Chapter Nineteen: A Family Reunion
.
.
.
Sure, there were extra planetary threats and whatever cults were hidden in their realm to support them threatening to destroy all life, but Sasuke was in a good mood. Physically, he still wasn't in good shape, but he didn't realize he'd been in such a bad shape. If his wife hadn't been such a badass kunoichi and talented surgeon, there was a good chance he'd have keeled over a few days after returning to their planet. She told him that the Nakayama family should be credited for their initial efforts, but he could see the dark circles under her eyes.
They'd spent five days at the Five Kage Summit and he knew good and well that when he went to sleep, she poured healing chakra into him for hours. He felt guilty— as usual. He'd have preferred if those circles were from keeping her up all night pleasuring his sweet wife, but he'd barely been able to go two rounds. He owed her a lot of make-up sex.
While his chakra that was used to utilize ninjutsu was still at decent levels, it was his body's chakra that allowed the basic functions of living — heart pumping, liver metabolizing, lungs oxygenating, kidneys filtering, nervous system firing neurons that had been barely functioning.
"What are these?" Sasuke stared at the three machines. They were slick, made him think of horses, but inanimate and with wheels. They were chrome and either red, blue, or green.
"Prototypes," Kakashi explained. "Motorcycles to be specific — they're used for travel by using either gas or chakra for power. Pretty fun too."
"They're ours!" Naruto shouted. "A gift for the heroes of Konoha! Also, since they're still a strong possibility that the rider could die, not too many people are interested just yet."
"Die?" Sasuke turned towards Sakura. "You rode in on such a dangerous contraption?" He'd decided then and there, he was not a fan of new technology. Feet were perfectly reliable.
"I definitely think helmets and protective armor should be worn, I plan to work with the inventor to create those. But we're living on the edge a little," Sakura explained. She stuck her thumb into her mouth and bit down drawing blood before summoning Katsuyu. Her slug summons was no bigger than Pakkun - she didn't need a lot of power for only five team members. "In the meantime, Lady Katsuyu will offer us protection from injury."
"Like I said - a prototype," Kakashi said with a chuckle as he settled one of the slugs on his shoulder. "Naruto?"
"Right! Multi-jutsu Shadow Clone!" Naruto multiplied by two.
"Are you feeling alright, Naruto?" Sasuke couldn't hide the concern in his voice and he felt embarrassed letting his friend know he was worried. But it was only Kakashi and the Anbu Commander. If he couldn't act like himself around his teammates, who could he?
"No need to waste chakra," Naruto said. Sasuke arched his eyebrow in disbelief at that. Naruto grinned. "It's rude to waste chakra in front of Sakura-chan! I'm the power source."
Sakura lifted the seat and shoved their packs inside and then sat on the red motorcycle, Kakashi on the green, and Yamato on the blue. She gestured for Sasuke to get on behind her. "It's going to be a little crowded with the three of us, but I'm not sure I want you to steer yet and you're not allowed to use your chakra right now."
"I can power it, I have plenty of chakra," Sasuke muttered, glancing between his wife on the bike — giving him flashbacks to the alternate reality he'd been trapped in on the Icy world — and Naruto grinning awkwardly.
"It's alright, Sasuke, you're not my type." He held his hands over his chest and did a partial body transformation to give himself gigantic breasts and then released the technique with a burst of laughter. "A prefer a little more top-heavy, but mostly Sakura is my best friend so I wouldn't do that to her."
"You couldn't if you tried," Sasuke glowered brushing past his rival/best friend/brother.
"Oh man, don't give him challenges," Sakura warned. "Naruto can be very sexy when he wants."
"Seriously? You too?" Sasuke slipped behind her and scooted forward until he was flush against her, enjoying the way his chest fit snug against her toned back and his thighs captured hers within. This would be quite nice and romantic. But then Naruto got on behind them. "Why you? Why not one of your Shadow Clones?" He could feel Naruto's muscular legs flanking him and it made him decidedly uncomfortable and it pissed him off that his wife and best friend were having a great deal of amusement at his expense.
