A/N: Re-written as of April 4th 2024
Another chapter for you all. This chapter is honestly kind of a transition chapter. I enjoyed writing most of it just the same, and it's got it's share of fluff… but we're heading back to some serious tones here too. Thursday's chapter will be more meaty though ;)
Hope you all enjoy~
Chapter VI: Break
"Red."
Every muscle in her body tensed as the single word met her ears. With a huff she slammed down the mortar and pestle Tsunade-sensei had given her to mash up the berries, mushrooms and herbs they'd found to feed the two toddlers. Her eyes snapped in the direction the word had come from, and she found herself staring at the brilliant blue eyes of one of said toddlers. Was it the girl or the boy?
"Pretty red," the smiling child chirped as she pulled the cloak that was covering her closer to her chest with one hand, and reached out towards Kushina with the other.
Pretty?
She elbowed the wussy Namikaze in his side, hissing out a "Which one is that," under her breath. She heard the boy placing down the mortar and pestle he'd been using (he hadn't been doing a very good job of it though, constantly stopping, and his movements jerky).
"whi- oh, uh, Makiko-chan," the boy stuttered out, and she almost rolled her eyes at him. Did he have a speech impediment? He always seemed to be stuttering. Not that that was a bad thing exactly? It annoyed her to no end, but the world took all kinds of people, and she wasn't going to pick on him for something that might not even be his fault.
She'd just pick on his general sissyness instead.
Not right now though, as her attention needed to be on the toddler that had just called her hair pretty. Or at least she thought that was what the girl had said. She grabbed the glop she'd made, as well as a spoon (again courtesy of Tsunade, who carried two for the purpose of spoon feeding some medicines that couldn't be dissolved in water). "Hey Makiko-chan," she called out lightly, moving over to the sleeping bag and sitting down beside the girl. She briefly glanced over at the boy, but turned her full attention back to Makiko when she noted he was still sleeping. "You think my hair is pretty?"
The girl nodded enthusiastically, one hand still reaching out towards her. "Pretty red!" the girl repeated happily.
Since she had come to live in Konoha. only one person before now had ever called her hair pretty before. Although in a way it wasn't that different from the few comments on it she'd received back in Uzushio… where most of her clan had red hair, as the person was Mito Uzumaki (well, Senju technically, she had been the first's wife and all). Still Mito had been the first one to say it and… in her mind, meant it. Back in Uzushio it was more like… they wanted her to be proud of her Uzumaki features, and it was just the norm for Uzumaki to have red hair, so it wasn't so much directed at her as an individual.
It was strange to hear now, from an innocent child who knew none of that, but perhaps that very reason was why it brought a slight smile to her face. "Thanks, ttebane!" she responded, before effortlessly lifting the girl into her lap. "Are you hungry, Makiko-chan?"
The girl now sitting on one of her knees (Kushina sat cross legged), screwed up her little face in thought before nodding and announcing loudly "Very!"
Kushina almost laughed at the child's enthusiasm, as she scooped a spoonful of the berry goop. "Okay Maki-chan… can I call you Maki-chan, ttebane?" she asked the child, simply because she thought it was cute (hey, she was allowed to like cute things too ttebane!) The girl nodded happily, and then opened her mouth expectantly. Gosh… this child was too adorable. She lifted the spoon to the child's small mouth, and the girl closed her lips around it to consume the glop. "How is it?" she found herself asking.
The little toddler tilted her head from side to side, one cheek puffed out and then the other, as if she was pushing the mush around in her mouth with her tongue (she probably was), and then the girl swallowed. "Better than ol' ick bread with the green stuff," the girl announced.
Kushina found herself staring. That was quite the sentence for such a young child. She wasn't even two yet right? Her eyes moved to Minato, who had picked up his mortar and pestle again to resume trying to make gloop of his own, but his hands were still not moving consistently. He was instead staring at her with a confused frown. Kushina felt like shouting at him for it, but not wanting to scare the toddler on her lap, she refrained. "Oi, wuss boy… when's their birthday?"
Minato blinked, and then his frown turned contemplative. "Uh… October…Fifteenth, I guess?"
"You… guess, ttebane?" she asked lowly, frowning at the boy, even as she gave little Maki-chan another mouthful of food.
