Chapter Text
To the civilian population’s surprise, there was a considerable amount of ninja who preferred their children not to follow their path and live a long life free of danger and pain instead.
To the entire Konoha population's surprise, the Fourth Hokage was the first on this list.
'Softass idiots will remain softass idiots,' would be Kushina's number one reply to her husband's rants —but how couldn't he? Looking into his tiny daughter’s immense eyes blinking at him in naivety caused Minato’s heart to move. Whenever his one-year-old was in the burst of tears, it’d shatter. When she giggled and babbled the quite delighted and poetic 'daddadaddadadda!', it'd start to beat faster (and adorable Naru-chan's too, since her 'dadda' at this point would take her into his arms and start spinning her).
The Fourth Hokage was very unfortunately wrapped around a 73cm tall toddler's tiny finger. And it probably didn't help the child has the love of his life's colorful expressions.
So it was no wonder that Minato came to the conclusion that this world in all its wonders was also full of treachery, madness, and guilt for just one tiny creature to take (no matter how tall she would grow one day). Minato is not a stupid man. He's the Hokage of the most prosperous village and therefore the strongest ninja in it —he knows too well the mingling pain and excitement of a shinobi career; the constant fears and unrepentant satisfaction of a meaningful life.
He wanted it as a child. His wife wanted it too. —or perhaps, they never had another option.
Kushina had her private opinions as well.
"She's our daughter, Minato," The redhead rolled her eyes as she (and he) were waiting for her cookies to be done in the oven. Baking had been one of Kushina's favorite activities since her pregnancy started. "She'll want to be a ninja just like her awesome mother or her not-too-bad father. You can't take that away from her."
"I'm not saying I'm going to take that away from her. I'm just saying that she should have the chance to choose." He replied with an innocent tone. "If she wants to be a civilian, I wouldn't impose."
"Oh, yeah?" She raised her eyebrow cautiously at him. "And why were you freaking out when Kakashi was trying to teach her how to say 'shuriken'?"
"I wasn't freaking out. I was just merely displeased that he pronounced it wrong."
"Wrong," She repeated slowlier. "Kakashi?"
"Yes." He nodded, and Kushina nodded just as seriously.
"Poor Kakashi, Obito, and Rin, you know. Their sensei might have taught them a few tricks, but he could never teach them how to speak." The blond felt an itch of heat in his cheeks but didn't dare to correct that. "Go and bring Naru, she loves my cookies just a little less than you do," Kushina ordered with a desperate tone, but deep down he knew she was puffed up because of the fact.
With Kushina's cookie in his mouth, the Fourth Hokage had nothing to worry about for now. His little Naruto was more entertained with plants and flowers than with kunai and jutsu (thanks to Kushina again, since gardening had been another of her hobbies since pregnancy started) and it was something that had a future. If she wanted to own a flower shop, then he'd give her that and it would be the best in town. (Though Minato couldn't be so sure, since two weeks ago she had been obsessed with drawing dog ears on every magazine she was handed over, and he could not do anything with that).
Unfortunately for him, his daughter's interest in a formidable kunoichi career started even before she could say the word 'Konoha'. And this interest, unlike any other, would come to stay.
It was finally Naruhime's second birthday, and not even a toddler with zero comprehension of time or the importance of certain days over others was going to stop two enthusiastic parents from celebrating the day their little angel had opened her eyes to meet the world. It wasn't as if Naruto was complaining about her situation —running around giggling as dear Obito-nii chased after her with the plastic kunai he had given her as a present.
Kushina had been a bit anxious that Obito had broken into the house in the morning with his ‘mighty and powerful’ kamui, just to surprise Naruto, but Minato’s concerns had been a little different.
“It might be that Naruto doesn’t want to be a ninja, you know,” was the first thing he said to Obito who now was resting breathlessly on the sofa. Running away from enemy nin could drain the same energy as entertaining a toddler, it seemed. He should know about that. “Maybe it would be better if next time you could give her something more… er, civil?” Said Minato with all possible delicacy to not hurt the teen’s feelings.
