CHAPTER FOURTY-ONE

SOMETHING WENT WRONG

Ren was in the middle of talking to a customer when he felt the buildup of energy. He instantly knew what it meant; it meant that the jutsu was being performed and the people that he had come to know were about to leave. He was confused by the fact that his daughter didn't want to go with then, even more so when her best friend decided to go as well. He thought for sure that she would have come running up to him begging him to go with them and since he wouldn't want to let her go alone and would have gone with her. Getting to start over in a different dimension would have been the chance of a lifetime and he wanted to go. When she told him that she wanted to stay he was saddened. What could have been holding her back? He didn't know the answer to that, and he couldn't push her to answer it.

When Ren had gotten out of prison, he turned his entire life around for the sake of the twelve year old daughter he never knew he had. He stopped doing the things that had landed him in prison in the first place, and when his father passed away he took over the family business. If he had gotten the chance to decide what career path he wanted to take, he would have been an inventor and a baker on the side. He joined the military right graduating from high school, and not long after he had become a part of the weapons development division. He was one of the best codebreakers in his unit. When he had down time, he took to baking to relieve stress, and there was also the fact that the food they were served was terrible.

In the end, he decided that everything he had to give up was worth it. The best part was that he got to watch his daughter grow up from a little twelve year old ballerina to the almost eighteen year old warrior. He wished that there was a way for him to have been a part of her life as a child; to have been able to watch her run around and play and to hold her in his arms.

The ground shook and Ren and the customer had to grab hold of the desk separating them to keep from falling over. The cars by the windows rattled across the floor, some falling over, and the pictures hanging on the wall fell and shattered on the linoleum. Banging and clattering could be heard from within the garage.

"Ma'am are you alright," Ren asked as he helped the fallen woman back up to her feet, checking for injuries. Sadly, it was that older woman who seemed to have an intense infatuation with him, and a grudge against his daughter.

"I bet that was the doing of one of those strange foreign kids that have taken residence in your house," the woman grumbled as she stood up. She checked her clothes for any stains or wrinkles, and when she was satisfied with her appearance she smiled flirtatiously at Ren.

"Your car's done. I'm going to go and check on my delinquents now," the dark haired man stated before he ran out the side door.

He ran straight to the path they'd made, leading to the clearing deep in the woods. When he broke through the surrounding trees he was stunned by what he saw. The ground seemed as if Sakura had gone on a rampage after her blond loudmouthed teammate made a tackless remark or Deidara had decided to set off one of his bombs. Some trees had been uprooted and craters were scattered all around the area. Wisps of smoke were rising from a few of the craters.

Thrown on the ground next to him was the backpack Kakashi had been wearing earlier that day. He walked over to the pack and picked it up. Opening it up, he was met with an unconscious Pakkun. The little brown dog appeared to be smaller than normal, almost like he had somehow reverted back to being a puppy. Ren placed the pack on the ground and placed the little dog on top of it, before he walked to the side of the clearing towards one of the many craters.

When he peered inside another one of the craters, he was shocked to say the least. There were two small children lying unconscious at the bottom lying in a pile of clothes that were much too large for their tiny bodies. The most shocking things were their features. The boy had dirtied white hair that flopped in front of his eyes. When the wind blew it pushed his hair to the side exposing the scar that ran straight down his left eye. He had his arms wrapped tightly around a small girl as if he was trying to protect her... the small girl with long ebony colored hair that flowed down her back.

The worried father went over to go check and see if the other craters had the others within them. He made quick work of picking up the unconscious children and taking them back to the loft. After he arranged the children on the sofas in the living room, he worried they would fall off and get hurt. While his paternal instincts screamed at him not to leave them alone, he ran over to one of the guest rooms and stole a twin mattress. He moved the coffee table in front of the tv stand, and replaced it with the bed before carefully placing the children on it.

The man sat down on the floor looking over his miniaturized delinquents. He guessed from their size, they had to be around three, maybe four, years old. Ren laughed at their overall cuteness and chubby cheeks. They all looked like peaceful little angles as they slept. It was strange to see them all like that when he was used to seeing them as rowdy, and or serious, instead of sweet and innocence.

"Who are you," the little boy with spiky blond hair asked. The little tyke had sat up where he was sleeping and was rubbing his eyes. He was staring at Ren with a blank expression like he was used to waking up in a room with strangers.

"Naruto, don't you remember me," Ren asked confused and a bit freaked out by the boy's facial expression. The blond remained silent and continued to stare at him with that same blank expression. The dark haired man sighed. "My name is Ren, and I'm going to be taking care of you and the others for a while."

"Okay," Naruto said, shrugging his shoulders as he took in the sight of the others for the first time. He only recognized three others in the group that were still sleeping soundly on the mattress. They were the girl with the shoulder length pink hair, the boy with the midnight black colored hair that stuck up funny in the back, and the girl with super short indigo colored hair. When his stomach gave a low rumble, looked up at Ren with sparkling blue eyes. "Hey mister, do you have any ramen?"

