AN: Re-written Jun 15th 2024

Here we go with the next chapter, and it's the longest one yet. Only four more left (and then possibly an epilogue to bridge between this fic and its sequel). It's looking like Thursdays may be the day for this until it reaches its completion. Expect the next one between the 9th and 16th. For those of you who read ID it's next chapter will be posted sometime in May, after the last chapter/epilogue of EX has gone up, and before the prologue chapter of the sequel fic Juvenescent is posted. A more precise date window is yet to be confirmed.

Hope you all enjoy the new chapter~


Chapter XVIII: In a Week


Jiraiya hadn't shown his face until the day before yesterday. The same day Minato had started whatever mission he was doing in Konoha. He'd had dinner with them that day, and let Masato sit in his lap during the meal, which was a pretty nice feeling. Even if he wasn't mentally a small child really.

He'd never gotten to experience this in his first life. So there was no way he was going to let his mental age ruin the experience for him.

Jiraiya came by again yesterday, this time for lunch. When he went to sit in his lap again the man told him it was Makiko's turn to sit with him if she wanted to. It made them both wonder if he would be leaving again soon. Probably. He was a Jōnin in tense times after all. Just because one of his Genin wasn't leaving the village on missions didn't mean he wouldn't be.

So Makiko happily sat with him. He helped her with her chopsticks, which she was starting to make progress on at last. Although it wasn't as much as she hoped she would by now, he knew.

After they finished eating Jiraiya was quick to leave. But he had heard the man telling Sakumo that he'd meet him at the gates at dawn tomorrow. So he was right, Jiraiya was going on a mission. With Sakumo.

He hoped the two white haired Jōnin would be safe on their mission, not just because it seemed that Kakashi hadn't even been conceived yet. Though he hadn't known Sakumo and Minori for that long yet, he liked them both. And of course both Makiko and himself cared about Jiraiya a lot.

There was no guarantee that this was a mission either of them had gone on historically speaking. Meaning there was no way they could be certain that they'd make it back alive.

Of a like mind to him, Makiko had toddled to the front door with a determined look and demanded Jiraiya promise again. Honestly a part of both of them wanted to make Sakumo promise as well… but how would they know that he was leaving? Why would they be that worried about him?

As it had turned out Minori convinced Minato that the three of them should stay the night. She said they needed to get them used to staying with other people overnight for when Minato went on missions out of Konoha. It was best to do so when he was still around so that at first his familiar presence would be there to calm them down if the change of location was too daunting.

It wouldn't be. But they didn't know that.

Minato had argued that it was too soon, but Minori had given him a look, and he'd capitulated.

However it gave him the perfect excuse to 'not sleep well' so that he could try and catch Sakumo before he left the house. At least that had been the idea. However his little body couldn't go without sleep, and eventually he succumbed to it despite his best efforts.

It turned out that he didn't need to try, and Minori came and woke them, telling Minato this was a good chance to teach the twins some sort of lesson, and that it was also better for them to always see someone leaving rather than waking up to find them gone, given that they clearly feared people leaving them. They'd kicked up such a fuss in the morning when they'd woken up in the Hatake home, their brother bringing them there without waking them in the morning as he was running a bit late. Really it was because to them it had felt like the right thing to do, and they'd also been worried maybe he ended up actually leaving the village on a mission after all.

The adults must have concluded that the twins discovering someone close to them was not nearby without knowing it was going to happen made them panic, and putting them into that panic state was not good for their health. They needed fore warning that someone wasn't going to be there, as well as some assurance that they'd be coming back. At least for the time being.

So rubbing sleep from his eyes he held one of Minato's hands as he stood with him at the front door.

"Masato-kun, Makiko-chan," Minori squatted in front of them so she could meet their eyes. "It's normal to want your people to always come back." she was explaining in a gentle voice. Normal… yeah, he supposed that it was. Especially when your idea of a childhood was always being alone… you didn't want those who acknowledged you in any way to leave you then. Though it had been such a long time since he'd been a kid the first time, he couldn't help but remember those notions now. It was a painful time in his life.

"Sometimes though a promise can turn into a weight, and cause pain." They both looked at her with frowns and glassy eyes from un-shed tears. It wasn't really because of the conversation itself, but of the memories it brought to them both. Promises could indeed end up being a weight… though in their case it had been a weight on the one who had asked it of them that really stuck out. Sakura's guilt of the perceived pressure from the promise given after Sasuke left the village.

