AN: Hello readers

Well I missed Thursday this time around. I just ended up being busier than normal during the week. However Thursday will probably still be the day I'll most often update. I might not make this Thursday either, but I expect if not I will be able to update Friday before my regular plans, or Saturday afterwards.

Hope you enjoy~

Chapter XIX: Shift

After they had come across Might Dai by chance, it seemed like they did a lot of meeting people. The next day they met Kurenai's father, baby Kurenai herself, and her mother. They were a good family, though she could tell Shinku-san was a very keen shinobi who had been evaluating them while they were there as well.

At the end of their visit to the Yuhi's, Minato had handed a scroll over to Shinku, and the man had appeared to sign it. Makiko wondered for a moment as to what it was, before it clicked into place. A Nin-Kamon… they were rare in the Konoha she was Hokage of.

Those were more peaceful times. Or… had been. And when they weren't anymore, everyone was there for everyone's children without question. There wasn't time to worry about such a formal agreement.

She didn't want to continue thinking about that, so she occupied herself instead on wondering who else might be on the Nin-Kamon. The Hatake's certainly… but was there anyone else who's name she'd recognize?

The following day brought her some answers. At lunch time, just after they'd all sat down there was a knock at the door. Minori had gone to see who it was, but almost immediately called for Minato, who with a frown had gone to speak to the person. She'd tried to focus her senses to find out who it was and hear the conversation.

Morino, she heard. Wasn't that Ibiki's surname?

As she heard them speaking about 'the' Nin-Kamon she felt a shiver run down her spine. A Morino was on it? Possibly Ibiki's father? It was undoubtedly a male voice she was hearing after all. He was talking about how he'd just finished talking to Might Dai and evaluating him to be an acceptable caretaker for his son when required.

Might Dai was on the Nin-Kamon?

Well… as…. overpowering as the 'springtime of youth' was, she much preferred that to someone who might be a sadist….assuming that part of Ibiki's personality had run in the family.

Maybe you're being unfair on the Morino? Masato piped into her thoughts. It was sometimes a little annoying that he could do that honestly… but then she did it to him too so she had nothing to complain about.

I mean, I guess… but Ibiki is the only Morino I know so…

Really? I knew an Idate… his kid brother or something. He was alright although he abandoned Konoha because he failed a chunin exam.

Makiko looked over at her brother a little surprised at this knowledge. Some how this story had never come out before now.

"Would you and Ibiki care to join us for lunch, Ibushi-san?" She heard Minori asking from over by the door. "There's plenty."

There was a pause in which she assumed this Ibushi person was considering the offer. "I might as well. Minato only has a few more weeks before he has to return to regular missions from what I understand of the situation." She heard footsteps of the three heading towards the dining room where Masato and herself sat staring at each other. "Do you have their health papers on hand? I might as well have a look at them while I'm here."

"Of course," It was Minori who replied. "I'll grab them after the meal…. do you need anything for little Ibiki-kun?"

"No, thank you. I have some food with me should he wake up," came Ibushi's reply.

"Alright then… Minato-kun, why don't you assist me." came the woman's voice again. Minato's reply was a little to soft to hear, but it sounded like compliance.

A moment later there was someone standing in the entrance to the dining room.

Makiko turned her eyes over to the adult male, this Ibushi person. He had brown hair that was a little greyish toned, and black eyes. He wore the same sort of trench coat she remembered Ibiki often wearing, and a bandana styled Hitai-ate, although this he removed it before taking a seat at the table.

His head was not a mess of scars like Ibikis had been. Well. Not entirely. There was a large patch of hair missing on the left side of his head, a large portion of the left ear missing and a scar very apparent on his flesh. It wasn't a pretty sight to be sure.

However what shocked her the most though was that he looked back at her and gave a smile. It was a very small smile…. but still a smile. One that was not hiding a promise of pain like Ibiki's smiles tended too. "You must be Makiko." He spoke to her easily, his tone of voice not changing from what it had been in conversation with Minato. Not that she expected it to, even if most people tended to do so when speaking to a child. This was the father of Ibiki… maybe her concern wasn't as unfounded as Masato thought.

"Yes," She answered. "I'm Namikaze Makiko," she went on to properly introduce herself, "Can I ask who you are, sir?"

Minori had been teaching them manners… well not that the actually needed to learn them. She'd had to learn how to be polite in order to be a successful Hokage. But Minori teaching them gave her an excuse to stop speaking in a more childish manner all the time.