"Well… uh," the boy faltered in words, as if he couldn't find how to say what he was trying to say. Really… his inability to speak was so annoying. "There wasn't… exactly time to find out their precise birthday…" He gave his fractured explanation. "We were just told it's in a month - I mean, supposed to be in a month from when we found them so…"
"Right. Yesterday was the fifteenth, so that would make their birthday October fifteenth, by that logic," she finished for him so he wouldn't get any more tongue tied. Simply because it was annoying, and not because she felt a little bad for him. Definitely. His mouth snapped shut, and he simply nodded, cheeks flushed in what she assumed was embarrassment. Then the boy averted his gaze, and resumed mashing up the berries.
Well, at least Minato Namikaze was different from other boys. He was an unbearable wuss, but he didn't pick fights with her.
In fact, his wussy-ness was kind of cute.
Jiraiya was having a hard time not bursting out into near hysterical laughter. He'd known for a while that Minato had it bad for the red-headed genin who'd been put under Tsunade-hime (He was still trying to figure out what Hiruzen was thinking with that one). This however… well, the boy had it a lot worse than he had thought. He was hopelessly enamored with the girl, to the point where he probably couldn't tell which foot was left and which was right. He was doing a great job of making a fool of himself, really.
His eyes moved away from his abashed student, and to the red-haired girl. She was easily feeding the toddler in her lap, who seemed ecstatic to be getting attention from Kushina. Which he couldn't help but find a little strange. Makiko had refused to be held by him at any time, though she didn't protest when he changed her bandages that morning, sitting patiently as he'd done it.
She wouldn't let Inoru or Kenta near her without glaring at them or hiding his face in Minato's tracksuit jacket. All in all, he had been starting to think she was one of those children who played strange with almost everyone. So this turn of events ran counter to what he had been expecting.
The white haired man was pouting. He didn't bother to hide it though, letting out a sigh. "Makiko-chan won't take to me, but she seems to like the Uzumaki girl pretty well," he muttered as if he was terribly upset over it.
Tsunade who sat next to him let out a snort. "She's a smart girl then."
Ouch.
"Don't say that, Tsunade-hime," he whined, while he discreetly snaked an arm towards her.
Or not so discreetly.
He yelped moments later as his hand had been smacked away, hard.
At the sound of a yelp Masato was jolted awake. He shot up into a sitting position, eyes flicking about in search of the source of the sound, and chest heaving in something close to panic. And then he caught sight of something red. Heart pounding in his chest and a knot of dread in his stomach, the man-toddler turned his gaze towards it.
Hold on.
No. Way.
Wide eyed Masato found himself staring at someone he had not been prepared to see anytime soon. I mean, at least not until they got back to Konoha at the earliest. What were the chances that two genin teams would meet for some reason during a mission outside of the village, and one would have a Namikaze Minato, and the other the one and only Red-hot Habanero.
Uzumaki Kushina.
Holy shit.
He just continued to stare, dumbfounded. Until the girl noticed, and sent him a blood curdling glare, all while dutifully feeding his little sister who was sitting happily in her lap.
Makiko had all the luck.
He averted his gaze, unsure on how he could possibly salvage this situation right now… how had Makiko managed to get the young version of their once mother to take to her anyway? He glanced around, hoping for some sort of clue. And also, trying to figure out just why Kushina was here anyway.
There were two more boys here that hadn't been before. Kushina's teammates then, he assumed. And then, not far from the white haired Jiraiya, there was a blonde woman with low pigtails.
Whooa…. was that Tsunade-ba-chan!
Now that was something he really hadn't been expecting. Tsunade as Kushina's Jōnin-sensei? Wow.
Actually… it made a lot of sense, maybe? I mean, from what his own mother had told him, she was sort of a violent woman. Just like Tsunade. And Sakura-chan. So even though he didn't recall her mother saying that she had any experience or interest in anything medical, her fiery temper certainly matched with her apparent sensei. And logically, there would have been a time when Tsunade would be pushed towards taking on a genin team. Though not all Jōnin had to take a turn at having one, many did at some point in their career.
That did not make it any less weird to see this particular combination.