"So instead of asking them to give you a promise, you should send your wishes with them. Those wishes will help protect them while they are gone." Well wishes. A hope for someone to come back without making them promise. Letting them know you cared… and believed in them.

She tactfully didn't say that they wouldn't always come back.

Minori placed her hand over her heart. "So I want you to take all those feelings. That wish for them to return, and hold them close like this." she gave her hand a little squeeze, as if she was really holding the feelings. "And then you take those feelings and tell them 'be safe'. These are magic words if you put your wish for them to come back into them."

Idly Masato found himself wondering if this was why Hinata had always insisted on seeing him off when he left the house, no matter what time it was. He'd not had a family growing up, so it had seemed a little much to him at first, when she kept insisting he always say goodbye before he went anywhere. Maybe this was the norm for a shinobi family… one of the ways they coped with the worry that a family member wouldn't return from their mission.

"Now you try it with me," Minori coaxed them. Minato let go of both of their hands, and Minori once more placed her hand over her heart. She reached out to direct Makiko's to the right spot, while Minato guided his own hand. "There, do you feel that? That thumping is your heart. It's where all your feelings are."

He nodded a bit, and closed his hand into a fist, Makiko doing the same.

"Now let's look at Sakumo-san and give him our wishes, alright?"

"'kay," Maki murmured softly. Minori looked up to her husband then , who was smiling at them all kindly.

"Be safe," the four of them said more or less together.

Sakumo raised his hand and closed it in a fist before laying it over his own heart, as if he had caught something. "I will." He shared one last look with Minori then, before he was out the door. They stood there and watched until he was out of sight.

Although when you're a Shinobi it doesn't take that long to be out of sight.


As it turned out, Minato found he didn't mind any of Sakumo's suggestions. Even Morino Ibushi, who had apparently already had a full Nin-Kamon for his infant son once before. He went and rescinded the entire thing when he discovered those on it had taken the baby to the training ground so they could get their daily training in in daylight. A shuriken had apparently come close to little Ibiki's resting place, and someone had told the baby's father about it. Honestly, that was a more than reasonable issue to have with them, and a perfectly valid reason to end it.

Others seemed to think that it was the other people in the agreement who ended it for Ibushi's attitude. It just went to show that you really couldn't trust everything you heard.

No wonder he'd been difficult to deal with. After that, and having lost his wife, the man would be under a lot of emotional strain. And yet when he and Sakumo went to talk to him he was able to smile slightly and hold a friendly conversation.

Of course then he'd proceeded to interview both him and Sakumo to determine their suitability for watching his precious son when he couldn't. Which flowed into questions about the twins.

The end result was that he said he would consider it, and since Minato had some time before he would need it, that would give him time to evaluate the other families… that apparently being the biggest reason why he wouldn't sign on for it right now. The second biggest being that it would be important for him to know of any allergies or other health concerns the twins had. Because there would be no preventable medical emergencies under his watch.

Minato decided he could trust the man. Though he wasn't sure how… fun he could be for a pair of toddlers. At least he would make sure they were safe.

He had hit it off with the Kato's right away, and after they saw Sakumo's other suggestions they agreed to sign on once they had a chance to chat with Morino Ibushi, as they seemed to already be well enough acquainted with the others. They didn't' have a child that they needed cared for at current, but Kimi was pregnant. The baby was due in a couple of months.

As for Might Dia… he wasn't what he'd expected either. Apparently the reason he was looking for a Nin-Kamon was due to his girlfriend. Well, ex girlfriend, a civilian that he had gotten pregnant and wasn't ready to have a child. She didn't want to abort though, so she was going to put the baby up for adoption until Dai said he would like to raise it. The baby wasn't due until late December, but Dai was apparently never one to dally on things.

He also was quite good with young kids. They'd found him at a park where he had been playing with some of the kids from an orphanage. Apparently he brought them to the park once a week, since the matron didn't always have the time to do so herself.

Even though he was still a genin at his age, Minato realized that had nothing to do with his suitability to watch after the twins. He also unhesitatingly signed on the Nin-Kamon, saying that if it was Sakumo's suggestion he was sure this Ibushi person he had not met yet would be trustworthy. And they were all Konoha shinobi anyway.

Sakumo told him afterwards that part of the reason he and his wife had decided on Dai was because while they knew he was good with kids, and wouldn't put them at risk… he put a little too much faith in Konoha shinobi just because they were all from Konoha. They were worried that his 'trust first, get to know after' approach might end up biting him in the ass, and they didn't want him to lose the child he was so excited for.