"Morino Ibushi," he supplied, though he had smiled again… perhaps impressed by her manners? Then he reached behind him, shifting a bundle she hadn't really noticed before. It turned out to be a sleeping baby, who had been settled snugly in a sling on his fathers back. "This is my son Ibiki."

She looked in surprise at the baby who had just a little bit of brown hair on his head, and honestly looked so adorable sleeping in his fathers arms. She couldn't really make the connection between the baby and Ibiki at all.

"It's nice to meet you and your son, Ibushi-san," she uttered a little breathlessly, eyes flicking back to him only while she spoke before she was again looking at the baby. Really… it was almost a crime for Ibiki to be that cute as a baby knowing the terror he had been to many in adult hood.

Ibushi's gaze moved to her brother sitting on the other side of Minato's place. Minato came into the room a moment later, setting down a setting in Sakumo's usual spot seeing as the man wasn't currently there.

Ibushi unhesitatingly took the spot, sitting on the cushion as his eyes remained on Masato. He was expecting an introduction she realized.

"Oh," Masato murmured softly as he realized the same thing. "I'm Namikaze Masato. It's nice to meet you, Ibushi-san."

The man nodded. "It's nice to meet you both," he replied to their introductions simply, before looking to Minato who had moved to take his spot between her and Masato. "Their manners are excellent. Hard to believe they're under two."

She had to put a lot of effort into not tensing at that.

"I've been told their advanced skills come from the stressful environment of constant travel they were raised in," Minato replied. It seemed well rehearsed.

Ibushi regarded all three of the Namikaze, before nodding.

Minori made her way to her spot then, and they all said their thanks for the food before they started eating.

It was silent and awkward.

She kept dropping her rice and glaring at it in frustration. Why did it have to be so hard? It had been over a week already and she still couldn't eat as well as Masato had managed to get on his first day with chopsticks. Right now all it felt like she'd managed to establish was that yes, her right hand felt marginally better. However she wasn't sure if that was because she had been right handed before, or because it actually was her dominant hand. The difference was so small.

Maybe that was a good thing though. Maybe it would mean an easier time of making herself ambidextrous if she started at it now.

"Makiko," Ibushi's voice cut into her thoughts, and she paused in the motion of getting rice to her mouth, looking at him questioningly. The rice fell from her chopsticks, but thankfully back into the bowl. "May I see your chopsticks for a moment?"

Why, she wanted to ask. "Um…. okay," she said instead, handing them over to him.

To her surprise he fixed a folded up scrap of paper between them and tied them together with an elastic band he seemed to have in his flak vest. Why did he have elastics? And why was he doing that anyway?

He handed the chopsticks back to her. "Try now. That should help until you get more used to using them."

She blinked, and looked at the chopsticks, before shifting them in her hand to hold them properly and trying again. To her surprise it did in fact help. She didn't have to try as hard for each mouthful, meaning she could eat just as fast as Masato now. She looked back to the man with a smile. "Thank you Ibushi-san!"

She had certainly not expected he could solve her eating problem, of all people to do it. But she wasn't going to complain. This was perfect! It also told her what the problem really was. Her hand strength wasn't up to the same level of Masato's. Something she could work on. In the meantime she'd be able to eat properly without getting frustrated.

"You're welcome," Ibushi replied rather flatly, though the smile he gave seemed a little warmer than his earlier ones. Maybe he wasn't as bad as she was fearing after all.

See, we shouldn't judge him just by his last name.

She would have rolled her eyes if that wouldn't have brought attention to her. Instead she proceeded to eat her meal with a smile now that she could do it with relative ease thanks to this simple little trick. I mean, I didn't judge him. Just braced myself for the worst. She defended herself.

Sure. Was the other time travelers sarcastic response.

After that Masato had dared to try talking to Ibushi, and to her surprise the man had replied easily to the question. The quiet meal soon became one filled with conversation. By the end of the meal she came to the conclusion that there was no way Ibushi was a sadist like his son. Or if he was, it was only selectively so. There was a warmth to the man that was well hidden, but there none the less. He seemed to have a tender spot to children.

One she suspected he would deny if anyone ever pointed it out.

Maybe it wasn't bad at all that he would be one of the adults she had to look forward to spending time with when her brother was out of the village. And baby Ibiki, even knowing who he had become in her world, was absolutely adorable. She could get used to the cute baby.