But Obito merely laughed. "Nonsense, Minato-sensei," He replied amused, dismissing the topic with his hand. "She's the daughter of the Fourth Hokage, how could she not be a kunoichi? You'll see that she'll be a prodigy. You guys should be careful, or Naruto-chan will be practicing kinjutsu at twelve."
"I hope not," The man murmured a little uncomfortable since Obito had taken his suggestion more as a worried retort than a weak demand. Anyway, Naruto was barely two years old —it wasn't like she was going to make the decision of her life right now, right?
"Besides, Naruto-chan likes everything I give her, doesn't she? Don't cha, Naru-chan?" Obito's tone had become more mellow when he noticed the little girl, who was taking slow and curious steps towards him with a cookie in her mouth. (Minato couldn't blame him; he too spoke like an idiot when his daughter observed him with those immense eyes of hers). When the girl ended up on his lap, she began to pull the boy's dark hair with all the delicacy that an Uzumaki female posses. "Argh! Not my hair! Don't cha know Rin loves your niichan's long hair so much?!"
(Which was probably a little exaggerated, because Rin had only gotten some dust off his hair, but Obito claimed she had never done something like that before).
And that was how Mikoto Uchiha with a little Itachi holding hands with an even littler Sasuke (who was observing his surroundings like someone who has lived on the streets all his life, even if he had been here two weeks ago) found them. Kushina was coming after her too, wearing one of those simple dresses that made it impossible not to stare at her for long until she scowled at you with red cheeks. "So this is the Fourth Hokage, intimidating a member of the Uchiha clan via his daughter," the woman murmured with a genuine smile as she admired how the girl tried to pull Obito's teeth out of his mouth.
"Told you before, we live in a tyranny."
"Mikoto-sama!" Stammered the younger Uchiha a bit embarrassed. "Minato-sensei is not abusing his power today..."
"It may happen that some citizens have affection for me and from time to time offer me gifts," The man took the girl in his arms before she ran to Sasuke's side. "But it's not something bad. Naru-chan likes them, right?" He asked her, but Naruto was too focused on getting to Sasuke's side with enthusiasm. "Alright. Go with your Sasuke." Kushina giggled at his disappointed expression.
"Suke!" She grinned pointing at him.
"Oh, yes, that's Sasuke," Kushina smiled sweetly. "And this one over here, do you remember his name?" The woman pinched Itachi's cheek with affection.
Itachi seemed absolutely shocked.
"Boy!"
Itachi's eyebrows furrowed even more with worriedness. "I'm Itachi."
"Boy! Boy!" ...And Naruto only remembered her dear friend's name.
"Mom..." The boy looked up to his mother asking for help. Mikoto and Kushina helplessly laughed, but before the child's real mother reassured him, Kushina took little Itachi in her arms and squeezed him lovingly. It was a surprising thing, actually, that the kid that had taken more after Fugaku Uchiha would be Kushina Uzumaki's favorite one.
"Don't you worry, Itachi-kun," The redhead said. "Naru-chan is just a little bad remembering names —come here, I'll feed you with cookies and jelly. Do you like dango? What about..." Her voice weakened as she entered the kitchen with Itachi in her arms. In a future, Mikoto would be suing Kushina for Itachi's worrying fascination for sweets, but right now she was more entertained with Sasuke and Naruto communicating in their toddler language.
"They'll make such good friends, I know it," The woman murmured excitedly to her two male companions. "Sasuke doesn't usually interact with other children. He only likes his big brother."
"Is that so?" Minato smiled gently. "Maybe Naruto can force Sasuke-kun to interact with other kids. She's a social butterfly."
"I hope so! When are you enrolling her?"
Minato raised his gaze from the children to her. "I'm sorry?"