"Masato," Minato's voice reached his ears, and he turned his head towards the one day fourth Hokage (as long as they didn't somehow mess that up for him). He didn't have to look far, as the other sunshine blonde boy had been walking toward him, and now took a seat beside him (trying, and failing, at not casting glances in Kushina's direction). "Open up."
Open up?
Oh… he was holding a spoon. What was that purple looking goop?
His stomach rumbled. Did it really matter what it was? He needed to eat (though he was desperately craving Ramen, and had been for ages now.) He opened his mouth, allowing the older Namikaze to insert the utensil. Well… the gloop wasn't the most palatable, tasting on the sweet side but with a hint of something bitter too… but at least it was better than eating moldy food, right?
But wait a minute, he was forgetting something wasn't he? Hadn't there been a yelp or something? That was what woke him up…
"My students are all so heartless," he heard a groan come from nearby.
It took almost everything Masato had not to snigger, the pieces all falling together as he recognized the voice as Jiraiya's. Really, would the Toad sage never learn?
Not when he dubs himself a super-pervert.
Tsunade sent another glare Jiraiya's way, the man sprawled out on the grass now with a hand to his severely reddened cheek.
The male toddler was awake now however, so it was time for her to make preparations to leave, seeing as her two male genin had had ample rest by now. The sooner her squad was on patrol, the sooner Jiraiya could get the two little tykes back to Konoha… although for the sake of their future it might be better to take some extra time so as to formulate a plan. If the two were so dangerously undernourished, and likely lacked much of an immunity at all, they would need to be careful on their way back.
But still swift.
So with this in mind, Tsunade pulled out a container of the cream she'd used earlier on their chakra burns, along with a few medicines she had on hand that they could use in the case that one, or both twins developed a severe fever. They weren't really suitable for use on such small children, but in tiny doses, with nothing else that they could give them, they would do the trick long enough to get them to Konoha.
If they could get there the same day they started administering them.
She felt Jiraiya's eyes on her, and without looking she gestured him over. The man seemed to have enough sense not to be the insufferable pervert that he was again, and simply sat beside her, leaning in. She began without preamble to tell him what all of it was in a low whisper. Jiraiya silently took it all in.
These moments where the man was attentive and studious were nothing short of odd, if not flat out bizarre and borderline disconcerting. Even though it had been years since she had first seen him like this, she'd gotten used to him being the fool. No matter how often he proved otherwise, it was hard to shake that impression, when so much of that fool was still there.
She didn't tell him she felt the best choice was to head to the village as quickly as possible… she was sure he had already come to that decision. So with the white haired Jōnin aware of how to use the salve and medicines she was leaving behind, the granddaughter of the first got to her feet. "Off your asses, brats. Time to go."
She could feel Kushina's eyes on her, but her own attention was on the two boys. Isamu was getting up with a groan and mutters of protest under his breath, while round-faced Saburo hadn't even budged. Her eyes narrowed into a glare, and seemingly sensing it the boy jerked into a sitting position, before jumping to his feet.
Kushina continued to feed the girl in her lap.
She turned her gaze to the two twins that were being fed by the red-head and sunshine blonde genin. Minato seemed to tense for a moment, but he continued to talk softly to Masato as he fed the boy. Kushina looked up at her, gave a slight shrug, and then scooped up the last of the berry mash she'd made, popping it into the little girl's mouth.
Tsunade almost smiled. Cheeky brat.
Kushina patted the little girl's mismatched locks, before carefully setting her down on the sleeping bag the two twins had occupied before. "Better make sure you wash the mortar and pestles, Wuss." She shot over at Minato, before she was on her feet.
Tsunade almost wanted to laugh. The way Minato and Kushina interacted was certainly amusing. At least the boy wasn't a pervert like his sensei, because then he wouldn't stand a chance in hell with the girl he was so clearly enamored with.
Not that his chances now were very good; he couldn't even properly talk to the Uzumaki. Maybe she should give him some tips? Then again, watching him flounder was amusing… and the best result of his little crush would be him getting over it with time, or managing to woo the girl through his own merit.
Besides, even though he was making quite a fool of himself, he had an advantage on others. Kushina clearly acted differently with him than her other male peers, who were either afraid of her, or trying to pick fights with her. So really, it was certainly a possibility that this could go somewhere.