It totally wasn't because she was thinking about all the ways she could possibly embarrass him in the future by gaining an honorary 'nee-san' title.

Not one bit.

Makiko had unexpectedly taken to Ibushi-san quite well. He'd hardly had the time to feel taken aback by it, as the interaction had shifted from question after question concerning babies and Ibiki in particular, to Makiko sitting in Ibushi's lap as he instructed her on how to hold the infant while feeding him.

In the end Minato had run out of time while Ibushi was still there, and he'd had to leave first. He hadn't really liked that at all.

Once he'd gotten back to 'work' however, he hadn't really had time to think about the strange occurrence. Not when his afternoon consisted of trying to get his problem trio to work together without one of the girls trying to wring Kawazo's neck.

Even if he was getting used to the three of them, and had learned quite a bit on how to keep the girls tempers from rising to high, he most certainly found the three the most stressful part of each day. He hadn't made much headway with any of Shinku-san's suggestions either. The first of which being to invite the three for some sort of treat if they finished their mission early enough. That had happened a few times, but Kawazo always turned down the invitation and insisted on returning to the Academy.

It hadn't been entirely fruitless though. The two girls had gotten closer, and at least Kotome no longer seemed annoyed with the louder Inuzuka and her dog. Unfortunately that made it more likely that the two would attempt to gang up on Kawazo if he drove one of them too far.

Absently he had wondered if it was this difficult for a Jonin if they happened to get a team that didn't get along. But then he immediately laughed at himself for having thought it, because a Jonin would be more prepared for this than he would. They'd have had leadership experience for some time before they wound up with a genin trio.

Kawazo had given him a strange look from where he walked beside him as they headed back to the academy. He'd just smiled and said nothing… there wasn't much point in telling the boy he was laughing at his own thoughts after all.

They'd finished a little early today, but not early enough for him to invite them out, so they were already heading back to the academy. Tsume had been complaining, but he didn't even have to explain that she really couldn't be late to return, and it was his responsibility to make sure she got back on time. Kotome was taking care of that instead, and though he should speak up himself, the girl seemed to have figured out how to get Tsume to agree to something she didn't like more efficiently than he himself had.

They'd be good teammates if they did wind up on the same team when they graduated.

"Minato-san," Kawazo's voice had inquired from beside him, as the academy gates had come into view. He paused to look at the boy, who took that as an okay to continue. "Why have you been inviting us out after our mission?"

He raised a brow, having not really expected that question… but he thankfully had an answer. "Because the three of you need to learn teamwork, and as it is, you won't be able to learn how to work together without getting to know each other a little more. Outside missions."

Kawazo looked, not surprisingly, unconvinced by the words. The boy fixed him with a very blank look. "Emotions and individuality have no place in missions. That's what Otou-sama says. There should be no merit in getting to know each other outside of missions."

Minato stopped in front of the gate, looking to the two girls who had already passed through. "Tsume, Kotome, report back to your Sensei. We'll be a few more minutes. Don't dally." The last bit he said in a warning tone, fixing them each with a stern look as they glanced back at him and the younger boy.

"Yes Minato-san," Kotome spoke softly, and then grabbed the other girls arm. "Come on Tsume." She tugged at the girl, almost dragging her along as if Tsume really just wanted to wander off and Kotome was dead set on preventing such an occurrence. Which might honestly be the truth. Either that or Tsume had been listening to what Kawazo had been saying and wanted to punch him again.

A grown from Kuromaru told her the later was indeed the case. Thankfully the pup didn't leave his partner to enact any damage to the boy.

Minato turned his full attention back to the kid. It seemed like it was time for him to take a heavier handed approach than he had before. He didn't like it at all. Had balked when Shinku had suggested it to him… but the more he'd observed Kawazo, and listened to the boys reasoning whenever he tried to 'call out' one of the girls on their failures, the more he came to understand that Shinku was almost certainly right about the boy.

Kawazo was being indoctrinated by his father. Which Shinku had stated wouldn't be seen as a bad thing by many older shinobi. In fact, it happened all the time… most genin would be indoctrinated as Kawazo was before they became chunin. The differences was that Kawazo wasn't even a genin yet. He wasn't an early entrant into the academy, and he was far more impressionable because he had less experience than a genin fresh out of the academy would. Let alone a seasoned one up for promotion.

