CHAPTER FOURTY-TWO

DEVIL'S CHILDREN

"Nagato," Ren called out to the little redheaded boy. When said boy came running up to him, and asked to be taken to the bathroom, Ren knew that his mind had reverted back to that of a five year old's. He took the little boy to the restroom to do his business and then sent him back to play with the others. The man then threw himself on the sofa in the living room while letting out a groan of frustration.

At first the children were adorable, but after a few hours they started to get a bit out of hand. Even Itachi and Sasuke were acting up and running all over the place with the others. He had to admit that the bright smiles on their faces were too adorable. Then there was the childlike innocence and the gleams of excitement in their eyes as they all played together. Though there were a few times that they got into little squabbles with each other or threw temper tantrums when they didn't get what they wanted, but that was quickly and easily resolved.

There was one little five year old that chose not to play with the others. He just so happened to be the smallest of his age group. The little boy with the spiky white hair was sitting on the sofa flipping through the channels at a rapid pace, nearly giving Ren a headache (that was when he found out how the others felt when he could not decide on what to watch.) When Kakashi got bored with channel surfing he got up to walk around. He found some of Kim's old school textbooks. There were a bunch of different subjects for him to read about, subjects he never even heard of; Greek Mythology, Phycology, Sociology, Criminology, English Literature, Math, Science, Spanish, French, Music, World History, World Geography, Biology, Human Anatomy, and Chemistry among many others.

What confused Ren was the fact that he seemed to be reading and understanding the upper high school and college level texts. He watched as the little boy flipped through the pages skimming over its contents or reading at an accelerated pace.

Kakashi got the feeling that he was being watched. He put his finger on the spot where he was reading, and looked over to the man that was staring intensely at him. He blinked and leaned back on the sofa.

"Why are you staring at me," he asked bluntly with a slight glare. Kakashi knew that the man was hiding something from him. Why would the Hokage randomly ask some man from a barely developing village to watch over him and a few others? Two of which belonged to the Uchiha clan, two from the Uzumaki clan and one of them who apparently had the Rinnegan? Also what had happened to his left eye, and why was it replaced with a Sharingan? Why was he getting flashes of events that never happened? One moment he would have complete clarity and then he would go back to being confused.

"Don't give me attitude boy," Ren warned. It seemed to have no effect on the kid, seeing as he gave the tan skinned man a blank stare. Said man rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. "Can you even understand what's in those books?"

"Yes. All Genin are able to read," the boy replied while flipping a page in the World Geography book he was reading. "Why are we here?"

"I already told you. You guys are here because the Hokage ask-"

"According to the maps I found in this book, we are not in the Elemental Nations. Apparently they do not exist, and we're in the United States of America. In Texas along the gulf coast to be more precise," Kakashi informed crossing his arms and staring the man down. Even though the white haired boy was just that, a boy, his glare still had Ren on edge. Ren really missed the older easy going version of the guy, the version that could have possibly given him grandchildren.

"Wait," Ren said, brely understanding something the kid had said. "You're a Genin? I thought kids could only graduate from the ninja academy when they were twelve, and you can't even enroll until you're seven."

"I was allowed to enroll early, and I graduated after I took the exit exam," the boy said lazily, flipping another page in the book. "Will you tell me what happened," he demanded.

"I hope your future kids act just like you," Ren muttered under his breath, but the white haired kid still heard him and raised an eyebrow. Then he straightened up and began to explain what had happened. He told them about how they had been teleported to a different dimension as cats, and how a few of them had previously been dead. How his daughter and her best friend found them as cats and took them in. Then he told him about everything that happened after his daughter had accidentally turned him back to his original form. He finished by telling him that he had completed the jutsu that would take them all back to their home dimension, but something had went wrong and when he went to go look for them he found them as they were. "Do you understand now?"

"It makes sense, and explains them," the kid said pointing to the two Uzumakis and the two Uchihas. "I know all of the members of their clans that reside in Konoha because of my Sensei's girlfriend. So... I ended up becoming a sensei," her mumbled the last part, wondering how that could have happened. "It also explains why I've been getting these random flashes and moments of clarity. They're my memories coming back to me, and since my mind is trained unlike the others I can remember them better."

"What do you think, pretty boy?" Kakashi glared at his apparent nickname. "Think you can come up with a jutsu that can reverse this?"

"Yes, I have a few ideas," he answered, deep in thought. "It might not work, but it's worth a try. I remember reading about it in a book once. You only get three chances for it to work. After this try we have two more tries left, and then it becomes permanent and you have to grow up from there." The dark haired man gave him a strange look. "Crazier things have happened." With that said he walked over to where the others were, and preformed a few hand seals. Ren backed up into the dining room area. He did not want to get hit with the jutsu, on the off chance that something weird happened to him. Once Kakashi formed the last hand seal, the area around him and the others was engulfed in a bright blue light.

The light soon faded, and Ren had to blink his eyes a couple of times until he was able to see clearly. He had to wait about a minute until the little dots of colors stopped appearing every time he blinked. When he could see perfectly he wanted to cry. The jutsu had gone wrong, terribly wrong. Instead of being met with the sight of full grown adults and teenagers, he was met with the sight of twelve ten month old babies. Though he had to admit they were all cuter than before.

