Chapter 4: Connecting

His nose itched as his eyes opened slowly. Looking down he noticed yellow hair as he had a small smile come across his face. Putting a hand up he rubbed Narumi's head as she had a small smile of her own form. Naruto chuckled at how cute she was, especially with her sucking her thumb and curled up on his chest.

Using his skills as an ANBU Naruto was able to get Narumi off his chest as he set her on the bed and covered her up with the blanket. Leaving his room Naruto went to the kitchen to get some breakfast, finding Itachi already awake and feasting on a plate of dango.

"Well look at what we have here. I thought mom said you weren't supposed to have any more of those in the morning." Naruto remarked with a sly smile.

"And I thought she told you to stop eating so much instant ramen." Itachi shot back with his own sly smile.

"Touche." Naruto shrugged as he got out an instant ramen cup from the drawer.

"So how did you sleep last night?" Itachi asked.

"Good. But for some reason it felt like something was on my chest. Turns out Narumi used me as a bed all night."

Itachi chuckled as he finished his first stick of dango from his plate and went for his second. "You're not alone. Sasuke did the same to me."

Naruto laughed as he boiled some water. "Man, he usually did that with me before we found Narumi."

"Well there might be a reason for that."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"Well…" Suddenly they both heard some yawns as they turned to see Narumi and Sasuke both rubbing their eyes of their sleepiness, standing side by side.

"What are you two talking about?" Narumi asked as she yawned once more.

"Nothin. What are you two doing up?" Naruto asked.

"I need to pee." Sasuke said, only doing so due to him being half awake.

"And I smelled something good." Narumi said as Naruto and Itachi chuckled. "What?" Narumi asked, blushing a bright red.

"Nothing." Naruto said.

"Other than seeing the Uzumaki nose at work." Itachi said as he went up to Sasuke. "So you need help?"

Sasuke rubbed his eyes as he looked at his older brother. "I want Naruto to help me." Naruto looked a little surprised by that before he shook his head. "OK then. Let's go, Sasuke." He said as they both went to the bathroom.

Itachi watched them leave before he heard the sound of slurping as he turned around only to see Narumi eating Naruto's ramen cup. Itachi chuckled as he started to eat his dango once again. "You like it?"

Narumi nodded as she continued to eat the ramen. "Mm hm. I love it." Itachi continued to chuckle as he now knew for certain that she was Naruto's sister. "You know he won't be happy about that, right?"

Narumi shrugged as she continued to eat. "He'll be fine."

"Who'll be fine?" Naruto asked as he and Sasuke came into the room. Narumi immediately stopped eating as she tried to hide what she did. "Hey, who ate my ramen?" Naruto asked as he saw his cup was over half empty.

Narumi pointed to Itachi, "Um, he did it."

"Wha…I did not" Itachi said with some hurt in his voice.

Naruto smiled as he looked at Itachi. "Itachi, how could you. I trusted you. Although I think I won't have to take revenge on you this time."

Itachi was confused as Naruto pointed behind him. Turning around Itachi saw Sasuke eating some of his dango. "Hey!" Itachi yelled as Naruto and Narumi fell to the floor in laughter.

XXX

The group of four walked through the village, Sasuke holding Itachi's hand while Narumi clung onto Naruto as he held her against his chest. The two elders of the group expected this as they knew Narumi had almost no real contact with other people and so she would be very shy when out. However that didn't stop them as they all went through the streets of the shopping district to buy some new clothes for themselves and the little kids. Sasuke watched Naruto as he held

Narumi, a ping of jealousy rising in his chest as he looked away, something Itachi seemed to notice.

Soon the four made it to a store as they all entered being greeted by the store owner. Naruto set Narumi down as he held her hand through the store though he felt like he was being dragged through it instead. Narumi was amazed by the clothes all around her as she looked at one shirt before moving on to the next. Itachi had a small smile at seeing Narumi look so amazed as he led Sasuke to look at some new clothes for him to wear, knowing he needed them as he had grown out of much of his old clothes.

Sasuke was more annoyed at this task as all children his age would be but did as his elder brother said so as to not get into any trouble. Looking for Naruto he noticed he and Narumi were gone as he looked for the two. Unfortunately due to his size he couldn't look over the dressing racks as he turned to Itachi who was picking out some clothes for himself at the moment as he held onto some of the clothes Sasuke had picked out.

"Where's Naruto at?" Sasuke asked his elder brother as he looked throughout the store for the other two. Itachi took a moment as he looked for Naruto before seeing his yellow hair at the other end of the store.

"He's helping Narumi pick out clothes right now." Sasuke was confused as he still wasn't told why they were doing this for her. "Why?"

"Because she is staying with us." Itachi simply said as he got a navy shirt from the rack that was his size.

"Why is she staying with us?" Sasuke asked.

"It's a little complicated. We'll tell you when we get home but for now know that she's going to be part of the family." Itachi said as he was now looking at some pants.

"What if I don't want her to be a part of the family." Sasuke pouted as Itachi now looked at him with a bit of annoyance.