He didn't have the life experience to make his own informed judgments on what he was taught. Let alone on other people. He just super imposed the image he'd been given of a proper shinobi on top of his fellow students, and couldn't understand why they weren't fixing the parts that didn't line up with that image.

"This Kawazo boy is going to get himself killed. If not his entire genin team."

Shinku's ominous words would be this boys future if someone didn't try to give him the chance to think for himself.

He squatted down to Kawazo's level, the boy looking at him with what he recognized now as confusion. Minato figured that the little Shimura couldn't figure out why he had sent the two girls on ahead. That he was currently acting outside of the image of a shinobi that he had.

"Kawazo, if you graduated tomorrow and where put on a squad with Tsume and Kotome, what do you think would happen?"

"That wouldn't happen," The four year old replied without missing a beat, sounding quite certain. "Inuzuka-san and Uchiha-san are not ready to be shinobi. They are too emotional during missions."

"And you think you're ready?" the Namikaze asked, keeping his voice as emotionless as possible, tapping into his own training of keeping emotions in check. His face he knew was a perfectly expressionless picture. Using this on a child didn't really feel right… but as it fit Kawazo's picture of a shinobi it was necessary for the moment.

"… No," The boy said in a much smaller voice than he usually used. And there it was. The emotion he'd not managed to get out of the boy until now. Kawazo was trying very hard not to let it show, but he could see it in his eyes. Upset. Frustration. A little fear.

The final one made him want to grimace. He didn't want Kawazo to be afraid of him.

"And why aren't you ready?" He asked in the same toneless voice.

"I… I'm too small and weak," the child, for in this moment he really was the child he was meant to be, admitted timidly. "And…. and it makes me…. frustrated…. watching them. They have the physical skills that I don't… but they let their emotions get in the way of that." It seemed like a dam was being broken. Finally. Kawazo's eyes were moist with un-shed tears, and his soft voice was gradually being laced with self frustration.

Which was good. It wasn't directed at either of the girls, it seemed.

He let his expression gentle then, though it seemed Kawazo was too wrapped in his own emotions to notice quite yet. "And it's frustrating that I even find that frustrating." Another admission that Minato found a little relieving to hear. The fact that the boy was not unaffected by the interactions he had with the two girls was just one more piece of evidence supporting the idea that Kawazo was still a child. He wasn't the tool his father (he wasn't certain it was the boys father specifically, but that seemed most likely) wanted him to be. Not yet.

"It shouldn't bother me!" Kawazo spat out with no small amount of self deprecation. He listened even as the boy's eyes watered over and angry tears streaked down his face. "We're on a mission and emotions have no place on a mission." No place… well he wasn't exactly wrong… but it was still hard to hear the boy say it. It wasn't the first time he had, but this… it felt more bitter, because he could see that even Kawazo was struggling to adhere to the notion that emotions had no place on a mission. He was taking it so far that he seemed not to understand why he had them, even if he didn't show them. "if I can't even get the mindset right then what do I have?" It was a desperate question.

Minato placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, attempting to snap him out of his self deprecated rant. This had gone far enough. Too far in fact. He privately was seething that Kawazo's father, or whoever it may be, had done this to the child. Kawazo jerked in surprise, his eyes finally focusing on him. They stared at him in a wide, surprised and unsure expression. The look of someone lost. He was too young to have such a look on his face.

Then he looked to his feet, little hands clenched into fists. "I'm not even half a shinobi. At least they've got it half right…"

Not even half a shinobi.

"You're right," he said gently. "You aren't half a shinobi yet. But neither are Kotome and Tsume. In fact a lot of Genin fresh out of the academy are still only half a shinobi." Kawazo sniffled, but his eyes were fixed on him in rapt attention to his words. He smiled a little, and the bewildered look retunred to the black haired boys face. "A lot of Genin graduate without being able to keep their emotions in check all the time. That's normal. It's human," Minato explained as he gave the boy's shoulder a squeeze. "In fact I can't keep my emotions in check all of the time either, and I might make Chunin soon."

"I know that… you smile a lot, or laugh or-"

He raised his hand to his lips, placing a finger there to signal silence, and dutifully the boy stopped talking. "Kawazo being in control doesn't mean never feeling emotion at all. It doesn't even mean never showing it."

This was clearly in contrast to what he'd been taught, as he opened his mouth again to protest with a "bu-" only to cut himself off again at the same gesture.