The bell that was hanging above the door downstairs in the lobby chimed signaling the arrival of a customer. Ren hung his head in apparent defeat. It would be just his luck for the jutsu to backfire, and for a customer to arrive. Biting his lower lip he walked to the front door and poked his head out to peer down into the lobby. Right then he was sure he would burst into tears at any second. Standing in the lobby was none other than Mrs. Johnson, the old woman that seemed to have taken a liking to him and had a great distaste for his daughter. Ren was wondering what he had done to deserve the punishment that was being dealt to him.

He looked back into the loft and got a good look at all the children. They were all the same. Their hair was shorter and wild. Sasuke's and Kakashi's hair still stuck up in places which confused Ren, having thought the two used some type of hair gel, but apparently he was wrong. Sakura, Hinata, and Konan's hair were still their unusually natural colors, and Jade's hair had turned a dark red.

The look on Naruto's face was telling him that the little blond had to go potty. The only problem with that was that a kid's ability to control their bladders did not develop until around the age of two. The fact held up when a little puddle started to form around the baby boy on the hard wood floor. The other children started to hurriedly crawl away from the little tyke. When Naruto realized that the others had crawled away from him and left him all alone, he burst out into tears and started to cry.

Ren walked up to the little baby, and scooped him up in his arms. Not knowing what to do he started to pat the boy on his back and started to rock from side to side. Soon the little boy was calmed down. Ren did not care that there was a wet spot on his shirt, he was just happy that the little boy wasn't crying anymore. He then went to go wash the boy off in the sink, and change both of their shirts.

As he watched the babies start to play, he realized that he was going to need some things. He would need diapers, clothes, bottles, milk (lots of it), toys and some other things while he figured out how to replicate the jutsu Kakashi performed. He knew he couldn't take them all with him to the store, and wondered who would be willing to watch them while he went and got the things that they would need. A smile that one would call evil grew on his face. He knew the perfect person to watch his adorable babies. With that in mind he walked out the front door and down into the lobby.

"Mrs. Johnson," he greeted when he walked up to her, genuine happiness shining in his dark eyes.

"Ren," the aging woman giggled, holding a hand to her mouth as she daintily waved at the man. "How many times do I have to tell you, call me Amy?"

"I guess it must have slipped my mind," Ren said. On the inside he was crying and gagging at the thought of what he was about to do. He casually draped an arm over the woman's shoulders and started to walk her over to the front door that led to the loft.

"Oh Ren, you naughty boy," the woman said in a playful tone. Ren really wanted to fall in a hole and die.

"I need to you to do something for me. A favor, if you will." The woman nodded vigorously. "Great I'll be back in about two hours. Just make sure they don't fight or get hurt. Thank you," he rushed out, quickly opening the door and none-to-gently pushing her inside, slamming the door behind her.

The woman was met with twelve curious gazes. A look of recognition flashed in their eyes, and few gave her bright smiles.

Ren arrived back at the loft three hours later, and parked his truck in its usual place inside the garage. Then he took his time getting out from his seat and gathering all the bags filled with the things that the kids would need. He only got back later than he planned because he wasn't expecting there to be so many other things he would need to get, and some women liked a responsible single father. Then there were all the cute little outfits he had picked out for them, and the toys, mainly building blocks, dolls, and toy cars. At first, he thought it would be a waste because it wouldn't be long until they were back to normal, but then he thought grand-babies and went for it.

When he entered the loft, he was met by a hysterical Mrs. Johnson who flung herself in his arms causing him to drop the bags in the entryway. The kids were sitting in the living room watching cartoons. There had been an argument, and the girls had won; meaning that they were all watching some princess movie. The boys all sulked, though they secretly enjoyed it, while the girls watched the beautiful mermaid sing about spending a day on the beach.

"Oh Ren, they're terrible," the woman cried. "The little heathens attacked me. They would not calm down no matter what I did. That one even bit me," she shouted pointing at Itachi. Then she pointed at Naruto. "And that one I had to give a good spanking to because he..."

"You did what," Ren roared in anger. The woman backed away in fear, and the children watched on in amusement. They didn't know why, but they felt that the old lady was not a nice one and should be punished. "You had no right to put your hands on my kids!"

"Ren, honey," the woman tried to calm him down, but he was having one of it.

"Get out," the infuriated father commanded, pointing a finger to the door to emphasize his point. Once the woman scurried out the door she tried to talk to Ren, but he slammed the door in her face.

When the door was closed, Ren walked over to where the kids were and, one by one, gave them all hugs, then told them to follow him to the bathroom. He lead them to the bathroom in his daughter's room since her bathtub was the biggest. After he had turned on the water, he stripped them of their much to large shirts and placed them in the tub. Leaving a shadow clone, he ran back out to the living room where he left their things, got what he needed, and then hurried back to the bathroom.

Once bath time was over, he wrapped them all up in towels. Back in the living room he sorted through all the clothes he had bought for them. He dressed them all in footed pajamas.

"Okay kids bedtime," Ren ordered, clapping his hands after they had finished eating dinner. He put them to bed in Kim's making sure to leave the door open, and then headed to his room to sleep.

When he woke up the next morning, he he discovered that he couldn't move. Looking down at his body, he saw all the children peacfully sleeping on top of him or curled up to his sides. He figured they must've crawled in at some point in the night. Deciding that since it was a Saturday, he would leave the shop closed for the day, and fell back into a peaceful sleep.