"Unfortunately Sasuke, that's not how the world works. And you shouldn't act that way. Narumi's very important to Naruto and you don't want him to be sad, do you?" Sasuke looked at him with a bit of guilt showing as he shook his head. While he didn't like Narumi he deeply cared for Naruto and never wanted him to be sad. A few minutes later Naruto and Narumi came back with many clothes that Narumi had picked out herself, all of which Naruto was holding onto much to his dismay.

"Can you help me out here a little." He asked as Itachi got some of the clothes to lessen the load on Naruto. "Thanks, how's your adventure over here been?" He asked as he now started to pick out some clothes for himself. Itachi only shrugged as he finished his search for clothes.

"Alright, I can tell she will have plenty though." Narumi nodded with a big smile as she looked at all the clothes she had gotten. "Mm hm, I picked them all out too. Aren't they great?"

Itachi nodded with a slight smile as he looked at her. "I'd say so. Where are we even going to keep all of this?"

"You already know that. She's going to be sharing a room with Sasuke. Why would you…oh crap." Naruto said as he accidentally let that slip. The younger kids looked at him in shock at just hearing about this. "WHAT!"

"I don't want to share a room with her." Sasuke whined as Narumi nodded. "Me neither. Why do I have to share a room with him?"

"Told you." Itachi said as Naruto only gave him a side eye. One thing they had found out very quickly over the last couple of days Narumi had stayed with them is that she and Sasuke didn't get along at all. Even with the small amount of interactions they had it was made very clear that they mixed together as well as oil and water.

Naruto sighed as he put up a hand to silence the two whining children. "Because the house has no more rooms so mom and dad decided you two would be together. And before you say it, Itachi and I need our space since we're older. Plus Sasuke has the largest bedroom in the house so you two will fit. So don't complain cause the parents decided it and so that's final." Both children pouted as they hated this arrangement, but neither said anything more as they followed the older boys to the cashier to pay for their item's. After a bit of time they all left the store, Naruto and Itachi with tears running down their faces, their wallets bled dry from all the money spent on just clothes.

Soon they all made it back home as they met Mikoto who was making lunch. "Oh good your back, how did it go?" Naruto and Itachi's faces were grim as they showed the bags of clothes they had carried along with the two children they carried half way as they had started to get tired. Mikoto only chuckled at this as she somehow expertly grabbed the now sleeping kids out of the boys arms and took them to Sasuke's room which now had a second bed for Narumi without even waking either child. Naruto and Itachi just looked in awe at their mother and wondered how she did that without even breaking a sweat, nor without waking either of the four year olds.

When she came back into the kitchen seeing both of them still standing there dumbfounded she only smirked as she went back to cooking. "I did the same thing with both of you whenever I watched you while your mother and father's were out working." She said with some level of pride in her voice as she knew both of them despite being prodigies were beaten by her. The two only conceded defeat as they went to the coach to rest from their long day that had only really just begun.

XXX

Narumi opened her eyes as she looked at her surroundings only now to see she was in a bed. Looking to her right she saw another bed right next to hers, separated by a nightstand, with a now waking up Sasuke in it. Both looked at each other for a moment before they frowned at one another and turned away from one another. "Why do you have to take my room?" Sasuke asked spitefully.

"Like I wanted to." Narumi said with some snark. Sasuke looked at her with a little bit of anger as he wondered something. "Why are you even living with us anyway?"

"Cause maybe I'm Naruto's sister and he lives here." Narumi answered. Sasuke was shocked to hear this as he looked at her. "What, how are you, his sister? That doesn't make any sense. He doesn't have a sister. He's stayed with us ever since I was a baby." Narumi grew annoyed by this as she got out of her bed and walked up to Sasuke. "Cause someone else had me since I was a baby and Naruto got me back. That's why."

Sasuke got annoyed by this as he got out of his bed and got into her face. "Then maybe they should take you back cause you don't need to be here." At that Narumi tackled Sasuke to the ground as the two began to fight, Narumi winning against the boy due to years of training over his lack of any. They yelled and screamed as they attacked one another, anger coming out of the two in waves. That is until they felt themselves be ripped away from one another as Naruto was holding Sasuke back while Itachi did the same for Narumi.

"Alright enough you two!" Naruto yelled as he held Sasuke who was crying as he tried to go after Narumi.

"Stop fighting!" Itachi said as he held a struggling and crying Narumi away from Sasuke.

"He said I shouldn't be here!" Narumi screamed as she continued to try to go after Sasuke despite Itachi not letting her.

"You shouldn't! You just show up out of nowhere and take my brother from me! You don't even know him so why does he get to care about you more than me! So what if you're his sister? I knew him first!" Sasuke screamed back as Naruto held him back.

"I didn't want to be with my papa! He hurt me, and I never want to see him again and want to be here! Why do you have to be so mean!" Narumi cried as Itachi held her close and rubbed her back. Looking at Naruto who was doing the same to Sasuke who was hugging him tightly. The two elder boys' eyes met as they got up and sat at opposite beds as they let the two kids just let out their emotions.