"Everyone has emotions… it's part of what makes us human. And no matter how deep you try and bury them, they will still be there," Minato explained, as he hoped fervently that his words wouldn't end up being wasted thanks to the boys home environment. "Shinobi can't ever truly be emotionless. One day those emotions are going to come out. So it's much better to find a way to let them out on your own terms. That way when it counts you'll be able to keep your emotions safely in here," and he lightly taped the boy in the chest with the finger he'd used in the 'hush' gesture before. "Until you can let it out later on. Maybe on your own. Maybe with people you trust."

He reached into his pouch and pulled out his handkerchief so he could wipe the tear stains from Kawazo's cheeks. Initially Kawazo winced as he lifted his hand towards his face, but he made no comment on it even though it just reinforced his growing anger towards the adults who had treated Kawazo in such a fashion to cause these reactions. Clearly crying was very frowned upon.

"What you're doing wrong when it comes to a shinobi mindset is not being unable to stop feeling," Minato spoke this as firmly as he could, hoping the words would stick with Kawazo. "It's that you aren't letting them out when it would be alright to do so."

Kawazo reached up and grabbed his hand that still rested on his little shoulder. "But… emotions are a weakness."

It was a rather weak protest.

"They can be," he agreed. "But not simply by having them. How has your training fared lately? Have you been improving as much as people expect you to?"

Kawazo winced again. "Umino-sensei says I am… but Otousama doesn't think so."

Minato didn't really like Kawazo's father. At all. "That's because you're holding everything in here… you won't accomplish much when your distracted and frustrated by your emotions." It was more or less true. Kawazo was also quite young, so it was expected that he wouldn't improve as quickly as an older kid would with the same level of talent. His body simply couldn't keep up yet. "And because you keep holding them in thinking you shouldn't feel them at all, it's making it worse. If you let it all out then you'll probably find your training becomes more productive."

He really hoped that would be the case anyway.

"…. how do I do that?"

Minato's tense shoulders relaxed as relief washed through him. The boy was receptive to the idea, and in the end that was all he could really hope for. "Do you have a hobby that you feel calm while doing?"

After a short moment of thought Kawazo finally nodded. "Calligraphy."

That was the sort of hobby he expected a four year old to have... but it was something. "Well then, whenever you feel like you've got too much in here," and he again tapped the boy lightly in the chest, "You should do some calligraphy. While you do that, think about what it is that's bothering you. Try and figure out why it's bothering you, and then what you can do to make it better yourself. If you can't, then you find someone you can talk to about it"

Kawazo shook his head. "I don't have anyone like that…."

It was depressing hearing the child say that for certain. And reminiscent of his own academy days in a way. When the Hatake weren't around he'd not really had anyone he could talk to about his troubles until he became closer with Shikaku at least.

"Well, I'd be willing to listen," he told the boy with a smile, before he tucked away the hand-kercheif since he was finished wiping up his cheeks. "Though I can't always be in Konoha now that I'm a shinobi. That's why you should try and get to know some of your classmates outside of classes. You might find some that you can talk to about your troubles."

Some sort of realization seemed to dawn on Kawazo's face. The gears in his head were clearly turning, and Minato was curious as to what conclusion was forming behind those dark eyes. Finally the boy nodded, and tried to smile. It was a very poor attempt, looking a little more like a grimace… as if he had never learned how to smile before.

Another thing to fuel his growing dislike for the Shimura who where raising a four year old boy in such a fashion.

"So that's one of the other reason's Sensei says we get put on a three man squad when we graduate." Kawazo stated this as if he was certain it was true. "Sensei asked for why we thought that was yesterday, and when I told her what otou-sama told me, she said there were a couple other reasons. But she wouldn't tell me what they are. She said we had to figure that out for ourselves."

Minato almost laughed. He could recall that question being posed to him over a year ago now. There had been a large variety of answers, but the woman had enigmatically declared that they hadn't stated all of them. There really wasn't a correct answer to her question honestly… she wasn't looking for the text book reason.

She wanted her students to form their own opinions on what teamwork, and being a team, meant to them.

"I wonder," he spoke lightly, before he stood up. "It sounds like that could be one of the reasons." He wouldn't confirm it or deny it. This was an answer that Kawazo had come to on his own. Without drawing from what he'd been taught, and instead interpreting what he had been hearing for himself.

