." Chiharu's hand now had the faintest layer of blue covering it.
Shikamaru put his palm out. "Now pass it to me." She slowly and placed her hand in his, and his eyes widened. His jaw dropped a little, his breathing quickened and his pupils shrank. Chiharu pulled her arm away in panic, convinced that she had hurt her godfather.
"Uncle Shika!" She yelped. "Are you okay?" The shadow master looked at her and slowed his breathing just a little.
"Chiharu," he instructed, his face pale as a ghost and his voice barely above a whisper. "Try that. One more time."
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Chiharu dragged her feet beside her father as they headed in a direction she did not recognise. "Papa!" She called out, "Where are you taking me this time? Please tell me you don't have another heartless and merciless teacher ready to drive me to death!" Her father smiled fondly while gently petting her on the head.
"Today is a break, Ochibi-chan," he replied, calling her by her nickname. "The person you're going to meet is not your new heartless teacher, but she can be a bit merciless." Chiharu folded her arms and frowned, wondering who was so important that her dad would skip training to meet. They took a turn by a street and walked into a small plot of land, surrounded by a waist high fence of bricks. Outside was a steel statue of a kneeling man with his head bowed and eyes closed. "That's Sasuke, Ochibi-chan," Naruto said, his voice low. "He was my brother and my friend, till he betrayed Konoha, and your mother." His eyes grew dark. "And me." Chiharu observed that the statue was covered in spit.
As they walked in, they found a blonde lady with long pigtails sitting on a ground with a green shawl over her shoulders. She sat in front of a tombstone, the smoke of burning incense sticks dissipating into the gentle breeze. "This is my family's burial site, Ochibi-chan," said Naruto. "And that's my grave." Chiharu suddenly recognised the woman.
"Tsunade-sama?" The woman turned her head and looked at the girl.
"Who are you?" She asked, cheeks pink and voice slurred.
"I'm Chiharu," the girl answered, nervous that her father had brought her to see the Fifth Hokage. She noticed that there were two filled sake glasses and a pitcher of sake in front of her. Tsunade smiled and waved her over.
"Ah, Sakura's kid. There's no need to be so formal, just call me Baa-chan." Chiharu sat next to the respected elder.
"Baa-chan?" The young girl couldn't help herself. "You look thirty!" The drunk laughed happily.
"Little girl, I'm almost seventy." Chiharu gasped.
"Damn you're practically a hag-" she was cut off by Tsunade smashing her fist down on her guests head. The girl clutched her head while whining softly.
"Have some respect, brat," Tsunade growled. After a minute she smiled and picked up one of the Sake glasses, ready to down it. "You definitely take after your Dad," she mumbled. "Have you come to see him?" At this, Chiharu perked up and spaced out as Naruto whispered into her ear. She then looked at the Hokage.
"Actually," she started, her hand covered in blue chakra. Placing her hand on Tsunade's, she continued, "Papa came to see you."
Immediately, Tsunade's view of the gravestone was blocked as the air in front of her shimmered and a person materialised in front of her, sitting with his legs crossed. This person had blond spiky hair, sea blue eyes that reflected age, whiskers on his cheeks that moved as his lips quirked into an infectious grin. Underneath his white cloak, he still wore the orange jumpsuit he was known for. He picked up the sake glass that remained on the floor and gently tapped it against Tsunade's before drinking it. Placing the glass down, he grinned again. "Hello Baa-chan."
Tsunade's eyes were wide and her hands were shaking, not enough for her to commit the sin of dropping her sake of course, but she was still shocked. Lifting her glass, she, too, drank its contents before looking Naruto in the eyes. A lone tear slowly slid down her cheek, as if it carried away just a little of her sorrow, and a warm smile now adorned her face.
"Welcome home, Naruto."
A/N: Hey guys, I didn't change very much in this chapter, but next week I'll be posting a new chapter – one that y'all haven't read before! I listened to many of your requests, and I wrote more on the conversation between Naruto and Tsunade, where this chapter left off. I'm also a little upset that I didn't receive any reviews for the last chapter, but it's understandable, I guess, you guys have read much of this before. But I do earnestly want to know if my story is doing well or not, because if my story's bad, I need to know where to improve, and if you guys like something, please tell me, and I'll work on it. So please review!
Love,
Mangaka Shuzen