CHAPTER FOURTY-THREE

BRIGHT LIGHT

Two weeks had passed and everything was still the same, although there was something strange that had happened. Five days after they had been transformed into ten month olds, they had grown rapidly to eighteen month olds. If Ren said he did not enjoy it, then he would be lying. The man was having the time of his life playing and caring for them, although he didn't enjoy changing their dirty diapers. He had always wanted the chance to be able to have been there for his daughter while she was still but a mere child, and it was like a dream come true for him.

The day would start with him waking up extra early to make them breakfast, waking them up, feeding them, and then cleaning their messy faces and changing their clothes. Once they were cleaned up, he would then get the dressed and ready to start the day ahead of them, which mainly consisted of them playing with each other while he worked downstairs. When lunchtime and dinnertime came, he would feed them and then clean them up.

When he took them to the park for the first time, he thought it would be all fun and games. He was proven wrong almost immediately. For one year olds, they ran pretty fast. Deidara always found his way to mud puddles, and he would challenge Itachi to some type of game where the two of them ended up covered in mud from head to toe. Naruto and Kim were the hardest to control, considering that the two never really had anyone to play with growing up. Jade, Konan, and Sakura would all get together and play pretend. Hana would be seen running around with the dogs that would go to the park. Kakashi would always climb to the tallest point of the playground and look at everyone down below. One of the mothers there told Ren that he only did that to feel big because he was the smallest out of the group. Sasuke would sit and pretend to attack the others with a green dinosaur that seemed to come out of nowhere. Nagato would run around shouting something that sounded like 'I'm a god.'

Currently they were all playing around in the living room while Ren tried to watch his favorite shows on the TV. Jade had discovered her closet that was filled with clothes, and wanted to play dress up and mommy and daddy. Nagato only agreed to play with her because he got to wear a hat, and Hana had ended up playing the baby. Konan and Sakura would play all sorts of games with the dolls, and would use, thankfully washable, markers to put makeup on them.

Kakashi was sitting on the sofa reading one of the children's books he had found in the pile of toys. He would look at the pictures and make up his own story. Pakkun was sitting beside him listening to the white haired boy tell his story until he fell asleep. Itachi and Deidara were racing their toy cars all over the floor, wall, and whatever else the cars could roll on. Every time one of them lost, the other would call for a rematch a rematch.

Kim and Naruto had taken all the giant Lego blocks and built a giant castle with a wall around it. Kim had forced Hinata into one Jade's sparkly shirts that fit her like a dress, and made her be the princess. Sasuke played the part of the evil dinosaur, with the green stuffed dinosaur that seemed to come out of nowhere, trying to destroy the kingdom and capture the princess. Naruto and Kim would throw blocks at the evil dinosaur to keep him away.

Ren watched them play with a smile on his face. He wished they could stay like that forever, but he knew that they had to return to their original ages eventually. He knew that the ninja had to return to their home to take care of some unfinished business.

Before he knew it Naruto had gotten all the others to join him in singing the 'if you're happy, and you know it' song. Ren cursed the child at the park who taught them that song. The first time they all sang it, it was adorable, the second time it was cute, the third it was nice, but after hearing them sing it the tenth time in a row, it was beyond irritating. He threw himself back on the sofa releasing a groan that sounded as if he were in pain.

"Kakashi," the man called out. The white haired little boy stopped his singing, and turned to look at him with curiosity-filled eyes. "Please do the jutsu that'll turn you guys back to normal." Ren's hands were covering his ears. The kids singing seemed to have gotten louder. They thought that if they sang louder it would make up for the fact that they messed up some of the words.

Kakashi stared at him, not really understanding what the man was asking him to do. When he put his hands together, Ren felt excitement run through him at the thought of them returning back to their original ages, but the excitement died down when the little boy started clapping his hands and singing along with the others. Ren threw his head back against the back of the sofa and closed his eyes trying to tune out the children's singing.

Throughout the two weeks, Ren had been keeping an extra close eye on the kids, especially Nagato and Kakashi. He wanted to know if they would be able to regain their memories if only for a little while, but there was no such luck. He loved having them so young, but he really missed the fighting, arguing, yelling, and the chaotic randomness that were his delinquents. He also watched them to see if they would grow again, but after another five days, they were still the same. He had to rule out the option of them suddenly reverting back to their original ages.

While Ren had his eyes closed, he didn't see the look of clarity flash across the white haired boy's face. The little boy slowly stopped clapping and quickly began to form a series of hand seals. When his small hands formed the last seal there was a burst of white light. The light glowed brightly consuming the entire area around the kids, and then slowly began to fade away.