Which was a little concerning, but the Hatake seemed confident that Dai wouldn't 'trust' people not on the Nin-Kamon to assist him in caring for any of the kids. He at least knew it wasn't his place to trust other people with someone else's kids.

The one he ended up feeling the most unsure about at the end of the day wound up being the one he'd thought he'd be the most willing to trust. Yuhi Shinku was nice enough. But he'd made a comment about how starting a kid early reduced their chances of winding up dead when they became genin. He didn't know how to feel about that… and Shinku noticed. He'd explained that he didn't mean actual training, but games that would help sharpen a kids reflexes and mind so that when they were old enough to train they would hurt themselves less, and be more productive.

He still hadn't known what to think about that, so Shinku proposed he bring the twins around on the Academy's day off, and he'd show him the games he was talking about. He also firmly stated that two was too young for training. That made him feel marginally better, so he decided to withhold his judgment.

He did have a caring wife who scolded him for making Minato worry, and a darling baby daughter. Points in his favor he supposed.

In the end though, if one or both of the twins didn't like one of the families, Minato wouldn't feel comfortable leaving them under their care. So he needed to arrange for them to meet each family. First would be the Yuhi's, since Shinku went ahead and arranged a time for himself. Still Minato was rather nervous about it.

The twins at this point had hardly enough time to get used to just being there, and to the Hatake's. Sure they seemed to be doing fine, but he was worried that every new introduction could be too much for them.

Even though there hadn't been any sudden fevers since the day he'd left them at the Nara's estate, he was still worried about it.

There was also the unexpected concern that they might get attached like they had to Jiraiya sensei. Not that he didn't want them to like other people… but when those other people were shinobi who he couldn't guarantee would always come back from their missions? Really… how had his parents coped with that when he was younger? How did any Shinobi parent cope with that? He knew they didn't just stop their kids from interacting with their friends, or in some cases family members.

Being responsible for children was worry, he realized. And not just because of his little siblings. It was the same with the Academy kids he was taking on D rank missions. Some of them were rambunctious. Some of them overestimated what they could do. Some of them were too shy or nervous and failed to notice some hazard or another. He was constantly worried they'd end up getting more than a few scrapes on his watch.

It didn't happen, but that didn't stop him from worrying about it.

On top of that however, he'd had a sneaking suspicion after he'd read through the scroll on all the students in the program. There were a few groups that to him stood out as probably being ignored by the others when they picked out their students for the day, landing them with whoever was 'unfortunate' enough to be the last to choose.

One of those groups was the same he'd had in his last D-rank of the first day.

On his second day Minato had chosen to hang around to observe the selection process. As it turned out each mission and student group was sorted into a time slot on their home room teachers desk, rather than compiled into a single scroll. The chūnin and Genin would select three that weren't in contesting time slots.

It seemed the next biggest trouble group was included in his students for the second day. However compared to Kawazo, Kotome and Tsume, they weren't that hard to handle. Once he discovered that they just wanted to compete with each other and he was able to turn the mission into a friendly competition anyway.

His reports were a lot easier following his second day than the first.

On his third day when he finally got to choose his own students he didn't pick out either of the 'problem' groups so that he could observe what the others did. There was much groaning when both had to be picked up. So he had decided to chat with the other genin and gave him a tip on how to handle the competitive trio from his experience the day before.

He had no tips for how to deal with the Shimura, Inuzuka, Uchiha mess.

This morning when he arrived to mull over picking out teams that genin had come to thank him for his advice, and to his surprise then went and selected that group before picking out his other two. So that was one Genin who decided he liked this group.

Finding that one of the problem groups had already been taken, the rest who arrived seemed to fall back on regulars. They only seemed to start deviating from it as the numbers of available groups dwindled and they were avoiding taking the trio of Tsume, Kotome and Kawazo.

From conversations he overheard Minato learned that all three had been with practically all the other students in the class at some point. As well as a good portion of students in the other classes. However somehow the least problematic combination turned out to be those three together. Likely because at least the girls were not at each other's throats.

He felt bad for all three of them. The other genin didn't want them because they saw it as more trouble than it was worth. They had been a handful… but they were just kids. Learning the basics of being shinobi. How could they improve if no one gave them the time of day to explain what they were doing right, and what they could be doing better?