Naruto looked over Sasuke as he noticed some bruises beginning to form thanks to Narumi. Looking at the girl he noticed nothing on her suggesting she was winning the fight, and judging

by the scream they heard before the noises of the fight began she had been the one to attack Sasuke. Itachi noticed this too as he comforted Narumi as best he could.

Itachi looked up to Naruto as he spoke up. "I'm going to take her out of the room."

Naruto nodded as he looked down to the now hiccuping Sasuke. "Good idea. You talk to her and I'll do the same for him." Itachi nodded as he picked up a still crying Narumi and walked to the living room. Soon the crying of Narumi became muffled as Naruto looked at Sasuke who had begun to calm down a little more.

After a few minutes Sasuke had gone to only light sniffling as Naruto placed him to his side. Taking a few minutes Naruto thought of what to say as Sasuke rubbed at his reddened eyes.

"Sasuke." Naruto finally said as the little boy looked up to him. "I know this last couple of days has been a lot for you. But why do you not want Narumi to be here?" Sasuke avoided eye contact with Naruto at that question, feeling uncomfortable to answer. "Sasuke please tell me."

"Cause she took you from me." Sasuke finally said. Naruto expected that to be his answer after his blow-up earlier but even so it still startled him to hear it.

"Why would you think that?" He asked the younger boy.

"Cause when she got here you only cared about her. Y-you didn't even want to talk to me. She was with you all the time and you just ignored me. I don't want her to take you away from me. I don't want that." Naruto frowned at hearing his little brother's worries as he placed an arm around him and gave him a small hug. "Oh bud, I didn't mean to do that. Not to you. I've just been looking for her for so long. I lost her when she was born and when I got her back, well I guess I kind of got tunnel vision. Heh, sounds like me to do that huh. But she wasn't going to take me away from you. You matter so much to me. More than you'll ever know. But you need to understand that she's very important to me too. I can't lose her again, I won't. Just know that just because I'm with her doesn't mean I'm never gonna be with you again. Ok." Sasuke nodded at that as Naruto sat up and looked down at the small boy. "OK, now I want you to tell me what happened."

Sasuke didn't answer for a moment as he felt like he was in trouble. Looking up he noticed that Naruto seemed to be waiting for an answer as Sasuke sighed and proceeded to tell Naruto about what happened. After he finished he looked at Naruto, his face showing much shame. Naruto picked up on this as he sighed. "Well, I think you need to apologize. You shouldn't have said that to her, even if she attacked you, you still brought it to that point. Come on." Sasuke took Naruto's hand as he was led to the living room where Narumi was sitting with Itachi and Mikoto on the couch.

Noticing the two entering the room, Itachi looked down at Narumi as she stood up and walked over to Sasuke. "I'm sorry I tackled you. I shouldn't have done it, I was just really angry." Narumi

said with some level of difficulty on her part due to her pride. Sasuke nearly didn't say anything as his pride made it hard for him to apologize to anyone but one look from Naruto was enough to convince him otherwise. "I'm sorry I said all those things."

Both kids stood there awkwardly for a few moments until Narumi put out her hand. Sasuke looked at it for a moment before he shook it. Naruto smiled as he ruffled both of the children's hair, much to their disliking. "See, was that so hard?" Now we can eat lunch." At that Naruto walked to the kitchen, Mikoto and Itachi rolling their eyes at Naruto before following him as the two smallest of the family stayed behind.

"You hungry?" Narumi asked as Sasuke nodded.

"Yeah. Bet I can eat more than you."

"Yeah right." Narumi said with a smile as the two raced after their elders, their little rivalry beginning as they devoured their meals.

XXX

Masked ninja stood at the outskirts of the village waiting for the signal to strike. Soon it came as they silently raced through the village to a single compound. Many of the lights off due to the night having set in. These men had two goals they needed to complete. "Kill all inside the compound and capture 01." And they would do as they were told and wouldn't stop until their mission was a success, no matter how many of them would fall.

END OF CHAPTER

Author's Note: Oh WOW has it been a while. Some of you probably thought I quit on this one didn't yah. Nope, I'm still going to keep this one goin. Unless I say none of these stories are dead.

Honestly though I'm sorry I haven't done this one or Two Small Miracles in a while. Been preoccupied with ending Healing the Broken Fox (working on the final chapter as of right now) but do expect this story to come out with some more chapters in the near future. Unfortunately for my TSM fans you'll have to wait a while for more of that story. Not even gonna lie I have no clue where to take that one so until I can get a plan it's gonna be on hiatus until further notice. Again sorry.

OK Review Time:

zainab.madihasiddiqui: thanks and I hope you like this one (God only knows you've been waiting a while)

naruto8764210storyreader: thanks

Alright well I know this is off by a few days but hey better late than never.

Happy Birthday Naruto

And with that I'm off to sleep for another 5 months

Until next time