Naruto leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "Lighten up, Sasuke. I'd rather have my arms around your wife than you too." He braced his hands on the back of the bike, much as his clones were doing on the other two bikes.
Kakashi's amusement was palpable and both his eyes were creased in unending humor at the sight of the trio of cozy teammates. Even Yamato fought a losing battle with grinning.
"However, I will say, when Sakura and Hinata were on here with me — that was like a dream come true," Naruto said wistfully. "So don't worry, Hinata agreed, if you go off and do something stupid like dying — we'll combine our households and try a harem."
"Are you f-king kidding me?" Sasuke growled. His right eye burned as his Sharingan was eager to be activated. To make it worse, he felt Sakura silently laughing in front of him.
"Of course, I'm f-king kidding!" Naruto shouted. "Are you an idiot? I would never do that to Hinata! Well, I mean, if it was her idea I would certainly consider it."
"Oh boy," Kakashi murmured.
Sakura couldn't keep quiet anymore. "Sasuke, calm down, he's teasing you. Besides, if something happened to you — it would totally be Kakashi that I'd fall for or maybe Ino."
"Oh please, leave me out of this," Kakashi groaned.
"What?" Sasuke was definitely starting to wish for some solitude. Did he really crawl back from the brink of death to suffer this kind of abuse? "Ino?"
Only Sakura and Naruto seemed to think it was funny, both laughing from either side of him. Sakura angled her face over her shoulder to look at him and the amusement faded from her eyes. "Okay, we're done joking around, Sasuke-kun. This is why you can't power the bike. If you can't take this obvious teasing, you're definitely not recovered."
"Yeah, normally you give better than you take. No one throws a better barb than you," Naruto added quietly.
Sasuke pressed his face against Sakura's shoulder and took a deep breath. "Can we just ride in silence?"
"Um, that might be hard, but I'll try," Naruto agreed. "Though it was my birthday that you missed last week, so the least you could do is let me tease you relentlessly as a present."
"No, the least I can do is bear this ridiculously cramped motorcycle ride in between my best friends," Sasuke argued.
.
.
.
OoO
.
.
.
It was surreal, riding the motorcycle through the village gates and going directly towards his neighborhood. Earlier that day, Naruto had gotten on the blue motorcycle with Yamato and Sakura had allowed Sasuke to power their bike. It was decidedly more comfortable and less crowded with just him and his wife.
The neighborhood was different from when he last saw it. Kakashi continued down the lane towards a house just off the lake further down the lane and Naruto and Yamato stopped at a house directly across from Sasuke's. Hinata waited on the porch with her sister and two young children.
Sasuke noted these observations, but his focus was on his own home. Standing on his porch were his in-laws, his daughter, two toddlers, Shizune, and Itachi. He wasn't sure if he was more surprised by the sight of his two sons or his brother.
He blinked back tears that began to form and he could no longer see Itachi. He shook off that disappointment and stared at his three children. He and Sakura had done it — the Uchiha clan had been revived by their family. And this time, his clan would become known for acts of heroism and compassion with The Will of Fire and not the quest for power.
Sakura parked the motorcycle next to their house and climbed off the bike. She held her hand for Sasuke to join her. "Come, your children are eager to see you."
He'd barely taken two steps when Sarada rushed past her grandparents and threw her arms around his waist. Sasuke kneeled down and gave her a two-armed hug, enjoying the love he felt overwhelm him for this tiny little dark eyed girl. Then next he knew, next to him two boys had ran directly into Sakura knocking her over and piling on top of her. One had raven black hair like most Uchiha and the other had dark blond — he did remember a few cousins with dark blond hair, but most Uchiha had black hair.
"Boys, this is your daddy," Sakura said, sitting up and holding one boy in each arm, balanced on her hip before she stood. Monstrous strength came in handy when handling two energetic toddlers. Sasuke gasped at the sight of their faces — typical bone structure of an Uchiha but their eyes — they were so beautiful jade green with silver border in the dark haired twin and onyx like his own in the blond but with the same silver border.
"Nice to meet you," the blond said.
"Welcome home," the dark haired one added.