Or end rather explosively.
Either way, she'd have plenty of entertainment.
Minato felt his brother pull insistently at his sleeve, and snapped his eyes away from the swaying red hair of Kushina as she followed her sensei into the trees. His face still felt like it was on fire from blushing so much, but he went back to feeding the boy who had clearly grown annoyed with waiting for the next mouthful. The boy made quick work of what remained of the mash, and Minato for a moment wondered if he should make more.
But one of the things Kushina had said on their way back from gathering was that over-feeding those who'd been starved for a long time could make them sick. So instead he wrapped the boy back up, setting him beside their sister, before he retrieved the other mortar and pestle. He turned to take both to the stream to wash, but was intercepted by Inoru. "I'll do that I guess," the boy was saying. "Their clothes are dry," he added when Minato looked at him questioningly.
Ah.
He handed the items to his teammate, and turned instead to the heavily patched, and still somewhat stained garments his little siblings had been wearing. Kenta was extinguishing the fire, while their sensei was slipping the items Tsunade had given him into various pouches. Jiraiya didn't need to say it, the three genin already knew it was time to be getting on their way.
Minato quickly gathered up the twin's clothes, and hurried back to the two, who both still sat on his sleeping bag, simply watching him. Patiently? Where toddlers supposed to be this patient?
"Let's get you two dressed, okay?" he told them, and both nodded, Masato getting slowly to his feet and dropping the cloak that was around him, pointing a little finger to the brown pair of pants. Minato stood there for a moment, before he finally understood the boy was indicating that pair as his. He squatted down next to his sleeping bag, setting down the extra pieces of clothing in favor of holding the waistband of Masato's pants open for him to step into. Before he could instruct the boy to do so, he felt Masato's tiny hands on his shoulders, before the boy stepped into his pants, and he pulled them up. The boy then pointed to the mainly grey shirt, which Minato grabbed immediately. He slipped Masato's arms easily into the shirt as the child didn't need to be asked to hold them over his head. Just like that, one of the twins was already dressed.
Makiko didn't need to be asked either. She was dressed just as quickly as her brother (more so actually, since she didn't need to point out which clothes were hers). Although she had her nose scrunched up the entire time, clearly not exactly happy with the grey pants, and half grey, half brown shirt that she needed to wear. "Scratchy," she whined.
The cloth would be. Some of the patches appeared to be burlap.
"Sorry Makiko-chan. Nii-san will get you new clothes as soon as we get home," he told the girl with an apologetic smile.
"Home? What that?"
That was not a question he had expected. Nor had he expected it in twin voices, his two little siblings saying it almost perfectly in sync with each other. He stared at the pair dumbfounded for a moment, and then pulled them both to him in a hug. They didn't even know what home was? It was a painful reminder of how tough their lives had been so far.
"Home is a safe place where families live together. Somewhere you can always go back to." He told them softly, his voice quivering slightly with emotion.
"When?"
Again their voices came as one.
He pulled back from the hug, one of his hands still on a shoulder each. "Soon." He didn't know how soon, since he didn't know how quickly the Jōnin wanted to travel, and how often they'd need to rest. But he was faced with matching pouts from his two little siblings. "We might get there after the sun goes to sleep and then gets up again," he tried to explain to them, "but the sun might go to sleep and wake up again after that."
"Can count!" the boy suddenly announced, frowning at his brother.
"Count to… one… two… um… three… FOUR!" This came from Makiko, who was counting on her fingers as she counted out loud.
Minato was honestly past being surprised with this new revelation. These two, while not understanding some things, were strangely smart for their age in other things. "Okay… We'll be home before the sun wakes up again three times," was all he said instead.
"Okay!" both of them chirped out, before they pushed his hands off their shoulders, even their movements in sync as they bounced around him to stand on the grass, seemingly knowing he needed to pack up his sleeping bag.
He quickly did just that.
Jiraiya was really pushing his genin team hard, Masato thought.
They'd only stopped long enough to feed him and Makiko while the sun was still up, and then kept going in the night. He cursed his toddler body as he fell asleep some time not long after sun-set, and didn't even wake up whenever they had stopped and he'd been once more placed in his older brother's sleeping bag with his sister.
