Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"Naruto" – Talking

'Naruto' – Thoughts

Naruto – Flashback

Naruto – Jutsu

Cracking Gaps: Sins of a Family

How to Get Involved

Previously on Cracking Gaps: Sins of a Family,

And Naruto did visit them, the Hyuga Sisters always enjoyed his company even more when they came for some tea and ramen as well as listening to his stories about his days as a Genin. Some of them were hilarious when something went wrong and his team would have tried to get out of dangerous or better yet embarrassing situations. He would even help Hinata with her homework since he learned them on the fly during his Genin Team, most times it was Taijutsu tryouts and Ninjutsu theory since that is all the Academy ever taught them.

And pretty soon, it had been two more years and Naruto actually managed to surprise everyone by becoming a Jonin, ready to become a team leader, in record time for the graduation of the Clan Heirs. It was when the Jonin teachers to receive their teams and Naruto was excited to hear about his Genin students that included Hinata but all that vanished when two things happened. Number one were the Genin Students he was assigned to; the team arrangements went like this,

"Jonin Naruto Uzumaki will lead Cell Number 8 with Hinata Hyuga," Here comes the hurricane, "Mito and Keiji Namikaze."

Number two was when Naruto was coming home late the night before he was assigned his Genin Team. He noticed someone was hiding in a bush, lying in the shadows. Once he got a better look, it was a young girl of three years old that resembled the wife of the Fourth Namikaze. Yet she was scared of Naruto so he asked who she was. The girl answered, "Yurina Uzumaki, the daughter my former family had forgotten." Naruto couldn't be any angrier at the Namikaze Clan than ever.

"Naruto-kun who is this?" Hinata asked as she noticed the girl that Naruto had meet the previous night. The girl seemed to be three years old the most and too look like she fell into a throne bush or ten and down a hill with her tarred up clothes, dirty skin and bruises.

"This is a girl who had to be neglected by her parents like I did." Naruto said; he had shared his real past with Hinata and Hanabi since he trusted that much. They gasped as they lead the shy girl away to be washed and given new clothes,

Naruto just stayed behind to make something for her to eat; he had learned the basics on his own but Naruto had to get lessons from Mikoto and Hinata on how to do better. Once he had made some meet ramen with spring rolls to help with the guest's malnourishment along with some tea to steel her nerves about being in a strange new house with strangers. Soon, the two Hyuga Sister came out with Yurina dressed in their style of garb yet it was still better than her own tattered clothes that she was wearing.

"Uh…um…" Yurina could only mutter out words as Hinata gently sat her down at the dining table while Naruto placed the plate of food and lastly, Hanabi gave her tea to drink. After a while, Yurina finally decided to try out the food only to dig in like a pig; that showed just how much she was starving.

Then Yurina noticed that everyone was staring at her and she nearly shrank down in embarrassment when Hanabi just shared more food with her so the poor girl took it and ate a little more quietly. Desert was a chocolate cake with frosting on top which the girls enjoyed even Yurina.

"T-thank you for f-food." Yurina stuttered that made Hinata as she saw her younger self inside this guest.

"It was no problem but we will like to know better on why your family had kicked you out." Naruto said and Yurina gulped as she recalled such bad memories,

"I-I was born a-after t-twin older b-brother and s-sister s-so they t-though that I…I will b-be as g-good as them." Yurina tried to keep her focus and Hinata rubbed her on the back helped her a little. "B-but they o-only tired t-to train nii-san and nee-san by l-letting…letting…" Yurina was about to break and before anyone could stop her, she made an outburst. "LETTING THEM BEAT ME UP WHILE THEY WATCHED!"

Yurina was trying to catch her breath while everyone was looking at her with looks of shock and disbelief. "T-then I decided to t-try and run a-away but they w-wanted their p-punching bag back so I h-had to lose them but I-I got lost in the d-dark. A-all I remember is b-being hurt all over." Yurina then felt a hand on top of her head which had caused her to pause,

"That is enough. I never meant for you to relive it. I am sorry for asking such a selfish request." Naruto said in a remorseful tone that Yurina tried to tear at but then Hanabi hugged her,

"Yeah! Forget about them! You have us now and forever~!" It was probably the innocent voice of a child that had got Yurina smiling and hugged the younger girl back while trying to dry her tears. Hanabi then took Yurina into one of the rooms since they had long finished their meal while Naruto and Hinata looked at them with smiles until the two young girls were out of sight; when they took on grimmer expressions.

"Looks like it cannot be ignored any longer Naruto-kun." Hinata said while the blonde stayed silent. "It is getting out of hand for the Namikaze Clan when it came to any children other than the twins."

"Hinata-chan." Naruto spoke brief and to the point that had caused the Hyuga heiress to pause. "You are right, it is time to get involved and since they had ordered me to train the twins along with you Hinata-chan, I will have to force them to reveal just how 'prefect' their family truly is."