"Daddy, this is Myoken," Sakura said, kissing the brow of the dark haired boy. "And this is Takashi," she added kissing the blond.
Shizune began to walk towards them and smiled briefly at Sasuke before returning her gaze to Sakura. "I'll be heading to the hospital. Take a few days and then let me know when to open up your schedule."
"Will do, thanks so much, Shizune-sempai. Give Anko my love. We'll have tea in a couple of days," Sakura said.
Shizune nodded and her gaze swept over the small clan before she started for the village proper.
The in-laws stood on the porch, Kizashi's arm casually wrapped around Mebuki's shoulders. "Come on inside," Mebuki said. "Take a proper shower. I'll have lunch ready in a few minutes."
A few minutes later, Sasuke stood in the shower, letting the warm water pelt against him. Tears fell silently down his face to be washed away by the stream. He was happy — so blissfully happy — for the first time, since he was probably a kid. He had family. He wasn't chasing ghosts or revenge. He had a wife, in-laws, children, nosy neighbors, and pets. He glanced outside the shower to see his cats Midnight and Starlight watching him. They'd pounced on him as soon as he entered the bedroom, but when he turned on the water they'd carefully kept their distance.
He felt Sakura's familiar presence as she slipped into the shower behind him. Strong arms banded around him, holding him from behind. She kissed his shoulder and then her hands started on his biceps and traced down the length of his arms until she reached his hands and threaded their fingers together.
"Welcome home, Sasuke."
.
.
.
OoO
.
.
.
The fall foliage dominated the forest, but there were still plenty of evergreens to maintain the ever shady environment that was the Village of the Leaf. They'd arranged a picnic and Sakura's parents headed out after making sure their family of five was settled.
Sarada had wanted to sit in Sasuke's lap, but Sakura was the "bad guy" and asked her to sit next to him. She was still concerned about his bone health. Myoken stared at him from across the blanket— definitely a mama's boy with those stunning green eyes he inherited from her. Takashi was interesting, he kept ignoring his food and wandering over to Sasuke's left side.
Finally the youngest Uchiha took hold of Sasuke's prosthetic Hashirama cell arm and bowed his dark blond head over it. Over the last three years, Sasuke had done his part to merge with the prosthetic, his neuron impulses connected it to the musculature to work almost as well as his original arm.
"Daddy. This is all wrong." Takashi looked up and met Sasuke's gaze and his dark eyes with the silver rims seemed to be windows into the galaxy — dark purple flecks caught the autumn sunlight. Then he felt the sensation, something was changing at the cellular level and when Sasuke looked down, the prosthetic had been transformed. It was his forearm and hand. There was no seam, no line of demarcation.
"I knew you could do it!" Itachi cried out, crouching next to Takashi and looking across at Sakura and pointing at Sasuke's arm. "He used the Sun seal. Regenerated Sasuke's original DNA into the prosthetic just like he did with Naruto."
Sasuke was shocked again. He could see and hear Itachi. "I heard you," Sasuke said. He looked between his arm, Itachi, Sakura, his son. "I can see Itachi. I thought I saw him on the porch when we got home. And the Sun seal?" He examined Takashi's left hand and sure enough, there on his palm — the Sun seal.
"He was born with it," Sakura explained. She held up Myoken's right hand. "And he was born with the Moon seal."
"How? Hagoromo is gone." Sasuke smoothed his natural left hand over Takashi's thin shoulders. "Thank you, Takashi."
"Okay, Daddy!" Takashi crawled off Sasuke's lap and threw himself at Sarada knocking her onto her back in a fierce hug and sending them into a giggling fit.
"The best we can figure, it's because with the merging of Uchiha and Senju genes, it made the right combination— a union of the descendants of Hagoromo's sons. Should another one of those Otsutsuki try to take this world, your children will be able to seal them — in theory." Itachi sat next to Sasuke and peered over at him. "Curious. Perhaps you were closer to death than you realize, little brother."
"Mommy?" Myoken said, reaching up and grabbing Sakura's chin. "That man is in the woods again."
