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Minato looked up from the scrolls he’d been examining as he heard the clanking of metal, and smiled fondly. Kushina was always too impatient to disable the protections on their apartment quietly, with the end result that he could always hear her arrival before he met her.
She never failed to fill his heart with warmth – warmth he desperately needed in the months that had passed since his team had lost Obito.
It wasn’t your fault, she’d told him over and over each time he’d wept. You couldn’t have known. You left them with the best odds you could. If you’d taken them with you, you might have lost all of them. And I might have lost you.
She was right, but that didn’t make the loss hurt any less, nor lay rest to his own fears. Kushina and he had decided to try for a child after the third war was finally over, but what kind of a father would he make if he couldn’t even keep a team of ninja alive?
With a final clatter, Kushina burst into the apartment holding... A child. Minato’s eyes widened as he recognized three-year old Uchiha Itachi in her arms, looking distinctly uncomfortable.
“Minato! Minato!” Kushina cried, the words spilling out of her in her usual rush. Some people thought she was uncouth, but Minato loved the way she spoke – as if she needed to share her thoughts before she lost her grip on them. “Fugu-face and Mikoto finally gave in! We’re watching Itachi for the day!”
He couldn’t help his grin at Kushina’s irreverent nickname for the Uchiha Clan Head. Minato had almost slipped up and called him that to his face a couple of times. Speaking of... “They’re both still alive and well, aren’t they?” he asked. He didn’t think Kushina would have incapacitated them in any way, but it was better to check. The Uchiha had been extremely firm on the fact that their precious heir would only be watched by an Uchiha on the occasions that his parents were occupied.
“Unfortunately,” Kushina grumbled. “I would have loved to kick him in the nuts, you know.”
Shaking his head, Minato glanced at Itachi, whose lips were curled in a grimace. Minato realized why after studying him for a minute: Kushina wasn’t supporting his weight properly, her hand positioned too high on his back. Wait. How was Itachi even still in her arms – oh. He had somehow already mastered some form of chakra manipulation, and was using it to stick himself to Kushina. “I don’t think you’re supposed to hold him that way,” Minato went on. “Actually, at his age, he can probably walk by himself.”
Itachi nodded fervently, and Minato found himself impressed once more. That a child of his age had not only mastered techniques which genin often struggled with, but also possessed sufficient cognitive capacity to understand adult conversation, and possessed the restraint to keep from squirming? He also possessed the empathy to realize that he would hurt Kushina’s feelings if he tried to wriggle out of her grasp, Minato realized.
Just what kind of child had Mikoto and Fugaku produced anyway?
Kushina scowled at him, not seeming to notice Itachi’s movement. “It’s not like you’ve ever brought up a kid either, you know! And I’m pretty sure a woman knows more about how to hold a kid than a man. Besides, we’ve got to spoil him to counteract Fugu-face’s influence – I’ve never seen such a quiet kid in my life,” she grumbled, shaking her head. “Isn’t that right, Itachi-kun?” she turned to him, cooing as she pinched his cheek. “You’re going to get a chance to just be a baby today, aren’t you?”
Itachi sighed in a manner that would not have been out of place on an eighty-year-old man. Minato smiled sympathetically at the boy. “Can I hold him, Kushina?’ he asked, giving her the pleading look she could never really resist. As she grumbled her assent, Minato took Itachi from her arms, carefully watching the boy’s expression to make sure he was holding him the way he wanted to be held.
He must have positioned him right, for Itachi’s lips quirked up in the tiniest smile before he resumed his placid expression.
Kushina squealed. “He smiled! Minato, we made him smile! We’re doing it! I told you that you’d make an amazing dad!”
Minato wasn’t so sure about that – he was sure that fatherhood involved a great deal more than simply being able to hold a child right, especially one as proficient at communicating and as well-behaved as Itachi. Still, he couldn’t quite deny the warm glow that spread through his chest, and he grinned back at Kushina.
“Well, then it’s time for us to practice, isn’t it?” he asked. After all, that was why they’d wanted to watch Itachi so badly – they both had decided that there was no way that their fumbling experiments with parenthood could really damage little Itachi’s psyche any further than the pressures of being the Uchiha Clan Heir could.
They played games first. Minato hadn’t really had much experience with them, having entered the Academy as young as he had, but Kushina had insisted that the young children who had been her fellow refugees from Uzushio had loved them.
They tried something called Hot and Cold first. Kushina covered Itachi’s eyes while Minato hid a stuffed bear that Kushina had bought for Itachi. “Go!” Kushina beamed, once Minato had given her a thumbs up. “You move, Itachi-kun, and I’ll tell you if you’re getting closer to the bear by saying if you’re getting warmer or colder!”
Itachi nodded, his expression utterly serious, and trotted straight for the bookshelf. His hands reached for the books on the second-lowest shelf before he paused, turning back to face Kushina with an inquiring glance.