The man blinked his eyes a couple of times to get his eyes readjusted, and then he waited a few seconds until he stopped seeing different colors every time he blinked. Once his vision had cleared, he jumped to his feet and went to check on the children. He was shocked at what he saw. Once the shock wore off he was a bit disappointed. Lying sprawled out all over the living room were his kids. Though they were not back to their original ages, at least they were not babies anymore. They all seemed to be about twelve years old.

Quickly, he got to work waking them up and once they were awake, he ushered them off to go and get dressed. Soon everyone was sitting around the living room eating pizza. He was fairly sure that mashed potatoes and other finger food would no longer suffice.

"My body hurts," Jade complained. Everyone had to agree with her there. Their bodies had felt as if they had been stretched and pulled like taffy. "Ha-ha, Dei you look so cute!" Said blond haired person glared at her.

"Well at least we're not helpless little kids," Kim stated. "Though I have to agree with Jade, you guys are just adorable." She was gushing over how the boys looked.

"Ha-ha, Kaka-sensei! I'm taller than you, dattebayo," Naruto exclaimed in glee. He was standing next to his white haired sensei, and was about two inches taller than he was.

"I was a little on the shorter side growing up," Kakashi replied nonchalantly, picking the greasy pepperoni off his slice of pizza.

"All I remember was... were just about to leave then the white light turned blue, and I woke up as a five year old," Sakura stated, reaching over for another slice of pizza.

"Same here," Nagato chirped. Then he added, "I also remember getting these flashes of random events, but I didn't know what they were at the time. There were also the moments of clarity where I would remember everything, and then nothing."

"When we went from being five year to ten months, and eighteen months to twelve, there was always a flash of light. So how did we get back to, well not normal, but older," Hana asked.

"That was me. I had to look up the jutsu a long time ago," Kakashi informed. Everyone gave him questioning looks. He sighed. "It had happened to my old genin team, but not me since I was on a mission at the time. I got stuck taking care of them, and finding a way to turn them back. I found the jutsu in a book because apparently this has happened before."

"So are you going to turn us back already," Sasuke asked, getting irritated by the fact that his old sensei was doing nothing to get them out of the predicament that they had found themselves in.

"The jutsu uses up a large amount of chakra," Kakashi explained, giving Sasuke a pointed look. "Since I just performed it, I would need to take a moment to rest." The dark haired boy glared in response.

"What else do you know about the jutsu? Are there any warnings we should take into consideration," Itachi asked.

"Ah yes," Kakashi said, thinking over the jutsu and its potential side effects again. "The jutsu can only be performed a total of three times, and whatever age you turn when it's cast the third time you get stuck there. Then you just go on with your live from there. If you're younger than you originally were, you get to live that much longer. If you're older than what you were, then your life was cut short by how ever many years you lost."

"Well we still have three more tries left, so it's all good, 'ttebayo," Naruto said stretching out on the floor trying to get in a more comfortable position.

"We only have one more try left," the white haired Jonin enlightened them.

"What," Konan exclaimed in shock. "What happened to the other two times?"

"Weren't you guys paying attention to what I was saying," the Jonin asked, receiving black stares. He took a breath and continued to explain to everyone what they should have been able to have had figured out for themselves. "The first time I used the jutsu was when we were five years old. When I performed it, it turned us into ten month olds then we grew to be eighteen months, but we stopped there. The second time was when we were eighteen months, and it turned us into what we are now. We only have one more shot to get it right."

Before anyone could actually process what Kakashi had just said, they snapped to attention as their backs when straight as a rod, on high alert. Springing to their feet, they pushed the sofas and chairs out of their way making room for them to move. They backed up against each other shoulder to shoulder forming a circle in the living room, making sure every point of infiltration was covered. Their feet were spread apart, their bodies were tensed, and they wore matching expressions of seriousness while maintaining a calm disposition.

The next thing they heard was the sound of people running up the stairs trying to be quiet and undetected. The running stopped for about five minutes. During those few minutes, Hinata had activated her Byakugan, and confirmed what they all suspected along with the number of opponents they may face.

When the five minutes were up, a silent signal was given and the door was kicked down as the windows were smashed in. Men in bulky black military uniforms, carrying shields or machine guns, poured inside the loft one after the other until they had the group completely surrounded on all sides. Some of them hesitated when they saw that they were a bunch of twelve year olds, save for the one man they recognized, but they had their orders and aimed their weapons at the group.