Hinata saw much conviction in that voice yet as well as malice so she hoped that her blonde will realize that making other people suffer no matter what they did is wrong. Everyone will have to see what happens and how the rest of the world will react to it.

XXXXX

Then it was time for the teams to get introduced to their teachers so they all grouped up in the classroom and was forced to listen to a boring speech by Iruka, telling them that they had finally graduated and that they whole lives were just ahead. Yet, "Why are we short of two graduates?"

The royal twins hadn't arrived yet and that was what bothered the rest of the students the most; that they had been treated and looked down on by two kids of their age all because that Mito and Keiji were born as the 'only' children of the Hokage. Everyone were not happy with how they thought the world revolved around them and even though they worked and studied hard to make good marks, they were still considered by the twins to be 'lazy liars who just cheated their way to catch up'.

The only good thing was that one of their own that graduated early always came to lighten things up and even shared some of his crazy stories as a Genin, to Chunin and finally to Jonin. The students loved the stories as they were exciting and they even loved it when Naruto actually took the time out of his career to help them with their work and to silence the twins when they were acting their usual behavior. Naruto was like an idol to them, cool and strong and never losing his composure even under the most frustrating and tempting situations to strike.

"Hello everyone!" The students then saw the very man in question,

"Naruto-san!" They ran to greet him as they wanted to know if they are going to be on his team since they heard he was going to be an Instructor. The suspense was to who was going to be his students. Before he could pick them out,

"Hey! Out of our way!" Naruto saw that two of his students had finally arrived and late for the looks of it. "Don't you know who we are!?" Keiji had yelled for his sister but before Naruto could answer,

"No one cares!" Kiba had finally snapped, "How come that we work hard to graduate, you could just lie about us and get us expelled from becoming Shinobi all because you don't like us!?" The twins were not happy about being said back and where about to whine on Kiba when they heard someone clapping which was Naruto!

"Bravo Kiba-kun, I will definitely tell your mother about how you saved our sanity today!" Naruto praised the Inuzuka heir and pretty soon, everyone clapped along which made the twins even more embarrassed.

"Whose side are you on!?" Mito yelled and everyone stopped clapping yet it was a good feeling for the twins as Naruto began to glare at them.

"Sides? I never choose sides when it comes to my team. That is nothing but favoritism which I will rather die than show it when I train my team." Naruto said calmly and yet,

"But we are the Hokage' children, we deserve the best!" Keiji said in an attempt to save face but everyone just shook their heads,

"What you deserve is what is really coming to you once you meet your father's enemies who will never stop to kill even kids that are spoiled brats like you." Naruto said as he grabbed them by the collar and turned to Hinata, "Now I have got my two students, please join us Hinata-chan."

The rest of the students were whining on how they ran out of luck especially the girls while the boys were given their sympathy to Naruto who had to train such brats for students; the girls even gave sympathy to Hinata who had to be one of the main targets to the twins during the academy.

Much later, at a training ground, "OW!" Naruto had arrived with Hinata in tow while throwing the twins into one of the log posts that were already present at the site. When they tried to get up and complain, they somehow were restrained by something that cannot be seen.

"Now that we are here and settled, we can get to know each other since we can never know we are going to be killed on our missions." Naruto said while Hinata a seat on a log lying on its side in the grass. "I will start. My name is Naruto Uzumaki, a Jonin of Konohagakure. My dreams are to be the best I can ever be until I took ick the bucket and hopefully have a family of my own before that happens." Hinata was wondering about how such a person like Naruto could be so over prepared that he will plan his own death wish this early in life; the twins were not even considering that wish and still tried to get free. "My likes are a certain girl and her younger sister, another certain girl growing on me like a sister, ramen, tea, peace, training and sunsets to share with my precious people. My dislikes are many ant that includes self-centered spoiled brats like you!" Hinata giggled at the jab at the twins, "Now you try it." Naruto turned to the giggling girl next to him.

"My name is Hinata Hyuga, Genin of Konohagakure. My dreams are to finally bring my clan together and abolish the stupid tradition that is tearing my family apart as well starting a family with a certain boy." Hinata started to say until a scuff was to be heard from Keiji,

"Like that could ever happen when you marry me." He said but Mito jabbed him with her elbow, this was the one thing that she could never tolerate from her twin brother.

"Anyways, my likes are the certain boy, my younger sister, Yurina, my clan, tea, cinnamon buns, romance and spring nights." Keiji was still holding his head up as he believes that Hinata was talking about him as the 'certain boy' until, "My dislikes are the twins, politics, spicy food and those who treat woman and Kunoichi as slaves and trophies." Naruto nodded and then turned to the twins who were getting tired of being tired to a log tightly, what with all the cramps and splitters.