Kawazo glared at him, though only for a moment before he sighed. "Of course you wouldn't tell me if I'm right or not." It should have sounded annoyed, but instead the boy's tone of voice was more… he shrugged, "I should get back. I'll be late if we stand out here any longer."

The blonde nodded in agreement. "You're right. Come on then." And he turned back to the academy to pass through the gates to the academy grounds with the boy.

As they reached the door, Kawazo grabbed onto his jacket, giving a brief tug that prompted him to look back at his black haired little subordinate. "Minato-san… Will you take the three of us tomorrow too?"

He grinned. "You bet I will."

Masato had not expected Makiko would end up… totally taken with baby Ibiki? He wasn't sure if that was what he should call it….She seemed to like Ibushi quite a bit. More so than he himself did. The man was no where near as frightening as Ibiki. Granted Ibiki hadn't been all intimidation. He had some soft points too. They just seemed much harder to pull out than Ibushi's soft spots were turning out to be so far.

Yes, he liked Ibushi. Not as much as he liked Sakumo, who reminded him of Kakashi a little bit, but he still liked the Morino well enough. Makiko however had taken far more interest and it was quite strange. She'd not even taken that much interest in Sakumo for several days after they'd met. She had been playing a very wary little girl who just didn't take to strangers. Makiko had even taken it so far as to hide her fondness for Jiraiya until they had been left in the Hokage office with two questioning clan heads and the owner of the hat himself.

In contrast while it appeared that Makiko didn't really like the Morino at all when the meal began, it was in quick order after Ibushi had assited her with her chopsticks that he started noticing signs that wasn't the case at all. And it wasn't just that he feel a lot of what she was feeling. She wasn't playing strange with him, and that was strange.

Its not that strange., Makiko defended herself.

He looked over at her where she was colouring in one of the colouring books they'd been given. She wasn't trying to stay in the lines at all, which he realized was on purpose, so he he was doing the same with his own book. How isn't it strange? He questioned her through their link.

He could practically feel her rolling her eyes, though she didn't roll her real eyes. He just got that impression from her before her response came. I'm a girl. It's pretty common for little girls to be fascinated by babies. So no one will find it that strange that I ended up taking to Ibushi-san a little quicker than some others.

She had a point, he realized. A fascination with a baby wasn't that unusual for a small child… at least, he didn't think so. He certainly had been quite curious when he'd seen a woman and her baby at the park, back before he'd been enrolled in the academy. That memory was also encountered with being not so nicely shoo'd from the park though, essentially killing his passive curiosity

This was more than just passive curiosity for Makiko however. You seemed real pleased when Minori-san said you'd make a good nee-chan.

Makiko looked up from her book at him. Of course I did. Don't you know how much fun it could be to hold that over Ibiki?

He blinked in a moment of disbelief. Then he had to hold in a snort of laughter, hand coming over his mouth to assist in the matter. He didn't want to have to come up with something he was laughing at to tell Minori-san. However the idea was… well…

Wondrous, isn't it?

The thought sounded ridiculously smug, but he couldn't blame his sister at all. It was indeed a wondrous, perfect idea. And it got even better. Oh so much better. We should add him to our little pranking crew with Kushina!

It was Makiko's turn to hold back a sound, her eyes widening as she looked at him.

It's prefect.

And it really was. Imagine the sort of trouble they could get into with Kushina and Ibiki on their side! Konoha wouldn't know what hit it. Sure… pulling of pranks by himself back when he was a kid had always been quite a highlight of any day. The chase was spectacular… but those few times he was able to pull of a prank with someone else… those had been an absolute riot. Even if the pranks weren't particularly that good.

Having a permanent little pranking posse sounded like it would be an absolute blast.

Who else do you think would be good to add?

He tilted his head at the question, before grinning. Grabbing a blue crayon and an orange one he went back to his colouring book, using the two crayons simultaneously. Obito of course.

He heard a page turn, and figured Makiko was flipping through her colouring book for another page to ruin with random colours. Agreed. He'd be a blast to hang around with. But how are we going to manage that one? Uchiha and all…

It was his turn to give the impression of rolling his eyes. He wasn't really the typical Uchiha from what I remember hearing. We just have to manage to find him.

True enough. Before he enters the academy preferably. We need to find him anyway.