He only woke when Minato had come over to sleep beside them after what must have been his turn at watch, and then he wasn't awake for very long. The next time he woke, it was still dark out, but he was already being carried by Jiraiya as they moved through the trees. Although it wasn't long after that that the once-man saw the sky was lightening with the coming dawn.
They'd stopped again when the sun had finished rising, Minato feeding him and Makiko again, not eating himself until they were done. Makiko fell asleep as soon as her little stomach was full, but Masato was determined not to.
And then he was waking up again with a hand shaking his shoulder, Jiraiya telling him they were going again. Glancing at the position of the sun told him it had been nearly three hours. He was not impressed with himself.
He stubbornly kept himself awake even when he felt drowsy after a few hours of boring traveling.
"You're awfully quiet kid," Jiraiya suddenly spoke up, causing Masato to jerk slightly. "Easy there, we don't want you to fall." The man said with an air of amusement.
Masato did not find it funny. The Sannin (was he a Sannin yet?) had startled him! Damn… his shinobi senses had totally dulled in this new body. "I need be quiet." He finally responded to the man. "Right?" he added that on as an afterthought.
The man was quiet himself for a time, before he responded with "It does help." But the way there was no emotion in the words was enough to cause him to feel uneasy.
Clearly Jiriaya was in some way suspicious about him (and Makiko of course). He shouldn't be surprised about that though, as their mother (he felt tears in the corner of his eyes when he thought of her still), Haruka, had been suspicious of them. Jiraiya, despite being a terrible pervert, was certainly an observant Shinobi. If Haruka had noticed peculiarities in their behavior, it would follow that Jiraiya would have noticed such as well.
On top of that they were toddlers found outside of the village while on a mission, and likely not long after they'd come across Haruka herself before her death. Although that bit was not something he knew for certain… and he wondered why he felt so sure of it. It came down to why this group even knew Makiko and his own names. Makiko could have told them… but somehow… he didn't think that was the case.
Why?
Now was not the time to wonder about it however. As he needed to concentrate on how to at least temporarily fend off Jiraiya's suspicions.
Yet the man didn't ask him anything else. In fact, it wasn't until hours later, when the Jōnin once more called a stop, that he spoke again at all. He gave instructions to his genin subordinates, and Masato knew this would be a short stop again.
Berries, mushrooms and herbs were mashed up for him and his sister to eat, and he sat there quietly, waiting for his brother to finish feeding Makiko.
And then he suddenly found himself sitting in Jiraiya's lap, with the man holding a spoon in front of his face. It was more out of shock that he opened his mouth, but the spoon was pushed inside regardless. Not wanting to choke, Masato tried to ignore the fact that it was Jiraiya feeding him, and obediently kept opening his mouth for the mash after swallowing each spoonful.
Seriously though, just what was his once mentor thinking?
For the sake of wasting as little time as possible feeding the mini-namikaze brats, Jiraiya had scooped up the boy to do it himself. It took another fifteen minutes of their time for Minato to feed them both himself, and Jiraiya didn't want to waste that time. Sure, at the end of a day that would only be a half hour to an hour (at the most) of time lost. But they could cover a lot of distance in that time, or one of the trio of genin could get enough rest to keep them going for a few more hours.
Although, there was a second reason as to why he snatched up the boy without any warning. He was observing these two and their reactions. They were both deadly silent during their travelling, only speaking to softly say they needed to pee or something. From observation of other children their age (though he never had observed them that closely) the two should be chomping at the bit right now.
But then, from the state of malnutrition they were in, and Haruka's appearance of long standing self neglect; the two toddlers had likely been raised with the need to keep quiet, reasonable, and patient instilled in them. They did have a couple of outbursts that were more characteristic of their age, but it was also quite easy to calm them down after these. He had the feeling it shouldn't be.
They were also very bright. Their speech was very good for not even being two, from what he could tell. Sure, every once and awhile there was a word they inquired about, but they seemed to easily understand the explanations given to them, and quickly started using each new word they learned. Correctly. And pronounced well. With the exception of uncomfortable, Makiko claiming childishly that icky was the better word. Although, he had heard Masato mutter a garbled version of uncomfortable in his sleep.