"We don't need to say such private things with a teme like you who wastes time with an unattractive bitch like you!" Mito said but since she was holding head the other way, she did not noticed the smirk on Naruto and Hinata as well as the pale panicked expression on her twin brother.

"Is that what you think of us Mito, eh?" A voice belonging to an adult woman that had peaked Mito's curiosity but she will soon regret looking to see her parents staring right in front of them!

"I hope you two don't mind inviting the Hokage and his wife to see you pass my test." Naruto said in a taunting tone that caused the twins to try and take back their words; yet they were only given off with future punishment in taking away their favorite food and a salary cut once they start their missions.

Now that mess was done and the Hokage with his wife was now on the sidelines with glares still on their face. "Now then, y test is very simple." Naruto said as he took out a timer, "I will give you an hour to try and steal these bells from me." He started and took two bells attached to strings on his fingers. "The ones who manage to gain a bell will pass to become an official Genin while the loser returns back to the academy."

"But that is not fair!" Mito said, "We are three people and there are only two bells!" Naruto still smirked,

"Nice of you to point out the obvious when you should be thinking of a plan to get these bells from me." Naruto said in his new stern voice. Then he blew a whistle that had caused Hinata and Mito to scatter into the threes, leaving Keiji in the dust. "Nice to see which twin actually has brains."

"Shut up! So what one of us gets sent back to the academy, I am never going back!" Keiji yelled in defiance and charged at Naruto who smirked and caught the 'golden boy of Konoha'; then Naruto sent him packing into the ground.

"That is no good Ke-chan." Naruto said in a taunt that got the said boy all riled all over again. Naruto just enjoyed his team, reading his book while sending one of his students back and forth endlessly.

Meanwhile, Hinata was enjoying the sight from within the trees. She giggled on how her boyfriend was always able to make the job look easy; all you do is teach and push your students around no matter how much they complain. Mito was in another tree a good distance away. 'I can't believe that my twin is such a Baka!' Mito, surprisingly, had a quiet tone despite having the reputation of a loud mouth in the academy that she used to get here point across. 'Does he really think that even though we are the royal twins, Sensei was a prodigy among the ninja arts?' Mito was always the spoiled brat that had brains and a common sense corrupted by her vanity.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Mito failed to notice that Naruto had launched her idiotic brother in into her direction. They crashed on the ground hard and started to argue on what to do. Alas, Hinata still retained some of her shy nature and she could bare get involved with this argument; not after the many times Keiji harassed her and even tried to kiss her until Naruto stopped him every time. Mito was the only one to actually tolerate out of the twins since she was also the only one of the Namikaze clan to actually hit Keiji on the head for such behavior against women since Mito had to listen to her brother say that he was the most important of the twins since a female clan head was 'unheard of and not right in this Shinobi world.'

Then the timer went off, signaling that they were out of time. Hinata and Mito were later sitting on either side of Keiji who was tied to a middle slot log and he wasn't happy about it. "Hey! How come I'm all tied up!? Let me go!" Keiji yelled but he silenced by his sister, the only one aside from his parents that Keiji fears in Konoha.

"I am afraid that I can't do that because not one of you managed to gain one of these bells." To taunt them, Naruto had shown the two bells from the beginning, still in his hands. "And because of that, I should fail you and send you all back to the academy but since that will mean the Hokage will breathe down my neck so I am going to give you one last test if you want to be trained by me."

"Let's get his over with, I am hungry! Mito dragged me from breakfast this morning!" Keiji yelled and Mito blushed in embarrassment since she was hungry too; Mito had thought that there was no time for breakfast, kind of ironic since she and Keiji were still late.

"Fine. I have brought three bentos for lunch and since Hinata and Mito had shown much better tactic than you Keiji, you are forbidden from eating and if I see you eat anyways you will be the one sent back to the academy." Naruto said and on cue, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Hinata and Mito then started to eat while enjoying the delicious food while Keiji's stomach was growling. After a while, the two girls decided to take the risk and started to feed Keiji until Naruto appeared again along with the Hokage and his wife, staring down on them. "I thought I told you never to feed Keiji so why did you disobey me?" Naruto said in a tone that wanted answers and not excuses.

"Because even though he is a sexist pig, he is my only brother and I am not going to lose another one again!" Mito yelled much to the confusion of all but Naruto and Hinata, the former was smiling at that. Hinata didn't back down either which made the blonde smile even more until he passed the verdict,

"Okay then. All I have to say to you all is that you…" Naruto dragged it to get them on edge, "Pass!" Team Seven was now confused with the expectation of Hinata.

"But…but…" Keiji was stuttering and Naruto laughed at the sight until Mito noticed that their 'parents' had vanished like an illusion that was canceled.