She had a point. They did. Preventing Obito from "dying" could really help them make the shift in times course that they were trying for. If they were close to him maybe they could help him with training so he was stronger when it came time for Kanabi bridge to occur. Plus he was the one who initially taught Kakashi their golden shinobi rule.

If they could keep Obito in the village with his friends then that might end up winning the battle for them. Failing that if they could find Obito and bring him back before Rin died… Or find a way to stop Rin from dying at all, that would accomplish the same thing.

Minato's students were the first opportunity they were going to get to change things. So they needed to know where they were. Get to know them well. Help them get stronger.

If they failed that, then their next opportunity wouldn't come until 'Madara' attacked Konoha with Kurama under his control. An even more delicate situation than Kanabi bridge. More lives at risk for certain, and unless they started preparing now, they'd have an abysmally shorter time frame to get ready for it compared to Kanabi bridge.

And if they failed there… they'd have to leave Konoha.

Can we not go there right now? Makiko's mildly annoyed voice reached him, and he couldn't help but grimace.

"What's wrong, Masato?"

It wasn't Minori's voice. It was Minato. As discreetly as he could he slide his finger along the paper of the book to give himself a paper cut, needing an excuse for his slip up. He held up the stinging finger as he turned his head to the hallway where Minato was standing. "Owie."

In response his brother held out a hand with a sympathetic smile. "That looks like it stings. Come on then, we'll take care of it." He knew they were just going to get a bandaid, but he nodded and got to his feet to go to the other boy who took his hand. Minato's gaze turned to their sister then. "Makiko, can you pack up all your crayons for me before coming to wash your hands before dinner please?"

"Kay!" the girl chirped dutifully, and began collecting all the crayons as he and Minato left the room.

Minato quickly pulled out a pack of bandaids once they reached the bathroom, and held them out for him to look at. "Which one do you want Masato?"

They weren't patterned or anything, like he would have expected in his old life. They were different coloured though. One was even orange, so unsurprisingly he pointed at that one and Minato let out a chuckle before pulling it out to wrap it around his finger. "There. Does it still hurt?"

He could say it did, but he really didn't want to listen to the talk that would follow it. The tricks to make 'boo boos' better. So instead he smiled as he looked happily at the orange bandage. "Yup! Thanks Nii-chan!"

"You're welcome," the other blonde replied easily with his own smile. Only moments later Maki was peaking into the room, and Minato had of course heard her coming as he turned to look at her just as she peaked inside. "Alright then, lets get washed up for dinner. After that, why don't we go to the park for a little while before heading home?"

Masato looked to his sister, who met his gaze. Their faces split into twin grins.

"Okay!"

Hiruzen was by all accounts a very prominent shinobi in the shinobi world. He'd been made Hokage at a young age, still managed to raise up his own team of shinobi, and had been in the position for years. There wasn't a shinobi village that didn't have him in their bingo book, listed quite high in the majority of cases. He had a large plethora of jutsu under his belt, and a list of accomplishments that in a way rivaled that of the First and Second Hokages.

But he'd lived in a different time from them. They'd not lasted long into the 'stability' of shinobi militarized nations. Theirs had been lives akin to a constant war until Konoha had finally been established… and even then war had not left them alone, claiming the Second and saddling Hiruzen with the hat.

Information had always been quite important to any organized shinobi group. But ti became more so once clans banded together to form villages. And after so long of just fighting eachother to the death, there weren't as many with the more… sophisticated esponiage skills.

Being Hokage in such a different world meant he needed to rely on these other skills. Balance of power was a delicate matter. One that necessitated a variety of strategies. Espionage was bigger now than it ever had been in his predecessors times. Granted the Second had certainly been more in tune with the changing times than the First. He would have done fine if he'd not been killed, Hiruzen was sure.

However Hiruzen had not been prepared for it himself. He couldn't say that he'd had anything one would describe as a talent for any skill in that regard. Not when he'd taken the hat at least. He'd had to rely on others, as he worked to improve the areas he was lacking in.

At times he wished it could have remained that way. However as the years passed he came to realize how important it truly was for him to control who got what information. He'd had to learn a variety of skills he hadn't really put much thought into before Tobirama's death.

Control of information directly translated into control of the populace in general.

Thus why the Namikaze had been so important. And why, ultimately, they were now nearly a dead clan.

Loosing his last active Namikaze had been a hard blow to necessary information gathering. Not one that was unrecoverable from, mind. He'd been well prepared to have to go without the Namikaze talents for several years, depending on how long her secret mission ended up taking.