“Hot,” Kushina sighed. Itachi nodded once again before removing some of the books, retrieving the bear that Minato had stashed behind his novels. As if that wasn’t uncharacteristic enough, Itachi proceeded to re-shelve the books he’d removed before returning to Kushina with the bear. Glancing at the shelf, Minato felt a shiver pass through him – Itachi appeared to have looked at the scuffs in the thin layer of dust to gauge exactly where to place the books so that the shelf looked utterly undisturbed.
Kushina’s gaze met Minato’s, and he was certain his expression mirrored hers, eyes widening in incredulity as Itachi got on one knee to present the bear to Kushina. “Mission complete,” he said.
They tried reading picture books next. Kushina had apparently begun her preparations for Minato’s and her desired child early, and had purchased a whole selection of books. She spread them across the floor. “Which one do you want to read, Itachi-kun?”
Itachi glanced at all the books before pointing to one that had Hashirama Senju on the cover. “That one,” he said, and Minato and Kushina mentally exchanged high-fives. Reading was a good activity for Itachi-kun, and he was just at the age where he would be learning to sound out words –
Minato’s jaw dropped as Itachi picked up the book and flipped through it. He barely appeared to glance at the pictures, his eyes roving greedily over the text. He set it down, sighing. “There was nothing in there except how brave and strong Shodai-sama was,” Itachi said with disgust. “They didn’t even talk about his mokuton jutsu or his fuuinjutsu.” Itachi paused before going on. “Do you have any books on those?”
What a strange child.
While Itachi devoured one of the books Kushina had brought with her when she’d fled Uzushio, Minato got to work preparing hanami dango. Surely, Minato thought as he kneaded the dough, Itachi would exhibit child-like behaviour at least when it came to sweets.
Still, he mentally prepared himself for Itachi-kun to appraise the snacks with disinterest before asking Minato for boiled cabbage or something equally revolting. At this point, nothing could surprise him about the child.
As Minato came out of the kitchen and set the plates on the table, Itachi dutifully closed the book. “Where should I leave it?” he asked Kushina.
“You can bring it home with you if you want, Itachi-kun,” Kushina said gently. “It looks like you’re enjoying it.”
Itachi nodded. “It’s very interesting,” he said. “But it’s yours. Not mine.”
Kushina’s eyes lit up. “That’s why I’m loaning it to you, Itachi-kun,” she said. “It is mine, but you can take it for a while. Then when you are finished, you bring it back to me.”
Itachi’s brows furrowed in an absolutely adorable manner. “It’s yours,” he repeated. “But I can use it. Even without you there.”
Kushina nodded eagerly. “That’s right, Itachi-kun. Because it’s mine, you can’t just take it without asking. But I’ve told you that you can, so it’s okay for you to bring it home with you. But because it’s still mine, you have to take good care of it and return it to me, you know?”
Minato felt his heart melt at the scene, at how overjoyed Kushina was to be able to teach Itachi something at last. She was so good at explaining things simply. She would make a far better sensei than him, had the village allowed her to be anything more than the kyuubi’s receptacle.
And that she was teaching Itachi to share? He could clearly hear her exulting “Up yours, Fugu-face!” in his mind’s eye. And he could not blame her one bit – not when one considered Itachi’s characteristics. What sort of a child could understand a primer on fuuinjutsu meant for genin, but not the concept of sharing?
Itachi nodded. “Like a lease,” he said. “How much will it cost for each day?”
Kushina’s eyes flashed dangerously before she got herself under control. “A lease is between people who don’t like each other,” she said. “But I like you, Itachi-kun. Do you like me?”
He nodded hesitantly, as if waiting for a trap to spring.
“Then we are friends,” Kushina declared. “And I want to do something nice for you because you are my friend. So I will let you use my book, with the only condition being that you take good care of it. Does that sound good to you?”
Itachi’s nod was surer this time, and he stuck out his hand. “We are in agreement,” he said solemnly, and Kushina shook it with a bemused air. Minato wondered if this would be considered a binding alliance between the Uchiha and Uzumaki clans.
Itachi carefully placed the book beside him before turning his gaze to the dango skewers. “What is this?” he asked.
Had he never even seen the dessert before? “It’s dango,” Minato explained. “It’s a treat made from rice flour.”
Itachi shook his head. “Thank you, Minato-san, but I must wait for dinner time before eating.”
“This is a snack, Itachi-kun,” Minato explained before Kushina could completely explode. “Those are meant to be eaten between meals.”
Itachi gave Minato an assessing look, as if searching for any trace of deception. He was apparently satisfied with what he had seen, for he picked up a skewer – gripping it the way one would hold a kunai – and gingerly took a bite. His eyes widened, and Minato and Kushina both watched with amusement as he devoured the whole piece.