"Come on," Ren said laughing at the blond, he guessed some things never changed. The man led the boy to a seat at the breakfast bar, then he went to go prepare a bowl of ramen for him. Once it was cooked he poured it from the pot and into a bowl, grabbing a pair of chop sticks, which Naruto himself suggested they buy, from the draw, and set it front of the kid.

"Can I have another bowl please," the three year old Naruto asked as he held up his empty bowl. Ren nodded his head as he got to work making another bowl of ramen. "Mister why are we here? Where is here?"

"Uh…" Ren was not really prepared to answer those questions. He turned his focus onto the pot of boiling water, taking a moment to think. "We are in the Land of Sun, and your Hokage asked me to watch over you all for a few days." He really hoped the boy believed him.

"That's so cool, dattebayo," the little tyke exclaimed. "I've never been out of the village before."

"Where am I," a voice asked nearby. The kitchen's two occupants turned their heads to the side to see a small white haired boy wearing an oversized t-shirt and with a green scarf wrapped around the lower part of his face. In his arms he was carrying the small brown pug. "Who are you, and who are they?"

"You're in the Sun Village, and I've been asked by your Hokage to watch over you all specifically," Ren explained.

"There is no such thing as the Sun Village," the five year old Kakashi retorted. Ren inwardly groaned. He remembered that Kakashi and Itachi were going to be problems since they were the geniuses of the group.

"We're a newly established village." Kakashi seemed to buy it, though he remained suspicious. He knew something was going on.

"What's going on," a sleepy female voice asked causing a dopey smile form on Ren's face. He walked over to the small child and lifted her up into his arms. The little three year old gave him a strange look. Ren walked out of the room with her, and explained to her who he was. Once he was done explaining, there was a large smile on her face as her eyes shined in pure happiness. He put the little girl down and watched as she skipped into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. Giving up, she moved over to the snack drawer. She pulled out a a bag of gummy worms and sat between the two boys at the bar counter.

"Do you guys want some," she shyly offered some of her candy to the two boys sitting beside her. Naruto took some with a grin, and Kakashi declined. She pouted at him, and he relented taking a few pieces.

All to soon, the loft was filled with twelve three and five year olds running on sugar highs. Although Kakashi was never one to lose control, he was still a five year old and he reacted just like a five year old would when given too much sugar. Apparently it was a lie when Sasuke said he claimed to not like sweets. They were all running around jumping on all the furniture and dropping things left and right. At least he was able to get the white haired boy's mind of trying to figure out what was going on.

Ren was able to easily deduce that not only their bodies, but also their minds were reverted back to the ages of three or five years old. It was nice at first, but then he regretted giving them candy. It only got worse when Itachi and Kakashi started walking on the walls, witch the others wanted to learn, and left little dirty footprints all over the walls and even on the celling. They were screaming and yelling and a couple fights between a few of them, but they were quickly resolved. Whenever Ren tried to get them to calm down, they would respond to him with sad faces and start pouting. Then Kim would start to whine and call him 'Daddy,' and the others would mimic her. After that he would be putty in their tiny, devious, hands and give them whatever they wanted or do what they asked.

He collapsed in exhaustion on the sofa, only intending to rest his eyes for a moment, but when he woke up from his unexpected nap, he realized the house was too quiet. Slowly, he walked down the hallway stopping when he heard laughing coming from what used to be Jade's bedroom. He entered the room and instantly regretted it. The room was a disaster zone. Pillows had been ripped with feathers scattered and sticking all over, and not to mention the paint all over the wall and the children who were fast asleep on the floor while his daughter and Kakashi jumped on the bed trying to touch the ceiling.

Shaking his head he walked over to the slumbering children and gently shook them awake. Once everyone was up, he took them to the bathroom for bath time. It was pretty awkward for him at first, but then he got the hang of it. Getting them in the tub was hard although it was not as hard as it was getting them out of it. One by one he scrubbed them clean, and then got them dressed in their own shirts that were much too large on their smaller bodies.

After putting them to bed, Ren sat back on the sofa to watch TV with his, now three year old, daughter sleeping on top of him. He watched his tribe as they slept strewn out on the mattress on the floor. He couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of Kakashi being used as a body pillow by Naruto, or the way Deidara and Jade held hands in their sleep.

"I think I can figure out a way to get us back to normal," a voice sounded from the pile of sleeping children.

"When did you… You know what never mind. Go back to bed. Your five year old body can't take the stress of staying up so late," Ren called out. He watched as the boy with chin length red hair shrugged his shoulders and laid his head back down on the pillow, cuddling with his blue haired best friend.