He really shouldn't be taking it onto his plate right now…. but if no one else was going to do it…

Without thinking more on the matter Minato had gone up to the person who'd wound up with the trio and offered to trade. The other Genin had looked at him as if he was crazy, but couldn't say yes quickly enough.

The Namikaze decided he'd speak with Shinku-san tomorrow to see if he had any pointers on how to deal with personalities like the three in one group. After all, once he was chūnin he'd have to work with different personalities than he was used to anyway. Learning how to work with them, and lead them would be important. Especially since he had a good reason to try and make Jōnin in quick order after he got chūnin.

He needed to learn more about his clan. The one scroll he'd managed to start reading the day before Sakumo left on his latest mission hadn't been enough… Wouldn't be enough even when he finished it. If Konoha had more, he needed to see all of it.

What he had learned had been eye opening however. It was never outright stated what sort of missions the Namikaze specialized in. However it had been said that their talents included information gathering, genjutsu, and the art of silent movement. He vaguely remembered that his mother had been deathly silent, seemingly without any real effort on her part.

All these things were great for espionage missions. Maybe even the kind that took years.

It was a seed he didn't need planted in his mind right now. A doubt that his mother had betrayed the village… that maybe the village had just said as such for the sake of her cover for a mission. One that cost her her life…

Once he had the thought he had stubbornly consigned it to a back corner of his mind and did his best to forget about it for now. Even if that was the case, it wouldn't change the past… it couldn't. And he had more important things to worry about.

The scroll had made mention that there was a rarely occurring natural aptitude that usually only showed itself in twins. It hadn't said anything else about that. However it was a strange wording, and the fact that it was brought up at all meant it was probably of some importance. Could it be a Kekkei Genkai, like the scrolls he'd read when he was waiting to speak with the Hokage suggested there might be?

The biggest wrench in that theory was that it supposedly usually only appeared in twins. What sort of blood limit would require twins? Or was it more that it was harder to notice it being there if the possessor wasn't a twin? Either theory just left him quite confused. What he'd learned about Kekkei genkai in the academy stated that they were most commonly an ability to balance different chakra natures in such a way to give birth to a different nature.

Other than that they'd only learned about doujutsu. Namely what the Hyuga and Uchiha had allowed the Academy to teach its students about their eyes. Which wasn't much.

The idea of a kekkei genkai that needed or benefited from twins didn't fit in either mold. At least not easily. He needed more information. To get it he needed to be promoted. To be promoted he needed to gain experience here, and then go on to pass the chūnin exam.

There was no time for him to be concerned about others, honestly…

So why had he decided to take on this team today?

"Tsume! How many times do I have to tell you, you can't just start beating up your teammate on a mission!" he called out to the Inuzuka who looked like she had been about to hit Kawazo. The girl froze in place, fist still clamped tightly.

She clucked her tongue. "Fine, I'll wait until we have Taijutsu." She relaxed, turned away from the boy, and went back to weeding.

Well… that was the first time she'd stopped trying to hit the boy without him getting in the way physically… so maybe he was making some sort of progress.

"Didn't you just hear what Taicho said?" Kawazo's flat voice rang out, and Minato looked over to see that Kotome had grabbed his hair and was glaring at him.

Minato groaned.

Just what had he gotten himself into?


Today was not a fun day.

Makiko currently was laying on her stomach next to Masato, as they looked at a picture book. This wasn't really bad. But it wasn't entertaining either, as much as she was pretending to be enamored with the book.

They were currently in a little room with a colourful matted floor, a glass wall and door on one side that led into a sterile white room. In that room there was an examination table, a counter, desk, cabinets, and three chairs.

In this room there were two more chairs, a blinking red button next to them, and several toys and books that would be easy to sterilize. Plastic and rubber things. Laminated pages that wouldn't be damaged with a disinfectant wipe.

It was meant to look exciting to small children she knew. The room was how they'd used to do child examinations for things like allergies. At least, that's what it seemed to her. It was similar to the pediatrics center that Sakura-chan had created, but on a much smaller and less interesting scale. There were only three room combos like this as far as she could tell. And back in her world and time, they'd streamlined testing so that it wasn't necessary to have the children wait so long in these rooms, as well as had other ways to sterilize the space so they weren't as limited in what they could provide for entertainment in the shorter time frame the children had to be there.

She and Masato had been here for nearly three hours now, and they'd only managed to get through the most common food allergies in that time. Now they were testing food allergies that had been indicated to have occurred in family members. Bananas and Lemons, apparently.