“Thank you, Minato-san, Kushina-san,” Itachi said politely, and folded his hands atop his lap. Yet, he did not manage to disguise the longing within his eyes, which continued to be directed at the remaining two skewers that still rested on the plate.
“They’re all for you, Itachi-kun. Eat to your heart’s content. Anything you leave behind will be thrown out,” Kushina laughed. A lie, but one Minato was only too happy to support. His heart ached. It appeared that the Uchiha Clan had focused entirely on shaping Itachi into the perfect soldier, and had given him little chance to simply be a child.
I will do better, he resolved. Regardless how exalted a position he received, how much pressures they faced to restore the dignity and the glory of the Uzumaki clan, he and Kushina would never force their children to grow up faster than they should.
As Itachi continued to devour the skewers – yet still somehow managing to chew with his mouth closed, and dabbing at his mouth with a napkin after every bite – Minato began calculating how much flour he and Kushina had in their pantry, and how many more sticks of dango he could reasonably justify feeding to Itachi.
When it was finally time for them to bring Itachi back to his parents, Minato couldn’t deny the pang he felt. Sure, Itachi was undeniably weird, even with the limited experience Minato had with children, but the kid had grown on him over the course of the afternoon. He liked how Itachi absorbed everything around him like a sponge, and how he sorted and analysed all the information as best as he could in his growing brain. He was a cute kid.
Minato studied the Uchiha fan emblazoned on Itachi’s back as he carefully slid his shoes on, remembering another Uchiha child he had watched over. His chest constricted. Obito had been only 13 years old at his passing. Far too young.
Kushina placed a hand on his arm. “You did the best you could,” she reminded him again. Minato nodded. He couldn’t argue with her on that, but neither could he escape the thought that there should have been something that he should have been able to do. Maybe if he’d dedicated more energy to training Obito’s specific skills. Maybe if he’d drilled them more on team formations. Maybe if he’d been less lenient with them about their bad habits.
He exhaled, trying not to get lost in his thoughts once more. There was nothing he could do now for Obito, but maybe there was something he could do for Itachi. To the extent that Fugaku and Mikoto allowed it, Minato and Kushina could give him breaks where he could just be a child.
Yet, how many opportunities would they get? Minato found himself despairing as they walked the path to the Uchiha compound, Itachi having requested to be allowed to walk. “It would not be right for me to be carried,” he had said. Three years old, and already he could read, speak in complete sentences, engage in abstract thought, mould chakra, grip weapons comfortably, and even track by sound with his eyesight obscured.
Itachi suddenly stopped, and walked off the path. Kushina and Minato exchanged glances before trailing behind him, and they found him picking a sparrow off the ground. “It’s hurt,” Itachi said in a hushed voice, holding it out in cradled palms to them as the bird feebly twittered.
Neither of them had any real ability with healing. Minato immediately looked to Kushina, who also visibly dithered. Itachi sighed once again. “We will bring it back to the compound,” Itachi decided. “Satsuki oba-san is good with animals. She’ll know what to do.” So saying, he strode ahead of them, his hands steady so as to not jolt the bird.
A three-year-old had made a decision faster than they had. Trailing behind Itachi, Minato and Kushina held a silent conversation consisting of raised eyebrows, head shakes, and wild gesticulations – though that final one was more Kushina than Minato.
They’d dropped Itachi off with a relieved Mikoto and a stern Fugaku, and they had even managed to leave before Kushina had openly insulted Fugaku. On the whole, Minato considered the day a success.
Kushina suddenly punched his arm. “Itachi-kun’s a sweet kid, you know,” she said. “Fugu-face didn’t manage to ruin him.”
Minato simply nodded. He knew what she was getting at, but his failures still hung heavy over him. Obito was dead, and despite all Minato’s attempts to teach Kakashi the value of teamwork, it had been Obito who had succeeded in getting through to him.
“Listen,” Kushina said fiercely. “Maybe you’re right, and you will be a terrible father. But do you think I’d be a horrible mother?” She caught his smile, and rushed on. “Don’t answer that. But yeah. Even if you fucked up our kid, I wouldn’t let you damage them permanently. But that’s a stupid hypothetical, because you won’t. Not the guy I watched today, who did his best to make Itachi-kun comfortable and connect with him how he could.”
It didn’t matter that they were in the middle of the street, that there were people walking all around, minding their own businesses. Minato found himself kissing Kushina soundly, and as her arms came around him, he sank into the warmth of her embrace. She was so strong – both emotionally, and as a ninja – and every time he beheld her, he fell a little more in love.
He had been a poor sensei, regardless of what Kushina said. But she wouldn’t let him be a poor father. As he pulled away from her, she lightly smacked his chest. “I love you,” he sighed, and her cheeks grew even more flushed.
“Dumbass,” she muttered. Her eyes suddenly met his. “But if our kid turns out anything like Itachi, I swear I’ll kill you.”