Most of it he supposed he could put down to the way they were raised. They probably would be highly inquisitive, endless bundles of energy if they had grown up in a more friendly environment (they sort of reminded him of a far more subdued Nawaki at that age). He wasn't so sure about the level of intelligence they showed however, or the extent of their vocabulary. They didn't ask questions often. While on the run with their mother, how often would the pair have dared to ask her what a word meant? Likely a large portion of what they knew was learned from observation alone.
That did not explain how they already knew how to mold chakra, and had control over it. Control that was better than academy students who were two to three times their age. Certainly, the control could partially be explained away by what was likely a desperate need to get into hiding; which neither completely covered it, and brought up other questions.
In order for that to be the case, Jiraiya figured they would have already needed to have some basic training with chakra and control of it, at least. Something along the lines of academy students sticking a leaf to their foreheads, at the absolute minimum. Then there was the foresight they would have needed to know that hiding down by the river was too risky, and they needed a spot their pursuers would likely never think two toddlers could get to.
It was for that reason, while he was feeding the boy the last spoon-full, and he knew that the other two genin were still off taking care of the tasks he'd given them (Inoru was to refill their water, and Kenta was to gather more of the berries and herbs they were using to feed the brats), he asked the question.
"Masato-kun… can you tell me why you and Makiko-chan climbed up the big stone man?" Okay, asking it like that felt… weird. But he had to remember these were toddlers he was talking to, so he needed to use smaller words. Even though they were smart for toddlers, there were clearly plenty of words they did not know. Trying to explain who Madara was to a toddler… or what a statue, or monument was… well. He didn't have that kind of patience (nor was a tale of Madara Uchiha at all appropriate for toddlers.)
Minato's eyes snapped up to his own, and he met them for a moment, before turning his gaze back to the child in his lap, who finally swallowed the mush in his mouth, a frown on his little brow. "Ka-san said," was the boy's response.
"She didn't know where you two were," Jiraiya immediately responded, because this sounded like an avoidance of the question to him.
"Not say to hide there," the slightly higher voice of Makiko cut in, while the boy's brow furrowed further. He kept his gaze on the boy rather than looking at the younger twin for the answer. He'd asked Masato.
"No," the small blonde boy said eventually. "Not say where hide," he made the admittance, brow still furrowed. "Not then."
Not then.
"When?" The white haired man inquired.
Masato met his gaze unwaveringly, and announced "Ka-san say lots." He almost seemed to be glaring at him now, finishing his answer in a tone that said he thought it was obvious. " Hide up. As up as can."
He considered this answer for a moment. It did make some sense. Telling the two to hide as high as they can over and over again so that it sank in would make the two seek out the highest ground. Where they were least expected to be. That would take the foresight out of the equation, wouldn't it?
But then, why hadn't they simply climbed a tree?
Makiko had nearly started holding her breath when Jiraiya had asked that question. She knew someone was bound to ask it eventually, but she had been hoping it wouldn't be so soon. So of course the White haired man had sprung it on them. She had stilled immediately in Minato's lap (only remembering to swallow what was in her mouth when she felt him tense), concerned on how Masato would respond.
If this had been her back in the days of, say, a genin Naruko, she would have cursed at his answer (if she'd made the connection that it was bad). She was barely able to stop herself from blurting out something as it was. And then Jiraiya had called Masato out on it, and she did blurt out something. She had barely managed to edit her words to something that hopefully was more appropriate to her apparent age.
Her heart had beat wildly in her chest following this. Jiraiya hadn't even looked at her, keeping his eyes on Masato and waiting for him to say something. And he did, though at first it got him nowhere. He was fumbling trying to play along with what she'd said.
But he'd got it in the end, and she allowed herself to relax. Jiraiya seemed… satisfied, but still slightly suspicious of them. However he didn't ask anything else of her twin. So… for now… the crisis had been averted.
"Minato," he called instead to her older brother. "Hurry up and wash up. I'd like to leave again as soon as your teammates get back."
She pushed lightly on her brother's arm, expecting him to let her crawl off his lap, but found he did not budge. She looked up at him curiously, spying a frown on his face before the expression became neutral as he regarded the toad sennin. Finally he let her go, and she immediately toddled over towards Jiraiya, hands reaching out towards Masato.