The timer finally went off. She almost jumped up to rush out of the room, but that wouldn't be very child-like so she waited for Minori-san to call them before she looked over.

"It's time for Hiruna-sensei to check your arms again," Minori explained. "And once she's done that we can go home and start making supper for when Minato gets back."

They both pushed themselves off the floor. "Kay!" she exclaimed with a bit of excitement, and quickly toddled over to the woman, as the doctor returned to the exam room next door. The three of them went into the room, and she was set on the exam table.

After some questions, and tests it was Masato's turn up on the table. Finally the female med nin marked off on their allergy booklets that had been issued today, and then handed them to Minori. "Let us know if they ever show any sort of reaction to another food." The woman was saying. "It's safe to say they aren't allergic to any of the foods we tested today though."

Good. A food allergy would have been terrible.

"You should make sure they get an appointment for next month so we can check contact allergies. They'll need those checked before they can be enrolled in the academy if they are going to be. Better to get it out of the way sooner rather than later."

Contact allergies? So… like an allergy to a certain type of metal?

Minori was looking over the booklets. "Of course, I'll make sure that's arranged for soon," she replied as she scanned the paperwork. "I see here there is already some medications marked off as non allergies for Makiko-chan."

The Med nin nodded to this with a bit of a smile. "They were administered Makiko when she was in with a fever, as well as on their way back to Konoha from what I understand. She didn't have any sort of unexpected reaction to the medications so we can be sure she's not allergic to them."

You could be allergic to medicines? Wow… she really hadn't given Sakura credit for how hard it must have been to be in charge of other people's health.

"Is it common for twins to have the same allergies, or lack thereof?" The blonde haired woman inquired of the medic.

"We don't have a lot of data on twins honestly, but from what we do have, most twins seem to wind up with the same allergy profile," the other woman explained. "Still it's safer not to assume one isn't allergic to something because the other isn't. Especially since we're are clearly dealing with fraternal twins, and not identical twins, in this case. Recent data leads us to believe they are no more similar to each other than non twin siblings would be."

Again Minori nodded, and then bowed in thanks to the woman. They finally left the exam room. A sterile hall stretched out in front of them, and they moved down it back to the entrance of the hospital. Really, that was quite a small pediatric wing… it was kind of sad the village didn't have more space dedicated specifically to the health of children.

She made herself look around 'curiously' as they walked back to the Hatake compound. There really wasn't anything that interesting to see since she'd already seen it on the way there. But a toddlers memory was not that good, so it wouldn't make sense if she didn't look at all.

When they arrived at the compound however she was more interested in looking at her surroundings. She'd only been able to see so much each time they'd come here, as she was normally half asleep. Minato scolded them when they tried to look behind them when they walked, so she didn't really try to do that. She didn't want the adults worrying about her tripping all the time. It was kind of annoying.

Now she was getting a really good look at it.

It was larger than most, even though it seemed like there might not be that many members left. However there was a lot of space between the different buildings, and plenty of tree coverage, obscuring homes a little from each other, she assumed. She counted six other roofs aside from the home of Sakumo and Minori. One of them was probably communal to the Hatake in some way. Maybe a kennel where they housed dogs they were training? Because she always seemed to hear some barking in the morning and evening at rather regular times. That could suggest they were feeding the dogs there.

She wondered how many of the other buildings actually had someone living there.


"See if you can find a trail, Ōrokku."

The black furred dog didn't even look up in response, instead going right to work, sniffing the air and ground in the area. "I can smell the little human scent from earlier," he commented, though he still didn't look back at his summoner. "An adult female… and three adult males." Now he finally did look at the two white haired men who had been waiting for him to finish.

"We want to try and trace those males back to where they came from," his summoner was saying. He looked quite grim and focused.

This appeared to be a little personal to him.

Ōrokku would get it out of Sakumo as to why that was later. For now he had a job to do. He put his nose back to work, focusing on the smells as his other senses wouldn't do him any good in tracking since these people were long gone. Dead by the smell of blood that barely lingered in places. Not that he wasn't also alert for anyone approaching his two humans.

He let out a low growl when he finally found a faint trail, leaping up the trees to get onto a branch so he could follow it. The two humans didn't need to be prompted to follow him.

He'd never worked with the other white haired man before, but his brother had and only had good things to say. Well, almost only good things. However as they were out on a mission in the middle of a forest he doubted the one bad thing would become a problem any time soon.