"To the academy," Mikoto repeated slowlier. "Fugaku is convinced Sasuke should enter when he is Itachi's age. But Itachi is so busy training or studying right now, trying so hard to grow up. I think it's better if Sasuke waits a little more. Naruto and Sasuke can even go together..."
"Minato-sensei thinks Naruto may not want to be a ninja," Obito responded amused.
The woman looked a little puzzled. "Oh..." She blinked. "And why's that?"
"I think she wants to be a gardener."
"A gardener." She parroted. "Well... it's understandable. Kushina loves gardening. That's something a child of hers would do."
"Kushina-neechan loves beating people up too," Obito suggested.
Before Minato could respond to that and defend his little daughter's brilliant future among plants and flowers, the ring of the doorbell made everyone's ears perk up in curiosity. They had not invited too many people to Naruto's birthday, and a few they had invited couldn't come today for personal issues or because they were traveling around the world. There were only two people to arrive yet, and one of them preferred to use the windows to come in instead of using a polite knock or ringing a doorbell...
Obito got up from the sofa instantly, running towards the main door with an indiscreet grin on his lips. With a friendly 'Hello!', Rin entered the house politely kissing and hugging everyone in a greeting —something only a sweet girl like her would do these days. It was probably when he looked at her when Minato noticed how much these children of his had grown and at the same time he himself did, for with Rin he started developing these paternal feelings and it would be years after he'd be a real father in all his right.
But when Naruto tried to climb to him with that precious smile, Minato knew this wasn't a moment to get nostalgic —he had a birthday to attend and a birthday girl to please with piggy-rides and an idiotic behavior.
After Rin's arrival, they spent the next two hours in the backyard —the delicious outdoors. It was a wonderful Friday in Autumn, with a cold breeze brushing the trees and the flowers Kushina had worked so hard for. Itachi was trying to dispel any grudges remaining from Naruto and Sasuke's previous fight, talking softly to them and feeding them Kushina's chocolate cookies that both accepted happily. The boy would grow up to be a pacifist one day.
Obito and Rin had taken a more philosophical stance, laying in the grass with bare feet and observing the sky with so much peace and wonder that for a moment Minato felt like he needed to ruffle their hairs. They were talking in low tones, making it impossible for anyone around to know what they were talking about, but after the terrible fright Obito had given them with his 'death', it made him so happy to see them talking so calmly, like if they were carefree children in a world of unexistent war.
Kushina, on the other hand, was loudly sharing her experience about that time where she was put in the Uchiha District's Jail for kicking Uchiha Misone's balls (much to Mikoto's discomfort). "I wouldn't forget something like that. I was saving to buy a new microwave, and I had to spend everything on the bail." Mikoto sighed sadly. "It was a nice one, the microwave, I mean. It was pink and had these kitten buttons..."
And that was when Kakashi Hatake appeared, getting in through a window and walking in the backyard as if he had been inside the house since one in the morning. He had a calm look in his eyes when he observed everyone, and before Kushina could complain that he, indeed, had arrived late, Naruto was the first to run into his manly arms.
"Kashi-nii! Kashi-nii!" She sang happily with her chubby arms extended to him. "Up! Up!"
"Hello there, birthday girl." He gave up on her demands, and to everyone's surprise, little Naruto put her mouth on Kakashi's cheek. It was her adorable way to kiss people, but she had only kissed her mommy and her mommy's plants before —to Minato's gloom and shock. "Sorry for being so late." Which was even more surprising, because Kakashi never apologized for being late. "Gai and I were trying to fish with rocks."
"Did you get one?" Minato asked curiously.
"I got two."
"Whatever you were doing with your boyfriend, we don't care! How can you make Naru-chan wait? Don't you have any honor? And you call yourself a man?"
"Obito," Rin reprimanded. "Don't be so hard on him. You underestimate how much time one can spend with Gai-kun."
"At least I'm not following cats right before important missions, right, Minato-sensei?" Kakashi teased with a smirk, still with a little blonde in his arms.
Minato just chuckled. "You can elaborate better excuses, I'll give you that."