Masato in turn squirmed in Jiraiya's lap, the man allowing him to slip away immediately. She found her hand held by one of his, and the two of them promptly sat down in the grass where they were.
She heard the light clacking of the stone implements, and then Minato's presence was gone as he went to do as instructed. Well, if she stretched out her senses, she was fairly certain she would be able to tell what direction he was in… but she was reluctant to do so after what had just occurred. What she needed to be doing was trying to make her and Masato seem more like toddlers.
There was a little ant hill over there.
She tugged on Masato's hand. "Masa-nii, Masa-nii!" she said in what she hoped was quiet, barely contained excitement, her free hand stretched out, pointing towards the insect mound.
Masato's eyes easily found it, and without missing a beat he was pulling her back to her feet and toddling towards it with a "Close Look!" He had a wide, childish grin on his face, and as he tugged her along behind him, he stooped down to grab a stick, which he promptly started using to block the path of various ants.
She giggled at his antics, and even as she came aware of the perplexed look Jiraiya was now giving them (before his expression was masked of course) she couldn't help but to keep giggling. It was supposed to be for the act… but now it seemed out of her control.
It felt like it had been so long since she'd been able to laugh like this. It had been years in fact. Sure, while they weren't quite in control of themselves, their little toddler shells had laughed and had fun. However, for her it had been years ago that she'd last laughed so easily. Even the last few years of her… of Naruko's life… Well, as the world of peace she'd worked so hard to build had started to crumble, how could she possibly truly laugh?
And this one… they'd been on the run. They'd had to watch and listen to the terrible way these little toddler bodies had to live. With the mandate given to them by the Otsutsuki brother's constantly on their mind, along with the constant worry of the world somehow trying to 'toss them out'. Their new life had been anything but fun for the reborn pair.
They'd just lost their mother not even two full days ago.
As red spread along the ground, her giggling was mangled by the sob that pushed past her lips. This immediately drew the attention of Masato, and the white haired Jōnin. Masato froze, stick buried inches into the Anthill. "Maki?"
More and more red poured out from the hill, and seemed to bleed over her entire vision, painting everything in a vaguely grotesque shade.
Her shoulders started to shake, as her little frame was wracked with more sobbing. Just yesterday they had a water fight, and laughed so carefree… and now today the silly scene of Masato playing with ants, and she genuinely found it a little fun (the toddler shell was seriously affecting her emotions).
But Haruka had sacrificed herself for them. And if she… if Naruko and Naruto had not come to this world… had not been born into the bodies of Haruka's children, the woman might still be alive right now. Or maybe all three of them would be dead. But the woman had sacrificed herself for the twins she thought of as her children…. and they weren't, were they? Hadn't she and Naruto stolen the bodies… the future of the twins?
She tried to pull her hand out of Masato's as she let her knees give out, tears streaking down her cheeks as she continued to sob. Masato… Naruto was saying the name of her shell more insistently, clearly alarmed, as he knelt in front of her. But she couldn't even see him anymore.
All she saw was that red.
Nor did she hear the approach of Jiraiya.
"Wha-… -ong…. -ko-chan?" his voice met her ears, sounding terribly far away. But she didn't need to hear it properly to know what he had said.
What's wrong, Makiko-chan.
But it was the wrong name! She' had stolen Makiko's future! She was Naruko… someone who should be here!
What's wrong, Naruko-chan?
Her shoulder's jerked, as her mind supplied the question with her original name… but the voice was not Jiraiya's.
It was Naruto's.
Word Count: 6184
To the Reviewers:
KaixDecayx : I absolutely had to. I mean, they are just so cute~
Skylark Sky : That makes sense… I just never thought of that, since you can't exactly 'stretch' your heart or work it directly I guess. Cardio makes sense.
I adore MinaKushi myself so I just had to do that. And a little more this chapter too~
animecutylover : Thanks for taking the time to submit so many reviews ~3 Honestly I did play around a bit with different ideas of when to have this story take place, and Something in Madara and Hashirama's time was one of them… but I ultimately decided this flowed better with the set up.
And yes, being the younger twin siblings of Minato is going to be awkward ;)
Thanks for the reviews~