There was the smell of the aftermath of a fire ahead, and it was making it harder to follow the trail he'd found. He growled again, knowing he might have to go around the entire burnt area to relocate the trail if he ended up losing it.

He didn't lose a trail often. Not since he had grown up anyway. Puppies often lost trails for various reasons. He grew up quickly however, and put that behind him quite a while ago. It was something he was proud of. But no nose, no matter how legendary, was fool proof.

When he reached where the fire was he tried to smell out where the males had come from, but he wasn't able to. What he could smell was the other three. They'd passed through here almost directly down the middle.

There had been signs that they were being pursued by the male human scents.

He made an educated guess that paid off and was able to pick up the trail of first one, and then another. The third one was elusive however. He almost decided it would be best to let Sakumo call in back up when he caught a whiff of it. Finally he found the third one… but it wasn't alone.

He stopped, and looked to his summoner. "There was a fourth."


After they finished eating dinner, Minato decided to head home rather than stay another night. Minori assured him they were more than welcome, but he explained since they would be meeting some new people tomorrow he'd like for them to sleep in their own futon tonight. She blessedly hadn't argued that point. So they'd walked through the village to head back home.

He hadn't expected to come across the green garbed Dai walking on his hands in a lap around some part of the village. Or an attempted lap. It didn't look like he was managing to stay on his hands the entire way as he was covered in dirt from falling over one way or another.

Dai had decided to call out to him in greeting, and promptly fell over to one side. Makiko and Masato had stared at him.

Then he was back up and had walked over to them on his hands to try and converse. It was… a little awkward. Makiko started giggling however, so he decided to hold in his desire to end the conversation as quickly as possible.

"D-a-i," the man was enunciating.

Masato had a frown on his face. "Gai sounds better!" he announced.

Apparently they both had decided the man's name was Gai when he first introduced himself, and he'd spent most of the 'conversation' trying to get them to say his name properly.

"Well… Gai does sound like a good name doesn't it," the man had replied. "Full of youth!"

"Gai!" Makiko had piped up in some sort of excitement. He didn't understand what was so exciting about this…maybe it was just Dai's excited personality being contagious?

"It's not my name, but it would be a good name for my child if they are a boy," the black haired man was declaring. Wait… was he letting a pair of two year olds talk him into a name for his unborn kid? "The perfect name for a boy's springtime of youth!"

"Spring!"

"Dai-san… what if you have a daughter?" he found himself questioning. He almost immediately regretted it.

"Dai… Gai…. Kai…. Nai…Tai…. Mai… Mai!" Masato had sounded out the mans name, the name he and his sister apparently liked, and then other sounds, finally winding up with the M.

"Mai-mai!" Makiko had piped up, as if the name should be repeated like that.

"Mai-Mai!" Dai had repeated with tears. "Such a perfect youthful girl's name!"

Minato sort of felt bad for the unborn child. Not that the names were bad… it's just… what would they think if they ever found out their name was picked out by toddlers who just spout out names with the 'ai' sound until they liked one?

"Thank you my small friend!" Dai went on, smiling to both. "Now I must continue my training! I will see you soon!" and then he'd turned off onto another street… where he'd immediately fallen on his face.

Well… that was… interesting?

"Alright you two… let's get home and have a bath." They needed one before it got too late after all.

"Bath!" they chorused together, and tugged on his hands to speed him along towards home.

It wasn't that much longer before the Namikaze property came into view, and soon they were inside, hoping up and down in front of the bathroom as they waited for him to sort out a change of clothing for each of them.

"Hurry up Ni-san!" Masato voiced in childish impatience.

"Icky!" Makiko had added, her nose wrinkled in disgust. "Wanna be clean!"

He couldn't help himself but to laugh a little. It was so similar, and yet different to that first time they'd gotten a bath. They weren't out in the wilderness having to bathe in a stream after all. And their complexion was better than it had been then. Had that really only been a week ago now?

They still looked too thin, but already it wasn't as bad as it had been that day. Their hair wasn't a matted mess and you could clearly tell its colour. They were dressed in clean clothes, and though there was a patch on Masato's knee, the clothes weren't in tatters either.

They'd come so far in such a short amount of time.

Not that getting here had been easy. But seeing them now made it easy for Minato to believe that things really would turn out all right for his little family. It would take hard work, of course. And he couldn't always be there. However the twins were a lot tougher than they looked. They'd survived out there on the run until now.

