Red Hair
Jakia
Naruto never really questioned his heritage until the birth of his children.
His oldest, his bright-eyed little boy, had been born with the poor misfortune of looking almost exactly like his father. The subtle differences between father and son, however, were simple: where Naruto himself had no real bloodline limit, his son had inherited his mother's bloodline, the Byakugun. And the boy's bangs hung strangely around his face, a way that reminded Naruto gently of the Fourth Hokage, but Naruto chalked that up to coincidence and a preference of style rather than genetics.
When his daughter was born, she looked exactly as she should: black-purple hair in pigtails and her father's blue eyes. A perfectly normal and average child in a family that was known to be abnormal and eccentric, but Naruto and Hinata loved her all the same. Nothing about her at all made Naruto wonder where he came from, and if his parents had looked anything like that.
No, it was the birth of his third child, their happy little 'souvenir' from that mission in Grass Country, that made him question his own heritage. His youngest daughter, with her sparkling blue eyes and full head of bright red hair.
She had to be his, of course. Never once had he ever had any reason to believe Hinata would be unfaithful to him. And besides, the girl obviously had his eyes, so there was no reason to question that she wasn't an Uzumaki when she so obviously was.
She had to be Hinata's, too, obviously, so the idea of her being anyone other than Naruto and Hinata's daughter was absurd. Besides that, Naruto could not think of a single person in Konoha to have red hair quite like his daughter. Not a single Hyuuga had red hair, ever, and Naruto knew nothing about his parents, so everyone else's guess was as good as his.
(Did Sakura-chan count? But no, Sakura-chan's hair was pink, and this baby's hair was so very red. It reminded him of the Kyuubi's red chakra, almost; it reminded him of Gaara, and made him wonder if the Kazekage's hair had been born red or turned that way by the demon inside him.
He wondered if that had anything to do with his daughter.)
It was Tsunade who eventually answered his unasked question. Tsunade, who was retired, who was finally beginning to look her age, and who came rushing into the hospital a few days after the still-nameless baby was born, determined to see her newest 'Grandkid.'
"My my," She cooed, full of motherly affection she barely ever showed. "Look at that red hair! She is the spitting image of your mother, Naruto."
Naruto dropped the glass he was holding, shattering it into a million pieces on the floor.
"My mother?" Naruto questioned, with a hitch in his breath. "My mother had hair like that?"
Tsunade nodded. "She sure did. What a wild thing, she was. You're just like her, you know." Tsunade rocked the baby back and forth, the ideal picture of a happy Grandmother. "I bet this little one turns out just like her, too. She already seems wild."
Naruto smiled softly. Years ago, he would have bounced full of energy, questions and accusations flying a mile a minute out his mouth.
These days, though, he offers only one gentle question (the rest can wait until the baby is asleep): "What was her name?"
Tsunade frowns. "Your mother? Kushina. Kushina Uzumaki."
He takes his nearly sleeping daughter out of Tsunande's arms. He places a gentle kiss on his daughter's forehead, and brushes a stray red hair out of her face.
"Welcome home, Kushina."
END
Don't ask where this came from. I haven't a clue. All I know is that I'm obsessed with the idea of Naruto having a daughter with red hair and if it's not canon I may cry.
Reviews are lovely, please.
jak