The timing had been poor however. Sloppy almost. It was hard to believe it was truly for her cover. Despite what her report claimed. He was no Yamanaka, but he could tell that there was more to this report than what he had initially gathered.

For one thing there was the revelation that Haruka might have been raped, the event resulting in the twins. What situation could she have possibly been in where that would even be possible? Where she wouldn't find a way to end the unwanted pregnancy? Why had she bothered bringing the twins when she left where ever she was? Why had she prioritized their lives over her own?

If she'd been by herself she could have made it back to Konoha and given the report herself. Even if she needed a contingency, it didn't need to be both twins.

So she had decided that along with her report, the twins needed to also make it to Konoha. Which meant the fire the twins said she started was indeed to attract a Konoha patrol, hoping they would find the twins.

And this too was sloppy of her. They were toddlers. She had no guarantee they wouldn't be found by the pursuers first. Or that a patrol would be near enough to see it, and decide to cross the border to check it out. Let alone that they would take the twins with them.

He never knew Haruka to be this sloppy since she was a genin.

However there was also the fact that in the report she'd given there was no mention of the twins at all. Or what she had gone through. It was strictly the information he'd been seeking for her to uncover. Information that he'd already been given, unknowingly thanks to her. There was an implication in her report that after three months she'd completed her mission, and yet had not returned, instead finding a way to get the information into the hands of the next Shinobi he had sent to uncover it.

Why? And if she could do that, for what reason had she not returned? At that point in time her name had still been clear, the surviving member of her team had not imparted anything that indicated betrayal. No, she got that label through what now appeared to be her efforts to get the intel into a Konoha nin's hands.

There was more to her report that he had yet to uncover. There had to be. Even without these discrepancies in her actions, there was that eight that didn't fit in with her scale. He'd been mulling over it most nights, after Biwako had gone to bed, but he had yet to come to something that truly made sense.

Still it was obvious that there was a double meaning, or more, to the sequence of numbers she'd given.

The Hokage was also at the end of his own ability to find it her hidden message, frustratingly. Whatever code she'd come up with to keep this intel safe, it seemed he lacked some key information to crack it. Or he was overlooking something.

Even though it was possible, He put little merit into the idea that Masato and Makiko had merely been one of her contingency plans to get the intel to Konoha. Not with the words she'd imparted to Minato about their father. She saw them as important in some way… and it was hard to believe she wouldn't have a way to portray the how to them should they end up in Konoha.

Then again, with the signs of sloppy work on her part, could he really be sure of that?

It was hard to say. It could be a sign of a number of things.

However the way she'd had the twins carry and pass on that message was not sloppily done. It was a very well executed use of a triggered genjutsu. The trigger had turned out to be two fold, and the message split so that if you had only one twin the information it held would remain indecipherable.

There was of course the chance that she'd placed other genjutsu on the twins, however the triggers he thought would be most likely had turned up nothing. So he'd sent Sakumo and Jiraiya, there was a chance they could find the missing piece he needed.

What they had sent back so far though lent more urgency to the matter. Even with the two talented Shinobi on this mission, he couldn't simply trust them to find what information he needed to solve the mystery of the Namikaze twins. It would be foolish. Especially in light of there having been a fourth individual involved in that final pursuit of the three Namikaze.

He'd gotten as far as he could with the sequence. It was time he picked someone else to try and crack any code that was there. And really, there could only be one man that he could trust this too.

Said man stood in front of his desk in the Hokage office now, a typically bored expression on his face as his eyes moved over the scroll in his hand. As expected as soon as he finished reading he promptly handed it back to him.

Hiruzen molded chakra as his hands moved swiftly through some signs. With a puff of fire from his mouth the scroll went up in flames. After all, this was not information he wanted put to paper. Not now, at least. Paper was vulnerable. Thus the reason only this man would do for the task at hand.

"Troublesome."

Word count: ~8000

To the Reviewers:

Cherrytan : I love writing the Namikaze family moments myself. Don't worry, there will be more of it, though there wasn't much in that way this chapter.

Riku Uzumaki : Poor Konoha won't know what hit it =)

SentinalSlice : Haha, glad you find them adorable, and there certainly will be more interactions with Dai. More on the bloodline is certainly coming, though not all at once either. There will of course be more of the Hokage, and others, on figuring out the Haruka situation as well.

Thank you for the praise!