Things might be new and strange to them. They might still be adjusting. But each day he saw more smiles. Saw a little more healthy colour in their cheeks. Saw them eating when before they likely would have gone hungry.

Their appetite had increased gradually since they'd arrived too. They were eating the recommended serving sizes for children their age now.

Although there were a lot of new things he was worried about now, they were things that seemed like they were probably normal for someone to worry about when it came to kids. It wasn't those heart breaking concerns he had before. That they'd be taken away from him. That he'd lose them to the fever. That they would be too weak from malnutrition.

He smiled at them both, placing a hand on both of their heads and ruffling their hair. Really he wanted to hug them right now, but he resisted. There would be time to cuddle with them when it was bedtime.

"Alright, let's get out of these clothes," he announced, and helped them take off their clothes so he could put them in the hamper. He took off his own to throw in as well before they stepped into the bathing part of the bathroom. "Now remember, if we can keep this towel here dry before we get out of the bath, then you each get to pick your own night time snack."

A trick that Minori had shown him to help deal with all the splashing the twins liked to get up to. A towel was placed by the door to the bathing room and if it got soaked from splashing then they couldn't pick their own snacks. Of course the choice was sort of an illusion too, as they had to pick out the ones suggested to them, but that didn't seem to bother them. Any choice seemed to make them ecstatic.

The twins readily agreed before sitting down on their little stools so he could wash them up before they got into the tub for a soak.

During which they of course splashed… the floor was nearly a puddle.

And yet somehow that towel was only damp from the steam in the room. He was left wondering how in the world they had accomplished that one. But true to his word he let them choose their snacks out of three options, both of them ending up going with apple.

As they sat down in the living room, he had set out a picture book for them to look at, wondering if he could manage to get some work done on the last of his reports while they ate their apple slices and looked at the book.

To his surprise neither of them bothered him at all until the plate was empty and they'd flipped through the book twice, talking to each other about various things in it.

"Ni-san?" It was Masato who had finally broken the silence, just as he'd finished off the last official report. There was just one report for the Academy left now.

"Yes Masato?" he asked the boy with a raised brow.

"Can Ni-san show us more numbers?"

He blinked. Of all the things he'd expected the kid to ask, being asked to teach them more numbers was not one of them. "Why?" the oldest blonde asked before he could stop himself.

In response the boy huffed and held up his hands. "Have more fingers than can count. Don't like." Whatever response he expected, that wasn't it either. Holding back laughter he started teaching them their numbers up to ten.

It wasn't until after he put the twins to bed that he was finally able to start work on that last report.

It was midnight by the time he managed to finish it to his satisfaction.

He ended up sleeping in.


Meeting the parents of adults he'd known when he was a kid the first time around was certainly strange. Some he could really pick out how their kids had taken after them in his world, were as others not so much. It had been challenging to spot any similarity between Kakashi and his parents, aside from appearance. So far all he'd come up with was that Sakumo's favourite food was the same as he'd eventually learned Kakashi's to be. That and the way they smiled was similar, though this was much harder to pick out since Kakashi had almost always worn a mask.

Of course these similarities might not even have been the case in his own world. Sakumo's personality there could have been different.

However when it came to the similarities between Gai and his father there were many. The way the man spoke was very much like how the Gai he knew spoke, though with fewer exaggerated movements to accompany the words. It really did feel like speaking to a more mature Gai. A funny thought, since the Gai he knew had never matured to the point Dai appeared to be at. He did resemble Lee… well Rock, when he'd become a father however. Perhaps it was his impending parenthood that caused Dai to mature. Although he actually wasn't sure exactly when Gai had been born. It was close… like perhaps half a year to a year away… but beyond that? Masato was unsure.

When it came to the next family he met however the similarities, and differences, to those he knew hit a little harder. He wouldn't have thought they would, or could, hit harder then it had for Dai… he hadn't really been that close to Kurenai after all.

But Mirai had worked as part of his escort quite frequently.

When they first arrived at the Yuhi house just after lunch today, he hadn't realized they were going to be meeting Kurenai's family. Yuhi wasn't a name he really remembered after all… for a long time Kurenai had gone by Sarutobi. Her mother had died during the third shinobi war, and her father died some time during his training with Jiraiya. Not that he'd known those facts until he got to know Mirai a little more after she became chūnin.