"What man?" Sasuke demanded. He wasn't surprised by the intense desire to protect his family. He'd always felt things at an extreme level. He resisted the urge to form a Susanoo around his family.
"Just outside the village," Sakura explained. "We've found evidence of someone walking in the woods. They tend to linger just outside our neighborhood for the past month. Anbu hasn't found them. We even used Kakashi's ninja hounds, but Naruto and I haven't been able to find them either." She kissed the top of Myoken's dark head. "This little guy is the only one that seems to sense when they're nearby."
"Can we go look, Daddy?" Sarada asked. "I'm an Academy student now. I can go with you! I know the Fireball jutsu— Uncle Itachi taught me!"
"Uh." Sasuke looked toward Sakura for advice. Last he spent time with Sarada she was asking him to read the Five Little Monkeys on the Bed book and have him act out the scenes of falling out of the bed. Or she was begging for a cookie or more time in the bath. He didn't know how to deal with an Academy student version.
"Let me see if Uncle Naruto can join you — then I see no problem checking out the perimeter," Sakura said. She did the appropriate hand-signs to create a clone to go and request Naruto's presence.
"I don't need Naruto to babysit me," Sasuke grumbled.
"You're not in your best shape, Sasuke. And if you're taking our daughter on a walk through the woods to track, you're taking Naruto," Sakura said. "Or Sai. But one of them."
"Fine. I'll wait for Naruto." Sasuke turned towards Sarada. "So you learned the Fireball jutsu? That's a huge right of passage for all Uchiha."
"Well, all Uchiha through blood. Grandma on Mom's side wasn't Uchiha— she wasn't even a shinobi. Big scandal at the time so I hear. So when Mom and Dad's marriage was arranged it wasn't without a little controversy," Itachi explained.
"I thought the Uchiha were like the Hyuga, marrying within the clan to keep the bloodline pure," Sakura said. "Were your grandparents an unusual case?"
Itachi sat lotus style on the blanket. "Hardly. My girlfriend, Izumi, her father was a civilian. But after he died, she and her mom moved back to the Uchiha district." He drummed his fingers over his knees. "Honestly, if I hadn't had to do what I did — I wouldn't be surprised if the two of you ended up together anyway. Mom would have loved you, Sakura. And Dad too — strongest kunoichi in the Leaf? He definitely would have enjoyed those kind of bragging rights."
"Maybe if I hadn't been so emotionally damaged by childhood trauma, I might have acted on my childhood crush sooner," Sasuke agreed. He raised his newly reformed left hand. He wouldn't still have nightmares about the time he almost pierced Sakura's heart with the chidori.
"Imagine, a world where we got to be childhood sweethearts." Sakura smiled faintly.
"We were childhood sweethearts, Sakura," Sasuke protested. He saw the bright blond hair of the future Hokage crossing their yard. "Hinata let you come out to play?"
"She's coming with Sakura's clone and bringing the kids — impromptu playdate," Naruto explained.
"I'm bringing Sarada," Sasuke announced.
Naruto sighed. "Then I guess I'll have to bring Boruto. Hinata isn't going to like that, but if I don't bring him I'll never hear the end of it." He plopped down on the blanket and helped himself to some of the chicken and sweet rolls. "So did Sakura tell you about the mystery visitors? Must be pretty elite, mask their chakra like I've never seen. I've been able to sense at least two of them, but they're gone pretty quick." He pointed an accusing finger at Sasuke. "Reminds me of your Rinnegan. Or Obito's kamui. There one minute, gone the next."
"I don't think there's any other Uchiha unaccounted for," Itachi reasoned. "Unless they are really good at hiding. Maybe from a family that left the clan before it joined Konoha? Or someone sired a child and died in battle and their child inherited Uchiha traits."
"Yeah, well, maybe you missed one," Naruto said.
Itachi stared at Naruto in complete silence.
Sasuke opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again, and closed it with a resounded click of his teeth.
"Oh, so, yeah, Naruto can hear Itachi," Sakura said taking a calm sip from her iced tea.
"For how long?" Itachi asked.
"Long enough," Naruto said. "I didn't appreciate you calling me an idiot at the lanterns on the lake celebration year before last."