"They were not excuses, sensei!"
Kushina frowned worriedly. "I think it'll be better if they remained as excuses, Obito. Just saying."
"She's right, you know. What kind of ninja spends their time in trivialities ten minutes before a mission? And you call yourself a man?" Kakashi pushed one more time, knowing too well that using the Uchiha's exact same words would drive him crazy. Seconds before Obito's legendary outburst, Kakashi retreated rapidly. "You can't fight me with Naru-chan in my arms. Am I right, Minato-sensei? Kushina?"
Obito didn't need to look at his former teacher threatening brilliant eyes to understand that there were limits he should never cross.
"And when Naruto has a better understatement in time, I hope you're not slipping away again, Kakashi-kun." Kushina's voice sounded in a horrifying mix of threat and joy. "It will be bad for your genius head."
"Right," He nodded nervously. "Of course. Uh - I got you a present, Naruto." He put the girl on the ground, much to Naruto's fury and Itachi's greater shock, since Naruto started crying louder than he'd ever seen a baby do. Sasuke never did that. "Okay, okay, calm down. You don't have to cry. Look at this!"
Kakashi bit his finger and made a bunch of complicated and quick signals to the eye. His bleeding part landed on the grass, and surprisingly, intricate signals in ink started to draw themselves at the speed of light. A puff deafened and blinded the backyard in less than a second.
A group of dogs appeared in front of Naruto. Eight dogs in total, looking so extremely human-like with their little garments and colorful expressions that let slide a lot about each's own personality.
"Hey boss," One of them, the smallest one, spoke up with an uncomfortably manly tone. "What happened?"
"Hey, Pakkun. It's the birthday thing I told you before, remember?" He replied.
"Hello, Fourth Hokage!" A part of them bowed funnily, sniffing around the blond man with swinging tails and happy barks. "You don't have any cookies, do ya?"
The man blinked a few times, still baffled at why would his student summon his well-known group of dogs in the middle of a toddler's birthday 'party'."Sorry, I don't. I'll make sure to have a few the next time," He smiled apologetically.
"Pack, we came here with a mission," Pakkun groaned with authority. It was amazing that such a small dog was considered the leader among the others. "Where's the birthday pup?"
"Here," Kakashi walked to her side. "This is Naruto. She's two years old. And don't lick her face -I have no idea what you ate today."
"You insult us, boss."
But as much insulted they were, they didn't hesitate to comply with Kakashi's orders as they got closer to the little girl and laid near her with sniffing noses and submissive, tranquilizing postures. Kushina frowned just a little because she had never liked canines that much, but there was something in her daughter's face that made her give up to any scolding she may have prepared.
It was truly astonishing, how Naruto had gone from crying and whimpering to a sobbing girl in less than two seconds —but perhaps she was the more astonished of them all. Her eyes were sparkling with wonder and delight, as if a waterfall had been born in front of her, or as if the moon had walked behind the sun in the middle of an afternoon. To Naruto, dogs appearing out of nowhere with adorable fluffy tails dancing around was more than a treasure in the world; it was a message from God.
"Puppies...?" She asked shyly, still surprised, observing the dogs close to her.
"My ninken will allow you to pet them all you want on your birthday," Kakashi nodded happily. "Don't you like it, Naru-chan? I think you like dogs, yes?"
"Nin-ken..."
"My ninja dogs, summoned by a ninja me. It's magic, you see."
Naruto looked at her father with immense eyes, grinning and laughing as if she had discovered a new continent. "Puppies! Puppies!" She chanted. "Ninja! Me ninja!" As the dogs started to comply with Naruto's 'ninja' orders, the smile on Minato's face started to disappear.
Everyone out there was too focused on the adorable little girl and her new friends to mind, but only Kushina, with her oh too-knowing look of hers smiled a little apologetically at him.
His little Naruto-hime had been planted a new idea on her mind, and he didn't know how he'd forgive Kakashi for it.