What he did recall easily of Kurenai herself was that she was a caring, almost sisterly figure back in their young genin days. Her mother was very much like that. However she was also quite cheerful like Mirai had been. Kurenai's father on the other hand came off as being very dutiful at first, but under that it became quite obvious that he was also just as caring as his wife and daughter. His sense of duty was strong though, reminding him of the times Mirai's sense of responsibility had been too strong for her own good.

By far the most unexpected parallel he was able to draw between Shinku and his once granddaughter however was a love of challenges.

It hadn't really been overt challenges really. When they'd first arrived Minato had quietly mentioned that he (Masato) was showing an easier time of focusing on a task, but he wasn't as observant, while Makiko was the opposite. There had been a glint of something in the man's crimson eyes, before he'd led them into his yard to try playing a game with them. It reminded him of Mirai's own love for challenges, but in a more playful sense. Certainly not what he expected from the initial duty bound impression he'd gotten from Shinku.

The game they were playing was the same one they'd played in the garden at Nara Shikatsu's home. At first anyway. He just seemed to be testing how well they could find things, and how fine of detail he could give to them, before he introduced another set of rules to it. Or rather a point system. It was a rather simplistic first to three system, where he used rocks to represent the tally for them. Whoever found the thing they were looking for first would get a rock, and the first to get three would get to choose which fruit they had for their snack, between peaches and banana. He much preferred banana over peach, but he knew Makiko was the opposite. One of the peculiar differences between them they'd discovered during their between world meet ups.

Minato had softly mentioned that Makiko would probably end up winning, but to this Shinku had replied the winner depended on who he himself decided would win. Their older brother looked disbelieving of this, to which the man declared he'd make it a draw.

Makiko found a yellow and blue flower, before he found a specked orange leafy plant. Then he found a blue flower, and she found a purple one after that. The whole time both of them had been wondering how Shinku was going to make it a draw.

He told them the next thing they were looking for was a tall flower…. that was all he said. But at the same time they'd both pointed.. in different directions, to the first tall flower they saw. Or rather, the tallest one they saw. "There!" He'd declared, while Makiko had announced "That one!"

"Correct," the man had answered. No clarification of who was correct as he had given before. He'd looked at him curiously, and then over at his sister. She was pointing at another of the same flower he was. Masato turned his gaze to his sister, who looked back at him.

It was clear at this point what Shinku had done. He had used the other flowers they were looking for to get them both facing towards different directions, where they would have the same type of flower in sight when he gave the final objective.

"We win!" they both called out enthusiastically as they rushed over to their rocks, placing a third with the other two both already had.

"Indeed you do," Shinku replied with a smile, waving them over. "So which fruit do each of you want?"

"Banana!" Masato announced without missing a beat as he hurried over to the man and his brother.

"Peach!" Makiko provided as she followed.

Minato looked at them both a little bewildered. "I think that's the first time they haven't agreed on what they wanted to eat."

Shinku chuckled in response. "They may be twins, Minato-kun, but they are also their own little people. There's bound to be a few things that sets them apart aside from their hair and gender. They won't be joined at the hip forever."

I think we might surprise him with how like we 'end' up being. Makiko thought to him as she was helped into the house.

"Now then, why don't you two go get washed up. I'll have your snacks ready for you when you're done," Shinku was saying as he stood now.

"Okay," they both replied, before Minato helped him inside and then led them both to the washroom to wash their hands.

Maybe…. but think of how much more surprised they'll be to find out how similar we are to m- Kushina!

Makiko looked over at him as they walked. We don't know if she was ever a prankster you know…

He mentally snickered. Even if she wasn't, I bet we could convince her to be one here.

Well now, that was an idea wasn't it? Kushina, their once mother, his sister and him, pranking the whole of Konoha. If he could outrun trained shinobi and manage grand pranks like painting the Hokage monument on his own… what greater heights could he reach Makiko and Kushina helping him out?

Oh what fun they would have.


Word Count: 8034


To the Reviewers:

Fir3gamer : Thank you for the praise! It means a lot to me
Oh yes, I know what you mean about that for sure. When you re-hash the same scene it can bet frustrating unless there is a good separation between when they are read. And even then you don't want to do that more than once or twice and its got to add something you didn't notice before.
I'm glad you can see their humanity. They had their own lives before coming here, and that comes with no small amount of baggage for them to contend with as they try to figure out what to do.

Riku Uzumaki : Yup. And they'll figure that out… one step at a time, lol.