"I apologize," Itachi murmured.
The sound of Sakura's clone and Hinata chatting interrupted the conversation. The pink-haired clone popped out of existence and Hinata and her kids joined them on the blanket.
"Just don't be gone too long," Hinata warned. She grabbed hold of Naruto's shirt, pulled him to his feet and kissed him firmly on the lips. "Boruto wants to go. You should teach him how to track."
Naruto had a dazed expression as he stared down at his wife. "Um, yeah, yes, of course." He held out his hand towards his son. "Let's go, Boruto!"
"Alright!" The little mini-Naruto clutched his father's hand and together they started for the edge of the cleaning.
Sasuke wanted to kiss his wife too, but his brother was watching, Hinata was watching, and the kids were watching, and …. He cleared his throat. "I'll be back." His gaze lingered on hers for a moment before he stood in a fluid motion and took his daughter's hand.
Learning to track was an important skill. Both Sasuke's parents had been good trackers. He could remember a few family walks into these same woods where he learned to identify different paw and hoof prints and various types of scat. He gave those same lessons now, noting that even Naruto was paying attention. The future Hokage he may be, but Naruto wasn't known for the ability to spot a branch broken in an usual pattern, evidence of a fight between the forest prey and the forest predator.
"Here, you see these talon marks? And this small indention here in this lump of leaves?" Sasuke asked, pointing out the area to his small party. "An owl caught a mouse right here— most likely late last night. If we were to come here tomorrow, there would be no sign of this struggle. The wind will have blown it away all the evidence."
"Wow, Daddy. That's amazing! Did you see that with your Sharingan?" Sarada asked.
"No, Sarada. I saw it with my regular vision. Our family was known for being great detectives. Your grandfather was the Police Chief— the greatest detective," Sasuke explained. He knew that one day he would need to explain to his children that the reason their relatives were dead was because they let their anger simmer and they'd been killed to prevent an even bloodier coup— or at least that was the official story. They'd really been killed to supply Danzo with countless Sharingan eyes so that he could enact his will over and over.
"Hey, um, Sasuke? You okay?" Naruto laid a gentle hand over Sasuke's shoulder. "You're brooding a little intensely there — scaring the kids."
"Lost in thought," Sasuke murmured. He smiled weakly at Sarada and Boruto. "Let's find some deer tracks."
Naruto glowed bright orange, utilizing his Nine-tails Chakra mode. "Kurama is looking. He says there's two signatures ahead. They seem to be waiting. He doesn't sense any negative emotions."
"Let's go say hi," Sasuke murmured.
The kids were starting to grow tired, their little legs unable to keep pace with their taller dads. Naruto created a couple of Shadow Clones that offered the five year olds piggy back rides.
"We mean no harm!" A feminine voice called out moments before they saw the duo — a girl no more than thirteen and a man in his mid-thirties with ash brown hair. They both wore dark brown cloaks and boots. The man wore a tattered brown strip over his eyes.
"You're in the territory of the Leaf," Naruto called out. "It's proper to report to the front gates and announce your presence."
"Ah, but you see, my father didn't really want to return to Konoha — traumatic memories," the girl explained. She continued to hold her hands up, palms forward.
"You're from Konoha?" Sasuke asked. There was something about the man that tugged on his subconscious. Why was he wearing the bandages around his eyes? There was no cane or walking stick, so it seemed unlikely he was blind.
"I am," the man said. "I've been gone for as many years now. About eighteen at this point. I've spent just as many years away from home as I lived there."
Sasuke's hand itched for his sword. His daughter's safety was priority. "You're on my property," Sasuke said. "It's technically outside the village proper. State your business."
"I heard about the lanterns on the lake," the man said. "The New Year celebration. And that the Uchiha district is no longer a graveyard, but a growing neighborhood." He stepped forward, holding his hands above his head. He removed the bandage, his eyelids were closed tight. He was blind. "I would like to come home, Sasuke."
.
.
.
.
A/N: Any guesses on the blind man? Hint, he's my second favorite character to play on Ninja Storm after Neji.