"I had to get you two and Hinata in ninjas and what better way than to set the circumstances so that you will bring out your best qualities, some you never knew you had. It may seem that it never happened but you stood up for each other despite on how you hate on and another. That is what a team is, there is no room for anything between teammates that can hinder their progress. You work with each other, back each other up, you are there for any teammate in need or trouble and finally, pride or fear of trouble should never cause you to abandon your teammates. We have lost too many teams to greed and pride already so we don't need for it to happen again." Team Seven was speechless after that speech while Naruto was untying Keiji from the log.

Now everyone will hope that those words will get to the twins and make them see the error of their ways but ninjas are not wish-granting genies and if they were, I personally doubt that wish to change a person's personality will be granted. We all will just have to be patient, good things always happen when we actually do.

XXXXX

So for a few months, training his team was only enjoyable when it was just his Hinata he was teaching and they also went on dates while the twins were busy boasting on what they had learned to their parents. Yurina was even playing and listening to the hijinks of Team Eight with Hanabi tells her since Naruto had taught them to her as Hinata's younger sister. It was very lovely to see that Hanabi now had a playmate of her own age.

Of course we can never leave out the rest of how Team Eight went along. Mito was so, vain only bringing her makeup to missions to the point where that is the only thing she ever does when Naruto brings them outside the village for simple escort missions. On the other hand, she is also very bossy even to the client who always had to listen to Naruto taking the blame and apologizing for the behavior; the Hokage did nothing to stop this disgrace since he always told Naruto that Mito was the image of a prefect child.

Then there is Keiji, all he ever did was show off and get into danger so he can convince Hinata to forget about her love and go to him. When that was failed, he always went after any other girls nearby whatever in Konoha and any other village they visit on their missions. Of course, he was always rejected by the women who always knew better so Keiji could only go after his fan girls, the last type of people he personally will go to when he had nowhere else to go. That is the definition of a playboy and Keiji played it out very well, it was sickling.
But right now, there were no missions. Just Naruto reporting to the Hokage's office in the Hokage Tower. Minato just wasn't happy with one of his Jonin for some reason, "Naruto Uzumaki, can you explain that in your report that you have been exclusively training a single student while leaving the rest of your team in the dust?"

"Sir. You were the one who wanted Hinata-chan to catch up and do you know how many times I asked your only children to help her out and instead they only wanted to have their way with her. That is not teamwork, to take advantage of teammates; you can help all of us by suggesting yet another way to do this." Naruto said despite the increasing pressure at every word he spoke in the presence of the Hokage.

"I just don't why you hate my children as they did nothing to deserve this. They are good children who will do such things." Minato and his wife were completely clueless about the behavior of the twins since they never saw the real look on them that everyone does.

"Yes they will Hokage-sama. Can you also explain that I found a girl in the bush about to freeze to death claiming to be kicked your clan up till you kicked her out only because the twins told you? Some Hokage you are." Naruto said, changing the subject in Minato's eyes.

"I have no idea what you are talking about because my clan only has me, Kushina-chan and our two only children." Minato was still ridiculously stubborn about all this. "Back to the point, it is either that you will stop showing favoritism in your team or you will be demoted and your team will be disbanded."
"Then who will train the twins when I do get demoted? You were the one who said that if I was going to be the Jonin sensei of this year, I get to stay with Hinata-chan but instead you got us involved with this strict rule and worse, you gave us the twins; the two that hate Hinata more than anything. Don't you have any consideration for your own Genin?" Naruto said boldly and Minato got even angrier.

"How dare you say such things! You were the one who fell for it so you will have to pay the price!" Minato threatened him but Naruto was still smirking,

"Then demote me and get it over with because I want to go on a date with Hinata-chan. I am sure that now the twins are Genin, they will still get training from you all despite how busy you can be." Naruto said and Minato paused before returning to his seat with a sigh.

"Fine! Outside of training, you will be allowed to date this Hyuga girl you never stop talking about but anymore and you are pushing it! Just make sure that the twins are still being trained." Minato yelled after a headache of a decision and even wrote a paper that verifying it all to give to Naruto.

"Alright sir, you won't be complaining anytime soon but before I take my leave…" Naruto said as he begun to show his back to the Hokage, "I have heard from the twins that Keiji wanted a brother and Mito wanted a sister and yet they all said they haven't got their wish." That tone told Minato that Naruto wasn't done, "When you see them, tell them that they are wrong. You don't need to lie to them anymore."

End of Chapter 4

*Hello everyone! I am still trying my best to make good chapters for my work so if you are still unhappy, then stop complaining and tell what you look for in my stories. I am still trying to adjust to my new class with a much more stern and strict teacher than the rest. I sure hope that I will find the time to work on my stories.

Now some of you wanted to know when I will get back to work on JICU. I have decided to give it until March 29th. That is when I will get started on the next chapter and in the meantime, I will be working on my other stories so I will not neglect them.

I hope that will satisfy you all readers and critics and have a nice day!*